Friday Morning Green Numbers round-up 02/05/2010

Photo credit Unhindered by Talent

Here is this Friday’s Green Numbers round-up:

• Scant Arctic ice could mean summer double whammy | Reuters

  Scant ice over the Arctic Sea this winter could mean a “double whammy” of powerful ice-melt next summer

  tags: greennumbers, arctic sea ice, arctic ice, ice melt

• Tibet temperatures hit record high in 2009 | Reuters

  Temperatures in Tibet rose last year to the highest level since records began for the remote Himalayan country, which scientists say is particularly vulnerable to global warming, state media reported on Friday.

  tags: greennumbers, tibet, himalayas, global warming, temperatures

• 10 Animals on the brink of extinction

  The 10 animals that are in the most danger of extinction – surprisingly high number are cats

  tags: extinction, greennumbers, animals

• Shackleton whisky recovered after 100 years in polar ice

  “Five crates of whisky and brandy belonging to polar explorer Ernest Shackleton have been recovered after being buried for more than 100 years under the Antarctic ice, explorers said Friday.

  The spirits were excavated from beneath Shackleton’s Antarctic hut which was built in 1908.”

  tags: whisky, brandy, greennumbers, antarctic, shackleton

• 25 Percent of U.S. Nuclear Power Plants Are Leaking Radioactive Chemicals : TreeHugger

  The Associated Press recently reported that at least 27 of 104 nuclear reactors across the United States are leaking potentially dangerous levels of tritium into the groundwater around the plants.

  The scope of the problem surfaced after the recent discovery of a leak at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. According to the AP, new tests have shown that the levels of tritium in the wells at the Vernon, Vermont site are more than three-and-a-half times the federal safety standard.

  tags: nuclear power, tritium, greennumbers, nuclear reactors, groundwater

• China doubles wind power in 1 year – BusinessWeek

  China doubled the amount of energy generated from windmills last year, a report from the global wind industry said Wednesday.

  The Global Wind Energy Council said the sector grew rapidly last year — with total wind capacity up 31 percent — despite the economic downturn.

  The market for new wind turbines was worth $63 billion in 2009, it said.

  China became the biggest market for new wind turbines last year, as it doubled power capacity from 12 gigawatts to 25 gigawatts

  tags: china, Global Wind Energy Council, greennumbers, wind energy, wind power

• Obama Seeks to Cut $38 Billion Coal & Oil Subsidies Out of Budget : TreeHugger

  “We’ve heard this one before; Obama threatening to sever subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. He called for ending the subsidies during his SOTU, and was doing so even before that. Now, he’s proposing that $36 billion worth of those subsidies for oil and $2.3 billion for coal (both get $70 billion a year in total) get stripped from the budget–which would be great. Too bad special interests will almost certainly keep this from happening.

  tags: obama, subsidies, coal subsidies, greennumbers, oil subsidies, lobbyists

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