CFCs 'are the real culprit in global warming'

This is a truly remarkable paper.  This guy gets the sort of correlations Warmists can only dream of.  That he found CO2 to have zero predictive power over warming is not new but that he found his CFC index gave correlations above .90 more or less ends the discussion.  There is basically no room for anything else to have much effect.  As far as science is concerned this moves  the debate about what the climate drivers are onto a new plateau, a plateau with no room for CO2.  But the political gospel will continue, of course

BANNED aerosols that caused the ozone hole - not carbon dioxide - were responsible for global warming since the 1970s, according to published research from one of Canada's leading universities.

The research predicts global temperatures will continue to fall for the next 50 to 70 years and sea levels will rise for two decades before starting to retreat.

The peer-reviewed research by Qing-Bin Lu, a professor of physics and astronomy, biology and chemistry at Waterloo University, was published in the International Journal of Modern Physics B.

The findings of Professor Lu's paper - Cosmic-Ray-Driven Reaction and Greenhouse Effect of Halogenated Molecules: Culprits for Atmospheric Ozone Depletion and Global Climate Change - are at odds with the consensus view that climate change is driven by increasing concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Waterloo University said Professor Lu's research provided "new fundamental understanding of the ozone hole and global climate change". Critics said it might be "nothing more than coincidental correlation", but it warranted further study.

Chlorofluorocarbons are known to deplete ozone, but conventional thinking is the emission of human-made non-CFC gases such as carbon dioxide had mainly contributed to global warming.

"But we have observed data going back to the industrial revolution that convincingly shows that conventional understanding is wrong," Professor Lu said. "In fact, the data shows that CFCs conspiring with cosmic rays (solar activity) caused both the polar ozone hole and global warming."

By proving the link between CFCs, ozone depletion and temperature changes in the Antarctic, Professor Lu said he was able to draw almost perfect correlation between rising global surface temperatures and CFCs in the atmosphere. "The change in global surface temperature after the removal of the solar effect has shown zero correlation with CO2 but a nearly perfect linear correlation with CFCs," he said.

If correct, the theory would have dramatic implications for forecasting global climate change.

"Most conventional theories expect that global temperatures will continue to increase as CO2 levels continue to rise, as they have done since 1850," Professor Lu said. "My calculations of CFC greenhouse effect show that there was global warming by about 0.6 degrees C from 1950 to 2002, but the Earth has actually cooled since 2002. The cooling trend is set to continue for the next 50-70 years as the amount of CFCs in the atmosphere continues to decline."

Professor Lu said it had been known for some time that CFCs had a damaging effect on the atmosphere and "we've taken measures to reduce their emissions.

"We now know that international efforts such as the Montreal Protocol have also had a profound effect on global warming, but they must be placed on firmer scientific ground," he said.

Terry McMahon, dean of the faculty of science at Waterloo, said: "This study underlines the importance of understanding the basic science underlying ozone depletion and global climate change.

"This research is of particular importance not only to the research community, but to policymakers and the public alike."

SOURCE






Renewable Energy’s Reversal of Fortune

Marita Noon

“They told us the wind turbines were going to be good for the city; that our electric rates would go down. But that hasn’t happened. They keep putting up more and more of them and they are getting closer to the neighborhoods where you hear the noise all night while you are trying to sleep. Plus,” Monica told me last week during my Palm Springs vacation, “they look horrible; like a junk yard. It totally ruins our mountain views!”

