Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org) The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week. “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” – Mark Twain [H/t Joe D’Aleo]
Number of the Week: 82%
THIS WEEK: By Ken Haapala, President
COP-23: After two weeks of the participants declaring how they are out to save the world from carbon dioxide-caused warming, the 23rd Conference of Parties (COP-23) of the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) has ended with the promise – wait until next year. It is at COP-24 that the delegates of the various countries promise to address the hard task of developing the complex rules needed to fulfill the promises and pledges they made to achieve the Paris Agreement in 2016.
At COP-23 there were few dramatic effects, such as a President Obama, with a newly minted Nobel Peace Prize, flying in to try to save the day, as in 2009. Or agreements signed with great fanfare, then suddenly changed at the last minute to avoid pesky details, such as the US Constitution, which requires treaties have two-thirds approval of the Senate, as occurred with the Paris Agreement. Will the special committee appointed by the Storting (Norwegian parliament) attempt to persuade President Trump with an award in 2018?
The US Senate may become a major obstacle to any future agreements. Some Senators have witnessed how the Obama administration used legalistic arguments to avoid the clear requirements in the Constitution, and even ignoring the conditions placed in the resolution for acceptance of the treaty forming the UNFCCC.
There were plenty ironies at COP-23. UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres, a socialist politician from Portugal who was Prime Minister from 1995–2002, warned that fossil fuel use is unsustainable. Fossil fuels (coal, oil, petroleum, and natural gas products) constitute about 75% of Portugal’s energy consumption (2014). As readers of TWTW realize, wind and solar are not sustainable, they fail frequently. Other than hydroelectric generation there is not a practical non-fossil fuel backup when they fail. Nuclear requires too much time to ramp-up. Also, ramping strains large hydro turbines, requiring more maintenance and replacement.
Now that the current US administration is not pushing the UN agenda, Germany may be the leader for the UNFCCC. Indeed, Bonn was chosen as the location rather than in Fiji, which was the ceremonial host. Yet, Germany has failed to meet the government’s promised reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for nine years, and its electricity prices are increasing dramatically, reaching those of Denmark, the highest in Europe. Germany consumes more coal than any other country in the EU, and German industries are rebelling against the government policies, and may move elsewhere.
Poland is scheduled to host COP-24. It is a major consumer of coal. According to the World Energy Council (2016): “Poland consumes 77 million tonnes of coal per year, which makes it the 10th largest coal consumer in the world and the 2nd largest in the EU, after Germany. 92% of electricity and 89% of heat in Poland is generated from coal and according to the official Polish Government Energy Policy Strategy, coal will remain the key element of the country’s energy security until at least 2030.”
After suffering years of economic and other oppression by the Soviet Union, it may be questionable that Poland will vigorously push an agreement that promises economic oppression by the UN.
The host country, Fiji, started COP-23 with claims that soon it will be engulfed by the waves from carbon dioxide-caused sea level rise. As stated in previous TWTWs, the 2008 report of the Nongovernmental Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) addresses sea level rise on pp. 16 to 19. The estimate is about 7 inches per century, roughly stable for 4000 years. The issue is discussed further in subsequent NIPCC reports, such as the 2013 Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science. The claims by Fiji and the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), discussed in last week’s TWTW, brought on several counter studies.
A study by Nils-Axel Mörner et al. suggests that the level of corals around Fiji indicates that sea levels have been stable for about 200 years. The corals indicate that the sea levels shift every few hundred years, possibly due to changes in the distribution of the mass of the water with small changes in the rate of the earth’s rotation. Whether Mörner’s explanation is exact, or not, is not the key issue. The key issue is the reported rapid increase in the rate of sea level rise since 1993 false result of improper calibration of new instruments on satellites.
See links under After Paris!, After Paris – COP 23, Questioning European Green, http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/portugal/fossil-fuel-energy-consumption, and
https://www.worldenergy.org/data/resources/country/poland/coal/
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Lowering Standards: One of the disturbing signs of improper governance is the lowering of scientific standards by once-noted agencies such as NASA. TWTW reader Paul Sheridan sent an analysis by a young researcher who did a simple regression between concentration of CO2 vs ppm) vs temperature from 1959 to 2016 and found an R squared of .898. The data for CO2 and temperatures comes from the NASA web site: Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet.
The web site states that the CO2 measurements come from NOAA, Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, and the global temperature measurements come from NASA-Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). The NASA web site states:
“The year 2016 ranks as the warmest on record. (Source: NASA/GISS). This research is broadly consistent with similar constructions prepared by the Climatic Research Unit and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”
The web site states the data, “Global Land-Ocean Temperature Index”, “illustrates the change in global surface temperature relative to 1951-1980 average temperatures.”
The 1979 Charney Report, published by the National Academy of Sciences, states that the greenhouse effect occurs in the atmosphere, not on the surface. With data going back to 1979, we have the most rigorous, comprehensive atmospheric temperature data from satellites, independently confirmed by different instruments on weather balloons.
What is NASA doing using indirect surface data, that may have many other influences, on a web site dedicated to stating the facts regarding the influence of greenhouse gases, when more rigorous, comprehensive, direct data is available from NASA/NOAA satellites?
A simple “eyeball” comparison shows a significant disparity between surface temperature data and satellite atmospheric data. By using surface temperature data on a site purportedly showing the influence of greenhouse gases, NASA is misleading the public. Its standards have greatly diminished since the days of Apollo.
Also ironic is its graph on sea level rise:
“Sea level rise is caused primarily by two factors related to global warming: the added water from melting ice sheets and glaciers and the expansion of sea water as it warms. The first graph tracks the change in sea level since 1993 as observed by satellites.”
Since January 2016, sea levels have been generally lower. No upward trend, contradicting what was written in the Climate Science Special Report just released by the USGCRP.
“The second graph, derived from coastal tide gauge data, shows how much sea level changed from about 1870 to 2000.”
That graph comes from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, (CSIRO) of Australia. Strangely, it has not been updated for over 15 years. See links under Lowering Standards.
