Intermittency Of Renewables Is Shrinking reports Zachary Shahan at CleanTechnica. Solar thermal can be designed to be continuous, off-shore wind has little intermittency while onshore wind (especially with GE's new energy storing turbines) is complementary with solar photovoltaics, and geo power has no intermittency. Hail the evolution of continuous renewables!!
Credit Dennis Schroeder/NREL
Arctic Warming Could Cost Upwards of $60 Trillion - roughly the value of the entire 2012 global economy - says a new economic analysis, reports Andrew Freedman at Climate Central. This would result from the possible massive release of methane, a very potent but short-acting greenhouse gas, as frozen deposits melt between 2015 and 2025. The cost would outweigh by far any possible economic advantages of an ice-free Arctic. And the study doesn't even include the increase in global warming from the looming total loss of summer Arctic ice, a major heat shield for the planet.
European Investment Bank (EBI) to Stop Funding Dirtiest Coal Plants reports Jessica Shankleman at BusinessGreen. Nice, but the policy still allows the world's largest public financial institution to fund gas-fired and some coal plants. Green groups welcomed the policy change but noted it's not enough to cut emissions enough to keep within safe warming limits. Oh, well, it's a start ... keep prodding them, greenies!
Carbon Emissions To Increase By 50% By 2040 says a new US Energy Information Administration analysis, reports Andrew Freedman at Climate Central, assuming no new policies to curb emissions. This means more catastrophic climate change. Time to act, folks!
Credit Mary Ellen Harte
Month-Long Siberian Heatwave Hitting Near-Record Highs, reports Christopher Burt at Wunderground.com. This extraordinary prolonged heatwave in central Arctic Russia has brought 10 days or more of 80+ F temperatures to some parts due to a persistent 'heat dome' sitting over north central Siberia, like the 'heat dome' that caused the US heatwave. Over there it's causing tundra wildfires. Bikini time in the Big Borscht Belt!!
Notable Quote:
"We have a clear responsibility to act now on climate change... so that we protect future generations... This agency has the courage to act. We can make it happen."
OO New EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. July 22, 2013 at EPA Connect.
☼☼☼ On the Bright Side ☼☼☼
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OO Renewables To Beat Out Natural Gas By 2016 says the International Energy Agency.
☼☼☼
OO Extended Tax Break Pushes Wind Power Industry Out of Doldrums as electric utilities and big companies such as Wal-Mart, Google, Microsoft and Apple plan their growth around wind and other renewable energy resources. ClimateWire h
OO US Renewable Energy Use Soared In 2012
OO US Signs $32M Debt-For-Nature Swap To Protect Rainforests In The Philippines preserving important carbon storage systems.
Another reason why we want to save rainforests... Credit Rhett Butler at mongabay
OO State Tax Incentives, Leasing Deals Lets You Drive Electric Cars For Free - not a typo - check it out!
OO US Feds Announce Second Offshore Wind Lease - for a wind farm that would generate 2,000 megawatts.
OO GOP ex-Secretary of State George Schultz Urges Action on Climate Change atta boy, George!
A Bouquet for George. Credit Mary Ellen Harte
OO Louisiana: Sues BP, Exxon Mobil, Et Al For Longterm Wetland Damage
OO Maryland: Governor To Propose Expanding Renewable Energy Requirement for utilities to increase clean energy from 20 to 25% in their mix of electricity sources by 2020.
OO Texas And California Lead Way In Smart Grid Investment says a new report.
☼☼☼
OO Solar Sales Moving From Sofa To Websites To Speed Orders
OO Efficiency, Imported From Europe - in the form of fuel-sipping, ultralong-range diesel cars.
OO Building Homes That Make More Power Than They Take
☼☼☼
OO France: US Company Turns Sewage Into Biofuel Using Algae on a rooftop in France. http://cleantechnica.com/2013/07/23/urban-algae-farming-system-treats-sewage-and-produces-biofuel/
OO Aid Donors, Others, Rush to Light Rural India With Solar
OO Africa: First Steps To Save Burkina Faso's Forests preserving carbon storage systems.
