Global warming, climate change, all these things are just a dream come true for politicians. I deal with evidence and not with frightening computer models because the seeker after truth does not put his faith in any consensus. The road to the truth is long and hard, but this is the road we must follow. People who describe the unprecedented comfort and ease of modern life as a climate disaster, in my opinion have no idea what a real problem is.
Governments spends trillions to fight climate change, but Lomborg says many of these policies are “not an efficient way of spending.”
Environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg says we waste money in the fight against climate change.
Governments spends trillions to fight climate change, but Lomborg says many of these policies are “not an efficient way of spending.”
For saying this, Lomborg has been called “the devil.” The Danish government even targeted him for his views on climate change.
“I’m not trying to do something that’s immoral or anything,” he tells me. “I’m simply trying to make sure that we get it right.”
Lomborg says there are better things society should spend money on. He says we should spend on the “best things first,” things like maternal and newborn health and improving education, rather than squandering billions on pointless gestures toward stopping climate changes.
Comprehensive data analysis shows relative sea levels were anywhere from 1 to 7 meters (~3.9 m) higher than present throughout the Mid-Holocene at 15 of 16 assessed sites across Southeast Asia.
Comprehensive data analysis shows relative sea levels were anywhere from 1 to 7 meters (~3.9 m) higher than present throughout the Mid-Holocene at 15 of 16 assessed sites across Southeast Asia.
A new study (Li et al., 2023) compiles highstand records from sites spanning Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Borneo, Sunda Shelf, Makassar Strait…and indicates that throughout southeast Asia there was a “peak RSL [relative sea level] highstand of ~3.9 ±1.1 m at ~6 ka BP or later.”
Of the 16 locations assessed, just 1 did not indicate sea levels were higher than present back when CO2 levels were alleged to be 265 ppm.
Art Viterito is a retired Professor of Geography who taught at the University of Pittsburgh, the George Washington University and the College of Southern Maryland.
Art Viterito is a retired Professor of Geography who taught at the University of Pittsburgh, the George Washington University and the College of Southern Maryland.
Art received his Ph.D. from the University of Denver with specialties in climatology, physical geography, and geographic information systems. He has published research in the areas of urban climatology and global climate change. His work in urban climatology was cited in the first report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and his most recent work on the role of oceanic geothermal heat in modulating climate has been cited by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change.
Art is a member of the National Association of Scholars, and is a policy advisor to the Heartland Institute. He currently resides in Vero Beach, Florida.
00:00 Introduction and Guest Background 00:38 Understanding the Geothermal Paradox 01:24 Geothermal Heat and Global Temperatures 01:57 Exploring the Mid Ocean Ridge System 04:56 The Geothermal Paradox and its Impact 06:38 The Role of Seismic Activity in Global Warming 08:30 The Impact of Geothermal Heating on Ocean Circulation 14:22 The Connection Between Seismic Activity and Global Temperatures 21:27 Understanding the Impact of Geothermal Heating on Climate 46:02 Conclusion and Future Predictions
Earth systems scientist PhD University of Tasmania Doctor of Science University of London Worked at the University of Hong Kong for 35 years until retirement where he taught geoscience courses Deputy Chairman of the Climate Change Science Implementation Team of UNESCO’s International Year of Planet Earth 2007-2009 Honorary Science Advisor, Association for Geoconservation, Hong Kong My initial interest in climate change was because of my search for explanations for Hong Kong’s temperature, rainfall and sea-level record
00:00 Introduction and Background 00:13 Guest Introduction and Career Overview 01:34 Impact of Volcanic Eruptions on Climate 03:09 Exploring Specific Volcanic Eruptions and Their Effects 06:38 The Role of Submarine Volcanic Eruptions in Climate Change 09:23 The Impact of Volcanic Eruptions on Sea Levels 13:45 The Influence of Volcanic Eruptions on Ocean Heat Waves and Extreme Weather Events 16:09 Understanding the Classification of Volcanic Eruptions 20:47 The Role of Volcanic Eruptions in Sea Level Changes 38:09 Concluding Remarks and Future Research Directions
In a performance worthy of the finest comedians, the COP28 climate summit has managed to turn its bold proclamation of ending fossil fuels into a farcical retreat. Politico’s recent article, dated December 11, 2023, paints a vivid picture of this tragicomic scene.
