2015 Warmest Year on Record

[Deleted member 2897]

60 minutes went all-in on climate panic porn tonight. First, they spoke about how bad the fires have been out west. Nearly all of these fires were set by people or by power lines. Sad. Then they spoke about how we’re at twice the average on tropical storms in the east. Actually, we’re at half their prediction of major hurricanes. It’s been way down. We’ve just had 20 weak tropical depressions. When I was growing up, we didn’t give every summer thunderstorm a name. Ironically enough, we just came out of the longest stretch in our country’s history without landfall of a major hurricane - we went 12 full years without a single one.

When things are quiet, these people suck their thumbs under the bed. When something fits their narrative, they come running for the cameras, and our seditious media is happy to give them a platform.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

I went back and looked at NOAA’s tropical storm predictions from May. They predicted 16 named storms and with a “70% confidence”. We’re currently at 27. LOL. 70% confident.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

I went back and looked at NOAA’s tropical storm predictions from May. They predicted 16 named storms and with a “70% confidence”. We’re currently at 27. LOL. 70% confident.

This aged well. NOAA in May predicted 13-19 named storms with a 70% confidence. We are about to get named storm number 30.

 

[orientalnc]

This aged well. NOAA in May predicted 13-19 named storms with a 70% confidence. We are about to get named storm number 30.

Number 29 is dropping six inches of rain on us today. Eastern NC is under a flash flood warning.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Our local TV station gives $100 to a local charity every day if their 11 PM forecast the night before is within 6°F (+/- 3°F). How hard can it be? They closed the books on January, and were within 6°F 12 out of 31 days LOL. Today they started February by predicting 57°F when the actual high was 50°F. LOL. We’re on the east coast - they have every advantage in the world seeing the weather come this way and how temperatures are comparing to predictions. LOL.

 

[MWBATL]

Our local TV station gives $100 to a local charity every day if their 11 PM forecast the night before is within 6°F (+/- 3°F). How hard can it be? They closed the books on January, and were within 6°F 12 out of 31 days LOL. Today they started February by predicting 57°F when the actual high was 50°F. LOL. We’re on the east coast - they have every advantage in the world seeing the weather come this way and how temperatures are comparing to predictions. LOL.

To be fair, the ocean probably has a lot to do with those errors.

Nevertheless, your point is well made!

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Bill Gates was on 60 Minutes tonight discussing global warming. When prompted by Anderson Cooper, Gates admitted he “probably has one of the single largest carbon footprints on the planet.” He apparently flies all the time in his private jet. LOL.

 

[684Bee]

Bill Gates was on 60 Minutes tonight discussing global warming. When prompted by Anderson Cooper, Gates admitted he “probably has one of the single largest carbon footprints on the planet.” He apparently flies all the time in his private jet. LOL.

Do as I say, not as I do.

 

[MWBATL]

The weirdest thing in the world to me is this....

It is FACT that the earth has undergone severe climate change and mass extinction events numerous times in its history. (I believe either 5 or 6)

These events can be slow brought on by climatic changes or rapid (think asteroid strikes).

There is NO reason not to expect this pattern to continue. We have mapped the orbits of an estimated 10% of all asteroids with near earth orbits. In a recent 10 year stretch (1994-2013) NASA tracked 566 meteors and mini-asteroids which hit the earth.

Yet, we are worried about near term climate change and rising sea levels, We appoint a Climate Czar as if this will do us any good. Even a 3 foot rise in sea levels is trivial compared to a large asteroid strike.

Whether you believe the risk is from the idiocy of our species with greenhouse gases, or from space with asteroids, the smartest solution is not to run around sticking your fingers in the dyke, it is to develop aggressively a space program which spreads our species into space so we are not so susceptible to one bad event.

Yet, this is not the climate change agenda or solution.

<shaking my damn head>

This is why I don't believe in the climate change political agenda.

 

[awbuzz]

Sadly in Texas the green energy wind turbines are frozen and not producing electricity. Too bad they're having rolling blackouts to the central part of the United States so that they won't over stress the power grid there. A lot of folks in below freezing and heck below zero temperatures with no ability to push hot air through the house.
Maybe their solar panels will be working tonight to help make up the loss from the wind turbines.

 

[armeck]

Sadly in Texas the green energy wind turbines are frozen and not producing electricity. Too bad they're having rolling blackouts to the central part of the United States so that they won't over stress the power grid there. A lot of folks in below freezing and heck below zero temperatures with no ability to push hot air through the house.
Maybe their solar panels will be working tonight to help make up the loss from the wind turbines.

Not surprised you posted this as I did notice it was FoxNews' talking points yesterday. And yet:

Frozen wind turbines are one culprit in Texas’s power outages

Ice has forced some turbines to shut down just as a brutal cold wave drives record electricity demand.

fortune.com

Don’t point too many fingers at Texas wind turbines, because they’re not the main reason broad swaths of the state have been plunged into darkness.

While ice has forced some turbines to shut down just as a brutal cold wave drives record electricity demand, wind only comprises 25% of the state’s energy mix this time of year. The majority of outages overnight were plants fueled by natural gas, coal and nuclear, which together make up more than two-thirds of power generation during winter.

