The Week That Was: 2024-02-03 (February 3, 2024)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project

Quote of the Week: “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” – Archimedes

Number of the Week: 10 Times

THIS WEEK:

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

Scope: Daniel Nebert’s essay that the climate crisis is a fairy tale is presented. The video series Juice is discussed. Gwythian Prins presents the failure of policies of replacing affordable, reliable electricity from coal, oil, gas, and nuclear with wind and solar from a philosophical standpoint. The misleading use of graphs is brought up. And the growing failure of electrical vehicles is presented.

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Fairy Tale: The American Thinker published an essay by physician-scientist Daniel Nebert addressing some of the uncertainties ignored in government climate science. Afterwards meteorologist Chuck Wiess made a few additional recommendations to correct certain errors. The corrected version is below (reproduced with permission by the author):

Today’s ‘Climate Crisis’ is a Fairy Tale

By Daniel Nebert, January 30, 2024

“For the past 35 years, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned us that emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, predominantly carbon dioxide (CO₂), are causing dangerous global warming. This myth is blindly accepted — even by many of my science colleagues who know virtually nothing about climate. As a scientist, my purpose here is to help expose this fairy tale.

The global warming story is not a benign fantasy. It is seriously damaging Western economies. In January 2021, the White House ridiculously declared that ‘climate change is the most serious existential threat to humanity.’ From there, America went from energy independence back to energy dependence. Another consequence has been the appearance of numerous companies whose goal is to ‘sequester CO₂’ as well as ‘sequester carbon’ from our atmosphere. However, this so-called ‘solution’ is scientifically impossible. Life on Earth is based on carbon! CO₂ is plant food! CO₂ is a colorless, odorless gas! CO₂ is not a pollutant!

Generations have been brainwashed for decades into believing this imaginary ‘climate crisis’ from kindergarten through college and in mainstream media and social media. Indoctrinated young teachers feel comfortable teaching this misinformation to students. Dishonest climate scientists feel justified in spreading disinformation because they need governmental support for salaries and research.

The evidence contradicting the climate apocalypse is vast. Some comes from analysis of Greenland and Antarctica ice in which air trapped at various depths reveals CO₂ levels of past climate. Proxy records from marine sediment, dust (from erosion, wind-blown deposition of sediments) and ice cores provide a record of past sea levels, ice volume, seawater temperature and global atmospheric temperatures.

From his seminal work while prisoner of war during WWI, Serbian mathematician Milutin Milankovitch explained how climate is influenced by variations in the Earth’s asymmetric orbit, axial tilt, and rotational wobble — each going through cycles lasting as long as 120,000 years.

It is widely recognized that Glacial Periods of about 95,000 years, interspersed with Interglacial Periods of approximately 25,000 years correspond with Milankovitch Cycles. Multiple incursions of glaciers occurred during the Pleistocene, an epoch lasting from about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago, when Earth’s last Glacial Period ended. Around 24,000 years ago, present-day Lake Erie was covered with ice a mile thick.

Within each Interglacial Period, there’ve been warming periods, or ‘Mini-Summers.’ For example, within the current Holocene Interglacial, there have been warmer periods known as the Minoan (1500 – 1200 BC), Roman (250 BC – 400 AD) and Medieval (900 – 1300 AD). Our Modern Warming Period began with the waning of the Little Ice Age (1300-1850). Today’s Mini-Summer is colder so far than all previous Mini-Summers of the last 8,500 years.

How did CO₂ get blamed for global warming? French physicist Joseph Fourier (1820s) proposed that energy from sunlight must be balanced by energy radiated back into space. Irish physicist John Tyndall (1850s) performed laboratory experiments on ‘greenhouse gases’ (GHGs), including water vapor; he proposed that CO₂ elicited an important effect on temperature. However, it’s impossible to do appropriate experiments — unless the roof of your laboratory is at least six miles high.

Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius (1896) proposed that ‘warming is proportional to the logarithm of CO₂ concentration. Columbia University geochemist Wallace Broecker (1975) and Columbia University Adjunct Professor James Hansen (1981) wrote oft-cited articles in Science magazine, both overstating the perils of CO₂ causing dangerous global warming — without providing scientific proof.

Most of Earth’s energy comes from the sun. Absorption of sunlight causes molecules of objects or surfaces to vibrate faster, increasing their temperature; this energy is then re-radiated by land and oceans as longwave, infrared radiation (heat). Princeton University physicist Will Happer defines a GHG as that which absorbs negligible incoming sunlight but captures a substantial fraction of thermal radiation as it is re-radiated from Earth’s surface and atmospheric GHGs back into space.

The gases of nitrogen, oxygen, and argon — comprising 78%, 21%, and 0.93%, respectively, of the atmosphere — show negligible absorption of thermal radiation and therefore are not GHGs. Important GHGs include water (average of 2%, with a range of 1% to 5%), CO₂ (0.042%, or 420 parts per million (ppm) by volume), methane (0.00017%) and nitrous oxide (0.0000334%, or 334 parts per billion). Water vapor (clouds) has at least a hundred times greater warming effect on Earth’s temperature than all other GHGs combined. [In clear skies the influence of CO2 is more important than indicated. The influence of clouds is significant, but not understood.]

As atmospheric CO₂ increases, its GHG effect decreases: CO₂’s warming effect is 1.5^oC between zero and 20 ppm, 0.3^oC between 20 and 40 ppm,and 0.15^oC between 40 and 60 ppm. Every doubling of atmospheric CO₂ from today’s levels decreases radiation back into space by a mere 1%. For most of the past 800,000 years, Earth’s atmospheric CO₂ has ranged between about 180 ppm and 320 ppm; below 150 ppm, Earth’s plants could not exist, and all life would be extinguished.

Today’s global atmospheric CO₂ levels are ~420 ppm; even at these levels, plants are ‘partially CO₂-starved.’ In fact, standard procedures for commercial greenhouse growers include elevating CO₂ to 800­-1200 ppm; this enhances growth and crop yield ~20-50%. As shown by satellite since 1978, increased atmospheric CO₂ has helped ‘green’ the Earth by more than 15 percent, substantially enhancing crop production.

If global atmospheric CO₂ was ~280 ppm in 1750, and it’s ~420 ppm today, what’s the source of this 140-ppm increase? Scientists estimate that human-associated industrial emissions might have contributed 135 ppm — with ‘natural causes’ accounting for the remaining 5 ppm.

In Earth’s history, the highest levels of atmospheric CO₂ (6,000-9,000 ppm) occurred about 550-450 million years ago, which caused plant life to flourish. CO₂ levels in older nuclear submarines routinely operated at 7000 ppm, whereas newer subs keep CO₂ in the 2,000-5,000-ppm range. Meanwhile, ice-core data over the last 800,000 years show no correlation between global-warming or -cooling cycles and atmospheric CO₂ levels.

CO₂ in our lungs reaches 40,000-50,000 ppm, which induces us to take our next breath. Each human exhales about 2.3 pounds of CO₂ per day, which means Earth’s 8 billion people produce daily 18.4 billion pounds CO₂. But humans represent only 1/40th of all CO₂-excreting life on Earth. Multiplying 18.4 billion pounds by 40 equals 736 billion pounds of CO₂ per day. This approximates the overall CO₂ excreted by the total animal and fungal biomass on the planet.

Worldwide industrial CO₂ emissions in 2022 were estimated to be 38.5 billion metric tons per year. If one metric ton is 2,200 pounds, then ‘total industrial emissions’ amount to 84.7 trillion pounds per year, or 232 billion pounds of CO₂ per day. This means that the entire animal and fungal biomass (736 billion pounds) puts out more than three times as much CO₂ as all industrial emissions (232 billion pounds)!

