RENEWABLE ENERGY: CHILE: 115 MW wind plant has the capacity to power 200,000 homes in the region

Michelle Bachelet, the president of Chile, together with Jean-Paul Luksic, chairman of Antofagasta Minerals SA (“AMSA”) and Mike Garland, CEO of Pattern Energy Group Inc officially opened operations at the 115 MW El Arrayán Wind facility in a grand opening ceremony at the project site, which is located 400 km north of Santiago on the coast of Chile. The El Arrayán Wind facility, which completed construction in June, will generate clean, renewable power equal to the needs of approximately 200,000 Chilean homes each year, according to the World Bank. The facility is utilizing 50 Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbines, which Pattern Energy is also using at other wind projects in Canada and the United States. El Arrayán Wind connects to the Sistema Interconectado Central's 220kV transmission system. The facility is located on approximately 15,320 acres of coastal land on a long-term lease with a single landowner. Pattern Energy owns 70% of the El Arrayán Wind facility, which it also operates. AMSA owns the remaining 30% minority stake. The project sells approximately 70% of its output to Minera Los Pelambres through a long-term fixed-for-floating hedge. The facility sells its remaining output into the Chilean spot market at the prevailing market price at the time of sale. In addition to its minority interest in the facility, AMSA is the controlling party of Minera Los Pelambres. "This project is important for our present and future energy needs, President Bachelet said. "El Arrayán is the biggest wind farm in Chile, and we are pleased at what we can achieve when we use the natural resources the earth has to offer. This project is another step toward meeting our energy agenda objectives." 1

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: Eat less red meat to help save the planet, say academics

People should eat no more than two portions of red meat per week to help the environment and meet increasing global food demand, scientists have found. A study by Cambridge and Aberdeen universities found that population growth and the trend for Westerners eating more meet means that soon farmers will not be able to raise enough livestock. And researchers warn that attempting to produce more meat could be devastating for the environment. Increased deforestation, fertiliser use and livestock methane emissions likely to cause greenhouse gas emissions from food production to rise by almost 80 per cent by 2050, experts from the University of Cambridge and University of Aberdeen warn. The authors warn that without radical changes to diets the food industry alone would spark dangerous climate change, even if every other industry was to cut carbon emissions to zero.

UPDATE: China's national carbon market to start in 2016 -official

China has pledged to reduce the amount of carbon it emits per unit of GDP to 40-45 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. It has already launched seven regional pilot markets in a bid to gain experience ahead of a nationwide scheme. "We will send over the national market regulations to the State Council for approval by the end of the year," Sun Cuihua, a senior climate official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told a conference in Beijing on Sunday. The national market will start in 2016, although some provinces would be allowed to start later if they lacked the technical infrastructure to participate from the outset, she said. The Chinese market, when fully functional, would dwarf the European emissions trading system, which is currently the world's biggest. It would be the main carbon trading hub in Asia and the Pacific, where Kazakhstan and New Zealand already operate similar markets. South Korea will launch a national scheme on Jan. 1, 2015, while Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam are drawing up plans for markets of their own. The Chinese market will cap carbon dioxide emissions from sources such as electricity generators and manufacturers. Those that emit above their cap must buy permits in the market.

UPDATE: Earth May Be in Early Days of 6th Mass Extinction

Earth May Be in Early Days of 6th Mass Extinction - Yahoo News Philippines: "the looming sixth mass extinction is linked to human activity, Rodolfo Dirzo, a professor of biology at Stanford University in California, said in a statement. Dirzo is the lead author of the new review of past research on the topic, which suggests Earth is in the early days of this sixth mass extinction.
A past study, which involved data from the fossil record and modern-day conservation biology, suggested Earth could enter such a mass extinction within the next 300 to 2,000 years. That study was detailed in the March 2, 2011, issue of the journal Nature.
Up to one-third of all vertebrates are threatened or endangered, the researchers said. Large animals — such as elephants, rhinoceroses and polar bears — have the highest rates of decline, which is a trend shared by other mass extinctions. These large animals are at particular risk because they tend to have few offspring and low population growth rates. Hunters and poachers, however, find their fur, meat, tusks or horns attractive targets. [7 Iconic Animals Humans Are Driving to Extinction]
Losing a species of large animal can have unexpected effects on the ecosystem and nearby human developments, a process known as defaunation. In one study, researchers isolated patches of land from animals, including zebra, giraffes and elephants. Without the animals, the grass and shrubs grew tall, and the soil became looser. Rodents quickly took over and doubled in numbers, eating the seeds from the plants and living in the patchy soil that was relatively predator-free.
Rodents can carry diseases and parasites that infect people, the researchers said.
"Where human density is high, you get high rates of defaunation, high incidence of rodents and thus high levels of pathogens, which increases the risks of disease transmission," Dirzo said. "Who would have thought that just defaunation would have all these dramatic consequences? But it can be a vicious circle.""



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Peaceful Responses: UNFCCC brought nations together to peacefully negotiate a shared solution to dealing with climate risks

What If Climate Change Triggers Cooperation, Not Conflict? | Diana Liverman: "We have a climate convention (UNFCCC) that has brought nations together to peacefully negotiate a shared solution to dealing with climate risks and an unprecedented series of international scientific assessments - the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - that brings together thousands of researchers to communicate climate risks to policy makers. Despite criticisms of lack of progress, the climate negotiations have resulted in transfer of funds from richer to poorer countries, collective efforts to reduce emissions, and intensive collaboration to understand the causes and consequences of climate change. And when climatic disasters strike, such as Hurricane Haiyan, we see outpourings of humanitarian response founded in the long tradition of cooperation across international boundaries in response to hazards and the military helping with peaceful emergency response and recovery.

So, conflict or cooperation? To decide, we need better-designed studies, more rigorous analysis and less melodramatic claims. We need studies that hypothesize peaceful resolution to tensions connected to resource competition and climate change, and statistical studies that use research designs that are open to the possibilities that climate extremes might have no influence on conflict and might, in fact, have positive outcomes. Rather than raise fears of conflict, scholars and strategists should seek best practices for cooperative and peaceful responses to the stresses of climate change."



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UPDATE: “Transformational” Deep Decarbonization Climate Strategies, Global Solution to Climate Change

“Transformational” Deep Decarbonization Climate Strategies (video): "Deep Decarbonization is the first global cooperative program to identify practical pathways for major industrial economies toward a low-carbon world economy by 2050. Unlike many recent assessments, it focuses potential solutions rather than agonizing statistics and definitions. In this sense, says Laurence Tubiana, the French Ambassador for climate change, co-chair of SDSN, and IDDRI founder, it is a “transformational milestone.”

From the report introduction:

The Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project (DDPP) is a collaborative initiative to understand and show how individual countries can transition to a low-carbon economy and how the world can meet the internationally agreed target of limiting the increase in global mean surface temperature to less than 2 degrees Celsius (°C)."



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UPDATE: AUSTRALIA: Cleaning up its Electricity Sector on a New Clean Coal Technology called DICE

The search for the clean coal holy grail - Background Briefing - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "That technology is called DICE—or Direct Injection Carbon Engine, a modified diesel engine running on a mix of coal and water—and it has just received $9 million in funding for stage one trials, including $1 million from the Victorian and Commonwealth governments.  

Ignite Energy Resources, a member of the DICE network, recently recieved a $20 million grant to produce liquid fuel for DICE engines from brown coal, among other things.

‘Minister Greg Hunt and Minister Ian Macfarlane for energy are very interested in DICE, because it offers the opportunity of reducing CO2 emissions for electricity from brown coal by 50 per cent, and it offers the opportunity to reduce CO2 emissions from black coals by around 30 per cent,’ says John White, chairman of the DICE Network and co-founder of Ignite."



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