There is excellent correlation between New York shootings and voting for Muslim radicals. The Most Detailed Map of New York City Mayoral Primary Results – The New York Times There have been 29,744 shootings in New York City over the … Continue reading →
via Real Climate Science
June 24, 2025 at 09:32PM
Essay by Eric Worrall
Perhaps they should take it slow with this “opportunity”.
Focus on South Africa’s own green hydrogen market first, Air Products recommends
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly) – South Africa should initially focus intently on its local green hydrogen market rather than the global market, and progress at its own pace, which has the potential to give it a global lead.
Air Products MD Charles Dos Santos makes this point strongly in a sponsored post that is currently being videod on the website of Mining Weekly’s associate Engineering News publication, within the context of the Green Hydrogen Summit in Cape Town, where Toyota, Valterra Platinum and Air Products showcased together.
“We have an opportunity to develop our own green hydrogen economy without a dependency on the global dynamics,” Dos Santos points out in the video interview, “so let’s focus on our own market, and as those global markets look to diversify the risk of their supply chain, we will participate in it. It’s inevitable.
“But in the short term, the focus should be on our own localised requirements rather than relying on international demand to create a justification for the multiple projects that we’re looking at in the region,” Dos Santos advocates.
…
Unfortunately there is no genuine demand for green hydrogen. “… The economics don’t make a lot of sense yet … the global demand … is almost non-existent …” (Charles Dos Santos speaking in the video below).
Even if the economics made sense, producing green hydrogen requires lots of electricity, a commodity South Africa has been struggling with lately.
It’s not just South Africa. President Biden was a fan of green hydrogen, though Biden upset entrepreneurs who answered his call by insisting the electricity used to produce the hydrogen actually has to be green.
Australian leaders are also pushing green hydrogen, even though nobody has any idea who will buy this product.
If green hydrogen has no market, why are some political leaders getting excited about it?
The obvious explanation is political green hydrogen advocates are confusing enthusiasm for demand. Enthusiasm doesn’t pay the bills, people paying you money is what pays the bills. If there is no genuine demand for the product, nobody is going to pay you money – no matter how many words of encouragement other leaders shower on your effort to bring a product to a market which does not exist.
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via Watts Up With That?
June 24, 2025 at 08:07PM
Essay by Eric Worrall
The researchers claim “behavioural change” as a field where AI can help.
JUNE 23, 2025
AI Could Be Harnessed to Cut More Emissions Than It Creates
Power-hungry AI and associated data centers could make the grid cleaner, eventually cutting more climate-change-causing emissions than they produce
BY SARA SCHONHARDT & E&E NEWS
CLIMATEWIRE | Artificial intelligence could cut global climate pollution by up to 5.4 billion metric tons a year over the next decade if it’s harnessed in ways that would improve transportation, energy and food production.
…
“The key will be to channel practical AI applications towards key impact areas to accelerate the market adoption rate and efficiency of low-carbon solutions,” the study said, noting that governments will have a vital role to play.
“Governments must regulate AI to minimise their environmental footprint,” the study said, pointing to the need for energy efficient AI models and the use of renewable energy to power data centers.
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The International Energy Agency projects that by 2030 data centers will consume twice as much electricity as they do today. Growing energy demands are already challenging the U.S. grid, and oil companies are using AI to find new areas to drill. BloombergNEF has said fossil fuels will provide most of the new power for data centers over the next decade, imperiling efforts to cut carbon pollution.
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The study referenced by the Scientific American article;
Green and intelligent: the role of AI in the climate transition
npj Climate Action volume 4, Article number: 56 (2025) Cite this article
Abstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play a powerful role in supporting climate action while boosting sustainable and inclusive economic growth. However, limited research exists on the potential influence of AI on the low-carbon transition. Here we identify five areas through which AI can help build an effective response to climate threats. We estimate the potential for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions through AI applications in three key sectors—power, food, and mobility—which collectively contribute nearly half of global emissions. This is compared with the increase in data centre-related emissions generated by all AI-related activities.
Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44168-025-00252-3
One area where the researchers believe AI can help is “nudging and behaviour change”. From the study;
Nudging and behavioural change
Changes in lifestyle and consumer behaviour can reduce 40-70% of greenhouse gas emissions by 205013. Leveraging AI towards supporting more sustainable consumption patterns is important to enable a systemic shift. In the context of increasing global resource consumption (projected to go up 60% by 206023), optimisation of production will not be enough; demand must also adapt by promoting more sustainable lifestyles, conscious consumption and reducing overall environmental impact. However, despite growing awareness and willingness to act, consumers often struggle to identify the most climate-friendly options due to information asymmetry and inefficient market signals. Personalised recommendations can empower consumers to adopt low-carbon technologies by suggesting options that align with their needs while minimising their environmental impact.
