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Is it Time to End Ethanol Vehicle Fuel Mandates? | Somewhat ReasonableEthanol fuel is no bargain. For example, when gasoline is priced at $3.40 per gallon, the 85 percent ethanol blend (E85) is priced at about $3.00 per gallon. But since the energy content of ethanol is only 66 percent that of gasoline, a tank of E85 gets only about 71 percent of the mileage of a tank of pure gasoline. E85 fuel should be priced at $2.41 per gallon for the driver to break even. According to the US Department of Agriculture, ethanol fuel remains about 25 percent more expensive than gasoline.
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Mandates for ethanol vehicle fuel are also boosting food prices. Forty percent of the US corn crop is diverted to produce about ten percent of US vehicle fuel. Global corn and soybean prices have doubled over the last ten years in concert with the growth in ethanol and biodiesel production. Anyone who drives a car or eats food is paying higher prices due to ethanol mandates.
But isn’t ethanol fuel sustainable? Not in terms of water consumption. Studies by the Argonne National Laboratory and the Netherlands University of Twente found that ethanol production consumes twice to dozens of times more water than gasoline produced from petroleum, even from Canadian oil sands.
2008: Berkshire Hathaway Charlie Munger on EthanolWhen asked by a shareholder about ethanol, Charlie Munger made the following statement:
"Running cars on corn is about the stupidest thing I ever heard of. Our government is under tremendous political pressure [to keep pushing and supporting corn ethanol] even though it makes no sense." He goes on to state an unpopular view in Nebraska, "More energy is used producing ethanol than it creates and that's without considering the damage to the topsoil producing fuel when we could be producing food." Munger further states that it's silly to drive up the price of food in order to provide an uneconomic fuel, as well as a dumb government policy.
- Bishop Hill blog - SkS quietly withdraws allegationThe idea that comparing mode to mode is "apples to oranges" is pretty strange. To say it is "misleading" is again absolutely extraordinary when one notes that the IPCC doesn't consider means either - it reports medians and modes. This is only natural to do so when considering skewed distributions since the mean is strongly influenced by outliers.
Lilley sticks it to 'Trougher' Yeo – Telegraph Blogs[Peter Lilley] Criminologists have observed that the victims of confidence tricksters are often willing—indeed, eager—to believe the story to which they fall victim, and the more absurd, fantastic or fabulous the story, the more willing they are to believe it. The report is an example of a confidence trick that has been willingly absorbed by the Government and members of the Committee. It contains all the characteristics necessary for the sort of fairy tale in which one wants to believe: it has a faraway country, mysterious powers that we attribute to ourselves, and pots of gold—green gold—at the end of the rainbow.
The first delusion affirmed by the report is the delusion of power. It is a strange hangover from liberal imperialism that the British intellectual classes believe that they can still dominate the world—that the world is anxious to hear from them, and will jump to attention at their every word and follow their every command.
ICSC MEDIA RELEASE - PRACTICAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS MUST DIVORCE THEMSELVES FROM GLOBAL WARMING CAMPAIGNERSOttawa, Canada, April 22, 2013: "Earth Day participants must distance themselves from the climate scare or risk the event degenerating into irrelevance,” said Tom Harris, executive director of the Ottawa-based International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC). Noting the intense climate focus in this year’s Earth Day Network advertising, Harris warned, “As the hypothesis that humanity’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are causing dangerous global warming falls into disrepute, all those associated with the climate alarm will also lose credibility.”
Good news for birds: GE warns of sliding wind turbine sales — results aren’t expected to improve | JunkScience.com“General Electric Co warned of slowing profit growth in its industrial businesses due to weakness in Europe and sliding [wind and gas] turbine sales, unnerving Wall Street and pushing its stock down.”
Europe is becoming a green-energy basket case - The Washington PostFOR YEARS, European leaders have flaunted their unwavering commitment to fighting climate change — and chastised the United States for lagging behind. But last week brought yet more confirmation that the continent has become a green-energy basket case. Instead of a model for the world to emulate, Europe has become a model of what not to do.
