Before the Flood - National Geographic Movie

British Columbias Extensive Geothermal Reserves

A closer look at the map indicates extensive geothermal reserve from which electric energy could be produced much of which is adjacent to large transmission lines.

Geothermal Resources Map of BC

Breakthrough in Lithium Extraction Using Geothermal Electric Plants

Energy Source has discovered a breakthrough in the extraction of lithium, manganese and zinc from geothermal brine at the Salton Sea using waste water from a geothermal electric plant. The following diagram shows the process.

This is a Diagram of the Intial Extraction Process before Energy Source's Breakthrough

What is exciting about this process is the energy need to run the extraction plant comes from the geothermal electric plant that supplies the waste water, so it is not using fossil fuels in its process. It is, in fact, a waste free, low energy, and low land impact process. In the past, we would have had to rely on open pit mines and fossil fuel processing plants to achieve what this company has achieved. They I think have discovered a 21st-century method of mining!

As it sits today there are 19 operating geothermal plants in the Imperial county. More are plant the largest being one proposed by an Australian company called Controlled Thermal Resources. This new plant will be called the Hell's Kitchen plant and it will be five times bigger than any of the other plants.

Geothermal Industry Wants Alberta's Abandoned Wells

In Alberta, the Geothermal industry would like to convert some of the 77,000 abandoned oil wells into Geothermal electric plants. Oil wells consider hot water, that contains gigajoules of energy a waste product and paying to have it trucked it away. In North Dakota, a micro geothermal generation plant that fits into two shipping containers is now producing 250kW of power from two wells. This could be a great plan for Alberta. Even after the water is used to produce electricity the still warm water could be used to heat greenhouses in the winter, heat homes, melt snow, and a myriad of other uses. One can only image the uses farmers and towns would make of these resources.

Illustration of a Dutch System used in Indonesia

Converting this resource to geothermal energy would not only put oil workers back to work as much of the technological training in the geothermal field is the same as the oil industry. In addition to that, it would create more permanent higher quality job opportunities than the oil industry produces.

Heat Map of Alberta Showing Key Hot Zones

Powerwall 2 & Solar Roof Launch

Tesla Motors and Solar City have worked together to create a better roof that collects solar, lasts longer, insulates and looks great. The roofing material is made from a glass that will withstand a blow that would shatter all non ashphalt roofing materials. The roofing looks exactly like either tile, slate or clay roofing with build in solar panels. The roofing is paired with Tesla's new power wall units that are typically placed on the walls of the garage next to the charging unit for the electric cars.

The solar tiles are integrated into the roof but are invisible from the street, yet are fully exposed to the sun from above.

The overall cost of the roofing will still be less than installing a regular roof and paying the electrical company for power from conventional sources. More important it converts you house to fossil fuel free existance, and when you buy that electric car it will power that as well.

Power Wall Two

The new powerwall introduced with this roofing is twice as powerful as powerwall one, and the speicifications are found in the following diagram.

Click here to go to Tesla site.

Climate Change Lawsuit

About the Lawsuit

Dr. James Hansen and his granddaughter explain the impending danger continued use of fossil fuels will have to world of his granddaughter.

In 2015, twenty-one youth from across the United States, age 8 to 19, filed a landmark constitutional climate change lawsuit against the federal government in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. Also acting as a Plaintiff is world-renowned climate scientist Dr. James E. Hansen, serving as guardian for future generations and his granddaughter. Their complaint asserts that, in causing climate change, the federal government has violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, property, as well as failed to protect essential public trust resources.  

A More Detail Explantion: Hell will Break Loose - Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms

Published on 17 Sep 2016

The main point that I want to make concerns the threat of irreparable harm, which I feel we have not communicated well enough to people who most need to know, the public and policymakers. I’m not sure how we can do that better, but I comment on it at the end of this transcript. 

In response to the study outlined here, NASA launched a new operation to assess ice melt, OMG (Ocean Melting Greenland). https://omg.jpl.nasa.gov

Sign up for Dr. James Hansen's email list to receive his latest communications: http://bit.ly/1UzeHI1http://bit.ly/1UzeHI1

Subscribe to Hansen's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn3Y...

