Category: Uncategorized

UK GOVERNMENT U-TURNS ON DIESEL CARS, BUT WHY DID THEY GET IT WRONG?

UK GOVERNMENT U-TURNS ON DIESEL CARS, BUT WHY DID THEY GET IT WRONG?

via climate science
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The UK government had been encouraging us to drive diesel vehicles since the early 2000’s. The reason was to reduce our emissions of CO2, as they claim this will improve the climate, or prevent it deteriorating at some point in the future. Now they have been told by the EU that our vehicles are emitting too much nitrogen oxides (NOx) and to reduce this they are now trying to reduce the number of diesel vehicles. However they already knew that diesels produced more NOx gases (which are bad for those with lung problems like asthma). They claim they were duped by the car manufacturers who claimed that these emissions were being controlled. That is a poor excuse, as surely they ought to have tested these vehicles independently? What this shows is how easily the government can be fooled by accepting the word of others and go on to put in place very costly policies which they then discover are completely wrong.

In order to comply with their own Climate Change Act, the government would like to get us all to drive electric vehicles, or at least hybrid electric/petrol. They cannot do this straight away, as it would cause massive opposition from the public and massive costs to the government, so they are starting to "nudge" us in this direction by mandating councils to set up Clean Air Zones. They do not say what these zones will require, but it seems obvious that they will ban diesels – but will they go much further than that and only allow electric/hybrids? If so then they are going beyond what is necessary to make the air clean enough to be safe. They would be effectively banning diesel and petrol engines from out town centres in order to comply with their so-called climate change commitments.

Regular readers may have noticed that I have recently put the cost of the UK Climate Change Act on the top right of the blog. It is an eye-watering figure of £300 to 400 billion up to 2050. It is rarely stated publically but should be shown as often as possible. The benefits to the public of this massive spend I have said are NONE.

via climate science http://ift.tt/2jXH2Ie

June 17, 2017 at 01:30AM

Clouds Cannot Be Usefully Modeled but Appear to Play a Very Important Role in Climate Change

Clouds Cannot Be Usefully Modeled but Appear to Play a Very Important Role in Climate Change

via Carlin Economics and Science
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What if the climate alarmists are looking in entirely the wrong place for what controls global temperatures? They claim the answer is emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by human activity and that humans must redirect vast scarce resources to reduce such emissions. Most of the best scientific evidence points away from their favorite bogeyman (CO2), or as they mischaracterize it, “dirty pollutant.” Previous posts have presented much of this evidence. But if it is not CO2 that determines temperatures, what is it?

Changes in the Density of Low Clouds

One very interesting possibility is visible everyday to humans, unlike CO2, which is invisible. The ideas have been around for several decades, but seem never to have received much attention. All that is needed, however, to see this possibility is to look out the window at the sky. An important answer appears to be low clouds. The climate alarmists’ General Circulation Models (GCMs) have great difficulty in explaining how clouds behave, one of the many fatal drawbacks of their models. Clouds change rapidly and are clearly non-linear and chaotic.

But is there a plausible mechanism that controls them that would explain climate change? Some controls include the availability of water vapor, which condenses into clouds, and various determinants of evaporation of surface water to form water vapor. It is all very complicated and not easily modeled by the alarmists’ useless GCMs.

The Key Role Apparently Exercised by Galactic Cosmic Rays

One possibility for understanding some of this is the effects of galactic cosmic rays in the creation of nuclei that promote condensation of water vapor into clouds. Despite great hostility from climate alarmists towards anyone who deviates from their doctrines, it has now been shown that increased cloud condensation nuclei lead to more water vapor condensation, more clouds, and lower temperatures. One determinant of such nuclei are cosmic rays from distant supernova, which are affected by solar fluctuations as they enter the solar system.

The density of such cosmic rays is affected by where the solar system is located relative to the supernova from which the particles originate as well as fluctuations in our Sun, which change the number of galactic cosmic rays that reach Earth’s atmosphere. Much of this is summarized in my book and more recently by Mike Jonas.

Climate alarmists should find it useful to read this and other evidence for what is called the Svensmark hypothesis (after the discoverer) rather than engaging in further repetition of their CO2 mantra, which has now been shown to have no significant effect on temperatures.

via Carlin Economics and Science http://ift.tt/1gVT2t3

June 16, 2017 at 08:41PM

Major eruption of Bezymianny volcano

Major eruption of Bezymianny volcano

via Ice Age Now
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Propels ash more than 7 miles above sea level.

A major explosive eruption took place at Russia’s Bezymianny volcano this morning (16 June 2017), propelling ash to 12.2 km (40 000 feet) above sea level, according to the Tokyo VAAC. It is the strongest eruption of this volcano since September 2012.

Bezymianny, now considered one the most active volcanoes in the world, erupted for the first time in recorded history in 1955. Within six months, it produced a total volume of eruptive products over 3 cubic kilometers (0.72 cubic miles).

For comparison, the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens produced 1.3 cubic kilometers (0.3 cubic miles) of ash.

Prior to its 1955 eruption, Bezymianny had been considered extinct.

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Thanks to Don Brown and Guy Wilson for this link


The post Major eruption of Bezymianny volcano appeared first on Ice Age Now.

via Ice Age Now http://ift.tt/2qcAwB3

June 16, 2017 at 04:38PM

Sheveluch volcano propels ash more than 7 miles into the sky

Sheveluch volcano propels ash more than 7 miles into the sky

via Ice Age Now
http://ift.tt/2qcAwB3


A major eruption started at Russia’s Sheveluch volcano on June 14, 2017. propelling  ash to a height of 12 km (39 360 feet) above sea level.

KVERT warned that explosions up to 15 km (49 200 feet) could occur at any time. The Aviation Color Code was raised from Orange to Red.

Sheveluch volcano (also spelled Shiveluch) is one of Kamchatka’s largest and most active volcanoes.

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Thanks to Don Brown and Guy Wilson for this link


The post Sheveluch volcano propels ash more than 7 miles into the sky appeared first on Ice Age Now.

via Ice Age Now http://ift.tt/2qcAwB3

June 16, 2017 at 02:38PM