Climate Climate & Energy

Björk, Sigur Rós protest Icelandic aluminum plant in concert

Grist video producer Jennifer Prediger visited Iceland recently, attending an environmental protest concert featuring Björk and Sigur Rós. Here’s her report, in words and video. In Iceland, the battle between power companies and conservationists is heating up. As the aluminum industry’s plans to build dams and smelters move full steam ahead, Icelanders could well become […]

Plug-in hybrid offers practical solution to peak oil

Plug-in hybrids are the only alternative fuel vehicles that can provide genuine energy independence from steadily rising oil prices and brutal price spikes.

I have agreed to participate as a guest blogger for ScienceBlogs in a three-month project on the next generation of energy ideas. My first post is "Electric Vehicles: The Next Generation." Longtime readers of this blog or my books know that I have been an advocate of plug-ins for a number of years.

U.N. clean-energy program criticized for not funding clean energy

The United Nations Clean Development Mechanism, set up under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, issues carbon credits to industrialized nations that pay for renewable-energy projects in developing countries. Last we checked, coal and natural gas weren’t renewable — but the CDM is currently paying out millions of dollars a year to 13 natural-gas-burning plants in China […]

EIA maintains offshore drilling gains will be negligible

The GOP and McCain/Bush keep insisting that an end to the federal moratorium on (some) offshore drilling is a major solution to America's oil woes, even though Bush's own energy analysts make clear it is not.

That Energy Information Administration analysis is, however, a couple of years old, so I called up the author today and asked if it was being updated. Turns out a new version will be published in a couple of days, but she explained to me that the "answers are not very different" -- no significant impact for the duration of the analysis (through 2030) -- for reasons I will discuss below. First, however, it wasn't until I talked to her and looked closely at the original analysis -- "Impacts of Increased Access to Oil and Natural Gas Resources in the Lower 48 Federal Outer Continental Shelf" -- that I understood what a cruel hoax this whole issue is.

The oil companies already have access to some 34 billion barrels of offshore oil they haven't even developed yet, but ending the federal moratorium on offshore drilling would probably add only another 8 billion barrels (assuming California still blocks drilling off its coast). Who thinks adding under 100,000 barrels a day in supply sometime after 2020 -- some one-thousandth of total supply -- would be more than the proverbial drop in the ocean? Remember the Saudis couldn't stop prices from rising now by announcing that they will add 500,000 barrels of oil a day by the end of this year!

Here is the key data from EIA:

Global warming will worsen storms, says U of Michigan scientist

From ScientificBlogging:

Mathematical Model Says Climate Change Will Make Storms Worse

A new mathematical model developed by University of Michigan atmospheric and planetary scientist Nilton Renno says that dust devils, water spouts, tornadoes, hurricanes, and cyclones are all born of the same mechanism and will intensify as climate change warms the Earth's surface.

Renno hopes the new equation will allow scientists to more accurately calculate the maximum expected intensity of a spiraling storm based on the depth of the troposphere (the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere) and the temperature and humidity of the air in the storm's path.

This equation improves upon current methods, Renno says, because it takes into account the energy feeding the storm system and the full measure of friction slowing it down. Current thermodynamic models make assumptions about these variables, rather than include actual quantities.

EPA says climate change could worsen smog levels, extend smog season

In a draft report released Thursday, the U.S. EPA said smog levels could increase significantly in many areas of the United States due to climate change, especially in the Northeast, lower Midwest, and mid-Atlantic regions. Smog is mainly a summer phenomenon in most places, caused by sunlight reacting with nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. […]

Netherlands’ response to climate change

Listen Play "Maria," from The Sound of Music Don’t have much time to write — another starting already! — but I just saw an extraordinary presentation from Pavel Kabat, who … well, he’s got a resume longer than my arm, but he’s a scientist and a lead author on both the IPCC report and the […]

The unglamorous work of change at the local level

Listen Play "I Have Confidence," from The Sound of Music I arrived here too late to catch the whole day today, but I did see some people presenting work from Eastern Europe, Sweden, Connecticut, Harvard, and Cambridge, Mass. It was a bit of a random grab bag, but these are all people working close to […]

Al Gore to speak at free event in D.C.

Of interest to our D.C. area readers: Former Vice President Al Gore will be speaking at noon on July 17 at the DAR Constitution Hall (1776 D Street NW). Tickets are free, but space is limited. See here to reserve a spot. Gore “will be issuing an unprecedented challenge to policymakers and entrepreneurs,” according to […]

Your windows could collect solar energy, says study

Have windows? Then you could collect solar energy, says a new study published in the journal Science. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a light-absorbing dye that, when painted on a window, transfers energy via the glass into solar cells at the window’s edges (through a process we don’t pretend to understand). […]