Home » Posts tagged 'desmog'
Tag Archives: desmog
Are We Witnessing The Beginning Of The End For Fossil Fuels?
Are We Witnessing The Beginning Of The End For Fossil Fuels?
Bloomberg recently declared the era of fossil fuels irrevocably in decline: “The world is now adding more capacity for renewable power each year than coal, natural gas, and oil combined. And there’s no going back.”
The sea change in how we power our economies officially occurred in 2013, Bloomberg’s Tom Randall writes in “Fossil Fuels Just Lost the Race Against Renewables.” That year, there were 143 gigawatts (GW) of renewable electricity capacity added globally, versus just 141 GW of new fossil-fueled capacity.
Despite low oil prices, the trend toward renewables is not going to slow down anytime soon, given that the cost of solar and wind power has steadily fallen to the point that it is now cheaper than grid electricity in some parts of the world, Randall argues. “The shift will continue to accelerate, and by 2030 more than four times as much renewable capacity will be added.”
That’s for electricity generation, of course, but before you can officially call the race in renewables’ favor, you have to consider transport. Our cars and trucks and planes mostly run on fossil fuels, after all. As Vox’s Brad Plumer points out, “Electricity and heat were only responsible for about 42 percent of global CO2 emissions from fuel combustion in 2012. For clean energy to truly win the race, it will have to make inroads in other sectors as well, particularly transportation.”
An analysis by the International Energy Agency found that the amount of energy used for transport has doubled over the past three decades, and that slightly more than half of all oil is used for transport.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Fight Over Shell’s Arctic Drilling Escalates As Polar Pioneer Arrives and #ShellNo “Paddle in Seattle” Begins
Check back often as I’ll be updating this post throughout the day with photos and updates.
Here we go. Shell’s Polar Pioneer drilling rig is making its way through Puget Sound and will arrive later this afternoon at Terminal 5 in the Port of Seattle. You can watch the journey in real time if you want to follow along.
I’ll be chasing it from the bluffs and city parks near my house and then eventually plan to hop in my kayak down near T5 to witness the “unwelcome” party hosted by kayaktivists who’ve come from around the region and the world for the “Paddle in Seattle” to challenge Shell’s Arctic drilling plans this week and beyond. Then I plan to head back up to Golden Gardens park this evening for the Celebrating and Protecting the Salish Sea event featuring speakers from the host Lummi Nation and other local tribes.
Please add questions or suggestions in the comments section below and I’ll try to answer asap. Also keep an eye on the DeSmogBlog Twitter and Facebook for updates there, as well as Meerkat which I’ve just installed to tweet live video feed at opportune moments.
Timeline of updates (most recent first):
4:18pm PST Seattle is not cool with this new addition to the skyline.
2:35pm PST Well that was an unexpected and sobering surprise… I arrived at Carkeek Park to film the Polar Pioneer. It’s as massive and jaw-dropping in person as others have told me. Just as I was beginning to film, I noticed a train coming north around the bend and thought to myself ‘wouldn’t it be oddly poetic if that’s an oil train?’ ….. yup, it was.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Exclusive: Major Climate Denial Funders Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund Handled $479 Million Of Dark Money
Exclusive: Major Climate Denial Funders Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund Handled $479 Million Of Dark Money
More than $470 million of cash flowing into a key funding arm of the climate science denial movement in the United States is untraceable, a DeSmog investigation has found.
Sister organisations Donors Trust (DT) and Donors Capital Fund (DCF) declared an income of $511 million between 2005 and 2012, tax records show.
But a DeSmog analysis of the sources of DT and DCF income finds that some $479 million of the income is “dark money” coming from individuals or groups who do not have to declare their donations.
The amount of untraceable cash moving through DT and DCF is likely to be increasing substantially. In 2013, the two groups had their biggest year to date with a combined income of $152m and cash assets of $138m. Donors Trust itself saw income more than double from $46m in 2012 to $103m in 2013 even though the value of grants it handed out remained stable at about $40m each year.
While the role of DT and DCF in financing the climate science denial movement has been known for several years, DeSmog’s investigation reveals for the first time the true scale of untraceable money flowing through the two funds, which share an address in Virginia.
DeSmog’s investigation found just $32 million of donations to the two conservative-aligned funding arms originated with other non-profits that make tax records and details of donations available in public documents.
Both DT and DCF have funneled money to high profile advocacy groups that campaign against regulations to cut greenhouse gases and promote fringe and discredited views on climate science.
While Greenpeace analysis reviewed by DeSmog shows DT andDCF have given $170m over the years to fund other groups blocking climate change action, the source of the Donors’ network income remains largely hidden.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
