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Climate Progress » Blog Archive » Why future Katrinas and Gustavs will be MUCH worse, Part 2

21 hours ago - Link

All things being equal, if a storm took the same track of Gustav (or Katrina) occurred in 2050, then, rather than weakening before making landfall, it would probably have strengthened considerably. - Tom Raftery

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Massive Canadian Arctic ice shelf breaks away - earth - 03 September 2008 - New Scientist Environment

23 hours ago - Link

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Markham Ice Shelf, one of just five remaining ice shelves in the Canadian Arctic, split away from Ellesmere Island in early August. They also said two large chunks totalling 120 square km had broken off the nearby Serson Ice Shelf, reducing it in size by 60%. "The changes ... were massive and disturbing," says Warwick Vincent, director of the Centre for Northern Studies at Laval University in Quebec. Temperatures in large parts of the Arctic have risen far faster than the global average in recent decades, a development that experts say is linked to global warming. These changes are irreversible under the present climate and indicate that the environmental conditions that have kept these ice shelves in balance for thousands of years are no longer present - Tom Raftery

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Giving Your Hybrid an Extra Charge - TIME

23 hours ago - Link

Chris Cox of Derry, N.H., got tired of waiting for the electric car of the future. In August, he took matters into his own hands and had his 2008 Toyota Prius converted into a plug-in hybrid, which doubled its gas mileage — Cox now gets up to 100 miles per gallon for 30 to 40 miles at a stretch. Although the Prius is already a hybrid gas-electric model, the additional battery that Cox had installed enables him to travel more than 20 miles on all-electric power (compared to just two miles without it) before the gas engine kicks in. - Tom Raftery

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Inhabitat » Groundbreaking Energy Ball Wind Turbine for Home Power

23 hours ago - Link

Swedish company Home Energy recently revealed an innovative wind turbine that spins in a spherical formation. Eschewing traditional rotors for a sleek orb structure, this beautiful rethinking of conventional wind turbine design utilizes the Venturi principle, which funnels wind within the turbine’s blades. The larger of the two models can produce up to 2.5kW - Tom Raftery

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Understanding the science of solar-based energy: more researchers are better than one

23 hours ago - Link

With the assistance of a five-year $20 million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) Chemical Bonding Center (CBC) project, called "Powering the Planet," will increase the number of its collaborators to fulfill its goal of efficiently and economically converting solar energy and water into hydrogen and oxygen fuels. The hydrogen and oxygen gases produced will be usable by a fuel cell, where they will react to reform water, generating electricity for powering an electric car or other devices. The gases may also be used as a source of energy after the sun goes down, and will generate a carbon-neutral or oil-free source of energy scalable to meet future global energy demands. - Tom Raftery

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Toward textile-based solar cells: SPIE Newsroom: SPIE.org

23 hours ago - Link

A fiber-based organic photovoltaic may form the building block of cost- effective, energy-harvesting textiles. This could be an interesting technology if it can scale. - Tom Raftery

mathew ingram posted a message on Twitter

“other crappy 80s shows we could bring back to decrease our IQs? my two cheesy favourites would be The A Team and Airwolf”

Tuesday at 6:41 pm - Link

Michael Leggett, Elliott Ng, Susan Shepard, leigh himel and 2 other people liked this

airwolf, what an awesome comeback that would be - Shey

Automan. Done and done. - Akiva Moskovitz

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Airwolf was NOT crappy. It was basically the greatest show ever created, and I still whistle the theme song every time I fly my helicopters :) - Paul Buchheit

yeah, Airwolf was ok. better than Blue Thunder. - ~C4Chaos

streethawk. like airwof, but on a motorbike. and more crappy. - Alex Gawley

"Hello Michael" - what no Knightrider? - Toby Graham

what you talkin bout, ingram? - Rob Reed

Airwolf. Me And my gran love it. - Roberto Bonini

MacGyver… but that would *increase* our IQs ;) - Vincent van Wylick

TJ Hooker - Anthony Citrano

they could bring back airwolf but have it be the only prototype comanche helicopter ever built... and give it full stealth mode... - Justin Long

Paul, you said "fly my helicopters" -- you have more than one? - mathew ingram

I think most shows in the 70s, 80s and early 90s were better than all the "reality" shows that are on today. Let's not forget Knight Rider. - Robert Felty

http://www.nbc.com/Knight_Ride... - this fall on nbc - Justin Long

Greatest American Hero? - Tom Raftery via twhirl

Yes, there are at least 5 in my office. - Paul Buchheit

I love how the gimmick in these shows always followed the same pattern, showing once or twice depending on the show. Dr. Banner transforms into the Hulk twice; K.I.T.T. transforms into flying/ super K.I.T.T.; McGyver solves two puzzles each time; the A-Team goes into "build weaponry" mode once (?); the Next Gen Enterprise separating its saucer section (first season?), etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C... - Philipp Lenssen

@Philip - the building weaponry part was always part of my favorite. It always seemed to come between 40and 50 minutes, and at least 50% of the time, B.A. would weld something. - Robert Felty

