Comments on: Hauptsturmfury Felix [Cat 5]-3

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 00:28:32 +0000

The problem with nuclear plants is that they require cool water. They had to be shut down in France and Georgia because the water used for cooling was too warm. Well, that water isn’t going to get cooler in coming years, and again – we are producing electricity by generating heat. Heat is the problem, not the solution. We need to move to systems that don’t burn or heat anything. In addition to the greenhouse gases most power plants generate waste heat, which makes the problem worse.

The same for the power source for cars. The internal combustion engine also produces waste heat, no matter what the fuel. Electric cars not only reduce waste gases, they reduce waste heat.

By: Steve Bates

Steve Bates — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:17:07 +0000

Oh, of course, warming/cooling cycles, water levels, atmosphere composition, etc. will find new centers or points of rest someday… those points, and the transition to them, just may not be compatible with human existence, let alone civilization.

No one denies there have been climate variations, even fairly extreme ones, in the course of human history… there was a winter in 18th-century France in which the Paris Conservatory burned some of its harpsichords as firewood, understanding full well the implications of such an act… but never prior to the past century or so has humankind had the capacity not merely to tap on the delicately spinning top, but to give it a good hard shove.

Politics aside, Fallenmonk, and with due respect to your guests, on this particular subject, they are speaking very, very foolishly. (But I hardly need to tell you that.)

Bryan, your point about the consequences of burning fossil fuels is right on target. People consider me something of a solar power fanatic, but I am that because it is one of very few sources that divert energy already in the system rather than adding essentially “new” energy (stored long ago) to the system. Burning adds energy. Nuclear power adds energy. You can improve their efficiency, and that’s not to be sneezed at, but in the long run, if there’s to be a long run, we must turn to a source that doesn’t turn up the burner.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:13:37 +0000

There very definitely have been warming and cooling cycles before, but not this quickly, which is the problem. Adaptations take time, and there isn’t much time left. By burning fossil fuels we are releasing all of the carbon that was stored in them for millions of years.

Many clues external to the atmosphere indicate indicate we should ready for a cooling cycle, but that isn’t happening,

By: fallenmonk

fallenmonk — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:44:57 +0000

I asked the other day about the frequency of Cat 5 storms and I should have specified making landfall as Cat 5. I couldn’t remember ever having two make landfall in one season and it seems my memory didn’t fail me this time.
I had dinner guests the other night, one is a PhD in archeology, that insisted that this whole Global Warming thing was just another example of the cycles that naturally occur in our weather. I just laughed at them which I am afraid was not very mannerly for a host. Then again, that was after they had already maligned Al Gore several times.