The Week That Was: 2021-12-04 (December 4, 2021)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “So, it is a one percent effect—it is actually a little less than that because that is with no clouds. Clouds make everything even less threatening.” – William Happer on the greenhouse effect of doubling CO2.
Number of the Week: 40% of rate in 1980
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: William Happer, the Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor Emeritus of Physics at Princeton University, gave a talk to the CLINTEL group in Amsterdam on November 16. On his blog, Ron Clutz posted the latest talk along with the transcript and images from a talk Happer gave at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar in Phoenix, Arizona, that was held on February 19. Although previously covered in TWTW, the effort is worth reviewing because Happer discusses a viable physical evidence-based alternative to the speculative process used by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to understand the influence of CO2 on climate. The IPCC effort has stagnated. The results of the IPCC process were used in the effort to force an agreement upon developing countries to limit carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) in November in Glasgow.
Recognizing that fossil fuels are critical for their economic prosperity, the developing countries, mainly China and India, rightly rejected the false science of the IPCC. Happer clearly demonstrates that the IPCC science is false because it greatly exaggerates the actual effect that CO2 and other greenhouse gases will have global temperatures. Further, Happer uses a method for directly calculating the influence of changing greenhouses gases on global temperatures.
The Global Warming Policy Foundation President Benny Peiser discusses the frenzied nature of the anti-CO2 organizations and how the efforts are changing, particularly in the UK and Europe. In the Biden Administration’s desire to suppress the petroleum industry, Washington has produced two vacuous studies making claims without regard to physical evidence. A study by the US National Academies is on plastics and the second study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is on solar power.
Two books are reviewed by others writing in the Wall Street Journal. One book is on the Boeing 737 MAX where an important component, the engines, was replaced without thoroughly testing the impact the new component has on the entire system.
The second book is on how online lies become accepted as truth. It is a guide to what many organizations in the environmental industry are doing in their effort to suppress CO2 emissions and destroy the fossil fuel industries.
Physical Evidence of CO2’s Influence on Temperatures: Although discussed a number of times in previous TWTWs, the presentation by William Happer remains very important because he uses a direct approach to estimating how much influence growing CO2 emissions will have on global temperatures for the foreseeable future. Although from an earlier presentation, February 19, the presentation on the web site by Ron Clutz provides some of the key graphics in color. Also, since the transcript is from the earlier presentation, it does not follow smoothly the current presentation. However, some of the key points include:
- Don’t Confuse CO2 with Air Pollution. Photos in articles on pollution are often misleading – if you can see it, it’s not carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, or methane. For example, a popular photo of Shanghai shows haze. Some of this haze is due to burning coal [often for heating and cooking]. But a bigger fraction is due to dust from the Gobi Desert. They have had this type of pollution in Shanghai since the days of Marco Polo and long before. Real pollution has largely been eliminated in the US and other developed countries.
- There is nothing environmentally friendly about industrial wind. Many turbines have been abandoned when they no longer work. Renewable energy is what I would call the inverse Robin Hood strategy—you rob from the poor to give to the rich. Utilities are permitted to raise rates because of their capital investments in inefficient, unreliable renewables. They junk fully depreciated coal, gas, and nuclear plants, all of which are working beautifully, and producing inexpensive, reliable energy. But regulated profits are much less. Taxpayers subsidize the rich, who can afford to lease land for wind and solar farms. Tax incentives pander to the upper class who live in gated communities and can afford to buy Tesla electric cars. They get subsidies from the state and federal government.
- Climate involves a complicated interplay of the sunlight that warms us, and thermal infrared radiation that escapes to space. Heat is transported from the tropics to the poles by the motion of warm air and ocean water. We all know about the Gulf Stream that carries huge amounts of heat to northern Europe, even to Russia. Movements of air in the atmosphere also carry a lot of heat, as we know from regular cold spells and hot spells.
- Convection cells in the atmosphere as well as radiation are needed to get rid of energy. The heat is eventually released by radiation into space. But for the first few kilometers of altitude, a good fraction of that heat is not carried by radiation, but by convection of warm, moist air. CO2 has no direct effect on convection near the surface. But once you get up to 10 kilometers or so, most of the heat is transported by radiation.
- [Using a CO2 meter,] “at the end of a summer day the CO2 levels on my back porch drop to maybe 300 parts per million, way below the average for outside air. That is because the trees and grass in my backyard have sucked most of the CO2 out of the local air during the day. If I get up early the next morning and I look at the meter, it is up to 600 parts per million. So just from morning to night CO2 doubles in the air of my back yard. Doubles and halves, doubles, and halves. At least during the growing season that is quite common. And we have these hysterics about CO2 increasing by 30 or 40 percent. It is amazing.”
- [From the ground, we cannot measure the radiation exiting to space. To understand the heat transported to space by radiation, we need to measure it from above the atmosphere.]
- Clouds, which we do not understand, will be recognized as the dominate factor in controlling the earth’s climate.
- Happer uses the idealized Plank curves for showing the radiation transmitted by the atmosphere. In the graph, down-going solar radiation is colored red, with about 70 to 75% transmitted from the top of the atmosphere to the surface. But only about 25% of the outgoing thermal radiation, in blue, is transmitted from the surface to space. [Shown in the graphs in the referenced post by Clutz].
- Then Happer compares two graphs from the work of two of his heroes: Max Planck and Karl Schwarzschild. [Shown in the graphs in the referenced post by Clutz]. He states
- “Amazingly, quantum mechanics got its start from greenhouse gas-physics and thermal radiation, just what we are talking about today. Most climate fanatics do not understand the basic physics. But Planck understood it very well and he was the first to show why the spectrum of radiation from warm bodies has the shape shown on this picture, to the left of Planck. Below is a smooth blue curve. The horizontal scale, left to right is the “spatial frequency” (wave peaks per cm) of thermal radiation. The vertical scale is the thermal power that is going out to space. If there were no greenhouse gases, the radiation going to space would be the area under the blue Planck curve. This would be the thermal radiation that balances the heating of Earth by sunlight.
