The Week That Was: 2023-05-20 (May 20, 2023)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “The third aspect of my subject is that of science as a method of finding things out. This method is based on the principle that observation is the judge of whether something is so or not. All other aspects and characteristics of science can be understood directly when we understand that observation is the ultimate and final judge of the truth of n idea. – Richard P. Feynman, The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist (1990)
Number of the Week: $1/kilogram v. $3.50/kilogram
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: Following are some of the topics discussed below. Washington’s current regulatory outburst appears to be without any legal, constitutional, or practical limits. As previous TWTWs have discussed, there is no demonstration project anywhere in the world where a modern civilization can function without fossil fuels. Except in rare cases with nuclear and / or geothermal and hydro, there is no demonstration project that the modern electrical grid can operate reliably without fossil fuels, with or without various schemes for storage of electricity or generating capacity such as pumped-hydro storage. Yet, Washington appears to believe it can accomplish this “breakthrough” at low cost to the public and with great (imaginary) health benefits.
Thomas Sowell wrote three books discussing human attitudes leading to different views of the future – visions: The Vision of the Anointed, The Quest for Cosmic Justice, and A Conflict of Visions. The books reveal the inherent logic behind different sets of views leading to wholly different meanings to fundamental words as “justice,” “equality,” and “power.” In an effort to explain what may be going on in Washington (and the capitals of Canada, western Europe, etc.), TWTW will used a few concepts presented in A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles.
The atmosphere from the surface of the Earth to the mid-troposphere, where most of greenhouse gases not created by nature operate, is warming at a rate of 0.14° C per decade or one-quarter of 1°F every ten years. The Princeton Alumni Association is presenting a discussion that is not usually found on American university campuses today: “Why Climate Change is Not an Emergency.”
Daniel Nebert discusses the many cycles in weather and climate change, some of which we do not understand.
Researcher Andy May asks, “Is AR6 the worst and most biased IPCC Report?”
The US NSF and NOAA have announced a partnership to promote the creation of centers for modeling catastrophic impacts and risk assessment of climate change. Their models already greatly exaggerate the warming of the atmosphere.
As Richard Feynman wrote, if one applies rigorous mathematics to a poorly understood concept, the results may be absurd. Unfortunately, many in Washington accept mathematically derived absurd results as science. ACSH member Susan Goldhaber discusses EPA’s latest efforts to squeeze more absurdity out of its already absurd Linear No Threshold Model.
South Africa appears to be hitting the “Green Energy Wall.” Jo Nova reports that winter appears to be bleak.
In the Manhattan Contrarian, Francis Menton describes the latest Washington outburst against fossil fuels in less than flattering terms.
Inuit are indigenous people of northern Canada and parts of Greenland and Alaska. They have produced a report on the health of polar bears along the Davis Strait (between Canada and Greenland).
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Conflict of Visions: Amazon Books describes Thomas Sowell’s A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles by stating:
“Controversies in politics arise from many sources, but the conflicts that endure for generations or centuries show a remarkably consistent pattern. In this classic work, Thomas Sowell analyzes this pattern. He describes the two competing visions that shape our debates about the nature of reason, justice, equality, and power: the ‘constrained’ vision, which sees human nature as unchanging and selfish, and the ‘unconstrained’ vision, in which human nature is malleable and perfectible. A Conflict of Visions offers a convincing case that ethical and policy disputes circle around the disparity between both outlooks.”
The term selfish may be too harsh, self-centered would be more appropriate. In the chapter “Constrained and Unconstrained Visions,” Sowell writes:
“The constrained vision is a tragic vision of the human condition. The unconstrained vision is a moral vision of human intentions, which are viewed as ultimately decisive. The unconstrained vision promotes pursuit of the highest ideals and best solutions. By contrast, the constrained vision sees the best as the enemy of the good – a vain attempt to reach the unattainable being seen as not only futile, but often counterproductive, while the same efforts could have produced a more viable and beneficial trade-off. Adam Smith applied this reasoning not only to economics but also to morality and politics: The prudent reformer, according to Smith, will respect ‘the confirmed habits and prejudices of the people,’ and when he cannot establish what is right, ‘he will not disdain to ameliorate the wrong.’ His goal is not to create the ideal but to ‘establish the best that the people can bear.’”
Sowell uses the views of Adam Smith in both The Wealth of Nations (1776) and The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759). In the earlier work, Smith shows that our moral ideas and actions are a product of our very nature as social creatures. Many critics of Smith and the economic system he advocated, properly called “laissez-faire” (leave alone) opposing broad government interference in the economy, are apparently unaware of the earlier work, thus the critics distort the broad meaning of Smith’s work.
Sowell contrasts the work of Smith with that of the French philosopher and mathematician Marquis de Condorcet (1743 to 1794). Sowell writes:
“But Condorcet, expressing the unconstrained vision, rejected any notion that the laws should ‘change with the temperature and adapt to the forms of government, to the practices that superstition has consecrated, and even to the stupidities adopted by each people…’ Thus, he found the French Revolution superior to the American Revolution for ‘the principles from which the constitution and laws of France were derived were purer’ and allowed ‘the people to exercise their sovereign right’ without constraint.”
Sowell contrasts the French Revolution (1789) and its constitution which resulted in the Reign of Terror during which over ten thousand were executed and ended with Napoleon and the deaths of millions in Europe with the American Revolution which, after years of trial and error resulted in the US Constitution (1787).
“The Constitution of the United States, with its elaborate checks and balances, clearly reflected the view that no one was ever to be completely trusted with power. This was in sharp contrast to the French Revolution, which gave sweeping powers, including the power of life and death, to those who spoke in the name of ‘the people,’ expressing the Rousseauean ’general will.’
‘The writers of the Federalist Papers were quite conscious of the vision of man that underlay the Constitution of checks and balances which they espoused:
‘It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature.’”
And
“’Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.’”
The purpose of this lengthy essay is to explain why TWTW seldom discusses motivations of groups of individuals including American politicians. Rather, it focuses on the reasoning and the physical evidence supporting the reasoning. For example, as stated above and discussed in previous TWTWs, from the surface of the Earth to the mid-troposphere (about 10 km, 33,000 feet) the atmosphere is warming by only 0.14°C or 0.25°F every ten years. There is no climate emergency. Yet Washington is falsely claiming one and is destroying an excellent electrical system in trying to replace it with one with glaring deficiencies. Their idealized notions do not work. See the April 15, 2023, TWTW, links under EPA and other Regulators on the March and https://www.amazon.com/Conflict-Visions-Ideological-Political-Struggles/dp/0465002056/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=241636282264&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9008124&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=1352543902005738095&hvtargid=kwd-6853284581&hydadcr=22594_10356233&keywords=thomas+sowell+conflict+of+visions&qid=1680697318&sr=8-1
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Why Climate Change is Not an Emergency: On May 27 the Conservative Princeton Association is sponsoring a hard-hitting panel discussion on “Why Climate Change is NOT an Emergency”. Dr. Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace and Dr. Bruce Everett, climate economist, and Princeton physicist William Happer will be presenting data and analysis which show that adding CO2 in the atmosphere will be beneficial, that the atmospheric temperature is relatively insensitive to addition of CO2 and decarbonization is unnecessary, undesirable, impossible and not happening.
