The Energy and Climate Weeks: Exercises in Asia, Baden-Wurttembergs not gruner pension funds and an artificial leaf
A non-heavy Monsoun has cost hundreds of human life in China, India, Nepal and Pakistan in recent months and beat millions of people in flight. Meteorologists see a correlation with the previous weather phenomena EL-Nino, which led to high water temperatures in the Pacific.
In China, floods and overflows met people partly unprepared. Especially the northern provinces have not experienced so heavy rainfall and survivors for 20 years. From the Ministry of Civil Affairs, criticism of the aggregates in the province of Hebei was loud loudly, which had considered the storms and did not react appropriately.
In Germany, the July after evaluation of the German Weather Service was too warm and something too dry, even if the locally has done differently differently. Places with enormous rain quantities and dry areas were often close to each other. "With 18.6 degrees Celsius, the average temperature in July was 1.7 degrees over the funds of the International Credit Reference Period 1961 to 1990. Compared with the warm period 1981 to 2010, the deviation was only + 0.6 degrees."
With an average of 68 liters per square meter, the rainfall was 10 liters under the long-term remedy for the month of July. In some places, especially in the south of Germany, the balance sheet fell significantly different. Uber 300 liters per square meter went down in July in the Berchtesgardener Land. But also the north was not spared: in the Brandenburg Meyenburg, 98 liters per square meter fell on a single day.
Last Wednesday, parts of Berlin stood under water, after oral had fallen within two hours 30 to 40 liters of rain. Such heavy raines face new challenges. The association of municipal companies made aware. As the Berliner newspaper reports, the municipalities are obliged to derive the sewer of the sewers. In Berlin, on Wednesday, the sewer was no longer able to absorb the water quantities so quickly. The main manifer of the VKU Katharina rich is not aware of it, but it does not make sense to expand the sewerage for such extreme events. Instead, more natural surprising floors should be created, over which the water slides.
Chancellery continues to stroke climate protection plan
As already reported, the climate protection plan of the Federal Government is hardly to be described as such after passing through the Federal Ministry of Economics (climate protection plan). So not enough, the Federal Chancellery is planning further deletions. This reports the NABU, the valuation of the climate protection plan 2050 by the Federal Chancellery.
The aim of reducing the emissions in agriculture and forestry by 50 percent, would therefore not be achieved, as concrete measures such as a ceiling for nitrogenuberschusses, a restriction of meat consumption and protection of bogs and permanent grunland no entrance could be found in the climate protection plan. In the transport sector there is no departure of internal combustion engines, the exit from the carbon demand and streaming hour on the cant and with new buildings there was no new energetic goals. Also to the industry was not the claim of a CO2-free energy generation.
"If we look at this list of possible deletions, you have to ask yourself if the Federal Chancellery understood the decision of Paris superimposed. It is frightening that not even the concepts of decarbonization and greenhouse gas neutralitat should be called in the climate protection plan – both goals have been agreed internationally and clearly in Paris", explains Nabu Prasident Olaf Tschimpke.
Even with energy efficiency, the Federal Government shows too little commitment. German Environmental Help (DUH) and the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (Bund) have led to complaint with the European Commission. The combination does not believe that Germany achieves its goal with the current efficiency measures to reduce energy consumption by 1.5 percent. With the complaint, they want to bring the EU to open a breach of infringement against Germany.
"The European Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) entered into force in 2014. Article 7 of the EED prefers to reduce energy consumption by 1.5 percent. Many Member States then introduced mandatory energy efficiency systems for utilities." Germany, on the other hand, have taken the energy suppliers from the responsibility due to the lobby printing and instead the way "Alternative measures" chosen", Write Duh and Bund in a press release. In some cases, there is hardly any relation to energy saving, such as the truck toll, aviation tax or emissions trading. In the complaint, the two combines announce the intransparency of the federal government’s measures. In addition, they are not appropriate because they did not focus primarily on energy saving, the high of saving was taken over.
Federal countries invest millions in fossil companies
"North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria, Baden-Wurttemberg, Berlin, Hesse, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg have created more than four billion euros worldwide. Nearly 400 million euros thereof are in companies that oppose the climate protection goals of the Federal Government", Write Annika Joeres and Fabian Loehe by Correctiv.
It was no easy to elicit the Bundlands an information about where they create their pension funds, partly the authors had to threaten the legal path. Of the seven state-of-the-farmers who have created their supply releases in fossil companies, at least Berlin has decided the divestment. Financial Senator Matthias Klatz-Anhen now wants to create an index for sustainable investments.
Most money in fossile companies has calculated the Grun Regieren Baden-Wurttemberg. Around 190 million euros had invested the pension funds of the federal state in coal, ol- and gas companies, including Total, ENI, Iberdrola, Shell and BP.
Mining companies such as BHP Billiton or Rio Tinto are also available on the list. BHP Billiton is involved in the second gross carbon caller of Australia and the Colombian monohlleta building El Cerrejon. The open pit is done with Dafur that the local indigenous population has hardly access to water and therefore can not operate agriculture. 40 children who belonged to the indigenous group of Wayuú, were already died this year at the piercing. The river Rancheria is redirected to supply mining. The resulting lack of water is now still understood by the persistent durre in connection with the weather phantom el nino.
That "artificial leaf" The scientist of the University of Illinois. Image: uic
On the way to artificial photosynthesis?
To transform carbon dioxide into a possible fuel, normally requires organisms that operate photosynthesis. US scientists of the University of Illinois have now managed to convert carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide with the help of a catalyst in carbon monoxide.
The catalyst is necessary, since CO2 is very reaction stress in itself. The scientists used nanoparticles of the semiconductor compound tungsteniselenide to convert the gas into carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide itself is also a greenhouse gas and no fuel yet. But there are already methods to produce fuels, for example, methanol. "In photosynthesis, tree people need light energy, water and carbon dioxide to produce their fuel. In our experiment we used the same ingredients, but the product is another", explained the chemist Larry Curtiss. The researchers developed a kind of artificial leaf in which they live the reaction.