Real Climate Science

Because we are now running out of gas and oil, we must prepare quickly for a third change, to strict conservation and to the use of coal and permanent renewable energy sources, like solar power.

JIMMY CARTER, Apr. 18, 1977

Experts tell us that the weather in DC has become unprecedentedly extreme during the past year. As a survivor of some of that extreme weather, I feel compelled to speak out.

From September through February I rode my bike in Maryland during such extreme events as sunshine, mild temperatures, occasional rain – and even cold for a few days. It was literally living hell. The dice are now loaded for even more of these types of extreme events.

We need to sacrifice America, in order to create more headroom for China to increase their CO2 production.

Obama is telling the good people of Ohio that he supports coal, while he rips the industry to shreds.

Over the next 18 months, the Environmental Protection Agency will finalize a flurry of new rules to curb pollution from coal-fired power plants. Mercury, smog, ozone, greenhouse gases, water intake, coal ash—it’s all getting regulated. And, not surprisingly, some lawmakers are grumbling.

Industry groups such the Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, and the American Legislative Exchange Council have dubbed the coming rules “EPA’s Regulatory Train Wreck.” The regulations, they say, will cost utilities up to $129 billion and force them to retire one-fifth of coal capacity. Given that coal provides 45 percent of the country’s power, that means higher electric bills, more blackouts and fewer jobs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

The market-clearing price for new 2015 capacity – almost all natural gas – was $136 per megawatt. That’s eight times higher than the price for 2012, which was just $16 per megawatt. In the mid-Atlantic area covering New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and DC the new price is $167 per megawatt. For the northern Ohio territory served by FirstEnergy, the price is a shocking $357 per megawatt.

Why the massive price increases? Andy Ott from PJM stated the obvious: “Capacity prices were higher than last year’s because of retirements of existing coal-fired generation resulting largely from environmental regulations which go into effect in 2015.” Northern Ohio is suffering from more forced coal-plant retirements than the rest of the region, hence the even higher price.

These are not computer models or projections or estimates. These are the actual prices that electric distributors have agreed to pay for new capacity. The costs will be passed on to consumers at the retail level.

House Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) aptly explained: “The PJM auction forecasts a dim future where Americans will be paying more to keep the lights on. We are seeing more and more coal plants fall victim to EPA’s destructive regulatory agenda, and as a result, we are seeing more job losses and higher electricity prices.”

Obama’s war on coal hits your electric bill | Fox News

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/05/22/obamas-war-on-coal-hits-your-electric-bill/#ixzz23698SL75

You can really build a thirst playing golf in -19 degree weather.

summit:status:webcam

There is a widely held theory that former Vice President Al Gore lost his bid for the presidency in 2000 because of his insatiable, career-long desire to curb the effects of global warming by first and foremost informing the public on the world’s climate crisis. At the time, there was overwhelming scientific evidence to support his claim that our planet was dramatically warming as a direct result of the release of manmade greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. However, like a cancer patient in denial who has been diagnosed but has yet to feel the symptoms of their illness, too many Americans failed to give him credence because they were not physically and financially reeling from the side effects of climate change. Twelve years later, our planet is still sick and this summer Americans are seeing and feeling the symptoms like no other time in recorded history.

Scott Stenholm: Conservatives and Climate Change: The Devastating Irony

More like Devastating Stupidity at the Huffington Post.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/

http://news.google.com/newspapers

http://news.google.com/newspapers

15 Aug 1930 – THE DROUGHT IN U.S.A. CRITICAL CONDITIONS CONTIN…

July 2012 was fourth hottest in the US, and was about 1.5 degrees cooler than 1936.

July 2009, was the fourth coldest in the US..

There has been no trend in measured July maximum temperatures since 1895.

During the 1930s, July maximum temperatures averaged 2.5 degrees hotter than during the past decade (2000-2009.)

If overwhelming scientific consensus wasn’t already enough to convince someone that climate change is real and requires immediate action, just look outside your window. All the heat waves, record-setting droughts, freak storms, and catastrophic wildfires we’ve seen all summer long reflect the trends that climate scientists have been predicting would result from global warming.

Gene Karpinski: Standing Up for Science and Defending Our Environment

Looks like summer 2012 will finish with the fewest forest fires of the last decade, and the lowest tornado count on record. But no doubt the drought is worse than the Dust Bowl.

The curlicue compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) oft touted as an Earth-friendly alternative to standard incandescent bulbs may cause skin damage, according to a new study by researchers at Stony Brook University.

The bulbs are already known to pose hazards from using mercury, a toxic element, though in very small quantities, as lighting manufacturers are quick to point out. Regulations in parts of the United States and in the European Union limit mercury to 3.5 milligrams per bulb, with the limit dropping to 2.5 mg next year.

Now researchers have found that ultraviolet radiation seeping through CFLs may damage skin cells. Miriam Rafailovich, a professor of materials science and engineering at Stony Brook, led the research after reading an article in an Israeli newspaper that reported a spike in skin cancer on a communal farm when residents switched to fluorescent bulbs.

“In the past two years some disturbing reports have surfaced mostly in the European Union literature, which indicate that exposure to CFL bulbs might be responsible for exacerbating certain skin conditions, such as photodermatoses and skin cancer in humans,” says the paper, published last month in the journal Photochemistry and Photobiology.

Can Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs Damage Skin?: Scientific American

h/t to Dave G

Hansen sure nailed the part about Manhattan being underwater

While doing research 12 or 13 years ago, I met Jim Hansen, the scientist who in 1988 predicted the greenhouse effect before Congress. I went over to the window with him and looked out on Broadway in New York City and said, “If what you’re saying about the greenhouse effect is true, is anything going to look different down there in 20 years?” He looked for a while and was quiet and didn’t say anything for a couple seconds. Then he said, “Well, there will be more traffic.” I, of course, didn’t think he heard the question right. Then he explained, “The West Side Highway [which runs along the Hudson River] will be under water. And there will be tape across the windows across the street because of high winds. And the same birds won’t be there. The trees in the median strip will change.” Then he said, “There will be more police cars.” Why? “Well, you know what happens to crime when the heat goes up.”

And so far, over the last 10 years, we’ve had 10 of the hottest years on record.

Didn’t he also say that restaurants would have signs in their windows that read, “Water by request only.”

Under the greenhouse effect, extreme weather increases. Depending on where you are in terms of the hydrological cycle, you get more of whatever you’re prone to get. New York can get droughts, the droughts can get more severe and you’ll have signs in restaurants saying “Water by request only.”

When did he say this will happen?

Within 20 or 30 years. And remember we had this conversation in 1988 or 1989.

Does he still believe these things?

Yes, he still believes everything. I talked to him a few months ago and he said he wouldn’t change anything that he said then.

http://www.salon.com/2001/10/23/weather/

h/t to Marc Morano

Arcticio (@arcticio) says:

August 9, 2012 at 7:50 pm

You call the ice flakes of first image an ice pack? Well, some euphemisms intend to amuse, lol.