PERU - Lima, Feb 19 - Global climate change threatens the complete disappearance of the Andes’ tropical glaciers within the next 20 years, putting precious water, energy and food sources at risk, according to a World Bank report presented here Tuesday.

The study says glacial retreat has already reduced by 12 percent the water supply to Peru’s dry coastline, home to 60 percent of the country’s population.

“In Peru, (the glaciers) are melting very quickly. More than 20 percent of the glacial ice caps have disappeared since the 1970s,” World Bank climate change specialist Walter Vergara told reporters in the capital, Lima. Continua a leggere questo articolo…

EU - Bruxelles, Feb 15 - Bioethanol powered vehicles in several major European cities - from Stockholm to Madrid - and the recent launch of electric car initiatives in London and Berlin are just some of the projects seeking to improve sustainability in urban transport.

Madrid City Council is committed to increasing the role of clean vehicles so that all its public fleets would be ecological by 2011. In 2008, the share was approximately 20%, when the municipal fleets had more than 1800 vehicles powered by electricity or alternative fuels, such as natural gas, biodiesel or bioethanol. These are mainly urban buses and waste-collection vehicles.

This effort to introduce sustainability criteria in urban mobility is intended to contribute to a better environment in terms of air quality and reduction of greenhouse emissions. Continua a leggere questo articolo…

CALIFORNIA - Mountain View, Feb 15 2009 - Google said Tuesday it is refining PowerMeter software that tells residents which devices in their homes are electricity hogs and which are being frugal with energy.

The announcement comes as the California Internet titan urges increased investment in a nationwide “smart grid” electricity network to better track and manage power consumption. PowerMeter software being tested by Google workers receives information from “smart” electric meters and devices such as appliances and then sends to users’ computers detailed reports about how the power is being divvied up. Continua a leggere questo articolo…

ITALIA - Milano, Feb 13 2009 - “L’uso razionale dell’energia è la fonte più virtuosa che esista: fa bene all’ambiente e, subito, anche alle nostre tasche”. E’ quanto ha sottolineato il Presidente dell’Autorità energia Alessandro Ortis, evidenziando la positività di iniziative per sensibilizzare i cittadini come  la giornata di mobilitazione internazionale “M’illumino di meno 2009″, promossa dalla trasmissione Caterpillar di Radio 2 a sostegno e promozione del risparmio energetico.

Quanto alle iniziative per l’efficienza energetica promosse dall’Autorità, nei primi quattro anni di applicazione (dal gennaio 2005 al dicembre 2008), il meccanismo dei ‘certificati bianchi’ ha portato ad un risparmio complessivo di oltre 2 milioni di tonnellate equivalenti di petrolio (tep), pari alla produzione elettrica di una centrale da più di 1.100 MW ed ai consumi domestici di più di 2,5 milioni di abitanti, evitando così più di 5 milioni di tonnellate di emissioni di CO2.

Continua a leggere questo articolo…

In a settlement, U.S. Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corp. agree to account for their projects’ effects on global warming.

USA - February 7, 2009 - The government’s major financing agencies for overseas development projects reversed direction Friday, committing to scrutinize fossil-fuel facilities for their effect on global warming and pledging to help build renewable energy plants abroad.

The decision was revealed in settlement agreements filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco in a lawsuit brought by two environmental groups, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, against the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corp. in 2002. Continua a leggere questo articolo…

Che ne dite di ridimensionare d’ufficio alcuni settori economici? O meglio, perché non sostenere e non finanziare pubblicamente alcuni settori soft (per esempio l’agricoltura) e non sospendere progressivamente i finanziamenti per esempio agli armamenti. Ah scusate, dimenticavo ahmedinjad.