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Is solar energy a viable solution to reducing oil dependence?by Allan Taylor No, solar energy is not the solution to reducing US oil dependency. Considerable progress has been made in the development and use of solar energy world wide over the last decade. This is a good thing and no doubt will continue. But where does solar energy fit into the overall energy crisis problem? Cost and Quantity of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Avoided by Wind GenerationThis paper by Peter Lang, “…contains a simple analysis of the amount of greenhouse gas emissions avoided by wind power and the cost per tonne of emissions avoided. It puts these figures in context by comparing them with some other ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation.” and concludes: “1. Wind power does not avoid significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. Read the full document here [PDF, 177 KB]. Forecasting Failures – Chicken Little Wrong AgainPredicting the weather — especially a decade or more in advance — is unbelievably challenging. What’s the track record of those most worried about global warming? Decades ago, what did prominent scientists think the environment would be like in 2010? FoxNews.com has compiled eight of the most egregiously mistaken predictions, and asked the predictors to reflect on what really happened. Read Eight Botched Environmental Forecasts at FoxNews: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/30/botched-environmental-forecasts/ Slippery Green WordsBy Alan Caruba Every so often The New York Times slips up and lets some truth appear on its hallowed and vastly over-rated pages. Such was the case on May 2nd when reporter John M. Broder wrote “Seeking to Save the Planet, With a Thesaurus.” As he put it in the first sentence, “The problem with global warming, some environmentalists believe, is ‘global warming.’” This is a very real problem, especially when the word is getting out that the planet has been cooling for a decade. The problem worsens for them as word leaks that the ice at the North Pole is a lot thicker than earlier suspected—something that does not happen if it’s supposed to be melting. And the same holds for the South Pole whose ice is growing, along with many of the world’s glaciers. “Back to the Nineteenth Century” launch on 4 NovemberThe President of the Lavoisier Group, Hugh Morgan AC, invites you to the launching of Back to the 19th Century by Ray Evans, Tom Quirk, & Alan Moran with a foreword by Peter Walsh AO and an afterword by Ian Callinan AC QC. Senator Barnaby Joyce, Leader of the National Party in the Senate, will launch this new tract on Wednesday, 4 November 2009, at 401 Collins Street, Melbourne, beginning at 12 noon. After the launch soft drinks and refreshments will be served. For catering purposes attendees should register at booklaunch@lavoisier.com.au An entrance charge of $20 can be paid on arrival. More information: http://www.lavoisier.com.au/index.php The Green War on our Primary Industries Triggers the Convoys of No ConfidenceThe Greens now control the Australian Parliaments – neither the ALP nor the Coalition can pass legislation without support from the Greens and their patsy independents. For years now the Greens have waged war on our primary industries – mining, grazing, farming, forestry and fishing. This war reached a climax recently with their unprincipled attacks on two industries – coal and cattle. Bob Brown wants to close all Australian coal mines and coal fired power stations and other greens want to stop all live cattle exports. That infamous economist, Ross Garnaut, seems to think we should eliminate our cattle and sheep and farm kangaroos instead. (Naturally the surplus cattle and sheep will all be euthanized humanely.) Every war is triggered by one dramatic event and the overnight banning of live cattle exports from Australia to its near neighbour Indonesia was the trigger for action across Northern Australia. The bush is now like an agitated meat-ants’ nest. Thus the proposal by one NT truckie, Mick Pattel, to organise a Protest convoy to Canberra has escalated into 11 convoys from all parts of Australia. Already the first convoy is heading south. For up-to-date details of all convoys see: http://justgroundsonline.com/ If you can help or participate see this link: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CUHCJADW4/ Please spread this information around. More, including:
here: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/convoys-of-no-confidence.pdf [PDF, 56 KB] Wild, Weird WeatherCarbon Dioxide May Calm the Climate, but it Cannot Cause Wild Weird Weather Every day some place in the world has “wild weather”. And in recent times, human industry gets the blame. “It’s all caused by man-made global warming” (generally shortened to “global warming”, or GW by alarmists). Floods or droughts – blame GW; bushfires or snowstorms – blame GW; frosts or heatwaves – blame GW; hail storms or dust storms – blame GW; cyclones or tornadoes – blame GW. In fact, here is a complete list of all the things blamed on global warming: If all of this were true, then carbon dioxide is surely the most powerful and disruptive gas on the planet. That great scientist, John Kerry, even calls it a “weapon of mass destruction”.
