The Week That Was: 2023-09-02 (September 2, 2023)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt.” ― Richard P. Feynman
Number of the Week: 1 ppmv [parts per million volume] of CO2 equals 2.13 Gt [Gigaton, one billion tons] of carbon. (CO2)
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: This Week section discusses issues of the reliability of surface-air temperatures used in Global Climate Models, also called General Circulation Models. Further, it discusses a real threat to humanity from climate change – not carbon dioxide-caused warming. Francis Menton gives data showing that Germany’s generation of over 50% of its electricity from alternative sources may not be good news for the German public. Then This Week discusses the extent of US subsidies for alternative sources of electricity as well as the consequences of the subsidy war prompted by Washington.
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Surface-air Temperatures: As Richard Courtney has stated for years, there is no agreed upon standardized method for determining global average surface temperature. For example, Furnace Creek, California, is one of the hottest, driest places in the world, with recorded temperatures as high as 134 F (57 C). Yet less than 100 miles (about 76 miles or 122 km) to the west, at the same latitude, is Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous US (lower 48 states). Even in the summer, temperatures can fall below freezing at night. Who knows what the average temperature means for climate. Without an agreed upon standard for calculation, precise average surface-air temperatures have little meaning. Yet they are commonly used in the Northern Hemisphere summer to declare one year was hotter than a previous year.
Then we have the problems of changing instruments. In the US the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) publishes standards for measurement of surface-air temperature. It states:
“To measure the temperature, thermometers have historically used the fact that liquids such as mercury and alcohol expand when heated. These thermometers are reasonably accurate, to within a degree or two. Mercury is more accurate, but mercury has a downside because it is a dangerous neurotoxin. NIST, working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ceased calibrating mercury thermometers on March 1, 2011, to support the transition from mercury thermometers to safer, but no less accurate, alternatives.
Today, for purposes of safety, accuracy and convenience, air temperature is most often measured using electronic thermometers, which are accurate down to a fraction of a degree. These thermometers measure temperature by detecting the changes in the resistance to the flow of electrical current through a metal, which changes as the temperature changes. Because they are electronic, their measurements can be constantly broadcast to the meteorologist’s office, giving instantaneous readings of the temperature.
To measure outdoor air temperature on land, the setup is simple. A thermometer is placed inside an enclosure such as the common wooden box-shaped Cotton Region Shelter, which is the American version of the Stevenson screen, developed by Scottish lighthouse engineer and meteorologist Thomas Stevenson in the 19th century. There’s also the more modern Maximum-Minimum Temperature System (MMTS), which is often used for U.S. official air temperature measurements and looks more like a beehive. Regardless of the shape, the enclosure is white in color to reflect solar radiation, which heats the thermometer and keeps it from getting an accurate air temperature reading. The enclosure also typically has slatted sides to allow air flow, and a double roof (a roof and a raised roof over that) to protect the thermometer from rain and further resist the influence of the Sun.
The bottom of the enclosure is situated between 1.2 and 2 meters (4.1 to 6.5 feet) above the ground, which should be grass or dirt (if it’s grass, it should be kept short). The area around the enclosure should be free of trees, and preferably there should be a good view of the horizon. The enclosure should be kept away from buildings and pavement, which capture heat from the Sun throughout the day and can make the thermometer artificially warm. All this is meant to ensure that the thermometer is getting the true temperature with unobstructed air flow and without interference from radiating heat. Some enclosures, and all MMTSs, are outfitted with a fan to maintain a consistent air flow no matter the ambient conditions, further enhancing the accuracy of the air temperature measurements.”
As Anthony Watts has pointed out, the bulk of instruments used fail to meet these standards, even after earlier criticism during which NOAA promised to assure conformity.
Then we have the problem of proper reading. Modern electronic thermometers measure temperatures more precisely than previous mercury thermometers. The two types of instruments don’t give the same readings for the same location at the same time. Jennifer Marohasy has written extensively on the scope of the problem in Australia. The July 1 TWTW discussed careful research by Patrick Frank in analyzing the problems with thermometers rendering their readings unsuitable for precise use as they are being used in the Global Climate Models featured by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Since there is no evidence that errors average out, the model results can be no more accurate than the instrument readings, which are not accurate.
Add to these the complications introduced by so called trustees of the US database at NOAA and NASA-GISS that have made changes to data by cooling the past and filling-in missing data by making later day calculations. These modifications are not known, nor is the extent. Thus, the entire database is unreliable. Tony Heller has done yeoman’s work in exposing these misleading efforts.
Now, two journals, “Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics” and “Climate,” have accepted the work of The Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences (CERES) and others, They evaluate the use of air-surface temperatures in the work of the IPCC and in the Global Climate Models. The press release states:
“A new study published in the scientific peer-reviewed journal, Climate, by 37 researchers from 18 countries suggests that current estimates of global warming are contaminated by urban warming biases.
The study also suggests that the solar activity estimates considered in the most recent reports by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) likely underestimated the role of the Sun in global warming since the 19th century.
It is well-known that cities are warmer than the surrounding countryside. While urban areas only account for less than 4% of the global land surface, many of the weather stations used for calculating global temperatures are located in urban areas. For this reason, some scientists have been concerned that the current global warming estimates may have been contaminated by urban heat island effects. In their latest report, the IPCC estimated that urban warming accounted for less than 10% of global warming. However, this new study suggests that urban warming might account for up to 40% of the warming since 1850.
