Clean Development Projects: Biogas Emission Reduction Project Feasibility Reports

(click to enlarge the table)

A class of Public Administration students of the University of the Philippines-National College of Public Administration and Governance wrote feasibility reports on biogas emission reduction projects for Rosales, Pangasinan, Capas, Tarlac, and Catmon, Malabon City. Their projects were patterned from the BERP of Pangea Green Energy Philippines located in Payatas, Quezon City. The Pangea BERP is a UNFCCC-registered Clean Development Mechanism project which collects, processes, and flares landfill gas or methane (CH4). CH4 has 21 times global warming potential. The BERP also generates electricity supplied to the power plant, and soon, to the Luzon electricity grid. All the three projects studied the feasibility of a BERP in their areas. Summaries of the feasibility reports are on the table above.

The groups and their members are as follows:

Group 1: Clean Development Mechanism: Biogas Emission Reduction Project in Rosales, Pangasinan Dumpsite

Members: Sigrid Avenido, Ron Arjay Beringuela, Jazelle Anne Lim, Eveanne Seneca Nadal, Mark Gil Taguba, and Imman Van Valerio

Group 2: Clean Development Mechanism: Metro Clark Landfill Gas Capture System and Electricity Generation in Barangay Cutcut, Capas, Tarlac

Members: Hans Pieter Arao, Jennifer Cabanero, Charlene Rose Cadhit, John Gabriel Fernando, and Ronina Tababa

Group 3: Clean Development Mechanism: A Feasibility Study on a Controlled Disposal Facility Biogas Emission Reduction Project in the City of Malabon

Members: Fatima Ayesha Bahjin, Patricia Anne Benoza, Frances Grace Damazo, Raymond Estrella, and Anjelo Montecastro

Group 4: Clean Development Mechanism: Valenzuela Biogas Emission Reduction Project - A Project Feasibility Study

Members: Charmen Balana, Julia Alexandra Chu, Vernon Chua, Julliano Fernando Guiang, Alain Nacor, and Ihna Maries Santos

Global warming has increased monthly heat records by a factor of five

Source:  http://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/press-releases/monatliche-hitzerekorde-haben-sich-durch-die-erderwaermung-verfuenffacht

 

01/14/2013 - Monthly temperature extremes have become much more frequent, as measurements from around the world indicate. On average, there are now five times as many record-breaking hot months worldwide than could be expected without long-term global warming, shows a study now published in Climatic Change. In parts of Europe, Africa and southern Asia the number of monthly records has increased even by a factor of ten. 80 percent of observed monthly records would not have occurred without human influence on climate, concludes the authors-team of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Complutense University of Madrid. 

 

“The last decade brought unprecedented heat waves; for instance in the US in 2012, in Russia in 2010, in Australia in 2009, and in Europe in 2003,” lead-author Dim Coumou says. “Heat extremes are causing many deaths, major forest fires, and harvest losses – societies and ecosystems are not adapted to ever new record-breaking temperatures.” The new study relies on 131 years of monthly temperature data for more than 12.000 grid points around the world, provided by NASA. Comprehensive analysis reveals the increase in records.

The researchers developed a robust statistical model that explains the surge in the number of records to be a consequence of the long-term global warming trend. That surge has been particularly steep over the last 40 years, due to a steep global-warming trend over this period. Superimposed on this long-term rise, the data show the effect of natural variability, with especially high numbers of heat records during years with El Niño events. This natural variability, however, does not explain the overall development of record events, found the researchers.

Natural variability does not explain the overall development of record events

If global warming continues, the study projects that the number of new monthly records will be 12 times as high in 30 years as it would be without climate change. “Now this doesn’t mean there will be 12 times more hot summers in Europe than today – it actually is worse,“ Coumou points out. For the new records set in the 2040s will not just be hot by today’s standards. “To count as new records, they actually have to beat heat records set in the 2020s and 2030s, which will already be hotter than anything we have experienced to date,” explains Coumou. “And this is just the global average – in some continental regions, the increase in new records will be even greater.”

“Statistics alone cannot tell us what the cause of any single heat wave is, but they show a large and systematic increase in the number of heat records due to global warming,” says Stefan Rahmstorf, a co-author of the study and co-chair of PIK’s research domain Earth System Analysis. “Today, this increase is already so large that by far most monthly heat records are due to climate change. The science is clear that only a small fraction would have occurred naturally.”

Article: Coumou, D., Robinson, A., Rahmstorf, S. (2013): Global increase in record-breaking monthly-mean temperatures. Climatic Change (online) [doi:10.1007/s10584-012-0668-1]
Weblink to the article: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-012-0668-1

For further information please contact:
PIK press office
Phone: +49 331 288 25 07
E-Mail: press@pik-potsdam.de

50 degrees Celsius in Australia

From UNFCCC's Facebook Status


Extreme heat in Australia: The country's Bureau of Meteorology's interactive weather forecasting chart has added new colours – deep purple and pink – to extend its previous temperature range that had been capped at 50 degrees.

