The Week That Was: 2024 11-16 (November 16, 2024)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge in the field of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” – Albert Einstein (1953)
Number of the Week: 2,000 years ago
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: This Week begins with a discussion by Roy Spencer on adjustments that may be needed on the record high temperature recorded in Death Valley California. Kenneth Richard suggests five papers that indicate that increasing CO2 may have an insignificant influence on global temperatures. Roger Caiazza discusses problems New York State may have in meeting its energy goals, particularly replacing fossil fuels and nuclear with alternatives. Matt Ridley points out that the recent flooding of Valencia may be the result of eliminating flood control dams. Comments on the beginning of COP-29 are presented. An article by an academic illustrates what is too frequently missed in academic analyses of energy policy.
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A Fallen Icon? Roy Spencer continued his essays exploring the widely accepted high temperature for the United States of 134° F (57° C) recorded at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley California (now called Furnace Creek Ranch) on July 10, 1913. John Christy prompted Spencer to look into this record. Recently, after extensive historical research, William Reidd doubted the record and suggested the new observer in 1913 was disillusioned by the low readings taken at the official weather station. He may have substituted readings from his front porch of official readings. Reid provided a photograph showing that the official station was located by an irrigated alfalfa field, which was not a typical the desert location. In the summer, irrigation in the desert lowers daytime high temperatures and raises nighttime low temperatures. So, the siting of the weather station was poor, and it probably produced high temperature readings that were too low for the area, but that is not known.
Spencer states: “In my experience, unless the vegetation area is rather large, and there is almost no wind, a weather station’s daily maximum temperature will still be largely determined by air flowing from the larger-scale desert surroundings. But note… this is different from, say a poorly sited thermometer next to a brick wall or heat pump where hot air from an isolated source can elevate the daily maximum temperature recorded).”
Spencer analyzes maximum temperatures for the 27 surrounding stations up to 100 miles away from Death Valley and at different elevations for the period 1935 to 1938. Then he examines the maximum temperatures for the 3 to 7 stations during 1912 to 1915 and finds significant disparity from the Death Valley records. Spencer then provides a statistical analysis based on lapse rate to adjust for the different elevations in this dry climate. He concludes:
“The 134 deg. F world record hottest temperature from Death Valley is likely around 10 deg. F too high, compared to elevation-adjusted temperatures from surrounding stations. The most likely cause is that the ranch foreman’s reported measurements were (shall we say) unacademically recorded. I find it rather remarkable that the world record hottest temperature from Death Valley was not revised many years ago, since the methods for “fact checking” the record are fairly simple and based upon meteorological principles known for well over 50 years.”
So, we do not know what the highest temperature recorded in the US is. It may be around 10° F, 6° C too high. Until NOAA began manipulating the US surface temperature records in the early part of the 21st century with no clear justification and no record of changes, the US record was the best in the world covering a large area. One wonders how many of the surface records used by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its collaborators can stand up to the rigorous examination Roy Spencer did on the Greenland Ranch record. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Miniscule Effect of CO2: Kenneth Richard discusses six papers: one that asserts that CO2 is the control knob of Earth’s temperatures and five that refute that assertion. In addressing the claim that CO2’s climate effects are undetectable Richard states:
“Of course, this very unfalsifiable thought experiment is what believers in the CO2-is-the-climate-control-knob narrative rest their case on. But even if we do use this imaginary-world premise, the existing models (MODTRAN, HITRAN) that allegedly support the CO2-controls-climate orthodoxy actually undermine it.”
Richard then discusses five papers that contradict the CO2 controls-climate notion. He does not discuss the contradictions TWTW prefers. The papers from van Wijngaarden and Happer use the high resolution HITRAN spectroscopy as discussed in last week’s TWTW, under Updating HITRAN. In their papers van Wijngaarden and Happer have convincingly demonstrated that adding CO2 to the atmosphere has a miniscule effect on temperatures. For example, see Figure 7 in their “The Role of Greenhouse Gases in Energy Transfer in the Earth’s Atmosphere.” These estimates are well tested using satellite data over Guam (tropics), the Sahara (desert); Mediterranean (mid-latitudes) and the Antarctic (polar regions). Based on these calculations, the overall impact of CO2 at current concentrations is less than 25% of the greenhouse effect, and doubling CO2 concentration would add a mere 2%. Water vapor accounts for almost all of the effect.
The one issue that is still not clear is clouds. The calculations by van Wijngaarden and Happer are for clear skies. Clouds are extremely complicated, and no one has developed an adequate theory for their formation and dissipation. However, their overall influence will reduce the warming of Earth from the greenhouse effect. This was seen during the Little Ice Age in Europe, when skies were overcast, growing seasons were short, and crops frequently did not ripen properly in the northern parts of Europe. Diseases attributed to mycotoxins formed by moldy grain were common. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy – Radiation Transfer.
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Dreams Hit Reality: New York State has adopted an imaginative energy policy the “Dispatchable Emissions-Free Resource” – DEFR. Dispatchable means that the power source can be adjusted to match the electricity demand. Nuclear, coal, and similar power plants require time to adjust. Gas and Combined Cycle Gas Generation can be adjusted in less time. Gas turbines require little time. Wind and solar cannot be adjusted to increase output unless they are operating under capacity for current weather conditions. Large hydropower can be adjusted quickly. New York State, which has no additional hydropower practically possible, has closed all but three nuclear power plants. No one has identified a Dispatchable Emissions-Free Resource to fill increasing state needs.
Given these conditions, Roger Caiazza who analyzes electricity needs for New York State discusses “Renewable Transition Raw Materials Challenge” based on the Bulletin 416 of the Bulletins of the Geological Survey of Finland, which “publishes the results of scientific research that is thematically or geographically connected to Finnish or Fennoscandian geology.”
The Abstract of a paper referenced in the bulletin is “Scope of the replacement system to globally phase out fossil fuels” which states:
“The task to phase out fossil fuels is now at hand. Most studies and publications to date focus on why fossil fuels should be phased out. This study presents the physical requirements in terms of required non-fossil fuel industrial capacity, to completely phase out fossil fuels, and maintain the existing industrial ecosystem. The existing industrial ecosystem dependency on fossil fuels was mapped by fuel (oil, gas, and coal) and by industrial application. Data were collected globally for fossil fuel consumption, physical activity, and industrial actions for the year 2018.