The study also found that the IPCC’s chosen estimate of solar activity appeared to have prematurely ruled out a substantial role for the Sun in the observed warming.
When the authors analyzed the temperature data only using the IPCC’s solar dataset, they could not explain any of the warming since the mid-20th century. That is, they replicated the IPCC’s iconic finding that global warming is mostly human caused. However, when the authors repeated the analysis using a different estimate of solar activity – one that is often used by the scientific community – they found that most of the warming and cooling trends of the rural data could actually be explained in terms of changing solar activity.”
See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy, https://www.nist.gov/how-do-you-measure-it/how-do-you-measure-air-temperature-accurately for the NIST standards, https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/07/27/new-surface-stations-report-released-its-worse-than-we-thought/ and https://heartland.org/wp-content/uploads/documents/2022_Surface_Station_Report.pdf, for problems with the Official U.S. Temperature Record, http://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2023/TWTW%207-1-23.pdf for the analysis by Patrick Frank on the problems of consistent, accurate readings from temperature measuring instruments.
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A Real Threat: In WUWT, David Middleton draws attention to a real climate change threat to humanity – another extended period of severe glaciation, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere – which is sure to come unless humanity is prepared to address it. As Tom Gallagher discussed in his videos on Paleoclimatology; even where there is no permanent ice, the great breadbaskets of the world were dry, cold, dusty, and barren. AAAS Science published a paper that highlights the difficulties for human ancestors created by glaciations during Ice Ages in the current Quaternary Period of Icehouse Earth, with ice caps at both poles. The Quaternary Period consists of the Pleistocene and the current, warm Holocene starting about 11,700 years ago. The abstract states:
Population size history is essential for studying human evolution. However, ancient population size history during the Pleistocene is notoriously difficult to unravel. In this study, we developed a fast infinitesimal time coalescent process (FitCoal) to circumvent this difficulty and calculated the composite likelihood for present-day human genomic sequences of 3154 individuals. Results showed that human ancestors went through a severe population bottleneck with about 1280 breeding individuals between around 930,000 and 813,000 years ago. The bottleneck lasted for about 117,000 years and brought human ancestors close to extinction. This bottleneck is congruent with a substantial chronological gap in the available African and Eurasian fossil record. Our results provide new insights into our ancestry and suggest a coincident speciation event.[Boldface added]
The press release by the Chinese Academy of Sciences further explained:
“The results determined using FitCoal to calculate the likelihood for present-day genome sequences found that early human ancestors experienced extreme loss of life and therefore, loss of genetic diversity.
‘The gap in the African and Eurasian fossil records can be explained by this bottleneck in the Early Stone Age as chronologically. It coincides with this proposed time period of significant loss of fossil evidence,’ says senior author Giorgio Manzi, an anthropologist at Sapienza University of Rome. Reasons suggested for this downturn in human ancestral population are mostly climatic: glaciation events around this time lead to changes in temperatures, severe droughts, and loss of other species, potentially used as food sources for ancestral humans. [Boldface added]
An estimated 65.85% of current genetic diversity may have been lost due to this bottleneck in the early to middle Pleistocene era, and the prolonged period of minimal numbers of breeding individuals threatened humanity as we know it today. However, this bottleneck seems to have contributed to a speciation event where two ancestral chromosomes may have converged to form what is currently known as chromosome 2 in modern humans. With this information, the last common ancestor has potentially been uncovered for the Denisovans, Neanderthals, and modern humans (Homo sapiens). We all know that once a question is answered, more questions arise.
‘The novel finding opens a new field in human evolution because it evokes many questions, such as the places where these individuals lived, how they overcame the catastrophic climate changes, and whether natural selection during the bottleneck has accelerated the evolution of human brain,’ says senior author Yi-Hsuan PAN, an evolutionary and functional genomics at East China Normal University (ECNU).
Now that there is reason to believe an ancestral struggle occurred between 930,000 and 813,000 years ago, researchers can continue digging to find answers to these questions and reveal how such a small population persisted in assumably tricky and dangerous conditions. The control of fire, as well as the climate shifting to be more hospitable for human life, could have contributed to a later rapid population increase around 813,000 years ago.”
TWTW is not able to comment on the technique used, but the study highlights the dangers of glaciation. Unfortunately, the editor of AAAS Science emphasized climate change rather than glaciation. But at least he published the study. Today, climate change implies CO2 caused global warming. As Gallagher has shown, CO2 has little to do with temperature change. See links under Changing Climate – Cultures & Civilizations and http://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2023/TWTW%207-15-23.pdf for presentation by Gallagher.
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Green Energy Wall: Germany appears to be hitting the green energy wall. The popular press reported that for the first half of 2023 Germany produced over 50% of the electricity it consumed from wind and solar. However, the Manhattan Contrarian, Francis Menton, goes behind the numbers and discovers some problems. He writes:
So, are these large additions to capacity what has succeeded in pushing Germany over the 50% threshold? Unfortunately, if you read deep into the Reuters piece linked above [not here], you will start to get a very different understanding. It turns out that Germany’s percentage of electricity from renewables increased not because the production of electricity from renewables increased, but rather because Germany’s economy is shrinking. After decades of effort and hundreds of billions of dollars of subsidies and greatly increased consumer electricity prices, the contribution of wind and solar energy in Germany’s economy remains almost insignificant.
