That New Coal Smell
There is no such thing as clean coal people, NO SUCH THING. Never was, never will be. Even if we can figure out a way to capture and store every single drop of CO2, mercury, lead and other noxious crap that comes from burning it, we will still be blowing the tops off mountains to get it. Even if we can figure out a way to beam it out of the ground using a non-invasive method, there is still only a couple years (maybe 100, maybe 200) of it in the ground…then what? Do you honestly think humanity only have a couple hundred years left? I for one think would have a good shot at being here longer. Wind, solar, geothermal, efficiency, these are out only hopes.
Warming Climate Signals Bad Changes For Ski Areas
Rocky Mountain ski areas face dramatic changes this century as the climate warms, including best-case scenarios of shortened ski seasons and higher snowlines and worst-case scenarios of bare base areas and winter rains, says a new Colorado study.
The study indicates snowlines — elevations below which seasonal snowpack will not develop — will continue to rise through this century, moving up more than 2,400 feet from the base areas of Colorado’s Aspen Mountain and Utah’s Park City Mountain by 2100, said University of Colorado at Boulder geography Professor Mark Williams. Williams and Brian Lazar of Stratus Consulting Inc. of Boulder combined temperature and precipitation data for Aspen Mountain and Park City Mountain with general climate circulation models for the study.
The pair came up with three scenarios for each of the two ski havens for the years 2030, 2075 and 2100. The low-emissions scenario is based on the presumption that the world begins reducing CO2 emissions, said Williams. The “business-as-usual” scenario assumes the future rate of CO2 increase will be similar to the current rate, while the high-emissions scenario assumes future CO2 emissions will increase over the present rate.
Their forecasts indicate the “business as usual” scenario will cause average temperatures to rise by nearly 4 degrees Fahrenheit at Aspen and Park City by 2030 and 8.6 degrees F in Aspen and 10.4 degrees F for Park City by 2100, said Williams. A paper by Williams and Lazar was presented at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union held Dec. 15-19 in San Francisco.
“Ski industry officials know that warming is real, and that small changes in climate have substantial effects on ski areas” said Williams, also a fellow at CU-Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine research. “The bad news is that the past five years of global CO2 emissions have exceeded our high-emissions scenario”
Under each of the emissions scenarios, the length of the ski seasons in Aspen and Park City by 2030 “will be squeezed on each shoulder” with delayed snowpack and earlier melting seasons, he said. Under the high-emissions scenario, Park City will have no snowpack at its base by 2100 and winter precipitation will come in the form of rain.
While the modeling by Williams and Lazar targeted Aspen Mountain and Park City, other ski areas in the Rockies and beyond are likely to be similarly or more drastically affected, said Williams. Many ski areas in California’s Sierra Nevada, the Cascade Mountains in Oregon and Washington, and smaller ski areas in the mid-eastern portion of America like Pennsylvania and West Virginia, for example, could be forced out of business in the coming decades as air temperatures continue to warm, he said.
The key to the survival of the larger ski areas in the Rockies is adaptation, said Williams. Ski resorts must expand operations to higher elevations and more northerly parcels of land. They also must beef up gondola transportation systems to shuttle large loads of skiers efficiently from base areas with scant or no snow to snow-packed facilities located at higher elevations, he said.
At most Rocky Mountain ski areas, snowmaking will have to be stepped up considerably in the coming decades, said Williams. Increases in man-made snow will require the diversion and storage of large amounts of water, a challenging and expensive proposition since water rights are already over-appropriated throughout much of the West, he said.
Aspen Mountain, for example, may have to triple its snowmaking efforts in the coming decades because of warming temperatures, meaning an additional 50 cubic feet per second of water must be obtained per month, said Williams. But since appropriating significant amounts of winter water from streams adjacent to most ski areas would leave insufficient flows to maintain healthy aquatic ecosystems, resort operators are looking further and further afield for available water, he said.
“The bottom line is that in order to survive, these ski areas will need to find the necessary water wherever they can and hold it in storage to satisfy future snowmaking needs” Williams said. “Ski resort operators are really scrambling”
The new study was sponsored by Aspen Mountain and the Park City Mountain Resort said Lazar, who noted that two nonprofits — the Aspen Global Change Institute and the Park City Foundation — are working with the ski areas to better understand environmental climate change. “The results from studies like ours allow ski areas to try and better plan for the future, including how to be proactive on climate change in the community and region” said Lazar.
