To my dear visitors and commenters

Hi, everybody! I've noticed with lots of joy and happiness, that thousands of comments have been written in my posts. It's wonderful that so may people around the world appreciate my work. Therefore, I want to thank you for that and ,at the same time I want to ask you to be this blog's followers. It's fast and easy! Make it be even more visited and spread all over the world! I'm a woman, a teacher of English in Portugal, and I've been away for quite a long time because of my father's health. Unfortunately he died from Covid19 a few months ago. Now I felt it was time to restart my activity in this and other blogs I owe. I've recently created a new one in a partnership with a street photographer, Mr. Daniel Antunes. He's fabulous! https://pandpbydandd.blogspot.com I'd like you to visit it and, who knows, become our followers. The poems, chronicles and thoughts are all mine. Thank you so much! Kisses :-)

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Saturday, March 14, 2015

Global CO2 emissions 'stalled' in 2014

 The growth in global carbon emissions stalled last year, according to data from the International Energy Agency.
 
Wind turbines in China
China is now by far the world's biggest investor in renewable energy, far outstripping the US
 
It marks the first time in 40 years that annual CO2 emissions growth has remained stable, in the absence of a major economic crisis, the agency said.
Annual global emissions remained at 32 gigatonnes in 2014, unchanged from the previous year.
But the IEA warned that while the results were "encouraging", this was "no time for complacency".

"This is both a very welcome surprise and a significant one," said IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol.
 
It provides much-needed momentum to negotiators preparing to forge a global climate deal in Paris in December: for the first time, greenhouse gas emissions are decoupling from economic growth."
And IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven said while the data was "encouraging", this was "no time for complacency" and "certainly not the time to use this positive news as an excuse to stall further action".

Changing patterns
Analysts attribute the slowdown in emissions to changing patterns of energy consumption in China and OECD countries.

Prof Corinne Le Quere, of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia, said: "An important factor could be that China's coal consumption fell in 2014, driven by their efforts to fight pollution, use energy more efficiently and deploy renewables.

"Efforts to reduce emissions elsewhere will have played a role, but there are also more random factors such as the weather and the relative price of oil, coal and gas."

The IEA said changing patterns of energy use in China and in OECD countries, including the shift towards more renewable energy, was having the desired effect of decoupling economic growth from greenhouse emissions.

The Paris-based organisation said that in the 40 years it had been collecting data on carbon dioxide emissions, annual emissions had stalled or fallen only three other times, which were all associated with global downturns:
  • after the US recession in the early 1980s
  • in 1992 after the collapse of the former Soviet Union
  • in 2009 during the global financial crisis
Coal-fired plant in Datong
Greenhouse gas emissions may finally be decoupling from economic growth

Full details of the IEA report will be released in June, ahead of UN negotiations to sign a new international climate change agreement at talks in Paris in December.
Countries are aiming to reach agreement on a deal that will come into force from 2020.
The aim is to limit the increase of the average global surface temperature to no more than 2C (3.6F) compared with pre-industrial levels, to avoid "dangerous" climate change.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said the figures showed that green growth is achievable not just for Britain but for the world.
He added: "However we cannot be complacent - we need to dramatically cut emissions, not just stop their growth.
"Getting a new global climate deal is absolutely vital, and the year ahead is going to be of critical importance. " 
 
From BBC news 
 
 

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Solar Impulse: Oman to India journey sets new record

Solar Impulse, the fuel-free aeroplane, has successfully completed the second leg of its historic attempt to fly around the world.

Solar Impulse
Project chairman, Bertrand Piccard, piloted the vehicle from Muscat in Oman to Ahmedabad in India, crossing the Arabian Sea in the process.
Tuesday's journey took just over 15 hours.
The distance covered - 1,468km - set a new world record for a flight in a piloted solar-powered plane.
The vehicle has another 10 legs ahead of it over the course of the next five months.
Included in that itinerary will be demanding stretches when the craft has to fly over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
Solar Impulse
Piccard is sharing the flying duties with project partner and CEO, Andre Borschberg, who made Monday's inaugural trip from Abu Dhabi to Muscat.
Solar Impulse arrived in Ahmedabad in darkness, its wings illuminated by LEDs, and its propellers driven by the energy stored in its batteries.
The plane had left Muscat at 06.35 (02:35 GMT) and put its wheels down at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 23.25 local time (17:55 GMT).
Preparations are already under way for the next leg to Varanasi in northeast India, although mission planners say that will not be for another four days, at least.
The time will be spent carrying a campaigning message on the topic ofclean technologies to the local Ahmedabad people, and the wider Indian population.
Solar Impulse heads out over the Arabian Sea
Solar Impulse heads out over the Arabian Sea
Global map
The Solar Impulse project has already set plenty of other world records for solar-powered flight, including making a high-profile transit of the US in 2013.
But the round-the-world venture is altogether more dramatic and daunting, and has required the construction of an even bigger plane than the prototype, Solar Impulse-1.
This new model has a wingspan of 72m, which is wider than a 747 jumbo jet. And yet, it weighs only 2.3 tonnes.Its light weight will be critical to its success.
So, too, will the performance of the 17,000 solar cells that line the top of the wings, and the energy-dense lithium-ion batteries it will use to sustain night-time flying.Operating through darkness will be particularly important when the men have to cross the Pacific and the Atlantic.
The slow speed of their prop-driven plane means these legs will take several days and nights of non-stop flying to complete.Piccard and Borschberg - they take it in turns to fly solo - will have to stay alert for nearly all of the time they are airborne.
They will be permitted only catnaps of up to 20 mins - in the same way a single-handed, round-the-world yachtsman would catch small periods of sleep.They will also have to endure the physical discomfort of being confined in a cockpit that measures just 3.8 cubic metres in volume - not a lot bigger than a public telephone box.
Bertrand Piccard
Bertrand Piccard looking fresh after more than 15 hours in the cockpit of Solar Impulse
The Solar Impulse venture recalls other great circumnavigation feats in aviation - albeit fuelled ones.In 1986, the Voyager aircraft became the first to fly around the world without stopping or refuelling.
Piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, the propeller-driven vehicle took nine days to complete its journey.Then, in 2005, this time was beaten by the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, which was solo-piloted by Steve Fossett. A jet-powered plane, GlobalFlyer completed its non-stop circumnavigation in just under three days.
From BBC Sci/ Environment

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