This event will be streamed live on Saturday May 27 from 11 am to 12:30 pm from Princeton University during Reunions Weekend and can be viewed at: https://mediacentrallive.princeton.edu/events/2023/why-climate-change-not-emergency
The event will also be available live on Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82031344086?pwd=NUluVXRiMUg5d0R6WU11c0dOV0ZnQT09
These links will be public and will not require passcodes.
See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Many Cycles: Writing for the CO2 Coalition, Daniel Nebert is professor emeritus in the Departments of: Environmental and Public Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He discusses ten of the many cycles in the Earth’s weather and climate:
“‘Climate’ is measured in 30-year segments. Conversely, ‘weather’ is described in days, weeks, and months.
“Anyone knowledgeable in climatology, meteorology, paleontology, and geology knows the complexities of the ‘climate cycles’ that have taken place for thousands of years. Exhibiting different periodicities, cycles frequently overlap with, and occur inside, one another. Some recognized of the more than one dozen cycles include…”
After listing ten such cycles Nebert writes:
“To make matters more complicated, we have had “mini-summer” and “mini-winter” periods within our current Interglacial Holocene Era: the Minoan Warm Period (more than 3,000 years before the present, YBP); Roman Warm Period (~2,000 YBP); Medieval Warm Period (1200-800 YBP); and our current Modern Warm Period (which began after the Little Ice Age (from 1300 to 1850 AD). Interestingly, civilizations have flourished during “mini-summer” periods and declined during “mini-winter” periods.
“Factors contributing to climate cycles remain mostly obscure but include: solar activity (frequency, strength of sun flares); geothermal vents and underwater volcanoes; cosmic-ray flux; orbital eccentricity, axial tilt and precession of Earth’s orbit (together called Milankovitch Cycles); magnetic effects of other planets; heat distribution between the oceanic and atmospheric systems; and changes in “radiative forcing” (balance between solar radiation energy absorbed by Earth’s surfaces and energy radiated back into space). Earth is closest to the Sun in January and farthest in July, but there’s a vast difference of land-water distribution between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.” [Boldface in original]
After listing significant climate changes that devastated past cultures, Nebert concludes:
“In conclusion, returning to our initial question, ‘What should we believe?’ The fact is: the more one looks into the intricacies of Earth’s extraordinarily complex climate system, the more apparent it is, how little we really know. Therefore, it’s best to proceed slowly and carefully — ignoring the subjective hype generated by mainstream media and politicians.”
There is nothing significant about the current warming and calling it a “climate crisis” or “climate emergency” is absurd. TWTW has one minor suggestion to the list. It considers Pacific Ocean underwater volcanic activity separate from the El Niño Southern Oscillations (ENSO. See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Ever Expanding: In discussing the Sixth Assessment Report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, AR6, 2021 to 2023), researcher Andy May produces an interesting statistic – the ever-growing length of the reports. The first assessment report was 168 pages, the second 572 pages, AR5 was 1535 pages and AR6 2391 pages.
May also shows a graph of the “5-Year Running Mean of Tropical Temperature CMIP5 Anomalies of 300-200 hPa [units of pressure related to altitude] Layer (1979-2019) by Ross McKitrick and John Christy (2020). The difference between the temperature trends projected by the models and observed atmospheric temperature trends is increasing. So, the reports get longer as the physical evidence supporting them gets weaker. True bureaucracy in action. See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Will Two Wrongs Make A Right? The National Science Foundations (NSF) funds the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) which produces models that wildly overestimate observed warming of the atmosphere. NCAR uses the large ensemble technique of modeling.
“The CESM Large Ensemble Project, led by Dr. Clara Deser and Dr. Jennifer Kay, is a publicly available set of climate model simulations intended for advancing understanding of internal climate variability and climate change. All simulations are performed with the nominal 1-degree latitude/longitude version of the Community Earth System Model version 1 (CESM1) with CAM5.2 as its atmospheric component. The Large Ensemble Project includes a 40-member ensemble of fully coupled CESM1 simulations for the period 1920-2100. Each member is subject to the same radiative forcing scenario (historical up to 2005 and RCP8.5 thereafter) but begins from a slightly different initial atmospheric state (created by randomly perturbing temperatures at the level of round-off error).”
The boldface highlights the extreme emissions estimate used in the models, which even the IPCC has admitted is highly improbable if not impossible.
NCAR also does CMIP Analysis. That is, it produces a Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) for IPCC reports such as AR5 (2013) and AR6 (2021)
The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) is a NOAA research laboratory at the
Princeton University Forrestal Campus. It also produces global climate models that greatly overestimate observed warming of the atmosphere, where the greenhouse effect occurs.
Now, these two government funded entities are funding an effort that will be “incorporating climate change data and projections that can help characterize future conditions.” Can two wrongs make a right? See link under Expanding the Orthodoxy and https://www.cesm.ucar.edu/community-projects/lens
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Mathematical Modeling Gone Mad: Previously, Susan Goldhaber, a member of the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), pointed out that minimum toxicity levels have been established for cyanide, a naturally occurring poison. But the EPA has not established minimum toxicity levels for many chemicals it is trying to regulate. Goldhaber explains that the EPA is misusing its Integrated Risk Information System. She writes:
“The EPA used the Supra-Linear model and the NIOSH [National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health] studies data to calculate ethylene oxide’s cancer risk. The EPA usually uses the Linear Non-Threshold mode for dose-response assessment. It assumes a direct and proportional relationship between dose and cancer risk over the full range of doses. The Supra-Linear model increases the proportional risk at lower doses resulting in lower doses carrying more risk than the Linear Non-Threshold model would suggest.
“EPA calculated that exposure to ethylene oxide at a concentration of 0.1 parts per trillion (ppt), equal to 0.0001 parts per billion (ppb) in the air, presents a one-in-a-million lifetime cancer risk (the level that government agencies often use to represent a significant cancer risk and to regulate a chemical). THE EPA’s use of this model has been questioned as it significantly over-predicts risk and is infrequently used in risk assessment.” [Boldface added]
Using the EPA technique, one can argue that since drinking too much water, water intoxication, can cause death, drinking a teaspoon of water is a significant risk of death. And with this type of thinking, the EPA is proposing rules that will destroy the reliability of the US electrical grid. See links under EPA and other Regulators on the March.
