Environment

EarthRisk Technologies is mining years of weather data for profit.

The San Diego-based start-up today launched HeatRisk, a Web-based application designed to predict extreme heat events 30 to 40 days out. The target audience is meteorologists who work for energy companies or other organizations which need a long-range forecast to hedge their risk from extreme temperatures.

Over time, EarthRisk Technologies intends to design a product aimed at less technical users and investigate whether its research method can be applied to predicting extreme storms, according to President and Chief Science Officer Stephen Bennett. Its first product, released last year, is for … Read more

Typically, cost is the driving concern when choosing one renewable energy technology over another. But a pair of studies that consider land use give the edge to niche forms of solar and wind power generation.

Caltech researcher John Dabiri, a professor of aeronautics and bioengineering, this week presented results of a test that found that vertical-axis wind turbines have the potential to generate more power per square meter than the propeller-like, three-blade wind turbines. The key is that vertical-axis turbines can be placed close together without creating the type of wind disturbances that would sap performance of traditional turbines.

Dabiri … Read more

China will reform its export of rare earths based in part on World Trade Organization rules, state media reported today, a day after the global trade governing body ruled against its curbs on exports.

The Ministry of Commerce will study and take steps forward in rare-earth export management, "according to relevant laws and World Trade Organization rules," the official Xinhua news agency quoted China's vice commerce minister, Zhong Shan, as saying.

The WTO ruled yesterday that China broke international law when it curbed exports of coveted raw materials such as bauxite, coke, and magnesium used in the production of steel, electronics, and medicines.

That ruling, initiated by a complaint filed by the United States, the European Union, and Mexico in 2009, was seen as a landmark that could have implications for the legality of China's rare-earth export quotas.

China produces 97 percent of the world's supplies of rare earths, a group of 17 minerals used in electronics and defense and renewable-energy industries. … Read more

The United States demanded today that the European Union exempt U.S. airlines from an EU law widening carbon permits to aviation, hardening a standoff over a scheme due to start in 2012.

After talks in Oslo, the European Union insisted it would not back down on its unilateral plan to penalize greenhouse gas emissions from planes taking off and landing in the European Union as part of efforts to slow climate change.

"We clearly stated our strong objections to the EU plans on both legal and policy grounds," a U.S. administration official told a telephone news conference after talks between EU and U.S. negotiators.

In the strongest public criticism of the EU carbon scheme to date by President Barack Obama's administration, Washington said U.S. airlines should be exempt from greenhouse gas penalties.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity like all other delegates, said the EU was using "the wrong way to pursue the right objective" of slowing global warming that is predicted to cause more droughts, floods, and rising sea levels.

The European Commission said there were no plans to back down, echoing… Read more

Call it a "wind-win" opportunity: there's a new push on for a "WindMade" certification label for U.S. companies, services, and products.

The announcement yesterday (on Global Wind Day) in New York by a group of organizations marks the start of a two-month development period. But the first draft of the standard allowing the use of the WindMade label requires that a company source at least 25 percent of its electricity from wind in order to qualify.

The idea for a WindMade label was originally proposed in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos … Read more

The Natural Resources Defense Council offered kudos to Sony and Microsoft last week for what the organization sees as a significant improvement to their gaming consoles: reduced energy consumption.

A 2010 Sony PS3 and 2010 Xbox 360 each consumes approximately 90 Watts of power during gameplay. That represents a 50 percent energy reduction compared to the 180 Watts the 2006 models consumed during gameplay, according to the results of a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental advocacy group.

However, gaming consoles still suck down 80 percent of their full power level when they are in menu … Read more

It started monitoring humpback whales, but Liquid Robotics expects its self-powered marine drone to be deployed for many other missions, including defense and industrial applications.

Liquid Robotics yesterday said that it raised $22 million from VantagePoint Capital Partners and has hired Bill Vass, a former Sun Microsystems president and COO with experience selling to the federal government, as CEO.

It's the first institutional funding for the company, which developed an autonomous ocean robot called the Wave Glider for environmental research when it was a joint venture between Jupiter Research Foundation and Roger Hine. That project evolved into the Liquid … Read more

London Mayor Boris Johnson unveiled new diesel-hybrid electric double-decker buses this week that are scheduled to hit London streets in 2012.

The new hybrid buses will get 10 miles per gallon which is almost 40 percent more efficient than a conventional diesel double-decker bus. London already has some diesel-hybrid buses in its fleet, but these newer models will be 15 percent more efficient than those.

"Over the next few months its mettle will be well and truly tested. But I hope that process will confirm we have built a real eco-warrior of a bus that can contribute to improving … Read more

Germany plans to shut all nuclear reactors by 2022, Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition announced today in a policy reversal drawn up in a rush after the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

The coalition, sensitive to accusations it may increase dependence on highly polluting brown coal, said it planned to cut power use by 10 percent by 2020 and further expand the use of renewables such as wind and solar power.

Merkel's bid to outflank the opposition smacks of opportunism to many Germans but could ease an alliance with the anti-nuclear Greens that may be her best bet to … Read more