International leaders at the G8 summit in Italy pledged last week to keep global temperature increases below 2 degrees -- the limit set by scientists before irreversible damage is done -- but failed to outline actions to achieve this goal, warns an environmental protection group.
What's the Story?
To ensure that global temperatures don't warm more than 2 degrees, G8 countries -- the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United Kingdom -- plan to reduce their emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050.
The conservation organization WWF "welcomes the leaders' initiative, but the lack of an agreement on ambitious midterm emissions reduction targets, clear financial commitments, and a date for global peak and decline of emissions could turn the 2 degree commitment into an empty statement," says a release on the group's Web site.
"Without setting the path to reduce emissions, the actual obligations of countries will be watered down, and staying below 2 degrees will be impossible," noted Kim Carstensen, the leader of WWF's global climate campaign.
To ensure they are on track to meet the long-term goal, continued WWF, industrialized nations should take immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent in the next 10 years. In addition, said the organization, the G8 should also provide funds to help developing countries adapt to climate change and cut their own emissions. (See the WWF's full statement below.)
G8 Fails on Midterm Emissions Goal
In addition to reducing their own emissions 80 percent by midcentury, the G8 also agreed that total global emissions should be cut in half by 2050. But in the absence of a firm timeline for the next 40 years, advocacy groups are cautioning that a strong foundation has not yet been laid for an effective global climate change treaty, to be concluded at an upcoming meeting in Copenhagen, now just five months away.
"The failure to reach agreement on emissions reductions targets in Italy this week was a timely reminder that in the half-year since President Barack Obama took office, world leaders have made little progress in bridging the key issues that must be resolved in order to achieve an effective climate agreement in Copenhagen," wrote Christopher Flavin, president of the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based environmental think tank.
The poverty alleviation organization ActionAid also chastised G8 countries for not making a firmer commitment, calling the twin goals of reducing emissions from the world's wealthiest countries by 80 percent and halving global emissions by 2050 "too little, too late."
"The global target the G8 agreed to...is too far away," said Angela Wauye, ActionAid's food rights coordinator. "Ask the 230 million hungry people in sub-Saharan Africa, who are already suffering the impact of climate change, if they can wait until 2050."
Changing weather patterns are contributing to hunger and food shortages in developing countries around the world. In Bangladesh, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, and Zambia climate change has adversely affected agriculture, causing local food prices to rise, reports ActionAid.
G8 Commits to Food Aid
The G8's announcement last Friday to invest $20 billion over three years in agriculture development was "the only bright spot of the summit," remarked Oxfam's Gawain Kripke.
"There is an urgent need for decisive action to free humankind from hunger and poverty," said the G8 leaders in a joint statement. "Food security is closely connected with economic growth and social progress as well as with political stability and peace."
The UN food and agriculture agency greeted the pledge as an "encouraging policy shift to help the poor and hungry." Some organizations, however, view it as an "old fashioned" way of tackling food issues, reports the development and technology news outlet SciDev.net.
Meanwhile, Action Against Hunger (AAH) is urging the Obama administration not to overlook the immediate crisis of acute malnutrition. Applauding the Obama administration for taking a leadership role on hunger, AAH is calling for funding to scale up existing programs serving people already suffering from food shortages.
"Acute malnutrition is predictable, cost-effective to treat, and simple to prevent; it's a tragedy that should not exist in the 21st century," said the aid group.
'A Long Way to Go'
Some humanitarian organizations remain extremely skeptical that the agreements made by the G8 will have a lasting effect.
According to the anti-poverty agency Mercy Corps, a 2005 G8 pledge to increase yearly international aid by $50 billion by 2010 is well behind schedule.
Similarly, Joanne Green, head of policy for the Catholic relief group CAFOD, lamented:"The G8 has reaffirmed its aid promises to the world's poorest, but let's not forget that that's just saying 'we'll actually do what we said we'd do four years ago'... When the language of the communiqué is so heavily infused with enthusiasm rather than solid action, we have to be skeptical."
"This summit has been a shambles, it did nothing for Africa, and the world is still being cooked," concluded Jeremy Hobbs
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Cars may soon be powered by urine
Could it be possible to run your car
on urine? Well, it may be, if Ohio University scientists are to be believed.
And their confidence stems from the fact that they have found a novel way to produce hydrogen energy from urine. According to Discovery News, the scientists used a nickel-based electrode to make cheap hydrogen from urine. When the research team led by professor Gerardine Botte stuck the electrode into a pool of urine, and applied an electrical current, hydrogen gas was released, which was used in fuel cells. The prototype is about three inches by three inches, and is capable of generating 500 milliwatts of power. The scientists hope to create commercial versions of the technology. Botte expects that the fuel-cell urine-powered car could theoretically travel 90 miles per gallon. "One cow can provide enough energy to supply hot water for 19 houses. Soldiers in the field could carry their own fuel," the New York Daily News quoted him as saying. The researchers focussed their study on urea, a urine by-product. "Urea is a by-product of a lot of cities and farms, but even if you take all the people and all the animals, there's not enough to run the world," said University of Georgia professor John Stickney. He added that though applications using urine won't be available to consumers for quite some time, it's definitely worth developing. "We are going to have to put together a lot of greener ways to collect energy that don't produce greenhouse gases and don't require us to go to war," he added.
on urine? Well, it may be, if Ohio University scientists are to be believed.
And their confidence stems from the fact that they have found a novel way to produce hydrogen energy from urine. According to Discovery News, the scientists used a nickel-based electrode to make cheap hydrogen from urine. When the research team led by professor Gerardine Botte stuck the electrode into a pool of urine, and applied an electrical current, hydrogen gas was released, which was used in fuel cells. The prototype is about three inches by three inches, and is capable of generating 500 milliwatts of power. The scientists hope to create commercial versions of the technology. Botte expects that the fuel-cell urine-powered car could theoretically travel 90 miles per gallon. "One cow can provide enough energy to supply hot water for 19 houses. Soldiers in the field could carry their own fuel," the New York Daily News quoted him as saying. The researchers focussed their study on urea, a urine by-product. "Urea is a by-product of a lot of cities and farms, but even if you take all the people and all the animals, there's not enough to run the world," said University of Georgia professor John Stickney. He added that though applications using urine won't be available to consumers for quite some time, it's definitely worth developing. "We are going to have to put together a lot of greener ways to collect energy that don't produce greenhouse gases and don't require us to go to war," he added.
A grapefruit pill to fight obesity
Tart and tangy with an underlying sweetness, grapefruit has a juiciness which rivals that of the ever popular orange and sparkles with many of the same health promoting benefits.
And, now researchers are on track to develop a pill from a chemical compound in grapefruit, which they claim would help obese people shed the flab and diabetics control their blood sugar levels. Researchers at University of Western Ontario have found that naringenin, the chemical compound that gives grapefruit its bitter taste, has revolutionary effect on the liver making it burn fat instead of storing it after a meal. According to them, this means that without having to change diets or cut out particular foods, a dose of naringenin could prevent weight gain and even help to lose it as well as help those having diabetes to control blood sugar levels. Lead researcher Murray Huff said: "The study shows naringenin, through its insulin-like properties, corrects many of the metabolic disturbances linked to insulin resistance and represents a promising approach for metabolic syndrome." They have based their findings on an analysis of tests which were carried out on mice -- two groups of rodents were both fed the equivalent of a Western diet to speed up their "metabolic syndrome", the process leading to Type 2 diabetes.
And, now researchers are on track to develop a pill from a chemical compound in grapefruit, which they claim would help obese people shed the flab and diabetics control their blood sugar levels. Researchers at University of Western Ontario have found that naringenin, the chemical compound that gives grapefruit its bitter taste, has revolutionary effect on the liver making it burn fat instead of storing it after a meal. According to them, this means that without having to change diets or cut out particular foods, a dose of naringenin could prevent weight gain and even help to lose it as well as help those having diabetes to control blood sugar levels. Lead researcher Murray Huff said: "The study shows naringenin, through its insulin-like properties, corrects many of the metabolic disturbances linked to insulin resistance and represents a promising approach for metabolic syndrome." They have based their findings on an analysis of tests which were carried out on mice -- two groups of rodents were both fed the equivalent of a Western diet to speed up their "metabolic syndrome", the process leading to Type 2 diabetes.
Taiwan creates a Napa Valley of teas
Taiwan, which has earned an international reputation as a tech design center, is quietly reinventing an ancient industry — tea.
The island of just 23 million supplies the world with semiconductors to power cell phones and computers, and oversees the production of iPhones, laptops and GPS systems. But tea-loving Taiwanese have also applied their industrious minds to the refinement of the centuries-old drink, blending tradition with newly developed methods of cultivation.
In doing so, Taiwan has created its own equivalent of Napa Valley for specific varieties of tea. While its overall share of the world's tea production is small — in 2004, it produced just 21 tons of tea,
compared with 835,000 tons grown in mainland China — its quality has few rivals.
"They take their tea-making seriously,"' said Joe Simrany, president of the Tea Association of the U.S.A. "Their oolongs are rated among the best in the world. It's one of the finest-tasting teas out there."
One reason Taiwan's tea expertise has not drawn more international attention is because producers here have more than enough business from local tea connoisseurs eager to pay hundreds of dollars for small batches of the local produce. Local yearly consumption has soared — from just under a pound in 1980 to 31/2 pounds in 2007.
"Every day you get up and drink tea," said Mark Lee, chairman of Taiwan's largest tea company,
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TenRen, founded 56 years ago. "At lunch, you drink tea. When friends visit, you drink the best-label tea. And before you sleep, you drink tea."
Lee, who splits time between Taiwan and the United States, has spent decades promoting the tea culture in the United States. Family-owned TenRen is one of the few Taiwan tea companies selling high-end brew in the United States. It has dozens of stores in North America, including in Cupertino, Fremont, San Francisco and New York City.
TenRen's growth in the United States reflects the fact that Americans are drinking more tea from Asia. Some believe it has health benefits; others simply like the flavors and more soothing caffeine experience compared to coffee's jolt. In the past two decades, tea has grown from a $2 billion industry in the United States to about $7 billion today, according to Simrany. Sales of specialty teas, including those from Asia, have jumped from about $250 million a year to more than $1 billion.
