Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org) The Science and Environmental Policy Project
THIS WEEK: By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
William Happer – New Trump Appointment: According to news reports, William (Will) Happer has begun serving on the National Security Council as the senior director for emerging technologies. Will Happer is the Cyrus Fogg Professor of Physics, Emeritus, of Princeton University. His specialties included atomic physics, optics and spectroscopy. He is one of the pioneers in the field of optically polarized atoms. This research includes how light is used to raise electrons from a lower energy level in an atom or molecule to a higher one – optical pumping.
Happer’s activities with government agencies included posts in the Department of Energy and since 1976, long-term membership with the science and technology advisor group JASON. JASON is a highly select, independent group of scientists advising the government mostly on classified issues. Happer chaired the group from 1987 to 1990. According to Wikipedia (please note the source) JASON produced a 1979 report on global warming about the same time the Charney report was published by the National Academy of Sciences.
As described in past TWTWs, (for example, Sep 1, Aug 4), the Charney Report embodied speculation by climate modelers that a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) would cause a global warming at the surface of 3ºC plus or minus 1.5ºC, primarily coming from an increase in atmospheric water vapor. This estimate could not be substantiated because, at the time, there were no comprehensive measurements of atmospheric temperatures, where the greenhouse gas effect occurs. Recently, the Charney Report was highly publicized by New York Times Magazine, which failed to mention there were no data (hard evidence) supporting the Charney estimates. The New York Times Magazine confused speculation with knowledge (Aug 4 TWTW).
The Charney estimates have been carried forward by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its followers including the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). In 1990, Roy Spencer and John Christy reported a method for measuring temperature trends (not actual temperatures) in large volumes of the atmosphere by using data gathered by satellites since December 1978, which are independently confirmed by temperature measurements of slivers of the atmosphere taken by weather balloons. The IPCC, the USGCRP, and others claiming dire global warming from CO2 systematically ignore atmospheric temperature trends.
Unfortunately, TWTW has been unable to uncover the 1979 JASON report on CO2-caused warming and can only speculate on what it contains. The writings and actions by Will Happer give a good indication. Upon retirement, Happer founded the CO2 Coalition, a non-profit 501(c)3 explaining the benefits of CO2 to agriculture, the environment, and humanity. Its web site states:
“The CO2 Coalition was established in 2015 as a 501(c)(3) for the purpose of educating thought leaders, policy makers, and the public about the important contribution made by carbon dioxide to our lives and the economy. The Coalition seeks to engage in an informed and dispassionate discussion of climate change, humans’ role in the climate system, the limitations of climate models, and the consequences of mandated reductions in CO2 emissions.
“In carrying out our mission, we seek to strengthen the understanding of the role of science and the scientific process in addressing complex public policy issues like climate change. Science produces empirical, measurable, objective facts and provides a means for testing hypotheses that can be replicated and potentially disproven. Approaches to policy that do not adhere to the scientific process risk grave damage to the economy and to science.”
Based on this, one can conclude that the JASON report on CO2-warming did not contain an alarm of dire global warming. The list of early members of JASON includes Freeman Dyson, another skeptic of dire CO2 global warming and climate models.
Based on reports from others, when CNN first announced the news of Happer’s appointment, it labeled him as a “Climate Denier” The link still contains the term “climate denier.” The once distinguished Science Magazine said he is a “vocal critic of mainstream climate science.” Such derogatory reporting is all too common in Washington. “Anyone who thinks differently than I think is inferior.”
Demonizing the “other side” is a mark of propaganda. In discussing the term “denier” as it applies to new BBC “standards,” Jo Nova discusses its origins in theology, beginning in 1475, linking to a November 25, 2015, post in which she has excerpts from an 1840 book “Skeletons, a course of theological lectures” by Rev. Finney, vol 1, 1840 on how to treat atheists:
“FOURTH. Point out the difficulties of Atheism
“1. Difficulty. One of the fundamental and fatal difficulties of Atheism is that it is founded upon the denial of a first truth.
“2. It cannot be denied without admitting it. The denial implies a denier; the denial is the effect of which the denier is the cause.
“4. The denier knows that he states a falsehood in the denial: for if he did not believe in causality he would not and could not attempt the denial.”
Differing from the Washington views, physicist Luboš Motl writes:
“Unsurprisingly, he [Happer] has written numerous articles that are “mainly” about the infrared absorption bands and Google Scholar finds over 1,000 articles that contain his name as well as “infrared”. So, when it comes to the main physical effect that is supposed to drive ‘climate change’, he’s not only an expert. He’s one of the world’s leading experts.”
A very interesting part of Happer’s background is his understanding of spectroscopy – which includes the study of any interaction with radiative energy as a function of its wavelength or frequency. This goes to the core of any warming from increased greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases slow the loss of infrared energy from the earth into space, resulting in a warming. Happer has written that his calculations indicate a warming from doubling CO2 to about 1ºC, about one-third of the Charney estimates, repeated by the IPCC. It is far lower than what is projected by the climate modelers.
Perhaps the public is fortunate that Happer’s new position does not require Senate “advice and consent.” It would be sad to see politicians preening for the cameras attempting to make political points by pretending to understand electromagnetic radiation, not to mention infrared absorption bands of atmospheric gases.
Please note, Will Happer is a long-time friend of SEPP Chairman emeritus S. Fred Singer and a past recipient of the Fredrick Seitz Memorial Award, along with Roy Spencer and John Christy. See links under Censorship, Change in US Administrations, https://co2coalition.org/about/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JASON_(advisory_group).
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Quote of the Week: “It takes a very unusual mind to undertake analysis of the obvious.” – A.N. Whitehead, [H/t Tim Ball]
Number of the Week: Ninety Trillion Dollars, $90,000,000,000,000
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COP Infinity? The political games leading to the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Katowice, Poland, from December 3 to 14 are becoming interesting. In a preliminary meeting in Bangkok, developing countries are demanding payment for damages caused by global warming / sea level rise, with island nations among the most vocal. Now that under the Trump administration the US is planning to be a “grinch” at Christmas rather than “Santa Claus,” some countries are disappointed.