The article begins with a dramatic setting: the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, where the once-loud calls for a fossil fuel phaseout have been reduced to mere whispers of ‘reducing’ them. This grandiose plan, initially supported by environmental groups and certain nations, has fizzled out, much to the chagrin of activists and self-proclaimed environmental saviors. As Politico puts it,
“The prospect of a deal to end fossil fuels faded…when organizers…released a draft proposal that merely suggested reducing them instead.”
A Chorus of Discontent
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, in a statement that reeks of hyperbole, declares, “COP28 is now on the verge of complete failure.” Meanwhile, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, during a fractious meeting, laments that the draft
“really doesn’t meet the expectations…in terms of the urgently needed transition to clean sources of energy.”
The irony here is thick – the very champions of these policies seem shocked that their unrealistic expectations are unmet.
The Realists Strike Back
In a twist of practicality, representatives of countries including China and India firmly oppose any language suggesting a phaseout or phase-down of specific energy sources. These nations, perhaps more anchored in reality, recognize the impracticality and economic harakiri such policies would entail. The article notes,
“Negotiations…were expected to continue through the wee hours…the scheduled final day of the summit.”
The Green Disillusionment
Environmental advocates and some EU members view this change as a betrayal, their utopian dreams clashing with the unyielding wall of reality. The Marshall Islands’ John Silk melodramatically states,
“The Republic of the Marshall Islands did not come here to sign our death warrant,”
highlighting the emotional, rather than rational, underpinning of such arguments.
A Middle Ground or A Mirage?
While some, like Mohamed Adow of Power Shift Africa, see the deal as laying “the ground for transformational change,” others express skepticism. French Minister for Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher melodically laments,
“I don’t know what will happen to my kids tomorrow if we stick to this text.”
Conclusion: The Theater of Absurdity
The COP28 summit, as outlined in Politico’s report, emerges not as a forum of rational discourse and pragmatic solutions but as a theater of the absurd. The retreat from a fossil fuel phaseout to a vague suggestion of ‘reducing’ them is not just a policy failure; it is a testament to the unrealistic and often theatrical nature of the climate debate. It lays bare the chasm between the lofty ideals of environmental activism and the pragmatic realities of global energy needs. One can’t help but appreciate the humor in watching these climate crusaders grapple with the inconvenient truth that their lofty alarmist aspirations often crumble under the weight of practicality. Welcome to the real world, where good intentions meet the hard road of reality.
Addendum: Michael Mann has the sads.
As the 28th United Nations climate summit (COP28) draws to a close in Dubai, after another year of devastating heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms and record high global temperatures, the entire process is threatening to break down. Not only has COP28 failed to meet this moment demanding dramatic and immediate climate action — it has made a caricature of it.https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-12-11/climate-summit-dubai-cop28
In Europe, the mosquito is now well established in Italy and southern France. But the idea that Britain will soon have the same climate as the south of France is absurd.
Asian tiger mosquitoes carrying dengue fever could be common in England by the middle of this century, according to government health experts.
The insects have spread across large parts of Europe in recent years because of warmer conditions – and tend to live in urban areas and feed during the day, putting people at greater risk.
They are known for their striped body and its potential to spread dengue fever, zika virus and chikungunya – diseases normally associated with tropical regions.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) fears dengue fever could be transmitted in London by 2060, and the mosquito itself could become widespread across England in the 2040s.
Jolyon Medlock, an entomologist at UKHSA, said monitoring at borders can help slow the spread of mosquitoes – and people can keep them away by covering any standing water or empty containers, as the insects lay eggs in them.
