IntenseDebate - Macro2

14 years ago @ Hot Topic - People talkin' (open t... · 1 reply · +1 points

Yes I know frogblog - and the new site is good - especially the rating idea where outrageous comments and obvious trolling can be voted out.

14 years ago @ Hot Topic - People talkin' (open t... · 0 replies · +1 points

Further to the above you might also read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_dimming
which is also pertinent.

14 years ago @ Hot Topic - People talkin' (open t... · 1 reply · +1 points

Yes I find it very slow at times as well, and sometimes impossible to follow the conversation - or more to the point pick up where the conversation left off when there are a lot of comments such as here. On the other hand there are some nice touches which would be a shame to loose - perhaps more aesthetic than practical but a far nice look to the page. But then you are the one who has to do all the work Gareth far be it for us to say. And thanks for the opportunity to participate.

14 years ago @ Hot Topic - People talkin' (open t... · 1 reply · +1 points

No it's not! During the 1960's - 70's it started to become very apparent that the huge outpourings of unscrubbed smog from factories in Europe and the USA were having a dramatic effect on lakes and forests in the Northern Hemisphere. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_rain
The resulting acid rain was turning the lakes acidic as well as the ground killing aquatic life and forests. The damage was so obvious that clean air acts were instigated in almost every country and the grubby emissions of the 1940's to 1970's were "scrubbed" of particulates. The result was much clearer air. Anyone who lived thru the 1940's to 1970's will vouch for this. We have seen what it was like recently in the 2008 Olympic in Shanghai. Obviously China still hasn't quite acheived the same level of clean air as that of the of the West - they still use rather old technology in coal fired power stations. But let me assure you Girma that there were times in the 1960's when the air in our major cities was much like that of Shanghai in 2008. When China catches up with arresting air pollution - your "cooling period" will receive another major warming trend.

14 years ago @ Hot Topic - The bad news, and the ... · 2 replies · +1 points

We already have the alternative - its called Hydro and Geothermal. Wind, solar, tidal. and biofuels REDUCE the demand for drawing down on Hydro (Potential energy stays in the lakes for use at a later time). Not as far fetched as you imagine. NZ is already producing 70 - 80% of total electrical supply from renewables. It's only our consistently GROWING DEMAND for energy that forces us to overstep our renewable supply.

14 years ago @ Hot Topic - The bad news, and the ... · 0 replies · 0 points

The whole thing is becoming very reminiscent of the mid 50's McCarthyism and "reds under the bed". There seems to be this streak of paranoia in the American psyche that surfaces from time to time.

from Wiki:
"The term McCarthyism, coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy's practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today the term is used more generally to describe demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents.[2"

14 years ago @ Hot Topic - People talkin' (open t... · 0 replies · +1 points

Really! Enough said!

14 years ago @ Hot Topic - People talkin' (open t... · 2 replies · +2 points

And what a load we have had to suffer here! Frankly after one or two exchanges with an ignoramus I give up. There is far too many gaps in their understanding to make any significant impression. Girma has no appreciation of the Carbon cycle, no understanding of the heating lag and equilibrium in global warming, no comprehension of the difference between climate change and weather patterns, chooses to ignore the effects of La Nina and El Nino on global temperatures, flagrantly cherry picks data to support his flawed hypothesis, and has a completely infantile understanding of statistical method - to name but a few of the glaring gaps revealed so far. So where do you start?

14 years ago @ Hot Topic - A mighty wind · 0 replies · +1 points

I do, and we are. :(
Our only hope is a brighter bulb in the foreseeable future.

14 years ago @ Hot Topic - A mighty wind · 2 replies · +1 points

See George's comment above. Although on paper Meridian is (was) completely renewable energy the fact is at peak times they are wholesale buyers of electricity produced by gas and coal fired stations.
The point needs to be made that with more renewable capacity in wind - when that is working to capacity - less hydro needs to be drawn off -(the lakes stay fuller) ie the storage of potential electrical energy are our hydro lakes. Less draw down on the hydro means that they can be run harder in peak periods saving the GHG emitting stations for high peak loads - ultimately to be superceeded with completely renewable wind, tidal, solar, hydro, and geothermal. It is easily in our grasp it just needs the vision from the top.

IntenseDebate Comment System

Description

Connect with Macro2

People I'm following

Macro2