WAIS Divide

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide is a deep ice core drilling project run by the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The general purpose of the WAIS Divide project is to collect a deep ice core from the flow divide in central West Antarctica that can be used for scientific analysis and research. Specifically, scientists are looking to create the largest and most detailed record of greenhouse gases possible for the last 100,000 years, and also plan to look at the role climate change could have had on these amounts.

History

The WAIS Divide project began during the 2005/2006 field season when the first team of scientists established the seasonal field camp and began construction on the ice core handling and processing facility. During this first season, they also dug a few shallow ice cores to test out the site. Over the 2006/2007 season, work continued on the arch handing and processing facility, as well as set up for the eventual Deep Ice Sheet Coring (DISC) drill. Currently, the WAIS Divide project is in its 2007/2008 field season and work is being done to finish both the arch facility and the DISC Drill. Upon completion, scientists plan on beginning the deep drilling that is central to this project. Projected plans for future field seasons can be found at the following website: http://www.waisdivide.unh.edu/about/schedule.html

Why the WAIS Divide?

In order to the get the necessary types of ice core samples for successful research, scientists sought out an area of the Antarctic Continent that would be the most beneficial. The WAIS Divide was chosen specifically due to some of the characteristics that make the site ideal for the project. Scientists chose the site because of the relative smoothness of the bed topography, the fact that the internal layers of ice are flat and undisturbed, and that the annual layers, each about 1 cm thick, will be detectable to at least 40,000 years within the ice sheet. Also significant is the fact that at the WAIS Divide, there is minimal horizontal ice flow, which guarantees more accurate data due to the ability to pin-point the specific atmospheric conditions in the same location as the ice sheet. One last important fact about the WAIS Divide location is the significance that the gas-age to ice-age difference is about 200 years for the Holocene epoch, and about 300 to 500 years for the last glacial period.

Research

The research being done at the WAIS Divide involves climate, ice sheet history, and cryobiology. With the undisturbed and ideal nature of ice at the WAIS Divide, scientists are planning to come up with some of the best and most detailed research in greenhouse gases, hemispherical climate changes and how these interrelate. These results will in turn be used to take a broader look at global warming, one of the main issues that faces mankind. While significant ice core sampling and detailed related research has been done in Greenland, the WAIS Divide project marks the first Southern Hemisphere and Antarctic venture of this kind.

Focus: Climate

The main purpose and project of the WAIS Divide is to develop the most accurate and detailed record of greenhouse gases for the last 100,000 years. Another area where the WAIS Divide project is expected to excel (more so than the Greenland projects) is in the development of an excellent CO2 record, since the Antarctic ice has less dust than the Greenland ice. The ability to compare research and environmental conditions between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and the study of greenhouse gases relative to each will allow for a more detailed analysis of global warming.

In addition to studying climate and related changes, the WAIS Divide project will be able to measure many other gases (greenhouse and non-greenhouse) and their isotopes with unprecedented precision and resolution.



Focus: Ice Sheet and Biology

In addition to climate research, scientists plan on looking at the ice sheet and seeing how it influences the environment around it: i.e. seeing how the ice sheet affects changes in sea level. Scientists also want to develop an ice sheet history/timeline that can give an idea of when it was formed and changes that the ice sheet has undergone. Along with this, cryobiologists plan on looking for and observing both signs of past life and current (if any) biological life that exists within the ice sheet.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/

Virgin Earth Challenge

The Virgin Earth Challenge is a competition offering a $25 million prize for the first person or organization to come up with a way of scrubbing greenhouse gases out of the Earth's atmosphere to avoid global warming. The prize was conceived and financed by Sir Richard Branson, a successful British entrepreneur, and was announced in London on 9 February 2007 by Branson and former US Vice President and 2007 Nobel Prize winner Al Gore, creator of the 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth on climate change.

The challenge

The Virgin Earth Challenge is similar in concept to other high technology competitions, such as the Orteig Prize for flying across the Atlantic, and the Ansari X Prize for spaceflight. The prize will be awarded to the first scheme that is capable of removing one billion metric tons (= 1 gigaton) of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per year for 10 years (at present, fossil fuel emissions are around 6.3 gigatons per year). $5 million of the prize will be paid at the start of removal operations, with the remaining $20 million paid after the successful completion of the scheme at the end of the 10 year period.

The prize will initially only be open for five years, with ideas assessed by a panel of judges including Richard Branson, Al Gore and Crispin Tickell (British diplomat), as well as climate scientists James Hansen, James Lovelock and Tim Flannery. If the prize remains unclaimed at the end of five years the panel may elect to extend the period.

