kkaufmann

Green-energy techno-geek and passionate storyteller. Mid-Atlantic bureau chief for RTO Insider. Views my own.

[Occupy Democrats @OccupyDemocrats]

BREAKING: Republican George Conway, husband of Kellyanne, spills the beans on the best way to infuriate Donald Trump and urges all of us to "laugh at him" because it drives him up the wall.

And he was just getting started...

During an appearance on The Daily Show, Conway bluntly stated that America still has "not had a full national conversation" about Trump's profoundly sick psychological condition.

He said that according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Trump is a sociopath with narcissistic personality disorder.

"That needs to be talked about openly," he said. "It needs to be pointed out, when he is doing things that meet those criteria, and it’s gotta be pointed out, and it drives him nuts when people do that."

He said that pointing out this fact will make Trump even more "crazy" so he will act out and "then you have more video" to prove that he's unwell.

"The other thing I would recommend to liberals is, don’t get mad," said Conway. "The people who support Trump like when liberals get mad; that’s why they like Trump."

"You can make fun of him and mock him. I mean, this is what these shows do," Conway said.

“You’re kind of addressing the whole premise of the show right now. That’s what we’re trying to do here," replied Daily Show correspondent Ronny Chieng.

Conway agreed and said that late night host Jimmy Kimmel is also playing "an important role" by waging his escalating rhetorical war against Trump.

"Laugh at him. Now, that doesn’t mean you don’t appreciate the seriousness of what would happen to this country," said Conway.

Please retweet and ❤️ to thank George Conway for boldly fighting Trump in the public arena — and consider joining the growing exodus to Tribel, a new pro-democracy social network that is exploding in popularity because Twitter and Facebook are trying to stop its growth — which is only making Tribel grow even faster. Please follow us on Tribel to get all of our breaking news alerts sent straight to your phone or computer by clicking the following link: https://t.co/HnJzSKjCwX

[Nate the House Whisperer @energysmartwv]

Periodic reminder that EVERY residential electrification effort I see right now is only focused on early adopters.

That time has passed.

Get to 100% electrification by 2030-2035, or we miss 2050. 15-20 year lifespan of HVAC dictates this.

Become HVAC contractors people.

[kkaufmann @kkaufmann]

Bad day at Venezuelan glacier -- country's last glacier melts down to ice field as climatedhttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/08/venezuela-loses-its-last-glacier-as-it-shrinks-down-to-an-ice-field

[Prof. Katharine Hayhoe @KHayhoe]

Half the oxygen we breathe comes from tiny phytoplankton in the ocean.

Every day is #EarthDay

[Jesse D. Jenkins @JesseJenkins]

For the first time, @VW announced it aims to start producing its most affordable electric car, the ID.1 in 2027. It plans to offer "affordable electric mobility for everyone" with this new model, starting at $21,700 (eg an even €20,000).
https://t.co/HWkTuSZaI6

[Prof. Peter Strachan @ProfStrachan]

Eight things the world must do to avoid the worst of #ClimateChange
1. Stop burning #FossilFuels
2. Stop methane emissions
3. Stop deforestation
4. Restore degraded land
5. Change what we eat
6. Go #RenewableEnergy
7. Use energy more efficiently
8. #ActNow https://t.co/8wNURqsLfL

[evilSolarGuy @SolarInMASS]

Cool

[Prof. Katharine Hayhoe @KHayhoe]

2023 was the hottest year on record, with a new billion+ dollar extreme weather event impacting the US every 2 weeks. Yet corporate broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox — scaled back their climate coverage by 25%. https://t.co/WH69br8L6U

[CO2_Earth @CO2_earth]

🌎📈 425.56 ppm #CO2 in the atmosphere on Mar. 14 2024 📈 Up 5.26 from 420.30 ppm one year ago 📈🌎 @NOAA Mauna Loa data: https://t.co/nu6ktMn2wU 🌎 https://t.co/DpFGQoYEwb Daily: https://t.co/PTTkLiPGm2 🌎🙏 Pls. help make this global sustainability # visible 🙏

[Tyler Norris @tylerhnorris]

In a new anti-solar op-ed, NC's lead conservative think tank @JohnLockeNC @CarolinaJournal published a whopping error today claiming 1,000MWac of PV requires 31k acres, when actual amount is ~5X less. The op-ed is premised on this claim. (🧵1/4) https://t.co/7vQgB13BnK

[AukeHoekstra @AukeHoekstra]

My two takeaways from yesterdays landmark publication in @Nature:

1) US shale gas and LNG are much worse for the climate than we thought.

