[GWSG] IPCC WG2 report; Carter responds to review; Wiliams on boxes of rocks; bad microbe; CA cap and trade pays out

[Tilley, Al]

1.  The IPCC Working Group II report on impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability is now out.  Climate Crocks supplies a few handy responses.  Click the first line for the 44 page summary itself.  http://climatecrocks.com/2014/03/30/climate-impacts-potentially-immense-overwhelming/
The supplementary materials at the end of the summary report provide graphics of regional impacts and such useful tools as the simple breakdown of the planning process on page 37, which illustrates the centrality of studying vulnerability.  The Guardian provides an overview of report’s statements of the impacts on wildlife.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/31/ipcc-climate-report-wildlife-impact
The full report is 2,600 pages.  IPCC head Rajendra Pachauri says that it should “jolt people into action.”  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/31/climate-change-report-ipcc-chief
Pachauri warned that no one will be untouched by the changes in progress.  http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2014/03/31/the-ipccs-stark-warning-no-nation-will-be-untouched-by-climate-change/

2.  Ed Carter responded to the review of the Showtime series on climate which begins this month.  “The Years of Living Dangerously looks very interesting.  Methane increased production and leakage is a serious issue. Touting a switch to methane or "natural" gas as a climate change improvement is misleading at best. The industry would have to keep leaks down to 1% to be carbon neutral and it is more like 13% from what I read. That is because methane is 34* more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 at trapping heat over a hundred years and 86 times more potent over the first 20 years. Talk about ‘out of the fracking pan and into the fire’.

“The only problem I had with the preview was the "Hurricanes are getting stronger" comment. There definitely have been some dooseys lately in size, intensification, and frequency, but the experts I trust say the numbers to stamp increased tropical storm intensity as climate change aren't there yet.”

3.  Hank Williams doodled up some extensions of the idea of storing energy with carloads of rocks on an incline.  “An idle thought on item 5:  Using tidal action why couldn't we raise that railcar full of rocks on a cable and ratchet model which, when released, spins a flywheel as it un-spools going down, having the flywheel turn a generator and add the additional impetus of momentum if there is any left at the bottom of the cycle.  The raising energy would be the combination of tide and wave action; areas of large tidal swings are often areas of large topographic swings near the coast (Maine, the St Laurence seaway).

“There would be no new technology, the capital investment would have no startup expense to invent some way to do it:  blocks, tackle, barges, railcars.  On small tides connect fewer cars, on springs, connect an entire train.  Alternatively, add cars on springs, have the flywheel store more energy to release over time between tides.”  I responded that though we are short on hills in coastal FL, building an incline would probably be cheaper than building a nuclear reactor.

4.  The greatest extinction, the end-Permian, may have been caused by a methane-belching microbe.  http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/mar/31/methane-producing-microbes-mass-extinction-methanosarcina

5.  California citizens got their first payment from the state’s new cap and trade system.  Thanks to Brian Paradise for the story.  http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/03/31/california-climatechange-idINL1N0MS1UR20140331
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