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The Green Energy Wall: Francis Menton has speculated which political jurisdiction will hit the Green Energy Wall the first. The cost of electricity from wind and solar and its unreliability will cause the public to scream “No More.” Australian commentator Jo Nova writes:
“With South Africa only weeks away from the start of winter, the head of the State-owned Eskom warns there will be the worst blackouts on record, which is really something because some people are already going 10 – 12 hours a day without electricity at the moment.”
““Luckily” South Africa may meet Climate Goals to cut emissions by 2030, though possibly destroy their civilization in the process.”
And winter temperatures in South Africa normally range between -2℃ to 26℃ (28 to 79°F). What will happen in Germany, New York, or New England next winter?
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US Energy Policies: Using blunt terms Francis Menton has a summary of the recent actions undertaken in Washington and his views of them. Among other things he states:
“True to form of regulators who treat their subjects with contempt, the rule never explicitly states that the cars we now use are henceforth to be banned.”
“All manufacturers are to be forced to comply, irrespective of whether they can do so profitably.”
See link under Change in US Administrations
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Traditional Knowledge: According to the Canadian Museum of History:
“The ancestors of today’s Inuit moved east into Arctic Canada and Greenland from their northwest Alaskan homeland in a series of migrations beginning about 800 or 1,000 years ago. This early Inuit culture is called Thule (“tooley”), after the place in Greenland where archaeologists first identified it.
“Archaeological evidence indicates that Thule Inuit were accomplished whale hunters. As they moved east into the treeless Canadian Arctic, Thule Inuit built houses framed with the bones of their largest prey species, the bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus), instead of the wood-framed winter houses of their Alaskan homeland.”
For hundreds of years, they have lived on the barren land. Vijay Jayaraj of the CO2 Coalition points out that the Nunavut Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit has issued a final report on the health of the Davis Strait polar bear population. The reports states:
“Overall, project contributors included 24 men and 11 women ranging in age from their early 40s to early 80s. Polar bear experts interviewed included Kimmirutmiut and Pangnirtungmiut who had experience harvesting and butchering polar bears (generally men), processing and cleaning polar bear hides (generally women), or otherwise significant experience on the land.”
“In this study, polar bear health was considered broadly and holistically at the individual, population, and ecosystem levels. We assessed polar bear health considering multiple parameters, such as abundance and demography, habitat condition and distribution, diet and prey availability, body condition and human-polar bear interactions, in addition to mortality and disease.”
The bear population is healthy, not threatened by melting of Arctic ice as a number of noted “naturalists” and environmental organizations have falsely claimed. What is important is limiting the number of permits given to wealthy “shooters” who rely on airplanes and helicopters to locate and shoot bears. They are not hunters in the traditional sense. See links under Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice and https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/fp/fpz3a01e.html#:~:text=The%20ancestors%20of%20today’s,where%20archaeologists%20first%20identified%20it.
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No TWTW June 3. Due to international travel, on the weekend of May 27 TWTW will be brief and there will be No TWTW on the weekend of June 3. TWTW will resume on the weekend of June 10.
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SEPP’S APRIL FOOLS AWARD – THE JACKSON
SEPP is conducting its annual vote for the recipient of the coveted trophy, The Jackson, a lump of coal. Readers are asked to nominate and vote for who they think is most deserving. Senators Schumer and Manchin won in 2022.
The voting will close on June 30. Please send your nominee and a brief reason why the person is qualified for the honor to Ken@SEPP.org. The awardee will be announced at the annual meeting of the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness on July 7 to 9.
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Number of the Week: $1/kilogram v. $3.50/kilogram. The lack of coordination among Federal agencies is legendary. Under Washington’s Net Zero policies it is absurd. In Real Clear Energy, Robert Hebner wrote about hydrogen power, which is a means of storing energy produced by other means. He wrote:
“For example, the Department of Energy has a goal of developing the technology for producing hydrogen for $1/kilogram by the end of the decade. A kilogram of hydrogen has similar energy to a gallon of gasoline.”
“Recent research, however, showed that for a wind farm in West Texas, producing and selling hydrogen makes no economic sense unless the cost of hydrogen was about $3.50/kilogram, due to a production tax credit that rewards wind generated electricity delivered to the electric grid.”
Nothing like subsidies to drive prices up! How much will a pipeline to Jupiter cost? See link under Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy – Other.
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science
Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2013
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/CCR/CCR-II/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2014
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-IIb/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
http://store.heartland.org/shop/ccr-ii-fossil-fuels/
Download with no charge:
Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming
The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus
By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Nov 23, 2015
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/
Download with no charge:
https://www.heartland.org/policy-documents/why-scientists-disagree-about-global-warming
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
Global Sea-Level Rise: An Evaluation of the Data
By Craig D. Idso, David Legates, and S. Fred Singer, Heartland Policy Brief, May 20, 2019
Why Climate Change is Not an Emergency
Join us for a dose of Rational Optimism about the future of our planet
Zoom presentation by:
Dr. Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace
Dr. Bruce Everett, climate economist,
Princeton AMO physicist William Happer,
Princeton University, 11 am to 12:30 pm EDT, May 27, 2023
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82031344086?pwd=NUluVXRiMUg5d0R6WU11c0dOV0ZnQT09
https://mediacentrallive.princeton.edu/events/2023/why-climate-change-not-emergency
Opinion: What Causes Climate Change?
By Daniel W. Nebert, CO2 Coalition, May 15, 2023
Is AR6 the worst and most biased IPCC Report?
By Andy May, WUWT, May 16, 2023
El Nino: Nature’s Ginormous Climate Change Battery
By Ron Barmby, CO2 Coalition, May 11, 2023
[SEPP Comment: Like batteries, oceans store solar energy, but infrared energy does not penetrate into the ocean by even 10 mm, a fraction of an inch.]
The Political Agenda of the IPCC
Scientific Assessment or Environmental Advocacy Group? Pick One
By Roger Pielke Jr. The Honest Broker, May 15, 2023
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/the-political-agenda-of-the-ipcc?utm_source=substack&publication_id=119454&post_id=121615460&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true
Professor Ian Plimer book launch – Not For Greens
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 19, 2023
Video
Defending the Orthodoxy
Kerry challenges oil industry to prove its promised tech rescue for climate-wrecking emissions
By Ellen Knickmeyer, AP, May 16, 2023
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/kerry-challenges-oil-industry-to-prove-its-promised-tech-rescue-for-climate-wrecking-emissions/
“’We can’t let the wish or the hope govern common sense here,’ Kerry said. ‘If we know that we can get the job done by deploying more renewables and current technology, we ought to be doing that.’”
