By Arthur Zulu

Man is a very clever animal. For example, he is the only one who knows that the world will end someday, and worries about it. And he is the only creature that can create anything out of a useless thing like ice.

Now, lets imagine ourselves in a man-made ice theater-- floor, roof, and all. We are sitting on chairs made of ice; drinking beer from glasses (made of ice of course), and we are about to watch a play.

What is the play about? The actor, (of course flesh and blood) is going to enter into a mighty cooking pot made of ice. Then he will be covered; and the giant ice cooking pot, suspended by equally giant tripods (made of ice too), is to be
heated by a gigantic fire.

As we the spectators watch to see what happens to the actor, we observe that first, the iced floor begins to crack
as a result of the fire. Then the pot begins to melt, and before we know it, the ice-made glasses on our hands, also begin to melt as a result of the heat.

Suddenly, the roof of the heated ice theater begins to give way and collapse on our heads, and before long, we find ourselves swimming in an ocean of water. So, we the spectators become actors; and birds and all sorts of flying things, become the spectators!

But wait. This is not a play. It is real, and very soon where once used to be our houses, might well become an ocean,
and we all will be swimming for our lives! And if you live in
a coastal city, say New York, London, or Cape Town; you had better start making your ark for another Noah�s flood. But how, you may ask, will this come about?

Over the decades, man has turned up the global thermostat through the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. This has caused climatic upheavals (heavy rain, drought, superkiller winds), and health hazard
(skin cancer).

It has even been speculated that the warming trend could bring about the opposite -- global freeze. It happened before in Europe at the end of the Ice Age when a natural warming initiated a phenomenon that shut up the Gulf Stream. Suppose it happens again, and throws us into a deep freeze for say, 2000 years (the previous one in Europe lasted 1,300 years).

What if the former wins out and the polar ice begins a Great meltdown. It has been melting for decades, and several bodies of water have been forming at the Arctic and the Antarctica. And so what?

If you live in Alaska, you will now understand why memorial crosses are collapsing on the tombs in your local cemeteries while the tombs themselves are yawning and displaying their bowels. And you will know why your house is sinking or slanting at a terrible angle, and why your country roads are cracking up.

Even the animals are perplexed as they roam into unexpected lakes (where once used to be ice), and grasslands (where forests once stood). So the marooned polar bear gazing helplessly at the equally marooned countryman knows that the ground on which they are standing is playing games.

Just in case you are skeptical of the global warming trend, you could do one of two things: Find out why ivory gulls are now soaring in the Arctic, the land of polar bears. Or look
up down under and say what caused the gaping holes in Australia.

Yes, there are difficulties in predicting the Greenhouse effect. This is as a result of the roles of some elements --melting ice and snow, clouds, the oceans, volcanoes and solar cycles -- in the heating and cooling process of the earth.
 

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By Arthur Zulu

Death came swiftly for the Great Julius Caesar on his way to the capitol. And one of his murderers? Brutus, a trusted friend!

If you talk of betrayals, more bizarre things have happened. For even Agamemon -- conqueror of lands and of mighty men, was killed by his own wife!

But pity neither Caesar, nor Agamemon. For your best riends are this moment betraying you. They have dug your grave, made out your coffin and are preparing to announce your obituary, even while you are still alive!

But hold on before you dispatch hired assassins to good old Billy, or faithful Penelope, and end up in the dock for first-degree murder. Who are these friends?

They are greenhouse gases. Now, try this experiment. Find
a hot corner of the street, park your car there, and shut yourself inside with the windows closed. How do you find
the experience?

The car will be terribly hot because while the transparent glass lets the sun�s rays in, it cannot let out the dangerous invisible infrared radiation. You will be killing yourself!

The same story proves true for the earth�s atmosphere which acts like the glass in a greenhouse. It traps the
sun�s heat thereby warming the earth. Without it, the
earth orbiting in the cold, empty space, would freeze!

But too much of a good thing is bad. The greenhouse gases
-- our friends which make us warm, are turning into our enemies. Let�s see their dubious roles.

WATER VAPOR
As our friend, it absorbs heat. But as our enemy it cooperates with other gases to sound our death knell.

