Climate Climate & Energy
All Stories
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In 2008, did temperatures drop as much as they rose over the whole 20th century?
(Part of the How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic guide) Objection: Temperatures plummeted over the last year (2007-2008). If you look at this data from the Met Office Hadley Centre you can clearly see that in one year alone global temperatures dropped .6°C, an amount equal to the entire warming over the 20th […]
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Palin to oversee energy in McCain administration?
OMFG: "Sarah Palin to be energy independence chief in John McCain’s government" I’m not sure how much to credit this — it’s the Brit press, after all, and tied to a single, unnamed "McCain campaign official." But it wouldn’t surprise me. They’ve somehow managed to pitch a woman whose sole claim to expertise on energy […]
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Over Nevadan objections, Yucca Mountain repository inches forward
Nevada’s Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump inched forward Monday as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreed to formally review the feds’ license application for the site. It will likely take the NRC four years or so to peruse the Department of Energy’s 8,600-page application and decide whether to give Yucca the go-ahead. Attorneys for the state […]
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Tom Friedman talks up the need for an ‘energy revolution’ on ‘Meet the Press’
New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman was on “Meet the Press” yesterday, discussing the need for an “energy revolution.” The appearance coincided with publication of his new book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution — and How It Can Renew America. Said Friedman, “What we need today is an […]
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Arctic ringed by navigable water; rush to exploit it may spur new int’l law
For the first time in recorded history, the world’s cap of Arctic sea ice is surrounded by a ring of theoretically navigable water. It’s a phenomenon sure to pique the interest of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the U.S., which all have Arctic territories and are maneuvering to claim as much of […]
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U.N. climate chief urges eating less meat to combat climate change
Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said this weekend that eating less meat may be the best way for people to reduce their personal carbon emissions. “In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is […]
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New sea-level rise research, part 1: ‘Most likely’ 0.8 to 2.0 meters by 2100
Two major new studies, in Nature and Science, sharply increase the projected sea-level rise (SLR) by 2100. This post discusses the Science study ($ub. req’d), “Kinematic Constraints on Glacier Contributions to 21st-Century Sea-Level Rise,” which concludes: On the basis of calculations presented here, we suggest that an improved estimate of the range of SLR to […]
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Nature: Hurricanes are getting fiercer
Nature has published a major analysis that supports my recent two–parter. As Nature explains: … scientists have come up with the firmest evidence so far that global warming will significantly increase the intensity of the most extreme storms worldwide. The maximum wind speeds of the strongest tropical cyclones have increased significantly since 1981, according to […]
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Germany opens world’s first carbon-capturing ‘clean coal’ demo plant
Germany will next week open the world’s first “clean coal” plant actually ready to capture and store its carbon-dioxide emissions. The 30-megawatt, $100 million Schwarze Pumpe demonstration plant will burn coal in an atmosphere of oxygen instead of regular air, producing some 10 tons per hour of compressed CO2 that can be captured and buried […]
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Media drops the ball on drilling
The Center for Economic and Policy Research has a new analysis out looking at the way the media is presenting the drilling issue. Suffice to say, educating its audience about the facts has taken a back seat: This paper examines television news coverage of proposed drilling for oil in environmentally sensitive zones in the United […]
