[✔️] September 29, 2023- Global Warming News Digest | Grid survived summer, North Sea oil, Fracking mess, Bill Rees, Travel changing, 2000 Bush lied

Fri Sep 29 10:21:55 EDT 2023

/*September *//*29, 2023*/

/[ Like driving fast on a racetrack ]
/*The US power grid quietly survived its most brutal summer yet*
Despite record power demand, the grid largely avoided blackouts. Don’t 
take this for granted.
By Umair Irfan  Sep 28, 2023,

With little acknowledgment and no applause, the power grid across the 
continental United States this summer quietly pulled off what may have 
been its most impressive feat ever.

On July 27, the US grid served nearly 15 million megawatt-hours of 
electricity across the lower 48 states, about 1.6 times the electricity 
produced by every nuclear power plant in the world on a given day. It 
kept lights, fans, and air conditioners running in every home, office, 
factory, school, hospital, and store on one of the hottest days ever. 
For comparison, the average daily electricity use in 2022 across the 
whole country was roughly 11 million MWh. At 6 pm ET, US energy demand 
reached an all-time high hourly peak of 741,815 MWh...
- -
It’s even more remarkable when you consider the context: July 27 was 
just the Mount Everest in a month of Himalayan demand peaks. July 2023 
was the hottest month on the planet since at least 1880, possibly the 
hottest in 100,000 years. The US, being a country on Earth, burst 
through numerous temperature records. In Death Valley, California, 
temperatures reached 127.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
Weeks of relentless heat all day and even through the night sent 
millions of Americans indoors where they devoured electrons as they 
desperately tried to cool off...
- -
The extreme heat this year also exposed flaws in the conventional wisdom 
around grid reliability, namely that coal, oil, and gas are dependable 
stalwarts and that wind and solar are too mercurial to be useful. Fossil 
fuel infrastructure experienced equipment failures amid the high 
temperatures and extreme heat impaired both conventional and renewable 
generators.

“The idea that we need more coal and gas to supplement renewables I 
think is being shown to be a myth that is being propagated by certain 
fossil fuel interests and their political allies,” said Joshua 
Basseches, an assistant professor of public policy and environmental 
studies at Tulane University. “I think it’s starting to change, but it 
has a long way to go.”...
- -
2023’s super-hot summer also raised the salience of scrutinizing 
decisions about the future of the power grid and the people who make 
them. “Transmission organizations and independent system operators have 
an accountability problem,” Basseches said. The people who decide where 
to build power lines, what sources should provide electricity, what 
energy storage mechanisms are necessary, and how to distribute the costs 
are overseen by the federal government, but they aren’t elected by the 
people most directly affected by their choices.

“That’s why you hear people calling for ‘energy democracy,’ this idea 
that there should be more voices at the table,” Basseches said.

It’s critical to plan now for the next time temperatures reach the far 
ends of the thermometer. The decisions made now will shape whether we 
can stay comfortable in the next chill or scorcher, or whether we’ll be 
left in the dark.

https://www.vox.com/climate/23893057/power-electricity-grid-heat-wave-record-blackout-outage-climate

/[ not following the trend ]/
*Britain to Allow Big North Sea Oil Field, Despite Climate Concerns*
A go-ahead for a long-delayed $9.4 billion drilling project is expected 
to support the oil industry and provide energy security, but 
environmental advocates were outraged...
- -
The location is in deep water — 3,600 feet below the surface — and has 
difficult geology. There are also frequent spells of storms and other 
bad weather in the area. Chevron spent years and substantial sums trying 
to work out how to bring the oil to market before shelving the plan in 
2013 and selling its 40 percent stake to Equinor in 2018.

Equinor will produce the oil using a floating storage vessel that was 
used on a field in Norway and is now being modified in Dubai, cutting 
costs. Reusing the vessel, which is smaller than originally conceived, 
is “a much cheaper option,” said Mr. Myerson of Ithaca Energy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/27/business/britain-north-sea-oil-drilling.html

/[ Fracking is rude verb ]/
*‘Monster Fracks’ Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier.*
Giant new oil and gas wells that require astonishing volumes of water to 
fracture bedrock are threatening America’s fragile aquifers.
Increasingly complex oil wells are sweeping across Texas, birthplace of 
the fracking revolution, and the nation...
Nationwide, fracking has used up nearly 1.5 trillion gallons of water 
since 2011. That’s how much tap water the entire state of Texas uses in 
a year...
“As the easier-to-extract areas are tapped to their full potential, you 
need to use more and more desperate measures,” said A.J. Kondash, an 
environmental scientist at RTI International, a nonprofit research 
organization, who has studied fracking’s water use...

