[GWSG] New fed task force; solar antennae; singing kids; coming North; Goce; low Ph, low N; boxes blooming; NYT climate overview

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Secretary, has formed the Climate Change and Adaptation Task Force to deal with the impact of climate change.    http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978814939

2.  A new kind of nanoscale solar antenna promises to double the output of solar cells by harvesting energy in the infrared range and by catching photons from a wider angular range.  The cells are still in development, but in the late stages.      http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827915.000-is-night-falling-on-classic-solar-panels.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=magcontents

3.  Canada’s Kids for Climate Action have been forming flash mobs to carol Vancouver with “Climate Change is Coming to Town.”  http://www.theprovince.com/life/Caroling+meets+climate+change+action+Christmas+flash/4001638/story.html  Here’s the carol, courtesy of the Toronto Raging Grannies.  http://climatechangeiscomingtotown.net/multimedia_mp3_CCsong_CCiscomingtotown_bicycle.html

4.  An article in PNAS warns of millions of new immigrants from Mexico in the coming decades due to climate change.  Also, the oil which has furnished 40% of the Mexican budget has begun to dwindle and the resulting financial stress is expected to motivate further immigration.   This op-ed piece from the Houston Chronicle calls for climate mitigation.  http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/7347015.html

5.    Goce, a gravity-sensing satellite, is providing new information on ocean currents.  Climate models will benefit.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11867162

6.  Ocean acidification from atmospheric carbon reduces the production of the form of nitrogen used by living beings.  The effect ranged from decreases of 8-38% in an experiment constructing future oceanic conditions.  The impact of the effect has not yet been determined.  http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=ocean-acidification-may-disrupt-the-2010-12-20

7.  Commercial installations of Bloom box fuel cells are now producing 35 megawatts nationwide.  Each Bloom box produces 100 kilowatts and costs $800 thousand; Bloom is dealing with a backlog of orders.    Boxes by ClearEdge produce 5 kw and cost $56 thousand each.  Decentralized community power stations are now economically attractive.  http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bloom-box-20101221,0,6209641.story

8.  The NY Times has produced a piece on the history of climate science and climate politics in the US, built around the story of Charles Keeling’s Mauna Loa carbon observations.  The main news here is that the NY Times has produced a second straight climate story to go with their piece on sea level rise, this time calling Lindzen and the other deniers directly into question.  A holiday gift.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/22/science/earth/22carbon.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y