CARBON DIOXIDE
As our friend, it traps heat and sustains life. But we have produced too much of it that even the plants and the ocean cannot absorb, and the surplus is turning up the earth�s temperature.

METHANE
As our friend, this natural gas is as useful as carbon dioxide. But it has turned into an enemy because we have produced twice as much as we need, and the excess is making it impossible for the atmosphere to disintegrate other dangerous gases.

CFCs
As our friend, when chlorofluorocarbons are in the lower atmosphere, they are efficient heat absorbers. But when they rise up, they become our enemies because they go to destroy the earth�s protective umbrella, the ozone.

NITROUS OXIDE
As our friend, this laughing gas like CFCs absorbs heat when it is in the lower atmosphere. But when it goes up, it destroys the ozone.

OZONE
This gas is our friend when it is in the high atmosphere where it filters deadly ultraviolet radiation, the cause of
skin cancer. But when it comes down, it becomes our enemy.

Since these greenhouse gases are being added into the atmosphere daily from the use of fossil fuel, how can the danger of mass poisoning be avoided?

Well, Homo Sapien the smart has already dreamed up solutions:

Man will harness solar power to replace conventional ones.

Man will invent clean burning hydrogen fuel in place of
the hazardous petroleum products.

Man will make a gigantic parasol to shield the earth from
the sun�s dangerous rays.

Man will reforestate the globe to suck up excess carbon dioxide.

Man will fire up giant laser rays to kill CFCs before they damage the ozone.

Man will use solar power satellites to collect solar energy from space, and send it down as microwaves, or laser beams, for use in place of burning fossil fuels.

Man will �. That�s enough. Thank you man the wise. Clap for yourself!

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Report Details Rising CO2 Emissions from 100 Largest U.S. Power Companies; Company-by-Company Exposure to Proposed Greenhouse Gas Limits Before Congress

WASHINGTON, May 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new report released today shows that carbon allocation scenarios under Congressional legislative proposals to limit global warming pollution will have dramatically different financial impacts -- with billions of dollars at stake -- on power companies and consumers.

The report evaluates CO2 pollution data from the nation's 100 largest electric power companies, providing a first-of-its-kind analysis of the projected financial implications consumers and power companies would see from different carbon allowance scenarios in two existing Senate bills: the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act and the Bingaman-Specter Low Carbon Economy Act. The electric power sector accounts for about 40 percent of the nation's CO2 emissions. The report was released by the Ceres investor coalition, the Natural Resources Defense Council and two power companies, PG&E and PSEG.

The report shows that the carbon allowance approach under the Lieberman-Warner bill could provide potentially greater consumer benefits -- worth billions of dollars a year -- because more "allowances," or permits, to emit CO2 from power plants would be sold through auction and given for public purpose, as opposed to power generators getting the allowances for free. Allowances that are auctioned can raise money for energy efficiency programs, clean energy technologies and consumer benefit programs, such as assistance for low-income ratepayers and electricity bill rebates.

Under both Senate proposals, some free allowances would be allocated to power companies based on their historic CO2 emissions. The Lieberman-Warner bill proposes to distribute 1.21 billion tons of free CO2 allowances to power plant operators in 2012, about 45 percent of 2006 electric power CO2 emissions. The bill would also allocate 573 million tons of allowances to regulated electric distribution companies, which could then auction them off to companies regulated by the program to raise money for consumer programs. The Low Carbon Economy Act provides a larger allocation of free allowances -- 2.12 billion tons of CO2, or about 80 percent of the power companies' 2006 emissions -- to electric power producers in 2012. (The report lists the quantity of free allowances that each of the 100 largest power companies would receive under both legislative proposals, the only two bills that have specific allocation methodologies.)

"Billions of dollars in allowances are at stake under the proposals to cap and reduce global warming pollution," said Dan Lashof, science director at the NRDC Climate Center. "The value of pollution allowances should benefit consumers and smart programs that deliver real pollution reductions, not polluters."

