Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Strongest El Niño Ever

theclimatebrink.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

361–370 of 370 posts

Re: The Strongest El Niño Ever

#361

Post by wlecometo »

bcoughlan wrote: post #77
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #4

The buried lede: What does all this mean for global temperatures? Because global temperature lags ENSO by around three to five months, most of this event’s warming will land in 2027, which is now shaping up to be a genuinely alarming year and the warmest on record by a sizable margin I’m certainly no climate scientist, but if I lived in Europe, I would absolutely be looking into how to get a solar energy system set u…

I don't mean to be divisive, but this meme-like stream of news articles and comments about Europeans being silly about air conditioning, from the drill-baby-drill nation that refused to even try to do anything about climate change, really grates on me.

it's the 2026 version of the "are they starving? give them croissant".

"is it warm due to climate change? just install airco"

Re: The Strongest El Niño Ever

#362

Post by wlecometo »

sn9 wrote: post #347
bcoughlan wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't mean to be divisive, but this meme-like stream of news articles and comments about Europeans being silly about air conditioning, from the drill-baby-drill nation that refused to even try to do anything about climate change, really grates on me.

It should be more grating that Europe's refusal to adopt air conditioning is murdering their most vulnerable at rates comparable to American gun deaths and (unlike climate change or gun violence) there's a trivial solution that would prevent this immediately instead of waiting decades.

These "most vulnerable ones" are the ones who don't want airco or that believe that climate change does not exist because it's summer of course it's hot.

Re: The Strongest El Niño Ever

#363

Post by simmerup »

zuzululu wrote: post #351
simmerup wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you think this climate change is caused by the magnetic poles shifting?

you are aware that magnetic poles shifts have been happening on earth since its formation and continue to do so ?

You didn’t answer my question, but it’s understandable why you wouldn’t want to if you believe that.

I know magnetic poles shift.

Re: The Strongest El Niño Ever

#364

Post by spwa4 »

oezi wrote: post #194
spwa4 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How do we make sure that doesn't happen? That's the neat part, you don't. Europe has saved on CO2 emissions by moving production to China, and more recently to India and Southern Asia, moving energy generation for factories onto coal power, significantly INCREASING the rate at which climate change occurs. China and India have made it very clear that, first, they will continue to do this. Also adding solar power, bu…

Your take is too fatalistic because any reduction in Co2 emissions is helpful. It isn't an all or nothing thing. The cost estimates for eliminating Co2 emissions are also not very high. In the range of 1-2x total GDP. Would be doable if 3-5% of GDP is spent over the next 20-30 years. I agree that all oil will be dug up and sold but there is a caveat: not at any price. If solar and wind continue their trajectory their…

At this point I'd suggest big investments in research into geoengineering. For example, I can find research stating that aerosols will work, BUT that will have costs.

But which costs? I can only find a few studies about the truly stupid ideas (spreading sulphuric acid in the stratosphere will cool the earth ... then rain down. Yes I can understand why that would be bad. But any aerosol will work, of course. What goes wrong when spreading Lithium? Phosphate? Natrium? Magnesium?)

Re: The Strongest El Niño Ever

#365

Post by scarecrowbob »

sdeframond wrote: post #359
whatevaa wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ventilating at night doesn't work at all when nights are hot. And now it happens oftenly, not sometimes. That is a bigger problem than hot days. Also, all the activity you do inside your insulated home also increases temperature. Human body itself is a small space heater. At some point, you gotta get that energy out somehow, and if nights are hot, there is no way to do that except via a heat pump.

It may not be enough but it does work . When it is 40C max by day and 22C min by night, for example, the outside is still cooler than the inside at night. So ventilating will have a real impact. With this you might reach 25-26C inside in the morning and 29C by the end of the afternoon. It is hot but generally OK with fans, depending on humidity. Then you can turn the AC on during daytime on top of that , which makes…

I mean, fortunately for me it's dry enough that I can run a small swamp cooler for the couple of weeks a year where those are the temps in my place. But yeah, you're correct that this is what it looks like where I am at, temperature-wise.

