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Dear Reader,

The Energy Miser #8, February 12, 2007

Climate Change has made the news. In this issue of The Energy Miser I'll point out some highlights and lowlights.

FYI, You can read all past issues of The Energy Miser here.

In case you missed my email blast of a few weeks ago, here are pictures of a Skystream install in Hull, MA.
On February 5, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the summary of a report on climate change. The IPCC is made up of the worlds leading scientists on climate change. Scientists and policy makers around the world hold the IPCC in high regard.

The report, Climate Change 2007: Physical Basis describes the physical observations that scientists have made in their study of climate change. Here are some of their conclusions:

  • Eleven of the last twelve years (1995-2006) rank among the warmest 12 years recorded (since 1860).
  • Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are higher than they have been in 650,000 years (ice core data).
  • The annual carbon dioxide concentration growth-rate was larger during the last ten years (from 1995-2005 it was 1.9 ppm/year, from 1960-2005 it was 1.4 ppm/year)
  • Changes in solar irradiance (the intensity or amount of sun the planet receives) can account for only 5-7% of earth's temperature increase since 1750. (radiative forcing)
  • Most of the observed increase on globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely (>90%) due to the observed increase in anthropogenic (human caused) greenhouse gas concentrations.

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) offered scientists $10,000 to point out the weaknesses in the IPCC report.

"Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)."

Sadly, this is not unusual behavior by the oil (and coal) industries.
TCP
Thanks to the generosity of Principal Madeline Brick and the teachers of Hudson's John F. Kennedy Middle School, I presented on Climate Change to the 400+ sixth and seventh graders.

Over the course of three days, I presented six times. The kids and the teachers asked great questions and were a wonderful audience.

To schedule a talk, please contact me via email or phone (978) 212-2665.

Turn off the lights, turn down the heat, unplug unecessary appliances, add insulation, take shorter showers, walk instead of driving, group your errands, inflate your tires, grow your own food, eat locally-produced food, recycle, install a renewable energy system...

Thanks for Reading the Energy Miser,
Mark Durrenberger
New England Breeze, LLC


phone: 978-212-2665