Read the study:

Ice melt, sea level rise and superstorms: evidence from paleoclimate data, climate modeling, and modern observations that 2 °C global warming could be dangerous

http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/16/376...

Read the full transcript here: http://csas.ei.columbia.edu/2016/03/2...http://csas.ei.columbia.edu/2016/03/2...

We are in the Anthoropocene Epoch

The following time line after the table is of earth's average temperature since the last ice age, to see the time line in full size click here.  The importance of this time line is two fold. First it clearly shows the past fluctations in climate temperature, against the fluctuations we are seeing today. Second it demonstrates that we have not only created and entered into a new "Epoch" but we are deep into this era call the Anthropocene period. This is a geological age create and governed by human activity, as the timeline demonstrates, scientist are now trying to pin point the date the Epoch began.

This Anthropocene Epoch speaks not just to the things we are experiencing such as air pollution or the warming climate, but to the more serious crisis of earth's systems changing to the point were it could become unihabitable for human beings and civilization as we know it.

A Timeline of Earth's Average Temperature

Anthropocene Working Group Reports to IGC

The following summary was released just before Dr. Colin Waters of the British Goelogical Survey began the AWG's report to the International Geological Congress on Monday, August 29th, 2016.

Majority current opinion on the group indicates the following:

• The Anthropocene concept, as articulated by Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer in 2000, is geologically real.  The phenomenon is of sufficient scale to be considered as part of the International Chronostratigraphic Chart, more commonly known as the Geological Time Scale.

• Majority AWG opinion is for assignation as an Epoch/Series.  This option is preferred over either a lower rank (e.g. Age/Stage, i.e. as a subdivision of the Holocene) or a higher rank such as a Period or Era.  In such a step, and in common with all other geological time units, the Anthropocene would comprise both a 'pure time' unit (an Anthropocene Epoch) and an equivalent unit of strata (an Anthropocene Series).

• If the Anthropocene is adopted as an Epoch, this would mean that the Holocene has terminated, but that we remain within the Quaternary Period and Cenozoic Era.

• Human impact has left discernible traces on the stratigraphic record for thousands of years -- indeed, since before the beginning of the Holocene.  However, substantial and approximately globally synchronous changes to the Earth System most clearly intensified in the 'Great Acceleration of the mid-20th century.  The mid-20th century also coincides with the clearest and most distinctive array of signals imprinted upon recently deposited strata.

• Hence, the mid-20th century represents the optimal beginning of a potential Anthropocene Epoch (and, simultaneously, the base of the Anthropocene Series).

• Changes to the Earth System that characterize the potential Anthropocene Epoch include marked acceleration to rates of erosion and sedimentation, large-scale chemical perturbations to the cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements, the inception of significant change to global climate and sea level, and biotic changes such as unprecedented levels of species invasions across the Earth.   Many of these changes are geologically long-lasting, and some are effectively irreversible.

• These and related processes have left an array of signals in recent strata, including plastic, aluminium and concrete particles, artificial radionuclides, changes to carbon and nitrogen isotope patterns, fly ash particles, and a variety of fossilizable biological remains.  Many of these signals will leave a permanent record in the Earth's strata.

• The Anthropocene beginning might conceivably be defined by a Global Standard Stratigraphic Age (GSSA), i.e. a numerical age that can be expressed as a calendar date such as 1945.  Or more, conventionally it could be defined by a Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP), which is more colloquially a 'golden spike', and is a physical reference point in strata at one carefully selected place.  Majority opinion on the AWG is to seek and choose a candidate GSSP, as this is the most familiar and widely accepted method of defining geological time units.

• The AWG has already begun the process of identification of potential GSSPs, by initial analysis of the general environments in which the best combinations of stratigraphic signals may be found (e.g. undisturbed lake or marine sediments, annually banded coral skeletons, polar snow/ice layers, speleothems and so on).

• This will lead to selection of sites for sampling and further analysis, to provide full descriptions of relevant signals in the strata, a process that we hope will lead to the identification of one or more suitable candidate sites for a GSSP.  We would hope to complete this process over the next 2-3 years.

• This would then form the basis for the preparation of a formal proposal, to our immediate parent body, the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS), on defining a formal Anthropocene unit.  If the SQS recommends this by supermajority vote, the proposal will go on to its parent body, the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) to be voted on, with any vote in favour still needing to be ratified by the Executive Committee of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS).

