Climate Climate & Energy

Per-person gas consumption has decreased in the last year

On the heels of the year's biggest travel week, some interesting news:

Consumers purchased an average 9.32 million barrels of gasoline a day in the week ended Nov. 23, down 1.7 percent from the same week last year ... It was the fifth consecutive week that demand at the pump dropped compared with a year earlier.

The price [of gas] was 38 percent higher than a year earlier.

That's right, population rose, but gas consumption fell, year-over-year. Measured per person, that's a decline of about 3 percent -- not huge, but still noteworthy.

So does this mean that higher prices are starting to take a bite out of our appetite for fuel? That a slowing economy is making consumers tighten their belts? Either way, as long as it isn't a temporary blip in the data, it's a trend worth paying attention to.

What folks are saying about the upcoming Bali talks

Representatives from nearly 200 nations will gather in Bali, Indonesia, next week to discuss what’s to be done about this whole climate-change thing once the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. So what’s the word on the street? United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been clear about his expectations: “The world’s scientists have spoken, clearly […]

2007 likely to be sixth warmest year on record, say researchers

The year 2007 is likely to tie with 2006 as the sixth warmest year on record, say British researchers who provide data to the World Meteorological Association. The researchers had predicted a year ago that 2007 might be the hottest evah, but it’s instead likely to come in behind 1998, 2005, 2003, 2002, and 2004. […]

GAO says the electric sector’s got a big subsidy to match

The GAO has reported on subsidies to our electric sector, proving what Grist readers already (sadly) know, namely that subsidies to the dirty folks vastly exceed existing or proposed subsidies to cleaner generation.

The most remarkable thing is that the biggest subsidies, like nuclear liability guarantees and lower debt costs through rate payer guarantees, aren't even included in the list (although, to the GAO's credit, it does acknowledge their existence).

So who's packing the biggest, er, subsidy?

CO2 levels hit new record in 2006

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), in its new 2006 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, reports:

In 2006, globally averaged concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere reached their highest levels ever recorded ... 381.2 parts per million (ppm), up 0.53 per cent from 379.2 ppm in 2005.

Note this is a one-year rise of 2.0 ppm, continuing the accelerated trend of the past decade, which is due to increases in global economic activity and carbon intensity, together with decreased efficiency of natural sinks, like the ocean.

Must-see ice-sheet TV

Do you want the latest data -- some not yet published -- and the best post-IPCC scientific predictions on the stunning collapse of Arctic ice and unexpected shrinking of the Greenland (and Antarctic) ice sheets? Then you should definitely watch this C-SPAN video of yesterday's American Meteorological Society seminar (see note on link below).

The seminar is by three of the world's top cryosphere experts: Dr. Mark Serreze (NOAA), Scott Luthcke (NASA), and Dr. Konrad Steffen (CIRES) -- full bios and program summary available here. I will post their presentations when AMS puts them online (which will be here).

I have spent a great deal of time studying the ice and sea-level-rise issue (see links below) and still found the presentations informative and startling. It is very safe to say the Arctic Sea will be essentially ice-free by 2030, and I'd personally bet on 2020 -- any takers?

Public overwhelmingly opposes drilling on Coloradan plateau, say activists

Conservationists have analyzed public comments on a Bureau of Land Management proposal to drill for oil and gas on Colorado’s Roan Plateau and have come up with a tally: seven comments for drilling; approximately 42,000 against. Hm — guess it’s not a consensus then.

Coal plant application rejected in Washington

Another coal plant application denied. This one was stiffed because of a law Washington passed this year requiring that coal plant proposals include plans for carbon sequestration or, if that’s not possible, plans to purchase offsets in a commensurate amount. But you gotta start with the sequestration plan, and the application from Energy Northwest didn’t […]

Food prices going up, along with everything else

From an article in the Telegraph by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (Hat tip to Gristmill reader KO):

What has abruptly changed is the twin revolution of biofuel politics and Asia's switch to an animal-protein diet. Together, they have shattered the fragile equilibrium.

Investors who want to take advantage of agflation must tread with care, both for moral reasons and questions of timing.

Riiiight ... moral reasons.

The way I see it, you can go the PETA route and call the closest thing the environmental movement has to a hero (Nobel Laureate Al Gore) a hypocrite for eating meat, replete with a bulbous-nosed, pot-bellied caricature, or you can admonish your politicians to stop supporting biofuels. I suppose you could do both. I'm concentrating my firepower on the biofuel side of the equation.

Industrial agrofuels are still in their infancy. They have to be stopped now, before it's too late. As consumers, voters, and peaceful protesters, we have a measure of power. Let's start using it. Find an effective way to convince humanity to eat fewer animal products and I'll support that effort also.

More quotes from the article under the fold:

Notable quotable

“Here is my guess, and I know that I’m right. I will bet my car, in fact. Bush will come out, this president when he leaves office, will come out in the next decade or so as a strong advocate on behalf of ending global warming. He will be … he will have an environmentally […]