Can any clear-thinking person comprehend the facts above and still create a company with idiotic plans to ‘sequester CO₂’ or ‘sequester carbon’? Scientifically, ‘net-zero’ and ‘carbon footprint’ are meaningless terms. There is no ‘climate crisis.’

If you try to find these facts on the web, good luck! Out of every 10 ‘hits’ on any climate topic, you’ll be lucky to find one or two sites with truthful scientific data. The door of a nearby classroom displays a poster of Abraham Lincoln with the caption: ‘Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.’ It is advice that our 16th president surely would have offered — had he lived to see the rise of this global warming quasi-religion.”

Daniel W Nebert is Professor Emeritus in Gene-Environment Interactions at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He thanks Professor Will Happer (one of the CO₂ Coalition directors) and Chuck Wiese (fellow CO₂ Coalition member) for valuable discussions.

For the version published in American Thinker see link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.

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Juice: The modern electrical grid is one of the greatest developments of modern civilization and a great benefit to all those who are served by it. It can be considered to have three important components working together: 1) generation; 2) transmission; and 3) distribution. The grid was built with the goal of providing a public service to those who rely on it. After the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 showed off the splendor of electric light, cities, then rural areas clamored for electricity. Urban utilities provided electricity to cities and co-ops were formed to provide electricity to more rural areas. In the 1930s the Federal Government stepped-in, building dams and electrifying the balance of the nation with the Rural Electrification Administration. By 1950 close to 80 percent of the farms in the US had electricity from the grid, replacing windmills and other devices to generate electricity. The goal was to provide affordable, reliable electricity. The UK and Germany are demonstrating that there is nothing affordable and reliable about using solar and wind to replace thermal generation from coal, oil, gas, and nuclear. Unfortunately, many in Washington and certain other states do not realize the importance of affordable, reliable electricity and are promoting new fads.

Experienced energy commentator Robert Bryce produced a series of five videos, each about 20 minutes, that clearly show the fragility of the current grid that depends on solar, wind, and just-in-time natural gas (gas power plants without storage). The five parts are:

1.         Texas Blackout

2.         “Undermined by Enron — Enron Corporation may have declared bankruptcy in 2001, but the company’s effect on America’s electric grid can still be seen today in states like California and Texas, where power prices are soaring, and reliability is declining. The push to treat electricity as a commodity instead of a service is particularly punishing in California, where electricity prices are increasing three times faster than in the rest of the U.S.”

3.         Green Dreams

4.         Nuclear Renaissance

5.         “Industrial Cathedrals — America is plagued by short-term thinking, particularly regarding our electric grid. If we are going to be serious about energy security, energy access, and climate change, we need to make our electric grid weather-resilient, not weather-dependent. That will require thinking long-term. It will require embracing fission. It will require us to consider our nuclear power plants as the crowning achievements of our society. It will require us to see them, as Emmet Penney does, as ‘industrial cathedrals.’”

Writing in Power Line, Steven Hayward highly recommends the series but questions some of its implications. He writes:

“Herewith the second installment of Robert Bryce’s new documentary, ‘Juice’ Power, Politics, and the Grid,’ in which he takes up the subject of electricity deregulation in the 1990s and the role of Enron in the California debacle of 2000. I’m not sure I entirely agree with Robert’s narrative of this important policy shift—for one thing, ‘de-regulation’ isn’t really accurate, as it was really a regulatory restructuring—but this episode is worthy of viewing to the end for its second half, where Robert features a grassroots group or left-leaning (or formerly) left leaning civil rights housing activists who have recognized that environmentalism—rather than racism—is their most potent foe.”

See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.

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Failure: A noted security specialist, Professor emeritus Gwythian Prins of the London School of Economics (and Political Science) writes that the “Net Zero” plan of replacing coal, oil, and natural gas with wind and solar creates a national security problem for the UK. He states:

“Now that we can explain why the Hansen 1988 ‘control knob’ CO2/global temperature close-coupling hypothesis doesn’t hold, which is the major finding of thirty five years of global climate systems research, but instead is vitiated by two fundamental errors in its theory of knowledge and by a major technical error by the IPCC (see Archimedes’ Fulcrum pp. 9-13), we can more accurately assess the risks from anthropogenic CO2 emissions to global security, relative to other risks, and adapt to them. As ‘wicked’ problems, they cannot be mitigated because there is no sufficient understanding of cause and effect.” [Boldface added]

In Archimedes’ Fulcrum, Prins gives the key differences between “wicked” and “tame” problems. ‘Tame’ problems have the following characteristics:

Bounded; Can be precisely formulated; ‘True-false’ solutions – scientific criteria; Waypoint and final tests possible; Trial and error by repeated experiment; Definable sets of possible solutions; Hypothesis refinement by iterative Popperian falsification normal; ‘Tame’ problems inhabit rich classifications; Start-point value judgements more contestable; and No negative reckoning for Popperian falsifiers conducting iterative experimentation: the contrary.

‘Wicked’ problems have the following characteristics:

Unbounded; No definitive formulation of problem; No ‘stopping rule’ on data collection; ‘Good-bad’ solutions – ethical criteria; No immediate and no ultimate test; Interventions are always ‘one shot’; No enumerable set of possible solutions; Hypothesis refinement by iterative Popperian falsification not possible; Every ‘wicked’ problem unique and can be seen to be a symptom of another; Choice of explanation prescribes the nature of chosen optic [view], and that in turn the choice of putative solution; and Those making interventions are not granted the right to be wrong by those affected by their ‘one shot’ actions. [Boldface added]

From this list we can see why advocates of wicked problems consider themselves immune to criticism. Their view cannot be criticized from standard testing with physical evidence. Prins writes:

‘To apply the logic and procedures applicable to ‘tame’ problems to ‘wicked’ problems is a fundamental category mistake in choice of theory of knowledge.’

The inability to objectively criticize the work of climate change advocates can be seen in the book The Primacy of Doubt: From Quantum Physics to Climate Change, How the Science of Uncertainty Can Help Us Understand Our Chaotic World by Tim Palmer a pioneer of the ensemble technique of climate modeling. It is interesting that Palmer invokes the field of Quantum Physics, for Richard Feynman, whose Nobel was in in Quantum Physics insisted that in Physical Science nature was the final and ultimate judge of a concept. If it is inconsistent with nature, it is wrong. Quantum Physicist John Clauser, a 2022 Nobel recipient, seems to have a view similar to Feynman.

Additionally, Prins writes:

“Since the choice of explanation prescribes the nature of chosen putative solution and since computer simulations of the climate are central in the suite of methods of analysis used, a second category mistake producing a second error in the theory of knowledge routinely occurs. Computer simulations produce projections: views of possible futures delimited by their starting assumptions. Yet politicians eager for grist to the legislative mill are routinely prone to take projections as firm predictions. Meantime, scientifically illiterate eco-zealots set such projections, mis-described as predictions, in stone. These are cemented with claims along the lines of ‘x% of scientists can’t be wrong: ‘the science is settled’. By these mis-matchings, both groups use a doubly defective theory of knowledge. By so doing, they commit what Alfred North Whitehead named the ‘fallacy of misplaced concreteness.’ As he famously observed, ‘not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance is the death of knowledge’.” [Boldface at the end is added, previously it was italics in the original. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.

