Typhoons are Japan's least welcome visitors. Every year, about 30 of the subtropical twisters visit the country, sometimes with devastating consequences. Just this week, 13 people died in the south-west of the country.
If as some expect typhoons, also called tropical cyclones, become stronger with climate change, then the destruction will only increase. What hasn't been considered is that Japan might be in for an economic shock, too.
To estimate the bill the country will have to pick up in the future, Miguel Esteban at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies in Yokohama, Japan, and his colleagues ran computer simulations to estimate the number of working hours that will be lost to typhoons in 2085.
Previous research has suggested that higher carbon-dioxide levels and warmer sea-surface temperatures will drive cyclonic winds to whirl 6 per cent faster in 2085, dumping almost a fifth more rain.
Storm shutdown
Currently, typhoons hit southern parts of the Japanese archipelago most strongly, but Esteban's model predicts that they will also strike hard further north in future, forcing more people to stop work and ports to close more often.
That's bad news for Japan, because almost a third of the country's GDP comes from trade. The simulations suggest that cyclones could rob Japan of 0.15 per cent of its GDP in 2085. In today's money that would mean a yearly typhoon-cost of more than ¥687 billion – some $7.2 billion, or about $60 per capita.
Japan will be able to cope, however, says Samuel Fankhauser of the London School of Economics – other countries should worry more about climate change.
"Other parts of the globe may be much harder hit," he says. "Relative to GDP, Africa's climate damages at that time might be 50 times as much, or 7.5 per cent of GDP, for example."
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Bonn Climate Talks Move at Glacial Pace
Negotiations toward a new agreement to limit global warming ended today in Bonn with little progress, United Nations officials and conservationists said.
"At this rate, we will not make it," said the UN’s top climate change official, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Climate Change Secretariat.
A grim Yvo de Boer contemplates the slow pace of talksNegotiations need to move much faster to deliver strong outcomes on areas such as adaptation, technology and building skills in developing nations, he told reporters. Governments need to buckle down and concretely identify how to achieve this.
Attended by some 2,400 participants, the talks in Bonn were part of a series of UN gatherings this year designed to culminate in an ambitious and effective international climate change deal at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
De Boer stressed that "a climate deal in Copenhagen this year is an unequivocal requirement to stop climate change from slipping out of control."
The Copenhagen agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions is to follow the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012.
"So with only 15 days of negotiating time left before Copenhagen," said de Boer, negotiations will need to considerably pick up speed for the world to achieve a successful result at Copenhagen."
Anders Turesson, who chaired the European Union group in Bonn, said, "There are still chances for an agreement in Copenhagen in December, but it is time to step up the pace and other working methods are needed."
Dr. Jonathan Pershing, head of the U.S. delegation in Bonn, described progress as "modest but real" and said common elements are emerging that the United States would support.
"We would support the inclusion of a place for all parties, all countries, to inscribe their nationally appropriate mitigation actions and their commitments. We see a common element for low greenhouse gas strategies, and of measurement, reporting and verification of countries' actions."
A view of the plenary hall at the Bonn climate talks "For developed countries with commitments," said Pershing, "we envision that these would be quantitative emissions reductions with both a near-term and a long term component, there seems to be convergence among countries on that."
For developing countries, "We would like to see those countries inscribe robust, domestically-derived actions in a legally binding agreement," he said. "There are differences of view as to how that would be done."
Pershing says a deal in Copenhagen depends on India and China being included in any agreement. "Ourselves, Europe, China, India, Japan – it has to be the major emitters," he told BBC News. "If we think of a group of about 15 countries, they comprise of the order of 75 per cent of global emissions. We can't solve this without them; you need them all and they all have to move immediately."
The United States is willing to support least developed countries to build their capacity to make the needed changes, Pershing said. For coming financial year, the Obama administration "has increased nine-fold our financial request for adaptation, a key element of this agreement."
U.S. delegation head Johnathan Pershing briefs reporters. (Photo courtesy UNFCCC)
A key stumbling block is still the level and the source of financial support for poor countries, said Kim Carstensen, the head of WWF Global Climate Initiative.
