Green Energy Act - What is It About
Ontario’s McGuinty government’s proposed Green Energy Act (GEA) is a bold series of co-ordinated actions motivated by our ambitions to
create substantial employment in a green economy and reduce our impact on the climate.
Within three years, the GEA will create over 50,000 “green collar” jobs and generate billions of dollars of economic growth in communities across Ontario. The Green Energy Act operates on two thrusts: making it easier to bring renewable energy projects to life and creating a culture of conservation so that people can go about their daily lives using less energy.
The act builds on the progress the McGuinty government has already made on its commitment to eliminate coal and the progress the government has already made introducing renewable energy throughout the province.
The McGuinty government’s Green Energy Act is a landmark piece of legislation which aims to expand investment in a green economy by supporting renewable energy and conservation projects.
Ontario’s Green Energy Act proposes to expedite the growth of clean, renewable sources of energy, like wind, solar, hydro, biomass and biogas. It will ensure that renewable energy projects are able to come online more quickly by removing barriers which have existed in the past and providing added reliability to initiatives. More >>>
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Climate change threatens Cayman
24th September, 2009 The eyes of the world will centre on Copenhagen in December when the United Nations conference on climate change takes place.
The goal of the conference is to come up with a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a treaty limiting carbon emissions.
Cayman’s National Weather Service Director Fred Sambula isn’t likely to be at COP 15, as the Copenhagen conference is called, but he
knows what’s at stake.
“Climate change is the next big thing that will affect humanity and its survival,” he said. “Climate change is upon us and it’s little island nations like the Cayman Islands that are going to be affected the most, even though we contribute [carbon emissions] the least,” he said. More >>>
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Schwarzenegger Creates 33% RPS By Executive Order
Wed Sep 16, 2009 - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Tuesday signed an Executive Order directing the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to adopt regulations increasing California's Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to 33% by 2020.
The Governor's office over the weekend said he would veto a bill passed by the state assembly on Friday that also raised the RPS to 33%. Schwarzenegger's communications director said the Governor was opposed to the complexity of the bill and limits placed on renewable power supply from outside the state's borders.
"Three years ago, I signed AB 32 and committed California to roll back our greenhouse gas emissions a nation-leading 25% by 2020. We've made a lot of progress since then, but we still have a lot of work to do to reach our goals," said Governor Schwarzenegger. More >>>
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Better World: Generate a feed-in frenzy
Paying people who generate green energy and feed it back to the grid is the best way to boost uptake of renewable energy. 
ONE day, 100 per cent of our energy will have to come from renewable sources. But how do we make it happen?
There is a proven way to rapidly boost the adoption of renewable energy - give companies or individuals who want to generate green energy access to the grid and promise to pay them extra for the electricity they "feed in" over the next 20 years or so.
This approach is known as a feed-in tariff, and since Germany introduced feed-in tariffs in 1990, the proportion of electricity it generates from renewable sources has grown from less than 3 per cent to about 15 per cent in 2008. By comparison, the UK, which tried to boost renewable energy through an alternative "green certificate" scheme, generated just 5 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources in 2008. More >>>
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CARICOM Iliendaal Declaration On Climate Change And Development
Gravely concerned that our efforts to promote sustainable
development and to achieve the internationally agreed development
goals including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are under severe threat from the devastating effects of climate change and sea level rise which has led to increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events, damage to bio diversity, coral bleaching, coastal erosion, changing precipitation patterns.
Climate Change Already Having Impact On U.S., Expected To Worsen
ScienceDaily (June 17, 2009) — Two researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 
(Berkeley Lab), Evan Mills and Michael Wehner, contributed to the analysis of the effects of climate change on all regions of the United States, described in a major report released June 16 by the multi-agency U.S. Global Change Research Program. More >>>
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Pacific Islands pass U.N. resolution on climate change and security
The General Assembly of the United Nations unanimously passed a resolution urging the relevant organs of the U.N. to intensify their 
Above: H.E. Ms. Marlene Moses for Nauru and PSIDS chair
efforts to address the security implications of climate change, including sea-level rise. The passage of the resolution marks the culmination of a year-long campaign by a coalition of Pacific small island developing states (PSIDS) to focus the attention of the international community on the security aspects of climate change and to refer the issue to the Security Council. Though international organizations and many governments have been examining the link between climate change and security issues, this is the first time that the full U.N. General Assembly has made the connection in this type of formal instrument. More >>>
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200 Year Climate Change Preperations Begin in the Netherlands
Marcel Stive, coastal engineer for the Delta Committee
Photo: Ralph Hargarten www.wired.com
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Climate Change Displacement Has Begun – but Hardly Anyone Has Noticed
The first evacuation of an entire community due to manmade global warming is happening on the Carteret Islands
Rising sea levels have eroded much of the coastlines of the low-lying Carteret Islands situated 50 miles from Bougainville Island, in the South Pacific. Photograph: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert /Greenpeace
by George Monbiot
Journalists - they're never around when you want one. Two weeks ago a momentous event occurred: the beginning of the world's first evacuation of an entire people as a result of manmade global warming. It has been marked so far by one blog post for the Ecologist and an article in the Solomon Times*. Where is everyone?
