Distributed Solar: The Democratizaton of Energy
Category Archives: Anthropocene
Keep fossil fuels in the ground
Ah, wouldn’t it be lovely!? Is this the beginning of the Minsky Moment Mark Carney has feared? In short, that was because the trading markets had not priced in (a) the risks from climate change, and (b) the risks from … Continue reading
What we’ve done and do to ourselves
Who do you think carries most of the burden for fixing the problem? Action. “We have work to do.” (Bill Nye)
“On the road again …”
Suggested citation: Davis, Lucas. “Electrification? We Are Already On The Way“, Berkeley Haas Energy Institute Blog. Even without environmental incentives, the United States has moved towards greater electrification. Note, however, that Massachusetts is not numbered amongst the Enlightened.
Posted in adaptation, Amory Lovins, Anthropocene, Berkeley Haas Energy, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, CleanTechnica, cliamate mitigation, decentralized electric power generation, decentralized energy, electricity, electricity markets, energy utilities, global warming, greenhouse gases, greenwashing, ILSR, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, solar revolution
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“The financial crash and the climate crisis” (The New Yorker Radio Hour)
A great podcast episode. Check out the thoughts of the late Professor Martin Weitzman as well, in “The man who got economists to take climate nightmares seriously“.
Posted in American Statistical Association, an uncaring American public, Anthropocene, being carbon dioxide, bifurcations, bridge to nowhere, Buckminster Fuller, Carbon Cycle, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, catastrophe modeling, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate grief, climate justice, climate mitigation, climate nightmares, climate policy, climate zombies, coastal investment risks, flooding, floods, Florida, global warming, global weirding, home resale values, Hyper Anthropocene, objective reality, oceans, Robert Young, Scituate, shorelines, Sir David King, temporal myopia, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, unreason
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Eminent Domain, the Natural Gas Act, and Explosive Methane Pipelines
Courts are beginning to question the appropriateness of eminent domain as applied to rights of way for pipelines. Damn about time.
Posted in American Petroleum Institute, an uncaring American public, Anthropocene, bridge to nowhere, carbon dioxide, CleanTechnica, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, emissions, explosive methane, FERC, fossil fuel divestment, Governor Charlie Baker, greenhouse gases, keep fossil fuels in ground, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, methane, mitigating climate disruption, natural gas, petroleum, pipelines, politics, public utility commissions, public welfare, PUCs, regulatory capture, rights of the inhabitants of the Commonwealth, stranded assets, the tragedy of our present civilization, tragedy of the horizon, utility company death spiral, zero carbon
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“Sustainability failed. The future is just climate.” (Simon Propper)
Simon Propper has an excellent blog post at Context. An excerpt: Societies in most countries rumble on, worried about other things. The French are arguing about wealth distribution and church restoration. The Americans about abortion and trade tariffs. The British … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, Aldo Leopold, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, alternatives to the Green New Deal, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Amory Lovins, Anthropocene, bag bans, being carbon dioxide, Bill Gates, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, Carbon Tax, Carbon Worshipers, climate, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate justice, climate policy, coastal investment risks, Daniel Kahneman, global warming
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The state of the science: “Heißzeit” … where we are heading.
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. ― Lao Tzu Professor Johan Rockström, again. Yeah, and that makes me feel, this way … (Ricardo Maranhão with Indiara Sfair) (Indiara Sfair and Joe Flip) … Continue reading
Posted in #youthvgov, adaptation, alternatives to the Green New Deal, Amory Lovins, an uncaring American public, Anthropocene, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, Buckminster Fuller, Canettes Blues Band, carbon dioxide, climate business, climate disruption, climate economics, climate justice, climate policy, corporate citizenship, corporate litigation on damage from fossil fuel emissions, corporate responsibility, Cult of Carbon, Daniel Kahneman, ecocapitalism, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, environmental law, fossil fuel divestment, global warming, green tech, greenhouse gases, Hermann Scheer, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, Indiara Sfair, Mark Jacobson, Nature's Trust, science, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, solar revolution, Spaceship Earth, the green century, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, zero carbon
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CBRA is awesome!
Hat tip to Professor Rob Young and Audubon for a great newsfilm.