- “In fact, you never observe the Planck curve if you look down from a satellite. We have lots of satellite measurements now. What you see is something that looks a lot like the black curve, with lots of jags and wiggles in it. That curve was first calculated by Karl Schwarzschild, whose picture is below Planck’s picture. Schwarzschild was an officer in the German army in World War I, and he did some of his most creative work in the trenches on the eastern front facing Russia. He found one of the first analytic solutions to Einstein’s general theory of relativity while he was there on the front lines. Alas, he died before he got home. The cause of death was not Russian bullets but an autoimmune disease. This was a real tragedy for science. Schwarzschild was the theorist who first figured out how the real Earth, including the greenhouse gases in its atmosphere, radiates to space. That is described by the jagged black line. The important point here is the red line. This is what Earth would radiate to space if you were to double the CO2 concentration from today’s value. Right in the middle of these curves, you can see a gap in spectrum. The gap is caused by CO2 absorbing radiation that would otherwise cool the Earth. If you double the amount of CO2, you don’t double the size of that gap. You just go from the black curve to the red curve, and you can barely see the difference. The gap hardly changes.
- “The message I want you to understand, which practically no one really understands, is that doubling CO2 makes almost no difference.”
- “Doubling would replace the black curve by the red curve. On the basis of this, we are supposed to give up our liberties. We are supposed to give up the gasoline engines of our automobiles. We are supposed to accept dictatorial power by Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, because of the difference between the red and the black curve. Do not let anyone convince you that that is a good bargain. It is a terrible bargain. The doubling actually does make a little difference. It decreases the radiation to space by about three watts per square meters. In comparison, the total radiation to space is about 300 watts per square meter.
- Happer then goes into the beneficial effects of increasing CO2 for vegetation. He estimates that the optimum CO2 for plants is about 1500 to 2000 ppm. At the maximum extent of the glaciation period, about 20,000 years ago, there were major dust storms mostly from the high plains of Asia and North America (which were probably devoid of vegetation caused by CO2 starvation).
- Satellite evidence shows a greening of the earth from CO2 fertilization, which is most effective in dry areas, such as arid areas of Africa, North America, and Australia. This is the only effect we can clearly attribute to human emissions of CO2, and it is not a threat to mankind.
See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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A Shift in Climate Frenzy: Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) President Benny Peiser discusses the big issue for developed countries demanding that parties at COP 26 in Glasgow stop emitting CO2 was the counter-demand by developing countries, particularly China and India, that they receive a trillion dollars a year. That must have sobered up a few party goers at the Glasgow follies. It would be difficult for some to explain to their citizens why their government should participate in such as huge transfer of wealth.
To Peiser, the effort began with an IPCC special report in 2018 that global warming be limited to 1.5 °C. There is no physical evidence supporting this demand or any evidence that it is desirable given a history of climate change that includes the periods of glaciation in the current Quaternary Period, characterized as an Ice Age, with ice caps on both poles. Based on the 2018 report, and the IPCC’s erroneous estimates of the influence of CO2 on temperatures, government experts have calculated that the false “limit” will be reached in about 2030.
Peiser states that in the 12 years from 2018 to 2030, the IPCC and its followers estimate that given the current rate of CO2 emission growth, the CO2 emissions will increase global temperatures by 0.4 °C, reaching the dreaded limit. This has given rise to “doomsday” cults that claim the extinction of humanity will result, leading many types of governments to declare a climate emergency. Examples of governments showing doomsday thinking include the UK and the Biden Administration.
Particularly for the UK and parts of the EU, the doomsday cults have led to a real crisis. The naïve belief that erratic, unreliable wind power can provide safe and affordable electricity created demands of “Net Zero” – no CO2 emissions allowed. This is the reason why the name of the Global Warming Policy Forum was changed to Net Zero Watch. No one knows the cost of Net Zero, and don’t bother asking a government official.
There has been a new development in the UK over the past 18 months, – a crisis of reliable, affordable, and cost-effective electricity. The claim that more wind turbines will yield lower cost and reliable power is false. What is being seen is that surveys of how people feel about saving the environment produce strong positive feelings. But when asked how much they are willing to spend, the answer is closer to zero. There is a disparity between what people say and what people do.
Costs of net zero programs are becoming astronomical, moving into the third phase of questioning – are you willing to pay for saving the planet if it makes you poorer and colder? In the latest Swiss election, the people answered that their economic fears trump climate fears. According to Peiser, in the five phase “Issue Attention Cycle” by Anthony Downs, the UK is moving from Phase 2, “discovery and enthusiasm”, to Phase 3, “realization of cost.”
Net Zero Watch is offering an alternative to net zero: realism. The workable alternative is dash-for-gas and nuclear. The US has undergone the first but nuclear is strongly opposed. Since the UK is further along the path of economic destruction brought by net zero than the US, it is instructive to watch what happens and note the extreme claims made in the frenzy. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy, Questioning European Green, Energy Issues – Non-US, and Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
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Vacuous Reports: The extent to which plastics in the ocean are a problem is not clear. They are destructive to some life forms, but they provide protection to other life forms. A report by the National Academies on plastics contributes nothing to the issue and is little more than an attack on the US plastics industry, which depends on hydrocarbons. The report emphasizes the growth of US manufacturing and ignores its proper disposal.
Apparently, the National Academies are unaware of the geography of the US. Everything east of the Continental Divide drains into the Atlantic. The drainage from much of west of the Continental Divide goes into the Colorado River, which has little water when it reaches Mexico; or into the Great Basin, which goes nowhere. The drainage that goes into the Pacific is mostly from California (Sacramento River), and Oregon, Washington, and Idaho (the Columbia River).
The National Academies report emphasizes US plastics production as the proxy for ocean plastic pollution. But the biggest problem is in the Pacific. According to Our World in Data: “It is estimated that 81% of ocean plastics come from Asian rivers. The Philippines alone contributes around one-third of the global total. Since the number of contributing rivers is much higher than previously thought, we will need global efforts to improve waste management and plastic collection rather than targeting only a few of the largest rivers.” The issue is disposal, not manufacture. The National Academies confuse the two.
The US Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy produced an equally vacuous report. In part, it states:
“The ‘Decarbonization (Decarb)’ scenario assumes policies drive a 95% reduction (from 2005 levels) in the grid’s carbon dioxide emissions by 2035 and a 100% reduction by 2050. This scenario assumes more aggressive cost-reduction projections than the Reference scenario for solar as well as other renewable and energy storage technologies, but it uses standard future projections for electricity demand.”
“Even under the Reference scenario, installed solar capacity increases by nearly a factor of 7 by 2050, and grid emissions decline by 45% by 2035 and 61% by 2050, relative to 2005 levels. That is, even without a concerted policy effort, market forces and technology advances will drive significant deployment of solar and other clean energy technologies as well as substantial decarbonization.”
“Solar can facilitate deep decarbonization of the U.S. electric grid by 2035 without increasing projected 2035 electricity prices if targeted technological advances are achieved.”
