[GWSG] Costs & benefits; planetary threshold; pollinators in danger; Hansen paper; non-RPS solar; China's coal use falling

[Tilley, Al]

1.  In Nature, Nicholas Stern writes that the IPCC and others have greatly underestimated both the financial risk of inaction on climate change and the benefits of action leading to a transition to renewable energy.  Now the costs of action are measured against a baseline of business as usual without taking into account that business in a heating world will suffer markedly.  Stern calls for a reassessment based on a new generation of models.  http://www.nature.com/news/economics-current-climate-models-are-grossly-misleading-1.19416



2.  A modeling project at the Max Planck Institute suggests that with as little as 1120 ppm of CO2 the Earth could lose its water to space in irreversible warming.  The effect is called the Venus Syndrome after the condition of that planet.  The comment string is worth a look.    http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/emissions_could_make_earth_uninhabitable_20160227?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+Truthdig+Truthdig%253A+Drilling+Beneath+the+Headlines



3.  A UN study warns that pollinators generally-bees, birds, butterflies, and beetles-are in jeopardy of extinction from an array of factors, climate change among them.  http://www.wgal.com/national/beetles-butterflies-and-bees-oh-my-pollinators-face-extinction-study-says/38214582



4.  A newly written paper by James Hansen and Makiko Sato uses regional heating projections to conclude that the tropics and Middle East could become "practically uninhabitable" within this century, and that even 2C of heating could cause dangerous heating in some regions.  Increased interpersonal violence and conflict, and declining health, are predictable consequences of heating, and some regions will suffer sooner and more greatly than others.  Multimeter sea level rise and the resulting population dislocations will cause great social and economic disruption.  We are in a global emergency, and a carbon fee is necessary to reduce C02 emissions from fossil fuels.  http://csas.ei.columbia.edu/2016/02/29/regional-climate-change-and-national-responsibilities/



5.  A GTM report concludes that utility-scale solar energy installed in the US through 2015 was to meet state Renewable Portfolio Standards, but that half of the new installations this year will be beyond those requirements.  GTM credits the dropping price of solar and its price stability compared to natural gas, in addition to the extension of the solar tax credit.  http://cleantechnica.com/2016/03/01/half-installed-us-utility-scale-solar-2016-will-renewable-portfolio-standards/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29



6.  China's biggest network owner told a power industry conference in Texas that his country's goal was to replace coal and oil with renewables, and that coal's only role would be as reserve power (and not for base load).  And that use is temporary.  "Once you build solar and you build storage, the marginal cost of production is zero."  http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/base-load-power-a-myth-used-to-defend-the-fossil-fuel-industry-96007



7.  Chinese coal consumption fell in 2015 for the second year in a row.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/29/china-coal-consumption-drops-again   China is now using only half of its coal plants in a determined effort to diminish the part coal plays in producing energy.  The country appears to be initiating an attack on the production of new coal plants.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/02/29/3753342/china-war-coal/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cptop3  ?

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