[SEPP Comment: A warming of 0.25F every ten years is wrecking the climate?]
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
Intense heat waves occur primarily because of climate change
By Andrew Freedman, Axios, May 8, 2023
https://www.axios.com/2023/05/08/intense-heat-waves-climate-change
Link to paper: Extreme April heat in Spain, Portugal, Morocco & Algeria almost impossible without climate change
By Sjoukje Philip, et al, Imperial College, London, May 5, 2023
https://spiral.imperial.ac.uk/handle/10044/1/103833
“To estimate the influence of human-caused climate change on this extreme heat we combine climate models with the observations. Observations and models both show a strong increase in likelihood and intensity but the change is systematically lower in the models than in the observations. The fact that extreme heat is increasing faster than climate models simulate is a known problem in summer in Western Europe, in all climate models, and is also found here.”
[SEPP Comment: The study, from the World Weather Attribution Initiative (WWA) found extreme high temperatures are consistently higher than average temperature? At least they did not use fake probability theory.]
On Legal and General
By Andrew Montford, Net Zero Watch, May 16, 2023
“Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM) recently published a paper that sets out the company’s position on decarbonisation. Written by Nick Stansbury and Justine Schafer of their “Climate Solutions” department, makes the remarkable claim that ‘the cost of transitioning [to Net Zero] is no longer an especially relevant factor’.”
Questioning the Orthodoxy
What Are The Three Worst Things You Could Possibly Imagine The Federal Government Or President Ever Doing?
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, May 17, 2023
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2023-5-17-what-are-the-three-worst-things-you-could-possibly-imagine-the-federal-government-of-president-ever-doing
Time has run out for ‘forecasts of climate apocalypse’
Charles III and the climate record he must live down
By Rupert Darwell, Real Clear Wire, Via WND, May 14, 2023
Can We All Relax?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 19, 2023
Video: WMO – reaching the global warming threshold?
Julia Hartley-Brewster debate with “Senior Risk Meteorologist & Author of ‘Too Hot to Handle.’”
How is widespread use of helicopters to study polar bears defensible in a warming world?
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, May 18, 2023
“Money quote: ‘…the lifeblood of most polar bear research is jet fuel needed by helicopters.’ (Derocher 2012:107)”
[SEPP Comment: Essential only for the wealthy, not for Inuit.]
After Paris!
COP28 climate summit offering multi-million pound sponsorship packages for exclusive access
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 17, 2023
Biden Federal Government Goes Full Suicide Bomber Against America
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, May 14, 2-23
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2023-5-14-biden-federal-government-goes-full-suicide-bomber-against-america
Biden Wages Terrifying, Suicidal War on Energy Security
By Larry Bell, Newsmax, May 15, 2023
https://www.newsmax.com/larrybell/clean-electric-wind/2023/05/15/id/1119829/
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
More Carbon Dioxide Is Good, Less Is Bad
By Gregory Wrightstone, CO2 Coalition, May 11, 2023
Problems in the Orthodoxy
China wants what we have
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 14, 2023
“In terms of civilization, Niall Ferguson is speaking simple maths. The arithmetic of resources. Something which is almost never said.”
China Holds All the Cards in the Great Green Energy Game
By Steve Hanke and Adrien Yatacho- Chatain, Independent Institute, May 10, 2023
https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=14503&omhide=true&trk=title
Mon Dieu! Macron “the climate denier” calls for a pause on Environmental regulations
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 16, 2023
The French are leading a nuclear power alliance in Europe and threatens to block the Renewable Energy Directive
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 18, 2023
Seeking a Common Ground
The largest scientific experiment in history was Peer Review itself and it failed
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 17, 2023
We’re glad you asked
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 17, 2023
“As we keep explaining, if things are produced in a free market, you know they are worth more than they cost to make because they generate a profit. (If they don’t generate a profit they stop being made because the company discontinues them, or creditors discontinue the company.) But if they are subsidized, and must be or nobody will make them, then you know they are worth less than they cost.”
Unlike the government, businesses must respect reality or they will go bankrupt.
By Gordon Fulks, ICECAP, May 20, 2023
Averaging Last Seconds Versus Bureau Peer-Review
By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, May 15, 2023
Measurement Issues — Surface
#CoolClimateData: Dr. Maue’s Climate Atlas
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 17, 2023
“Next week we will look at his hurricane data and this week we look at his charts of the JRA-55 Reanalysis anomaly maps.”
Fake Analysis by Greg Ayers and Jane Warne – Because End Justifies Means
By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, May 14, 2023
“Noble cause corruption is a term invented by the police to justify fitting up people they believe to be guilty, but for whom they can’t muster forensic evidence that would satisfy a jury. It is a crime, but it is very difficult to get a conviction when the person on trial is a police officer. [Boldface added]
“It is like this with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. They have several methods that falsely suggest catastrophic global warming, but no one seems to want to undertake any sort of investigation.”
What if the airport radar was generating false record-high temperatures through random electrical noise?
By Jo Nova Her Blog, May 20, 2023
“The BOM [bureau of Meteorology] claims to have worked on the platinum resistance probes to make them mimic glass thermometers, but problems are more likely to be in the long cables and other electronic gear like the data-logger.
Lance Pidgeon: ‘Breaking the automated measurement system into the two parts that are several meters of cable apart, I blame the data logger for most of the problem. Not the simple resistance probe even with its dubious time constant. Specifically, I blame the lack of averaging. The small signals are vulnerable to the many forms of higher frequency electrical noise generated both within and external to the system. The missing averaging could cancel most of this out by lowering the frequency response to near that of a glass thermometer. Thus, rejecting most of the electrical noise but allowing the desired signal.’”
[SEPP Comment: The specific cause of the problem is not the issue. The issue is BOM hiding duplicate data that showed a problem.]
Measurement Issues — Tropics
Coral Snapshot 2022-23, & All the Unanswered Questions
By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, May 20, 2023
“It is impossible to reconcile 60% bleaching based on the official aerial survey with 0% bleaching based on the official underwater survey for John Brewer Reef, with both surveys undertaken in March 2022.”
Changing Weather
Global warming and Atlantic hurricane intensity
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 17, 2023
From the CO2Science Archive:
It’s the Wind Not the Heat
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, May 13, 2023
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2023/05/its-wind-not-heat.html
[SEPP Comment; Wind direction refuting claims of dangerous heat.]
Wildfire Smoke Forecast
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, May 18, 2023
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2023/05/wildfire-smoke-forecast.html
[A dense smoke plume from large wildfires in Alberta has reached the Pacific Northwest.]
