Skeptical Science New Research for Week #8, 2021
Ground truths on warming
When we think about rapid climate change of the kind we ve accidentally unleashed and the warming of Earth systems inherent in the process, we tend to focus on phenomena in order of their immediate tangibility, their drama. Sea ice loss in the Arctic, atmospheric and ocean warming, more ephemeral but dramatic events such as droughts and and fires dominate our perceptions. Cuesta-Valero et al offer a refined estimate and reminder of how the very ground beneath our feet is also of course inexorably warming, in Long-term global ground heat flux and continental heat storage from geothermal data, an open access article via EGU s
Cemex makes key EMEAA investments at the start of 2021 23 February 2021
Cemex has started 2021 by investing for growth and its climate action strategy in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEAA). It has made seven bolt-on investments that are aligned to its key priorities of climate action, sustainable construction and EBITDA growth, representing advances in fossil fuel reduction, lower-CO
2 products, circular economy, recycling and products that demonstrate life cycle CO
2 and energy consumption advantages for buildings.
The investments include a new, lower-carbon alternative fuel system in the Czech Republic, circular economy and recycling improvements in France and the UK, lower-CO
2 cement in Croatia, efficiency upgrades to sites in the UK and Spain, and lightweight concrete capability in Spain.
Climate lessons from Texas frozen power outages
An off-course polar vortex meandered toward the Mexican border, bringing with it frigid Arctic air rarely seen as far south as Texas. Frozen equipment rendered power generation systems in the state inoperable, forcing grid operators to begin rolling blackouts to customers then left to fend for themselves in the glacial weather.
The year was 2021. And 2011. And 1989.
These same scenes have played out before across the Lone Star State, and experts previously had warned that they would happen again if Texas power generators, grid operators, and lawmakers failed to make the necessary investments to address the problem. Fail they did, and Texans suffered the consequences in mid-February 2021, with more than 50 deaths, over 4 million homes and businesses losing power, 7 million forced to boil tap water before drinking it, and a price tag already in the billions of dollars. Minority and low-income communities, as so often is the case wh
2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #8
Story of the Week. Editorial of the Week. Toon of the Week. Coming Soon on SkS.
Climate Feedback Claim Review. SkS Week in Review. Poster of the Week.
Story of the Week.
Exclusive:
Prof Sir Robert Watson says backing of Cumbrian mine refutes claims of climate leadership
Prof Sir Robert Watson has led the UN’s scientific organisations for climate and biodiversity. Photograph: Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP/Getty Images
One of the UK’s most eminent environmental scientists has called the government’s failure to block a new coalmine in Cumbria “absolutely ridiculous”.
Prof Sir Robert Watson said the UK’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 to tackle the climate crisis was “wonderful”, but that there had to be a focus on immediate actions. The UK is hosting a UN climate summit, Cop26, in November and Boris Johnson has pledged to lead a green industrial revolution.
Hurricanes, wildfires, and heat dominated U.S. weather in 2020
One of the hottest years in U.S. history, 2020 was besieged by a record number of billion-dollar disasters, led by two of the most dangerous phenomena with links to climate change: wildfires and hurricanes. In its initial U.S. climate summary for 2020, NOAA catalogued a year that fell firmly in line with expectations for a human-warmed climate.
The average temperature last year for the contiguous U.S., 54.37 degrees Fahrenheit, was the fifth warmest in 126 years of recordkeeping, NOAA reported. All five of the warmest years on record – 2012, 2016, 2017, 2015, and 2020 – have occurred in the past decade. The 10 coldest years were all before 1980.