Author Archives: ecoquant

About ecoquant

See https://wordpress.com/view/667-per-cm.net/ Retired data scientist and statistician. Now working projects in quantitative ecology and, specifically, phenology of Bryophyta and technical methods for their study.

WTF

Posted in zero carbon | 1 Comment

No better investment

There are many posts here featuring Professor Tony Seba of Stanford University. Professor Seba’s latest update has a definition which permits the rollout of zero Carbon electrical energy in the next ten years to be understood better than his accurate … Continue reading

Posted in Buckminster Fuller, solar domination, Tony Seba, wind energy, wind power | Leave a comment

The New Republic claims climate change mitigation measures are doomed without Brazil

See the article. And then realize it is completely untrue. A lot of progress can be made whether or not Brazil plays along. This is yet another example of a claim which sounds plausible, but which is quantitatively wrong. Now, … Continue reading

Posted in Carbon Worshipers, climate disruption, climate emergency | Leave a comment

​”California Defies Doom With No. 1 U.S. Economy” (Bloomberg)

How do you like them apples, ersatz Republicans? Some emphasis added in the excerpt below. By Matthew A. Winkler. The Golden State has no peers when it comes to expanding GDP, raising household income, investing in innovation and a host … Continue reading

Posted in economics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Carbon Dioxide reaches levels not recorded in 4 million years. Connecticut Republicans are guilty of child abuse.

And Connecticut Republican Senate Major Leader Kevin Kelly, anytime anyone emits any greenhouse gas, they land a punch in the face of some grandchild alive today. They do that by burning those gallons of gasoline whose price you so want … Continue reading

Posted in #youthvgov, Bill McKibben, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, climate activism, climate denial, climate disruption, climate emergency, global warming | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Baseload is an intellectual crutch for engineers and utility managers who cannot think dynamically

This is an awesome presentation by Professor Joshua Pearce of Michigan Technological University. (h/t Peter Sinclair’s Climate Denial Crock of the Week) The same idea, that “baseload is a shortcut for engineers who can’t think dynamically”, was similar in the … Continue reading

Posted in American Solar Energy Society, an ignorant American public, Bloomberg Green, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, CleanTechnica, control theory, controls theory, decentralized electric power generation, decentralized energy, differential equations, dynamic linear models, dynamical systems, electrical energy engineering, electrical energy storage, electricity, Kalman filter, optimization, photovoltaics, rate of return regulation, solar domination, solar energy, solar revolution, stochastic algorithms, utility company death spiral, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Discordant Harmonies: Goals for a Holiday in Retirement

Claire and I are lucky enough to have won “Escape to the Cape” at the annual auction of our congregation, First Parish in Needham, courtesy of Muriel and Tom Gehman. We’ll be Tesla-ing down to Hyannisport this week to indulge. … Continue reading

Posted in #youthvgov, catastrophe modeling, climate disruption, ecology, ecomodernism, zero carbon | 3 Comments

Mosses of the Week, 4 June 2021

All photographs by Jan Galkowski, 2021.

Posted in American Bryological and Lichenological Society, Botany, bryology, bryophytes, mosses | Leave a comment

‘Could batteries replace a proposed peaker plant in Massachusetts?’

by Sarah Shemkus, Energy News Network June 2, 2021 Environmental activists and local residents in Massachusetts are urging the group behind a planned natural gas power plant to consider whether battery storage could do the job with fewer climate concerns.  … Continue reading

Posted in clean disruption, CleanTechnica, climate economics, Cult of Carbon, energy storage, explosive methane | Tagged , | 1 Comment

doing wind and solar properly

(A larger version of the above can be seen by right-clicking the above and choosing to open it in a new browser tab.) Kempton, Willett, Felipe M. Pimenta, Dana E. Veron, and Brian A. Colle. “Electric power from offshore wind … Continue reading

Posted in solar domination, solar energy, solar power, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment

Moss of the Week, 2021-05-31: Pohlia nutans

All photographs by Jan Galkowski, 2021.

Posted in American Bryological and Lichenological Society, Botany, bryology, bryophytes, mosses | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

‘It begins with attitude’, and about an understated victory

Bill Nye’s Climate Meltdown, introducing Professor Mark Z Jacobson of Stanford University. And Climate Adam reviews a climate action breakthrough:

Posted in #youthvgov, Bill Nye, Bloomberg Green, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, clean disruption, CleanTechnica, climate activism, Climate Adam, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate education, climate emergency, climate mitigation, climate policy, ClimateAdam, ecomodernism, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuels, global blinding, global warming, global weirding, Mark Jacobson | 1 Comment

Spread the Sun

Posted in alternatives to the Green New Deal, an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, Bloomberg Green, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, Buckminster Fuller, climate disruption, controls theory, corporate supply chains, decentralized electric power generation, distributed generation, ecocapitalism, ecological disruption, ecomodernism, economics, ecopragmatism, electrical energy storage, energy, environment, environmental law, evidence, extended producer responsibility, extended supply chains, field biology, field science, global blinding, Global Carbon Project, global warming, Green Tech Media, gun violence as public health crisis, guns | Leave a comment

Plans for an Explosive Methane Peaker Plant in Peabody

A collection of articles, including … Doctors cite health risks from new plant. Peabody power plant plans caught city off guard. Residents, officials speak out against plant. And the usual bupkis about wind and solar being unreliable.

