Category Archives: Environment

The Good, the Bad and the Misleading

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EIA Report: Renewables Surpass Nuclear Output

Let’s start out with the bad and misleading.

Looking at all energy sectors (e.g., electricity, transportation, thermal), production of renewable energy, including hydropower, has increased by 15.07 percent compared to the first quarter of 2010, and by 25.07 percent when compared to the first quarter of 2009. Among the renewable energy sources, biomass/biofuels accounted for 48.06 percent, hydropower for 35.41 percent, wind for 12.87 percent, geothermal for 2.45 percent, and solar for 1.16 percent.

Biofuels, unfortunately, includes ethanol. In fact, it’s probably mostly ethanol and if ethanol production represents a net gain in energy over the energy used to make it, it’s by a very slim margin. Not only do we mandate its production and inclusion in gasoline in the US, it’s also subsidized (the good news is that the subsidy is scheduled to end, and there’s a chance it won’t be renewed) and diverting land use to corn for ethanol has driven food prices up. Touting a huge increase in the production of ethanol is not good, and it really shouldn’t count as energy production.

I’m not sure where all the additional hydro power is coming from, though. If it’s a rebound in areas that were previously seeing droughts and production is just a return to the norm (or a spike from e.g. above-average snowmelt) then it’s a little misleading as well.

But there is good news:

In terms of actual production, renewable electrical output increased by 25.82 percent in the first three months of 2011 compared to the first quarter of 2010. Solar-generated electricity increased by 104.8 percent, wind-generated electricity rose by 40.3 percent, hydropower output expanded by 28.7 percent, and geothermal electrical generation rose by 5.8 percent. Only electricity from biomass sources dropped — by 4.8 percent. By comparison, natural gas electrical output rose by 1.8 percent and nuclear-generated electricity increased by only 0.4 percent while coal-generated electricity dropped by 5.7 percent.

We are installing solar and wind, and coal use went down. Yay!

That's a Cold Shot, Baby

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Brian Goggin, S.F. Artist, is Hauling a Colossal Block of Ice From Greenland to Manhattan

In a bid to remind the public of the effects of global warming, Goggin has decided to travel to Greenland, extract an “enormous monolith” of 100,000 year-old rare blue basal ice, and transport it back to Manhattan.

This being art, things then get weird. Well, weirder. The method of extraction is unusual. Then there’s this.

Once it arrives in New York, the ice block will be placed in a custom-designed high-tech reliquary filled with sub-zero glycol solution to keep the ice chilled, weighing in at 4000 pounds altogether. The installation will include a circle of laser beams around the reliquary that serve no practical purpose, but are intended to convey “a sense of rarity and significant value.”

I have to note that I am often encircled by lasers, but they do not seem to convey a sense of rarity and significant value. That I’ve noticed, anyway.

Ultimately, after touring museums across the nation, Goggin will install the monolith in a permanent home, where he hopes to preserve the ice for exactly 488 years. Goggin picked this number because 488 years ago, Manhattan was discovered by Captain Giovanni da Verrazzano of the French ship La Dauphine.

I hope the refrigeration unit will be run by a renewable energy source if this is to bring awareness of global warming and not be a big carbon source.

Here, Fishy Fish!

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Firs for the Fish (and the Fishermen)

Leftover Christmas trees used as fish habitats in lakes, somewhat like old ships being sunk and used as artificial reefs.

The trees are taken to a different lake each year, where volunteers bundle them and secure them to the lake bed. Within days, the newly denuded branches become covered with algae, which attract aquatic insects, fish and, ultimately, fishermen.

The incentive to get volunteers?

“If they help, we give them the GPS coordinates of the trees,” Mr. Mitchell said of the volunteers, many of whom are anglers. “You can go right to the spot, and it’ll be good fishing there.”

Making It Sound Worse Than it Really Is

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Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf post small December sales

This was the year General Motors Co. and Nissan made good on their promise to bring mass-produced electric cars to the market. But don’t count on seeing one in traffic soon. Sales so far have been microscopic and they’re likely to stay that way for some time because of limited supplies.

GM sold between 250 and 350 Chevy Volts this month and Nissan’s sales totaled less than 10 Leaf sedans in the past two weeks. Production for both is slowly ramping up.

It will be well into 2012 before both the Volt and Leaf are available nationwide. And if you’re interested in buying one, you’ll need to get behind the 50,000 people already on waiting lists.

One might argue that extremely limited availability doesn’t count as “bring(ing) mass-produced electric cars to the market.” It’s bringing a small amount of cars to market. The headline makes it seem like there isn’t much demand, rather than the companies selling every electric car they’ve made.