• If all of these conditions can be fulfilled, then the Anthropocene would become a formal part of the Geological Time Scale.

Results of AWG Vote (35 members):

• Is the Anthropocene stratigraphically real?  For: 34, Against: 0, Abstain: 1

• Should the Anthropocene be formalised?  For:30, Against: 3, Abstain: 2

• Hierarchical level of the Anthropocene?  Era: 2, Period: 1.5, Epoch: 20.5, Sub-epoch: 1, Age: 2, Sub-age: 0, None: 1, Uncertain: 3, Abstain: 4

• Base/beginning of the Anthropocene ? ~7ka: 0, ~3ka: 1.3, 1610 Orbis: 0, ~1800: 0, ~1950: 28.3, ~1964: 1.3, Diachronous: 4, Uncertain: 0, Abstain: 0

• GSSA .v. GSSP?  GSSP: 25.5, GSSA: 1.5, Uncertain: 8

• What is the Primary Signal?  aluminium: 0,  plastic: 3, fuel ash particles: 2, carbon dioxide concentration: 3, methane concentration: 0, carbon isotope change: 2, oxygen isotope change: 0, radiocarbon bomb spike: 4, Plutonium fallout: 10, Nitrate concentration / nitrogen isotope change: 0, Biostratigraphic: extinction/ assemblage change: 0, Other (lead, persistent organic pollutants, technofossils): 3, Uncertain: 2, Abstain: 6.

Guy McPherson Says We Are all Dead

Guy McPherson

Guy McPherson is a professor emeritus of natural resources, ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona. At one time he believed if we put all our resources behind transitioning to renewable energy the planet might be saved. His view now is we are all in palliative care without any hope of being saved. In fact, he sees mankind going in extinct in 2060 through not only will we run out of food and water. The exponentially progressive and irreversible climate changes will increase that will increase in veracity, and will be irreversible as there is a lag of 40 years before the effects of carbon emissions kick in and they will create self-reinforcing feedback loops. So effectively today we are experiencing the impact of the carbon releases of the 70s before we accelerated the emissions significantly.
What are these feedback loops? One is the warming of the permafrost which releases methane, not carbon, which is 80 times more damaging to the climate than CO2. Hugh sinkholes and fissures are opening up in Russia that are exhausting this methane into the atmosphere. In 2010 these fissures were metres wide, today they are kilometres wide.
There are many other climate change impacts that were unknown but now are appearing:
- fountains of methane gas, some a kilometre wide, rising to the surface from the seabed in the Artic.
- Greenlands ice is darkening accelerating the melt of these glaciers.
- Forest fires that are on the increase emit CO2 but unlike normal CO2 emissions the particles emitted are coated soot that focuses sunlight and increases light absorption and therefore heat.
- As sea ice formation recedes in the Artic, more heat is transferred to the open body of water, warming the Artic.
He is not the only one sounding the alarm.
- Record floods from Canada and Russia send large pulses of silty water into the Artic waters turning the water brown, and warming the waters and increasing the melt rate of ice.
- The warming Artic causes the Jet Stream to slow down, this intern creates more extreme weather in the Northern Hemisphere such as droughts, flooding, cold spells and heat waves.
- The presence of white ice reflects heat, but as the ice greys and melts more heat is absorbed further warming the Artic more rapidly.

Poking a Beast with a Sharp Stick 

Image Courtesy CLIVAR

Wallace Broecker one of the world's leading geoscientist and oceanographers characterises climate as an animal capable of acting in unpredictable ways. "If you're living with an angry beast, you shouldn't poke it with a sharp stick," he says. He sounded the alarm in the 70s when he explained how the conveyor belt flow of the oceans could be changed with brutal consequences. His thermohaline circulation system (THC) demonstrated how all the oceans of the world are connected and these connections stabilise the climate by circulating heat. Any change in either temperature or salinity could have an impact on this system. These changes are now with us with CO2 and methane heating up the atmosphere causing massive melts of fresh water at the poles. In addition to this hotter temperatures could cause moisture that normally falls on continental areas to rise to higher altitudes only to rain on ocean bodies.

To Put it in Biblical Terms.

