Melting ice causes 1cm sea level rise in 7 years
According to The Independent, global sea levels have risen by 1.5mm a year in the 7 years from 2003 to 2010 according to new data released by NASA. The increased sea levels are as a result of 1,000 cubic metres of ice being lost from the poles, mountains and other ice sheets and on top of already known rises caused by thermal expansion.
The data comes from a pair of satellites jointly operated by NASA and the German government.
John Wahr, professor of physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, who was part of the research team that analysed the satellite data commented:
"The Earth is losing an incredible amount of ice to the oceans annually, and these new results will help us to answer important questions in terms of both sea-level rise and how the planet's cold regions are responding to global change."
Large injections of fresh water are known to destabilise ocean currents including the North-Atlantic Conveyor leading some climate scientists to voice concerns over an increase of chaotic weather patterns.
UK emissions jump by 3.1%
New figures show a sudden jump of 18 million tonnes of extra greenhouse gas emissions from the UK. According the a report in the Guardian:
Virtually all of the rest of the leap in the UK's carbon emissions comes from technical problems forcing nuclear power stations to shut down. The biggest reactor in the country, Sizewell B, was offline for six months, meaning more coal and gas had to be burned to fill the electricity gap, pumping more climate-warming gases into the air. Other reactors had problems too in 2010 and more recently events as varied as a rogue school of jellyfish and winter tornadoes have closed atomic energy plants.
When a wind turbine explodes, as in a recent storm, a megwatt of power is lost. When a nuclear plant falls off the grid, 1000 megawatts is lost. The comparison puts the lie to the sceptics charge that wind power is "unreliable".
Proof that with no new nuclear reactors on the horizon, plugging the "hole" with coal and gas will be disastrous.
Cynical Tory MPs attack wind
So the Telegraph reports that 101 Tory MPs have written to David Cameron complaining about on-shore wind power. Within the first half page of the story the contradictions are clear to anyone with a few brain cells to spare.
The primary complaint seems to be that on-shore wind turbine subsidy is too expensive at a time when the economy is struggling. No mention that off-shore wind is around three times more expensive to produce. No mention that on-shore wind is the cheapest renewable energy source on a £/kW basis. No mention of DECC data that shows increases in underlying fossil fuel prices are pushing up bills much faster than renewables. No mention of massive and record quarterly profits being made by the likes of Exxon Mobile ($9.4bn) or BP ($5.1bn) and certainly no mention of the billions of pounds that will need to be spent on climate change mitigation methods resulting from the use of fossil fuels.
Tracey Crouch, said: “It is tragic that we blight our countryside with hideous electricity pylons and now we intend not only to do the same with onshore wind farms but also to subsidise them."
So pylons are ugly and we should bury electricity cabling? Any idea how much that would cost? There are around 88,000 pylons in the UK and National Grid price underground cabling at £20m per kilometre.
So just be aware, the people who are telling you wind power is too expensive are the same ones what would advocate ripping out all the pylons at huge expense. As for the staggering subsidy of £522m - for this the UK gets a new industry that employs thousands of skilled workers and clean low carbon energy.
What did we get for the tens of BILLIONS used to bail out the bankers?
No, the answer is clear. Big oil is running scared of renewables and is lobbying hard to put the brakes on. Meanwhile the Tories have been spotted their chance to derail Coalition policy with the untimely demise of Chris Huhne.
Defra report on risks of climate change
Yet more evidence to nail into the coffins of the climate-change-deniers... this time it is the Climate Change Risk Assessment published by Defra (Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs).
The 2,000 page document reports that flooding, heatwaves and water shortages are set to become most likely.
- Hotter summers with an expected 580-5900 extra deaths by the 2050's
- Damage from flooding likely to increase by £2bn-£12bn by the 2080's
On a positive note, the report mentions new shipping routes through the Arctic would result from melting sea ice - although this is obviously not good news for the wildlife that depends on it.
While the report notes the difficulty of making accurate predictions, the very fact of its existence signals that the Government is at last starting to take concrete steps in preparing for Climate Change.
Media bias on climate coverage
Often the media, especially dear old Auntie Beeb, will go overboard trying to put both sides of an argument forward. But what about when the argument is between on one side, the collective and peer-reviewed opinion of the worlds foremost climate science researchers and on the other, the personal and un-tested opinion of climate skeptics such as Lord Lawson?
Should equal weight be given to these opposing views?
