Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup

Quote of the Week: “If you think that science is certain-well that’s just an error on your part.” Richard Feynman [H/t Daniel Botkin, WSJ]

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Number of the Week: 28.5, 47, and 1.3 billion

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THIS WEEK:

By Ken Haapala, Executive Vice President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)

Climategate II: Although largely ignored or dismissed as “more of the same” by the mainstream press, the Climategate II emails continue to reveal the extent of the deceit, misinformation, and underhanded tricks the “team” uses to suppress challenges to their cause. As can be gleaned from in their emails, the “cause” is not the scientific cause of global warming, which is no longer occurring, but their cause is claiming human emissions of carbon dioxide are causing unprecedented and dangerous global warming. In other words, their cause is to lay the blame for global warming / climate change on human emissions of carbon dioxide.

It is important to recognize that the leaked emails come from the computer servers used by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, thus are limited to the correspondence going through CRU.

Roger Pielke Sr. strongly believes that humans cause local and regional climate change, but in many ways other than carbon dioxide emissions. In discussing the Climategate II emails, he makes an important differentiation between the “team”, those involved in Climategate emails, and what he calls the “oligarchy” – the few who control key decisions and reports of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Limiting the failings of the IPCC science to the “team” and criticizing the team it is not sufficient. The “oligarchy” must be changed before there is any hope of unbiased scientific rigor in the reports of the IPCC.

A number of web sites are reporting interesting revelations from the Climategate II emails. In Climate Audit, Steve McIntyre is focusing largely on the discredited “hockey-stick” and the efforts to “hide the decline.” In establishing any scientific credibility to Michael Mann’s “hockey-stick” it was important to calibrate the proxy, tree-ring data with instrument data. Since proxy data may have shown no warming a cooling after about 1980 while surface temperatures showed a warming, the calibration was impossible. Mann’s “Nature” trick was to eliminate the proxy data after about 1980. This is one of the subjects of the “Freedom of Information” quest for Mann’s emails while at the University of Virginia, which is still under court review.

Anthony Watts in http://wattsupwiththat.com/ is providing ongoing threads on the significant revelations from the emails. Marc Morano in Climate Depot, http://www.climatedepot.com/, is providing some details and reactions. AW Montfort, in http://bishophill.squarespace.com/, is focusing on the British efforts and is compiling a list of the most outrageous efforts by the “team.” Perhaps the most egregious was by Tom Wigley of the US National Center for Atmospheric Research trying to open an investigation to revoke the Ph.D. earned by Patrick Michaels, a luke-warmer. No doubt, until Climategate II, Wigley was unaware that his own team members considered his statistical efforts to defend the claims were substandard. Please see links under “Climategate” and “Suppressing Scientific Inquiry.”

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Person or Persons of Interest: TWTW seldom links to web postings in which the writers are not identified. But, Jo Nova has posted an interesting speculative description of the Climategate leaker(s) by someone only identified as Pointman. Among the issues brought up is why the leaker(s) have not been caught. Hint: there are still 200,000 plus emails behind a special code. Please see links to “Person or Persons(s) of Interest.”

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COP 17: The 17th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) convened on Monday in the resort city of Durban, South Africa, and will last until next Friday. Ostensibly, the goal is to continue the agreements of the Kyoto Protocol to control human emissions of carbon dioxide, which expires at the end of 2012. As of this time, that appears not possible. Canada has announced that it will pull out, the US was never in, and Russia, South Africa and other nations are not interested. China has stated it is willing to continue the Protocol – which places all the efforts for such controls onto Western countries, yet but does not include China.

What now appears to be the current primary goal of the UN organizers of this conference is to have developed countries pay into the newly invented UN Green Climate Fund $100 Billion (US) per year by 2020 for pretended damages from global warming caused by human emissions of carbon dioxide. This money will be distributed by UN bureaucrats as they see fit. The UN is not noted for its financial accountability, and, of course, the fact that carbon dioxide emissions of China exceed those of the US does not deter the UN demand the US must pay.

