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All About: Cities and energy consumption

(CNN) — Humans can now officially be called an urban species. More than half of the global population now live in cities and the United Nations says that by 2030, 60 percent of us will live in them.

Yet according to U.N. Habitat, the world’s cities emit almost 80 percent of global carbon dioxide as well as significant amounts of other greenhouse gases.

Put simply, if you want to tackle climate change, tackle the cities.

The UK’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research recently went as far as saying that the fate of the Earth’s climate is intrinsically linked to how our cities develop over the coming decades.

Two centuries ago there was only one city on the planet that could say it had a million inhabitants — that was London.

Today more than 400 cities can boast that (408 to be precise, according to the Earth Policy Institute).

But today a population of 1 million people means nothing; we are moving into the era of megacities of 10 million-plus people.

Today, there are 20 so-called megacities, whose populations — and therefore energy needs — easily exceed that of countries, according to Earth Policy Institute (more people now live in Tokyo than Canada, for example).

Naturally, these cities are — and will continue to be — resource-hungry.

Despite only representing 2 percent of the world’s surface area, they are responsible for 75 percent of the world’s energy consumption. London, for example, requires a staggering 125 times its own area in resources to sustain itself, according to the New Scientist.

London’s population is around 7.4 million, so it’s nowhere near megacity status yet, but according to the Tyndall Centre, it already consumes more energy than Ireland (and the same amount as Greece or Portugal).

On first glance, however, some modern cities aren’t as bad as many may think. Take New York, for example: Its 2005 carbon emissions were 1 percent of the country’s total (79 percent coming from energy-hogging buildings), while on a per capita basis its emissions represented less than a third of the national average, according to Environmental News Service.

New York is sometimes viewed as being so much more energy-efficient than suburban or rural areas that some have started to call it The Big Green Apple. Back in 2004 even, the New Yorker wrote: If it were granted statehood, New York City would rank 51st in per-capita energy use.

Why? People living in confined spaces essentially, and less people driving cars. According to a study of the Greater Washington area, for example, per capita transportation emissions in the city were less than the national average, reports Grist.

However, while the cities may be internally efficient, the problem doesn’t just lie in the stuff that gets consumed within city limits. More often than not the bigger environmental issue lies in how that stuff gets to the city in the first place.

Beijing, for example, receives its water supply from the Yangtze River basin — 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away, Treehugger reports, also pointing out that the oil that provides much of the energy to move resources into and out of cities itself often comes from distant oil fields.

As Treehugger quotes economist Tyler Cowen as saying about New York: Manhattan sells services … and in turn draws upon industrial outputs, which of course include steel and glass. It is also no accident that Gary, Indiana, is near Chicago and those rather aesthetically thrilling factories off the New Jersey Turnpike are right outside New York City … Praising Manhattan is a bit like looking only at the roof of a car and concluding it doesn’t burn much gas. Manhattan supports its density only by being surrounded by a broader load of crud.

Whether they are energy-efficient or energy-wasteful, cities such as New York and London are employing ambitious programs to improve efficiency.

Some programs are simpler than others. Miami, for example, has found that planting trees can help reduce air conditioning bills, for example, in summer months. One tree can release as much as 400 liters of water every day which can cool the air.

Miami recently found that its electricity bills were 10 percent lower in areas with more than 20 percent tree cover compared to those areas without any trees, the New Scientist reports.

This can make a difference in urban areas: Cities during the summer season tend to be about 1 degree Celsius warmer during the day and as much as 6 degrees Celsius warmer at night, according to the New Scientist.

Developing world poses new challenges

But some cities are much more ahead of the curve than others. In Sweden, the city of Vxj generates 51 percent of its energy, for example, from non-fossil fuel bases energy sources such as solar, geothermal and biomass, according to the Clinton Initiative’s C40 program.

In slightly more than 10 years it has slashed its emissions by 24 percent on a per capita basis, C40 says, to 3.5 tons of carbon dioxide a year (the world average is 4 carbon dioxide tons annually). C40 believes that by 2015 it could be the world’s first genuine fossil-free city.