The report does not attempt to predict actual allowances prices, but it does use an allowance price -- $10 per ton of CO2 -- for illustrative purposes that can then be modified for different carbon-cost pricing forecasts. The report estimates that, using a $10 per ton allowance price and assuming a total allowance pool equivalent to the Lieberman-Warner Act in 2012, the total annual value of free allowances allocated to the 100 largest electric power producers would be worth nearly $10.4 billion. The report estimates that if the same $10 per ton figure was applied to the Low-Carbon Economy Act scenario in 2012, the total annual value of allowances for the 100 power producers would be nearly $18.3 billion, including $6.2 billion to the nation's 10 largest investor-owned utilities.

"One of the purposes of the report is to shed more light on the potential value of the allowances provided under different legislative approaches," said Eric Svenson, vice president of environmental health and safety at PSEG. "We hope this will inform the discussion about auctioning and distributing allowances in the power sector."

The report also outlines how the allowance approach taken in the Lieberman-Warner bill could offset electricity rate increases through targeted rebates and incentives. By distributing allowances to local electric distribution companies, the bill would provide a direct benefit to households and businesses in the form of rebates or energy efficiency incentives -- helping offset the added cost of a national climate policy. The report shows that an average household in Indiana could completely offset the costs resulting from a national cap-and-trade program through a combination of rebates, funded by the sale of allowances, and investments in energy efficiency. (See report for specific Indiana case study.)

The report found that overall CO2 emissions from the nation's electric power sector rose by 29 percent from 1990 to 2006. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions dropped 40 percent and 46 percent, respectively. The disparity is primarily due to CO2 emissions not being regulated and pollution limits being in place for SO2 and NOx under the Clean Air Act.

"Emissions of all these pollutants are important to investors because there are financial risks associated with them," said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres and director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk. "CO2 emissions are an especially big investor concern because emerging policies to limit emissions will make power plants substantially more expensive to operate, requiring large CO2-emitting power companies to reduce their emissions or pay for them. This report provides essential data to help investment analysts estimate company-specific financial risks."

Many power companies, especially those generating most of their electricity by burning coal, favor free allowances as a way to directly reduce their compliance costs. But the report warns against relying on such an approach, citing Europe's recent cap-and-trade problems stemming from too many free allowances to power companies.

"Research indicates that an over-allocation of free allowances to electricity generators can lead to excessive profits for companies, while providing limited benefits in terms of reducing electricity price impacts for consumers and funding energy efficiency and other programs that reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions," the report concludes. "The European Union's Emission Trading Scheme experienced such problems because the program's pilot phase was overly generous in allocating free allowances to electric generating companies. Europe's program is now being redesigned with a larger reliance on the auctioning of allowances."

"The continued growth in greenhouse gas emissions from the utility sector reinforces the need for timely and effective climate change legislation," said Steven Kline, vice president of corporate environmental and federal affairs for PG&E. "Effective policy must provide clear direction for all sectors of the economy, encourage the development and deployment of the most efficient and lowest-emitting technologies, and provide direct benefits to consumers."

About Ceres

Ceres is a leading coalition of investors, environmental groups and other public interest organizations working with US companies to address sustainability challenges such as climate change. Ceres also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a network of 60 institutional investors with collective assets totaling $5 trillion focused on the business impacts of climate change.

About NRDC

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.2 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.

About PG&E

PG&E Corporation is a Fortune 200 energy-based holding company, headquartered in San Francisco. With assets valued at $36 billion, its operations include electric and gas distribution, natural gas and electric transmission, and electric generation. It is the parent company of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, California's largest investor-owned utility. PG&E serves more than 15 million Californians throughout a 70,000 square-mile service area in northern and central California.

About PSEG

Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) is a diversified energy company with annual revenues of more than $12 billion, and three principal subsidiaries: PSEG Power, PSEG Energy Holdings, and Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G). PSEG Power is one of the largest independent power producers in the U.S. PSE&G, New Jersey's largest regulated gas and electric delivery utility, serves nearly three-quarters of the state's population.

CONTACT: Peyton Fleming, Ceres, 617-247-0700 x20 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ; and Eric Young, NRDC, 202-289-2373.

Source: Ceres, Boston, MA; Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC

CONTACT: Peyton Fleming of Ceres, +1-617-247-0700 x20 or
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ; and Eric Young of NRDC, +1-202-289-2373

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