Late 20th century was warmest in 1400 years after 19th century showed Earth was cooling Europe, for instance, was probably warmer in the first century AD than at the end of the 20th century.
Vermont: How Is the Sap Running? 2013 Has Been a Good Season the combination of ideal weather with greater collection efficiency gives this season the chance to be the best ever.
Duluth smashes cold and snowfall records[At International Falls, MN] The morning low temperature of 4 degrees on April 20th, 2013 broke the old daily low record of 18 degrees set in 1966
One in ten are warming to hot tubs in the garden: Sales actually increase during the cold weather | Mail OnlineDespite the unpredictable British climate, one in ten households have a heated hot tub in their garden
Europe’s Carbon Market Is Sputtering as Prices Dive - NYTimes.comBritain increased coal burning for electricity more than 30 percent last year
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Anthony Hobley, a lawyer in London and president of the Climate Market and Investors Association, an industry group, estimates that among the traders, analysts and bankers who flocked to the carbon markets in the early days, half may now be gone.
Dealing with climate change denial, Australian-style | Amy Huva - The Vancouver ObserverThe [climate realist] continued his tirade, when a wonderful moment of blunt Australianism happened as another audience member stood up and yelled across the theatre ‘either ask a question or sit down and shut up!’
Oh, Australia – how I miss you and your lack of Canadian politeness sometimes!
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However entertaining the climate denier was (and I pity Professor Karoly who had to listen to the man rant at him immediately after the presentation), it does pose an interesting question as to how we should engage with climate deniers who are the scientific equivalent of ‘flat earthers’.
When people are so entrenched in their own ideology that they simply refuse to see or believe the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change, how much time should we give them? Is there any point in trying to ‘debate’ with someone who just wants to shout at you that you’re wrong?
Personally, I try and avoid climate deniers. There’s only so much energy a person has and only so much time in the day,
...In the same way that some people have to avoid talking about race with their grandparents to avoid their awkwardly racist comments; some people just don’t want to see the reality of humanity’s climate challenge and refuse to be convinced.
...The Australian-style response to such denial was surprisingly refreshing for me
Amy Huva | The Vancouver ObserverAmy Huva is an environmental chemist and writer from Melbourne, Australia who worked for the Australian Federal Government on agricultural water reform and the Montreal Protocol. She is currently working in the environmental sector in Vancouver, Canada.
Clarity on climate change causes | PressDemocrat.com[2006] ‘Humanity is sitting on a time bomb. If the vast majority of the world’s scientists are right, we have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet’s climate system into a tail-spin of epic destruction . . .”
This quote, spoken by Al Gore in his movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” embodies the fear that is driving the modern environmental movement.
Tomgram: Michael Klare, The Coming Global Explosion We already know enough about the future effects of climate change to predict the following with reasonable confidence:
* Rising sea levels will in the next half-century erase many coastal areas, destroying large cities, critical infrastructure (including roads, railroads, ports, airports, pipelines, refineries, and power plants), and prime agricultural land.
Record low temps set in Minnesota DULUTH – After the storm that ended Friday dropped 2 feet of snow on parts of northeastern Minnesota, the region saw record low temperatures Saturday morning.
Embarrass reported a low of 14 degrees below zero Saturday. According to Minnesota’s State Climatology Office, that’s the lowest temperature ever reported in the state for April 20; the previous record was zero, at Cloquet in 1928.
And beyond that, the climatology office reported that Embarrass’ low temperature was the lowest temperature ever reported in the state in the second half of April.
Earth Day 2013 - HuffPost LiveTom Zeller @tomzellerjr (New York , NY) Huffington Post Senior Writer
Bjørn Lomborg (New York, NY) Director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center
Michael Levi (New York, NY) Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment and Director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change at the Council on Foreign Relations
Dr. Michael Mann @MichaelEMann (United States) Director of Penn State Earth System Science Center; Author of 'The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars'
What I learned from a month of eating vegan | GristI struggled with suddenly becoming the “difficult” guest at dinner parties and evenings out. Convenience foods got a whole lot less convenient.