Climate Change Now Blamed for Volcanic Eruptions

By Laura Sinpetru

Source: Softpedia at http://news.softpedia.com/news/Climate-Change-Now-Blamed-for-Volcanic-Eruptions-317436.shtml

Up until recently, it was believed that the volcano-climate relationship only went one way. Thus, most people agree that, once a volcano erupts and releases significant amounts of sulfur dioxide into the air, the weather is bound to cool down to a certain extent.

This phenomenon happens because of a very simple reason: sunlight has a tougher time reaching the earth, Oil Price explains.

However, a new study carried out by geologists working with the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel argues that shifts in global weather conditions can also influence the way in which active volcanoes across the world behave.

In other words, global warming can foster volcanic eruptions.

The scientists who looked into this issue explain the situation as follows: during an ice age, most of the water housed in seas and oceans turns into ice and builds up on land.

This basically means that the continents find themselves compressed by all the extra weight now sitting on top of them.

However, once this period of extreme cold comes to an end and the ice starts to melt, said extra weight makes its way back into seas and oceans.

As a result of these climate shifts' toying with the pressure applied on the continents' surface and on the sea floor on a regular basis, the magma gets agitated and sooner or later volcanic eruptions start taking place.

Although this study focused on the Pacific Ring of Fire and its responses to an ice age's settling in or coming to an end throughout the past million years, there are other scientists who argue that man-made global warming might also translate into volcanoes' erupting ever more frequently, primarily due to the melting of the Arctic ice and rising sea levels.

The findings of this study linking climate change to volcanic eruptions were published in the scientific journal Geology.

Local Leadership in Disaster Management: The Philippine Setting

Leadership approach can be a crucial factor for climate change adaptation/disaster risk reduction (CCA/DRR). Perhaps, leadership failed during the recent disaster that hit southern Mindanao early in December 2012. Many were killed, injured, gone missing. The "star paper" of Mr. Emil Rex Santos, a master's degree student of the University of the Philippines-National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG), may offer explanations and provide guideposts for local leaders in CCA/DRR.

Title: "Local Leadership in Disaster Management: The Philippine Setting"

Abstract:

The Philippines, situated in a disaster-prone region and in a highly seismic area along the Pacific Ring of Fire, is visited by at least 20 typhoons a year, and home to 300 volcanoes, 22 of which are active which necessitates the need or adoption of a disaster risk reduction management plan.  Such a plan entails action not just by national leaders, but more importantly by local actors.  The author proposes the utilization of a Disaster Management Cycle that incorporates leadership types that were culled from case studies in the Philippine setting.  He suggests that specific leadership types (i.e. strategic, charismatic, transformational, collaborative, emergent, situational and meta-leadership) be considered in the various phases of a holistic disaster management program at the local level.

To read the paper, e-mail the author at rexsantos95@yahoo.com for a copy or visit the library of UP-NCPAG. 

COP18 Extends the "Life" of Kyoto Protocol

Congratulations to the UNFCCC for the agreements (see PDF copy here) made to renew the life of the Kyoto Protocol. Many will malign your accomplishment, but, it is important to know that there is no perfect international treaty because there will be winners and losers. The road is still long and winding, hence, the UNFCCC and member-countries should keep the lines of communication open, and be open for ideas for improvement.

Philippine Climate Change Negotiator Sheds Tears for Typhoon Victims

"An important backdrop for my delegation is the profound impacts of climate change that we are already confronting. As we sit here, every single hour, even as we vacillate and procrastinate here, the death toll is rising. There is massive and widespread devastation. Hundreds of thousands of people have been rendered without homes. And the ordeal is far from over, as Typhoon Bopha has regained some strength as it approaches another populated area in the western part of the Philippines. Madam Chair, we have never had a typhoon like Bopha, which has wreaked havoc in a part of the country that has never seen a storm like this in half a century. And heartbreaking tragedies like this is not unique to the Philippines, because the whole world, especially developing countries struggling to address poverty and achieve social and human development, confront these same realities.
Finally, Madam Chair, I speak on behalf of 100 million Filipinos, a quarter of a million of whom are eking out a living working here in Qatar. And I am making an urgent appeal, not as a negotiator, not as a leader of my delegation, but as a Filipino.
I appeal to the whole world, I appeal to leaders from all over the world, to open our eyes to the stark reality that we face. I appeal to ministers. The outcome of our work is not about what our political masters want. It is about what is demanded of us by 7 billion people.
I appeal to all, please, no more delays, no more excuses. Please, let Doha be remembered as the place where we found the political will to turn things around. Please, let 2012 be remembered as the year the world found the courage to find the will to take responsibility for the future we want.
I ask of all of us here, if not us, then who ? If not now, then when ? If not here, then where ?"