They have little justification to be angry. In December 2015, the Obama administration demanded a last-minute revision of the Paris Agreement, with its generous Green Climate Fund, that clearly signaled that the administration would not submit the Agreement to the Senate for approval, showing the Obama administration did not consider the Paris Agreement to be a treaty binding on the US. The Obama administration played verbal games instead, that the Trump administration did not play. The US has no moral obligation to meet Obama’s vague promises. See links under After Paris!
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Clexit: Tim Ball was a student of climate change pioneer H.H. Lamb and uncovered a wealth of naturalist and climate information on central North America recorded by the Hudson Bay Company. Ball continues with his efforts to encourage Canada to exit the Paris Agreement, as the Trump administration is doing.
Starting with the Club of Rome formed in 1968, Ball provides a review of the Malthusian ideas that led to the Paris Agreement and Canada’s involvement. Among other issues, the anti-humanity writings of President Obama’s science advisor, John Holdren, are in stark contrast to those of Will Happer (above).
As Ball relates, the Paris Agreement and the entire COP show is an expensive circus with little meaning. Ball cites previous writing by Bjorn Lomborg about the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) in the Paris Agreement:
“The climate impact of all Paris INDC promises is minuscule: if we measure the impact of every nation fulfilling every promise by 2030, the total temperature reduction will be 0.048°C (0.086°F) by 2100. (Lomborg’s emphasis).
Even if we assume that these promises would be extended for another 70 years, there is still little impact: if every nation fulfills every promise by 2030 and continues to fulfill these promises faithfully until the end of the century, and there is no ‘CO₂ leakage’ to non-committed nations, the entirety of the Paris promises will reduce temperature rises by just 0.17°C (0.306°F) by 2100.
Of course, all this is based on models that already exaggerate climate sensitivity and TWTW does not accept. These increases are also within the margins of error of our temperature measuring devices, so they really won’t be seen anyway. See Article # 1 and links under After Paris.
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Electricity Recommendations for Australia: Identifying themselves as the Electric Power Consulting Pty. Ltd. (EPC), a small group of professional engineers and scientists experienced in various aspects of electricity and distribution have made recommendations for Australia and the National Electricity Market (NEM). Australia’s electricity market is in turmoil as it tries to lower carbon dioxide emissions.
“After years of relying on coal, gas, and hydro generation, it must now deal with rising concerns about cost, availability, and reliability of differing types of replacement generation as ageing power plants are shut down and commitments to reduce emissions take hold.”
The issue is stark and looming, it a movement from a cost-efficient, reliable system to a heavily subsidized, erratic system. Many studies have been made, but few demonstrate an understanding of the complexities of power system engineering. These recommendations are worth of considering by jurisdictions considering abandoning fossil fuels. They are:
1. “Wind-up subsidies for intermittent power generation Apart from being expensive to taxpayers and of questionable merit in meeting lower emissions, subsidies for intermittent power generation on the NEM reward investment without regard to the generator’s ability to meet minute by minute changes in customer demand. This has distorted recent investment decisions, resulting in a suboptimal mix of generation technologies.
2. “Add a capacity market component to the National Electricity Market. The current NEM is an energy-only market, which does not give clear signals when more or replacement dispatchable generation investment is needed. This weakness has been a key factor in the current absence of new dispatchable investment, i.e. power which can be delivered at the time it is needed by customers.
3. “Remove the ban on nuclear power This ban is the result of a political deal done 20 years ago. It has no scientific merit, and is now an obstacle to much-needed decisions for the longer-term future. It prohibits by law the development of emissions-free, reliable, affordable nuclear power for Australia. The removal of the ban would allow more competition between various technologies to supply our future electricity needs.”
TWTW does not consider that there is a need to abandon fossil fuels, but the recommendations give some idea of what consumers may face as politicians force more erratic “green energy” onto the grid, which must be subsidized by all consumers on the grid to be made reliable. See links under Energy Issues – Australia.
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Vegan Electricity? As discussed in last week’s TWTW, Apple Computers and other companies are using a marketing gimmick of pretending to “go green” by joining companies to generate unreliable electricity from solar and wind, then purchase a similar amount of reliable electricity from the grid. The electricity has been made reliable by the transmission companies and paid for by all consumers. The companies receive double subsidies, one in the form of federal tax credits for the generation, then in the form of reliable electricity subsidized by all the consumers. With this gimmick, only the general consumer and taxpayer loses.
Pierre Gosselin of No Tricks Zone presented another gimmick – “Vegawatts.” A German Power Utility is offering Vegan electricity and gas. In an Alternating Current electricity system, the electrons travel minute distances, oscillating forward and back. In a Direct Current electricity system, the electrons may travel from the generator to the consumer, but do the electrons wear team colors so that the consumer knows which ones to use? There seems to be no end to green tricks. See links under Below the Bottom Line.
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Number of the Week: Ninety Trillion Dollars, $90,000,000,000,000. Many economists have mastered the art of misleading others by numerical manipulation. Nicholas Stern demonstrated his skill with using absurdly low discount rates to make the present value of future “costs” of climate change, highly speculative as they are, appear to be enormous. These “costs” were used to justify the UK’s 2008 Climate Change Act which is causing real costs to the British public.
Several US entities have played similar games, including the USGCRP, the reports of which can be considered skilled propaganda.
Ben Pile of Climate Scepticism went through a new report by the “Global Commission on the Economy and Climate” claiming great economic growth in the future if the world commits $90,000,000,000.000 now to achieve a “low carbon economy.” According to Pile, the report is paid mostly be public funds, and Stern, formerly with the World Bank, is a member of the commission. Pile writes:
“In other words, the Global Commission want more than a year’s worth of labour from the entire population of the planet to realise its goal.” See links under Defending the Orthodoxy.
