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True scale of C02 emissions from shipping revealed
Leaked UN report says pollution three times higher than previously thought
John Vidal, Guardian
The true scale of climate change emissions from shipping is almost three times higher than previously believed, according to a leaked UN study seen by the Guardian.
It calculates that annual emissions from the world’s merchant fleet have already reached 1.12bn tonnes of CO², or nearly 4.5% of all global emissions of the main greenhouse gas.
The report suggests that shipping emissions – which are not taken into account by European targets for cutting global warming – will become one of the largest single sources of manmade CO² after cars, housing, agriculture and industry. By comparison, the aviation industry, which has been under heavy pressure to clean up, is responsible for about 650m tonnes of CO² emissions a year, just over half that from shipping.
(13 February 2008)
Related article by John Vidal in the Guardian: Shipping boom fuels rising tide of global CO2 emissions.
Will additives push gasoline to a record high?
Ron Scherer, Christian Science Monitor
Already feeling the effects of a cold snap in the Midwest and Northeast and strains with key oil supplier Venezuela, American energy consumers are about to encounter a new complication: rising prices of a key gasoline additive – nicknamed liquid gold by some.
As a result of this cost increase, some analysts are predicting that the price at the pump could reach as high as $3.50 a gallon this spring, compared with $2.93 a gallon currently.
(12 February 2008)
Airlines Look For Savings As Fuel Costs Rise
AirWise News
The need for US airlines to control costs is greater than ever with losses creeping back onto balance sheets and shares slipping, but carriers are simply running out of fat to trim after years of restructuring.
The main culprit undercutting profits is high fuel prices. But overall US economic weakness is threatening to erode travel demand and make it more difficult to generate revenues.
Nearly all carriers — even low-cost airlines such as JetBlue Airways and AirTran Airways — are looking for ways to run their operations more efficiently without compromising their services in the ultra-competitive industry.
“The high fuel costs just make you look harder and harder and harder,” said Bob Fornaro, chief executive of AirTran Airways.
(12 February 2008)