Despite all its new solar and wind facilities, Germany’s production of electricity from those sources has lately been going down rather than up. Here is the story for the first half of 2023) (from the Reuters piece linked above [not here]:
‘Renewables, at 137.5 TWh, [Terawatt-Hours] represented 51.7% of total output, up from 46.4% in the first half 2022, even as green power production volumes decreased by 0.6%.’
The 137.5 TWh of electricity that Germany’s ‘renewable’ facilities produced in the first half of 2023 is a pitiful percentage of their supposed theoretical capacity. A chart at Clean Energy Wire here [see article] gives Germany’s generation capacity of solar, plus onshore, and offshore wind as 130.8 GW as of 2022. (In a country with only about 85 GW of peak usage!). Add the new 8 GW of capacity added in the first half of 2023, and you would have 138.8 GW of wind and solar capacity, or 602.9 TWh hours of capacity (138.8 x 24 x 181) for the 181 days in January to June 2023. That would mean that the wind and solar facilities combined produced at a rate of only 22.8% of capacity over that period. [Boldface added]
So, if production of electricity from ‘renewables’ actually decreased, how could the percentage of electricity production from the ‘renewables’ have increased from 46.4% to 51.7% of the total? Easy — the production from all other sources (fossil fuels and nuclear) went down dramatically:
‘Conventional energy sources – nuclear, coal, natural gas, and oil – provided 128.4 TWh of output, down from 160.0 TWh a year earlier.’
They ran the conventional generators less because the demand for electricity was not there:
‘The fall in conventional production reflected the phase-out of nuclear energy by mid-April and operators cutting output to match weak demand.’
The change from 160.0 TWh to 128.4 TWh from conventional sources would be a 19.75% decline. That’s rather enormous in one year. Now, how could it be that Germany is experiencing that kind of a huge decline in the demand for electricity? You might check out the big front-page article from today’s Wall Street Journal, “Germany’s Shrinking Economy Sparks a Struggle for Solutions.” (different headline online). The world leader in the supposed ‘green energy transition’ turns out also to be in the unique position of having an economy that is shrinking, and not by a little:
‘Germany will be the world’s only major economy to contract in 2023, with even sanctioned Russia experiencing growth, according to the International Monetary Fund.’ [Boldface added]
The WSJ piece goes into a variety of factors that may be contributing to the shrinking economy. But self-inflicted high energy prices turn up again and again:
‘Energy costs are posing an existential challenge to sectors such as chemicals. . .. Energy prices in Europe have declined from last year’s peak as EU countries scrambled to replace Russian gas, but German industry still faces higher costs than competitors in the U.S. and Asia.’
And meanwhile, with Germany’s massive investments in wind and solar electricity generation, are those sources actually making any major inroads in the overall market for primary energy in the country? Here is an extremely revealing chart, again from Clean Energy Wire, with data from 2022: [Not shown here]
In the ‘renewables’ category for all primary energy (not just electricity), we learn that they include ‘biomass’ as a ‘renewable.’ Probably, that’s mostly wood, used for heating homes, and hardly a zero-carbon source. The amount of energy produced from the ‘biomass,’ at 1,040 PJ [Petajoules] and 8.8% of primary energy, far exceeds the combined total from wind and solar (713 PJ and 6.0% of primary energy).
The whole ‘more than 50% from renewables’ mantra turns out only to apply to electricity (far less than half of primary energy usage). And rather than representing the advance of the mythical wind and solar, the whole thing is just an artifact of a shrinking economy, largely itself caused by the destructive build-out of the wind and solar facilities. They are destroying their economy and have almost nothing to show for two decades and hundreds of billions of dollars invested in the useless wind and solar farms”. [Boldface in original except where noted.]See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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One Bad Subsidy Begets Another: For years, politicians promoting subsidies for wind and solar have been claiming high paying green jobs. Apparently, the United Automobile Workers union considers the promise as reliable as the claim that the Inflation Reduction Act addresses inflation. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal “An Electric-Vehicle Payoff for the UAW . . .; Biden admits his EV transition will cost jobs. Solution: More subsidies.” The article begins:
“If step one of Bidenomics is funneling cash to green industries, step two is cleaning up the distortions created by its subsidies and mandates. That explains the President’s plan this week to spend billions to prop up union jobs in electric-car production that the government is forcing on auto makers.
Just in time for Labor Day, the White House said Thursday that it will offer $12 billion to help auto companies retool their plants for electric vehicles. Car makers planning to build more EVs can apply for loans and grants from the Energy Department, but the scoring system comes with a Big Labor catch. The program gives preference to ‘projects that are likely to retain collective bargaining agreements.’
This is a de facto admission that Mr. Biden’s much-heralded EV transition will cost more jobs than it creates. It’s also a subsidy for union jobs that might otherwise be lost in the transition to EVs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that EV assembly jobs will grow by more than 17% in the coming decade.
But each EV can be built with about 30% fewer workers than a gas-powered car, and many new plants are opening in such right-to-work states as Tennessee and Georgia and are currently union-free. Union jobs will also be lost in gas-powered auto assembly, as the companies make fewer to meet federal and California EV mandates. Auto suppliers, many of which are unionized, could also lose jobs because EVs use fewer parts.
The $12 billion comes in addition to the subsidies already flowing to EV production. The Inflation Reduction Act includes $393 billion in clean vehicle tax credits by 2032, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, along with incentives in related areas like battery manufacturing. Even with the subsidies, it isn’t clear that consumers would choose EVs over cheaper gas-powered cars and trucks.
