Poland announced in 2020 a long term plan for phasing out coal by 2049. Coal has become increasingly expensive to mine in Poland, the industry now relies on government subsidies, taking nearly all of the annual €1.6 billion government energy sector support. Poland accounts for 30% of the European Union’s annual consumption of coal As…
This post covers the landfall of Hurricane Ida, and effects on the region. This post will be frequently updated as Hurricane Ida moves over land. On the eve of the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall in southeast Louisiana, Hurricane Ida is about to make landfall in the region today. Intensifying Hurricane Ida a significant…
Heavy rains caused flooding in regions of West Germany, affecting the region of Ahrweiler (Rheinland-Pfalz). In the town Schuld (Nordrhein-Westfalen), several buildings collapsed with others prone to collapse. The town of Hagen is also affected, near Wuppertal a dam overflow – subsequently towns around Steinbachtalsperre in Euskirchen were evacuated. Dozens of people are missing, 33…
Keynote speech at gridXdays – the conference on energy, sustainability and technology presented by gridX – from climate scientist and communicator, Stefan Rahmstorf. At the current rate we will pass 1.5 °C warming before 2040, but with decisive action we can still prevent this.
These results indicate that climate tipping is an imminent risk in the Earth System. Even the safe operating space of 1.5 or 2.0 degrees above present generally assumed by the IPCC might not be all that safe. According to the precautionary principle, we must consider abrupt and irreversible changes to the climate system as a real risk – at least until we understand these phenomena better.
In recent months scientists noticed that many climate models were not prepared for the real world developments manifesting now as the climate changes.
Like other countries, we feel the risks and threats in this area… We need to put aside political and other differences and not turn the transition to carbon neutrality into an instrument of unfair competition.
This heat has rapidly melted any snow remaining on the ground and has caused the thawing of the top layer of the permanently frozen soil. The water from the thaw is unable to percolate down through the frozen layers below. That causes even more thawing.
A study from last year, by the Eindhoven Technological University from Germany, concluded that today’s electric cars cause 65% less emissions when compared to a fossil fuel burning car. The study authors compared a Tesla Model 3 with a Mercedes C 220d, and found that the Tesla emits 91 gram of equivalent CO2 emissions, compared…
At Google News, science is constraint to space and other worlds on their frontpage, you have to navigate to the environment tab, requiring two additional mouse clicks to find climate science.
This week, a vast heat dome enveloped western Canada and the north-western US, temperatures had nowhere to go but up.
In May locals reported fires burning near Khandyga, 380 km northeast of Yakutsk – a region hit by last summer’s wildfires, with temperatures diving as low as -58ºF (-50ºC) during the winter months. StrangeSounds May 6th 2021: Last week, authorities put Novobirsk’s 1.7 million residents under what’s known as a “black sky” air quality warning…