UKHSA chief executive Professor Dame Jenny Harries said: “Things that when I trained many years ago were called tropical diseases will actually become national domestic diseases.”
Officials also said other food or water-based infectious diseases could become more common, with an increased risk of more pandemics.
Danger from extreme heat will worsen and so will flooding, which can also damage people’s mental health.
Food prices are also likely to become more volatile as much of what the UK imports is from regions sensitive to climate impacts such as drought.
Wildfires that produce toxic smoke are also expected more frequently during hotter, drier summers.
Young children, the elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions are most vulnerable to these threats.
“In the summer of 2022, UK temperatures reached above 40C for the first time on record,” Dame Jenny said.
“We had nearly 3,000 excess deaths recorded across that extended heat period while many other countries have experienced bouts of intense and prolonged heat in recent months.
“Using a high emission scenario, UK health-related deaths are estimated to increase by over 100% in the 2030s, over 500% in the 2050s, and over 1,000% by 2070.”
The Earth has already warmed by 1.2C above pre-industrial levels and the amount of carbon in the atmosphere means further warming is already locked in even if emissions start declining overnight.
This means some adaption is necessary, the UKHSA said, alongside the reduction in emissions and making improvements to housing, flood defences and extreme temperature warnings.
Dame Jenny added: “Climate change is an important threat which undermines public health right across the globe, not only by increasing the mortality burden of extreme temperatures and weather effects, but through enhancing the spread of infectious disease and exacerbating the fragility of the global systems that our health depends upon, increasing the vulnerability of populations to existing geopolitical, energy and cost-of-living crises.”
Does Jenny Harries seriously believe we are now getting a “tropical climate”? If she does, she should not be in her job.
The whole story about Asian tiger mosquitos shows a complete lack of understanding of their ecology. This is what the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control say:
The mosquito is native to the tropical and subtropical areas of Southeast Asia. In the past few centuries, however, this species has spread to many countries through the transport of goods and international travel.
In Europe, the mosquito is now well established in Italy and southern France. But the idea that Britain will soon have the same climate as the south of France is absurd.
In fact, the Asian tiger does not need such a hot climate. You will see from the map above that it is already well established in the Northeastern United States, which has much colder winters than here.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control explain that the mosquito is already showing signs of adaptation to colder climates which may result in disease transmission in new areas.
Scientists reckon that Britain is already well within the climatic threshold:
As with all mosquito vectored diseases, the solution is effective control methods, in particular the reduction of larval development sites and use of pesticides.
As for the rest of the article, it might just as well have come from the Extinction Rebellion playbook of outright lies:
Danger from extreme heat will worsen and so will flooding, which can also damage people’s mental health.
Food prices are also likely to become more volatile as much of what the UK imports is from regions sensitive to climate impacts such as drought.
Wildfires that produce toxic smoke are also expected more frequently during hotter, drier summers.
In the summer of 2022, UK temperatures reached above 40C for the first time on record,” Dame Jenny said. “We had nearly 3,000 excess deaths recorded across that extended heat period
Using a high emission scenario, UK health-related deaths are estimated to increase by over 100% in the 2030s, over 500% in the 2050s, and over 1,000% by 2070.
None of this is true. Harries should be fired for spreading so much false information.
Another small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) has seen a major contract in jeopardy, casting more doubt on the prospects for the highly-touted future of small modular nuclear reactors. The online news service Alaska Beacon reports that the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) has revoked an August Air Force preliminary decision to install an experimental Oklo micro reactor at Eielson Air Force near Fairbanks.
By Kennedy Maize — December 12, 2023
Another small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) has seen a major contract in jeopardy, casting more doubt on the prospects for the highly-touted future of small modular nuclear reactors. The online news service Alaska Beacon reports that the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) has revoked an August Air Force preliminary decision to install an experimental Oklo micro reactor at Eielson Air Force near Fairbanks.