The United Auto Workers (UAW) celebrated the EV subsidies when the law passed last year, but the union failed to convince Democrats to attach a provision to limit tax breaks to union-made cars. The new $12 billion payoff is intended to make up for that failure without having a vote in Congress.” See Article # 1
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Subsidy War? An article in the Wall Street Journal starts:
“When U.S. solar-manufacturing startup CubicPV was looking for a place to locate its first factory a couple of years ago, India seemed a good choice.
The country had ambitious plans to expand renewable power and was offering juicy subsidies to solar-component makers to set up plants there. CubicPV scouted for a location and began talking to government officials about applying for the incentives, says Chief Executive Frank van Mierlo.
Then in August 2022, the U.S. passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which authorized its own much-larger subsidies for clean-energy manufacturers. Within three weeks, CubicPV’s managers had decided to start the factory in the U.S. instead.
For would-be solar manufacturers, India ‘was the best deal going on the planet until the IRA came,’ says Van Mierlo.
Huge green subsidies from the U.S. and other wealthy countries are aimed at tackling climate change by speeding their move to clean energy from fossil fuels. Some energy watchers worry that they could also slow climate progress for nations such as India, one of the world’s biggest carbon emitters, by drawing away badly needed money and resources.”
What better incentive does India have to replace the US as the world’s second leading emitter of CO2, after China, than to avoid a subsidy war with the US?
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Number of the Week: 1 ppmv [parts per million volume] of CO2 equals 2.13 Gt [Gigaton, one billion tons] of carbon (CO2). In response to last week’s Number of the Week that the Department of Energy is spending $35 million in an effort to remove one million metric tonnes of CO2 from the air, and that in 2021 the world produced about 37 billion tonnes (about 41 billion US tons), reader Ken Towe sent the following statement from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center on questions and answers about CO2.
“In terms of mass, how much carbon does 1 part per million by volume of atmospheric CO2 represent?
Using 5.137 x 1018 kg as the mass of the atmosphere (Trenberth, 1981 JGR 86:5238-46), 1 ppmv of CO2= 2.13 Gt of carbon.”
Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center has transferred its archive holding to the Department of Energy. Apparently, the Secretary of Energy did not bother to consult her own experts before deciding to spend tens of millions of dollars on a hopeless task. See https://data.ess-dive.lbl.gov/portals/CDIAC/FAQs#6intermsofmasshowmuchcarbondoes1partpermillionbyvolumeofatmosphericco2represent
Geophysical consequences of celestial mechanics
By Vincent Courtillot, Jean-Louis Le Mouel and Fernando Lopes, Climate Etc. Sep 1, 2023
Commentary: Is the Sun Rising?
Dimming The Sun – The Real Global Warming Emergency
By Ivor Williams, WUWT, Aug 29, 2023
Censorship
Stuff you’re not allowed to know #2: tornadoes
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Aug 30, 2023
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:
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
The Detection and Attribution of Northern Hemisphere Land Surface Warming (1850–2018) in Terms of Human and Natural Factors: Challenges of Inadequate Data
By Willie Soon, Ronan Connolly. Michael Connolly, Syun-Ichi Akasofu, Sallie Baliunas, Johan Berglund, Antonio Bianchini, William M. Briggs, C. J. Butler, Rodolfo Gustavo Cionco, Marcel Crok, Ana G. Elias, Valery M. Fedorov, François Gervais, Hermann Harde, Gregory W. Henry, Douglas V. Hoyt, Ole Humlum, David R. Legates, Anthony R. Lupo, Climate, Aug 28, 2023
Challenges in the detection and attribution of Northern Hemisphere surface temperature trends since 1850
Ronan Connolly, Willie Soon, Michael Connolly, Sallie Baliunas, Johan Berglund, C. J. Butler, Rodolfo Gustavo Cionco, Ana G. Elias, Valeriy Fedorov, Hermann Harde, Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Accepted Aug 17, 2023
Evidence of Urban Blending in Homogenized Temperature Records in Japan and in the United States: Implications for the Reliability of Global Land Surface Air Temperature Data
By Genki Katata, Ronan Connolly, and Peter O’Neill, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Aug 1, 2023
1,609 Global Scientists Rightfully Debunk Climate Hysteria
By Larry Bell, Newsmax, Sep 1, 2023
Some Concerns about the Recent Republican Debate
By Wallace Manheimer, WUWT, Aug 26, 2023
The Perils Of ‘Do Something Syndrome’
By Henry I. Miller, MS, MD and Andrew I. Fillat, ACSH, Aug 29, 2023
The Essential Ingredients of the Most Destructive Wildfires: Wind and Grass
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Aug 27, 2023
Congratulations To Germany On Achieving More Than 50% Of Its Electricity Production From “Renewables”!
By Franics Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Aug 299, 2023
Link to: Germany Is Losing Its Mojo. Finding It Again Won’t Be Easy.
Europe’s biggest economy is sliding into stagnation, and a weakening political system is struggling to find an answer
By Bojan Pancevski, Paul Hannon, and William Boston, WSJ, Aug 29, 2023
ExxonMobil Global Outlook
Executive Summary: Our view to 2050
By Staff, ExxonMibil Global Outlook, Accessed Aug 30, 2023
The Key to Understanding the Global Warming Fraud
By Guy K. Mitchell, Jr., American Thinker, Sep 1, 2023
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
C40’s Dystopian Future
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 29, 2023
Link to: C40 is a global network of mayors of the world’s leading cities that are united in action to confront the climate crisis.
