[GWSG] World3; aquaponics; NC20; CA doubles rooftop solar; CUNY's new battery; China's $23B; Bonn flops

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Norway’s Jorgen Randers was one of the MIT World3 modelers whose work provided the base for The Limits to Growth in 1972.  In his new book 2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years he finds that we are on track for a global collapse of civilization—in the early stages already, in fact.  Others who have revisited the model come to a similar conclusion.  The charts at the end of the review explain why.  The comments following the review complete the effect as if they were crowd noises on the sound track of a disaster movie.  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=apocalypse-soon-has-civilization-passed-the-environmental-point-of-no-return

2.  The Entrepreneur class of the Foundation Academy in Jacksonville Beach has established an aquaponics loop using catfish and carp to fertilize a variety of vegetables and herbs.   http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-05-24/story/private-jacksonville-school-opens-its-own-organic-fish-and-produce-farm  Such skills could be central to the kind of resilient community equipped for the world suggested in item 1.  I noticed that the Entrepreneurs are minimizing their carbon footprint with solar power.  I would like some of their green beans and tomatoes with my fried catfish, please.

3.  The move by 20 coastal counties in North Carolina (NC20) to limit the planning for sea level rise to projections of current rates of change has not yet passed the legislature (though an earlier report implied that it had).  The situation is complicated, with such departments as Emergency Planning concerned that they will be hampered and others anxious that insurance rates will rise even further if meaningful planning is outlawed.  NC20 wishes to plan for 8 inches of sea level rise this century.  http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/25/3265614/coastal-nc-counties-fighting-sea.html

4.  California’s Public Utilities Commission has doubled the amount of rooftop solar power covered by subsidized net metering to 5,200 megawatts.  http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-puc-solar-20120525,0,4107903.story

5.  CUNY’s Energy Institute is sponsoring a startup to produce a nickel-zinc battery for wind and solar systems that is as cheap as lead-acid batteries and lasts as long as lithium-ion batteries, 15 years.  The new battery should make it possible to store power economically for round-the-clock use even in smaller systems. http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120524/renewable-energy-battery-storage-cleantech-utilities-cuny-zinc-solar-wind-farms-dendrites-duracell

6.   China is spending $23 billion on the transition to renewable energy this year.  It is keeping to its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 40-45% by 2020 on a 2003 base.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/25/china-renewable-energy-carbon-emissions

7.  The Bonn climate talks among 180 nations last week ended without major achievements.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/25/bonn-climate-talks-end-disappointment
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