April « 2009 « The Cost of Energy

Climate Crunch, continued

By Lou, on April 30th, 2009%

The flood of coverage of the Nature papers I mentioned yesterday (It’s Crunch Time) continues.

Of most interest, by far, is a longish historical look at how the climate science arrived at its current state of understanding, Climate crunch: A burden beyond bearing. The article details how we went from thinking 550ppm was the “magic number” . . . → Read More: Climate Crunch, continued

It’s Crunch Time

By Lou, on April 29th, 2009%

Updated: See additional related story links at the end of this post.

It seems we now have a new way of measuring the urgency of the climate chaos situation.

Green Car Congress: Study Concludes That to Limit Global Warming to 2 °C, Less Than 25% of Proven Fossil Fuel Reserves Can be Burnt Between Now and 2050 (emphasis . . . → Read More: It’s Crunch Time

Document alert: Renewable Energy Trends 2007

By Lou, on April 29th, 2009%

The US Dept. of Energy/EIA has released the 2007 edition of Renewable Energy Trends:

The report, Renewable Energy Trends in Consumption and Electricity, 2007, provides an overview and tables with historical data spanning as far back as 1989 through 2007 on renewable energy consumption and electricity.

As always, you can download the whole report from the above page . . . → Read More: Document alert: Renewable Energy Trends 2007

San Diego and algae fuel

By Lou, on April 29th, 2009%

San Diego Unveils Algae Coalition To Advance “Green Gold” Research:

They call it “green gold,” and its proponents are betting that the light, sweet crude oil that can be extracted from farm-cultivated algae will help the world to cut its dependence upon dirty and increasingly expensive gasoline and diesel fuels that are extracted from fossil fuels.

And, on . . . → Read More: San Diego and algae fuel

Measured life on a managed planet

By Lou, on April 28th, 2009%

ClimateProgress has an interesting and thoughtful piece by Bill Becker, The Age of (small) Tradeoffs:

Are green energy industries about to ruin the environment and undermine national security? Are they engaged in the ecological equivalent of mountaintop removal? Are they the new Big Oil, making us dangerously dependent on imported strategic resources?

Those questions are implied in “Clean . . . → Read More: Measured life on a managed planet

Two inconvenient questions

By Lou, on April 27th, 2009%

The Brisbane Times has published a piece by Martin Flanagan that raises a very uncomfortable point.

Future generations will ask why we ignored climate change:

Last month, the chief scientific adviser to the British Government, Professor John Beddington, predicted a global catastrophe by 2030 on the simple premise that while global demand for food, water and energy is . . . → Read More: Two inconvenient questions

Document alert: Climate Change in Southeast Asia

By Lou, on April 27th, 2009%

The Asian Development Bank has released a report, The Economics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia: A Regional Review [253 page, 10MB PDF]:

This report provides a review of the economics of climate change in the Southeast Asian region. It confirms that the region is highly vulnerable to climate change and demonstrates that a wide range of . . . → Read More: Document alert: Climate Change in Southeast Asia

Late night thoughts on I-90, somewhere east of Rochester

By Lou, on April 27th, 2009%

The other night, my wife and I went to see the Rochester Greywolves play their first game of the season on the Onondaga Reservation, near Syracuse. Being the team photographer (as I was last year), I had to be there, even though it was an 8:30PM start time out of town.

Driving home on a very . . . → Read More: Late night thoughts on I-90, somewhere east of Rochester

Document alert: [US] Natural gas year in review

By Lou, on April 24th, 2009%

Natural Gas Year-In-Review 2008:

This report provides an overview of the natural gas industry and markets in 2008 with special focus on the first complete set of supply and disposition data for 2008 from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). All data for 2008 should be considered preliminary, and unless otherwise noted, data are derived from weekly and . . . → Read More: Document alert: [US] Natural gas year in review

McKibben cap and trade, among other things

By Lou, on April 24th, 2009%

Yale Environment 360 has an excellent interview up their site with Bill McKibben, easily one of the top writers on environmental issues:

Bill McKibben on Building A Climate Action Movement:

Yale Environment 360: Until relatively recently you were well-known primarily through your writing on environmental issues, but in the last few years you’ve become equally well-known as an . . . → Read More: McKibben cap and trade, among other things