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Remember how there are primaries today?

Obama is projected to win North Carolina decisively. Later this evening, Clinton is expected to win Indiana decisively. And so it goes. And goes. And goes. Kill me.

Spoilsports don’t appreciate all the World Bank has done for them

Some of the world's poorest people seem to think carbon trading will destroy their way of life without actually contributing to solving global warming. The highly respected  Institute for Policy Studies seems to think so, too [PDF]. Very odd of them to take such a position. Because, after all, there are no alternatives to carbon trading.

Snippets from the news

• Bush administration issues underwhelming salmon plan. • Buy a Chrysler, get $2.99 gas for three years. • Some baby furniture found to have high levels of formaldehyde. • Pepsi will slim down its plastic bottles. • China will “actively join” climate talks with Japan. • Hawaii requires solar water heaters in new homes. • […]

Industry bottlenecks will delay any reactors for years, maybe longer

Kind of an important point:

It turns out that Osaka-based steel-making giant Japan Steel Works Ltd ... is also the world's only maker of ultra-large forgings, a crucial component in the construction of most new nuclear reactors ...

Japan Steel, for example, is currently equipped to supply only five reactor forging sets each year, with each set including an ultra-large forging.

So, the nuclear industry that shills sources have assured us is ready to leap in to action with ridiculous modest subsidies to avert global warming can currently build a grand total of ... five reactors a year?

That's a little short of one a month.

Ouster of Sierra Club’s Florida leaders stirs up a storm of controversy

Things get stormy in Florida. Photo: Ali Nishan It’s got all the signs of a bad breakup: anger, recriminations, and friends taking sides. But this rift doesn’t involve bitter former sweeties; it’s between members of one of the nation’s largest and most influential environmental groups. And it’s happening in a high-profile, wealthy state with complex […]

IPCC likely too optimistic about recoverable coal

Anyone interested in the climate should watch this talk by Professor David Rutledge from Caltech. He makes the argument that there are a lot less recoverable fossil fuels than assumed by just about everyone, including the IPCC emissions scenarios. His conclusion is that even if we burn all the fossil fuels on the planet, atmospheric carbon dioxide will not exceed 500 ppm.

Is he right?  Perhaps, although his analysis considers only conventional fossil fuels and does not take into account unconventional oil sources like tar sands or shale. He also does not consider carbon cycle feedbacks that could also add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

If true, it's undoubtedly good news for the climate but potentially bad news for our society, since it means that we will be seeing the price of energy inexorably rising in the future as competition for remaining energy resources becomes more fierce.

My sense is that, while we can quibble about the numbers, it does seem likely that the IPCC emissions scenarios have overestimated recoverable coal reserves. This suggests that, at the very least, the highest emissions scenarios may be physically impossible to realize.

EPA not super-interested in keeping rocket fuel out of drinking water

There is a “distinct possibility” that the U.S. EPA will pass on restricting perchlorate in the nation’s water supplies, an agency official said Tuesday. Perchlorate, a rocket fuel ingredient that has been found at some 400 places in 35 states, can muck up normal thyroid function. But Benjamin Grumbles, the EPA assistant administrator for water, […]

More anti-intellectualism from the Clinton camp

Cringe along with Terry McAuliffe, who explains why economists don’t know nothin’:

Obama energy adviser Jason Grumet talks climate, coal, and green jobs

Jason Grumet. As executive director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan group of 20 energy experts created in 2002, Jason Grumet has come in for some flack from environmentalists. NCEP’s influential 2004 energy report called for several measures anathema to greens, including a “safety valve” that would set an upper limit on […]

These criminals are slippery — very slippery

The Christian Science Monitor notices a rash of slippery thieves making off with the newest hot commodity: grease.