Artist impression of Oklo plant design
The Defense Department logistics arm refused repeated requests for details and clarification of the cancellation of the Oklo project. The chance to build a small nuclear power plant at the Alaskan location drew interest from SMR vendors Oklo, BWXT, Westinghouse, NuScale Power, and Rolls Royce, among many interested energy industry parties at a meeting last year.
According to the Alaska Beacon, Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp., a new entrant in the SMR market, which has worked with DOD and NASA on space nuclear power systems made a “prefiling notice of protest” with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims when the Air Force picked the Oklo project. Untra Safe wants to offer 3.5-15 MW “modular micro reactors” for remote terrestrial uses, the same market better-known Oklo is targeting, A company official acknowledged the filing but said Ultra Safe had not yet made a formal protest. The court told The Quad Report that such filings are not public documents.
The online Alaska newsletter Northern Journal reported that the DLA action was pursuant to a DLA acquisition regulation that specifies, “For acquisitions with an estimated value of $100 million or more, contracting officers should conduct discussions.”
Oklo’s possible loss of the Air Force deal could upset the plans of Santa Clara (CA)–based Oklo to go public next year through a “special purpose acquisition company,” AltC Acquisition Corp., led by controversial artificial intelligence entrepreneur Sam Altman, who is also the main investor in Oklo and the company’s CEO. Oklo announced the SPAC transaction last July, saying it expects to raise $500 million and be listed on the New York Stock Exchange as OKLO.
Oklo, which began life in 2013 proposing tiny reactors in the 1-2 MWe range, has upscaled its reactor design to 15-100 MW, according to POWER magazine. Using basic 1960’s technology demonstrated by the Atomic Energy Commission’s Experimental Breeder Reactor – II, Oklo’s “Aurora” machine uses fast (unmoderated) neutrons for the fission reaction, and an unspecified liquid metal coolant (most likely either sodium or the sodium-potassium alloy NAK). The metallic zirconium-uranium fuel would consist of high assay, low enriched uranium (HALEU), with an enrichment level of 19%.
Oklo has a 2019 deal with the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory for a demonstration at a site near Idaho Falls, with operation planned for 2026-202. In March 2020, Oklo submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a combined construction and operation license, the first for a non-light water advanced reactor. The NRC in January rejected the application, and Oklo is working on a new license submission.
Other SNR News
Rival Ultra Safe is pushing a high temperature gas reactor design that uses TRISO ceramic HALEU fuel pellets up to 19% enrichment in a silicon carbide matrix, graphite moderator, and a helium coolant. According to the company, the plant would consist of both the nuclear plant to generate much higher temperatures than conventional light-water reactors with molten salt thermal storage, and a separate plant to convert the heat into electric power.
“When demand rises, hot molten salt is used to generate steam and power an electrical turbine.” The molten salt can store 660⁰ C reactor heat for up to 10 hours “and can be supplemented with hydrogen burners.” That arrangement allows the plant to provide both electricity and process heat.
———————————–
The Rockville, Md.-based X-Energy’s $1.8 billion SPAC merger with Ares Acquisition Corp. crashed at the end of October. The announcement came on the day X-Energy shareholders were scheduled to vote on the deal. X-Energy attributed the collapse of the deal to “challenging market conditions, peer-company trading performance, and a balancing of the benefits and drawbacks of becoming a publicly traded company under current circumstances.” The company is touting a 100-MW HTGR reactor design.
——————
Kennedy Maize blogs at The Quad Report, from which this post was adapted.
Hydrogen could replace natural gas in thousands of homes under controversial plans to decarbonise entire towns in Britain’s push towards net zero.
Ministers have asked the UK’s main gas network operators to nominate the most suitable towns to be moved from methane to pure hydrogen as part of the pilot over the next decade.
It comes as the Government prepares to publish its long-awaited “Hydrogen Roadmap”, which will set out how the UK can build a network of hydrogen production factories, and convert homes, businesses, and transport networks to the green fuel.