There is an interesting prophecy in 2 Peter 3 which basically says that the earth was flooded in times past but the future destruction of the earth will be by fire.
2 Peter 3:3-7 (NIV) states: ‘First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and with water. By water also, the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgement and destruction of ungodly men.’
The difference here is this destruction by fire is being accelerated by mankind. One has only to look at the extreme fire events that are happening further and further north, into areas that are not usually subject to extended seasons of wildfires, to see the impact climate change is halving on forest fires. These forest fires are not only unseasonably early but enormous in size and putting immense amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Climate Change Will be a Never Ending Plague

A plague is a horrific event that kills indiscriminately and decimates populations, fortunately, they usually have a beginning and end. Climate change, unfortunately, may have the killing effects of a plaque but not the end point, it will likely go on killing with no real end in sight. Here is what the leading scientists around the world are saying.
1. In the United States scientist have projected that extremely hot and cold days brought on by climate change will impact 33 large US cities, and significant increases in mortality rates will occur.
2. Climate change mortality from extreme weather, especially cold extremes, is on the rise worldwide and there is a large difference between deaths that occur during normal weather and extreme weather. This will only increase as the impacts of what we have done to date continue to change the climate. Studies of the changes in mortality rates in Europe demonstrate this as well.
3. There is "growing evidence that demonstrates that climatic conditions can have a profound impact on the functioning of modern human societies." "...unmitigated warming is expected to reshape the global economy by reducing the average global income roughly by 23% by 2100..."
4. The warming of the oceans in Australia is worsening Queensland's floods claiming more lives, homes, and billions of dollars damage.
5. Increase atmospheric CO2 has reduced Australians river flows by 28 percent, straining local water resources.
6. The scientific evidence to date tells us man's impact on the climate has created higher CO2 levels, temperatures, sea levels, extreme rainfall, heatwaves, wildfires, ocean acidity, ocean heat content and atmospheric humidity.

Florida Is Even More Screwed Than We Thought

The US Army Corps of Engineers studying the problems brought on by climate change in Florida have suggested up to eight times as much flooding in the Miami-Dade county by 2045. They predict a 10-inch rise by 2030, and it is already impacting the area. The report also says 10,000 miles of coastline from North Carolina to the Mississippi is being impacted. 

Florida, America’s lowest-lying state, faces dire predictions thanks to the accelerated melting of the world’s ice sheets. But a new study says this future is coming sooner and faster than previously predicted, prompting a major survey by the US Army Corps of Engineers to shore up the state’s most vulnerable regions.

Another report on the North Atlantic Coast demonstrates similar issues and outlines extensive structural changes that need to be made to the coastline to deal with the flooding risks brought on by climate change.

A municipal park in Coral Gables, Florida is underwater at high tide. Image by QT Luong/terragelleria.com

In Florida, the Union of Concerned Scientists reported using Engineering Corp data that the Miami-Dade County’s communities would face 380 high-tide flood events per year. These floods would extend throughout the area bringing normal life to a standstill at times. In the end parts of the state would be rendered unusable perhaps up to one-fifth of the urban land in the state. Some estimate this permanent loss at 6.4 billion, which does not include the damage to power plants, drinking water, and many more severe problems.

Are Scientist Silenced?

Let me first say that among scientists who have been trying for years to warn us about climate change that they are an embattled lot and very sceptical about how much they can speak out. Often they are not eager to take on a discussion if they think it might bring on further denial attacks. In otherwords they have been silenced to some degree by the news media and some political parties.
The question is are the other scientist, despite the negative feedback, being irresponsible in not spelling out more clearly to the layman the real dangers we are facing? If a Doctor thought you might be dying it would be communicated in very clear terms to the patient, why does this not occur with the scientific community?
Another good question to ask is why are we not panicking and fully resourcing a solution to this problem? If we looked at climate change the same way we looked at terrorism, which is killing statistically a minimal amount of people compared to climate change, there would be a lot more resources directed to transitioning our energy.
How long will the scientist wait before they start ringing alarm bells with the veracity that it needs to be rung;  after all scientific studies linking climate change to fossil fuels were written in 1847?

