Re: OT for DAF - Global Warming

Mike Burke wrote:

On Sat, 27 Oct 2007 20:43:08 -0400, "Francis A. Miniter"
<miniter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


Mike Burke wrote:

On Sat, 27 Oct 2007 04:09:51 GMT, "Willow Arune" <pangarun@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:



http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/denialmachine/

Ah DAF, I suggest you watch this and ponder your sad and sorry state...


Dear GCF

You are kidding, aren't you? Not even the most enthusiastic supporter
of Al Gore and his Greek Chorus would dare to use the word 'fact' in
relation to the global warming debate. There are no 'facts', only
computer models.

Mique


So it is an illusion that the Greenland ice pack is melting at many times the rate it was 20 years ago? (And that block of ice you do have to worry about if it goes.) Even though it has been physically measured, not computer modelled, by a number of scientists, including my brother-in-law whose report was on the McNeill Hour this summer.

Or the glaciers in Canada that are no longer there are really still there even though we cannot see them in the comparative photographs?

Or the vast ice masses that are cracking off Antarctica beyond the expectation of all who have computer modelled it?

Or the hot debate over the now open-in-summer Northwest Passage? That is not happening either?

I could go on for pages. Instead I recommend that you look at the publications this last spring by the co-winner (not Al Gore) of the Nobel Peace Prize.


Of course you can go on for pages, Francis, and for ages. Nobody here
is denying that global warming is happening, least of all me. What
I'm skeptical about is the claim that humans are a _significant_
contributor to the phenomenon, or that anything that we might do
either individually or collectively will have any _significant_ effect
on the situation.

Why should we here in Oz, who - apart from our coal exports - are
infinitesmal contributors to the world's carbon problem, impose on
ourselves the sort of draconian restrictions being sought by the
zealots because, say, Europe - a major contributor to the problem -
may decide to impose such restrictions on themselves?

The sanest arguments I've ever read on these issues, ie what should or
should not be done, come from Bjorn Lomborg. And you just know he is
on the right track by the best and most reliable measure of all, the
extent and virulence of the attacks being made on him by the true
believers.

Mique


True, Mique, Australia does not contribute much to the problem and cannot contribute much, physically at least, to the solution, though, as France has just done, it can take a leadership position in pushing the world to better habits. It is the US, China, Indonesia (forest burning), Brazil (forests again) who are significant parts of the problem.

What can be done has been well outlined in the Working Papers of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ("IPCC"), especially in the Fourth Assessment Report, Working Group III, which outlined short-term, medium-term and long-term mitigation that is feasible. IPCC Working Group I concluded that even without greenhouse gas emissions there would be warming at the rate of 0.1 degree C. per decade for the foreseeable future. The problem is that the rate of increase has been significantly affected by these emissions, such that the warming rate is several times higher than what it would be from nature alone.

Below is a summary of short- and mid-term (to 2030) recommendations of Working Group III.

-----------------------
Energy Supply
[4.3, 4.4]
Improved supply and distribution efficiency; fuel switching from coal
to gas; nuclear power; renewable heat and power (hydropower, solar,
wind, geothermal and bioenergy); combined heat and power; early
applications of CCS (e.g. storage of removed CO2 from natural gas)
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) for gas, biomass and coal-fired
electricity generating facilities; advanced nuclear power; advanced
renewable energy, including tidal and waves energy, concentrating
solar, and solar PV.

Transport
[5.4]
More fuel efficient vehicles; hybrid vehicles; cleaner diesel vehicles;
biofuels; modal shifts from road transport to rail and public transport
systems; non-motorised transport (cycling, walking); land-use and
transport planning
Second generation biofuels; higher efficiency aircraft; advanced
electric and hybrid vehicles with more powerful and reliable
batteries

Buildings
[6.5]
Efficient lighting and daylighting; more efficient electrical appliances
and heating and cooling devices; improved cook stoves, improved
insulation ; passive and active solar design for heating and cooling;
alternative refrigeration fluids, recovery and recycle of fluorinated
gases
Integrated design of commercial buildings including technologies,
such as intelligent meters that provide feedback and control; solar
PV integrated in buildings

Industry
[7.5]
More efficient end-use electrical equipment; heat and power recovery;
material recycling and substitution; control of non-CO2 gas emissions;
and a wide array of process-specific technologies
Advanced energy efficiency; CCS for cement, ammonia, and iron
manufacture; inert electrodes for aluminium manufacture

Agriculture
[8.4]
Improved crop and grazing land management to increase soil carbon
storage; restoration of cultivated peaty soils and degraded lands;
improved rice cultivation techniques and livestock and manure
management to reduce CH4 emissions; improved nitrogen fertilizer
application techniques to reduce N2O emissions; dedicated energy
crops to replace fossil fuel use; improved energy efficiency
Improvements of crops yields

Forestry/forests
[9.4]
Afforestation; reforestation; forest management; reduced deforestation;
harvested wood product management; use of forestry products for
bioenergy to replace fossil fuel use
Tree species improvement to increase biomass productivity and
carbon sequestration. Improved remote sensing technologies for
analysis of vegetation/ soil carbon sequestration potential and
mapping land use change

Waste [10.4] Landfill methane recovery; waste incineration with energy recovery;
composting of organic waste; controlled waste water treatment;
recycling and waste minimization
Biocovers and biofilters to optimize CH4 oxidation
----------------------


Francis A. Miniter
.

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