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Censorship
BBC tells journalists that IPCC is God, can not be wrong – “No debate allowed”
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Sep 8, 2018
BBC Issues New Guidelines To Shut Down Debate On Climate Change
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 7, 2018
Global-Warming Advocates Pressure Media to Silence Skeptics
By Wesley Smith, National Review, Aug 27, 2018
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/global-warming-alarmists-pressure-media-to-end-debate/
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
Peak Oil: A Lesson in False Prophecy
By S. Fred Singer, American Thinker, Sep 5, 2018
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/09/peak_oil__a_lesson_in_false_prophecy.html
A Second Letter to the Geological Society
By Andy May, WUWT, Aug 29, 2018
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/29/a-second-letter-to-the-geological-society/
Link to Porto Conference, 7-8 September 2018, Abstracts volume
Basic Science of a Changing Climate:
How Processes in the Sun, Atmosphere and Ocean Affect Weather and Climate
https://www.portoconference2018.org/
What is warming the Earth?
Guest Post By Javier, WUWT, Aug 29, 2018
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/29/what-is-warming-the-earth/
“The CO2-hypothesis is an atmospheric hypothesis of climate, where the atmosphere acts as the main controller of how much energy enters or leaves the system. Its main contender is the oceanic-solar hypothesis of climate, where the oceans control the surface temperature and do so by integrating the changes in solar output and deep ocean heat exchange. In this hypothesis the oceans are quite sensitive to small solar changes but also to other factors (clouds, wind, upwelling) that can determine a different response at times. The climate control by the oceans could compensate, in great measure, for changes in atmospheric non-condensing greenhouse gases, like CO2. This would explain the thermal homeostasis of the planet during the Phanerozoic Eon, when great changes in solar output and GHGs took place.
“In conclusion, a no-assumptions look at the evidence of warming shows that solar forcing has changed during the period 1850-2018 in a more consistent manner with the warming rate than CO2, and thus constitutes a better candidate for the main cause of the observed warming. There is insufficient evidence to evaluate other possibilities over the entire period.”
Warming patterns are unlikely to explain low historical estimates of climate sensitivity
By Nic Lewis, Climate Etc. Sep 5, 2018
Why I Don’t Deny: Confessions of a Climate Skeptic — Part 2
Guest Essay by Kip Hansen, WUWT, Aug 27, 2018
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/27/why-i-dont-deny-confessions-of-a-climate-skeptic-part-2/
Defending the Orthodoxy
Misleading Figures Behind the New Climate Economy
By Ben Pile, Climate Scepticism, Sep 6, 2018 [H/t Paul Homewood]
https://cliscep.com/2018/09/06/misleading-figures-behind-the-new-climate-economy/
Link to report: UNLOCKING THE INCLUSIVE GROWTH STORY OF THE 21ST CENTURY: Accelerating Climate Action in Urgent Times
By The New Climate Economy
The 2018 Report of the Global Commissions on the Economy and Climate
https://newclimateeconomy.report/2018/
“The growth story of the 21st century can unlock unprecedented opportunities of a strong, sustainable, inclusive economy. The benefits of climate action are greater than ever before, while the costs of inaction continue to mount. It is time for a decisive shift to a new climate economy.”
Misleading Figures Behind the New Climate Economy
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 7, 2018
UN Appointed Climate Science Team Demands The End of Capitalism
Guest essay by Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 29, 2018
Link to report: Global Sustainable Development Report 2019 drafted by the Group of independent scientists
By Paavo Järvensivu, et al. Helsinki, Aug 14, 2018
https://bios.fi/bios-governance_of_economic_transition.pdf
Australia joins Pacific to declare climate ‘single greatest’ security threat
Region of island states calls for the Paris Agreement to be upheld, with Australia joining despite recent political turmoil over climate policy
By Helga Timaroczky, Climate Home News, Sep 5, 2018
[SEPP Comment: Great photo of “the final approach to the airstrip in Nauru, the world’s smallest island nation,” with water on both ends of the airstrip.]
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Artificial Intelligence is greater concern than climate change or terrorism, says new head of British Science Association
By Sarah Knapton, Telegraph, UK, Sep 6, 2018 [H/t GWPF]
Science Nepotism Racket …Small, Closed Group Of Climate Scientists Caught Awarding Themselves Prizes And Money!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Sep 5, 2018
[SEPP Comment: Is “Climate Communication” an example of group-think in AGU?]
The advantages of change, climate and otherwise
By Guest Blogger John Shanahan, WUWT, Sep 7, 2018
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/09/07/the-advantages-of-change-climate-and-otherwise/
Surprise finding: Arctic rivers have a negative feedback response to warming
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Aug 28, 2018
Increasing Alkalinity Export from Large Russian Arctic Rivers
By Travis Drake, et al., Environmental Science & Technology, June 27, 2018
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.8b01051
Opinion: What are you getting if you buy clean electricity?
Many community choice aggregators are simply rearranging where existing low-carbon electricity goes
By Catherine Wolfram, Mercury News, Sep 5, 2018
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/09/05/opinion-what-are-you-getting-if-you-buy-clean-electricity/
“It’s more accurate to label an electricity purchase “clean” if the resource didn’t previously exist and isn’t being used to satisfy another zero-carbon mandate. Calling existing large hydro clean is an example of a phenomenon called ‘resource shuffling.’”
CLEXIT: Canada Must Get Out of the Paris Climate Agreement.