Around two hundred billion metric tons of carbon dioxide have accumulated in the atmosphere since the beginning of the industrial revolution, raising concentrations by more than 100 parts per million (ppm), from 280 to more than 380 ppm. The Virgin Earth Challenge is intended to inspire inventors to find ways of bringing that back down again to avoid the dangerous levels of global warming and sea level rise predicted by scientific organisations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

"Entrants must submit a commercially viable design (the “Design”) to achieve the net removal of significant volumes of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases each year for at least 10 years without countervailing harmful effects (the “Removal Target”). The removal achieved by the Design must have long term benefits (measured over say 1,000 years) and must contribute materially to the stability of the Earth’s climate."

Contenders

GRT Air Capture Device

According to the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Global Research Technologies, LLC has demonstrated a prototype device capable of capturing 10 tons of carbon dioxide per square meter per year; a device of 10 meters by 10 meters would be able to capture 1,000 tons per year. It is estimated that 1 million such devices would be needed to capture the 1 billion tons per year stipulated in the conditions of the prize offered by Mr. Branson. The process uses proprietary sorbents to capture carbon dioxide molecules from free-flowing air and release those molecules as a pure stream of carbon dioxide for sequestration. According to GRT, one major advantage of this new technology is that it is not necessary to site the devices in immediate proximity to a major carbon source (such as a power station); for example, the CO2 emitted by traffic in Bangkok could be sequestered in Iceland by CO2 towers running on geothermal energy. Of course, the power source for the towers must not be a net CO2 producer, as this would partially offset the beneficial effects of the device. Source: physorg.com

Plastic trees

One approach that has been put forth attempts to catch carbon dioxide with artificial trees. The plastic trees are coated with a carbon-catching agent, allowing the carbon to be safely captured and sequestered, though the approach does have its limitations.

Energy Islands through OTEC

In the article Energy Island: unlocking the potential of the ocean as a renewable power source Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion is discussed as a process that uses the temperature difference between surface and deep-sea water to generate electricity – and though it has an efficiency of just 1-3% - researchers believe an OTEC power plant could deliver up to 250MW of clean power, equivalent to one eighth of a large nuclear power plant, or one quarter of an average fossil fuel power plant. Architect and engineer Dominic Michaelis and his son Alex, along with Trevor Cooper-Chadwick of Southampton University are developing the concept with plans of putting the theory to the test on an unprecedented scale by building a floating, hexagonal Energy Island that will harness energy from OTEC, as well as from winds, sea currents, waves, and the sun. The OTEC technology is something of a green dream; not only is it clean and renewable, but so are its by-products. By subjecting the steam to electrolysis, large quantities of hydrogen can be produced, paving the way for cheaper hydrogen fuel cells. And by using an Open-cycle OTEC - where low-pressure containers boil seawater and condense the steam elsewhere after passing it through the turbo-generator – large amounts of fresh water can be created. Energy Island is also packed to the brim with other renewable energy collectors, with wind, wave, current and solar sources providing a total of 73.75 MW.

Architect and engineer Dominic Michaelis estimates it would take a chain of 4-8 Energy Islands to achieve the production levels of a nuclear power plant. To replace nuclear power entirely, Michaelis estimates a chain of 3708 modules would be required, stretched over a total length of 1928 kilometres, and consuming a total square area of roughly 30 by 30 kilometres. To shoulder the entire global energy consumption, based on 2000 figures, 52 971 Energy Islands would be needed, occupying a total area of 111 x 111 kilometres - described on the Energy Island site as “a pin point in the oceans.” (http://www.gizmag.com/energy-island-otec/8714/)

From http://en.wikipedia.org/

United States House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming

The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming is a select committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. It was established March 8, 2007 through adoption of a resolution by a 269–150 vote of the full House. As a select committee, it will cease to operate at the end of the current 110th Congress.

Controversy

Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced plans to create the select committee on January 18, 2007, which immediately drew objections from many House Republicans as well as some House Democrats, particularly Chairman John Dingell of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, which has primary jurisdiction over environmental and climate change issues and Chairman Charles Rangel of the Ways and Means Committee. Pelosi was able to reach a compromise with Chairman Dingell, wherein the committee will be advisory in nature, without the legislative authority granted to standing committees. Several Republican leaders, including Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Joe Barton continue to object to the committee calling it a "platform for some members to grandstand."

The committee also is controversial because it received funding at the expense of the House Ethics Committee.