COP 17 will present new demands, and work for an agreement of past demands that will justify more such multi-million meetings in the future – none of which have great meaning except to waste money better used for other purposes. Such meetings will continue as long as the UN leaders believe they can extort money from developed nations by using the fear of global warming. Please see Articles # 1 and #2, and links under “Questioning the Orthodoxy.”

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Climate Ethics or Morals: Global warming activists have introduced a new, lower dimension in their advocacy that human emissions of carbon dioxide are causing unprecedented and dangerous global warming. The “National Climate Ethics Campaign” declares that it is the moral and ethical responsibility for national leaders to aggressively respond to climate change. Among US politicians who publically endorse the campaign are those who advocated carbon dioxide cap-and-trade in the US, such as Sen. Barbara Boxer, Reps. Ed Markey and Harry Waxman. The advocates give no evidence supporting their assertions of ethics and morality other than their belief of the orthodoxy.

The Climate Ethics or Morals campaign is another dogma. The advocates accept no dissent. Those who question claims that human emissions of carbon dioxide are causing unprecedented and dangerous global warming are labeled as deniers, immoral and unethical. Those who promote such claims are “scientists,” even when they distort scientific methodology and knowledge. Please see links under “Expanding the Orthodoxy.”

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Raising Energy Costs to Consumers: Two agencies under the administration announced plans that will no doubt raise energy costs to consumer. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced that it will recalculate the payments that hydropower licensees must pay for use of Federal land. Many of the nation’s major hydropower projects were funded by the Federal government to create prosperity using Federal lands. These include the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in the Southeast, the Colorado River projects in the Southwest, and the largest, the Bonneville Power Administration in the Northwest. The extent to which charges will increase has not yet been determined.

The EPA announced it will release a “guidance” document concerning the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract oil or natural gas. These methods are greatly adding to the prosperity of several states, including Pennsylvania for natural gas and North Dakota for oil. The announcement has alarmed officials in North Dakota, where the oil boom has resulted in the lowest unemployment rate in the nation – about 3.5%. The alarm is based upon the EPA actions against Alabama, where it issued a similar document and then declared a moratorium on fracking until the state passed regulations complying with the “guidance” document. Officials in North Dakota fear moratoriums expected to last one to two year. All the wells being drilled in North Dakota depend on fracking. While in a special session for other purposes, the legislature allocated $1 million to fight the EPA. The EPA has failed to produce scientific evidence justifying such actions and officials expect if EPA is successful each well will require a long approval process. Drilling in Alabama has still not recovered from EPA guidance. Please see links under “EPA and other Regulators on the March.”

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Extreme Weather: As of December 4 the US will pass 2,232 days without a hurricane making landfall in the US (Irene was a tropical storm when it hit this fall). This is the longest such period since 1900. As Roger Pielke, Jr. points out, what is the probability of models predicting catastrophic climate events predicting such a dearth of hurricanes – zero?

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NUMBERS OF THE WEEK: 28.5, 47, and 1.3 billion. Over the past decade, global carbon-dioxide emissions rose by 28.5%, while US emissions fell by 1.7%. Over the past decade coal use rose by 47%. 1.3 Billion people do not have access to electricity today. Please see “Nothing Doing In Durban” by Robert Bryce under “Questioning the Orthodoxy. ”

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ARTICLES:

For the numbered articles below please see this week’s TWTW at:

http://www.sepp.org…

The articles are at the end of the pdf.

1. Durban Climate Conference: The Dream Fades

By S. Fred Singer, American Thinker, Nov 28, 2011

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/durban…

2. The Great Global Warming Fizzle

The climate religion fades in spasms of anger and twitches of boredom.

By Bret Stephens, WSJ, Nov 29, 2011 [H/t Timothy Wise]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297…

3. Absolute Certainty Is Not Scientific

Global warming alarmists betray their cause when they declare that it is irresponsible to question them.