Carstensen did say that "the growing number of countries supporting the idea of Copenhagen delivering a legally binding outcome was a positive sign."
"Delegates spent too much time arguing over procedures and technicalities. This is not the way overcome mistrust between rich and poor nations," he said. "Delegates are kept back by political gridlock. The political leaders must now unblock the process."
New figures from the United Nations released in Bonn show that 39 industrialized nations, excluding the United States, are planning to cut greenhouse gas emissions by between 15 and 21 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
Canada, for instance, presented their national target to reduce emissions by 20 percent from 2006 levels by 2020.
Delegates from around the world talked informally in Bonn. August 12, 2009. (Photo courtesy ENB)
Russia detailed plans to reduce emissions by 10 to 15 percent by 2020 in comparison to 1990s levels.
These levels are higher than those mandated by the Kyoto Protocol - an average 5.2 percent emissions cuts from 1990 levels - but they fall far short of the 25 to 40 percent emissions cuts most scientists say are necessary to avert the worst effects of global warming.
De Boer told reporters these promises are "miles away" from the ambition needed to meet the goal, set by the G8 leaders last month, to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
"Industrialized countries need to show a greater level of ambition in agreeing to meaningful mid-term emission reduction targets," said de Boer. "The present level of ambition can be raised domestically and by making use of international cooperation."
"We also need a clear indication of the finance and technology industrialized countries are ready to provide to help developing countries green their economic growth and adapt to the impacts of climate change," he said.
The action now shifts to a series of crucial political meetings in September - at the UN General Assembly, the Major Economies Forum, and the G20 meeting on global economic stability, all dealing with climate change.
An opportunity for all heads of state and government to provide clear political guidance to negotiators ahead of the Copenhagen conference will be the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Summit for world leaders September 22 in New York where leaders from all 192 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will assemble.
Work on the draft negotiating text will continue on September 28 in Bangkok, Thailand at a two-week session. Delegates will then assemble for five days of pre-Copenhagen negotiations in Barcelona on November 2.
The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen takes place from December 7 to December 18, 2009.
"At this rate, we will not make it," said the UN’s top climate change official, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Climate Change Secretariat.
A grim Yvo de Boer contemplates the slow pace of talksNegotiations need to move much faster to deliver strong outcomes on areas such as adaptation, technology and building skills in developing nations, he told reporters. Governments need to buckle down and concretely identify how to achieve this.
Attended by some 2,400 participants, the talks in Bonn were part of a series of UN gatherings this year designed to culminate in an ambitious and effective international climate change deal at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
De Boer stressed that "a climate deal in Copenhagen this year is an unequivocal requirement to stop climate change from slipping out of control."
The Copenhagen agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions is to follow the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012.
"So with only 15 days of negotiating time left before Copenhagen," said de Boer, negotiations will need to considerably pick up speed for the world to achieve a successful result at Copenhagen."
Anders Turesson, who chaired the European Union group in Bonn, said, "There are still chances for an agreement in Copenhagen in December, but it is time to step up the pace and other working methods are needed."
Dr. Jonathan Pershing, head of the U.S. delegation in Bonn, described progress as "modest but real" and said common elements are emerging that the United States would support.
"We would support the inclusion of a place for all parties, all countries, to inscribe their nationally appropriate mitigation actions and their commitments. We see a common element for low greenhouse gas strategies, and of measurement, reporting and verification of countries' actions."
A view of the plenary hall at the Bonn climate talks "For developed countries with commitments," said Pershing, "we envision that these would be quantitative emissions reductions with both a near-term and a long term component, there seems to be convergence among countries on that."
For developing countries, "We would like to see those countries inscribe robust, domestically-derived actions in a legally binding agreement," he said. "There are differences of view as to how that would be done."
Pershing says a deal in Copenhagen depends on India and China being included in any agreement. "Ourselves, Europe, China, India, Japan – it has to be the major emitters," he told BBC News. "If we think of a group of about 15 countries, they comprise of the order of 75 per cent of global emissions. We can't solve this without them; you need them all and they all have to move immediately."
The United States is willing to support least developed countries to build their capacity to make the needed changes, Pershing said. For coming financial year, the Obama administration "has increased nine-fold our financial request for adaptation, a key element of this agreement."