Educating tea drinkers
That growth is due in part to the nearly missionary zeal of merchants like Lee. During the early 1980s, he would travel to different Bay Area supermarkets, set up a table with two chairs and brew tea for shoppers. He would patiently explain to Westerners unaccustomed to Asian tea that their brew, full of complex flavors, does not need milk and sugar.
"We emphasize the aroma, the taste," said Chen Hsuan, deputy director of Taiwan's Tea Research and Extension Station in Yangmei, while sipping high-mountain oolong, the signature Taiwan tea.
The government facility, which employs some 60 researchers, contains tasting rooms, labs and small patches of land lined with neat rows of knee-high tea plants. In addition to providing the latest research on tea cultivation, government scientists are continually developing new strains of the crop.
More than 16,000 Taiwan family farms grow tea, and the average plot size is no more than 21/2 acres. Tea farms in other countries typically are at least 10 times larger, Chen said.
Taiwanese were not always so high-minded about commercial tea production, which dates back hundreds of years to the early Qing Dynasty's rule over the island. During the 1970s and '80s, Taiwan transformed itself from an agricultural society to an industrial one.
Despite the shift to a high-tech economy, the government began promoting competitions to boost interest in the local produce and spur farmers to create quality tea. The tea industry, which struggled to compete with cheap teas from countries like Vietnam and Indonesia, invested in costly cultivation processes to grow crops that catered to the newly affluent citizens. Today, the more expensive oolong and paochong teas are picked and processed by hand.
"There was a tea renaissance," said Steven Jones, a Californian who relocated to Taipei years ago and is now a tea arts instructor at the LuYu Tea Culture Institute, which offers a certificate in master tea brewing that is honored around the globe.
Taiwanese drink tea much like Californians sip wine. They sniff for aroma, slurp for taste and carefully eye the color.
"Tea is the spirit of Taiwan," said Gina Chen, a 30-something professional who was buying $200 worth of tea gifts for friends one recent weekday at a chichi East Taipei tea store.
An upscale experience
Cha Cha The, which Taiwanese fashion designer Shiatzy Chen recently opened, resembles a lounge bar. Customers show up for pricey afternoon tea meals and buy designer tea ware and other expensively packaged gifts. "We see this as a huge market," said store manager Jack Wang, who plans to open similar shops in Beverly Hills, New York City and London.
In China, meanwhile, the Cultural Revolution quashed high-end tea development and interest. "China has very good tea, but it doesn't yet have the technique and experience," Wang said. "The Cultural Revolution slowed down everything, including knowledge in how to make tea."
Just as Taiwanese have invested in China's technology industry, they are now looking too improve its tea production. TenRen, which now operates in China, has set up a tea institute in Fujian Province.
The invasion of coffeehouses on the island in recent years — led by Starbucks — has stirred worries that Taiwan's rich tea heritage could be diluted by the gulp-and-go coffee culture. The new cafes offer Wi-Fi, pop music and cakes — the perfect place for students and young professionals to park their laptops.
"It's foreign. It's trendy," said Jones, who has a tea blog, teaarts.blogspot.com. "In Taiwan, they like to follow the West."
It appears unlikely, though, that residents of the densely packed island will fall out of love with tea. Taiwanese teens line up at colorful tea bars on virtually every corner. Workers use cocktail shakers to make zhen zhu nai-cha — known as pearl milk tea in California — a tea concoction with dollops of tapioca. The ever-expanding menu for adventurous tea fans includes green jelly tea, tea-infused pudding and ice cream drinks. There's even wheat germ milk tea. They all sell for about $1 each.
Convenience stores
The ubiquitous 7-Elevens and other convenience stores offer an array of chilled tea drinks, from oolong in a bottle to cartons of sugared green and black teas. Young Taiwanese drink them on trains heading to and from school every day. Restaurants serve fried tea leave snacks, beef noodle tea dishes and cakes made with tea. There are tea arts shows on television.
On any Sunday, when Taiwanese hit the streets with friends and families, tea stores are full of young people sitting on stools and sampling teas — with no pressure to buy. "When people come here, they are not like customers. They are friends," said Sheng-Ru Wang, whose family operates the venerable Wang's Tea, which processes its own tea in its shop.
Jack Wang at Taipei's Cha Cha The says those new to tea should not be confused by the array of choices — that good tea is easy to identify.
"It's what you feel is good," he said. "You have to decide what is the best tea for you. It's like life."
Contact John Boudreau at 408-278-3496.
Brewing a Taiwanese cup of tea
Amount of tea: About a teaspoon of oolong, green or black tea. For puffy teas, use about three teaspoonfuls.Process: Drop tea into a mug. Then add about eight ounces of fresh filtered boiling water.For green tea: First pour hot water into another mug before pouring it into drinking mug so as to cool it slightly and ease the tea"s bitterness.Brewing: Allow about five minutes for the tea to brew. Then pour it through a strainer into another mug.
The island of just 23 million supplies the world with semiconductors to power cell phones and computers, and oversees the production of iPhones, laptops and GPS systems. But tea-loving Taiwanese have also applied their industrious minds to the refinement of the centuries-old drink, blending tradition with newly developed methods of cultivation.
In doing so, Taiwan has created its own equivalent of Napa Valley for specific varieties of tea. While its overall share of the world's tea production is small — in 2004, it produced just 21 tons of tea,
compared with 835,000 tons grown in mainland China — its quality has few rivals.
"They take their tea-making seriously,"' said Joe Simrany, president of the Tea Association of the U.S.A. "Their oolongs are rated among the best in the world. It's one of the finest-tasting teas out there."
One reason Taiwan's tea expertise has not drawn more international attention is because producers here have more than enough business from local tea connoisseurs eager to pay hundreds of dollars for small batches of the local produce. Local yearly consumption has soared — from just under a pound in 1980 to 31/2 pounds in 2007.
"Every day you get up and drink tea," said Mark Lee, chairman of Taiwan's largest tea company,
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TenRen, founded 56 years ago. "At lunch, you drink tea. When friends visit, you drink the best-label tea. And before you sleep, you drink tea."
Lee, who splits time between Taiwan and the United States, has spent decades promoting the tea culture in the United States. Family-owned TenRen is one of the few Taiwan tea companies selling high-end brew in the United States. It has dozens of stores in North America, including in Cupertino, Fremont, San Francisco and New York City.
TenRen's growth in the United States reflects the fact that Americans are drinking more tea from Asia. Some believe it has health benefits; others simply like the flavors and more soothing caffeine experience compared to coffee's jolt. In the past two decades, tea has grown from a $2 billion industry in the United States to about $7 billion today, according to Simrany. Sales of specialty teas, including those from Asia, have jumped from about $250 million a year to more than $1 billion.
Educating tea drinkers
That growth is due in part to the nearly missionary zeal of merchants like Lee. During the early 1980s, he would travel to different Bay Area supermarkets, set up a table with two chairs and brew tea for shoppers. He would patiently explain to Westerners unaccustomed to Asian tea that their brew, full of complex flavors, does not need milk and sugar.
"We emphasize the aroma, the taste," said Chen Hsuan, deputy director of Taiwan's Tea Research and Extension Station in Yangmei, while sipping high-mountain oolong, the signature Taiwan tea.
The government facility, which employs some 60 researchers, contains tasting rooms, labs and small patches of land lined with neat rows of knee-high tea plants. In addition to providing the latest research on tea cultivation, government scientists are continually developing new strains of the crop.
More than 16,000 Taiwan family farms grow tea, and the average plot size is no more than 21/2 acres. Tea farms in other countries typically are at least 10 times larger, Chen said.
Taiwanese were not always so high-minded about commercial tea production, which dates back hundreds of years to the early Qing Dynasty's rule over the island. During the 1970s and '80s, Taiwan transformed itself from an agricultural society to an industrial one.
Despite the shift to a high-tech economy, the government began promoting competitions to boost interest in the local produce and spur farmers to create quality tea. The tea industry, which struggled to compete with cheap teas from countries like Vietnam and Indonesia, invested in costly cultivation processes to grow crops that catered to the newly affluent citizens. Today, the more expensive oolong and paochong teas are picked and processed by hand.
"There was a tea renaissance," said Steven Jones, a Californian who relocated to Taipei years ago and is now a tea arts instructor at the LuYu Tea Culture Institute, which offers a certificate in master tea brewing that is honored around the globe.
Taiwanese drink tea much like Californians sip wine. They sniff for aroma, slurp for taste and carefully eye the color.
"Tea is the spirit of Taiwan," said Gina Chen, a 30-something professional who was buying $200 worth of tea gifts for friends one recent weekday at a chichi East Taipei tea store.
An upscale experience
Cha Cha The, which Taiwanese fashion designer Shiatzy Chen recently opened, resembles a lounge bar. Customers show up for pricey afternoon tea meals and buy designer tea ware and other expensively packaged gifts. "We see this as a huge market," said store manager Jack Wang, who plans to open similar shops in Beverly Hills, New York City and London.
In China, meanwhile, the Cultural Revolution quashed high-end tea development and interest. "China has very good tea, but it doesn't yet have the technique and experience," Wang said. "The Cultural Revolution slowed down everything, including knowledge in how to make tea."
Just as Taiwanese have invested in China's technology industry, they are now looking too improve its tea production. TenRen, which now operates in China, has set up a tea institute in Fujian Province.
The invasion of coffeehouses on the island in recent years — led by Starbucks — has stirred worries that Taiwan's rich tea heritage could be diluted by the gulp-and-go coffee culture. The new cafes offer Wi-Fi, pop music and cakes — the perfect place for students and young professionals to park their laptops.
"It's foreign. It's trendy," said Jones, who has a tea blog, teaarts.blogspot.com. "In Taiwan, they like to follow the West."
