Distributed Solar: The Democratizaton of Energy
Category Archives: climate disruption
LLNL Sankey diagram of U.S. national energy flows in 2017: What’s possible, what’s not, and who’s responsible
I love Sankey diagrams, and have written about them with respect to influence of Big Oil on U.S. climate policy, and in connection with what it takes to power a light bulb, providing a Sankey-based explanation for something Professor Kevin … Continue reading
Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Association, American Solar Energy Society, AMETSOC, AMOC, Amory Lovins, Anthropocene, being carbon dioxide, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, BNEF, bridge to somewhere, clean disruption, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, coastal communities, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Cult of Carbon, decentralized energy, demand-side solutions, denial, ecological services, energy utilities, environmental law, exponential growth, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuel infrastructure, fossil fuels, global warming, Hermann Scheer, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, investment in wind and solar energy, Joseph Schumpeter, Kevin Anderson, local generation, local self reliance, rationality, reasonableness, regulatory capture, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, Sonnen community, the green century, the right to be and act stupid, the right to know, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, Tony Seba, tragedy of the horizon, utility company death spiral, wind energy, wind power, wishful environmentalism, zero carbon
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“Decoding the Weather Machine”
Hap tip to Tamino:
forecast for 27th March 2018
Today is the 21st of March, 2018. We are supposed to get our fourth nor’easter tomorrow this late Winter, and the third nor’easter in nearly as many weeks. ECMWF hosted, in this incarnation, at the Meteocentre UQAM in Montreal created … Continue reading
Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Association, American Statistical Association, AMETSOC, atmosphere, climate, climate change, climate disruption, climate education, climate models, coastal communities, ensemble methods, ensemble models, fluid dynamics, forecasting, global warming, Hyper Anthropocene, Mathematics and Climate Research Network, meteorological models, meteorology, numerical algorithms, physics, science, science education, spaghetti plots, tragedy of the horizon, water vapor
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Sea-level report cards, contingency upon model character, and ensemble methods
Done by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, new sea-level report cards offer a look at current sea-level rise rates, and projections. What’s interesting to me is making the projections conditional upon the character of the model used to project. … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Association, American Statistical Association, AMETSOC, anomaly detection, Bayesian model averaging, changepoint detection, climate disruption, climate economics, climate education, coastal communities, coasts, dynamical systems, ensemble methods, ensemble models, flooding, geophysics, global warming, Grant Foster, Hyper Anthropocene, ice sheet dynamics, icesheets, living shorelines, meteorological models, nonlinear systems, prediction, sea level rise, shorelines, Skeptical Science, spaghetti plots, temporal myopia, the right to be and act stupid, the right to know, the value of financial assets, tragedy of the horizon
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and Then There’s Physics does “Talking solutions and motivating action”
And Then There’s Physics does a fine post about scientists “talking about solutions and motivating action”. But I felt the figure from Dr Glen Peters needed to be updated a bit, with a status briefing. So, below: (Click on image … Continue reading
Uh, oh: Loss of control ahead …
In the technical summary from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory based at the California Institute of Technology titled “Far northern permafrost may unleash Carbon within decades”, An excerpt: Permafrost in the coldest northern Arctic — formerly thought to be at … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropocene, bridge to nowhere, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide capture, civilization, clear air capture of carbon dioxide, climate, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, Cult of Carbon, destructive economic development, ecological services, environment, fermentation, fossil fuels, geoengineering, global blinding, Global Carbon Project, global warming, greenhouse gases, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, liberal climate deniers, permafrost, wishful environmentalism, zero carbon
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Certainly not “clean coal”, but is zero emission natural gas combustion a key to a zero Carbon future?
Eli Rabett has a great idea over at Rabett Run. And I particularly like the directions which commentators Russell Seitz and John O’Neill are going with it. Hmmm, Dimethyl ether as a fuel? It’s been proposed. (Click on image for … Continue reading
Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, Anthropocene, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, Buckminster Fuller, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide capture, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, dimethyl ether, global warming, Hyper Anthropocene, natural gas
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Will soils hang on to their Carbon?
This is essentially no analysis, simply an index to recent research on the the matter of the soils reservoir for Carbon, and a little reaction. To begin, here’s the part of the Carbon Cycle that’s involved: Should this production increase, … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Anthropocene, argoecology, bacteria, being carbon dioxide, Carbon Cycle, carbon dioxide, Carl Safina, climate, climate change, climate disruption, Global Carbon Project, global warming, microbiomes, nonlinear, nonlinear systems
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The fate of Antarctica
That’s from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at CalTech in Pasedena, CA. The source article is: A. S. Gardner, G. Moholdt, T. Scambos, M. Fahnstock, S. Ligtenberg, M. van den Broeke, J. Nilsson, “Increased West Antarctic and unchanged East Antarctic ice … Continue reading
“Carbon emissions and climate: Where do we stand, and what can be done if it all goes wrong?”
