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Fossil fuels provide most of the world’s energy and are the foundation of the past two centuries of economic growth. The issue of climate change poses the first serious challenge to fossil fuels’ primacy.

But a great divide has existed between the mainstream technologies that make up the modern energy industry and the newer “clean” technologies that offer an alternative, low-carbon pathway to the future. This divide encompasses costs, technological maturity and scale of existing infrastructure.

In recent years, a range of forces has aligned to enhance clean energy’s prospects - technological progress, shifting public opinion about climate change, growing interest by governments in supporting alternative energy technologies through subsidies and emission caps and pricing, and a massive increase in private investment.

Can these forces bring clean energy technologies from their current position, on the fringe, into the energy mainstream? This is the question addressed in a major new study by Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), Crossing the Divide: The Future of Clean Energy.

The study focuses on four kinds of clean energy technology. Biofuels include ethanol, biodiesel and next generation cellulosic-based fuels. Renewable power generation technologies include wind, biomass, geothermal, solar photovolaics (PV), concentrating solar power (CSP), and ocean power.

Carbon capture and storage technologies are primarily designed to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions from coal-fired electric power plants. Finally, conventional clean technologies include nuclear energy and hydropower.

The Crossing the Divide study uses a scenarios approach for thinking about the future of clean energy. Unlike forecasting, scenarios do not attempt to foretell one “right” future.

Instead, the scenario development process focuses on key uncertainties that could lead to futures that are very different from the present. Scenarios are “plausible stories” about the future, which provide a framework for anticipating change and identifying it earlier.

Crossing the Divide develops three possible scenarios for the future of clean energy. In Launch Pad, strong policy support and rapid advances in technology drive the development and adoption of clean energy. In Asian Phoenix, the global balance of power shifts to Asia, and Asian nations play a primary role in defining the future of clean energy technologies, as both consumers and exporters.

In Global Fissures, economic slowdown and turbulence, followed by a long, slow recovery, discourage government support and private investment in clean energy technologies.

For each of these macro narratives, CERA developed an in-depth assessment and quantification of the prospects for clean energy technologies. This analysis provides a framework for assessing the winners and losers in clean energy, and helps to define key risks and opportunities as companies and investors place their technology bets.

One major finding of the study is that for clean energy to “cross the divide” and enter the mainstream, major technical advances will continue to be needed in coming years to make clean energy technologies cost competitive and scalable.

Achieving the requisite technical advances will, in turn, depend on four primary forces. The first three are energy prices, government policy, and the pace with which scientists and engineers working on clean energy can foster innovation. All three of these are affected by the fourth: economic growth.

Oil and natural gas prices directly affect the economics of clean energy technologies and shape political concerns and actions over energy security. Oil prices most strongly affect biofuels development but also have a strong effect on energy security, which drives other technologies as well. Natural gas prices most strongly affect renewable power technologies, as well as hydropower and nuclear.

Government policy is central to the development of clean energy. It typically ranges from funding for research and demonstration projects to mandates, financial incentives, and subsidies for technologies approaching commercial viability. Three kinds of policies are important in shaping the future of clean energy - energy security policy, climate change-related policy, and technology development policies.

Government policy is central to the development of clean energy. Energy security policy plays a role in driving all clean energy technologies. Unfortunately, energy security policies can be inconsistent in nature, waxing and waning with fuel price, economic cycles and sense of risk.

Climate change-related policies are affected by scientific understanding, politics, economic growth, and the level of cooperation and coordination present in the world geopolitical system.

The technologies most strongly affected by these policies are renewable power generation, carbon capture and storage, and nuclear. The long-term nature of the climate change threat provides an important impetus for establishing long-range approaches, at both the global and national levels, in this realm.

Technology development policies are the final area where governments can act to encourage adoption of clean energy technologies. These policies are typically driven by economic growth and fuel price cycles, as well as energy security policies. They can vary greatly in terms of their strength and sustainability, as well as which technologies they favor.

