Hi All, It seems like we are reaching a tipping point; solutions that could alleviate quickly the direct consequences of that high temperature are expecting.
Dr Salif Koné, Malian National School of Engineers Sent from my iPhone > On 18 Apr 2016, at 17:40, Greg Rau <[email protected]> wrote: > > Thanks, Stephen, that's a wonderful segway for our negative emissions H2: > http://www.pnas.org/content/110/25/10095.full > http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.5b00875 > Happy to provide all of the supergreen H2 you need (for a price). > > As for H2 aircraft and the landing problem, how about zeppelins? I know that > Hindenberg incident over here last century didn't help this technology (the > Led Zepplin album cover (not to mention what as inside) influenced an entire > generation), but why not put H2 to use both for lift and for propulsion? > Zepplins would also seem to satisfy Prof. Northcott's desire for more > civilized travel (his Action Item 11 below). > > Then there is Plan C - rockets. Rockets can use H2 as fuel, and Mr. Musk has > now demonstrated the soft vertical landing of such. Was that landing on a > rolling barge in the open ocean the most amazing engineering feat ever, or is > it just me? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8Ij4FwO0nI > > Regards, > Greg > > > From: Stephen Salter <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Monday, April 18, 2016 2:23 AM > Subject: Re: [geo] March temperature smashes 100-year global record > > Hi All > One more possible option would be to use hydrogen for aircraft fuel. It has > a great weight advantage but also a severe volume disadvantage. This could > be partly overcome if we remove the landing gear and have planes landing on > ground vehicles.The landing gear on an Airbus 380 weighs the same as 200 > passengers and their luggage. > A note with sketches is attached. > Stephen > Emeritus Professor of Engineering Design. School of Engineering, University > of Edinburgh, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3DW, Scotland [email protected], > Tel +44 (0)131 650 5704, Cell 07795 203 195, WWW.homepages.ed.ac.uk/shs, > YouTube Jamie Taylor Power for Change >> On 18/04/2016 06:38, Greg Rau wrote: >> Dear Michael, >> Yes, we need "moral alternatives to the present madness", but just in case >> all of those suggested aren't adopted in the next few decades it would seem >> immoral not to at least hope for additional options just in case 1-11 don't >> pan out in time. As for crossing the the "large scale", "totalitarian" and >> "public debt" thresholds, something tells me that it's going to take some >> very large scale, draconian implementation to execute 1-11 in the dwindling >> time remaining, and many of these activities will require capital and >> investment from somewhere. >> Meanwhile, natural CDR seems to be doing a good job consuming more than half >> of our CO2 emissions and actually reversing the air CO2 rise for a period >> each year*. So given this positive example and the task we face, how >> immoral might it be to see if there are safe and cost effectively ways to >> increase or add to this natural CO2 uptake process just in case our journey >> on more virtuous paths to a stable planet proves to take longer than >> demanded by the recently lowered and oh so moral 1.5 Deg C warming limit? >> >> *https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/wp-content/plugins/sio-bluemoon/graphs/mlo_two_years.pdf >> >> Regards, >> Greg >> >> >> >> >> From: NORTHCOTT Michael <[email protected]> >> To: "[email protected]" >> <[email protected]> >> Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; "[email protected]" >> <[email protected]>; Greg Rau <[email protected]>; James >> Hansen <[email protected]>; P. Wadhams <[email protected]>; John Topping >> <[email protected]>; Robert Corell <[email protected]>; Peter R >> Carter <[email protected]> >> Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2016 12:25 PM >> Subject: Re: [geo] March temperature smashes 100-year global record >> >> Hi John >> >> The course of action to slow the rate of warming (it is 0.1 degree per >> decade not 0.2) and ultimately to stop it requires all of the following. >> Young people and climate activists the world over are calling for these >> things and campaigning actively and at cost of their freedom sometimes to >> bring them about: >> >> 1. Ending tropical forest burning >> 2. Stopping building of new coal and oil fired power stations (Turkey and >> India and S Africa are planning 100s) and ending coal extraction by China, >> Indonesia, and even Australia, Germany US and UK who have no conceivable >> need to continue extracting the stuff given the wealth already at the >> disposal of their citizens and corporations >> 3. Closing existing coal and oil fired electric power plants >> 4. Reforesting uplands, reducing sheep grazing, and increasing uptake of co2 >> in agric land with biochar, compost etc >> 5. Ending expansion of air sea and road travel and moving all road and sea >> travel to electric vehicles and wind. Rationing air travel to gradually >> shift international and national travellers to other means. >> 6. Moving all electricity production to renewable power and battery / >> reservoir