U.S. delegation head Johnathan Pershing briefs reporters. (Photo courtesy UNFCCC)
A key stumbling block is still the level and the source of financial support for poor countries, said Kim Carstensen, the head of WWF Global Climate Initiative.
Carstensen did say that "the growing number of countries supporting the idea of Copenhagen delivering a legally binding outcome was a positive sign."
"Delegates spent too much time arguing over procedures and technicalities. This is not the way overcome mistrust between rich and poor nations," he said. "Delegates are kept back by political gridlock. The political leaders must now unblock the process."
New figures from the United Nations released in Bonn show that 39 industrialized nations, excluding the United States, are planning to cut greenhouse gas emissions by between 15 and 21 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
Canada, for instance, presented their national target to reduce emissions by 20 percent from 2006 levels by 2020.
Delegates from around the world talked informally in Bonn. August 12, 2009. (Photo courtesy ENB)
Russia detailed plans to reduce emissions by 10 to 15 percent by 2020 in comparison to 1990s levels.
These levels are higher than those mandated by the Kyoto Protocol - an average 5.2 percent emissions cuts from 1990 levels - but they fall far short of the 25 to 40 percent emissions cuts most scientists say are necessary to avert the worst effects of global warming.
De Boer told reporters these promises are "miles away" from the ambition needed to meet the goal, set by the G8 leaders last month, to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
"Industrialized countries need to show a greater level of ambition in agreeing to meaningful mid-term emission reduction targets," said de Boer. "The present level of ambition can be raised domestically and by making use of international cooperation."
"We also need a clear indication of the finance and technology industrialized countries are ready to provide to help developing countries green their economic growth and adapt to the impacts of climate change," he said.
The action now shifts to a series of crucial political meetings in September - at the UN General Assembly, the Major Economies Forum, and the G20 meeting on global economic stability, all dealing with climate change.
An opportunity for all heads of state and government to provide clear political guidance to negotiators ahead of the Copenhagen conference will be the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Summit for world leaders September 22 in New York where leaders from all 192 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will assemble.
Work on the draft negotiating text will continue on September 28 in Bangkok, Thailand at a two-week session. Delegates will then assemble for five days of pre-Copenhagen negotiations in Barcelona on November 2.
The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen takes place from December 7 to December 18, 2009.
China to start cutting carbon emissions in 2050
China will start cutting its carbon emissions by 2050, its top climate change policymaker was quoted as saying in the Financial Times Saturday, the first time the nation has given a timeframe.
"China?s emissions will not continue to rise beyond 2050," said Su Wei, director general of the National Development and Reform Commission's climate change department, according to the paper.
China competes with the United States for the spot as the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases and intense interest is focused on its stance ahead of climate negotations in Copenhagen in December.
The December negotiations are aimed at hammering out a new climate change pact to replace the Kyoto protocol that expires in 2012.
As a developing nation with low per-capita emissions, China is not required to set emissions cuts under the UN Framework on Climate Change, and it has so far also seemed reluctant to accept caps in the future.
For the regime that will emerge after 2012, Su in Saturday's Financial Times seemed to signal a willingness to compromise.
"China will not continue growing emissions without limit or insist that all nations must have the same per-capita emissions. If we did that, this earth would be ruined," he said, according to the paper.
"China?s emissions will not continue to rise beyond 2050," said Su Wei, director general of the National Development and Reform Commission's climate change department, according to the paper.
China competes with the United States for the spot as the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases and intense interest is focused on its stance ahead of climate negotations in Copenhagen in December.
The December negotiations are aimed at hammering out a new climate change pact to replace the Kyoto protocol that expires in 2012.
As a developing nation with low per-capita emissions, China is not required to set emissions cuts under the UN Framework on Climate Change, and it has so far also seemed reluctant to accept caps in the future.
For the regime that will emerge after 2012, Su in Saturday's Financial Times seemed to signal a willingness to compromise.
"China will not continue growing emissions without limit or insist that all nations must have the same per-capita emissions. If we did that, this earth would be ruined," he said, according to the paper.
