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-- a _kt75 | note Download: Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q01/2014 . The most recent issue of the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management (Q01/2014) is freely available. This release of the Notes comes along with a substantial diversification in terms of content. As with this issue the section 'Energy' is inserted immediately after the section 'Technology'. By this, it is intended to emphasise and consider the importance of water as an important energy carrier. Thematically, this issue concentrates on two highly sensitive issues affecting sustainable water management: the extraction of natural gas and crude oil by measn of hydraulic fracking on the one hand and the accounting of virtual water (especially with regarding to trading and agriculture) on the other hand. Both topics pose severe challenges. Whereas the former is often criticised to affect the natural water balance, in particular the mechanisms of the groun...

-- a _kt75 | reprint   More than 400 hydroelectric schemes are planned in the mountain region, which could be a disaster for the environment. The future of the world's most famous mountain range could be endangered by a vast dam-building project, as a risky regional race for water resources takes place in Asia . New academic research shows that India, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan are engaged in a huge "water grab" in the Himalayas, as they seek new sources of electricity to power their economies. Taken together, the countries have plans for more than 400 hydro dams which, if built, could together provide more than 160,000MW of electricity – three times more than the UK uses. In addition, China has plans for around 100 dams to generate a similar amount of power from major rivers rising in Tibet. A further 60 or more dams are being planned for the Mekong river which also rises in Tibet and flows south through south-east Asia. (Pre-Release)...

-- a _kt75 | reprint People are having to leave their homes, villages are being submerged, and worries are being expressed about damage to the biodiverse Amazon forest. When it is completed in 2015, the Jirau hydroelectric dam will span 8km across the Madeira river and feature more giant turbines than any other dam in the world. Then there are the power lines, draped along 2,250km of forests and fields to carry electricity to Brazil's urban nerve centre, São Paulo. Still, it won't be enough. The dam and the Santo Antonio complex that is being built a few kilometres downstream will provide just 5% of what government energy planners say the country will need in the next 10 years . So Brazil is building many more dams, courting controversy by locating the vast majority in the world's largest and most biodiverse forest. _progress | M replaces _kt75 | mirror. visit: http://progress-m.blogspot.com . ready: 01.07.2015. close ✕ "The investment to build...

-- a _kt75 | reprint Beijing brings forward deadline for world's first thorium-fuelled facility in attempt to break reliance on fossil fuels. China is developing a new design of nuclear power plant in an attempt to reduce its reliance on coal and to cut air pollution. In an effort to reduce the number of coal-fired plants, the Chinese government has brought forward by 15 years the deadline to develop a nuclear power plant using the radioactive element thorium instead of uranium. A team of researchers in Shanghai has now been told it has 10 instead of 25 years to develop the world's first such plant. "In the past, the government was interested in nuclear power because of the energy shortage . Now, they are more interested because of smog," Professor Li Zhong, a scientist working on the project, told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. An advanced research centre was set up in January by the Chinese Academy of Sciences with the...

-- a _kt75 | reprint Inside Sustainability: Facts, Figures, Bullshit - Part II: Alternative Energy A new report from researchers at Oxford University argues that large dams are a risky investment - soaring past projected budgets, drowning emerging economies in debt and failing to deliver promised benefits. Do they ever really make sense? A peek over the edge of the Hoover Dam's 60-storey wall is enough to send shivers down anyone's spine. Constructed from enough concrete to pave a motorway from New York to San Francisco - this colossal barrier is touted as a symbol of man's mastery over nature and a marvel of 20th Century engineering. The dam was credited with helping jump-start America's economy after the Great Depression, reining in the flood-prone Colorado River and generating cheap hydroelectric power for arid south-western states. Even more miraculously, the Hoover Dam was completed two years ahead of schedule and roughly $15m (£9m) under budg...

-- a _kt75 | reprint Inside Sustainability: Facts, Figures, Bullshit - Part II: Alternative Energy The European Union should ensure that future climate and energy policies do not undermine the competitiveness of its industry, already weakened by a price gap with the U.S., the bloc’s member states said. Energy ministers from the EU’s 28 nations had their first debate about 2030 carbon-reduction andrenewable energy strategy at their quarterly meeting in Brussels today. It followed yesterday’s gathering of environment ministers, where countries differed over how ambitious Europe’s emissions-cut target should be and how fast new policies should be adopted. The framework for the next decade will next be discussed by EU leaders at their March 20-21 summit. “We need to make sure we combine our objectives for setting ambitious goals with increasing competitveness of the industry and safeguarding energy supply,” Greek E...

-- a _kt75 | reprint Inside Sustainability: Facts, Figures, Bullshit - Part II: Alternative Energy China's solar energy sector is a tale of two industries, in which ailing, overcapacity-plagued panel, parts and materials manufacturers are shunned by banks, while downstream solar farm developers boast mind-blowing expansion plans and credit lines. But behind the multibillion-yuan construction plans and loan agreements with banks lie concerns that the solar farm building binge will see a repeat of the growing pains and low returns suffered by wind farm developers in 2011 and 2012 due to the inability of power grids to absorb much of their output. "Risks abound, some of these developers have been telling investors that their projects have no problems connecting with the grids, but they have yet to give convincing evidence to support their assertion," said CIMB Securities utilities and renewable energy analyst Keith Li. Shunfeng Photovoltaic International,...

-- a _kt75 | reprint Inside Sustainability: Facts, Figures, Bullshit - Part II: Alternative Energy Despite more than 25 years of efforts to reduce fossil fuel consumption and boost renewable energy use, fossil fuels will keep dominating the global energy consumption mix, said International Energy Agency (IEA) Chief Economist Fatih Birol. In 1987, a number of countries kicked off a major effort to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels and increase use of renewable energy resources. This global effort came after Norway’s then Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, issued a report on sustainable development at the request of the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report. At that time, fossil fuels comprised 82 percent of the mix if energy resources used. Despite 25 years of subsidies and government policies, however, the percentage of fossil fuels in the global energy consumption mix remains...

-- a _kt75 | reprint Inside Sustainability: Facts, Figures, Bullshit - Part II: Alternative Energy Global demand for energy is inexhaustible. In developed countries, populations continue to rise putting pressure on water, sanitation and other requirements. A growing taste for comfort and convenience demands air conditioning and heating systems, transport solutions, entertainment activities and a range of other related energy-hungry luxuries. The less developed world is also becoming more sophisticated and more populous and demand is growing from the BRIC nations, South Africa and other areas to place even more pressure on natural resources. Renewables such as solar, wind and tidal options present an alternative to traditional fossil energies, but these are expensive and still largely in their infancy. This means the world must continue to look to oil and gas for the immediate solution. Existing oil fields in the more accessible regions are now mature, so ...

-- a _kt75 | reprint Download the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q04/2013 Famous as the source of the Blue Nile, which flows from Lake Tana in the Ethiopian highlands, this East African country is far less well-known for its promising groundwater potential. But the Ethiopian government is now planning to tap into its largely unexploited groundwater resources, both to sustain a population of over 90 million – many of whom suffer from water shortages - and to alleviate the impacts of climate stresses. The Ministry of Water and Energy (MoWE) hopes to increase potable water coverage to 98.5 percent of households nationwide by the end of next year, from 68.5 percent in 2013. And for that it will need new water supplies. Scientists from the British Geological Survey and University College London estimated in a 2012 study on Africa’s underground water reserves that Ethiopia has groundwater storage of 12,700 km³, much less than so...