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Graphs: Many politicians and commentators are numerically illiterate and do not understand how to read graphs. Recently, Gavin Schmidt, the director of NASA-GISS, objected to Roy Spencer’s essay discussed in last week’s TWTW including the manner in which Roy Spencer presents graphs. Spencer plots graphs comparing different datasets by beginning at the beginning of the dataset. This clearly shows the divergence between, say, atmospheric temperatures and model projections. Schmidt plots graphs by having the lines representing different datasets intersect in the middle of the timeline of data. Thus, he masks the extent of the divergence of two different datasets. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy and https://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2024/TWTW%20Jan%2027.pdf

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Different, Not Acceleration: A favorite trick of NOAA and others who advocate dangerous sea level rise is to splice together datasets from different sets of instruments to give the impression that sea level rise is accelerating. [If sea level rise were accelerating, the acceleration would show up in tide-gauge data at all stations, but it does not, regardless of whether the land is sinking, rising, or remaining static, but tide-gages are ignore.] If the datasets have no control or calibration period, one cannot know if they measure the same thing the same way. Willis Eschenbach exposes this trick in NOAA’s earlier “Satellite Based Sea Level From Four Satellites.” He also explains that artificial intelligence systems such as “Climinator” attacked the NIPCC reports by using false information. See links under Below the Bottom Line.

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Atmospheric Temperature Trend: For reasons that are not clear, calculated atmospheric temperatures went up considerably in the latter part of 2023, and in January 2024. Roy Spencer reports: “The linear warming trend since January 1979 now stands at +0.15 C/decade.” (0.27F per decade). For his report and the full report see links under Measurement Issues – Atmosphere.

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Mann Litigation: TWTW is linking to the Mann v. Steyn litigation without comment until the decision is made. However, Larry Bell has an exceptional comment on its importance. He states:

“Following many trillions of dollars spent on ‘net carbon neutral’ fantasies ‘green energy’ and ‘clean electric vehicles,’ about two dozen years too late we’re finally witnessing serious court challenges to the sort of ‘science’ that spawned these costly and economically destructive climate alarm-premised boondoggles in the first place.”

See links under Oh Mann!

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Political Tricks: Energy commentator Mark Mills is a contributing editor of the City Journal. In discussing Washington’s push for electric vehicles, he writes:

“This domestic-sourcing feature is what it took, reportedly, to get West Virginia senator Joe Machin on board to pass the all-partisan Inflation Reduction Act, because, as he surely knew, nearly all battery materials are currently foreign-made and will remain so for ages. However, the final legislation had a surreptitious exception allowing the credit for leased vehicles built with foreign materials. Evidently, the pen is mightier than the miner.”

“This debate matters because hundreds of billions of dollars in public spending will be deployed via the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act to push EVs into markets—and because a proposed rule from the EPA, with comparable legislation in more than a dozen states, will make it impossible to buy a new car unless it’s an EV within the decade. The unprecedented magnitude of government intervention gives EV enthusiasts confidence that it will all “’spur consumer demand.’”

“But for EVs to become ubiquitous, we’ll need quantum-leap innovations, and history shows that mandates, taxes, and subsidies aren’t how we get that kind of progress. All they do, instead, is lock in yesterday’s technologies and waste money.”

In addition, Laura Beck writes in Yahoo Finance:

“A sobering new reliability report from Consumer Reports indicates electric vehicles still have a long road ahead regarding dependable performance. The survey of over 300,000 vehicles found electric models suffer 79% more maintenance problems than gas-powered cars. Meanwhile, plug-in hybrids fared even worse — with a concerning 146% more issues reported by drivers.”

As linked in last week’s TWTW, Hertz is dumping about 20,000 Teslas because it cannot rent them, and they cost considerably more to repair than conventional vehicles. It appears that electric vehicles are a political fad, not a popular one. See links under Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles.

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Number of the Week: 10 Times — the number in other animals: Based on recent evidence, Homo sapiens may have evolved in the tropics of Africa; not in the rainforests, but in the savanna, the hot grasslands outside the rainforests. Humans have special characteristics giving them a niche for endurance hunting. They run upright, not in a bounding fashion, thus breathe more readily. And humans have a unique cooling system. They have about 10 times the density of sweat glands embedded in their skin compared to chimpanzees, considered the closest living relatives to humans. Further, unlike horses and other mammals, human sweat is mostly water with salt and other trace minerals. The sweat of horses and most land mammals contains lipids.

Most land animals cool by panting. As long as they have water, humans do not. This explains why natives of the Southwest were able to run down the fastest land animal in the Americas, the Pronghorn (called antelope), another flat runner but without the powerful cooling system of humans. They would collapse from heat exhaustion.

Thus, contrary to what climate alarmists claim, as long as humans have water, they will survive a warming world. See   https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2021/april/the-chillest-ape-how-humans-evolved-a-super-high-cooling-capacity#:~:text=PHILADELPHIA%E2%80%94%20Humans%20have%20a%20uniquely,density%20of%20chimpanzees%20and%20macaques.

and https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/human-origins/understanding-our-past/dna-comparing-humans-and-chimps#:~:text=of%20Human%20Origins-,DNA%3A%20Comparing%20Humans%20and%20Chimps,of%20Hall%20of%20Human%20Origins.&text=The%20chimpanzee%20and%20bonobo%20are%20humans’%20closest%20living%20relatives.&text=These%20three%20species%20look%20alike,both%20in%20body%20and%20behavior.

NEWS YOU CAN USE:

Science: Is the Sun Rising?

Solar Update January 2024

By David Archibald, WUWT, Jan 29, 2024

Solar Update January 2024

Commentary: Is the Sun Rising?

A Curious Correlation -Sunspots vs. Major Hurricane Frequency

By Kirby Schlaht, WUWT, Jan 31, 2024

A Curious Correlation -Sunspots vs. Major Hurricane Frequency

“If the Svensmark cloud hypothesis is correct, increased solar activity deflects more Cosmic Rays (CR) away from the inner solar system producing less ionization in the troposphere, producing fewer clouds with more solar radiation reaching the oceans.”

What the next solar maximum means for you

By Staff Writers, Washington DC (SPX), Jan 29, 2024

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/What_the_next_solar_maximum_means_for_you_999.html

“Much like the Earth, our Sun is a dynamic body with a complex – and sometimes violent – weather system. Solar storms eject highly energetic radiation that can impact our planet, forming strong auroras and disrupting power grids, electronics, and satellites.”

[SEPP Comment: According to the National Climate Assessment endorsed by NOAA, the Sun has little impact on climate!]

Rising Temperatures, Sunshine Hours & The Clean Air Acts

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 27, 2024

Rising Temperatures, Sunshine Hours & The Clean Air Acts

“According to the Met Office, UK mean temperatures have been on the rise since about 1980. But during the exact same period sunshine hours have also been steadily rising:”

Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC

Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science

Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2013

Click to access CCR-II-Full.pdf

Summary: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/CCR/CCR-II/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf

Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts

Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2014

http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/

Summary: https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-IIb/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf

Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels

By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019

http://store.heartland.org/shop/ccr-ii-fossil-fuels/

Download with no charge:

http://climatechangereconsidered.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Climate-Change-Reconsidered-II-Fossil-Fuels-FULL-Volume-with-covers.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, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (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

Global Sea-Level Rise: An Evaluation of the Data

By Craig D. Idso, David Legates, and S. Fred Singer, Heartland Policy Brief, May 20, 2019

Click to access SeaLevelRiseCCRII.pdf

Challenging the Orthodoxy – Radiation Transfer

The Role of Greenhouse Gases in Energy Transfer in the Earth’s Atmosphere

By W. A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, Mar 3, 2023

Click to access The-Role-of-Greenhouse-Gases-in-Energy-Transfer-in-the-Earths-Atmosphere.pdf

Challenging the Orthodoxy

Simple Explanations Don’t Apply In The Complex Climate System

By Frank Bosse, Via P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Jan 28, 2024

Simple Explanations Don’t Apply In The Complex Climate System

Today’s ‘Climate Crisis’ Is a Fairy Tale

By Daniel W. Nebert, American Thinker, Jan 27, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/01/todays_climate_crisis_is_a_fairy_tale.html

Reproduced with subsequent corrections by author in the This Week section above.

