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News & ArtsMonday, March 11, 2013
Enviro The South Is Creeping North
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 1:14 PM
I've got your good environmental news and your bad environmental news. Let's start with the bad:
An international team of 21 authors from 17 institutions in seven countries has just published a study in the journal Nature Climate Change showing that, as the cover of snow and ice in the northern latitudes has diminished in recent years, the temperature over the northern land mass has increased at different rates during the four seasons, causing a reduction in temperature and vegetation seasonality in this area. In other words, the temperature and vegetation at northern latitudes increasingly resembles those found several degrees of latitude farther south as recently as 30 years ago.
The south is climbing north at a startlingly rapid pace. But in happier news, those electric cars that conservatives have been hating on for ages are proving to be a good investment idea:
Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), which received $465 million in U.S. Energy Department loans to develop and build electric cars, will repay the funds five years ahead of schedule in a plan approved by the government.
Conservatives have been predicting the death of Tesla and deriding the Obama Administration's investment in Tesla for years now, so this is some welcome news for an industry that needs to succeed if we're going to keep palm trees where they're supposed to be.
1
Sigh, read the article. Tesla isn't yet profitable. It is not paying off the loans early because it is swimming in cash (see previous sentence), it is paying the loans off early because otherwise the U.S. government would get to exercise valuable warrants to buy Tesla stock.
I'm not saying Tesla is doomed or anything, but by no means is the early repayment a refutation of what conservatives have been saying. And it's a stretch to call it good environmental news.
I'm not saying Tesla is doomed or anything, but by no means is the early repayment a refutation of what conservatives have been saying. And it's a stretch to call it good environmental news.
2
Also, I fail to see how ultra-expensive sports cars are going to help the palm trees, whatever they run on.
Here's a funny thing about palm trees: In LA, where palms are not native and were all pretty much planted at once, they're all starting to die of old age, and will most likely not be replaced. Within a decade or two LA streets could all be lined with oaks again.
Here's a funny thing about palm trees: In LA, where palms are not native and were all pretty much planted at once, they're all starting to die of old age, and will most likely not be replaced. Within a decade or two LA streets could all be lined with oaks again.
3
Technically, the middle is moving north, or the south part of the northern hemisphere is moving north, I imagine the opposite is happening below the equator (north moving south)
5
And unless you're using hydroelectric or nuclear power to recharge the batteries, you're still burning fossil fuels -- or is there still a net reduction of CO2 anyway?
6
@5, you're not off scott-free, but you're doing a bit better than status quo. Lots of small power plants (engines) are a lot less efficient than one large consolidated power plant. Kind of like how a single hvac plant for a campus uses way less energy than furnaces and ac units in every building. Economies of scale, yo.
That said, plugging that Tesla into the grid in WA (were the vast majority of electricity is derived from hydro) is a lot better than plugging it in across the Columbia in OR, where nearly half of all grid power comes from coal fired plants in ID.
That said, plugging that Tesla into the grid in WA (were the vast majority of electricity is derived from hydro) is a lot better than plugging it in across the Columbia in OR, where nearly half of all grid power comes from coal fired plants in ID.
7
"if we're going to keep palm trees where they're supposed to be."
We have absolutely zero chance of doing that, you realize.
The pendulum has been swung... the effects are yet to be fully realized, and won't for generations to come. In fact, we are still pushing on the pendulum.
Our happy, stable, 10,000-year climate window is closing, and quickly. The lovely little cradle of calm climate in which humanity stepped up from hunting and gathering, to space travel and the internet, is coming to an end.
Good luck to everyone. It's going to wits from here on out.
We have absolutely zero chance of doing that, you realize.
The pendulum has been swung... the effects are yet to be fully realized, and won't for generations to come. In fact, we are still pushing on the pendulum.
Our happy, stable, 10,000-year climate window is closing, and quickly. The lovely little cradle of calm climate in which humanity stepped up from hunting and gathering, to space travel and the internet, is coming to an end.
Good luck to everyone. It's going to wits from here on out.
9
@2 Tesla CEO'a master plan:
Build sports car
Use that money to build an affordable car
Use that money to build an even more affordable car
While doing above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options
See more here http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/secret-t…
Build sports car
Use that money to build an affordable car
Use that money to build an even more affordable car
While doing above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options
See more here http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/secret-t…
10
@2 that's great, palm trees are pretty shitty as city trees go. Oaks will provide more shade and will require less maintenance.
11
Anecdata point: When I was a kid I never, ever saw snails around here; only slugs. Now snails are everywhere.
12
@10, quite so. Oaks are also a lot less likely to randomly drop hundred-pound razor-sharp fronds on people's heads, or to topple over completely due to their root system being the size of a baby's fist. But they're kind of iconic; god knows what Santa Barbara's going to do along their waterfront. Plant plastic ones, I hope.
14
I forgot where I saw it, but one of the guys running the Ford trucks division pointed out that they're creating more of an energy conservation impact by improving the MPG of an F150 by 1mpg than all of the Chevy Volts sold. Not to dismiss the Volt, but he has a point in that what also needs to happen is that everything else needs to be more efficient too. What Ford should really do is make a slightly smaller version of their full size pickup and put in a small efficient diesel engine. A pickup that could get 40mpg empty, and still be able to handle real work would sell incredibly well to any company that has trucks on the road everyday.
