Coal gasification, seal level rise, and the 'frack master'
Climate and energy news:
Coalition backs coal-based energy
revolution
Energy minister Michael Fallon has set up a working group to
investigate the feasibility of a new mining technique, coal
gasification. The Telegraph says – if approved – it could satisfy
Britain’s energy needs for 200 years.
Government urged to cut cash to green energy in
order to reduce bills
Press Association via
Guardian
Thinktank Policy Exchange says renewable energy subsidies
should be cut if the industry fails to bring down costs by the end
of the decade.
Faux Pause 2: Warmest November On Record, Reports
NASA, As New Studies Confirm Warming Trend
NASA data shows last month’s global surface temperatures
were the hottest on record for November, Climate Progress
reports.
Climate and energy
comment:
Gavin Schmidt
Speaking up and speaking
out
Yale Forum on Climate Change and the
Media
Climate scientist Gavin Schmidt reflects on scientists’
advocacy role.
MPs, Lords and lobbyists who advise Ministers on
eco policies… then cash in
David Rose takes aim at public policymakers who advocate for
‘green’ policies, while having a vested interest in seeing them
enshrined in law.
Video: Hinkley Point C: Britain’s nuclear
future
Richard Gray visits the new nuclear plant being built at
Hinkley Point – and videos his trip.
Fracking hell: what it’s really like to live next
to a shale gas well
Suzanne Goldenberg visits residents of Ponder, Texas – a
town next to a shale gas well – and reports on their experiences:
from nausea, headaches and nosebleeds, to invasive chemical smells,
constant drilling, and slumping property prices.
‘Frack Master’ says UK shale gas market threatened
by scaremongering
Chris Faulkner, a US executive known as the “Frack Master”,
says the Balcombe protests earlier this year have polarised the
shale gas debate.
Manmade global warming: a stormy meeting between
sceptics and believers
Damian Carrington reports on a meeting between Lord Lawson,
his associates and Royal Society scientists. It was “not a meeting
of minds”, he says.
Six Degrees: Giant Wind Farms, Megadroughts &
Sea Level
Climate Central imagines what a six degrees world could look
like, via a picture slideshow.
New climate science:
On the long-term stability of Gulf Stream
transport based on 20?years of direct
measurements
Recently, scientists have proposed the Gulf Stream may be slowing
down in response to climate change. But two decades of direct
measurements show no evidence of a decrease, according to new
research.
Diverse Coral Communities in Naturally Acidified
Waters of a Western Pacific Reef
Scientists have discovered thriving coral reef communities in a
small part of the tropical Pacific Ocean where acidification levels
are about as high as predicted for the whole ocean by
2100.
Genetic diversity in caribou linked to past and
future climate change
A team of researchers have mapped caribou responses to past and
future climate change. Geographic regions that have been
climatically stable over the past 21,000 years have retained the
highest genetic diversity, the research shows.