Government supports of all kinds are most effective when they are sustained and predictable. It is also important for policymakers to recognize the value of pursuing multi-faceted, flexible policy approaches.

The challenge for governments is to institute policies that get clean energy technologies off the drawing board and sustain them to the point that they become commercially viable and are able to wean themselves from the support - thereby allowing for a phaseout, rather than an increase over time, in subsidies.

Useful approaches include public-private partnerships to assemble clean energy development clusters, protection of new clean energy intellectual capital, and sustained subsidies to nurture emerging clean energy industries to maturity and scale.

Clean energy policy supports must also be multi-dimensional. Carbon markets cannot single-handedly ensure that new low-emitting technologies become widely available and competitive.

Although these markets can be influential in directing investment, it is still not known whether there will be enough public support to establish high enough carbon prices to encourage long-term development of alternative technologies. Since carbon pricing alone will sometimes not be enough, policymakers need other arrows in their quivers.

The third driver of advances in clean energy technology is the pace of technical innovation. Speeding the pace of innovation depends heavily on policy support and private investment, and these, in turn, are strongly affected by fossil fuel prices and carbon pricing.

A long-term perspective is required, involving policy and investment horizons that stretch over the course not of years - but of decades.

As noted above, the fourth driver, economic growth, has a strong impact on the other three drivers. A robust global economy can make it easier to provide financial support for development of clean energy technologies and to absorb the costs associated with carbon emission restrictions.

In thinking about clean energy, it is important to keep scale in mind. The existing installed base of carbon-based energy infrastructure has been built over the course of more than two centuries of ongoing investment and technology development. Implementing change in a system of this size will take time. A long-term perspective is required, involving policy and investment horizons that stretch over the course not of years - but of decades. Renewables and clean energy in general will increase in significance in an expanding energy system that is striving to meet the needs of global economic growth.

Daniel Yergin, chairman of CERA, received the Pulitzer Prize for “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power” and the United States Energy Award for lifelong achievements in energy and the promotion of international understanding. Vist CERA at http://cera.ecnext.com.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all do something to help with global warming? Actually, wait a minute, we can! You would have to be on a different planet not to know about how bad global warming has become. You only need to take a look out of the window to observe the ever increasingly unpredictable weather. The weather is becoming so bad that natural disasters are becoming more frequent and causing more death and destruction than ever.

Why is it important for us to change the way we live?

As you know, the earth as we know it is damaged. The way we humans have lived has taken its toll on the planet and because of it, global warming is causing things to happen that shouldn’t happen. Icecaps are starting to melt and as a result, species of animals are becoming extinct.

So what can we do it about it?

The problems we humans have is that we are naive by thinking how can one person wasting electricity or doing something else along the same lines cause this much damage? Well, this may only be your thoughts, but then how many other people think if I do this it will not do any harm? Before you know it, a lot of people are doing the same thing and it all contributes.

So, if you are not sure what to do, assess the way that you live. Basically, do you leave lights on when you do not really need to? Just by making little changes, you could be doing your part to help save energy.

Smart houses could be a reality

There has been a call to produce smart houses that eat their own rubbish and power themselves up. The government’s chief scientist, Sir David King, is overseeing this project that plans to design these smart houses that can withstand the conditions of the 21st century. It is thought that the homes need to be wireless so it would need to draw any energy that it can from its own environment, whether it be solar or wind energy.

It could be a fair few years before this can happen, but in the mean time, the government is constantly trying to find new ways to help reduce carbon emission and other things. New methods include taxing people for the amount of rubbish that they have and they are trying to also encourage people to recycle more of their rubbish instead of throwing it away.

Why not change the way that you live today by switching off lights, or by trying to find other ways of saving energy. Together, we can help to make the changes needed and to try to help the planet repair itself. If nothing is done, things will just becoming a whole lot worse and it may get to a stage where nothing could be done whatsoever anymore.

http://www.envirochemcontrol.co.uk/ supply waste management services.

