[TheClimate.Vote] June 29, 2017 - Daily Global Warming News
Richard Pauli
richard at theclimate.vote
Thu Jun 29 09:52:41 EDT 2017
/June 29, 2017/
*BREAKING: Southern Co. Suspends Kemper "Clean Coal" Project, Warns
Investors It May Recognize Losses up to $3.4 Billion*
<https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/06/28/breaking-southern-co-officially-yanks-plug-kemper-clean-coal-power-plant-warns-it-may-recognize-loss-3-4-billion>
In a major blow to proponents of "clean coal" technology, Southern Co.,
parent company of Mississippi Power, announced in a Securities and
Exchange Commission filing today that it's throwing in the towel on
efforts to generate electricity from coal and will instead use only
natural gas at its flagship Kemper County, Mississippi power plant.
The project, which relied on a "gasifier" to turn a cheap and common
grade of coal into fuel, is over, at least for now, Southern said.
"On June 28, 2017, Mississippi Power notified the Mississippi PSC that
it is beginning a process to suspend operations and start-up activities
on the gasifier portion of the Kemper IGCC."
Further, Southern warned that it may record a $3.4 billion loss for the
project in the second quarter of 2017, depending on how negotiations
with state utility regulators unfold.
If "Mississippi Power does not ultimately obtain rate recovery of the
$3.4 billion … , Southern Company and Mississippi Power would be
required to recognize a charge to income in the second quarter of 2017
for those unrecovered costs, in addition to any other costs required to
be incurred," the SEC filing says.
https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/06/28/breaking-southern-co-officially-yanks-plug-kemper-clean-coal-power-plant-warns-it-may-recognize-loss-3-4-billion
*House lawmakers back amendment requiring Pentagon climate change report
<http://thehill.com/policy/defense/339924-house-lawmakers-back-amendment-requiring-pentagon-climate-change-report>*
BY ELLEN MITCHELL TheHill
The House Armed Services Committee's annual defense policy bill will
include a provision requiring a Defense Department report on the effects
of climate change on military installations.
The amendment - brought up by Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) in the
readiness portion of Wednesday's markup - instructs each military
service to come up with a list of the top 10 military installations
likely to be affected by climate change over the next 20 years.
The report would include a list of possible ways to combat such climate
change threats as flooding, droughts and increased wildfires.
Such a provision aims to ensure that the Defense Department "is prepared
to address the effects of a changing climate on threat assessments,
resources and readiness," according to the amendment language...
"The changing global climate will lead to increased instability in the
form of economic migration, increased competition over resources and
possibly more failed states, which result in breeding grounds for
extremism and terrorism," Langevin said before the committee.
In his amendment, Langevin cites Defense Secretary James Mattis, who has
said he agrees "that the effects of a changing climate - such as
increased maritime access to the Arctic, rising sea levels,
desertification, among others - impact our security situation."
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) was the sole lawmaker to speak out against the
amendment, claiming it instructs the Pentagon "to take their eye off the
ball."
"We have heard testimony in front of this committee consistently about
the array of imminent threats we face … the Russians, Chinese, ISIS, al
Qaeda, Iran, North Korea. … There is simply no way that you can argue
that climate change is one of those threats. Not even close," she said.
"There is no evidence that climate change causes war."...
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/339924-house-lawmakers-back-amendment-requiring-pentagon-climate-change-report
*Business case for sustainability transcends politics
<https://www.greenbiz.com/video/business-case-sustainability-transcends-politics>*
"It's important to tell lawmakers the business case you know so well,"
said Anne Kelley, Ceres' senior program director of policy and BICEP
program.
Businesses also have a responsibility to tell their success stories out
loud over various forms of media, she said: "The money you're saving,
the emissions you're bringing down, the materials you're recycling."
Adding his perspective as director of the 50-year-old Environmental
Defense Fund, Jason Mathers said that despite shifting political winds,
"the core framework of business leadership remains the same."
As long as business leaders continue to set ambitious sustainability
goals, execute against those goals and developing forward-thinking
solutions — and tell stories about how environmental policies foster
innovation and advance billion-dollar industries — there will be
"opportunities for us to be proactive."
https://www.greenbiz.com/video/business-case-sustainability-transcends-politics
*Larsen C iceberg accelerates ahead of calving June 28, 2017*
<http://www.projectmidas.org/blog/berg-acceleration/>
In another sign that the iceberg calving is imminent, the
soon-to-be-iceberg part of Larsen C Ice Shelf has tripled in speed to
more than ten meters per day between 24th and 27th June 2017. The
iceberg remains attached to the ice shelf, but its outer end is moving
at the highest speed ever recorded on this ice shelf. We still can't
tell when calving will occur - it could be hours, days or weeks - but
this is a notable departure from previous observations.
The most recent observations on 27th June do not cover the rift tip, but
a low resolution Sentinel-1 image of just after midnight on 28th June
shows clearly that the iceberg remains attached to the ice shelf at its
western end - for now.
