The Science

NOAA Chief Wants Nation “Weather-Ready” for More Extreme Events

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Fifty-two billion dollars and counting, one thousand deaths — double the yearly average — from 12 extreme weather events in 2011 alone.

NOAA

Those grim numbers are part of the reason why the country’s top weather official is calling for better and smarter observation tools, new climate models and a new national readiness.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Jane Lubchenco shared those stats with scientists here at the American Geophysicial Union’s fall meeting in San Francisco (#AGU11), many of whom are giving presentations about how to better forecast these events and measure them.”

I think that people have to appreciate how very bizarre the weather has been this year,” Lubchenco told us in an interview following her keynote presentation. “And it’s pretty clear that for some of those events like heat waves, droughts, really big intensive rainfall events – those we can connect the dots to climate change pretty convincingly.” Continue reading NOAA Chief Wants Nation “Weather-Ready” for More Extreme Events →

The Science

Communicating Climate Science: A Little “Song & Dance” Can’t Hurt

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The first Stephen H. Schneider Award goes to a climatologist who sings, dances and hosts PBS specials. Maybe that’s what it takes.

Earth scientist Richard Alley's engaging style has won him an award for climate communicators.

I’ll be candid here: When teamed up with climate modeler Ben Santer and economist Larry Goulder behind the microphone, his rendition of “Teach Your Children” could use a little work. The rest of Richard Alley’s work speaks eloquently to his talent for making sense of climate science for the rest of us.

This week, in a ceremony at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Alley, a professor of geosciences at Penn State University, was given the first Stephen H. Schneider Award for his work in breaking down climate science and getting the word out to the public and policymakers in digestible form. Continue reading Communicating Climate Science: A Little “Song & Dance” Can’t Hurt →

Power, The Science

Can Rocks Really Store Enough CO2 to Keep it Out of the Atmosphere?

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Stanford study suggests that carbon dioxide “sequestration” can be part of the global warming solution.

Sally Benson studies the movement of CO2 through rock samples.

Sally Benson and her lab crew have been giving rocks a very hard time.

The energy resources engineering professor has been heating rock to 122 degrees and subjecting it to the pressure of a hundred atmospheres —  the same pressure present at a half-mile or so underground — to see how carbon dioxide would move through the microscopic nooks and crannies.

It’s a key question for energy companies pinning their hopes on “carbon capture and sequestration” (CCS) as way to mitigate the high greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. In practical terms, that means intercepting the CO2 and pumping it underground, essentially forever. Continue reading Can Rocks Really Store Enough CO2 to Keep it Out of the Atmosphere? →

The Science

NASA: Climate Changes Coming Faster Than We Thought

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“If we burn all the fossil fuels, we would send the planet back to an ice-free state.” — James Hansen, NASA

A new investigation of the ancient climate record shows that time to stop climate change is running out — maybe sooner than scientists had thought.

That’s the message from an international team of scientists reporting today at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco (#AGU11 on Twitter).

Melt water tumbles through a Greenland ice sheet.

James Hansen is director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, and was one of the scientists on the study. He says that even the accepted benchmark of a 2-degree Celsius rise (3.6 F) in temperature that might result from doubling of current carbon dioxide levels would have a much greater impact than was previously thought.

“Once the ice sheets begin to disintegrate, then you’ve got an unstable shoreline, which is going to be continuing to change over time,” said Hansen in a presentation to fellow scientists. “It would be a mess for those people living at that time to deal with. And it looks like that time will be this century.” Continue reading NASA: Climate Changes Coming Faster Than We Thought →

Government & Business

California’s “Radical Experiment” in Carbon Trading

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A national perspective on the cap & trade program that starts next month

Operators of oil refineries fret that they'll bear the brunt of California's new cap on carbon emissions.

For three years we’ve been watching the process leading up to implementation of California’s plan to push greenhouse gas emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020. As the green flag is about to drop, you’ll start to see more national media attention focused on it.

To wit, this morning’s debut of a two-part series by NPR’s Christopher Joyce on what will be the nation’s first industry-wide cap on carbon emissions.

Joyce describes the program, authorized by the 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act, a “radical experiment” and “a risky step at a time when the state’s economy is shaky.”

