Today’s top five climate change stories chosen by RTCC
Email us on [email protected] or Tweet @RTCCnewswire
Source: Kevin Dooley
1 – Chinese officials put faith in green technology
Officials in China say they are confident green technology will help overcome the country’s notoriously polluted air. In a rare interview, the head of air quality at Beijing’s Environmental Protection Bureau, Wang Bin, told the BBC he was “optimistic” that the problems would be overcome. Apocalyptic scenes of dense smog have recently forced major cities including Shanghai and Harbin to virtually shut down.
2 – Companies to avoid punishment under Direct Action Plan
Tony Abbott’s government will not punish companies if they fail to meet their carbon emissions targets under the Coalition’s Direct Action plan, reports the Australian. Instead, the government will introduce “flexible compliance arrangements”, some of which are more generous than those argued for by industry.
3 – Renewable Energy Village built on Japan’s damaged land
A Renewable Energy Village is being built in the farmland contaminated by the radiation from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster. The project aims to combine solar panels with growing crops, says the IEEE Spectrum website, and already has 120 solar panels generating 30 kilowatts of power.
4 – Toyota announces new clean car
Toyota has announced a hydrogen-powered vehicle that emits only water vapour as exhaust will go on sale in the US in 2015, a year earlier than it promised just two months ago, says the phys.org website.They made the announcement at the International CES, the technology industry’s annual gadget show.
5 – Suburbs cancel out city energy savings
An extensive web of suburbs surrounding cities could cancel out the carbon savings made in the cities themselves, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. World Nature News reports that, despite accounting for less than half of the nation’s population, suburbs are responsible for about 50 percent of all household emissions, which are largely comprised of carbon dioxide.