I met Monica in a store where she works. When she found out that I write on energy issues, she told me her story. Her electric bills run as high as $7-800 a month in the summer for a 1600-square-foot home. “I work for the electric company,” she said. “Everything I have goes to pay my bill.” With her bills so high, Monica got behind. She’s been on a payment plan for three years and doesn’t see any hope of ever getting caught up. Instead of using air conditioning, she uses the swamp cooler whenever possible—but with temperatures above 100 most of the summer, the AC is essential. She’s cut back use of the pool pump. “The pool’s not crystal clear,” she told me, “but my bill is a little less

No one could have predicted the reversal of fortunes the renewable energy industry is facing

Nearly a decade ago, in the mid-2000s, states were busy passing legislation that mandated the use of renewable energy—generally called a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). Today, more than half the states have renewable requirements that range from modest to aggressive with California’s being the most stringent at 33% by 2020

Legislators eagerly embraced the renewable mandates based on three specific myths:

*       Climate change is a manmade crisis caused by the use of hydrocarbons,

*       Hydrocarbons are finite and are about to run out and, therefore, are expensive. And

*       Renewable energy, specifically the wind and the sun, is unlimited and free.

Since then, each of the key selling points has been wiped out.

Environmentalists have been crying “wolf” for so long that the public has become immune to their scare tactics—the disasters predicted at the first Earth Day haven’t happened and despite increasing CO2, the climate hasn’t warmed for 17 years.

The combination of new technology and new applications of old technology have unleashed a new abundance of natural gas and oil—dropping the prices and displacing the market for renewables. Last month, Atlantic Magazine’s cover announced “we will never run out of oil.”

Increasing utility bills have convinced people that, even though wind and sunshine are free, converting them to electricity is not—as Monica found out. Europe, the global leader in renewable energy, is backing away from the policies that are making energy more expensive and Europe less competitive.

Combined with the hard-hitting economic collapse and ongoing sagas of taxpayer-funded green energy failures, the public’s appetite for renewable energy has waned—producing headlines, such as “Cheap natural gas prompts states to sour on renewables” and “U.S. states turn against renewable energy as gas plunges.” Compared to last year, investment in renewable energy has dropped: 54% in the US and 25% in Europe—with the sharpest decline, 96%, in Spain. But, as long as the mandates exist, so does the rationale for subsidies, grants, and tax credits.

No wonder the 2013 legislative season was filled with renewable mandate policy action—including calls for repeals, reforms, and expansions. Wind Power Monthly reports: “there have been at least 35 bills to weaken renewable portfolio standards proposed in 16 of the 29 states that have them on the books.”

Six states introduced bills for a full repeal of the mandates: Texas, Minnesota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Kansas. While none passed, Kansas and North Carolina had bills with strong support.

Eleven states—Montana, Ohio, Virginia, Connecticut, Maryland, Maine, Missouri, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington—had bills aimed at reforming the mandates—several of which would have qualified hydroelectricity as “renewable energy.” Montana passed a bill to include the expansion of existing hydroelectricity as a part of eligible renewable resources. Virginia repealed incentives for electric utilities to pursue renewable energy investments. Vermont passed a zoning bill that would make it more difficult to site a wind farm.

Ten states—Arkansas, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia—had bills to expand the current mandates. Two have passed: Minnesota and Colorado. The Colorado bill increases the mandate for rural electric cooperatives. The Minnesota bill establishes a 1.5% solar energy mandate, to be met by 2020 for investor-owned utilities. Electricity co-ops and municipal utilities are exempt. Nevada’s legislative session ends on June 3. A bill, SB123, which would force the use of more renewable electricity, is still being debated. The Las Vegas Review Journal’s Editorial Board called SB123 “a tax hike on everyone” and says it “is a feel-good political initiative, not an economic one.”

While this flurry of activity doesn’t declare a definitive winner or loser, renewable energy advocates are clearly unhappy about fighting a battle they thought they’d already won. Addressing the situation they find themselves in, Wind Power Monthly, offers the following insight from Jeff Deyette, assistant energy research director at the Union of Concerned Scientists: “These opponents have yet to make much progress in their efforts, but they have forced renewable energy advocates to expend valuable resources defending their positions. If you measure success by outright repeal of these standards, they may be successful with one or two. I don't think they are going to get much more than that. But if you measure success in a different way, in that they are slowing our ability to do what we should be doing, which is going out and expanding these policies and creating larger markets for renewable energy, then I think they have been successful.”

