Climate Climate & Energy
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Despite cooler weather, Arctic ice retreat just misses last year’s mark
Although “This year was cooler and other weather conditions weren’t as bad” as last year, the Arctic sea-ice minimum came within 150,000 square miles of last year’s record decline. This is clear evidence that last year was no fluke and that human-caused global warming has become a major — if not the dominant — driver […]
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Is the American Physical Society a crack in the climate change consensus?
(Part of the How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic guide) Objection: The American Physical Society with tens of thousands of member scientists no longer believes that the science of global warming is conclusive. So what about that so called consensus? Answer: The APS has not reversed its position on climate change: Emissions of greenhouse […]
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Passing the buck or paying the piper
We have just gone through a period in the U.S. when very little new public infrastructure was built (with the exception of wired and wireless telecommunications infrastructure). Led by a generation and a half of politicians and economic theorists — as well as our own inclinations — Americans have become used to believing that a […]
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Oldest Utah newspaper: Bark-beetle driven wildfires comprise a vicious climate cycle
Deseret News, owned by the Mormon Church and “usually described as moderate to conservative” may have begun the slow march toward climate reality. A story this month titled, “Bark beetles are feasting on Utah forests” begins: A vicious cycle is brewing in Utah: Bark beetles are killing a lot of trees in the state. Dead […]
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Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales are pursuing dramatically different environmental strategies
Over the past decade, the current British government has taken a crack at devolution, giving Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales a level of operational government unseen for a century or more. The fledgling administrations of these three “devolved nations” have embarked on very different policy trajectories on the environment, among other policy areas. The sustainable […]
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Do we want an economy that’s a bit more Belgian or Belgian Congo?
A simple syllogism to expose the flaws in our GHG debate: Fossil fuels cost money. When burned, fossil fuels emit CO2. Therefore, burning less fossil fuel saves money and CO2. The logic is impeccable (even if not quite as entertaining as Lewis Carroll’s syllogisms). And yet our entire GHG debate continues to be framed as […]
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A purely local approach would double or triple costs
This is one more attempt to kill a zombie myth: the notion that local generation of renewable electricity can substitute for long-distance transmission. I can see where this comes from — the sun shines almost everywhere, and the wind blows strong within a few hundred miles of most places where it doesn’t, right? If we […]
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2008 Arctic sea-ice melt second-meltiest ever
Sea-ice melt in the Arctic this year was the second-largest on record, falling just short of 2007’s all-time record melt, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. The slightly larger ice cover this year is hardly cause for celebration, though; sea ice may have covered more of the ocean’s surface overall, […]
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Renewable energy promotion policies: transparent
The previously discussed finance mechanisms tend to hide the costs of building renewable generators by concealing the actual cost per unit of electricity and costs for the ratepayers or taxpayers as a whole. In an era when so much is hanging on energy policy, it makes more sense to consider policies that do not pull […]
