The Week That Was: 2013-02-23 (February 23, 2013) Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
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Quote of the Week: “Unless we take action on climate change, future generations will be roasted, toasted, fried and grilled.”Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, cited by David Runnalls, Globe and Mail. Ms. Lagarde demonstrates the prudent restraint needed for establishing financial policies of the International Monetary Fund [H/t Tom Nelson]
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Number of the Week: Over $30 Billion
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THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, Executive Vice President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Failing Models: In his August testimony before the US Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works, John Christy, the co-developer of the satellite temperature record, presented a graph showing that the models relied upon by the UN Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) are clearly failing. The graph compares the projections of 34 climate models with actual observations, both at the surface (called surface-air) and the lower troposphere (the atmosphere from the surface to about 10 km (about 33,000 feet). The statistical mean of the projections is well above the observations – with a statistical significance of more than two standard deviations. The difference shows that the models are not useful in estimating future temperatures. Thus, the claims that by emitting greenhouse gases (GHG), particularly carbon dioxide (CO), humans are causing unprecedented and dangerous future global warming have no scientific basis. [Note that the projections from a few of the models do not exceed the observations, however, statistically, they are outliers.]
As expected, the graph is causing some consternation in the Climate Establishment, which needs to explain away the divergence for the upcoming IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), which is due out later this year. On Climate Etc, Judith Curry discusses some of these attempts. One time tested method is to expand the error range for the models. [Expanding the attributed error range was done in an article by Santer, et al, [International Journal of Climate, 2008] which tried to explain away the inability to find atmospheric hot spot above the tropics in the model projections that was called the distinct human fingerprint. That article included a large number of Climate Establishment co-authors. Please see NIPCC vs. IPCC (2011). NIPCC is the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change.]
In the efforts presented by Curry, expanding the error range of the models to explain away the divergence between warming from model projections and observations may be a temporary quick-fix but it is far from satisfactory. One issue the method raises is that if the observations continue to show no warming trend, then the error range would have to be increased in the future – to the point of showing a possible global cool?
More significantly, adding to the error range reinforces a question that many skeptics have asked of the modelers for a number of years. How can you be so certain of the results of the climate models? Of course, the certainty cannot be scientifically addressed and the IPCC used opinion polls of the modelers. Now that the uncertainty is becoming more public, it will be more difficult for the Climate Establishment to bury uncertainty in an obscure appendix in a report thousands of pages long. Please see link under Challenging the Orthodoxy and http://www.sepp.org/science_papers/ICCC_Booklet_2011_FINAL.pdf
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More Failing: In a rare, somewhat technical post, John Christy provides additional information on the failing of the models and highlights two areas of confusion. One area of confusion is regarding the difference between surface temperature trends and lower troposphere temperature trends. This is a different issue than the magnitude of the temperature trends for the surface and the magnitude of the temperature trends for the lower troposphere. The greenhouse effect takes place in the atmosphere and the models predict that the warming trend should be more pronounced in the lower troposphere than on the surface. This is a different concept than the temperatures for the atmosphere as compared with the surface. Until recently, the reverse was observed. The measured warming trend on the surface was more pronounced than the measured warming trend of the lower troposphere. Thus, the models were failing and continue to fail. Please see link under Challenging the Orthodoxy
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Tropical Sea Surface Temperatures: On his blog Roy Spencer, the other co-developer of the satellite temperature record, addresses the issue of tropical sea surface temperature trends as measured by the Tropical Rain Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI), which went into operation in 1998. The measurements show no warming. Even after calculating the effects of El Nino and La Nina activity, the measured trend is one-third of that predicted in the models. The failure of the tropical sea surface to warm as models project may give the Climate Establishment further consternation in preparing the IPCC AR5. Please see link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Energy of Hurricanes: The web site of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) posts a question: how much energy does a hurricane release? The posted answer is providedby Chris Landsea who calculates that for the average hurricane the energy released from the condensation of water vapor to form clouds and rain is about equivalent to 200 times the total world-wide electrical generating capacity, for each day. Only about one part in four hundred of this energy release drives the swirling winds that are associated with the hurricane.