Bristol Airport has come under fire after plans were revealed to use land at a mushroom farm in Langford for Bristol Airport parking. Members of Churchill and Langford Parish Council voted unanimously to oppose to the scheme and refuse the application. Developers Bristol Park and Fly submitted an application for a 1200 space car park at the site in order to increase Bristol Airport parking for the increasing number of passengers.

The reasons why people are opposing the increase in Bristol Airport Parking are because of concerns over light, noise and pollution. Bristol isn’t the only airport to come under fire recently as more and more airports across the UK plan to add runways or build new terminals. This has caused debates and campaigns from environmentalists, local councils and residents living close to the airports.

Many feel that instead of increasing the number of car parking spaces that the airport should encourage people to use busses and trains which are more environmentally friendly. Campaigners think that by making Bristol Airport parking so easy people are going to choose to drive to the airport and with the number of cars passing through the airport every day, pollution caused by the airport is going to be at an all time high.

Local residents are also worried about the increase in the amount of traffic that will be caused by extra facilities being created for Bristol Airport parking. More parking facilities means that more people are going to be using their cars so obviously this means that there is going to be an increase in the amount of traffic in and around the airport. This means that people living in Bristol are going to have to sit in more traffic when going on journeys.

Winscombe and Sandford Parish Council voted against the plans for extra facilities for Bristol Airport parking and are planning to send a letter of objection to North Somerset Council. Many people are also worried about the danger that extra traffic is going to cause to the farm near the airport. Many are worried that the pollution and noise is going to have an effect on the animals as well as the increased risk of animals getting hit by drivers who are in a rush to catch their flight.

Those who are campaigning against the car park are hoping that the local authority will consider the needs of local residents rather than be driven by political motives.

Help Me Park provides safe and secure meet and greet parking at 23 airports across the UK. http://www.bristolairportinformation.co.uk has all the information you need to help you find meet and greet parking at your required airport.

When you think of global warming, you might envision dramatic scenes like melting glaciers and flooded coastlines. Agriculture is yet another area that will be seriously affected by climatic changes. Farming challenges may become even more intense. Today it is even more likely that a farmer will face droughts, floods, heat waves, and hurricanes. These types of weather events that are so traumatic for farming will certainly be less rare.

In regions that are already warm, global warming will cause the plants to languish in the heat. Soil evaporation rates will be very high, leaving parched earth and burned plants. Often rain will come down hard when it does come, leading to greater than usual soil erosion.

Some studies show that the news of global warming is not all bad for farming, at least not in the short run.

An increase in temperature has some temporary benefits. For a while, it will simply mean more time for crops to mature because of a longer growing season. This is especially true of regions where the spring and fall were once quite cool.

Strangely enough, all the extra carbon dioxide in the air also has a fertilizing affect on crops. This type of fertilization is most helpful for crops such as wheat, soybeans, and rice. Carbon dioxide fertilization is a beneficial by-product of global warming. However, this benefit may all be in vain. When global warming pushes ground level ozone to higher stages, the carbon dioxide fertilization is voided out by tropospheric ozone. These ozone levels are influenced by both emissions and temperature. When the temperature rises, the ground ozone levels will rise as well.

The overall predictions for farming in North America are neither all bad nor all good. Crops are expected to benefit from the effects of global warming in many regions for a short period of time. Crops will suffer in some places due to regional variations. The Great Plains are now more susceptible to drought. However, Canada will probably benefit from the added heat, causing farming of some crops to shift north.

Right now, and in the near future, global warming does not seem to pose a serious risk for North American farmers in general. There may even be some positive outcomes. However, in the long run, nothing will be able to mitigate the damage to agriculture that will occur if global warming is not slowed or stopped.