But the problem, scientists say, is that future urban growth will mostly take part in the developing world. Manhattan or Vxj can be as green as they like, but in 20 years time the world will be more concerned with what is going on in the cities of Asia, Africa and Latin America, many analysts say.

Currently 75 percent of the world’s billion poorest humans live in urban areas. Tyndall believes that by 2030 the developing world will have contributed another 2 billion people to its cities (from 2000) while the developed world is expected to only contribute an additional 100 million city-dwellers in the same time period.

The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that in the coming years, two-thirds of the growth in global electricity usage will be down to the needs of the developing world — and mostly down to the needs of their cities.

It is expected that by as early as 2010, electricity use globally will have grown by 37 percent. By 2020 it will have shot up by 76 percent.

Without additional investment from companies — and appropriate incentives from world governments — this growth in demand will have to be served by fossil fuels. Coal use, therefore, is expected to grow by 50 percent by 2020; while the use of natural gas could double.
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FARC hostage deal falls through

VILLAVICENCIO, Colombia (AP) — A Venezuelan-led mission to rescue three hostages, including a young boy, from leftist rebels in Colombia’s jungles fell apart Monday, as the guerrillas accused Colombia’s military of sabotaging the promised handoff.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe dismissed the claim as a lie by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, instead suggesting the guerrillas could be backing out of the deal brokered by President Hugo Chavez because they don’t have the boy hostage.

The FARC terrorist group doesn’t have any excuse. They’ve fooled Colombia and now they want to fool the international community, Uribe said from the central Colombian city where Venezuela helicopters have been waiting since Friday for word from the guerrillas on where the hostages could be picked up.

He made the shocking suggestion that the guerrillas don’t dare to keep their promises because they don’t have the boy, Emmanuel — who the FARC announced two weeks ago they’d free along with his mother, Clara Rojas, and former congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez.

Uribe said his government had given Venezuela and the international Red Cross coordinating the mission every guarantee that its military would not obstruct the handover, even promising to create a cease-fire corridor to allow the rebels to escort their hostages through the France-sized jungles to the pickup point.

Former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner and observers from France, Switzerland and four other Latin American nations abandoned Villavicencio on Monday.

Shame on Colombia, shame on Uribe, Oliver Stone, the American filmmaker, told The Associated Press shortly before boarding one of three Venezuelan jets carrying the observers back to Caracas. Stone, who was invited by Chavez to document the handover, added the FARC have no motive not to release these hostages.

Uribe said a 3-year old child named Juan David Gomez, matching the description of Emmanuel provided by escaped hostages and suffering from malnutrition, malaria and jungle-born leishmaniasis, may have been living for the past two and a half years with at a foster home in Bogota.

The child was turned over in the eastern city of San Jose del Guaviare, a FARC stronghold, in 2005 by a man who said he was the boy’s great uncle and who authorities now believe was his father. The boy’s mother was reported as disappeared, according to the child welfare agency case file read to journalists by peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo.

The Colombian leader said only DNA tests were required to prove or disprove this hypothesis — which he said could be done as soon as the boy’s grandmother returns from Caracas, where she was awaiting the handover of her daughter and grandson.

Ivan Rojas, brother of Clara Rojas, told The Associated Press his family was having a meeting to digest Uribe’s revelation.

Chavez, even while holding out the possibility the boy may not be in the FARC’s hands, accused Uribe of traveling to Villavicencio to dynamite the hostage rescue mission with a smoke screen.

Hopefully the hypothesis of Uribe is correct. The FARC would look very bad to the entire world in light of such a lie, he added.

Speaking earlier on Venezuelan state television, Chavez said the rebels wrote in a letter that the military operational attempts in the zone impede us for now from turning over the three hostages.

In the letter, the FARC said that insisting on (a handover) in these conditions would be putting at risk the lives of hostages and guerrillas sent to turn them over.