The potential for AI to overcome psychological barriers and tailor interventions is also shown by examples in specific sectors. In the power sector, energy management is a key area where AI effectively drives sustainable consumer behaviour. Google’s Nest uses sensors, smart home systems, and AI-driven learning to optimise heating and cooling based on real-time weather and user preferences24. Similarly, Oracle’s Opower combines AI with behavioural science to nudge energy savings through customer engagement25. By channelling complex data into clear, personalised recommendations, it helps to overcome cognitive limitations that hinder pro-environmental behaviour. The potential of technologies of this type is huge, as lowering thermostats by just 1 degree could save UK households £670 million annually and reduce CO2 emissions by 3.5 million tonnes26. …
Read more: same study as above
This theme is reinforced in the “Modelling climate systems and policy interventions” section;
… AI models can also be applied to better design and implement policies for climate action, by generating insights and predictions around complex climate policy scenarios or monitoring the effectiveness of policy implementation. The Climate Policy Radar, for example, uses AI to create open-source tools that assist governments in designing best-practice climate policies based on evidence from thousands of case studies30. A recent study used Machine Learning to analyse roughly 1500 climate policies implemented between 1998 and 2022 across 41 countries, to identify those that were able to reduce carbon emissions most effectively31.
Furthermore, AI can also contribute to developing new economic models that include “Beyond GDP” metrics (for a comprehensive review see Jansen et al.32). Policymaking has long focused on economic growth as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), diverting attention from other societal goals, such as sustainability, personal well-being and equality. Thanks to the ability of processing large and diverse types of datasets and running complex modelling tools, AI can help integrate “Beyond GDP” metrics into current macro-economic models. This could facilitate policymakers in making informed decisions that are directed towards shaping a sustainable and inclusive future. …
Read more: same study as above
To be fair, the examples the researchers gave were positive, about Winnow Vision’s cameras helping commercial chefs to increase profits by reducing waste, and helping commuters find better routes to their destinations.
AI has the potential to help as much as it hinders regard to personal freedom – AI powered research tools could penetrate the fog of lies and help provide access to reliable information. This freedom AI concept at least has the potential to preserve the current status quo, if not improve consumer knowledge.
Of course, the central premise of the study, that AI has the potential to reduce emissions, seems utterly nonsensical given all the power plants which are springing up in response to the AI boom. If AI was reducing emissions, why would we need all the new power plants? Let me know when the power plant boom starts fizzling out, and we can re-evaluate whether AI is reducing the need for energy consumption faster than new AI data warehouses drive up demand for power.
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via Watts Up With That?
June 24, 2025 at 04:05PM
51.54407 -0.13418 Pre CIMO Assessments but unquestionably Class 5 installed 1858 closed 1957.
51.54452 -0.13246 Pre Cimo Assessments again unquestionably Class 5 Installed 1957 closed 1969.
Following some recent comments made on “X” (formerly twitter) I feel it is necessary to clear up some issues regarding the Talkshop’s Surface Stations Project and UHI.
Firstly the purpose is purely one of research with most certainly no predetermined outcome. Each and every current weather station plus important historic sites are being assessed against CIMO siting standards taking into account initial installation, any relocations and/or site location changes and any other alterations of any form over time. The data accuracy, observational frequency and any adjustments made to data are investigated. The “presentation” of data is of significance in reference to whether the same sites or datasets are being used over time. In the process of investigations numerous other issues have been uncovered including over/under representation of geographic areas, nature of sites (aviation, walled garden etc) choice of modern site installation, instrumentation changes and several other issues.
Urban Heat Island effect is one issue I only raise where it is of specific relation to a site – typical examples being St James’s Park London and Sheffield. Probably the ultimate example of long term UHI is a site that has enjoyed almost “cult status” from its ability of holding onto long term high temperature records which, in reality, were only achieved by its archetypical UHI affected readings – Camden Square. …..This makes it a vital reference point. Three of the 12 monthly high temperature records (25%!) are still (some jointly) held by Camden . The list in full:
So what is the history of this Camden Square site? A review by Philip Eden former Vice President of the Royal Meteorological Society.