Buffalo Springfielded

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slacktivist: Climate change facts, for what that’s worth

This is a duty, telling the truth. It is the first duty we owe to the truth itself and to every neighbor we meet who is trapped in a lie. Facts matter.

But do not always expect facts to convince. Someone who has arrived at their current stance due to something other than facts will not likely be persuaded to budge from it due to the facts. Some small percentage, some few, are honestly misinformed, and for them facts and information will be persuasive and liberating. They will be grateful for the link. But for most the problem is not simply one of a lack of accurate information. For them, finding their way back to the truth will require retracing the steps that led them away from it — a path that had little to do with information or facts.

Regarding the facts of climate change — and also any other similarly oft-rejected set of facts that cannot reasonably be denied — the denialists can be grouped into three broad categories: 1. The honestly uninformed or misinformed; 2. The liars; and, 3. The deluded.

The facts presented on that NASA site will be persuasive to those who fall into the first category. For them, a clear presentation of accurate facts will be necessary and sufficient.

For those who fall in the latter two categories, a clear presentation of accurate facts will be necessary, but it will not be sufficient.

See Me, Feel Me

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Wind turbines wrong colour for wildlife

[C]hanging a turbine’s colour could have a profound impact on the number of insects it lures in and therefore the number of birds and bats that follow.
The researchers also found that the ultraviolet and infrared components of paint colour, which humans cannot see but insects can, also had a significant impact, with higher levels of both attracting more insects.

The Red Scare

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The Big Picture: A flood of toxic sludge

On Monday, October 4th, a large reservoir filled with toxic red sludge in western Hungary ruptured, releasing approximately 700,000 cubic meters (185 million gallons) of stinking caustic mud, which killed many animals, at least four people, and injured over 120 – many with chemical burns. The 12-foot-high flood of sludge inundated several towns, sweeping cars off the road as it flowed into the nearby Marcal River. Emergency workers rushed to pour 1,000 tons of plaster into the Marcal River in an attempt to bind the sludge and keep it from flowing on to the Danube some 45 miles away. The red sludge in the reservoir is a byproduct of refining bauxite into alumina, which took place at an alumina plant run by the Hungarian Alumina Production and Trading Company. A criminal probe has just been opened by Hungarian authorities.

Experts are Called "Experts" for a Reason

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Don’t Listen to the Newspapers

Presented in terms of the climate “debate,” but the thrust is true in general.

97.6% of publishing climatologists, 100% of studies in scientific journals, and every scientific organization in the world now agree that humans are changing the climate.

Compare this to the media coverage of climate change. The majority of articles in respected newspapers like The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal give roughly equal time to the “two sides” of the so-called “scientific debate”. Balance in journalism is all very well when the issue is one of political or social nature, but for matters of science, giving fringe opinions the same weight as a robust consensus is misleading. Being objective is not always the same as being neutral.

(emphasis added, just because)

Increasingly, The Answer is "No"

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Aren’t We Clever?

“There is really no debate about climate change in China,” said Peggy Liu, chairwoman of the Joint U.S.-China Collaboration on Clean Energy, a nonprofit group working to accelerate the greening of China. “China’s leaders are mostly engineers and scientists, so they don’t waste time questioning scientific data.” The push for green in China, she added, “is a practical discussion on health and wealth. There is no need to emphasize future consequences when people already see, eat and breathe pollution every day.”

And because runaway pollution in China means wasted lives, air, water, ecosystems and money — and wasted money means fewer jobs and more political instability — China’s leaders would never go a year (like we will) without energy legislation mandating new ways to do more with less. It’s a three-for-one shot for them. By becoming more energy efficient per unit of G.D.P., China saves money, takes the lead in the next great global industry and earns credit with the world for mitigating climate change.

I don’t understand our hesitancy to go down the path of alternative energy. It seems like a no-brainer (making it a good match for many of our politicians) — we can become less dependent on foreign sources of energy, can create jobs here, and reduce CO2 emissions. Even if the bought-and-paid-for-by-big-oil politicians don’t like the last one, surely spending money domestically instead of sending it overseas has to be good for the economy. Waiting to act only makes things worse.

Update: Related: The Brothers Koch and AB 32

Can the Republicans be the pro-business party when we need them to be the pro-business party?

Legislating Reality

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Senate set to slam science

There are certainly ample political reasons to sometimes ignore science. Fine. Say that. But discounting or demonizing science for political ends needs to stop. Science is not subject to legislation. It’s one thing to make the case that we cannot afford to deal with greenhouse gasses right now. It’s another entirely to claim greenhouse gasses are not putting us at risk.