The story starts by airing out fears that the program will drive jobs from the state, an effect delicately described by economists as “leakage.” Then Joyce seeks to balance the ledger with prospects for new jobs and industries that the regulations are already spawning.

Joyce profiles two businesses that stand to benefit from the new rules, Propel Fuels of Redwood City and a Washington state-based appliance recycler with a facility in the Bay Area.

Technically the program goes into effect in January but regulators have floated full “compliance” to 2013.

Government & Business

UN Climate Talks: The Highlights Reel

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All you need to know about this year’s round, without going all the way to South Africa

Despite the Iwo Jima imagery, there are few signs of victory for climate activists in Durban.

The 194 nations that, for nearly 20 years, have been hashing out prospects for putting the brakes on global warming, are at it again — this time in Durban, South Africa. Whereas at one time the world was looking to the US for leadership on a climate solution, the theme of Week One appeared to be the emergence of the US as an obstructionist force in the process.

Sun: Activists wasted no time in creating iconic images for the conference (see photo). Continue reading UN Climate Talks: The Highlights Reel →

The Science

Can Giant Sequoias Survive the Future?

Fragile seedlings are highly vulnerable to drought

Hear my companion radio feature on The California Report weekly magazine.

Giant sequoias naturally grow only on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.

When William Tweed talks about giant sequoias, he doesn’t beat around the bush.

“Sequoias capture human interest because they’re the perfect thing,” says the writer, historian, and former National Park Service ranger. “They’re the world’s largest trees. We humans like big stuff. They’re also exceedingly old, and they also charm us because they’re rare. We humans go chasing around for the big, the old, and the rare.”

He says while other parks have charismatic megafauna, like bears, or bison, or elk, Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park and the other national parks in the Sierra Nevada have charismatic megaflora: the giant sequoia. Continue reading Can Giant Sequoias Survive the Future? →

Government & Business, Power

SolarCity’s Military Deal a Boost for the Biz

A rooftop solar array on a home in Vacaville.

SolarCity’s announcement this week that the company is moving forward with a massive military housing solar project, may be more than just a boost for one company. It’s another indication that despite a turbulent few months, the solar industry is alive and thriving.

By itself it’s a big deal that SolarCity and Bank of America Merill Lynch are teaming up without a government loan guarantee. That isn’t traditionally how it’s been done. Private investors usually like the security of a guarantee before they get into a big, risky investment. But in an interview with KQED’s Lauren Sommer, SolarCity’s CEO Lyndon Rive says this investment isn’t actually very risky, “We’re selling electricity; the consumer needs it. It’s not like you are financing a car where they can skip on their financing payments. It is a necessity.”

Continue reading SolarCity’s Military Deal a Boost for the Biz →

Uncategorized

Santa Ana Wind Season May Be Stretched by Climate Change

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Could set the stage for more severe spring wildfires

Hear my companion radio feature for The California Report.

Wind-driven flames threaten a house during the 2009 Jesusita Fire.

Gusty winds up and down California have grounded aircraft and left hundreds of thousands without power this week. But so far, we’ve avoided the most feared consequence — major wind-driven wildfires. This is high season for the notorious winds known in the Southland as “Santa Anas,” and research suggests our changing climate may mean that season gets longer.

In Northern California, they’re called “Diablos” but the physics behind these legendary winter winds is essentially the same: air moves from high pressure to low. Continue reading Santa Ana Wind Season May Be Stretched by Climate Change →

Power

Solar Energy: What To Do When the Sun Sets

A big solar developer makes a major move toward storing electricity

Solar-thermal plants use mirrors or “heliostats” to focus sunlight on a tower receptor that produces steam to generate electricity.” credit=”BrightSource Energy

A major barrier for solar power has always been that it doesn’t work at night (Duh). A few years ago, developers of big “utility-scale” solar projects were able to shrug this off to some degree. But Oakland-based BrightSource Energy has reversed field and decided to add to several projects the ability to store electricity for distribution after dark.

BrightSource managers say times have changed. Where utilities once wanted all the renewable capacity they could get, to meet state requirements, the priority has since shifted to having those renewable electrons available when they’re needed.

“The challenges of integrating photovoltaics and wind into the grid have driven a much deeper appreciation for those that can be highly reliable,” BrightSource CEO John Woolard told me in a phone interview. Continue reading Solar Energy: What To Do When the Sun Sets →