New hi-tech gadget promises power from polluted air

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From the “Chinese are already working on a copy” department:

Air pollution in Shanghai, China.

Researchers from the University of Antwerp and KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Belgium, have succeeded in developing a process that purifies air and, at the same time, generates power. The device need only be exposed to light in order to function.

“We use a small device with two rooms separated by a membrane”, explains professor Sammy Verbruggen (UAntwerp/KU Leuven). “Air is purified on one side, while on the other side hydrogen gas is produced from a part of the degradation products. This hydrogen gas can be stored and used later as fuel, as is already being done in some hydrogen buses, for example. “

In this way, the researchers respond to two major social needs: clean air and alternative energy production. The heart of the solution lies at the membrane level, where the researchers use specific nanomaterials.

“These catalysts are capable of producing hydrogen gas and breaking down air pollution”, explains professor Verbruggen. “In the past, these cells were mostly used to extract hydrogen from water. We have now discovered that this is also possible, and even more efficient, with polluted air.”

The researchers claim this new device needs only polluted air and light in order to purify air and generate power.
CREDIT UAntwerpen and KU Leuven

It seems to be a complex process, but it is not: the device must only be exposed to light. The researchers’ goal is to be able to use sunlight, as the processes underlying the technology are similar to those found in solar panels. The difference here is that electricity is not generated directly, but rather that air is purified while the generated power is stored as hydrogen gas.

“We are currently working on a scale of only a few square centimeters. At a later stage, we would like to scale up our technology to make the process industrially applicable. We are also working on improving our materials so we can use sunlight more efficiently to trigger the reactions. “

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May 9, 2017 at 02:09AM

Leading Alarmist Climate Scientist Concedes NO Anthropogenic Signal Found In Tropical Pacific

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Mojib Latif: Climate models fail to simulate tropical Pacific. No detectable anthropogenic signal

By Dr. Sebastian Lüning and Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt
(German text translated/edited by P Gosselin)

Prof. Mojib Latif is a widely sought out speaker for events and the German media, and he never passes up the opportunity to warn the public of the impending climate catastrophe. However at his his daytime job he is also a scientist, and there he publishes research results on a regular basis. On many occasions we have noticed that in his scientific papers he appears to be far less dramatic and more balanced than he is in the media. Some examples follow:

• Mojib Latif in a presentation in USA: CO₂ climate sensitivity is set to high by the IPCC
• Late realization: Mojib Latif abandons CO₂-fingerprint in the stratosphere and finally focusses on ocean cycles
• Mojib Latif: Models must account much more for natural variability

On April 5, 2017, in the Geophysical Research Letters there’s yet another example to behold. With his colleagues Latif examined the tropical Pacific. In the eastern and central parts temperatures have cooled over the past two decades. Climate models are having a hard time recreating this development. Latif and his group looked at this case and assumed that natural climate variability is behind it. They have not been able to find an anthropogenic impact on the temperature development in this region.

They conclude that the climate models would be too uncertain to make forecasts concerning the acting circulation in the region.

With that in mind, wouldn’t it be nice if Latif mentioned this the next time he appears on a talk show? But don’t hold your breath thinking this will happen anytime soon.

It’s the two faces of Mojib Latif. It’s unclear how her goes about justifying this scientifically and ethically. What follows is the abstract with the highlighted main points:

Role of Internal Variability in Recent Decadal to Multidecadal Tropical Pacific Climate Changes

Mohammad Hadi Bordbar, Thomas Martin, Mojib Latif and Wonsun Park

While the Earth’s surface has considerably warmed over the past two decades, the tropical Pacific has featured a cooling of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in its eastern and central part, which went along with an unprecedented strengthening of the equatorial Trade Winds, the surface component of the Pacific Walker Circulation (PWC). Previous studies show that this decadal trend in the Trade Winds is generally beyond the range of decadal trends simulated by climate models when forced by historical radiative forcing. There is still a debate on the origin of and the potential role that internal variability may have played in the recent decadal surface wind trend. Using a number of long control (unforced) integrations of global climate models and several observational datasets, we address the question as to whether the recent decadal to multidecadal trends are robustly classified as an unusual event or the persistent response to external forcing. The observed trends in the tropical Pacific surface climate are still within the range of the long-term internal variability spanned by the models but represent an extreme realization of this variability. Thus, the recent observed decadal trends in the tropical Pacific, though highly unusual, could be of natural origin. We note that the long-term trends in the selected PWC indices exhibit a large observational uncertainty, even hindering definitive statements about the sign of the trends.

Highlights:

• Pacific Walker Circulation strongly varies internally
• Anthropogenic signals in the tropical Pacific sector are hard to detect
• There is large model uncertainty about the future of the Pacific Walker Circulation”

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May 9, 2017 at 02:02AM

US Shale Industry Roars Back To Life After Oil Slump

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)
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Members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet have a new catchphrase for how they see the future role of the US: not just “energy-independent”, but “energy-dominant”. As Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary, put it at an industry conference in Houston last week: “Dominance is what America needs.”

It would be tempting to dismiss that talk as hype, except that every week the US energy sector is coming up with evidence to justify that ambition. The latest round of earnings reports from US exploration and production companies, the leaders of the shale revolution, has shown fresh evidence of their resilience and growth potential.

The resurgence of the US shale industry after the oil slump of 2014 was a key factor in how crude prices fell sharply last week, to back below $50 per barrel. The market is concerned about whether efforts by Opec, the producers’ cartel, to tackle a supply glut by curbing output will be undermined by reinvigorated US shale companies.

These companies are proving that they are able not just to stay in business, but increase production as well, with oil prices close to today’s levels of about $47 per barrel for benchmark US crude.

The great weakness of the shale industry has always been that the companies have typically not generated enough cash to pay for their capital spending, and have relied on debt and equity sales to finance their growth. But producers have typically cut their costs by about 40 per cent in the past three years, and many are now at or close to the point where they are covering their spending from operating cash flows.

Before the oil crash of 2014, Harold Hamm, the billionaire majority owner and chief executive of Continental Resources, used to say that prices below $70 per barrel could not be sustained for any length of time, because neither Saudi Arabia nor the US shale industry could bear it.

Now Continental is planning for 20 per cent annual production growth financed by its own cash flows with oil at $50 to $55, and says it can invest enough to keep output stable even with crude in the low $40s.

Mr Hamm told analysts on a call last week: “The United States has retaken its place as a world energy leader, and we will compete effectively in this new regime.”

Across the shale industry, drilling activity is increasing even faster than it did in the final stages of its first boom, up until 2014.

Full post

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May 9, 2017 at 01:41AM

The Heatwave Of May 10, 1896

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On May 10, 1896 most of the Eastern US was over 90 degrees. More than three fourths of USHCN stations were over 80 degrees. New Bedford, Massachusetts was 96 degrees, which is 43 degrees warmer than today’s forecast high. Portsmouth, Ohio was 98 degrees, 40 degrees warmer than today’s forecast. The hottest place in the country was Paris, Illinois at 99 degrees.

The five hottest May 10ths in the US were 1896, 1963, 1962, 1936 and 1916. The last five years have all been close to record cold, and this year will also be cold.

If that sort of heat occurred now, climate scientists would say they were 99% certain it was due to man-made CO2, and that government needs to take action. This is because climate scientists aren’t scientists and they don’t do science.

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May 9, 2017 at 01:35AM