Though I have no A/C, per se... I have thought about it. I'm 100% off grid, but the only time I would like that is when the sun is so far up that the batteries have all already charged.

Re: The Strongest El Niño Ever

#366

Post by akamaka »

myaccountonhn wrote: post #284
akamaka wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had the same discussion with many people, and when I tell them how much work is done on cleaning up carbon emissions, the reply is always “well… it’s not enough”. And of course, they don’t have a sense of what is “enough”. They don’t really understand it in a factual, measurable way, but just are interesting in what the overall story is, and what it says about humanity failing.

Both can be true: we are doing a lot, and it's not enough.

That’s a true statement about most human endeavours through all of history, so I’m not sure what your point is.

Re: The Strongest El Niño Ever

#367

Post by akamaka »

AlecSchueler wrote: post #336
akamaka wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had the same discussion with many people, and when I tell them how much work is done on cleaning up carbon emissions, the reply is always “well… it’s not enough”. And of course, they don’t have a sense of what is “enough”. They don’t really understand it in a factual, measurable way, but just are interesting in what the overall story is, and what it says about humanity failing.

Are we measurably slowing down the warming effect?

Yes, progress on renewable energy has virtually ruled out the extreme climate change scenarios that seemed possible 20 years ago (4-10°C warming).

Re: The Strongest El Niño Ever

#368

Post by sn9 »

wlecometo wrote: post #362
sn9 wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be more grating that Europe's refusal to adopt air conditioning is murdering their most vulnerable at rates comparable to American gun deaths and (unlike climate change or gun violence) there's a trivial solution that would prevent this immediately instead of waiting decades.

These "most vulnerable ones" are the ones who don't want airco or that believe that climate change does not exist because it's summer of course it's hot.

This is completely incoherent, especially since some European governments outlaw or restrict the installation of personal air conditioning in certain kinds of buildings.

Belief in climate change isn't exactly rare in Europe.

Re: The Strongest El Niño Ever

#369

Post by obruchez »

whatevaa wrote: post #344
obruchez wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Switzerland outright not allowing residential ACs": That's not completely true, though. First, mobile/portable ACs are allowed pretty much everywhere in Switzerland, I think. Then, for fixed ACs, it depends in which canton you live. Geneva is the strictest, but in most cantons, fixed ACs are allowed under some conditions. Where I live, 50% of the AC energy must come from renewables (which is pretty easy if you have…

Great when mobile ACs are mostly terrible, if-nothing-else choice. They can only cool a small room temporarily.

Yes, they're terrible. That's why relaxing the rules for fixed AC is the way to go.

Re: The Strongest El Niño Ever

#370

Post by distantranges »

obruchez wrote: post #324
ricardobayes wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just toured Europe and none of the lodgings (private dwellings) had AC. It was not fun when it was 35C out. South of Spain is actually one of the most comfiest places to be in summer despite being hotter on average, because many homes have AC due to it being cheap to install (and to my knowledge being run on near complete renewable energy).Some European countries' stance on this is bizarre, like Switzerland outrigh…

"Switzerland outright not allowing residential ACs": That's not completely true, though. First, mobile/portable ACs are allowed pretty much everywhere in Switzerland, I think. Then, for fixed ACs, it depends in which canton you live. Geneva is the strictest, but in most cantons, fixed ACs are allowed under some conditions. Where I live, 50% of the AC energy must come from renewables (which is pretty easy if you have…

> mobile/portable ACs are allowed pretty much everywhere in Switzerland, I think.

In Geneva even some mobile ACs, such as mobile split units, are banned without a permit https://www.ge.ch/rafraichir-climatiser-batiment/installatio.... The only ones which are allowed are monoblock mobile ACs. Which is ridiculous given that they are the least efficient and consume way more energy than split mobile units or fixed ACs.

Post reply on HN