Climate Climate & Energy

New white paper provides more details on output-based standards

For those of a policy-wonk bent. For those who simply loved my earlier post on output-based standards for greenhouse gas control and have been thirsting ever since for more details (I know you're out there!). For those who wait eagerly at their mailbox waiting for the current issues of electricity policy magazines to arrive ...

Yea, verily, I bring you this [PDF].

A white paper just published in The Electricity Journal, providing much more detail than was appropriate for a blog post on the concept of output-based CO2 standards, and hopefully clarifying some of the details.

Antarctic icebergs scraping seafloor bare more often due to climate change

The warming Antarctic is changing life on the seafloor as well as above as icebergs freed from surrounding sea ice earlier than in previous years can pummel bottom-dwelling creatures for much of the year, according to a new study. “Our results suggest that as the winter sea-ice season shortens, the thousands of icebergs that float […]

Climate change and the null hypothesis

An excellent post by my colleague John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas State climatologist, can be found here. An excerpt:

Ugandan coffee endangered by climate change

Uganda’s coffee industry could be basically kaput in 30 years, according to a new Oxfam report. Uganda is Africa’s second-largest coffee exporter after Ethiopia, but the report direly predicts that if “average global temperatures rise by two degrees or more, then most of Uganda is likely to cease to be suitable for coffee.” In the […]

Watch the video of Gore’s speech today

If the summary and full text of Gore's speech have left you wanting more, here's the vid:

Ugly babies

“Ethanol is an ugly baby, but it’s our baby. I’m not against any fuel unless it’s foreign.” — oil billionaire and energy independence evangelist T. Boone Pickens

Gore calls for carbon tax, 100 percent renewable electricity by 2018

[Editor's note: The headline was mistakenly published to read "energy" in place of "electricity." The fault lies with the Grist editorial staff instead of with Joseph Romm. Our apologies to Joe.]

July 17, 2008
A Generational Challenge to Repower America (as prepared)
D.A.R. Constitution Hall
Washington, D.C.

Ladies and gentlemen:

There are times in the history of our nation when our very way of life depends upon dispelling illusions and awakening to the challenge of a present danger. In such moments, we are called upon to move quickly and boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits and rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of big changes. Those who, for whatever reason, refuse to do their part must either be persuaded to join the effort or asked to step aside. This is such a moment. The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And even more -- if more should be required -- the future of human civilization is at stake.

I don't remember a time in our country when so many things seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously. Our economy is in terrible shape and getting worse, gasoline prices are increasing dramatically, and so are electricity rates. Jobs are being outsourced. Home mortgages are in trouble. Banks, automobile companies and other institutions we depend upon are under growing pressure. Distinguished senior business leaders are telling us that this is just the beginning unless we find the courage to make some major changes quickly.

The climate crisis, in particular, is getting a lot worse -- much more quickly than predicted. Scientists with access to data from Navy submarines traversing underneath the North polar ice cap have warned that there is now a 75 percent chance that within five years the entire ice cap will completely disappear during the summer months. This will further increase the melting pressure on Greenland. According to experts, the Jakobshavn glacier, one of Greenland's largest, is moving at a faster rate than ever before, losing 20 million tons of ice every day, equivalent to the amount of water used every year by the residents of New York City.

Eighth warmest June on record means ‘Great Ice Age of 2008’ is still over

I know we're supposed to be going into a period of cooling, at least according to people who don't believe in the scientific method, but for those who do, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reports in its "Climate of 2008 June in Historical Perspective":

Based on preliminary data, the globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was the eighth warmest on record for June and the ninth warmest for January-June year-to-date period.

It is pretty darn hot in Greenland and Siberia, not like there's anything important in those regions:

Energy efficiency is cornerstone of ambitious plan

Everyone's favorite McKinsey study suggests that America can shed a huge chunk of its emissions through costless measures, primarily in the realm of energy efficiency. The fly in this delicious low-carbon ointment is that the freebie cuts haven't so far happened by themselves, and it's never entirely clear how well an analyst's report is going to translate into reality. How nice, then, that New York City is gearing up to provide the proof point we've all been waiting for.

Mayor Bloomberg's office recently released a plan to drop the carbon emissions of the municipal government 30 percent from 2006 levels by 2017. The plan will cost about $2.3 billion, but the city expects to recoup these costs by 2015 -- an average payback of less than eight years across a large portfolio of projects.

Report from EPA and U.S. Climate Change Science Program highlights risks of warming world

Scientists from the U.S. EPA and U.S. Climate Change Science Program issued a new report today documenting the effects of global climate change on human health and human systems. It follows close on the heels of another report released earlier this week by EPA scientists on global warming and human health. “Climate change will affect […]