“On January 16th, 2015, I expect NASA and NOAA to make a major announcement that 2014 was the warmest year on record for the planet. This is pretty astounding given that we didn't even have an El Nino (e.g., the 1998 anomaly warm year happened during an El Nino).”
‘At the rate things are going, the Earth in the coming decades could cease to be a “safe operating space” for human beings. That is the conclusion of a new paper published Thursday in the journal Science by 18 researchers trying to gauge the breaking points in the natural world.’
"Those living in the United States probably wouldn’t have guessed it, but globally, 2014 was just confirmed the hottest year on record. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) made the announcement after reviewing 120 years of data on record. NASA and NOAA (U.S.) and the Hadley Center (U.K.) also collect global temperature data but have yet to release their analyses."
The United Nations World Meteorological Organization is out today with a report that’s sure to get people on the left and right all riled up: According to the UN, the Earth’s average temperature over land and sea in 2014 will be among the hottest—and likely the hottest—of any year since record-keeping began in 1880.
"The U.S. EPA's final Renewable Fuel Standard volumes will continue to remain in a holding pattern nearly a year after the government said it would release them, the EPA said in a pre-publication Federal Register announcement Friday morning."
“The Energy Department today announced up to $14 million to support landscape design approaches that maintain or enhance the environmental and socio-economic sustainability of cellulosic bioenergy through the improvement of feedstock production, logistics systems, and technology development. This supports the Department’s efforts to promote the commercialization of environmentally sustainable advanced bioenergy that reduces petroleum consumption and carbon emissions, as well as enhances national security.”
“The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced the selection of 10 projects that will receive funding aimed at accelerating genetic breeding programs to improve plant feedstocks for the production of biofuels, biopower, and bio-based products. The investment is part of the Obama Administration’s broader effort to diversify the nation’s energy portfolio and accelerate development of new clean energy technologies designed to decrease dependence on foreign oil, providing a more secure future for America’s energy needs and enhancing rural economies.”
"Georgia-Pacific has announced an investment of more than $375 million in an energy improvement project at its Brewton, Alabama, mill. All permits are in place for construction to begin in the next few months, and the project is expected to take approximately 24 months to complete."
"The webpage, LearnBiofuels.org, includes resources for educators to use in their classrooms. Links are available to current resources for research. There is also a free interactive app that helps teach children about transportation choices. The Road Trip Challenge app is a free download for the iPad via iTunes or learnbiofuels.org."
"Hopes for affordable transportation fuels from biomass with a sustainable, carbon neutral route to American energy independence has been held up by the economics of the biomass conversion process. We’ve seen a lot, sugarcane and corn ethanol which works, various heating methods that remain uneconomic and vast array of organisms trying to make fuels from sunlight and an assortment of carbon sources. So far, industrial scale has only seen sugarcane and corn ethanol go to market in a big way and due to detractors is getting stuck in place from an impressive disinformation campaign."
