[GWSG] Climate alarm; soot; ag mitigation; empress trees; efficient HVAC; more efficient; rust power; Greenland's melt; beware the slump

[Tilley, Al]

1. Joelle Gergis, an Australian scientist who is a lead author of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report due out in 2021, describes the degree of concern she feels at the emerging picture. Thanks to Matt Williams for the lead.  https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2019/august/1566136800/jo-lle-gergis/terrible-truth-climate-change
[https://www.themonthly.com.au/sites/default/files/styles/the_nation_reviewed/public/Gergis_social.jpg]<https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2019/august/1566136800/jo-lle-gergis/terrible-truth-climate-change>
The terrible truth of climate change | The Monthly<https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2019/august/1566136800/jo-lle-gergis/terrible-truth-climate-change>
www.themonthly.com.au
In June, I delivered a keynote presentation on Australia’s vulnerability to climate change and our policy challenges at the annual meeting of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, the main conference for those working in the climate science community. I saw it as an opportunity to summarise the post-election political and scientific reality we now face.


2.  It has long been feared that particulate pollution from the burning of fossil fuels is masking significant warming through cloud formation, and that reducing pollution would reduce cloud cover and seriously increase heat. The good news from a new study based on observations of pollution’s effects on cloud formation is that the effect is mixed and need not be a factor in emissions control. https://phys.org/news/2019-08-pollution-wont-global-spike.html

3. A leaked IPCC draft on the general state of the climate emphasizes that a successful emissions control program must include land use and agricultural practices. Our current diet, and the way its food is grown, does not serve us well. We need to cut down on meat consumption and waste less food. The food we eat should be farmed to increase soil carbon and thus soil fertility; significant acreage must be freed from food production. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/03/ipcc-land-use-food-production-key-to-climate-crisis-leaked-report
[https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/37caebabdbfd2dc45e99572ea6e463622202b13d/0_0_4278_2567/master/4278.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdG8tZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=57811ee8d7670a0759f4b5c5d20cd823]<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/03/ipcc-land-use-food-production-key-to-climate-crisis-leaked-report>
We must change food production to save the world, says leaked report | Environment | The Guardian<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/03/ipcc-land-use-food-production-key-to-climate-crisis-leaked-report>
www.theguardian.com
Hereford beef cattle. The IPCC report says meat consumption should be cut to reduce methane emissions. Photograph: Australian Scenics/Getty Images Attempts to solve the climate crisis by cutting ...


4. Ed Brock sent a pair of articles on a tree which sequesters around ten times as much carbon per acre as others and is easy to grow—the empress tree, which grows twenty or thirty feet in the first year. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-08-02/we-already-have-the-world-s-most-efficient-carbon-capture-technology
[https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/i9xCW.5yDQLs/v0/1200x801.jpg]<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-08-02/we-already-have-the-world-s-most-efficient-carbon-capture-technology>
We Already Have the World’s Most Efficient Carbon Capture Technology - Bloomberg<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-08-02/we-already-have-the-world-s-most-efficient-carbon-capture-technology>
www.bloomberg.com
To help battle global warming, companies around the world are expected to spend billions of dollars over the next decade building devices aimed at sucking carbon from the atmosphere. The thing is ...

On the other hand, the empress tree may be too easy to grow. It outcompetes native vegetation, reproduces enthusiastically, and earns a spot on the most hated trees list. <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-08-02/we-already-have-the-world-s-most-efficient-carbon-capture-technology>
http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/paulownia-princess-tree-on-most-hated-plants-list.html

[http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/paulownia-tree.jpg]<http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/paulownia-princess-tree-on-most-hated-plants-list.html>
Paulownia (Princess Tree) on “Most Hated Plants” List<http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/paulownia-princess-tree-on-most-hated-plants-list.html>
www.ecosystemgardening.com
We built a house on an acre of land in 1961. On the property was a beautiful Paulownia tree some 20 feet tall. We lived there for 22 years and never experienced any instance of unwanted reproduction.