The report does not state clearly what the targeted technological advances are – other than expanding pumped hydro-storage, batteries, and suggesting various other types of storage. “The DOE Energy Storage Grand Challenge has set aggressive storage cost goals, potentially exploiting technologies better suited for stationary applications.” Utility scale examples are lost in the “pixie dust” thinking of the report.
Dominion Energy’s Bath County Pumped Storage in Virginia (3,000 MW) is the largest such facility in the world, and it is replenished by nuclear and coal-fired power plants. Dominion Energy is proposing a second, smaller pumped storage facility (300 MW) in Tazewell County, Virginia, which is being opposed by environmental groups. That facility would be replenished by nuclear power. Though it has looked for several years, TWTW has been unable to find any utility scale examples that solar or wind can replenish storage in a timely manner. On islands with low populations, it has been tried and failed, falling back on diesel. See links under Defending the Orthodoxy, Changing Seas, and https://ourworldindata.org/ocean-plastics.
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Changing Cultures: According to the review of Flying Blind, Boeing forgot that its success depended on a reputation for superior engineering and this failure exemplifies what can occur with changing organizational cultures and how important components of that culture maybe lost.
For TWTW readers the unfortunate set of events is important for two reasons. The US Grids are complex energized systems serving all who are on it. They are designed by power engineers to provide at least 99.9% reliability to customers at lowest possible costs. As Federal and state politicians exert greater pressure on grid operators, failures will appear. As with Boeing managers, the politicians will ignore the problems and blame others. We are seeing this in California where the legislators control the grid but take no responsibility for the wildfires created by downed power lines or the blackouts that are becoming more frequent.
The second reason for concern is that no one knows how poorly the grid will respond with more solar or wind. Contrary to the false claims of today’s Department of Energy, there is no reliable, utility scale storage using solar and wind generation. In Germany, Denmark, and the UK we are seeing the enormous costs of the false promises. See Article # 1.
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Creating Truth: According to the review of The Wires of War: How Online Lies Become the Truth
First, cook up an ‘untruth.’ Then ‘layer’ it, obscuring its source. At any hint of suspicion, use a ‘firehose’ to drown out the correct details” begins:
“The scam runs something like this: You start with what’s known as ‘placement.’ ‘Some untruth is cooked up,’ Jacob Helberg tells us. ‘The disinformation can be completely fabricated’ or ‘it may originate with hacked or compromising information.’ Next comes ‘amplification,’ using shells or false online identities to disseminate that cooked-up untruth. From there one proceeds to ‘layering,’ in which intermediaries ‘obscure the original source of disinformation and spread propaganda far and wide.’ The coup de grâce arrives with ‘integration,’ the point at which the lie has been so widely propagated that it becomes accepted as truth.”
A similar approach is used in the attacks on greenhouse gases as well as on viable American industries such as petroleum. See Article #2.
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Number of the Week: 40% of rate in 1980: According to Statista, in the US the 1980 death rate from heart disease was 412 people per 100,000 population. In 2018 (latest numbers available) it was 164 per 100,000 population. The death rate is about 40% of what it was in 1980. This remarkable decline reflects the great increase in understanding and treatment of heart disease accepted by the medical community.
Since 1980 we have seen a remarkable increase in our understanding of what is occurring in the atmosphere and can calculate the actual influence of greenhouse gases. Yet the IPCC and the climate science community ignore this advancement. Use your own term to describe this deliberate ignorance. See https://www.statista.com/statistics/184515/deaths-by-heart-diseases-in-the-us-since-1950/
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/
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:
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
Climate Change and CO2 Not a Problem
By William Happer, CLINTEL lecture, Nov 16, 2021
With transcript and images from Feb 2021 presentation, by Ron Clutz, Via Science Matters, Dec 4, 2021
Benny Peiser: “we are entering a new phase in the climate debate”
“After COP 26, with a looming energy crisis, is there a realistic alternative to Net Zero?”
By Benny Peiser, Via CLINTEL, Dec 2, 2021
Political issues surrounding the climate change including Global Warming of 1.5 C
Net Zero, Cost of Net Zero, climate fear vs. of economic fear, European energy crisis, issue attention cycle & alternative policy
Pielke Jr. Slams Kerry Emanuel’s Latest
By Roger Pielke Jr. Via WUWT, Dec 2, 2021
The Profound Junk Science of Climate
By Norman Rogers, American Thinker, Nov 27, 2021
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/11/the_profound_junk_science_of_climate.html
“The models can’t properly model the Earth’s climate, but we are supposed to believe that, if carbon dioxide has a certain effect on the imaginary Earths of the many models it will have the same effect on the real earth.”
BEIS Respond To Net Zero Petition [UK]
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 1, 2021
“Notably there is not a single mention of how much this will all cost us, the elephant in the room.
“Apart from the red herring thrown in at the start about referendums, the whole response boils down to the belief that politicians know better than the rest of us, and that these matters are far too important to be left to us to have any say.
“But that, of course, is precisely why the public should be given the ultimate decision.”
Keep burning those fossil fuels
Mankind’s use of coal, oil and gas is a very wonderful thing.
By Brendan O’Neill, Spiked, Nov 12, 2021 [H/t Master Resource]
“The hostility to fossil fuels seems increasingly to be driven by misanthropy rather than reason; by an elitist feeling of revulsion for the gains of modernity rather than by a rational assessment of the undoubted problems humankind still faces.”
Defending the Orthodoxy
IPCC AR6: Run-off, Streamflow and Flooding, Unspun Edition
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Dec 1,2021
How clean is green? Nevada town fights to keep solar industry out of desert
“It seems illogical to me to destroy the environment to protect the environment,” Pahrump resident Jeannie Cox-King said.
By Alicia Victoria Lozano, NBC News, Nov 29, 2021
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/clean-green-nevada-town-fights-keep-solar-industry-desert-rcna6578
Link to study: Solar Futures: Study
By Staff, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, Sep 2021
United States is world’s biggest plastic polluter, report finds
By Issam Ahmed, Phys.org, Dec 2, 2021 [H/t Bill Balgord]
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-states-world-biggest-plastic-polluter.html
Link to report: Reckoning with the U.S. Role in Global Ocean Plastic Waste
By Staff, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, 2021
https://www.nap.edu/resource/other/dels/plastics-in-the-ocean/
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
Pathways and Pitfalls in extreme event attribution
By Staff, World Weather Attribution, May 13, 2021
Climate modeling confirms historical records showing rise in hurricane activity
Press Release By Jennifer Chu, MIT, Dec 2, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-climate-historical-hurricane.html
Link to paper: Atlantic tropical cyclones downscaled from climate reanalyses show increasing activity over past 150 years
By Kerry Emanuel, Nature Communications, Dec 2, 2021
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27364-8
“’The general trend over the last 150 years was increasing storm activity, interrupted by this hurricane drought,’ Emanuel notes. ‘And at this point, we’re more confident of why there was a hurricane drought than why there is an ongoing, long-term increase in activity that began in the 19th century. That is still a mystery, and it bears on the question of how global warming might affect future Atlantic hurricanes.’”
