Increased solar activity

Keith Kiernan put me onto this recent news, so I researched it and selected the Space.com story from Aug 24. The 40 sec video comparing side by side outbursts  of the sun in Aug 2009 and Aug 2012 is impressive. This increased solar activity is more of a concern for hi-tech electronics on Earth, like GPS, satellite communications, the internet, power grids, etc., than it is for global warming.

July hottest month ever in US, 4th globally

From NOAA Climate Watch Magazine

According to the latest statistics from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, the average temperature for the contiguous United States during July was 77.6°F, which is 3.3°F above the 20th-century average. This marks the warmest July and–given that July is the typically the warmest month of the year—the warmest month on record for the nation.

 And from NOAA National Climatic Data Center

The globally-averaged temperature for July 2012 marked the fourth warmest July since record keeping began in 1880. July 2012 also marks the 36^th consecutive July and 329^th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20^th century average.

Kite Wind Power

Do you wonder what the title refers to? I initially thought my reference article, The Power Above: Kite Power Seeks High Altitude Power, was going to describe assisted propulsion for ships, as I have read that this being developed.....But No, kite wind power is a unique, and new to me, concept of generating electrical power.

The potential is amazing! Just a few short quotes hopefully will entice you to read the whole article:

Higher altitude winds blow more constantly than those at ground level. According to Ippolito, the winds he’s targeting are available for 6,000 hours a year, compared to what he says can average 1,500 hours for conventional ground wind turbines.

And any increase in wind speed yields an even greater increase in wind power, as wind power is the cube of its speed so even small increases in speed can lead to big boosts in power. If wind is streaming at 20 mph on the ground while traveling double that, or 40 mph, at 3,000 feet, its power at altitude would be 8 times the power on ground.

And for the wind equivalent of nuclear fusion, harness jet stream energy:

“It’s the highest energy density of renewable power source available on Earth,” says climate scientist Ken Caldeira at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University. He notes that the raw power of the jet stream can reach 30,000 watts per square meter and can typically be 10,000 watts per square meter, compared to an average of 300 watts per square meters for solar on the Earth’s surface.

This kind of thinking gives me hope for Earth and mankind......IF we can also more effectively deal with all our other major problems, like population growth, destruction of habitat, insufficient jobs, terrorism, inhumane treatment of others, etc.

The roles of wind and natural gas in US energy

On Ezra Klein's Wonkblog in the Washington Post, Brad Plummer writes, The rise-and possible fall-of wind power, a very concise summary of wind power growth in the US, and a cautious prediction of reduced future growth due to incentives being eliminated.

Also from Wonkblog Brad Plummer presents an excellent summary of how cheap natural gas is displacing coal for electricity generation, which in turn is reducing CO2 emissions, BUT is not necessarily reducing global warming significantly. Why? Two main reasons - one, natural gas production releases methane to the atmosphere, and methane is 23 times more potent as a greenhouse gas, and two, cheap electricity from natural gas reduces incentives to convert to wind, solar and other forms of renewable power generation.

Sea-level rise a coastal concern

This News Journal article, Part 1, paints a grim picture for large areas of Delaware and Maryland. Unfortunately, effective responses are not envisioned without the expenditure of very large sums of money, and even then major losses will still occur. From the News Journal:

Eleven of the state’s largest environmental groups already have drafted a joint statement supporting DNREC’s soon-to-be-released sea-level vulnerability findings, citing dramatic potential losses to the state’s economy and ecosystems. The draft statement includes a call for residents to encourage state and local government attention to the issue.

O’Mara said communities along Delaware’s coast and bays are “very special places. But at the same time, if we’re going to invest resources from all taxpayers, we need to make sure there is a public benefit.”

Delaware Schools to Teach Climate Change

Whoa! My jaw dropped to the floor. What an eye opening headline. See for yourself: From the Baltimore Sun, and from the Washington Post.

My favorite quote is from The Baltimore Sun article: "We need to address this issue before we witness parts of the Inner Harbor and the Eastern Shore go underwater."

US Seafood Deficit

As an avid fisherman, this concept caught my interest. Per the article, Deep Sea Farming by Marc Guenther, the US has a 10.4 billion dollar seafood deficit. This is mostly due to importing farm raised fish from Asia.

