Where do Florida candidates stand on energy, climate?

SACE posts information on US senate candidates Nelson and Scott

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy has posted information on where US Sen. Bill Nelson and the GOP candidate for his seat, Gov. Rick Scott, stand on energy and climate issues. SACE is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization that “promotes responsible energy choices to ensure clean, safe, and healthy communities throughout the Southeast.”

Use this link for information on both candidates:  http://blog.cleanenergy.org/tag/2018flcandidatesonenergy/

SACE will soon post information on Florida’s gubernatorial candidates.

Florence raises rivers and public awareness

Two tipping points on the horizon

 We may be approaching two tipping points. The one spells disaster, the other hope.

There is a growing body of research, and scientific judgment based on that research, that supports the idea that we are moving toward a point of no return—a time when any action to reduce emissions will be too late to avoid catastrophic impacts. Some people will dismiss this statement as just more “gloom and doom.” And yes, it is gloom and doom.

And because of the growing list of ominous weather events, we may also be at the cusp of another turning point. The evidence of the looming crisis is piling up faster than we can calculate the impacts: Florence is only the latest piece of evidence, and it followed a year of other devastating storms, floods, and wildfires. There is some reason for hope that more and more people are beginning to grasp the fact that we are facing a potential disaster, and that the leading edge of that disaster is here and now.

One of the main obstacles to climate change communication is the view that its impacts are distant, remote and theoretical. As Hurricane Florence approached the Southeast coast, researchers from Stony Brook University in New York and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California calculated that the storm would bring 50% more rain to the Carolinas as a direct result of climate change.

This real time analysis of the link between an extreme weather event and climate change may have strengthened public understanding of the connection. Some major media outlets mentioned climate change in their coverage of Florence—including NPR, the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Guardian.

In an editorial, the Charlotte Observer said storms like Florence “are far from a surprise, as a warming climate continues to deliver fiercer storms to the U.S. coast. But instead of preparing for that inevitability — and the rising sea levels that climate change also has brought — N.C. lawmakers instead passed a 2012 law that told state and local agencies to ignore evidence of sea-level rise when they developed coastal building policies. Development has continued to boom.”   [https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article218318010.html#storylink=cpy]

But most media reports on the storm, including those in the Pensacola News Journal, ignored climate change.

Scientists acknowledge that attribution studies need further refinement, but they do provide new understanding of how rising temperatures in the oceans and atmosphere intensify the impacts of storms and other weather events.

In its article on the Stony Brook/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study of Florence, Grist offers this quote from Hunter Cutting, director of strategic communications for Climate Nexus: “People think of climate change as something that’s either going to happen far in the future or far away. This kind of work highlights that it’s something that affects everybody, whether you’re talking about wildfires in the West or coastal flooding in the East.”

The media may largely ignore climate change in their coverage of extreme weather events, but the public is increasingly making the connection. According to a survey by Yale University and the University of Westminster, four times more people today list extreme weather as the primary symbol of climate change than in past years.

https://grist.org/article/a-groundbreaking-hurricane-florence-study-could-change-how-we-think-about-climate/

Triple-threat superstorm

Climate scientist Michael Mann called Florence a triple threat that wreaked havoc on the Carolinas from winds (though diminished at landfall), storm surge and inland flooding.

Before being downgraded to a tropical storm, the hurricane hit the Carolina coast on Sept. 13, bringing heavy rains and flooding across a wide swath of the Carolinas. As of Sept. 29, the death toll was 37 and the incalculable devastation to communities, hog manure ponds, water and sewer systems, and power plants continued to spread.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission declared the threat to two nuclear reactors a “hazardous event.” There were numerous reports of coal ash being released from power stations into streams and rivers, posing a serious health threat to nearby communities. The possible breaching of a dam could result in a massive release of coal ash into the Cape Fear River.

An official with the state Department of Environmental Quality called the coal ash threat one “crisis” within the larger “state emergency.”