It appears unlikely, though, that residents of the densely packed island will fall out of love with tea. Taiwanese teens line up at colorful tea bars on virtually every corner. Workers use cocktail shakers to make zhen zhu nai-cha — known as pearl milk tea in California — a tea concoction with dollops of tapioca. The ever-expanding menu for adventurous tea fans includes green jelly tea, tea-infused pudding and ice cream drinks. There's even wheat germ milk tea. They all sell for about $1 each.
Convenience stores
The ubiquitous 7-Elevens and other convenience stores offer an array of chilled tea drinks, from oolong in a bottle to cartons of sugared green and black teas. Young Taiwanese drink them on trains heading to and from school every day. Restaurants serve fried tea leave snacks, beef noodle tea dishes and cakes made with tea. There are tea arts shows on television.
On any Sunday, when Taiwanese hit the streets with friends and families, tea stores are full of young people sitting on stools and sampling teas — with no pressure to buy. "When people come here, they are not like customers. They are friends," said Sheng-Ru Wang, whose family operates the venerable Wang's Tea, which processes its own tea in its shop.
Jack Wang at Taipei's Cha Cha The says those new to tea should not be confused by the array of choices — that good tea is easy to identify.
"It's what you feel is good," he said. "You have to decide what is the best tea for you. It's like life."
Contact John Boudreau at 408-278-3496.
Brewing a Taiwanese cup of tea
Amount of tea: About a teaspoon of oolong, green or black tea. For puffy teas, use about three teaspoonfuls.Process: Drop tea into a mug. Then add about eight ounces of fresh filtered boiling water.For green tea: First pour hot water into another mug before pouring it into drinking mug so as to cool it slightly and ease the tea"s bitterness.Brewing: Allow about five minutes for the tea to brew. Then pour it through a strainer into another mug.
Past warming shows gaps in climate knowledge - study
dramatic warming of the planet 55 million years ago cannot be solely explained by a surge in carbon dioxide levels, a study shows, highlighting gaps in scientists' understanding of impacts from rapid climate change.
During an event called the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, global temperatures rose between 5 and 9 degrees Celsius within several thousand years. The world at that time was already warmer than now with no surface ice.
"We now believe that the CO2 did not cause all the warming, that there were additional factors," said Richard Zeebe, an oceanographer with the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
"There may have been an initial trigger," he told Reuters on Wednesday from Hawaii. This could be a deep ocean warming that caused a catastrophic release of methane from hydrate deposits under the seabed.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas but much of it is oxidised into CO2 when it is released from hydrate deposits.
Zeebe and his colleagues estimated the amount of CO2 released during the Palaeocene-Eocene event by studying sediment cores from seabeds around the globe. Their study is published in the latest issue of Nature Geoscience.
They estimated about 3 trillion tonnes of carbon (11 trillion tonnes of CO2) was released over several thousand years from the methane deposits, leading to a 70 percent rise in atmospheric CO2 levels from pre-event levels.
But Zeebe said this could only explain a 1 to 3.5 degree Celsius rise in temperatures, adding that a commonly accepted scientific range for a doubling of CO2 is between 1.5 and 4.5 degrees Celsius.
This meant other factors must have been at work to drive up temperatures between 5 and 9 degrees Celsius.
"If this additional warming which we do not really understand, was caused as a response to the CO2 warming, then there is a chance that also a future warming could be more intense than people anticipate right now," Zeebe said.
He said the study suggested there could be atmospheric or ocean processes as yet unknown or poorly understood that might have accelerated the warming. Possibilities could be changes in ocean currents, a much larger release of methane or even greater impacts from higher CO2 levels than currently thought.
At present, CO2 levels have already risen from 280 parts per million to nearly 390 ppm since the Industrial Revolution and could exceed a 70 percent increase during this century, a rate much faster than the Palaeocene-Eocene event, Zeebe said.
While this would cause initial effects, much worse could follow in the coming decades and centuries as the oceans, land and atmosphere tried to deal with the higher CO2 levels, he said.
"The carbon that we put into the atmosphere right now is going to stay there for a very long time. Much of it will stay there for tens of thousands of years."
During an event called the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, global temperatures rose between 5 and 9 degrees Celsius within several thousand years. The world at that time was already warmer than now with no surface ice.
"We now believe that the CO2 did not cause all the warming, that there were additional factors," said Richard Zeebe, an oceanographer with the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
"There may have been an initial trigger," he told Reuters on Wednesday from Hawaii. This could be a deep ocean warming that caused a catastrophic release of methane from hydrate deposits under the seabed.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas but much of it is oxidised into CO2 when it is released from hydrate deposits.
Zeebe and his colleagues estimated the amount of CO2 released during the Palaeocene-Eocene event by studying sediment cores from seabeds around the globe. Their study is published in the latest issue of Nature Geoscience.
They estimated about 3 trillion tonnes of carbon (11 trillion tonnes of CO2) was released over several thousand years from the methane deposits, leading to a 70 percent rise in atmospheric CO2 levels from pre-event levels.
But Zeebe said this could only explain a 1 to 3.5 degree Celsius rise in temperatures, adding that a commonly accepted scientific range for a doubling of CO2 is between 1.5 and 4.5 degrees Celsius.
This meant other factors must have been at work to drive up temperatures between 5 and 9 degrees Celsius.
"If this additional warming which we do not really understand, was caused as a response to the CO2 warming, then there is a chance that also a future warming could be more intense than people anticipate right now," Zeebe said.
He said the study suggested there could be atmospheric or ocean processes as yet unknown or poorly understood that might have accelerated the warming. Possibilities could be changes in ocean currents, a much larger release of methane or even greater impacts from higher CO2 levels than currently thought.
At present, CO2 levels have already risen from 280 parts per million to nearly 390 ppm since the Industrial Revolution and could exceed a 70 percent increase during this century, a rate much faster than the Palaeocene-Eocene event, Zeebe said.
While this would cause initial effects, much worse could follow in the coming decades and centuries as the oceans, land and atmosphere tried to deal with the higher CO2 levels, he said.
"The carbon that we put into the atmosphere right now is going to stay there for a very long time. Much of it will stay there for tens of thousands of years."
Naveen calls for appropriate tech to prevent pollution
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today called upon the academia, technocrats, research institutes, professionals, mining houses, and steel makers to adopt appropriate technology, along with suitable pollution prevention and control measures, to ensure minimal adverse impact on the environment and ecology.
Addressing an international convention on ''Clean, Green and Sustainable Technologies in Iron and Steel Making'', Mr Patnaik said the increased use of clean and green technology would help us to reduce the carbon emissions and address the concern of global warming.
The Chief Minister said raw materials with intensive carbon contents that form the primary resource in steel production and mining, a prerequisite to iron and steel making, adversely affect the quality of air, water and soils.
He said Orissa had been able to attract impressive investments in steel making due to its rich mineral wealth. The state had signed 49 MoUs in the steel sector envisaging an output of 90 MTPA after the plants commissioned fully.
Mr Patnaik said the state produced 10 million tonnes of steel of different grades. The latest report of the World Bank on ''Doing business in India'' has ranked Bhubaneswar at Number three in the country beating Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad.
The Chief Minister said a strong policy framework, introduced by the state government over the past few years, ushered in an industrial revolution and promised to continue to effect reforms to reach the top place.
Addressing an international convention on ''Clean, Green and Sustainable Technologies in Iron and Steel Making'', Mr Patnaik said the increased use of clean and green technology would help us to reduce the carbon emissions and address the concern of global warming.
The Chief Minister said raw materials with intensive carbon contents that form the primary resource in steel production and mining, a prerequisite to iron and steel making, adversely affect the quality of air, water and soils.
He said Orissa had been able to attract impressive investments in steel making due to its rich mineral wealth. The state had signed 49 MoUs in the steel sector envisaging an output of 90 MTPA after the plants commissioned fully.
Mr Patnaik said the state produced 10 million tonnes of steel of different grades. The latest report of the World Bank on ''Doing business in India'' has ranked Bhubaneswar at Number three in the country beating Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad.
The Chief Minister said a strong policy framework, introduced by the state government over the past few years, ushered in an industrial revolution and promised to continue to effect reforms to reach the top place.
Global warming fuelling malaria vaccine need
Global warming has led to a rapid increase in the number of malaria cases, thereby fuelling the need for lifesaving vaccinations to those in need, says an expert.
Experts fear that the drastic changes in the climate may further increase
the number of cases in the coming years.
?Forty-one percent of the human race lives in areas of high malaria transmission,? said Dr. Sylvain Fleury, Chief Scientific Officer at Mymetics, a Swiss vaccine biotech currently developing a vaccine with the potential to control malaria in developing countries.
?Because Europe, North America, and North Asia are now significantly colder than regions of high malaria incidence, developed nations have felt immune from the malaria threat, but that sense may soon be upended,? Fleury added.
Studies have shown that even a modest temperature increase can extend the proliferation of malaria-bearing mosquitoes.
Therefore, as temperatures rise, billions of people could find themselves living in regions of high malaria incidence.
?The best way to prevent the spread of malaria into warming areas of the globe is to find a solution before the situation worsens,? said Dr. Fleury.
?If we can begin to curb the spread of malaria in high threat areas, the eventual reach of the disease will be seriously limited,? he added.
Due to global warming malaria has already returned to the areas such as
Peru that had already eradicated the disease forty years ago.
America saw 1,337 cases, including eight deaths, as recently as 2002 – the importance of developing a vaccine for the disease is becoming more and more urgent
Experts fear that the drastic changes in the climate may further increase
the number of cases in the coming years.
?Forty-one percent of the human race lives in areas of high malaria transmission,? said Dr. Sylvain Fleury, Chief Scientific Officer at Mymetics, a Swiss vaccine biotech currently developing a vaccine with the potential to control malaria in developing countries.
?Because Europe, North America, and North Asia are now significantly colder than regions of high malaria incidence, developed nations have felt immune from the malaria threat, but that sense may soon be upended,? Fleury added.
Studies have shown that even a modest temperature increase can extend the proliferation of malaria-bearing mosquitoes.
Therefore, as temperatures rise, billions of people could find themselves living in regions of high malaria incidence.
?The best way to prevent the spread of malaria into warming areas of the globe is to find a solution before the situation worsens,? said Dr. Fleury.
