[GWSG] Arab spring; 83.5 g new clean; cheap pv; Chile buying?; Germany invests; prop $; Gulf in trouble; coral too; Greenland sliding

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Thomas Friedman observes that the movements of the Arab Spring have roots in stresses brought on by climate change as well as in political frustration.  Thanks to Jay Huebner for the story.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/opinion/sunday/friedman-the-other-arab-spring.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120408

2.  The world added 83.5 gigawatts of clean energy in 2011, and the US was the top investor.  The world now has 565 GW of clean energy, 47% more than that supplied by nuclear power.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17662973

3.  Photovoltaic panels are now selling for an average of $.80-85 per watt, down 10% since December.  Last year the price dropped 50% and is set for further decline.  One effect has been to lower the profits of manufacturers, and the resulting instability is expected to continue for at least the next six months.  Another effect is to make solar power increasingly competitive with that from fossil fuels.    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47043457/ns/business-going_green/

4.  The falling price of solar power could help Chile to become the first developed economy in Latin America.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17694928

5.  Germany is making its biggest energy investment since WW II.  It will spend $263 billion, 8% of its 2011 GDP, to replace the 20% of its energy supply which came from nuclear energy with renewable sources.  Germany now has 20% renewable energy and aims for at least 35% by 2020.  A large part of the new power will come from offshore wind farms in the North Sea and Baltic.  Four other European nations have set even higher targets.  http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-18/germany-s-270-billion-renewables-shift-biggest-since-war

6.  So far this year groups such as Americans for Prosperity and the American Petroleum Institute have spent over $16 million on propaganda directly to prevent energy reform.  http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-oil-and-coalbacked-groups-far-outpace-obama-on-energy-ads-20120413,0,5372852.story  The amount could be multiplied many times by counting the steam of ads meant to convince us that fossil fuel companies such as Exxon-Mobil are caring citizens.

7.  The Gulf of Mexico could be on the point of an ecological collapse as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  The signs include mutilated crabs and eyeless shrimp.  While not an effect of climate change, the threatened collapse is an effect of our resistance to the solution to climate change—an immediate transition to renewable energy.  http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/04/201241682318260912.html

7.  46 species of coral are candidates for listing under the Endangered Species Act due to climate change.    http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/15/11209607-us-56-coral-species-face-extinction-danger-from-warming-acidic-seas?lite  An Australian study shows that reefs can adapt to climate change through species resistant to increased warmth and acidity, though their role in the lives of other creatures may change.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47049757

8.  Greenland’s ice cover is accelerating in its slide to the ocean due to increased meltwater pooling at the base of the ice sheets.  http://www.enn.com/climate/article/44273?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClimateChangeNews-Enn+%28Climate+Change+News+-+ENN%29

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