Chinese villagers dying from chemical factory's illegal pollution
The residents of Shuangqiao village say that their homes are now nothing but places in which to wait for death.
In the paddy fields surrounding this small community in Hunan province, southern China, the rice is neglected and strewn with weeds. The vegetable plots stand empty, stripped of the green beans and cabbages that were grown as cash crops.
Underfoot, the earth has been poisoned to a depth of 20cm (8in). The water in the wells is undrinkable.
Tragedies like this — the legacy of China’s rush to get rich — are all too common. Yesterday more than 600 children in Shaanxi province were found to be suffering from lead poisoning caused by a nearby lead and zinc smelter.
The plight of Shuangqiao, however, where three people have died and 509 are sick from poisoning by the heavy metals cadmium and indium, produced by a nearby factory, has drawn widespread attention since residents took to the internet to air their grievances.
“We wouldn’t be here today if the Government had paid attention to us in 2006 when we first told them the factory in our village was spreading pollution,” said one villager, who gave his name only as Li, for fear of official retribution. “Now it’s the responsibility of the factory and the Government that ignored us to help us.”
The Xianghe Chemical factory now stands shuttered and closed. Angry villagers have scratched away its name at the gate and scrawled in white paint the words: “Give us back our green hills, our clean water, our fresh air. Give us justice. We want to live.”
The Government of Hunan province — among the world’s most important producers of heavy metals and one of the most polluted regions of China — has begun to take seriously the threat from rivers so filthy that the drinking water for tens of millions could be toxic.
The mayors of eight cities, including the man responsible for Shuangqiao’s 7,000 people, have signed a pledge to the provincial capital to clean up their act, or assume personal accountability that could cut short their careers.
For some, however, it is too late. Ouyang Guoping had to watch his elder brother waste away after he fell ill while processing toxic ore for the Xianghe factory. He died on July 18. At least two other villagers have died this year of chronic illnesses.
Mr Ouyang’s body is wasted and health checks have found high levels of cadmium in his blood. His wife is in hospital. “I have little hope. I know that her illness is incurable.”
Officials say that pollution reaches a radius of about 500m (1,640ft) around Xianghe factory. But evidence points to a more serious situation.
Waste water and earth from the processing of the heavy metals have been dumped into a narrow valley at the back of the plant. The stream runs into a river 500m away that feeds into the main Xiang River, which provides drinking water for 20 million people.
The factory was supposed to produce the feed additive zinc sulphate. Instead, it illegally processed ore from zinc production to extract cadmium and rare indium, a key material in liquid crystal display screens and solar panels.
The price of indium soared from less than $600 (£360) a kilogram in 2003 to $1,000 by 2006. China now meets 30 per cent of world demand and at its peak the Xianghe factory produced 300kg of indium a month.
Former workers say that everyone knew what was going on but that the Government turned a blind eye. Zhou Haiming, 37, a former factory employee, said that he should probably be in hospital but someone had to support the family. His parents, his wife and his 7-year-old son are all ill.
“We tried to complain but they made us shut up. Now we want them to move us away from this poisoned place but they refuse. My wife will die. And I have no hope for my son.”
Officials had told him that his land would be unusable for 60 years but that he could grow non-edible crops such as cotton or trees to clean the soil.
Farmer Yang has abandoned hope. “It’s the children, the children,” he lamented. “We want our children to have a future. We have to leave.”
In the paddy fields surrounding this small community in Hunan province, southern China, the rice is neglected and strewn with weeds. The vegetable plots stand empty, stripped of the green beans and cabbages that were grown as cash crops.
Underfoot, the earth has been poisoned to a depth of 20cm (8in). The water in the wells is undrinkable.
Tragedies like this — the legacy of China’s rush to get rich — are all too common. Yesterday more than 600 children in Shaanxi province were found to be suffering from lead poisoning caused by a nearby lead and zinc smelter.
The plight of Shuangqiao, however, where three people have died and 509 are sick from poisoning by the heavy metals cadmium and indium, produced by a nearby factory, has drawn widespread attention since residents took to the internet to air their grievances.