By Daniel B. Botkin, WSJ, Dec 2, 2011

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297…

4. U.S. Nears Milestone: Net Fuel Exporter

By Liam Pleven and Russell Gold, WSJ, Nov 30, 2011

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297…

U.S. exports of gasoline, diesel and other oil-based fuels are soaring, putting the nation on track to be a net exporter of petroleum products in 2011 for the first time in 62 years.

5. The United States of EPA

Ms. Jackson’s agency takes over automobile design.

Editorial, WSJ, Nov 28, 2011

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297…

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NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Climategate Continued

Hide-the-Decline Plus

By Steve McIntyre, Climate Audit, Dec 1, 2011

http://climateaudit.org/2011/12/01/hide-the-d…

Direct Action at Harvard

By Steve McIntyre, Climate Audit, Nov 28, 2011

http://climateaudit.org/2011/11/28/direct-act…

Behind Closed Doors: “Perpetuating Rubbish”

By Steve McIntyre, Climate Audit, Nov 25, 2011

http://climateaudit.org/2011/11/25/behind-clo…

Climategate II: An Open Letter to the Director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research

By Patrick Michaels, Forbes, Dec 2, 2011

http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmichaels/2…

Climategate 2.0 emails – thread #2

By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Nov 30, 2011

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/30/climate…

Climatic Research Unit Shameful Peer-Review Control Tactics: The Soon/Baliunas Debacle.

By Tim Ball, His Blog, Nov 28, 2011

http://drtimball.com/2011/climatic-research-u…

Scientists Behaving Badly

More nails for the coffin of man-made global warming

By Jim Lacy, National Review, Nov 28, 2011

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/284137…

Significance Of Climategate #2 – Further Evidence Of The Failure Of An Appropriate and Accurate Assessment Of Climate Science

By Roger Pielke, Sr, Pielke Climate Science, Nov 2, 20111

http://pielkeclimatesci.wordpress.com/2011/12…

Climategate II: More Smoking Guns From The Global Warming Establishment

By Larry Bell, Forbes, Nov 29, 2011

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2011/11…

ClimateGate II: Handy Guide to spot whitewash journalism – The top 10 excuses for scientists behaving badly

By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Dec 2, 2011

http://joannenova.com.au/2011/11/climategate-…

Further Documentation Of Inappropriate Behavior By A Subset Of Members Of The CCSP 1.1 Committee And The NRC Review Committee

By Roger Pielke, Sr, Pielke Climate Science, Nov 30, 2011

http://pielkeclimatesci.wordpress.com/2011/11…

I’m not supposed to talk to anyone of the report authors !”[the exclamation point was in the e-mail].

Climategate 2.0

A new batch of leaked emails again shows some leading scientists trying to smear opponents.

By James Delingpole, WSJ, Nov 28, 2011 [H/t Roger Cohen]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297…

[SEPP Comment: May be behind a paywall.]

Suppressing Scientific Inquiry

Crushing of dissent

By AW Montford, Bishop Hill, Dec 3, 2011

http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2011/1…

OMSI cancels global warming presentation, saying panel was one-sided

By Scott Learn, The Oregonian, Nov 28, 2011

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.s…

[OMSI is the Oregon Museum for Science and Industry.]

OSU’s Mote helps block AMS function featuring local skeptics; Battig letter on students against coal

By Dr. Gordon Fulks and Dr. Charles Battig, ICECAP, Nov 29, 2011

http://icecap.us/index.php/go/new-and-cool/le…

Climate change science being stifled by NSW Labor bureaucrats

By Malcolm Holland, Telegraph, AU, Dec 2, 2011 [H/t ICECAP]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-…

Ideology And Climate Change: How To Silence Journalists

By Markus Lehmkuhl, Wissenschafts-Pressekonferenz, Dec 1, 2011 [H/t GWPF]

http://www.thegwpf.org/science-news/4472-ideo…

Person or Persons of Interest

A dead man’s hand detonator on hidden emails may protect ClimateGate whistleblower

