Coal To Remain India’s Main Energy Source For At Least 30 Years, Govt Confirms

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)
http://www.thegwpf.com

Coal will remain India’s main energy source for the next three decades although its share will gradually fall as the country pushes renewable power generation, according to a government report seen by Reuters.

The country is the world’s third-largest coal producer and the third-biggest greenhouse gas emitter. It depends on coal for about three-fifths of its energy needs and aims to double its output to 1.5 billion tonnes by 2020.

By 2047, however, coal’s share of India’s energy mix would shrink to 42-48 percent, from about 58 percent in 2015, the report, which has yet to be made public, showed.

“India would like to use its abundant coal reserves as it provides a cheap source of energy and ensures energy security as well,” the report said.

Full story

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) http://www.thegwpf.com

May 15, 2017 at 08:02AM

Seattle Times’ climate change article is dead wrong

via Climate Change Dispatch
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The big front page story in the Seattle Times today, both online and in print, is about how climate change has caused the death of a 72-year-old pine tree in the University of Washington arboretum. Unfortunately, the underlying premise of the story is false, representing another unfortunate example of exaggerating the impacts of global warming. […]

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May 15, 2017 at 07:24AM

Britain’s ageing ice cream vans are belching out pollution 

via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
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Image credit: Chris Sampson / Wikipedia

Even buying an ice cream from a van could be a health hazard, in Britain at least, according to the Mail on Sunday’s roadside test results. A pre-existing condition might be triggered by the fumes, they say. The anti-diesel campaign rumbles on.

Diesel-engined ice cream vans are spewing out dangerously high levels of a deadly pollutant which is especially harmful to young children, a Mail on Sunday investigation has revealed.

The engines are kept running while the vans are parked to power their fridges, leaving queuing families to breathe in a pollutant that can trigger asthma attacks after just a few minutes’ exposure and is responsible for thousands of deaths each year.

Known as black carbon, the soot-like substance is particularly dangerous for babies and stunts the growth of children’s lungs as well as causing cancer and dementia.

Our reporters found families being exposed to levels of black carbon more than 40 times the limit recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The readings were so high that a leading expert in children’s health warned even a one-off exposure for ten minutes could cause serious problems for a youngster with existing breathing problems.

Professor Jonathan Grigg, head of paediatric respiratory medicine at Queen Mary University of London, said: ‘Certainly, in the case of a child with asthma there is a risk that exposure to black carbon at the levels you have recorded could bring on an attack.’

Continued here.

via Tallbloke’s Talkshop http://ift.tt/1WIzElD

May 15, 2017 at 07:09AM

Divestment Campaign Is Having Little Effect On Dakota And Keystone Pipeline Funding

via Climate Change Dispatch
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Developers behind the Dakota Access (DAPL) and Keystone XL pipelines appear unfazed by an activist-led campaign pressuring banks and other institutions to divest from the two contentious oil projects. Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the company behind DAPL, maintains that the crusade has not prevented them from finding institutions willing to invest in the project. ETP […]

via Climate Change Dispatch http://ift.tt/2jXMFWN

May 15, 2017 at 06:54AM