Mar/100
NASA – 2009: Second Warmest Year on Record; End of Warmest Decade
2009 was tied for the second warmest year in the modern record, a new NASA analysis of global surface temperature shows. The analysis, conducted by the Goddard Institute for Space Studies GISS in New York City, also shows that in the Southern Hemisphere, 2009 was the warmest year since modern records began in 1880.
via NASA – 2009: Second Warmest Year on Record; End of Warmest Decade.
Feb/100
Baloney Detection Kit
Baloney Detection Kit
From CarlSagan.com
Warning signs that suggest deception. Based on the book by Carl Sagan, The Demon Haunted World. The following are suggested as tools for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent arguments:
Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the facts.
Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view.
Arguments from authority carry little weight (in science there are no “authorities”).
Spin more than one hypothesis – don’t simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy.
Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it’s yours.
Quantify, wherever possible.
If there is a chain of argument every link in the chain must work.
Occam’s razor – if there are two hypotheses that explain the data equally well choose the simpler.
Ask whether the hypothesis can, at least in principle, be falsified (shown to be false by some unambiguous test). In other words, it is testable? Can others duplicate the experiment and get the same result?
Additional issues are:
Conduct control experiments – especially “double blind” experiments where the person taking measurements is not aware of the test and control subjects.
Check for confounding factors – separate the variables.
Common fallacies of logic and rhetoric
Ad hominem – attacking the arguer and not the argument.
Argument from “authority”.
Argument from adverse consequences (putting pressure on the decision maker by pointing out dire consequences of an “unfavorable” decision).
Appeal to ignorance (absence of evidence is not evidence of absence).
Special pleading (typically referring to god’s will).
Begging the question (assuming an answer in the way the question is phrased).
Observational selection (counting the hits and forgetting the misses).
Statistics of small numbers (such as drawing conclusions from inadequate sample sizes).
Misunderstanding the nature of statistics (President Eisenhower expressing astonishment and alarm on discovering that fully half of all Americans have below average intelligence!)
Inconsistency (e.g. military expenditures based on worst case scenarios but scientific projections on environmental dangers thriftily ignored because they are not “proved”).
Non sequitur – “it does not follow” – the logic falls down.
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc – “it happened after so it was caused by” – confusion of cause and effect.
Meaningless question (“what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?).
Excluded middle – considering only the two extremes in a range of possibilities (making the “other side” look worse than it really is).
Short-term v. long-term – a subset of excluded middle (“why pursue fundamental science when we have so huge a budget deficit?”).
Slippery slope – a subset of excluded middle – unwarranted extrapolation of the effects (give an inch and they will take a mile).
Confusion of correlation and causation.
Caricaturing (or stereotyping) a position to make it easier to attack.
Suppressed evidence or half-truths.
Weasel words – for example, use of euphemisms for war such as “police action” to get around limitations on Presidential powers. “An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public
Feb/100
Sugar Cane Based Plastic
None of these obstacles applies to the plastic featured here. In a radical new approach to polyethylene production, ethanol derived from renewable and eco-friendly sugar cane is used to make ethylene, which is then converted into PE using standard processes. One major producer of bio-polyethylene estimates that its carbon footprint equals roughly 15% of that of traditional PE production — even after taking into account the transport of the sugar cane and the use of fertilizers. Incredibly, the only byproducts of bio-polyethylene production are recyclable water and a tiny amount of ethanol. Discarded parts are fully biodegradable and they can be composted with other organic matter.
Feb/100
Environment and Sustainability News – 2010 Winter Olympics – CTV Olympics
Coke invests in a cooler solution
… The problem with refrigeration is one of those issues that was supposed to have been solved more than 30 years ago. Since at least the 1930s, fridges used non-toxic, non-flammable chlorofluorocarbons in their cooling systems. Scientists in the 1970s discovered that the CFCs broke up in the stratosphere, releasing chlorine that destroyed the ozone. In a massive global initiative, hydrofluorocarbon, which had minimal impact on the ozone layer, replaced CFC in many of the cooling systems used in refrigeration.
But then scientists discovered HFC was a potent greenhouse gas, heating the planet at a much faster rate than carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. A pound of HFC could do as much damage, in terms of global warming, as 3,830 pounds of carbon dioxide for 20 years after its release.
The world has more than one billion fridges and 400 million mobile air conditioners in cars and trucks. Challenged to do something rather than just protest, Greenpeace in Germany worked with engineers who developed a HFC-free alternative in 1992, a hydrocarbon refrigeration unit they called Greenfreeze. The equipment uses isobutane as the refrigerant and cyclopentane as the blowing agent for the insulation foam. The HFC-free technology was provided to manufacturers for free.
…Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Unilever have been working co-operatively with Greenpeace since 2004 on developing HFC-free technology. PepsiCo Inc.,v, Carlsberg and Ikea joined the group called Refrigerants, Naturally in 2006.
Ms. Payne of Coca-Cola said an evaluation of that company’s climate footprint identified gases escaping from its refrigeration units as the largest component, far exceeding the impact of either manufacturing or emissions from its fleet of trucks. Because Greenfreeze uses flammable chemicals, Coca-Cola decided to invest in developing its own technology and developed a cooling system that relies on compressed carbon dioxide, which is non-flammable.
via Environment and Sustainability News – 2010 Winter Olympics – CTV Olympics.