[SEPP Comment: A new “hockey-stick trick.”
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Honestly, is climate change really humanity’s greatest threat?
Larry Tomczak urges good stewardship of creation while also being discerning
By Larry Tomczak, WND, Nov 30, 2021 [H/t WUWT]
The New Pause lengthens by a hefty three months
By Christopher Monckton of Brenchley, WUWT, Dec 2, 2021
After Paris! (COP 26)
India’s Net Zero Pledge: What Does It Really Mean?
By Tilak K. Doshi, Real Clear Energy, Nov 29, 2021
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2021/11/29/indias_net_zero_pledge_what_does_it_really_mean_805606.html
“Having grown up in the small town of Vadnagar in northern Gujarat, the son of a street merchant who struggled to support his family, Prime Minister Modi is well aware of the struggles of the poor to uplift themselves. While visiting Glasgow for COP26, surrounded by the glitz and glamour of the world’s plutocrats – all flying in on fossil-fuel-guzzling private jets to ‘fight climate change’ – the politically savvy prime minister will almost certainly have had the energy needs of villages such as Dharnai, and so many others like it, in the back of his mind.”
Japan Is Backing Oil and Gas Even After COP26 Climate Talks
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 3, 2021
Senegal president fears ‘fatal blow’ to dreams of gas wealth
By AFP Staff Writers, Diamidino, Senegal (AFP) Nov 29, 2021
https://www.oilgasdaily.com/reports/Senegal_president_fears_fatal_blow_to_dreams_of_gas_wealth_999.html
Change in US Administrations
These twenty-five Biden administration policies are raising energy costs
By Staff, Americans for Prosperity, Dec 1, 2021
https://americansforprosperity.org/biden-policies-raising-gas-prices/
Witch Hunt Targets The Oil Companies
By Richard A. Epstein, Hoover Institution, Nov 29, 2021
https://www.hoover.org/research/witch-hunt-targets-oil-companies
Build Back Better’ Would Likely Cost Trillions More Than Democrats Claim | Opinion
By Justin Haskins, Newsweek, Nov 24, 2021
https://www.newsweek.com/build-back-better-would-likely-cost-trillions-more-democrats-claim-opinion-1652038?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Heartland+Weekly%3A+Will+SCOTUS+Usher+in+a+Major+Change+in+Abortion+Law+and+Culture%3F&utm_campaign=HW+%2812-04-21%29+%282+different+designs%29
Biden lacks understanding of oil’s contributions to civilization
By Ronald Stein, CFACT, Nov 30, 2021
https://www.cfact.org/2021/11/30/biden-lacks-understanding-of-oils-contributions-to-civilization/
Standing short on climate
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Dec 1,2021
“Returning to the US case, Tilak Doshi commented in Forbes that U.S. energy policy is right out of Alice in Wonderland. But here on Earth it seems you can’t repeal the law of supply and demand the way you can the ones politicians increasingly mistake for fundamental reality.”
Joe Can’t Blame Gas Pains on an Industry He’s Destroying
By Larry Bell, Newsmax, Dec 1, 2021
https://www.newsmax.com/larrybell/joe-biden-gas-price/2021/12/01/id/1046916/
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
1922: The World’s Greatest Problem – Not Enough CO2
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Dec 2, 2021
https://realclimatescience.com/2021/12/1922-the-worlds-greatest-problem-not-enough-co2/
Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve: “A really futile and stupid gesture”
By David Middleton, WUWT, Dec 1, 2021
Problems in the Orthodoxy
Claim: More Work Required to Study “Settled” Climate Science
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Nov 29, 2021
Nature blue in rain and flood
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Dec 1,2021
Seeking a Common Ground
Lessons from the Totalitarian Past
By Augusto Zimmermann, Quadrant, Dec 4, 2021
“Modern definitions of the concept of legality known as the rule of law often start with the views expressed by Albert Venn Dicey (1835–1922), the celebrated 19th-century English constitutional lawyer who argued that the realisation of the rule of law was subject to three basic conditions: (1) supremacy of the law as opposed to the arbitrary exercise of executive power; (2) equality of all before the law to be administered by ordinary courts; and (3) judicial protection of individual rights and freedoms.”
Christian Kerr – Hilarious, Insightful and Now Gone
By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, Dec 3, 2021
Science, Policy, and Evidence
A ‘radical’ UN climate style ‘pandemic treaty’ for viruses!? World Health Organization agrees to negotiate a ‘pandemic treaty’ to prevent next outbreak
WHO ‘pandemic treaty’ may seek to enforce global lockdowns?! “An international agreement to prevent and deal with future pandemics” complete with a “legally binding” agreement.
By Marc Morano, Climate Depot, Dec 1, 2021
Global Pandemic Treaty? The WHO that helped spread Covid wants even more power
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Dec 3, 2021
[SEPP Comment: The UN’s never-ending quest for power and money.]
Complete Madness In The Biden Administration: Energy Policy
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Nov 27, 2021
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2021-11-27-complete-madness-in-the-biden-administration-energy-policy
Link to article on history: Energy Independence: A Short History, A century and a half of an idea whose time has never come.
By Charles Homans Foreign Policy, Jan 3, 2012
From Menton: “Here’s my question: If soaring oil and gas prices are caused by anti-consumer conduct by greedy oil and gas companies, were those same companies really less greedy when Trump was President and oil and gas prices were falling?”
[SEPP Comment: In 2012 the elements for American energy independence were building, unrecognized by Washington and its “experts.”]
The Government is still fighting the wrong war on Covid-19
Their hasty over-reaction to the arrival of a new variant reflects just how little we truly understand this virus
By Matt Ridley, Rational Optimist, Nov 27, 2021
https://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/fighting-the-wrong-war-on-covid/
‘I represent science’: Fauci claims GOP detractors are really criticizing science
White House medical adviser blasts ‘politicization’ of science
By Valerie Richardson, Washington Times, Nov 28, 2021
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/nov/28/i-represent-science-fauci-claims-gop-detractors-ar/
Link to transcript: Transcript: Dr. Anthony Fauci on “Face the Nation,” November 28, 2021
By Staff, CBS News, Nov 28, 2021
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-dr-anthony-fauci-on-face-the-nation-november-28-2021/
[SEPP Comment: Arrogance, what is so wrong with Washington’s “science.”]
