[GWSG] Slr factors; Scalia's legacy; our floods; Miocene hints; better battery; prefab solar; committed to 5.5 feet

[Tilley, Al]

1.  A PNAS article on global sea level rise 2002-2014 analyzes the factors involved, generally reinforces findings in previous studies, and finds significant regional variation, with the Philippines experiencing about five times the global average rise and the NW Atlantic about twice the average.  http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/ocean-levels-in-the-philippines-rising-at-five-times-the-global-average/



2.  Patrick Parenteau reviews Antonin Scalia's environmental rulings and reflects on the judicial implications of his death.  http://theconversation.com/what-scalias-death-means-for-environment-and-climate-54797?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The%20Weekend%20Conversation%20220%20-%204340&utm_content=The%20Weekend%20Conversation%20220%20-%204340+Version+A+CID_db8d77b25dc1000d9020a64c1ebaf461&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=What%20Scalias%20death%20means%20for%20environment%20and%20climate



3.  A Climate Central report finds, among other things, that 90% of the flood events along the Florida coast, San Diego, Seattle, and Honolulu in the last decade would not have occurred without the sea level rise occasioned by climate change.  "There are human fingerprints on thousands of recent floods."  http://sealevel.climatecentral.org/uploads/research/Unnatural-Coastal-Floods-2016.pdf



4.  Physical evidence from the Antarctic in the Miocene Epoch, when CO2 levels were about 100 ppm greater than today's, provide evidence about the sensitivity of the ice sheet and its modes of disintegration which will help us model its contribution to sea level rise as the planet warms.  Generally, the ice sheet seems less stable than we had thought, insofar as the conditions ten million years ago apply to today.   https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/02/22/antarctica-could-be-more-vulnerable-to-major-melting-than-we-thought/



5.  Australia's Redback Technologies is marketing a home power storage battery significantly lighter, cheaper, and smarter than Tesla's Powerwall.  http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/feb/23/half-the-price-in-half-the-time-solar-storage-innovation-harnesses-new-energy-frontier



6.  The Australian company 5B can install a solar farm in minutes and then relocate it easily.  They believe they will be able to deliver solar power up to tens of megawatts for $1/watt.  Their pre-fab technology should be particularly appropriate for locations which do not expect an indefinite need for power.  http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/innovation-pre-fab-solar-farms-could-slash-cost-of-big-solar-98806



7.  We have already emitted sufficient greenhouse gasses to commit us to a sea level rise of 5.5 feet.  How much further rise we will get depends on how successful we are at limiting emissions.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2016/feb/24/earth-is-warming-is-50x-faster-than-when-it-comes-out-of-an-ice-age  ?

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