May 18, 1902, Tornado
By Tony Heller, His Blog, May 18, 2023
Changing Climate
California’s Mean Annual Temps Were Up To 3.8°C Warmer Than Today During The Last Glacial
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, May 15, 2023
Link to latest paper: Application of Brillouin thermometry to latest Pleistocene and Holocene halite from Searles Lake, California, USA
By Kristian J. Olson, et al. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Jan 15, 2023
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012821X22005490
From abstract: “The multiproxy temperature record of Searles Lake agrees with other regional records at glacial/interglacial timescales but displays a wider degree of millennial-scale variability, with temperatures during the last glacial ranging from 8.3 °C below modern mean annual temperatures to 3.8 °C above.”
New Study: The Lowest Tibetan Plateau Glacial Temps Were Still 3°C Warmer Than Today
By Kenneth Richard, No tricks Zone, May 18, 2023
Link to paper: High altitude Pliocene to Pleistocene vegetation and climate change of the Kunlun Pass Basin, NE Tibetan Plateau
By Florian Schwarz, et al., Global and Planetary Change, April 2023
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921818123000516
From abstract: “. Here we present a 3.5-million-year-long, high-altitude vegetation and climate record from the Kunlun Pass Basin to reconstruct the transition from the sustained warm, high carbon dioxide environment of the Pliocene to the cool glacial and interglacial periods of the Pleistocene, 4.31 to 0.85 million years (Ma) ago. The Early Pliocene pollen record indicates the occurrence of patches of broadleaved and coniferous forests in a semi-desert shrubland at this high-altitude site.”
Warm Ice Age changed climate cycles
By Staff, Heidelberg, Germany (SPX) May 17, 2023
https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Warm_Ice_Age_changed_climate_cycles_999.html
Link to paper: Moist and warm conditions in Eurasia during the last glacial of the Middle Pleistocene Transition
By María Fernanda Sánchez Goñi, et al. Nature Communications, May 10, 2023
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-38337-4
Changing Seas
Atafona: anatomy of a scare
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 17, 2023
“Notice the sea levels rose from the early 60s to the early 80s, then have stalled ever since. But don’t let mere facts get in the way of a good script.”
[SEPP Comment: The distorters include The Wall Street Journal.]
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
Climate Craze Contributes to Loss of Inuit Freedom
By Vijay Jayaraj, CO2 Coalition, May 15, 2023
Link to report: Nunavut Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit on the health of the Davis Strait polar bear population Final project report – 2022
By Matilde Tomaselli, et al, Polar Knowledge Canada, 2022
https://www.nwmb.com/en/conservation-education/list-all-documents/docs-for-articles/inuit-qaujimajatuqangit-documents/9383-nunavut-iq-polar-bear-report-davis-strait-june-2022-eng/file
Polar bears in W. Hudson Bay are in good shape, says researcher. So, are numbers really falling?
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, May 13, 2023
“We’ve got ourselves another round of field data–i.e., facts–not fitting the polar-bears-are-starving-to-death narrative.”
[SEPP Comment: Apparently, Andrew Derocher, who is an alarmist, honestly reports what he is finding, which is commendable.]
Past climate change to blame for Antarctica’s giant underwater landslides
Press Release, University of Plymouth, Via WUWT, May 18, 2023
Link to paper: Climate-controlled submarine landslides on the Antarctic continental margin
By Jenny A. Gales, et al, Nature Communications, May 18, 2023
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-38240-y
[SEPP Comment: Climate determines the fossil makeup in sediment!]
Lowering Standards
Transparency Effort Probing Green Activism Within Federal Commissions Draws Congressional Scrutiny
By Kevin Mooney, Real Clear Energy, May 15, 2023
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2023/05/15/transparency_effort_probing_green_activism_within_federal_commissions_draws_congressional_scrutiny_899562.html
Dear Federal Government: Transparency on Wind and Whales, Please
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, May 16, 2023
Global temperatures set to reach new records in next five years
Press Release, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) May 17, 2023
https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/global-temperatures-set-reach-new-records-next-five-years
Hot Summer? – Met Office Clowns Have Not Got A Clue!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 16, 2023
“That is why last summer was not even as hot as 1976 or 1826.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
The Obliging Presstitutes of Climate ‘Journalism’
By Tony Thomas, Quadrant, May 20, 2023
“More than 15,000 environment/climate reporters from 180 countries are subscribed to the Earth Journalism Network, run by a staff of about 30 (a dozen full-time plus project staff). It also boasts thousands of journos accessing EJN on social media.
“EJN is funded by dozens of foundations – including woke billionaire entities such as the Hewletts and Packards and Rockefeller Brothers, along with official sugar-daddies like the European Commission, UN aid agencies and the US, UK and Swedish governments.”
Media Ignore Delhi’s Coldest May Since 1901
By Vijay Jayaraj, CO2 Coalition, May 15, 2023
“So, the reason thermometers record new all-time highs in Delhi is because of urbanization’s concrete structures and pavements and other landscape changes. Weather officials also note that some of the newer automatic weather instruments used in highly urbanized areas may be prone to error.”
[SEPP Comment: Cold weather does not fit the climate models?]
Study finds climate change is drying out lakes faster than previously thought
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, May 19, 2023
Link to paper: Satellites reveal widespread decline in global lake water storage
By Fangfang Yao, et al. AAAS Science, May 18, 2023
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo2812
[SEPP Comment: Article features Aral Sea, a disaster made by Soviet planning.]
BBC Blame Bologna Floods On Climate Change
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 19, 2023
Note to Yale Climate Connections – There Is no Link Between Droughts and Climate Change
By Anthony Watts, Climate Realism, May 16, 2023
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
Scientists blame fossil fuel production for more than a third of Western wildfires
By Sharon Udasin, The Hill, May 16, 2023
Link to paper: Quantifying the contribution of major carbon producers to increases in vapor pressure deficit and burned area in western US and southwestern Canadian forests
By Kristina A Dahl, Environmental Research Letters, May 16, 2023
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acbce8
[SEPP Comment: Vapor-pressure deficit is the difference (deficit) between the amount of moisture in the air and how much moisture the air can hold when it is saturated. According to global climate modelers, water vapor should be increasing, with little or no change in vapor pressure.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
A mole in the IPCC confirms cyclone fabrication
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 17, 2023
“But as so often with the IPCC, the absence of scientific evidence for a claim they really really want to make is never more than a temporary obstacle, to be dealt with by any means necessary. Including, in this case, just making stuff up.”
NYT Makes 12 out of 12 False Claims Against Lomborg’s Book
By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, May 19, 2023
“Bjorn Lomborg set the record straight at LinkedIn.”
The Myth of Fossil Fuel Subsidies
Fossil fuels would be used considerably more were it not for the disproportionately large government punishments that they receive.