The estimated sum total of extra annual capacity of non-fossil fuel power generation to phase out fossil fuels completely, and maintain the existing industrial ecosystem, at a global scale is 48,939.8 TWh.
A discussion on the needed size of the stationary power storage buffer to manage intermittent energy supply from wind and solar was conducted. Pumped hydro, hydrogen, biofuels, and ammonia were all examined as options in this paper. This study uses four stationary power buffer capacities: 6 hours, 48 hours + 10%, 28 days and 12 weeks. This power buffer is assumed to be supplied through the use of large battery banks (in line with strategic policy expectations).
An estimate is presented for the total quantity of metals required to manufacture a single generation of renewable technology units (EV’s, solar panels, wind turbines, etc.) sufficient to replace energy technologies based on combustion of fossil fuels. This estimate was derived by assembling the number of units needed against the estimated metal content for individual battery chemistries, wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicles. The majority of the metals needed were to resource the construction of stationary power storage to act as a buffer for wind and solar power generation.
It was shown that both 2019 global mine production, 2022 global reserve estimates, 2022 mineral resources, and estimates of undersea resources, were manifestly inadequate for meeting projected demand for copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and vanadium.”
Another second article referenced in the Bulletin is “Quantity of metals required to manufacture one generation of renewable technology units to phase out fossil fuel.” The abstract of that paper states:
“An estimate is presented for the total quantity of raw materials required to manufacture a single generation of renewable technology units (solar panels, wind turbines, etc.) sufficient to replace energy technologies based on combustion of fossil fuels. This estimate was derived by assembling the number of units needed against the estimated metal con- tent for individual battery chemistries, wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicles. The majority of the metals needed were to resource the construction of stationary power storage to act as a buffer for wind and solar power generation.
This study uses four stationary power buffer capacities as modelled in a previous study: 6 hours, 48 hours + 10%, 28 days and 12 weeks. This power buffer is assumed to be supplied through the use of large battery banks (in line with strategic policy expectations). Metal quantities were calculated for all four capacities and compared with mining production, mineral reserves, mineral resources, and known undersea resources. It was also assessed whether recycling could deliver this metal quantity by comparing calculations against the sum total mined metal between 1990 and 2023. The quantity of metal mined over the last 34 years was inadequate, which means recycling cannot deliver the needed capacity, and the mining of minerals would have to be the primary source of metals for at least the first generation of non-fossil fuel technology. If a metal has not yet been mined, then that metal cannot be recycled.” [Boldface added]
Caiazza provides a solid analysis of this bulletin and concludes:
“This is an ambitious analysis that covers the entire global energy system. As such there are bound to be oversights and limitations as well as interpretative assumptions that could be issues. In my opinion, however, the approach and assumptions are reasonable and should give a reasonable estimate of the metals needed. The mass of metals available is another challenge but I think there is better historical data available. Comparing the metals needed to the metals available leads to the inescapable conclusion that the dreams of replacing fossil fuels will be unable to overcome reality.” [Boldface added]
New York State’s Dispatchable Emissions-Free Resource remains a pipedream without nuclear or hydropower additions. Both omissions will greatly increase the costs of electricity to consumers in the state. Yet, politicians continue to pretend reliable electricity is not needed. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Destroying Resilience: The recent flooding of Valencia, Spain, has been declared an example of an extreme weather event intensified by climate change (whatever that is). Writing in The Spectator (UK), Matt Ridely provides a different view. He writes:
In the past few years, the Spanish government has been removing dams at a furious rate. Under a European Union program to encourage the restoration of rivers to their wild state for the benefit of fish migration, Spain set about dismantling barriers of all kinds. In 2021 it got rid of 108 dams and weirs; in 2022, another 133. That year, according to Dam Removal Europe, a coalition of seven green pressure groups, it was Europe’s proud league champion at dismantling them. Last year it was second only to France. [Boldface added]
Some dams were removed in the hills around Valencia but it turns out they were small irrigation dams, not reservoir dams, so they would not have made much difference last week. However, the failure to build a new dam may well be partly to blame. The Cheste dam in the Turia catchment was specifically designed to prevent flooding, to ‘regulate the flows coming from the upper basin of the Poyo and Pozalet ravines. It was approved in 2001 as part of a National Hydrological Plan.
Objections from people in Aragon to separate parts of the plan that would transfer water between regions led the socialist Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to promise to repeal it when running for prime minister in 2004. He kept his promise and the Cheste dam was an unintended casualty. Could it have saved Valencia? Possibly. The [capital] city of Aragon was saved last month by a dam built by the emperor Augustus.”
These extreme weather events have been going on since the time of Emperor Augustus and are not the result of recent “climate change.” Instead, the high death toll is the result of destruction of the resilience provided by dams designed to prevent flooding. A similar failure to build dams recommended by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) near Ashville, NC, probably resulted in the recent flooding there. See links under Changing Weather.
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A Circus? The 29th Conference of Parties (COP 29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has begun in Baku, Azerbaijan, an oil and gas producing country According to reports, in his welcoming speech to the delegates and other attendees, the President of the host country declared oil and gas are gifts of God. The President of COP 29, Azerbaijan’s Mister for Ecology, demanded that climate change be treated with the same urgency as COVID-19 for which “advanced economies marshalled $8 trillion over the course of just 48 months.”
Not to be outdone, Jo Nova reports that the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, by far, China, wants $1.3 trillion from wealthy nations. This “backward” nation has planned 100 space launches for 2024 in its goal to put someone on the Moon by 2030.
Meanwhile White House climate adviser John Podesta who is at the conference assured the attendees that the US will move forward in
“combating climate change despite the election of President-elect Trump, who has long cast doubt on the science behind the issue.”
In December 2023, the US State Department issued a report on the US Climate Finance Pledge which stated:
“The United States is committed to exercising U.S. leadership to implement the goals of the Paris Agreement, to accelerate the global clean energy transition, and to enable vulnerable countries and communities to build resilience against the impacts of climate change.
To that end, the United States will continue to support developing country partners as they pursue ambitious climate action. The United States has prioritized boosting international climate finance, as well as demanding that international financial institutions evolve to better enable emerging market and developing countries to respond to global challenges, including climate change. That is why President Biden launched the first U.S. International Climate Finance Plan in 2021 and committed to work with Congress to scale up international public climate finance to over $11 billion annually by 2024, quadrupling from the highest previous levels of climate finance provided by the United States.”
