The coal-fired Quezon Power Plant in Mauban, Quezon, the Philippines. The 511-megawatt power plant was commissioned in 2000 and is owned and operated by Quezon Power Limited Co. Photo: Acersteel

Coal power plants flourish in the Philippines despite “climate emergency” – “It is unfortunate that another coal plant has been inaugurated in the country”

By Leilani Chavez 28 October 2019 MANILA (Mongabay) – In 1996, when a community in the Philippine municipality of Pagbilao agreed to house a coal power plant a few hours’ drive from Manila, the residents had high hopes. The fishing town saw in the dominating edifice full-time jobs and food on the table, says Warren […]

This animation shows winds over the western United States between 20 October 2019 and 28 October 2019. The strongest gusts appear bright yellow; weaker winds are purple. The wind data comes from the Goddard Earth Observing System Model 5 (GEOS-5), an experimental weather model that scientists at NASA use to analyze global weather phenomena. The GEOS model ingests wind data from more than 30 sources, including ships, buoys, radiosondes, dropsondes, aircraft, and satellites. Video: Joshua Stevens / Lauren Dauphin / NASA Earth Observatory

Image of the Day: Satellite view of Diablo winds spreading the Kincade Fire in California

By Kasha Patel 30 October 2019 (NASA) – On 23 October 2019, a blaze erupted in Sonoma County, California, near the small town of Geyserville. In six days, flames from the Kincade fire spread across more than 75,000 acres (303 square kilometers), becoming the largest wildfire by acreage in California in 2019. As of October 29, the fire had […]

Smoke rises from the Darwank fires near Forster-Tuncurry on the New South Wales mid north coast, 30 October 2019. Photo: Martin Von Stroll

Hundreds of koalas perish as Australia bushfires rage – “This is just a national tragedy”

By Amy Woodyatt 30 October 2019 (CNN) – More than 350 koalas are feared to have been killed by bushfires in Australia’s New South Wales state, animal experts say. The blazes — which have been burning near the coastal township of Port Macquarie since Monday — have destroyed more than 2,000 hectares (4,492 acres) of […]

Views of the Condamine River from a farm at Cecil Plains, Queensland, Australia in December 2018 in August 2019; a dam at a Coleyville farm in Queensland’s Scenic Rim in 2017 compared to the dry scene in 2019. Photo: Sarah Pearce / Amanda Bolton

Historic Australia drought steals lives of a generation crying for action – “This is a direct impact of climate change. I don’t care what anybody says.”

By Tom McIlroy 4 October 2019 Stanthorpe, Queensland (Financial Review) – The dirt underfoot as dry as anyone can remember, Mike Hayes sees numbers everywhere as he walks through dusty rows of grapevines. A celebrated winemaker in Queensland’s Granite Belt region, he crunches rainfall data in his head, trying not to consider the worst. “In […]

China monthly coal imports, 2015-2019. Graphic: Reuters

China’s 2019 coal imports set to rise by more than 10 percent, to around 320 million tons

By Muyu Xu and Melanie Burton 22 October 2019 BEIJING/MELBOURNE (Reuters) – China, the world’s top coal buyer, is on track to boost imports of the fuel by more than 10 percent this year, traders and analysts said on Tuesday, countering earlier expectations that shipments would be capped by Beijing at the same level as […]

Satellite view of of Category 4 Typhoon Bualoi in the West Pacific on 22 October 2019. A 2.5-minute rapid scan Himawari8 Infrared images captures the rapid clearing of the eye. Video: SSEC / CIMSS

NASA finds Typhoon Bualoi rapidly intensified

By Rob Gutro 21 October 2019 (NASA) – Typhoon Bualoi rapidly intensified over 24 hours and quickly developed an eye and powerful thunderstorms. On 21 October 2019, the eye of Typhoon Bualoi was just over 50 miles from the island of Saipan when NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite passed overhead. Saipan is the largest island of […]

Traffic moves past a gas station during a blackout in Calistoga, California on 24 October 2019. Photo: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg

PG&E warns of largest intentional blackout ever as windstorm approaches – “The upcoming wind event has the potential to be one of the strongest in the last several years”

By David R Baker and Mark Chediak 25 October 2019 (Bloomberg) – PG&E Corp. warned it will shut off power again on Saturday to as many as 2.5 million people as violent winds batter the state — in what will be California’s largest intentional blackout ever. The outages will impact up to 850,000 homes and businesses […]

Aerial views of glaciers in Iceland taken in 1989 and 2019 showing how much ice has been lost over this 30-year period. Photo: National Land Survey of Iceland / Kieran Baxter

Images reveal Iceland’s glacier melt – “We saw a staggering difference in a very short amount of time”

By Rebecca Morelle 25 October 2019 (BBC News) – A photography project has highlighted the extent of ice loss from Iceland’s glaciers. A team from Scotland and Iceland compared photographs taken in the 1980s with present-day drone images. They focused on the south side of the Vatnajökull ice cap, which covers about 7,700sq km of […]

A car drives through a darkened Montclair Village in Oakland, California, after Pacific Gas & Electric shut down power in October 2019 to prevent wildfires. Photo: Noah Berger / AP

California can expect blackouts for a decade, says PG&E CEO – Power outage in Fall 2019 could cost California economy more than $2 billion

By Richard Gonzales 18 October 2019 (NPR) – The CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. told California energy regulators that the state will likely see blackouts for another 10 years like the one imposed last week that left as many as 800,000 customers without power. The revelation by corporation CEO Bill Johnson came Friday […]

Clip from BP’s “Energy Illustrated” web series. Graphic: Spencer Dale / BP

BP chief economist to youth conference: “The haves must remember the have nots”

By Spencer Dale 23 October 2019 LONDON (BP) – It’s a great pleasure to be here this morning. One Young World is a big deal in BP. As you just heard, Bob Dudley is a massive fan. And many friends and colleagues have been delegates in the past and raved about it. So I’ve heard […]

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