Roger Freeman, a Denver-based environmental attorney, who believes that the RPS needs to be protected, acknowledges: “the national trend is in the opposite direction.” Lyndon Rive, SolarCity CEO, says: “We expect in the next year or two that state-based incentives will disappear.”

Arizona’s Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities in the state, has “pulled back on incentives for rooftop solar installations,” as Tucson Electric Power Co. and Arizona Public Service Co. “have reached incremental goals for such installations under the state’s renewable-energy standard.”

Without the “marching orders” from the statehouses to the electric utilities, Rhone Resch, head of the Solar Energy Industries Association, says: “Without some carrot or stick, there’s little reason to pick [renewables] up.”

With the “national trend” heading away from state-supported renewable energy mandates, some hope that Congress will set a national renewable standard. But, Karin Wadsack, director of a Northern Arizona University-based project to monitor these legislative battles, concedes: “I wouldn’t see it happening in our current set of national priorities.”

Monica thought the wind turbines would be good, that they’d lower her utility bills. Instead, she’s scared to open her bill. Advertisements featuring a glistening white wind turbine in a green field don’t match the reality that residents of Palm Springs—and other locales—are living with. “They look horrible; like a junkyard.”

As the reality of policies that promote renewable energy sets in, fewer people want it. You can be sure that the 2014 legislative sessions will be filled with additional attempts to repeal or reform existing Renewable Portfolio Standards that could bring about renewable energy’s reversal of fortune—and add to yours, as cost-effective coal-fueled power allows you to pay less, and your tax dollars won’t be going to green energy schemes that line the pockets of political cronies.

SOURCE




Dramatic rise in plant growth in world's deserts consistent with rising C02 levels

Theory that is borne out in practice

Scientists believe a rise in carbon dioxide levels have increased the amount of vegetation in some parts of the world.

After studying satellite images taken between 1982 and 2010, researchers found there has been a dramatic rise in plant growth in the world's most driest regions including parts of Africa, North America, the Middle East and the Australian outback.

The research was carried out by Randall Donohue and his team at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Canberra, Australia.

Between 1982 and 2010, C02 levels in the atmosphere rose by 14 per cent.  But in the same period foliage increased by 11 per cent in these regions.

Carbon dioxide acts as an insulator and causes temperatures to rise but it also vital for plant growth.

Mr Donohue told The Sunday Times: 'Satellites are very good at detecting changes in total leaf cover and it is in warm, dry environments that the C02 effect is expected to most influence that.

'Lots of papers have shown an average increase in vegetation across the globe and there is a lot of speculation about what is causing that'.

Photosynthesis uses energy from sunlight to mix with CO2 with water to grow.  A leaf can extract more carbon from the air during photosynthesis or lose water, or do both, when there are higher levels of C02.

Last month, C02 concentration in the atmosphere passed 400 parts per million.  There has been a 40 per cent increase in C02 levels in the atmosphere since man began burning fossil fuels like coal and oil.

SOURCE




Skiers take to the slopes in the Pyrenees in June for the first time ever as mountain bosses say 'it's just like the middle of January'

Global cooling good for skiers

Ski slopes were open in France today for what is already being viewed as the most dismally cold summer in living memory.  Despite it being the first weekend in June, the Pyrenees resort of Porte Puymorens was selling piste passes ‘like hot cakes’.

‘We have hundreds of people here enjoying the snow – it’s just like the middle of January,’ said a spokesman for the ski station, where mountains peaks rise to 2,827 m (9,275 ft).

Slopes were originally shut at the end of the official season in April, but because there was so much snow left an ‘exceptional opening between June 1st and June 2nd’  was announced.

An icy Spring  means that the mountains between France and Spain are still covered in snow, with Eric Charre, the director of Porte Pymorens, saying people should ‘take advantage of all the snow that has not melted’.