By Alex Epstein, His Blog, May 16, 2023
https://alexepstein.substack.com/p/the-myth-of-fossil-fuel-subsidies?utm_source=substack&publication_id=513601&post_id=121594264&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true
No Ambrose, curtailed power is not free
By Andrew Montford, Net Zero Watch, May 18, 2023
“If I had a penny for every time some wild-eyed hack in Fleet Street punted the idea of “free” curtailed electricity I would long since have retired to the sun. Let me explain why this is so wrong.”
[SEPP Comment According to Investopedia, “Punters typically know that they are taking wildly improbable or risky bets in the market, but that could have extremely lucrative payoffs.”]
Communicating Better to the Public – Do a Poll?
Study: Climate Believers Are More Likely to Trust Strangers
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 17, 2023
Communicating Better to the Public – Go Personal.
Mark Maslin And His Junk Science
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 17, 2023
“It was also Maslin who, in 2019, co-authored a paper claiming that the Little Ice Age was due to European colonization.”
Climate Scientists Moan About Critics On Twitter
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 17, 2023
“’There’s been a massive change,’ said Mark Maslin, professor of earth system science at University College London and the author of popular books including How to Save Our Planet. ‘I get so much abuse and rude comments now. It’s happening to all of us, but I challenge the climate deniers, so I’ve been really targeted.’”
[SEPP Comment: After the smears of Fred Singer and Frederick Seitz who pointed out the deficiencies in IPCC climate science, no sympathy from SEPP. They have not seen anything yet, when shoddy scientists who smeared those who question The Vision get promoted to professorships at once prestigious universities.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda
Obama Longs for the Days When Establishment Media Set the National Agenda
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 16, 2023
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be ‘cured’ against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals. – CS Lewis”
Cyclone Mocha: Don’t Fall for the Climate Bait
By Vijay Jayaraj, CO2 Coalition, May 15, 2023
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda on Children
Talking Out Loud: Alarm Fatigue
By Chuck Dinerstein, MD,, ACSH, May 10, 2023
https://www.acsh.org/news/2023/05/10/talking-out-loud-alarm-fatigue-17051
Communicating Better to the Public – Protest
Heartland Institute Building Vandalized, American and Gadsden Flags Burned
By Jim Lakely, The Heartland Institute, May 11, 2023
The working-class revolt against Net Zero
Danish truckers are the latest workers to rise up against eco-authoritarianism.
By Brendan O’Neill, Spiked, May 16, 2023 [H/t Paul Homewood]
“Their beef? The government’s plan to introduce a ‘truck tax’ in 2025.”
Expanding the Orthodoxy
NSF-NOAA partner to promote the creation of centers for modeling catastrophic impacts and risk assessment of climate change
Press Release, NSF, May 16, 2023
https://new.nsf.gov/news/nsf-noaa-partner-promote-creation-centers-modeling?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
Dear Colleague Letter: Clean Energy Technology RAISE or EAGER Proposals
By Staff, National Science Foundation, May 17, 2023
https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2023/nsf23109/nsf23109.jsp?WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_id=&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
It’s coming for your coffee
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 17, 2023
“Fighting climate change and restoring their proud vibrant culture both at once. Power to the people, man. Unless you’re a coffee snob who knows that Coffea robusta is the stuff that prompted Edward Abbey’s jibe that ‘Our culture runs on coffee and gasoline, the first often tasting like the second’ and is widely grown because its toughness compensates for its foul flavor. And excelsa is um well unpopular for a reason.”
Why U.S. Companies Should Care About European ESG Reporting Regulations
By Adam Olsen, Real Clear Energy, May 18, 2023
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2023/05/18/why_us_companies_should_care_about_european_esg_reporting_regulations_900414.html
Questioning European Green
Europe is beginning to turn against the prophets of climate alarmism
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 19, 2023
Fraser Nelson: “A few days ago, I received an email from my local council offering ‘climate anxiety’ therapy for those worried about global warming. It was too interesting an invitation to refuse. A ‘climate psychologist’ convened the group and asked for their feelings: afraid, angry, helpless, and guilty were the main words offered. Such anxiety is natural, he said, but can be remedied by ‘distancing’ oneself from negative climate news. He didn’t quite say how such a feat could be achieved.”
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Unreliable Green Energy Has The World Running Back To Coal And Nuclear
By Vijay Jayaraj, CO2 Coalition, May 19, 2023
The Energy Transition Has A Metals Problem
By Irina Slav, Oil Price.com, May 14, 2023
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/The-Energy-Transition-Has-A-Metals-Problem.html
Canada’s green extremism is leading to disaster for its economy and political elites
Press Release, Net Zero Watch, May 19, 2023
Link to paper: Canada’s Climate Policy Conundrum
By Robert Lyman, Net Zero Watch, 2023
Column: Net Zero 2050? That’s Nothing – Hold My Beer
By Terry Etam, WUWT, May 18, 2023
Marine Mammal Deaths and Wind Power Development: Evidence Aplenty
By Sherri Lange, Master Resource, May 15, 2023
Facebook’s ESG Agenda Went Down to Georgia (and Trashed a Trophy Fishing Lake)
By Ken Braun, Real Clear Energy, May 16, 2023
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2023/05/16/facebooks_esg_agenda_went_down_to_georgia_and_trashed_a_trophy_fishing_lake_899609.html
Funding Issues
Rural clean energy to get $11B Inflation Reduction Act boost
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, May 16, 2023
Rural clean energy to get $11B Inflation Reduction Act boost
[SEPP Comment: Spending billions to fight inflation?]
The Political Games Continue
Biden admin green-lights NYC climate plan, sparking Dem civil war
‘Simply put, it is a money grab,’ said Democrat New Jersey Gov Phil Murphy after Biden admin approval
By Thomas Catenacci, Fox News, May 8, 2023
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-admin-green-lights-nyc-climate-plan-sparking-dem-civil-war
Litigation Issues
Montana Lawmakers Rein In Judicial Climatism
By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, May 18, 2023
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
The right hand giveth
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 17, 2023
[SEPP Comment: The numbers in the first paragraph are confused. The estimated cost of the Stellantis battery plant is around $5 billion Canadian. A trade war of green subsidies with government officials pleading with companies to take taxpayer money?]