It will be many months before the total damage is assessed, as flooding continues to damage properties and public facilities of all kinds even far from the coast.

So, the inevitable question: Is it climate change? Much of the destruction of Florence was clearly made worse by higher seas that have been caused largely by rising greenhouse gas emissions fueling climate change.

The Washington Post cites this statement from climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf, a sea-level expert at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: “If you start with a higher sea level, the same surge obviously will go up higher than without that sea-level rise. It’s a no-brainer. The only question is how much.”

Scientists are generally in agreement that the Atlantic Ocean along the US East Coast has risen by at least six inches over the past 100 years due to climate change and this higher ocean level contributed significantly to the damage Florence caused. So North Carolina’s refusal to consider  sea-level rise in coastal planning is a cruel testimony to the risks of climate change denial: much of the real estate development that political decision was designed to protect was destroyed or severely damaged by Florence. Many coastal communities will never be the same.

As rivers in the Carolinas continued to crest, the National Weather Service on Sept. 26 reported that Florence broke several flood records set by Hurricanes Matthew in 2016, Floyd in 1999, Hazel in 1954.

With Florence the Carolinas join two other states that have set tropical storm rainfall records in the past year—Texas and Hawaii.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2018/09/18/florence-was-another-year-rain-event-is-this-new-normal-planet-warms/?utm_term=.5026c118c638
https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/09/13/no-brainer-climate-change-has-made-hurricane-florence-worse/?utm_term=.bced31eda786
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/21/climate/florences-floodwaters-breach-defenses-at-power-plant-prompting-shutdown.html

 

Fall becoming extension of summer

Fall is becoming an extension of summer. And if you are restricting your outdoor activities in late September and early October in Pensacola, you surly don’t want to move to Miami or Phoenix—just to name two cities where fall temperatures have really soared in the last 50 years.

Since 1970, the US average temperature for September through November has risen by more than 2 degrees F., while it has risen in Pensacola by less than 1 degree F.

The extension of summer heat in the fall months has consequences, including declining crop yields. Scientists calculate that every one degree (Celsius) of warming reduces the production of corn, rice and wheat by 10% to 25%, with these reductions expected to be particularly severe in North America and Europe. In addition, longer summer heat means longer demand for air conditioning, raising the cost of cooling and adding to the warming—at least, if fossil fuels are the energy source.

Climate Central based its report on national trends in fall temperatures are from NOAA/NCEI Climate at a Glance for September through November. Individual city data are calculated the Applied Climate Information System.                                 http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/maps/fall-warming-trends-across-the-us

Rising Renewables

While there is plenty of bad news on the climate front these days, there is also continuing good news in the rise of renewable energy. Climate Central reports that wind capacity has more than doubled since 2010, and solar has also soared as the cost of installed solar has fallen by 70%.

Jobs in renewables have increased dramatically, in states where the power is generated as well as in states where the equipment is developed and manufactured.  Throughout the nation the number of jobs in solar energy has shot up by more than 160% in this decade, raising the total number of these jobs to more than 250,000.

The Sunshine State has been part of the growth of solar electric generation and jobs.

_{http://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/renewable-electricity-growth-across-the-us}

 

Catastrophic warming cited to justify lower fuel efficiency rules

Trump administration says weaker auto standards will add little to warming

A recent draft report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) projects that the planet will warm by 7 degrees F (or 4 degrees C) by 2100—a level of warming that scientists say would be catastrophic, sinking Miami and other coastal cities, to name just one impact.

As the Washington Post reports, NHTSA did not make its projection to encourage action to curb climate change. Instead, the agency cited the warming to justify the proposed weakening of scheduled higher efficiency rules for cars and light trucks this way: keeping the gas guzzlers on our roadways will make relatively little difference to the climate but will help maintain the manufacturers’ profits.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-administration-sees-a-7-degree-rise-in-global-temperatures-by-2100/2018/09/27/b9c6fada-bb45-11e8-bdc0-90f81cc58c5d_story.html?utm_term=.31879ef12232