By Tim Ball, A Different Perspective, No Date
That Other Paris Pact, the One We Ignore
While our leaders have been eager to impress the world with Australia’s resolve to hobble its economy before the altar of the climate gods, another international accord is observed only in the breach. That’s the one insisting we maintain 90-day fuel supplies
By David Archibald, Quadrant, Sep 4, 2018
http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2018/09/paris-treaty-important/
Bangkok climate conference sounds alarm ahead of UN summit
By Staff Writers, Phys.org, Sep 4, 2018
https://phys.org/news/2018-09-bangkok-climate-conference-alarm-summit.html
Developed nations not committed to $100 billion climate finance – experts
By Patpicha Tanakasempipat, Reuters, Sep 5, 2018 [H/t GWPF]
Where is the promised money, campaigners ask at climate talks in Bangkok
By Rina Chandran, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Sep 3, 2018
“‘Rich nations are attempting to escape full accountability for their role in causing and exacerbating climate change, and their obligation to deliver climate finance,’ said Lidy Nacpil of the Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development.
Judith Sloan: What’s Really the Point of Paris?
By Judith Sloan, The Australian, Via GWPF, Sep 3, 2018
https://www.thegwpf.com/judith-sloan-whats-really-the-point-of-paris/
“Turnbull tangoed with Paris climate deal, but perhaps it’s time we tiptoed away”
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham [AU] tells Europe: Don’t listen to ‘what we say’ on climate change
By Oliver Caffrey, The New Daily, AU, Sep 9, 2018
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2018/09/02/869047/
Change in US Administrations
William Happer
Bio, Annual Emeriti Booklet Excerpt, Princeton University, 2014
https://dof.princeton.edu/about/clerk-faculty/emeritus/william-happer
Will Happer hired as Trump’s new tech adviser
By Luboš Motl, The Reference Frame, Sep 5, 2018
https://motls.blogspot.com/2018/09/will-happer-hired-as-trumps-new-tech.html
Trump adds physicist Will Happer, climate science critic, to White House staff
By Hannah Northey, E&E News, Via Science Magazine, Sep 5, 2018
Trump to name climate change skeptic as adviser on emerging technologies
By Jenna McLaughlin, CNN, Sep 4, 2018
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/04/politics/happer-climate-denier-trump-adviser/index.html
Social Benefits of Carbon
Global Tree Cover Has Expanded More Than 7 Percent Since 1982
Satellite data finds that gains temperate and boreal forests offset reductions in tropical forests.
By Ronald Bailey, Reason, Sep 4, 2018 [H/t WUWT]
https://reason.com/blog/2018/09/04/global-tree-cover-has-expanded-more-than
Nature always finds a way – coastal wetlands respond positively to global warming
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Aug 29, 2018
Link to paper: Warming accelerates mangrove expansion and surface elevation gain in a subtropical wetland
By Glenn Coldren, et al., Journal of Ecology, Aug 28, 2018
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1365-2745.13049?af=R
Seeking a Common Ground
Climate activists have long history of ducking debates with skeptics
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Aug 28, 2018
Review of Recent Scientific Articles by CO2 Science
More Evidence Atmospheric CO2 is NOT Earth’s Temperature Control Knob
Barral, A., Gomez, B., Fourel, F., Daviero-Gomez, V. and Lécuyer, C. 2017. CO2 and temperature decoupling at the million-year scale during the Cretaceous Greenhouse. Scientific Reports 7: 8310, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-08234-Sep 6, 2018
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V21/sep/a3.php
Elevated CO2 Stimulates Both the Quantity and Quality of C3 and C4 Grasses
McGranahan, D.A. and Yurkonis, K.A. 2018. Variability in grass forage quality and quantity in response to elevated CO2 and water limitation. Grass and Forage Science 73: 517-521. Sep 5, 2018
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V21/sep/a2.php
A Microbenthic Assemblage Response to Ocean Acidification
Amaro, T., Bertocci, I., Queiros, A.M., Rastelli, E., Borgersen, G., Brkljacic, M., Nunes, J., Sorensen, K., Danovaro, R. and Widdicombe, S. 2018. Effects of sub-seabed CO2 leakage: Short- and medium-term responses of benthic macrofaunal assemblages. Marine Pollution Bulletin 128: 519-526. Sep 3, 2018
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V21/sep/a1.php
Changing Weather
Back To Reality
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 2, 2018
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2018/09/02/back-to-reality/
Met Office’s Hottest Summer Claims Disproved By CET
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 5, 2018
[SEPP Comment: Refuted is a better term and “disproved.”]
All that CO2 in the last 50 years and droughts are less common in Australia
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Sep 7, 2018
East Coast Nervous About Major Hurricane Florence
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Sep 7, 2018
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2018/09/east-coast-nervous-about-major-hurricane-florence/
Alarmists Contradicted: Veteran Meteorologist And Data Show Central Europe Summers Getting Wetter
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Sep 7, 2018
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
The Arctic Climate Has Now Stabilized – Ice Sheet, Glacier, Sea Ice Losses Are Decelerating, Reversing
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Sep 3, 2018
[SEPP Comment: Something sank the Titanic long before late 20th century global warming “melted” Greenland ice sheet.]
More Spectacular Climate Fraud By The New York Times
By Tony Heller, Real Climate Science, Sep 7, 2018
https://realclimatescience.com/2018/09/more-spectacular-climate-fraud-by-the-new-york-times/
[SEPP Comment: Is ignoring low Artic ice records before 1979 typical of science?]
Changing Earth
Global climate wrecked by volcanoes caused the largest mass extinction ever
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Aug 28, 2018
Link to paper: End-Permian extinction amplified by plume-induced release of recycled lithospheric volatiles
By Michael W. Broadley, et al., Nature Geoscience, Aug 27, 2018
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-018-0215-4
Un-Science or Non-Science?
Claim: global warming will make El Niño and La Niña event impacts worse
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Aug 28, 2018
Link to accepted paper: ENSO’s Changing Influence on Temperature, Precipitation, and Wildfire In a Warming Climate
By Fassullo, J.T., et al, NCAR, Published by AGU, Pre-print
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2018GL079022
[SEPP Comment: More research using models that perform poorly by researchers at National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR/UCAR) which ignore atmospheric temperature trends.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
The International Disaster Database
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 7, 2018
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2018/09/07/the-international-disaster-database/
“In summary, there is absolutely no evidence that natural disasters have become more common since 1970.