Knowledge is the key to solving problems associated with the Global Warming and Climate Change situation. You can get more information at http://www.globalwarming-101.com

Prabhupada: Vaisya means the mercantile community. They are meant for giving protection to the animals, for producing grain and trading. That’s all. Because formerly there was no industry, people generally depended on agricultural work. Therefore the duty of the mercantile community was to produce food grains, distributing them, and giving protection to the cows. As the king was entrusted to protect the lives of the citizens, similarly the vaisya class, or the mercantile class, were entrusted to protect the lives of the cows. Why particularly cows are protected? Because milk is a very essential food for the human society. Therefore cow protection is the duty of the human society. That is the conception of the Vedic literature.

Protecting the cows and providing them grass for grazing are among the essential needs of human society and for the welfare of people in general. Animal fat required for the human body can be also derived from cow’s milk. Cow’s milk is very important for the human body and the economic development of society depends on sufficient food grains, sufficient milk and sufficient transportation and distribution of these products. Lord Sri Krsna, by His personal example, taught us the importance of cow protection. This is not only meant for India but for all human beings all over the universe.
Less intelligent people underestimate the value of cow’s milk which is also called “gorasa”, or juice from the cow’s body. Milk is the most valuable form of “gorasa” and from milk we can prepare many important and valuable foodstuffs for the upkeep of the human body. The killing of cows by human society is one of the grossest suicidal policies, and those who are anxious to cultivate the human spirit must turn their attention first toward the issue of cow protection.

As written in Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.16.1, and similarly the vaisyas, krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam vaisya-karma svabhava-jam [Bg. 18.44], they should be trained in three things:

1.Production
2.Agriculture
3.Cow protection

That is essential, agriculture and cow protection. And vanijyam. Vanijyam means trade. If there is excess milk product, if there is excess grain product, then you can sell them to others. Nowadays the trade is that you take as much milk as you can, and then kill the animal and sell the flesh to other countries. That is going on. No. Go-raksya. Cow protection is very, very essential in human society because it gives milk, the miracle food. You can make hundreds and thousands of preparations, all not only delicious, but they nourish the brain. You can get good brain. Therefore go-raksya, cow protection is especially recommended.

As written in the purport to Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.18.52, if one is trained to honor and worship the cows and brahmanas, he is actually civilized. The worship of the Supreme Lord is recommended, and the Lord is very fond of the cows and brahmanas (namo brahmanya-devaya go-brahmana-hitaya ca). In other words, a civilization in which there is no respect for the cows and brahmanas is condemned. One cannot become spiritually advanced without acquiring the brahminical qualifications and giving protection to cows. Cow protection insures sufficient food prepared with milk, which is needed for an advanced civilization. One should not pollute civilization by eating the flesh of cows. A civilization must do something progressive, and then it is an Aryan civilization. Instead of killing the cow to eat flesh, civilized men must prepare various milk products that will enhance the condition of society. If one follows the brahminical culture, he will become competent in Krsna consciousness.

Here we see Maharaja Pariksit, as soon as he saw that a cow was being attempted to be killed, immediately he took his sword and inquired “What nonsense are you doing? You are killing my citizen.” This is a good government. Why the cow is not a national? She was also born in the land, so she’s an important national as you are. Krsna has given her grass to eat. She’s not interfering with your food. What right you have got to kill her? You have got your own food. The cow has got the grass as her food. You have got food grains and the cow is giving you milk. Just give her protection. The cow is saying, “Don’t spill my blood, yet drink my milk. Please do not kill me.” So why are these things happening? It is because there is a ‘rascal’ government. Kalina upasrstan. Rascal government. So one should lament that, “We are under this rascal government, under the rascal guru, rascal father. They, who are meant for giving protection, are all rascals. This is our position.”

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for Krishna art, religious gifts from India, and Hare Krishna books. You can find the best marketplace for Krishna art and Hare Krishna books at these sites: http://www.art4krishna.com , http://www.4indiagifts.info , and http://www.krishnashop.info .

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