To do so may encourage less informed readers to reason there is genuine debate over the strength of claims regarding man-made climate change, when in fact to all but a few, the scientific argument was won years ago and has now moved onto to finding the best methods for mitigation.
A perfect example appeared in a recent Radio Times where Sir David Attenborough was interviewed in connection with the BBC series Frozen Planet which could not avoid touching upon the rapid climate changes occurring in the Arctic Circle. The magazine presumably felt obliged to include comment from Nigel Lawson to provide "balance". Unsurprisingly, Lord Lawson took the opportunity to spread some more F.U.D (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt).
Another classic example was the amount of press coverage David Bellamy received when he claimed the polar regions were actually expanding.. only to be revealed as a fraud by George Monbiot who investigated Bellamy's source material and found errors and mis-interpretations galore.
The media should collectively work much harder to test the opinions of contributors and make a distinction between:
- Fact. Categorically proved correct.
- Established Theory. Scientifically tested, rigorously peer reviewed and adopted by consensus
- Belief. Unproven and with little, if any, evidence
Perhaps then we can move on from the constant distractions and focus on tackling the real issue.
IPCC warns on more frequent and violent weather events
The risk from extreme weather events is likely to increase if the world continues to warm, say scientists.
A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said it was "very likely" that emissions had led to an increase in daily maximum temperatures.
It added that emissions had also led some regions experiencing longer and more intense droughts.
The details were outlined during a media briefing by the co-chairmen overseeing the compilation of two of the three segments of next IPCC assessment report.
The report also said that small island - as well as mountainous and coastal - settlements were likely to be particularly vulnerable as a result of sea-level rise and higher temperatures, in both developed and developing nations.
Scientists have warned of these effects for years, but Friday's report – the "special report on extreme weather" compiled over two years by 220 scientists – is the first comprehensive examination of scientific knowledge on the subject, in an attempt to produce a definitive judgment. The report contained stark warnings for developing countries in particular, which are likely to be worst afflicted in part because of their geography but also because they are less well prepared for extreme weather in their infrastructure and have less economic resilience than developed nations. But the developed world will not escape unscathed – heavier bursts of rainfall, heatwaves and droughts are all likely to take their toll.
Dieter Helm spouts more nonsense on BBC Panorama (UPDATED)
UPDATE: Action For Renewables have uploaded their "de-bunking" of Panorama here
In BBC1's Panorama last week (What's Fuelling Your Energy Bill?) enviro-skeptic Tom Heap painted the picture that the move to renewable energy sources is to blame for spiraling home energy fuel bills.
There is some truth here, even OFGEM figures support that renewable energy is adding to fuel bills. However the conventional wisdom (now accepted by all the worlds leading scientists) is that not only are fossil fuels damaging the environment, but that increasingly they are imported from political "hot zones" and may even be running out. Therefore, in the medium to long term, energy from conventional sources is set to rise at a much faster pace - eventually making renewable energy prices competitive and perhaps even cheap.
Only this year the International Energy Agency admitted, after years of denial, that peak oil has probably already occurred and therefore it is hard to understand how, as predicted by Mr Helm that oil and gas prices are set to fall. Indeed Mr Helm provided no evidence for this brave assertion nor was he cross examined by the presenter.
Worse still is that in a recent article for the Guardian Mr Helm claimed:
There is enough oil and gas (and coal too) to fry the planet several times over. The problem is there may be too much fossil fuel, not too little, and that fossil fuel prices might be too low, not too high.
The truth is, that with record high prices anyone with large gas and oil reserves will be pumping as fast as they possibly can. Aside from environmentally disastrous shale oil there have been no "mega fields" discovered since the 1950's and 60's. Even if this wasn't the case - just look at where the oil and gas is being exported from. Should the UK be beholden to the likes of Russia and Suadi Arabia?
So the rather biased message in Panorama was this - renewable energy is pushing up your fuel bills while we should be "dashing for gas" because some (un-named) miracle is about to return gas prices to much lower levels.
George Osbourne
This week in The Independent there are reports of a major split opening up in the Coalition Government between the Chancellor, George Osbourne and the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Chris Huhne.
The Chancellor has said that he does not want the UK to "lead the way" in its efforts to reduce carbon emissions stating that, to do so would somehow put the UK at a disadvantage within the EU. A growing faction within the Tory party seem to think that green policies will damage the "economic recovery".
