Technology Review has an excellent new article, “Lifeline for Renewable Power: Without a radically expanded and smarter electrical grid, wind and solar will remain niche power sources.”
Must see: Photographing Climate Change
The above pics are the Matterhorn, 1960 and 2006. The website DoubleExposure explains:
Global warming is affecting our planet in countless ways, not in some remote future, but today. DOUBLEXPOSURE documents one aspect of the warming climate through fine-art photography that brings the viewer into panoramas of glaciers once grand but now receding. The compelling comparisons put into stark view the fact of melting glaciers.
The actual photos are going on display in a few cities:
McKinsey 2008 Research in Review: Stabilizing at 450 ppm has a net cost near zero.
The McKinsey Global Institute has done some of the most comprehensive and credible recent analyses on energy efficiency potential and carbon mitigation cost curves (see “Must read McKinsey report shatters myths on cost of curbing climate change“). They have summarzed their work in “2008 Research in Review,” so this is a good opportunity to create one universal link for their work.
One core MGI factoid you can use: Nearly 40% of the U.S. emissions reduction potential by 2030 is from energy efficiency (see here).
MGI is best known for its comprehensive cost curve for global greenhouse gas reduction measures (click to enlarge), which concluded measures needed to stabilize emissions at 450 ppm have a net cost near zero — the same conclusion as the International Energy Agency and IPCC.
Another 2008 MGI report has its own stunning conclusion:
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
