Japan is the world's 5th largest CO2 producer, after the U.S., China and the European Union who are tied for second place, Russia and India. I guess they're hoping to move up in the ranks, because instead of reducing their carbon emissions,
in 2007-2008 they set a record high. Japan's bad year will almost certainly mean a failure to hit the targets set by the Kyoto Protocol, even with the purchase of carbon offsets. Since the U.S., China and India are not bound by the Kyoto Protocol targets for 2008-2012, Japan's failure has political as well as environmental ramifications.
The rise in emissions was actually expected, following the shut down of the largest power plant in the world, run by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO). The plant was shut following an earthquake in July of 2007, and won't reopen until March 2009 at the earliest. To replace the energy normally produced by this plant, utility companies turned to higher CO2 producing methods like burning coal, oil and gas.
Unlike Australia and the European Union, Japan's caps on emissions are voluntary rather than mandatory, and it's clear this approach is not working. In fact, they opened two new coal plants this year! Oh, and also? Japan has to buy so many carbon offsets that it will probably drive up the price of carbon credits.
It sounds like Japan needs to make some some big changes, and probably also the Kyoto Protocol could use some touching up.
Not that I have a vote, but this sounds like a good topic for a session at the
United Nations Poznań Climate Change Conference in December.
When researchers are California Stat University set out to asses the financial benefits of cleaning up the air in sunny southern California, they had no idea that their findings would make such a strong case. According to their research, not only could cleaning up SoCal's air save $28Bannually in health care and sick leave costs, but the number of deaths resulting from air pollution exceeded the number of vehicular deathsrecorded by the California Highway Patrol -- by a wide margin.
Oh, what wondrous things come from the land of Korea -- dancing emotional robot humanoids, oxygen-emitting robot plants, and multiple 24-hour StarCraft channels. It's all good, and we dig robotics and televised gaming, but this latest invention could be our favorite if it pans out. Professor Cho Jae-Phil and his team at Hanyang University have replaced the graphite in lithium batteries with a certain kind of silicon, which we're told can store eight times the power. No word on what the batteries have actually been used for yet, but it stands to reason they could eventually make it to consumer electronics. Now you see why we're willing to say this might be better than 24-hour StarCraft. Say it with us: 48-hour StarCraft.