By “Pointman”, Jo Nova, Nov 29, 2011

http://joannenova.com.au/2011/11/pointman-a-d…

README of FOI2011, Nov 2011

http://thepointman.wordpress.com/readme-of-fo…

Challenging the Orthodoxy

Met Office Climate Forecasts: Always Wrong But Never In Doubt

By David Whitehouse, The Observatory, Dec 1, 2011

http://www.thegwpf.org/the-observatory/4468-m…

Defending the Orthodoxy

Why climategate is a catastrophe for science

By Christopher Cadwell, FT.com, UK, Nov 25, 2011 [H/t Warren Wetmore]

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b8bfa07e-1692-…

Until the replacement of the Italian government earlier this month, the climate change establishment was probably the most robust technocracy in the west. [SEPP Comment: No comment needed.]

Past decade ties for world’s hottest: UN agency

By Staff Writers, AFP, Nov 29, 2011

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Past_decade…

2011 ranks as the 10th warmest year since 1850, when accurate measurements began.

While La Nina, and its meteorological cousin El Nino, are not caused by climate change, …

[SEPP Comment: We have had comprehensive global temperature measurements since 1850? ]

After apartheid, Tutu aims at ‘huge enemy’ climate change

By Staff Writers, AFP, Nov 27, 2011

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/After_apart…

Durban and the climate change deniers

A repeat of the failed Copenhagen summit is likely unless the global north is prepared to take its fair share of CO2 cuts

By Praful Bidwai, Guardian, UK, Nov 28, 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/…

£1 billion of UK aid to fight climate change in Africa

The UK is set to pour up to £1 billion of taxpayers money into helping African countries fight climate change.

By Richard Gray, Telegraph, UK, Nov 26, 2011 [H/t Anne Debeil]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/…

Global warming forgotten in 2012 race

By Ed Rogers, Washington Post, Nov 30, 2011 [H/t Warren Wetmore]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-insid…

Questioning the Orthodoxy

U.N. Climate Conference’s Goal? One-World Gov’t

By Phyllis Schlafly, IBD, Nov 29, 2011

http://news.investors.com

Nothing Doing In Durban By Robert Bryce, Energy Tribune, Dec 2, 2011

http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm/928…

Durban Due Diligence

By Kelvin Kemm, Townhall, Nov 30, 2011

http://townhall.com/columnists/kelvinkemm/201…

Global warming alarmism cooling

At U.N. climate conference, poorer nations still want to soak richer ones.

Share

Editorial, Orange County Register, Nov 30, 2011 [H/t Warren Wetmore]

http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/nations-329…

Secrecy in Science – An Argument for open Access

By Fred Pearce, Index on Censorship, Nov 29, 2011 [H/t GWPF]

http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2011/11/clim…

The Confused Climate Change Consensus By Art Horn, Energy Tribune, Nov 30, 2011

http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm/926…

Eco-Absurdity

By Alan Caruba, Warning Signs, Dec 1, 2011

http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/2011/12/e…

The moral climate

By Peter Foster, Financial Post, Nov 28, 2011

http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/11/28/p…

[SEPP Comment: First of two parts.]

Closing the door on Kyoto

By Terence Corcoran, Financial Post, Nov 28, 2011

http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/11/28/t…

Questioning European Green

Environmentalism in a recession

By Martin Livermore, Scientific Alliance, Dec 2, 2011

http://www.scientific-alliance.org/scientific…

[SEPP Comment: The first US Park was Yellowstone, established by Congress 1872.]

Expanding the Orthodoxy

BBC sought advice from global warming scientists on economy, drama, music… and even game shows

By David Rose, Daily Mail, Nov 27, 2011

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-20667…

Britain’s leading green activist research centre spent £15,000 on seminars for top BBC executives in an apparent bid to block climate change sceptics from the airwaves, a vast new cache of leaked ‘Climategate’ emails has revealed.

