Ecuador court gives green light for Silvercorp, Salazar’s El Domo project
The ruling removes the last major obstacle for the $250 million project, located 150 km northeast of Guayaquil.
US carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fell 1.7% last year when compared to 2015 driven by a flood of shale natural gas supply and renewable power increasingly displacing coal, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.
The only area where emissions from burning fossil fuels climbed in 2016 was in the transportation sector, which registered a 1.9% increase, the agency said.
Energy-related CO2 emissions had fallen 2.7% between 2014 and 2015 in line with a decade-long trend that saw them decreasing 14% between 2005 and 2016.
“Both oil and natural gas consumption were higher in 2016 than in 2015, while coal consumption was significantly lower,” the EIA’s said in the report.
“Consistent with changes in fuel consumption, energy-related CO2 emissions in 2016 from petroleum and natural gas increased 1.1 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively, while coal-related emissions decreased 8.6 percent,” it added.
Since taking office on January 20, US President Donald Trump has announced a series of rules aimed boosting the country’s oil, gas and coal sectors, which has suffered in the past years due to low prices and increased competition from alternative energy sources, as well as legislation to curb carbon emissions.
Last month, he approved the construction of TransCanada’s (TSX, NYSE:TRP) long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline, which will carry more than one-fifth of Canadian oil exports from Alberta to Texas. The move was highly criticized by environmentalist as that kind of crude is one of the world’s most carbon-intensive fuels.
3 Comments
Pat Woods
Plants need CO2 to survive.
They grow better with more atmospheric CO2.
Fact.
It is entirely UNPROVEN that manmade CO2 contributes much change to climate temps, esp. considering manmade CO2 is only 3% of total annual planetary emissions of the gas.
Also another fact.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/archive/gg04rpt/pdf/tbl3.pdf
Water vapor is the most prolific GHG and constitutes 95% of all heat-retention capacity of the suite of GHG’s.
http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/greenhouse_data.html
Yet another fact from widely supported sources.
Since the industrialized world started largely consuming fossil fuels around 1850, the live expectancy of humans has risen from 38 yrs. to 78 yrs. More fact.
If one is worried about melting ice sheets, and dying polar bears, one should plant trees.
Mature timber can be a valuable resource for future generations, and planting trees today keeps ‘alarmist’s fertile minds’ busy.
Terry Raettig Olympia, Wa
Wow….an “analysis” based on conspicuous anecdotes, misinformation, and ignorance of what the geologic record has to say on the topic. Orbital changes are indeed a factor but on the scale of many thousands of years….not the few decades that have seen the rapid rise in global temperatures that is correlated with the rapid rise in ambient CO2 measured in Hawaii.
The reputable climate scientists who don’t believe that human generated CO2 is the major factor in the rise in global temperatures could hold their annual convention in a phone booth-if they could find one!
If you want a few anecdotes on the other side, talk to the unfortunate people who invested in ski areas in the Midweatern U S in the 1960’s or urban planners who must account for sea level rise in coastal cities.
We here the arguments about “cost” of reducing CO2 from big energy but it pales in comparison with global cost of warming. Costs that are already accelerating. Costs that residents of South Pacific islands face every day. Unlike fossil fuel executives who,surprise, surprise gain financially, climate scientists are not rewarded for reporting science based observations.
Mike Failla
More like gullible warming.