By Staff, C40 Cities: Accessed Sep 2, 2023
“C40 is a global network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities that are united in action to confront the climate crisis.”
Link to: The Future of Urban Consumption in a 1.5°C World
Co-created and co-delivered by C40, Arup and University of Leeds with funding from Arup, University of Leeds and Citi Foundation., 2023
file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/Arup%20C40%20The%20Future%20of%20Urban%20Consumption%20in%20a%201%205C%20World%20(1).pdf
From the Executive summary: This report by C40, Arup and the University of Leeds assesses the impact of urban consumption on climate breakdown and explores the type and scale of changes needed to ensure that C40 cities reduce their GHG emissions in line with internationally agreed, climate-safe limits.
Retraction of paper saying there is no climate emergency illustrates how dependent climate activists are on scaremongering
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 30, 2023
Link to paper: Is the number of global natural disasters increasing?
By Gianluca Alimonti & Luigi Mariani, Environmental Hazards, Aug 7, 2023
“Our analyses strongly refute this assertion as well as extrapolations published by UNDRR based on this claim.”
UNDRR is United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
Questioning the Orthodoxy
“97% Consensus” — What Consensus?
By: Gregory Wrightstone, CO2 Coalition, Aug 31, 2023
So about that CO2
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Aug 30, 2023
Canada Forest Fires Trend Has Gone Down Since 2000, Data Defy Alarmist Claims
By P Gosselin, From Klimanachrichten, Via No Tricks Zone, Aug 27, 2023
Martha Stewart Exposes the Ignorance of Climate Alarmists
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, Aug 30, 2023
Energy and Environmental Review: August 28, 2023
By John Droz, Jr, Master Resource, Aug 28, 2023
Problems in the Orthodoxy
China continues coal spree despite climate goals
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 30, 2023
Seeking a Common Ground
Global and U.S. Disaster Databases: A Users’ Guide
By Rober Pielke, Jr, The Honest Broker, Aug 29, 2023
“I urge extreme caution in using EM-DAT — as important as it still is — and greater sophistication in its use. I plan to use it in research and my writing here with much greater precision (e.g., phenomenon by phenomenon). Be careful. Deep yellow.”
“The Centre for Research for the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) in Belgium has been funded for decades by the U.S. Agency for International Development to maintain a database of global disasters, called EM-DAT.”
Lomborg on the 21st century Part 1: Baseline outlook
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Aug 30, 2023
Link to study: Welfare in the 21st century: Increasing development, reducing inequality, the impact of climate change, and the cost of climate policies
By Bjorn Lomborg, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, July 2020
[SEPP Comment: Disagree with part of the first sentence of the abstract: “Climate change is real and its impacts are mostly negative, but common portrayals of devastation are unfounded.” Warming is beneficial.]
Measurement Issues — Surface
Did Idalia Really Have 125 MPH Winds?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 1, 2023
“Regular readers will know that I have often queried the windspeeds claimed nowadays for hurricanes.
The problem stems from the fact that in the past windspeeds were estimated on the basis of central pressure. Certainly, anemometers would never have been able to withstand the strongest winds; nor would they have been likely to have been in the exact location where winds were strongest.
In recent years however winds are estimated using satellite and aircraft dropsonde data.
The problem, however, is that consistently we find that windspeeds and central pressure do not reconcile in the same way as they did in the past.”
“This together with the central pressure data tells us that it is absurd to claim that Idalia was as strong.”
Changing Climate
Observational and theoretical evidence that cloud feedback decreases global warming
By Willis Eschenbach, WUWT, Sep 1, 2023
[SEPP Comment: Exploratory paper on cloud feedback by Eschenbach.]
Changing Climate – Cultures & Civilizations
When Climate Change Really Was an Existential Threat
By David Middleton, WUWT, Sep 1, 2023
Link to press release: Early Ancestral Bottleneck Could’ve Spelled the End for Modern Humans
By Liu Jia, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sep 1, 2023
Link to paper: Genomic inference of a severe human bottleneck during the Early to Middle Pleistocene transition
By Wangjie Hu, et al. AAAS Science, Aug 31, 2023
Changing Seas
New Studies Suggest Corals Are Rapidly Developing Tolerance To Bleaching, Heat Stress
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Aug 28, 2023
Link to paper: High survival following bleaching underscores the resilience of a frequently disturbed region of the Great Barrier Reef
By Cathie A. Page, et al, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Ecosphere, June 2023
[SEPP Comment: Based on marine paleoclimate, corals developed tolerance tens of millions of years ago.]
World fisheries may be ‘resilient’ to impacts of heat waves
By Saul Elbein, The Hill, Aug 31, 2023
Link to paper: Marine heatwaves are not a dominant driver of change in demersal fishes
By Alexa L. Fredston, et al. Nature, Aug 30, 2023
From the abstract: “Against the highly variable backdrop of ocean ecosystems, marine heatwaves have not driven biomass change or community turnover in fish communities that support many of the world’s largest and most productive fisheries.”
[SEPP Comment: The newspaper article begins with the false statement: “Climate change drove ocean temperatures to record heights this summer.” If climate change means increasing CO2, it did not.]
