Climate Change / Global Warming Discussion

[rays427]

Think you meant to say winter months.[/Q

Think you meant to say winter months.

Sorry, yes it all occurs in the winter.

 

[nwdiver]

Texas earns an ‘F’ in how it teaches students about climate change, groups say

Texas 'earned' a grade? I thought there was a different annotation if someone just never shows up.

 

[dhrivnak]

That makes sense. The claim that solar+battery is cheaper than NG may be true on a per kWh basis, but it is not really an equivalent comparison. If you need to provide the kWh when they are needed throughout the year, the economics are different.


That makes a lot of sense too. The solar+battery would have to be sized to have ample capacity in winter months - not average throughout the year. Enough solar to meet the winter demand, and enough battery to handle unusual stretches of bad weather/no sun. I don't see any way it would be practical to have enough battery storage to save up during the summer for use in the winter at current battery prices.
...

My utility has net metering and I am currently 1600 kWh to the good and I will need that to get through the winter with lower solar and higher heating needs. So yes you need a lot of extra panels or one very huge battery.

 

[bruce4000]

Texas 'earned' a grade? I thought there was a different annotation if someone just never shows up.

Not a coincidence that a lot of Texas jobs and tax revenue comes from oil.

 

[iPlug]

I have a small utility on the border with Nevada. It's Liberty Utilities. Their power mix is similar. They purchase a lot of power through NV Energy (no coal). They have several large solar installations in Nevada (about 30% of their demand).

When we come up to Tahoe, have noticed signage for that utility.

Not bad. As SageBrush noted, even NG generation is more efficient heating with a heat pump than burning directly in a home furnace. Gets even better moving forward from here.

Liberty Mix:

Clean Energy

 

[mspohr]

Way to go, Texas.
NG can't compete in the free market.
Texas bill would tax wind, solar generation but not natural gas

 

[Merrill]

Unfortunately old habits die slowly, if you have many generations that made their money on oil switching to renewable energy is hard to do.

 

[mspohr]

Governments urged to go beyond net zero climate targets

Leading scientists, academics and campaigners have called on governments and businesses to go beyond “net zero” in their efforts to tackle the escalating climate and ecological crisis.

The former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the leading climate scientist Michael Mann are among a group of prominent environmentalists calling for the “restoration of the climate” by removing “huge amounts of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere."

However, there is a growing body of evidence that natural solutions – protecting and restoring natural forests and habitats and allowing native trees to repopulate deforested land – could help remove large amounts of carbon.

 

[abragred]

if someone says it's not real they should be banned, like for real

 

[juliusa]

Leading scientists, academics and campaigners have called on governments and businesses to go beyond “net zero” in their efforts to tackle the escalating climate and ecological crisis.

1. Not increasing carbon emissions would be a good start.
2. Then we could decrease emissions.
3. Then we could get to net zero.
4. Then we could go negative.

What is the point of working on #4 when we can't even get to #1?

 

[nwdiver]

What is the point of working on #4 when we can't even get to #1?

.... the same reason we've manufactured millions of doses of a vaccine we can't use until the testing is complete.

 

[mspohr]

How FTI Drove Influence Campaigns Nationwide for Big Oil How One Firm Drove Influence Campaigns Nationwide for Big Oil

On closer look, however, the groups had something in common: They were part of a network of corporate influence campaigns designed, staffed and at times run by FTI Consulting, which had been hired by some of the largest oil and gas companies in the world to help them promote fossil fuels.

 

[juliusa]

.... the same reason we've manufactured millions of doses of a vaccine we can't use until the testing is complete.

Why would you want to manufacture millions of solar panels now that we can't use yet?

 

[nwdiver]

Why would you want to manufacture millions of solar panels now that we can't use yet?

Why would you want to manufacture millions of doses of a vaccine we can't use yet?

 

[mspohr]

Scientists link record-breaking hurricane season to climate crisis

Evidence is not so much in the number of tropical storms the Atlantic has seen, but in their strength, intensity and rainfall

 

[mspohr]

1% of people cause half of global aviation emissions – study

Frequent-flying “‘super emitters” who represent just 1% of the world’s population caused half of aviation’s carbon emissions in 2018, according to a study.

Airlines produced a billion tonnes of CO2 and benefited from a $100bn (£75bn) subsidy by not paying for the climate damage they caused, the researchers estimated. The analysis draws together data to give the clearest global picture of the impact of frequent fliers.

Other research by Gössling found that half of leisure flights were not considered important by the traveller. “A lot of travel is going on just because it’s cheap.”

 

[SmartElectric]

Frequent-flying “‘super emitters” who represent just 1% of the world’s population caused half of aviation’s carbon emissions in 2018, according to a study

A neighbour takes 20 (point to point) flights per month. And yet he is fastidious about how long he keeps his backyard gas BBQ running to avoid burning too much gas. When I noted that a single flight was a massive use of fuel, he just shrugged and said it's for his job and out of his control. I hope COVID has a long term effect on this element of business.

Re: travel, "cheap" local hops vs driving a car or taking a train is common in US and other places that didn't invest the way Japan did in rail.

 

[mspohr]

A neighbour takes 20 (point to point) flights per month. And yet he is fastidious about how long he keeps his backyard gas BBQ running to avoid burning too much gas. When I noted that a single flight was a massive use of fuel, he just shrugged and said it's for his job and out of his control. I hope COVID has a long term effect on this element of business.

Re: travel, "cheap" local hops vs driving a car or taking a train is common in US and other places that didn't invest the way Japan did in rail.

I have a friend who is a consultant to businesses. She used to travel a lot but now is exclusively teleworking and doesn't see any change it this for at least another year.

 

[mspohr]

In the Mercenaries’ Own Words: Documents Detail TigerSwan Infiltration of Standing Rock

Advocates for the activists, though, say the war-like tactics have created harmful conditions for those exercising their right to dissent. “This level of saturated, coordinated attack between private corporate interests, law enforcement, private security to shut down the climate justice movement particularly in the United States is extremely dangerous,”

 

[mspohr]

Megaprojects risk pushing forests past tipping point – report

Infrastructure megaprojects risk pushing the world’s remaining forests past a “dangerous tipping point” and making climate targets unachievable, a report says.

Tens of thousands of miles of roads and railways are planned alongside mines and dams, opening up the forests of South America, south-east Asia and central Africa to destruction, according to the report by a coalition of 25 research and conservation organisations called the New York Declaration on Forests Assessment Partners. Today, almost half of all large mines – more than 1,500 – are in forests.