Monthly Archives: April 2016
Pale Blue Dot
Originally posted on Hypergeometric :
Compassion, yes. Love, no.
Spectra Energy pipeline explodes.
Spectra Energy transmission line explodes. I highlight transmission because, by all reports, transmission lines are advertised to be “much safer” than distribution lines. The pipeline in question, from reports, was installed in 1981 and last inspected in 2012. Of course, … Continue reading
Germany’s Energiewende aims to make baseload power obsolete
In a December 2015 article in Forbes, William Pentland seeks to answer the question “What is so revolutionary about Germany’s Energiewende?” Mr Pentland begins: Germany’s energy revolution has become the perennial punching bag of American energy policy. In particular, American … Continue reading
Our Children’s Trust
Washington State Climate Lawsuit has a second win for the plantiffs. Detailed complaint here. The details are available at Our Children’s Trust. In granting the youth a remedy, Judge Hill noted the extraordinary circumstances of the climate crisis, saying, “this … Continue reading
Mr Buffett bets the farm
From Dr James Hansen’s blog, of today. So, Mr. Buffett, I am heartened by the words in your last annual report, where you conclude that continued inaction on climate change “is foolhardy.” You wrote: “Call this Noah’s Law: If an … Continue reading
This is what the future looks like, for towns and villages — and utilities
Welcome to Minster, Ohio. (Hat tip to Clean Technica.) Check One: A 4.3 MW solar array. Check Two: A history of being supportive to local residents, and a plan for making them more efficient and reducing their electrical energy needs. … Continue reading
Kevin Anderson’s latest
Also note Oxfam’s “World’s richest 10% produce half of carbon emissions while poorest 3.5 billion account for just a tenth“. Update, 2016-04-28: And what, exactly, does the Paris agreement (COP21) mean? See this story.
Boston, are you ready?
Yeah, how about warming up the seas a bit more by building pipelines, buying into more explosive methane (*), and encouraging fracked gas people to export? What could it hurt? There are many alternatives, most sketched here on this blog. … Continue reading
This Earth Day: The Data
(Amendments on 25the April 2016.) Sorry, folks, it’s It’s not just El Niño. El Niño’s have gotten bigger over the years. (Click on image for a larger picture. Use your browser Back Button to return to blog.) (Click on image … Continue reading
reblog: “The Big 3: CO2, CH4, N2O”, from Tamino
Originally posted on Open Mind:
The four greenhouse gases with the strongest effect on climate through their climate forcing are water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) (I’m omitting halocarbons, which come in a wide…
“Preserving the climate can also save you money.”
“Can you power a business on 100% renewable energy? Ikea wants to try.” From Guardian sustainable business The new bottom line. I also monitor Bloomberg New Energy Finance. (Update: 2016-04-20) And not preserving the climate will be very, very expensive, … Continue reading
Tony Seba’s latest. Yes, there’s new stuff.
FERC requires energy storage plans
Energy Storage Participation in the Energy, Capacity, and Ancillary Services Markets On April 11, 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced that it will expand its evaluation of ISOs/RTOs policies that could lead to revolutionary changes in the energy … Continue reading
Ray Kurzweil predicts dominance of energy industry by Solar in 12 years
Read it and weep, Carbon Worshippers. Facts are, with so much cheap solar electricity around, even if its supply is uneven in any particular locale, (a) the energy storage business will have big incentives to roll out, and roll out … Continue reading
Remember 2012?
“Welcome to the rest of our lives …” Peter Sinclair speculates 2016 will be as bad and possibly worse than 2012.
“Number density, not mixing ratio”, from Eli
From this post: There is a cute little number called Loschmidt, the number of molecules in a cubic meter of air at 1 atm and 0° C, 2.6867774(47) x 1025 molecules/m3 … Eli Rabett provides a neat way to see … Continue reading
Clear of all trees
One drawback of solar panels at our home site is a significant stand of conifers to our southwest. (Click image for a larger picture. Use browser Back Button to return to blog.) It’s clear when the trees are casting shadows … Continue reading
“Things going fast”: Summary of a class on climate disruption taught by Professor Ricky Rood
Dr Ricky Rood is a professor at the University of Michigan, both a meteorologist and climate scientist, and a regular contributor to the climate and weather blogs at Weather Underground. In a post from April 6th (titled “No Way to … Continue reading
Gavin Simpson updates his temperature analysis
See the very interesting discussion at his blog, From the bottom of the heap. It would be nice to see some information theoretic measures on these results, though.
“What’s warming the world?”
Bloomberg has a nice and simple set of animations which show the relative effects of factors which might contribute to the warming of the world. It’s pretty simple, and it’s been known a long time: It’s us, and our burning … Continue reading
“The Myth of the 1970s Global Cooling Consensus”
“The Myth of the 1970s Global Cooling Scientific Consensus“, T. C. Peterson, W. M. Connolley, J. Fleck, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2008BAMS2370.1. Abstract Climate science as we know it today did not exist in the 1960s and 1970s. The integrated enterprise embodied in the … Continue reading
ComEd: Enabling a smarter (utility) platform
Commonwealth Edison is reinventing itself as a smart energy platform, amidst New York State’s reforming the energy vision (“REV”) initiative.
Pipeline Forum, Sharon, MA High School, Thursday, April 7th, 7:00 p.m.
(Click on image to see a larger version. Use browser Back Button to return to blog.) Handout. Please post where applicable.
Of my favorite things …
(Clarifying language added 4 Apr 2016, 12:26 EDT.) I just watched an episode from the last season of Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled “Force of Nature.” As anyone who pays the least attention to this blog knows, opposing human … Continue reading