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
August Antarctic Sea Ice Growth Fifth Largest On Record
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Sep 1, 2023
Greenland’s 2022-’23 Ice Coverage Well Above 1981-2010 Average Despite ‘Global Boiling’ Rhetoric
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Aug 31, 2023
Arctic Ice Surprise in East Siberia
By Ron Clutz, Science Matters, Aug 28, 2023
Link to report: A month after they set out on Arctic voyage, two Russian oil tankers still battle with sea-ice
The ships that are loaded with more than 200,000 tons of oil might have been surprised by ice pack in the East Siberian Sea.
By Atle Staalesen, The Barents Observer, Russian, Aug 11, 2023
Fossil Fuels Are To Blame
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Aug 28, 2023
W. Hudson Bay polar bear numbers declined 27% in 2021 but not because of missing ice: secret paper
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, Aug 30, 2023
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
Bloomberg Falsely Says Climate Change is Harming Crop Production, Reality Says Otherwise
By Linnea Lueken, Climate Realism, Aug 31, 2023
Elevated CO2 does not alter autumnal leaf abscission in sugar maple
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Aug 30, 2023
From the CO2Science Archive:
Lowering Standards
Another fairy tale about the levelised cost of renewables
By Andrew Montford, Net Zero Watch, Aug 30, 2023
“I’m not sure I detect anything resembling a decline, let alone anything resembling £13/MWh. It looks as though IRENA’s [International Renewable Energy Agency] figures are out by a factor of three.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
Major Media Plans a Massive Collusion-fest to “Get their Stories Straight” on Climate Change
By Anthony Watts, Climate Realism, Aug 28, 2023
China’s summer of climate destruction
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 28, 2023
Tidbits
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Aug 30, 2023
“And an alert viewer notes of the dreaded ‘heat dome’ that ‘they used to call it a ‘high pressure system.’ Felt SO much cooler back then.’”
Shock News–Pavements Get Hot In Summer!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 29, 2023
Scorching, scorching, gone
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Aug 30, 2023
Idalia Update
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 31, 2023
“There have been suggestions that the rapid intensification of Idalia was somehow unprecedented.
This is nonsense.”
Hurricane Idalia makes landfall in Florida Big Bend with warnings of ‘catastrophic damage’
By Sarah Fortinsky, The Hill, Aug 30, 2023
Idalia poses once-in-a-century threat to rural Florida
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Aug 30, 2023
Hurricane Season Means A Surge In Category 5 Climate Lies
I & I Editorial Board, Aug 29, 2023
Were The Vermont Floods Unprecedented?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 28, 2023
Weather Girl Does Not Understand Hurricanes!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 31, 2023
“Given that Florida’s coastline is 1350 miles long, and that the strongest winds in any hurricane usually don’t extend more than a few miles from the centre, most of the State’s coast can also claim to have never experienced a major hurricane.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
Claim: Record Coral Reef Cover Hides “Cryptic” Diversity Loss
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 27, 2023
Link to paper: Marine heatwaves threaten cryptic coral diversity and erode associations among coevolving partners
By Samuel Starko, et al. AAAS Science Advances, Aug 11, 2023
[SEPP Comment: Based on a six-year study of the coral reef off Kiritimati, Christmas Island. Hardley the Great Barrier Reef.]
Imagine there’s no carbon, and no warming too
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Aug 30, 2023
“There is a strong tendency for those who subscribe to what Thomas Sowell called the ‘unconstrained vision’ to believe that wishes are horses. We’re all for aspirations. But not for delusions, especially when the planners’ delusions translate into blackouts for the rest of us.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
“10k dead penguin chicks” more animal tragedy porn used to advance global warming agenda
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, Aug 27, 2023
Link to paper: Record low 2022 Antarctic sea ice led to catastrophic breeding failure of emperor penguins
By Peter T. Fretwell [British Antarctic Survey], Aude Boutet [Independent Researcher] & Norman Ratcliffe, [British Antarctic Survey], Nature Communications Earth & Environment, Aug 24, 2023
More Climate Alarmists Misinformation about Emperor Penguin’s Breeding Failure!
By Jim Steele, WUWT, Aug 27, 2023
New study that claims it can directly link GHG emissions to polar bear cub survival is poppycock
By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, Aug 31, 2023
Link to: Unlock the Endangered Species Act to address GHG emissions
For the first time, ESA evaluations can include impacts on polar bears from greenhouse gas emissions
By Steven Amstrup (Polar Bears International, Dept of Zoology and Physiology, U. Wyoming), and Ceilia Bitz (Atmospheric Science U. Washington), AAAS Science, Aug 31, 2023
From Crockford: “Note this analysis has not been peer reviewed: as a ‘Policy Forum’ contribution, it’s considered by the journal to be a public interest commentary, not a research paper.”
[SEPP Comment: Another example that AAAS Science is a political journal, not a scientific one.]
Scary Red Graph Vs. Actual Graph
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Sep 1, 2023
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda on Children
Climate Classroom: “I tend to be very gentle” about Telling Kids they’re Going to Die?
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 30, 2023
Communicating Better to the Public – Protest
London wakes up to the Nightmare on Ulez — this Net Zero bill can’t be hidden and the people are furious
By Jo Nova, He Blog, Aug 31, 2023
Tribal Rangers Smash Burning Man Climate Protest Roadblock
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 29, 2023
[SEPP Comment: Imagine the screaming if Nevada State Police broke up the roadblock.]