In a recent letter from the Government, operators were told that policymakers want to “support the development of plans for a pilot hydrogen town which could potentially be implemented before the end of this decade”.
They were asked to supply the names of towns they deemed “most suitable for conversion to enable hydrogen heating at scale”.
Subsequent suggestions for potential hydrogen towns include Aberdeen, Scunthorpe, and areas close to Humberside and Merseyside.
Two towns in Wales and another in the West Country have also been proposed, although only one or two of the nominated towns will be chosen.
Decarbonising heating has become a bit of a Pushmi-Pullyu!
One minute the government is advised to concentrate on heat pumps, because rolling out a hydrogen network is far too complex, costly and problematic.
The next minute hydrogen is back in favour because of the drawbacks of heat pumps!
I’m not really sure what any of these trials will achieve, other than cost taxpayers a lot of money. We already know that it is possible to pipe hydrogen into homes, and we know that you can burn it in a gas boiler with suitable modifications. If the government is really concerned about the safety aspects, it should not be using the good folk of Aberdeen as guinea pigs!
The real issue is how you produce it in the first place, how you store enough of it for winter, and how you move it around the country.
The plan of course is to use electrolysis, powered by renewable energy. But for the next decade and more, there will be no spare wind or solar power, as it will be maxed out on the grid. At most there may be a small amount of surplus wind power available at times, but far too little to be of any real use.
Electrolysis using expensive offshore wind power is also horribly inefficient and costly.
That then leaves steam reforming natural gas, which emits carbon dioxide, is also costly and uses more gas than you would if you burnt gas in the first place. None of which make it a sensible option.
I suspect this is just more nonsense dreamt up by the government’s green advisors in the DESNZ, desperate to be seen to be doing something!
Scientifically the UN Conference of Parties (COP) has abjectly failed 27 times at the one thing it was supposedly set up to do, which was reduce carbon emissions and save the weather, but it’s been a wild success on the Global-Trade-Party-and-Schmooze calendar.
Scientifically the UN Conference of Parties (COP) has abjectly failed 27 times at the one thing it was supposedly set up to do, which was reduce carbon emissions and save the weather, but it’s been a wild success on the Global-Trade-Party-and-Schmooze calendar.
Tonight the UN COP28 “climate” conference is on the ‘Verge of complete failure’ says CNN — because they’ve given up talking about “phasing out fossil fuels” and they’re only trying to reduce fossil fuels now (exactly the same as the last 27 meetings). No doubt tomorrow, headlines will tell us a historic deal, which is barely enough, was somehow clawed from the brink after an all-nighter.
The historic deal will amount to ambiguous subclauses that enable carbon grift and graft wherever carbon grafting and grifting were likely to happen anyway.
28 conferences and nothing to show for it:
It was never about CO2 anyway, was it?
Whatever happens, the conference is a big success as the Planetary Fashion Parade where the virtue-signalers of the world unite to show off their cloaks of carbon-purity. In the background it’s the place where billionaires and bankers bring their yachts and personal planes to meet Presidents and Kings.
Supposedly 100,000 people signed up, and 70,000 “were expected” to attend the Bureaucrat-Trade-Olympiad which used to be a kind of science conference 28 years ago, but is now a large trade convention.
How COP28 has become the new Davos
It costs a lot to stop global storms and floods you know. No wonder the Bankers and Bill Gates, care so much about the climate, and go to a UN convention with lectures on climate sensitivity. It’s like speed-dating for business deals:
…there are trillions of dollars needed to finance or develop projects that serve the energy transition. As World Bank chief Ajay Banga told a panel: “Everything has a lot of zeroes attached to it.”
It’s an all-star cast: ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods, and the bosses of energy companies RWE, ENI and Engie. The global CEOs of PwC and EY. The heads of Brookfield, BlackRock and IFM Investors. The bosses of Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America and Macquarie. Rubbing shoulders with Stella McCartney and Chelsea Clinton.
You must be logged in to post a comment.