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-- a _kt75 | reprint Inside Sustainability: Facts, Figures, Bullshit - Part II: Alternative Energy From Texas to California, drilling for oil and gas is using billions of gallons of water in the country's most drought-prone areas. _progress | M replaces _kt75 | mirror. visit: http://progress-m.blogspot.com . ready: 01.07.2015. close ✕ America's oil and gas rush is depleting water supplies in the driest and most drought-prone areas of the country, from Texas to California, new research has found. Of the nearly 40,000 oil and gas wells drilled since 2011, three-quarters were located in areas where water is scarce, and 55% were in areas experiencing drought, the report by the Ceres investor network found. Fracking those wells used 97bn gallons of water, raising new concerns about unforeseen costs of America's energy rush. "Hydraulic fracturing is increasing competitive pressures for water in some of the country's most water-stressed and drought-ridd

-- a _kt75 | reprint Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q04/2013 Inside Sustainability: Facts, Figures, Bullshit - Part II: Alternative Energy India and China are in a race to build a presence in the energy-rich Arctic region. After a lengthy courtship, China and India formalized their relationship with the Arctic Council in May 2013 by gaining admission as official observer states. In the months since, both countries have been actively seeking influence with the Council’s permanent members to further establish footholds in a region certain to emerge as a central arena of 21st century geopolitics, scientific research and commerce. But while public statements out of Beijing and New Delhi since May have often cited climate change research as the primary driver of the two countries’ Arctic engagement, the real underlying motive remains securing access to the region’s greatest natural treasure: energy. In recent years, the U.S. Geological Surve

-- a _kt75 | reprint European Union governments and the bloc’s executive arm are splitting over how to guarantee electricity supply as the region builds more renewable power. Germany, France and the U.K. are following nations from Spain to Greece in developing programs called capacity mechanisms to pay utilities to keep plants on standby from as early as 2016. The European Commission instead plans a single market by the end of the year. Supply and demand in 15 markets was for the first time linked today through a daily auction. Europe’s power market relied on intermittent wind and solar output for a record 7.4 percent of generation in 2012, a share poised to reach 18 percent by 2020, according to Energy Brainpool GmbH & Co. KG., a Berlin-based consultant. The renewable energy boom cut profitable hours at coal and gas-fired plants and IHS Inc. estimates that as much as 60 percent of the region’s gas capacity isn’t covering costs and may be at risk of

-- a _kt75 | reprint Download the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q04/2013   In a rare display of regional cooperation, representatives of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement on Monday to build a Red Sea-Dead Sea water project that is meant to benefit all three parties.   The project addresses two problems: the acute shortage of clean fresh water in the region, especially in Jordan, and the rapid contraction of the Dead Sea. A new desalination plant is to be built in Aqaba, Jordan, to convert salt water from the Red Sea into fresh water for use in southern Israel and southern Jordan — each would get eight billion to 13 billion gallons a year. The process produces about the same amount of brine as a waste product; the brine would be piped more than 100 miles to help replenish the already very saline Dead Sea. Under the agreement, Israel will also provide Amman, the Jordanian capital, with eight bil

-- a _kt75 | reprint Download the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q04/2013   From California to the Middle East, huge areas of the world are drying up and a billion people have no access to safe drinking water. US intelligence is warning of the dangers of shrinking resources and experts say the world is 'standing on a precipice' On 17 January, scientists downloaded fresh data from a pair of Nasa satellites and distributed the findings among the small group of researchers who track the world's water reserves. At the University of California, Irvine, hydrologist James Famiglietti looked over the data from the gravity-sensing Grace satellites with a rising sense of dread. The data, released last week, showed California on the verge of an epic drought, with its backup systems of groundwater reserves so run down that the losses could be picked up by satellites orbiting 400km above the Earth's surface. "It was defin

-- a _kt75 | reprint _download the Background: Inside Sustainability: Facts, Figures, Bullshit - Part II: Alternative Energy and other _kt75 | publications China’s continuing drive to reduce the share of coal in the nation’s energy mix is boosting the prospects for natural gas and renewable energy sources, according to analysis just published by IHS Energy Insight. Beijing-based analyst Olivia Boyd comments that while the 2014 energy targets and policy priorities recently announced by the National Energy Administration (NEA) “do not contain any significant deviations from past policy announcements” they do “in some cases reflect an intensification of previously announced targets”. One example of this intensification is the target to reduce the share of coal in the energy mix from 67% in 2012 to 65% in 2014. This, says Boyd, “represents an acceleration of previous plans, which envisioned coal coming down to 65% of total energy consumption by 2015”. Reducing coal co

-- a _kt75 | reprint _download the Background: Inside Sustainability: Facts, Figures, Bullshit - Part II: Alternative Energy and other _kt75 | publications Global installed wind power capacity increased by 12.4 percent to more than 318 gigawatts in 2013 led by China and Canada, industry figures showed on Wednesday. Capacity rose from around 283 GW at the end of 2012, data from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) showed. However, installations slowed in 2013 to about 35.5 GW, almost 10 GW less than a year earlier mostly on a drop in the United States. "Outside of Europe and the U.S., the global market grew modestly last year, led by China and an exceptionally strong year in Canada," GWEC Secretary General Steve Sawyer said in a statement. "China is a growth market again which is good news for the industry. The government's commitment to wind power has been reinforced once again by raising the official target for 2020 to 200 GW, and th

-- a _kt75 | reprint Download the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q04/2013 Submit your Abstract for the next issue of the Quarterly Notes For decades large-scale hydropower developments have been viewed as something of a pariah within the renewable energy sector. Indeed, despite an acknowledged contribution to sustainable energy development — hydropower’s global kWh contribution dwarfs all other renewable technologies — it has largely been excluded from considerations that benefit other forms of renewable power generation and has weathered widespread criticism over projects deemed unsustainable.  In 2012, according to Pakistan’s Board of Investment, the 147-MW run-of-river Patrnid Hydropower Project was set as an Independent Power Producer (IPP) development. Backed by Korea’s K-Water and Star Hydro Power Limited (SHPL), 25 percent of the US $400 million cost of the development on the river Kunhar will come from them, while 75 percent will be financ