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[BWB Note: I’m a bit tight for time right now, but Andrew Glikson saves the day with another great post, this time elaborating on some of the ‘options’ we made need to face if we delay too long in cutting carbon emissions. For earlier discussions of this topic on BraveNewClimate, see here and here.] Guest […]
Filed under: Climate change Q&A, Future shock | Tagged: | 27 Comments »
A picture tells a thousand words. So reflect on the image above. It shows fuel shares of total world energy supply, including the contribution of fossil sources (oil, coal and gas), nuclear power (providing for about 16% of global electricity demand and 6.5% of all energy use) and renewables (13% of total energy). So, renewables […]
Filed under: Nuclear Energy, Renewable planet | Tagged: | 152 Comments »
Recently, a Senate Economics Committee was established to investigate the current emissions trading legislation. Tim Kelly and I prepared a submission, which has now been posted on the senate website. It builds usefully on Tim’s earlier post: Carbon tax or cap-and-trade? The debate we never had, which prompted a lot of discussion in the BNC comments. So, […]
Filed under: Climate change Q&A, Emissions reduction | Tagged: | 26 Comments »
These are the top 10 most viewed posts on BraveNewClimate – happy reading (hits and # comments, in brackets): —————————————————- Top 10 climate sceptics posts 1. Ian Plimer – Heaven and Earth (45,780; 1,028) 2. Spot the recycled denial III – Prof Ian Plimer (7,509; 40) 3. Sceptics (6,709; 15) 4. Dr David Evans: born-again ‘alarmist’? […]
Stepping aside for a moment from my six-part overview of Prescription for the Planet, I’ll briefly look at another interesting recent book on energy futures. I’ve just finished reading “Total Energy Independence for the United States: A Twelve-Year Plan (Possible, Affordable, Sustainable)” (2008), by engineer and inventor, Robert M. Wical. It’s an interesting little (108 […]
Filed under: Emissions reduction, Nuclear Energy | Tagged: | 54 Comments »
Guest Post by Tim Kelly. Tim is works as a Principal Climate Change Advisor in the Water Industry. The Federal Government has now released its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme White Paper and as expected the mechanism it has chosen is that of a pollution permit and trade system (cap and trade). The cap and trade […]
Filed under: Ecological impacts | Tagged: | 67 Comments »
Recent discussion and commentary on this blog has, due largely to the highlighted topics I’ve chosen, focused on the relative feasibility of alternative energy types. This has led to some fascinating back-and-forth debate and counterpointing in the comments section of the last few posts, on the merits, feasibility, desirability and limitations of alternative zero-carbon (post-manufacture) […]
Filed under: Emissions reduction, Nuclear Energy, Renewable planet | Tagged: | 23 Comments »
Guest Post by Tim Kelly. Tim is works as a Principal Climate Change Advisor in the Water Industry. On December 15, 2008, the Federal Government released its White Paper on its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme: Australia’s Low Pollution Future White Paper and announced that Australia would seek to make a minimum 5% cut in its […]
Filed under: Emissions reduction | Tagged: | 3 Comments »
This page provides links to the most significant climate action plans and policy critiques that have been posted on BraveNewClimate. It is updated regularly. Science Council for Global Initiatives We need a real global plan for carbon mitigation We need a real global plan for carbon mitigation A sketch plan for a zero-carbon Australia Emission cuts […]
In this series, I aim to teach you to recognise the recycled denialism that is rife in the public arena these days. I don’t refute this nonsense by constructing a new argument each time which, point-by-point, shows why their claims are not supported by the evidence. This is pointless, since the majority of non-greenhouse theorists […]
Filed under: Non-greenhouse theorists (‘sceptics’) | Tagged: | 23 Comments »
Here’s some figures to make you queasy after all that rich Christmas dinner. As was reported recently, Australia’s bold new short-term greenhouse gas reduction target is to reduce carbon emissions by 4% on year 1990 levels by 2020. What does that mean in real terms? Well, according to the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, our total […]
Filed under: Emissions reduction | Tagged: | 19 Comments »
In a week where the Poznan climate conference barely registers in the international media, two new reports on the climate crisis have been released in the UK. George Monbiot reviews them both, here and here for the Guardian. Talk about chalk and cheese. One of the reports, developed by the Public Interest Research Centre, evaluates […]
Filed under: Emissions reduction | Tagged: | 14 Comments »
So what are the priorities for Obama, and indeed, for world governments, as they gather to discuss the next international treaty at Poznan this month? Can something meaningful be hammered out in Copenhagen in a years time? What are the implications of us collectively making a choice to do nothing, or at least very little? […]
Filed under: Climate change Q&A, Emissions reduction, Future shock, Nuclear Energy, Renewable planet | Tagged: | 23 Comments »
In Part II, Hansen looks at policy options required to drag us out of the Sustainability Emergency. It is self-explanatory, but I thought it worth adding some notes on a cap-and-trade versus a carbon tax. Which is better? Cap-and-Trade. Pros: (i) Cap reductions ensure falling emissions – in theory; (ii) Reduces inefficiencies or overpricing; (iii) […]
Filed under: Ecological impacts | Tagged: | 10 Comments »
It would be an understatement of epic proportions to say that President-elect Barack Obama has a big job ahead of him come January 2009. Plenty of people will be giving him ‘advice’ – some good, most not (if the history of vested interests twisting the political process over the last few decades is any guide). […]
Filed under: Climate change Q&A, Future shock | Tagged: | 9 Comments »
As part of a recent textbook I wrote with Prof Navjot Sodhi and Assoc Prof Corey Bradshaw (Tropical Conservation Biology, Wiley-Blackwell, 2007), we interviewed some well known scientists for a ‘Spotlight’ series. Other interviews have been published on BNC’s sister blog, ConservationBytes. For the chapter entitled “Climate Change: Turning up the tropical heat“, we put […]
Filed under: Climate change Q&A | Tagged: | 7 Comments »
There is an old saying in strategic communications. Repeat your key point, again and again. Then repeat it once again. Keep doing this. When, at last, you are sick to death of saying it and can’t possibly imagine anyone would want to hear it again… say it again. That’s about the point when people really […]
Filed under: Renewable planet | Tagged: | 27 Comments »
As if ‘peak oil‘ – the point at which half of the available oil has been squeezed out of the surface rocks – weren’t enough, another freight train thundering towards us and picking up pace is ‘peak coal‘. It hasn’t gotten the attention yet of ‘peak oil’, but the implications just as huge. For instance, […]
Filed under: Emissions reduction, Renewable planet | Tagged: | 5 Comments »
Seminar reminder and Discussion Thread. Friday 19 September: What future climate change scenarios are possible? “Global warming is good, agriculture will flourish!” Such statements represent the tip of an iceberg of arguments suggesting that global warming isn’t going to have catastrophic impacts. Some of these are based on pseudo science regarding the effects of global […]
Filed under: ccqa, Non-greenhouse theorists (‘sceptics’) | Tagged: | 3 Comments »
Guest Post by Tim Kelly. Tim is works as a Principal Climate Change Advisor in the Water Industry. The Federal Government released its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) in July 2008. Whilst much debate about the Green Paper has focussed on coverage of businesses and industries by the scheme, the impact on various industries, compensation […]
Filed under: Emissions reduction | Tagged: | 5 Comments »
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