Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is energy derived directly or indirectly from sunlight, wind, rain, tidal flows and ranges, waves, and thermal energy stored in the oceans, which are naturally replenished over fairly brief periods of time. Geothermal energy is also regarded as renewable because of the extremely large amounts of heat available from the earth’s core. Major sources of renewable energy include hydro power, wind power, solar power, geothermal power and bioenergy. Moving rapidly to greater reliance on renewable energy in place of fossil fuels has become critically important because of the urgent need to control global warming by reducing carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere.
Read MoreNovember 2017
– Trends that could beat global warming
– World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice
– Light rail along Dominion Road, Auckland
– Do we want to get serious about NZ’s CO2 emissions from transport?
– The US will become a net oil exporter within 10 years, says the IEA
– New Zealand climate data
– Wise Response submission to Productivity Commission
October 2017
– Sea level rise
– Floods
– Big Carbon
– NOAA Global CO2 June 2017
– Emission budget and pathways consistent with limiting warming to 1.5 C
– NASA: 2016 Global Temperature Increase 0.99C relative to 1951-1980 Average
– Electric Cars
– Global carbon emissions stood still in 2016
– Solar Power is Fastest Growing Source of New Energy
New Zealand’s Paris Target
New Zealand’s commitment under the Paris Agreement, as stated in our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) promises that “Emissions will be reduced to 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. The 2005 reference has been chosen for ease of comparability with other countries. This responsibility target corresponds to a reduction of 11% from 1990 levels.” We are comparing our net target emissions with our gross emissions in the base year. Using net emissions for both indicates that our emissions are increasing and not decreasing.
Read MoreWonky Carbon Accounting Hides NZ’s Feeble Paris Commitment
New Zealand’s commitment under the Paris Agreement, as stated in our Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) (1), which became our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) after we ratified the agreement in October 2016 (2), reads as follows:
Emissions will be reduced to 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. The 2005 reference has been chosen for ease of comparability with other countries. This responsibility target corresponds to a reduction of 11% from 1990 levels.
At face value, the above statement appears clear and understandable, but it is actually quite unclear because there are two accepted measures for emissions: gross or total emissions; and net emissions which are total emissions less deductions allowed for land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF), which in our case relate mainly to carbon dioxide taken out of the atmosphere by trees. Neither the New Zealand INDC, nor the supplementary NDC documentation, state clearly whether we are using gross emissions, net emissions, a mix of these, or some other measure to define our Paris target.
July 2017
– Extracts from “We are wasting the beautiful world we have been given”
– Extracts from Clive Hamilton’s “Defiant Earth: The fate of humans in the Anthropocene”
– Plastic Waste
– Extracts from Skating on Thin Ice, Economist 29 April 2017
– Generation Zero Launches Climate Act Initiative – NZ Climate Declaration
– North Island Main Trunk Line de-electrification
Social Impacts of Climate Change
Climate change, combined with a number of factors including groundwater extraction and other pressures from population increases, is already impacting people who live in areas vulnerable to sea level rise, drought, or ice melt, many of whom are poor.
Read MoreJanuary 2017
– Comment on moves towards reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
– The warming Arctic
– US Energy Production
– Traditional car industry and climate change
– Indian Firm makes carbon capture break-through
– To deal with climate change we need a new financial system
– (Un)Natural disasters: communicating linkages between extreme events and climate change
– This is not normal – Climate researchers take to the streets to protect science
– Nuclear weapons
– UN moves towards a ban on nuclear weapons
Climate Change and Sea Level Rise
Current predictions are that global warming will likely heat up the world’s lower atmosphere between 2°C and 6°C by 2100. These temperature rises may not seem significant, but for some components of earth/ocean systems, they have huge implications. One of these is the effect on the world’s oceans and land-based ice reservoirs that will cause accelerating sea-level rise.
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Climate Change and Primary Industry in New Zealand
The annual carbon dioxide equivalent of total global emissions is about 49 Gigatonnes (49 thousand million tonnes), using figures from 2010. Of this, ‘Agriculture’ produced about 11% (mostly as methane, but also N2O). Other ‘Land use,’ including carbon dioxide release from forest and peat burning, produced about 10%.
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