Juice: Power, Politics & The Grid Is Out!

Our five-part docuseries on the fragilization of the electric grid is on YouTube. It’s free. And it’s terrific.

By Robert Bryce, His Blog, Jan 31, 2024

https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/juice-power-politics-and-the-grid

Juice, Power, Politics, and the Grid, Part 2

By Steven Hayward, PowerLine, Feb 1, 2024

Juice: Power, Politics, and the Grid, Part 2

Net Zero threatens national security

Press Release, Net Zero Watch, Jan 31, 2024

https://www.netzerowatch.com/all-news/prins-return-coal

Link to article: The Net Zero music stops

National security concerns must take precedence over the climate

By Gwythian Prins, Net Zero Watch, Jan 31, 2024

https://www.netzerowatch.com/all-news/cancel-net-zero-return-coal

Link to study: Archimedes’ Fulcrum

By Gwythian Prins, Net Zero Watch, 2023

Click to access Prins-Archimedes-Fulcrum-Final.pdf

Working backward to check my work

By Joe Bastardi, CFACT, Jan 20, 2024

https://www.cfact.org/2024/01/20/working-backward-to-check-my-work/

“If we have more incoming solar radiation reaching the planet’s tropical waters, this is going to be a cause for warming. But that means there has to be a lack of clouds over the tropical oceans. Over the last 10-15 years, Outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) has increased and is opposite what it was in the 1950s. There is a plausible explanation.”

Gavin’s Plotting Trick: Hide the Incline

By Roy Spencer, WUWT, Feb 1, 2024

Gavin’s Plotting Trick: Hide the Incline

Spencer vs. Schmidt: Spencer Responds to RealClimate.org Criticisms

By Roy Spencer, WUWT, Jan 31, 2024

Spencer vs. Schmidt: Spencer Responds to RealClimate.org Criticisms

Interview With Dr Neil Frank, former Director, National Hurricane Center

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 31, 2024

Interview With Dr Neil Frank, former Director, National Hurricane Center

“I have often quoted Dr Neil Frank. This is a great interview”

WINNING – Trillions Spent on ‘Climate Change’ Based on Faulty Temperature Data

By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Jan 29, 2024

WINNING – Trillions Spent on ‘Climate Change’ Based on Faulty Temperature Data

How Much Ocean Heating is Due To Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents?

By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Jan 29, 2024

How Much Ocean Heating is Due To Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents?

[SEPP Comment: Spencer shows that globally, the warming from submerged hydrothermal vents may be very small. However, they may explain isolated warming patches such as “blobs” in the Pacific that were unexplained initially.]

Defending the Orthodoxy

How YouTube’s climate deniers turned into climate doomers

A new report documents a sharp rise in arguments that clean energy and climate policies won’t work.

By Kate Yoder, Grist, Yale Climate Connections, Jan 31, 2024

How YouTube’s climate deniers turned into climate doomers

Link to apparent report: The New Climate Denial

How social media platforms and content producers profit by spreading new forms of climate denial

By Staff, The Center for Countering Digital Hate, 2024

Click to access CCDH-The-New-Climate-Denial_FINAL.pdf

Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science

Renewable Power Set to Surpass Coal Globally by 2025

Renewable energy will surpass coal power by 2025 and, with nuclear energy, will account for nearly half the world’s power generation by 2026, the International Energy Agency forecasts

By Jason Plautz & E&E News, Science American, Jan 25, 2024

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/renewable-power-set-to-surpass-coal-globally-by-2025/

Link to: Electricity 2024: Analysis and forecast to 2026

By Staff, EIA, January 2024

https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2024

[SEPP Comment: IEA is predicting that CO2 emissions from China will decline from 2023?]

Questioning the Orthodoxy

Those weren’t the days

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 31, 2024

Those weren’t the days

“A careful look at history tells us that the global average surface temperature is not a control knob that we can set to a preferred value to ‘prevent suffering.’”

“We’d go further and say it’s not one we can set to a preferred value at all. But certainly if someone claims otherwise, or even expresses a wish that we could, they should be asked to explain where they’d set it and why. And if they can’t, or won’t, discount any further climate-related remarks they might make as willfully ignorant babble.”

[SEPP Comment: Contrary to the UN IPCC and its followers, the period from 1850 to 1900 was far from ideal.]

Tidbits

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 31, 2024

Tidbits

“And we must say again that if the climate is so fragile that its future hinges on whether people put sails on big ocean-going ships, we’re done for anyway.”

#ECS in the real world: Shaviv et al. 2022

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 31, 2024

#ECS in the real world: Shaviv et al. 2022

“Indeed, at the 540 million year time scale many things cause temporary changes, as geologists use the word ‘temporary’

ECS does not correlate with volcanic effects, and why it matters

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 31, 2024

ECS does not correlate with volcanic effects, and why it matters

“The IPCC claimed ECS is likely between 2.5° C and 4.0° C, an estimate which was (in the words of Pauling et al.) ‘in large part achieved by consideration of emergent constraints’. Huh? Well, the idea is that instead of measuring ECS directly, you measure something else in model outputs that might have nothing to do with temperature but which appear to correlate with CO2 ‘forcing’, the amount of warming CO2 is causing, like (for example) difference in precipitation between two regions.”

How Sulphur Regulations Have Helped To Warm The Planet

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 28, 2024

How Sulphur Regulations Have Helped To Warm The Planet

“This reduction in pollution has undoubtedly had an upward effect on ocean temperature. The question is how much.”

After Paris!

Delusions of Davos and Dubai

By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, Jan 31, 2024

Delusions of Davos and Dubai

Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide

New Study: 2001-2020 ‘Global Greening Is An Indisputable Fact’ And It’s Driven By CO2 Fertilization

By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Jan 29, 2024

New Study: 2001-2020 ‘Global Greening Is An Indisputable Fact’ And It’s Driven By CO2 Fertilization

Link to paper: The global greening continues despite increased drought stress since 2000

By Xin Chen, et al., Global Ecology and Conservation, January 2024

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989423004262

From the article: “Using Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data sources of questionable quality, some recent studies have suggested the greening trend has slowed or has even been reversed to browning since the 21st century began. As suggested, these data sources ‘should be used in caution’ (Chen et al., 2024) as it is ‘well known that AVHRR-based NDVI and LAI have multiple sources of uncertainty,’ such as ‘obvious artificial signals from the orbital drift.’

Using much more reliable MODIS data, scientists (Chen et al., 2024) can now say the LAI trend in the 21st century is robustly positive, and that 2001-2020 ‘global greening is an indisputable fact.’”

FOURNIER: Sorry Biden, CO2 Is Not Pollution. It’s The Currency Of Life

By Joseph Fournier, Daily Caller, Jan 15, 2024

https://dailycaller.com/2024/01/15/fournier-carbon-dioxide-pollution-greening/

“The examples that I will showcase that demonstrate that Arrhenius’ predictions are coming true are 1) the expanding Plant Kingdom, 2) the acceleration of agricultural productivity, and 3) the climate stabilizing effects of rising CO2.”