“Camden Square was established by G.J.Symons around 1860. He lived and worked there (the weather station was in a moderately large walled garden) and he produced the monthly issues of Symons’s Meteorological Magazine and the annual volumes of British Rainfall. Symons died in 1900 and his work was continued briefly by H.Sowerby Wallis and then by Hugh Robert Mill. Mill retired in about 1920 and the British Rainfall Organisation was subsumed into the Meteorological Office, and the two publications were subsequently published by the Met Office — until 1968 in the case of British Rainfall (although it is interesting to note that the terms under which the Met Office took over the BRO required them to continue publication “in perpetuity”), and until about 1993 in the case of the Meteorological Magazine. The property at Camden Square was acquired by the Royal Meteorological Society in 1922, and the observations were continued by housekeepers until 1957. The station was then moved a short distance to the gardens in Camden Square where it continued until 1969.
Camden Square was the only long-standing inner-London climatological station which was in a thoroughly urban environment — the others, such as Regent’s Park, St James’s Park, Kensington Gardens, were in parks, or in the case of the Air Ministry (subsequently London Weather Centre) on a rooftop. It is therefore a very rare commodity in that it provides us with an idea of the inner-city climate. That’s why it was so warm.
Philip Eden
11th July 2003″
I am certainly not about to query the opinion of such an internationally esteemed meteorologist who coincidentally so distrusted elements of the modern day Met Office “Climate Scientists” that he established his own version of the Central England Temperature Record in “competition” with the Met Office version.
{For a period early in the 21st century there were two versions of the series: the “official” version maintained by the Hadley Centre in Exeter, and a version that was maintained by the late Philip Eden which he argued was more consistent with the series as originally compiled by Manley.}
Obviously Camden Square was subject to UHI that has not materially changed for a very long time and even despite the advent of motorised transport is even today probably no better, nor worse, than 167 years ago when originally established. This image from 1945.
It is safe to say that in 1945 this site was as compromised by urban activities then as it is now – a very important point to note. To re-quote Philip Eden “That’s why it was so warm.” The advantage is that it establishes a benchmark of UHI from which to operate future comparisons which, try as the Met Office might, have not been broken. Comparing the “like for like” of UHI distorted readings versus UHI distorted readings effectively shows no change in the top extreme. Multiple, and additional , London UHI affected sites have not broken the top end BUT observations demonstrate that temperature minima have been affected by the incremental number of sites recording UHI elevated night time readings and thus artificially elevating the crude “meteorological mean“
How does the Met Office present Camden Square’s data? It would appear they would prefer it did not exist and it would not surprise me that they may soon try to expunge its readings from the records entirely – they do not produce much of them now anyway.
The Historic Stations data webpage includes sites such as Dunstaffnage and Yeovilton (both yet to be reviewed) dating from 1971 and 1964 respectively but no mention of Camden Square with records from over a century before. Whilst this exclusion might be considered due to its closure, the same web site unashamedly includes Southampton:Mayflower Park that closed in 2001 and coincidentally shares that June 1976 record figure but with Camden Square achieving it in 1957 instead. Even that home of the undead Zombie stations – the Location Specific Long Term climate averages – chooses not to recognise it but perversely quotes 3 long dead sites at Hampstead, Greenwich and Northwood.
Perhaps the ultimate admission that the Met Office really does not like Camden Square weather station comes from its not even bothering to pass most of its readings into the CEDA digital archive archives. They only show temperature data for the 10 years from 1959 to 1969 from the latter relocated site and no readings at all from the original one despite its regular record setting achievements.
I find this remarkably strange given that all the readings are available in copied images such as this year below.
In summary (and to repeat) the Surface Stations Project is to objectively and scientifically review weather stations with no predetermined outcome. The Issue of UHI is not a dominant issue except where applicable. Camden Square not only demonstrates UHI better than probably most other sites but also acts as a level playing field benchmark for other equally UHI affected stations. That its records still stand indicates that UHI is not the all important factor, indeed indicates no historical change between typically intense UHI affected sites over time. It is the encroachments of urbanisation onto previously rural sites that is the crucial factor (i.e. site changes over time) and it is this aspect of UHI that warrants further investigation. So the front door of the site the Met Office really does not want you to know anything about.
Number 62 Camden Square London
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
June 24, 2025 at 03:47PM
Iowa Climate Science Education 