Editor Note: In October 2017 (15 months ago), Joe Romm at ThinkProgress published a post, September [2017] sets alarming global temperature record and negates a favorite denier talking point.
In his words:
September 2017 smashed multiple climate records, alarming scientists and further negating a favorite talking point of climate science deniers…. It’s especially remarkable to see these records in the UAH satellite data….
“The signal of global warming has become so dominant that even the deniers’ own favorite cherry-picked datasets clearly now show it,” climatologist Michael Mann told ThinkProgress. For those who live in the world of real scientific analysis, rather than conservative talking points, satellite data, ground-based weather stations, sea-based buoys, and even weather balloons all reveal a steady long-term warming trend.
Mann added, “even the questionable UAH satellite record, which has historically underestimated the rate of global warming as a result of serial mathematical errors, can no longer obscure the anomalous warming of the planet.”…
Continue Reading“As usual the Georgia Power Company and the Georgia Public Service Commission staff quibble over the cost-to-complete analysis of Plant Vogtle (Units 3 & 4). The company inflates the cost of the combined-cycle alternative and leaves out costs of completing the project.”
“After water-boarding the numbers, the Company says completing the project is in the best interest of ratepayers. Staff again catches phony numbers and says an eight-month delay will make the project uneconomic. The full Commission again ignores the staff criticisms and approves whatever Georgia Power tells them. … Yawn.”
“Georgia Power’s obvious strategy is to delay the bad news until they get more sunk cost behind them. The actual construction is about 60% complete; and Georgia Power, as always, says the schedule and budget projections are ‘challenging’.”
In his recent treatise on the contra-capitalist corporation, Enron Ascending: The Forgotten Years, Robert Bradley Jr.…
Continue Reading“Hydrocarbon fuels will remain essential for modern air travel. So-called sustainable aviation fuels are expensive, produced in negligible volumes, and provide CO2 savings only on paper. As such, they fail the real sustainability test of affordability, plenty, and reliability.”
Air travel is a miracle of our modern society. In 1620, the pilgrims took 65 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean by sailing ship and two passengers died during that hazardous journey. Today, a single jumbo jet safely transports more than 300 passengers from London to New York in under eight hours. Millions flew to see loved ones this last Christmas. But jet planes burn hydrocarbon fuel, an energy source under attack.
Each day, more than 100,000 commercial flights carry more than 11 million passengers a combined total of 14 billion passenger miles worldwide. …
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