Monthly Archives: May 2015

PLEA Network

Why is oil and gas activity causing earthquakes? And can we reduce the risk? If you’ve been following the news lately, chances are you’ve heard about – or even felt – earthquakes in the central United States. During the past five years, there has been an unprecedented increase in earthquakes in the North American mid-continent, a region previously considered one of the most stable on Earth. According to a recent report by the Oklahoma Geological Survey, Oklahoma alone has seen seismicity rates increase 600 times compared to historic levels. The state has gone from experiencing fewer than two magnitude-three earthquakes per year to greater than two per day, the report found. Similarly, my home state of Texas has experienced a near 10-fold increase in magnitude-three earthquakes or greater in the past five years. Read More here

 

 

PLEA Network

10 May 2015, Aljazeera: Dutch solar road makes enough energy to power households. Engineers in the Netherlands say energy-generating road surface is more successful than expected, six months into trial. Engineers in the Netherlands say a novel solar road surface that generates electricity and can be driven over has proved more successful than expected. Last year they built a 70-metre test track along a bike path near the Dutch town of Krommenie on the outskirts of Amsterdam. In the first six months since it was installed, the panels beneath the road have generated over 3,000kwh. This is enough to provide a single-person household with electricity for a year. Read More here and view video

PLEA Network

10 May 2015, Climate News Network: Plant growth may speed up Arctic warming: Arctic plants may absorb more greenhouse gases as the region warms – but scientists say this could intensify the warming rather than moderate it. Green may not automatically mean innocent or planet-friendly after all. Korean and German scientists have identified a mechanism that could encourage plants to take up more carbon dioxide – and at the same time amplify Arctic warming by 20%. This counter-intuitive finding is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read More here

PLEA Network

How will the reduced Renewable Energy Target affect investment? After months of uncertainty over the future level of Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET), the federal government and opposition have reached a compromise agreement to scale back the target. The deal will see the RET wound back to 33,000 gigawatt hours of renewable energy by 2020, down from its previous level of 41,000 GWh. The government had earlier sought a target of around 27,000 GWh, but the new compromise was reached after the Labor opposition and the renewables industry each indicated they would be willing to agree on a level in the low-30,000s to end the stalemate. Read More here