Norway to Ban Gas Cars by 2025

Norway, despite the regressive views, of other countries like Canada and the US, is pushing toward a 21st-century energy economy. Their most recent move is to put forward legislation to ban the sale of gas cars by 2025. They are hoping by that year 100 percent of their cars will be running on clean energy, currently, 24 per cent of their cars run on electricity. In addition to this, they will commit themselves to zero deforestation.
Currently 99 percent of Norway's energy is produced by hydropower and they will be trippling their wind power capacity over the next 4 years.

The Nightmare of Nuclear Energy

In March of 2011 an earthquake in Japan sent in play a tsunami, not an uncommon occurance in the Pacific Ocean, that began the worst nuclear disaster in the history of the planet. Unlike Chernobyl which was a land and air based release of massive amounts of radiation, Fukushima also released and is still releasing massive amounts of radiation into the Pacific ocean. In Chernobyl's case the world received a significant increase in radiation amount to 21 additional days of normal radiation, but Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Norway Bulgaria, Switzerland, Greece, Slovenia, Italy, Moldova and many other surrounding countries were contaminated by weather systems and radioactive rain. This radiation among other things caused increased mutations in animals and human beings and has contaminated much of the foods in these countries. In the case of Fukushima not only did the release into the air set off monitoring stations around the world but it sent a radioactive plume into the Pacific ocean that is spreading at an alarming rate.

Complete Meltdown of the Core

As a result of the tsunami three nuclear cores went into meltdown, in fact a 100% meltdown! This means a molten core or corium is missing under the containment devices that failed. It is unknown  whether or not it is continuing to bury into the ground. If is is travelling underground what are the implications for the ground water and the release of these waters into the Pacific. Currently the Japanese government is claiming they have the situation under control, which runs contrary to the opinion of experts and even the previous Prime Minister who says the current governments statements are "a lie." In otherwords, the contamination continues to be out of control.

How Permanent is the land Contamination

The big problem with nuclear plant disasters is that the damage or contamination is effectively permanent. The area evacuated around the Chernobyl plant will continue to be uninhabitable for hundreds and hundreds of years. Currently the rivers in the Fukashima area have radiation levels over 200 times higher than it should be. The river bank samples measure at 29,800 Bq/kg for radioceasium, when safe drinking water threasholds are set at 200 Bq/kg. Even in the estuaries that lie 90 km north of the reactor the levels are measured at 6,500 Bq/kg and this is only 5 years after the accident. Furthermore setting up a containment area does not prevent water, weather, plant and animal migration of the containation outside of the area. In fact nuclear reactor accidents are like being contaminated by the dropping of a nuclear bomb.

Nuclear Energy should be Banned

Given the enourmous dangers inherit in the use of nuclear energy, the inadequate methods of storing spent fuel and the availability of clean alternatives, many countries are moving to ban the use of this form of energy. Austia, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Philippines, Sweden and Switzerland are all moving to phase out nuclear energy. In the Netherlands, Europe, Australia, Asia, Japan, Brazil, Argentina and the US either discussions of a ban are under way or they have strong anti nuclear movements putting pressure on the government.

To quote The Guardian's article. "The inherent risk in the use of nuclear energy, as well as the related proliferation of nuclear technologies, can and does have a disastrous consequences. The only certain way to eleimate this potentially devastaing risk is to phase out nuclear power altogether." The article goes on to talk about the gross under estimates the industry puts forward for construction, operation, decomission and storage of contaminated materials, which suggests that this energy may be one of the most expensive in the world.

Pivots Toward Geothermal to Save Big Money

In places, all around the world cities and cantons are dismissing the myths around geothermal energy, perpetuated by the fossil fuel industries and other pundits, and setting about the production of clean renewable energy that will save them millions. One obvious beneficiary of this transition is Kenya who has cut the energy cost in half and is now seeing geothermal energy as an exportable commodity. Then there is Iceland who has used it to heat and power their cities as well as stop any further expansion of hydro dams.

Roma Queensland Embraces Geothermal

Now in Roma Queensland, they are proposing to build a geothermal plant that should save the Maranoa council  $20 million dollars over 20 years.