On Sunday, 11th February 2018, I presented an Abstract of a 3 hour talk on the subject, “Carbon emissions and climate: Where do we stand, and what can be done if it all goes wrong?” at the Needham Lyceum, hosted … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropocene, being carbon dioxide, Carbon Cycle, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide capture, carbon dioxide sequestration, Carbon Tax, civilization, clear air capture of carbon dioxide, climate, climate change, climate disruption, COP21, Cult of Carbon, differential equations, dynamical systems, ecology, emissions, environment, exponential growth, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuel infrastructure, fossil fuels, geoengineering, geophysics, Glen Peters, Global Carbon Project, global warming, greenhouse gases, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, investments, James Hansen, Kerry Emanuel, liberal climate deniers, Mark Carney, Michael Bloomberg, Minsky moment, mitigation, nonlinear, nonlinear systems, oceanography, phytoplankton, population biology, population dynamics, precipitation, Principles of Planetary Climate, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, radiative forcing, rationality, Ray Pierrehumbert, risk, sea level rise, sociology, stranded assets, supply chains, sustainability, T'kun Olam, the right to be and act stupid, the right to know, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, thermohaline circulation, tragedy of the horizon, unreason, UU, UU Needham, Wally Broecker, zero carbon
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2017 Arctic Report Card
From NOAA. 2017 Arctic Report Card: Summer temperatures are rising rapidly in most Arctic seas, by Tom Di Liberto. 2017 Arctic Report Card: Extreme fall warmth drove near-record annual temperatures, by Rebecca Lindsey.
Klaus Lackner: brilliant mind with a good idea
Wally Broecker‘s “hat tip” of Lackner’s work:
Posted in Anthropocene, carbon dioxide, clean disruption, clear air capture of carbon dioxide, climate disruption, climate economics, climate justice, economics, emissions, evidence, fossil fuel divestment, global warming, greenhouse gases, Hyper Anthropocene, investment in wind and solar energy, investments, klaus lackner, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, Spaceship Earth, zero carbon
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Professor Kevin Anderson, from November 2017, on Democracy Now!
I have featured interviews with Professor Kevin Anderson before, one of the most direct and clear-minded authorities on the implications of continuing to drive climate change through fossil fuel emissions and a consumption-oriented Western lifestyle. In November 2017, around the … Continue reading
Worthy of watching
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/12/25/noam_chomsky_in_conversation_with_amy So, what say you? Why should Professor Chomsky should not be believed? Why and what evidence proves, nay, even suggests he’s other than spot on?
What Al Gore, Paul Hawken, friends, and company laughingly call “progress”
10 years ago it was 384.26 ppm. That means it is increasing by 1.2 ppm per year.
Miami Beach
(Hat tip to Yale Climate Connections)
The Southern California fires, courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory
These images are from the NASA Earth Observatory.
tripleplus ungood: Long run hot climate models are also the most accurate reproducing today and recent past
Patrick Brown and Ken Caldeira dropped a bombshell into the recent (7 Dec 2017) issue of Nature, and the repercussions are echoing around the scientific world. (See, for example, the related article in MIT’s Technology Review.) To be crisp, current … Continue reading
Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Association, American Statistical Association, AMETSOC, Anthropocene, bifurcations, clear air capture of carbon dioxide, climate, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate models, critical slowing down, Cult of Carbon, destructive economic development, Global Carbon Project, global warming, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, Kevin Anderson, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, radiative forcing, Spaceship Earth, the right to be and act stupid, the right to know, the stack of lies, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, Timothy Lenton, tragedy of the horizon
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Will the Climate `play nice`
An explanation by Dr Jørgen Peder Steffensen, a down-to-earth one, about climate bifurcations. He’s hardly the only scientist that has warned about this. Dr Wally Broecker famously said: The climate system is an angry beast and we are poking it … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropocene, atmosphere, being carbon dioxide, bifurcations, bridge to nowhere, carbon dioxide capture, carbon dioxide sequestration, Carbon Worshipers, climate change, climate disruption, dynamical systems, fossil fuels, geophysics, global warming, greenhouse gases, Hyper Anthropocene, ice sheet dynamics, Our Children's Trust, the right to be and act stupid, the tragedy of our present civilization, tragedy of the horizon, Wally Broecker
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Disaster planning in a new climate, inland from the coasts
See Glynis Board’s “The New Normal: Super Storms Highlight Importance Of Disaster Planning”.
