Copenhagen Update: European Countries Agree to Construct Offshore Wind Supergrid | Sustainability | Fast Company

Nine European countries--Denmark, Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Ireland--signed the "North Seas' Countries Offshore Grid Initiative," a plan to create an offshore wind power supergrid in the North and North West seas. The plan means interconnection between the power grids in Europe allowing for electricity sales. In this case it's wind power in Ireland being sold to the rest of Europe. The article also mentions Desertec, a plan to put solar panels in North Africa to send electricity to Europe. On one hand this is way cool support for renewable energy. On the other hand Desertec begs the question of why not use North Africa's solar power for their benefit, rather than ship that power to Europe.

Codexis Aims to Bridge Biotech and Carbon Capture

Codexis, a Redwood City, Calif.-based startup with oil giants Shell and Chevron among its backers, is in the business of so-called evolved biocatalysts: It takes a natural microbe or enzyme and tweaks the DNA sequences to create new variants, then searches for the variants best suited to development of new, potentially cheaper drugs (Pfizer used Codexis enzymes to produce Lipitor) and non-ethanol biofuels. This summer, the 7-year-old startup said it was looking for ways to apply this expertise to the emerging market for carbon capture technologies. Now Codexis has found a partner in that effort. Canadian carbon capture company CO2 Solution said late Tuesday afternoon that it’s scored a $2 million investment from Codexis, and that the two companies will work together on enzymatic carbon capture technology. According to the release, Codexis now owns a more than 16 percent stake in the firm. They plan to work on “economic validation” of enzymatic carbon capture technology.

U.S. Energy Secretary Announces $350M for Clean Energy Tech in Developing World

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has announced an international agreement that will see developed nations give $350 million to developing nations. The Renewables and Efficiency Deployment Initiative (REDI), plan will fund technology in the developing world, including solar lanterns, standards and labels for energy efficient appliances, and online clean energy communication tools.
Huh? Is this something the developing world needs? Yes many need better lighting (aka solar lanterns) but standardized labels and standardizations? It's not clear that this is solving any problem.
Also the problem wasn't really caused by the developing world but by the developed world. As the developing world develops their energy and pollution intensity increases so it would be best for them to adopt clean tech from the beginning rather than have to retrofit afterwards like we're doing.

The Energy Collective | NATURE: Sea level rise may exceed worst expectations

A brand new paper released in Nature suggests that the polar ice sheets are more vulnerable to global warming than previously feared. 2 degrees Celsius of global warming could commit us to 6-9 meters (20-30 feet) of long-term sea level rise. The study is based an extensive database of geological indicators for the last interglacial period, roughly 125,000 years ago, when polar temperatures were about 3-5 degrees Celsius warmer than today, as is expected if global warming hits 2-3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The findings reinforce that the developed world needs to be prepared to fund significant adaptation support, particularly for low-lying countries such as Bangladesh.

What the Frack? Poisoning our Water in the Name of Energy Profits | Water | AlterNet

One of the promising sources of natural gas is shale formations. There has been many articles recently claiming our energy problems are solved by shale gas. However this Alternet article points out that shale gas extraction involves piping water into the shale formation. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique that releases natural gas trapped in underground shale formations by injecting water, chemicals, and sand to "frack" the rock structures and release the gas. Often, large quantities of groundwater contaminated by chemicals, radioactive elements, or other minerals are produced in the process. Unless great care is taken, this "produced water" mixed with water used for fracturing can flow to the surface or into groundwater systems and contaminate land, drinking water supplies, and natural waterways. In other words, mining shale gas most likely involves widespread poisoning of water systems.

Princeton University - Study: Earth's polar ice sheets vulnerable to even moderate global warming

A new analysis of the geological record of the Earth's sea level published in the Dec. 16 issue of Nature, employs a novel statistical approach that reveals the planet's polar ice sheets are vulnerable to large-scale melting even under moderate global warming scenarios. Such melting would lead to a large and relatively rapid rise in global sea level. According to the analysis, an additional 2 degrees of global warming could commit the planet to 6 to 9 meters (20 to 30 feet) of long-term sea level rise. This rise would inundate low-lying coastal areas where hundreds of millions of people now reside. It would permanently submerge New Orleans and other parts of southern Louisiana, much of southern Florida and other parts of the U.S. East Coast, much of Bangladesh, and most of the Netherlands, unless unprecedented and expensive coastal protection were undertaken.

Codexis Aims to Bridge Biotech and Carbon Capture

Codexis, a Redwood City, Calif.-based startup with oil giants Shell and Chevron among its backers, is in the business of so-called evolved biocatalysts: It takes a natural microbe or enzyme and tweaks the DNA sequences to create new variants, then searches for the variants best suited to development of new, potentially cheaper drugs (Pfizer used Codexis enzymes to produce Lipitor) and non-ethanol biofuels. This summer, the 7-year-old startup said it was looking for ways to apply this expertise to the emerging market for carbon capture technologies. Now Codexis has found a partner in that effort. Canadian carbon capture company CO2 Solution said late Tuesday afternoon that it’s scored a $2 million investment from Codexis, and that the two companies will work together on enzymatic carbon capture technology. According to the release, Codexis now owns a more than 16 percent stake in the firm. They plan to work on “economic validation” of enzymatic carbon capture technology.

Copenhagen climate summit: Gordon Brown says 'future of humanity' at stake - Telegraph

Arriving in Copenhagen, Mr Brown said: "Over the next three days the leaders of almost every nation on earth will gather in Copenhagen. Their role; their opportunity; their responsibility: to shape the future of humanity. It is a defining moment." To win around developing nations who are resisting limits on their carbon emissions, Mr Brown could back a deal for rich countries to give more money. He is now preparing to make Britain pay into another international fund to help poor countries limit the amount of their forests they cut down for logging and agriculture. Increasing Britian’s “green” spending is controversial because of the size of the Government’s deficit. As he arrived in Copenhagen, Mr Brown, painted an apocalyptic picture of the consequences of failure at the summit, saying that the world economy would suffer an unprecedented “catastrophe” if temperatures rise too far.

Green Ink: EPA Ruling Energizes Copenhagen, Horrifies Business - Environmental Capital - WSJ

In Copenhagen, the big news was the U.S. EPA’s endangerment ruling, which gives the Obama administration executive authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. The ruling could give President Obama more firepower when he comes to the climate summit, in the Financial Times. It also wins plaudits from European leaders, who see the move as a way to lubricate negotiations, in the NY Times. The ruling finalizes months of deliberation by the EPA, but questions still remain over just what the agency could regulate, in the WSJ. Or if it even wants to: “EPA regulation is no one’s preferred outcome — not even the EPA’s. Jackson said her agency and other administration officials would still prefer if Congress acted before they did,” notes the Washington Post. Of course this is par for the course to have the business-friendly Wall St. Journal noting business concerns above the need to address damage business does to the environment.