These past few weeks have seen some very disturbing extreme weather events around the world. Floods in Pakistan, mudslides in China, droughts and fires in Russia and heat records across Asia have led to tragic deaths and left millions homeless. Of course, no individual event proves anything but the trends here are clear.

Reinsurance companies pay for these events so they monitor the trends closely. Munich Re said their natural catastrophe database “shows that the number of extreme weather events like windstorm and floods has tripled since 1980, and the trend is expected to persist.” Interestingly, since 1980 each decade has also been the hottest decade on record.

The impacts of extreme weather events are not just local either. Wheat prices around the world have risen dramatically since June, a trend that was boosted last week by the Russian Government banning all exports. They want to ensure they retain enough supplies to see them through the current drought. Good news for Australian farmers, bad news for the hungry poor who spend most of their income on food.

Good news this week on the renewable energy boom now well under way. The US company Brightsource Energy, has announced it’s on the verge of gaining regulatory approval for what will be the world’s largest solar energy project. The project, in the California desert, will generate nearly 400MW of power using solar thermal power technology. They are cleverly using molten salt for storage so that the plant can generate power into the evening when the sun goes down. Over US$100 billion was invested in renewable energy in 2008 and then the same in 2009, despite the challenging global financial crisis. A good sign of things to come.

@admin [+]August 14th, 2010, 12:08