5. Heat exchangers are commonly used in home heating and air conditioning units. Researchers from Tsinghua U in Beijing and Brown U have found an easy way to make them 500% more efficient. https://phys.org/news/2019-08-approach-hvac-exchangers-efficient.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-nwletter
[https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/2019/3-newapproachc.jpg]<https://phys.org/news/2019-08-approach-hvac-exchangers-efficient.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-nwletter>
New approach could make HVAC heat exchangers five times more efficient - phys.org<https://phys.org/news/2019-08-approach-hvac-exchangers-efficient.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-nwletter>
phys.org
Researchers from Tsinghua University and Brown University have discovered a simple way to give a major boost to turbulent heat exchange, a method of heat transport widely used in heating ...


6. Artificial intelligence has produced a way to lower friction and increase the efficiency of heat pumps by 20-30%. https://techxplore.com/news/2019-07-ai-designed-consume-energy.html
[https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/hires/2019/1-aidesignedhe.jpg]<https://techxplore.com/news/2019-07-ai-designed-consume-energy.html>
AI-designed heat pumps consume less energy<https://techxplore.com/news/2019-07-ai-designed-consume-energy.html>
techxplore.com
In Switzerland, 50 to 60 percent of new homes are equipped with heat pumps. These systems draw in thermal energy from the surrounding environment—such as from the ground, air, or a nearby lake or river—and turn it into heat for buildings.


7. Significant currents of electricity are generated by saltwater flowing over surfaces with a thin coat of rust. A few square meters are sufficient to power a home. https://phys.org/news/2019-07-ultra-thin-layers-rust-electricity.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-nwletter
[https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/hires/2019/ultrathinlay.jpg]<https://phys.org/news/2019-07-ultra-thin-layers-rust-electricity.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-nwletter>
Ultra-thin layers of rust generate electricity from flowing water<https://phys.org/news/2019-07-ultra-thin-layers-rust-electricity.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-nwletter>
phys.org
There are many ways to generate electricity—batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, and hydroelectric dams, to name a few examples… and now, there's rust. New research conducted by scientists ...


8. Greenland’s current melt rate is not yet record-setting, but it is close. https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/456112-greenlands-ice-sheet-wasnt-expected-to-melt-like-this-until-2070
[https://thehill.com/sites/default/files/greenlandicesheet_getty_120618.jpg]<https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/456112-greenlands-ice-sheet-wasnt-expected-to-melt-like-this-until-2070>
Greenland's ice wasn't expected to melt like this until 2070 | TheHill<https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/456112-greenlands-ice-sheet-wasnt-expected-to-melt-like-this-until-2070>
thehill.com
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill During the past week, temperatures at the highest reaches of the Greenland ice sheet rose above freezing, melting ...


9. So far Greenland’s melt has added about 1mm of sea level rise this year. That could get a lot worse. Greenland is already seeing ice cliffs slump. The current melt rate could lead to higher and higher cliffs, more slumping, and rapid sea level rise. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/slumping-tall-ice-cliffs-greenland-antarctic-1.5077138
[https://i.cbc.ca/1.5077772.1553891608!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/ice-cliff-in-antarctic-peninsula.jpg]<https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/slumping-tall-ice-cliffs-greenland-antarctic-1.5077138>
Tall ice cliffs are slumping and may trigger rapid sea-level rise, study finds - cbc.ca<https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/slumping-tall-ice-cliffs-greenland-antarctic-1.5077138>
www.cbc.ca
Scientists have found that ice cliffs on Greenland's Helheim Glacier are slumping — a sensation that typically happens on land. This may trigger rapid sea-level rise, the study says.


10. Science Daily provides a more detailed description of slumping, which also applies to the Antarctic. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190322163342.htm
Tall ice-cliffs may trigger big calving events -- and fast sea-level rise -- ScienceDaily<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190322163342.htm>
www.sciencedaily.com
The ice-cliff research was spurred by a helicopter ride over Jakobshavn and Helheim glaciers on Greenland's eastern coast. Helheim ends abruptly in the ocean, in near-vertical ice-cliffs reaching ...


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