?If we can begin to curb the spread of malaria in high threat areas, the eventual reach of the disease will be seriously limited,? he added.
Due to global warming malaria has already returned to the areas such as
Peru that had already eradicated the disease forty years ago.
America saw 1,337 cases, including eight deaths, as recently as 2002 – the importance of developing a vaccine for the disease is becoming more and more urgent
Flat screen TVs blamed for accelerating global warming
A gas used in the making of flat screen televisions, nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), is being blamed for damaging the atmosphere and accelerating global warming.
Almost half of the televisions sold around the globe so far this year have been plasma or LCD TVs.
But this boom could be coming at a huge environmental cost.
The gas, widely used in the manufacture of flat screen TVs, is estimated to be 17,000 times as powerful as carbon dioxide.
Ironically, NF3 is not covered by the Kyoto protocol as it was only produced in tiny amounts when the treaty was signed in 1997.
Levels of this gas in the atmosphere have not been measured, but scientists say it is a concern and are calling for it to be included in any future emissions cutting agreement.
Professor Michael Prather from the University of California has highlighted the issue in an article for the magazine New Scientist.
He has told ABC's The World Today program that output of the gas needs to be measured.
"One of my titles for this paper was Going Below Kyoto's Radar. It's the kind of gas that's made in huge amounts," he said.
"Not only is it not in the Kyoto Treaty but you don't even have to report it. That's the part that worries me."
He estimates 4,000 tons of NF3 will be produced in 2008 and that number is likely to double next year.
"We don't know what's emitted, but what they're producing every year dwarfs these giant coal-fired power plants that are like the biggest in the world," he said.
"And it dwarfs two of the Kyoto gases. So the real question we don't know is how much is escaping and getting out."
Dr Paul Fraser is the chief research scientist at the CSIRO's marine and atmospheric research centre, and an IPCC author.
He says without measuring the quantity of NF3 in the atmosphere it is unclear what impact it will have on the climate.
"We haven't observed it in the atmosphere. It's probably there in very low concentrations," he said.
"The key to whether it's a problem or not is how much is released to the atmosphere."
Almost half of the televisions sold around the globe so far this year have been plasma or LCD TVs.
But this boom could be coming at a huge environmental cost.
The gas, widely used in the manufacture of flat screen TVs, is estimated to be 17,000 times as powerful as carbon dioxide.
Ironically, NF3 is not covered by the Kyoto protocol as it was only produced in tiny amounts when the treaty was signed in 1997.
Levels of this gas in the atmosphere have not been measured, but scientists say it is a concern and are calling for it to be included in any future emissions cutting agreement.
Professor Michael Prather from the University of California has highlighted the issue in an article for the magazine New Scientist.
He has told ABC's The World Today program that output of the gas needs to be measured.
"One of my titles for this paper was Going Below Kyoto's Radar. It's the kind of gas that's made in huge amounts," he said.
"Not only is it not in the Kyoto Treaty but you don't even have to report it. That's the part that worries me."
He estimates 4,000 tons of NF3 will be produced in 2008 and that number is likely to double next year.
"We don't know what's emitted, but what they're producing every year dwarfs these giant coal-fired power plants that are like the biggest in the world," he said.
"And it dwarfs two of the Kyoto gases. So the real question we don't know is how much is escaping and getting out."
Dr Paul Fraser is the chief research scientist at the CSIRO's marine and atmospheric research centre, and an IPCC author.
He says without measuring the quantity of NF3 in the atmosphere it is unclear what impact it will have on the climate.
"We haven't observed it in the atmosphere. It's probably there in very low concentrations," he said.
"The key to whether it's a problem or not is how much is released to the atmosphere."
Brother Rice H.S. Wins United Nations Foundation Global Debates
Brother Rice High School (www.brrice.edu) was selected as a winner in an international debate competition and will travel to New York City this week for a Youth Leadership Summit, July 15-18. The United Nations Foundation’s Global Debates program, which engages more than 2,000 high schools from 90 countries in climate change debates and action, will bring 150 students and teachers from seven countries to the United Nations. They will spend three days immersed in panel discussions with UN leadership, workshops on climate science from grassroots youth activists, and service with local organizations working to offset climate change in New York City. “We have been incredibly impressed by the thousands of students who took part in the 2008 and 2009 Global Debates,” said Kaitlin Barry, Director of the UN Foundation’s Campus Outreach. “It is inspiring to see students create detailed Climate Change Action Plans, debate whether or not developed nations have a higher obligation to combat global warming, and work with their communities to engage everyday people in climate action. This year’s summit will bring together the most active Global Debates schools and celebrate the enthusiasm of these impressive young leaders.”Each team participating in the Youth Leadership Summit consists of four to six students accompanied by two of their Global Debate teachers. UN Foundation Senior Advisor Gillian Sorensen and Janos Pasztor, the director of the UN’s Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team will be among the featured speakers. Youth climate activists from 350.org will help the Summit students prepare detailed grassroots organizing plans for International Day of Climate Action, which will take place on UN Day, October 24th, 2009. Lastly, partners such as Goldman Sachs and the New York Restoration project will support participants in their efforts to engage in local environmental service. “The UN-sponsored Youth Summit was the culmination of a year’s worth of experience that will carry with me through the rest of my life,” said Brother Rice sophomore Evan Hebert, who attended last year’s World Youth Summit. “Going to New York, meeting other students from around the globe with similar interests, and hearing lectures from some of the leaders in climate science were all opportunities to share my views and defend them in a forum that was both open and informative.”Brother Rice Debate Coach and Speech Teacher Nancy Lauer added: “Our guys have accumulated more than 30,000 points throughout the school year to earn this distinction among other schools. But the main thing they have learned is what it means to become active participants in making a difference in the world in which they live. It is such a wonderful experience to communicate with students from around the globe and work together.” Global Debate Winners from Rice attending this year’s Summit will be: Seniors Alex Tolksdorf, Damon Tang, Robert Armstrong and Junior William Giorgio. The top 10 U.S. schools and top six international schools who have won a trip to the Summit include: Madison Central High School, Madison, Mississippi; Brother Rice High School, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Kerr High School, Houston, Texas; Santee High School, Los Angeles, California; Northern Utah Academy for Math, Engineering & Science, Layton, Utah; Princeton High School, Princeton, Texas; Del Valle High School, Del Valle, Texas; Monsignor Kelly High School, Beaumont, Texas; Norman High School, Norman, Oklahoma, Kearney High School, Kearney, Nebraska; Prometeu-Prim, Chisinau, Moldova; Liceul Academiei de Stiinte, Straseni, Moldova; Hobby School, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Secondary School of Mathematics “Baba Tonka,” Rousse, Bulgaria; CheongShim International, Gyeonggi-do, Korea; Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar, Mantin, Malaysia. For more information about the UN Foundation’s Global Debates and Youth Leadership Summit, visit http://www.unfoundation.org/our-impact/engaging-youth/the-global-debates.html.About the UN Foundation The United Nations Foundation is an advocate for the UN and a platform for connecting people, ideas, and capital to help the United Nations solve global problems. We build partnerships, grow constituencies, mobilize resources and advocate policy changes to support the UN’s work for individual and global progress. The UN Foundation’s work - focused on select global problems - is decreasing child mortality, improving disaster relief, protecting diverse cultures and environments, creating a clean energy future, empowering women and girls, and improving U.S.-UN relations. About Brother Rice Brother Rice High School is a private, fully accredited, four-year Catholic College Preparatory school for young men. Brother Rice was founded in 1960 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers of Irelan
Past warming shows gaps in climate knowledge - study
A dramatic warming of the planet 55 million years ago cannot be solely explained by a surge in carbon dioxide levels, a study shows, highlighting gaps in scientists' understanding of impacts from rapid climate change.
During an event called the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, global temperatures rose between 5 and 9 degrees Celsius within several thousand years. The world at that time was already warmer than now with no surface ice.
"We now believe that the CO2 did not cause all the warming, that there were additional factors," said Richard Zeebe, an oceanographer with the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
"There may have been an initial trigger," he told Reuters on Wednesday from Hawaii. This could be a deep ocean warming that caused a catastrophic release of methane from hydrate deposits under the seabed.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas but much of it is oxidised into CO2 when it is released from hydrate deposits.
Zeebe and his colleagues estimated the amount of CO2 released during the Palaeocene-Eocene event by studying sediment cores from seabeds around the globe. Their study is published in the latest issue of Nature Geoscience.
They estimated about 3 trillion tonnes of carbon (11 trillion tonnes of CO2) was released over several thousand years from the methane deposits, leading to a 70 percent rise in atmospheric CO2 levels from pre-event levels.
But Zeebe said this could only explain a 1 to 3.5 degree Celsius rise in temperatures, adding that a commonly accepted scientific range for a doubling of CO2 is between 1.5 and 4.5 degrees Celsius.
This meant other factors must have been at work to drive up temperatures between 5 and 9 degrees Celsius.
"If this additional warming which we do not really understand, was caused as a response to the CO2 warming, then there is a chance that also a future warming could be more intense than people anticipate right now," Zeebe said.
He said the study suggested there could be atmospheric or ocean processes as yet unknown or poorly understood that might have accelerated the warming. Possibilities could be changes in ocean currents, a much larger release of methane or even greater impacts from higher CO2 levels than currently thought.
At present, CO2 levels have already risen from 280 parts per million to nearly 390 ppm since the Industrial Revolution and could exceed a 70 percent increase during this century, a rate much faster than the Palaeocene-Eocene event, Zeebe said.
While this would cause initial effects, much worse could follow in the coming decades and centuries as the oceans, land and atmosphere tried to deal with the higher CO2 levels, he said.
"The carbon that we put into the atmosphere right now is going to stay there for a very long time. Much of it will stay there for tens of thousands of years."
During an event called the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, global temperatures rose between 5 and 9 degrees Celsius within several thousand years. The world at that time was already warmer than now with no surface ice.