Burn oil, save forests: Global greening is accelerating in 55% of the world thanks to fossil fuels

By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Feb 2, 2024

Burn oil, save forests: Global greening is accelerating in 55% of the world thanks to fossil fuels

Models v. Observations

Two model-observation comparisons confirm: CMIP6 models run too hot

By Frank Bosse and Nic Lewis, Climate Etc. Feb 2, 2024

Two model-observation comparisons confirm: CMIP6 models run too hot

“A recent article by Roy Spencer was (strongly) criticized by Gavin Schmidt [NASA-GISSS] over at ‘Real Climate’.”

U.S.A. Temperature Trends, 1979-2023: Models vs. Observations

By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Feb 2, 2024

U.S.A. Temperature Trends, 1979-2023: Models vs. Observations

“Given that ‘global warming’ is a greater concern in the summer, these results further demonstrate that the climate models depended upon for public policy should not be believed when it comes to their global warming projections.”

Model Issues

Modelling climatic impacts of low clouds over tropical waters

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 31, 2024

Modelling climatic impacts of low clouds over tropical waters

From the CO2Science Archive:

Measurement Issues — Surface

The Climate Data Corruption Business

By Tony Heller, His Blog, Feb 1, 2024

Text: https://realclimatescience.com/2024/02/the-climate-data-corruption-business/#gsc.tab=0

Video: https://realclimatescience.com/2024/02/the-climate-data-corruption-business-2/#gsc.tab=0

Further Investigations on Errors in Weather Station Data Evaluations

By Moritz Busing, WUWT, Feb 1, 2024

Further Investigations on Errors in Weather Station Data Evaluations

“The error was that warming of the weather station housings due to ageing of the paint by 0.1°C to 0.2°C (0.18°F to 0.36°F) was compounded multiple times by the so-called homogenization algorithms used by NOAA and other organizations. This happens, because the homogenization algorithm assumes a permanent change in temperature when the station housing is repainted, replaced, or even cleaned. But these changes are temporary, because the new paint starts ageing and accumulating dirt again.”

Long Term Climate Sensitivity After All Feedback Has Acted

By Bob Irvine, WUWT, Jan 29, 2024

Long Term Climate Sensitivity After All Feedback Has Acted

“This essay will attempt to find an estimate for Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS) based on two methods of estimating the Global Mean Surface Temperature (GMST) after all NCGHGs have been artificially removed. Both these estimates include an unknown figure for System Gain Factor (SGF).”

[SEPP Comment: History shows that Earth never had an equilibrium climate.]

Urban Heat Island Studies – Do Pristine Weather Stations Even Exist? Part Two. ‘HIDE THE INCLINE’ [Australia]

By Geoff Sherrington, WUWT, Feb 2, 2024

Urban Heat Island Studies – Do Pristine Weather Stations Even Exist? Part Two. ‘HIDE THE INCLINE’.

Measurement Issues — Atmosphere

UAH Global Temperature Update for January 2024: +0.86 deg. C

By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Feb 2, 2024

UAH Global Temperature Update for January, 2024: +0.86 deg. C

Global Temperature Report: January 2024

By Staff, Earth System Science Center, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Feb 4, 2024

Map: https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/2024/JANUARY/202401_Map.png

Graph: https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/2024/JANUARY/202401_Bar.png

Text: https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/2024/JANUARY/GTR_202401JAN_v1.pdf

Changing Weather

EU Wildfire Trends

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 2, 2024

EU Wildfire Trends

Germany’s “Spring In Winter” Lasted Weeks, Reached 15°C In January 1974!

By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Jan 31, 2024

Germany’s “Spring In Winter” Lasted Weeks, Reached 15°C In January 1974!

The Inner Secrets of An Impressive Pacific Storm

By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Jan 31, 2024

https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-inner-secrets-of-impressive-pacific.html

All the drought that’s fit to drink

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 31, 2024

All the drought that’s fit to drink

“Well, clear to some of us. Who also know that lots of places, including Alberta, have historically and prehistorically been extremely prone to groundwater-depleting droughts far worse than the current one.”

Another Dead Canary

By Tony Heller, His Blog, Feb 2, 2024

https://realclimatescience.com/2024/02/another-dead-canary/#gsc.tab=0

“Alaska used to be the canary in the global boiling coal mine, but now they are having record cold and snow.”

January 1952 & 1953: When Weather Really Was Extreme

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 30, 2024

January 1952 & 1953: When Weather Really Was Extreme

January 1954 – heavy rain, floods, severe gales, mild weather, very cold weather and thick snow

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 29, 2024

January 1954 – heavy rain, floods, severe gales, mild weather, very cold weather and thick snow

Changing Climate – Cultures & Civilizations

Did Climate Change Cause the Fall of the Roman Empire?

By Kip Hansen, WUWT, Jan 29, 2024

Did Climate Change Cause the Fall of the Roman Empire?

“Paul Erdkamp, of Vrije Universiteit Brussel, has a pre-print up that starts with this ‘In 1984, the German ancient historian Alexander Demandt listed over two hundred causes of the decline of the Roman world that had been proposed in previous scholarship. The list offers a clear illustration of the fact that our views of the past are very much determined by contemporary concerns.’”

Changing Seas

Observed vs. Imagined Sea Levels 2023 Update

By Ron Clutz, His Blog, Feb 1, 2024

Observed vs. Imagined Sea Levels 2023 Update

Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice

Greenland Temperature Update – 2023

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 28, 2024

Greenland Temperature Update – 2023

Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine

World Cereal Production Set To Hit Record High In 2023

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 2, 2024

World Cereal Production Set To Hit Record High In 2023

[SEPP Comment: The consequences of “the hottest year in 125,000 years”?]

Lowering Standards

EA Can’t Even Get Simple Facts Right

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 31, 2024

EA Can’t Even Get Simple Facts Right

“Every year the Environment Agency fill their flood reports with climate change hype, like this one:”

Bude To Drown In 2050!

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 1, 2024

Bude To Drown In 2050!

“More silly scaremongering from the BBC:”

More On The Supposed Record Temperature At Kinlochewe

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 31, 2024

More On The Supposed Record Temperature At Kinlochewe

Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?

And they wonder why no one trusts them

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 31, 2024

And they wonder why no one trusts them

“If you believe China is manufacturing car batteries in a clean manner, you probably shouldn’t be a journalist.”

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

Insurance Industry’s Fake Claims Of Increasing Storm Damage Are Not Supported By Data

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 31, 2024

Insurance Industry’s Fake Claims Of Increasing Storm Damage Are Not Supported By Data

Communicating Better to the Public – Protest

They Firebombed My Office

By John Hinderaker, PowerLine, Feb 1, 2024

They Firebombed My Office

“I am working with the FBI to try to identify the perpetrators. As I told them, the list of potential suspects is long, as my organization is active, and unusually effective, across a broad range of issues. I will have more to say about this before long.”

Cost of Living Farmers Protests Paralyze Europe

By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Jan 30, 2024

Cost of Living Farmers Protests Paralyse Europe

Questioning European Green

Cold, hungry, stuck at home: Net Zero’s drastic lifestyle changes

By David Turver, Net Zero Watch, Jan 30, 2024

https://www.netzerowatch.com/all-news/storage-spats-mask-drastic-net-zero-lifestyle-changes

How the Welsh government sold out the Welsh countryside

By Clive Goodridge, Net Zero Watch, Feb 2, 2024

https://www.netzerowatch.com/all-news/how-the-welsh-government-sold-out-the-welsh-countryside

“fairytale” thinking about net zero.”