“EM-DAT was specifically set up to provide accurate data on disasters, something that has improved as time has gone on. Prior to that, aid agencies and the like were too busy on the ground to bother with collating numbers.
“EM-DAT may be a worthwhile exercise, but it should not be used for analysis of long term trends.”
Claim: Climate Change is WW3 and We are Leaderless (Except President Macron)
Guest essay by Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 29, 2018
Link to article: Climate change is World War III, and we are leaderless
By David Shearman, ABC News, AU, Aug 27, 2018
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-28/climate-change-is-world-war-3-and-we-are-leaderless/10168962
“Dr David Shearman is the honorary secretary of Doctors for the Environment Australia and Emeritus Professor of Medicine at Adelaide University.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
“Negative” Emissions: The Emperor’s New Clothes
Guest Blogger, Robert Bradley, Jr., Institute for Energy Research, Sep 6, 2018
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/09/06/negative-emissions-the-emperors-new-clothes/
AAASofA: “Pentagon fires a warning shot against EPA’s ‘secret science’ rule”… Riiiight.
By David Middleton, WUWT, Aug 29, 2018
[SEPP Comment: Published in the Science Mag, the article was originally by Sean Reilly, E&E News, Aug. 28, 2018]
The myth of non-dispatchable coal
By Roger Andrews, Energy Matters, Sep 6, 2018
http://euanmearns.com/the-myth-of-non-dispatchable-coal/#more-22492
“…Mark Diesendorf, an Australian academic and environmentalist who according to Wikipedia is a founding director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney and who has at various times also been the Secretary of the Society for Social Responsibility in Science, President of the Australia New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics, co-founder and Vice-President of the Sustainable Energy Industries Council of Australia and co-founder and President of the Australasian Wind Energy Association. It’s unlikely that anyone with a record like this would have anything bad to say about renewable energy or anything good to say about fossil fuels, but classifying renewables as dispatchable and coal as non-dispatchable is going a little far.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Do a Poll?
The Global Rightward Shift on Climate Change
President Trump may be leading the rich, English-speaking world to scale back environmental policies.
By Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, Aug 28, 2018 [H/t WUWT]
[SEPP Comment: It’s all Trump’s fault. Of course, for decades we’ve been bombarded by claims of certainty in the science and what turn out false has nothing to do with growing skepticism.]
Poll: Death estimates tied to Trump coal rule make it less popular
By Timothy Cama, The Hill, Sep 5, 2018
[SEPP Comment? More EPA imaginary deaths?]
The Great British Public Love A Heatwave!
Paul Homewood, Not A Lot Of People Know That, Sep 5, 2018
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2018/09/05/the-great-british-public-love-a-heatwave/
“It shows what most people think about all of those ridiculous yellow warnings out by the Met Office, advising us all to stay inside, and alarmist articles in the BBC.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Go Personal.
Blame your bank for climate change – and demand fossil free finance
By Chris Saltmarsh, the Ecologist, Sep 4, 2018
“Banks are just as much to blame for the climate crisis as fossil fuel companies and corrupt governments. Campaigning for fossil free finance must be the climate movement’s next step…”
[SEPP Comment: Anyone who disagrees with me is corrupt! Is this from an enlightened mind?]
Questioning European Green
Auto industry pushes back against tougher EU emissions targets
European carmakers have openly questioned the EU’s 2021 car emissions goals, rejecting tougher reduction targets planned for 2030. They claim the bloc’s climate targets and its push toward more e-cars will cost jobs.
By Staff Writers, Deutsche Welle, Sep 4, 2018 [H/t GWPF]
https://www.dw.com/en/auto-industry-pushes-back-against-tougher-eu-emissions-targets/a-45349822
Truth About Germany’s EEG is Hard to Find
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Sep 7, 2018
http://ddears.com/2018/09/07/truth-about-germanys-eeg-is-hard-to-find/
[SEPP Comment: Discusses the incorrect assertions about Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act or EEG (German: Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz) is a series of German laws that originally provided a feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme to encourage the generation of renewable electricity.]
German (Real) Environmentalists Outraged Over Killed Protected Red Kites, Move To Have Wind Park Shut Down!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Sep 1, 2018
Walney Wind Farm Means Higher Bills, Ms Perry
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 6, 2018
[SEPP Comment: Contesting the headline: The Walney Wind Extension means big business and bigger opportunity for the UK.]
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Letter: Those Oceans of Plastic? Look at the sources first.
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Aug 28, 2018
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/28/letter-those-oceans-of-plastic-look-at-the-sources-first/
Opinion: What are you getting if you buy clean electricity?
Many community choice aggregators are simply rearranging where existing low-carbon electricity goes
By Catherine Wolfram, Mercury News, Sep 5, 2018
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/09/05/opinion-what-are-you-getting-if-you-buy-clean-electricity/
“It’s more accurate to label an electricity purchase “clean” if the resource didn’t previously exist and isn’t being used to satisfy another zero-carbon mandate. Calling existing large hydro clean is an example of a phenomenon called ‘resource shuffling.’”
Green Jobs
Offshore wind power stations on the East Coast would bring in 25,000 jobs
By Vishnu Rajamanickam, Freight Waves, Sep 4, 2018
“New York has set a target of achieving 2,400 MW of capacity to be installed around its coast by 2030. The study sanctioned by Gov. Cuomo is primarily focused at reducing transmission costs, which according to New York’s offshore wind master plan, would account for nearly 30% of the total infrastructure costs.”
[SEPP Comment: Why did Google bail-out on building a major off-shore transmission line?]