In a recent speech Chris Huhne has indirectly attacked the Chancellor saying:
"We are not going to save our economy by turning our back on renewable energy."
So, is this a return to the good old Thatcherite days of tax cuts for the ultra rich while the rest of the country burns? Possibly, yes. At this stage it looks like it is down to the Lib Dems to keep things on track. Chris Huhne may not be able to save the planet, but hopefully he can prevent the Tories from destroying the UK.
Europe is floundering amid economic and political turmoil and now is the opportunity for the UK to plant the seeds of the next major economic boom - The Climate Revolution.
Just as the Industrial and more recently the Information Technology revolution did, this new era will see massive opportunities for those nations that set the right environment for businesses to evolve and thrive. Lets get this straight... paying lip service by tweaking a tax here and there will not cut it. We need green policies that go well beyond those we have now to create the environment in which large scale renewable energy rollout can happen, such as automatic permitted development rights for all small to medium scale renewable generation and a much simpler planning process for mid to large scale.
Climate Change is one of most important issues facing humanity in the next 50 years and according to the United Nations, the sooner we address it the cheaper it will be. Not only will reducing carbon emissions sooner save money in mitigating climate change, but those who do will lead the way in developing and owning the new technologies that result.
The answer is amazingly clear - rather than dump billions of pounds of tax payers money into quantitative easing (which has not and is not really working) spend it investing in green technology and fund the schemes that result in inward and foreign investment into the UK. In sorting out our own house.... we'll have developed the tools to sell others.
By way of a concrete example, Denmark was one of the first European countries to roll out government grants for wind energy. Is it any surprise that the worlds biggest wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas is Danish? In 2010 Vestas turnover was nearly €7bn.
The UK will either be on the train or run over by it. George Osbourne's paymasters will not care one way or the other, but you might.
Global warming is confirmed....again.
As if any more evidence was really needed, other than to convince any ultra-disbelievers still standing, news sources (BBC, The Independent) are reporting on the conclusions of the once "climate change skeptic" Professor Richard Muller who now says there is little doubt that man-made climate change is real.
Previous "scandals" (aka Climate-gate) regarding climate research conducted by the University of East Anglia can now be written off as fantasy on the part of interested parties who do not wish to see a move away from conventional fossil fuels.
Professor Muller has been an outspoken critic of climate change research and spent the last two years undertaking his own research project in which an exhaustive study of millions of historic temperature readings from around the world were collated and then analysed.
"When we began our study, we felt that sceptics had raised legitimate issues, and we didn't know what we'd find. Our results turned out to be close to those published by prior groups. We think that means that those groups had truly been very careful in their work, despite their inability to convince some sceptics of that," Professor Muller
Signs and Portents
Just this week Scottish Power have announced gas and electricity price increases of 19% and 10% respectively with the threat that other suppliers may follow suit.
Gas price increases in summer?
Typically this is when demand is at its lowest and historically prices have fallen. If energy costs are spiraling, what then of food? Again, only this week a UN report warns that global food costs could increase by 30% - on top of 37% increases in many foods just in the last 12 months alone!
Oil prices are hovering around $115 per barrel having touched $125 earlier this year after a warning from the EIA that global production of oil has peaked. After years of denial the EIA has finally admitted that, unless some as yet undiscovered mega-field magically appears...
the amount of oil available every year from now on - will be less than the year before.
There have been many books written on the possible outcomes following peak oil with visions ranging from hellish Mad Max to a utopian Star Trek. One thing is for sure, as conventional oil stocks deplete the oil co's will focus their attention on harder to extract (aka more environmentally destructive) oil locked in the Canadian tar sands or perhaps under the polar regions.
Let's not forget climate change. While the economic downturn has been taking center stage the environmental picture has not improved. In 2010 CO2 emissions leaped to over 30 GIGATONNES.
Many experts now agree the goal of preventing a 2 degree rise in global temperatures is almost impossible.
Climate change is real and its already here. Weather patterns are becoming more erratic, every year the rate at which "record weather events" occurs appears to rising... record heat, record cold, record drought, record flooding... its there if you go and look for it.
The lack of fresh water is now also becoming a major issue.. this time outside of Africa. From the USA to China fresh water rivers are drying up - often as warming is causing a reduction in the annual snow fall on the great mountain ranges from which the rivers flow. Pressure on fresh water supplies then feeds directly into food prices.
All this as the worlds population moves towards 7 billion souls.
The signs and portents that have been present for years are now screaming at us to change.