Long-standing climate paradox resolved (Phys.org) —Climate scientists have long documented the strong control of Earth's orbital variations on the waxing and waning of the great ice ages, when huge "pluvial" lakes filled the valley floors of the Great Basin. For years it was thought that Great Basin climate marched to the tune of a different drummer. This paradox arose from an iconic climate record from Devils Hole, Nev., which suggested that Great Basin climate warmed out of glacial periods before warming from changes in the earth's orbit. However, in a new study, "Orbital control of western North America atmospheric circulation and climate over two glacial cycles," published today in the online journal Nature Communications, scientists revealed a 175,000 year-long climate record from Great Basin that shows ice age temperature oscillations centered around changes in earth's orbit. The climate history was constructed from cave deposits that were collected between 2011-13 in Nevada – areas included Pinnacle Cave on Mt.
Saudi Arabia may go broke before the US oil industry buckles King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Photo: Andrew Harnik/Reuters If the oil futures market is correct, Saudi Arabia will start running into trouble within two years. It will be in existential crisis by the end of the decade. The contract price of US crude oil for delivery in December 2020 is currently $US62.05, implying a drastic change in the economic landscape for the Middle East and the petro-rentier states. The Saudis took a huge gamble last November when they stopped supporting prices and opted instead to flood the market and drive out rivals, boosting their own output to 10.6 million barrels a day (b/d) into the teeth of the downturn. Illustration: Kerrie leishman Bank of America says OPEC is now "effectively dissolved". If the aim was to choke the US shale industry, the Saudis have misjudged badly, just as they misjudged the growing shale threat at every stage for eight years. One Saudi expert was blunter. The problem for the Saudis is that US shale frackers are not high-cost.
How Newsweek's 'global cooling' story got its legs Jan. 10, 2014 Nine paragraphs written for Newsweek in 1975 continue to trump 40 years of climate science. It's a record that has the author amazed. ShareThis By Doug StruckThe Daily Climate BOSTON – Temperatures have plunged to record lows on the East Coast, and once again Peter Gwynne is being heralded as a journalist ahead of his time. Gwynne, now 72, is a bit chagrinned that a long career of distinguished science and technology reporting is most remembered for this one story. Gwynne was the science editor of Newsweek 39 years ago when he pulled together some interviews from scientists and wrote a nine-paragraph story about how the planet was getting cooler. Ever since, Gwynne's "global cooling" story – and a similar Time Magazine piece – have been brandished gleefully by those who say it shows global warming is not happening, or at least that scientists – and often journalists – don't know what they are talking about. Fox News loves to cite it. Popping up - again and again Donald J.
Kinetic energy may power our home and gadgets starting in 5 years In the next five years your shoe may be what powers the battery in your cell phone. Engineers are harnessing the power of kinetic energy and one IBM employee thinks widespread usage of the technology isn’t far off. Harry Kolar, an engineer with IBM, described harvesting energy from human movements as bodies becoming “an energy-generating machine,” in a blog post about what energy changes may occur in the next five years. In essence, we create energy from many of the little activities we do throughout the day. “This science — parasitic power collection — pulls and transmits energy created by the slightest movement.” said Kolar in the blog post. Kolar also predicts that we will figure out how to best harness wave and tidal energy. “My team is working with The Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland to use real-time streaming analytics that monitor the underwater noise and track its potential impact on the marine environment,” said Koler.
Young People Are Taking the Government to Court Over Its Failure to Address Climate Change | Activism This post first appeared in The Nation. In an unprecedented federal court case that has made it to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, young people from California are suing the Environmental Protection Agency and Departments of Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Energy and Defense under the historic “public trust doctrine” for failing to devise a climate change recovery plan. In their legal brief, they argue, “Failure to rapidly reduce CO2 emissions and protect and restore the balance of the atmosphere is a violation of Youth’s constitutionally protected rights and is redressable by the Courts.” The public trust doctrine has its roots in antiquity, deriving from the Roman “Code of Justinian.” That’s true. In tandem with the federal lawsuit, similar efforts by American youth, also guided by Our Children’s Trust, are aimed at state agencies in Alaska, New Mexico, Oregon and Texas.
Nissan's Leaf-Charging Wireless Pad Could Signal An Industry Surge Wireless charging is still not common, particularly with the disappearance of the Palm Pre, which was one of the main gadgets to utilize the trick for ultra-convenient connection to a battery-boosting charger. That makes Nissan's moves with its Leaf EV all the more interesting: To charge your 2013 Leaf, all you'll have to do is park it on the requisite spot of your garage. The setup is rather simple at first glimpse: Instead of flipping open a door on your car and connecting in a large electric plug, wired to a wall charger point, you reverse your Leaf over a large plastic pad on the floor. But this otherwise innocuous pad contains the coils of a wireless induction loop and some electronics--induction is how electricity makes its way through a transformer, magnetically, with no physical connection between the coils. The simplicity and benefits are obvious for EV users, who would simply have to park their cars at night in order to drive away with a full battery in the morning.
Shipping Crude Oil by Rail: New Front in the Tar Sands Wars by Jacques Leslie 05 Dec 2013: Analysis by jacques leslie On New Year's Eve 2009, a train with 104 tank cars of light crude oil traveled 1,123 miles from North Dakota's Bakken oil fields to a terminal in Stroud, Oklahoma, and opened a new front in the war over development of Canada's tar sands. It didn't seem that way at the time. Andrew Burton/Getty Images Tanker cars at a depot in North Dakota, where railroads now move 600,000 barrels of oil a day from the Bakken fields. where production since the advent of oil fracking there nearly a decade earlier had far exceeded the capacity of available pipelines and trucks. Some analysts have declared that crude from Alberta will find a way to refineries regardless of Keystone XL’s fate. A million barrels a day is more than the capacity of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, 830,000 barrels — a fact that has led some oil industry analysts to declare that heavy crude from Alberta's tar sands will find a way to refineries regardless of Keystone XL's fate.
The Green Electricity Guide Select your state (above) and a ranking of power companies (green, orange and red) appears down the left hand side. Click on each company for more information.For a national ranking select ‘All’. This guide has been developed to help inform Australians about which electricity retailers really are as ‘green’ as they say they are. By choosing a retailer that invests its money in renewables rather than coal and gas you can help clean up our energy sector by reducing carbon pollution. Origin Energy, EnergyAustralia and AGL currently provide electricity to over three quarters of Australian households. Recently these companies have been undermining Australia’s Renewable Energy Target – a policy which aims to ensure 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020. The energy market is changing and increasingly many of us have the choice to purchase from retailers that invest primarily in renewable energy. The ACT market is heavily dominated by ActewAGL.