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Climate Red - November 2010

The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference

November 30th 2010 15:52

The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held in Cancún,
Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010. The conference is officially referred to as the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 6th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties (CMP 6) to the Kyoto Protocol. In addition, the two permanent subsidiary bodies of the UNFCCC–the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI)–will hold their 33rd sessions. The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference extended the mandates of the two temporary subsidiary bodies–the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) and the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA)–and they will meet as well.

Following the non-binding Copenhagen Accord put forth in 2009, international expectations for the COP16 conference were reduced. Four preparatory rounds of negotiations were to be held during 2010. The first three of these were in Bonn, Germany, from 9 to 11 April, 1 to 11 June, and 2 to 6 August. The Bonn talks have been reported as ending in failure. The fourth round of talks in Tianjin, China, made minimal progress and was marked by a clash between the US and China.

In August 2010, Ban Ki-moon stated that he doubts member states will reach a new global agreement to address global warming,[9] but after the Tianjin talks in October Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said, "This week has got us closer to a structured set of decisions that can be agreed in Cancun ... This is the greatest societal and economic transformation that the world has ever seen." Other commentators spoke of a positive spirit of negotiation and of paving the way for agreement in Cancun.

In the lead up to COP16, the leaders of the world's most climate-change vulnerable nations will be meeting in Kiribati to attend the Tarawa Climate Change Conference (TCCC) from 9 to 10 November 2010. The ultimate objective of the TCCC is to reduce the number and intensity of various fault lines between parties to the COP process, explore elements of agreement between the parties and thereby to support preparation for COP16. Based on the lessons learned in the COP process to-date, the TCCC proposes a more inclusive format of consultations, involving key partners among major developed and developing nations.

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Home energy audit, Blower door test

November 17th 2010 11:25

Blower door testing is the most practical way to predict energy savings from air sealing methods. I have just recently been certified by B.P.I. (Building Performance Industry). I went to a two week workshop and was tutored on a very informative way when it comes to air leakages in your home. I have bee in residential home construction for 30 years and in this workshop I seen things that I have overlooked for years.
Compare blower-door operation to inflating a leaky beach ball. When you inflate a beach ball it doesn’t take much effort to get it up if there are no holes present. If there are a couple of pin holes you have to apply a little more effort because eventually it will leak down. If there are more holes that are bigger raisin size holes for instance, look at the effort you have to put forth now. The total size of the all the holes and the pressure difference between the ball and the outside determine the rate at which you need to blow the air to keep the ball inflated.
Like your lungs blowing pressure to keep the beach ball inflated, the blower door pressurizes your home by blowing air in or depressurizes the home by sucking the air out. Depressurization, which creates a vacuum indoors, is the most common procedure because air comes in through air leaks, allowing you to feel and locate the air leaks in your home. The combined area of the building leaks and the pressure difference between the indoors and outdoors determines how much air the blower door moves. The air flow is measured by CFM( cubic feet per minute).The standard for measuring a homes’ air leakage is the air flow through the blower door at 50 pascals of house pressure(CFM50)
Blower door testing involves preparing the home for testing, setting up the blower door in a doorway, connecting the gauges, turning on the blower door, and reading the pressure reading on the gauges.
Prepare the home with the following steps:
• Closing windows and storm doors.
• Opening all interior doors.
• Disable heaters and water heaters by turning down their thermostats.
• Covering ashes in wood stoves and fireplaces with damp newspaper to prevent them from being sucked into the home.
• Shutting fireplace dampers, fireplace glass doors, wood stove dampers, and wood stove air intakes.
The blower door operator slowly brings the house pressure to 50 pascals. This is usually preset with the doors gauges before he begins. With the house pressure at 50 pascals the operator notes the CFM50 number from the digital air flow gauge. This is where he begins to look around the home with a smoke generator to help find the air leaks in your home. I promise that you will be amazed where and the amount of leakage occurs.
There are several common factors to help to determine the amount of air leakage you may have in your home. This is a little technical but maybe you will understand enough to help you understand the
Importance of a test of this nature.
1. The 50 Pascal Airflow Rate: a blower door reading expressed in cubic feet per minute (CFM50), is the actual flow measured at 50 pascals of house pressure.
2. The 50-Pascal Air Change Rate (ACH50): a blower door reading expressed in air changes per hour at 50 pascals. This is calculated by multiplying the CFM50 by 60min/hour and then dividing by the house volume in cubic feet.
3. Natural Air Change rate (ACHnatural): natural air change is expressed in air changes per hour.
If all of this sounds a bit overwhelming the home energy auditor in your area will know just what to do with all these numbers and formulas. That is why it took me two weeks in a workshop that the technical college where I am employed sent me to. If you are wondering where to find an energy auditor check with your local courthouse or utility company. This will be money well spent!

