The recent deaths of seven whales off New Jersey, mostly humpbacks, got a lot of attention. The federal NOAA Fisheries agency is responsible for whales. An outrageous statement by their spokesperson got me to do some research on humpback whale deaths.The results are appalling. The evidence seems clear that offshore wind development is killing whales by the hundreds.Here is the statement as reported in the press:“NOAA said it has been studying what it calls “unusual mortality events” … [Read more...]
EPA Now Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place on CO2
There are lots of happy reports on the Supreme Court’s ruling throwing out EPA’s so-called Clean Power Plan. Some go so far as to suggest that EPA is barred from regulating power plant CO2 emissions.It is not quite that simple and the result is rather amusing. EPA is still required to regulate CO2 under the terms of the Clean Air Act, but that Act provides no way to do that regulation. The Clean Power Plan attempted to expand an obscure minor clause in the Act to do the job but SCOTUS correctly … [Read more...]
Do wind farms change the weather?
The effect of lots of wind turbines on weather and climate is a small but active research area. Wind power converts wind energy into electricity, thereby removing that energy from the air.The research issue of how taking a lot of energy out might affect weather or climate seems to have emerged as early as 2004. Studies range from the global climate impact down to the local effects of a single large wind facility.Here is a nontechnical article on a key global climate scale paper in 2011: “Wind … [Read more...]
Why “cheap” solar increases the price of power
I keep hearing that since solar power is cheap it pays to add it to the generation mix. Sometimes this claim is caveated, saying that it only pays up to a certain fraction of total generating capacity. Typical limits range from 30% to 60%. Moreover this claim that it pays to add solar is made by conservatives as well as liberals. We are, after all, just talking about money, not principles.In reality, this “solar pays” claim is like saying it pays to add a small, high mileage car as a second car. … [Read more...]
Environmentalism has lost its way
Driven by climate madness, the environmental movement has become the greatest advocate of destructive industrial development in history.As Kant said: “To will the end is to will the means”. In this case, the means to the phantom end of climate control have led environmentalists to abandon all of their principles. Solar and wind require environmental destruction on an unprecedented scale. Electrification requires the use of toxic chemicals on a similar scale. The hazardous waste stream is … [Read more...]
COP 26: Radicals lose on every issue!
The radical alarmists proposed a fistful of bad stuff during COP 26. A lot was in the surprise COP President’s proposed decision document on the last Wednesday, with just three days to go. See my article "COP 26: With Biden’s help the COP goes wild." Other ridiculous stuff was proposed by various country groups.None of it made it whole into the final decision. Most just disappeared and what was left was rendered harmless.Among the crazy proposals that happily went missing in action:1. Halving … [Read more...]
Countdown to COP26 on the road to failure
It is less than 60 days until COP26 convenes in Glasgow. We can expect a flood of climate horror stories (including flooding). But there will also be some discussion of the actual issues, so here is a brief breakdown of the big four.Keep in mind that the alarmists have a bit of a civil war going on, between what I call the moderates and the radicals. The moderates have been at it for over 30 years and the radicals are fed up. The moderates now have a net zero target of 2050, while the radicals … [Read more...]
Agriculture policy is a climate change witch hunt
Political debates over climate policy under the present zeitgeist of climate-change hysteria is like competing to see how many witches you can burn. This is how Professor William Happer described the situation after his recent lecture on the three greenhouse gases targeted by today’s draconian national agricultural policies. Professor Happer gave this well attended online talk to the Irish Climate Science Forum and the international CLINTEL Foundation.Innocent greenhouse … [Read more...]
International Energy Agency’s Green energy fantasy is a hoot
Looking for laughs? The International Energy Agency has produced a laugh filled report, grandly titled: “Net Zero by 2050: A roadmap for the global energy system“. Redesigning the global energy system. My, oh my. Below are a few highlights, out of many.To begin with it is not a roadmap, as it does not tell us how to get there. In fact you cannot get there from here, which makes their there very amusing. This is perhaps the most elaborate net zero … [Read more...]
A good example of a bad environmental justice study
Biden’s so-called environmental justice push is going to bring on a big wave of bogus research. A really big report just came out so I want to chop on it a bit. Not just for its specific fallacies, but also as typical of what we are going to see a lot of. As with the climate scare, there is a careful combination of bad modeling plus goofy statistics.In fact the term “environmental justice” just means unhappy environmental statistics with a racial or ethnic focus. That the situation described is … [Read more...]