storage of back up power. >> 7. Reengineering older buildings with insulation. >> 8. Requiring all new builds to generate own power and be zero carbon >> 9. Reducing shipping and flying of food by favouring local over global food >> production. >> 10. Ending large scale animal husbandry and moving mainstream human protein >> requirements to beans, vegetables etc. >> 11. Favour pedestrians, cyclists and electric bikes, segways, electric >> wheelchairs etc in all city planning and movement infrastructure >> >> Globally these measures would generate at least a billion of jobs, reduce >> deaths from pollution, and reduce health costs of cancers, heart disease, >> obesity and air pollution, and reduce concentrations of wealth by putting >> capacity to generate power, grow food and move around back in the hands of >> householders and local communities. None of them require large scale >> totalitarian and public debt-based technologies of the kind represented by >> CDR. >> >> We need moral alternatives to the present madness. We need to argue for them >> in every possible forum and embrace them ourselves. Arming the future >> against the sun is a counsel of despair. >> >> Regards >> >> Michael >> >> Professor of Ethics >> University of Edinburgh >> >> >> On 17 Apr 2016, at 17:10, John Nissen <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Dear Professor Mann, >>> >>> Most of us would like to keep global warming below 1.5C this >>> century. But we are way off course. >>> >>> Nobody likes to admit in public that we are already in dangerous territory. >>> But we are! >>> >>> The rate of global warming (near-surface temperature rise) could now exceed >>> 0.2 C per decade; CO2 is above 400 ppm (an excess of 120 ppm above >>> pre-industrial 280 ppm) of which most will remain this century due to CO2's >>> long lifetime in the atmosphere; and we have already had over 1 C >>> anthropogenic global warming (AGW). This means that, even with the most >>> drastic cut in CO2 emissions, we cannot avoid an extremely dangerous 3C >>> this century without aggressive CO2 removal (CDR). Indeed, if we want to >>> keep AGW below 1.5 C this century and halt ocean acidification, then we >>> need to get global warming rate down below 0.05 C per decade, i.e. less >>> than a quarter the current rate. >>> >>> Thus climate forcing has to be reduced by 75% within a decade or two, to >>> have a chance to keep below 1.5 C this century. >>> >>> Thus we have to reduce the CO2 level to around 210 ppm (30 ppm above >>> pre-industrial 280 ppm), and reduce methane from 1.8 ppm to around 1.0 ppm >>> in order to reduce their combined forcing by 75%. This assumes we maintain >>> aerosol cooling, especially the SO2 cooling from coal-fired power stations. >>> >>> >>> This is exacerbated by climate forcing from the Arctic, at around 0.5 W/m2 >>> and rising exponentially as albedo loss accelerates. >>> >>> Therefore, in addition to urgent CO2 emissions reduction, we need (i) >>> aggressive CDR so that CO2 is soon being removed from the atmosphere faster >>> than than it is being emitted, (ii) suppression of methane emissions, >>> especially fugitive methane (iii) rapid cooling of the Arctic to restore >>> albedo, and (iv) maintenance of SO2 aerosol cooling, if global warming is >>> to be kept below 1.5 C this century. >>> >>> Do you agree or can you suggest an alternative course of action to avert >>> extreme danger? >>> >>> Kind regards, >>> >>> John Nissen >>> Chair, Arctic Methane Emergency Group (AMEG) >>> >>> >>> On Sun, Apr 17, 2016 at 3:22 AM, Greg Rau <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/15/march-temperature-smashes-100-year-global-record >>> "The UK Met Office expects 2016 to set a new record, meaning the global >>> temperature record is set to have been broken for three years in a row. >>> Prof Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State University in the US, >>> responded to the March data by saying: “Wow. I continue to be shocked by >>> what we are seeing.” He said the world had now been hovering close to the >>> threshold of “dangerous” warming for two months, something not seen before. >>> “The [new data] is a reminder of how perilously close we now are to >>> permanently crossing into dangerous territory,” Mann said. “It underscores >>> the urgency of reducing global carbon emissions.” >>> GR - and the need to seriously consider additional ways of managing CO2 and >>> climate. >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "geoengineering" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>> email to [email protected]. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "geoengineering" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>> email to [email protected]. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> >> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in >> Scotland, with registration number SC005336. >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "geoengineering" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in > Scotland, with registration number SC005336. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "geoengineering" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. 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