ENERGY

N. CUNNINGHAM—From devastating wildfires to rising methane emissions, Earth’s vital signs are continuing to deteriorate, scientists warn. An urgent global phaseout of fossil fuels is needed, they say, reiterating calls for “transformative change,” which is “needed now more than ever to protect life on Earth and remain within as many planetary boundaries as possible.”

The warning comes roughly a year and a half after a global coalition of 11,000 climate scientists declared a climate emergency, warning that global action was needed to avoid “untold suffering due to the climate crisis.” The new paper examining Earth’s vital signs, published in the journal BioScience, is authored by some of the same scientists who helped spearhead the climate emergency declaration.

Sergei Zimov could be a visionary capable of reversing much of the damage done by humans over thousands of years, and now threatening the future of life on this planet

JOHN SCHOONOVER—Fossil fuel pollution kills more than three million people every year. It is a disaster in the immediate, and the mid-term. The most omnicidal culprit is coal, a major source of US electricity. In fact, the installed coal-fired electrical generation capacity is about 250.4 GW. What if Biden’s energy policy included a crash program to get rid of the coal menace starting January 20. He has two options: solar/wind or nuclear.

ERIC SCHECHTER—A 26-minute video explaining feedback loops, exponential growth, etc. in nontechnical terms. Transcript (and links) at author’s main blog A 26-minute video explaining feedback loops, exponential growth, etc. in nontechnical terms. Transcript (and links) at http://leftymathprof.wordpress.com/

Today, it is most economically feasible to obtain bulk hydrogen from natural gas. It will cost around $2 per kilo. The development of wind and solar “themes”, even in the most optimistic case, will not lower the price below $3. at the same time, the optimists of the idea proceed from the possibility of bringing the cost to $1. Let’s say they can make a fairy tale come true, then what?

There is a long and repeatedly proven coefficient of conversion of hydrogen to British thermal units through the heat of combustion. Based on it, it turns out that $1 per kilogram of hydrogen corresponds to the price of $7.4 per million British thermal units (BTU). It is from this moment that there is an association with the famous saying “the devil is in the details”.