Measurement Issues — Surface
1920 or 2020? Robe, South Australia Edition
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Dec 1,2021
Measurement Issues — Atmosphere
UAH Global Temperature Update for November 2021: +0.08 deg. C.
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Dec 2, 2021
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2021/12/uah-global-temperature-update-for-november-2021-0-08-deg-c/
Global Temperature Report
Earth System science Center, University of Alabama in Huntsville, November 2021
https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/
Map: https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/2021/November2021/202111_Map.png
Graph: https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/2021/November2021/202111_Bar.png
Atlantic Hurricane Season 2021
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 30, 2021
“Long term comparisons of Atlantic hurricanes are essentially meaningless, because many hurricanes were simply never spotted or measured prior to the satellite era.
“For example, if we compared this year’s tracking chart of hurricanes/tropical storms with 1932, when there were a similar number of hurricanes, we can readily see how many more mid ocean hurricanes are now being observed:”
Changing Weather
The Second Great Northwest Heatwave of 2021
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Dec 1, 2021
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-second-great-northwest-heatwave-of.html
Today is nominally the first day of meteorological winter, but remarkably, a large portion of our region experienced one of the great heatwaves of all time– by some measures the equal of the late June event!
[SEPP Comment: No one is screaming about this one.]
Cold in the News
By Staff, ICECAP, Dec 3, 2021
http://icecap.us/index.php/go/new-and-cool/cold_in_the_news1/
COP-26 Success
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Dec 2, 2021
https://realclimatescience.com/2021/12/cop-26-success/
New Podcast is Out: Monday’s Snow Event and the Meteorological “Trick” Required for Western Washington Snow
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Dec 3, 2021
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2021/12/new-podcast-is-out-mondays-snow-event.html
Blizzard warning issued for Hawaii over weekend
By Lexi Lonas, The Hill, Dec 4, 2021
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/584333-hawaii-issued-blizzard-warning-over-weekend
The Great Atmospheric River Irony: Simultaneous Extreme Precipitation and Extreme Dryness
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Nov 27, 2021
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-great-atmospheric-river-irony.html
1934 Typhoon – 200 MPH Winds, Thousands Dead
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Dec 3, 2021
https://realclimatescience.com/2021/12/1934-typhoon-200-mph-winds-thousands-dead/
Changing Climate
Asian climate variability and dynamics across early-to-middle pliocene warm period provide clues for future climate change
Press Release, Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters, Via WUWT, Nov 30, 2021
Link to paper: Global warming-induced Asian hydrological climate transition across the Miocene–Pliocene boundary
By Hong Ao, Nature Communications, Nature Communications, Nov 26, 2021
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27054-5
From the abstract: “Across the Miocene–Pliocene boundary (MPB; 5.3 million years ago, Ma), late Miocene cooling gave way to the early-to-middle Pliocene Warm Period.”
“’It implies that along with long-term sustained global warming, most East Asian monsoon regions may become even wetter than they are currently, with increasing flooding risks, while Central Asia may become even drier, with more persistent droughts and desertification in future,’ said Prof. JIN Zhangdong, a coauthor of the study and director of State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology.”
Scientists discover link between climate change and biological evolution of phytoplankton
International team’s findings follow the astronomical pacing of Earth’s orbit
Press Release, Rutgers University, Dec 1, 2021 [H/t WUWT]
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/936533
Link to paper: Cyclic evolution of phytoplankton forced by changes in tropical seasonality
By Luc Beaufort, et al. Nature, Dec 1, 2021
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04195-7
“Here, using high-resolution coccolith data, we show that during the last 2.8 million years the morphological evolution of coccolithophores was forced by Earth’s orbital eccentricity with rhythms of around 100,000 years and 405,000 years—a distinct spectral signature to that of coeval global climate cycles”
Changing Climate – Cultures & Civilizations
Recent European droughts are not unprecedented, new study finds
By Staff, Net Zero Watch, Dec 1, 2021
Link to paper: Past megadroughts in central Europe were longer, more severe and less warm than modern droughts.
By M. Ionita, et al. Communications Earth & Environment, Mar 19, 2021
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00130-w
Great Barrier Reef Warming, Coral Bleaching Driven By Cloud Radiative Forcing, Not Humans
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Dec 2, 2021
Link to paper: The Role of Clouds in Coral Bleaching Events Over the Great Barrier Reef
By Wenhui Zhao, Geophysical Research Letters, July 15, 2021
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2021GL093936
Ocean plastic is creating new communities of life on the high seas
By Staff Writers, Edgewater MD (SPX), Dec 03, 2021
https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Ocean_plastic_is_creating_new_communities_of_life_on_the_high_seas_999.html
Link to paper: Emergence of a neopelagic community through the establishment of coastal species on the high seas
By Linsey E. Haram, et al. Nature Communications,
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27188-6
“Discoveries of persistent coastal species in the open ocean shift our understanding of biogeographic barriers. Floating plastic debris from pollution now supports a novel sea surface community composed of coastal and oceanic species at sea that might portend significant ecological shifts in the marine environment.”
[SEPP Comment: Funny, such studies are not mentioned in NSF reports on plastics or the distribution of the plastics in the world’s oceans.]
Why We Must “Quit Worrying About Uncertainty in Sea Level Projections”
By Kip Hansen, CO2 Coalition, Dec 3, 2021
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
Arctic River Discharge Growing
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 30, 2021
Link to paper: Recent changes to Arctic river discharge
By Dongmei Feng, et. al., Nature Communications, Nov 25, 2021
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27228-1
“A milder Arctic tends to be a wetter one, but a wetter climate leads to freshening of the ocean and a return to colder conditions. In other words, it is cyclical.
“All of this reinforces the likelihood that the Arctic will become much colder, with sea ice expanding again in the not-too-distant future.”
NASA Data On Global Sea Ice Area Shows A Growth Equal To The Size Of Belgium Since 1982!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Nov 30, 2021
[SEPP Comment: The earth has two ice caps?]
