Why the Globe Hasn’t Warmed Much for the Past Decade
Even the quickest glance at a graph of global temperatures makes it clear that the planet was warming sharply during the 1980s and 1990s. But while the 2000s were the hottest decade on record, the rate of warming slowed considerably after the turn of the current century — even while human emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions have … Read More
For Engineers, Climate Failure Becomes an Option
Civil engineers build rugged things designed to last for decades, like roads, bridges, culverts and water treatment plants. But a University of New Hampshire professor wants his profession to become much more flexible. In a changing climate, civil engineer Paul Kirshen argues, facilities will have to adapt to changing conditions over their useful … Read More
Rules Needed for Geoengineering Research, Experts Say
With no clear rules to guide new research, scientists are shying away from examining whether geoengineering technologies can effectively cool the planet, and at what cost. That’s the warning put forth by a pair of climate change experts in an essay published Thursday in the journal Science, which argues that the global geoengineering debate is in… Read More
Forecast Dims for Future Growth in Wind Power
Despite a recent report trumpeting a record year for wind power in 2012, the numbers are not as encouraging as they seem. Because even though total wind power capacity grew by 30 percent last year, with 13,000 megawatts in new wind turbines, the actual portion of our electricity coming from wind energy did not increase proportionally. Also, the … Read More
Volcanic Eruptions May be Masking ‘Lost’ Warming
Climate scientists think they may have found at least part of the answer to a conundrum which has been puzzling them recently — why the atmosphere has not warmed as much as expected over the last decade or so. A team led by the University of Colorado-Boulder (CU-Boulder) thinks the reason may be emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), a known … Read More
New Study: ‘World Can End Poverty and Limit Warming’
Eradicating poverty by making modern energy supplies available to everyone is not only compatible with measures to slow climate change, a new study says. It is a necessary condition for it. But the authors say the plan to provide sustainable energy worldwide will not by itself be enough to keep the global average temperature rise below the widely… Read More
Wet Times Are Masking New York’s Real Drought Risk
The last several decades have been the wettest in about the past five centuries for the watershed serving the bustling metropolis of New York City, according to a new study. This wet period is deceiving, because it is masking the city's real drought history and may be lulling water managers into a sense of complacency, which could come back to hurt… Read More
Solar Forecasts Could Help Electric Utilities and Climate
It’s even more important to electric utilities that want to tap into solar power as a non-polluting, climate-friendly alternative to the coal- or gas-fired power plants that spew heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to warm the globe. Solar is certainly better for the climate, but as Drobot explained, it can also be risky to count on.… Read More