Posted in Anthropocene, Association to Preserve Cape Cod, being carbon dioxide, bridge to somewhere, Cape Cod, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, catastrophe modeling, climate disruption, climate economics, coastal communities, coastal investment risks, coasts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, destructive economic development, ecological disruption, ecomodernism, economic trade, ecopragmatism, flooding, floods, fossil fuels, global warming, greenhouse gases, home resale values, Humans have a lot to answer for, hurricanes, hydrology, Hyper Anthropocene, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, life cycle sustainability analysis, living shorelines, ocean warming, Robert Young, science, science education, stream flow, sustainable landscaping, the right to know, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, tragedy of the horizon, unreason, UU, UU Mass Action, UU Ministry for Earth, UU Needham, Wally Broecker, wishful environmentalism, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, zero carbon, ``The tide is risin'/And so are we''
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“Climate Science for Climate Activists” is a wrap
The class “Climate Science for Climate Activists” I have taught for the last 6 or so weeks is now completed. The slides are available here.
Posted in alternatives to the Green New Deal, Anthropocene, Association to Preserve Cape Cod, being carbon dioxide, Blackbody radiation, bridge to somewhere, Carbon Cycle, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide capture, carbon dioxide sequestration, cement production, Clausius-Clapeyron equation, clean disruption, clear air capture of carbon dioxide, climate, Climate Adam, climate change, climate disruption, climate education, climate grief, climate models, ClimateAdam, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, decentralized electric power generation, decentralized energy, ecomodernism, electric vehicles, electricity, Emily Shuckburgh, emissions, energy utilities, environment, evidence, EVs, flooding, floods, fluid dynamics, fluid eddies, food, food scarcity, forecasting, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuel infrastructure, fossil fuels, Gavin Schmidt, geoengineering, geophysics, glaciers, glaciology, Glen Peters, Global Carbon Project, global warming, Grant Foster, Green New Deal, Green Tech Media, greenhouse gases, greenwashing, grid defection, Hermann Scheer, Humans have a lot to answer for, hydrology, Hyper Anthropocene, ice sheet dynamics, icesheets, investment in wind and solar energy, investments, John Marshall, klaus lackner, lapse rate, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, life cycle sustainability analysis, Mark Jacobson, meteorological models, meteorology, Nathan Phillips, National Center for Atmospheric Research, negative emissions, nonlinear systems, nor'easters, ocean warming, oceanic eddies, oceanography, oceans, permafrost, personal purity, photovoltaics, precipitation, Principles of Planetary Climate, radiative forcing, Ray Pierrehumbert, Robert Young, science, sea level rise, seismology, shorelines, Sir David King, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, solar revolution, Stanford University, Stefan Rahmstorf, Steven Chu, Stewart Brand, sustainability, Svante Arrhenius, Tamino, the energy of the people, the green century, the right to know, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, utility company death spiral, Wally Broecker, water, water as a resource, WHOI, wild fires, wind power, wishful environmentalism, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, zero carbon
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“Between grounded hope and radical hope, that’s what we’re going to need for climate change.”