Jurisidiction

The Select committee will conduct hearings on energy independence and climate change issues. The committee lacks the authority to draft legislation, but will work with the House standing committees with jurisdiction over climate change issues and develop recommendations on legislative proposals. Speaker Pelosi has indicated she would like committees with jurisdiction over energy, environment and technology policy to report legislation on these issues to the full House by July 4, 2007.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/

UK Youth Climate Coalition

The UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom. The coalition consists of several other youth organisations, which includes the National Union of Students, the National Trust's You, Me & The Climate (YOMAC) and the UK Youth Parliament. The charity aims to encourage young people to take action on climate change. Internationally, the coalition is part of the Global Youth Climate Movement.

History

In June 2008, the United Kingdom ambassadors to the WWF's Voyage for the Future programme, Emma Biermann and Casper ter Kuile, returned from the Arctic to found the UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC).

Campaigns

In December 2008, the coalition participated in the National Climate March organised by the Campaign against Climate Change, with a campaign called "Our time is now" to raise awareness amongst young people.

In 2008, the Coalition organised a youth delegation to the 2008 United Nations Climate Change Conference to advocate on behalf of young people. At the event, the delegation coordinated the 'Call Gordon' project, a viral telephone campaign asking Prime Minister Gordon Brown to pursue a tougher agreement on climate change at the talks. Similarly in December 2009, the organisation will send a second youth delegation to the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference along with other members of the Youth Climate Movement.

On the 9th-12th October 2009, the UK version of Power Shift will be held at the Institute of Education in London. The event is a summit that intends to develop the youth climate movement. The event is modelled on a similar event to one organised by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and carries the same name as the Energy Action Coalition event in the USA.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/

U.S. Climate Action Partnership

The U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), formed January 22, 2007 is a co-operative group of businesses and leading environmental organizations. The group's primary purpose is to call on the U.S. government to require significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

"A Call For Action"

USCAP's principles and goals are summarized in their brochure "A Call For Action":

We, the members of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, pledge to work with the President, the Congress, and all other stakeholders to enact an environmentally effective, economically sustainable, and fair climate change program consistent with our principles at the earliest practicable date.

Targets

The USCAP Blueprint calls for the United States to act quickly to establish a mandatory, national economy-wide climate protection program that includes emission reduction targets for total U.S. emissions and for capped sectors that are::
— 97%-102% of 2005 levels by 2012;
— 80%-86% of 2005 levels by 2020;
— 58% of 2005 levels by 2030; and
— 20% of 2005 levels by 2050.

These targets do not comply with the IPCC proposed target reductions of 25 to 40% by 2020 and 80 to 95% by 2050 for Annex 1 (developed) countries under Scenario A to limit Greenhouse gases to 450ppm

USCAP Members

This list is complete as of July 3, 2007

The 14 founding members of USCAP are:

Alcoa, BP America, Caterpillar Inc., Duke Energy, DuPont,
Environmental Defense, FPL Group, General Electric, Lehman Brothers
Natural Resources Defense Council, Pew Center on Global Climate Change
PG&E Corporation, PNM Resources, and World Resources Institute.

In April, 2007 oil giant ConocoPhillips and insurer AIG joined USCAP.

The following groups and companies joined in June 2007:

American International Group (AIG), Alcan, Boston Scientific, ConocoPhillips
Deere & Company, The Dow Chemical Company, General Motors Corp.,
Johnson & Johnson, Marsh, PepsiCo, Shell,
Siemens, The Nature Conservancy, The National Wildlife Federation

In July, 2007, two major U.S. automakers joined:

Chrysler, Ford Motor Company

Organizational structure

Journalist Timothy P. Carney, writing for the conservative think tank Capital Research Center, says that USCAP has no in-house staff. He says that, like other lobbying coalitions, it manages its affairs through outside organizations to function and coordinate the activities of its members. He further asserts that USCAP contracts with the Meridian Institute, Lighthouse Consulting, and government relations firm Powell Tate Weber Shandwick to carry out its day to day operations.

Controversy

Questions have been raised about the same companies sponsoring both the partnership and lobbying groups which oppose its goals.

Many of the members of USCAP were previously involved with the Global Climate Coalition, whose intention was to block or minimize the effectiveness of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's demands for GHG curbing legislation. After ceasing official operation in 1997 GCC was victorious in having pressured the US into refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocols to any meaningful extent.

Although many of these corporations have now become interested in halting climate change by 2050 through USCAP, both Yvo de Boer, UN Climate Chief and the EU have heavily criticized this long term plan for reductions as offering no short or mid-term solutions to the immediate problems of climate change.

According to Reuters, Robert Murray, chairman and chief executive of Murray Energy Corp., branded more than 20 major corporations that make up the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) "un-American" for allying with environmental groups he calls "enemies of coal."

From http://en.wikipedia.org/