When it calves, the Larsen C Ice Shelf will lose more than 10% of its
area to leave the ice front at its most retreated position ever
recorded; this event will fundamentally change the landscape of the
Antarctic Peninsula. We have previously shown that the new configuration
will be less stable than it was prior to the rift, and that Larsen C may
eventually follow the example of its neighbour Larsen B, which
disintegrated in 2002 following a similar rift-induced calving event....
http://www.projectmidas.org/blog/berg-acceleration/
- more:
Brief Communication: Newly developing rift in Larsen C Ice Shelf
presents significant risk to stability
<https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa21911>
Marine ice regulates the future stability of a large Antarctic ice shelf
/ Bernd Kulessa; Daniela Jansen; Adrian J. Luckman; Edward C. King;
Peter R. Sammonds
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa21911
*Landmark youth climate lawsuit (Juliana v US) - Trial set for February
5, 2018. * <https://t.co/UCsvNSlGNe>
Today, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin issued an order in the
climate lawsuit brought by
21 youth, Juliana v. United States , setting a trial date for February
5, 2018 before U.S. District
Court Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene, Oregon.
Press release:
https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/s/170628-Juliana-Trial-Date-PR.pdf
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/youthvgov/photos/a.186886431354003.40508.186475038061809/1626979990677966/?type=3&theater
Twitter: https://twitter.com/youthvgov/status/880217884529614848
IG: https://www.instagram.com/p/BV5xUExARZq/?taken-by=youthvgov
-more:
*The Trump Response to the Kids' Climate Lawsuit Isn't Denial. It's
Evasion.
<http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/06/the_doj_admits_climate_change_exists_it_just_refutes_whether_the_federal.html>*
Since the inauguration, the DOJ's responses have taken on a Trumpian tinge.
...there's still one small but possible way the U.S. could be forced to
take climate change seriously while Trump is in office: if the two dozen
kids pushing a landmark environmental lawsuit against the federal
government for imperiling their future by causing climate change win
their case...
At a hearing ... government lawyers in the case unveiled a second
strategy that echoed the congressional testimony of Attorney General
Jeff Sessions just one day earlier: evasion. They refused to answer
basic questions of fact and asserted executive privilege over the
science the government is using to determine climate change policy....
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/06/the_doj_admits_climate_change_exists_it_just_refutes_whether_the_federal.html
How Climate Change Could Affect Your Homeowners Insurance Coverage
<http://www.consumerreports.org/climate-change/how-climate-change-could-affect-your-homeowners-insurance-coverage/>
Homeowners will ultimately foot the bill for more extreme weather
You might already be seeing the effect. Erie Insurance, for example, has
raised premiums to account for severe weather, says Joe Vahey, a
regional vice president fpr Erie. The Pennsylvania-based insurer has
developed climate modeling and risk analytics. These sophisticated
models forecast weather risk down to the street level.
The Travelers Insurance Company says its risk analyses have led to
writing fewer homeowners insurance policies in some areas and raising
prices in others. The company wouldn't provide specifics.
Travelers has also selectively imposed separate deductibles on standard
homeowners insurance policies in areas prone to hurricanes and those at
greater risk of tornadoes, and wind and hail damage...
o what's the bottom line? Homeowners pay for extreme weather: higher
premiums, bigger deductibles, fewer coverage options. Now more than
ever, it's critical to shop smart for homeowners insurance, make sure
you have enough coverage, and take steps to prevent losses in the first
place.
http://www.consumerreports.org/climate-change/how-climate-change-could-affect-your-homeowners-insurance-coverage/
*Melbourne apartments are failing the heat stress test, study finds
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-16/melbourne-apartments-failing-heat-stress-test/8358852>*
Many of Melbourne's apartment blocks depend entirely on air conditioning
for cooling, failing to meet overheating tests adhered to across Europe
and the US, researchers have found.
The new Melbourne University study found that if a power blackout was to
hit in the middle of a heatwave, the majority of the city's apartment
buildings and occupants would roast.
*Strategies for cooling apartments include:*
- Improving ventilation
- Using external heat-reflective coating and paint
- Installing appropriate shading
- Building better awareness among occupants of what can be done during a
heatwave
According to a 2016 Climate Council report, heatwaves kill more
Australians than any other natural hazard.
Lead researcher and construction scientist Chris Jensen modelled how six
common Melbourne apartment designs could cope with extremely high
temperatures like those experienced in January and February 2009.
What he found was that all six designs failed to keep internal
temperatures below limits set in France, the UK, Germany and the US.
The worst performing designs were often older west-facing concrete
constructions.
A lack of ventilation, the orientation of the apartment block and the
construction materials used were the major factors which caused the
buildings to retain heat, Mr Jensen said.
While standards vary between countries, Mr Jensen explained that, for
example, in France if the internal temperature of an apartment rises
above 28C for more than 3 per cent of the year it would be in breach of
the code.
But Mr Jensen said there were no standards to protect against heat
stress in the Building Code of Australia.
"The research highlights to the public that heat stress inside
apartments is a real issue and that we need to do more to control this —
not only in new buildings, but also for existing buildings.
"This is an issue of health and safety in people's homes, so it is a
fairly important issue."
Mr Jensen said in light of predictions of the increased frequency and
intensity of heatwaves, as well as recent questions over the reliability
of electricity grids, apartment cooling designs could and should not be
solely dependent on air-conditioning units.
