For Peter Koster, the beginning of 2005 merits more than one glass of Champagne. As millions of fellow Europeans celebrate just another New Year’s Eve, the chief executive and founder of the European Climate Exchange will quietly drink to what he calls the dawn of a “new era for European business.”

Complete article: A new era in battling pollution (International Herald Tribune)

When M.D. Harmon invokes the experts, you’d better watch out. As a public service, I have checked his sources. I’m an expert too. My specialty is reality.

Harmon’s piece on Nov. 22, “Global warming’s back, but so are the as-yet-unsilenced skeptics,” makes the case that, because two scientists and a writer are skeptical that global warming is real, we all should be. I would like to disagree by proving that his experts are not to be trusted. Anyone who can make a Google search can verify what I say.

Complete article: Ignore the global warming critics (Maine Today)

Palo Alto, Calif. - Pushing to buy at least 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, Palo Alto has turned to a new supply: rotting garbage in Watsonville.

The city utilities department has inked a deal to buy “green” electricity created by the methane gas that seeps out of the buried, decomposing garbage in the Santa Cruz County landfill.

Complete article: Palo Alto, Calif., to Buy ‘Green’ Power Created by Gas of Decomposing Garbage (Environmental News Network)

On 1 January 2005, the European Emissions Trading Scheme - EU ETS - goes live. It unites the 25 states of the European Union in an attempt to cut emissions of the gases scientists say are giving a human boost to natural climate change. It is the first international scheme of its kind.

Complete article: Q&A: Europe’s carbon trading scheme (BBC News)

Despite the rising cost of gasoline, oil and natural gas, the next session of Congress will begin in January with no clear consensus on a national energy policy.

Complete article: Cleaning up plentiful coal could fuel energy debate (The Desert Sun)

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP)  - Two Maryland environmental leaders who favor wind power development have demanded the ouster of a Sierra Club official who opposes wind turbines in the western Maryland mountains.

Complete article: Environmentalists trade barbs over wind power (USA Today - AP)