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Perhaps you need more than a month to fully reap the purported benefits of the vegan diet — amazing skin, hair, energy levels, etc. But none of us experienced noticeable improvements in any of the above. [Did you notice any worldwide reduction in CO2-induced bad weather?]
Dutch Newspaper: ‘Brilliant UK radio interview with Marc Morano on the state of the climate debate’ — ‘He is like a machine gun when he fires his arguments’ | Climate Depot'In this interview, Morano again shows his superior control -- both of the major lines and of the smallest details of the climate debate... and all without cheat sheets. He is like a machine gun when he fires his arguments...For climate skeptics, Morano's interview is as soothing as a hot shower, where one reborn comes from. Supporters of the human greenhouse hypothesis will undoubtedly turn green and yellow and be annoyed' (Google Translated)
PAGES2K Reconstructions « Climate AuditThe PAGES2K article to be published tomorrow will show eight regional reconstructions, which are plotted below. In today’s post, I’ll try to briefly summarize what, if anything, is new about them.
Protecting global climate with Vegan Challenge: Interview with Paul Mahony | rabble.caPaul Mahony, one of the founders of Melbourne Pig Save, speaks to Anita Krajnc about the vegan imperative to help solve the climate crisis.
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A 2009 study by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency reported that a global transition to a completely animal free diet is estimated to reduce climate change mitigation costs by around 80%. Removing just meat from the diet would reduce the costs by around 70%.
Anglers and boaters blue as Minnesota lakes head toward historically late ice-outs | StarTribune.comAlong the bays of Minnetonka and all across the Land of 10,000 Lakes, winter’s tight and icy grip is delaying business, canceling events and testing anglers’ patience.
Global Warming Slowed Down While CO2 Emissions Rose – What’s The Rumpus?Basically, we caught a break and a good thing we did because there is no basic research solution coming for greener energy any time soon. Solutions are likely to come from the private sector, not government-controlled science, but the private sector is being vilified.
Twitter / BigJoeBastardi: RI SEN Whitehouse comments ...RI SEN Whitehouse comments on climate show he does not know a think about the weather history of his own state.. ie hurricanes 38,44,54,60
Coming Ice Age…According To Leading Experts, Global Mean Temperature Has Dropped 1°C Since 1990!The whole business of transforming society based on a figure that we now see is completely in dispute and in a state of utter confusion needs to be stopped until the issue gets cleared up. If it was 15.5°C in 1990 and today it is indeed only 14.5°C, then shouldn’t we be preparing for something totally different? Which figure is right?
The scientists need to explain this situation. Talking about trends and anomalies when there’s no agreement on the benchmark temperature makes no sense.
Twitter / DrShepherd2013: meteorologists don't want arm ...meteorologists don't want arm chair mets harming field (rightfully), but some don't afford same to #climate experts as same happens #weather
Late ice-out: What will it mean for Minnesota anglers? | StarTribune.comLingering winter brings worries in the fishing business.
...Ice on Leech still is nearly 3 feet thick, as it is on lakes across northern Minnesota.
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“There’s probably as much ice on the lakes now as any time all winter,’’ said Gary Barnard, Department of Natural Resources area fisheries manager in Bemidji, where many lakes still have 30 inches of ice. “It’s not a certainty the ice will be off the lakes by the opener.’’
Flashback: Complete barking madness from John Holdren, Obama's science advisor...[Holdren] if you lose the summer sea ice, there are phenomena that could lead you not so very long thereafter to lose the winter sea ice as well. And if you lose that sea ice year round, it's going to mean drastic climatic change all over the hemisphere.
PAGES2K South America « Climate AuditFirst, note that the “proxy” network includes four instrumental records, which seems to be peeking at the answer if the “skill” of the early portion of the reconstruction is in any way assessed on the ability of the network (including instrumental) to estimate instrumental temperature.