"We now believe that the CO2 did not cause all the warming, that there were additional factors," said Richard Zeebe, an oceanographer with the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
"There may have been an initial trigger," he told Reuters on Wednesday from Hawaii. This could be a deep ocean warming that caused a catastrophic release of methane from hydrate deposits under the seabed.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas but much of it is oxidised into CO2 when it is released from hydrate deposits.
Zeebe and his colleagues estimated the amount of CO2 released during the Palaeocene-Eocene event by studying sediment cores from seabeds around the globe. Their study is published in the latest issue of Nature Geoscience.
They estimated about 3 trillion tonnes of carbon (11 trillion tonnes of CO2) was released over several thousand years from the methane deposits, leading to a 70 percent rise in atmospheric CO2 levels from pre-event levels.
But Zeebe said this could only explain a 1 to 3.5 degree Celsius rise in temperatures, adding that a commonly accepted scientific range for a doubling of CO2 is between 1.5 and 4.5 degrees Celsius.
This meant other factors must have been at work to drive up temperatures between 5 and 9 degrees Celsius.
"If this additional warming which we do not really understand, was caused as a response to the CO2 warming, then there is a chance that also a future warming could be more intense than people anticipate right now," Zeebe said.
He said the study suggested there could be atmospheric or ocean processes as yet unknown or poorly understood that might have accelerated the warming. Possibilities could be changes in ocean currents, a much larger release of methane or even greater impacts from higher CO2 levels than currently thought.
At present, CO2 levels have already risen from 280 parts per million to nearly 390 ppm since the Industrial Revolution and could exceed a 70 percent increase during this century, a rate much faster than the Palaeocene-Eocene event, Zeebe said.
While this would cause initial effects, much worse could follow in the coming decades and centuries as the oceans, land and atmosphere tried to deal with the higher CO2 levels, he said.
"The carbon that we put into the atmosphere right now is going to stay there for a very long time. Much of it will stay there for tens of thousands of years."
Biobutanol Creeps Toward the Market
A type of fuel once used in Japanese aircraft during World War II is slowly making its way again toward the market, and its backers say that it will work better in automobiles than ethanol
DuPont and BP hope to produce the fuel, called biobutanol, on a commercial scale starting in 2013. They are currently testing it in Britain, where a demonstration-scale plant should start operations at the end of next year, according to Nick Fanandakis of DuPont’s applied biociences division.
A BP-DuPont takeover of an American biobutanol maker received regulatory approval from the European Commission last week.
The fuel — butyl alcohol derived from plant materials rather than fossil fuels — is being pursued by other companies as well. Last November a private equity company, Patriarch Partners, purchased a disused pulp mill in Maine, with the purpose of refitting it to produce biobutanol derived from maple, birch and beech tree chips.
Construction is expected to start early next year, with production of the fuel to begin in 2011, according to Dick Arnold, who manages the Old Town Fuel and Fiber mill.
Compared with ethanol, “Butanol is a superior fuel in many respects, whether it’s from a handling standpoint or from a usage standpoint or even a chemical standpoint,” said Mr. Arnold. “It’s a higher-grade fuel.”
Its backers say that butanol has a higher energy content than ethanol (Dupont plans to produce fuel with 30 percent more energy than ethanol). It is also easier to transport — unlike ethanol, it can go through pipelines.
The catch is that biobutanol has always been very expensive to produce (which is why it was abandoned after widespread use in the first half of the 20th century). DuPont says it has a new way of making biobutanol, using a microbe. “We will be at a cost-equivalent of ethanol on an energy basis,” predicted Mr. Fanandakis.
Ron Lamberty of the American Coalition for Ethanol said that currently biobutanol’s fuel yield per bushel of corn is currently less than half that of ethanol. But even if biobutanol is able to scale, he saw no competition between it and ethanol. “I guess I see all of these technologies as part of the strategy of making us more energy-independent,” he said.
To be sure, even after it is produced in reasonable volumes, biobutanol faces plenty of regulatory hurdles. It must get approval from the Environmental Protection Agency for use in the United States. The agency must certify that it produces 50 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions on a “lifecycle” basis than regular gasoline, according to Mr. Fanandakis.
DuPont and BP hope to produce the fuel, called biobutanol, on a commercial scale starting in 2013. They are currently testing it in Britain, where a demonstration-scale plant should start operations at the end of next year, according to Nick Fanandakis of DuPont’s applied biociences division.
A BP-DuPont takeover of an American biobutanol maker received regulatory approval from the European Commission last week.
The fuel — butyl alcohol derived from plant materials rather than fossil fuels — is being pursued by other companies as well. Last November a private equity company, Patriarch Partners, purchased a disused pulp mill in Maine, with the purpose of refitting it to produce biobutanol derived from maple, birch and beech tree chips.
Construction is expected to start early next year, with production of the fuel to begin in 2011, according to Dick Arnold, who manages the Old Town Fuel and Fiber mill.
Compared with ethanol, “Butanol is a superior fuel in many respects, whether it’s from a handling standpoint or from a usage standpoint or even a chemical standpoint,” said Mr. Arnold. “It’s a higher-grade fuel.”
Its backers say that butanol has a higher energy content than ethanol (Dupont plans to produce fuel with 30 percent more energy than ethanol). It is also easier to transport — unlike ethanol, it can go through pipelines.
The catch is that biobutanol has always been very expensive to produce (which is why it was abandoned after widespread use in the first half of the 20th century). DuPont says it has a new way of making biobutanol, using a microbe. “We will be at a cost-equivalent of ethanol on an energy basis,” predicted Mr. Fanandakis.
Ron Lamberty of the American Coalition for Ethanol said that currently biobutanol’s fuel yield per bushel of corn is currently less than half that of ethanol. But even if biobutanol is able to scale, he saw no competition between it and ethanol. “I guess I see all of these technologies as part of the strategy of making us more energy-independent,” he said.
To be sure, even after it is produced in reasonable volumes, biobutanol faces plenty of regulatory hurdles. It must get approval from the Environmental Protection Agency for use in the United States. The agency must certify that it produces 50 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions on a “lifecycle” basis than regular gasoline, according to Mr. Fanandakis.
Economy in China Regains Robust Pace of Growth
Fueled by a massive economic stimulus package and aggressive bank lending, China’s economy grew by 7.9 percent in the second quarter of this year, the government said Thursday, a surprisingly strong showing during the global economic downturn.
The gross domestic product figures, released Thursday by the National Statistics Bureau in Beijing, suggest the country’s stimulus policies are working and that the government will meet the 8 percent growth target it set early in the year, analysts say.
While most other major economies are in recession or struggling with anemic growth, China appears to have turned a corner following a sharp slowdown at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, when the pace of growth in the country was cut in half.
“This is a stunning recovery,” said Andy Rothman, an economist at the brokerage firm CLSA in Shanghai. “And it’s also not just the government money fueling the recovery. The private sector is also recovering, and that’s the key.”
After growing at a torrid pace of nearly 13 percent late in 2007, China’s growth dipped to 6.1 percent in the first quarter of this year, the slowest pace in a decade. Some analysts suspect growth during that period was even slower.
But in recent weeks, analysts say they have begun to see signs of robust growth in the Chinese economy, including strong car and property sales, soaring commodity prices, long lines at ports and huge infrastructure projects.
“Demand for steel has rallied strongly in the last six months,” said Jim Lennon, a London-based steel analyst at Macquarie Securities. “Many Chinese steel producers are now operating at full capacity. The Chinese are the only growth market for steel.”
While many countries may be relying on government-funded stimulus projects, China has turned to its state-owned banks, which have already made more than $1 trillion in loans this year.
“This recovery is much more reliant on bank lending,” said Wang Tao, the chief China economist at UBS Securities. “In the last few months, the bank lending has been massive — beyond anyone’s imagination.”
Analysts say the dynamics of the economy have begun to shift slightly this year, away from the once-booming coastal provinces and toward less developed regions in central and western China.
But some analysts remain skeptical about China’s statistics, questioning whether the government is releasing overly rosy figures and masking serious troubles in the economy.
After dropping sharply in the early part of this year, exports have stabilized. But they are still struggling, analysts say. Analysts also point to weak electricity consumption figures and meager foreign investment as indications that growth may not be as strong as reported in official data.
But many analysts say there are more signs of strength than of weakness, and that record bank lending is filtering through the economy and helping drive growth.
“This is probably the only major economy in the world where manufacturing employment is rising,” said Mr. Rothman of CLSA.
Most analysts are now forecasting strong growth for the second half of this year, at close to 9 percent from a year earlier. But there are risks emerging too.
The government has already warned about wasteful government-spending projects, the possibility that overly aggressive lending could lead to a sharp increase in nonperforming loans and the threat of asset bubbles and inflation.
Property prices are skyrocketing again in some parts of the country.
And Shanghai’s stock market is up nearly 70 percent this year, after a huge drop last year.
Some experts say the stock market has been propped up partly by state-owned companies that are once again speculating on stocks rather than investing in their businesses.
The government and many analysts are also worried about asset price inflation and the possibility that aggressive lending from state-owned banks will result in a raft of nonperforming loans in the coming years.
“There are the two biggest worries for the government,” said Ms. Wang of UBS Securities. “It’s impossible to make so many loans in such a short period and not have problems. Two or three years down the road, nonperforming loans could be a serious problem.”
The gross domestic product figures, released Thursday by the National Statistics Bureau in Beijing, suggest the country’s stimulus policies are working and that the government will meet the 8 percent growth target it set early in the year, analysts say.
While most other major economies are in recession or struggling with anemic growth, China appears to have turned a corner following a sharp slowdown at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, when the pace of growth in the country was cut in half.
“This is a stunning recovery,” said Andy Rothman, an economist at the brokerage firm CLSA in Shanghai. “And it’s also not just the government money fueling the recovery. The private sector is also recovering, and that’s the key.”
After growing at a torrid pace of nearly 13 percent late in 2007, China’s growth dipped to 6.1 percent in the first quarter of this year, the slowest pace in a decade. Some analysts suspect growth during that period was even slower.
But in recent weeks, analysts say they have begun to see signs of robust growth in the Chinese economy, including strong car and property sales, soaring commodity prices, long lines at ports and huge infrastructure projects.