Feb/100
CO2 Refrigerant (R744) Based Systems: EcoThermics – Designing Next Generation R744 Based Heating and Cooling Systems
Atmospheric carbon dioxide designated R744 is widely recognized as an ideal natural refrigerant replacement for noxious FC refrigerants, presenting well known and widely accepted advantages that can meet the aforementioned demands on the industry for “next generation” HVACR systems.
via EcoThermics Corporation – Designing Next Generation R477 Based Heating and Cooling Systems.
Feb/100
Climate change causes more severe weather
Climate change causes more severe weatherCall it “Snowpocalypse” or “Snowageddon,” the mid-Atlantic and Northwestern U.S. have seen winter storms this year that rival anything in decades. Scientists agree that this kind of extreme weather is not just consistent with climate change research, it’s the direct result of rising temperatures in our oceans.
Feb/100
SolidWorks Sustainablity: Sustainable Design Tools Built into Solidworks
This is a nice development. Solidworks makes the most widely used mechanical design software in the market. This is an “up front” attack on sustainability in design, which of course is where it needs to be. If you must design new, and not reuse what you’ve got, then the new designs should be as “green” as possible. Think Cradle to Cradle design.
Sustainable design, like quality, time to market, and cost, will soon dictate how engineers approach most every product they develop. Choosing products based on their carbon footprint will be equally as important as design validation. To stay ahead of the curve, you and your company need to understand sustainable design and how to implement it now.
Feb/100
Earthship Biotecture Sustainable Green Buildings
An Earthship is a radically sustainable home made of recycled materials.
Jan/100
‘Global warming is a hoax’
This is an article full of sarcasm and humor. Still, it’s worth reading.
Objection: Global warming is a hoax perpetrated by environmental extremists and liberals who want an excuse for more big government (and/or world government via the U.N.).
Answer: Here is a list of organizations that accept anthropogenic global warming as real and scientifically well-supported:
- NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS): http://www.giss.nasa.gov/edu/gwdebate/
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/index.htm
- National Academy of Sciences (NAS): http://books.nap.edu/collections/global_warming/index.html
- State of the Canadian Cryosphere (SOCC) – http://www.socc.ca/permafrost/permafrost_future_e.cfm
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): http://epa.gov/climatechange/index.html
- The Royal Society of the UK (RS) – http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=3135
- American Geophysical Union (AGU): http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/policy/climate_change_position.html
- American Meteorological Society (AMS): http://www.ametsoc.org/policy/climatechangeresearch_2003.html
- American Institute of Physics (AIP): http://www.aip.org/gov/policy12.html
- National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR): http://eo.ucar.edu/basics/cc_1.html
- American Meteorological Society (AMS): http://www.ametsoc.org/policy/jointacademies.html
- Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS): http://www.cmos.ca/climatechangepole.html
Every major scientific institution dealing with climate, ocean, and/or atmosphere agrees that the climate is warming rapidly and the primary cause is human CO2 emissions. In addition to that list, see also this joint statement (PDF) that specifically and unequivocally endorses the work and conclusions of the IPCC Third Assessment report. The statement was issued by:
- Academia Brasiliera de Ciencias (Brazil)
- Royal Society of Canada
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Academie des Sciences (France)
- Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina (Germany)
- Indian National Science Academy
- Accademia dei Lincei (Italy)
- Science Council of Japan
- Russian Academy of Sciences
- Royal Society (United Kingdom)
- National Academy of Sciences (United States of America)
You can also read this statement [PDF], which includes all the above signatories plus the following:
- Australian Academy of Sciences
- Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and the Arts
- Caribbean Academy of Sciences
- Indonesian Academy of Sciences
- Royal Irish Academy
- Academy of Sciences Malaysia
- Academy Council of the Royal Society of New Zealand
- Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
But if scientists are too liberal and politicians too unreliable, perhaps you find the opinion of key industry representatives more convincing:
- BP, the largest oil company in the UK and one of the largest in the world, has this opinion:
There is an increasing consensus that climate change is linked to the consumption of carbon based fuels and that action is required now to avoid further increases in carbon emissions as the global demand for energy increases.
- Shell Oil (yes, as in oil, the fossil fuel) says:
Shell shares the widespread concern that the emission of greenhouse gases from human activities is leading to changes in the global climate.
- Eighteen CEOs of Canada’s largest corporations had this to say in an open letter to the Prime Minister of Canada:
Our organizations accept that a strong response is required to the strengthening evidence in the scientific assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). We accept the IPCC consensus that climate change raises the risk of severe consequences for human health and security and the environment. We note that Canada is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Have the environazis seized the reigns of industrial power, in addition to infiltrating the U.N., the science academies of every developed nation, and the top research institutes of North America? That just doesn’t seem very likely.
Jan/100
Surface Temperature: Animations
This is cool and scary. It goes along all hunky dory, and then: bam.
GISS Surface Temperature Analysis
Animations
The following video animations derived from the GISTEMP dataset are available: