President of the U.S., Barack Obama is using the BP oil spill as a clear example that it it time to embrace a clean energy future. The dependance on fossil fuels must end, and the only way to achieve all this, he says, is by finally putting a price on carbon pollution.
Obama gave a speech at Carnegie Mellon University, where he talked addressed this issue. “The catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf right now may prove to be a result of human error – or corporations taking dangerous short-cuts that compromised safety. But we have to acknowledge that there are inherent risks to drilling four miles beneath the surface of the Earth – risks that are bound to increase the harder oil extraction becomes. Just like we have to acknowledge that an America run solely on fossil fuels should not be the vision we have for our children and grandchildren”.
In his speech he stresses the need to once and for all embrace a clean energy future. He encourages people to continue making the effort to make everything, from homes and businesses, to cars and trucks more energy efficient. Right now it is a priority to invest in clean energy research and development.
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NASA has a group of people specially dedicated to studying the Earth; the Earth Science Division. This is the one that will receive this new award, with which it will fix up instruments, and boost its mission.
Edward Weiler, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said: “This administration has a clear priority for science in general and Earth science in specific”. The $2.4 billion represent a 60% increase in NASA’s Earth science programs’ budget.
So what is it this division studies about the Earth? Ecological situations, climate change and how fast it is happening, the melting of glaciers, the origin and fate of greenhouse gases (GHG) like carbon dioxide, as well as ocean temperatures, and coastal wetlands’ health.
Concerning the study of carbon dioxide, last year, NASA launched the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, which unluckily crashed immediately after launch. Thanks to the new funding, it will be rebuilt and relaunched.
Further, the new available money will help replace the GRACE satellites, which study the Earth’s gravity. And what has gravity got to do with climate change? Weiler says GRACE has helped study gravitational fields to measure the amount of ground water in some regions in California. Apparently, ground water amounts are decreasing, and global warming is one of the causes.
The more efforts we dedicate to studying the Earth and its troubles, the higher chance there is we will find solutions. Let’s hope NASA will provide useful information on our planet.
President Obama’s State of the Union address yesterday night was, in my mind, expertly delivered. Like a good politician, Obama played to various interest groups and in no area did he do this more than in the energy sector.
He spoke of the ‘overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change’ and of the need to pass a ‘comprehensive energy and climate bill’. This received a standing ovation. However, so did his arguments that a ‘new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants’ was needed; that new offshore areas needed to be opened up for oil and gas exploration; and that continued investment in bio-fuels AND ‘clean-coal’ was necessary.
To his credit, his speech really centered on creating jobs, and clean energy jobs were a main component of that proposal. Arguably, for the US to put all its eggs in one, truly, ‘clean’ energy basket might not be the best strategy for its future. But haven’t we seen the effects of faulty nuclear power plants? Haven’t we been living with coal for long enough? However ‘clean’ coal may get, it will never beat wind or solar power in this regard. No matter how refined nuclear waste becomes it will never be as safe either. There are plans to try to ‘recycle’, which just means ‘re-use’, nuclear waste but we do not have efficient ways of doing that at the moment and even if we did the question about where to put the waste when we’re done is far from clear. Hiding it deep underground is the best example of sweeping garbage under the rug I have ever heard of.
As always, I was impressed by the President’s ability to deliver a speech, but this time his message only rang half as strong. New jobs in the clean energy sector could help pull the US out of its recession and put it on a path to a more sustainable future. But there was a lack of urgency in his tone and a hint of complacency, or appeasement, in his comments on oil, coal and nuclear power.
Compromise is often necessary, but let us hope it does not go too far.
VIA: Youtube
US president Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed a number of agreements to work together on climate change and energy security. This is great news, being the US the second largest carbon-emitter, and India the fourth. The US has already advanced on negotiations with China. The fact that such powerful leaders are starting to jointly address environmental issues is a great sign, and might be of great help to create a stronger and more effective climate deal in Copenhagen.
Some of the initiatives they have agreed on are the following:
The US and India will foster development and deployment of clean energy technologies. An Indo-US Clean Energy Research and Deployment Initiative has been launched. This includes a Joint Research Center. Some of the priorities of this initiative include energy efficiency, smart grid, second-generation biofuels, and clean coal technologies such as carbon capture and storage. Also solar energy, sustainable transportation, and wind energy development.
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US president Barack Obama’s visit to China is proving to be worth its carbon footprint… Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao have already established a deal to share information on renewable energy. Now they’ve announced some great plans on clean energy initiatives.
Their plan focuses mainly on clean energy. The idea is that the implementation of clean energy will be studied and fostered, and that emissions will be hopefully reduced thanks to natural gas and the development of carbon capture technology.
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US president Barack Obama has announced he will be attending the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference next month, and will do his best to make a treaty happen.
We were talking yesterday about the importance the US has for the Copenhagen Conference. Being the US one of the most powerful nations in the world, and one of the main greenhouse gas emitters, it is crucial for the US to lead the way and accept to be legally tied to reducing its greenhouse gases. If the US does not get involved, many others might wonder, why should we?
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