Our round-up of the latest in climate and clean energy. Please post additional links below.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Wednesday that scientific evidence of climate change is getting more and more powerful, comments that come as global warming legislation remains moribund in Congress and Environmental Protection regulations are facing ongoing GOP assaults. [The Hill]
Oyster hatcheries along the Washington and Oregon coastlines began experiencing calamitous die-offs beginning in 2006. Scientists suspected they were due to increased carbon dioxide levels in the air that were causing ocean acidification. That theory has now proved out, according to a study just published by the journal Limnology and Oceanography. [New York Times]
A one-by-10-mile oil sheen has appeared in the Gulf of Mexico, and Shell Oil, one of several companies operating in the area, said it has “activated” a vessel with skimming and boom capabilities. [Washington Post]
Canadian provinces and territories are “all over the map” in terms of climate change plans, with Ontario, Quebec and B.C., leading the way while Alberta and Saskatchewan are lagging, says a report card released Wednesday by the David Suzuki Foundation. [Vancouver Sun]
Connecticut’s public works regulator plans to distribute $720 million to zero-emissions, renewable-energy generation and $300 million to low-emissions generation over the next several years, detailing for the first time how the state will spend more than $1 billion of required investments in commercially generated renewable power.[CT Post]
Global investment in clean energy dropped to its lowest since the depths of the financial crisis three years ago as the U.S. and European nations cut support for wind and solar projects, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said. [Bloomberg]
From the poorest parts of Africa and Asia to the most- developed regions in the U.S. and Europe, solar units, small-scale wind and biomass generators promise to extend access to power to more people than ever before. In the developing world, they’re slashing costs in the process. [Bloomberg]
The Jamaican government has established an advisory committee — manned by some of the island’s brightest scientific minds — as it moves to have the long-awaited Climate Change Department up and running by year-end. [Jamaica Observer]
Though the geothermal industry faces many hurdles including uncertain federal policies and lengthy project timelines, the Geothermal Energy Association announced last week that it added 91 MW of newly installed U.S. capacity in the past year. With this addition, the U.S. now has a total of 3,177 MW of capacity, which far outpaces the rest of the world. [Renewable Energy World]
GE led companies securing U.S. patents for clean energy technologies in 2011, with 184, pushing last year’s top company GM down to second place with 127, according to a report from the cleantech group of Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. [Environmental Leader]
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Head vice warning to view that picture?
Not good news. Again its like living at the end of a gun, in a game of Russian Roulette. You have no idea what is coming next.
GALLUP: 65% OF AMERICANS SUPPORT ‘IMPOSING MANDATORY CONTROLS ON CO2 EMISSIONS’ http://climateprogress.net/item/gallup-65-of-americans-support-imposing-mandatory-controls-on-co2-emissions.html
I post this here, since the other headline Joe have chosen yesterday (With Obama) is a bit conflicting. I think it makes more sense to discuss the actions of this administration in a separate post (as Joe did before), instead of this quick headline.
As weather gets biblical, insurers go missing
By Matt Stroud | Reuters – Wed, Apr 11, 2012
PITTSBURGH (Reuters) – As weather disasters strike with more frequency, homeowners first get hit with the destruction or total loss of property. Many are then hit with the unexpected loss of homeowners insurance policies as insurance companies re-evaluate their financial liabilities.
http://news.yahoo.com/insurers-rethink-coverage-weather-disaster-payouts-124608977.html
Day of insurance judgement arrives….
The current level of extreme weather is unsustainable for the insurance industry (and modern society).
Oh boy, and we’ve only warmed .8C….
PLEASE do not mix in stories on Romm’s blog (like “Matt Damon’s Anti-Fracking Movie, ‘The Promised Land,’ Is Ahead of the Curve”) where we have to use FaceBook
And for heaven’s sake don’t change the current format on comments here.
convert their comment system to be like this one – no need for Facebook.
Enough supporting Corporate monopoly/oligopoly practices. Use free (free as in freedom) software and use only open non-monopolistic commenting systems, please!
Our comments system won’t be changing. But to bring in Alyssa, one gets FB commenting.
Last night, NOVA ran a segment on the “Deadliest Tornadoes” that covered the 2011 outbreaks in the SE, Joplin and around Oklahoma City. While there was a “Pattern Matching” discussion of the role of El Niño, and several exchanges with Pielke Sr., I failed to hear any discussion of the role of climate change in loading the dice.
Any link between this omission and the fact that Nova is supported by the David Koch Foundation?
4 feet of hail in Texas:
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/12/11160993-4-feet-of-hail-in-texas-reports-photos-cause-quite-a-storm?lite
Unbelievable!!!
Un real….
Global warming may initially make the grass greener, but not for long, according to new research results.
The findings, published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, show that plants may thrive in the early stages of a warming environment but then begin to deteriorate quickly.
“We were really surprised by the pattern, where the initial boost in growth just went away,” said scientist Zhuoting Wu of Northern Arizona University (NAU), a lead author of the study. “As ecosystems adjusted, the responses changed.” http://climatecrocks.com/2012/04/12/hey-deniers-corn-called-co2-not-all-that-good-for-plants/
Heartland’s Truth-Challenged Harrison Schmitt Trolls NASA Nursing Home for New “List of Scientists” http://climatecrocks.com/2012/04/11/heartlands-truth-challenged-harrison-schmidt-trolls-nasa-nursing-home-for-new-list-of-scientists/
Show this to a Denier and Stand Back: Margaret Thatcher on Climate Change will Explode Heads http://climatecrocks.com/2012/04/11/show-this-to-a-denier-and-stand-back-margaret-thatcher-on-climate-change-will-explode-heads/
There is also a new movie “Iron Lady”
What We Knew in ’81
A lot of people really appreciated getting a look at Mike MacCracken’s 1982 (above) lecture at Sandia Labs, which gave a comprehensive overview of what was then known about climate change. Quite a lot, it turns out.(if you’ve seen it, keep going. if not, watch now. I’ll wait)
RealClimate has just posted a reminder of a similar compilation a year earlier, James Hansen’s 1981 Science piece. http://climatecrocks.com/2012/04/09/what-we-knew-in-81/
Oh dear… not your usual game of golf..
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-video/climate-affecting-look-manage/28984389001
US FF boom…
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/business/energy-environment/energy-boom-in-us-upends-expectations.html?pagewanted=4&_r=1
Does Chu know something more specific about climate change and sea level rise then the rest of us know about?
Not more than some of us at any rate.