[GWSG] Tips and tilts; IPCC reprimand; bagged wind; WAIS stability; PACE held up; DOE home hub; biomass in MA

[Tilley, Al]

1.  A Danish study posits two routes to dramatic climate change: forcings such as the current buildup of CO2 leading to gradual alteration, and small chaotic changes which add up to an unpredictable tipping point.  The chaotic changes have been characteristic of ice age shifts.  Today we may be tilting the climate system toward a tipping point, so that global temperatures could rise abruptly.  http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1909948/dramatic_climate_change_is_unpredictable/index.html?source=r_science

2.  The IPCC has had its wrist slapped by an international review panel for mishandling errors on the pace of glacial melt in the Himalayas and the elevation of Holland.  The review panel suggested that the IPCC needs some structural changes to deal with problems as they emerge, and perhaps a time limit on the chairmanship.    http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/329/5996/1135?cookietest=yes&sa_campaign=Email/sntw/3-September-2010/10.1126/science.329.5996.1135


3.  A Danish project to store wind energy in a bag of compressed air has achieved efficiencies in the high 90% range.  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/08/efficient-storage-of-wind-energy-is-in-the-bag?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-September1-2010

4.  A British study finds that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet may have collapsed as recently as 120,000 years ago.  The indication is a similarity among tiny marine animals ordinarily separated by the WAIS. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11138207

5.  The PACE programs to allow homeowners to finance energy improvements through loans repaid in their property tax has hit a roadblock in problems with arrangements for refinancing and foreclosure.  The problem is in litigation.  http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/homeowners-must-pay-off-energy-improvement-loans/

6.   The Department of Energy has named Penn State as the site of its third energy hub.  The Berkeley hub is synthesizing fuels from sunlight, and the Oak Ridge hub is working on advanced nuclear reactor design.  The Penn State grant of $129 million over five years will support work on efficient energy use in buildings.  Structures at the closed Philadelphia Navy Yard are the guinea pigs.  http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/329/5996/1138?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/3-September-2010/10.1126/science.329.5996.1138

7.  A study done for the Department of Energy suggests that burning wood biomass for power in Massachusetts may produce more greenhouse gas emissions than burning natural gas—more exactly, the carbon debt of biomass would be negative for more than 90 years (Exec. Summary, p. 7).  Thanks to Tom Larson for the study.  http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eoeeaterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Energy%2c+Utilities+%26+Clean+Technologies&L2=Renewable+Energy&L3=Biomass&sid=Eoeea&b=terminalcontent&f=doer_arra_bscps&csid=Eoeea   Tom also sends this reflection on the limited nature of the study.  What is true for hardwood forests in MA may not hold for pine forests in GA.  The study should be used for local applications, and for its helpful analytical frame, which allows a treatment of emissions impact over a long period of time.  http://blog.cleanenergy.org/2010/06/23/dams-in-the-desert/