Posted in adaptation, American Meteorological Association, American Statistical Association, AMETSOC, Anthropocene, bridge to nowhere, climate disruption, flooding, floods, games of chance, hurricanes, hydrology, meteorology, National Center for Atmospheric Research, NCAR, New England, nor'easters, precipitation, resiliency, risk, statistics, sustainability, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, tragedy of the horizon
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Impacts of Hurricane Harvey upon regional manufacturing
See the report from AIR Worldwide.
Andy Skuce
Source: Andy Skuce Exit, Pursued by a Crab, from Critical Angle.
A lesson for Boston
And, from the Harvard Business Review: There was a time a decade or two ago when society could have made a choice to write off our massive investment in a fossil fuel-based economy and begin a policy driven shift towards … Continue reading
Posted in Anthropocene, bollocks, bridge to nowhere, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, coastal communities, coasts, Cult of Carbon, Daniel Kahneman, environment, flooding, floods, Florida, global blinding, global warming, greenhouse gases, hydrology, Hyper Anthropocene, John Englander, living shorelines, Mark Carney, nor'easters, oceanic eddies, oceanography, Our Children's Trust, rate of return regulation, rationality, reasonableness, sea level rise, seawalls, selfishness, shorelines, solar energy, the right to be and act stupid, water
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Dr James Hansen is great
Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Association, AMETSOC, Anthropocene, atmosphere, Carbon Tax, climate change, climate disruption, emissions, environment, floods, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuels, hurricanes, hydrology, Hyper Anthropocene, James Hansen, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, nonlinear systems, reasonableness, solar democracy, the tragedy of our present civilization, Unitarian Universalism
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Houston, forward
For the purposes of this post, let’s pretend climate disruption does not exist (!). Let’s pretend Hurricane Harvey had no climate component, and that Hurricane Harvey was just another, big storm afflicting the fortunes of the U.S. Gulf coast. The … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, Anthropocene, bridge to somewhere, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, coastal communities, Daniel Kahneman, destructive economic development, ecology, economics, environment, FEMA, flooding, floods, fossil fuel infrastructure, global warming, Hyper Anthropocene, Joseph Schumpeter, living shorelines, reworking infrastructure, Robert Young, shorelines
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`The California way: sunny, with a chance of apocalypse’ (recommended read)
This article at the San Francisco Chronicle is by Jon Christensen. Dystopian scenarios encourage us to act in such a way that the dystopia does not come to be. Professor Christensen has written more recently about this as well. This … Continue reading
`The Republican Party is enabling an increasingly dangerous demagogue`: Fallows, at The Atlantic
I don’t often do straight politics or even national concerns here. Some people (you know who you are) think everything I do is political. For example, I had an exchange on Google+ which included as the last post from my … Continue reading
Saving the World: Jacobson, Chu, with DiCaprio, at Stanford
(The above video is intended to start at time second 2051 or at 34 minutes. WordPress is sometimes funny about that. Apologies if not.)
Posted in Amory Lovins, Anthropocene, Arnold Schwarzennegger, Bill Nye, BNEF, Buckminster Fuller, clean disruption, climate disruption, decentralized electric power generation, decentralized energy, distributed generation, Hyper Anthropocene, Mark Jacobson, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, Stanford University, Stephen Chu, Tony Seba, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon, ``The tide is risin'/And so are we''
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“Energy is at the core of all these things”
Energy and water. Update, 2017-07-19: The Solver Elon Musk at the National Governors Association conference last week: It is possible to supply every electron needed to keep America humming by covering just 100 square miles with solar panels. “The batteries … Continue reading
Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, Amory Lovins, Anthropocene, biofuels, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to nowhere, climate disruption, climate economics, decentralized energy, destructive economic development, distributed generation, ecological services, Ecology Action, environment, environmental law, fossil fuel infrastructure, global warming, green tech, Hyper Anthropocene, investment in wind and solar energy, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, local self reliance, methane, natural gas, Spaceship Earth, Stanford University, the problem of evil, the right to be and act stupid, the right to know, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, Tony Seba, tragedy of the horizon, water as a resource
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Schroders asset management forecasts global warming of more than +4℃
(Updated Thursday, 27 July 2017) Schroders is a global asset management firm. They very recently issued a warning that current global trends put the planet on track for more than +4℃ warming. The full news brief, from them, is available … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, Anthropocene, Buckminster Fuller, climate business, climate disruption, climate economics, corporate litigation on damage from fossil fuel emissions, corporate supply chains, disingenuity, dynamical systems, economics, environmental law, forecasting, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuel infrastructure, global blinding, global warming, Hyper Anthropocene, investing, investments, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, Schroders, sea level rise, Spaceship Earth, sustainability, temporal myopia, the right to be and act stupid, the show, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, tragedy of the horizon, zero carbon
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