I cannot imagine what possessed the New York Review of Books to have theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson review two books on human-caused global warming (see here). It is a subject completely outside of his expertise and one that he has repeatedly said is bunk.

Dyson has previously said stuff directly at odds with the actual scientific evidence, like “There is no doubt that parts of the world are getting warmer, but the warming is not global” (see “Freeman Dyson, Climate Crackpot“).

Then again, while he was once a brilliant theoretical physicist, he’s never been strong on the applied side of science. He was, after all, one of the “geniuses” pushing Project Orion — the absurdly impractical idea of creating a rocket ship powered by detonating nuclear bombs.

The new article is critiqued by RealClimate (here). But I did want to highlight one amazing assertion by Dyson on how he believes the issue of carbon emissions will be solved soon, which makes all too clear why he should stick with theoretical physics:

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Yes, I recently had a (lame) letter in Nature. Yes, I haven’t blogged on it because of its lameness. But since nothing escapes the blogosphere, I will explain this sorry episode.

I think it safe to say that with this post I won’t be appearing in Nature again. No great loss, actually, as will become clear.

Once upon a time I received an e-mail out of the blue:

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Suntech Profit Doubles–Sales Up 76% – Investor’s Business Daily. “China-based Suntech — one of the world’s 10 largest solar companies — reported first-quarter earnings per share of 33 cents, more than double year-ago earnings of 16 cents. The company pointed to broad global strength and rising prices for its solar products, as governments dole out more incentives to fuel clean energy.” As of 2008, Chinese probably the top manufacturer of PV, a technology that Americans invented.

Governor: Alaska to challenge polar bear listing – AP News. Alaska Governor Sue Palin announced that the state will sue to challenge the listing of polar bears as threatened species. She argued that there is not sufficient evidence to support the listing, claiming that polar bear numbers have increased over the last 30 years. “Climate models that predict continued loss of sea ice, the main habitat of polar bears, during summers are unreliable, said Palin, a Republican.” Alaska is the state most painfully being transformed by climate change today — how sad that the governor is in such a state of denial.

G8 Greenhouse Gases Down in 2006, Only Russia Up – Reuters. “Greenhouse gas emissions by all the Group of Eight industrial nations except Russia fell in 2006 in the broadest dip since the world started trying to slow climate change in 1990, a Reuters survey showed”…but the ‘dip’ was only 0.6%. Experts are skeptical of any real policy changes, but rather attribute the dip to higher oil prices and a mild winter.

Toyota building $192M green-car battery plant – AP News. The plant will produce nickel-metal hydride batteries for gas-electric hybrid vehicles, including Toyota’s best-selling Prius. Toyota is currently Japan’s top automaker and the industry leader in hybrids.

Italy Embraces Nuclear Power – NY Times. Within five years, Italy plans to “resume building nuclear energy plants, two decades after a public referendum resoundingly banned nuclear power and deactivated all its reactors.” The change reflects a “growing concern in many European countries over the skyrocketing price of oil and energy security, as well as the warming effects of carbon emissions from fossil fuels.” This is certainly a better idea than building new coal plants!

Carbon Market Could be Worth 2 Trillion Euros in 2020 – Physorg.com. “The global market in CO2 emission rights could be worth two trillion euros (3.14 trillion dollars) by 2020 if the United States joins the scheme, analysis group Point Carbon said.” Carbon reductions are the place to make money this century.