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July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

nytimes.com

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Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#241

Post by sanxiyn »

tombert wrote: post #141
yread wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would guess your footprint is more increased by getting all kinds of stuff (you don't really need). And the stuff being shipped across half the globe.

That's a fair point and I'll admit I hadn't considered that. Conceivably, we could make electric (or something) transportation systems that can travel across the world and not produce and CO2, but we certainly haven't gotten there yet.

Marine transport is incredibly efficient. Total marine transport accounts for ~2% of global CO2 emission. It would be nice to have, but definitely a low priority.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_shippi...

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#242

Post by m_mueller »

usea wrote: post #131
runeb wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my part of the world (northern Europe) basically nobody has AC, but that is probably because of the cooler temperatures here. I'm curious, at what temperatures do people who live with AC start using it? Or is it going all year round?

I live in Louisiana, southern US. I generally leave the thermostat set to ~23°C, so the AC comes on periodically to try and maintain that temperature indoors. During the warmer months, that's a significant portion of every day. During the winter, the central heating comes on instead to do the same job. There are some times of the year where neither come on, but they are brief and it will likely be on at night. It wou…

Here's the thing: You'd save significantly by setting it to 25deg. when cooling and 19deg. when heating. Both are very comfortable once you've adjusted for a day or two - after that, going to 23deg. actually feels wrong (either too cold im summer or way too hot in winter).

Don't underestimate the thermal power needed for just one additional degree in a typical American house with poorly insulated windows, walls and doors.

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#243

Post by fencepost »

pjc50 wrote: post #127
s_q_b wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nuclear, nuclear, nuclear. I've said this before, and the same climate scientists who first discovered anthropogenic global warming agree, that nuclear fission plants are the only technology that can bridge the gap between fossil fuels and fusion.

Possibly, but it's too slow and expensive to build and insure. Even in the UK, how much solar and wind can we put up before Hinkley Point C produces its first watt?

Yeah, but don't forget the massive cleanup efforts required after big wind and sunlight spills.

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#244

Post by arethuza »

bane wrote: post #158
runeb wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my part of the world (northern Europe) basically nobody has AC, but that is probably because of the cooler temperatures here. I'm curious, at what temperatures do people who live with AC start using it? Or is it going all year round?

I live in a latitude about the same as Spain, Southern Italy, Greece and Turkey, but in my part of the U.S., it's been above 30 degrees Centigrade for a few weeks, with high humidity. Our winters also get around 0 Centigrade (+- 8 or 9 degrees) pretty regularly, so we need to supply both heating and cooling. Usually when it gets above 24/25 C we start to really put on the air conditioning. And below 20 C we put on th…

"And below 20 C we put on the heat."

I'm pretty sure we don't put our heating on here in Edinburgh until October when nights are probably getting to be well below 10C.

Mind you for me 10C is "comfortable", 15C is "warm", 20C is "hot" and 30C means I'm on holiday somewhere hot where I can go capsizing to stay cool.

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#245

Post by triangleman »

El Nino + urban heat island effect. According to satellites, July 2016 is the 2nd hottest July since the 70's when satellite records began. The hottest is July 1998, also El Nino.

Take a look at weather stations that have been situated in the same place for 100 or more years, far from cities: http://www.john-daly.com/stations/stations.htm

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#246

Post by ThomPete »

Klathmon wrote: post #154
ThomPete wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What on earth does language have to do with it? Other countries write about climate change too :)

Because to a non-native speaker the 2 words can be confused as synonyms. Hell I didn't even know there was a distinct difference between the 2 words until just now (and i've been speaking english my whole life), and I had just assumed that these kinds of discussions were talking about the "long term" data.

I guess i am not sure I understand.

wasn't the parent just saying that where they were it wasn't that hot which is the wrong way to look at it but does that have anything to do with languages unless this is the first time the parent ever read anything about climate change and weather?

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#247

Post by joshyeager »

CalRobert wrote: post #194
harryh wrote: post #44

Personally I think that the idea that these trends can ever be revered by some sort of world wide agreement to lower consumption is a pipe dream. People want to eat meat and drive cars and fly on airplanes. As long as they're rich enough to do so you'll never stop them. The only solution to this problem is technology. Some combination of green energy sources plus probably very large scale terraforming.

Live in a multi-unit building in a city where you can commute and do errands by walking or cycling (electric bikes are fine and get around that whole pedaling bit). Source your energy renewably and use little of it (80-300kwh per month isn't crazy depending on your climate). Don't buy much stuff. Eat very little meat. I mean, it doesn't take it to 0 but even if you DO want a comfortable life it doesn't mean living in…

All of that sounds reasonable, except "Live in a multi-unit building in a city". Being that close to that many people sounds like hell.

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#248

Post by davidf18 »

There is much we can do in the US to decrease air pollution within a very short time. These reductions also contribute to lowering asthmatic episodes and hospitalizations and various forms of heart disease in the elderly, especially women.

1. As of a few years ago, 10% of the 450 coal powered electric power plants produced half the air pollution by coal powered plants (according to an Environmental Pollution Agency report). Take the top 45 polluters off line. The Obama administration is already to shut down some of these plants.

2. Many buildings in the Northeast and Midwest burn old #6 and #4 fuel oils for heat during the winter which are very polluting. New York City, where I live, has now banned the dirtier #6 oils, but politics has intervened and significantly delayed the banning of #4 oil. But other cities should ban the burning of these dirtier fuel oils.

The shutting down of the top 45 polluting coal powered electric plants and the banning of #6 and #4 fuel oils for heating buildings would not be hard to do and would make a significant difference to reducing air pollution.

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#249

Post by jasonkester »

harryh wrote: post #44

Personally I think that the idea that these trends can ever be revered by some sort of world wide agreement to lower consumption is a pipe dream. People want to eat meat and drive cars and fly on airplanes. As long as they're rich enough to do so you'll never stop them. The only solution to this problem is technology. Some combination of green energy sources plus probably very large scale terraforming.

Technology never ceases to amaze though. Just last week I replaced the 12 50 watt spotlights in my kitchen with 42 watts total worth of LEDs. For twenty dollars. You can't tell the difference except that maybe it's a bit brighter in there.

That was something I wouldn't have predicted being able to do 10 years ago. If something changes in the next 30 years that make this whole climate change panic look like a bunch of silly overreaction, I won't be all that surprised.

Re: July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to Nasa

#250

Post by davidf18 »

barkbro wrote: post #226
_ph_ wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wind and Solar are now cost-competetive with nuclear, without its nasty side effects. And the cost of storage for nuclear waste has not really been calculated yet.

The problem is that wind and solar are only a supplementary to nuclear power at the moment. It won't be able to replace nuclear until we find a better way to store energy.

Battery technology is improving significantly.
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