In a week when we celebrate the societal virtue of applied science and all it has done to improve our quality of life, we get a not so gentle reminder that no matter how much we try, we will never remove the specter of political will from science. We need a culture change in order to make that happen, and unfortunately, we do not do well at culture changes.
Pretending Keystone XL politics is science
"Since the report’s release, more articles have questioned its integrity. In addition to the piece by InsideClimate News, The Washington Post and BusinessWeek have published stories about ERM’s potentially problematic relationship with the oil and gas industry. In fact, an ethical cloud has surrounded this report before it was even released and dogged the agency during the teleconference with journalists when it was made public. At that briefing, ERM’s potential conflicts came up from the first question, by NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, to the last, by The Nation’s Zoe Carpenter. All they were really told was that State’s Inspector General is looking into it… but of course we already knew that."
Perhaps part of the problem comes from perspective. Unless we directly experience something, then we do not perceive it as part of reality. Take for instance, trying to explain to someone living in Chicago that January 2014 was the 4th warmest on record, and the warmest since 2007.
Global analysis - January 2014
"The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for January was the warmest since 2007 and the fourth warmest on record at 12.7°C (54.8°F), or 0.65°C (1.17°F) above the 20th century average of 12.0°C (53.6°F). The margin of error associated with this temperature is ± 0.08°C (± 0.14°F)."
Amidst the cold snap that has hit the Midwest especially hard, but at times all of the lower 48, we find an interesting irony. The industry that has fought the expansion of renewable energy tooth and nail finds itself on the losing end of the reliability argument. As a real-time pricing customer, I can tell you that electricity prices this past January and February have been higher than last July and August. The shutdown of conventionally fueled electricity plants has driven up hourly prices, and in many cases, the only thing saving the grid from collapse: wind power.
Polar vortex MVP: Wind power
"Then on Tuesday afternoon, RTO Insider reported that PJM – the mid-Atlantic power pool consisting of 13 states and Washington, D.C., and serving around 60 million customers – had some 36,000 MW of generation, a whopping 20 percent of its installed capacity, 'unavailable due to forced outages.' Reuters said the agency was citing 'weather-related mechanical failures and natural gas supply problems, as well as normal generation issues, for power plants being knocked offline Tuesday.'"
Coal changed the planet. The minute we understood how to extract huge amounts of energy from it, we could produce steel, we could mass-manufacture armaments, and our population increased geometrically. Coal has proved a mixed blessing: allowing for innovations that improve the quality of life, but creating sometimes devastating damage to our short-term and long-term quality of life. The time nears for coal's eulogy, and I will be in line to deliver it.
The coal plant an Illinois town couldn't give away
"Local workers say they wonder if Dynegy plans to invest in keeping the plant running. Neighbors worry about pollution from the smokestack today, and what will happen to the site and the toxic waste or sludge abandoned near the Illinois River if it’s shuttered."
A quote attributed to Einstein suggests that just because we can do something does not mean that we should....in this case, we can and we should.
The Solutions Project: Transition to 100% wind, water, solar (WWS) for all purposes
"The Solutions Project focuses on market-based solutions and identifies opportunities that make economic sense for consumers, businesses, communities, and states. We work with clean energy business leaders, policy experts, NGOs, and other organizations to remove the barriers facing the future of clean, renewable energy. This transition makes economic sense for all of us, and we are going to show you the economic proof. Ultimately, this is a green issue - the additional green that will find its way into your pocket."
Happy Friday!
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