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The word “acceleration” is top of mind for many people as this year’s negotiations draw to a close at the 28th meeting of the UN Climate Conference of the Parties (COP28). With only a handful of years left to reach the net-zero agreements set out in the Paris Agreement of 2015, nations are racing to phase out unabated fossil fuel consumption and ramp up renewable energy sources. Stanford co-hosted an official side event with the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) and the Independent University, Bangladesh to probe a critical tension: nations around the world will need to balance “fast and fair” approaches as they rapidly transition to clean energy technology, safeguard the long-term health of ecosystems, and prepare for lasting community impacts from climate change. The event was one of several co-organized by a delegation of Stanford faculty, scholars, and studen...

Last October, when the old propane boiler failed at 23 Hardware and Lumber in Askov, owner Scott Peterson did something that many experts say is critical for Minnesota to combat climate change and reach its greenhouse gas reduction goals. He replaced it, not with a traditional boiler or furnace, but with an electric air-source heat pump. He didn’t do it to save the planet. He did it to save money — and to get air conditioning for the first time. One year later, he’s happy he made the switch. He admitted to a bit of sticker shock when he got the quote for his new system, which included the heat pump, new ductwork, and a backup propane furnace. “But, you know, if you’re saving two to three grand a year on propane, it don’t take very long to pay for it,” Peterson said. Meanwhile, he said his electric bill has increased only modestly, by about $20 to $30 per month. Peterson hadn’t heard much about heat pump...

World leaders headed into overtime this week in Dubai at COP28, the international climate change summit, to broker agreements on lowering global-warming emissions. Driving the news: In the U.S., Texas continues to emit the most greenhouse gasses of any state with little signs of recent change. By the numbers: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data show Texas’ overall CO2 levels increased nearly 85% from 1970 to 2021 across all sectors — homes, businesses and transportation. Threat level: The state is experiencing the impacts of climate change in many ways, from record-setting temperatures to longer droughts and wetter hurricanes. Between the lines: Texas has yet to see any significant change in emissions in recent years — just a 1% increase between 2016 and 2021, according to the EIA data. Meanwhile: A recent draft document from the Texas Department of...

Hawaiian Electric will begin contract negotiations with developers of four renewable energy projects on Maui, that the company says “will further reduce Hawaii’s dependence of imported oil for power generation.” In total, Hawaiian Electric will begin negotiations with developers of 15 renewable projects, with seven on Oahu and four on Hawaii island, the company said earlier this month. Estimated completion dates for the projects on the three islands range from 2026 to 2033. On Maui, discussed will be three solar-plus-storage projects and one wind project totaling approximately 324 GWh of variable generation and 320 MWh of storage. The announcement of new contract negotiations comes as last month Hawaiian Electric and developer Innergex Renewable Energy announced the termination of an agreement for a planned grid-scale solar and battery storage project in South Maui which was hit with lengthy delays from the developer’s legal ch...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates—”The North Star of the COP28 Presidency is to keep 1.5°C within reach,” has been the frequent refrain of Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the COP28 president overseeing the current U.N. climate change negotiations in Dubai. Al Jaber is reflecting the oft-chanted activist slogan “Keep 1.5 Alive!” The idea is that humanity must reduce its emissions of globe-warming greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels sufficiently to keep the planet from warming more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline (1850-1900). It is worth tracing the history of where the 1.5 C “North Star” originated and what the consequences of breaching it would likely be. The 1.5 C threshold was officially enshrined as a goal under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change with the adoption of the Paris Climate Change Agreement in 2015. Article 2 in the Paris Agreement commits s...

Glaciers in the Himalayas are melting rapidly, but a new report showed an astonishing phenomenon in the world’s tallest mountain range could be helping to slow the effects of the global climate crisis. When warming temperatures hit certain high-altitude ice masses, it sets off a surprising reaction that blows robust cold winds down the slopes, according to the study published December 4 in the journal Nature Geoscience. The warming climate creates a greater temperature gap between the surrounding air above Himalayan glaciers and the cooler air directly in contact with the ice masses’ surface, explained Francesca Pellicciotti, professor of glaciology at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria and lead author of the study. “This leads to an increase in turbulent heat exchange at the glacier’s surface and stronger cooling of the surface air mass,” she said in a news release. As the cool, dry surface air gets coole...

What happens to bee populations in areas of massive human population growth like Wake County, North Carolina, where the population is more than 16 times greater than it was at the turn of the 20th century? Examining historical museum specimens along with online bee repositories and university bee collections, researchers at North Carolina State University show that bee species richness – the number of different bee species – has varied over the past 118 years, with no clear downward trend emerging over time, said Selina Ruzi, a postdoctoral researcher in biological sciences at NC State and corresponding author of a paper describing the research. With that good news, though, comes some not-so-great news. The study showed that, of 328 bee species collected in Wake County over the study period (1900-2018), 195 species have not been collected since 1969; many of these missing species are bees that nest underground. “Our hypothesis was th...