There were heavy falls across the Pyrenees throughout April and May, leading to regular avalanche alerts.  Stations in fact had to shut down at one point during the winter because there was too much snow.

Mr Charre said that slopes running between 1600m and 2500m in altitude ‘have as much snow as there was in winter’.

He added: ‘From 2,100m upwards, everything is still pristine without any tracts of earth showing through at all. ‘The snow is on average 70cm to 80cm thick and in some places there are still drifts of up to five metres deep’.

Temperatures at the ski station reached a maximum of 1°C this week, said Mr Charre.

Some 600 skiers a day were allowed up in the resort’s cable cars this weekend, so as to avoid overcrowding.

In total, four pistes will be opened on Saturday and Sunday, after which the snow was considered too slushy for skiing.

It has been the coldest Spring in France for more than 25 years in some parts of France, meaning snow which should have melted weeks ago is still in place.

While glacier skiing is common across France in May, June skiing is normally associated with countries like Sweden.

SOURCE





New Energy Secretary on Climate Change: ‘I’m Not Here to Debate What’s Not Debatable’



Ernest Moniz, the nation’s new Energy Secretary, said climate change is “not debatable” in one of his first speeches on the job.

"I'm not here to debate what’s not debatable,” Moniz said at the White House Leadership Summit on Women, Climate and Energy on May 23.  “The threat from climate change is real and urgent.”

“The science fully demands a prudent response,” he said, referring to recent reports that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rising to levels not seen for millions of years.

“Just this month, as you know, kind of symbolically hitting essentially 400 [parts per million] CO2 -- of course, that’s not including the non-CO2 greenhouse gases, which really pump you up to about 450, in effect. So we really need to get after this,” Moniz said. “It’s an important imperative.”

Moniz said the only “legitimate debate” regarding climate change involves solutions to the problem, not its cause.

Under his leadership, Moniz said the Department of Energy will emphasize energy efficiency, which he called a “classic win-win-win situation.”

Among other things, DOE is developing new efficiency standards for appliances.

And it recently announced a new manufacturing initiative to improve wide bandgap semiconductors, which allow power electronic components to be smaller, faster, more reliable, and more efficient than their silicon-based counterparts.

Energy efficiency in appliance standards, buildings, industry and vehicles, is an area “that we certainly intend to try to amplify the efforts of the department and the administration with a strong full court press,” he said.

Moniz, 68, formerly a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was sworn in as Secretary of Energy on May 21.  He replaces Steven Chu, who resigned on April 22.

Moniz said he took the job because of President Barack Obama’s commitment to climate change.

“The President has already stated his very, very strong commitment to clean energy, a low carbon economy, and addressing the risks of climate change,” he said.  “And frankly, this is the reason I came back to town.”

SOURCE





The Growing Threat of Smart Meters

by TOM DEWEESE

Sustainable Development is code for a policy designed to transform human society, essentially eliminating individual life decisions and replacing them with top - down, one-size-fits-all government control. In steady fashion, the agenda for this new policy, designed at the international level, is put into place piece by piece with a new government council here, and new regulation there, each designed to appear as a "local" development program. Like the proverbial frog in the slowly boiling pot, many Americans fail to notice the rise in government heat.

The main course of action to impose the new agenda is through the pretense of environmental protection; "Sorry about your rights, but if we don't save the planet, then we will all perish!" And so with the devastation of a thousand pin pricks, America and its form or government is being changed through the creation of non-elected boards, councils and regional governments, designed to enforce the new regulations and "assure that we protect the environment."

The pin pricks come disguised as such issues as controls on community development; controls on use of private property; controls on use of open space; creation of development areas, many times under the excuse of historic preservation; communities designed on the blue print of pack and stack housing; making it harder to drive as roads are narrowed, even forcing cars to share the road with bicycles; the enforcement of expensive mass transit boondoggle projects; and the never ending spending spree on inefficient, unworkable alternative energy, such as wind and solar power.