Posted in being carbon dioxide, bridge to nowhere, Carbon Worshipers, climate disruption, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Cult of Carbon, energy utilities, explosive methane, fossil fuel infrastructure, fossil fuels, gas pipeline leaks, ISO-NE, natural gas, zero carbon | Leave a comment

“Our pathetic herd immunity failure” (David Brooks)

I would say, too, that the United States is reaping the results of failing to have a sufficiently numerate population, because Mathematics skills at all levels of education are poorly taught.

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My favorite tech and photo shop

It’s B&H Photo Video, of course. I have bought computers, electronics, cameras, accessories, and all kinds of nifty things there. I was an engineer for 44 years. I’m now “retired” and learning to be a scientist and digital macro photographer. … Continue reading

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A guide to the Task force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures

From Bloomberg media … https://spotlight.bloomberg.com/story/tcfd-/page/1 Investors in stocks and owners of companies cannot know to which risks they are exposed in their investments unless companies transparently report these risks. Until the TCFD, the very idea of reporting risks to equities … Continue reading

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“I know rockets produce CO2”. Here’s why that’s a win.

“We must become a multi-planet species.” “We do have a long term plan for even rocket flights.” “There is a long term plan for sustainable production of rocket fuel.”

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“Replace a lot of our motion with forethought”

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(Larkin Poe) “Mississippi”

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Reblog: “Reporting on the Outlaw Ocean”

A podcast from Follow the Data reporting on The Outlaw Ocean Project, combining deep ocean issues with social concerns. These are include and are related to protecting internationally designated marine protected areas from poaching, as well as protecting reefs. Above … Continue reading

Posted in oceans, slavery, social justice, UU Ministry for Earth | Leave a comment

What is the Tukey loss function?

Originally from Statistical Odds and Ends, there is a nicely brief summary of the Tukey Loss Function.  I’d love to see what this does in various kinds of regression. It may be possible to set up some kind of iterative … Continue reading

Posted in loss functions, optimization, statistics | Leave a comment

“… [W]e need to address the climate crisis at the pace and scale it demands.”

“Dear President Biden, “We, the undersigned businesses and investors with a major presence in the U.S., applaud your administration’s demonstrated commitment to address climate change head-on, and we stand in support of your efforts. “Millions of Americans are already feeling … Continue reading

Posted in being carbon dioxide, Bloomberg Green, climate business, climate change, climate disruption, climate emergency, climate hawk, climate policy, ecocapitalism, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, fossil fuel divestment, global warming, global weirding, investment in wind and solar energy, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, solar revolution, wind energy, wind power | Leave a comment

To Samwise, a noble, incredibly smart cat, Pink Floyd performed by the exquisite Larkin Poe

(Update, 19th April 2021.) We lost Samwise earlier this month, to lymphoma, probably by everybody’s assessment, including veterinarians, due to exposure to herbicides, insecticides, and pesticides earlier in his life. He was a noble, and wonderful cat. He was smart. … Continue reading

Posted in Felinus catus, Larkin Poe, Pink Flyod, Samwise | 1 Comment

Watching out for those investments: A bubble in companies reliant upon fossil fuels for their business

Posted in American Petroleum Institute, American Solar Energy Society, an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, Carbon Tax, Carbon Worshipers, climate activism, climate business, Climate Interactive | Leave a comment

Bryophyta and the Importance of Sphagnum for the Carbon Cycle

Posted in American Bryological and Lichenological Society, biology, bryology, bryophytes, Carbon Cycle, carbon dioxide, climate disruption, climate emergency, ecological disruption, ecology, global warming, mosses | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Emily Atkins: “It’s whacked.” “It’s crappy.”

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Climate Resilience

Posted in adaptation, Anthropocene, being carbon dioxide, bridge to nowhere, carbon dioxide, children as political casualties, climate disruption, climate nightmares, climate science, climate sensitivity, distributed generation, ecological disruption, ecopragmatism, engineering, First Parish in Needham, Glen Peters, Global Carbon Project, global warming, global weirding, Greta Thunberg, investment in wind and solar energy, Juliana v United States, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, liberal climate deniers, local generation, local self reliance, Mark Jacobson, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Mathematics and Climate Research Network, mitigating climate disruption, Nature's Trust, ocean acidification, ocean warming, Our Children's Trust, Principles of Planetary Climate, quantitative ecology, Ray Pierrehumbert, Reverend Catie Scudera, Robert Young, sea level rise, Steven Chu, sustainability, The Demon Haunted World, the energy of the people, the green century, the right to know, the value of financial assets, tragedy of the horizon, Unitarian Universalism, UU, UU Needham, Wally Broecker, zero carbon | Leave a comment

Humble Alternatives to Daylight Savings Time — Math with Bad Drawings

From the ever clever and entertaining Ben Orlin. And the drawings really aren’t bad.

Posted in Ben Orlin, mathematics | Leave a comment

Representative Deb Haaland, confirmed as Secretary of Interior

(Deb Haaland atop a wind turbine. Credit: Representative Deb Haaland, via Twitter.) Representative Deb Haaland, member of the Laguna Pueblo Nation, was confirmed as Secretary of Interior. The feelings of happiness which washed over me are too much to describe. … Continue reading

Posted in Haudenosaunee, indigenous peoples, Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag, Wampanoag | Leave a comment