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Politics : The Exxon Free Environmental Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam who wrote (3928)	6/30/2009 6:51:32 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 49109

21 June 2009 A warning from Copenhagen stefan @ 10:03 AM - In March the biggest climate conference of the year took place in Copenhagen: 2500 participants from 80 countries, 1400 scientific presentations. Last week, the Synthesis Report of the Copenhagen Congress was handed over to the Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen in Brussels. Denmark will host the decisive round of negotiations on the new climate protection agreement this coming December. The climate congress was organised by a "star alliance" of research universities: Copenhagen, Yale, Berkeley, Oxford, Cambridge, Tokyo, Beijing - to name a few. The Synthesis Report is the most important update of climate science since the 2007 IPCC report. So what does it say? Our regular readers will hardly be surprised by the key findings from physical climate science, most of which we have already discussed here. Some aspects of climate change are progressing faster than was expected a few years ago - such as rising sea levels, the increase of heat stored in the ocean and the shrinking Arctic sea ice. "The updated estimates of the future global mean sea level rise are about double the IPCC projections from 2007?, says the new report. And it points out that any warming caused will be virtually irreversible for at least a thousand years - because of the long residence time of CO2 in the atmosphere. Perhaps more interestingly, the congress also brought together economists and social scientists researching the consequences of climate change and analysing possible solutions. Here, the report emphasizes once again that a warming beyond 2ºC is a dangerous thing: Temperature rises above 2ºC will be difficult for contemporary societies to cope with, and are likely to cause major societal and environmental disruptions through the rest of the century and beyond. (Incidentally, by now 124 nations have officially declared their support for the goal of limiting warming to 2ºC or less, including the EU - but unfortunately not yet the US.) Some media representatives got confused over whether this 2ºC-guardrail can still be met. The report's answer is a clear yes - if rapid and decisive action is taken: The conclusion from both the IPCC and later analyses is simple - immediate and dramatic emission reductions of all greenhouse gases are needed if the 2ºC guardrail is to be respected. Cause of the confusion was apparently that the report finds that it is inevitable by now that greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere will overshoot the future stabilization level that would keep us below 2ºC warming. But this overshooting of greenhouse gas concentrations need not lead temperatures to overshoot the 2ºC mark, provided it is only temporary. It is like a pot of water on the stove - assume we set it to a small flame which will make the temperature in the pot gradually rise up to 70ºC and then no further. Currently, the water is at 40ºC. When I turn up the flame for a minute and then back down, this does not mean the water temperature will exceed 70ºC, due to the inertia in the system. So it is with climate - the inertia here is in the heat capacity of the oceans. From a natural science perspective, nothing stops us from limiting warming to 2ºC. Even from an economic and technological point of view this is entirely feasible, as the report clearly shows. The ball is squarely in the field of politics, where in December in Copenhagen the crucial decisions must be taken. The synthesis report puts it like this: Inaction is inexcusable. Related links Press release of PIK about the release of the synthesis report Copenhagen Climate Congress - with webcasts of the plenary lectures (link on bottom right - my talk is in the opening session part 2, just after IPCC chairman Pachauri) Nobel Laureate Meeting in London - a high caliber gathering in May that agreed on a remarkable memorandum which calls for immediate policy intervention: "We know what needs to be done. We can not wait until it is too late." The new U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu participated over the full three days in the scientific discussions - how many politicians would have done that? realclimate.org

To: Sam who wrote (3928)	7/1/2009 12:36:29 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 49109

Truths and Lies regarding Renewable Energies, by ISTAS1 May 11, 1009 Critical Analysis of the Document “Study of the Effects on Employment of Public Aid to Renewable Energy Sources", by Gabriel Calzada. The document Study of the Effects on Employment of Public Aid to Renewable Energy Sources was recently circulated by the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and it has raised doubts regarding the public aid invested in developing renewable energies and, in like manner, regarding the opportunities that green economy may offer, particularly in terms of how it affects the creation of employment. 1. INTRODUCTION On March 27, 2009 an article was published in the Spanish financial newspaper “Expansión” which made reference to the document entitled Study of the Effects on Employment of Public Aid to Renewable Energy Sources“ circulated by the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and which was written by Gabriel Calzada Álvarez, the research director, Raquel Merino Jara, Juan Ramón Rallo Julián and José Ignacio García Bielsa. After reviewing the text, different arguments therein have been found to be invalid and their purpose is to negatively affect and dissuade the will and efforts of the public agencies, institutions, companies and other parties who support the development of clean energy resources, not only in Spain but also internationally. Recognizing the fact that we include ourselves amongst those who support a change in the current energy models to more sustainable ones, we here at the “ISTAS”, and more specifically at its Reference Center on Renewable Energies and Employment, wish to call the public’s attention to the fact that the main arguments included in the referenced study are not at all sound and that they are easily refuted, due to the contradictions and lack of scientific rigor that exist therein. 74.125.95.132