National Climate Ethics Campaign

Climate Change: The Ethical Dimension

New campaign focuses on moral responsibility to tackle global warming

Press Release, Nov 30, 2011

http://climateethicscampaign.org/…

Groups frame climate as a moral cause

By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, Nov 30, 2011 [H/t Conrad Potemra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health…

Penn State to lecture on “climate ethics”

Posted by Anthony Watts, WUWT, Nov 29, 2011

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/29/penn-st…

Open letter to Dr. Erickson, President of Penn State University

By Reed Coray, WUWT, Dec 1, 2011

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/01/open-le…

UN mobilizes civil society for Rio’s environment summit

By Staff Writers, AFP, Nov 28, 2011

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/UN_mobilize…

Problems within the Orthodoxy

Europe Completely Isolated At Durban Climate Summit

By Staff Writers, AFP, Nov 30, 2011

http://www.thegwpf.org/the-climate-record/446…

Climate change conference lures no congressmen

By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, Nov 30, 2011

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/…

Salvaging Kyoto a ‘tall order’: UN climate chief

By Staff Writers, AFP, Nov 27, 2011

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Salvaging_K…

Rifts emerge as UN climate talks open

By Staff Writers, AFP, Nov 28, 2011

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Rifts_emerg…

Canada rejects new binding climate change pact

Setback for 100 bln dollar aid fund at climate talks

By Staff Writers, AFP, Nov 30, 2011

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Setback_for…

Seeking a Common Ground

Santa Fe Conference: Part II – Some presentations

By Judith Curry, Climate Etc, Nov 19, 2011

http://judithcurry.com/2011/11/19/santa-fe-co…

Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?

19 hurricanes in third-most active Atlantic season

By Staff Writers, AFP, Nov 28, 2011

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/19_hurrican…

[SEPP Comment: See Pielke below, longest period ever with no hurricane making landfall in the US. When Irene made landfall it was no longer a hurricane. Until recently, many storms passed unnoticed.]

Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.

Weather’s Too Nice For Global Warming Alarmists

Editorial, IBD, Nov 30, 2011

http://news.investors.com/Article/593290/2011…

World on track for nearly 11-degree temperature rise, energy expert says

By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, Nov 28, 2011 [H/t Conrad Potemra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health…

[SEPP Comment: So much for the climate expertise of the International Energy Agency.]

The worst kind of ugly climate propaganda: David Suzuki targets kids at Christmas in the name of climate change

By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Nov 30, 2011

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/30/the-wor…

Changing Weather

A New US Hurricane Record

By Roger Pielke Jr, His Blog, Nov 28, 2011

http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2011/11/new…

Weather, Not Climate

By Walter Russell Mead, American Interest, Nov 28, 2011

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/20…

Thailand counts cost of monster floods

by Staff Writers, AFP, Nov 25, 2011

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Thailand_co…

The Political Games Continue

US lawmakers seek to force Obama move on pipeline

By Staff Writers, AFP, Nov 30, 2011

http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/US_lawmak…

Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Taxes

Australia picks last possible moment to leap ONTO burning ship

By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Nov 26, 2011

http://joannenova.com.au/2011/11/australia-pi…

JP Morgan Follows UBS Cutting Carbon Jobs as Permits Plunge

By Staff Writers, Businessweek, Dec 2, 2011 [H/t GWPF]

http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?docu…

Subsidies and Mandates Forever

Era of energy subsidies is over

American consumers, not Congress, should choose best power sources

By Reps Raul Labrador and Mike Pompeo, Washington Times, Nov 26, 2011 [H/t John Droz]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/…

EPA and other Regulators on the March

Helms says EPA could halt fracking in oil patch

By Lauren Donovan, Bismarck Tribune, Nov 27, 2011 [H/t Gretchen Randall]

http://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-reg…

The Legislature allocated $1 million in the recent special redistricting session for a legal challenge against the EPA

Will The EPA Choke Oil Shale Production

Editorial, IBD, Nov 30, 2011 [H/t Timothy Wise]

http://news.investors.com/Article.aspx?id=593…

EPA Wastewater Regulation-What a Waste!