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OO China To Emphasize Cleaner Industry Over Unbridled Growth As Damage Mounts
OO China Outcompetes US in Planned Spending on Pollution by 600% - that's no typo. China plans to spend $275 Billion over the next 5 years on pollution; the proposed 2013 US Environmental Protection Agency budget is $8.3 B - multiply it by 5, and you get the idea.
OO India's Renewable Energy Requirement Seems To Be Working as it plans to finish a 28 megawatt solar power plant this year.
☼☼☼
OO Britain Could Be Carbon-Free By 2030 says a new report, by ramping up renewable energy and encouraging a more vegetarian diet.
OO Australia: Eyeing How to Go 100% Renewable Energy
OO Western Australia To Build A 40 Megawatt Tidal Power Plant that could power between 10,000-15,000 homes.
☼☼☼
***** US Climate Change News *****
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<<< GOPPING It Up >>>
OO GOP House Tries To Play Down Cost of Carbon
OO GOP House Proposes Gutting EPA, Obama's Climate Plan
OO GOP House Fights Energy Efficiency in Fans - only in Washington DC, where fans can't get rid of the hot air fast enough...
<<<>>>
OO Climate-Denying Senate GOPs Clash With US Insurance Industry, who note a surge in weather-related catastrophes has forced billions of dollars in payouts.
OO 8 Coastal GOP Governors Ask Congress to "Drill, Baby, Drill" offshore
<<< Friggin' Frackin' >>>
Via Ban Michigan Fracking
OO Wyoming: Frackers to Fund Study on Fracking Effects on Water Supply - after the EPA backs out; I guess they've never heard of "conflict of interests" out there...
OO EPA: 'Do Not Operate' Quake-Linked Fracking Disposal Wells says a draft report.
OO Pennsylvania: EPA Says Water Is Safe, But Reports Otherwise - an EPA staff report indicates fracking methane contamination in water as the agency declares it safe. Oh really? EPA speak with forked tongue, Tonto.
<<<>>>
OO Oil Trains, Terminals Plans Concern The Pacific Northwest
OO Money-Strapped Small Towns Deluded Into Favoring Keystone Pipeline - mistakenly thinking it will bring many good, much-needed jobs.
OO 55 Arrested at Keystone XL Pipeline Protest in Washington
☼☼☼Acting Like You Care: The XL Keystone pipeline will make possible far more climate change, but President Obama might okay it anyway. Credo, 350.org and others are asking people to stand up and be counted as nonviolent resisters or help in other ways. I did. If you ever wanted to do something big for your future, now's your chance - here. 
OO Firefighting's New Reality: Not Every House Should Be Saved
OO Oklahoma: Scientists, Christians, Urge Congress To Act On Climate Change - 200 scientists who are evangelical Christians, to be precise.
OO Washington DC: Record-Breaking Prolonged Heatwave is a drop in the bucket of hot air that usually swirls around there.
OO New York: Brutal, Prolonged Heat Waves Uses Record-Breaking Energy - and so global warming begats more global warming...
Credit Mary Ellen Harte
OO Texas: Arsenic, Other Heavy Metals Contaminate Groundwater Near Gas Wells says a new study.
OO Texas: Drought Drying Dammed Lakes
OO Colorado: Agencies Speed Efforts To Thin Vegetation hoping to prevent and slow the spread of wildfires.
Corn growing green faces an increasingly uncertain future in Iowa. Credit Mary Ellen Harte
OO Iowa: Farm Belt Climate Trending To Less Stable
OO Maryland: Tough Decisions Loom With Sea Level Rise
OO Maine: Climate Change Causes Lobster Explosion - And Cannibalism as their food resources become strained.
Salmon spawning, courtesy of the Bay Institute.
OO California: Water Crisis Pits Fish Industry vs. Farmers over Klamath River
<><><><>
<<<< Climate Change Round the World >>>>
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OO World Weather Roundup: Continuing Heat, Drought And Flooding as above-average heat conditions continued a multidecade streak, says the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
OO Britain: Heatwave Melts Cambridge Street, Wildfires Blaze Across Country
OO Britain: Farmers Warn of Fire Risk to Crops as heat goes on.