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Food Security: Last week’s TWTW discussed that 5 years of bumper crops have created excesses of food crops which are creating problems with grain handlers as well as farmers. These bumper crops occurred during “the hottest years” ever. The USGCRP and the UN disregard these practical finding in their academic claims that carbon dioxide caused global warming will cause mass famine, etc. The writers at CO2 Science disagree. They reviewed a paper by L. Mariani in The European Physical Journal Plus titled “How to Feed the Planet and Its Additional 1.5 Billion Persons 30 Years from Now.” Given how far-fetched the academic forecasts of the UN and the USGCRP are compared to actual events, it is worth quoting a few comments at length.
“As illustrated in the figure below, Mariani notes that a ‘return to a glacial period would reduce by 51% the global productivity for thermal (low temperatures) and nutritional (low levels of CO2) reasons,’ whereas a return to pre-industrial conditions would reduce global production of the four keystone crops by 18 percent. Looking to the future, however, Mariani notes that increases in both CO2 and temperature would improve production, increasing the combined production of wheat, maize, rice and soybean by 15 and 24 percent above today’s values.”
“Commenting on his findings and looking to the past, Mariani writes that ‘the return of temperature and CO2 to glacial or pre-industrial values would give rise to serious disadvantages for food security and should be as far as possible avoided, as also highlighted by the results of Cage and Coleman (2001) and Araus et al. (2003)’ (emphasis added). And with an eye to the future, Mariani says that ‘the agricultural sector is able to successfully meet the challenge of global change and guarantee food security to levels higher than the current ones for a world population that in 2050 will exceed 9 billion people,’ to which we would add — only if governments avoid implementing CO2 emission reduction schemes, which schemes are appearing more and more to be akin to genocide.”
One may disagree with precise value of some of the forecasts, but the general trend is clear: both warming and carbon dioxide fertilization greatly benefit agriculture, humanity, and the environment. See links under Review of Recent Scientific Articles by CO2 Science.
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Additions and Corrections: Last week’s TWTW contained a sentence that puzzled several readers who are geologists: “Geological research shows the exposed rocks above the trimline of the southern Ellsworth Mountains to be 2.1 to 2.6 million years old, not recently exposed after the last Ice Age, as assumed by those making calibrations for the GRACE satellites.”
A better sentence would have read: “The geologists estimated that the Ellsworth Mountains have been exposed, free of ice above the trimline, for at least 2.1 to 2.6 million years. They stated that the GRACE satellites were calibrated on the assumption that the exposure occurred after the maximum of the last ice age, about 20,000 years ago. If true, this error would have resulted in a significant overestimate of Antarctica’s contribution to the 110 meters of sea level rise that occurred from ice melt over the past 20,000 years.”
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Number of the Week: 82% According to the calculations of Mariani, under the temperature and CO2 conditions of the pre-industrial age, the combined world production of wheat, maize, rice, and soybeans would be 82% of what it is today. The UN and the USGCRP wish to return us the pre-industrial levels?
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Suppressing Scientific Inquiry
Societal Threats from Ideologically Driven Science
By Edward J. Calabrese, National Association of Scholars, 2017 [H/t Toshio Fujita]
[SEPP Comment: Long-time coverup of the problems with the Linear No Threshold Model.]
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science
Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, 2013
https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-II/CCR-II-Full.pdf
Summary: http://www.nipccreport.org/reports/ccr2a/pdf/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, 2014
http://www.nipccreport.org/reports/ccr2b/pdf/Full-Report.pdf
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-IIb/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming
The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus
By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, NIPCC, Nov 23, 2015
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/
Download with no charge
https://www.heartland.org/policy-documents/why-scientists-disagree-about-global-warming
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
Challenging the Orthodoxy
Roger Pielke Jr.: A Litigious Climate Threatens Scientific Norms
By Roger Pielke Jr. WSJ, Via GWPF, Nov 16, 2017
https://www.thegwpf.com/roger-pielke-jr-a-litigious-climate-threatens-scientific-norms/
“In a 1942 essay, sociologist Robert K. Merton articulated a set of norms that underlie modern science. Among them is “organized skepticism.” Scientific understandings are built upon an edifice of claims and counterclaims, evidence and counterevidence. Over time, robust ideas survive, while weaker ones are left behind but are nonetheless valued because they help to make those that endure even stronger.”
Official Climate Objective to Make Normal Appear Abnormal Continues Through Anthropomorphism
Guest Opinion: Dr. Tim Ball, WUWT, Nov 13, 2017
Green Energy Train to Energy Poverty: How Environmental Activists and Liberal Politicians Are ‘Grubering’ America on Climate and Energy
Guest essay by Joseph D’Aleo, CCM, Carlin Economics and Science, Nov 17, 2017
http://www.carlineconomics.com/archives/4008
These Climate Skeptics Have The Trump Administration’s Ear. Here’s Their Wishlist.
By Zahra Hirji, Buzz Feed, Nov 13, 2017
“Several federal officials attended an energy conference hosted by the conservative Heartland Institute. The group of climate skeptics is celebrating Trump’s environmental rollbacks and aiming for even bigger policy changes.”
Defending the Orthodoxy
Another closed-door meeting to plot climate science attack
By Robin Bravender, E&E News, Nov 13, 2017
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/11/13/stories/1060066319
[SEPP Comment: Impeccable logic? Point out failings in government sponsored climate science, and you are attacking climate science rather than shoddy work?]
Can Carbon-Dioxide Removal Save the World?
CO2 could soon reach levels that, it’s widely agreed, will lead to catastrophe.
By Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, Annals of Science, Nov 20, 2017 [H/t Timothy Wise]
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/20/can-carbon-dioxide-removal-save-the-world
“Elizabeth Kolbert has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1999. She won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction for ‘The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History.’”
Seas don’t rise evenly. So it matters which glaciers melt
By Chelsea Harvey, E&E News, Nov 16, 2017
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/11/16/stories/1060066673
Link to paper: Should coastal planners have concern over where land ice is melting?
