[GWSG] Biomass & C; 2 new solar techs; utilities vs. solar; EESI pub list; slr in S FL; plants descend; impact of XL

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Biomass burning accounts for 18% of carbon emissions, far more than we had thought, and for 5-10% of mortalities from air pollution.  http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0805-hance-biomass-burning-impacts.html

2.  Glint Photonics has developed a system which traps and concentrates solar energy from the changing angles of the day, greatly simplifying the need for tracking technologies.  It has the potential to reduce the cost of concentrated solar energy to $.04/kilowatt hour.  The technology is not yet commercial.  http://www.technologyreview.com/news/529476/adaptive-material-could-cut-the-cost-of-solar-in-half/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-weekly-energy&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20140804    The concentrated solar power industry is in something of a tailspin because it cannot compete with solar panels (or gas) in cost.  Glint’s news should help it recover, if commercialization works as well as promised.  http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Areva-Abandons-Solar-and-Shutters-Its-Ausra-Concentrated-Solar-Effort?utm_source=Daily&utm_medium=Headline&utm_campaign=GTMDaily

3. Startup company Semprius has found a way to stack collectors of a range of solar frequencies so as to increase efficiency to 50%.  The technique has the potential to decrease the cost and the footprint of pv solar power.  The company estimates that the cost would drop to below $.05/kWh—making it competitive with Glint’s concentrating solar technology above.  http://www.technologyreview.com/news/529651/stacking-cells-could-make-solar-as-cheap-as-natural-gas/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-weekly-energy&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20140811

4.  As photovoltaic power prices continue to drop, utilities have worked to keep people from using it in several states.  http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-no-solar-20140810-story.html#page=1

 5.  The Environmental and Energy Study Institute has summarized a selection of recent government publications on climate.  Topics include health vulnerability, defense, and extreme heat events.  A selection of forthcoming publications is also provided.  http://www.eesi.org/papers/view/summarizing-recent-governmental-climate-change-publications

6.  While Broward County municipalities have adopted the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact’s Climate Action Plan, local governments in the other three Compact counties have not.  The linked article emphasizes the resistance to action in Southeast Florida and sketches the near-term challenges the region faces from sea level rise.  http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060004241
The Compact’s web site, with a link to the plan:  http://southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/

7. In a U of WA study on the behavior of plants as temperatures rise, 60% of plant species generally and occasionally all plants in a habitat moved down slope, perhaps in response to changing precipitation patterns, rather than moving higher to cooler temperatures as was expected.   Planning for conservation in a changing climate asks for careful analysis of specific environments.  http://news.sciencemag.org/climate/2014/08/plants-have-unexpected-response-climate-change


8.  An article in Nature Climate Change observes that the climate impact of the Keystone XL pipeline has been greatly underestimated because the pipeline would reduce the cost of oil and therefore increase consumption.  http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/keystone-climate-impact-could-be-4-times-u-s-state-dept-estimate-study-says-1.1953616
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