“Demand for steel has rallied strongly in the last six months,” said Jim Lennon, a London-based steel analyst at Macquarie Securities. “Many Chinese steel producers are now operating at full capacity. The Chinese are the only growth market for steel.”
While many countries may be relying on government-funded stimulus projects, China has turned to its state-owned banks, which have already made more than $1 trillion in loans this year.
“This recovery is much more reliant on bank lending,” said Wang Tao, the chief China economist at UBS Securities. “In the last few months, the bank lending has been massive — beyond anyone’s imagination.”
Analysts say the dynamics of the economy have begun to shift slightly this year, away from the once-booming coastal provinces and toward less developed regions in central and western China.
But some analysts remain skeptical about China’s statistics, questioning whether the government is releasing overly rosy figures and masking serious troubles in the economy.
After dropping sharply in the early part of this year, exports have stabilized. But they are still struggling, analysts say. Analysts also point to weak electricity consumption figures and meager foreign investment as indications that growth may not be as strong as reported in official data.
But many analysts say there are more signs of strength than of weakness, and that record bank lending is filtering through the economy and helping drive growth.
“This is probably the only major economy in the world where manufacturing employment is rising,” said Mr. Rothman of CLSA.
Most analysts are now forecasting strong growth for the second half of this year, at close to 9 percent from a year earlier. But there are risks emerging too.
The government has already warned about wasteful government-spending projects, the possibility that overly aggressive lending could lead to a sharp increase in nonperforming loans and the threat of asset bubbles and inflation.
Property prices are skyrocketing again in some parts of the country.
And Shanghai’s stock market is up nearly 70 percent this year, after a huge drop last year.
Some experts say the stock market has been propped up partly by state-owned companies that are once again speculating on stocks rather than investing in their businesses.
The government and many analysts are also worried about asset price inflation and the possibility that aggressive lending from state-owned banks will result in a raft of nonperforming loans in the coming years.
“There are the two biggest worries for the government,” said Ms. Wang of UBS Securities. “It’s impossible to make so many loans in such a short period and not have problems. Two or three years down the road, nonperforming loans could be a serious problem.”
JPMorgan Earnings Soar as It Finds Profit in Slump
Even as it weathers the worst economic downturn in decades, JPMorgan Chase on Thursday announced a $2.7 billion second-quarter profit from stellar trading and investment banking results.
The strong showing may put to rest some worries that the bank was allowed to pay back its $25 billion taxpayer investment too early, after it passed the Treasury Department’s stress test in May. But its quick resurgence in earnings, along with Goldman Sachs’s announcement of a $3.4 billion quarterly profit on Tuesday, is bound to raise fresh concerns about soaring pay levels and growing influence in Washington.
JPMorgan is emerging with renewed confidence, taking advantage of the financial crisis to vault ahead of longtime rivals in investment banking and grab market share in mortgages and retail banking. Jamie Dimon, the chief executive, has cemented his status as one of America’s most powerful and outspoken bankers. And after acquiring the retail bank Washington Mutual last fall, revenue from its new branches is starting to pad its earnings.
Even so, its consumer lending businesses have been battered by the recession. JPMorgan will set aside another $2 billion this quarter to cover future losses, bringing the total amount of money it has socked away to more than $30 billion. Credit card charge-offs have doubled from a year ago, to more than 10 percent of all loans, and will probably wipe out profits in both this year and next. Mortgage and home equity losses continued to climb, though there are some tentative signs that fewer borrowers are falling behind on the payments.
“We don’t know if it is going to sustain itself, but it could have good implications that we are getting nearer to the end,” said Michael J. Cavanagh, JPMorgan’s chief financial officer, during a conference call with analysts on Thursday. Still, he cautioned the economy remains weak and that job losses keep rising; it could be at least two more quarters before the bank stops adding to reserves.
“Nobody is through this until unemployment turns around,” said Moshe Orenbach, a Credit Suisse banking analyst. Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo face similar challenges when they report their results over the next week. So will scores of smaller, regional and community lenders.
But from its perch as one of the best-managed and most diversified banks, JPMorgan remains an important industry bellwether. JPMorgan said net income in the April-June period rose 36 percent from a year earlier, to $2.7 billion, or 28 cents a share. That compared to the $2.0 billion, or 53 cents a share, it posted a year ago during the early days of the crisis and was better than the 4 cents a share analysts surveyed by Reuters had expected. Revenue soared 39 percent from a year earlier to $25.6 billion.
But the second quarter results include many unusual items, including a $773 million accounting loss tied to an improvement in the bank’s credit spreads. It also took a $419 million after-tax charge after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation imposed a special assessment and a $1.1 billion charge on the money it received from the Trouble Asset Relief Program, or TARP. After passing the stress test with flying colors, the bank was deemed healthy enough to repay the taxpayer money in June. Few banks have undergone such a turnaround. Only a few years ago, JPMorgan had been struggling after years of poor management and a failure to digest a series of big acquisitions. But under Mr. Dimon, the bank cut costs and strengthened its balance sheet.
The payoff came last year. With the industry teetering on the verge of collapse, JPMorgan snapped up Bear Stearns in March and Washington Mutual last fall in two government-assisted transactions. Corporate clients say that its growing dominance has given it more leverage to charge for lending and other financial services.
It has also emboldened Mr. Dimon and his management team. After aggressively lobbying to repay the taxpayer money, Mr. Dimon has recently been driving a hard bargain over the repurchase of warrants the government received last fall. JPMorgan is now planning to let the Treasury Department auction off the warrants to private investors after the two sides failed to agree on a price.
Mr. Dimon is also gearing up for a series of battles in Washington. One is over tighter regulations for derivatives, a business where the bank generates lucrative fees as one of the industry’s largest players. Another is the establishment of a new consumer protection agency, which could threaten the profitability of the bank’s mortgage lending and credit card businesses if it introduces tougher regulations.
But in the second quarter, JPMorgan’s investment bank drove its stand-out earnings. Its bankers posted record revenues from helping other financial companies raise capital following the stress test results in May. Traders took advantage of big market swings and less competition to post big gains in fixed-income and equities.
The bank had record investment banking revenue of $7.3 billion. Globally, JPMorgan’s equity capital markets business led all contenders in the first half, rising from third place last year at the expense of Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, with $1.3 billion of revenue and a 14.5 percent share of the market, according to Dealogic data. Goldman Sachs rose to second place, with a 9.9 percent market share, from fourth place.
Chase’s consumer businesses have come under pressure as job losses mount. Over all, retail financial services posted a $15 million profit after setting aside more money as mortgage losses balloon, compared with a profit of $503 million in the period a year earlier.
Retail banking reported net income of $970 million, up from $674 million in the period a year earlier, while losses in the consumer lending businesses ballooned to $955 million, from a net loss of $171 million a year earlier, amid mounting unemployment. Card services, meanwhile, posted a $672 million loss, compared with a year-earlier profit of $250 million, as more cardholders default and revenue falls with the introduction of new rules designed to protect consumers. Mr. Dimon said on a conference call with journalists that the credit card business was unlikely to be profitable in 2009 or 2010.
Excluding the Washington Mutual portfolio, the net charge-off rate on credit cards, a measure of losses, surged to 8.97 percent in the second quarter, up from 6.86 percent in the first quarter.
The bank said in a presentation on its Web site that losses at Chase’s card services unit could reach 10 percent this year, while losses on Washington Mutual’s card portfolio would near 24 percent by the end of 2009.
Total loan-loss reserves rose to $29.1 billion, from $27.4 billion.
The bank said its tier-1 capital ratio, a measure of financial strength, stood at 9.7 percent.
nytimes
The strong showing may put to rest some worries that the bank was allowed to pay back its $25 billion taxpayer investment too early, after it passed the Treasury Department’s stress test in May. But its quick resurgence in earnings, along with Goldman Sachs’s announcement of a $3.4 billion quarterly profit on Tuesday, is bound to raise fresh concerns about soaring pay levels and growing influence in Washington.
JPMorgan is emerging with renewed confidence, taking advantage of the financial crisis to vault ahead of longtime rivals in investment banking and grab market share in mortgages and retail banking. Jamie Dimon, the chief executive, has cemented his status as one of America’s most powerful and outspoken bankers. And after acquiring the retail bank Washington Mutual last fall, revenue from its new branches is starting to pad its earnings.
Even so, its consumer lending businesses have been battered by the recession. JPMorgan will set aside another $2 billion this quarter to cover future losses, bringing the total amount of money it has socked away to more than $30 billion. Credit card charge-offs have doubled from a year ago, to more than 10 percent of all loans, and will probably wipe out profits in both this year and next. Mortgage and home equity losses continued to climb, though there are some tentative signs that fewer borrowers are falling behind on the payments.
“We don’t know if it is going to sustain itself, but it could have good implications that we are getting nearer to the end,” said Michael J. Cavanagh, JPMorgan’s chief financial officer, during a conference call with analysts on Thursday. Still, he cautioned the economy remains weak and that job losses keep rising; it could be at least two more quarters before the bank stops adding to reserves.
“Nobody is through this until unemployment turns around,” said Moshe Orenbach, a Credit Suisse banking analyst. Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo face similar challenges when they report their results over the next week. So will scores of smaller, regional and community lenders.
But from its perch as one of the best-managed and most diversified banks, JPMorgan remains an important industry bellwether. JPMorgan said net income in the April-June period rose 36 percent from a year earlier, to $2.7 billion, or 28 cents a share. That compared to the $2.0 billion, or 53 cents a share, it posted a year ago during the early days of the crisis and was better than the 4 cents a share analysts surveyed by Reuters had expected. Revenue soared 39 percent from a year earlier to $25.6 billion.
But the second quarter results include many unusual items, including a $773 million accounting loss tied to an improvement in the bank’s credit spreads. It also took a $419 million after-tax charge after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation imposed a special assessment and a $1.1 billion charge on the money it received from the Trouble Asset Relief Program, or TARP. After passing the stress test with flying colors, the bank was deemed healthy enough to repay the taxpayer money in June. Few banks have undergone such a turnaround. Only a few years ago, JPMorgan had been struggling after years of poor management and a failure to digest a series of big acquisitions. But under Mr. Dimon, the bank cut costs and strengthened its balance sheet.