In fact, control of energy and water are the two most effective tools in the enforcement of the Sustainable Development agenda. Without energy and water, human society stops. Using strict controls on how, or even if, energy and water can be used provides government with the power to dictate every aspect of society.

So how is that control carried out? There are obviously several ways, including regulations and taxes on production of gasoline; EPA restrictions on energy production; and government subsidies to create and enforce the use of alternative energy, specifically wind and solar.

However, controlling energy use in individual homes provided a more difficult obstacle than mere taxes or regulations. Government needed to be able to monitor energy use and individual habits in every single home. And so, the Smart Meter was born.

The Smart Meters are being installed on homes across the country, replacing the old style analog meters. The power companies are telling their customers that the Smart Meters will help them save money on electric bills by helping control usage. They also claim that the Smart Meters will help the power companies operate more efficiently by eliminating the need for meter readers to physically read the meters as they do with analog meters. However, these sales pitches from the power companies hide the real facts behind the push to replace every analog meter in the nation with the Smart Meters.

There are several major problems for homeowners as the Smart Meters are installed. Here are just a few:

*    The cost of heating and cooling homes with Smart Meters is going up because of the inefficient alternative energy that is more expensive than coal and nuclear power.

*    Homeowners with Smart Meters in place are discovering that they can't heat or cool their homes during peak power usage as the electric companies control the thermostats and automatically cut back on usage.

*    Property rights are being violated by Smart Meter installers who come onto property against the will of the owners.

*    A 2012 Congressional Report now reveals that power companies are able to read data from the meters that reveals residents' daily schedules and their personal behavior, the types of appliances they use, even if there are certain types of medical equipment in use in the home. This information can then be sold to private concerns or placed in government files. It can lead to identity theft and unwarranted government surveillance.

*    Evidence is now emerging that the Smart Meters, which operate by emitting electromagnetic signals, has become a health hazard, as thousands of Smart Meters in neighborhoods blast a non-stop signal, creating what is called Electromagnetic Smog. The electromagnetic radiation is dangerous for the elderly, children, pets, and those subject to such disorders as epilepsy, heart disease and more. It can lead to disruptive sleep patterns, chronic fatigue, depression, headaches and much more.

As Americans become aware of these threats they have begun to oppose the installation of Smart Meters on their property. Some local and state governments, when faced with the health complaints, have offered opt out provisions. Others have responded using force, resulting in arrests, as in Naperville, Illinois. In other places, power companies have shut off electricity to homes of those protesting the Smart Meters.

As the battle against the Smart Meters grows across the nation, Americans need to understand the issue, the dangers, the real reasons behind the government's drive to force them on angry and protesting homeowners, violating their property rights and endangering their health in the process.

Smart Meters are designed to provide government with detailed information of your energy use, your movements in your home, the way you use your personal private time, and even how many people are in your home at any given time. It is an unconstitutional invasion of your home by government, as set down in the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

My organization, the American Policy Center (APC), has produced a comprehensive special report entitled "Sustainable Development and the Control of Energy (The growing battle over Smart Meters)." This report details the real reasons behind the government's enforcement of the Smart Meters, the health and privacy violations, and the political agenda behind it all. This special report is available free here. I urge every concerned American to get a copy.

Every American has a duty to preserve freedom by protesting and stopping the forced installation of these devises.

SOURCE

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For more postings from me, see  DISSECTING LEFTISM, TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL  and EYE ON BRITAIN.   My Home Pages are   here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  

Preserving the graphics:  Graphics hotlinked to this site sometimes have only a short life and if I host graphics with blogspot, the graphics sometimes get shrunk down to illegibility.  From January 2011 on, therefore, I have posted a monthly copy of everything on this blog to a separate site where I can host text and graphics together -- which should make the graphics available even if they are no longer coming up on this site.  See  here and here

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