TELEGRAPH.- The use of supposedly 'green' biodiesel to hit EU renewable energy targets has actually significantly increased greenhouse gas emissions, a new study finds.
By 2020, continued use of biodiesel derived from vegetable oil will increase total EU transport emissions by almost four per cent compared with using its fossil fuel alternative, according to analysis by Transport & Environment, a green group.
That is roughly equivalent to putting an extra 12 million cars to the road, it says.
Countries across Europe have blended small percentages of biofuels into petrol and diesel in recent years in an attempt to cut emissions and to hit the EU's renewable energy directive (RED), which requires 10 per cent of transport energy to come from renewable sources by 2020. EMILY GOSDEN, energy editor
Seguir leyendo...
**************
La producción de etanol de maíz para combustible 'limpio' es un desastre ambiental
EWG.-Production of corn ethanol has led growers to plow up of millions of acres of prairie grassland and wetlands to plant more corn. By the Environmental Protection Agency’s own definition, this means that corn ethanol is not a renewable fuel.Leer más...
A recent study by researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that native prairie habitats located close to corn ethanol-producing facilities are being destroyed to grow more corn. This conversion of vulnerable land to grow corn for ethanol not only breaks the law, it’s an environmental disaster.
The 2007 Renewable Fuel Standard, the federal mandate that requires that corn ethanol be blended into gasoline, strictly prohibited destruction of the landscape to grow more corn. The EPA, which enforces the standard, required that for corn to be considered a “renewable fuel,” it could not be grown on previously uncultivated land. In other words, the ethanol industry was prohibited from using corn from recently destroyed prairies and wetlands.
But that’s exactly what’s happening, research shows...
EMILY CASSIDY, Research Analyst
La industria nuclear mundial tuvo en 2015 su mejor año en décadas
THE BREAK THROUGH.- Last year the success of wind and solar power made headlines as installations of new turbines and PV panels soared. Meanwhile, “nuclear is dead” think pieces mushroomed in the press as old plants closed and new projects floundered in delays and cost over-runs.Seguir leyendo...
But while the “rise of renewables” is indeed reason to celebrate, the “death of nuclear” storyline has been greatly exaggerated. Far from being moribund, in 2015 the global nuclear sector quietly had its best year in decades. New reactors came on line that will generate as much low-carbon electricity as last year’s crops of new wind turbines or solar panels. The cost of building those reactors was less than one third the cost of building the wind turbines and solar panels, and typical construction times were under 6 years. The conventional wisdom that nuclear projects must be decade-long, budget-busting melodramas proved starkly wrong last year. In crucial respects the nuclear renaissance has hit its stride and is making a fundamental contribution to decarbonization—one that will accelerate if the industry gets recognition and support for what it is doing right. WILL BOISVERT
Cap comentari:
Publica un comentari a l'entrada
Nota: Només un membre d'aquest blog pot publicar entrades.