[GWSG] Solar roads; hot enough?; 2o not safe; auto goals; CH4 inititiave; comm problems; Senate problems; comm recs

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Solar Roadways wants to replace asphalt with glass solar panels which would generate power, carry our phone and internet lines, and use led’s to flash warnings and info as we drive.  The substructure will be manufactured from landfill.  http://www.flixxy.com/solar-highways.htm\<http://www.flixxy.com/solar-highways.htm/>

2.  James Hansen in “How Warm Was This Summer?”  presents an accessible discussion of temperature trends.  Toward the end he observes that while no one extreme weather event can be directly credited to global warming, we can say that without modern era emissions the 2010 heat wave in Moscow and the floods in Pakistan, for example, would be extremely unlikely.  Thanks to Tom Larson for the link. http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2010/20101001_SummerTemperatures.pdf

3.  An English study of the climate during the Last Interglacial period 125,000 years ago finds that 2° of warming is not a safe target.  Warming in the period studied was 1.9° and the sea levels were 6.6-9.4 meters higher, rising twice as fast as they are today.  http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-10/uoe-rsc100110.php

4.  The US government has laid out four scenarios for improving auto and light truck emissions but did not choose among them, promising to revisit the plans next month.  One difficulty is dealing with the collateral emissions of electric vehicles.  http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/fuel-economy-will-be-um-better/

5.  The US is leading 38 nations in an expanded Global Methane Initiative to reduce methane emissions primarily by collecting it to use as fuel.  So far the initiative has prevented the emission of the equivalent of 40 million tons of CO2.  http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/10/nations-strengthen-pact-to-stem-.html

6.  A recent study finds that people are more persuaded by a scientist’s congruence with their ideology than by the scientist’s credentials or argument.  The conclusion that scientists will be more persuasive if they use “communication strategies that reduce the likelihood that citizens of diverse values will find scientific findings threatening to their cultural commitments" poses the difficulty that climate change findings regularly imply the necessity of cultural change.  Thanks to Tom Larson, again. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100914102114.htm

7.    Next week’s New Yorker will carry the dreadfully fascinating story of the wreck of the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman bill, and of the failure of the Senate to deal with climate change legislation.  What could get past the legislators with their urgent assignments from those who depend on fossil fuels for wealth and power?   http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/11/101011fa_fact_lizza

8.  A new study from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, “Driving Demand for Home Energy Improvements,” cautions against using such terms as weatherization, retrofit or audit.  Even trying to sell people on energy savings will be easier if you use colorful images such as telling people that their money is flowing out their chimney instead of speaking directly to their energy bill.  Comfort, health, and such social values as community engagement and competition are successful selling points for many people.  The study recommends going first for success with early adopters and then tailoring the campaign to other audiences.  It also stresses the project of bringing contractors into the campaign.   http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/dont-call-it-retrofitting/  The report itself:  http://eetd.lbl.gov/EAP/EMP/reports/lbnl-3960e-web.pdf