Apparently, some attendees believe that believe oil and gas are “gifts of God” ignoring them is very costly. Will wealthy countries will continue with the dubious pledges of a few, now irrelevant, politicians? See links under After Paris and Below the Bottom Line.
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Ignore the Obvious: The director of the Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab and a research professor at New York University’s School of Professional Studies authored an essay in the Wall Street Journal that exemplifies the approach some academics take about “climate change” and the phony “climate crisis.” In “Five Ways to Disaster-Proof the Energy Grid: With extreme weather events—and power outages—on the rise, utilities and tech companies are looking at what they can do to keep the lights on in the future” the author ignores that the claim of rising extreme weather events is refuted by physical evidence.
Her five approaches are: 1) Better prediction using AI; 2) Better batteries; 3) Independent microgrids; 4) Better, stronger transmission lines; and 5) Controlling demand.
One, will AI allow better predictions? Utilities are well aware of the limitations of their equipment. The problem is better weather prediction. Unfortunately, with NOAA weather prediction is ignored in favor of the fantasy of climate prediction. Then there is the problem of chaos beyond two-week predictions. It may be better to just expect the worse and hope it does not happen.
Two, better batteries. Storage of electricity has long been a problem for utilities. In 1907 pumped hydro storage was used on a small scale in Switzerland. In 1930 it was used in the US by the Connecticut Electric and Power Company. The largest US facility is the Dominion Electric Bath County, VA, plant. In the summer, the system needs replenishment each weekend from reliable power plants. On the utility scale, batteries remain a dream, not a reality.
Three: independent microgrids. This works for hospitals etc. if they provide on-site storage of fuel needed for generation. But microgrids do not work for the general public. As seen in the last major winter storm that brought down the Texas grid, just in time delivery of natural gas does not work. The fuel must be available on site. Wind power failed and promised wind resistant solar panels are of little use at night.
Four: better, stronger transmission lines: They are always a goal, but require maintenance. Environmental advocates object to cutting back vegetation to protect the transmission and distribution lines.
Five: Controlling demand: This is always the favorite of authoritarians. They, not the public, will decide who will get electricity and when. It may work in an authoritarian state but not in a republic with certain personal rights enshrined in its Constitution.
What the author ignores is that wind and solar are unreliable and add to the fragility of the grid making it more subject to disruption in severe weather events. See Article #2
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Number of the Week: 2,000 years ago. According to Matt Ridley, the city of Aragon [actually Zaragoza], Spain, was recently saved by a dam built by the emperor Augustus. Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavian, reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. Apparently, the Romans knew of the dangers of flooding in eastern Spain over 2,000 years ago. And such flooding is called extreme weather brought on by recent climate change? [That was during the infamous Roman warm period, which was even warmer than the Medieval warm period, which was even warmer than today.] See links under Changing Weather.
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Censorship
Trump will dismantle the censorship cartel, just as Australia tries to set one up
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Nov 11, 2024
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
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/
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-fossil-fuels/
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/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 – 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
Dependence of Earth’s Thermal Radiation on Five Most Abundant Greenhouse Gases
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, December 22, 2020
New Study: Human Contribution To Enhancement Of Earth’s Greenhouse Effect A Negligible 0.2 Percent
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Nov 12, 2024
Link to latest paper not discussed before: The Cause of Negative CO2 Forcing at the Top-Of-Atmosphere: The Role of Stratospheric Versus Tropospheric Temperature Inversions
ByYan-Ting Chen, Timothy M. Merlis, Yi Huang, Geophysical Research Letters
Challenging the Orthodoxy
Death Valley Temperatures, Part 3: Twelve Years of July Daily Tmax Estimates and the 134 deg. F Record
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Nov 11, 2024 [with changes up to Nov 13]
Link to: Death Valley Temperatures, Part II: Thoughts from William T. Reid
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Nov 9, 2024
Scientists Haven’t ‘Saved’ the Ozone Layer
By Steve Goreham, Master Resource, Nov 13, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Another false alarm resulting in major costs to consumers using air conditioning. There is no explanation on how the heavy CFC molecules get from the surface to the stratosphere. (CCI2F2 [Freon] has an atomic weight of about 121 atomic mass units (amu)).]
Renewable Transition Raw Materials Challenge
By Roger Caiazza, WUWT, Nov 14, 2024
Link to report: Estimation of the quantity of metals to phase out fossil fuels in a full system replacement, compared to mineral resources
By Simon P. Michaux, Geological Survey of Finland, Bulletin 416, 2024
Defending the Orthodoxy
GOP victories threaten Democrats’ landmark climate legislation
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Nov 15, 2024
Chief in the GOP’s crosshairs are provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act — a massive climate, tax and health care package that contains hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of tax credits for renewable energy, electric vehicles, domestic manufacturing, nuclear power, biofuels and more and was projected to deliver serious reductions in planet-warming emissions.
[SEPP Comment: A question no one has answered: How does hundreds of billions of dollars subsidizing unreliable electricity reduce inflation?]
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
World could cross red line for planetary warming by decade’s end, study finds
By Saul Elbein, The Hill, Nov 12, 2024
Link to press release: Fossil fuel CO2 emissions increase again in 2024
Press release, University of Exeter, AAAS EurekAltert! Nov 12, 2024
The Global Carbon Budget report, produced by an international team of more than 120 scientists, provides an annual, peer-reviewed update, building on established methodologies in a fully transparent manner. The 2024 edition (the 19th annual report) will be published in the journal Earth System Science Data on November 13 as a pre-print, and later as a peer-reviewed paper.
From the article: For example, India’s emissions, which are projected to be about equal to those of the EU this year, will increase by about 5 percent over their 2023 levels. And the amount of methane and carbon dioxide rising from the rest of the world — which accounts for roughly the same share of global emissions as China and the EU combined — is on track to rise by about 1 percent.
[SEPP Comment: Gloom and doom for COP29.]
CO2 To Destroy The World In Ten Years
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Nov 12, 2024
Key Atlantic current at risk of collapse: Research
By Juliann Ventura, The Hill, Nov 12, 2024
Link to report: State of the Cryosphere 2024 – Lost Ice, Global Damage
By Staff: International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI), November 2024
Slogan: “We cannot negotiate with the melting point of ice.”
