Eco Slopes

A lot of information about global warming gets slung around from both sides of the issue. Some argue against climate models while others see the merit in climate models. Just so that we are all on the same page I would like to propose the following simple questions to those amongst who have an educated insight into global warming, in particular, to the one’s most familiar with climate models. 1. Will global warming increase or decrease rainfall? Yes, in some areas there will be. In others,... more

Although it is true that most of the energy beamed to earth from an SPS will be radiated into the environment as heat, it does not at all follow that this will result in more or even significant global warming than fossil fuel. First of all, much of the energy in generating stations is expended as heat directly (about 60% as I recall), while in an SPS system the energy is converted much more efficiently (more like 20% waste or less as I recall). This would allow a much larger amount of useful... more

The amount of energy available from wind is limited by the sites suitable for major wind installations. Think of this as being like hydroelectric power. Hydro plants can only be usefully located where there’s a significant water flow across a significant drop. Generally, a dam has to be built to create such a situation; Niagara Falls is one of the few exceptions. In the U.S., most of the good sites were developed decades ago. The wind resource maps estimate the resource in terms of wind... more

The global warming is due to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to (among other things) increased burning of fossil fuels and the depletion of the plant life (rainforests and phytoplankton) that convert that carbon dioxide back into free oxygen and plant material. So what do CFC gasses have to do with global warming? CFCs absorb infra-red radiation in different bands than CO2. The atmosphere is more nearly opaque in the bands absorbed by CO2 than it is in the bands absorbed by CFCs. ... more

For decades the prevailing assumption has been that a fossil-fuel-based economy would be constrained by oil, gas and coal depletion. Logical enough. But global warming has turned that paradigm on its head: It now appears that the atmosphere’s ability to assimilate fossil-fuel wastes will be the limiting factor. The question is no longer how much oil, gas and coal we have, but how much we can afford to burn. A number of institutions and organizations, including Sweden’s Beijer Institute,... more

A friend recently told me of an interesting study done by two geologists. The study was an explanation of why none of the predicted sea coast flooding has occured yet.  This flooding is predicated by those who forsee global warming due to the CO2 and halogen-organics that have been added to the atmosphere since the start of the Industrial Revolution.  The geologists claim that the water added from melting ice has about the same volume as the water that has been impounded in reservoirs by dams et.... more

There are many opportunities for slowing global warming. However, there are many reasons to believe that global warming is ultimately inevitable. Carbon dioxide, once produced, stays in the atmosphere for thousands of years. It takes a long time for the atmosphere to come into equilibrium with the ocean, and even longer for dissolved CO2 to be deposited as carbonate rock. Cutting CO2 production in half will not prevent significant global warming, just delay it. China currently produces 10% of... more

Global Warming Happening! Is everyone enjoying being a prisoner of A/C this summer? How’s that electric bill to run the bugger? Meanwhile glaciers melt worldwide, some in Europe exposing to the light of day hidden bunkers from WW v.1.0 or dead soldiers of the same genre. And of course, a 5,000 year old body was exposed the same way in 1991, old news indeed. If you look at fossil fuel use history and CO2 level rise, you notice a pattern. The two reasonably well match. Even funnier is how the... more

Global Warming The mainstream scientific consensus on global warming is becoming clearer every day: changes in our climate are real and they are underway. Now. But we can do something about it. The evidence that human-induced global warming is real is increasingly clear and compelling. a. Since the late 19th century, the mean surface temperature of the earth has increased by about 1º F (0.3-0.6°Celsius). b. Over the last 40 years, which is the period with most reliable data, the temperature increased... more

While the phenomenon of global warming is an empty worry, fundamentally unverifiable and unfalsifiable in a strict scientific sense, it is one that has been empowered with a greater meaning by those who have the motive to do so. Accordingly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, since the early 1990s its intrinsic linguistic emptiness has been filled by a mighty myth, especially in Europe. This myth asserts that current global warming is both faster and worse than at any previous time, that it is not natural,... more