A diagram explaining how geothermal energy is turned into electricity. Photo: A diagram explaining how geothermal energy is turned into electricity. (Wikimedia Commons: Energy.gov)

This south-west Queensland council says plans to build two clean energy plants at a cost of 3 million dollars, that will power all of its city assets. The savings, of course, may, in fact, be greater as energy prices are constantly rising and there is also always pressure to bring down operating costs.
In addition to this facility nearby a 2.3 million solar panel farm in underway covering three square kilometres.

Canton Vaud to Getting 2/3 of its Heating from Geothermal

In Geneva and canton, Vaud studies have confirmed great geothermal heating potential. These resources would allow the canton to heat two-thirds of households in the region.

Geneva, Switzerland (source: Flickr, Dennis Jarvis, creative commons)

Vibrator trucks, for the past two years, have been mapping the geothermal capacity of the region.  This exploration has identified five very conducive heat zones at the medium depth which could be exploited at a minimal cost. It is expected that the next phase involving drilling will start next year.
They are very optimistic that the geothermal reserves can be developed to heat and cool buildings using local resources in an environmentally friendly way. It will also significantly reduce the region's reliance on foreign fossil fuels and save a great deal of money.
It is also anticipated that deeper drilling to create wells for geothermal electrical production could follow the initial exploitation for heating purposes.

First Commercial Geothermal Power from Oil and Gas Well

In the Western North Dakota, the first commercial began producing electrical energy from in late April from an oil and gas well. Although initially the thought is to offset the cost of having to install transmission lines, it will not be long before they many need to do this to deliver power to the grid from the wells. The potential for oil wells to produce renewable clean energy to the grid is completely untapped at the moment.

Oil wells in North Dakota (source: Flickr Tim Evanson, creative commons)

This technology uses the hot fluid, a by-product of oil, gas, and other material harvesting processes. Low-temperature geothermal resources between 66 and 148 degrees Celsius are widely available through these wells. In addition, wells could be drilled simply to run geothermal plants. Through this 100-year-old technology, electrical installations throughout North America could become a significant if not sole power source for our electical energy needs.  This would be extremely desirable as geothermal is emission-free, renewable, the lowest environmental footprint on our landscape and the cheapest form of energy on the planet.

San Francisco law requires new buildings to be topped with solar panels

Although San Francisco's law requires all new buildings below 10 stories to have solar panels installed on their rooftops. Which will hopefully make these buildings "net zero" if they also require the battery storage to facilitate this transition. What they have not done is addressed the buildings higher than 10 stories which are a much greater environmental problem not only from an energy standpoint but a waste management perspective (the higher the building the lower the recycling rate). What the city needs to do is pass another law requiring all buildings over 10 stories to be net zero. This is not difficult to do if you combine solar, passive energy systems, and geothermal heating and cooling systems into the building.

The CIS Tower in Manchester, England was clad in PV panels at a cost of £5.5 million. It started feeding electricity to the National Grid in November 2005.

The CIS tower in England integrated photovoltaic (PV) cells into its facade and now generates approximately 180,000 kWh (average of 20 kW) of electricity per year. The work was completed by Arup and at that time was the largest commercial solar façade in Europe. Out of sight on the roof are 24 wind turbines generating 10% of the tower's electricity. This could be a model that could be used in San Fransico.

San Fransico with its new law joins other countries such as India and Dubai where cities are passing similar laws. They should be congratulated on getting this far, even though there is much more work to be done.

Fresh Food Grown in the North Using Geothermal Resources

The Fridheimar geothermal greenhouse in Reykdal, Iceland uses geothermal heating to run its greenhouse. One source of geothermal heating is directly from geothermal wells and the other is the hot water from the geothermal plants. In both cases, fresh fruit and vegetables can be grown in the most northerly regions. In the case of this greenhouse, they are specializing in tomatoes.

Fridheimar greenhouse, Iceland (source: Flickr/ Christophe PINARD, creative commons)

In other greenhouses in Iceland, they have also been able to produce bananas. Many of their greenhouse operations are still developing expertise as they have only recently started looking at the grow lights use in the production of marijuana which they hope will improve production. These lights would be powered by the clean energy coming from the geothermal electric plants.