October second-warmest, second-driest on record for U.S.: NOAA
Editorial, The Hill, Nov 11, 2024
Link to: U.S. had its 2nd-warmest October on record
A record 87% of the nation was in drought or unusually dry
Press Release, NOAA, Nov 8, 2024
From Press Release: According to the October 29 U.S. Drought Monitor link, 87.16% of the contiguous U.S. was experiencing abnormally dry to exceptional drought conditions — a record in the program’s 25-year history.
[SEPP Comment: The full report is not yet out. Apparently, NOAA’s drought history no longer includes the 1930s. How many state records for October temperatures fell?]
Questioning the Orthodoxy
High Schoolers Understand Climate Science–You Can Too!
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, Nov 14, 2024
The war on normal
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Nov 13, 2024
Including affordable energy. Though when voters actually get a choice, it turns out that all the tut-tutting in luxury-belief big-city newspapers by people with high academic salaries doesn’t prevent them from repealing ill-considered rules that prevent them from, say, having a gas stove. In their own kitchen. In their own house.
CDN Bids Farewell
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Nov 13, 2024
Green Grifters
Another elite-laden conference demonstrates the staggering hypocrisy of climate-change activism.
By Heather MacDonald, City Journal, Nov 12, 2024 [H/t Tilak Doshi]
It is the self-punishing futility of restricting American manufacturing and development while America’s competitors do whatever it takes to seize the economic advantage that drove Trump to pull out of the Paris climate accord the first time around. The [NY] Times worries that China could assume “leadership of international efforts to address climate change” if the U.S. withdraws again. If China does assume such leadership, it will not be at the cost of its own manufacturing base and standard of living.
Energy & Environmental Review: November 11, 2024
By John Droz, Jr., Master Resource, Nov 11, 2024
After Paris!
Azerbaijan’s COP29 Speech: A Masterclass in Irony So Thick, It’s Flammable
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Nov 13, 2024
Give Us $8 Trillion, Says COP29 President
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 13, 2024
[Mukhtar] Babayev, Azerbaijan’s Minister for Ecology, has let the cat out of the bag, demanding trillions to “fight climate change”.
UN COP 29 puts crazy money up front
By David Wojick, CFACT, Nov 8, 2024
Smarmer Only World Leader At COP29– (Not That He Is One Anyway!)
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 15, 2024
Video:
It seems that our cretinous Prime Minister is the only leader of a major country to go to COP29.
The courageous Craig Mackinlay blows the nonsense to pieces:
UK Govt Sending 470 Ministers & Officials to Baku
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 13, 2024
Over 66000 participants are due at COP29 this month:
But the most interesting number is the one for virtual-only participation – just 3975. Nearly all of these are NGOs.
Podesta: US climate action will not stop despite Trump election
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Nov 11, 2024
Rats Jumping Off The Climate Ship
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Nov 12, 2024
Are You Even Aware That There Is Another Big UN Climate Conference Going On?
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Nov 14, 2024
Link to Reuters: COP29: Why are countries fighting over climate finance?
By Kate Abnett, Reuters, Nov 13, 2024
Link to Fact Sheet: Progress Report on President Biden’s Climate Finance Pledge
By Staff, US Department of State, Dec 2, 2023
Reuters: Wealthy countries pledged in 2009 to contribute $100 billion a year to help developing nations cope with the costs of a transition to clean energy and adapting to the conditions of a warming world.
Those payments began in 2020 but were only fully met in 2022. The $100 billion pledge expires this year.
Menton: Yes, outgoing President Biden fell for this scam and sent off billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer funds. Put this at the top of President Trump’s agenda: zero this one out. Once it becomes clear that the U.S. isn’t going along anymore, maybe we can even save the annual expense of sending thousands of people off to these remote corners of the world.
COP29 Preview: Hot Talk vs. Reality
By Kennedy Maize, Master Resource, Nov 12, 2024
What to expect from COP 29 in Baku come November? In the words of the great American philosopher Lawrence “Yogi” Berra: “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”
COP29 Preview
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Nov 13, 2024
Link to: Climate change: poised to fail
By Richard North Turbulent Times, Nov 13, 2024
“In the annals of insanity, it would be hard to improve on the spectre of a British prime minister being flown over to a remote spot in the world in an RAF passenger jet.
All this is to enable him to virtue signal in front of the British media – also flown over for the occasion – offering an impossible and unnecessary emissions target while lying about the consequences of forcing state and subordinate institutions to make the attempt….”
‘Animal Protein Overconsumption’: UN Climate Confab Attendees Urge Countries To Implement Tax On Meat
By Owen Klinsky, Daily Caller, Nov 12, 2024
Speaker At UN Summit Claims ‘Naming Extreme Heat Events’ Will Help Fight Climate Change
By Harold Hutchison, Daily Caller, Nov 13, 2024
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
Sweet basil dry weight response to CO2
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Nov 13, 2024
From: CO2Science archive
Seeking a Common Ground
#CheerfulCharts #15: Saved the whales
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Nov 13, 2024
But even as late as 1890 there were still 200 American whaling vessels plying the oceans before the rapid growth of Standard Oil and other supposed villains replaced whale oil with far cheaper and better fuels.
Also, our ingenious fossil fuel companies developed more and better substitutes for the products for which whales were still being harvested. So fossil fuels saved the whales twice.
Science, Policy, and Evidence
To President-Elect Trump: Recommendations for NOAA and the National Weather Service
By Mike Smith, MSE Creative Consulting, Nov 12, 2024
But, today’s NOAA gives, for example, $10 million grants to unaccountable ‘nonprofits’ for ‘environment education’ and other ‘progressive’ nonsense that, not so coincidently, is always on the side of global warming advocacy. That needs to stop whether NOAA is broken up or not as it is a built-in conflict of interest with scientific ethics. Meanwhile, the NWS is so money-poor it can’t even launch routine weather balloons in all of the locations where needed. Ten million dollars would alleviate that problem.
Changing Weather
To stop Spanish Floods, should we add more solar panels or more dams?
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Nov 12, 2024
Link to: Dam shame: what really caused Valencia’s floods?
By Matt Ridley, The Spectator, Nov 9, 2024
Changing Climate – Cultures & Civilizations
Et tu?