Five time IPCC expert reviewer Vincent Gray takes these calculations a bit further. He compares the average energy loss over a year for an average of eleven hurricanes lasting one week with the heat from a supposedly increase in warming from the enhanced greenhouse since 1750. [His calculations do not include energy release from other cyclones, thunderstorms, etc.] Gray concludes that hurricanes, alone, “conceal any possible much smaller effects of greenhouse gases which could never be identified. The models are not only wrong. They are irrelevant.” [Boldface added] See link under Changing Weather.
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Feel-Good Legislation: Leaders of several Western European nations are beginning to feel the anger of the general population for requiring wind and solar power in place of traditional sources of electricity. Wind and solar are more costly and unreliable sources of electricity. Thus they require duplication by traditional sources. One example of this feel good legislation is the UK’s Climate Change Act of 2008 which requires reductions in carbon dioxide emissions over a series of five year periods. As coal-fired power plants are being squeezed out, electricity rates are increasing significantly. For some time, the politicians who advocated for the legislation have acted in typical political fashion – evade and obfuscate any responsibility.
This week Alastair Buchanan, the outgoing head of Britain’s regulator of electricity and natural gas, Ofgen, announced that with the retirement of coal and nuclear plants there may be a significant gap between the ability of the nation to generate electricity as compared with its consumption and that electricity prices may go significantly higher.
Ten years ago John Brignell of Number Watch, articulated the problem in
plain English, something one would hope the British politicians could understand. He laid out five principles for electricity generation, which were promptly ignored. The principles are:
1. Energy should be obtained from a variety of sources, lest one should fail.
2. There should be a reliable and continuous source to service the base load.
3. There should be further instantly available sources to accommodate demand surges.
4. Unpredictable and intermittent sources should be avoided.
5. Policy should not be decided by trends, fashions or religious convictions.
Following the fad of “dangerous global warming,” the politicians have squandered huge sums of money on unpredictable and intermittent sources such as wind and solar. Some have maintained that if the wind farms are geographically separated, then wind could provide base load. As discussed in last week’s TWTW, the study of the Eastern Australian Grid, with wind farms that are geographically separated over broad distances, shows the concept is completely false. The wind farm system frequently failed to meet the extremely low level of performance of two percent of installed capacity. There is no justification to continue to believe that wind power can be reliable, if enough capacity is installed. Given the unreliability of wind, it is doubly false to claim domestic wind is a secure energy source. Please see links under Questioning the Orthodoxy and Questioning European Green.
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Washington’s Energy Plan: A number of commentators have expressed their views of the administration’s energy plan, largely from what President Obama stated in his Inauguration Speech. Marita Noon takes an unusual approach. She examines the document prepared for the speech and what appears to be the underlying foundation for the president’s plan. A major failing contained in these documents is the false belief that energy efficiency of doing more work with less energy can be achieved by government mandates. If the simple goal is to reduce energy use, then the simple solution is to do no work. The most effective way of achieving energy efficiency is by people and organizations trying to cut energy costs in imaginative ways.
If one believes that one of the keys to prosperity is reliable and affordable energy, the future under the energy plan is not promising. The country may be following the bleak future that Western European politicians are laying out for their countries.
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A Bold, New, International Plan: The prerelease of an upcoming article by some American scientists contains disturbing elements that claim the need to modify human behavior in order to save humanity. Of course, all this would be done under the auspices of the UN and its enlightened scientists as found in the IPCC and in the New Millennium Project. Since the concepts are not fleshed out, perhaps TWTW is overreacting. But one of the authors of the plan is Paul Ehrlich, author of the Population Bomb. In a separate article he states that odds of sustaining human civilization under the current conditions are 10% or less. He uses this and similar questionable arguments to try to justify centralized control. In the view of TWTW, if human civilization is to fall, the fall will be brought on by the likes of Paul Ehrlich and his appeal for misanthropic, authoritarian organizations.
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Amplifications and Corrections: In commenting on the failure of government agencies to assure that rigorous science is performed under scientific grants, Stan Young states that one of the big issues is the failure to require that all data be provided for public scrutiny if a study uses federal funds. On March 5, the House Science Research Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Scientific Integrity and Data Transparency. It will be interesting to see if many of the nation’s independent scientific institutions will publically support such action.