Uribe last month abruptly ended Chavez’ efforts to broker a wider swap of 44 high-profile hostages — including three American defense contractors and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt — for hundreds of jailed rebels.

The U.S.-allied Uribe has used some $600 million in annual military and intelligence aid from Washington to push the half-century-old insurgency deeper into the jungle.
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Colorado avalanche threat strands thousands

DENVER, Colorado (AP) — Wind-whipped snow and avalanche danger closed the main highway through the Colorado mountains for hours on Monday, stranding thousands of travelers as they headed to New Year’s Eve celebrations.

A 60-mile stretch of Interstate 70 was shut down in both directions in the high country west of Denver, but westbound lanes reopened Monday afternoon after crews ensured they were safe. Eastbound traffic was expected to resume later in the day.

The long shutdown had some travelers contemplating the prospect of welcoming the new year on a cot in a shelter.

I’ve got some in the car, but it’s probably frozen by now, said Ken Simons of Grand Junction. He and his wife were trying to get to Denver for New Year’s when the closing of the highway forced them and more than 2,000 others to spend Sunday night in shelters. Watch windy, snow conditions and folks in shelters

With no definite word on when they could hit the road again, some faced the prospect of welcoming 2008 on a cot in a school gymnasium.

Liquor stores did a brisk business.

We’ve definitely seen a rush, said John Will of Antler’s Discount Liquor in Frisco. People are coming in complaining that they are stuck or caught in slow-moving traffic.

Leaha Widrowicz was trying to get back to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with her boyfriend and his mother after a skiing trip but had to spend the night in Frisco, missing their midnight flight from Denver International Airport.

We’re not even thinking of New Year’s right now, Widrowicz said. We are just trying to get home to family.

High winds piled deep snow into more than two dozen narrow ravines in the mountainsides — known as avalanche chutes — raising the danger of deadly avalanches cascading onto I-70. Blowing snow reduced visibility to nearly zero.

Authorities wanted to clear out that snow before letting traffic through again.

Wind gusts at the Eisenhower Tunnel, where the interstate passes under the Continental Divide at 11,000 feet above sea level, reached 70 mph.

The highway was first shut down on Sunday night. That section carries as many as 39,000 cars on Sundays during this time of year, officials said.

Loveland Ski Area, about 45 miles west of Denver, shut down for the day because the highway closure kept both skiers and workers away.

While many people took advantage of seven Red Cross shelters in schools and recreation centers, others relied on the kindness of strangers.

Brian Jerry of Colorado Springs said people he had never met before let him stay in their Silverthorne home because motels were full. We called the local Quality Inn, and they basically laughed at us, Jerry said.

I-70 is the main route between Denver and many of the state’s major ski resorts. The closing of the road could hurt ski business during the lucrative holiday season.

Blowing snow and low visibility also kept three other mountain passes closed Monday: U.S. 40 over Berthoud Pass, U.S. 6 over Loveland Pass and U.S. 550 over Red Mountain Pass.

Authorities in Utah warned of the danger of avalanches in that state’s backcountry, where thousands of people were expected to ski, hike and snowmobile on New Year’s Day. Avalanches there have already claimed two lives this season.
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Court-marital set for Marine accused in Haditha killings

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — A Marine will be court-martialed on reduced charges in the killings of 24 Iraqi men, women and children in the town of Haditha in 2005, the Marine Corps announced Monday.

Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, 27, of Meriden, Connecticut, will stand trial on charges of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice. No trial date was set.

More serious charges of unpremeditated murder, as well as charges of soliciting another to commit an offense and making a false official statement, were dismissed by the Marine Corps.

Wuterich’s prosecution is part of the biggest U.S. criminal case involving civilian deaths to come out of the Iraq war.

Four enlisted Marines were initially charged with murder in the case, and four officers were charged with failing to investigate the deaths. Charges against several of the men have been dropped, and none will face murder charges.

The Marine Corps also announced Monday that 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson would face court-martial on charges of making false official statements, obstruction of justice and attempting to fraudulently separate from the Marine Corps.