Conservatives Are Seriously Accusing Wind Turbines of Killing People in the Texas Blackouts

Tucker Carlson and others are using the deadly storm to attack wind power, but the state’s independent, outdated grid and unreliable natural gas generation are to blame.

newrepublic.com

As of Monday afternoon, 26 of the 34 gigawatts in ERCOT’s grid that had gone offline were from “thermal” sources, meaning gas and coal. The system’s total installed capacity in the system, Power magazine’s Sonal Patel noted, is around 77.2 GW. Wind and solar power, meanwhile, produced near or even above planned capacity, according to energy analyst Jesse Jenkins, as only small amounts of wind and solar are utilized in peaking conditions. Wind turbines did indeed freeze, and did eventually underperform. But so did natural gas infrastructure, and to a far greater degree. That proved to be a much larger problem since it makes up such a huge proportion of the state’s power supply in extreme weather. And frozen power lines and equipment were a far bigger cause of outages than generation shortages.


As Rice University’s Daniel Cohan put it on Twitter, “ERCOT expected to get low capacity factors from wind and solar during winter peak demand. What it didn’t expect is >20 GW of outages from thermal (mostly natural gas) power plants.” Despite these realities, the narrative about the outages thus far has disproportionately focused on turbines underperforming in the cold due to ice on their blades—and barely mentioned failures in the vast majority of the grid powered by fossil fuels.

And just in case you come across this later:

Viral Image of Helicopter De-Icing Texas Wind Turbine Is From Sweden

In the midst of a record cold snap where Texas’ grid has failed to meet demand, misinformation is running rampant. Among the most pernicious memes propagating online are that Texas’ wind turbines have frozen and that that has led to the blackout.

earther.gizmodo.com

 

[orientalnc]

Because they produce so much energy, Texas did not want to be subjected to federal regulations. So, they did not join either the eastern or western interconnect grid. If they were a member of either this would not have been an issue. As it happened, a bunch of the Texas natural gas producers were offline getting ready for the big summer demand for which they have had to supply fuel in large quantities in recent years.

 

[orientalnc]

This is an interesting thread.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Because they produce so much energy, Texas did not want to be subjected to federal regulations. So, they did not join either the eastern or western interconnect grid. If they were a member of either this would not have been an issue. As it happened, a bunch of the Texas natural gas producers were offline getting ready for the big summer demand for which they have had to supply fuel in large quantities in recent years.

Energy is 27 layers deep and can't be relegated to a punch line. California, Texas, South Carolina - just about everyone has idiosyncracies around their energy supply. Most alternative energy sources take more energy as inputs than the energy they produce, so you do end up with some crazy outcomes at time (like a plane de-icing a windmill or a gas-powered service vehicle charging a Tesla on the side of the road).

 

[orientalnc]

Energy is 27 layers deep and can't be relegated to a punch line. California, Texas, South Carolina - just about everyone has idiosyncracies around their energy supply. Most alternative energy sources take more energy as inputs than the energy they produce, so you do end up with some crazy outcomes at time (like a plane de-icing a windmill or a gas-powered service vehicle charging a Tesla on the side of the road).

The Twitter thread above adds a lot of depth to the Texas story that I did not know.

 

[LibertyTurns]

Energy is 27 layers deep and can't be relegated to a punch line. California, Texas, South Carolina - just about everyone has idiosyncracies around their energy supply. Most alternative energy sources take more energy as inputs than the energy they produce, so you do end up with some crazy outcomes at time (like a plane de-icing a windmill or a gas-powered service vehicle charging a Tesla on the side of the road).

You can’t run natural gas electrical generators without gas & efficient gas generation requires a pipeline; coal fired electrical generators, need coal & a lot of powerful people hate coal. Oil fired generators need oil & they require environmentally friendly pipelines or tons of environmentally unfriendly trucks/rail. Connect the dots. This is a self-inflicted crisis. We got what we asked for.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

You can’t run natural gas electrical generators without gas & efficient gas generation requires a pipeline; coal fired electrical generators, need coal & a lot of powerful people hate coal. Oil fired generators need oil & they require environmentally friendly pipelines or tons of environmentally unfriendly trucks/rail. Connect the dots. This is a self-inflicted crisis. We got what we asked for.

Yep, just look at California, who is like a third world country. Nationwide we haven’t built a new nuclear reactor or new oil refinery in what - 30 years?

 

[LibertyTurns]

Yep, just look at California, who is like a third world country. Nationwide we haven’t built a new nuclear reactor or new oil refinery in what - 30 years?

There’s multiple ways to attain clean energy, just need to focus our country’s resources not destroy them.

 

[armeck]

Yep, just look at California, who is like a third world country. Nationwide we haven’t built a new nuclear reactor or new oil refinery in what - 30 years?

 

[awbuzz]

Not surprised you posted this as I did notice it was FoxNews' talking points yesterday. And yet:

Frozen wind turbines are one culprit in Texas’s power outages

Ice has forced some turbines to shut down just as a brutal cold wave drives record electricity demand.

fortune.com

Conservatives Are Seriously Accusing Wind Turbines of Killing People in the Texas Blackouts

Tucker Carlson and others are using the deadly storm to attack wind power, but the state’s independent, outdated grid and unreliable natural gas generation are to blame.

newrepublic.com

And just in case you come across this later:

Viral Image of Helicopter De-Icing Texas Wind Turbine Is From Sweden

In the midst of a record cold snap where Texas’ grid has failed to meet demand, misinformation is running rampant. Among the most pernicious memes propagating online are that Texas’ wind turbines have frozen and that that has led to the blackout.

earther.gizmodo.com

Did you read all the articles? If so you'll notice the the green wind turbines and solar were basically operating well below their output level if at all which put additional stress on other sources. If the wind and solar production wouldn't have failed the rolling outages wouldn't be required.
To blame natural gas and coal power generation facilities for the problem is turning a blind eye to the realities of what happens when the back up capabilities are removed from the system due to $$$ penalties, etc.