Friday, September 14, 2012

Apple’s massive solar farm looks kind of awesome from the air | Grist
At 100 acres, this is going to be the world’s largest privately-owned solar panel farm — you can see from the photo above that it dwarfs the 500,000 square foot data center, which is that white building in the upper middle. When completed, it’ll generate 20,000 MW of power, with backup from a 4.8-MW biogas plant. Which is all very inspiring, but at the same time, the bird’s-eye photos also show why other corporations don’t usually do this. I mean, who has the space.
ETS bill for taxpayer now $1 billion, MPs hear - Environment - NZ Herald News
For the scheme's first year, to mid-2011, the carbon price was stable at about $20 a tonne and money flowed from energy consumers to forest owners with carbon credits to sell.

But since then international carbon prices have collapsed, and New Zealand units can be had for around $4.

Emitters have loaded up on cheap imported carbon [dioxide rip-offsets], prompting calls to limit the extent they can meet their obligations from that source.
Global warming: the heat’s back on - Telegraph
HFCs, are themselves exceptionally potent greenhouse gases, and their rise threatens to undo all the progress made in tackling global warming so far. Frustratingly, they come under the aegis of the climate talks and so are caught up in the logjam that bedevils those negotiations. More than 100 countries want them to be brought under the Montreal Protocol, which is much more likely to take action – but this is being blocked by India and China, which have large HFC industries, with support from Brazil.

It will come to a head at a Protocol meeting in November. Making the change and controlling HFCs would be the fastest and cheapest available means of mitigating global warming, a fitting way of marking the anniversary of a momentous pact.

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