By Tony Heller, His Blog, Feb 2, 2024

https://realclimatescience.com/2024/02/fairytale-thinking-about-net-zero/#gsc.tab=0

Questioning Green Elsewhere

Green Electrical Shocks in 2024

By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, Feb 1, 2024

Green Electrical Shocks in 2024

Funding Issues

Michael Bloomberg’s $1 Billion Assault on The Electric Grid

By Robert Bryce, Cornwall Alliance, Jan 23, 2024

Michael Bloomberg’s $1 Billion Assault on The Electric Grid

Malawi COP29 Frustration: Rich Nation Parliaments Need to Debate OUR Climate Cash NOW

By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Jan 31, 2024

Malawi COP29 Frustration: Rich Nation Parliaments Need to Debate OUR Climate Cash NOW

[SEPP Comment: Why doesn’t Bloomberg fund electricity generation in poor countries rather than fund the destruction of reliable electricity in the US as described above?]

The Political Games Continue

This Year, Congress Must Resolve to Reform the Antiquities Act

By Gabriella Hoffman, Real Clear Energy, Jan 29, 2024

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/01/29/this_year_congress_must_resolve_to_reform_the_antiquities_act_1008261.html

Vote on Capito Amendment Unmasks PROVE IT as Carbon Tax Enabler

By Marlo Lewis, Jr., CEI, Jan 25, 2024

https://cei.org/blog/vote-on-capito-amendment-unmasks-prove-it-as-carbon-tax-enabler/

Litigation Issues

Time to Get Rid of the Chevron Ruling

By John Horvat II, American Thinker, Jan 31, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/01/time_to_get_rid_of_the_chevron_ruling.html

[SEPP Comment: By rewriting regulations, such as those greatly extending subsidies to wind and solar under the Inflation Reduction Act, Washington “experts” demonstrated they do not deserve deference as “experts.”]

You Can’t Defend ‘Democracy’ and the Administrative State

By David Harsanyi, The Daily Signal, Jan 26, 0224

You Can’t Defend ‘Democracy’ and the Administrative State

[SEPP Comment: The USA is a Republic, different from a democracy.

DAVID BLACKMON: ExxonMobil Just Set The Climate Alarm Lobby On Fire Again

By David Blackmn, Daily Caller, Jan 31, 2024

https://dailycaller.com/2024/01/31/opinion-exxonmobil-sets-the-climate-alarm-lobby-afire-again-david-blackmon/

Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Taxes

Gov’t Knows Best Carbon Taxes Will Crush Low-Wage Earners

By Larry Bell, Newsmax, Jan 31, 2024

https://www.newsmax.com/larrybell/carbon-wind-solar/2024/01/31/id/1151696/

Subsidies and Mandates Forever

Biden Admin Classifies Martha’s Vineyard, Elite Locales As ‘Low-Income’ To Push EV Charger Subsidies

By Nick Pope, Daily Caller, Jan 31, 2024

https://dailycaller.com/2024/01/31/biden-admin-elite-enclaves-low-income-charger-subsidies/?pnespid=7rNqESNOM78AxP3Dt2WpSo3Vok6rDoJlI7Owy7toskRmaaCeOKcrwIrZIbAqBG3LJVKJP4F1Jg

“Large pockets of Cape Cod, another pricey locale, are also eligible for ‘low income’ EV subsidies. This includes Hyannis, the longtime home base of the Kennedy political dynasty, and Great Island, which features numerous multi-million-dollar properties.”

[SEPP Comment: Integrity in Washington.]

FEMA to compensate schools, hospitals for adding solar panels after disasters

By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Jan 30, 2024

FEMA to compensate schools, hospitals for adding solar panels after disasters

“Under the new policy, FEMA’s Public Assistance grant program will offer funding for net-zero energy installations including solar panels and heat pumps for public facilities damaged by extreme weather and other disasters.”

UK To Subsidise China Car Manufacturers

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 1, 2024

UK To Subsidise China Car Manufacturers

“Any manufacturer that does not have enough allowances, one way or another, will have to pay a fine of £15000. Manufacturers with excess allowances will therefore be able to sell these at close to £15000, as demand will almost certainly exceed supply. (This assumes that total EV sales are less than target, which seems highly probable).”

“Chinese owned MG and Polestar, for instance, sold 34,000 EVs in this country last year. So their allowances would be worth £510 million. Tesla’s sales of the Y and 3 models totalled 49,000, worth £735 million.”

EPA and other Regulators on the March

EPA proposes to enable states to require ‘forever chemical’ cleanup, giving substances ‘hazardous’ label

By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Feb 2, 2024

EPA proposes to enable states to require ‘forever chemical’ cleanup, giving substances ‘hazardous’ label

“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed to designate nine toxic ‘forever chemicals’ as ‘hazardous constituents’ under the nation’s law for cleaning up ongoing pollution, in a move that would enable states to require cleanups if the substances are released.”

[SEPP Comment: Shouldn’t the EPA demonstrate why chemicals that are inert in nature and in the human body are toxic to humans?]

The SEC Oversteps its Powers on Climate Change

By H. Sterling Burnett, American Thinker, Feb 2, 2024

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/02/the_sec_oversteps_its_powers_on_climate_change.html

Energy Issues – Non-US

The Folly Of Climate Leadership

By Tilak Doshi, Forbes, Feb 1, 2024

A Closer Look at the UK’s Energy Predicament

More Revelations Emerge of How the Climate Change Committee Dupes Parliament into Voting for Net Zero Measures

By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, Jan 27, 2024 [H/t Paul Homewood]

More Revelations Emerge of How the Climate Change Committee Dupes Parliament into Voting for Net Zero Measures

Meanwhile in the real world

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 31, 2024

Meanwhile in the real world

“One of the tricky nuances of the last few years is that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked a European scramble both to find non-Russian gas and to get off gas.”

“Off it onto what? Unicorns? Uh no, that’d be coal, including in Germany.”

FES Scenarios Won’t Meet Energy Storage Needs

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 28, 2024

FES Scenarios Won’t Meet Energy Storage Needs

“Let’s have a look at the latest National Grid’s Future Energy Scenarios, and see how they cater for the 100 TWh of energy storage recommended by the Royal Society.”

[SEPP Comment: Underestimating the  underestimates to keep it “affordable”?]

Energy Issues – Australia

Grid on the Edge: Queensland Govt switched off thousands of home air conditioners six times in the last 8 weeks

By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Feb 1, 2024

Grid on the Edge: Queensland Govt switched off thousands of home air conditioners six times in the last 8 weeks

“Welcome to modern Australia where the grid is so fragile, poor people have to buy air conditioners that the government can remotely switch off .  Such is the state of decay that Queensland no longer has enough electricity to allow the riff-raff to have air conditioning whenever they want it — only the rich can do that.”

“It’s a way to manage the grid — think of it as 170,000 mini blackouts instead of one big one:”

[SEPP Comment: Once electricity was smart, you could turn it on whenever you wanted. Now, smart electricity means the government can turn it off whenever it wants.

Energy Issues — US

The Electric Grid Explained In 10 Charts

The U.S. electric grid delivers $500 billion worth of juice every year. But what is it?

By Robert Bryce, His Blog, Jan 17, 2024

https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/the-electric-grid-explained-in-10

Link to report: National Transmission Needs Study: Draft for Public Comment, February 2023

Click to access 022423-DRAFTNeedsStudyforPublicComment.pdf

From article: Last February, the Department of Energy published a report — the “National Transmission Needs Study” — which claimed the U.S. needs to build 47,300 gigawatt-miles of new power lines by 2035. It did not bother to explain what a gigawatt-mile is, nor did it say how many miles of transmission are being built annually. (As I explained last May in “47,300 Gigawatt-Miles From Nowhere,” the answer is very few.) 