By Eric Larour, Erik R. Ivins, and Surendra Adhikari, Science Advances, Nov 15, 2017
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/11/e1700537
Thousands of scientists issue bleak ‘second notice’ to humanity
By Sarah Kaplan, Washington Post, Nov 14, 2017
[SEPP Comment: Are we as close to the “breaking point” as we were 25 years ago?]
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Here’s The Inconvenient Truth Behind MIT’s Study Linking Hurricane Harvey To Global Warming
By Michael Bastasch, Daily Caller, Nov 14, 2017
Earth’s future is ‘worse than we thought’ – 25th anniversary edition
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Nov 13, 2017
These people think Trump is too liberal on climate
By Ramin Skibba, Washington Post, Nov13, 2017
China, Europe climate buddy act flounders
One side’s ‘bifurcation’ is another’s step too far.
By Sara Stefanini and Kalina Oroschakoff, Politico, Nov 16, 2017 [H/t GWPF]
https://www.politico.eu/article/china-europe-climate-buddy-act-flounders/
“The differences are likely to grow more stark at next year’s COP24, when the complex set of rules for meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement is due to be finalized.”
Fossil fuel investment spells ‘unsustainable future’: UN chief
By Staff Writers, Phys.Org, November 15, 2017 [H/t Toshio Fujita]
https://phys.org/news/2017-11-fossil-fuel-investment-unsustainable-future.html
Macron: France will cover US share of funding for UN climate panel
By Rebecca Savransky, The Hill, Nov 15, 2017
Reckless commitments to the Paris Climate Agreement
Guest essay by John McLean, WUWT, Nov 10, 2017
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/11/10/reckless-commitments-to-the-paris-climate-agreement/
UN report identifies emissions gap
By Staff Writers, WNN, Nov 7, 2017
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/EE-UN-report-identifies-emissions-gap-0711177.html
[SEPP Comment: Is the emissions gap similar to the “missile gap” feared by President Kennedy?]
Breakthrough eludes climate talks, scientists concerned over US role
Developing country negotiators lamented the fact that the United States, which has decided to pull out the Paris Agreement, was continuing to block any meaningful breakthrough on these issues and that other developed countries were not helping matters either.
By Amitabh Sinha, The Indian Express, Nov 14, 2017 [
Avalanches of global warming alarmism at #COP23
Guest Essay by Tim Ball and Tom Harris, WUWT, Nov 15, 2017
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/11/15/avalanches-of-global-warming-alarmism-at-cop23/
Climate Song and Dance
Two years after Paris, the UN enviro-crats continue their charade.
By Oren Cass, City Journal, Nov 10, 2017 [H/t Timothy Wise]
https://www.city-journal.org/html/climate-song-and-dance-15556.html
German Scientists Call Recent Sea Level Rise Claims “Fijigate”, …Hyped Up To Generate Money
Fijigate
By Dr. Sebastian Lüning and Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt (Translated/edited by P. Gosselin), No Tricks Zone, Nov 15, 2017
Scientists warn of ‘giant leap backward’ at climate talks
By Marlowe HOOD, Maritte Le Roux, Bonn (AFP) Nov 14, 2017
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Scientists_warn_of_giant_leap_backward_at_climate_talks_999.html
Fiji ‘Flooding’ is Fake News from #COP23
Open Letter to Honorable Prime Minister of Fiji and President of COP23 Frank Bainimarama by Guest Post by Nils-Axel Mörner, WUWT, Nov 13, 2017
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/11/13/fiji-flooding-is-fake-news-from-cop23/
“Sea level changes in the Yasawa Island of Fiji (from Mörner & Matlack-Klein, 2017c). Sea level was high in the 16th and 17th century (1), low in the 18th century (2) and at about the present level over the 19th, 20th and early 21st centuries (3) with a somewhat higher level in the early 19th century and with a perfectly stable sea level during the last 50-70 years as indicated by C14-dated microatolls at multiple sites. Consequently, there is a total absence of a present sea level rise – i.e. the threat of a future flooding is lifted off.”
The Fuzziness of the Paris Climate Targets
By John McLean, GWPF, Nov 12, 2017
https://www.thegwpf.com/the-fuzziness-of-the-paris-climate-targets/
“Governments that signed the Paris Climate Agreement and committed to making payments to the Green Climate Fund have done so at their own peril. The absence of key data, methods of calculation and key thresholds regarding future temperature means that the potential for further financial liabilities is very significant.”
Change in US Administrations
EPA’s Scott Pruitt drains the swamp like no one else in Washington
Op-Ed by Emmitt McGroarty and Erin Tuttle, The Hill, Nov 16, 2017
Junk Obama’s Clean Power Plan
By Richard A. Epstein, Hoover Institution, Oct 30, 2017 [H/t Timothy Wise]
https://www.hoover.org/research/junk-obamas-clean-power-plan
“Pruitt’s reversal in environmental policy raises two issues—one scientific and one legal. The scientific issue revolves around the 2009 endangerment findings from an Obama administration study, which determined that carbon dioxide emissions are a pollutant whose emissions levels must be regulated under the Clean Air Act (CAA) because “greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may reasonably be anticipated both to endanger public health and to endanger public welfare.”
“Other chemicals on the list of six designated pollutants—like methane and nitrous oxide, with known toxicities—surely deserve that designation, but the Obama report overstates the risks of carbon dioxide to the environment.”
Social Benefits of Carbon
Study: climate change accelerates growth in trees, especially urban ones
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Nov 14, 2017
Link to paper: Climate change accelerates growth of urban trees in metropolises worldwide
By Hans Pretzsch, et al. Nature, Scientific Reports, Nov 13, 2017
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-14831-w
Problems in the Orthodoxy
Climate Champion China Leads the World … to Record CO2 Emissions.
By Staff Writers, Financial Times, Via GWPF, Nov 13, 2017
https://www.thegwpf.com/climate-champion-china-leads-the-world-to-record-co2-emissions/
China’s Thermal Power Output Rising By 6.3% So Far This Year
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 16, 2017
[SEPP Comment: Far exceeding actual production growth of hydro, nuclear, wind and solar combined.]