Expanding the Orthodoxy
More Taxpayer Money Going To The Green Blob
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 29, 2023
“The Climate Ambition Support Alliance seeks to strengthen the capacity and support the engagement of climate-vulnerable countries in international climate negotiations.”
“Our purpose is to increase the capacity and capability of climate-vulnerable country negotiators to engage in international climate negotiations, helping to preserve and enhance the rules-based international system and increase appetite for higher ambition.
“Our vision is for a fairer, more inclusive negotiation process that enables the meaningful participation of climate-vulnerable country negotiators, supporting the ambition to keep global warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius and reducing the prospects of rapidly escalating climate extremes and severe risks for vulnerable people and systems.”
Questioning European Green
Germany begins dismantling wind farm for coal
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 31, 2023
Net Zero Watch slams Government’s ‘desperate’ and ‘unethical’ heat pump proposals
Press Release, Net Zero Watch, Aug 31, 2023
“Faced with a widespread consumer boycott of the technology, ministers are hoping that they can kickstart a heating revolution by removing the requirement that properties be adequately insulated before gas boilers are removed.”
Questioning Green Elsewhere
“Degrowth”: The Future of Green Growth?
Tilak Doshi’s commentary in Forbes, Via Charles Rotter, WUWT, Aug 27, 2023
“At the end of the day, the ambition of billions beyond the Western hemisphere may not align with ideals like St. Francis’ vow of austerity.”
Funding Issues
FEMA announces $2.5B for enhanced resiliency against climate change-fueled extreme weather
By Zack Budryk, The Hill, Aug 28, 2023
“The funds include $1.8 billion through the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) competitive grant program and another $642 million through the Flood Mitigation Assistance program. The Department of Homeland Security earlier in May announced $160 million in funds for the two programs.”
The Political Games Continue
Democrats and Republicans deeply divided on extreme weather
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 29, 2023
[SEPP Comment: A bit of history.]
Litigation Issues
Oil Group Sues Interior Over Arbitrary Unlawful Restrictions
This is a continuation of the Rice’s whales saga.
By David Middleton, WUWT, Aug 28, 2023
Did a Climate Alarmist Law Student Just Kill the Green Movement?
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 31, 2023
Mayor of Chicago Sues Automakers for Making Cars Too Easy to Steal
By Chris Taigo, The Heartland Institute, Aug 30, 2023
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
Biden administration offers $12B to convert auto factories into EV plants
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Aug 31, 2023
“A total of $10 billion will come from the Energy Department’s Loan Program Office and an additional $2 billion coming from Inflation Reduction Act grants. The loan program was also bolstered by the Democrats’ climate, tax and health care bill.”
EPA and other Regulators on the March
Whales, Workers, and Our Way of Life: A Louisiana Plea for Balance
By Court Ramsay, Real Clear Energy, August 28, 2023
“The heart of the matter lies in the protection of the Rice’s Whale, a species currently safeguarded under both the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. While protecting our environment is of utmost importance, the path chosen by the administration to do so bypasses the proper channels. Instead of engaging Congress and the public, the “sue and settle” approach was employed, sidelining vital voices and expertise in the decision-making process.”
WOTUS Woes
By Kip Hansen, WUWT, Aug 31, 2023
Link to the revised definition: Revised Definition of “Waters of the United States”
By DoD and EPA, Federal Register, Jan 18, 2023
“For the life of me, I can see no difference between the new rule and the old. The new rule still contains the phrase ‘significant nexus’ 484 times.”
[SEPP Comment: This rule used above came before the May 2023 Supreme Court decision requiring a change. TWTW has not been able to identify the new rule as of yet.]
Energy Issues – Non-US
Germany’s Ministry Of Economic Projects Gas, Electricity Prices To Rise To Painful Levels
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Aug 26, 2023
Net Zero is condemning more Brits to energy poverty
By Ross Clarck, The Spectator, Aug 28, 2023
Meet Claire Coutinho
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 1, 2023
“Welcome to our new Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero!
Does Claire have any expertise in energy maybe? Apparently not.”
Energy Issues – Australia
Panic now: The Australian national grid manager admits blackouts are coming
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Sep 2, 2023
We’re on the precipice of a radical experiment with a national electricity grid
Energy Issues — US
The Cavernous Hole in American Energy Policy
By David Holt, Real Clear Energy, Sep 01, 2023
Washington’s Control of Energy
Biden suspends Trump-era authorization to ship natural gas by rail
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Sep 1, 2023
[SEPP Comment: Washington’s war on reliable energy continues.]
Navajo Leaders Challenge Chaco Canyon Drilling Ban. Climate Advocates Should Listen.
By Ethan Brown, Real Clear Energy, August 28, 2023
[SEPP Comment: Not asked in the article: Why did the Pueblo tribes abandon the area hundreds of years ago?]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Don’t believe the renewables myth. Wind and solar are not cheap
Sunshine and breeze are indeed free, but vast amounts of subsidised infrastructure are not
By Kathryn Porter, The Telegraph, Aug 25, 2023 [H/t John Dunn]
Link to press release: FACT SHEET: President Biden Takes Executive Actions to Tackle the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, Create Jobs, and Restore Scientific Integrity Across Federal Government
The White House, Jan 27, 2021
The real costs of wind power prove the sums don’t add up
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 1, 2023
“It appears that the Editor of the Telegraph has told Jeremy Warner and Ben Marlow to wake their ideas up.
