clair031

Summary .   Man-made emissions of greenhouse gases are producing higher long-term global average temperatures.   A New York Times Op-Ed discusses a new normal of increased average global temperature accompanied by more, and more serious, extreme weather events with damaging consequences.   An editorial in the New York Times describes how a pilot project for CO 2 underground storage, which could reduce emissions, lost U. S. federal funding because of Congressional inaction.   A display ad by Chesapeake Energy, and its web site, describe the company’s new funding for projects to develop natural gas as a domestic American fossil fuel to replace imported oil. Analogies are presented to illustrate that even if mankind stopped emitting new CO 2 now, the present level of warming and its attendant spawning of extreme weather events would still be with us.   A peer-reviewed article by Davis and coworkers concludes that even if mankind ceased putting new fossil fueled ...

Summary :   In the U. S. regional and state initiatives are in place aiming to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases significantly.   Use of renewable energy sources plays a prominent role in these programs.   This post presents a discussion of wind energy, solar photovoltaic electricity, and solar thermal electricity, focusing on the economics of utility-scale projects.   Generally, each of these modalities has already attained, or is projected to attain, economic competitiveness with fossil fuel-driven electricity generation, based on evaluation of the “levelized cost” of electricity.   A previous post on this blog presented the harsh economic and humanitarian costs arising from extreme weather events tied at least partly to global warming.   Here it is concluded that those costs and the investments needed to construct renewable energy facilities are broadly comparable.   Renewable energy is preferable in order to mitigate the need for dealing with ...

Summary :   The New York Times reports that President Obama is considering an increase in the average fuel economy standard for passenger cars and light trucks, for the period to 2025.   The standard could be raised to 56.2 miles per gallon, which represents a considerable increase from the standard of 35.5 miles per gallon to be reached by 2016.   Currently only about 13% of the total energy content in gasoline fuel reaches the drive wheels to propel the car forward.   This post summarizes various improvements, some already operational, others at various stages of development, that could be implemented in future auto products to help reach a standard such as that being considered.   Auto makers argue that putting such changes in place would not be economical and/or would not be accepted by consumers.   In balance, we conclude that both economically and from a policy perspective, increased fuel economy in the cars of the future would be beneficial. Introdu...