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Sustainable forest and woodlands. How long will they last?

November 4th 2010 22:59

In Washington Parish located in the southern part of Louisiana the timber industry is one of the biggest operators in Louisiana. We are located in a small area known as Pine, La. Between the towns of Franklinton and Bogalusa. Whenever we travel to our different jobs everyday we see evidence of logs after logs being transported to the paper and box plant that is located in Bogalusa, La. I commute about 500 to 600 miles with my job each week. It is unreal how many of these logging trucks are traveling to the various wood plants and lumber yards that are located throughout the region. I have been in the construction industry for the past 30 years and have seen a lot of lumber, plywood , and paper products used in my time in construction. This got me to thinking about how much we really relied upon this sustainable resource. I am now a construction instructor for Louisiana Technical College and I see some of the strides that we are making in construction when it comes to trying to save these precious resources that we have known as forests. I see lots of these trees being harvested and replanted everyday. The only thing that concerns me is the problem of using these resources up faster than we can replace them. This is just in the areas that I travel each day. It brings the question to me what goes on all over the world. We need took take a long serious look at the option of recycling and make a strong push as individuals to go back to this practice. I did some research and found some shocking stats on the use of paper that I will share with you. Remember this is for paper use not for lumber and wood use. I hope you will read these stats and begin to share the same concerns that I do.

Approx. 324 L. of water is used to produce 1 KG of
paper.
Source: Environment Canada

It is estimated that 95% of business information is
still stored on paper.
Source: International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
Discussion Paper (IIED, London, September 1996)

700 pounds of paper are consumed by the average
American each year.
Source: Environmental Defense Fund, Champion Paper Mills

10,000 trees are cut down annually in China to
make holiday cards.
Source: Xinhua News Agency

3 cubic yards of landfill space can be saved by one
ton of recycled paper.
Source: 50 Simple things you Can do to Save the Earth, Jodi B., Sudbury

Paper manufacturing is the largest industrial user of
water per pound of finished product.
Source: American Forest and Paper Association

The US uses 25% of the world's paper products.
Source: American Forest and Paper Association

The average American uses more than 748 pounds
of paper per year.
Source: American Forest and Paper Association

The US uses approx. 68 million trees each year to
produce 17 billion catalogues and 65 billion pieces
of direct mail.
Source: American Forest and Paper Association
It is estimated that paper consumption will rise by
50% by 2010.
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1997:78

The average daily web user prints 28 pages daily.
Source: Gartner group and HP

115 billion sheets of paper are used annually for
personal computers.
Source: Worldwatch Institute

Every ton of recycled paper saves about 17 trees.
Source: Purdue Research Foundation and US Environmental Protection
Agency, 1996

Recycling paper uses 60% less energy than
manufacturing virgin timber paper.
Source: "1996 Statistics, Data Through 1995." American Forest and Paper
Association. November 1996. Pg. 2

The post-consumer recycling rate for old newsprint
in the US in 1990, 1992, and 1994 was 38%, 47%,
and 45% respectively
Source: Environmental Health and Safety Online (MSW Report)

Nearly 81.3 million tons of paper and paperboard
waste was generated in the U.S. in 1994.
Source: Environmental Health and Safety Online

Paper and paperboard constituted the largest
portion of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream in
1994, representing 38.9% of the total waste by
weight.
Source: Environmental Health and Safety Online

Paper had an overall recycling rate of 35.3% in
1994. About 55.3% of corrugated boxes, 45.3% of
newspapers, 19.3% of books, 30% of magazines,
and 42.5% of office papers were recycled in.
Source: Environmental Health and Safety Online

Recovered paper is used to make a variety of
products, including copier paper, paper towels and
napkins, corrugated boxes, and hydraulic mulch.
Source: Environmental Health and Safety Online

It takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday Edition of
the New York Times.
Source: North Carolina Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling

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