For those of you who don’t know yet, Kenji is our family dog. Kenji is also a official dues paying member of the Union of Concerned scientists. see: Friday Funny – The newest member of the Union of Concerned Scientists because as Kenji’s membership proved, you don’t need to be a scientist to join, all you need is a valid credit card.
Like any UCS member he gets propaganda informational mailings from them, for example, this one today:
This was followed by another embedded email, because, they haven’t heard from Kenji and they are trying to get him to re-up his membership. Only one problem though; their lead claim is completely false, not once but twice. I’ve underlined the lead claim in red:
Citation #1 (at the bottom) refers to this article in Fox Nation on April 30th 2012:
1. Note the source date and source wire service: April 29 (Reuters) the original Reuters story is here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/29/us-wind-farms-climate-idUSBRE83S0BG20120429
Fox news didn’t make the claim of warming, Reuters did by reporting the story on the science from a press release. Fox News simply carried the Reuters story verbatim as many other news outlets did.
And, they were not the only major news outlet to run with a headline like that. Environmental reporter Louise Gray at the Telegraph had a nearly identical headline:
But of course, the paid political activists at UCS aren’t upset about that headline, because even though she reported the story accurately, Louise is part of the team on the UCS side of the argument. The National Science Foundation was the source of the story in their press release here. UCS wouldn’t dare be upset about that one.
2. Note also that the study results are peer reviewed in Nature Climate Change authored by SUNY in Albany by examining satellite data comparing wind farms and other areas.
Here is the paper:
Zhou, Liming, Yuhong Tian, Somnath Baidya Roy, Chris Thorncroft, Lance F. Bosart and Yuanlong Hu 2012: Impacts of wind farms on land surface temperature. Nature Climate Change. doi:10.1038/nclimate1505
And the abstract (bold mine):
The wind industry in the United States has experienced a remarkably rapid expansion of capacity in recent years and this fast growth is expected to continue in the future. While converting wind’s kinetic energy into electricity, wind turbines modify surface–atmosphere exchanges and the transfer of energy, momentum, mass and moisture within the atmosphere. These changes, if spatially large enough, may have noticeable impacts on local to regional weather and climate.
Here we present observational evidence for such impacts based on analyses of satellite data for the period of 2003–2011 over a region in west-central Texas, where four of the world’s largest wind farms are located. Our results show a significant warming trend of up to 0.72 °C per decade, particularly at night-time, over wind farms relative to nearby non-wind-farm regions. We attribute this warming primarily to wind farms as its spatial pattern and magnitude couples very well with the geographic distribution of wind turbines.
The study methodology isn’t controversial, and the results make sense given that wind farms create turbulence, which mixes the atmosphere more effectively, especially at night. The raises the overnight observed Tmin, which in turn raises the Tavg temperature, creating a local warming trend.
Temperature Differences near Wind Farms
This graph shows the night-time land surface temperature differences near wind farms between 2010 and 2013. Credit: Liming Zhou et al., Nature Climate Change
Orchardists and viticulturists have known of this mixing effect by wind turbines for years, which is why all over California we have powered wind turbines placed in orchards and in vineyards like this one to ward off frost by increasing the vertical mixing of the atmosphere, bringing warming air downward to mix it with cold air near the ground:
Of course, if it was the other way around, and something that produced energy caused some local warming that wasn’t part of the anointed “clean energy” solution set held dear by UCS, they’d be all over it saying it contributed to global warming.
We see examples of this sort of bias almost daily in MSM stories about “climate change” and global warming.
When UCS says this about Fox News: But their twisting of facts is anything but a joke.
It is clear that UCS is the ones twisting the facts, and the joke is on them.
Even my dog can see through the charlatans at UCS; they aren’t in it for the science, they are in it for the money when they use slimeball tactics like this for fundraising drives.
And finally, maybe UCS will find a way to get upset about this story carried on WUWT recently:
- Rethinking wind power – Harvard study shows it to be overestimated (wattsupwiththat.com)
Or maybe this one:
- Wind farms will create more carbon dioxide, say scientists (telegraph.co.uk)
And ask for even more money to counter these “twisted facts”.
Let the bloviating for dollars commence!
A little humor at UCS expense thanks to Josh:
- Sunday Silliness – Kenji takes on the UCS Chicken Little (wattsupwiththat.com)
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I read in the above image capture of the UCS:
You might wonder what the heck it has to do with wind turbines. Well wind turbines manufacture requires the use of some rare-Earth metals. Now see below:
Other reports on the toxic waste in Mongolia can be found here, here.
Will the UCS now lobby governments to ban the importation of wind turbines into the US that use rare-Earth metals from the region? Will they also lobby to ban the importation of rare-Earth metals from this region? They need to show that they stand for their middle name “CONCERNED”. Or are they only “CONCERNED” about Westerners?