I still have that Airwolf tune in my head... - Marcel van der Laan

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Climate Progress » Blog Archive » Why global warming means killer storms worse than Katrina and Gustav, Part 1

Wednesday at 10:31 am - Link

Hurricanes can get much, much bigger and stronger than we have so far seen in the Atlantic. The most intense Pacific storm on record was Super Typhoon Tip in 1979, which reached maximum sustained winds of 190 mph near the center. On its wide rim, gale-force winds (39 mph) extended over a diameter of an astonishing 1350 miles. It would have covered nearly half the continental United States. - Tom Raftery

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Shell undermine protection for endangered whale | alexlockwood.net

Wednesday at 10:12 am - Link

Oil giant Shell is accused of influencing–editing–an environmental report on the impact of the Sakhalin II oil project, which threatens the habitat of the western grey whale. The Sakhalin project will “also release 1.6m tonnes of carbon dioxide, three times the UK’s annual carbon footprint. Identifying the wider impacts of Shell’s activities in this way is an important contribution to revealing the externalised/hidden costs (generally environmental ones) in the production of consumable resources. - Tom Raftery

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Melting permafrost will be major driver of global warming

Wednesday at 8:52 am - Link

The concern over the climate impact of sub-Arctic thaw is not new. The U.N. has called the melting of permafrost a "wild card" that could dramatically worsen global warming by releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gases. "The balance of evidence suggests that Arctic feedbacks that amplify warming, globally and regionally, will dominate during the next 50 to 100 years," warned the UNEP Year Book 2008 when it was published earlier this year. "As warming continues, these feedbacks will likely intensify. We may be approaching thresholds that are difficult to predict precisely, but crossing such thresholds could have serious global consequences." - Tom Raftery

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Sea level rises could far exceed IPCC estimates - climate-change - 01 September 2008 - New Scientist Environment

Wednesday at 8:49 am - Link

"To what extent this dynamic response of the Laurentide ice sheet to past temperature change can be considered analogous to present and future reduction of the Greenland ice sheet remains unresolved," they say in an associated commentary. "But their work suggests that future reductions of the Greenland ice sheet on the order of one metre per century are not out of the question." If Carlson's estimates are correct, they show that 2007 predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – a sea-level rise of between 18 centimetres and 59 cm by 2100 – are very conservative, as the IPCC acknowledged at the time. - Tom Raftery

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A Race to the Truth Part II | SolveClimate.com

Wednesday at 8:30 am - Link

The truth is, oil, not presidents, control America's foreign policy. That has been the case for a very long time. For all the good it has done, oil has perverted US' relationship with other nations, tempted US into behaviors not worthy of their ideals, and cost US enormous loss of life and treasure. - Tom Raftery

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Green Car Congress: Mayor of London Launches Climate Change Adaptation Strategy

Wednesday at 8:19 am - Link

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, launched the London Climate Change Adaptation Strategy—one of the first comprehensive climate change adaptation strategies produced by any major city worldwide. - Tom Raftery

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Methane gas oozing up from Siberian seabed: Swedish researcher

Wednesday at 8:11 am - Link

Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is leaking from the permafrost under the Siberian seabed, a researcher on an international expedition in the region told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter on Saturday. "The permafrost now has small holes. We have found elevated levels of methane above the water surface and even more in the water just below. It is obvious that the source is the seabed," Oerjan Gustafsson, the Swedish leader of the International Siberian Shelf Study, told the newspaper. - Tom Raftery

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Beyond carbon: Scientists worry about nitrogen's effects - International Herald Tribune

Wednesday at 8:05 am - Link

Public discussion of complicated climate change is largely reduced to carbon: carbon emissions, carbon footprints, carbon trading. But other chemicals have large roles in the planet's health, and one that a growing number of other researchers are also concentrating on, is nitrogen. - Tom Raftery

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McCain, Obama Agree to Overlook Transportation | Autopia from Wired.com

Wednesday at 7:57 am - Link

For better or worse, the presidential campaign has kicked into high gear and both Barack Obama and John McCain are touting platforms covering everything from the economy to Iraq. However neither candidate considers transportation a top-tier issue. Transportation isn't even listed under the "issues" tab each candidate has on his website (McCain here, Obama here). That's a big mistake because transportation lies at the heart of some of the biggest issues we face -- energy, the environment, public infrastructure and competitiveness in the global economy, to name a few. - Tom Raftery

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Experts wary of Pickens' clean-energy plan

Wednesday at 7:21 am - Link

Will T Boone Pickens plan work? Energy analysts say parts of it seem plausible, other parts don't and the timetable is probably unrealistic. It also would substitute one expensive fossil fuel for another. - Tom Raftery

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Green Car Congress: European Poll Finds 87% Support Urgent 25% Reduction in New Car Fuel Consumption

Wednesday at 5:02 am - Link

An opinion poll in five major European countries—France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK— found a strong majority (87%) of those surveyed support an urgent reduction in new car fuel consumption of 25%—equivalent to the 120 g CO2/km target being discussed by the European Parliament. - Tom Raftery

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Belated fame for a pioneer of the heliotropic home - International Herald Tribune

