[GWSG] Paris draft; Hansen explains; Pulse 2B; Heat & High Water; solar: $.33/kWh; coal: $23/plant; 78% renewable

[Tilley, Al]

1.  The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has released a new 88 page draft of initial bargaining options for the Paris climate talks this December, orchestrating the submitted national emissions control plans and addressing other aspects of climate action.  http://newsroom.unfccc.int/unfccc-newsroom/adp-co-chairs-issue-new-document/
The draft:  http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/adp2/eng/4infnot.pdf  Under option 1, countries would agree to more than 25-40% emissions cuts by 2020 on a 1990 base (page 9).  "Emissions Gap," page 53, provides alternative targets of 2C and 1.5C of warming.  (I refer to the page numbers of the pdf, not of the document's internal numbering.)  A target of 1.5C is sometimes mentioned without a 2C alternative, though nothing in this draft should be taken as anything but a suggestion.  Optional deadlines for reaching peak emissions, zero emissions, and negative emissions are on page 57.  The draft provides language to do what needs to be done, if the delegates have the will to do what they must.



2.  James Hansen observes that claims that we will be in trouble from sea level rise in 200-900 years have more of a base in public relations than in science, and informally recounts how he and his coauthors came up with the estimates in their recent online paper that decadal scale multi-meter rises may already be underway.  http://csas.ei.columbia.edu/2015/07/27/darn-sea-level-disaster-ahead-in-200-900-years-when/  Hansen has since apologized to those scientists who have published studies of ice sheet activity on 200-900 year time scales as a result of modeling constraints, not of public relations or timidity.  http://csas.ei.columbia.edu/2015/07/27/ice-sheet-200-900-year-time-scale/



3.  The Yale Climate Forum released a six minute video last year, Meltwater Pulse 2B, which explains why sea level rise from the Antarctic is unlikely to be smooth and why the Hansen et al. historical data are likely to provide a good guide.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71l9lzLsBRc



4.  Risky Business has released a conservatively based study of the likely economic impacts of climate disruption on the Southeastern US plus Texas, Come Heat and High Water.  Thanks to Tom Larson for the news.  http://riskybusiness.org/index.php?p=reports/southeast-report/executive-summary



5.  A study ordered by the Maine Public Service Commission has found that distributed solar power is worth $.33/kWh.  Energy retails in the state for $.13/kWh.  The study considered such factors as avoided energy costs, avoided pollution, and avoided fuel cost fluctuations.    http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/why-rooftop-solar-may-be-worth-three-times-price-of-grid-power-52898



6.  23 German municipal utilities wanted to sell their stakes in a new German coal plant in which they had invested 2.5 billion euros.  They were offered one euro apiece.  http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/new-german-coal-plant-worth-one-euro-49597



7.  On Saturday, July 25, Germany produced 78% of its electricity renewably.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/07/29/3685555/germany-sets-new-renewable-energy-record/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cptop3
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