This week brought more alarming reports from scientists about climate change, and more calls to action by government officials from around the world:

• Cornell University researchers studying oceans in the northern hemisphere say "the rate of warming we are seeing is unprecedented in human history" and is causing a "major ecosystem reorganization" in the North Atlantic. Their findings appear in the November 2008 issue of the journal Ecology.
• Global warming is apparently responsible for the rapid disappearance of Norwegian lemmings. These hamster-sized rodents traditionally exploded in numbers every three to five years, often requiring snowplows to clear their squashed bodies from the roads. Changing snow patterns have apparently disrupted their habitats, slashing their population and forcing predators like foxes and owls to find other species to hunt.
• At a climate conference opening today in Beijing, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao declared that "Developed countries shoulder the duty and responsibility to tackle climate change and should alter their unsustainable lifestyle." China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.
• At the same conference, the top United Nations climate official, Yvo de Boer, expressed hope that the incoming Obama administration will tackle the challenge of climate change: "Obama is committed to the issue, is committed to developing a strong domestic policy, is committed to engaging in the international negotiations,'' he said. "Leadership from the U.S. on this issue can have a huge impact on the dynamics of these negotiations.''

A roundup of green headlines that caught our eye this week:

• Environmentally-friendly shopping garnered attention at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco this week, with start-ups pitching their companies to the venture capital crowd. The New York Times' Bits blog reports that an Internet start-up named GoodGuide rates more than 60,000 products on environmental, health and social impacts. The company's founder created the site when he learned his daughter's sunscreen contained carcinogenic chemicals. Bits also reports on a solar panel installation company and a video broadcast start-up.
• Green Wombat visited California start-up Cool Earth Solar for a Fortune Magazine story on a novel solar power technology to generate electricity from balloons. A single balloon of thin-film reflective plastic with a photovoltaic cell will generate one kilowatt of power. Put together 10,000 balloons and you can light up a town. Cool Earth is building a prototype plant and says a 1.5-megawatt plant will be built next year near Tracy, Calif.
• The U.S. military is marching ahead on the green energy front. My NEXT100 colleague Jonathan Marshall recently posted on the U.S. Army's energy efficiency and sustainable energy projects. Now Earth2Tech notes that the U.S. Navy has awarded a $3 million contract to Ocean Power Technologies to test the company's PowerBuoy system to generate electricity from ocean waves to power oceanic data and communication systems.

Getting an extra hour of sleep in the fall, thanks to Daylight Saving Time (DST), is one of life's little pleasures. Sadly, according to two UC Santa Barbara scholars, it turns out to be a guilty pleasure--one that increases energy consumption and creates more pollution.

The United States first adopted DST--starting in World Wars I and II--as a means of saving energy, not as a policy to promote agriculture as sometimes assumed. It was expanded most recently in 2007, following the Energy Policy Act of 2005. More than 1.6 billion people in 76 countries now fumble with their clocks twice a year to practice DST.

But does it achieve its goal? Past research has been scant and inconclusive. Sorting out the specific effects of DST on energy use, separate from all other factors, is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.

But in a new paper for the UC Energy Institute, researchers Matthew Kotchen and Laura Grant take advantage of the fact that for many years some counties in Indiana practiced DST while many others did not. In 2006, following federal law, all counties adopted DST. By comparing energy use over time between counties, with and without DST, they were able to detect the program's real impact.

It turns out that DST increases residential electricity demand, most notably in the fall. The extra bill comes to about $9 million a year for Indiana households. Pollution increases as well. Apparently, by changing the time when people are likely to be at home, any reduction in lighting is more than offset by increased demand for heating and cooling. This effect, the researchers conclude, is likely to be even worse in the southern United States due to widespread use of air conditioning.

Are solar cells really as "clean" as they're cracked up to be? Like most things, it all depends on whether you wash them or not.