China’s sulfur dioxide emissions fell sharply while India’s grew rapidly
By Staff Writers, College Park MD (SPX), Nov 14, 2017
Link to paper: India Is Overtaking China as the World’s Largest Emitter of Anthropogenic Sulfur Dioxide
By Can Li, et al. Nature, Scientific Reports, Nov 9, 2017
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-14639-8
Democratic governors outsource climate campaigns to activist groups, emails reveal
By Valerie Richardson, The Washington Times, Nov 14, 2017 [H/t Cooler Heads Digest]
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/nov/14/governors-outsource-climate-campaigns-to-advocacy-/
Seeking a Common Ground
Rabbi Lord Sacks: Truth Emerges From Disagreement and Debate
By Rabbi Lord Sacks, BBC Today, Via GWPF, Nov 10, 2017
https://www.thegwpf.com/rabbi-lord-sachs-truth-emerges-from-disagreement-and-debate/
[SEPP Comment: Jonathan Sacks is the long time “Chief Rabbi” of London. His book on the compatibility of religion and science, “The Great Partnership”, is highly recommended by scholars on the subject.]
Skepticism ‘requires high cognitive ability, strong motivation to be rational’
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Nov 14, 2017
Link to paper: Epistemic rationality: Skepticism toward unfounded beliefs requires sufficient cognitive ability and motivation to be rational
By Tomas Ståhl and Jan-Willem van Prooijenb, Personality and Individual Differences, Feb 1, 2018
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886917306323
Sacrificing Scientific Skepticism: (Re)Discovering Disproof
What This Science Writer Learned About Climate Change
By Phil Berardelli, Capital Research Center, Nov 9, 2017 [H/t GWPF]
https://capitalresearch.org/article/sacrificing-scientific-skepticism-rediscovering-disproof/
Review of Recent Scientific Articles by CO2 Science
The Tolerance of Palau Corals to Ocean Acidification
Barkley, H.C., Cohen, A.L., McCorkle, D.C. and Golbuu, Y. 2017. Mechanisms and thresholds for pH tolerance in Palau corals. Journal of Experimental and Marine Biology and Ecology 489: 7-14., Nov 17, 2017
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V20/nov/a11.php
The Response of 98 Barley Genotypes to Atmospheric CO2 Enrichment
Mitterbauer, E., Enders, M., Bender, J., Erbs, M., Habekuß, A., Kilian, B., Ordon, F. and Weigel, H.-J. 2017. Growth response of 98 barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) genotypes to elevated CO2 and identification of related quantitative trait loci using genome-wide association studies. Plant Breeding 136: 483-497. Nov 16, 2017
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V20/nov/a10.php
“Clearly, much more research needs to be done to identify which genotypes of the important food crops produce the greatest yield responses per incremental rise in atmospheric CO2. Thereafter, scientists can identify the mechanisms responsible for such responses, breeders can exploit them, and farmers can grow the best varieties to produce the highest possible yields. It is a beautiful blueprint to ensure future global food security.”
A Zooplankton’s Response to Ocean Acidification and Warming
Winder, M., Bouquet, J.-M., Bermúdez, J.R., Berger, S.A., Hansen, T., Brandes, J., Sazhin, A.F., Nejstgaard, J.C., Båmstedt, U., Jakobsen, H.H., Dutz, J., Frischer, M.E., Troedsson, C. and Thompson, E.M. 2017. Increased appendicularian zooplankton alter carbon cycling under warmer more acidified ocean conditions. Limnology and Oceanography 62: 1541-1551. Nov 15, 2017
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V20/nov/a9.php
How to Feed the Planet and Its Additional 1.5 Billion Persons 30 Years from Now
Mariani, L. 2017. Carbon plants nutrition and global food security. The European Physical Journal Plus 132: 69. Nov 13, 2017
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V20/nov/a8.php
Measurement Issues — Surface
Finally BoM releases some “secret” comparison data — a snow job revealing new thermometers are not comparable
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Nov 13, 2017
[SEPP Comment: Protecting State secrets?]
Measurement Issues — Atmosphere
NASA’s “black marble” project – shows the growth of energy at night on Earth
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Nov 16, 2017
Changing Weather
Central pressure deficit, not wind speed, best to predict hurricane damage
By Staff Writers, West Lafayette IN (SPX), Nov 14, 2017
Link to paper: Physical understanding of the tropical cyclone wind-pressure relationship
By Chavas, Reed, and Knaff, Nature Communications, Nov 8, 2017
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01546-9
Claim: climate change forcing storms further North
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Nov 15, 2017
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/11/15/claim-climate-change-forcing-storms-further-north/
[SEPP Comment: If the climate models are right!]
Review Of 2017 Atlantic Season
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 12, 2017
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2017/11/12/review-of-2017-atlantic-season/#more-30777
Changing Climate
Africa’s Great Lake Hanging in the Balance
By Kathryn Hansen, NASA Earth Observatory, Nov 9, 2017
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/LakeChad/?src=eoa-features
[SEPP Comment: An example where NASA observations are important. The term “hanging in the balance” is meaningless. The lake has expanded and contracted for centuries.]
Cooling in high and mid-latitudes led to aridification in Northern Africa
By Staff Writers, Potsdam, Germany (SPX), Nov 14, 2017
Rapid termination of the African Humid Period triggered by northern high-latitude cooling
By James Collins, Nature Communications, Nov 8, 2017
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01454-y
[SEPP Comment: As HH Lamb suggested over three decades ago.]
A new timeline for glacial retreat in Western Canada
By Staff Writers, Washington DC (SPX), Nov 14, 2017
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/A_new_timeline_for_glacial_retreat_in_Western_Canada_999.html
Link to paper: Cordilleran Ice Sheet mass loss preceded climate reversals near the Pleistocene Termination
By B. Menounos, et al, Science, Nov 10, 2017
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/358/6364/781
Research shows ice sheets as large as Greenland’s melted fast in a warming climate
By Staff Writers, West Lafayette IN (SPX), Nov 14, 2017
[SEPP Comment: Of course! See link immediately above.]
