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Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

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Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#121

If there is anybody who sees Indian domestic news and/or articles, could you tell us whether there is any political impetus there to start spraying climate-modifying aerosols at high altitudes regardless of effectiveness and/or international opinion, or if it's completely outside of the Indian overton window?

I don't see this being discussed or something any public figure has said as being considered. Various states in India are deprioritizing power supply to industries in favour of consumer household use. So domestic news is playing those "govt reduces power supply to industries by 50%" headlines. [1] Use of ACs and air coolers has skyrocketed the demand for power (38 year high), thereby increasing demand for Coal. Inter…

And is there any sentiment that this is caused by climate change, and coal phase out should be accelerated?

I get the immediate need for electricity, but talk about increasing coal stocks sounds weird nonetheless in light of what the goals are now in Western countries.

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#122
post #65

Instead of relying solely on air conditioning, which often adds to greenhouse gas emissions if run on fossil power, there are a number of passive solar design strategies that work without additional energy: - Solar chimneys draw cool air in when it’s sunny via pressure differential - Building orientation along with natural shading from deciduous trees prevent excessive solar insolation heating the building - Building…

I deployed my own design (not calculated, eyeballed) of a buoyancy based passive cooling at my parents home near Mumbai, India. It did make a measured difference of approximately (temperature meters aren't very accurate) 2 degrees Celsius. I have been reading a lot in my spare time and your blog looks like a nice read.

My point is, is 2 to 3 degrees Celsius enough? From what I read is that I need to really move very large columns of air to make a sizeable impact. TBF my energy bills did come down by ~10%

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#123

Never knew Himalayan range is so effective. India should build artificial mountain range to stop heat weave entering the region.

Why? It’s easier to just invent fusion and get air conditioning going at the national level. Or just paint the entire country white.

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#124
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I generally agree - but considering this conflict could (unlikely but possibly) become a world war then, yes, other countries should pay attention.

True. It does, but similar risks have come by before (in S Asia). India & Pakistan had a full confrontation in 1990s, when they were both nuclear capable & backed by Russia and US respectively. People at the helm of warcraft perhaps know where to draw the line. It is highly unlikely Putin will use tactical nukes or pre-emptively strike US/EU, no matter how grim the war looks. People do not realize that the game of br…

It's very hard to understand what is actually at stake - how would nuclear weapons use actually play out. I'm curious, I just don't know. I have to imagine that and actual use of nuclear weapons would play out very differently from how it's often imagined (i.e the mutually assured destruction idea, or the end of all life on the planet meme).

My gut tells me that the balance of power is not at all as "equal" as it's claimed ("both sides have nukes") but there is enough uncertainly on all sides to want to test it.

The "usual" rules of gradual escalation probably apply. Of course, it's best to avoid any escalation because it can be an uncontrollable situation.

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#126

Climate change in action, only going to get worse.

Is nature going to put a stop to our rape of this planet by directly killing millions (maybe billions) through heat, fire, flooding, famine, drought, etc.? Is that what it will take? Am I wrong to be despondent about our capability as a species to prevent this coming catastrophe any other way?

[deleted]

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#127
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Hilarious" is not the word I'd use. "Dispiriting", "Irresponsible", "Fucked up". I don't understand why we aren't pouring massive amounts of money into public transport. Apparently many people in Western Europe seem to enjoy being stuck in traffic for hours every day. For some reason, company cars are still a thing in Belgium, very nearly everyone working in IT gets one. I can't wrap my head around how stupid this i…

Public transport hasn't solved the problem of "the last mile". How do I get to/from the train station/bus stop? Frequently you still need a car to even get there and then you will need parking - which is often limited and costs a lot. Then there's timeliness. Deutsche Bahn is known for frequently their trains are delayed. In summer, even on the Intercity connections (IC, ICE) trains will be filled to the brim and air…

Major part of the problem is working 70 kilometers away. Before cars you would basically just live pretty close to your place of work. I think that's how it should still be, but don't see any realistic way for societies to encourage that beyond building denser cities where every new residential area comes with rail transport from the get-go.

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#128
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangential to this, there is the Morocco solar project - where the plan is to export via HVDC link to the UK - will this result in UK energy prices influencing those of Morocco? "Ideally" the production site should have access to cheaper energy since it's "their resource".

Thats a good example. It would be better for 'global' warming if Britain just bought carbon credits from Morocco and skipped the transmission line. Morocco gets cheap, clean energy independence and industrial investment, the world gets less fossil co2 and even if they get taken over by Martians in the future that don't respect human laws, the climate benefit is already delivered and can’t be "cut off". However, the s…

"Free market" economics are broken for nonrenewable resources, since they misprice them - don't take future scarcity into account at all, and encourage an all-you-can-extract economy.

Re: Nearly the hottest place on Earth, India swelters under intense heat wave

#129
post #115
post #65

Instead of relying solely on air conditioning, which often adds to greenhouse gas emissions if run on fossil power, there are a number of passive solar design strategies that work without additional energy: - Solar chimneys draw cool air in when it’s sunny via pressure differential - Building orientation along with natural shading from deciduous trees prevent excessive solar insolation heating the building - Building…

How much do these things work when the wet bulb temperature is over 90F?

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