Petaluma-based OCS Energy, Inc. has just introduced a product it calls SolarWash, touted as "the first commercially available automated photovoltaic (PV) panel cleaning system."

OCS Energy warns that the build-up of dirt over several months can cut power production from a solar cell array by as much as 25 percent. Taking its marketing cues from Proctor and Gamble, the company notes that in addition to dirt, PV system operators must also worry about "dust, tree debris, moss, sap, bugs, bird droppings, water spots, mold, and more."

Using microprocessor-controlled spray nozzles, the SolarWash system promises to maximize solar efficiency while saving on labor costs. It even comes with a web-based interface, something your garden watering system should no doubt incorporate as well.

Farther down the road, another technological breakthrough promises to shed even more light on solar cells. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute say they have discovered a new antireflective coating that allows solar panels to absorb 96 percent of all light that falls on them. Typical untreated silicon cells today absorb only 67 percent of available light, wasting the rest.

By absorbing radiation from a wide variety of angles and broad spectrum of frequencies (infrared through ultraviolet), the nanocoating promises to dramatically increase the efficiency of electricity generation from PV installations.

Rainforests have long been known as remarkable natural laboratories of life-saving and life-enhancing medicinal drugs (not to mention some mind-expanding illegal drugs as well). Now it turns out they may be natural laboratories for biodiesel fuels that could potentially power clean cars and trucks.

Montana State University's Gary Strobel says his team of researchers has discovered a fungus that breaks down plant cellulose directly into diesel compounds without any added enzymes or extra steps. The fungus lives in the Ulmo tree in the Patagonian rainforest.

Strobel said of their discovery, "The results were totally unexpected and very exciting and almost every hair on my arms stood on end."

The team is now working on steps to make the biodiesel production process commercially viable. They'll have competition from another rainforest inhabitant, a freshwater species of green algae discovered in Thailand. One Thai scientist estimated that a commercial farm of this algae could produce as much as 136,900 liters of oil per hectare.

Researchers had better move fast to investigate the remaining riches of the rainforest. By some estimates, 80,000 acres of rainforest are burned, plowed or otherwise destroyed every single day.

With the holiday shopping season slowly creeping earlier and earlier each year, it is with excitement, disbelief and -- let's face it -- trepidation that I begin to consider my shopping list for friends and loved ones.

It was while cruising the latest toys in consumer electronics that I stumbled upon a new generation of energy-efficient television sets that also require ENERGY STAR-labeled accessories. The new TVs hit store shelves on November 1 and can be up to 30 percent more efficient than conventional counterparts. While this new release represents the third generation of energy-efficient TVs, it is the first generation that actually works to decrease the power used when the TV is turned on.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) wasted no time in praising the new standard of television sets, citing a staggering claim from the U.S. EPA in their press release:

"If all televisions purchased by consumers in 2009 met the new ENERGY STAR standards, the savings in greenhouse gas emissions would be equal to removing one million cars from the road."

Also, David Katzmeyer of CNET.com had the opportunity to test drive a number of HDTVs that fall under the new standard and determined that the Sharp LC-52D65U is the most efficient. As far as price goes, the Sharp ranges from $1,517 to $2,099, which Katzmeyer calls relatively inexpensive. And, even though he cites lighter blacks than some LCDs, he calls the Sharp "a solid value among bigger-screen LCDs."

Offering both form and function, the new generation of energy-efficient televisions may just move the front lines in the fight against global warming to the couch.

One of the latest victims of the economic downturn is commodity recycling, according to an article that appeared over the weekend in the Contra Costa Times. Over the past six weeks, the price for recycled cardboard has plummeted from $200 a ton to $30 to $40 a ton.

Adding insult to injury, buyers are scarce. Recyclers in California's Contra Costa County are looking to lease warehouse space to store their recycled goods that would normally be gobbled up by China. China, which is the top consumer of recycled fiber worldwide, uses the recycled material to prepare packaging for all its exported products. October through December is usually the busy period for this industry due to the holidays. But now, not only has the demand for these goods dropped precipitously, many ships are being sent back or remain anchored off China's coast with no buyers.

