[GWSG] Time machines; watery principles; pv @ $.80/Watt; NOAA slr maps; CAKEX; USGS slr show; conf. rept.; E-bikes

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Volcanic vents in the ocean acidify and heat water, providing a kind of time machine to study what will happen as we add more CO2 to the warming ocean.  Species disappear, both from acidity and increasing heat, and we know from past events that the ocean will remain impoverished for thousands of centuries.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17088154

2.  The Watery Foundation blog has reproduced a list of principles for a sustainable water supply.  Thanks to Deirdre Irwin for introducing me to the blog.  http://www.wateryfoundation.com/?p=6201

3.  Crystalline silicon pv cells are now selling for as little as $.80/Watt on the wholesale market.  The average price for Tier 2 Chinese solar panels is now under the $1/Watt target set by Secretary Chu for solar panels by the end of the decade.  Solar must also now be at least approaching parity with wind power in the best sites, where wind has been as cheap as coal for some years.  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/02/chinese-tier-2-modules-offered-below-1w?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-February22-2012  Tier 2 panels are of above average efficiency.  http://sroeco.com/solar/solar-panel-efficiency-tiers

4.  NOAA has posted a sea level rise viewer with water levels at one foot increments up to six feet of rise.  Erosion and other factors are not represented.  The Gulf coast is provided with simulations of various familiar landmarks as they submerge.   http://www.csc.noaa.gov/slr/viewer/#<http://www.csc.noaa.gov/slr/viewer/>

5.  The Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange site provides for interchange among those planning for the conditions displayed by the previous item.  http://www.cakex.org/

6.  The USGS has produced animations and affected population estimates for various areas.  Try the coastal US animation, which covers up to 30 meters of sea level rise.  http://cegis.usgs.gov/sea_level_rise.html

7.  I learned of the previous three items at the conference Building Coastal Community Resilience hosted by the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve in Eastpoint, FL (which is at about two feet elevation).  We heard of the expected effects of climate change in that part of the Florida Panhandle, and of the efforts to begin planning in South Florida.  No Florida community has yet begun to consider a process of relocation, which is what is in store for most of the Florida coast.  (At Eastpoint I had some of the excellent local oysters and a great shrimp omelet with grits.)

8.  E-bikes are cheap and efficient.  China now has over 100 million of them.   As gas prices rise here, they may become more common.  http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2012/02/22/1
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