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Number of the Week: Over $30 Billion. According to estimates by the Wall Street Journal, BP has committed or paid over $30 Billion in oil spill cleanup, fines, and settlements, thus far. It faces additional billions in liabilities for violations of the Clean Water Act. No wonder the UK’s Daily Mail has called for the administration to stop unnecessary punishment of this British company, calling it a brutal vendetta against Britain.
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ARTICLES:
For the numbered articles below please see this week’s TWTW at: www.sepp.org. The articles are at the end of the pdf.
1. BP Faces New Bout of Spill Liability
By Tom Fowler, WSJ, Feb 19, 2013
2. The Search Is on for Meteorite
By Gautam Naik and Alan Cullison, WSJ, Feb 19, 2013
3. A Spectator’s Stake in the Tesla Test-Drive Spat
Oh, for the day when electric-car enthusiasts didn’t expect the rest of us to subsidize their hobby.
By Holman Jenkins, WSJ, Feb 16, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324162304578306150070640438.html?mod=ITP_opinion_0
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NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Challenging the Orthodoxy
Spinning the climate model – observation comparison
By Judith Curry, Climate Etc, Feb 22, 2013
http://judithcurry.com/2013/02/22/spinning-the-climate-model-observation-comparison/#more-11191
Klotzbach et al revisited, a reply by John Christy
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Feb 22, 2013
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/02/22/klotzbach-et-al-revisited-a-reply-by-john-christy/
Tropical SSTs Since 1998: Latest Climate Models Warm 3x Too fast
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Feb 21, 2013
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2013/02/tropical-ssts-since-1998-latest-climate-models-warm-3x-too-fast/
Apparent Reason for January 2013 Tropospheric Warmth
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Feb 20, 2013
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2013/02/apparent-reason-for-january-2013-tropospheric-warmth/
The Need for Using Geoengineering to Avoid a New Ice Age Starting in the Next Few Millennia
By Alan Carlin, Carlin Economics, Feb 22, 2013
http://www.carlineconomics.com/archives/1547
German Scientists Vahrenholt and Lüning: PIK Greenland Meltdown Scenario Handily Refuted
By P. Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Feb 18, 2013
Defending the Orthodoxy
German Climate Movement, Catholic University Paper Warns Of Growing Climate Skepticism In Germany
By P. Gosse
lin, No Tricks Zone, Feb 22, 2013
Expertise based on ignorance.
Forecast is for more snow in polar regions, less for the rest of us (Journal of Climate)
By Catherine Zandonella, Princeton University, Feb 22, 2013 [H/t WUWT]
Link to article: Controls of Global Snow Under a Changed Climate
By Sarah B. Kapnick and Thomas L. Delworth, Journal of Climate, No Date
http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00528.1
[SEPP Comment: The article covers the percentage of snow to total moisture. It does not indicate a decline in total moisture. In many arid areas, snow pack is only a measurement of future runoff that will be captured by dams and which distributed as needed. In these areas less snow is meaningless as long as the total moisture does not change. Before the dams existed, in arid areas the snow pack and water was largely gone before the water was needed.]
Questioning the Orthodoxy
A doleful anniversary
By John Brignell, Number Watch, Feb 20, 2013 [H/t WUWT]
http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/2013%20February.htm#doleful
Energy security should be a high priority
By Martin Livermore, Scientific Alliance, Feb 21, 2013
Climate fear-mongers’ blind faith in suspect and shoddy science
Energy policies can’t ‘fix’ the weather
By Tom Harris, Washington Times, Feb 20, 2013 [H/t Cooler Heads]
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/20/climate-fear-mongers-blind-faith-in-suspect-and-sh/
Problems in the Orthodoxy
Global Temperature Standstill Gains IPCC Support
By Staff Writers, GWPF, Feb 22, 2013
http://www.thegwpf.org/global-temperature-standstill-gains-ipcc-support/
Questioning European Green
Cheaper energy is more important than going green
IMAGINE a different future. We are now so used to rising energy prices – they’ve gone up 159 per cent since 2004 – that they have come to seem an inevitable part of life
By Stephen Pollard, Express, UK, Feb 20, 2013 [H/t GWPF]
Warning bills could hit £3,500 a year because of windfarm costs
By Kieran Andrews, Courier, UK, Feb 22, 2013 [H/t GWPF]
Politicians posture as the lights go out
Editorial, Daily Mail, Feb 19, 2013 [H/t Carbon Brief]
[SEPP Comment: Calls on the US administration to stop punishing BP, which it deems to be brutal, politically-motivated vendetta against Britain by America.]