Recycling plays a critical role in diverting the amount of waste we put into landfills. It also helps to save energy:

• Recycled paper saves 60% energy vs. virgin paper
• Recycled glass saves 50% energy vs. virgin glass
• Recycled aluminum saves 95% energy vs. virgin aluminum
  

Scientists this week issued a number of disturbing new reports about climate change, but the news brought glimmers of hope as well:

• Millions of tons of methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas, entered the Earth's atmosphere in 2007 for reasons yet unknown, MIT scientists reported. Methane, which traps about 25 times much heat as carbon dioxide, today accounts for about a fifth of human-caused global warming. Sources of methane include rice paddies and wetlands, the oil and gas industries, and cattle.
• Frogs and salamanders are dying out in Yellowstone National Park at a frightening pace due to global warming, according to Stanford researchers. High temperatures and droughts are drying up the ponds they need for reproduction.
• Walden Pond, made famous by writer and philosopher Henry David Thoreau as a natural haven, has in the past century and a half lost more than a quarter of the species documented by Thoreau, according to a report in the latest Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Another 36 percent of species that existed in his time are in danger of disappearing. The culprit appears to be temperatures that have warmed an average of more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit over the past century.
• Within four decades, Sydney's famous beaches, coastal homes and other infrastructure may be eroded or inundated by rising sea levels triggered by global warming, according to an Australian government-sponsored study.
• Can you spare a dollar a day to save the planet? Another Australian government study--this time by the Treasury--concludes that greenhouse gas emissions can be rolled back through carbon trading schemes at a cost to households of only $7 a week more for electricity and gas. Real disposable income would continue growing about 1 percent per year. "What this modelling absolutely shows is there is a way ahead which is both pro-growth and pro-jobs," the Treasurer said. "The Australian economy will continue strong growth while reducing emissions. The earlier Australia acts, the cheaper the cost of action, and many of Australia's industries will become more, not less, competitive."
• More and more American businesses are beginning to acknowledge the material significance of climate change risks. After a deal brokered by former US Vice President Al Gore and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Houston-based Dynegy announced it would provide information on its carbon footprint and related risks in its annual reports. Dynegy, which operates power plants in 13 states, is reportedly one of the largest consumers of coal in the United States.

A roundup of green headlines that caught our eye this week:

• Green pumpkins? Add Halloween to the greening of everything. The Baltimore Sun notes that a "Green Halloween" movement is spreading across the land promoting organic candy, fruit, other wholesome treats, and even costumes made of natural fiber. This Halloween vet, however, will stick with a traditional bowl of chewy gooey candy bars for the wee goblins tonight.
• More greening: The New York City Marathon this Sunday will add biodiesel generators to power official race clocks, loudspeakers, a medical tent and other fixtures at the race's finish line in Central Park. The generators, developed by the GreeNow company, run on 99 percent biodiesel made from U.S.-grown soy, according to The New York Times' City Room blog.
• Senators Obama and McCain are getting a lot of advice from scientists, The New York Times' Dot Earth blog reports. The American Association for the Advancement of Science and some 180 other organizations want the next president to appoint a White House science adviser with cabinet-level rank to provide scientific and technical advice on energy security, climate change and other issues. The groups grumbled that the Bush administration was slow to appoint a science adviser and didn't give the post cabinet rank.

If you're an olive lover, don't throw out those pesky pits: in the right hands, they could be a valuable new source of energy (or moonshine), according to Spanish researchers.

According to a study published in the Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology, olive stones are rich in natural chemicals that can be converted to sugar and then to ethanol. The process uses high-pressure hot water to produce the sugar and yeast fermentation to produce ethanol.

For every 100 kilograms of olive stones you save, count on being able to produce 5.7 kilograms of ethanol with the right equipment. Just be sure to check with your spouse before making any plans.