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CLICK HERE - Scripps Institute of Oceanography - CARBON DIOXIDE IN THE ATMOSPHERE HITS RECORD HIGH MONTHLY AVERAGE

Read more about How Storms, Missteps and an Ailing Grid Left Puerto Rico in the Dark
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Earth's Carbon Dioxide Levels Continue to Soar, at Highest Point in 800,000 Years

Sat, 2018-05-05 09:09 — Kathy Gilbeaux

(Photo: Getty Images)

usatoday.com - by Doyle Rice - May 4, 2018

Carbon dioxide — the gas scientists say is most responsible for global warming — reached its highest level in recorded history last month, at 410 parts per million.

This amount is highest in at least the past 800,000 years, according to the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Prior to the onset of the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide levels had fluctuated over the millennia but had never exceeded 300 parts per million.

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Wind and Solar Costs Continue to Drop Below Fossil Fuels. What Barriers Remain for a Low-Carbon Grid?

Fri, 2018-04-20 08:31 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Energy Innovation's Michael O'Boyle and Silvio Marcacci outline the barriers to high-penetration wind and solar in the least-cost era

The following is a viewpoint from Michael O'Boyle, electricity policy manager for Energy Innovation, and Silvio Marcacci, communications director for Energy Innovation

utilitydive.com - by Michael O'Boyle, Silvio Marcacci - March 21, 2018

Wind and solar are now cheaper than virtually anyone predicted, and renewable technologies have reached an inflection point: Rapid cost declines made renewable energy the cheapest available sources of new electricity, even without subsidies, in 2017. In many locations across America, building new wind energy projects is cheaper than running existing coal-fired power plants.

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Seabed Mining Can Decide the Fate of the Deep Ocean

Tue, 2018-04-17 23:14 — Kathy Gilbeaux

An artist’s rendering of a deep-sea vehicle designed by Dutch company IHC to harvest polymetallic nodules from the seabed. Royal IHC

greenbiz.com - by Todd Woody - September 28, 2017

At the International Seabed Authority’s ocean-side headquarters, delegates from dozens of countries strolled through breezeways adorned with the works of Jamaican artists as the United Nations-chartered organization’s annual meeting began its second week. No one, however, was entering a conference room where the seabed authority’s Legal and Technical Commission (LTC) was in session and men in dark suits stood watch. A sign advised that the meeting was "closed."

Behind heavy wood doors, the 30 members of the commission convened in secret to discuss, among other things, confidential contracts issued to corporations and state-backed companies to explore and potentially mine vast, barely explored deep-sea habitats that scientists believe play a key role in the global ecosystem.

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Scalable Water Management Solutions for Developed & Developing Cities

Wed, 2018-04-04 08:52 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Cape Town, South Africa

meetingoftheminds.org - by Manohar Patole - April 3, 2018

The growth of urban settlements is subject to a range of factors influenced by demographic, economic, political, environmental, cultural, and social factors. Weather variability, or climate change, has recently risen up this list. These two factors: climate change and urban population growth, are dramatically affecting urban water management. On one hand, growing populations increase urban water demand and on the other, climate change has increased water variability (volume, distribution, timing and quality) . . .

. . . How will cities adapt? Reframe. Develop new responses.

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Solutions

CLICK HERE - CDC - Zika Virus - Case Counts in the US

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Zika - News

Thu, 2018-03-22 11:05 — Kathy Gilbeaux

An expanding list of news resources on Zika virus . . .

CLICK HERE - DAILY ZIKA UPDATES - Florida Department of Health

CLICK HERE - Texas Department of State Health Services - Zika in Texas - http://www.texaszika.org

CLICK HERE - Zika circulates among wild animals in the Americas, making eradication nearly impossible - November 1, 2018

CLICK HERE - Zika Linked to a Spike in Birth Defects in the U.S. - January 26, 2018

CLICK HERE - Researchers identified three new mosquito carriers of Zika virus in Mexico and say all three are potential vectors of the disease - January 16, 2018

CLICK HERE - U.S. Study Sheds Light on How Zika Causes Nerve Disorder - December 13, 2017

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CLICK HERE - STUDY - Zika virus–related neurotropic flaviviruses infect human placental explants and cause fetal demise in mice

Read more about Zika - News
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Other Viruses Cause Zika-Like Damage to Fetuses, Study Finds

Tue, 2018-02-20 21:38 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Zika's blood-sucking predator

cnn.com - by Susan Scutti - February 18, 2018

In 2016, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the Zika virus caused birth defects in babies born to women who had been infected while pregnant. This was the first mosquito-borne disease known to cause birth defects . . .

. . . Now, a study suggests that two viruses that are related to Zika can cause similar birth defects.

West Nile and Powassan viruses caused fetal death in infected pregnant mice, the researchers say.

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CLICK HERE - NEJM - Zika Virus and Birth Defects — Reviewing the Evidence for Causality

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CLICK HERE - STUDY - Committed sea-level rise under the Paris Agreement and the legacy of delayed mitigation action

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Seas to Rise About a Meter Even if Climate Goals Are Met - Study

Tue, 2018-02-20 19:58 — Kathy Gilbeaux

FILE PHOTO: Uninhabitable apartments, in danger of collapsing into the Pacific Ocean, line Esplanade Ave. in Pacifica, California January 26, 2016. REUTERS/Noah Berger/File Photo

reuters.com - Alister Doyle - February 20, 2018

Sea levels will rise between 0.7 and 1.2 meters (27-47 inches) in the next two centuries even if governments end the fossil fuel era as promised under the Paris climate agreement, scientists said on Tuesday.

Early action to cut greenhouse gas emissions would limit the long-term rise, driven by a thaw of ice from Greenland to Antarctica that will re-draw global coastlines, a German-led team wrote in the journal Nature Communications . . .

. . . By 2300, the report projected that sea levels would gain by 0.7-1.2 meters, even if almost 200 nations fully meet goals under the 2015 Paris Agreement, which include cutting greenhouse gas emissions to net zero in the second half of this century . . .

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CLICK HERE - Valuing the Resilience Provided by Solar and Battery Energy Storage Systems

Read more about Seas to Rise About a Meter Even if Climate Goals Are Met - Study
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Valuing the Resilience Provided by Solar and Battery Energy Storage Systems

Thu, 2018-02-01 09:08 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by John Cooper

cleanegroup.org

Summary:

Researchers from NREL and Clean Energy Group found that placing a monetary value on the ability of solar+storage to avoid losses during grid outages can significantly impact project economics and system design. Using data from Southern California Edison, researchers analyzed the economic case for solar+storage for three customer types (school, office building, and hotel) in Anaheim, California. In each case analyzed, larger PV and battery storage systems were found to be economical when the value of resilience is accounted for.

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CLICK HERE - CDC - MMWR - Population-Based Surveillance of Birth Defects Potentially Related to Zika Virus Infection — 15 States and U.S. Territories, 2016

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Zika Linked to a Spike in Birth Defects in the U.S.

Sat, 2018-01-27 09:03 — Kathy Gilbeaux

time.com - by Alexandra Sifferlin - January 25, 2018

Areas in the United States where Zika spread locally, like Florida and Texas, experienced a spike in birth defects.

According to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), areas in South Florida, parts of Texas and Puerto Rico saw a 21% increase in birth defects strongly linked with Zika in the last half of 2016, compared to the first part of the year.

CLICK HERE - CDC - NEWSROOM RELEASE - More birth defects seen in parts of U.S. with local Zika spread

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