Credit ABC 15 news
OO Canada: Deadly Quebec Derailment Won't Stop Oil On Trains - Or Accidents as moving oil by train through Canada and the US continues to grow exponentially due to the oil boom.
OO 1.5 Million Gallon Oil Spill From Quebec Derailment
OO Mexico: State Pipeline Explodes
<><><><>
OO China's Coal-Fired Economy Dying Of Thirst As Mines Lack Water
OO Reporter Says Reuters Editor Biased On Climate Change
OO England: At Least 650 Died from Heat During Latest Heatwave
Credit Rhett Butler at mongabay
OO Chinese Coal Company Releasing Toxic Wastewater In Mongolia Greenpeace says.
OO Poland's Shale Gas Bubble 'Bursting'
OO Three Biggest Clean Energy Lies by Foes check 'em out!
West African Women, Courtesy of CIRAD
OO West Africa: A Warming Climate Will Disrupt Energy, Food For Millions and threaten industrial growth.
OO Northeast Brazil Experiencing Worst Drought In 50 Years - some areas have had no rain for over a year.
OO Climate Change Likely To Wipe Out World's Rarest Cat, Iberian Lynx within 50 years
Iberian lynx via Wikispaces.com
OO Bangladesh: Climate Change Threatens Development
OO Pakistan 'One Of The Most Water-Stressed Countries In The World' as population growth explodes demand, and climate change decreases the supply from its main river, the Indus.
OO Sri Lanka: Oil Company Wants to Drill off its coast.
Credit Rhett Butler at mongabay
OO 80% Of Rainforests In Malaysian Borneo Logged - there go more orangutans, and carbon storage systems.
OO Britain: Expect More Extreme Flooding As Climate Warms due to "atmospheric rivers" that carry vast amounts of water vapor, scientists say.
OO Arctic: Shipping Quadrupled in Past 4 Years due to melting sea ice.
<><><><>
(((((((( Seeking the Science ))))))))
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2012 Arctic Cyclone, courtesy Earth Observatory/NASA
OO Late Summer Arctic Cyclone Chewing Up Northern Ice as scientists watch in awe; these storms are becoming ever stronger with each new year.
OO Slowdown In Overall Air Temperature Increase Likely Due to Oceanic Absorption
OO Long Ago: Global Warming Melted Antarctica, Upping Sea Levels 70 Feet 5 million years ago, as an example of what could happen again.
Credit Mary Ellen Harte
OO Dramatic Glacial Melt Causing Flooding Spring Surges that can threaten homes and villages.
OO Boreal Wildfires Increasing With Climate Change says a new study, including some of the worst in 10,000 years, a taste of what could happen in other northern forests, potentially releasing vast amounts of stored carbon.
OO We Are Leaving Our Descendants A Whopping Rise In Sea Levels - for every 1 degree Celsius of temperature increase, the world will eventually experience a 7 foot increase in sea level, say researchers.
Arctic scape, flickr via Mother Jones
OO Snow And Arctic Sea Ice Extent Plummet Suddenly As Globe Bakes during May in a show of amazing, dramatic decline around the Northern Hemisphere.
<><><><>
@@@ Climate Change in the Media @@@
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Via Climate Nexus
OO @@ WEEKLY CLIMATE CHANGE VIDEO SERIES!! @@ Entitled "In Case You Missed It" via the good folks at Climate Nexus on Vimeo - select headlines delivered in less than 90 seconds with good graphics. Cool watching -- spread the word!!
@@ At Last, a Green Radio Show to counter the Lush Bimbaugh wasteland. Check out On the Green Front with Betsy Rosenberg at Progressive Radio Network to keep updated on climate change, and other green topics.
To help you understand just what science does and does NOT do, check this out!
Every day is Earth Day, folks, as I was reminded by these wildflowers I photographed a few days ago. Making the U.S. a global clean energy leader will ensure a heck of a lot more jobs, and a clean, safe future. If you'd like to join the increasing numbers of people who want to TELL Congress that they will vote for clean energy candidates you can do so here. It's our way of letting Congress know there's a strong clean energy voting bloc out there. For more detailed summaries of the above and other climate change items, audio podcasts and texts are freely available.