Why don't we have a summer comfort code?
He explained that the French Government implemented a summer comfort
code following 14,000 deaths attributed to a heatwave there in 2003.
"That event triggered it for them, which we potentially haven't had."
Mr Jensen said a summer comfort code in Australia should be introduced
sooner rather than later.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-16/melbourne-apartments-failing-heat-stress-test/8358852
(press release) New Mobile App for Personal*Climate Change*Fighters
Now Available
<http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-mobile-app-for-personal-climate-change-fighters-now-available-300480197.html>
June 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - "Greenie," the new mobile app that
empowers users with tips, tools and incentives to do their part in
fighting climate change, debuts today and is available as a free
download from the Apple app store.
*"Get the app, save the planet,*" the app provides users with energy
saving actions they can take to increase their energy efficiency and
shrink their carbon footprint.
The app then gives users a daily summary of how much CO2 they've
eliminated, how much oxygen they've generated, and how much money
they've saved, based on the actions they've engaged in and recorded on
the app. The app tracks the results of all users signed into the Greenie
app, with daily updates.
An Android version of the Greenie app is in the works and is expected to
be available later in the third quarter of this year.
For more information, go to greenieapp.com
"We know there are millions of people out there who firmly believe in
global warming and are committed to doing their part to reverse it,"
said MIS President, Glenn Smith. "In light of our Administration's
current disinterest in sustaining critical climate change policies, we
set out to provide a tool that puts fighting climate change into the
hands of everyday people."
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-mobile-app-for-personal-climate-change-fighters-now-available-300480197.html
*Fires rise in Arctic as 'lightning follows the warming'
<https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060056631>*
Climate change is driving up the number of forest fires ignited by
lightning, and it's pushing them farther north, to the edges of the
Arctic tundra, researchers say.
Lightning-caused fires have risen 2 to 5 percent a year for the last
four decades, according to a paper published yesterday in the journal
Nature Climate Change. And as thunderstorms intensify and become more
frequent, fires are increasingly occurring in the boreal forests, and
even on the permafrost tundra. Warmer temperatures encourage more
thunderstorms, which in turn bring more lightning and greater fire risk.
The changes are part of a complex climate feedback loop that is only now
becoming more clear to scientists, said Sander Veraverbeke of Vrije
Universiteit Amsterdam, the study's lead author. A feedback loop is a
series of interrelated phenomena that is worsened by climate change and
continues to build upon itself with additional consequences. In the
north, fires release more carbon dioxide and methane from the
permafrost, he said.
"You have more fires; they creep farther north; they burn in these soils
which have a lot of C02 and methane that can be exposed directly at the
moment of the fire and then decades after," Veraverbeke said. "That
contributes again to global warming; you have again more fire."
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060056631
-more:
*Lightning-Caused Fires on the Rise in the World's Largest Forest
<http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/lightning-wildfires-boreal-forest-climate-change-global-warming/>*
New NASA study shows how lightning is driving fire and pushing it north,
with a likely link to climate change.
As fire season reaches for its annual summer turning point, the role
lightning plays as the culprit in setting fires shows a worrisome trend.
That's not good news for the boreal forest, the world's largest forest
habitat, where virtually all wildfires are ignited by lightning.
Since 1975, the number of fires ignited by lightning has increased
between two and five percent, driven by an increase in volatile
thunderstorm weather,...
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/lightning-wildfires-boreal-forest-climate-change-global-warming/
-more:
*Lightning sparking more boreal forest fires
<https://phys.org/news/2017-06-lightning-boreal-forest.html>*
To study the fires, the team analyzed data from NASA's Terra and Aqua
satellites and from ground-based lightning networks.
Lead author Sander Veraverbeke of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, who
conducted the work while at UC Irvine, said that while the drivers of
large fire years in the high north are still poorly understood, the
observed trends are consistent with climate change.
"We found that it is not just a matter of more burning with higher
temperatures. The reality is more complex: higher temperatures also spur
more thunderstorms. Lightning from these thunderstorms is what has been
igniting many more fires in these recent extreme events," ...
The researchers found that the fires are creeping farther north, near
the transition from boreal forests to Arctic tundra. "In these
high-latitude ecosystems, permafrost soils store large amounts of carbon
that become vulnerable after fires pass through," said co-author James
Randerson of the University of California, Irvine. "Exposed mineral
soils after tundra fires also provide favorable seedbeds for trees
migrating north under a warmer climate."
"Taken together, we discovered a complex feedback loop between climate,
lightning, fires, carbon and forests that may quickly alter northern
landscapes,"
https://phys.org/news/2017-06-lightning-boreal-forest.html
*This Day in Climate History June 29, 2011
<http://350.org/about/blogs/ellen-page-records-psa-350org> - from D.R.
Tucker*
Entercom Communications, the radio conglomerate perhaps best known for
running right-wing talk radio stations whose hosts regularly promote
climate-change denial, announces that it will run a 350.org
<http://350.org> PSA featuring actor Ellen Page on its stations.
http://350.org/about/blogs/ellen-page-records-psa-350org
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