“We wouldn’t be here today if the Government had paid attention to us in 2006 when we first told them the factory in our village was spreading pollution,” said one villager, who gave his name only as Li, for fear of official retribution. “Now it’s the responsibility of the factory and the Government that ignored us to help us.”
The Xianghe Chemical factory now stands shuttered and closed. Angry villagers have scratched away its name at the gate and scrawled in white paint the words: “Give us back our green hills, our clean water, our fresh air. Give us justice. We want to live.”
The Government of Hunan province — among the world’s most important producers of heavy metals and one of the most polluted regions of China — has begun to take seriously the threat from rivers so filthy that the drinking water for tens of millions could be toxic.
The mayors of eight cities, including the man responsible for Shuangqiao’s 7,000 people, have signed a pledge to the provincial capital to clean up their act, or assume personal accountability that could cut short their careers.
For some, however, it is too late. Ouyang Guoping had to watch his elder brother waste away after he fell ill while processing toxic ore for the Xianghe factory. He died on July 18. At least two other villagers have died this year of chronic illnesses.
Mr Ouyang’s body is wasted and health checks have found high levels of cadmium in his blood. His wife is in hospital. “I have little hope. I know that her illness is incurable.”
Officials say that pollution reaches a radius of about 500m (1,640ft) around Xianghe factory. But evidence points to a more serious situation.
Waste water and earth from the processing of the heavy metals have been dumped into a narrow valley at the back of the plant. The stream runs into a river 500m away that feeds into the main Xiang River, which provides drinking water for 20 million people.
The factory was supposed to produce the feed additive zinc sulphate. Instead, it illegally processed ore from zinc production to extract cadmium and rare indium, a key material in liquid crystal display screens and solar panels.
The price of indium soared from less than $600 (£360) a kilogram in 2003 to $1,000 by 2006. China now meets 30 per cent of world demand and at its peak the Xianghe factory produced 300kg of indium a month.
Former workers say that everyone knew what was going on but that the Government turned a blind eye. Zhou Haiming, 37, a former factory employee, said that he should probably be in hospital but someone had to support the family. His parents, his wife and his 7-year-old son are all ill.
“We tried to complain but they made us shut up. Now we want them to move us away from this poisoned place but they refuse. My wife will die. And I have no hope for my son.”
Officials had told him that his land would be unusable for 60 years but that he could grow non-edible crops such as cotton or trees to clean the soil.
Farmer Yang has abandoned hope. “It’s the children, the children,” he lamented. “We want our children to have a future. We have to leave.”
Friday, August 14, 2009
For Greening Aviation, Are Biofuels The Right Stuff?
Earlier this year, a Continental jet accelerated down the runway at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Nothing out of the ordinary for Capt. Rich Jankowski, who countless times in his 38-year career had eased such two-engine Boeing 737-800s into the sky. Except on this experimental flight, one of the engines Jankowski relied on was burning fuel derived from microscopic algae to push the 45-ton aircraft into the air and keep it aloft — a first in aviation history.
Last year, Virgin Atlantic flew the first commercial jet on biofuels, a 40-minute jaunt between London and Amsterdam in which one engine burned a mix of 80 percent conventional jet fuel and 20 percent biofuel derived from coconuts and babassu nuts. Other test flights have followed, culminating in a 90-minute Japan Airlines flight with one engine burning a blend of biofuel from camelina — a weedy flower native to Europe — and regular jet fuel at the end of January.
As global economies strive to wean themselves off fossil fuels, one of the most daunting challenges is to find a replacement for the liquid fuels that power the world’s aircraft. Biofuels made from algae and non-food plants are now the leading contenders. While homes, cars, and offices can be powered by electricity produced from such renewable sources as solar, wind, and hydropower, there is little likelihood in the near future that battery power will be lifting a jumbo jet into the sky. And the global aviation industry uses an enormous amount of jet fuel — energy-dense kerosene — frequently referred to as Jet A or JP-8: The U.S. commercial airlines alone burn about 50 million gallons of jet fuel every day, at a cost of roughly $150 million.