Russ Finch holds up half of a Cara Cara orange grown in his geothermal greenhouse in Alliance, Neb.
Courtesy of Grant Gerlock/Harvest Public Media

In the United States Midwest where the winter is long and cold, there are geothermal greenhouses producing fresh fruit and vegetables. In Nebraska, there is a geothermal greenhouse operator who is growing oranges, figs, lemons, grapefruits, and grapes. The greenhouse cost $22,000 to build and cost a $1 a day to operate its electrical fan system. The operator Russ Finch suggests a number of advantages: the land he is using is cheaper than traditional growing areas, there are no shipping costs, the produce is fresher and no burning of fossil fuel to transport over long distances.
In Southern Alberta, Canada town councils are partnering with a company to create geothermal greenhouses that will provide the community with jobs, year-round fresh produce, and also an indoor community garden. The company initially will build 20 acres of greenhouses, over shallow geothermal zones that have temperatures of 40 to 50 degrees Celcius. The company hopes to build out over time 70 greenhouse facilities in Southern Alberta. All operation on the cheapest cleanest energy on the planet
Geothermal allowing us to grown fresh food in the coldest of winters, with no carbon footprint and it is a major break though in food production which boosts local economies with jobs and providing increased food security.

Elena Chernyshova and Geothermal Workers

Photographer Elena Chernyshova has produced some interesting photographic studies of a geothermal power plant deep in the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula, where the power source for the community comes from the Mutovskay Geothermal Power Plant. Here the geothermal energy has been able to sustain a community and a mine in an area only accessible by air. The geothermal power plant provides 30% of the electricity to the region, and as we know this type of electrical power plant can be expanded.
She describes her series as follows: “My story was about energy from hot springs and about workers who are maintaining the plant in mountains in 200 km [124 miles] away from the city,” she says. “I was looking for different kind of scenes that represents people daily life."

elena-chernyshova.com

“After work some men go to relax in the pool of hot water,” says Chernyshova. “After staying in the hot water they jumped in the snow to refresh themselves. That was logical, it is what people are used to do, but quite spontaneous at the same time.”

elena-chernyshova.com

All of Elena Chernyshova's work is a pleasure to look at and would encourage a deep dive into her site.

Climate Change Weather System and Looming Rewrite of Our World

Our current understanding of how our world works how the weather is predicted, plants are pollinated, fish spawn, species migrate, etc., will have to be rethought as climate change creates new climatic zones, new coastlines, and new ecosystems. Scientific knowledge of our natural world may have to be rewritten sending us backward at the very moment when we desperately need this knowledge to address the rapid onset of change.

It took us decades to study these patterns and understand their interrelationships and to some degree, we are still trying to understand the interrelationships. A good example of this struggle was stabilizing the Western states during the dust storms of the 30's. Although this disaster was brought on my a dry period the underlying reasons had to do with inappropriate  farming technics and poor water management methods. A great deal of learning has gone into stabilizing this geographical area. If climate change changes multiple ecological systems all at once it will be impossible to ensure we do not create new manmade disasters like the dust storms of the 30's, and with perhaps greater frequency.

Dust Storm

Aside from the disruption in our agricultural process, which will put into jeopardy our ability to feed the ever increasing population of the planet as our richest agricultural lands is being reclaimed by the sea. There will be changes in the patterns of insects which could trigger things like locust plagues, a disruption in the predator food chain, a breakdown in spawning patterns, and a disruption of the weather cycles that create snow packs that fill our rivers.

Bleached Coral Reefs

In our oceans climate change is already destroying coral reefs which support a quarter of our marine life. The abnormally high temperatures in some areas have extended algae blooms well beyond their normal boundaries, poisoning increasingly larger amounts of marine life and marine mammals.
With such enormous changes, our understanding of how things work will have to be rewritten, and this will require decades to do. With the acceleration of change around us, we will likely know less and less about how to manage these changes. As the world around is rewritten we will be rewriting a great deal of our knowledge of how earth's systems work.

Could Japan Change its Disastrous and Archaic Energy System

Although Japan is on the edge of technologies advancements, their reserved society has caused it to remain deeply mired in the two worst forms of energy on the planet fossil fuels (second largest importer on the planet) and nuclear energy. Not only are these forms of energy not the cheapest they have far reaching consequences for everyone on the planet. Fukushima is a case in point.