“Higher than average Svalbard sea ice extent”
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Dec 2, 2021
https://realclimatescience.com/2021/12/higher-than-average-svalbard-sea-ice-extent/
There Has Been No Trend In A ‘Key Holistic Variable Indicating Climate Change’ Since 2001 [Greenland ice sheet]
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Nov 29, 2021
Climate change is making one of the world’s strongest currents flow faster
Press Release by University of California – San Diego, Nov 29, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
https://phys.org/news/2021-11-climate-world-strongest-currents-faster.html
Link to paper: Ocean warming and accelerating Southern Ocean zonal flow
By Jia-Rui Shi, et al. Nature Climate Change, Nov 29, 2021
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01212-5
Claim: Air Bubbles Sound Climate Change’s Impact on Glaciers #ASA181
Melting causes accelerated ice loss at tidewater glaciers, releasing pressurized bubbles
Reports and Proceedings by Staff, Acoustical Society of America, Via WUWT, Dec 4, 2021
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
Study: Global warming not responsible for Madagascar Famine
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Dec 3, 2021
Link to study: Factors other than climate change are the main drivers of recent food insecurity in Southern Madagascar
By Staff, World Weather Attribution, Dec 1, 2021
Lowering Standards
Levelized Costs of New Generation Resources in the Annual Energy Outlook 2021
Press Release By Staff, EIA, Feb 8, 2021
https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/electricity_generation.php
Link to: Annual Energy Outlook 2021, Feb 3, 2021
https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/
University of Manitoba Publishes an End of Snow Prediction
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Nov 1, 2021
Link to paper: New climate models reveal faster and larger increases in Arctic precipitation than previously projected
By Michelle R. McCrystall, et al. Nature Communications, Nov 30, 2021
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27031-y
[SEPP Comment: Great timing by Nature, the real one and the journal featuring an artificial one.]
Climate Council: La Niña Boosted Rainfall for Australia is Bad
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Nov 30, 2021
How much wood would an alarmist chuck?
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Dec 1,2021
Holier Than Thou Ed Davey
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 29, 2021
“One of his nice little earners is with an investment manager that specialises in solar power. Ed Davey was of course Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change in the Coalition.”
Happy Antarctica Day!
By Mike England, NSF, Dec 1, 2021
https://beta.nsf.gov/science-matters/happy-antarctica-day?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
[SEPP Comment: A number of the research projects made projections that proved wrong.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
CBC Understands the Difference Between Weather and Climate, Other Canadian News Outlets Don’t
By H. Sterling Burnett, Climate Realism, Nov 30, 2021 [H/t WUWT]
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
Climate ‘overwhelming’ driver of Australian bushfires: study
By AFP Staff Writers
Sydney (AFP) Nov 29, 2021
https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Climate_overwhelming_driver_of_Australian_bushfires_study_999.html
Unable to find study.
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
Net zero-emission pathways for reducing environmental risks and the economy of climate change
By CMCC Foundation – Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Nov 29, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
https://phys.org/news/2021-11-net-zero-emission-pathways-environmental-economy.html
Link to paper: Net zero-emission pathways reduce the physical and economic risks of climate change
By Laurent Drouet, et al. Nature Climate Change, Nov 29, 2021
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01218-z
From the abstract: “Mitigation pathways exploring end-of-century temperature targets often entail temperature overshoot. Little is known about the additional climate risks generated by overshooting temperature. Here we assessed the benefits of limiting overshoot. We computed the probabilistic impacts for different warming targets and overshoot levels on the basis of an ensemble of integrated assessment models”
[SEPP Comment: Speculating about false speculating then calculating probabilities of the latest speculation?]
Harrabin [of BBC] Lies About UK Emission Targets
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 2, 2021
Hundreds of toxic sites in California threatened by sea level rise due to climate change
By Lexi Lonas, The Hill, Dec 1, 2021
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/583808-hundreds-of-toxic-sites-in-california-threatened-by-sea-level-rise
“The professors released a new project Tuesday called ‘Toxic Tides’ that highlights the impact rising sea levels will have on California in the next 100 years.
“More than three feet of sea level rise will occur by 2100 if nothing is done about climate change, according to the project.”
[SEPP Comment: Sea levels will not increase three feet in the next eighty years.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Go Personal.
Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been a Climate Denier?
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Dec 2, 2021
Link to: A science oath for the climate: text and signing
A science oath for the climate: a pledge of scrutiny, integrity and engagement
By Staff, Scientists for Global Responsibility, Accessed Dec 2, 2021
https://www.sgr.org.uk/projects/science-oath-climate-text-and-signing
“To translate this pledge into a force for real change, we will:
“explain honestly, clearly and without compromise, what scientific evidence tells us about the seriousness of the climate emergency.” [Boldface added}
[SEPP Comment: Note the pledge states scientific evidence, not physical evidence! A big difference. Not all sciences are physical sciences.]
Expanding the Orthodoxy
Claim: Anti-Capitalist Religious Groups Can Help the Climate Struggle
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Dec 2, 2021
Europe’s Energy Crisis Is About to Get Worse as Winter Arrives
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 29, 2021
Weather Lulls: Germany Forced To Burn 20% More Coal, The Very Energy Source That’s To Be Phased Out
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Nov 27, 2021
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Green Technologies Have a Glaring Problem of Scale
By Iddo Wernick, Real Clear Science, Nov 27, 2021
https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2021/11/27/green_technologies_have_a_glaring_problem_of_scale_805367.html
Climate-Risk Disclosure: A Flimsy Pretext for a Green Power Grab
By Rupert Darwall, Real Clear Foundation, 2021
Talk is neither cheap nor effective
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Dec 1,2021
“OK, to be fair, Trudeau is building on a solid record of failure stretching back three decades across party lines. As some of us predicted decades ago (September 4, 2002 in the Ottawa Citizen, to be pre-internet precise but referenced here) bad science means ineffective policy.”
The Political Games Continue
Public ClimateBall
By Andy West, Climate Etc. Nov 27, 2021
Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Taxes
Rishi Sunak should reject proposal to quadruple tax on heating homes
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 3, 2021 [UK]
CEI’s New Anti-Carbon Tax Study
By Marlo Lewis, Jr., CEI, Dec 2, 2021
https://cei.org/blog/ceis-new-anti-carbon-tax-study/
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
Whose Money is it, Anyway?
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Nov 30, 2021
President Trump: Boris Johnson is Making a Big Mistake Backing Wind Power
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Dec 1, 2021
[SEPP Comment: Will the subsidies ever stop?]
EPA and other Regulators on the March
More Than 20 Coal-Fired Plants Will Close in Wake of Wastewater Rule
By Darrell Proctor, Power Mag, Nov 23, 2021
“Slow Disaster Playing Out” As Germany Moves To Shut Down 8.5 GW Of Baseload Nuclear Capacity
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Nov 28, 2021
Net one?
