Group items tagged

"A new report released by the United Nations calls on world governments to change the way they do business, end fossil fuel subsidies and factor in social and environmental costs into the measurement of economic activity. It notes that the standard method of calculating economic growth through measures such as GDP ignores the impacts on the planet and food and water resources."

"The National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Measurement) Technical Guidelines (NGER Technical Guidelines) assist corporations to understand and apply the NGER (Measurement) Determination 2008."

"Measuring Inequality" - various models explained

"Measure and Monitor your Energy Consumption"

"Many Australian consumers and businesses are working on ways to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. For some, the carbon tax meets their needs: it's designed to specifically motivate changes in behaviour by raising the costs associated with the production of pollution. But others are looking for more direct measures. Do offsets fit the bill?"

Last week the world's atmosphere took a giant leap backward. For the first time in more than 3 million years, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) reached 400 parts per million. This was recorded at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory located on Mauna Loa in Hawaii right out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a long way from major sources of CO2 in Asia and North America. What this means for the environment is uncertain but it's likely that, if no measures are taken to reduce this level of greenhouse gas, we could be headed for 3-4 degrees C warming globally by the end of this century

"Climate science is a complicated beast, and making solid predictions about the future is never easy. Forecasting exactly how our agricultural systems will cope with changing climate conditions is not straightforward, but it is clear that we can't take bountiful harvests for granted. We will need innovative adaptive measures to ensure that our agricultural systems cope with feeding the future generations."

"Forest ecologists like a challenge however, and there have been several attempts at estimating the forest carbon "sink". According to this analysis, intact forests and those re-growing after disturbance (like harvesting or windthrow) sequestered around 4 billion tonnes of carbon per year over the measurement period - equivalent to almost 60% of emissions from fossil fuel burning and cement production combined."

"The World Meteorological Organization just released its Global Climate Report (pdf), which wastes no time in announcing a stark truth. The report's first sentence: "The first decade of the 21st century was the warmest decade recorded since modern measurements began around 1850." Nine out of ten years between 2001 and 2010 were among the ten warmest in recorded history, according to the report, and the warmest year to date was 2010. For those worried about glacier melting, the heat spike wasn't isolated to land. The decade was warmest for both land and ocean surface temperatures. In case anyone still doubts the existence of global warming, take a gander at this chart:"

"A joint Australian-UK study has found that deep soils store up to five times more carbon than previously thought. The research, conducted by scientists at Murdoch University, shows carbon is stored at depths of up to 40 metres. The paper's authors say the the findings merit a reassessment of the current measurements used to judge soil carbon stores."

"The world experienced unprecedented high-impact climate extremes during the 2001-2010 decade, which was the warmest since the start of modern measurements in 1850 and continued an extended period of pronounced global warming. More national temperature records were reported broken than in any previous decade, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The report, The Global Climate 2001-2010, A Decade of Climate Extremes, analysed global and regional temperatures and precipitation, as well as extreme events such as the heat waves in Europe and Russia, Hurricane Katrina in the United States of America, Tropical Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, droughts in the Amazon Basin, Australia and East Africa and floods in Pakistan."

The world experienced unprecedented high-impact climate extremes during the 2001-2010 decade, which was the warmest since the start of modern measurements in 1850 and continued an extended period of pronounced global warming. More national temperature records were reported broken than in any previous decade, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

At the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, the latest on-site measurements of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography reveal that global atmospheric carbon-dioxide (CO2) concentrations reached 391.3 parts per million (ppm) in 2011, up from 388.56 ppm in 2010 and from 280 ppm from pre-industrial times. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in order to have a 90-percent chance of avoiding dangerous changes in climate, greenhouse-gases (GHGs) concentrations need to be stabilized at 450 ppm, which would roughly translate into an average temperature increase of 2° Celsius. This means that to stabilize GHG concentrations at 450 ppm, global GHG emissions will need to peak before 2015 and be reduced to 50 percent of their 2000 level by 2050.

"The monthly solar power generation record has been shattered in Germany, again. The country measured over 5.1 terawatt hours (TWh) of solar power in July, according to data gathered by the EEX (Energy) Transparency Platform. It's an impressive result, considering Germany gets less than half the sun available in some sunnier parts of the world."

"Global warming is moving much more quickly than scientists thought it would. Even if the biggest current and prospective emitters - the United States, China and India - were to slam on the brakes today, the earth would continue to heat up for decades. At best, we may be able to slow things down and deal with the consequences, without social and political breakdown. Gwynne Dyer examines several radical short- and medium-term measures now being considered-all of them controversial."

"Joulemeter: Computational Energy Measurement and Optimization"

"On 9 May 2013 The National Sustainability Council presented Sustainable Australia Report 2013 to Minister Burke. The report provides a picture of Australia - what we look like and who we are. It tells the story of how we have changed as a nation over the last 30 years. We have made great progress in many areas. Australians are living longer, our health and levels of educational attainment have improved. We have benefited from a strong economy, with low unemployment and increasing incomes. However, inequality has increased and the health of our natural environment has continued to decline in some key areas. The report provides an evidence base for decision-making and planning about the future. It highlights a number of trends in Australia and the world that are set to have a significant impact on the next generation of Australians. We need to plan for an ageing population, rising health costs, growing cities and changes in traditional work and family roles. The National Sustainability Council intends to use the report, the first of its kind in Australia, as a starting point for a national conversation about our future."

"Energy Matters Solar Analyser for the iPhone "

"SmartNow Online Shop"