[GWSG] US-China; transition; DOE loans; lightning up; corps price C; Denmark pledges 100%; $3bn pledge

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Michael Oppenheimer discusses why he believes the US-China climate agreement is significant and doable, and why it will be difficult to derail.  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/u-s-china-agreed-climate-change-action/  Seth Borenstein assembles informed opinion that the agreement needs to lead to further actions by other nations before it can have a decisive impact on climate disruption.  http://news.yahoo.com/us-china-climate-deal-aims-prod-others-act-091201821--politics.html  Groundwork for the agreement began in the late 1990s.  Specific initiatives toward the bilateral agreement began in 2007 during the Bush administration and advanced through a series of trust-building exercises, proofs of good faith, and preliminary agreements.  Credit in the US goes to a team of diplomats and scientists, lately under the leadership of President Obama and Secretary Kerry.  http://news.yahoo.com/us-china-climate-deal-aims-prod-others-act-091201821--politics.html

2.  BusinessGreen notices that the US-China agreement signals a major shift toward a sustainable economy.  http://www.greenbiz.com/article/7-things-know-about-us-china-climate-deal?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRoguq7BZKXonjHpfsX56%2BskXK%2B1lMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4ESsFgI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFSLHEMa5qw7gMXRQ%3D  China expects to increase new rooftop solar installations tenfold this year.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-12/china-hunger-for-clean-energy-to-leave-no-rooftop-behind.html

3.  The Department of Energy’s loan program for risky and innovative companies (such as Solyndra—and Tesla) is now in the black and expects over $5 billion in profits on loans totaling $34.2 billion.  The program was devised to support enterprises which were too risky to attract private capital and was set up with $10 billion in reserve to cover expected losses.  http://climatecrocks.com/2014/11/13/federal-renewable-innovation-spending-pays-off-big-go-figure/

4.  Lightning strikes increase globally about 12% for every 1°C rise in temperature.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/13/lightning-strikes-will-increase-due-to-climate-change

5.   Scores of major corporations, including ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Walmart, General Electric, Duke, Deutsche Bank, Delta Airlines, BMW, and Google, include an internally estimated carbon price in their planning.  http://climatecrocks.com/2014/11/14/big-business-gears-ready-for-carbon-pricing/

6.  Denmark has announced a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2050.  They have included transportation.  http://www.justmeans.com/blogs/denmark-announces100-renewable-goal

7.  President Obama has pledged $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, set up to help poor countries in climate efforts.  It may be enough to ease the tensions between developed and undeveloped nations which have blocked agreements for twenty years. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/14/obamas-3bn-climate-fund-could-kickstart-action-global-warming
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