The Carteret Islands are off the coast of Bougainville, which, in turn, is off the coast of Papua New Guinea. They are small coral atolls on which 2,600 people live. Though not for much longer.
As the Ecologist's blogger Dan Box witnessed, the first five families have moved to Bougainville to prepare the ground for full evacuation. There are compounding factors - the removal of mangrove forests and some local volcanic activity - but the main problem appears to be rising sea levels. The highest point of the islands is 170cm above the sea. Over the past few years they have been repeatedly inundated by spring tides, wiping out the islanders' vegetable and fruit gardens, destroying their subsistence and making their lives impossible.
They are not, as the Daily Mail and the Times predicted, "the world's first climate-change refugees". People have been displaced from their homes by natural climate change for tens of thousands of years, and by manmade climate change for millennia (think of the desertification caused in North Africa by Roman grain production).
Some people ascribe the fighting in Darfur - and the consequent displacement of its people - to climate change, as people struggle over diminishing resources. But this appears to be the first time that an entire people have started leaving their homes as a result of current global warming.
Their numbers might be small, but this is the event that foreshadows the likely mass displacement of people from coastal cities and low-lying regions as a result of rising sea levels. The disaster has begun, but so far hardly anyone has noticed. More >>>
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Indigenous peoples seek greater recognition in successor to Kyoto agreement
19-Apr-2009
With the first climate change-related relocation of an Inuit village already underway, some 400 Indigenous People and observers from 80 nations are convening in Alaska for a UN-affiliated conference April 20-24 to discuss ways in which traditional knowledge can be used to both mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Shishmaref, Alaska. <www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org>
Hosted by the Inuit Circumpolar Council, the Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change is also designed to help strengthen the communities' participation in and articulate messages and recommendations to the December UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, at which a successor agreement to the Kyoto protocol will be negotiated. The Summit will conclude Fri. April 24 with a declaration and action plan, and a call for world governments to fully include Indigenous Peoples in any post-Kyoto climate change regime adopted in Copenhagen.
The Summit takes place in Anchorage, about 800 km east of the Alaskan village of Newtok, where intensifying river flow and melting permafrost are destroying homes and infrastructure, forcing 320 residents to relocate to a higher site 15 km west, at an expected financial cost in the tens of millions of dollars. More >>>
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April 17, 2009
Indigenous communities unite against climate change
“Start of dying of a civilization”
WASHINGTON - What do Nunavut, Niue and Sahka have in common?
Patricia Cochran, the chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, says Inuit and other indigenous groups threatened by climate change will “not assume the role of powerless victims.” (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)
Nunavut, the coral island in the South Pacific and the Siberian state are all populated by indigenous communities that are being adversely affected by climate change.
And two weeks ago officials and scientists from these disparate lands met in Washington D.C. to discuss how to bring attention to their common climate crises.
Their group, Many Strong Voices, unites indigenous peoples from the Arctic with those from the tiny coral isles sprinkled throughout the globe's oceans, known in the lingo of climate change policy as "small island developing states." A representative from the Cayman Institute attended this important event. More >>>
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U.S. goes solar in tracks of Europe
March 13, 2009 - Solar cells adorn the roofs of many homes and warehouses across Germany, while the bright, white blades of windmills are a frequent sight in the skies above Spain.
If one day these machines become as common on the plains and rooftops of the United States as they are elsewhere, it may be because the financial technique that gave Europe an early lead in renewable energy is starting to cross the Atlantic.
