[GWSG] UN plans; ins. problems; variable PIG; variable clathrates; Spanish wind; variable sun, clouds; quinone batteries

[Tilley, Al]

1.  A draft agreement on climate will come out this year in preparation for the 2015 UN conference in Lima, Peru.  Cristiana Figueres observed that given the instability of the climate “We don’t have the option of not coming to an agreement, and frankly we don’t have an option of not coming to an agreement that is meaningful.”  http://www.rtcc.org/2014/01/06/figueres-not-backing-2015-climate-change-treaty-will-be-unacceptable/

2.  Rising flood insurance rates are beginning to have an impact on real estate sales and values in SW Florida.  http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20140104/ARTICLE/140109852&NoCache=1?p=all&tc=pgall#gsc.tab=0

3.  The ice shelf into which the West Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier flows has thinned in the past two years, perhaps due to a strong La Niña.  The glacier appears to be more sensitive to transient variables than had been thought.  http://www.enn.com/climate/article/46854?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClimateChangeNews-Enn+%28Climate+Change+News+-+ENN%29

4.  Methane from clathrates on the ocean floor off Norway has been released several times in the fairly recent past, suggesting a customary variability and allaying fears that the current releases indicate a massive change in the region.  http://www.npr.org/2014/01/06/260265279/arctic-methane-bubbles-not-as-foreboding-as-once-feared?ft=1&f=1025   Thom Hartman has produced a ten minute video which depicts what is at stake.  http://lasthours.org/

5.  Wind generated more electricity in Spain than any other source in 2013.  Emissions from power generation dropped 23.1%.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/06/wind-power-spain-electricity-2013

6.   Recent papers confirm that variations in solar radiation contributed relatively little to recent warming, and others calculate that cloud cover will decrease as warming increases, leading to relatively high climate sensitivity.  A good article to forward to your propagandized friends who imagine that solar variability accounts for warming and that increasing cloud cover will take care of it.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/jan/09/global-warming-humans-not-sun

7.  A Harvard materials scientist has developed a quinone flow battery which is cheap and scalable to home or commercial use to normalize the output of renewable energy sources.  It is about three years from a large prototype.  http://www.nature.com/news/cheap-battery-stores-energy-for-a-rainy-day-1.14486
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