New York Cap and Invest – The Role of Cap-and-Invest

By Rober Caiazza, WUWT, Jan 27, 2024

New York Cap and Invest – The Role of Cap-and-Invest

“In brief, that plan is to electrify everything possible using zero-emissions electricity.”

[SEPP Comment: Government gone amuck. Are the plans feasible is not a question that is addressed.]

The Key to Energy IQ

By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, Jan 29, 2024

The Key to Energy IQ

[SEPP Comment: Video with text on power density.]

Red States: Run FAR Away From Renewable Portfolio Standards!

By Rick Whitbeck, Real Clear Energy, Jan 31, 2024

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/01/31/red_states_run_far_away_from_renewable_portfolio_standards_1008752.html

“Today, however, producers in Cook Inlet – who are responsible for most of Southcentral Alaska’s supplies of reliable energy – have sounded alarms about running out of economic-to-extract gas supplies. Utilities are looking at importing natural gas as a short-term fix, which could double ratepayers’ bills until other firm (always-on) sources are brought to market.”

Alaska ‘Green New Deal’ Lurks (RPS danger)

By Kassie Andrews, Master Resource, Jan 31, 2024

Alaska ‘Green New Deal’ Lurks (RPS danger)

Washington’s Control of Energy

Three Reasons Why the Moratorium on LNG Projects Is Joe Biden’s Latest Energy Misstep

By Ted Garrish, Real Clear Energy, Jan 30, 2024

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/01/30/three_reasons_why_the_moratorium_on_lng_projects_is_biden_latest_energy_misstep_1008531.html

Joe Biden’s war on fossil fuels is hurting America

California should not be the President’s energy model

By Joel Kotkin, UnHerd, Feb 1, 2024

https://unherd.com/thepost/joe-bidens-war-on-fossil-fuels-is-hurting-america/

Link to: California keeps its title as having the nation’s highest poverty rate

By Dan Walters, Cal Matters, Sep 13, 2023

https://calmatters.org/commentary/2023/09/california-poverty-rate/

Link to data: Poverty in the United States: 2022

By Emily Shrider and John Creamer, United States Census Bureau, Sep 12, 2023

https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-280.html

From article: “California’s last two large oil producers, ExxonMobil and Chevron, this week announced a combined $5 billion in write-offs of their assets in the state.”

“This predicament can’t be blamed on California running out of oil and gas; some estimates of the state’s oil and gas reserves are considerably larger than those of Texas.”

[SEPP Comment: The discussed poverty rate includes the official rate, which for California is about the same as for the country plus the “supplemental” rate which puts California at the top. The supplemental rate includes cost of housing, utilities, fuel, and other consumer needs.]

More Energy Folly From 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

By Erik Milito, Real Clear Energy, Jan 30, 2024

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/01/30/more_energy_folly_from_1600_pennsylvania_avenue_1008528.html

Take Five – Gauging The Impact Of The DOE’s Pause In LNG Export Licenses

By David Braziel, RBN Energy, Jan 31, 2024

https://rbnenergy.com/take-five-gauging-the-impact-of-the-does-pause-in-lng-export-licenses

“Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the pause is its counterproductive impact on the strategic aims surrounding climate change. It would be reasonable to presume that, if LNG supply is artificially limited, growing global energy needs may be met with cheaper, more carbon-intensive fuels — especially coal. It’s been well-documented that U.S. GHG emissions have declined over the last decade largely as a result of coal-to-gas switching in the power generation sector. But decarbonization goals are global in scope.”

[SEPP Comment: The question is: does the DOE act in the public interest or the interests of Washington?]

Biden Pauses Natural Gas Export Approvals

By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Jan 27, 2024

Biden Pauses Natural Gas Export Approvals

There Ain’t Nothing Like a “DAME”

By Duggan Flanakin, CFACT, Jan 30, 2024

https://www.cfact.org/2024/01/30/there-aint-nothing-like-a-dame/

“The Biden Administration’s proposed fiscal 2024 budget included a new proposal for the Digital Asset Mining Energy (DAME) excise tax with a goal of taking 30 percent of the cost of electricity used in cryptocurrency mining for the federal treasury.”

US to require cryptocurrency mines to report energy use data

By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Feb 2, 2024

US to require cryptocurrency mines to report energy use data

“The survey was authorized by the White House Office of Management and Budget as an ‘emergency collection of data request.’

[SEPP Comment: Another emergency myth? See link immediately above.]

Biden publishes watered-down gas stove efficiency rule

By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Jan 29, 204

Biden publishes watered-down gas stove efficiency rule

Return of King Coal?

With Coal, We Must Consider Energy Reliability

By Emily Arthun, Real Clear Energy, Feb 01, 2024

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/02/01/with_coal_consider_energy_reliability_1009080.html

Nuclear Energy and Fears

Where Are The SMRs?

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Jan 31, 2024

Where Are The SMRs?

Link to article: Six SMR power plants approved in Poland

By Staff, World Nuclear News, Dec 8, 2023

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Six-SMR-power-plants-approved-in-Poland

“Poland’s Ministry of Climate and Environment has issued decisions-in-principle for the construction of power plants based on GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at six locations. A total of 24 BWRX-300 reactors are planned at the sites.”

From Homewood: “So why are we so intent of accelerating down the dead end of expensive, obsolete and unreliable wind power?”

Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind

Let’s Apply Rationale for LNG Pause to Offshore Wind

By David T. Stevenson, Real Clear Energy, Jan 29, 2024

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/01/29/lets_apply_rationale_for_lng_pause_to_offshore_wind_1008164.html

Offshore wind has a big up and down week

By David Wojick, CFACT, Feb 1, 2024

https://www.cfact.org/2024/02/01/offshore-wind-has-a-big-up-and-down-week/

Key Player In Biden’s Offshore Wind Push Withdraws From Deal With Blue State, Blames Inflation

By Nick Pope, Daily Caller, Jan 26, 2024

https://dailycaller.com/2024/01/26/orsted-biden-wind-push-climate/

Offshore Wind and the Stress on Commercial Fishermen

By Craig Rucker, WUWT, Jan 28, 2024

Offshore Wind and the Stress on Commercial Fishermen

Woodmac: three predictions for the global solar industry in 2024

By Simon Yuen, PV Tech, Jan 23, 2024

Woodmac: three predictions for the global solar industry in 2024

The Rooftop Solar Industry Could Be On the Verge of Collapse

By Alana Semuels, Time, Via Yahoo News, Jan 25, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]

https://news.yahoo.com/rooftop-solar-industry-could-verge-145455396.html

“The idea that we need to convince tens of thousands of Americans who can’t afford it to put solar on their rooftops shifts the responsibility for addressing the climate crisis from the entities who could really make a difference—big companies and governments, for example—and onto individuals who are good targets for financing companies.”

[SEPP Comment: Contrary to what the reporter writes, solar panels will not stop climate change which has been occurring for millions of years.]

Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other

Congress’ Priorities Must Include Advancing America’s Clean Energy Future

By Neil Caskey, Real Clear Energy, Jan 29, 2024

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2024/01/29/congress_priorities_must_include_advancing_americas_clean_energy_future_1008161.html

“The winter months are well underway, bringing cooler weather and the excitement of a new year. This time serves as a reminder of the goals we’ve set in 2023, and the effort we’ve given to see them through.” [Boldface added]

[SEPP Comment: Who is we? The promoters of corn ethanol?]

