Category Archives: methane
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.
“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
“Explosive methane will create two million jobs!”
The American Petroleum Institute has trotted out a commissioned study claiming an increase of two million jobs in 2040 off a base of four million (in 2015). First, these are not people working with development or distribution of natural gas. … Continue reading
Prayer Vigil for the Earth, Needham Common, Massachusetts, 4 June 2017
“Avoiding [in excess of] 2 degrees [Celsius] warming `is now totally unrealistic.”’ Led by our own UU Needham Reverand Catie Scudera, with Reverand Daryn Bunce Stylianopoulos of the First Baptist Church of Needham, and Reverend Jim Mitulski of the Congregational … Continue reading
Gas leaks along the pathway of the newly built West Roxbury Lateral transmission line
(This blog post was updated 19th January 2017 with a correction to the interpretation of the leak data. The correction was offered by Professor Phillips. The blog author is responsible for the original misunderstanding. Apologies for any inconvenience.) The West … Continue reading
Getting back to 350 ppm CO2: You can’t go home again
(Update of this piece, included below.) (Major update of this piece included below.) You can’t. It’ll cost much more than 23 times 40 times the Gross World Product to do it. And, in any case, you need to go to … Continue reading
Testimony to MassDEP, M.G.L. chapter 21N, section 3(d) (from the Global Warming Solutions Act)
I testified to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (“MassDEP”) yesterday regarding means of enforcing limits as required by the Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 21N, Section 3(d), otherwise known as (a portion of) the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act, as … Continue reading
Once more, with feeling: Responding to Kostrzewa in The Providence Journal
It’s making the rounds. Today it’s John Kostrzewa, Assistant Managing Editor of The Providence Journal, arguing the necessity of natural gas and its pipelines with his “Why R.I.’s economy needs a natural-gas pipeline”. And my response, below, which allowed me … Continue reading
TOO LATE: “There will be no golden age of [natural] gas”
Last month, Tom Randall at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (“BNEF”) profiled a new forecast which shows costs for zero Carbon energy and energy are plummetting so fast that coal, oil, and natural gas will begin their terminal decline within a … Continue reading
Natural gas: The Zaphod Beeblebrox of energy
Amber Lin at The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists describes the two-headed character of natural gas plants needed to implement “natural gas as a bridge fuel”, and sketches the stark reality proponents of that argument are embracing if they are … Continue reading
BOYCOTT natural gas, American or otherwise
It’s one thing to oppose pipelines and continued use of fossil fuels, but there is little as effective as a boycott of the key product. This is certainly not a new idea. (I don’t do Facebook. See this 2001 article … Continue reading
What makes me nervous
With regard to my comment at hypergeometric | July 13, 2016 at 3:50 pm on Tamino’s blog, someone challenged me on my assertion “Believe me, the +3C-+4C worlds are not places we want to go!” there. I have replied at … Continue reading
Massachusetts Bill S.2372 (“An Act to promote energy diversity”), Amendment 1
Ms. Jehlen, Messrs. Keenan, Montigny, Timilty and Joyce, Ms. Creem, Mr. Brady, Ms. L’Italien, Ms. Gobi, Ms. O’Connor Ives, Ms. Chang-Diaz, Messrs. Lewis, Pacheco, Moore and Ross moved that the bill be amended by inserting the following section:- SECTION X. … Continue reading
Why Salem Harbor Power — or any methane-powered electricity — is a big mistake
Dan Dolan of the Massachusetts Power Generators association wrote an op-ed lauding the Salem Harbor Power Station, an explosive methane-powered monstrosity located just 16 feet above sea level, and built with the implicit assumption sea level rise in Salem will … Continue reading
Mayor Robert Hedlund demonstrates awesome moral leadership Here’s Mayor Hedlund’s statement from his Facebook page: As State Senator, I fought and opposed Spectra’s proposed compressor station in North Weymouth. As Mayor, I took a hard and proactive stance in opposition … Continue reading
REV-NY
So, Massachusetts, why can’t you do this instead of proposing to build new explosive pipelines?
“Oil’s Big Dive” (by Peter Sinclair)
Originally posted on Climate Denial Crock of the Week:
I posted last week the news that Saudi Arabia seems to have recognized that the age of Oil is drawing to an end. Below, Amory Lovins Whale oil analogy might have…
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
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
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…
“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
“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
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.
It’s hotter than you think
I ask again: Does Massachusetts have a share of the clean energy future?
Or is Governor Baker and the Massachusetts House going to subcontract that to other states, like Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, and New York? They are coming. Update, 2016-02-23 Where does Massachusetts get its energy now?
Causal Diagrams
Like Sankey diagrams, causal diagrams are a useful tool to assess and communicate complicated systems and their intrarelationships: It’s possible to use these for analysis and prescription: Here is the (promised) presentation on reenforcing loops: So how can these techniques … Continue reading
Life cycle analysis of emissions from various forms of energy converted to electricity
There was a recent discussion regarding the life cycle analysis of various forms of energy, principally to be converted to electricity. Given that everything I know about sustainability and life cycle analysis suggests is it is a very complicated business, … Continue reading