Wednesday at 4:28 am - Link

With energy prices rising, François Massau, a local coal merchant-turned-builder who died impoverished and alone in 2002 at the age of 97, is enjoying a small measure of posthumous fame. In the 1950s, when few people talked about ecology or conserving energy, Massau built what was among the earliest revolving homes. He built it in 1958 for his sickly wife, a schoolteacher, so that she could enjoy sunshine and warmth any time of the day or the year. Today, as energy prices soar and the need to contain carbon emissions becomes pressing, revolving buildings have arguably become fashionable. - Tom Raftery

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Hyundai Going Electric With Hybrids and Plug-Ins | Autopia from Wired.com

Wednesday at 4:04 am - Link

Hyundai's been making so many announcements about electric vehicles and hybrids lately you'd think it was ZAP. The Korean automaker's promised to put a hybrid subcompact, a hybrid mid-size and a plug-in competitor to the Chevrolet Volt on the road within five years. There's even some speculation at least one of them could be stamped "Made in the USA." - Tom Raftery

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Smart grid adoption could turn out to be slower than expected » VentureBeat

Tuesday at 8:58 pm - Link

Following a spate of hefty financings this year, culminating last week with Trilliant’s $40 million funding, it looks a bit like smart grid startups — companies that give the meters on homes and businesses the ability to communicate with utilities and other devices — are poised to take off. But for many of these firms, growth may be less of a rocket ride than a long, slow trudge uphill. - Tom Raftery

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Phoebe's Jottings: No Demand Repsonse, no progress

Tuesday at 6:50 pm - Link

If we could make electricity behave more like the financial markets by decreasing the price when supply was plentiful (summer nights) and increasing the price when supply was tight (cold windless evenings) then we could start choosing when to buy electricity depending on price - Tom Raftery

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A clean energy investment slump? - How the World Works - Salon.com

Tuesday at 6:45 pm - Link

Global investment in clean energy from April to June was less than the same period last year, and at $33 billion barely half the last quarter of 2007, initial NEF figures show. - Tom Raftery

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Solar Map: More Than 30 Utility-Scale Solar Plants in the U.S. « Earth2Tech

Tuesday at 6:45 pm - Link

There are more than 30 utility-scale solar power plants, one megawatt or larger, under various stages of development in the U.S. These are solar plants that have either signed a power purchase agreement with a utility, are included in the DOE’s official list of power generation sources or have applied for state permits like from the California Energy Commission. Here they are mapped out. Wonder why no solar installations in Texas? - Tom Raftery

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Europe’s largest onshore wind farm is coming to Romania » VentureBeat

Tuesday at 6:45 pm - Link

Continental Wind Partners and CEZ Group have concluded a deal to create Europe’s largest onshore farm in Romania, with a total capacity of 600 megawatts - Tom Raftery

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Ports defend clean truck program in court

Tuesday at 6:43 pm - Link

As the ports of LA and Long Beach defend their right to implement the Clean Truck Program, two major national carriers sign up. The Port of LA has received letters of intent from Swift Transportation and Knight Transportation, two major national motor carriers that plan to become port drayage concessionaires under the Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program (CTP). - Tom Raftery

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Enpark becomes first free zone in Gulf to launch Sustainable Development Policy | ENPARK

Tuesday at 6:41 pm - Link

Why don't we see more of these kinds of developments? The Energy and Environment Park (ENPARK), a comprehensive eco-friendly free zone community for commercial and residential use and a member of TECOM Investments, announced a Sustainable Development Policy, achieving the distinction as the first free zone in the region to implement green-friendly initiatives. - Tom Raftery

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Sweet Potato Out-Yields Corn In Ethanol Production Study

Tuesday at 6:39 pm - Link

Not sure about using food crops or land for growing fuel for transportation (can only drive up prices) but in experiments, sweet potatoes grown in Maryland and Alabama yielded two to three times as much carbohydrate for fuel ethanol production as field corn grown in those states, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists report. The same was true of tropical cassava in Alabama. - Tom Raftery

Tom Raftery posted a message on Jaiku

“New Jaiku interface? What is different? Been so long since I logged in I barely remember!”

August 29 at 12:41 am - Link

Tom, I think it was a big mistake for Jaiku to "re-launch" without some breakthrough thinking or features. - PaulSweeney via twhirl

@Paul +1 Also a mishtake to take 7 days to move the existing platform into a Google data center. It kind of makes you think Google aren't really that committed to Jaiku which is a shame. - Andy C

And what is with the invite thing? Wasn't it open before? - Tom Raftery via twhirl

Was limited invite. Now 'unlimited' invites but still not truly open as you can't just sign up. I predict great things for Jaiku - in 2013. - Andy C

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Technology Review: Tidal Power Comes to Market

August 29 at 4:15 am - Link

A tidal-power system has been connected to the National Grid in Northern Ireland. Built by the British tidal-energy company Marine Current Technologies (MCT), the 1.2-megawatt system consists of two submerged turbines that are harvesting energy from Strangford Lough's tidal currents - Tom Raftery