U.S. Launches $4 billion Effort To Electrify U.S. Ports, Cut Emissions
By David Shepardson, Reuters, May 6, 2023 [
EPA and other Regulators on the March
EPA Proposes New Carbon Pollution Standards for Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants to Tackle the Climate Crisis and Protect Public Health
New proposed standards for coal and new natural gas fired power plants would avoid more than 600 million metric tons of CO2 pollution, while also preventing 300,000 asthma attacks and 1,300 premature deaths in 2030 alone
Press Release, EPA, May 11, 2023
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-proposes-new-carbon-pollution-standards-fossil-fuel-fired-power-plants-tackle
Link to: Greenhouse Gas Standards and Guidelines for Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants
Press Release: EPA, May 8, 2023
https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/greenhouse-gas-standards-and-guidelines-fossil-fuel-fired-power
EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System: A Good Idea Gone Bad
By Susan Goldhaber, ACSH, May 16, 2023
https://www.acsh.org/news/2023/05/16/epa%E2%80%99s-integrated-risk-information-system-good-idea-gone-bad-17069
EPA v. The Grid
A week after FERC commissioners warned about a looming “catastrophic reliability failure,” the EPA issued rules that could devastate the Mother Network.
By Robert Bryce, His Blog, May 13, 2023
https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/epa-v-the-grid
RODNEY DAVIS: EPA running roughshod over Congress and consumers
By Rodney Davis, Herald &Review.com, May 5, 2023
https://herald-review.com/opinion/columnists/rodney-davis-epa-running-roughshod-over-congress-and-consumers/article_ad34b3b6-e935-11ed-979e-f7ea890d7aa0.html
EPA proposes crackdown on toxic coal waste at ‘legacy’ power plant sites
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, May 17, 2023
Communities of color disproportionately exposed to ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water: study
By Sharon Udasin, The Hill, May 16, 2023
Communities of color disproportionately exposed to ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water: study
Link to paper: Sociodemographic Factors Are Associated with the Abundance of PFAS Sources and Detection in U.S. Community Water Systems
By Jahred M. Liddie, et al. Environmental Science & Technology, May 15, 2023
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.2c07255
Energy Issues – Non-US
South Africa: half the country without electricity, plans power cuts 32 hours long
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 19, 2023
The Bill For The [UK[ Renewables Obsession Hits £198 Billion
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 14, 2023
“And all for what? Most of this [unreliable] renewable capacity has to be backed up by existing [reliable] dispatchable capacity.”
Germany’s Federal Network Agency Plans To Ration Electricity As Electric Power Crisis Heightens
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 16, 2023
“The greatest energy folly of all time… Germany restricts electricity supply while ramping up demand! Rationing unavoidable”
Energy Issues — US
TVA Head Wants Nothing to Do with Building One Reactor Unless He Can Build 20
By Aaron Larson, Power Mag, May 17, 2023
“Building a nuclear power plant is a difficult job. It takes years of planning and sometimes more than a decade to complete. The risk of schedule delays is great, especially on first-of-a-kind projects, and the financial implications of such setbacks can ruin a company.
“Yet, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) president and CEO, Jeff Lyash, suggested the risk is worth taking, that is, if lessons learned from one project can be parlayed into success in future projects. That’s why TVA is studying the addition of a small modular reactor (SMR) at its Clinch River site. Lyash envisions using that first unit as a template to eventually make Clinch River a four-unit site, and then replicating that design in at least four other locations within TVA’s service territory.”
Natural Gas Hookup Ban Restricts Consumer Choice
By Sarah Montalbano, Real Clear Energy, May 14, 2023
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2023/05/14/natural_gas_hookup_ban_restricts_consumer_choice_899352.html
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
The Debt I Owe – U.S. E&P Debt Ratios Indicate Resilience To Credit Market Volatility
By Nick Cacchione, RBN Energy Inc. May 12, 2023
https://rbnenergy.com/the-debt-i-owe-us-eandp-debt-ratios-indicate-resilience-to-credit-market-volatility
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Italy Returns to Nuclear Sanity. Shouldn’t We?
By Duggan Flanakin, Real Clear Energy, May 15, 2023
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2023/05/15/italy_returns_to_nuclear_sanity_shouldnt_we_899551.html
Westinghouse Unveils the AP300—A Miniaturized AP1000 Small Modular Nuclear Reactor
By Sonal Patel, Power Mag, May 4, 2023
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
EPRI Head: Duck Curve Now Looks Like a Canyon
By Sonal Patel, Power Mag, Apr 27, 2023
“The ‘duck curve,’ a concept that has become emblematic of the challenges associated with integrating variable renewables in the power system, now looks like a ‘canyon,’ illustrating a paramount urgency for adequate flexibility, Arshad Mansoor, president and CEO of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), has warned.”
[SEPP Comment: Will California consumers have their light cut off at dinner time?]
Tidbits
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 17, 2023
“And now Canary Media concedes that ‘wind turbines – and the grid power they generate – are getting more expensive. Despite the almost terawatt of wind power installed worldwide, commodity costs and supply-chain perturbations are proving a more powerful force than the price-reducing magic of learning curves and economies of scale.’”
The Left thinks offshore wind costs are benefits
By David Wojick, CFACT, May 16, 2023
https://www.cfact.org/2023/05/16/the-left-thinks-offshore-wind-costs-are-benefits/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-left-thinks-offshore-wind-costs-are-benefits&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-left-thinks-offshore-wind-costs-are-benefits
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
Hydrogen’s Scalability Essential to Meet Energy Demand
By Robert Hebner, Real Clear Energy, May 17, 2023
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2023/05/17/hydrogens_scalability_essential_to_meet_energy_demand_900159.html
500-MW Hydrogen Power Plant Planned in Arkansas
By Darrell Proctor, Power Mag, May 15, 2023
“Syntex officials have said they think the ‘most efficient and cost-effective way to deliver hydrogen across the globe’ is through a grid of hydrogen power plants that could produce what they call pure ‘fresh’ hydrogen within a radius of about 200 miles. Their plan also includes ammonia- or methanol-based hydrogen carriers ‘for long-term storage and cost-practical transportation.’”
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Ferrari Rejects Green Pressure to Phase Out Internal Combustion Engines
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 15, 2023
“’I don’t want to be arrogant and impose a choice on our client,’ he said” – Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna.
EPA’s almost bare-naked electric car mandate
By Marlo Lewis, Jr, CEI, May 9, 2023
https://cei.org/blog/epas-almost-bare-naked-electric-car-mandate/
Biden’s New Emissions Control Standards Prove EVs are a Tough Sell
By Mandy Gunasekara, The Heartland Institute, May 1, 2023
Carbon Schemes
New York City skyscrapers turning to carbon capture to lessen climate change
News Release, AP May 15, 2023 [H/t Bill Balgord]
https://abc7ny.com/high-rise-apartment-building-new-york-city-skyscraper-carbon-dioxide/13250201/#:~:text=A%20New%20York%20City%20high,the%20chimney%20and%20is%20released.
“So building owners must make dramatic cuts starting next year or face escalating fines under a new city law.
“About 50,000 structures – more than half the buildings in the city, are subject to Local Law 97.
“Other cities such as Boston and Denver followed suit with similar rules.”
Health, Energy, and Climate
PM2.5 & Lung Cancer: Promotion Or Predilection?