The payoff came last year. With the industry teetering on the verge of collapse, JPMorgan snapped up Bear Stearns in March and Washington Mutual last fall in two government-assisted transactions. Corporate clients say that its growing dominance has given it more leverage to charge for lending and other financial services.
It has also emboldened Mr. Dimon and his management team. After aggressively lobbying to repay the taxpayer money, Mr. Dimon has recently been driving a hard bargain over the repurchase of warrants the government received last fall. JPMorgan is now planning to let the Treasury Department auction off the warrants to private investors after the two sides failed to agree on a price.
Mr. Dimon is also gearing up for a series of battles in Washington. One is over tighter regulations for derivatives, a business where the bank generates lucrative fees as one of the industry’s largest players. Another is the establishment of a new consumer protection agency, which could threaten the profitability of the bank’s mortgage lending and credit card businesses if it introduces tougher regulations.
But in the second quarter, JPMorgan’s investment bank drove its stand-out earnings. Its bankers posted record revenues from helping other financial companies raise capital following the stress test results in May. Traders took advantage of big market swings and less competition to post big gains in fixed-income and equities.
The bank had record investment banking revenue of $7.3 billion. Globally, JPMorgan’s equity capital markets business led all contenders in the first half, rising from third place last year at the expense of Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, with $1.3 billion of revenue and a 14.5 percent share of the market, according to Dealogic data. Goldman Sachs rose to second place, with a 9.9 percent market share, from fourth place.
Chase’s consumer businesses have come under pressure as job losses mount. Over all, retail financial services posted a $15 million profit after setting aside more money as mortgage losses balloon, compared with a profit of $503 million in the period a year earlier.
Retail banking reported net income of $970 million, up from $674 million in the period a year earlier, while losses in the consumer lending businesses ballooned to $955 million, from a net loss of $171 million a year earlier, amid mounting unemployment. Card services, meanwhile, posted a $672 million loss, compared with a year-earlier profit of $250 million, as more cardholders default and revenue falls with the introduction of new rules designed to protect consumers. Mr. Dimon said on a conference call with journalists that the credit card business was unlikely to be profitable in 2009 or 2010.
Excluding the Washington Mutual portfolio, the net charge-off rate on credit cards, a measure of losses, surged to 8.97 percent in the second quarter, up from 6.86 percent in the first quarter.
The bank said in a presentation on its Web site that losses at Chase’s card services unit could reach 10 percent this year, while losses on Washington Mutual’s card portfolio would near 24 percent by the end of 2009.
Total loan-loss reserves rose to $29.1 billion, from $27.4 billion.
The bank said its tier-1 capital ratio, a measure of financial strength, stood at 9.7 percent.
nytimes
U.S. June retail sales rise 0.6%, and inflation exceeds expectations
Higher gasoline prices helped boost June retail sales 0.6% compared with the previous month, the government said Tuesday, but economists worried that prices at the pump would dampen consumers' discretionary spending in the long run. Sales at gas stations rose 5% in June compared with May, the biggest increase of any category. The price of gas went from $2.50 a gallon to nearly $2.64 in June before moderating at the end of the month.
That's actually a bad thing," said Paul Ashworth, senior U.S. economist for Capital Economics. "It's not like consumers are getting any more for their money. It's just costing them more to fill up their vehicle." Wholesale inflation, meanwhile, came in twice the level analysts expected for June, according to a separate government report. The producer price index rose 1.8%, driven by higher fuel prices.
Even excluding volatile food and energy prices, the index rose 0.5%, compared to a 0.1% drop in May and a forecasted rise of 0.1%. The numbers are consistent with other data in recent months that suggest that the economy is not entering into a dangerous process of deflation, in which falling prices lead people to pull back on spending in a self-reinforcing cycle. Retail sales are vital to the nation's economic health, because consumer spending accounts for roughly 70% of the gross domestic product. June marked the second consecutive month of growth, but sales remain 9% below the same month last year. Auto sales had the second-biggest increase, at 2.3%. Electronics and appliance stores also made gains last month, up 0.9%, after struggling to persuade shoppers to buy such big-ticket items as flat-panel TVs. Sporting goods stores also rose 0.9%, and supermarkets inched up 0.2%. But department stores continued to struggle, with sales dropping 1.3%, the largest decline of any category. The report "suggests that real consumer spending continues to stabilize, but is not yet on a firm recovery path," said Patrick Newport, a U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight. Discounting the effect of autos, gas and restaurants, retail sales declined 0.2% in June from the previous month, according to an analysis by the National Retail Federation, a trade group.Its chief economist, Rosalind Wells, said consumers continue to be constrained by the rising unemployment rate and uncertainty about the prospects of recovery. "Although several economic indicators are starting to show signs of improvement, it is going to take a few more months -- maybe longer -- for people to feel comfortable spending again," she said. Industry experts said retailers must remain on guard. According to an analysis by Goldman Sachs and the International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade group, sales at the country's biggest chain stores fell 0.9% last week compared with the previous week. Cooler weather and sparse inventory dragged down the results. "Mother Nature was not kind," said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist for the shopping centers group. "July will likely be another tough month."
That's actually a bad thing," said Paul Ashworth, senior U.S. economist for Capital Economics. "It's not like consumers are getting any more for their money. It's just costing them more to fill up their vehicle." Wholesale inflation, meanwhile, came in twice the level analysts expected for June, according to a separate government report. The producer price index rose 1.8%, driven by higher fuel prices.
Even excluding volatile food and energy prices, the index rose 0.5%, compared to a 0.1% drop in May and a forecasted rise of 0.1%. The numbers are consistent with other data in recent months that suggest that the economy is not entering into a dangerous process of deflation, in which falling prices lead people to pull back on spending in a self-reinforcing cycle. Retail sales are vital to the nation's economic health, because consumer spending accounts for roughly 70% of the gross domestic product. June marked the second consecutive month of growth, but sales remain 9% below the same month last year. Auto sales had the second-biggest increase, at 2.3%. Electronics and appliance stores also made gains last month, up 0.9%, after struggling to persuade shoppers to buy such big-ticket items as flat-panel TVs. Sporting goods stores also rose 0.9%, and supermarkets inched up 0.2%. But department stores continued to struggle, with sales dropping 1.3%, the largest decline of any category. The report "suggests that real consumer spending continues to stabilize, but is not yet on a firm recovery path," said Patrick Newport, a U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight. Discounting the effect of autos, gas and restaurants, retail sales declined 0.2% in June from the previous month, according to an analysis by the National Retail Federation, a trade group.Its chief economist, Rosalind Wells, said consumers continue to be constrained by the rising unemployment rate and uncertainty about the prospects of recovery. "Although several economic indicators are starting to show signs of improvement, it is going to take a few more months -- maybe longer -- for people to feel comfortable spending again," she said. Industry experts said retailers must remain on guard. According to an analysis by Goldman Sachs and the International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade group, sales at the country's biggest chain stores fell 0.9% last week compared with the previous week. Cooler weather and sparse inventory dragged down the results. "Mother Nature was not kind," said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist for the shopping centers group. "July will likely be another tough month."
Reflective roof paint repels the heat
On bright days, the rooftop of the Anaheim Hilton is so blindingly white that it looks like a mirror positioned directly at the sun. That dazzling glare might just be the greenest thing to happen to the top of a building since solar panels.The white coating deflects nearly 85% of the heat that hits it, reducing the surface temperature by as much as 50 degrees. That means less energy is needed to cool the hotel's interior, cutting air-conditioning costs and carbon emissions.
This is no ordinary coat of paint. Designed by an 82-year-old former military scientist from the Inland Empire, the tinted topcoat is filled with tiny hollow glass balls that deflect heat, layered over a waterproof undercoat made of recycled rubber.The Hilton spent more than $150,000 on the project, which was completed in March. That's $300,000 less than the cost of a conventional repair to the old, leaky roof, said Jerome Annaloro, director of property operations at the hotel. If the reflective material cuts utility costs this summer the way management anticipates it will, Annaloro said, he will recommend white roofs for the entire Hilton chain."I was skeptical at first . . . but the product spoke for itself," he said. "It's a win-win."
