Great article. If I were seriously worried about carbon emissions I would be pointing out to others that yours is a balanced and optimistic approach.
But carbon dioxide is plant food first and foremost. I live in an arid part of the world where our eucalypts are capable of surviving on very little water and I can see the result of the slightly improved availability of carbon in the greening of the local environment. Being 82 years old and a farmer, and having lived at the same location since 1978 I see that the foliage of the trees is more extensive than it used to be. Last year was hot and dry and I saw some trees die. That's part of normal. This year is cooler and the rains persisted later and the bush is in recovery mode.
Secondly, radiation theory is all well and good but there is a countervailing force that is not taken into account and that is convection.
Thirdly, and this indicates the impact of convection, at about 10km in altitude in the mid latitudes, the air stops cooling as we ascend and it starts to warm due to the presence of ozone that is a potent absorber and instant emitter of radiation in the frequency that is at the core of Earth's emissions. I see no evidence in the temperature data that the warming at 10km in elevation is responsible for any warming at 9 and 8 km in elevation.
Fourth, we know that the climate of the Earth is unstable and it was ever thus. The atmosphere contains gases that carry an electric charge that makes it capable of acting as a plasma that responds to a change in the local magnetic field. The magnetic field within the atmosphere is impacted by our own and other suns. It is the atmosphere in the winter hemisphere that is most susceptible to be impacted in this way. Here the atmosphere rotates in the same direction as the Earth but faster. It is in the winter hemisphere that ozone best survives the impact of short wave radiation from the sun. Low pressure cells in high latitudes where the air ascends from 5km through to 50 km are driven by the absorptive power of ozone, using the radiation emitted by the Earth itself, demonstrating the power of convection driving change in the distribution and movements of the atmosphere at ground level.
The temperature of the air at any place on Earth depends on where the air is coming from, not its CO2 content.
The mid latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere was cooler in the little ice age of the 1600s when the Thames River regularly froze over in winter. For three centuries it has been warming. The increase in CO2 only began in the 1950s.
Finally, the entire Southern Hemisphere has not warmed at all in the month of January for the last three decades.
'Global Warming' and now 'Climate Change' is a religion. It is not based on science. Science is based on observation.
One must distinguish between particulate carbon that is 'soot' and carbon dioxide that is an invisible gas that has no odour. It is present in the atmosphere at the rate of about one molecule in four thousand.
That said, people who live in cities need to be using electric cars if they want clean air.
China has mastered the technology of burning coal with the greatest efficiency but of course there are still many less efficient plants.
In countries where renewables are employed to the extent of 20% of the electrical power used, the cost of generating electricity is five times more than it is in China. Without cheap electricity it is not possible to be competitive with China.
Nice take. I would point fingers at the developed countries for falling short on providing grants and interest free financing for green energy and development in the Global South. Don’t let them off the hook!
China’s people desperately want to reduce pollution. In Kaohsiung Taiwan the Love River was a stinking sewer. My challenge was to walk across the bridge without breathing. Voters cured that problem
I remember when Shanghai was dark. Power outages were a way of life.
1988 in ShenYang you could stand on an upper floor of the Phoenix Hotel and watch quarters of the city go dark as they rationed power
At the same time my children were sent to class wearing clean cloth face masks. At days end the masks would have black spots of soot over the nostrils and mouth. Parents suffered this nightmare
Shenyang snow would only be white for a day before it was blackened by soot. I was told coal fired power plants would save money by turning off scrubbers and putting soot into the air.
China’s people are sick of pollution and no political leader wants to oppose their desire to clean the environment.
Hi, can you link to the source for the 7% total energy growth vs. 1% coal supplied growth? Thanks very much.
Great article. If I were seriously worried about carbon emissions I would be pointing out to others that yours is a balanced and optimistic approach.
But carbon dioxide is plant food first and foremost. I live in an arid part of the world where our eucalypts are capable of surviving on very little water and I can see the result of the slightly improved availability of carbon in the greening of the local environment. Being 82 years old and a farmer, and having lived at the same location since 1978 I see that the foliage of the trees is more extensive than it used to be. Last year was hot and dry and I saw some trees die. That's part of normal. This year is cooler and the rains persisted later and the bush is in recovery mode.
Secondly, radiation theory is all well and good but there is a countervailing force that is not taken into account and that is convection.
Thirdly, and this indicates the impact of convection, at about 10km in altitude in the mid latitudes, the air stops cooling as we ascend and it starts to warm due to the presence of ozone that is a potent absorber and instant emitter of radiation in the frequency that is at the core of Earth's emissions. I see no evidence in the temperature data that the warming at 10km in elevation is responsible for any warming at 9 and 8 km in elevation.
Fourth, we know that the climate of the Earth is unstable and it was ever thus. The atmosphere contains gases that carry an electric charge that makes it capable of acting as a plasma that responds to a change in the local magnetic field. The magnetic field within the atmosphere is impacted by our own and other suns. It is the atmosphere in the winter hemisphere that is most susceptible to be impacted in this way. Here the atmosphere rotates in the same direction as the Earth but faster. It is in the winter hemisphere that ozone best survives the impact of short wave radiation from the sun. Low pressure cells in high latitudes where the air ascends from 5km through to 50 km are driven by the absorptive power of ozone, using the radiation emitted by the Earth itself, demonstrating the power of convection driving change in the distribution and movements of the atmosphere at ground level.
The temperature of the air at any place on Earth depends on where the air is coming from, not its CO2 content.
The mid latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere was cooler in the little ice age of the 1600s when the Thames River regularly froze over in winter. For three centuries it has been warming. The increase in CO2 only began in the 1950s.
Finally, the entire Southern Hemisphere has not warmed at all in the month of January for the last three decades.
'Global Warming' and now 'Climate Change' is a religion. It is not based on science. Science is based on observation.
One must distinguish between particulate carbon that is 'soot' and carbon dioxide that is an invisible gas that has no odour. It is present in the atmosphere at the rate of about one molecule in four thousand.
That said, people who live in cities need to be using electric cars if they want clean air.
China has mastered the technology of burning coal with the greatest efficiency but of course there are still many less efficient plants.
In countries where renewables are employed to the extent of 20% of the electrical power used, the cost of generating electricity is five times more than it is in China. Without cheap electricity it is not possible to be competitive with China.
Nice take. I would point fingers at the developed countries for falling short on providing grants and interest free financing for green energy and development in the Global South. Don’t let them off the hook!
China’s people desperately want to reduce pollution. In Kaohsiung Taiwan the Love River was a stinking sewer. My challenge was to walk across the bridge without breathing. Voters cured that problem
I remember when Shanghai was dark. Power outages were a way of life.
1988 in ShenYang you could stand on an upper floor of the Phoenix Hotel and watch quarters of the city go dark as they rationed power
At the same time my children were sent to class wearing clean cloth face masks. At days end the masks would have black spots of soot over the nostrils and mouth. Parents suffered this nightmare
Shenyang snow would only be white for a day before it was blackened by soot. I was told coal fired power plants would save money by turning off scrubbers and putting soot into the air.
China’s people are sick of pollution and no political leader wants to oppose their desire to clean the environment.
Glad to read this new content on China's power industry. Indeed would be happy with more details on their increased use of clean energy. Many thanks