By Jackie Moreau, Global Warming.org, Dec 1, 2011

http://www.globalwarming.org/2011/12/01/epa-w…

FERC Proposes Annual Charge for Federal Land Hydropower Licensees

By Staff Writers, POWERnews, Nov 30, 2011

http://www.powermag.com/POWERnews/4207.html?h…

NERC: EPA Rules Could Stress the Nation’s Grid

By Staff Writers, POWERnews, Nov 30, 2011

http://www.powermag.com/POWERnews/4210.html?h…

Chesapeake Bay ‘pollution diet’ is really about control

By: Barbara Hollingsworth, Washington Examiner, Nov 29, 2011

http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/

Energy Issues

Canadian energy sector marches to its own drummer

Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post, Nov 28, 2011

http://business.financialpost.com/2011/11/28/…

Venezuela, China sign $6 billion oil deals

By Staff Writers, AFP, Nov 24, 2011

http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Venezuela…

[SEPP Comment: No environmentalists protesting dirty oil here.]

Remembering ‘Green’ Enron (Part II: Corporate Social Responsibility)

By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Dec 2, 2011

http://www.masterresource.org/2011/12/remembe…

Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?

Field of dreams, or an environment nightmare?

Energy companies are planning a huge increase in the number of British drilling sites for shale gas, as arguments rage over whether the controversial fuel is safe.

By Andrew Gilligan, Telegraph, UK, Nov 26, 2011 [H/t Anne Debeil]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/gas/8…

The Non-Green Jobs Boom

Forget ‘clean energy.’ Oil and gas are boosting U.S. employment.

Editorial, WSJ, Nov 28, 2011

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297…

[SEPP Comment: May be behind a paywall.]

Administration’s Control of Oil and Gas

Badly-Needed Alaskan Oil Is Kept From Market By Obama Decision

Editorial, IBD, Nov 29, 2011

http://news.investors.com/Article.aspx?id=593…

Obama’s Green War Continues

By Gary Jason, American Thinker, Nov 26, 2011

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/obamas…

Return of King Coal?

IEA: The Forward March of Coal Continues

By Frank Clemente, Energy Facts Weekly, Nov 29, 2011

http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=29bc7d5d8…

Nuclear Energy and Fears

Reactor Core Melted Fully, Japan Says

Fuel Breached Vessel Floor, Operator Says, In Its Gravest Fukushima Status Report

By Mitsuru Obe and Tom Fowler, WSJ, Dec 1, 2011

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297…

Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy

Chu’d out

Americans can’t afford a wasteful energy secretary

Editorial, Washington Times, Nov 24, 2011 [H/t SPPI]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/…

Wind power truly in the realm of mysticism

By Kelvin Kemm, Engineering News, ZA, Nov 25, 2011 [H/t John Droz]

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/wind…

Watching The Wheels Come Off The Green Machine

By Bill Frezza, Forbes, Nov 29, 2011

http://www.forbes.com/sites/billfrezza/2011/1…

Windpower’s PTC: Secondary to State Mandates

By Lisa Linowes and Bill Short, Master Resource, Nov 28, 2011

http://www.masterresource.org/2011/11/windpow…

[PTC stands for production tax credit.]

Wind power to account for half of Danish energy use in 2020

By Staff Writers, AFP Nov 25, 2011

http://www.winddaily.com/reports/Wind_power_t…

[SEPP Comment: The highest electricity rates in Europe should be no obstacle – households will cut back on electricity consumption.]