That’s a lot of greenhouse gases, released right where they can do the most damage — high in the atmosphere. The warming properties of jet fuel exhaust are intensified at high altitude, where nitrogen oxides from the jet’s turbines react with other molecules in the upper atmosphere to increase levels of ozone, which traps heat, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The water vapor that forms contrails and other chemically active gases emitted during flight also contributes to climate change. Although the amount of emissions from aircraft compared with other vehicles is relatively small — roughly 3 percent of total worldwide greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning — the mix of compounds in jet emissions and their release in the upper troposphere intensifies their heat-trapping power.
The environmental appeal of biofuels — especially if they are produced from algae or other non-food sources — is strong. Preliminary results from an Air New Zealand test flight in December show that burning biofuels — in this case jet fuel refined from jatropha oil — can cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 percent compared to conventional fuel. And, as a bonus, about 1.4 metric tons of fuel could be saved on a 12-hour flight using a biofuel blend.
This month, the International Air Transport Association set a goal of achieving “carbon neutral growth”? — meaning an increase in air travel would not emit any more CO2 than the present fleet and flight schedule — by 2020. The keys will be increasing fuel efficiency by 1.5 percent per year and using biofuel blends, according to IATA.
The overwhelming challenge is how to produce enough biofuel to supply even a fraction of the more than 60 billion gallons of jet fuel burned every year by the world’s aircraft. Relying heavily on biofuels made from food crops — such as soybeans, sugar cane, or canola — would not only affect food supplies and increase food prices, but would produce significant greenhouse gases during the planting and harvesting of these crops, as well as from forest clearing for more agricultural land. Non-food plant sources, such as jatropha and camelina, are promising, but difficult to produce in large quantities and can end up displacing food crops or lead to deforestation if the price of fuel rises high enough. Finally, making large amounts of jet fuel from algae represents a major hurdle, from perfecting the algae’s growth to extracting the oil cost-effectively.
Last year, Virgin Atlantic flew the first commercial jet on biofuels, a 40-minute jaunt between London and Amsterdam in which one engine burned a mix of 80 percent conventional jet fuel and 20 percent biofuel derived from coconuts and babassu nuts. Other test flights have followed, culminating in a 90-minute Japan Airlines flight with one engine burning a blend of biofuel from camelina — a weedy flower native to Europe — and regular jet fuel at the end of January.
As global economies strive to wean themselves off fossil fuels, one of the most daunting challenges is to find a replacement for the liquid fuels that power the world’s aircraft. Biofuels made from algae and non-food plants are now the leading contenders. While homes, cars, and offices can be powered by electricity produced from such renewable sources as solar, wind, and hydropower, there is little likelihood in the near future that battery power will be lifting a jumbo jet into the sky. And the global aviation industry uses an enormous amount of jet fuel — energy-dense kerosene — frequently referred to as Jet A or JP-8: The U.S. commercial airlines alone burn about 50 million gallons of jet fuel every day, at a cost of roughly $150 million.
That’s a lot of greenhouse gases, released right where they can do the most damage — high in the atmosphere. The warming properties of jet fuel exhaust are intensified at high altitude, where nitrogen oxides from the jet’s turbines react with other molecules in the upper atmosphere to increase levels of ozone, which traps heat, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The water vapor that forms contrails and other chemically active gases emitted during flight also contributes to climate change. Although the amount of emissions from aircraft compared with other vehicles is relatively small — roughly 3 percent of total worldwide greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning — the mix of compounds in jet emissions and their release in the upper troposphere intensifies their heat-trapping power.
The environmental appeal of biofuels — especially if they are produced from algae or other non-food sources — is strong. Preliminary results from an Air New Zealand test flight in December show that burning biofuels — in this case jet fuel refined from jatropha oil — can cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 percent compared to conventional fuel. And, as a bonus, about 1.4 metric tons of fuel could be saved on a 12-hour flight using a biofuel blend.
This month, the International Air Transport Association set a goal of achieving “carbon neutral growth”? — meaning an increase in air travel would not emit any more CO2 than the present fleet and flight schedule — by 2020. The keys will be increasing fuel efficiency by 1.5 percent per year and using biofuel blends, according to IATA.
