[GWSG] Wind vs. NG in the EU; convinced; Alaskan RPS; yellow sub; Roughhead's report; scheming against CA clean energy

[Tilley, Al]

1.  For the third consecutive year, power produced by new wind installations will roughly equal that from new natural gas plants in the European Union.  http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2459&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

2.  Naomi Oreskes of U CA-San Diego has published a coauthored study of 1372 climate scientists dividing them into “convinced” and “unconvinced” categories.  The convinced are greatly more prominent, and greatly more numerous, than the unconvinced.     http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/06/scientists-convinced-of-climate.html?etoc  The article gives its interview time to the unconvinced.   Sigh.  If the AAAS does this, how can we expect better of the NYT or the WSJ?  Oreskes wrote a widely circulated study in 2004 which found that no paper in a 10% sample of peer-reviewed papers on climate over a period of 10 years held that humans were not responsible for significant recent warming by releasing greenhouse gasses through fossil fuels. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/306/5702/1686  Three people initially appeared on both the convinced and unconvinced lists of the current study (though 2 have since been removed from the unconvinced at their request).  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=climate-expertise-lacking-among-global-warming-contrarians

3.  Alaska has set a target of 50% renewable energy by 2025.  An expansion of hydroelectric power is expected to meet most of the target.  http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2265145/alaska-emerges-unlikely

4.  Last year I reported that an unmanned British sub had discovered that a seafloor ridge holding back the West Antarctic’s Pine Island Glacier has been leveled, and the glacier, as large as Texas, had become a prime candidate for dissolution.  The submarine was yellow; here is a picture and further details from the final report on the mission.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10354118.stm  Pine Island glacier is thought to be past its tipping point (meaning that there is nothing we can now do to reverse its dissolution).  Neighboring Thwaites Glacier is also thought to be involved.  http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18383-major-antarctic-glacier-is-past-its-tipping-point.html  General info on Pine Island Glacier:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Island_Glacier

5.  At the request of Admiral Roughhead (what a great name), the National Research Council of the National Academies has prepared a 22 page preliminary report on the implications of climate change for US naval operations.  The letter indicates a readiness to act in humanitarian and disaster relief operations, and builds support for increased Naval and Coast Guard facilities and operations in the Arctic.  The letter is worth reading for its toughminded assessment of some of the challenges ahead.  You must sign up for the free right to download a copy of the letter. http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12897

6.   Manufacturers and Texas oil companies are attempting to roll back California’s clean energy program through a ballot initiative which would suspend such actions until the unemployment rate is more than halved.  Since energy initiatives are net job creators, the campaign by the polluters is particularly deceitful.  The sponsors call it the “California jobs initiative.”  May they fail, and may they come to see the implications of what they are doing.    http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0623/Texas-oil-firms-behind-California-greenhouse-gas-initiative