National Grid prepared for power crunch
Climate and energy news
Fuel plan ‘could slash greenhouse
gases’
A british engineering firm has developed a way of using
nanotechnology to cut the level of nitrogen oxide in diesel fuel by
up to 60 per cent. The firm claim their idea – which involves a new
mixing process – is reminiscent of the government’s efforts during
the Second World War to create emulsions to make fuel go further.
The company intends to test the technology this week.
Researchers Discover New Clues to Determining the
Solar Cycle
Scientists have discovered a new way of monitoring the sun’s
solar cycle. Every 11 years or so the sun fluctuates from calm and
quiet to active and violent. While sunspots have previously been
used to identify an active period, new research has identified
‘brightspots’ – little points in the Sun’s atmosphere that reveal
how the material inside the sun is moving. Scientists hope this new
finding will improve predictions of the solar cycle.
Sea ice wears white after Labor
Day
As the Arctic summer reaches its end, satellite data shows
that sea-ice extent by the end of August was 6.22 million square
kilometres – 1 million below the 1981-2010 average, but higher than
the record low in 2012. Overall, August 2014 sea-ice extent was the
7th lowest of the satellite record.
Is green energy expensive? Empirical evidence from
the Spanish electricity market
A study of the Spanish electricity market reveals the
beneficial impact of renewable energy. The research assessed the
period from 2008-2012 when renewable energy in Spain increased by
57 per cent. The study found that renewables (including subsidies)
initially paid for themselves before becoming a net benefit as
capacity increased. Wind energy was the cheapest option and solar
photovoltaics was the most costly.
Climate and energy comment
Now Is the Time to Act on Climate
Change
Ahead of the Climate Summit in New York this month, United
Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon encourages world, business
and civic society leaders to ‘mobilize political will for a
meaningful universal agreement at the climate negotiations in Paris
in 2015″. “Time is running out”, he says, for action on climate
change, “The more we delay, the more we will pay.”
Brian Cox: scientists giving false sense of debate
on climate change
Professor Brian Cox suggests scientists should not be
“precise” when communicating certainty of climate change to the
public. Speaking at a fundraiser for the Society of Biology, he
said scientists shouldn’t run the risk of giving a sense of debate
and should instead speak with “total confidence”, saying “The
scientific view at the time is the best, there’s nothing you can do
that’s better than that.”
Sir Paul Nurse criticises those who distort
scientific evidence
The president of the Royal Society, Sir Paul Nurse,
criticises prominent figures who discredit scientific evidence for
ideological motives. He warns of the risks of allowing “opinion,
rhetoric and tradition [to] hold more sway than adherence to
evidence and adherence to logical argument.” He also calls for
scientists to engage with politicians, lobbyists, and other
figureheads in order to show them the error of their
ways.
New climate science
Temperature sensitivity of soil respiration rates
enhanced by microbial community response
New research reveals that carbon stored in soils is more at
risk from rising temperatures than previously thought. The study
found that microbes in the soil, which cause the release of carbon,
can speed up and slow down as temperature changes. This could cause
a positive feedback loop of carbon being released as temperatures
rise. The size of any feedback loop is still uncertain. The
research is also reported by the BBC.
The Invisible Prevalence of Citizen Science in
Global Research: Migratory Birds and Climate
Change
A new study reveals the contribution of amateur scientists to
global research of both climate change and birds. The research
quantified efforts to collect data by ‘citizen scientists’ – and
found that it is responsible for between 24 and 77 per cent of
supporting data for scientific papers. The study also found that
this contribution was rarely acknowledged in journals.