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Nov 13, 2024
“Archeologists using laser technology have discovered a 2,000-year-old Roman military camp high in the Swiss Alps, uncovering a treasure trove of fortifications and artifacts, including arrowheads, slingshots and lead sling bullets bearing the stamp of the Roman 3rd Legion.”
“The site was found 2,200 metres [7200 feet] up in the Colm la Runga corridor of Switzerland’s Oberhalbstein Alps near the Italian border.”
Changing Seas
New Paper: Wave Height, Storm Surge Changes Over Past 30 Years Too Small For Measurable Impact!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Nov 9, 2024
Link to paper: An assessment of whether long-term global changes in waves and storm surges have impacted global coastlines
Mandana Ghanavati, et al., Nature, Scientific Reports, July 17, 2023
From abstract: This study presents a first-pass assessment of the potential link between historical trends in global wave and storm surge values and recession/progradation rates of sandy coastlines since the 1980s.
We conclude that these long-term changes in oceanographic parameters may still be too small to have a measurable impact on shoreline recession/progradation and that primary drivers such as ambient imbalances in the coastal sediment budget may be masking any such linkages.
Ocean Cools Further October 2024
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, Nov 13, 2024
Potential for King Tide Flooding this Week?
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Nov 12, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Explains King Tides.]
New Study: Bangladesh’s Coast Has Expanded Seaward By 2677 Square Kilometers Since 1990
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Nov 15, 2024
Link to one paper: 32 years of changes in river paths and coastal landscape in Bangladesh, Bengal Basin
By Shahriar Bin Shahid1, M. Royhan Gani, and Nahid D. Gani, Journal of Sedimentary Environments, Oct 28, 2024
Link to second paper: Overestimation of Mangroves Deterioration From Sea Level Rise in Tropical Deltas
By Zhijun Dai, et al., Geophysical Research Letters, Accepted Sep 26, 2024
From plain language summary: Our study based on deltas along the Indo‐Pacific coast, highlight that mangroves are expanding seaward at a rate of 18% ± 12% m/yr, indicating that there is little impacts from SLR and has not been substantial loss in mangrove forests in these deltas so far.
[SEPP Comment: In wetlands such as mangrove swamps, the coastline is difficult to determine.]
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
The incredible vanishing polar bears
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Nov 13, 2024
Link to paper using models: Identifying indicators of polar bear population status
By Karyn D. Rode, et al., Ecological Indicators, February 2024
Vanishing from the headlines, that is. Probably because in the real world they are doing just fine.
From paper: “…Thus, an increase in the duration of open water during the summer and the associated increase in ocean productivity with warming may benefit polar bear prey species.”
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
Why The War On Nitrous Oxide?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 14, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Another ineffective greenhouse gas, which modelers pretend is effective because they don’t include water vapor in their calculations.]
Lowering Standards
DOE Efficiency Standards: Consumer Time?
By Mark Krebs and Tom Tanton, Master Resource, Nov 14, 2024
After all, the world has fundamentally changed since DOE was formed to address certain issues: low supplies and scarcity, coupled with cartel behavior by foreign actors. Today we have robust supplies that mainly just need regulatory relief.
[SEPP Comment: For consumers, many so-called energy savings make no sense. Individual solar panels may reduce electricity costs for individual consumers but are a disaster on the grid, as in sunny, southern California, consumers lose.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
Fossil fuel pollution hits record high: Research
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Nov 13, 2024
[SEPP Comment: If CO2 is a pollutant, why do plants and life dependent on them flourish with more CO2?]
Trump’s reelection casts a shadow over the start of global climate negotiations
By Michael Copley, Jeff Brady, Julia Simon, Lauren Sommer, and Nate Perez, NPR, Nov 11, 2024
But Donald Trump’s return to the presidency in the United States, the biggest historical contributor of greenhouse gas pollution heating the planet, raises questions about whether the country will continue working on global climate initiatives.
[SEPP Comment: Typical NPR, peddling fear of carbon dioxide and ignoring that China is by far the biggest emitter of CO2 and emissions in China and South Asia are growing rapidly.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
Plankton are the backbone of the ocean — and may struggle with what’s coming
A pair of papers in the journal Nature shows how plankton are struggling to survive in warming seas.
By Dino Grandoni, The Washington Post, November 13, 2024 [H/t Jim Buell}
Links not given, one probable link: Past foraminiferal acclimatization capacity is limited during future warming
By Rui Ying, et al., Nature, Nov 13, 2024
From abstract: However, when forcing the trait-based plankton model with rapid transient warming over the coming century (1.5 °C, 2 °C, 3 °C and 4 °C relative to pre-industrial baseline), the model suggests that the acclimatization capacities of all ecogroups are limited and insufficient to track warming rates.
From the article: To assess future impacts of warming waters on plankton, Schmidt and her colleagues turned to ancient changes. The team analyzed an extensive fossil record of a type of plankton called foraminifera, which leave behind tiny shells that fall to the seafloor when they die.
Even for those who forgo eating fish, plankton are crucial for preventing climate change from getting even worse than it is. When foraminifera form their shells, they bind carbon with calcium to make their building material. After they die, the shells fall to the seafloor, locking that carbon out of the atmosphere for eons.
[SEPP Comment: The assumptions are false. Different species adapt to warming and cooling differently. Plankton created important sediments during Hothouse Earth!]
Expanding the Orthodoxy
The Global Catastrophic Risk Assessment – in Two Charts
By Kip Hansen, WUWT, Nov 15, 2024
Link to: Global Existential Risks
A first look at a new U.S. government assessment on the most significant risks facing humanity
By Roger Pielke Jr., His Blog, Nov 13, 2024
Questioning European Green
Simple, but Still Beyond Chis Bowen’s Ken [Video at bottom of article]
By Refe Champion, Quadrant, Nov 14, 2024
Link to: German energy expert says energy transition a mistake
By Darren Paker, Engineering News, Oct 18, 2024
“This does not mean that every wind turbine and every solar panel is bad,” Schernikau added, outlining several key issues with grid-scale wind and solar energy, starting with the problem of energy density.
Green Blues…As Fog Persists For Days In Germany, Green Energy Output Falls To Near Zero!
The enemy of green energy: the high pressure system
By KlimaNachrichten, Via P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Nov 10, 2024
At 5 p.m. last Wednesday, Germany’s 1602 offshore wind turbines in the North and Baltic Seas stood still…solar output was also near zero. Germany had to scramble to keep supply going.