Energy prices: a political power play
Would-be investors in gas, green power and nuclear look on with no confidence at what return they can expect, and walk away
Editorial, Guardian, UK, Feb 19, 2013
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/19/energy-prices-political-power
German ‘green revolution’ may cost 1 trillion euros – minister
By Alexandra Hudson and Markus Wacket, Reuters, Feb 20, 2013 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/us-germany-energy-idUSBRE91J0AV20130220
European Institute For Climate And Energy Warns Germany’s Feed-In Act “Will Lead Country To Economic Ruin”
By P. Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Feb 19, 2013
“The result: a cost [for wind] that is 6 times higher for a lower quality product. Only the state is capable of making such a ridiculous economic decision.”
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Green Energy Push Harmful to the Economy
By Staff Writers, NCPA, Feb 19, 2013
The BLS Green Jobs Definition
By Staff Writers, BLS, Jan 25, 2013
http://www.bls.gov/green/green_definition.htm
[SEPP Comment: A green job is whatever the BLS claims benefits the environment. As with the Brookings study most green jobs are existing jobs and the greatest numbers are in sanitation and public transportation.]
Expanding the Orthodoxy
Prominent American Scientists Call For Eco-Dictatorship Under UN Rule
By Jurriaan Maessen, Explosive Reports, Feb 19, 2013
Link to article, Uncorrected version
Social Norms and Global Environmental Challenges: The Complex Interaction of Behaviors, Values, and Policy
By Kinzig, Ehrlich, et al, Prerelease, Bio-Science, Mar 2013
http://www.aibs.org/bioscience-press-releases/resources/Kinzig%20et%20al.pdf
The Food Threat to Human Civilization
By Paul and Anne Ehrlich, Project Syndicate, Feb 23, 2013
The Gleick Affair
The Case Against Peter Gleick
By Scott Johnson, Power News, Feb 17, 2013
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/02/the-case-against-peter-gleick.php
Decline of Scientific Institutions
Nursing prejudice: how climate change activists are prisoners of their own politics
By Andrew Montford, Spectator, Feb 19, 2013 [H/t GWPF]
Seeking a Common Ground
Interesting Timing to be Removed from GEC Editorial Board
By Roger Pielke, Jr, His Blog, Feb 20, 2013 [H/t Roger Cohen]
http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2013/02/interesting-timing-to-be-removed-from.html
A Balanced Approach to Climate Change
By Staff Writers, NCPA, Feb 22, 2013
Link to full article provided
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
Who’s muzzling whom over what?
By Peter Foster, Financial Post, Feb 21, 2013
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2013/02/21/peter-foster-whos-muzzling-whom-over-what/
Climate change is not an all-or-nothing proposition
By Pam Frost Gorder for OSY News, Boston MA (SPX), Feb 22, 2013
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Climate_change_is_not_an_all_or_nothing_proposition_999.html
“One of the criticisms of climate change research is that different computer models give different answers,” Berliner said. “But the key is not to pick the right climate model, but to pick the right elements out of each of the models.”
[SEPP Comment: How does one determine the right elements out of failing climate models other than be empirical research on each element?]
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
NOAA Inverts Reality
By Steven Goddard, Real Science, Feb 22, 2013 [H/t ICECAP]
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/noaa-inverts-reality/
Climate change’s costly wild weather consequences
By Staff Writers, Champaign IL (SPX), Feb 22, 2013
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Climate_changes_costly_wild_weather_consequences_999.html
[SEPP Comment: The 1950s was a period of cooling. Comparing cold and warm records of the 1950s with those of today is extremely misleading.]
Changing Weather
The Energy of Hurricanes
By Vincent Gray, NZ Climate Truth Letter, Feb 19, 2013
http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/the-energy-of-hurricanes.html
Kansas drought part of natural cycle, say farmers
By Simon Carswell, Irish Times, Feb 23, 2013 with comments from ICECAP
http://icecap.us/index.php/go/new-and-cool/kansas_drought_part_of_natural_cycle_say_farmers/
[SEPP Comment: ICECAP presents evidence contradicting statements by the local climate change expert.]