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Dec 1,2021
Column: Why so torqued up about Suzuki’s comments? Did you sleep through the first two acts?
By Terry Etam, BOE Report, Nov 30, 2021 [H/t WUWT]
Deep freeze in Arctic Europe sends power prices soaring
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 30, 2021
Energy Issues — US
America’s Energy Future Depends on Pennsylvania
By John Yudichak, Real Clear Energy, Dec 1, 2021
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2021/12/01/americas_energy_future_depends_on_pennsylvania_805871.html
“During the last decade, natural gas production in Pennsylvania has helped reduce CO2 emissions in the United States by 758 million metric tons – more than any country in the world. By comparison, China has seen its CO2 emissions grow at a breakneck pace that far exceeds that of the United States and nearly all developed countries combined. If extremists continue to advance a radical energy agenda that erodes the United States’ position as a global leader in the production of cleaner-burning natural gas, we will concede our economic future – and global progress on climate change – to China.”
NERC Issues Grim Outlook for Bulk Power System Winter Reliability
By Sonal Patel, Power Mag, Nov 18, 2021
2021–2022 Winter Reliability Assessment
By Staff, North American Electric Reliability Corporation, November 2021
“One telling parameter involves assessments provided by entities to NERC of generation capacity that would be unavailable due to extreme cold weather conditions. ‘The assessed unavailable capacity of the 197 [generator owners] that indicated they have no plans or partial plans to perform weatherization surveys is 23,850 MW,’ NERC said. ‘The responses indicate the importance for grid operators to be prepared to implement their operating plans to manage potential supply shortfalls in extreme weather.’”
Texas Tribune: Not enough done to prevent another winter blackout
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Dec 2, 2021
The House Build Back Better Act Damages the Oil and Gas Industry, Provides Huge Incentives for Renewables
By Staff, Institute for Energy Research, Dec 3, 2021 [H/t Cooler Heads]
Washington State’s Power Peril (wind and solar–not gas, hydro, nuclear)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Dec 2, 2021
Virginia board denies permit to extend fracking pipeline into North Carolina
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Dec 3, 2021
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/584280-virginia-board-denies-permit-to-extend-fracking-pipeline-into-north
“Sixteen members of Virginia’s House of Delegates had previously urged the board to deny the permit in October, citing environmental justice concerns.”
Washington’s Control of Energy
Interior report punts on climate costs
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Nov 30, 2021
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/583498-interior-report-punts-on-climate-costs
Tamma Carleton, an assistant professor of environmental economics and climate change at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told The Hill that given important recent advances in climate science and economic modeling, the department should use the incoming figure for any work in this area.
“’We should all be looking towards January and where that number will change to, given the amount of scientific change,’ Carleton said.”
[SEPP Comment: Using dysfunctional climate science that will be reported, we can make up new numbers.]
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
Kudlow: ‘America has oil. Lots of it’
‘America first. Drill, drill, drill’ says the FOX Business host
By Larry Kudlow, Fox Business, Nov 23, 2021
https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/kudlow-america-has-oil
The Environmental Left’s Sustained Assault on American Oil and Gas
By Staff, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, Accessed Dec 2, 2021
http://caseforconsumers.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/CASE_SustainedAssault01.pdf?x66096
LNG Tanker Rates Reach All-Time Highs On Soaring Demand
By Tsvetana Paraskova, Oil Price.com. Nov 20, 2021
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/LNG-Tanker-Rates-Reach-All-Time-Highs-On-Soaring-Demand.html
Most planned U.S. natural gas-fired plants are near Appalachia and in Florida and Texas
By Staff, EIA, Nov 22, 2021
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=50436
Return of King Coal?
Coal: The end is nigh — or is it?
As coal power is phased out in favor of cheaper renewable energy, the fossil fuel’s future looks bleak. Yet coal is making a comeback as it helps power post-pandemic recoveries.
By Stuart Braun, DW, Nov 30, 2021
https://www.dw.com/en/coal-the-end-is-nigh-or-is-it/a-59929238
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Small Modular Reactors are needed in African countries
By Kelvin Kemm, WUWT, Nov 28, 2021
Darlington Nuclear Plant Will Get a BWRX-300 SMR as GE Hitachi Bags Lucrative OPG Selection
By Sonal Patel, Power Mag, Dec 2, 2021
Hinkley Point C: Chinese nuclear plant fault may delay UK power plan
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 2, 2021
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Wind Turbines Need Wind
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Dec 3, 2021
100% Wind and Solar. 100% WRONG
By David Stevenson, Caesar Rodney Institute, Oct 8, 2021
https://www.caesarrodney.org/CRI-news/100-Wind-and-Solar-100-WRONG-2.htm
When Disaster Strikes, Utility Solar Asset Owners Turn to Recovery Experts
Minimize losses with DEPCOM Power’s unique blend of restoration expertise and EPC/O&M strengths
By Jessica Super, Power Mag, Accessed Dec 3, 2021
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
Latest Hydrogen Costings
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Dec 1, 2021
Link to: Quarterly report on European gas markets
By Market Observatory for Energy of the European Commission, 2021
“Despite rising gas prices, the cost penalty of using blue hydrogen, i.e. steam reform, has increased. This is because the process wastes much of the energy, in the form of gas, input. The assumption is an efficiency factor of 69%.”
UAE Industrial Giant Will Explore Conversion of 5.2-GW GE Gas Turbine Fleet to Hydrogen, CCUS
By Sonal Patel, Power Mag, Dec 2, 2021
“The UAE joins a growing list of nations that have announced hydrogen strategies. These include Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, the UK, and the European Union.”
[SEPP Comment: Yet none have shown proof of concept.]
BP Plans Another Major Hydrogen Production Project
By Darrell Proctor, Power Mag, Nov 29, 2021
“The first Teesside plant, dubbed H2Teesside and announced in March, would have capacity to produce as much as 1 GW of blue hydrogen, a process converting natural gas to hydrogen and part of an effort that would include carbon capture and storage.”