This means that the 87,000 megawatts of photovoltaic capacity and around 72,000 megawatts of wind power installed in Germany with triple-digit billion-euro subsidies were virtually unused for hours on end.
[SEPP Comment: You cannot run a full-time civilization on part-time power.]
[PM] Starmer’s energy fantasy
By Gautam Kalghatgi, Net Zero Watch, Nov 13, 2024
All of the data discussed are from the Statistical Review of World Energy 2024.
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Artificial Intelligence: A Working Demonstration, and Why Big Tech Ditched Big Green
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Nov 15, 2024
New Book Pushes Back on Justin Trudeau’s Net Zero Plan with Facts
By H. Sterling Burnett, Heartland Institute, Nov 13, 2024
Boom
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Nov 13, 2024
Non-Green Jobs
They want you dead
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Nov 13, 2024
And the problem here isn’t just that collectivities don’t understand things, individuals do. It’s that the issue isn’t “a little bit of short-term pain” it’s long-term wreckage to no purpose. Anyone in the energy industry who assumed it was all just talk, or that cooler heads would prevail, has yet again been given a rude awakening. When they say they want to kill your industry, here’s an insider tip: They want to kill your industry.
Litigation Issues
Federal Court takes aim at White House’s environment authority
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Nov 13, 2024
On Tuesday, judges with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) cannot issue regulations pertaining to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) — one of the nation’s bedrock environmental laws.
Andrew Mergen, an environmental law professor at Harvard, said NEPA is “unique in how sparse it is” meaning that typically, it’s up to administrations to fill in the blanks and tell agencies how these environmental reviews should be conducted.
[SEPP Comment: Bureaucrats decide what the law says – a sloppy law.]
The climate case of the century
By Lucas Bergkamp, Climate Etc., Nov 13, 2024
The Court [Hague Court of Appeal] not only took the IPCC reports as irrebuttable proof, but also attributed normative force to them. For example, the Court ruled that climate scientists have determined that the average temperature on earth may not rise by more than 1.5 degrees. In doing so, the Court, like the Dutch Supreme Court, ignored that science cannot set norms and that scientists are not authorized to set social standards. The Dutch judiciary’s scientistic tendency is extremely worrisome and does not bode well for future climate-related judgments.
[SEPP Comment: Although the outcome was good, this practice is sad. In physical science, proof comes from nature, physical evidence, not political bodies like the IPCC.]
Climate Litigation: The Dutch Case and a Pattern of Vexatious Lawsuits
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Nov 12, 2024
Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Taxes
Farmers warn Labour’s net zero ‘fertiliser tax’ will push up food prices
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 10, 2024
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
Another windfarm surpasses £1 billion in subsidy payments
Press Release, Net Zero Watch, Nov 14, 2024
EPA and other Regulators on the March
EPA implements climate law’s methane fee as Republicans plan repeal
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Nov 12, 2024
The methane fee passed in the 2022 law through a process called budget reconciliation, which allows certain legislation to evade the filibuster — only requiring 50 votes in the Senate. It passed the House and Senate without a single Republican vote.
Energy Issues – Non-US
Climate Colonialism’s Role in Nigeria’s Blackouts: A Manufactured Energy Crisis
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Nov 9, 2024
[SEPP Comment: A new Heart of Darkness, a rendering of racism?]
Updated CCGT Costs Confirmed As Much Cheaper Than Renewables
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 9, 2024
Given that gas power tends to set the wholesale market price of electricity, currently around £80/MWh, that £14 makes a big difference. Put another way, if the Carbon Pricing scheme was abolished, wholesale prices could potentially drop to £66/MWh.
Cold, Hungry, Mass Unemployment, No Cars, Blackouts–Welcome To Starmer’s Dystopian Future
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 15, 2024
Link to fantasy report sponsored by the UK government in 2019: Absolute Zero: Delivering the UK’s climate change commitment with incremental changes to today’s technologies
By Julian M. Allwood, Julian, and many others, University of Cambridge, Nov 11, 2019
Executive Summary: We can’t wait for breakthrough technologies to deliver net-zero emissions by 2050. Instead, we can plan to respond to climate change using today’s technologies with incremental change. This will reveal many opportunities for growth but requires a public discussion about future lifestyles.
From Homewood: Starmer has just confirmed at COP29 that the UK will formally aim to cut emissions by 81% from 1990 levels by 2035. This means a cut of 65% from current levels.
UK Labour To Save The Planet
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Nov 12, 2024
“Today the PM announced our new world-leading target to cut UK emissions by 81%. There is no national security or economic security without climate security. “
Power Prices Projected Decline After 2025, Says OBR
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 13, 2024
Link to: Budget delivers large increases in spending, tax, and borrowing
By Staff, UK Office for Budget Responsibility, Oct 30, 2024
We don’t know what might happen with the international market for gas in a decade or more time. But indications are that renewables will remain poor value for money for the foreseeable future.
Mad Miliband
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 10, 2024
From newspaper report: Britain’s wind generation is set to plummet to virtually zero this week as Ed Miliband presses ahead with plans to increase the nation’s reliance on renewable energy.
Lord Moynihan of Chelsea demands cost-benefit analysis of Net Zero
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 14, 2024
Video
Lord Frost opens the debate on the cost of renewables
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 15, 2024
Video: Excellent speech from Lord Frost.
The only surprise is that somebody had to stand up and say the obvious!
Energy Issues — US
Trump Announces the Creation of the National Energy Council
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Nov 15, 2024
Elon, DOGE, and the Deep: Offshore Energy’s Role in Fiscal Recovery
By Erik Milito, Real Clear Energy, Nov 11, 2024
The Gulf of Mexico oil and gas industry supports nearly 400,000 jobs, contributes almost $34 billion to the GDP, and is a key contributor to environmental conservation, restoration, and recreation programs, including virtually all funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
In 2023 alone, these activities generated over $6 billion in federal revenues, with peaks at $17 billion during high activity periods. This income stream is funded entirely by energy companies from their revenues.
Currently, with only three lease sales planned for the Gulf over the next five years, we’re not optimizing our resources. We need annual sales to maintain production levels, encourage investment, and fortify energy independence.