Changing Seas
Modeling sea level rise is an ‘uneven’ proposition
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Feb 21, 2013
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/02/21/modeling-sea-level-rise-is-an-uneven-proposition/
[SEPP Comment: All based on projections from models that are failing.]
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
Will less ice be good or bad for Arctic ecosystems? Scientists discuss.
By Roz Pidcock, Carbon Brief, Feb 18, 2013
Reduced sea ice disturbs balance of greenhouse gases
By Staff Writers
Lund, Sweden (SPX) Feb 22, 2013
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Reduced_sea_ice_disturbs_balance_of_greenhouse_gases_999.html
Link to article: The impact of lower sea-ice extent on Arctic greenhouse-gas exchange
By Parmentier, et al, Nature Climate Change, Feb 17, 2013
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1784.html
[SEPP Comment: According to the abstract, the reduction in Arctic sea ice results in a thawing of subsea permafrost. Yet, the Arctic ice floats on the sea below. Why would the summer ice melt thaw subsea permafrost?]
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
Food science expert: Genetically modified crops are overregulated
By Staff Writers. Champaign IL (SPX), Feb 21, 2013
Beyond Locavorism: Food Diversity for Food Security (carbon-fuel transport remains essential)
By Pierre Desrochers and Hiroko Shimizu, Master Resource, Feb 22, 2013
[SEPP Comment: The use of fossil fuels has given us reliable transportation and refrigeration, permitting humanity to overcome localized famine resulting from variable weather.]
Review of Recent Scientific Articles by NIPCC
For a full list of articles see www.NIPCCreport.org
A Two-Millennia Record of the South American Summer Monsoon
Reference: Vuille, M., Burns, S.J., Taylor, B.L., Cruz, F.W., Bird, B.W., Abbott, M.B., Kanner, L.C., Cheng, H. and Novello, V.F. 2012. A review of the South American monsoon history as recorded in stable isotopic proxies over the past two millennia. Climate of the Past 8: 1309-1321.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2013/feb/19feb2013a1.html
Field-Scale Impacts of Elevated CO2 on the World’s Major Crops
Reference: Vanuytrecht, E., Raes, D., Willems, P. and Geerts, S. 2012. Quantifying field-scale effects of elevated carbon dioxide concentration on crops. Climate Research 54: 35-47.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2013/feb/19feb2013a2.html
The Little Ice Age in Ant
arctica: Conditions in the Ross Sea
Reference: Rhodes, R.H., Bertler, N.A.N., Baker, J.A., Steen-Larsen, H.C., Sneed, S.B., Morgenstern, U. and Johnsen, S.J. 2012. Little Ice Age climate and oceanic conditions of the Ross Sea, Antarctica from a coastal ice core record. Climate of the Past 8: 1223-1238.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2013/feb/19feb2013a4.html
Fifteen Millennia of Climate Change in the Middle Reaches of China’s Yangtze River
Reference: Gu, Y., Wang, H., Huang, X., Peng, H. and Huang, J. 2012. Phytolith records of the climate change since the past 15000 years in the middle reach of the Yangtze River in China. Frontiers of Earth Science 6: 10-17.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2013/feb/20feb2013a3.html
Such findings led Gu et al. to state, in no uncertain terms, in the concluding sentence of their paper, that the good correlation that exists between their climate history of the middle reaches of China’s Yangtze River and the Bond events of the North Atlantic Ocean “reveals that solar activity controls the Earth surface climate system at the centennial and millennial scales.”
Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Taxes
Climate scientist proposes steep energy tax to help curb global warming
By Tom Sharpe, New Mexican, Feb 21, 2013 [H/t Tom Nelson]
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/022213hansen#.USfQHldS7wF
[SEPP Comment: James Hansen selling his tax plan where all the revenues will be returned to individuals or households without the government taking a cut.]
Emissions trading scheme: EU committee passes ‘rescue’ reforms
Approval of ‘backloading’ puts troubled system back on track – but reforms could still be watered down before parliament votes
By Fiona Harvey, Guardian, UK, Feb 19, 2013 [H/t Carbon Bried]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/19/emissions-trading-scheme-eu-rescue-reforms
[SEPP Comment: We are experiencing great losses. Let’s redouble our efforts to possibly redouble our losses. Great propaganda photo of black smoke arising from unidentified chimneys.]
