The IPCC made a statement in 2007 claiming that rising temperatures were causing a larger number of natural disasters – such as hurricanes and floods. It has now emerged that the unpublished report on which they based their statement had not actually been peer-reviewed.

Worse still, the report’s author has withdrawn his claim stating that there is not enough evidence to link global warming with an increase in the number of natural disasters and has branded the use of his data as ‘completely misleading.’

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The alarming warning was issued two years ago in a highly influential report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). At the time the IPCC claimed that the report contained the latest and most detailed evidence yet of the risks of man-made climate change to the planet.

However the experts behind the claim have now admitted that their warning was not actually based on hard science and was in fact based on a telephone chat with another scientist who has since admitted that it was pure speculation.

This new piece of news is a further blow to the IPCC following the ‘Climategate’ story of last year, showing climate-change scientists at the University of East Anglia had manipulated data to produce better results to show man-made climate change.

Glacier experts are surprised that this latest revelation has taken so long to surface. Himalayan glaciers are hundreds of feet thick and it would take more than 25 years for them to melt fully – in fact the quickest melting Himalayan glacier is currently melting at around 2-3 feet per year and therefore is strongly predicted to still be around in 25 years time.

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Daizi Zheng, a student at Central Saint Martins, came up with the concept whilst studying for her final year project.

The prototype is said to run for up to four times longer than a traditional lithium battery and has the potential to be fully biodegradable.

The battery works by using enzymes to catalyse sugar in the drink. This in turn releases electricity which powers the mobile phone. As the battery dies, just water and oxygen remain.

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Scientists have discovered that birds such as buzzards, golden plovers and curlews are all avoiding wind farm areas. It is believed that the birds are avoiding the area because the wind turbines are acting like big scarecrows.

The impact is currently quite small as there are only a handful of wind farms in the UK however because there is evidence that it is affecting a range of bird species, bird lovers are concerned.

12 bird species populations were looked at in a dozen wind farms around Scotland and northern England. These populations were compared against a similar number of control sites with no wind turbines in the area. Upland areas were chosen because they are places where winds tend to be strongest and are therefore popular with wind farm developers, and these areas also tend to be popular with the UK’s most vulnerable species of bird.

The researchers discovered that seven species of birds tended to stop nesting within half a mile of wind turbines, meaning up to 2 square miles of land are affected by a single wind turbine. A further two species showed signs of avoidance. Given that 12 species were monitored, the research shows that a large number of birds were avoiding wind turbine areas.

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However officials have said that the Prince will only be permitted to fit solar panels to Clarence House if they do not compromise the look of the 180-year old property.

It is believed that it would cost around £150,000 to fit solar cells to Clarence House however the energy savings would mean that this initial cost would be recouped by 2021.

With news of the planned photo voltaic cells leaked, Prince Charles has been accused of being a hypocrite after he used a private jet to fly to last week’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen – a flight which will have added substantially to the Prince’s carbon footprint.

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Over 15,000 delegates and 45,000 green activists are expected to visit Copenhagen for the climate change talks along with 100 world leaders and over 5,000 journalists. The UN has confirmed that the travel arrangements (including flights, rail and bus travel) couple with the meals served will generate over 41,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the meetings. This figure is more than Afghanistan, Malawi or Sierra Leone will produce over the same time period.

The Danish government has been quick to react to the comments saying that they will plant trees and invest in green projects to offset the carbon dioxide emissions. However critics are unhappy that a conference aiming to cut greenhouse gas emissions is itself causing massive emissions.

Some of the facts ‘n’ figures to do from Copenhagen include:

• 140 aeroplanes used to fly the 100 world leaders
• 900 miles of computer cable have been laid
• 41,000 tonnes of CO2 to be emitted by delegates
• £130 million: the estimated cost of the conference (the 2005 G8 summit cost £20 million)
• £54.5 million: the amount of salary delegates will receive whilst at the climate change conference

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Possible changes that mobile operators are looking into include efficiency-boosting moves such as using more renewable power sources such as solar panels, wind turbines and fuel cells. By using these environmentally friendly options, mobile companies would not only be boosting their green credentials, but would also save money by reducing operating expenses whilst also incorporating social responsibility initiatives.

Greener technology could be used in most areas in the business including base stations, RF power amplifiers and in the network architecture and topology.

Many consumers are looking for a more environmentally friendly mobile phone handset. Many people already recycle their handsets however research has shown that around 40 percent of the public would opt for an eco-friendly mobile handset if the price, features and performance were around the same as a a conventional handset.

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3. Healthcare: More Carbon Emissions Than The Aviation Industry

American researchers have found that the US health sector is responsible for nearly a tenth of the country’s carbon emissions – almost three times the amount of carbon that the airline industry pumps out. Despite this disparity, the health care sector hardly ever gets flack for it’s less-than-green credentials whilst the airline industry seems to have more than it’s fair share of criticism.

The carbon emissions from health care are from many different areas – including scientific research, hospitals, and the production and distribution of pharmaceuticals. In total, the American health care system is said to churn out eight percent of the country’s carbon emissions, compared to three percent for the aviation industry and two percent for IT.

The airline industry is already looking into greener measures including more fuel efficient air craft, carbon penalties, and more efficient and greener fuels. Perhaps health care companies now also need to look at their green credentials more carefully and follow the lead of the aviation industry by investigating and investing in more environmentally friendly options for the future.

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The Waste and Resource Action Programme (Wrap) have said that ending the current obsession with owning material goods could help reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions.

The idea is this: rather than buying expensive clothes and accessories that are only used a couple of times before being thrown away, people should hire expensive items such as shoes, dresses and suits instead.

This green idea doesn’t just extend to clothes either – Wrap believe that instead of buying high-end electronics such as plasma TVs, games consoles and TVs which often get replaced every few years as new technology and gadgets are brought out, we should revert back to the 1960s style rental shops and rent all our electronic equipment instead of buying.

By switching away from buying expensive items to renting them, this is supposed to help stop perfectly good items from being thrown away whilst they are still able to be used. This will then help stop unnecessary manufacturing and this in turn will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions thus helping the UK meet climate change targets.

As well as helping the environment, this idea would have the positive side effects of saving money – no need to buy expensive items that you will only use once when hiring the item for the occasion will be much cheaper – and also helping stop your house being cluttered up.

If everyone in the UK started to rent high end items instead of buying them, it is anticipated that a fifth of spending on new goods would be converted to renting; Better use of resources could then deliver around 1- percent of the CO2 reduction that UK is aiming for by 2020, a saving of around 13 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

Wrap denies that the move would harm the UK’s employment figures as most of the UK’s goods are made overseas anyway and any job losses in the manufacturing industry would be balanced out by new jobs created in the rental industry.

The watchdog are also calling for people to modify their diet to help the climate. By reducing the amount of dairy and meat products that households eat, this small change would reduce the amount of carbon emissions from livestock and therefore help stop climate change.

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Scientists used a network of ground sensors to measure how much ice covering the area and therefore how much ice was melting and running off into the ocean. The results showed that the NASA satellite data may have overestimated that amount of ice being lost in the region.

NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) estimates ice loss by measuring regional gravitational forces as the satellite passes overhead. Both ice loss and bedrock rebound (where the bedrock lifts as the ice sheet above it disappears) will contribute to the satellite readings however it is now been found that rebound figures that have been used to calculate ice loss were wrong.

At the moment, it is unclear how much the overestimation is therefore it is currently unknown as to the rate at which ice loss in Antarctica is contributing to rising sea levels. There is no dispute that there is increasing ice loss however the actual figures have yet to be calculated.

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