Changing Climate – Cultures & Civilizations
Cold climate tied to famine, locust swarms in ancient China
Chelsea Harvey, E&E News, Nov 7, 2017
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/11/07/stories/1060065835
Link to paper: Scale-dependent climatic drivers of human epidemics in ancient China
By Huidong Tian, et al. PNAS, Nov 6, 2017
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/10/31/1706470114.abstract
Changing Seas
For ‘Climate Relocation,’ the Dollar Math Is Hardly Settled
By James Varney, Real Clear investigations, Nov 9, 2017 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2017/11/06/climate_relocation.html
“Thus far, she said, China and Vietnam are the only countries that have successfully thwarted development in places that may require expensive relocations due to “climate migration” in the near or mid-term.”
[SEPP Comment: Examples of NOAA forecasts far exceeding its knowledge.]
How a ‘shadow zone’ traps the world’s oldest ocean water
By Staff Writers, Stockholm, Sweden (SPX), Nov 14, 2017
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/How_a_shadow_zone_traps_the_worlds_oldest_ocean_water_999.html
Link to paper: Abyssal ocean overturning shaped by seafloor distribution
By C. de Lavergne, et al. Nature, Nov 8, 2017
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature24472
Renowned Sea Level Expert: “NO TRACES OF A PRESENT RISE IN SEA LEVEL; On The Contrary: Full Stability”
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Nov 14, 2017
Link to paper: Our Oceans-Our Future: New Evidence-based Sea Level Records from the Fiji Islands for the Last 500 years Indicating Rotational Eustasy and Absence of a Present Rise in Sea Level
By Nils-Axel Mörner, International Journal of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Oct 9, 2017
https://www.graphyonline.com/archives/IJEES/2017/IJEES-137/
[SEPP Comment: Prof. Nils-Axel Mörner argues that changes in rotational speed of the earth result in long-term trends in sea levels in the equatorial regions as compared with polar regions.]
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
New map of Antarctic geothermal heat suggests Steig & Mann 2009 weren’t measuring ‘global warming’
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Nov 15, 2017
Link to paper: Heat flux distribution of Antarctica unveiled
By Yasmina Martos, Geophysical Research Letters, Nov 6, 2017
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL075609/abstract
W Hudson Bay freeze-up one of earliest since 1979, not “closer to average”
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, Nov 13, 2017
Stable Snow Cover on the Tibetan Plateau Over 2000-2015
By Xiaoyue Wang, et al., Nature, Via GWPF, Nov 14, 2017
https://www.thegwpf.com/stable-snow-cover-on-the-tibetan-plateau-over-2000-2015/
[SEPP Comment: The Himalayas are not melting as the IPCC said they would.]
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
Farming and the environment
By Martin Livermore, The Scientific Alliance, Nov 17, 2017
http://scientific-alliance.org/scientific-alliance-newsletter/farming-and-environment-0
“Farming, whether ‘conventional’ (ie efficient) or ‘organic’ (ie, lower yielding) has an enormous impact on the environment. Whether this is good, bad or neutral is in the eye of the beholder.”
Glyphosate Use and Cancer Incidence in the Agricultural Health Study
By Gabriella Andreotti, et al. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Nov 9, 2017
https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/doi/10.1093/jnci/djx233/4590280
In bee decline, fungicides emerge as improbable villain
By Staff Writers, Ithaca NY (SPX), Nov 16, 2017
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/In_bee_decline_fungicides_emerge_as_improbable_villain_999.html
Link to paper: Landscape predictors of pathogen prevalence and range contractions in US bumblebees
By Scott H. McArt, et al. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Biological sciences, Nov 15, 2017
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/284/1867/20172181
Lowering Standards
NASA Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet
By Staff Writers, NASA, Accessed Nov 16, 2017
Data source: NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS).
https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/
NOAA Lets Politics Corrupt Its Science
By Larry Bell, Newsmax, Nov 13, 2017
http://www.newsmax.com/LarryBell/co2-coral-ipcc-oceans/2017/11/13/id/825747/
BBC Forced To Withdraw Fake Sea Level Claims
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 13, 2017
[SEPP Comment: Eight inches per century is not 10 times the global rate.]
BBC Allow Joanna Haigh To Misinform The Public
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 13, 2017
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
Scientists accused of scaremongering, ‘overheated claims’ with warning to humanity
Article ignores increasing wealth, health and well-being of human populations, some experts say
By Mark Gollom, CBC News, Nov 16, 2017 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/warning-to-humanity-scientists-scaremongering-1.4403246
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
Unknown Miocene mystery where CO2 didn’t fit models, *Solved*
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Nov 18, 2017
Communicating Better to the Public – Go Personal.
Gov. Jerry Brown is no climate action hero
By Jean Su, Sacramento Bee, Nov 14, 2017 [H/t Paul Homewood]
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article184554228.html
Expanding the Orthodoxy
California Gov. to Vatican: ‘Brainwashing’ Needed to Tackle Climate Change
California Gov. Jerry Brown—a one-time Jesuit seminarian from a one-party state—said the dangers posed by climate change required a radical “transformation” in the world’s response.
By Joan Desmond, National Catholic Register, Nov 12, 2017 [H/t GWPF]
NSF-supported scientists present research results on Earth’s critical zone at 2017 AGU fall meeting
News Release by Staff Writers, NSF, Nov 16, 2017
https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=243660&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click
“The thin veneer of Earth’s surface that stretches from the top of the forest canopy to the base of bedrock is known as the “critical zone.” It’s where fresh water flows, rock turns to soil and life flourishes.”
[SEPP Comment: What about the oceans?]
Poland ready for SHOWDOWN with EU over climate change as Trump sends 74,000 tonnes of coal
POLAND is on a collision course with EU chiefs over its continued heavy use of fossil fuels, as the country prepares to receive its first shipment of US coal.
By Ross Logan, Express, UK, Nov 16, 2017 [H/t GWPF]
Germany Is a Coal-Burning, Gas-Guzzling Climate Change Hypocrite
Angela Merkel hasn’t come close to earning her reputation for leadership on climate change.