Trump’s Pro-Oil Stance Signals Policy Shifts in Energy Sector
By Robert Rapier, Oil Price.com, Nov 09, 2024
People First Energy Policy Is a Winning Issue for Trump and the GOP
By Amy Cooke, Real Clear Energy, Nov 12, 2024
Washington’s Control of Energy
President Trump: The Final Nail in the Coffin of the Global Environmental Agenda?
By Tilak Doshi, The Daily Sceptic, Nov 12, 2024
Biden failed to top up oil reserves in the leadup to the election, but refilling will take years
Some analysts had feared that President Biden would tap the stockpile again to address any increases in gasoline prices in the lead up to the Nov. 5 presidential election, as he did in 2022, which would end the DOE’s efforts to refill the SPR.
By Kevin Killough, Just the News, Nov 7, 2024
Link to chart: Petroleum & Other Liquids, U.S. Ending Stocks of Crude Oil in SPR (Strategic Petroleum Reserve)
By Staff, U.S. Energy Information Administration, (EIA), Accessed Nov 13, 2024
[SEPP Comment: On January 2021 the petroleum stock was 638 million barrels, on August 2024 it was 380 million barrels.]
Ideas For An Incoming Trump Administration: Climate And Energy Edition
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Nov 12, 2024
One of the speakers [at a Federalist Society meeting] was Andrew Wheeler, who was EPA Administrator during the latter part of the first Trump administration. Here is what Wheeler had to say about the idea of rescinding the many anti-fossil fuel regulations adopted by the Bidenauts (near exact quote): “They [the Trump people] only have four years. That’s not enough time to roll back everything they want to roll back.”
But my preferred suggestion would be to submit the [Paris] Agreement to the Senate as a treaty. There is zero chance that the Senate would ratify. Rescind the Endangerment Finding
[SEPP Comment: For the Paris agreement add a specific time limit for Senate approval. The Endangerment Finding is an anti-science, misanthropic finding based on wild speculation from global climate models that are refuted by physical evidence.]
Burgum will be Trump’s energy czar in addition to leading Interior Department
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Nov 15, 2024
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
Poland Brings Country’s Largest Gas-Fired Power Plant Online
By Darrell Proctor, Power Mag. Nov 8, 2024
PGE officials said the plant’s nominal efficiency exceeds 63%.
[SEPP Comment: For Poland, the issue is a reliable supply of natural gas, not unreliable wind and solar.]
Entergy Mississippi Breaks Ground on 754-MW Gas-Fired Power Station
By Darrell Proctor, Power Mag, Nov 8, 2024
Gov Tate Reeves: “Entergy has been an exceptional partner in growing our state’s economy. This new plant will power 385,000 homes and is a great example of Mississippi’s commitment to bringing reliable, available, and affordable energy to our state’s residents and businesses.”
Nuclear Energy and Fears
The U.S. and Its Nuclear Era
By Sarah Rosa , Benton Arnett, Real Clear Energy, Nov 13, 2024
America’s shift away from nuclear power in the 1980s was misguided given that in the U.S.’ 67-year history of nuclear energy production, there has only ever been one incident—that of Three Mile Island Unit 2 in 1979, where there were no injuries or fatalities, and the released radiation was too minimal to have any noticeable health effects on nearby populations. Nuclear energy has, in fact, been found to be one of the safest energy sources available. Three Mile Island Unit 1 safely operated until 2019, when it was shut down for economic reasons.
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Wind Power Disappears in Germany and UK
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 14, 2024
Even if we, Germany and the others triple wind capacity, it would make little difference. Three times nothing is still nothing.
And we cannot all rely on nuclear power from France and hydro from Norway – there is simply not enough to go round.
Meanwhile the blind carry on leading the blind!
Don’t Rely On Solar Power!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 11, 2024
The days have been uniformly dull and grey until today, and at its peak on Saturday only hit 877 MW, only 4.9% of capacity.
What is the logic of spending billions of pounds on carpeting perfectly good farm land with solar panels which are no use at all in winter?
November Wind Slump Has Led To A Strained Energy Supply In Germany…Bottlenecks Threaten
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Nov 13, 2024
The lack of wind power last week led to a tighter energy market in Europe, particularly in central and northern regions and caused a surge in electricity prices, especially in short-term markets. Prices reached a two-year high, exceeding 800 EUR/MWh!
As a result, there’s growing concern about the potential for similar price spikes in winter if wind conditions remain weak. Germany’s economy has been battered for years by its dubious energy policies adopted by its previous governments over the past 25 years.
Our soaring reliance on foreign power exposes the great green energy scam
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 13, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Yet unreliable wind and solar are claimed to provide energy security.]
The High Cost of Utopian Energy: Reconsidering Offshore Wind in Massachusetts
By Ronald Beaty, Real Clear Energy, Nov 14, 2024
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Major Automaker Exec Flatly Says Liberals’ EV ‘Mandates’ Are ‘Impossible’ To Meet
By Ireland Owens, Daily Caller, Nov 8, 2024
Toyota’s North American Chief Operating Officer (COO) Jack Hollis criticized U.S. policies promoting electric vehicle adoption (EV) on Friday, according to Bloomberg.
Trumping the Electric Vehicle Mandate
By Duggan Flanakin, Real Clear Energy, Nov 13, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Also discusses shifts in the EV market before the election.]
California Dreaming
California air regulators approve controversial standards that could affect gas prices
By Sharon Udasin, The Hill, Nov 11, 2024
[SEPP Comment: Will the politicians blame oil companies for not removing carbon from hydrocarbon-based fuels?]
Oh Mann!
Michael Mann Hurricane Update
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Nov 15, 2024
Video: https://realclimatescience.com/2024/11/michael-mann-hurricane-update-2/#gsc.tab=0
Text: https://realclimatescience.com/2024/11/michael-mann-hurricane-update/#gsc.tab=0
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
World’s largest coal user wants $1.3T from rich nations to save the climate, (or launch more rockets)
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Nov 14, 2024
Ed Miliband’s Heating Bill Fairy Tale: A Cautionary Comedy of Leftist Delusion
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Nov 9, 2024
Costco Recalls 80,000 Pounds of Butter Since Label Didn’t Say ‘Contains Milk’
Big Government at work: FDA asks consumers to return improperly labeled butter for refund.