http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/despairing-about-climate-crisis/ Certainly, for me, one of the reasons to get out of bed is that we really haven’t tried everything. Having done miserably at communication, having done miserably at policy, having done miserably at market responses to climate change gives … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Anthropocene, being carbon dioxide, bridge to somewhere, climate activism, climate change, climate disruption, climate grief, ClimateAdam, demand-side solutions, ecopragmatism, global warming, Hyper Anthropocene, investment in wind and solar energy, Juliana v United States, science, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, solar revolution, Tony Seba
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Shifting to a Sustainable Future (Professor Steven Chu)
A lecture at MIT, in 2018, as the Hoyt C Hottel Lecture in Chemical Engineering. Notable quote: “The half-life of CO2 in atmosphere is 10,000 years.” (Professor Steven Chu)
In case you wondered if Carbon Dioxide increases caused climate change, here’s the latest news
In case you wondered if Carbon Dioxide (also called, carbonic acid, CO2) increases caused climate change, here’s the latest news … from 1856-1896:
Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, American Meteorological Association, AMETSOC, an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, Anthropocene, atmosphere, being carbon dioxide, Blackbody radiation, Boltzmann, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, climate, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate education, climate grief, climate models, ClimateAdam, Cult of Carbon, Eaarth, earth, Earth Day, ecological disruption, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, evidence, fossil fuels, gas pipeline leaks, global warming, Green New Deal, Greta Thunberg, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, ice sheet dynamics, investments, Karl Ragabo, klaus lackner, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, local self reliance, moral leadership, new forms of scientific peer review, philosophy of science, physical materialism, physics, Principles of Planetary Climate, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, radiative forcing, rhetorical science, science, scientific publishing, stranded assets, supply chains, support of black boxes, Talk Solar, Tony Seba
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Natural Gas Companies are Doing Themselves In
As I wrote before, there will be no Golden Age of Natural Gas. The climate periodical DeSmog Blog now reports on its outright dissolution. But the surprise is that natural gas miners, particularly shale gas miners, are apparently destroying themselves. … Continue reading
Posted in American Chemical Society, American Petroleum Institute, an uncaring American public, Anthropocene, being carbon dioxide, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to nowhere, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, children as political casualties, clean disruption, climate disruption, corporate litigation on damage from fossil fuel emissions, Desmog Blog, destructive economic development, ecological disruption, explosive methane, false advertising, fossil fuel infrastructure, fossil fuels, gas pipeline leaks, global warming, greenhouse gases, greenwashing, Hyper Anthropocene, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, natural gas, panic, public welfare, regulatory capture, solar domination, stranded assets, The Demon Haunted World, the right to be and act stupid, the tragedy of our present civilization, tragedy of the horizon, utility company death spiral
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It’s hot (in Spain, France, Germany, Italy)
Update, 2019-06-30 Wonderful graphics and discussion in this blog post by Ian Livingston and Jason Samenow of The Washington Post. For Thursday, 27th June 2019. France (Marseille): 97F Germany (Fushstal): 88F Italy (Caserta): 94F Spain: (Sabadell): 87F From AFP, “Mercury … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropocene, being carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide, climate, Climate Adam, climate change, climate disruption, ClimateAdam, global warming, heat waves, Hyper Anthropocene, meteorology, Principles of Planetary Climate, science, science denier, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets
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“Build way more wind and solar ‘than needed'”
Many people familiar with traditional energy networks, including the electrical grids of utilities, come with strong preconceptions to considering zero Carbon energy sources. This is particularly true of and for experts in traditional energy, including engineers. They focus upon the … Continue reading
`Pesticide Perspective`
(This is in the main a reblog of an opinion piece by Andrew Gottlieb, APCC) May 7, 2019 Pesticide Perspective by Andrew Gottlieb, Executive Director, Association to Preserve Cape Cod Fresh off the taping of a Lower Cape TV segment … Continue reading
Posted in agroecology, Anthropocene, Association to Preserve Cape Cod, Cape Cod, conservation, development as anti-ecology, ecological disruption, ecological services, ecology, environment, environmental law, extended producer responsibility, fossil fuels, herbicides, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, invasive species, life cycle sustainability analysis, lifestyle changes, pesticides, public health, public welfare, rights of the inhabitants of the Commonwealth, risk, sustainability, sustainable landscaping, the right to know
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#AllEyesOnJuliana👀
Juliana v. US June 4 Hearing at Ninth Circuit The constitutional youth climate lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, will be heard before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Portland, Oregon. Let’s make history and have this be the most … Continue reading
Posted in #youthvgov, Anthropocene, carbon dioxide, children as political casualties, climate, climate activism, climate change, climate education, climate justice, First Parish in Needham, Global Carbon Project, global warming, James Hansen, Juliana v United States, Kelsey Juliana, Levi Draheim, Mary C Wood, Our Children's Trust, UNFCCC, Unitarian Universalism, UU Ministry for Earth, Xiuhtezcatl, ``The tide is risin'/And so are we''
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Marine microbes are eating plastics
The news item was reported in Science. I wrote about the possibility earlier, but, there, WHOI scientists had not confirmed that microbes were actually consuming plastics. This has been suspected since 2011, due to the work of WHOI scientist Dr … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Anthropocene, basic research, ecological services, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, environment, marine biology, marine debris, materials science, microbiomes, microplastics, oceans, plastics, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, WHOI, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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I am joining up to support the local Green New Deal teams
As anyone who has read my posts here know, I have reservations regarding the Green New Deal, from its lack of specifics, its overly ambitious scope, and its settings of expectations for preventing climate harm which are misleading, because of … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropocene, Ørsted, being carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide, climate activism, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate grief, Ecology Action, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, ecopragmatist, Emily Shuckburgh, global warming, Green New Deal, Greta Thunberg, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, solar domination, solar revolution
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Bill Nye, properly losing patience
Tamino has been here already. But this is a different view: Update ClimateAdam, who I respect a lot, is critical of Bill Nye’s rant. My views on this are in a comment at his YouTube page.