Here is the prompt email reply I received to my question, “Do I have to be a scientist to join?” (emphasis supplied):
No, not at all! In fact, the majority of our members are not scientists, but concerned members of the public. You can become a member by going to http://www.ucsusa.org, clicking on the drop-down menu under the Donate button, and selecting “Become a member of UCS.”
Thank you for your interest and let me know if you have further questions.
Best,
Jennifer
____________________________________________________________________
Jennifer Campbell
Membership Manager
Union of Concerned Scientists | Two Brattle Square, Cambridge, MA 02138 | 617-301-8049
The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet’s most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future.
http://www.ucsusa.org | Take action with our citizen network or expert network. | Support our work. |
Join the conversation on our blog or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
It would be astonishing that Louise Gray is so off-message if there was any evidence that she understands anything she “writes”. Her day seems to consist of cutting and pasting Greenpeace, WWF and FOE press releases. This probably just got into the wrong pile. She’ll be posting her shopping list next.
CodeTech — as a rule of thumb, leftists know NOTHING of things outside of their leftist bubble. They go off half-cocked on the latest Facebook zinger, and then smugly assume they’re one of the smart, cool people.
CodeTech says:
February 27, 2013 at 12:01 am
As a rule of thumb, if you want to stir up leftists, especially the most ignorant of them, just mention FoxNews.
Similarly, if you want to determine who is a leftist, just discuss something you saw on FoxNews. They will always reveal themselves, immediately, usually loudly.
_________________________
Saw it on Drudge Report.
I was a member of the UCS back in the 80s, when their focus was on nuclear weapons. Then they switched focus to climate change and began sending out mailings that were scientifically inaccurate. I wrote a letter pointing out the exaggerations and inaccuracies in their mailings and they responded with the following: “Okay…but what if our stuff turns out to be true after all? It would be really bad.”
That was the end of our ‘union’.
I treat Fox like any news outlet, with skepticism.
I agree with all my left leaning friends that FOX News is decidedly biased to the ‘right’ side of things…and they all smile. Then I add “…much the same way that all the other major news organizations, including CNN, NPR, BBC, NYT, NBC, ABC and CBS, are decidedly biased to the ‘left’.
Somehow, we are still friends.
Any group with with ‘Concerned’ in its name is cause for pause
I used to deal with Kevin Knobloch when he was a Senate staffer for Tim Wirth. He helped Wirth orchestrate the original Senate hearing on global warming.
[snip – no comments from you – re pending issues – Anthony]
If you buy global warming, greenpeace and/or UN world Order&peace, you are on the suckers list.
Well to do, easily duped, whats not to like from a flim flam artists point of view?
Over at American Thinker February 24th an article by Paul Masko, has some in sights as to why logic, reasoned argument and empirical data make zero impression on the certainty of the faithful.
I find his logic quite startling,
“3 Reasons Conservatives are Losing the Battle For America”, I would offer a link to this but am technologically inept.
One can substitute Canada, Australia or Britain and the logic still holds.
The aspect of group think(refusal to think), wilful ignorance of history and ability to ignore the evidence of their own eyes, described , is well worth a post of its own.
I hope it reads as more than a wail of despair.
The inability to communicate and have rational arguments, the stolid refusal to debate and refusal to examine the evidence available, that are characteristics of this CAGW cause have concerned and annoyed me from the first time I questioned a believer.
Public policy is and has been passed into law, using circular logic devoid of science.
The otherwise intelligent people who have pushed these policies are impervious to logic and answer all requests for data with well polished deflection??
Read the 3 points I feel he highlights some things I have not seen clearly before, and some different tactics will be necessary to reach the friends and family caught up in this cause.
Or Cult?
Warming Texas up!! We may get that all time record drought. It must push the dew point farther away from subliming, too.
@John
Here’s the link to the article by Paul Masko:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/02/three_reasons_conservatives_are_losing_the_battle_for_america.html
It’s a scary article.
@J.Philip Peterson,
Thanks for link up, I felt a little deflated, defeated on first read, but I think its truth and if we cannot stomach the truth we may as well join the destroyers.
And after thinking on it, I think it opens up some interesting approaches to engaging the “lost”,to return to being productive members of society.
My thoughts are not quite coherent yet , as to which ways work best but definitely feel we need to acknowledge the state of mind the faithful are maintaining.
I see no justification to make this a “trend” in units per decade.
There is likely a step change from pre-windfarm to post-windfarm.
We might be able to estimate a RWFHI (Rural Wind Farm Heat Island) warming effect in units of °C per GW (Nameplate) in a 50 km radius. I suspect that will be a scary number on its face and could be useful to have in our back pocket.
I sometimes think Kenji runs your whole web-site (compliment to the dog).