EU Carbon Plunges After German Permit Auction Fails Second Time
By Mathew Carr & Alessandro Vitelli, Bloomberg, Feb 22, 2013
Fight jihad, stop carbon taxes
Shale oil boom means security
By Lawrence Solomon, Financial Post, Feb 21, 2013
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2013/02/21/lawrence-solomon-shale-means-security/
EPA and other Regulators on the March
What EPA Transparency Looks Like in Most Open, Honest Administration Ever
By William Yeatman, Global Warming.org, Feb 22, 2013
EPA Official Resigns
Another snared in secret email probe, says GOP senator
By CH Ciaramella, Free Beacon, Feb 19, 2013 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://freebeacon.com/epa-official-resigns/
Petition seeks new EPA pathway to require greenhouse gas curbs
By Ben Geman, The Hill, Feb 19, 2013
[SEPP Comment: Will this become sue and settle – a friendly lawsuit that EPA agrees to because it expands its powers?]
Land Grabs and Buffalo Visions
Enviros team up with the feds to drive out ranchers and create a vast eco-theme park.
By Bradley Anderson, American Spectator, Feb 22, 2013
http://spectator.org/archives/2013/02/22/land-grabs-and-buffalo-visions
Energy Issues – Non-US
Who monitors the oil sands monitors?
Energy firms have performed woefully in defending oil sands
By Peter Foster, Financial Post, Feb 19, 2013
Energy Issues — US
Obama’s Energy Plans Not a Triumph But a Tragedy
By Marita Noon, Energy Tribune, Feb 19, 2013
http://www.energytribune.com/73553/obamas-energy-plans-not-a-triumph-but-a-tragedy
Supporting Document: The President’s plan for a Strong Middle Class & a Strong America, The White House, Feb 12, 2013
Background Document: Energy 2030 Research Reports,
By Nicole Steele, ASE, No Date
http://ase.org/resources/ee-commission-report-summaries
Climate Change Madness
By Donn Dears, Power for USA, Feb 22, 2013
http://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/climate-change-madness/
Obama Must Drop Green For Real Energy
By Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Real Clear Markets, Feb 12, 2013
[SEPP Comment: It is important to realize that very few of the jobs the Labor Department counts as green jobs are jobs in green energy.]
Steven Chu’s legacy of waste and failure
Why scientists make poor politicians
By Terrence Scanlon, Washington Times, Feb 20, 2013
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/20/steven-chus-legacy-of-waste-and-failure/
[SEPP Comment: It is easy to blame Steven Chu for the failures of Department of Energy, and he is responsible. But it is doubtful that few, if any, in the department understood the rigorous of financial due diligence necessary when dollars Congress dumped billions of dollars onto the department with the so-called stimulus bill.]
Examiner Editorial: Obama’s anti-stimulus energy policies take money out of economy
Editorial, Washington Examiner, Feb 18, 2013
No winners in Obama’s green-energy trade war
By Tim Carney, Washington Examiner, Feb 18, 2013
http://washingtonexaminer.com/no-winners-in-obamas-green-energy-trade-war/article/2521803
[SEPP Comment: Now unreliable solar and wind power is a civil right?]
Washington’s Control of Energy
Why we’ll have to keep waiting for Obama’s decision on the Keystone XL pipeline
Rob Wile, Financial Post, Feb 22, 2013
Obama Faces Risks in Pipeline Decision
By John Broder, Clifford Krauss and Ian Austin, NYT, Feb 17, 2013
Obama’s $50B infrastructure plan calls for speedy approval of pipelines
By Yadullah Hussain, Financial Post, Feb 21, 2013
[SEPP Comment: Perhaps overly optimistic.]
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
Memories of Peak Oil
Is it too much to hope that even some catastrophists and peak-oil cultists will find it impossible to ignore the latest numbers?
