[GWSG] NOAA SLR update; lower than 2017; NOAA's site; subsidizing disaster; the Li-S battery reconsidered

[Tilley, Al]

1. NOAA has released the first major update since 2017 to its sea level projections. The regional variations are significant, with the US East Coast, for example, due for much greater rise in the near term than is the West Coast. If emissions were frozen at current levels (not that they will or could be), the study projects an average of only one foot of additional rise in the last half of the century—the “baked-in rise” that most news stories focus on as if it were a sum projection rather than an illustration of the benefits of quick climate action.  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/16/us-sea-level-rise-study-flooding



2. The new projections are significantly lower than those of 2017, in part because we now believe that the Antarctic glaciers may be more stable than we did in 2017. The lower projections give our coastal areas in general more time to plan and prepare. Florida, however, has seen a rise at the previously projected intermediate high level and is still due for an alarming challenge, as the Miami Herald details. (The upper East Coast is in for even more severe rises.) https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article258409363.html



3. This overview of the NOAA sea level rise report links at the bottom to the full technical version. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/hazards/sealevelrise/sealevelrise-tech-report.html



4.  Globally, we are subsidizing disasters at $1.8tn a year, and the figure would be several times as high if we included the health effects and other externalities. The money now going to support Big Ag, gas and oil, plastic water, and others like them would go far to fund their remedies. A proposal to move toward that will be submitted at the COP15 on biodiversity this year.   https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/17/world-spends-18tn-a-year-on-subsidies-that-harm-environment-study-finds-aoe



5. The lithium-sulfur battery has been under examination for over a decade but has not lasted long enough to be commercially viable. Now a new application with a rare form of sulfur promises not only to carry three times the charge of a conventional Li-ion battery but to last longer. Because it avoids using such problematic materials as cobalt, manganese, and nickel, it is also more eco-friendly and surely cheaper. As it carries more charge per unit of weight, it should be possible to greatly lighten autos, giving them correspondingly increased range. Like 600+ miles. May it be so. https://cleantechnica.com/2022/02/17/lithium-sulfur-batteries-commercial-viability-improves-with-breakthrough-in-cathode-chemistry/

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