The problem is actually two-fold. Fracking companies are pulling more 
water out of the ground, and then, after the fracking process, they must 
treat or dispose of millions of gallons of contaminated water, removing 
it from the natural water cycle...

Some companies are making strides in reusing that fracking wastewater to 
drill for more oil and gas, but it’s a small percentage. In the 
sprawling Permian Basin in Texas, the largest oil field in the country, 
just 15 percent of water used for fracking is recycled water, according 
to state estimates.

The Times based its water-use analysis on data from FracFocus, a 
registry of chemicals used in fracking that is operated by two national 
associations of state agencies, the Groundwater Protection Council and 
the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. In 27 states, companies 
report the data to FracFocus.

That data revealed surging water use even though the numbers, which are 
self-reported by industry, are sometimes incomplete...

Compounding the problem, about a quarter of Texas operates under rules 
that let landowners pump as much water on their property as they like, 
regardless of consequences to neighbors.

“In Texas, if you own the surface, you own everything to the center of 
the earth,” said Mr. Martin of the Wintergarden water district.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/25/climate/fracking-oil-gas-wells-water.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/25/climate/fracking-oil-gas-wells-water.html?unlocked_article_code=pFjYn9B7zR1kYGXZ65FZF-zgSqaSxRiEjqKOsbSfD4ZL9T8ePjM7VEfZ_itM60rPdRhFQyO5TFYgWZWtQONPYUwzJ1w3t_5rVBMhZxr1mKeXz0SKKnBSJQJO-8fnXX-jjf-SDYE_It8g4RQ38EBOpbuKN9dT23fn2RBzn_cO1xV5pGeWB_SWpYr5HuiVs5cmTrPx5aJyyVHzs96jfJtFb2QM2V_EQnTqLbFoRdIVLGkN0PoYhpz1Ohm3CNbVh7yky5pxkuJ5L10KDsFOJcJaB2K3yNyrMSmJNM7p4QPZcLDgBz5Ia6OVOo9DRqWAPzmJU-c8d-w_JnErx5Z0suOLOzpGD5rRd5njNPDWVCQiSTMJEWyYWhQ&smid=url-share

/[ Classic  Bill Rees lecture explains our predicament - jump to 50 mins 
in ]/
*William Rees: Techno-Industrial Society is Inherently Unsustainable 17 
Jun 2021*
US Association of the Club of Rome

Jun 17, 2021
William Rees: Techno-Industrial Society is Inherently Unsustainable: Is 
Collapse Inevitable?
Zoom meeting hosted by the US Association of the Club of Rome on 17 Jun 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASS-zSUwEkc

/[ What Travel?  I prefer armchair travel ]/
*‘Unpredictability in the System,’ and Other Travel Lessons From the 
Summer of ’23*
Climate change upheavals brought on a season of extremes for travelers 
in the U.S., Europe and beyond. One thing is clear: Travel is changing.
By Paige McClanahan -- who is writing a book about how tourism is 
changing the world, for better and for worse.
Sept. 28, 2023
- -
July turned out to be the planet’s hottest month on record, while the 
period from June to August was the Northern Hemisphere’s hottest-ever 
summer.

As temperatures soared, parts of Western Europe slogged through 
long-running drought conditions, while places from Vermont to Brazil to 
the Himalayas were inundated with floods or landslides. And then there 
were the wildfires in Maui, Texas and Canada, as well as in France, 
Portugal, the Canary Islands — and Greece.

It was a summer of extremes, and a summer of lessons for the travelers 
and locals who encountered them. Looking ahead, here are some lessons 
from the climate change upheavals of the past few months. One thing is 
clear: Unpredictability is the new normal...
- -
Miami, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Athens and Freetown, Sierra 
Leone, are among the cities that have recently installed “chief heat 
officers” to create public warning systems, expand green spaces and 
build “cooling centers,” among other measures. Washington, D.C., has 
launched Keep Cool DC, which aims to plant trees, invest in parks and 
promote heat-sensitive building design. In Spain, Seville may soon name 
and categorize heat waves so that people can prepare as they would for 
hurricanes...
- -
In the two and a half years since she started Cherish Tours, her tour 
company for women, Megan Grant has yet to run a group trip that departs 
in the hot, crowded, expensive months of July or August. A recent tour 
in September went to the cool Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic.