By Vaclav Smil, The American, Feb 21, 2013 [H/t GWPF]
http://american.com/archive/2013/february/memories-of-peak-oil
No Brainer: White Stallion was a Dark Horse
By Michael Economides, Energy Tribune, Feb 20, 2013
http://www.energytribune.com/73625/no-brainer-white-stallion-was-a-dark-horse
[SEPP Comment: Brings up the water consumption of coal compared with natural gas, but does not completely address it.]
Now for the downside of fracking
Local people are unhappy with the risks they feel are associated with the gas rush in rural Pennsylvania
By Peter Foster, Telegraph, UK, Feb 20, 2013 [H/t Malcolm Ross]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/9883362/Now-for-the-downside-of-fracking.html
[SEPP Comment: Not everyone benefits from an energy boom. But is that sufficient reason to stop it?]
Return of King Coal?
New Coal Technology Harnesses Energy Without Burning, Nears Pilot-Scale Development
By Pam Frost Gorder, Ohio State Univ, Press Release, Feb 5, 2013 [H/t WUWT]
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/looping203.htm
[SEPP Comment: More technology for the alarmists to oppose. Cost and efficiency will be interesting.]
The Impending Decline of Coal
By Staff Writers, NCPA, Feb 19, 2013
Link to Study: Carl Johnston, Lewis Warne and H. Sterling Burnett, “Coal: Beginning the Long Goodbye?” National Center for Policy Analysis, Feb. 19, 2013.
Oil Spills, Gas Leaks & Consequences
EPA offices rely on outdated information to respond to spills, watchdog warns
Agency promises to fix problem by fall after second warning in two years
By Edward Felker, Washington Guardian, Feb 20, 2013
http://www.washingtonguardian.com/ill-prepared-spills
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Reactor makers must share accident costs: Greenpeace
By Staff Writers, Tokyo (AFP), Feb 19, 2013
[SEPP Comment: The manufacturers of automobiles should share in the costs of accident in icy weather?]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Tiny Denmark Bans Oil And Gas Furnaces in New Homes In A Bid To Rescue The Planet
By P. Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Feb 21, 2013
Denmark puts the brakes on heating costs with new legislation
By Anna Leidreiter, Renewable Energy World, Feb 15, 2013 [H/t No Tricks Zone]
[SEPP Comment: Bold, new leadership – banning oil-fired boilers and natural gas heating in new buildings and replacement of oil-fired boilers in existing buildings where district heating or natural gas is available will reduce heating cost? No doubt it will as people become more dependent on unreliable wind. Why not just ban heating?]
Renewable energy’s big secret
By Steve Goreham, Washington Times, Feb 20, 2013
Ambri’s Better Battery
A tiny startup called Ambri wants to transform our energy system with massive liquid-metal batteries.
By Martin LaMonica, MIT Technology Review, Feb 18, 2013
[SEPP Comment: Many people hope that batteries may addresses the failure of wind and solar as reliable sources of electricity. But it is economically foolish to deploy these sources until the battery system is demonstrated to be commercially viable.]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Oth
er
BC Hydro’s Billion Dollar Climate Bill
By Mark Walker, Master Resource, Feb 19, 2013
http://www.masterresource.org/2013/02/bc-hydro-billion-climate-bill/#more-24273
[SEPP Comment: How to destroy a reliable electricity generation system that emits no CO2.]
U.S. grasslands losing to biofuel crops
By Staff Writers, Brookings, S.D. (UPI) Feb, 20, 2013
http://www.biofueldaily.com/reports/US_grasslands_losing_to_biofuel_crops_999.html
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
NYC looks at electric vehicle charging
By Staff Writers, New York (UPI), Feb 17, 2013
http://www.spacemart.com/reports/NYC_looks_at_electric_vehicle_charging_999.html
Carbon Schemes
Stanford scientists explore new technologies that remove atmospheric CO2
By Mark Shwartz for Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford CA (SPX), Feb 22, 2013
[SEPP Comment: Exploiting weather events to justify expensive, questionable projects to remove beneficial CO2.]
Health, Energy, and Climate
Smog causes surge in heart deaths: study
By Staff Writers, Paris (AFP), Feb 20, 2013
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Smog_causes_surge_in_heart_deaths_study_999.html
[SEPP Comment: There is no question that serious air pollution affects human health. But if the British study applies, then inhabitants of the extremely polluted cities in Asia should be experiencing extremely high mortality rates.]
