Opposite Views on Climate Feedbacks (and perhaps the answer lies in the middle)
By Chip Knappenberger -- March 5, 2009Just how much warming should we expect from rising levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs)? The answer largely hinges on how much extra warming might be generated by the initial warming—that is, how strong (and in what direction) are the feedbacks from water vapor and clouds.
By most estimates (including climate model outcomes), these feedbacks are positive and result in about a doubling of the warming that would result from greenhouse gas increases alone. By others, however, the total feedbacks are negative,…
Continue ReadingWind: Energy Past, not Energy Future (the intermittency curse then, as now)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 4, 2009The disadvantage of windpower as a primary energy source has been long recognized. This 1838 textbook described the competitive situation of wind as follows:
William Stanley Jevons also detailed the problems of windpower…
Continue ReadingObama Climatomics: Politics Drives Science Amid a Fading Alarm
By David Schnare -- March 3, 2009The Environmental Left has used global warming as a tool to force their Malthusian “sustainability” agenda on the U.S. and, to the extent possible, the rest of the world. Yet in one simple maneuver, the President has replaced save-the-world alarmism with a revenue-driven cap-and-trade program. It is politics, not science, which is in the driver’s seat, and the carbon cuts will be far below what the catastrophists have long demanded. The “unsaved” world moves ahead.…
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