Why Silicon Valley will never become Green Energy Valley

By Andrew McKillop, European Energy Review, Nov 29, 2011 [H/t John Droz]

http://www.europeanenergyreview.eu/site/pagin…

OSU study questions cost-effectiveness of biofuels and their ability to cut fossil fuel use

By Staff Writers, SPX, Dec 01, 2011

http://www.biofueldaily.com/reports/OSU_study…

Carbon Schemes

Pipelines Required For CCS

By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Dec 2, 2011

http://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/pipe…

Consortium begins injection of CO2 for storage at Illinois Basin

By Staff Writers, SPX, Nov 30, 2011

http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Consortiu…

Ameren Quits Federally Backed Clean Coal Project

By Staff Writers, POWERnews, Nov 30, 2011

http://www.powermag.com/POWERnews/4211.html?h…

California Dreaming

Want To Be Carbon-Free? Bring On The Nukes

Editorial, IBD, Nov 29, 2011

http://news.investors.com/Article/593182/2011…

A how-to guide to slashing California’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050

By Staff Writers, SPX, Nov 30, 2011

http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/A_how_to_…

[SEPP Comment: Item # 1, drive up the costs to force the public to stop consuming electricity.]

Review of Recent Scientific Articles by NIPCC

For a full list of articles see

http://www.NIPCCreport.org…

Surface Mass Balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet

Reference: Ettema, J., van den Broeke, M.R., van Meijgaard, E., van de Berg, W.J., Bamber, J.L., Box, J.E. and Bales, R.C. 2009. Higher surface mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet revealed by high-resolution climate modeling. Geophysical Research Letters 36: 10.1029/2009GL038110.

http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2011/nov/…

With respect to the stability/longevity of the Greenland Ice Sheet, Ettema et al. state that “considerably more mass accumulates on the Greenland Ice Sheet than previously thought, adjusting upwards earlier estimates by as much as 63%,” which suggests that the Northern Hemisphere’s largest ice sheet is not in danger of disintegrating any time soon

Millennial Climate Variability Along the Coast of the Northwestern Iberian Peninsula

Reference: Andrade, A., Rubio, B., Rey, D., Alvarez-Iglesias, P., Bernabeu, A.M. and Vilas, F. 2011. Palaeoclimatic changes in the NW Iberian Peninsula during the last 3000 years inferred from diagenetic proxies in the Ria de Muros sedimentary record. Climate Research 48: 247-259.

http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2011/nov/…

Humanity’s Future: Will There Be Enough Water … to Grow Enough Food?

Reference: Fereres, E., Orgaz, F. and Gonzalez-Dugo, V. 2011. Reflections on food security under water scarcity. Journal of Experimental Botany 62: 4079-4086.

http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2011/nov/…

The Next Forty Years of Hypothetical Global Warming

Reference: Fu, C.-B., Qian, C. and Wu, Z.-H. 2011. Projection of global mean surface air temperature changes in next 40 years: Uncertainties of climate models and an alternative approach. Science China Earth Sciences 54: 1400-1406.

“most of the individual model runs fail to reproduce the MDV of past climate, which may have led to the overestimation of the projection of global warming for the next 40 years or so.” [MDV stands for multi-decadal variability.]

Environmental Industry

Chemical fear mongering goes into overdrive

By Dr. Gilbert Ross, the Executive Director and Medical Director of the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) in New York., The Hill, Nov 28, 2011

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy…

Other Scientific News

Drop in Carbon Dioxide Levels Led to Polar Ice Sheet, Study Finds

By Staff Writers, Science Daily, Dec 1, 2011

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/…

“The evidence falls in line with what we would expect if carbon dioxide is the main dial that governs global climate; if we crank it up or down there are dramatic changes,”

[SEPP Comment: Does not address Arctic ice nor ice ages for the past 2.5 million years. Also does not explain how ice ages start even when carbon dioxide levels are rising.]

NASA launches biggest-ever rover to Mars

By Staff Writers, AFP, Nov 26, 2011

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/NASA_launche…

PLEASE NOTE: The complete TWTW, including the full text of the numbered articles, can be downloaded in an easily printable form at this web site: http://www.sepp.org/the-week-that-was.cfm…

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