2) We know this since we can replace industry estimates with objective areal measurements.
https://t.co/2OCgDgWuxm

[kkaufmann @kkaufmann]

Today's worrisome factoid from @EIAgov -- as OPEC cuts its supplies of oil and other liquid fuels, the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Guyana are stepping up to increase their production. The U.S. is pumping out 13.3 million b/d.
https://t.co/JLNtDf39O4

[kkaufmann @kkaufmann]

BREAKING -- SEC adopts scaled-back rule for disclosure of climate-related risk by 3-2 vote. Perfect? No, but a good start. Early report @rtoinsider -- update to come. https://t.co/rs8NEZag6p

[kkaufmann @kkaufmann]

Iffy but interesting. Powering direct air capture with geothermal, ideally to create a closed loop system. https://t.co/Qw3pewgns5

[Leon Simons 🌍 @LeonSimons8]

🌎📉🌍
I did some basic energy and water calculations on the scary AMOC study (1) that's making headlines, so you don't have to.

It's quite simple, so please don't let the orders of magnitude scare you off.

This is a Big F*cking Deal (BFD)!

First, what are we talking about here?

What is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation?

It's a shitload of water transporting a shit ton of heat energy North, through the Atlantic Ocean!

The study starts with an AMOC strength of about 15 sverdrups, or 15,000,000 cubic meters of ocean water per second.

This transports about 1 PW (1 petawatt = 1*10^15 watt) of heat North from the Southern Hemisphere and the tropics.

That's about 32 ZJ (32 zettajoules = 32*10^21 joules) of heat per year.

When the AMOC tips, most of this ocean heat transport stops.

The obvious question people are asking is "could this happen any time soon and how?"

The study (as have others, for example @DrJamesEHansen et al. (2016) (2), which is not referenced for some reason) shows that a lot of fresh water input from rainfall and Greenland ice melt could shut this thing down this century.

The more fresh water is added, the slower the AMOC becomes.

The tipping in the model happens at about 0.5 sverdrups (0.5 Sv, 500,000 m³ per second) of fresh water input.

There is a lot of fresh water waiting to add those 0.5 Sv, if only there was enough heat available to melt the ice sheet of Greenland.

0.5 Sv is 1.6*10^13 m³ of water per year.

Greenland holds 2.85*10^15 m³ of ice, which could provide about 170 years of 0.5 sverdrups of fresh water (after which global sea levels would be over 7 meters higher).

To melt 0.5 sverdrups worth of ice for a year takes 5.3 ZJ of heat.

Since 1970, our greenhouse gases have caused about 450 ZJ of additional heat to accumulate in the Earth system. ~90% of that warmed the oceans.

Aerosols, notably from coal plants and ships burning sulfur rich fuels, have reduced that heat accumulation.

Now that we are reducing aerosols, more heat is accumulating.

The larger North Atlantic Ocean region shows a spike in how much sunlight is being absorbed over recent years, while higher temperatures cause more heat radiation to space.

The net effect is a spike of over 2.4 W/m² above the 2000-2009 average. This spike added 4 ZJ of heat over 12-months:

The record high global energy imbalance is now (2023) about 1.8 W/m², which adds 29 ZJ of heat to the Earth system over a year.

To make a long story short, the heat is there to melt enough Greenland ice to shut the AMOC down.

And we don't need all that heat to be directed to the melting of ice, as more precipitation also contributes.

And of course, we are only making the climate forcing and Earth's Energy Imbalance worse by rapidly increasing greenhouse gas concentrations while decreasing aerosols.

Sorry I couldn't make this more hopeful.
But numbers don't lie.

(1): Physics-based early warning signal shows that AMOC is on tipping course
René M. van Westen et al. (2024)
https://t.co/MfWFkeVAuS

(2): Ice melt, sea level rise and superstorms: Evidence from paleoclimate data, climate modeling, and modern observations that 2°C global warming is dangerous
@DrJamesEHansen , @MakikoSato6 et al. (2016)
https://t.co/rTfi4tCCFC

[Katie Siegner @katie_siegner]

Interconnection delays are a problem, posing challenges for resource adequacy, economic development, and decarbonization. At @RMI_electricity, we’re all about finding solutions, then speeding and scaling them. A 🧵...

[Jesse D. Jenkins @JesseJenkins]

For the first time in 50 years, the US @NRCgov has issued a construction permit for a new type of nuclear test reactor. @KairosPower will be able to build their molten salt-cooled Hermes demonstration reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
https://t.co/eoKhmxno7U

[Prof. Katharine Hayhoe @KHayhoe]

A new study used Twitter to track US climate denial. Authors identified a "coordinated social media network uses periodic events, like cold weather or climate conferences, to sow disbelief and Trump was the strongest influencer in this network." https://t.co/NmNyR1Zdx9.

[kkaufmann @kkaufmann]

In Antarctic mode -- history and, as always, penguins. https://t.co/CfnJLdO4yd

[kkaufmann @kkaufmann]

Not great news -- mammoth icebergs melting. https://t.co/JkIuA9E6Ku