Second, one-third of the tree ring series are inverted. Is this an ex ante relationship or mere ex post correlation? We’ll find out eventually, I guess.
Finally, the two longest series are from Quelccaya, a site that we’ve regularly discussed. In the PAGES reconstruction, the d18O values are said to have been inverted.
...With Thompson, these inconsistencies are the rule, rather than the exception. If Thompson’s data is to be used by IPCC, every damn sample and measurement should be archived so that there is an audit trail.
THE HOCKEY SCHTICK: Analysis finds planetary harmonics control solar activity and subsequent climate changeA new post at ClimateMonitor.it by Carlo Tosti demonstrates that the global temperature record since 1880 is highly correlated to solar activity, and that solar activity is in turn highly correlated to the harmonics of planetary motion. These correlations and accumulating evidence of an amplified solar effect on Earth's climate would tend to suggest a "unified theory" of climate change, whereby gravitational effects from planetary motions cause small changes in solar activity, which are then amplified via cosmic rays/clouds [Svensmark's theory of cosmoclimatology], ozone, and ocean oscillations to cause large changes in Earth's climate.
Stewart’s nitpicking on climate change just boosts the risk | The Salt Lake TribuneHis begins with a straw man — climate has changed naturally in the past, so the Earth has "no ideal temperature." Climate scientists never claimed any such thing. Instead, they warn that Earth’s ecosystems and human civilizations are now adapted to a certain narrow temperature range, and rapid, sustained temperature change can make it difficult to adapt.
Flashback: The idiocy of crowds or, rather, the idiocy of (crowded) debates | ThinkProgress[Philip Stott] But I just want you to have one image, and it’s a very serious scientific image, I want you to think of the world… I want you to think of the world from inner Siberia, to Greenland, then to Singapore, and then come to the Arab states and to Sahara. What, ladies and gentlemen, is the temperature range I have just covered. It is from minus 20 degrees C, to nearly 50 degrees C, a range of 70 degrees C, in which humanity has adapted and learnt to live. [APPLAUSE] We are talking about, ignoring the extremes that Oliver said, a prediction of 2 to 3 degrees C, what a funk! [LAUGHTER, [APPLAUSE]
I’m very serious, what a funk! Humanity lives successfully from Greenland to Singapore to Saudi Arabia. 70 degrees C...
How to Put America Back Together Again - NYTimes.comUNTIL we fully understand what turned two brothers who allegedly perpetrated the Boston Marathon bombings into murderers, it is hard to make any policy recommendation other than this: We need to redouble our efforts to make America stronger and healthier so it remains a vibrant counterexample to whatever bigoted ideology may have gripped these young men.
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So what to do? We need a more “radical center” — one much more willing to suggest radically new ideas to raise revenues, not the “split-the-difference-between-the-same-old-options center.” And the best place to start is with a carbon tax.
A phased-in carbon tax of $20 to $25 a ton could raise around $1 trillion over 10 years, as we each pay a few more dimes and quarters for every gallon of gasoline or hour of electricity. With that new revenue stream, we’d have so many more options. One, preferred by Republicans like the statesman George Shultz and the Nobel laureate Gary Becker, is to make the carbon tax “revenue neutral.” It could be offset entirely by a rebate or by cutting tax rates for every U.S. citizen and corporation, which would increase spending. Another option, the one I’d prefer, would devote half the carbon-tax revenues to individual and corporate tax cuts, use a quarter for new investments in infrastructure, preschool education, community colleges and research — which would create jobs now and tomorrow — and then use a quarter on deficit reduction.
In short, if you added such a carbon tax to Obama’s budget, you’d have the makings of a radical grand bargain: Republicans would have the income tax cuts they want; Democrats would get the additional infrastructure stimulus they want, plus a new revenue stream to start gradually addressing the deficit, while reducing the amount that we’d have to bite from entitlements now; and the country would have a vehicle to address climate change, to drive clean-tech innovation (and to take money away from people who fund jihadist hate sites on the Internet). [Via Marc Morano]
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