Thanks to cartoonist Steve Hunter who has gambled again that we may raise enough money to pay him. But carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the most stable, predictable, unreactive and puny of all climate More, as well as:
Read the full report: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/wild-weird-weather.pdf [PDF, 155KB] Keywords: Wild weather, carbon dioxide, weapon of mass destruction, solar cycles, temperature gradient, ice age storms, snow on rail, abuse replaces debate, climate deniers. Sea Level ChangesI have spent 55 years in the engineering profession where ignoring the evidence often kills people. Thus I am predisposed to look at the evidence before drawing conclusions. Many articles and claims about sea levels are in conflict with the evidence. For instance, sea level has been rising at something between 2 and 3 mm per year since the end of the Little ice age. As you can see from the graph, there is no indication that the rate of sea level rise is increasing. There is some indication that the rate of rise has reduced slightly since 2006.
In addition, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology set up a chain of sea level measuring stations around Australia and in the Pacific that are the most accurate in the world. As you can see from the chart, the sea level at Tuvalu dropped markedly during the 1997 – 1998 El Niño and since 2000 it has been substantially constant. Claims that Tuvalu is sinking beneath rising sea levels caused by man-made carbon dioxide therefore cannot be true. it is most unfortunate that many people who choose to spread this rumour have not bothered to look at the data. It is particularly unfortunate for the population of Tuvalu because they have been told that their very real problems with erosion are beyond their control when, in fact, they have largely caused them by taking too much fresh water out of the water table and by mining the reef for coral to reclaim land. If the powers that be recognised that this is the case, then aid could be concentrated on solving the real problems, not the imaginary ones. One division is 100 mm.
Others claim that Pacific Islands are disappearing. Once again, this does not stack up against the evidence: ftp://soest.hawaii.edu/coastal/Climate%20Articles/Atolls%20Growing%20Kench%202010.pdf Bryan Leyland MSc, FIEE(rtd), FIMechE, FIPENZ. Sea Level ChangesNils-Axel Morner is probably the world’s expert on sea level changes. He has recently published a paper entitled: Deriving the Eustatic Sea Level Component in the Kattaegatt Sea Astract: Changes in global sea level is an issue of much controversy. In the Kattegatt Sea, between Denmark and Sweden, the glacial isostatic component factor is well established and the axis of tilting has remained stable for the last 8000 years. At the point of zero regional crustal movements, there are three tide gauges indicating a present rise in sea level of 0.8 to 0.9 mm/yr for the last 125 years. This value provides a firm record of the regional eustatic rise in sea level in this part of the globe. Read More: www.as-se.org/gpg/Download.aspx?ID=16723 [PDF, 2.2MB] Parasitic Power ProducersPromoting Parasitic Power Producers Wind and solar are parasitic power producers, unable to survive in a modern electricity grid without the back-up of stand-alone electricity generators such as hydro, coal, gas or nuclear. And like all parasites, they weaken their hosts, causing increased operating and transmission costs and reduced profits for all participants in the grid. Without subsidies, few large wind/solar plants would be built; and without mandated targets, few would get connected to the grid. Green zealots posing as energy engineers should be free to play with their green energy toys at their own expense, on their own properties, but the rest of us should not be saddled with their costs and unreliability. We should stop promoting parasitic power producers. As a first step, all green energy subsidies and targets should be abolished.
Read more, as well as:
Read the full report: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/parasitic-power-producers.pdf [PDF, 150KB] Keywords: Green energy, parasitic power, wind power, solar power, Dr Patrick Moore, the trilobites strike back. |
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