Sunset for Jobs in Germany’s Wind Industry as Companies Shift Abroad
Turbine makers are shifting production closer to new markets, and industry groups are pressing Angela Merkel to act
By Brian Parkin and William Wilkes, Bloomberg, Sep 6, 2018
Funding Issues
Shale Rush: UK Local government Pension Funds Invest £9BN in Fracking Companies
By Staff Writers, Financial Times, Via GWPF, Sep 4, 2018
Litigation Issues
Landry: Climate lawsuits could endanger important Louisiana industries
By Jeff Landry, Louisiana State Attorney General, Daily Advertiser, Sep 4, 2018
Energy Issues – Non-US
Renewables hit record “high” of 3.6% of total global energy production
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Sep 5, 2018 [June BP Report]
Engineers Warn of Bill Shock Under Green Energy Surge
By Staff Writers, The Australian, Via GWPF, Sep 6, 2018
https://www.thegwpf.com/engineers-warn-of-bill-shock-under-green-energy-surge/
Link to National Electricity Market (NEM) Model
By Robert Barr, et al., Electric Power Consulting, September 2018
https://epc.com.au/index.php/nem-model/
Engineers warn 55% renewables will add $1400 to electricity bills in Australia
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Sep 5, 2018
40 year old coal plant sold for $1m makes $100m profit and will run another 30 years
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Sep 7, 2018
[SEPP Comment: How an incompetent government buys high and sells low?]
Energy Issues — US
A New Energy Treatise (via a ‘contra-capitalist’ company)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Sep 5, 2018
https://www.masterresource.org/enron-ascending-the-forgotten-years/new-energy-treatise/
[SEPP Comment: Bradley discussing “Enron Ascending: The Forgotten Years, 1984–1996” the third of a planned four-book series on political capitalism and the rise and fall of Enron. If it is on par with the second book, “Edison to Enron: Energy Markets and Political Strategies (2011)” it will be an insightful and informative read.]
Natural Gas Is Already A Bridge Fuel
By Robert Rapier, Forbes, Sep 2, 2018
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2018/09/02/natural-gas-is-already-a-bridge-fuel/#56d0d909975f
Washington’s Control of Energy
Trump admin rejects environmental concerns over Dakota Access pipeline
By Timothy Cama, The Hill, Aug 31, 2018
[SEPP Comment: The pipeline has been commercially operating since June 1, 2017, and has been transporting over 500,000 barrels per day. A minimum of 95 feet (30 meters) below Lake Oahe, it is well below the previously existing Northern Border Pipeline, operating since 1982. https://daplpipelinefacts.com/ ]
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
Just like that: 200 years of gas for Australia discovered in NT
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Sep 6, 2018
http://joannenova.com.au/2018/09/just-like-that-200-years-of-gas-for-australia-discovered-in-nt/
NT [AU] has gas for hundreds of years: Canavan
By Staff Writers, Australian Associated Press, Daily Mail, UK, Sep 5, 2018 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/aap/article-6134007/NT-gas-hundreds-years-Canavan.html
Offshore oil production shows signs of turnaround
By Katherine Blunt and Jordan Blum, Houston Chronicle, Sep 6, 2018
Oil Production Vital Statistics September 2018
By Euan Mearns, Energy Matters, Sep 3, 2018
http://euanmearns.com/oil-production-vital-statistics-september-2018/#more-22467
[SEPP Comment: Exposing seasonal swings in bio-fuel productions, which DOD falsely claimed would enhance US energy security.]
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Fukushima disaster: Japan acknowledges first radiation death from nuclear plant hit by tsunami
By Staff Writers, Reuters, ABC, AU, Sep 6, 2018
[SEPP Comment: According to the report, 18,000 were killed in the earthquake and tsunami.]
Energy Department teams up with Bill Gates to move mini-nuclear plants to market
By John Siciliano, Washington Examiner, Aug 23, 2018
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Twenty-Five Industrial Wind Energy Deceptions
By John Droz, Jr. Master Resource, Sep 4, 2018
https://www.masterresource.org/droz-john-awed/25-industrial-wind-energy-deceptions/
Wind turbines: How much power can they provide?
By Staff Writers, Science Daily, Sep 5, 2018
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180905124747.htm
Link to paper: Achieving Germany’s wind energy expansion target with an improved wind turbine siting approach
By Christopher Jung, Dirk Schindler, & Leonie Grau, Energy Conversion and Management, Volume 173, 1 October 2018,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196890418308318?via%3Dihub
[SEPP Comment: A yearly average of 40% of total power needs is not significant if one’s life depends on constant, reliable electrical power.]
China’s Solar Farms Transforming World Energy
By Chris Baraniuk, BBC, Sep 4, 2018
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180822-why-china-is-transforming-the-worlds-solar-energy
“China is not only home to some of the biggest solar farms; its technology looks set to influence energy policy across the globe. But how feasible are these grand plans?”
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Robots and Battery Powered Vehicles
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Sep 4, 2018
http://ddears.com/2018/09/04/robots-and-battery-powered-vehicles/
[SEPP Comment: ICE is internal combustion engine.]
California Dreaming
Is climate change being falsely accused of sparking California conflagrations?
Climate change is the new scapegoat for failed forest and water policy
By Todd Fitchette, Western Farm Press, Aug 9, 2018 [H/t ICECAP]
Jerry Brown Takes Trump’s Advice, Backs Push to Thin Forests
By Tim Pearce, Daily Caller, Aug 24, 2018
https://dailycaller.com/2018/08/24/jerry-brown-thinning-california-forest/
A Reanalysis of “California’s climate moon shot” (Grand-Scale Climate Fail)
Guest reanalysis by David Middleton, WUWT, Sep 4, 2018
Oh Mann!