Put simply, the idea is to pay homeowners and businesses top dollar for producing green energy. In Germany, for example, a homeowner with a rooftop solar system might get paid four times more to produce electricity than the rate paid to a coal-fired power plant. More >>>
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(CNS): Fri, 01/30/2009 - An import duty waiver for renewable/alternative energy equipment has been approved reducing costs for residents wanting to invest in alternative energy sources, such as solar panels. Brought to Cabinet by Minister of 
Communications, Works and Infrastructure Arden McLean, the waiver is part of efforts by his ministry and the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) to reduce the islands’ dependence on fossil fuels.
“There are many renewable energy sources that are economically viable for the Cayman Islands,” McLean explained, “The ministry would like to prevent any further delay caused by import duties in the adoption of renewable technologies.”
Effective since 1 December 2008, the waiver allows a full exemption from import duty on renewable energy equipment for residential homeowners. Waivers on similar equipment imported for commercial use will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the ERA.
To access the waiver on renewable energy equipment, buyers need to present a copy of the equipment invoice to the Customs Department and sign a declaration form which states the purpose of the equipment. Also, electrical contractors who import renewable energy equipment may seek refunds on duty after the equipment is sold and installed at residential applications.
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Cayman Institute To Draft Energy Report For Presentation to Government
The Cayman Institute has had their funding request granted, enabling the Institute to bring aboard Dr. Murray Simpson of Oxford University‘s School of Geography and the Environment who will be Chief Scientist on the project. On completion of the project a report will be presented to the appropriate agency of the Cayman Islands Government for their consideration.
Oxford University’s Climate Systems and Policy cluster examines the physical and human dimensions and consequences of climate change and variability. It has particular strengths in the analysis of global climate data sets; climate modelling and forecasting; climate impacts on ecosystems; and the critical assessment of climate policy and governance.
The Cayman Institute will also be producing a report in the impacts of rising sea levels for the islands.
These projects have been in the planning stages for a number of months and have finally come to fruition with funding provided by the UK Government‘s Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
The Cayman Institute is an independent, apolitical, privately funded, non profit organization established to consider the long term effects and implications of diverse technological, sociological, economical and cultural issues to the Cayman Islands. Its members work on a voluntary basis and offer strategic plans for consideration to guide the delivery of nearer term projects, so as not to jeopardize the future of the islands' infrastructure, financial and human resources. All of the institutes papers and reports are presented to the government for their consideration.
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The Climate for Change: OP-ED by Al Gore
November 9, 2008
THE inspiring and transformative choice by the American people to elect Barack Obama as our 44th president lays the foundation for 
another fateful choice that he — and we — must make this January to begin an emergency rescue of human civilization from the imminent and rapidly growing threat posed by the climate crisis.
The electrifying redemption of America’s revolutionary declaration that all human beings are born equal sets the stage for the renewal of United States leadership in a world that desperately needs to protect its primary endowment: the integrity and livability of the planet.
The world authority on the climate crisis, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, after 20 years of detailed study and four unanimous reports, now says that the evidence is “unequivocal.” To those who are still tempted to dismiss the increasingly urgent alarms from scientists around the world, ignore the melting of the north polar ice cap and all of the other apocalyptic warnings from the planet itself, and who roll their eyes at the very mention of this existential threat to the future of the human species, please wake up. Our children and grandchildren need you to hear and recognize the truth of our situation, before it is too late. More >>>
The Cayman Institute establishes working relationship with Many Strong Voices
The Cayman Institute has established a working relationship with, and will be discussing collaboration with the Many Strong Voices (MSV) initiative http://www.manystrongvoices.org/, following discussions between the Chairman of the Cayman Institute and Mr John Crump of Many Strong Voices. Nick Robson will be attending the MSV conference in January (?) 2009 More >>>
Presentation by Dr Rolph Payet,
Chairman of the Sea Level Rise Foundation
Presented at the UN General Assembly at the invitation of the Secretary General, Mr Ban ki Moon.
High Level Event on the Millennium Development Goals
Download PDF
Cayman Institute Makes Presentation to Cabinet
Press Release
George Town, Cayman Islands 7 August 2007
The Cayman Institute today made a presentation to the Cabinet of the Cayman Islands Government on energy security.
The Cayman Institute is an apolitical, privately funded, non profit organization established to consider the long term effects and implications of diverse technological, sociological, economical and cultural issues to the Cayman Islands.
A modern, carefully crafted energy policy, creating the legislative and policy frameworks is imperative for all states today. For Small Island Developing States (SIDS) without the resources of a developed nation an energy security is even more important.