Wood Pellets Aren’t CO2 Neutral, Emit More Than Coal… Double Of Natural Gas

By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Feb 2, 2024

Wood Pellets Aren’t CO2 Neutral, Emit More Than Coal… Double Of Natural Gas

Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles

Tapping the Brakes on Electric Vehicles

Tesla will fix its cold-weather woes, but an all-EV future is still dead on arrival.

By Mark Mills, City Journal, Jan 29, 2024 [H/t Eduard Harinck]

https://www.city-journal.org/article/tapping-the-brakes-on-electric-vehicles

Automobiles, human nature, and the challenge of building cars that people actually want

By Terry Etam, BOE Report, Jan 24, 2024

Automobiles, human nature, and the challenge of building cars that people actually want

New Report Shows Electric Vehicles Are Unreliable — These 3 Are the Worst

By Laura Beck, Yahoo Finance, Jan 27, 2024 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/report-shows-electric-vehicles-unreliable-160029308.html

So Many Problems Continue to Plague the EV Industry

By Kirsten Walker, WUWT, Jan 30, 2024

So Many Problems Continue to Plague the EV Industry

Volvo To Stop Funding Polestar

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 1, 2024

Volvo To Stop Funding Polestar

“Volvo currently owns 48% of Polestar. The rest is owned by Geely, who themselves own Volvo!

This move suggests that Volvo simply don’t have the resources to keep pouring money into Polestar.”

Carbon Schemes

EU Commission wants captured CO2 to become ‘tradeable commodity’

By Frédéric Simon, EURACTIV, Feb 1, 2024

EU Commission wants captured CO2 to become ‘tradeable commodity’

California Dreaming

Newsom pledges to restore salmon by removing dams in new strategic plan

By Sharon Udasin, The Hill, Jan 30, 2024

Newsom pledges to restore salmon by removing dams in new strategic plan

“The Klamath Hydroelectric Project (FERC No. 2082) is located in a predominantly rural area in southern Oregon. The project generates approximately 716 gigawatt-hours of emissions-free electricity on an annual basis – enough power to supply the energy needs of approximately 70,000 households.”

“Built between 1903 and 1967, PacifiCorp’s Klamath Hydroelectric Project consists of seven hydroelectric developments and one non-generating dam.”

https://www.pacificorp.com/energy/hydro/klamath-river.html#:~:text=2082)%20is%20located%20in%20a,needs%20of%20approximately%2070%2C000%20households.

Roads flood, snow piles up as first of two atmospheric rivers pummels California

By Tara Suter, The Hill, Feb 2, 2024

Roads flood, snow piles up as first of two atmospheric rivers pummels California

Wildfires Pose A $761 Billion Threat To California

By Sam Stebbins. Climate Crisis, 247, Jan 24, 2024

Wildfires Pose a $761 Billion Threat to California

“Dry, windy conditions can increase the risk of a catastrophic wildfire, and in California, such circumstances are not uncommon. For most of the last 34 years of data from the U.S. Drought Monitor, over 75% of the state’s land area has been in a drought. The Santa Ana winds that move west from the Great Basin also dry out vegetation in parts of the state and can heighten wildfire risk by blowing embers.”

[SEPP Comment: Good reasons for management of grasslands and forests. After the flood comes the drought.]

Health, Energy, and Climate

The shameless cover up of the lab leak theory

By Matt Ridley, His Blog, Dec 20, 2023

The shameless cover up of the lab leak theory

“So in sum, a global pandemic began in 2019 very close to a lab that was doing risky, gain-of-function research on the very same kind of virus as Covid. Since then, the scientific and public-health establishment has tried to shut down debate on the origins of the virus and has refused to talk about the risk of lab leaks. The silence speaks volumes.”

Oh Mann!

Further Notes On Mann v. Steyn: The Plaintiff Rests

By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Jan 31, 2024

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2024-1-31-further-notes-on-mann-v-steyn-the-plaintiff-rests

Alarmist, Junk Climate Science Finally Put on Trial

By Larry Bell, Newsmax, Feb 2, 2024

https://www.newsmax.com/larrybell/climate-change-lawsuit-michael-mann/2024/02/02/id/1152002/

Other News that May Be of Interest

ESA’s Innovative Metal 3D Printer Arrives at ISS

By Erica Marchand, Paris, France (SPX) Feb 01, 2024

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/ESAs_Innovative_Metal_3D_Printer_Arrives_at_ISS_999.html

Man-oh-Man: Manatees

By Kip Hansen, WUWT, Jan 31, 2024

Man-oh-Man: Manatees

BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE

Artificial Alarmism

By Willis Eschenbach, WUWT, Jan 28, 2024

Artificial Alarmism

More About Artificial Ignorance

By Willis Eschenbach, WUWT, Jan 29, 2024

More About Artificial Ignorance

All tipping points all the time

By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Jan 31, 2024

All tipping points all the time

Coal: Don’t Burn It, Compute With It A certain fossil fuel works well as a 2D insulating film for transistors

By Tammy Xu, IEEE Spectrum, Jan 24, 2024

https://spectrum.ieee.org/silicon-semiconductor-alternatives-coal

[SEPP Comment: The world consumes 8,561,852,178 tons (short tons, st) of coal per year as of the year 2016. Will all this be used in insulating transistors?]

https://www.worldometers.info/coal/#coal-consumption

ARTICLES

1. Alternative Energy’s Era of Reality Checks

Pretending that inefficient power production is an unalloyed good only leads to disappointment.

By James Freeman, WSJ, Jan. 29, 2024

https://www.wsj.com/articles/alternative-energys-era-of-reality-checks-63866948?mod=opinion_feat5_bestoftheweb_pos1

TWTW Summary: The journalist starts:

“Taxpayers and utility customers naturally expect to pay heavily for wind and solar power. After all, if such projects made economic sense, there would be no need for governments to subsidize and mandate them. But even beyond the costs of inefficient power production, there’s a question of whether alternative-energy cheerleaders yet have a handle on the environmental impact of their projects. It seems that there is still no free lunch and that every method of producing electricity carries costs and benefits.

For example, a solar farm often requires the removal of large swathes of vegetation, which naturally carries a local consequence—and not just for the wildlife who used to live there. Stephen Peterson reports for the Sun Chronicle from Plainville, Mass.:

Numerous homes in town have for months been seeing their yards and basements flooded by rainwater flowing down a hill from land where a solar farm is being built…

The flooding has been going on since last summer after trees were cleared from the site to make way for the solar panels.

Mr. Peterson describes a recent meeting of the town planning board at which residents described the new deluge in homes that previously had not had a history of flooding:”

The journalist gives a series of quotes and examples supporting his claims, then concludes with:

“California’s rooftop solar industry has benefited for years from government subsidies that offset homeowner and business installation costs. The state mandates rooftop solar on new homes, and a state net metering program rebates homeowners for excess power that they generate and remit to the grid.

The rebate for many years was up to two to three times more than the wholesale price of electricity…

Enter energy reality. In December 2022, the state Public Utilities Commission voted to reduce compensation for excess solar power sent to the grid by about 75% for new rooftop customers to match the value of their exported electricity to the grid… the subsidy taper is causing withdrawal pains. Despite the Inflation Reduction Act’s sweetened solar subsidies, California’s solar and storage industry claims that the state subsidy decline cost 17,000 jobs last year as installation applications fell by 80%. Solar Insure recently told PV magazine USA that 75% of solar installers are at ‘high-risk’ of failing. ‘We have seen a wave of recent solar installer bankruptcies,’ said Solar Insure CEO Ara Agopian.”