By Paul Hockenos, Foreign Policy, Nov 13, 2017 [H/t John McClaughry]
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/11/13/germany-is-a-coal-burning-gas-guzzling-climate-change-hypocrite/
[SEPP Comment: Strong language for Foreign Policy.]
Germany CO2 Reduction Fails Again For 9th Year Running! …Merkel Exposed As Fake Climate Warrior
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Nov 17, 2017
German Media Report: Power Grids In Distress…Highly Unstable Due To Wind And Sun Power!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Nov 11, 2017
Germany’s Merkel dodges coal deadline at climate talks
By Staff Writer, AP, Nov 15, 2017 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/national-international/article184694013.html
Funding Issues
Map of Climate Shame reveals most of world doesn’t fight climate change
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Nov 16, 2017
Mapped: Where multilateral climate funds spend their money
By Staff Writers, Carbon Brief, Nov 6, 2017
“Here, for the first time, Carbon Brief has mapped more than 1,000 projects being funded by the four main multilateral climate funds. (See below for details on what is and is not included.)
The map above shows all the projects funded by the four main multilateral climate funds: the Green Climate Fund (GCF); Adaptation Fund; Climate Investment Funds (CIF); and Global Environment Facility (GEF). Projects included range from those funded in 2009 right up to last month.”
Report: UN Climate Fund Spent Millions On Questionable Projects
By Michael Bastasch, Daily Caller, Nov 16, 2017 [H/t Cooler Heads Digest]
http://dailycaller.com/2017/11/16/report-un-climate-fund-spent-millions-on-questionable-projects/
UN Green Climate Fund: good for bankers, bureaucrats, but not so much the poor
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Nov 17, 2017
GONGO – government-organized non-governmental organization
Litigation Issues
State Department stonewalling on Paris Accord FOIA docs, gets sued, again
Competitive Enterprise Institute Sues State Department Again Over Paris Climate Agreement Records
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Nov 14, 2017
[SEPP Comment: The issue is State Department efforts to avoid the Paris Agreement from being considered a treaty, even though it entailed massive US obligations – later claimed not to entail obligations.]
Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Taxes
Virginia moving forward with cap-and-trade plan soon after Democratic win
By John Siciliano, Washington Examiner, Nov 9, 2017 [H/t Timothy Wise]
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
Gone with the wind! National Grid pays operators £350million to switch off turbines producing too much power
By Rachel Millard, Daily Mail, UK, Nov 10, 2017 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5071799/National-Grid-pays-350million-switch-turbines.html
Subsidies to Electricity Generation in the United States
By John Constable, GWPF, Nov 15, 2017
https://www.thegwpf.com/subsidies-to-electricity-generation-in-the-united-states/
Link to report: Federal Financial Support for Electricity Generation Technologies
By Benjamin W. Griffiths, et al., Energy Institute, University of Texas at Austin, March 2017
EPA and other Regulators on the March
EPA and the Army Seek Input in the Review of the Waters of the U.S. Rule
Stakeholder sessions will be held weekly between September and November
Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rulemaking
News Releases, by Staff Writers, EPA, Aug 25, 2017
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-and-army-seek-input-review-waters-us-rule
General Public, Tuesday, November 21, 2017 – 1:00-3:00 pm Eastern
Registration closes on Monday, November 20, 2017 at 9 am Eastern
Guidelines for Authorizing Department of Commerce Employees to Serve as Officers or Board Members of Non-Profit Organizations on Behalf of the Government
Prepared by the Ethics Law and Programs Division, Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Administration and Transactions, United States Department of Commerce, June 30, 2016 [H/t Francis Manns]
Energy Issues – Non-US
Implementing the Helm Review on the Cost of UK Energy
By Euan Mearns, Energy Matters, Nov 17, 2017
http://euanmearns.com/implementing-the-helm-review-on-the-cost-of-uk-energy/#more-20153
“My main grumble with Helm is his narrative on demand management, smart systems, digitalisation and energy storage. This narrative has existed for a decade or more in the Green technical press and has as yet to deliver any tangible benefits. Helm seems to believe firmly that a carbon tax will promote delivery in these areas. A 100% tax on natural gas will certainly deliver on demand management in one of the most socially inequitable ways possible. Not Helm’s fault, blame Lord Stern, Ed Milliband, Bryony Worthington and all governments since 2008!”
[SEPP Comment: A lengthy report on the Helm Review, which the author considers may be the best way forward assuming the 2008 Climate Change Act (CCA) remains in place. It will be very costly to the public and to industry.]
Energy Issues – Australia
Australia, energy storage and the Blakers study
By Roger Andrews, Energy Matters, Nov 13, 2017
http://euanmearns.com/australia-energy-storage-and-the-blakers-study/#more-20095
Energy Issues — US
PJM proposes new power market reform to boost coal and nuclear
By Rod Kuckro, E&E News, Nov 16, 2017
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/11/16/stories/1060066695
Link to proposal: Proposed Enhancements to Energy Price Formation
By Staff Writers, PJM Interconnection, Nov 15, 2017
https://www.eenews.net/assets/2017/11/15/document_pm_04.pdf
Secretary Perry’s Hearing (Part II)
By Mark Krebs, Master Resource, Nov 15, 2017
https://www.masterresource.org/deep-decarbonization/secretary-perry-hearing/
We are paving the way for Chinese dominance in clean energy
By Fred Zilian, The Hill, Nov 12, 2017
Washington’s Control of Energy
4 big climate rules still alive under Trump
By Niina Heikkinen and Camille von Kaenel, E&E News reporters, Nov 16, 2017
https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/11/16/stories/1060066669
A Legislative Proposal Related to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Cost Estimate, CBO, Nov 8, 2017 [H/t Timothy Wise]
“Because enacting the legislation would affect direct spending pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Enacting the legislation would not affect revenues.
CBO estimates that enacting legislation would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
The legislation contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.”