Climate Scientist Michael Mann Congratulates Identity Thief Peter Gleick for Receiving his Carl Sagan Award [from AGU]
Guest essay by Eric Worrall, WUWT, Sep 2, 2018
Environmental Industry
Corporate Cover for the Environmental Left in the 1990s (“Enron Ascending”)
By Robert Bradley Jr. Master Resource, Sep 6, 2018
Other Scientific News
The F-35 Stealth Fighter vs Russia’s S-300 Anti-Aircraft System
By S. Fred Singer, American Thinker, Sep 1, 2018
Other News that May Be of Interest
Polar bears that killed Foxe Basin hunter in August were in good condition, say officials
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, Sep 6, 2018
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE:
“Vegawatts” Now Getting Fed Into Energy Grid… German Power Utility Now Offering “Vegan” Electricity And Gas!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Sep 2, 2018
Britain’s finest minds put their noses to the grindstone
By Staff Writers, Climate Change Predictions.org, Sep 7, 2018
http://climatechangepredictions.org/uncategorized/3845
“Britain’s finest scientific minds have turned their attention to a problem that they claim is threatening the future of the planet – farm animal flatulence.
“Experts at the Rrowett Research Institute in Aberdeen say the average cow contributes as much to global warming as a family car that travels 12,000 miles. The scientists are now trying to produce new foodstuffs that result in livestock producing less methane. The Telegraph (UK), 20 Mar 2008”
Dog day afternoons
By Staff Writers, Climate Change Predictions.org, Sep 2, 2018
http://climatechangepredictions.org/uncategorized/5891
“Leading pet behaviourists told The Independent that the number of depressed and unsettled dogs they have seen in recent months is unprecedented. And they suggested that the spate of wet winters could be at the root of the problem, as owners cut down on the daily walks that are crucial to keeping dogs’ spirits up.
“’I’ve been working with dogs for more than 20 years and I can’t remember a time when they’ve been this bored. I tend to see boredom in bursts but I’m seeing it chronically this winter,’ said Carolyn Menteith, a dog behaviourist who was named Britain’s Instructor of the Year in 2015.
“She – like many scientists and meteorologists – puts this down to climate change and expects to see more bored dogs in the future as global warming unleashes increasingly frequent and intense bouts of winter rainfall. The Independent, 5 Feb 2016”
ARTICLES:
Peak Oil: A Lesson in False Prophecy
By S. Fred Singer, American Thinker, Sep 5, 2018
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/09/peak_oil__a_lesson_in_false_prophecy.html
The Chairman Emeritus of SEPP writes:
“As recently as 10 years ago, we were told that the world was running out of oil soon. Horrors! Then, directional drilling and fracking opened up the prolific resource of “tight” oil shale. New production records are being set daily; the U.S. now leads the world in oil reserves, ahead even of Saudi Arabia.
“Hubbert’s Peak
“Geophysicist and noted pioneer of ground water flow in aquifers Dr. M. King Hubbert was being celebrated as a prophet. He had predicted that U.S. oil production would peak around 1970 – and it did! Of course, the price of oil was then only around $2 a barrel; it is now around $75, and will surely go higher.
“The National Petroleum Council [NPC], made up of the leaders of the oil industry and other experts, told us, in 1970 as I recall, that if oil prices ever reached $3 a barrel, the vast resource of the Colorado kerogen would become commercial. Some oil companies actually mined some kerogen and retorted it to extract the locked-up but uneconomic oil. The world oil price is now around $75 a barrel — and sure to rise further.
“Hubbert also predicted that world oil production would peak by mid-century, at the same unrealistic low price; it gave a boost to the anti-growth movement and to the general feeling that we would soon deplete most of the world’s resources.
“Those were the years of the ‘Malthusians,’ mostly geologists, opposed only by a few brave ‘Cornucopians,’ mostly resource economists, who preached that prices would rise, encourage conservation, recycling, and substitution for scarce metals.
“This was also the time of Prof. Paul Ehrlich’s ‘population bomb’ and Zero Population Growth [ZPG]. Impressionable young women were taking vows not to have any children; abortions were popular.
“I was a Malthusian — until my eyes were opened by organizing an AAAS conference in 1969, titled ‘Is There an Optimum Level of Population?’
“Optimum Population Level?
“I later edited a book on the same topic; it included contributions by nuclear pioneer Alvin Weinberg, Chauncey Starr, EPRI president and RFF president Joseph Fisher. (Of course, Prof. Julian Simon was way ahead of me; but I only met him much later, around 1980.)
“Noted Malthusians participated: geologist Preston Cloud and ecologist Garrett Hardin; agricultural experts gave talks on overpopulation and predicted world famine to occur a few years hence.
“The Club of Rome and Limits to Growth
“The Malthusians even had their own loose international organization, called the ‘Club of Rome,’ founded by Aurelio Peccei, retired chairman of the Italian auto firm that produced the Fiat car. I knew him and believed in his cause — until I edited the book and ‘saw the light.’
“I remember critiquing, in Science and EOS, their first report, ‘Limits to Growth’ [LTG] and debating its main authors Dennis and Donella Meadows, who were spreading the LTG ‘gospel.’
“Their book also made me a skeptic about computer models. They used no real data and simply assumed functional relationships between key variables. For example, pollution would kill world population, but people also created pollution. As a result, world population would swing wildly between maximum and zero — signifying complete collapse. However, LTG made a huge impact at high government levels and supported the mantra that ‘economic growth was bad.’
“Forecasts of overpopulation and world famine were very popular in those days. There was even a book published, by the two Paddock brothers, titled Famine 1975! — just a few years away.
“This was really the beginning of the environmental movement. The whole atmosphere of doom and gloom was ripe for that. Naturally, it boosted the craze for solar and wind energy and ethanol gasoline additive, which were said to be inexhaustible resources, unlike fossil fuels, and made ‘peak oil’ very believable.
“Anyway, those days are over — or so it seems — although some of the after-effects are still with us.
“I was not impressed by all this noise. King Hubbert was my colleague then at the Department of Interior, where I was responsible for water research and also for estuarine preservation.
“I had lunch with King, a convinced Malthusian, and told him to consider future changes in the price of oil and a possible development of new technologies. I also told him to forget about ‘peak oil’ and go back to his pioneering work on ground-water flow. After that lunch, he never spoke to me again. He was a very austere gentleman, with no sense of humor.