One answer, deep sea farming of mussels and oysters, as proposed by entrepreneur Phil Cruzer for deep waters off the California coast. These two shellfish have the special advantage over most other types of aquaculture in that they get all their food from the seawater, and do not require any processed fish food, which is typically made from forage fish. This is an optimistic approach to more sustainably feeding the world.

Improved electrical grids can be a major factor

There is nothing especially glamorous about an electrical grid, but when done right, the beneficial results can be surprising, especially for improving utilization of renewable energy, like wind and solar. For example, what an extensive electrical grid can do is move power from where the wind is blowing, to where the wind is not blowing, or to where the sun is not shining.

Europe is in the process of constructing a very extensive grid system as explained in The Deal: European Supergrid Sets High Expectations

Agriculture's response to climate change

The technology of selective breeding crop plants and ranch animals is being used to make both more tolerant of hotter, dryer conditions. The lead sentences from a USA Today article:

"Across American agriculture, farmers and crop scientists have concluded that it's too late to fight climate change. They are trying to adapt to it with new generations of hardier animals and plants specially engineered to survive, and even thrive, in intense heat, with little rain."

Unlike trying to reduce carbon emissions, this adaption process faces few challenges, and those using it come out ahead pretty much as they do it. Switch from coal to solar power generation, and you generally become less competitive with those who remain on coal. Were fossil fuel power generation to pay for its total costs, environmental degradation included, renewable energy would definitely be competitive.

Latest James Hansen study and report

No models, just statistical analysis of what has been happening to our Earth's temperature and weather.

Hansen's conclusion? The past 10 years of extreme weather events is significant evidence of global warming, as opposed to a continuing random series of weather extremes. Per Hansen, humans and their greenhouse gas emissions are causing the global warming and the associated weather extremes.

My opinion? I see many sound reasons to agree with Hansen, and no significant reasons to disagree. But will this report by Hansen make any difference regarding our actions?

From an article in the Washington Post,
“The science in Hansen’s study is excellent “and reframes the question,” said Andrew Weaver, a climate scientist at the University of Victoria in British Columbia who was a member of the Nobel Prize-winning international panel of climate scientists that issued a series of reports on global warming.

Rather than say, ‘Is this because of climate change?’ That’s the wrong question. What you can say is, ‘How likely is this to have occurred with the absence of global warming?’ It’s so extraordinarily unlikely that it has to be due to global warming,” Weaver said." (bold by finbliz)

And now another quote from the same article, so true and so depressing:
"Science policy expert Roger Pielke Jr. of the University of Colorado said Hansen clearly doesn’t understand social science, thinking a study like his could spur action. Just because something ought to happen, doesn’t mean it will, he said."

A Glint of Solar Optimism

If you have been tracking solar panel developments, you know that many solar panel manufacturers have been going out of business due to stiff competition and falling prices. That seems very unfortunate, because the World could so benefit from broad solar power expansion.

Well finally a bright note from First Solar of Tempe, AZ. Their profits are up 81% since a year ago. Their secret? - focus on solar power plants, aka solar farms. For full details, see the Bloomberg article posted on Renewable Energy World.

Coccolithophores ...our very small, beneficial friends

 In the above photo, the brilliant cyan is a bloom of phytoplankton, believed to be Coccolithophores: photo from NASA

I have made a few previous posts about Coccolithophores and why they gave me hope for their potential Earth saving contributions. In Carbon Eaters of the Black Sea they re-emerge as a source of hope for our planet, but also a question is raised as to whether ocean acidification will significantly interfere with their beneficial role.

Drought - a first hand perspective

Much of the US is presently in a record breaking drought, and I am guessing that many of us don't have a real good perspective of how bad this can be, so from Steve Lyons at the Dickinson Press:

"Of all the ways nature has to kill you, drought may be the cruelest. The desiccation proceeds day after punishing day. The afternoon sun pounds the Earth like a brazen hammer. As I write, the temperature here in Perry County, Arkansas, has reached 108 degrees."

For the full article: Climate change real - ask the cows