For years they have been blindly churning out renewable energy propaganda. All of a sudden, they have both seen the light!”
Danish Wind Energy Giant Crashes 25% in One Day, Blames “Severe” US Market
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Sep 1, 2023
“In addition, the developer is still in talks with federal stakeholders to qualify for additional tax credits, which haven’t progressed as expected. If unsuccessful, it could lead to impairments of as much as 6 billion kroner.”
New documentary ‘proves’ building offshore wind farms does kill whales
By Michael Shellenberger, New York Post, Aug 26, 2023
[SEPP Comment: “Proves” is probably too strong a term, “implies or supports” may be more accurate.
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
The Sustainable Aviation Fuel Road Ahead
Farmers must play a major role!
By Byron Dorgan, Real Clear Energy, August 31, 2023
“The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – signed into law one year ago – created aggressive goals to reduce carbon emissions. One of those goals included furthering the growth of a homegrown sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) industry.”
[SEPP Comment: According to this senator, converting food to fuel will reduce inflation?]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Germany Falling Way Short Of Meeting E-Vehicle Targets…”Major Problem With The Trend”
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Aug 30, 2023
The electric car debacle shows the top-down economics of net zero don’t add up
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 1, 2023
90% of new car sales in Norway are EV’s — but fuel demand has only fallen 10%
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Aug 28, 2023
[SEPP Comment: Heavy taxes on other vehicles make EVs a reasonable second car.]
Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Sep 1, 2023
“Almost 90% of votes cast on Sunday favoured a ban the battery-powered devices, official results showed.
But under 8% of those eligible turned out to vote.”
Carbon Schemes
Carbon Credits From Greenwashing to Innovation Engine
By Ann Torres, Real Clear Energy, August 31, 2023
“Companies outside climate tech have more options than ever to support carbon mitigation, reach net zero, and eventually go carbon negative. New technologies and new sources of funding are evolving carbon credits from poorly defined initiatives with hard-to-define impacts to instruments for quantifiable net carbon removal.”
Carbon Capture: BUSTED!?
Video, by Thunderfoot, Via WUWT, Accessed Sep 1, 2023
[SEPP Comment: First third of the video gives an idea of scale of CO2]
California Dreaming
Dude, it rained in California
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Aug 30, 2023
“If at first you don’t succeed… there’s gotta be a pile of bodies somewhere, right? I mean global boiling, climate breakdown, uninhabitable planet and all that.”
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy Says Heavy Industry Should get Intermittent
By David Worjick, WUWT, Aug 26, 2023
[SEPP Comment: Stop smelting when we demand?]
From milk to nuts
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Aug 30, 2023
“We are governed by people who think plant food is “pollution” and that agriculture is bad for our health. And that milk comes from nuts. What really does is ideas like this one.”
Foolish Venusians
By Tony Heller, His Blog, Aug 28, 2023
Link to: Venus was once Earth-like, but climate change made it uninhabitable”
By Richard Ernst, World Economic Forum, Dec 16, 2020
- “The planet Venus once likely had surface temperatures similar to present-day Earth, recent modelling has revealed.
- It probably also had oceans, rain, perhaps snow, maybe continents and plate tectonics.
- But Venus’s climate was permanently altered when catastrophic volcanic eruptions released vast quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.”
- Could Venus’s fate hold stark lessons for us here on Earth?
John Kerry: Climate Deniers “lash out at the truth tellers, and label indisputable evidence as hysteria”
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 28, 2023
ARTICLES
1. An Electric-Vehicle Payoff for the UAW . . .
Biden admits his EV transition will cost jobs. Solution: More subsidies.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ, Sept. 1, 2023
TWTW Summary: Presented in the “This Week” section above.
***************
2. India Is Losing a Green-Energy Subsidy Race
Bigger incentives from richer countries are beginning to draw resources away from world’s third-largest greenhouse-gas emitter
By Phred Dvorak, WSJ, Sep 1, 2023
TWTW Summary: Presented in the “This Week” section above.
***************
3. A Study in Infrastructure Madness
Litigation stalls a much-needed new railroad bridge in North Dakota for five years.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ, Aug. 27, 2023
TWTW Summary The editorial begins with:
“Politicians pretend to worry about crumbling roads and bridges while ignoring the red tape that helps keep them shabby. Even in the wild and free Great Plains, litigation is propping up a decrepit bridge that a railroad is paying millions to replace.
North Dakota’s Supreme Court heard a case this month that pits BNSF Railway against an activist group trying to stall it. The dispute is over a 140-year-old bridge connecting Bismarck to Mandan across the Missouri River. The company received final state and federal approval this year to replace it, but appeasing the activists has delayed the process for five years and counting.”
After detailing the legal wrangling, the editorial concludes with:
“The good news is that BNSF will proceed with a new bridge while the suit over the old one drags on. It began construction in July on the replacement, which will cost about $100 million over three years of construction.
But even a ruling in the company’s favor won’t return wasted time and money. Friends of the Rail Bridge offered to help raise millions of dollars to fund a preservation plan. As of this year, the group reported a mere $17,000 bank balance and no major partner. BNSF has had to cover rising maintenance costs and delay the introduction of heavier rail cars.
No matter the ruling, the case is an example of America’s infrastructure madness. When any stray objector can tie up critical projects, it’s a wonder the U.S. can build anything.”