Wuterich’s attorney, Mark Zaid, said his client was disappointed but prepared for the general’s decision and said Wuterich would plead not guilty at his arraignment early in January.

We remain completely optimistic that he will be acquitted, Zaid said.

Grayson’s attorney, Joseph Casas, said the government was grasping at straws by pursuing charges against his client and released a brief statement from his client.

I am saddened and disappointed by my Marine Corps’ decision to come after me this way, Grayson said in the statement. This past year has been a crucible for my family and I, but we’re confident that 2008 will bring good things — including my full acquittal.

Grayson, an intelligence officer, was not present at the scene of the killings, but is accused of telling a sergeant to delete photographs of the dead from his digital camera.

The killings occurred November 19, 2005, after a roadside bomb hit a Marine convoy, killing the driver of a Humvee and wounding two other Marines. Wuterich and a squad member, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, allegedly shot five men by a car at the scene. Wuterich then ordered his men into several houses, where they cleared rooms with grenades and gunfire, killing unarmed civilians in the process.

At his preliminary hearing, Wuterich said he regretted the loss of civilian life but that he believed he was coming under fire from the homes and was operating within the rules of engagement when he ordered his men to assault the buildings.

Wuterich faces a sentence of up to 160 years in prison if convicted of all counts, Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Sean Gibson said, though experts say such an outcome is extremely unlikely.
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Millions bring in the New Year, bombs injure 27 in Thailand

PARIS, France (AP) — A million revelers cheered fireworks in Sydney, Australia — one of the first cities to celebrate the New Year. Beijing started the year with fireworks, singing and dancing put on by the organizers of the Summer Olympics.

In France, cafes filled with the last night of cigarette smoke before a smoking ban goes into effect.

Security was tight around the world. Fireworks were canceled in downtown Brussels, Belgium, where police last week detained 14 people suspected of plotting to help an accused al Qaeda militant break out of jail. In Paris, where festivities centered on the famous Champs-Elysees avenue and the Eiffel Tower, about 4,500 police and 140 rescue officials patrolled the streets. Watch spectacular Sydney display

In Thailand, an army spokesman said he believed that five bombs set off by suspected Muslim insurgents in a Thai-Malaysian border tourist town likely targeted New Year’s revelers.

The bombs, which wounded 27 people, exploded in the hotel and nightlife area of Sungai Kolok, including two inside a hotel dance club and one hidden in the basket of a motorcycle outside a hotel, spokesman Col. Akara Thiprote said.

On the other side of the globe, several European countries rang in the new year with new habits.

Starting at midnight, the smoke-filled cafe was to become a memory in France. Following up on a ban last year on smoking in many indoor locations, cigarettes will now be off-limits in dance clubs, restaurants, hotels, casinos and cafes.

People can still smoke in their homes, hotel rooms and sealed smoking chambers at establishments that decide to provide them.

Two European Union newcomers, Cyprus and Malta, start using the euro at the stroke of midnight. The Mediterranean islands, both former British colonies, scrap the Cyprus pound and Maltese lira to bring the number of countries using the shared currency to 15. Politicians will ceremonially withdraw euros from automatic teller machines after midnight, with fireworks and outdoor celebrations in the two capitals, Nicosia and Valletta.

Along with the innovations, old European traditions were maintained.

In London, people were gathering in Trafalgar Square and along the banks of the River Thames to watch a fireworks display and hear Big Ben — Parliament’s iconic bell — welcome the New Year with 12 resounding bongs.

In a quirky tradition in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, Madrid residents planned to dine on 12 grapes — one for each chime at midnight.

Berlin was braced for a massive fete: In a stretch leading from the city’s famous Brandenburg Gate along Tiergarten park to the western part of town, officials set up three stages, 13 bands, 40-yard tall Ferris wheel and over 100 beer stands and snack joints.

In Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI took a somber note, lamenting what he called the trivialization of sexuality and lack of faith among young people during a vespers’ service in St. Peter’s Basilica.
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