There’s an enormous geothermal pool under the Latrobe Valley that can provide cheap, clean energy
By Graeme Beardsmore, The Conversation, Techexplore, Dec 2, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
https://techxplore.com/news/2021-12-enormous-geothermal-pool-latrobe-valley.html
[SEPP Comment: How a small valley in the state of Victoria, Australia can supply energy to Sydney is a mystery.]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Audi Leasing Costs
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 29, 2021
Health, Energy, and Climate
Research Shows Cold Far More Deadly Than Heat, 10 Times More In Brazil, 20 Times More In South Africa
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Dec 1, 2021
Environmental Industry
Green groups spend big to promote climate policy
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Dec 3, 2021
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/584197-greens-spend-big-to-promote-climate-policy
Other Scientific News
NASA rocket to study mysterious area above the North Pole
By Anna Blaustein for GSFC News, Greenbelt MD (SPX), Dec 01, 2021
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_rocket_to_study_mysterious_area_above_the_North_Pole_999.html
Other News that May Be of Interest
The Shadow War in Space “every day”: Russia, China use lasers, jammers, dangerous stunts
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Dec 2, 2021
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
Rime of the ancient alarmist
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Dec 1,2021
[SEPP Comment; Humorous take on the albatross divorce rate.]
David Viner’s Thing Of The Past Comes Back To Haunt Him (Again!)
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Nov 27, 2021
Rare hunting scene raises questions over polar bear diet
By Pierre-Henry Deshayes, Phys.org., Nov 28, 2021 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
https://phys.org/news/2021-11-rare-scene-polar-diet.html
“The future looks especially ominous for Svalbard’s polar bears.
‘There’s not enough ice to sustain a polar bear population,’ [polar bear expert] Derocher said.”
Primary Cause Of Global Warming
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Dec 2, 2021
https://realclimatescience.com/2021/12/primary-cause-of-global-warming/
ARTICLES
1. ‘Flying Blind’ Review: Downward Trajectory
By Roger Lowenstein, WSJ, Nov. 28, 2021
https://www.wsj.com/articles/flying-blind-review-downward-trajectory-11638136648?mod=opinion_major_pos11
TWTW Summary: The review starts:
“One business scandal that only just got its 15 minutes of media heat involved the crash of two Boeing 737 MAX airliners. Boeing had insisted after a Lion Air jet tumbled into the Java Sea, in October 2018, that the plane was safe. Less than five months later an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX went down too. In total, 346 people died.
“An uproar ensued, and the 737 MAX—Boeing’s upgrade to its venerable 737—was grounded while the company worked on a fix. Hearings were held, lawsuits filed, the company’s chief executive was sent packing. Still, once the pandemic hit, the controversy faded. Peter Robison’s ‘Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing’ is a disturbing account that will return much-deserved scrutiny both to Boeing and to its regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Boeing remains one of America’s leading manufacturers, but it is reduced in reputation as well as equity. The ‘fall’ that Mr. Robison’s subtitle alludes to is the corrosion of a culture that had emphasized quality. Boeing was founded in Seattle in 1916 by William Boeing, a wealthy engineer who took flying lessons and decided he could build a better machine. It quickly became an icon of American engineering, and the attention to quality extended to the top. Typical was Jim Johnson, a longtime executive who made a point of leaving the factory through different doors so he could talk to as many workers as possible.
“By the early 1990s (when Mr. Johnson left), Boeing had adopted the business-school approach to maximizing shareholder value, including cost-cutting and share buybacks. The headquarters moved to Chicago, away from the plants, and the workers were scattered.”
After the reviewer comments that in the long run [how long?] the interests of shareholders and customers are aligned. The reviewer writes:
“In fact, Boeing forgot that its long-term success depended on its reputation for superior engineering. Executives like Alan Mulally, project leader in the 1990s for the costly but highly successful Boeing 777, were passed over for the top job. The corporate metamorphosis was accelerated by the 1997 merger with rival McDonnell Douglas. The executive suite was colonized by such figures as McDonnell’s Harry Stonecipher, a Jack Welch protégé who was explicit about changing the culture. His intent, he said, was to run Boeing ‘like a business rather than a great engineering firm.’ Increasingly that meant doing whatever it took to hike the share price. Phil Condit, the CEO who orchestrated the merger, pushed his managers to quintuple the stock in five years, which suggested that his eye was on Wall Street and not on the planes.
“Financial engineering was in vogue across corporate America, but airplanes like the 737 depend on real engineers. Drab but dependable, the 737 had found its niche after the airline industry was deregulated in the late 1970s. Carriers needed fleets of short-haul planes that could siphon traffic into feeder hubs; the 737 became their workhorse.
“By the 2010s, the 737 was providing a third of Boeing’s profit but was in need of an overhaul. Mr. Robison, an investigative reporter at Bloomberg, argues convincingly that concern for costs compromised this effort. He portrays his subject under intense pressure from Airbus, its European rival, and making a questionable decision to upgrade the 737 rather than, more expensively, design it anew.
“Test flights showed a tendency for the MAX to pitch up. Designers corrected the problem on the cheap, with software that pushed the nose down. Somewhat perilously, a single sensor measuring the angle of the wings against oncoming air could force the plane into a downward trajectory. An optional cockpit indicator—alerting pilots that the sensor might be faulty—was not included on cheaper models. And the sensors, which sat outside the plane, were vulnerable to bird strikes or improper installation.”
Experienced pilots could correct for bad readings, but Boeing claimed new pilots did not need special training. After the first crash, the organization deceived the FAA about the possibility of future crashes. The review concludes with:
“Yet various insiders had protested Boeing’s level of risk-taking. One manager sent a note to the 737-factory head: ‘Frankly right now all my internal warning bells are going off.’ The brass was said to have pressured Boeing’s internal regulatory unit. Said one eyewitness, ‘it was push, push, push, shove, shove, shove, to get the airplane into the customer’s hands.’ In the end, cutting corners was not only tragic; it was bad business. Far more money was spent on lawyers, victims’ families, retooling and lost flight time than on Boeing’s supposedly quick fix.”
*****************
2. ‘The Wires of War’ Review: How Online Lies Become the Truth
First, cook up an ‘untruth.’ Then ‘layer’ it, obscuring its source. At any hint of suspicion, use a ‘firehose’ to drown out the correct details.
By Joseph C. Sternberg, WSJ, Nov. 30, 2021
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-wires-of-war-review-how-online-lies-become-the-truth-11638314424?mod=opinion_reviews_pos1
TWTW Summary: For TWTW the most important section covered in the “This Week” section above. The review states:
“Mr. Helberg here isn’t describing the process by which the Steele dossier, concerning Donald Trump’s alleged Russia collusion, deranged American politics for five years. Instead, the author’s purpose in ‘The Wires of War: Technology and the Global Struggle for Power’ is to explain how Russia and China, among others, seek to wage digital war on America and its allies.”
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