Weekly Clean Energy Roundup: June 17, 2009

Editor's Note: As a follow-up to the recent announcement of Recovery Act funding for energy efficiency improvements in manufacturing and in the information and communication technology industries, DOE issued two Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs). The first, titled "Recovery Act: Deployment of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Systems, District Energy Systems, Waste Energy Recovery Systems, and Efficient Industrial Equipment," is available on the DOE Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) Web site (PDF 368 KB) or by searching the public opportunities on FedConnect for reference number DE-FOA-0000044. The second, titled "Energy Efficient Information and Communication Technology," is also available on the ITP Web site (PDF 192 KB) or by searching the public opportunities on FedConnect for reference number DE-FOA-0000107. Applications for the two FOAs are due by July 14 and July 21, respectively.

Reports: Climate Change is Already Impacting the US and World

Climate change is already having visible impacts in the US, and the choices made now will determine the severity of future impacts, according to a new federal report, "Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States." It finds that Americans are being affected by increases in extreme weather, droughts, and wildfires caused by climate change. The future could hold more frequent and intense heat waves, increased heavy downpours, reduced summer runoff, increasing insect infestations, more wildfires, an increasingly acidic ocean, and local sea-level rises of more than three feet.

These climate changes could disrupt energy, water, and transportation systems; hurt crop and livestock production, fisheries, and tourism; increasingly threaten coastal homes and infrastructure, while losing coastal land to rising seas; and harm human health. The report also examines climate change impacts by sector and region.

A product of the interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program, the report notes that implementing sizable and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible would significantly reduce the pace and overall amount of climate change. See the press release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the report Web page.

The new study is in line with recent reports that tackle climate change globally, in some cases finding even more drastic impacts. A report from the National Science Foundation (NSF) finds signs of a changing climate in nearly every part of the globe, from the icy polar regions to Earth's equatorial ecosystems.

A report from "The Lancet" and the University College London (UCL) declares climate change as the biggest health threat of this century, because of its impacts on heat waves, disease transmission, and the security of food, water, and sanitation.

That conclusion is backed up by a Global Humanitarian Forum report, which finds that climate change currently accounts for 300,000 deaths per year, and by 2030, that number could rise to a half million people per year. The report also finds that climate change impacts the lives of 325 million people today, causing economic losses of $125 billion per year, and by 2030, it could affect more than twice as many people at nearly triple the economic cost, reaching $340 billion annually.

Part of that impact on people's lives is the need to flee rising seas, floods, and drought areas, and a new report from Columbia University, the United Nations University, and CARE International finds that such displacements are already underway. The report cites other studies indicating that 25-50 million people could be displaced by 2010, and that number could rise to nearly 700 million people by 2050. See the NSF press release, report Web site, and Web page for the report PDF files; the UCL press release, which links to the full report; the GHF press release and full report (PDF 2.6 MB); and the Columbia University press release, which links to the full report.

Federal Agencies Assist with Clean Energy Development in the West