Today's Climate: April 15, 2009

Global Carbon Offset Investments Stalling (One World)

Global investments in projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions are falling this year and will likely continue to decline as countries wait to negotiate a new climate change treaty in December.

India Opposes Carbon Storage as Climate Change Tool (Bloomberg)

India argues that CCS is not a proven technology and “it’s certainly not economically feasible.”

Obama Open to Discussion on CO2 Rules (Reuters)

President Obama hopes to get a climate change bill on his desk this year and is open to discussing how stringent the rules of carbon emissions trading should be , CEQ Chairwoman Nancy Sutley says.

Palin Changes Tune on Global Warming, But Not on Drilling (Los Angeles Times)

Alaska's governor stepped away from past denials of global warming and told Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at an Anchorage hearing that natural gas could ease 'the transition to green energy alternatives.'

U.S. Expected to Approve Higher Ethanol Blend (Reuters)

The U.S. government will eventually allow higher levels of ethanol to be blended into gasoline, the head of the Renewable Fuels Association says.

New Greenpeace Boss on Climate, Coal and Nuclear Power (Wall Street Journal)

A Q&A with Greenpeace USA’s new boss: 33-year old Phil Radford, whose embrace of both the familiar sidewalk membership drives and new technology as former head of organizing helped double the green group’s budget.

Toshiba Batteries Promise 90-Second Recharge (Business Green)

The Japanese company has improved its SCiB technology and aims to underpin emerging electric cars with speedy recharging capability.

Study: Massive Emissions Cuts Can Save Arctic Ice (AFP)

Cutting greenhouse gases by 70 percent this century would spare the planet the most traumatic effects of climate change, including the massive loss of Arctic sea ice, according to a new study.

California Seeks to Curb Appetite of Power-Hungry TVs (New York Times)

Estimating that televisions and their electronic accessories account for 10 percent of the electricity used in an average household, California’s energy wardens want to put new flat-panel models on a diet.

Spam 'Uses as Much Power as 2.1M Homes' (Guardian)

More than 80% of the world's email traffic is now spam and the transmission and receipt of unwanted email gobbles up 33 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.

Bill Gates Patents Electromagnetic Hybrid Engine (Tech Flash)

Bill Gates has always been fond of his cars, but new patent applications suggest Microsoft's founding geek is becoming even more of a gearhead. One is for an electromagnetic combustion engine.