Trump Presides Over Deal To Build The US’s Largest Energy Export Project
By Michael Bastasch, Daily Caller, Nov 9, 2017
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
[Drilling] Rigs make automation inroads, but not everyone’s buying it
By Nathanial Gronewold, E&E News, Nov 16, 2017
https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/11/16/stories/1060066655
Nuclear Energy and Fears
A fast reactor system to shorten the lifetime of long-lived fission products
By Staff Writers, Tokyo, Japan (SPX), Nov 15, 2017
Link to paper: Method to Reduce Long-lived Fission Products by Nuclear Transmutations with Fast Spectrum Reactors
By Satoshi Chiba, et al. Nature, Scientific Reports, Oct 24, 2017
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-14319-7
‘Anti-nuclear’ Germany is Europe’s biggest GHG emitter
By Staff Writers, WNN, Nov 13, 2017
Jim Conca: America’s nuclear dominance on the edge
By Jim Conca, Tri-City Herald, (Wash.) Nov 11, 2017 [H/t Toshio Fujita]
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/article183818886.html
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
The California Duck Curve isn’t confined to California
By Roger Andrews, Energy Matters, Nov 15, 2017
http://euanmearns.com/the-california-duck-curve-isnt-confined-to-california/#more-20145
“The California Duck Curve is causing concern among California’s utilities, who wonder whether they will be able to ramp generation up quickly enough to meet evening peak demand when all the new solar capacity California plans to add over the next few years comes on line.”
[SEPP Comment: It’s unlikely that the ugly duckling will turn into a graceful swan anywhere.]
[UK] Wind Power Down To 0.5% Today
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 15, 2017
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2017/11/15/wind-power-down-to-0-5-today/
China’s ageing solar panels are going to be a big environmental problem
The issue of how to dispose of hazardous waste from ageing panels casts a shadow over the drive towards renewable energy and away from fossil fuels
By Stephen Chen, South China Morning Post, July 30, 2017
“China will have the world’s worst problem with ageing [sic?] solar panels in less than two decades, according to a recent industry estimate.”
China Saves the World, and America Too by Going Off-The-Grid
By Brad Bartz, Wuxi, China (SPX), Nov 13, 2017
[SEPP Comment: By using solar – see link immediately above.]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
In Defense of the Electric Car – part 3
Guest essay by John Hardy, WUWT, Nov 9, 2017
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/11/09/in-defense-of-the-electric-car-part-3/
Health, Energy, and Climate
No More Surgery For Patients With Unhealthy Behavior
By Chuck Dinerstein, ACSH, Nov 2, 2017
https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/11/02/no-more-surgery-patients-unhealthy-behavior-12077
“Rationing treatment on the basis of unhealthy behaviors betrays an extraordinary naivety about what drives these behaviors.”
Other Scientific News
A paleoclimatology tool is shown to give false positives
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Nov 14, 2017
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/11/17/a-paleoclimatology-tool-is-shown-to-give-false-positives/
How ice in clouds is born
By Staff Writers, Salt Lake City UT (SPX), Nov 14, 2017
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/How_ice_in_clouds_is_born_999.html
Link to paper: Role of stacking disorder in ice nucleation
By Laura Lupi, et al. Nature, Nov 9, 2017
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature24279
Human cells, hardy microbes share common ancestor
By Staff Writers, Fort Collins CO (SPX), Nov 10, 2017
Link to paper: Structure of histone-based chromatin in Archaea
By Francesca Mattiroli, et al, Science, Aug 11, 2017
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/357/6351/609
How Statistics Came To Be – A Woman And A Cup Of Tea
By Julianna LeMieux, ACSH, Nov 8, 2017
https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/11/08/how-statistics-came-be-woman-and-cup-tea-12080
“In his 1935 book, ‘The Design of Experiments’, Fisher included an experiment that was the first of its kind and blew open the idea that a randomized analysis of experimental data is a necessary component of experimentation.”
Manipulating the Alpha Level Cannot Cure Significance Testing — Update: Paper Finally Live!
By William Briggs, His Blog, Nov 13, 2017
http://wmbriggs.com/post/23139/
New Study: Most Economics Research Papers Are Wrong
By John P. A. Ioannidis, T. D. Stanley, Hristos Doucouliagos, The Economic Journal, Via GWPF, Nov 10, 2017
https://www.thegwpf.com/new-study-most-economics-research-papers-are-wrong/
[SEPP Comment: They overstate the strength of the evidence or strength of the studied variable.]
Pluto’s hydrocarbon haze keeps dwarf planet colder than expected
By Staff Writers, Santa Cruz CA (SPX) Nov 16, 2017
Link to paper: Haze heats Pluto’s atmosphere yet explains its cold temperature
By Xi Zhang, Darrell F. Strobel & Hiroshi Imanaka, Nature, Nov 15, 2017
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature24465
Other News that May Be of Interest
Amara’s Law
We overestimate the impact of innovation in the short term but…
By Matt Ridley, Rational Optimist, Nov 12, 2017
http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/amaras-law/
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE:
Study: Artificially cooling the planet is a ‘risky strategy’ – may create worse storms
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Nov 14, 2017
Link to paper: Impacts of hemispheric solar geoengineering on tropical cyclone frequency
By Anthony Jones, Nature Communications, Nov 14, 2017
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01606-0
[SEPP Comment: Particularly if the “need” to cool the planet is based on academic global climate models.]
Cart before the horse
By Staff Writers, Climate Change Predictions.org, Nov 16, 2017
http://climatechangepredictions.org/uncategorized/3501
“Climate change is a serious issue, not just for Australia but the whole planet. It is important we address the problem and not get stuck in debate about whether it is real or not, or it will be too late to do anything.”
editorial – Newcastle Herald (Australia) 24 May 2011
Money please
By Staff Writers, Climate Change Predictions.org, Nov 11, 2017
http://climatechangepredictions.org/uncategorized/3742
“The United Nations climate chief has urged global financial institutions to triple their investments in clean energy to reach the $1 trillion a year mark that would help avert a climate catastrophe.