“The use of alternative forms of energy, solar, wind, ocean thermal conversion, hydrogen and geothermal are vitally necessary to mitigate the threat global warming as well as that of a diminishing and ever more costly petroleum based fuels“, said Nick Robson Chairman and founder of the institute.
Download Report (PDF Document)
Judy Van Liere and supervisor at the construction site of a home designed to use 100 percent renewable energy.
While many people were shocked to find their electric bill had doubled and tripled from the previous month, one family quietly broke ground on the construction of its new home, designed to use 100 per cent renewable energy and stay off CUC’s bill. And if all goes well, the homeowners intend to sell excess power it generates back to CUC, taking advantage of recent agreement by CUC and government. Using energy sources including wind, solar, hydrogen and geothermal, this ‘totally green’ home could become the gold standard for new construction in Cayman as economists predict the price of oil could reach $200 per barrel by year’s end, driving energy costs even higher. After a year of struggling to get Planning approval for their green home, Jim Knapp and his wife Judy Van Liere broke ground earlier this month on their new home in Grand Harbour. It is estimated that it will take 10 months to complete construction. At the time Knapp and Van Liere started planning their new three bedroom two-and-a-half bath home a year ago, their average utility bill was seven times higher than the US.
Changing Jet Streams May Alter Paths of Storms and Hurricanes
Stanford, CA— Thursday, April 17, 2008 - The Earth’s jet streams, the high-
altitude bands of fast winds that strongly influence the paths of storms and other weather systems, are shifting—possibly in response to global warming. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution determined that over a 23-year span from 1979 to 2001 the jet streams in both hemispheres have risen in altitude and shifted toward the poles. The jet stream in the northern hemisphere has also weakened. These changes fit the predictions of global warming models and have implications for the frequency and intensity of future storms, including hurricanes. More >>>
“Turtles are a really good way to study climate change because they depend on healthy beaches as well as mangroves, sea grass beds, coral reefs and deep ocean ecosystems to live”, said Dr. Lucy Hawkes, coordinator of an initiative to develop adaptation strategies for climate change impacts to turtles.
Decline in Snowpack Is Blamed On Warming
February 1, 2008;
Water Supplies In West Affected,
The persistent and dramatic decline in the snowpack of many mountains in the West is caused primarily by human-induced global warming and is not the result of natural variability in weather patterns, researchers reported yesterday.
Using data collected over the past 50 years, the scientists confirmed that the mountains are getting more rain and less snow, that the snowpack is breaking up faster and that more rivers are running dry by summer.
The study, published online yesterday by the journal Science, looked at possible causes of the changes -- including natural variability in temperatures and precipitation, volcanic activity around the globe and climate change driven by the release of greenhouse gases. The researchers' computer models showed that climate change is clearly the explanation that best fits the data.
Antarctic ice sheet shrinking at faster rate
January 13, 2008 at 1:00 PM EST
One of the biggest worries about global warming has been its potential to affect the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet, a vast storehouse of frozen water that would inundate the world's coastal regions if it were to melt because of a warming 
climate. The southern continent contains enough ice to raise ocean levels by about 60 metres, a deluge that would put every major coastal city in the world deep under water and uproot hundreds of millions of people.
The huge implications posed by the health of the ice sheet have prompted major scientific interest into whether it is growing, shrinking, or stable, with no clear consensus among researchers about its overall trend.
But a new study released today, based on some of the most extensive measurements to date of the continent's ice mass, presents a worrisome development: Antarctica's ice sheet is shrinking, at a rate that increased dramatically from 1996 to 2006.
Willis Report Tackles Global Warming Impact on Risk Management
December 27, 2007
"Climate change is one of the foremost concerns of our time," states a bulletin from Willis. "In a relatively short time, the focus has shifted from debate over the reality of global warming to a general consensus that it not only exists, but needs to be urgently addressed."
While the reinsurance industry has been in the forefront of climate change research for many years, global broker and risk management consultants like Willis have also become concerned about the threats posed by changing climate conditions. A series of reports and decisions has given the issue an even larger profile.
Willis notes that "recent U.S. federal court rulings on global warming have strengthened the growing demand from scientists and business leaders for action from the federal government. Further, the latest UN report on climate change emphasizes that global warming is "unequivocal", that humans are the main cause, and concludes that the greatest financial responsibility lies with the U.S. and other countries which are most responsible for the increase in greenhouse gas emissions" [See http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2007/04/06/78556.htm