ClimateSight

Posted in Open Threads | Tagged climate change, communication, education, environment, global warming, science | 11 Comments

11 Responses

1. on November 1, 2010 at 3:11 pm | Reply Warmcast

   Some interesting cutting edge energy ideas to ponder:

   Isentropic battery:
   http://www.isentropic.co.uk/

   Underwater energy storage bags:
   http://communications.nottingham.ac.uk/News/Article/Cheap-and-green.html

   Hydrogen electricity generation:
   http://gizmodo.com/5666674/a-solar-power-breakthrough-courtesy-of-the-guy-who-invented-the-super-soaker

   I actually like these ideas because they have a chance of making it beyond research and development.

   This one probably has some way to go:
   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101025161219.htm

   Are there any others?

   
   
2. on November 4, 2010 at 9:49 am | Reply Roger

   California’s Clean Energy Future Implementation Plan may represent this country’s first feeble step in the right direction. See also California’s Inter-Agency Roadmap, which gives timelines and summarizes the above plan.

   The document is mostly about clean alternative methods for electric power generation and distribution and only briefly touches on alternative energy fuel vehicle technology in Chapter 7, “Additional Areas.”

   The goal of California’s program, they say, is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. Californians are progressive and the Plan appears to have survived Nov 02, but they are not martyrs. With California’s future economy not looking overly promising, public opinion could sway at the slightest of breeze, and the best laid plans could soon lie rotting in the gutter.

   Only time will tell.

   
   
3. on November 5, 2010 at 9:04 am | Reply Roger

   According to Karl Rove, Climate Is Gone

   
   
4. on November 7, 2010 at 4:03 pm | Reply SoundOff

   I think this is a fairly ingenious idea suited to sunny locales close to an ocean …

   The Seawater Greenhouse

   Just a pump and a fan needed (and an ocean and sunlight).

   The air going into the greenhouse is first cooled and humidified by seawater, which trickles over the first evaporator. This provides good climate conditions for the crops. As the air leaves the growing area, it passes through the second evaporator over which seawater is flowing. This seawater has been heated by the sun in a network of pipes above the growing area, making the air flowing past much hotter and more humid. It then meets a series of vertical pipes through which cool seawater passes. When the hot humid air meets the cool surfaces, fresh water will condense as droplets that run down to the base where they can be collected.

   The cool and humid conditions in the greenhouse enable crops to grow with very little water. When crops are not stressed by excessive transpiration, both the yield and the quality are higher.

   The simplicity of the process imitates the hydrological cycle where seawater heated by the sun evaporates, cools down to form clouds, and returns to the earth as rain, fog or dew.

   http://www.seawatergreenhouse.com/process.html

   
   
5. on November 9, 2010 at 9:04 am | Reply Roger

   Canada in 2050? Not so bad, really. The biggest expense was the nearly six thousand kilometer, seven meter high fence along the border and the massive military force required to keep out illegal American aliens.

   
   
6. on November 10, 2010 at 4:54 pm | Reply Roger

   Coming this weekend, November 12-14, 2010 at the Prince Conference Center, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 2010 International Conference on Sustainability, The Interactions Between Energy, Economy, Environment.

   
   
7. on November 12, 2010 at 12:22 pm | Reply Roger

   What are they Koching up today? Stay tuned.

   
   
8. on November 12, 2010 at 2:09 pm | Reply Roger

   Is it getting hot in here (pdf), or what are the Odds of Cooking the Grandkids?

   
   
9. on November 15, 2010 at 5:11 pm | Reply Roger

   A stunning year in climate science reveals that human civilization is on the precipice.

   
   
10. on November 17, 2010 at 9:34 pm | Reply Roger

    … the world can watch and learn from Canada, because if there is one thing that Canadian politicians and business leaders do well, it is this: They can teach the world how to avoid action on climate change.

    The following is the text of Ian Angus’s keynote speech at “Smells Like Green Spirit,” a conference sponsored by the University of British Columbia Student Environment Centre, on January 19, 2008.

    How to Avoid Action on Climate Change

    The problem is that no one wants to take responsibility for mitigating climate change. Are only politicians and business leaders responsible? What about the rest of us? No one wants to give up his/her God-given houses, cars, food, luxuries, and incomes to help reduce CO2 emissions. Thankfully we don’t have to, because our “lethargic” politicians and business leaders have made it so easy for us to lay our blame on them.

    Here are the seven points Angus makes in the above article about politicians and business leaders:

    1. Deny that action is necessary
    2. All Talk and No Action
    3. Shift the Blame
    4. Lower the bar
    5. Focus on ‘intensity’
    6. Ignore the elephant in the room
    7. Leave it to the market

    Couldn’t Angus have made those same seven points and others about us as well? Politicians and business leaders are people just like us. They too worry about having to give up their God-given houses, cars, food, luxuries, and incomes, in addition to worrying about being criticized by people that their jobs depend on, people who also worry about having to give up their God-given houses, cars, food, luxuries, and incomes. What would we do to them if they actually forced us to do what we are blaming them for not doing? Replace them in the blink of an eye, no doubt.

    So the next time we are tempted to sling How to Avoid Action on Climate Change accusations at our politicians and business leaders, perhaps it should be in front of our own mirrors.

    
    
11. on November 27, 2010 at 12:14 pm | Reply Roger

    One conservative Christian’s views on global warming—an excellent perspective.