15
If you charge an electric car from a coal-powered plant during the off hours, you are at least making that plant more efficient. Coal plants can't be turned on and off like hydro, so a lot of electricity is wasted overnight.
As far as Tesla goes, new technologies are always expensive and kludgy. The fact of the matter is that every manufacturer is incorporating some element of electric drive technology into their lines, in order to meet the new efficiency standards.
As far as Tesla goes, new technologies are always expensive and kludgy. The fact of the matter is that every manufacturer is incorporating some element of electric drive technology into their lines, in order to meet the new efficiency standards.
17
@14, the math is pretty straightforward: going from a 10 MPG vehicle to a 11 MPG vehicle saves more fuel than going from 30 MPG to 37 MPG.
Per 1,000 miles:
10 to 11 MPG = 100 to 91 gal = 9 gal savings
30 to 37 MPG = 33 to 27 gal = 6 gal savings
Push that truck to even 15 MPG and you get
10 to 15 MPG = 100 to 67 gal = 33 gal savings
Even if you use your Volt in battery-only mode exclusively, the improvement from 30 to 97 MPG is only:
30 to 93 MPG = 33 to 11 gal = 22 gal savings
(The Volt gets an EPA-certified combined 93 MPG equivalent in all-electric mode and 37 MPG in gas mode).
Now, consider that there are something like 50 times more F-series trucks sold per month than Chevy Volts, and the difference becomes immense.
Per 1,000 miles:
10 to 11 MPG = 100 to 91 gal = 9 gal savings
30 to 37 MPG = 33 to 27 gal = 6 gal savings
Push that truck to even 15 MPG and you get
10 to 15 MPG = 100 to 67 gal = 33 gal savings
Even if you use your Volt in battery-only mode exclusively, the improvement from 30 to 97 MPG is only:
30 to 93 MPG = 33 to 11 gal = 22 gal savings
(The Volt gets an EPA-certified combined 93 MPG equivalent in all-electric mode and 37 MPG in gas mode).
Now, consider that there are something like 50 times more F-series trucks sold per month than Chevy Volts, and the difference becomes immense.
18
deign_to_say @9, this is a fair enough rebuttal, but you provide a jumping off point for a comment I was about to make anyway.
I'm a big fan of electric cars. I believe the future of the automobile is electric. Even then, I fail to see how, no matter how far the battery technology develops, electric cars will ever scale the way internal-combustion cars have--such that they could be a real replacement.
And even if you could just magically replace hundreds of millions of gas cars with electrics, they're still going to be out there requiring roads and promoting sprawling development, and those land-use patterns themselves have a huge climate and energy impact, albeit indirectly.
We've got to keep shifting toward rail transit, walking, and biking. It's not going to be enough--so much of the climate cake is already baked--but what other choice is there?
I'm a big fan of electric cars. I believe the future of the automobile is electric. Even then, I fail to see how, no matter how far the battery technology develops, electric cars will ever scale the way internal-combustion cars have--such that they could be a real replacement.
And even if you could just magically replace hundreds of millions of gas cars with electrics, they're still going to be out there requiring roads and promoting sprawling development, and those land-use patterns themselves have a huge climate and energy impact, albeit indirectly.
We've got to keep shifting toward rail transit, walking, and biking. It's not going to be enough--so much of the climate cake is already baked--but what other choice is there?
19
@14, it drives me nuts that I can't get a sophisticated small truck, only a giant coffin-nosed three-ton beast with more silly-looking chrome than a 50's Buick.
I would buy a mid-70's Datsun/Nissan, Toyota, Rabbit Diesel or Mitsubishi Diesel again in a heartbeat, but why the fuck can't I have one with upgraded technology (quiet, urea-injection diesel; crash protection; electronics; etc.), just not the size bump?
I would buy a mid-70's Datsun/Nissan, Toyota, Rabbit Diesel or Mitsubishi Diesel again in a heartbeat, but why the fuck can't I have one with upgraded technology (quiet, urea-injection diesel; crash protection; electronics; etc.), just not the size bump?
21
Armadillos mark the north move. Fifty years ago they were hardly in South Arkansas, now they are in Missouri and headed for Iowa....
22
@5: In addition to what #6 said, you can more easily treat the exhaust of a power plant than that of a car to reduce emissions. Electrostatic precipitators trap particulates, and they're working on algae-covered baffles to slurp up some of the CO2 as it flows past.
23
If I thought people here cared about science, I'd explain a lot of details about electric cars. It's a subject I know a great deal about. But this is a city that banned thin-film disposable plastic bags, which are the most environmentally friendly (not to mention most sanitary) way to hold groceries.
Given that your crowd is just as unscientific as the Republican global warming denialists, there's no reason to go through it. Not here, anyway.
Given that your crowd is just as unscientific as the Republican global warming denialists, there's no reason to go through it. Not here, anyway.
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