The overwhelming challenge is how to produce enough biofuel to supply even a fraction of the more than 60 billion gallons of jet fuel burned every year by the world’s aircraft. Relying heavily on biofuels made from food crops — such as soybeans, sugar cane, or canola — would not only affect food supplies and increase food prices, but would produce significant greenhouse gases during the planting and harvesting of these crops, as well as from forest clearing for more agricultural land. Non-food plant sources, such as jatropha and camelina, are promising, but difficult to produce in large quantities and can end up displacing food crops or lead to deforestation if the price of fuel rises high enough. Finally, making large amounts of jet fuel from algae represents a major hurdle, from perfecting the algae’s growth to extracting the oil cost-effectively.
Could Catching Swine Flu Be Good For You?
When word came in April that an entirely new, highly infectious disease--swine flu--was spreading beyond Mexico, this was the most paranoid city in the world. Land at the airport with a fever and runny nose, and you'd risk being quarantined for a week, just in case you'd brought the new disease with you.
People in this city, scarred by the SARS epidemic, still shudder when they hear someone cough. For Hong Kongers, the sound brings back memories of the scary time when the city nearly shut down and residents feared death from a new mystery disease. Schools were closed. When people left their homes--which wasn't often--many wore medical masks to reduce their exposure to anyone who might be sick.
Fast-forward. If you catch the flu in Hong Kong today--or in most places--you won't be rushed to the isolation ward just in case it proves to be the new swine flu. You'll be told to go home and rest and not cough on anyone. "Everyone has finally realized that this is going to spread," said Dr. Anthony Mounts, a flu specialist at the World Health Organization.
What a change.
That's because SARS and swine flu are proving such opposites. Both are new diseases, which means that none of the 6 billion people on the planet had immunity to them when they came on the scene. The World Health Organization feared that if they developed into full-blown pandemics and raced around the world, millions would die, defenseless against new strains.
People in this city, scarred by the SARS epidemic, still shudder when they hear someone cough. For Hong Kongers, the sound brings back memories of the scary time when the city nearly shut down and residents feared death from a new mystery disease. Schools were closed. When people left their homes--which wasn't often--many wore medical masks to reduce their exposure to anyone who might be sick.
Fast-forward. If you catch the flu in Hong Kong today--or in most places--you won't be rushed to the isolation ward just in case it proves to be the new swine flu. You'll be told to go home and rest and not cough on anyone. "Everyone has finally realized that this is going to spread," said Dr. Anthony Mounts, a flu specialist at the World Health Organization.
What a change.
That's because SARS and swine flu are proving such opposites. Both are new diseases, which means that none of the 6 billion people on the planet had immunity to them when they came on the scene. The World Health Organization feared that if they developed into full-blown pandemics and raced around the world, millions would die, defenseless against new strains.
So this is what Mars is Really Like!
NASA has released stunning photographs of the planet Mars. Taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the views are amazing! Some show the Victoria crater which has been explored close up by a rover vehicle for two years. Another shows a dust devil in the Martian atmosphere.
The new oblique view of Victoria Crater shows layers on steep crater walls, difficult to see from straight overhead, plus wheel tracks left by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity between September 2006 and August 2008. The orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science
Experiment camera shot it at an angle comparable to looking at landscape from an airplane window. Some of the camera's earlier, less angled images of Victoria Crater aided the rover team in choosing safe routes for Opportunity and contributed to joint scientific studies.
The new Victoria Crater image is shown in the accompanying image. It is available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/mro20091012a.html
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been studying Mars with an advanced set of instruments since 2006. It has returned more data about the planet than all other past and current missions to Mars combined. For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson
The new oblique view of Victoria Crater shows layers on steep crater walls, difficult to see from straight overhead, plus wheel tracks left by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity between September 2006 and August 2008. The orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science
Experiment camera shot it at an angle comparable to looking at landscape from an airplane window. Some of the camera's earlier, less angled images of Victoria Crater aided the rover team in choosing safe routes for Opportunity and contributed to joint scientific studies.
The new Victoria Crater image is shown in the accompanying image. It is available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/mro20091012a.html
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been studying Mars with an advanced set of instruments since 2006. It has returned more data about the planet than all other past and current missions to Mars combined. For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson
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