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, Nov 12, 2024
Making Themselves Irrelevant
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Nov 14, 2024
After President Trump was banned from Twitter, he formed his own social media company. The Guardian is doing the exact opposite, banning themselves because people are allowed to respond to their nonsense.
Tidbits
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Nov 13, 2024
BREAKING NEWS: we have an update on the Canadian government’s drive to plant two billion trees in a country that already has 150 times that many:
“As of June 2024, the government has signed or was negotiating tree-planting agreements with 11 of 13 provinces and territories, 40 Indigenous partners, 32 municipalities, 86 non-governmental organizations and more, representing a commitment to plant 716 million trees — nearly tripling last year’s total.” Not trees, you understand. Commitments to plant trees.
[SEPP Comment: Canada’s Boreal Forests with over 300 billion volunteers need help?]
The lamest UN climate meeting starts with some moonlighting fossil fuels deals “on the side”
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Nov 9, 2024
ARTICLES
1. Five Ways to Disaster-Proof the Energy Grid
With extreme weather events—and power outages—on the rise, utilities and tech companies are looking at what they can do to keep the lights on in the future
By Amy Myers Jaffe, WSJ, Nov 10, 2024
TWTW Summary: Discussed in the This Week section above.
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“The recent flooding of Valencia, Spain . . . . In 2021 it got rid of 108 dams and weirs; in 2022, another 133. it was Europe’s proud league champion at dismantling them. Last year it was second only to France.”
________________________________________________________________________________
So far, A total of 2,119 dams have been removed in the U.S. since 1912 and more removals are planned (Google search on “dam removal in the us”)
I’m waiting for the article that claims the Climate Change is causing more floods.
2,000 years ago…
The sparsely populated areas like the fenland – home to the Iceni etc – underwent huge transformation.
“Areas of coastal marshland formed an important and distinctive part of the landscape of Roman Britain, and current work is showing that different wetlands were utilised in very different ways. Some areas, for example in Essex and Kent, were simply exploited for their natural resources to produce salt and support seasonal grazing. Parts of Fenland were also used in this way, though the higher coastal siltlands were modified through the creation of drainage systems in order to improve agricultural opportunities within a landscape that was still liable to tidal flooding. A third strategy towards wetland exploitation is reclamation: a major transformation of the natural environment
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/britannia/article/abs/romanobritish-exploitation-of-coastal-wetlands-survey-and-excavation-on-the-north-somerset-levels-19937/5976A1159AF0585E8CF540D01AD6BD4C
The autobahn were built primarily with military purposes in mind. I wonder where they got the idea?
Roman roads in Britannia were initially designed for military use, they were constructed by the legions during the four centuries that Britannia was a province of the Roman Empire. Some Roman routes form part of the national road network, today.
One has, I think, to reflect a little on a time when things got improved in a major way in a relatively short period of time – albeit under Roman occupation – because we are now in a period where things are going into reverse. And deliberately so.
The Romans would hold games – somewhat barbaric by ‘today’s standards’ – to entertain the masses.
“”“While gladiators have always captured the public imagination, their presence in Britain has been less widely understood. New research has now proven that the spectacles of Rome’s Colosseum were experienced as far away as Colchester.””
https://www.britishmuseum.org/sites/default/files/2024-08/Gladiators-of-Britain.pdf
The current elites feed us a constant diet of doom and gloom throughout the spheres
“”I’ve dabbled in prepping before, without really realising what I was doing. A fear in the early 2000s that Rimmel might stop making my favourite eyeliner led to me dashing to Boots to buy five. Which is fairly normal, I think? On the spectrum of normal?
…
The Doomsday Clock is now set at 90 seconds to midnight. Its operators, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, who monitor the combined risks of nuclear annihilation, climate disaster, biological threat and “disruptive technologies”, say we have never been closer to global catastrophic destruction.
I’m finally into ‘prepping’ and ready for the apocalypse
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/nov/17/im-finally-into-prepping-and-ready-for-the-apocalypse
What will Miliband do for us?
To recap…
The following SEPP comment is silly on a couple of counts. “There is no explanation on how the heavy CFC molecules get from the surface to the stratosphere. (CCI2F2 [Freon] has an atomic weight of about 121 atomic mass units (amu)).”
Gases fill the volume of their container basically due to entropy. Refrigerants are gases. Less volatile gases will migrate (diffuse) more slowly, but mixing occurs in the atmosphere due to winds, thermals, etc.
“Atomic” refers to atoms, “molecular” refers to molecules. The molecular weight of a Freon is the sum of its atomic constituents.
“According to Matt Ridley, the city of Aragon [actually Zaragoza], Spain, was recently saved by a dam built by the emperor Augustus.”
The ancients had good engineers. My uncle was in southern Iraq during WWII. He said he drove his jeep over a stone bridge- a sign next to it said it was built by Alexander the Great!
So, why do you think NPR published this bit of news?
When will greenhouse gas emissions finally peak? Could be soon
“For almost two centuries, greenhouse gas emissions have climbed steadily as humans have burned increasing amounts of oil, gas and coal. Now, climate scientists believe those emissions may finally be reaching a peak…”
No time to follow the link yet but I’m guessing its a combo of technologically driven energy efficiency increases, economically driven population growth decreases and wishful thinking.
As to why they’d publish a “don’t worry” piece, I think they see the writing on the wall. It’s over?
The current temperature spike is about over, so there’s certainly an opportunity to take credit — even is none is due.
Okay started reading it… “Studies show emissions must peak and then rapidly decline to limit impacts like more intense heat waves and storms.” Stopped there.
“more intense heat waves and storms”
Goebbels would be proud of the Climate Fascists.
We’re All Gonna Die…if We Don’t Kill You First.
Anticipating the end result of totalitarian government’s march forward around the planet. Dead people don’t need home heating.
“This “backward” nation has planned 100 space launches for 2024 in its goal to put someone on the Moon by 2030.”
I think above words were written intending to be ironic but
“Neil Armstrong famously said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” on July 20, 1969, as he became the first person to walk on the moon”
That was 55 years ago. The famous American astronaut has been dead for about 8 years. American businessmen have gone to space, because, why not? Going to the moon was a technology goal for days gone by, and now that most people believe it really happened 5 decades ago, the natural response would not be “wow!” but rather “why?”
Pushing a rope uphill.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/northvolt-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy-us-2024-11-21/