[GWSG] Paris agreement; German ice ban, 2030; EU recharging regs; SunDrop Farms; trees champ cloud seeders; Vilano flyover

[Tilley, Al]

1.  The ratification of the Paris agreement sets the world on a course toward an economy based on renewable energy.  Dramatic changes are underway in global investment, industrial strategy, and regulation in support of the energy transition.  (The author is a British Labor Party member of parliament.)  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/07/paris-agreement-climate-change-carbon-emissions  President Obama observed that the agreement sets us together on the path to avoiding runaway climate change and provides the base for "bolder targets."  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/oct/05/obama-paris-climate-deal-ratification



2.  Germany has approved a resolution banning all new internal combustion engine vehicles by 2030.  http://cleantechnica.com/2016/10/09/germany-steps-calls-ban-gasdiesel-cars-2030/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29



3.  New EU regulations would require all new and refurbished homes, and 10% of parking spaces around new buildings, to have recharging stations.  Power production will need to increase to support the rising number of electric vehicles.  https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/oct/11/electric-car-charging-point-new-home-europe-renault



4.  Australia's Sundrop Farms will produce 13% of the country's tomatoes in a desert facility using cardboard soaked in sea water to cool the plants when needed and desalinating sea water with a concentrating solar tower to water them and provide power.  Similar farms are planned for the US (berries, in Tennessee, presumably with no desalination required) and Portugal (peppers), as well as further sites in Australia.  Sundrop is able to secure ten-year purchase agreements to finance their farms and is able to produce tomatoes cheaply.   http://www.ecowatch.com/sundrop-farms-solar-desalination-2033987160.html



5.  Trees are better at producing seeds for clouds than we had thought.  As we produce fewer particulates by burning fossil fuels, we have expected about .5C of warming from the lost reflectivity.  The new figures of trees' capacity to produce reflective clouds in a clean atmosphere suggest that they may offset the loss of reflectivity from the particulates, which will quickly settle out of the atmosphere once we stop producing them.  https://theconversation.com/trees-are-much-better-at-creating-clouds-and-cooling-the-climate-than-we-thought-66713?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20October%2010%202016%20-%205778&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20October%2010%202016%20-%205778+CID_0f58295630832c0bd3f4f1daa0f5b608&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=Trees%20are%20much%20better%20at%20creating%20clouds%20and%20cooling%20the%20climate%20than%20we%20thought



6.  Perhaps hurricanes should be rated to reflect their potential for water damage as well as for wind speed.  The story begins with the best depiction I have seen of the damaged coastline of Vilano Beach in the Jacksonville, FL, area.  There used to be quite a broad beach (and lots of sea walls) in front of those homes.  https://climatecrocks.com/2016/10/10/post-mathew-do-we-know-what-a-hurricane-is-anymore/  ?

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