“In 1972, soon after our lunch, the world price of oil jumped to $12 a barrel. But U.S. production was impeded by price regulation and the general feeling that oil supplies would soon peak. President Ronald Reagan finally removed the artificial price controls. Public debate about ‘peak oil’ resumed, as oil became available to anyone willing to pay the world price.
“I should note that, the $2 price was a result of the infamous ‘oil import quota program,’ which had been set up years earlier to ration oil imports to favored importers — essentially a program to reward ‘cronies,’ and to keep prices low for a while for U.S. consumers. Those were the days of 20-cents-per-gallon gasoline that our fathers keep telling us about.
“The situation has changed drastically — mainly because of new technologies and the free market. President Donald Trump has just announced the official end of the oil crisis. He also hinted at the end of the miles-per-gallon [MPG] restrictions on cars and trucks.”
*********************
2. Environmentalists Need to Get Real
The problem isn’t climate-change denial. It’s doubt that activists have the answers.
By Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, Sep 3, 2018
https://www.wsj.com/articles/environmentalists-need-to-get-real-1536010580
SUMMARY: The author states:
“Last week French environmental minister Nicolas Hulot, once a prominent supporter of President Emmanuel Macron, threw in the towel. ‘I don’t want to lie anymore. I don’t want to create the illusion that my presence in the government means that we are on top of [environmental] issues,’ he said during a live broadcast announcing his resignation.
“Mr. Hulot is not alone among environmentalists in denouncing the hypocrisy and inadequacy of government action on climate change. The Paris accords are ‘a fraud, really, a fake,’ said climate activist James Hansen in 2015. ‘There is no action, just promises.’
“Three years later, Mr. Hansen’s words look prescient. Even ostensibly committed countries like Germany and France are on course to miss the voluntary 2020 targets they announced to such fanfare in 2015. The Climate Action Tracker estimates that only Morocco and Gambia are on a ‘Paris agreement compatible’ path.
“The climate-change movement is stuck, even after a scorching summer elevated the issue across much of the Northern Hemisphere. It is powerful enough to command lip service from politicians, but too weak to impose the policies it says are needed to prevent catastrophic change.
“Many environmentalists fail to grasp that the real problem isn’t skepticism that the climate is changing, or even that human activity is a leading cause of the change. Millions worry about climate change and believe human activity is in large part responsible. But they do not believe that the climate movement has the answers for the problems it describes. Green policy blunders, like support for ethanol in the U.S. and knee-jerk opposition to nuclear power, erode confidence that environmental activists—who too often have an anticapitalist, Malthusian and technophobic view of the world—can be trusted, to as they often say, to ‘save the planet.’
“For center-right politicians and people who support both free markets and a healthy environment, the status quo is also a problem. In the U.S. and abroad, market-friendly politicians cannot embrace the stagnant, statist and rent-seeking policies often proposed by environmentalists. Yet neither do they wish to turn a blind eye to a consequential problem that voters care about.
“The world needs a green movement that can command more than lip service from politicians. Such a movement would be tech-positive, pro-science and pro-growth, recognizing that capitalism can deliver technological and social changes that offer humanity’s best hope of a greener and cooler future. A realistic green movement would not only embrace zero-carbon nuclear power as part of the solution to the climate problem; it would embrace the broader potential of the information revolution to raise living standards around the world while reducing humanity’s carbon footprint.
The author gives examples of lowering CO2 emissions such as teleworking, changing commuting, and videoconferencing, then concludes with:
“A smarter green movement also would embrace the development and use of genetically modified organisms in agriculture. Tweaking the genes of specific crops can raise yields while shrinking humanity’s carbon footprint. A field of ‘tweaked’ soybeans that need little or no fertilizer or pesticides is the real killer app for solar power. Human ingenuity plus sunlight can dramatically reduce the need for fertilizer and pesticides with all the greenhouse-gas emissions and other environmental damage they entail.
“These ideas are neither Malthusian nor anticapitalist. For that reason, many green activists will shun them. Some would rather see the planet perish in a runaway greenhouse effect than see gene-tweaked soybeans in European grocery stores—just as they would rather risk catastrophic flooding than accept nuclear power. But market-friendly, pro-science think tanks, researchers and politicians should not be deterred. Developing a green agenda that is high tech but not hair shirt is a crucial project if the world is to break the dangerous gridlock on climate change.”
[SEPP Comment: Disagree with the author that CO2-caused climate change is dangerous!]
The warmists are meeting in Poland in December? They really do believe their stuff!
The Jason report:
https://fas.org/irp/agency/dod/jason/co2.pdf
“…the total temperature reduction will be 0.048°C (0.086°F) by 2100.”
— So, the effect of the policy that is not being implemented is almost naught. We WILL reach the same temperature levels as before — just a little bit later.
It sounds like the entire mitigation strategy represents an expensive, futile gesture and that a strategy of spending money to ADAPT to a warmer climate (after it gets here) is the most rational approach.
That means that we don’t spend money on things that make electricity more expensive. Poor people will need cheap electricity to run air conditioners. It means reducing welfare payments and slashing publicly funded retirement benefits NOW so that the governments are fiscally able to respond to the future crisis. Maybe wealth transfers to those living in vulnerable communities to subsidize and allow people to live on land that will be flooded is the opposite of what we should be doing.
As an extra benefit to the adaptation strategy, when the predicted warming fails to arrive, we’ll have saved a lot of scarce resources.
‘As discussed in last week’s TWTW, Apple Computers and other companies are using a marketing gimmick of pretending to “go green” by joining companies to generate unreliable electricity from solar and wind, then purchase a similar amount of reliable electricity from the grid. The electricity has been made reliable by the transmission companies and paid for by all consumers. The companies receive double subsidies’
While this is not wrong, it doesn’t mention the big perp: the states. States renewable portfolio standard (RPS) is at the heart of this silliness. The power companies are compelled by law to go along with it. Apple et al take advantage of it.