By Fred Lipfert, ACSH, May 15, 2023
https://www.acsh.org/news/2023/05/15/pm25-lung-cancer-promotion-or-predilection-17065
Link to paper: Lung adenocarcinoma promotion by air pollutants
By William Hill, et. al, Nature, Apr 5, 2023 [over 50 co-authors]
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37020004/
“Because of the journal’s (Nature) publication paywall, we are limited to the study’s abstract. Chief among the missing detail is any description of the PM2.5 exposures involved, such as duration, frequency, concentration, or composition, or whether the particles were collected from ambient sampling filters or produced in a laboratory.”
ACSH Tries To Explain QALY [Quality-Adjusted Life Year]
By Chuck Dinerstein, MD, ACSH, May 2, 2023
https://www.acsh.org/news/2023/05/02/acsh-tries-explain-qaly-17022
DEA’s Abuse, Prevention & Control Laws: Lacking Science, Common Sense
By Josh Bloom, ACSH, May 18, 2023
https://www.acsh.org/news/2023/05/18/deas-abuse-prevention-control-laws-lacking-science-common-sense-17064
“Even considering these few examples, it becomes apparent that our laws concerning drugs (also chemicals, foods…) are not only not based on sound science but sometimes contradict it entirely. This is how we end up with mindless laws and policies like these. The DEA considers both marijuana and heroin to be Schedule I drugs (high addictive potential, no approved human use) while at the same time, states are making cannabis legal. An anabolic steroid, which isn’t a dietary supplement by any definition is not only exempted from a DEA list of dozens of controlled anabolic steroids but is treated as a food by the FDA.”
Environmental Industry
“Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’ Fails Test of Time” (New York Times verdict in 2007)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, May 17, 2023
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
UN: CO2 Targets Women
By Tony Heller, His Blog, May 18, 2023
Go woke, go broke?
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 17, 2023
“planet-cooking pollution”
By Tony Heller, His Blog, May 16, 2023
“Forest fire burn acreage in the US is down 90% since pre-industrial times and down 80% since the 1930s, but scientists have determined:”
‘37% of the area burned by wildfires in the West since 1986 — nearly 19.8 million acres out of 53 million — can be blamed on the planet-cooking pollution from 88 of the world’s major fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers’” — CNN
Theft Of Heat Pumps Installed Outdoors Spreads In Germany, Insurances Refuse To Cover Loss
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 14, 2023
[SEPP Comment: Will the German authorities do what some WOKE US cities are doing to car manufacturers, sue the manufacturers because the equipment is too easy to steal?]
Artificial meat could make 25 times more CO2 than real beef
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 13, 2023
Climate Compassion And Attribution
By Tony Heller, His Blog, May 18, 2023
Video: https://realclimatescience.com/2023/05/climate-compassion-and-attribution/
Text: https://realclimatescience.com/2023/05/bing-ai-compassion-to-stop-global-warming/
[SEPP Comment: According to Bing AI, climate change is putting humanity on the brink of extinction?]
Roald Amundsen tried and failed to tame a polar bear cub in 1920
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, May 12, 2023
ARTICLES
1. The EPA Threatens to Turn Out the Lights
Its proposed power-plant emission rule would destabilize the energy grid and end reliable electricity.
By William S. Scherman, WSJ, May 18, 2023
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-epa-threatens-to-turn-out-the-lights-electricity-generation-energy-grid-natural-gas-coal-co2-a5ca4d77?mod=hp_opin_pos_3#cxrecs_s
TWTW Summary: “Mr. Scherman is a Washington-based energy lawyer at Vinson & Elkins, LLP. He served as general counsel for FERC, 1990-93.” He begins:
Imagine flipping a light switch and not knowing if the lights will come on. Normally unthinkable. But the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed power-plant rules would destabilize the energy grid, resulting in less-reliable electric service.
The EPA’s aggressive standards require all coal-fired power plants to use a new and still-tricky technology called carbon capture and storage, or CCS, to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions 90% by 2035, or begin co-firing with natural gas. In addition, natural-gas-fired plants must capture 90% of emissions by 2035 using CCS or switch almost entirely to hydrogen by 2038. The only other option for both: shut down.
These nascent technologies simply won’t get the job done in the next few years. CCS is used at only one commercial power plant in North America. The only U.S. coal plant to implement CCS successfully closed in 2020 for economic reasons.
CCS holds great promise, but there are significant operational and economic hurdles to its widespread deployment. The Biden administration recently acknowledged that building and using CCS faces many of the same permitting and regulatory problems plaguing other energy infrastructure.
Likewise, while hydrogen may be a future solution for electricity generation, the science isn’t there. Hydrogen can be made by one of two methods: electrolysis, which is incredibly costly and energy intensive; or steam-methane reforming. Most hydrogen is produced by steam-methane reforming, which produces large amounts of CO2 as a byproduct and doesn’t provide a net reduction in greenhouse gases. The proposed rules all but ignore these obstacles.
The author discusses the extent of reliable power generation being shut down without reliable replacement. Then concludes:
As demonstrated time and again, the EPA doesn’t have electric industry expertise. That is the purview of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is charged with keeping the nation’s electric grid reliable and functioning. A week before the EPA proposed its rules, all four FERC commissioners, Democrats and Republicans alike, told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that it isn’t possible in the foreseeable future to maintain a reliable grid without the coal and gas plants targeted by the new rules. If Republicans and Democrats agree the policy is unworkable, you know we’re in trouble.
Alarm bells have been ringing about electric capacity shortfalls that these rules would only exacerbate. The North America Electric Reliability Corp. has identified ‘capacity shortfalls’ that may result ‘in high risk of energy emergencies during peak summer conditions’ in an area of the nation’s midsection that covers parts of 15 states and about 45 million consumers. Part of the West covering California also faces shortfall risks due to ‘overall variability in both the resource mix and demand profile.’ The North America Electric Reliability Corp. has repeatedly flagged winter reliability concerns for New England, in part due to ‘limited natural gas infrastructure.’
If the EPA’s proposed rules force reliable generating plants to close on Jan. 1, 2032, the unthinkable will happen. Whenever you hit the lights you’ll be crossing your fingers that they actually go on. After the Clean Power Plan was enacted in 2015, the EPA administrator admitted her plan was to force generators to comply—that is, close—before courts could decide if the rules were legal. The Supreme Court took note, stayed the plan in 2016, and struck it down in 2022. Regardless of the legality of the new proposed rules, plants will close if they are finalized, unless the courts act swiftly again.
We all hope for a cleaner energy future. But that will take time and thoughtful planning. It will take bipartisan support, not radical proposals. Whatever lofty goals the EPA has, they won’t keep us warm at night when the heat goes off.
