BP officially quits the solar business | Grist

“We have thrown in the towel on solar,” [BP CEO] Bob Dudley said after delivering a wide-ranging speech Wednesday.

“Not that solar energy isn’t a viable energy source, but we worked at it for 35 years, and we really never made money,” he added.

Atmospheric electricity affects cloud height - physicsworld.com

For decades, scientists have argued over whether there is a link between cosmic rays and cloud cover, which in turn could affect climate. Now two atmospheric physicists in the UK have discovered that global atmospheric electricity – which itself is altered by cosmic rays, space weather and El Niño – affects the base height of certain types of clouds. [Via DB]

The UN's climate-change hypocrisy | The Daily Caller

A recent United Nations report admonished the world for not becoming “climate neutral” fast enough to avoid the “catastrophic consequences” of climate change. It’s an odd complaint for the U.N. to make, considering that the international body has failed to reduce its own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The average human generates 4.637 metric tons of GHGs each year, not including the air he exhales. U.N. workers emit an average of over 8.2 metric tons of GHGs each year — just in the course of their professional lives.

There are over 215,000 workers at 54 U.N. agencies scattered in 530 duty stations around the globe. In 2008, these U.N. workers emitted 1.741 million metric tons of GHGs. Air travel contributed 4.02 metric tons per worker, 48% of the total. By 2010, emissions had risen to 1.766 million metric tons, with air travel accounting for 51% of emissions.