Williams and Lazar said many U.S. ski areas will likely follow the lead of ski areas in the European Alps by moving water from basin to basin over long distances and storing it at high elevations to satisfy future snowmaking needs. Ski areas could
generate their own hydropower by pumping water into and out of narrow, deep artificial lakes and small dams lined with plastic to minimize evaporation in the summers.
“It would be a win-win situation” Williams said. “The ski areas could recover some of their costs incurred from purchasing expensive water rights, providing some of their own hydropower to help run the resorts”
Snowmaking has been on the increase in the Alps for decades, where air temperatures have increased nearly 4 degrees F in the past 30 years, said Williams. In the Italian Alps, 70 percent of the skiable terrain is covered by artificial snow, and ski areas in the French Alps now make about 30 percent of their snow, he said.
Studies have shown that private jets that fly celebrities and vacationers in and out of Aspen for winter ski jaunts and summer recreation trips are by far the biggest CO2 emitters in the Roaring Fork Valley.
Dropping Some Energy Efficiency On New Years
The latest lighting innovations help newly-enlarged Times Square Ball save up to 20 percent more energy than 2007. Philips will once again deliver energy-efficient LED lighting in its role as official lighting partner to the world-renowned New Year’s Eve Times Square Ball. The result of these advancements will mean the Ball, which is twice its previous size, will incorporate more than three times as many Philips Luxeon LEDs as last year’s version and deliver a brighter, greener and more beautiful experience.
To commemorate the Ball’s 100th anniversary in 2007, Philips helped usher in a new era of lighting technology by converting the Ball’s incandescent and halogen lighting to LEDs for the first time in the event’s history. In doing so, New Year’s revelers around the world enjoyed a bright and energy-efficient Ball that delivered 16 million vibrant colors and special effects never before possible.
In 2008, the Ball has been doubled in size to 12 feet in diameter and contains 32,256 LEDs – more than three times as many as last year. This increased volume of LEDs will deliver a significantly brighter but also greener experience on New Year’s Eve, as the LEDs used in this year’s Ball are as much as 20 percent more energy-efficient than in 2007. This year’s LEDs consume about the same amount of energy per hour as it takes to operate just two conventional home ovens.
“The Times Square Ball allows Philips to showcase the power, beauty and energy-efficiency of LEDs as well as the range of benefits LED technology can deliver not only to iconic installations like this but to a broad range of consumer and professional applications,” said Kaj den Daas, Chairman of Philips Lighting North America. “While New Year’s Eve occurs only once a year, the LED technology on display in the Times Square Ball will soon evolve into a very real energy-efficient lighting alternative for consumers around the world, and will help drive a more bright and sustainable future for generations to come”
In addition to lighting the Ball, Philips also is lighting the Times Square Numerals (2-0-0-9) using Philips Halogena Energy Savers – a family of bright and long-lasting halogen bulbs which are 30-47 percent more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps. These are readily available to consumers through national retail outlets.
Quick Facts:
Number of LEDs on Ball: The ball contains 32,256 Philips Luxeon LEDs, more than 3 times the number used in last year’s Ball. Each and every LED can be digitally controlled to create visual effects (Note: not all LEDs will be illuminated at any given time).
Colors: Red, green, blue and white LEDs will create a palette of more than 16 million colors as well as billions of possible lighting effects.
Times Square Ball Lighting: The Times Square Ball lighting system is designed to operate in excess of 30,000 hours based on application factors (compared to previous incandescent and halogen solutions, which were only expected to operate for about 1,000 hours). The long life of the LEDs will be a key benefit to this iconic application, as this year’s Times Square Ball will be perched atop 1 Times Square for year-round enjoyment for the first time ever.
Efficiency of LED Light Source Relative to the Times Square Ball Lit by Previous Incandescent and Halogen Light Sources: Overall, it will take a total of only 22 Watts of power for Philips’ red, green, blue, and white LEDs to produce the equivalent amount of light output generated by 180 Watts of incandescent light bulbs in previous years. This represents a 158-Watt, or 88%, reduction in electricity consumption per four-color series.
And The Greenwash Award Goes To….
BP for all the nasty tricks they pulled this year. Congrats BP! Maybe next year you can spend all the money you would have spent on ads putting up wind turbines instead.
While You’re At It Watch Out For Cows As Well!
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