tingilinde

on the divisiveness of climate change

It's more divisive than ever among politicians.

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Amid Trump’s zeal for environmental deregulation and an unfolding climate crisis that is now more divisive than abortion for many Americans, this polarization is at record levels.

Since Trump’s election, Democrats across Congress have voted for pro-environment legislation 92 percent of the time on average, compared with 5 percent for Republicans, according to an analysis by LCV.

It said 2017 was a particularly extreme year, with Republicans in the Senate voting for environmental protections just 1 percent of the time. Forty-six Republican senators voted against environmental protections at every single opportunity.

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california and emission targets

Californians drive away from meeting emission targets.

 

becoming greener

35 steps from the Earthwatch Institute at Columbia

number 35 is probably the most important

a tip of the hat to Sukie

 

the scale of disruptions

from Bloomberg data

 

Of course how long the disruption lasts is a bigger issue, but the drone strike is impressive.

 

 

 

 

vanity

Trump on incandescent lights

 

 

an expansion of oil productoin

Betting on climate failure (via The New York Times)

 

 

 

old wind

Windpower dating back a millennia.

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Made of natural clay, straw, and wood, the windmills have been milling grain for flour for an estimated 1,000 years. The vertical axis design is probably similar to the windmills that were invented by the Persians around 500 C.E.—a design that slowly spread through the world and which was later adapted by the Dutch and others.

Each of the windmills of Nashtifan is comprised of eight chambers, with each chamber housing six blades. As the area’s strong, steady wind enters the chambers it turns the blades, which then turn grindstones. The structures reach up to about 65 feet in height.

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a likely culprit

Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas and emissions have risen dramatically in the past decade - the likely culprit is American fracking.

 

an interesting potential energy storage scheme

Stored hydropower works well - assuming you have lakes well above your turbines and an over abundance of cheap additional electricity to move water uphill at times.  But this is neat .. an electric dump truck that goes downhill with a heavy load and goes back up empty.

a tip of the hat to Horace.

 

fundamental inefficiencies

It takes a lot of energy to make meat.

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"If all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million," David Pimentel, professor of ecology in Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, reported at the July 24-26 meeting of the Canadian Society of Animal Science in Montreal. Or, if those grains were exported, it would boost the U.S. trade balance by $80 billion a year, Pimentel estimated.

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a tip of the hat to Sukie