Americans spend about $40 billion a year to cool buildings, according to U.S. government figures. So-called cool roofs are being touted as a simple, inexpensive way of lowering surface temperatures on the tops of structures by as much as 100 degrees, cutting operating costs and slowing climate change.Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize winner in physics, recently called for all roofs to be painted white to promote saving energy. Some scientists suggest that covering dark tar roofs with light-colored coatings could help mitigate the "urban heat island" effect. Development has raised temperatures markedly in many cities, leading to more energy use and smog as well as greater numbers of deaths during heat waves, experts said.But it will take more than the Hilton to make a dent."To change an entire city and save energy all the way around, you need to get to a critical mass," said Scot Horst, senior vice president of the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system. "One or two buildings doesn't make that big of a difference."Mass implementation of cool roofs in the 100 largest cities would offset 44 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, or the equivalent of taking 600 million cars off the road for 18 years, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found last year. Some cities, including Chicago, already have ordinances that require light-colored roofs.Skeptics say white roofs aren't always the eco-friendly panacea they're sometimes made out to be. The reflective component is most effective in sun-saturated regions like the Southwest. And it could lead to higher heating bills in the winter because the sun's warmth can't permeate the roof.Still, the niche is booming. The Energy Department and U.S. Green Building Council are pushing cool roofs to consumers and developers. Entrepreneurs are developing a host of new products using metal, ceramic tile, reflective paints and coatings and even rooftop gardens to beat the heat. Among them is Ronald R. Savin of Rancho Mirage, a serial inventor and holder of nearly 20 patents, who developed the paint atop the Anaheim Hilton.An engineer and retired Air Force colonel who spent much of his military career creating coatings for spacecraft and airplanes, Savin started his own paint company in 1957 and later sold it to a British conglomerate. He slowed down a bit when he reached his 70s, spending more time collecting first-edition books and ornate clocks and less time tinkering.Then, three years ago, he saw a program on the History Channel about recycled rubber. Inspired, he returned to his lab and spent six months experimenting before making a breakthrough on a new paint.His Hyperglass top coat is designed like a Rice Krispies treat. Glass "microspheres," which are used to lighten airplane parts and bowling balls, are suspended in a paint that includes Teflon. The whiter the titanium dioxide tint, the more heat bounces off.Underneath, his Hyperflex primer serves as an insulation layer that also helps prevent water damage and erosion. And because it uses powdered recycled rubber, it helps address another thorny environmental issue: the millions of tires discarded annually in the U.S.The paint could spawn "such a violent change in the paint industry that they won't know what to do," Savin said.Hyperseal paints are free of harmful volatile organic compounds known as VOCs and are relatively cheap to produce, but the company's Palm Desert factory can make only 5 million gallons a year. Most large projects, such as bridges, require several hundred million gallons, Savin said. So he's looking to license his formula to other companies.He'll have plenty of competition. Big players including Sherwin-Williams Co. and Benjamin Moore & Co. are also debuting eco-friendly paints.Still, Savin's product is winning a following. In addition to the Hilton and the roofs of dozens of homes, the rubberized undercoat now covers a large swath of pavement outside a Palm Desert Wal-Mart.He also hopes to expand the use of the paint to other structures such as shipping cargo containers and dams to prevent rust.Rancho Mirage resident David Baron credits Hyperseal paint with helping him cut his $2,500-a-month summer electricity bill by more than half. Living without air conditioning in 110-degree heat just wasn't an option."I gave it a shot because I was looking for anything to help," said Baron, who spent $10,000 to cover the roof of his 5,600-square-foot house. "We're talking huge energy savings. This will pay for itself in a year or two."It's those kind of stories that keep the octogenarian Savin going. He claims to sometimes test new batches at 3 a.m. His house is beset with swipes of paint -- on the rusted gate, on labeled bricks by the pool. The mulch around an outdoor fountain consists of recycled rubber chunks.His laundry room is a makeshift lab, where paint spackles the washer and dryer and rubber blackens the sink. Even the parking lot at the 15,000-square-foot factory is checkered with paint."He ran out of room at his own house," said Loch Jones, Hyperseal Inc.'s director of marketing. "If you're a friend of the colonel's, watch your driveway."
This is no ordinary coat of paint. Designed by an 82-year-old former military scientist from the Inland Empire, the tinted topcoat is filled with tiny hollow glass balls that deflect heat, layered over a waterproof undercoat made of recycled rubber.The Hilton spent more than $150,000 on the project, which was completed in March. That's $300,000 less than the cost of a conventional repair to the old, leaky roof, said Jerome Annaloro, director of property operations at the hotel. If the reflective material cuts utility costs this summer the way management anticipates it will, Annaloro said, he will recommend white roofs for the entire Hilton chain."I was skeptical at first . . . but the product spoke for itself," he said. "It's a win-win."
Americans spend about $40 billion a year to cool buildings, according to U.S. government figures. So-called cool roofs are being touted as a simple, inexpensive way of lowering surface temperatures on the tops of structures by as much as 100 degrees, cutting operating costs and slowing climate change.Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize winner in physics, recently called for all roofs to be painted white to promote saving energy. Some scientists suggest that covering dark tar roofs with light-colored coatings could help mitigate the "urban heat island" effect. Development has raised temperatures markedly in many cities, leading to more energy use and smog as well as greater numbers of deaths during heat waves, experts said.But it will take more than the Hilton to make a dent."To change an entire city and save energy all the way around, you need to get to a critical mass," said Scot Horst, senior vice president of the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system. "One or two buildings doesn't make that big of a difference."Mass implementation of cool roofs in the 100 largest cities would offset 44 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, or the equivalent of taking 600 million cars off the road for 18 years, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found last year. Some cities, including Chicago, already have ordinances that require light-colored roofs.Skeptics say white roofs aren't always the eco-friendly panacea they're sometimes made out to be. The reflective component is most effective in sun-saturated regions like the Southwest. And it could lead to higher heating bills in the winter because the sun's warmth can't permeate the roof.Still, the niche is booming. The Energy Department and U.S. Green Building Council are pushing cool roofs to consumers and developers. Entrepreneurs are developing a host of new products using metal, ceramic tile, reflective paints and coatings and even rooftop gardens to beat the heat. Among them is Ronald R. Savin of Rancho Mirage, a serial inventor and holder of nearly 20 patents, who developed the paint atop the Anaheim Hilton.An engineer and retired Air Force colonel who spent much of his military career creating coatings for spacecraft and airplanes, Savin started his own paint company in 1957 and later sold it to a British conglomerate. He slowed down a bit when he reached his 70s, spending more time collecting first-edition books and ornate clocks and less time tinkering.Then, three years ago, he saw a program on the History Channel about recycled rubber. Inspired, he returned to his lab and spent six months experimenting before making a breakthrough on a new paint.His Hyperglass top coat is designed like a Rice Krispies treat. Glass "microspheres," which are used to lighten airplane parts and bowling balls, are suspended in a paint that includes Teflon. The whiter the titanium dioxide tint, the more heat bounces off.Underneath, his Hyperflex primer serves as an insulation layer that also helps prevent water damage and erosion. And because it uses powdered recycled rubber, it helps address another thorny environmental issue: the millions of tires discarded annually in the U.S.The paint could spawn "such a violent change in the paint industry that they won't know what to do," Savin said.Hyperseal paints are free of harmful volatile organic compounds known as VOCs and are relatively cheap to produce, but the company's Palm Desert factory can make only 5 million gallons a year. Most large projects, such as bridges, require several hundred million gallons, Savin said. So he's looking to license his formula to other companies.He'll have plenty of competition. Big players including Sherwin-Williams Co. and Benjamin Moore & Co. are also debuting eco-friendly paints.Still, Savin's product is winning a following. In addition to the Hilton and the roofs of dozens of homes, the rubberized undercoat now covers a large swath of pavement outside a Palm Desert Wal-Mart.He also hopes to expand the use of the paint to other structures such as shipping cargo containers and dams to prevent rust.Rancho Mirage resident David Baron credits Hyperseal paint with helping him cut his $2,500-a-month summer electricity bill by more than half. Living without air conditioning in 110-degree heat just wasn't an option."I gave it a shot because I was looking for anything to help," said Baron, who spent $10,000 to cover the roof of his 5,600-square-foot house. "We're talking huge energy savings. This will pay for itself in a year or two."It's those kind of stories that keep the octogenarian Savin going. He claims to sometimes test new batches at 3 a.m. His house is beset with swipes of paint -- on the rusted gate, on labeled bricks by the pool. The mulch around an outdoor fountain consists of recycled rubber chunks.His laundry room is a makeshift lab, where paint spackles the washer and dryer and rubber blackens the sink. Even the parking lot at the 15,000-square-foot factory is checkered with paint."He ran out of room at his own house," said Loch Jones, Hyperseal Inc.'s director of marketing. "If you're a friend of the colonel's, watch your driveway."
EPA to develop rule to ensure hardrock miners will pay for environmental cleanup
The Environmental Protection Agency, complying with a court order, will develop a rule to guarantee companies that mine everything from copper to uranium will pay for needed environmental cleanup, not taxpayers.The announcement on Monday comes in the wake of a federal judge's order in February requiring the EPA to close loopholes that allow some companies to get out of paying for such costly cleanups when they file bankruptcy
The agency said it will develop similar financial responsibility requirements for other types of operations but started with hardrock mining because of the size of the operations, the amount of waste and the number of mining sites on its Superfund's national priorities list.The EPA did not release specifics on how it will establish financial assurance requirements but said it will propose the rule by spring 2011. An e-mail message asking the agency for more details was not answered.The National Mining Association trade group said the industry already is regulated by other state and federal laws establishing financial responsibility for cleanup.
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ignored critical facts and used inappropriate data in singling out U.S. hardrock mining for financial assurance requirements under Superfund," association CEO Hal Quinn said in a statement.The EPA's announcement came a day before a Senate hearing on proposed changes to a 137-year-old hardrock mining law that would bolster environmental restrictions and implement royalties.Under the existing law, private companies haven't paid royalties to taxpayers for an estimated $245 billion worth of minerals extracted from public lands in more than a century. It also allows companies to buy public land for as little as $2.50 an acre.In 2008, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups sued the EPA, arguing it failed to establish financial responsibility mandates as required under the Superfund act.Among the cases they cited were 94 Superfund sites in 21 states operated by Asarco, which filed bankruptcy in 2005; the Smoky Canyon Mine in southeastern Idaho, and a molybdenum mine near Questa, N.M.Earthjustice Attorney Jan Hasselman, who handled the lawsuit, called the EPA's decision "an important first step."
The agency said it will develop similar financial responsibility requirements for other types of operations but started with hardrock mining because of the size of the operations, the amount of waste and the number of mining sites on its Superfund's national priorities list.The EPA did not release specifics on how it will establish financial assurance requirements but said it will propose the rule by spring 2011. An e-mail message asking the agency for more details was not answered.The National Mining Association trade group said the industry already is regulated by other state and federal laws establishing financial responsibility for cleanup.
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ignored critical facts and used inappropriate data in singling out U.S. hardrock mining for financial assurance requirements under Superfund," association CEO Hal Quinn said in a statement.The EPA's announcement came a day before a Senate hearing on proposed changes to a 137-year-old hardrock mining law that would bolster environmental restrictions and implement royalties.Under the existing law, private companies haven't paid royalties to taxpayers for an estimated $245 billion worth of minerals extracted from public lands in more than a century. It also allows companies to buy public land for as little as $2.50 an acre.In 2008, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups sued the EPA, arguing it failed to establish financial responsibility mandates as required under the Superfund act.Among the cases they cited were 94 Superfund sites in 21 states operated by Asarco, which filed bankruptcy in 2005; the Smoky Canyon Mine in southeastern Idaho, and a molybdenum mine near Questa, N.M.Earthjustice Attorney Jan Hasselman, who handled the lawsuit, called the EPA's decision "an important first step."
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