“why all over California we have powered wind turbines placed in orchards and in vineyards like this one to ward off frost by increasing the vertical mixing of the atmosphere, bringing warming air downward to mix it with cold air near the ground:”
So how does this affect the supposed altitude correction at all those thermometer sites??
Too bad those altitude versus temperature charts don’t have error bars!
Kenji is cute in an ugly way.
Kenji ought to put a firm paw down here. He ought to have a bone to pick with these people.
These people are nothing short of dangerous misanthropists, wanting to stop fossil fuels and force nations onto expensive, unreliable renewable energy. They boast of “achievements” that are in reality deeply disturbing – propagandists and extremists masquerading as scientists.
I hope Kenji tears up his membership card and sends it to Knoblock personally in a package that contains a little message – the sort that a dog does best.
I don’t belong, but I think I’ll register my dog, Sylvie. If we get enough “real” dogs enrolled, perhaps they can make a difference!
@page488 – re: “If we get enough “real” dogs enrolled”
Versus the fake 3500 dogs that have already enrolled? 😉
UCS: Union of CONFUSED Scientists.
Up above in http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/02/26/kenji-sniffs-out-stupid-claims-by-the-union-of-concerned-scientists/#comment-1233792 I described how I found the source for Kevin Knobloch’s reference behind:
I was surprised to see it came from Joe Bastardi:
Anthony sent my comment to Joe, Joe replied back, Anthony forwarded it to me.
Joe addressed both phrases, though I was mainly interested in the “mix well” phrase. We have plenty of discussion about the “cannot[/does not] cause” but the mix well phrase is a bit of a trigger for me.
It appears the main problem is we don’t have a good definition of “mix well.” I’ll have trouble coming up with one that isn’t self serving, so I’ll be vague and note that discovered it’s not so easy to check a thermometer with a glass of well mixed ice water. Even if I have a lot of ice and stir the glass well, I was surprise my thermometers alway read a little above freezing. Even when I had the bulb in the ice I’d get a reading a bit above freezing.
Eventually I decided there was enough warmth coming in from the sides and convection so that the liquid would be a bit warm. I concluded the water bath technique works better in the freezer or outside on an overcast subfreezing day. Any cold working its way in will make more ice before reaching the thermometer.
I considered the water in my glass well mixed. I consider CO2 in the atmosphere well mixed even though there are sources and sinks that are changing the local ground level amounts. I don’t really count that as “demixing” – you get that from processes chem lab precipitates or corn starch settling out from a cup of chow sauce.
One of the things Joe put forth as an example of “doesn’t mix well” is an image from 2003 of CO2 concentrations in the middle troposphere:
The source for the photo (with better resolution) is http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA09269 and one with a better scale is http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10645 . A 2009 variant is at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA12339 .
I would argue from these that CO2 isn’t pooling, but is being mixed. More to the point it is well mixed, the scale on 2003 image covers a CO2 concentration range of 364 to 382 (373 +/- 9) ppm, the 2009 image covers 382 – 390 (389 +/- 9) ppm. While the sources and sinks are similar, the overall increase looks like 18 ppm most places. I submit that is “well mixed.”
The images are from an IR sounder on the Aqua satellite and measure mid-tropospheric heights, I think some 20,000 to 30,000 feet above sea level. Mauna Loa in July 2009 measured some 387 ppm, in the same range as the satellite. The MLO observatory is at 11,000 feet. So it looks as though vertical mixing is minor. Some satellite soundings are described at http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/11/2455/2011/acp-11-2455-2011.pdf and go up to 70 hpa in the stratosphere. The CO2 variance is only some +/-4 ppm along the sounding, so no real sign of settling in that range either.
Ironically enough, the source of the mixing of CO2 from sizable variances at the surface upward is largely convection. Diffusion and orographic effects must be much smaller. I think convection has a major role in transporting heat high enough in the atmosphere where CO2 can radiate it to space efficiently. We don’t have good information about how much air cycles through convection, but a small increase would be enough to offset a small amount of global warming, and would greatly reduce the CO2’s climate sensitivity.
So, I claim a well mixed atmosphere is a major reason why global warming is not the problem the alarmists make it out to be.
Whoa! I must live in some ALTERNATE unviverse.
Back in the ’80’s the UCS at their HEIGHT of using their inordinate propaganda power, the lilly livered cowardice of Utility executives, and the arravice of J.E. Carter to destroy nuclear power…they claimed 40,000 members. Politely declining ANY request to validate their members credentials, or back the validity of that number.
NOW they are claiming 4,000 members? IF THESE NUMBERS ARE TRUE, they are in a “losing position”.
THIS might be the best “lefty loonie” news I’ve heard in years!
Please investigate.
Oh Dear,
Exercises in Translation visa vie Transliteration with feedback and the Convolution Theorem.
XD