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Antarctica Ice Shelf Collapse Biggest for 10,000 Years

The disintegration of the huge Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica was an unprecedented event in the past 10,000 years of geological history, a study has found. Research by scientists from Hamilton College in New York, based on the scrutiny of six ice cores from the vicinity of the ice shelf, found that a collapse of this size had not happened during the period since the end of the last Ice Age. The piece of ice which sheered away from Larsen B into the sea in 2002 was roughly the size of Luxembourg. The study, published in the journal Nature, shows that the ice shelf had been thinning over the millennia but went through a more rapid loss in recent decades, probably due to global warming. In March 2002, scientists announced the Larsen B ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula had entered a phase of rapid break-up with more than 50 billion tons of ice spilling into the Weddell Sea to form thousands of massive icebergs. It had been known for many years that the ice shelf was thinning and in retreat but the speed of its final collapse astonished scientists. It took just 35 days for the Larsen B […]

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Royal Caribbean Announces Environmentally Innovative Ship Of The Year Award

Royal Caribbean International today announced that its ship Adventure of the Seas has been selected for the company’s sixth annual Environmentally Innovative Ship Of The Year Award. The annual award is designed to encourage Royal Caribbean International’s longstanding commitment to environmental innovation and improvement. Competition for the award assists the company in progressively advancing its environmental performance in ways that go above and beyond regulatory compliance. Judging for the 2004 awards was conducted by the independent external auditing firm CoVeris, which audits all Royal Caribbean ships for adherence to the company’s Environmental Compliance Plan. Adventure of the Seas’ crew was cited for its achievements in resource conservation and environmental stewardship. The crew’s innovations included the creation of an improved process to clean boiler exhaust systems. The new process uses high-pressure air and a vacuum to remove soot, resulting in less waste to be disposed. The ship’s crew also developed a system that allowed them to significantly reduce the amounts of two chemicals most commonly used onboard, a soapy cleaner and a rust remover. By diluting the two chemicals a significantly lower volume of them is used. Any unused diluted solution is collected at the end of each day for reuse […]

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Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:August 5, 2005

News and Events U.S. Joins Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development University of Michigan Wins the North American Solar Challenge Texas More than Doubles its Renewable Energy Requirement New York State Sets Efficiency Standards for Appliances Northwest Alliance to Promote Efficient Commercial BuildingsEnergy ConnectionsAsia’s Growth to Help Boost World Energy Use 57 Percent by 2025 News and EventsU.S. Joins Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean DevelopmentPresident Bush announced last week that the United States has joined with Australia, China, India, Japan, and South Korea to create a new Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development. This new partnership will allow the six nations to develop and accelerate deployment of cleaner, more efficient energy technologies to address pollution reduction, energy security, and climate change concerns in ways that reduce poverty and promote economic development. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman will meet with their international counterparts this fall to carry the new partnership forward. See the White House announcement.A White House fact sheet that accompanied the announcement noted that an increase in greenhouse gases caused by human activity is warming the surface of the Earth, and suggested the key to addressing this climate challenge is to develop and deploy cleaner, more […]

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Portland, Oregon Replaces Motor Pool with Flexcar

CityFleet, the City of Portland’s fleet Division, launches a pilot project today to replace the downtown motor pool with Flexcar. The motor pool has kept a fleet of 20 vehicles available to City employee use. City employees will now reserve Flexcar vehicles online, and pick up the cars at a number of locations downtown. The City of Portland has entered into a five-year sole-source contract, renewable annually, with national car-sharing leader Flexcar to provide transportation and motor pool services to city employees. A few city bureaus have used Flexcar as their means of transportation for the past year, providing data on availability and cost-savings. A year-long pilot program as the first segment of the contract will be used to further validate estimates of reduced city costs and improved environmental impact without sacrificing mobility for city employees. “We have been looking at several alternatives that stretch tax-dollars without compromising customer service,” said Ron Bergman, Director of General Services. “Flexcar provided the City with a rental fee that was less than we needed to cover our costs of running the motor pool and has an excellent customer service record.” The move to Flexcar is expected to save approximately 25% of the current […]

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