“Climate Science for Climate Activists”
I am planning to teach a course by this title online using the Zoom platform. I have a half dozen or so expressions of interest, but I wanted to put the outline up and in a place that can be … Continue reading
Handel, 2018, “As the seas rise, can we restore our coastal habitats?”
Professor Steven Handel presents: Hint, hint: A subtle plug for allowing evolutionary dominance to advance, including permitting hearty invasive species to Do Their Thing. Indeed, it is my opinion, that the supposed plague of “invasive species” and associated regulations is … Continue reading
Posted in agroecology, Aldo Leopold, an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, Anthropocene, argoecology, Botany, bridge to somewhere, Cape Cod, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, corporations, corruption, ecological disruption, Ecological Society of America, ecology, ecopragmatism, environment, environmental law, evolution, fragmentation of ecosystems, greenwashing, herbicides, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, invasive species, living shorelines, Nature, pesticides, Peter del Tredici, population biology, population dynamics, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, regulatory capture, shorelines, sustainability, sustainable landscaping, the green century, the tragedy of our present civilization, tragedy of the horizon, wishful environmentalism, yves tille
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Sir David King on `Climate Repair`
Interview with Sir David King at Ecologist on the climate restoration agenda.
Posted in adaptation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, American Meteorological Association, American Statistical Association, an uncaring American public, Anthropocene, APCC, being carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide capture, climate, climate change, climate education, David Spiegelhalter, differential equations, global warming, Hyper Anthropocene, investments, risk, Sir David King
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A proposal: Challenge for the Green New Deal
There is a climate emergency. There are many ways of looking at this, from the big investments perspective (see also a Fed view), to human harms perspective (see also), to what it might cost to reverse these changes if they … Continue reading
Posted in alternatives to the Green New Deal, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, American Meteorological Association, American Solar Energy Society, American Statistical Association, Amory Lovins, Anthropocene, basic research, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide capture, cement production, Clausius-Clapeyron equation, clear air capture of carbon dioxide, climate, climate business, climate change, climate data, climate disruption, climate economics, climate education, Climate Lab Book, ClimateAdam, consumption, David Archer, decentralized energy, demand-side solutions, ecological disruption, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, electric vehicles, electrical energy storage, electricity, energy storage, environment, flooding, floods, food, food scarcity, geoengineering, geophysics, Glen Peters, Global Carbon Project, global warming, insurance, investing, investment in wind and solar energy, investments, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, local self reliance, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Our Children's Trust, planning, policy metrics, politics, population biology, population dynamics, radiative forcing, rationality, real estate values, rhetorical statistics, science, stream flow, sustainability, SVD, the right to know, UU Ministry for Earth, UU Needham, zero carbon, ZigZag
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Hypothetical toxins from plastics? Perhaps actual sources of toxins should be concerns …
… Like ocean heat-induced red tide and blue green algae (cyanobacteria). The problem of things like cyanotoxins is particularly bad in Florida, but Massachusetts Buzzards Bay has seen its share of problems. Quoting: Blue-green algae are laden with microcystins that … Continue reading
Posted in algal blooms, Anthropocene, blue-green algae, BMAA, climate, climate change, climate disruption, coastal communities, coastal investment risks, coasts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, cyanobacteria, global warming, harmful algae, Hyper Anthropocene, living shorelines, marine biology, marine debris, ocean warming, oceans, pollution, red tide
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Greta: `All political movements in their present form have failed’
Posted in Anthropocene, being carbon dioxide, bridge to nowhere, bridge to somewhere, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, climate, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate grief, Cult of Carbon, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuels, global warming, Greta Thunberg, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, investments, panic
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