[GWSG] WSJ bull; FL net zero; Greenland spurts; FEMA analysis; Hansen article; US backtracks on DAI; 5k new megs; NRC freeze

[Tilley, Al]

1.  The Wall Street Journal editorial page has been a dependable font of obstructionist ignorance on climate issues.  But then the same was true for acid rain and the ozone hole.  http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/08/02/the-wall-street-journal-dismissing-environmenta/189063

2.  Planet Green Group has broken ground on a net zero townhome development in Dunedin near Tampa.  91 people called in to reserve the 25 units, which will sell for $135-175,000 and have  electric vehicle charging stations in their garages.  A lottery will determine who gets to move in.  The developer will seek LEED certification for the units.  http://dunedin.patch.com/articles/affordable-green-homes-break-national-ground   More detail but not quite as recent:  http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/economicdevelopment/net-zero-electricity-townhome-project-to-rise-in-dunedin/1242006   At least in Dunedin net zero homes are not just for the wealthy, and there is a strong market.

3.  A Danish study finds that Greenland has lost ice in spurts—1985 to 1993 and 2005 to 2010—with relative stability between.  The underlying causes are not understood, and until they are sea level rise will be that much more difficult to predict.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19095069#<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19095069>

4.  The Georgetown Climate Center has analyzed the impact of the recent revisions to the FEMA flood insurance program.  FEMA risk maps must now include the best available scientific information on future sea level rise, among other momentous changes which should aid in spurring coastal communities to plan for the future.  The program is required to pay back its $17 billion debt and to become actuarially sound, with a doubled annual premium rise limit of 20%.  http://www.georgetownclimate.org/sites/default/files/Flood%20Insurance%20Reform%20Act%20of%202012%20Analysis_0.pdf

5.  James Hansen represents climate science to the general public in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.  Who better to do that.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/climate-change-is-here--and-worse-than-we-thought/2012/08/03/6ae604c2-dd90-11e1-8e43-4a3c4375504a_story.html  Hansen’s statements are based on his recent PNAS article.  http://bigstory.ap.org/article/new-study-ties-global-warming-recent-year-heat

6.  Chief US climate negotiator Todd Stern is questioning the target of limiting warming to 2° C over pre-industrial levels.  That degree of warming has been agreed to constitute the threshold of dangerous anthropogenic interference (DAI), the level of warming at which positive feedbacks take over to produce ever greater warming and we have lost the opportunity to intervene.  The common DAI figure in the scientific literature is now 1.5° C; we are probably already committed to this figure from heat in the system and the cooling effect of particulates which will settle out of the atmosphere when we cease burning fossil fuels.  Todd Stern is surely right that avoiding the DAI point will be politically difficult.  His comments do not acknowledge that we have no rational alternative.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19161799

7.  The Obama administration has put 5,000 megawatts of solar and wind projects in 4 western states on a fast track approval process.  http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/08/07/2   The US is granting solar and wind developers access to 16 million acres of Southwestern land set aside for the military.  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/08/wind-and-solar-developers-get-access-to-u-s-land-used-by-pentagon?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-August8-2012

8.  A court ruling has lead the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to freeze all US nuclear reactor operating and construction licensing processes over the issue of radioactive waste storage.  Among the 24 groups bringing suit were the Sierra Club and the Southern Association for Clean Energy.   http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nrc-freezes-all-nuclear-reactor-construction-operating-licenses-in-us-2012-08-07
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