“In an interview with the Guardian, the UN’s Christiana Figueres urged institutions to begin building the foundations of a clean energy economy by scaling up their investments.” The Guardian, 15 Jan 2014
ARTICLES:
1. Chemical Plant Owners Urged to Prepare for Worst-Case Flooding
U.S. Chemical Safety Board says facilities, especially in Gulf of Mexico coast, need to ready for extreme weather events
By Christopher M. Matthews, WSJ, Nov 15, 2017
Link to paper: Assessing the present and future probability of Hurricane Harvey’s rainfall
By Kerry Emanuel, PNAS, Nov 13, 2917
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/11/07/1716222114
[SEPP Comment: Another forecast of increased probability of extreme weather events based on academic models that have not been adequately tested.]
SUMMARY: According to the authors: “The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is warning that many industrial sites where hazardous materials are stored may not be adequately prepared for extreme weather events.
“A dayslong chemical fire outside of Houston during Hurricane Harvey erupted because the plant’s owner never anticipated the worst-case scenario that played out in August as historic rainfall swamped its facility, the federal investigator said Wednesday.
“French chemical maker Arkema SA had a disaster plan in place for its Crosby, Texas, plant located 25 miles from downtown Houston, but it didn’t anticipate 6 feet of floodwater. Flooding caused the site’s main electrical source to fail and then forced workers to shut off emergency power generators. Without refrigeration systems to cool the organic peroxides manufactured at the plant, the compounds became unstable and ignited.
“The Arkema disaster should be a lesson to other chemical and industrial plants that urgently need to reassess their flood planning, lead investigator Mark Wingard said.
“Vanessa Sutherland, chairwoman of the Chemical Safety Board, said Harvey showed that more extreme storms are possible and industrial sites need to re-evaluate how they prepare for flooding and test their worst-case assumptions.”
Fortunately, no one was killed, but the company faces litigation from first responders for not adequately preparing for the power outage. The journalist states:
“The MIT study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said that Houston—and Texas in general—will face an increasing risk of devastating rainfall. Texas had a 1% chance of experiencing Harvey-scale rainfall for any given year between 1981 and 2000, the study said. That risk could rise to 18% by the end of the century if greenhouse-gas emissions continue to rise. Those emissions help warm offshore waters—a phenomenon that can magnify the severity of storms and generate more rain, creating bigger floods, the authors said.”
The study can be considered another example of academic research compared to practical research. What caused the heavy flooding of the Houston area the year after the city was founded?
******************
2. How Local Utilities Gamed the Natural-Gas Market
They booked large orders and then canceled at the last minute, which pushed electric prices up by 20%.
By Fred Krupp, WSJ, Nov 16, 2017
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-local-utilities-gamed-the-natural-gas-market-1510869318
Link to press release: STUDY: New England Customers Paid $3.6 Billion in Inflated Electric Bills Due to Regulatory Disconnect Between Natural Gas, Electricity Markets
By Staff Writers, EDF, Oct 11, 2017
SUMMARY: The president of the Environmental Defense Fund uses three years of data to claim certain power generators manipulate the supply of natural gas to increase profits. The abstract of the study reads:
“New England is at the leading edge of an energy transition in which natural gas is playing an increasingly important role in the US electricity generation mix. In recent years, the region’s wholesale natural gas and electricity markets have experienced severe, simultaneous price spikes. While frequently attributed to limited pipeline capacity serving the region, we demonstrate that such price spikes have been exacerbated by some gas distribution firms scheduling deliveries without actually flowing gas. This behavior blocks other firms from utilizing pipeline capacity, which artificially limits gas supply to the region and drives up gas and electricity prices. We estimate that capacity withholding increased average gas and electricity prices by 38% and 20%, respectively, over the three year period we study. As a result, customers paid $3.6 billion more for electricity. While the studied behavior may have been within the firms’ contractual rights, the significant impacts in both the gas and electricity markets underscore the need to improve regulation and coordination as these two energy markets become increasingly interlinked.”
The study does not adequately explain why despite major imports of inexpensive hydroelectricity from Quebec, there has been general increases in electricity prices across the northeast as discussed by Joseph D’Aleo under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
Glad you included THE HILL article on Pruitt … and a shout-out to Antonio Guterres: “Hey Tony, you did a real swell job of ushering Portugal into the 21st Century, give yourself an atta-boy.”
” Other than hydroelectric generation there is not a practical non-fossil fuel backup when they fail. Nuclear requires too much time to ramp-up.”
What is the problem with nuclear again? If you have nuclear, you will not run it as backup because of the low cost of fuel and high investment cost. That does not mean that it is poor in working with RE. Nuclear works fine, as in France with 75% nuclear. The newer designs can ramp up pretty quick if you want.
Sorry guys, but while nuclear is not a perfect energy source, it is by far a good compromise between cost of energy (same as for coal) and no co2 emission. With nuclear it is possible to reduce the co2 emissions from electricity production to lower than for wind power, but without requiring storage, changes to the grid or backup.
Nuclear is the compromise between co2 emissions and skeptics, as it reduces co2 emissions without the costs associated with RE-sources such as wind and solar.
US did it once and France is still doing it, so it can be done again.
You’ve got a local link in your links under Societal Threats from Ideologically Driven Science
Food Security: Last week’s TWTW discussed that 5 years of bumper crops have created excesses of food crops which are creating problems with grain handlers as well as farmers. These bumper crops occurred during “the hottest years” ever.”
As an operational meteorologist that projects crop conditions and production from the influence of weather and other conditions, I’ve been showing this with data/graphs for several years to all that care to look.
http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/csdb/en/
These record crops are not occurring despite increasing CO2 and global temperatures but are instead happening because of them.
It’s obviously not a coincidence that the planet is massively greening up at the same time with a booming biosphere.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-fertilization-greening-earth
On The NOAA website it claims that both 2015 and 2016 annual CO2 increases in the atmosphere exceeded 3 parts per million and they have not retracted this statement According to their archived data 2015 increased by 2.94 ppm and 2016 increased by 2.86 ppm
.I then look on the Mauna Loa site and taking the monthly averages for December each year and subtracting the previous years number I calculate that the increase for 2015 to be 2.94 ppm and 2016 the increase was 2.57 ppm .No matter how you calculate the increase did not exceed 3 ppm.How can they send a false headline around the world and Greanpeace then embraced it and issued a press release in New Zealand just last month to ramp up publicity for the climate conference in Germany