Avoiding summer is a principle she applies to her personal travels as 
well. She’s getting married in Italy next year: in April...
- -
*5. Expect more visitors to cooler climates*
Cooler areas, including northern Europe, could see a significant rise as 
travelers look to avoid encounters with intense heat.

Liisa Kokkarinen, the head of sustainable development at Visit Finland, 
said the country had seen an uptick in visitors, especially from Asia 
and elsewhere in Europe.

“Something that was in the past considered ‘too cold to visit’ is maybe 
no longer too cold to visit,” said Ms. Kokkarinen, who lives in Lapland, 
along the Arctic Circle. Typically, the high season there is the winter, 
with travelers coming for the snowy landscapes and Northern Lights. But 
now more visitors are enjoying the mild summers — something the 
government tourism agency is working to support...
- -
*6. Build in flexibility*
Storms, heat waves and wildfires are anything but predictable, and 
travelers are increasingly building in ways to change their plans on the 
fly.

Jared Brenner, an American who recently retired to Lisbon, said he will 
often pay more for refundable or flexible flight tickets, or look for 
flights with smaller change or cancellation fees...
- -
*7. Know that you can run, but you can’t hide*
On a June trip to the Colorado Rockies, Sasha Lezhnev of Virginia was 
driving to meet his wife and son when he encountered what looked like a 
mini-tornado.

“The dust devil was running across the road and there was nothing I 
could do. You just hope your car doesn’t spin around,” Mr. Lezhnev said, 
adding that they also endured a series of tornado watches during the trip.
Mr. Lezhnev, the founder of the travel website Off The Beaten Travel, 
said that the experience and others like it, including a close brush 
with a summer wildfire in Montana, have led him to consider places like 
Maine, Scotland, Finland and Norway, which are known for their 
relatively cool, calm climates.

But even northern Europe isn’t immune to upheaval. Finland and Norway 
saw heavy rains this summer.

“We were having to change itineraries in the spur of the moment,” said 
Torunn Tronsvang, the founder of the travel operator Up Norway. “The 
roads were flooded and we had landslides and the railway was shut down. 
One railway bridge collapsed,” she said.

But the company managed, even as they welcomed a record number of guests 
this summer. “We learned so much from the pandemic,” Ms. Tronsvang said.

The importance of being prepared is something that travelers are also 
taking to heart.

Travelers “are keenly aware that things are different now,” said Mr. 
Harteveldt, the travel analyst. “And you cannot just plan a trip without 
doing some research and having some level of awareness about your 
destination and potential risks.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/28/travel/travel-lessons-climate-change.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/28/travel/travel-lessons-climate-change.html?unlocked_article_code=GMaa3VX14Fj4VV5AaJOKvIcJwqGqM8DwTqA0e0yW5w7KugcJLkGMenMl4miSNclAmHTR8tcF3svYjkxJNO_PHXDRYxa2yEPK9xtwlsO0Twds1VblDbyQuD9F4AdAoy2Xg_dvJduve4qx9gWFP6triYZgyMoCgwyf1pQmN66dfcrlm6i_wjzOA1AOZfMiaSOJRSe5QPiWsAo165eDy7rlSWjJJ31-HjwDAoJAoDy1s38kMB1DsP_kYOQzDzBmz5KiJpyXnHmZRgsw3zFDBImXkUpg8C_Uh65mAmv3QAsmqlsHVB9hzsGbAc_kZ7bOBdiwz9OF7-XZxYGDx4S6nd8idUuEresdbQ&smid=url-share 

/[ The news archive - looking back at a "liar, liar, pants on fire"  
GWBush ]/
/*September 29, 2000*/
September 29, 2000: In an apparent effort to convince moderate voters 
not to support Democratic opponent Al Gore, GOP presidential candidate 
George W. Bush delivers an energy speech implying that he will pursue 
efforts to reduce carbon pollution as president. Bush would go on to 
abandon this implied promise during his tenure in the White House.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/EnergyIssues3

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