Renewable sources such as solar and wind could supply up to 80 percent of the world's energy needs by 2050 and play a significant role in fighting global warming, a top climate panel concluded Monday. Read more about it here.

Scientists at a major conference on Arctic warming were told Wednesday to use plain language to explain the dramatic melt in the region to a world reluctant to take action against climate change.

Two studies suggest extreme rainstorms and snowfalls have grown substantially stronger, with scientists for the first time finding the telltale fingerprints of man-made global warming on downpours that often cause deadly flooding.

Two studies in Wednesday's issue of the journal Nature link heavy rains to increases in greenhouse gases more than ever before.

Both studies should weaken the argument that climate change is a "victimless crime," said Myles Allen of the University of Oxford. He co-authored the second study, which connected flooding and climate change in the United Kingdom. "Extreme weather is what actually hurts people."

Read more about it here.

In a sharp challenge to the Obama administration, House Republican leaders intend to unveil legislation to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases, officials said. They expect to advance the bill quickly.

A new study shows that leaving cropland unplowed between harvests releases significantly smaller amounts of a potent greenhouse gas than conventionally plowed fields. Read more about it here.

Geoengineering is a hot topic in the science world, but can it be a shortcut to combat global warming? Read more on what local scientists have to say about the ramifications of deliberately altering the Earth's atmosphere here.

Could environmentalists be the new group that locks horns with the Wake County school board majority?

As noted in today's article, Chris Malone, chair of the school board's facilities committee, is calling for a financial review of the school district's green schools efforts. Green schools require more money up front but are supposed to save an even larger amount over time.

But Malone said there are questions whether the green efforts actually are leading to enough savings to justify their use during these tough financial times. He says they need to examine the issue in more detail before including it as part of a bond issue in the next few years.

Former Vice President Albert A. Gore Jr., who received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy of environmental causes, will speak April 8 at Duke University.

Gore will give the 2010 spring Duke Environment and Society Lecture at 6 p.m. in Page Auditorium on Duke's West Campus.

The event is open to the public. It is sponsored by Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.

Though it is free, you need a ticket to get in. Ticket and event information are available online at www.nicholas.duke.edu/deanseries.
 
“Since the beginning of his career, Al Gore has been relentless in his quest to bring the truth about global warming to the world, even when the world wasn’t listening,” said William L. Chameides, dean of the Nicholas School, in a news release distributed by the university. “But the world can hear him now. We are fortunate and thrilled to have him bring his message to Duke.”

Gore, the 45th vice president and former presidential candidate, emerged from the political arena in 2000 to write “An Inconvenient Truth,” the best-selling book on the threat of and solutions to global warming. The movie made from the book received an Academy Award in 2007 and is one of the best-known documentary films in history.
 
On Oct. 12, 2007, Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations’ global warming committee.
 

A top NASA climatologist huddled under a tent Tuesday to talk about coal and global warming.

With UNC-Chapel Hill's massive coal-burning cogeneration plant as a backdrop, outspoken NASA scientist James Hansen pushed the university - and others - to take the lead in weaning off of coal as an energy source.

Hansen, who gave a speech and spoke in some classes as well this week, gamely donned a gaudy, yellow "Beyond Coal" T-shirt - the same as those worn by about 15 sign-toting activists - to speak Tuesday as a guest of the local Sierra Club.

That's the organization whose lobbying helped prompt UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp to recently form a new energy task force to examine the university's use of coal and other issues.

Hansen, an internationally recognized expert on global climate change, spoke as rain dropped and slushy ice crunched underfoot. The crux of his argument: The United States needs to wean itself entirely off of coal use, and sooner rather than later. Universities, he said, must take the lead in this venture.

Progress Energy said today it plans to build a natural-gas power plant near Wilmington to replace three coal-burning units at the site that are being shut down to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution.
The 600-megawatt plant will cost about $600 million and begin generating electricity in 2014. The Raleigh-based electric utility filed its plan today with state regulators.
The conversion of the Sutton plant near Wilmington from coal to natural gas is part of Progress's plan to close down 11 coal-burning units at four sites in the state as it shifts to greener strategies.