Bad, bad chemicals disrupt your endocrinals: WHO/UN report
By Staff Writers, ACSH, Feb 20, 2013
http://www.acsh.org/bad-bad-chemicals-disrupt-your-endocrinals-whoun-report/
[SEPP Comment: Another example of UN political science: We are ignorant, therefore we blame whatever is the fear of the day. The concept of a testable hypothesis is unknown to these UN political scientists.]
Environmental Industry
Shameless
By Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, Feb 22, 2013
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2013/2/22/shameless.html
[SEPP Comment: Organizations using high energy costs as the argument for stopping development of natural gas and more subsidizing of costly and unreliable wind.]
Other Scientific News
NASA scrambles for better asteroid detection
By Staff Writers, Washington (AFP), Feb 18, 2013
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_scrambles_for_better_asteroid_detection_999.html
Pollution Doesn’t Change the Rate of Droplet Formation
Original story by John Toon, Georgia Tech, Feb 18, 2013
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130218164124.htm
Unable to locate link to article.
Other News that May Be of Interest
Can Commercial Space Rescue NASA From Deadly Public Indifference?
By Larry Bell, Forbes, Feb 19, 2013
Peer-Reviewed Survey Finds Majority Of Scientists Skeptical Of Global Warming Crisis
By James Taylor, Forbes, Feb 13, 2013 [H/t Catherine French]
Global Warming believers March in D.C.
By Norman Rogers, American Thinker, Feb 19, 2013
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/02/global_warming_believers_march_in_dc.html
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BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE:
ABC, Dr Helen Caldicott sinks to mocking the unwell, Monckton calls for her to be deregistered
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Feb 23, 2013
http://joannenova.com.au/2013/02/abc-helen-caldicott-sinks-to-mocking-the-unwell-monckton-responds/
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Your summaries are excellent. Thanks.
“Unless we take action on climate change, future generations will be roasted, toasted, fried and grilled.”
I’ve met Christine Lagarde, been personally introduced to her (not that she would remember me), and have heard her speak in person, which she typically does with both quick wit and good humor. That was when she was in the private sector before she became managing director of the IMF.
It pains me to see this quote from her. What could possess her to say such a ridiculous thing is baffling. I’m afraid the layers of lobbyists and “expert advisors” in government and quasi-government organizations, coupled with privileged isolation, eventually take their toll on a person’s grasp of reality . . .
Eric Anderson says:
February 24, 2013 at 9:07 pm
“It pains me to see this quote from her. What could possess her to say such a ridiculous thing is baffling.”
Maybe she’s in fact as dumb as a box of Eurocommissars; and you didn’t notice. THe alternative would be that she’s lying and has a vested interest in promoting the fall of Europe.
Part of the AGW dysfunction is that people who should act as trusted advisers have become radicalized into AGW extremists and promoters and are feeding decision makers a lot of climate hype instead of good advice. We end up with an EPA workers acting duplicitously with NGOs to enrich them (and themselves, thanks to revolving doors) with fat carve outs. We end up with scientific advisers pushing ridiculous lose-lose policies that only enrich climate insiders at the expense of rate payers and tax payers (Think of the damage climate kooks are doing to the British power grid).
The Sun is quiet. This means less heat input to the tropics [equator region]. I don’t care what the Solar constants [TSI dogmatists] say. Note: to answer their objections, the Solar UV is at a minimum [range ~70 to 300, 10.7cm flux units] of less than 100 flux units. Solar UV drives the Ozone regions controlling the Ozone layer height. The height of the Ozone layer effects the amount of atmospheric insulation.
Snow and weather predictions:
a) The Jet Streams will move toward the Equator causing later springs and cooler temperatures.
b) The Jet Streams will bring more cold air clashes [moving toward the Equator] with the heat/moisture from the Oceans/Sun moving toward the Poles [stored heat, less Solar energy].
c) Not necessarily stronger storms, but more rain/snow closer to the equator.
d) Of course, the regions nearer the Poles will also get more snow/rain and less melting.
Just remember, the same illustrious scientists that said Solar Physics is settled, missed this Solar cycle peak projection six times. Let’s see if they can get the data right after this Solar cycle [24] is over. I would expect grand manipulation!
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