Month: December 2019

Were the predictions we made about climate change 20 years ago accurate?

This USA Today article discusses whether the the predictions we made about climate change 20 years ago accurate? When it comes to climate change, did we accurately predict in 2000 what would be happening now?

“What the models correctly told us 20 years ago is that if we continued to add fossil fuels at an increasing rate to the atmosphere, we’d see an increasing range of consequences, including a decline in Arctic sea ice, a rise in sea levels and shifts in precipitation patterns,” Weather Underground meteorologist Robert Henson told USA TODAY.

Overall, we’re running quite close to the projections made in 2000 for carbon dioxide concentration, global temperature and sea level, Henson said.

FERC throws support to fossil fuels in largest power market

This E&E News article discusses FERC throwing its support to fossil fuels in largest power market.

Federal regulators approved rules yesterday for the nation’s largest electricity market that effectively prop up fossil fuel power plants and discourage new investments in renewable power, demand response and energy storage projects.

The much-awaited changes in PJM Interconnection’s rules governing its capacity market were issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 508 days after the agency issued a decision calling the current market rules unjust and unreasonable and directing PJM to devise a fix.

The decision is among the most consequential by the commission since it created regional power markets 20 years ago this week. It’s certain to be challenged.

Study: Greenland’s Nearing a Climate Tipping Point.

This Inside Climate News article discusses why Greenland is nearing a climate tipping point. How long warming lasts will decide its fate. Past meltdowns occurred with temperatures only slightly higher than today’s, suggesting the world is overestimating the ice sheet’s stability, scientists say.

There’s new evidence that, in past geologic eras, much of Greenland’s ice melted when Earth’s temperatures were only slightly warmer than today’s, and that human-caused global warming will push the ice sheet past that tipping point in the next few decades.

Exactly how much of the ice melts, and how fast, depends in large part on how long temperatures stay above that threshold, scientists write in a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Natural Gas Production Problems

This NPR article discusses how natural gas production headed for a slow-down in 2020. Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia accounted for one third of the country’s shale gas production in 2019.

This article discusses how a pipeline giant sues Railroad Commission, alleging lax oversight of natural gas flaring. A subsidiary of Tulsa-based Williams Cos. is suing Texas’ oil and gas regulatory agency after it approved a request from Dallas-based Exco Operating Co. to burn off natural gas from wells in South Texas while they were hooked up to Williams’ pipeline system.

This Bloomberg article discusses how the Permian gas problem is just getting worse. America’s top shale field is becoming increasingly gassy as drilling slows down, undercutting profits for explorers at a time when investors are demanding better returns. Natural gas has long been a nuisance in the Permian, where a massive glut weighs on prices, with crude producers sometimes having to pay to get it hauled away or burn it off in a controversial practice known as flaring. Now the problem is intensifying as wells age and fewer new wells are drilled.

This article discusses the bust cycle that natural gas is now in. Good times rolled for an extended period, and led to Pennsylvania becoming the nation’s No. 2 gas producer behind Texas. Then about four years ago, declining commodity prices began to hit the producers and continued to hit them. And is still hitting them, with prices half of what they were a year ago.

Electric vehicles

This ABC News article discusses how the US Rust Belt region is banking on becoming hub for electric vehicles. A long-struggling Rust Belt community stung by the loss of a massive auto plant is trying to carve out a new economy. The day Youngstown’s steel mills began shutting down 40 years ago remains fresh in the minds of those who live in the blue-collar corner of Ohio. Community leaders don’t want the recent closing of General Motors‘ massive assembly plant to leave that same lingering gloom. The region is embarking on an ambitious plan to become a research and production hub for electric vehicles and carve out a new economy for itself by mixing its industrial past with emerging technology.

This The Guardian article discusses why 2020 is set to be year of the electric car, say industry analysts. Mini, Vauxhall Corsa and Fiat 5oo will join rapidly expanding European EV market. Europe’s carmakers are gearing up to make 2020 the year of the electric car, according to automotive analysts, with a wave of new models launching as the world’s biggest manufacturers scramble to lower the carbon dioxide emissions of their products. Previous electric models have mostly been targeted at niche markets, but 2020 will see the launch of flagship electric models with familiar names, such as the Mini, the Vauxhall Corsa and the Fiat 500.

The Northeast warms ahead of rest of USA

This USA Today article discusses how the Northeast is warming ahead of rest of USA: ‘Our winters now are not like our winters before’.

For one scientist, climate change in the Northeast announces itself in the abnormal appearances of warm-water fish – an abundance of mahi-mahi and unprecedented sightings in January of Gulf Stream flounder and juvenile black sea bass in shallow waters off New England.

“Nobody had ever seen that before,” said Glen Gawarkiewicz, an oceanographer from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

For another scientist, the phenomenon materializes in ocean temperatures, which have been rising for more than a generation, influencing coastal weather and pushing snowfall farther inland.

“Our winters now are not like our winters before,” said Lenny Giuliano, the state meteorologist in Rhode Island.

8 energy battles to watch in 2020

This E&E News article discusses 8 energy battles to watch in 2020, from O&G leasing, to pipelines, to rulemaking, to sage grouse.

This CBC article discusses a court decision where a U.S. judge rejected Trump’s bid to dismiss lawsuit over Keystone XL pipeline approval.

Climate Change Troubles in Australia

This opinion piece discusses a vet’s hellish diary of climate change – why cattle have stopped breeding and koalas die of thirst. Bulls cannot breed at Inverell. They are becoming infertile from their testicles overheating. Mares are not falling pregnant, and through the heat, piglets and calves are aborting. My work as a veterinarian has changed so much. While I would normally test bulls for fertility, or herds of cattle for pregnancy, I no longer do, because the livestock has been sold. A client’s stud stock in Inverell has reduced from 2000 breeders to zero.

Report: A Field Guide for the Entire 21st Century

This The Atlantic article discusses a new project that reveals not just where birds live now—but where they’ll live decades from now. In fact, many state birds could soon fly their domiciles: the yellowhammer from Alabama, the purple finch from New Hampshire, the ruffled grouse from Pennsylvania. The official birds of Georgia, Idaho, and Utah will all see their ranges shrink dramatically in those states.

These changes are described in “Survival by Degrees,” a new online project released by Audubon. It was created with one of the country’s most prominent data-visualization firms, Stamen Design.