The Ongoing Nuclear Nightmare 

The immediate damage to Japan, from the Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown,  was a loss of 30,000sq. kilometres of land to nuclear contamination. Trying to downplay the disaster the Japanese government changed the acceptable level of contamination so that only 600 square kilometres were officially classified as contaminated. Allowing their own citizens to live in areas they know to be contaminated will have far-reaching consequences the heath of people living in those areas. In economic terms, the estimate is a loss of 500 billion with 160,000 people being official displaced, from the permanently lost zone of the country. There are no figures on the costs to the real danger zone nor the displacement that occurred when citizens realised the danger the government was placing them in and more away.
The Japanese government can not, however, legislate away the fact that radioactive caesium has entered the ecosystem in at least a 320-mile radius. This radioactive material is now in the water, soil, plants and animals. As it moves up the food chain it fans out from this area and also becomes more concentrated and mixes in with the food consumed by citizens in a much greater radius. At the moment, these levels are accumulating in people's kidneys, small intestine, pancreas, spleen and liver as well as the heart and endocrine system. In children, this process is accelerated.
However, this is just the tip of the iceberg as the plant continues to leak massive amounts of radiation into groundwater that flows into the sea and the plant leaks directly into the sea, contaminating the sea itself. In the first fifteen months after the meltdown, the plant itself pumped 734,000 curies of radioactive caesium into the Pacific. Fifty-six percent of all fish off the coast of Japan has been found to be contaminated, shutting down a huge food source, as fishing is banned. Meanwhile, ten tonnes of seawater a day is poured on the reactors that have burned through the floor of the building. Needless to say, this water is not properly contained and continues to gush into the Pacific.
The consequence to the rest of the world is not benign, as the radiation spreads out throughout the Pacific Ocean. This radiation becomes concentrated as it moves up the seafood chain raising levels of radiation in the larger species throughout the ocean. Although some scientists say the level in the water is below safety thresholds, other scientists are reporting high mammal mortality levels on the North American Coast and mammals with open sores and furless patches. Levels of radiation contamination on this west coast are expected to double, but even now some species of  fish are almost 100% contaminated while most others are partially contaminated.

The Fossil Fuel Disaster

As Japan leans more heavily on fossil fuels it is helping to accelerate climate change, as most people know a limit of two degrees has been set, which has since been questioned my scientists who say even one a half degrees might not be safe. What seems to not get into the discussion is burning just one-fifth of our known reserves would take the planet over the two degrees mark. One can not help but wonder why any fossil fuel company would be allowed to expand or continue exploration.
Already we are in trouble as the effects of climate change are adversely damaging the ecosystems in the oceans and altering the weather to create enormous superstorms. To say nothing of the increased flooding of low-lying populated areas around the planet, displacing huge populations and destroying farm land.

Legislating a Shift to Renewables?

This month Japan rewrote its energy rules, putting the consumer in charge of choosing their source of energy. This could mean a choice to buy from the lowest bidder, which will not be nuclear or fossil fuel but rather cheaper renewal energies. This now allows for small towns to build a grid out of solar, wind and geothermal energy. As the old centralised power plants own the transmission lines and can set the tariffs for using them, this could present problems for local towns who want to feed their excess production back into the grid. The legislation may have some other significant downsides as it does not specifically encourage renewable energies nor discourage dangerous forms of energy production.

 Japan's Cheapest Greenest Alternative

Japan sits on top of the Pacific ring of fire and has the capacity to produce enormous amounts of geothermal electricity using the old fashion flash power plants. Not only do they have the resources, they also produce the turbines used in many of the geothermal plants around the world, an impressive sixty-seven percent of the turbines. If they were to deploy binary geothermal plants, instead of flash plants, there is almost nowhere in Japan they could not establish a large geothermal plant. Japa is familiar with the technology, as they already operate eighteen geothermal plants, and in 2011, they conducted a survey their geothermal capacity. As is the case with most of these surveys they are very conservative and tend to underestimate by a significant order of magnitude the real potential, for this source of energy. I am not sure why this is but it could be due to the unfamiliarity with the many advances in binary systems that can operate at temperatures as low as 57 degrees, and also combine the plant with other forms of renewable energy to boost power output.

In Japan, they are very cautious about how close plants come to their tourist centres that are often centred around hot springs. Given the small footprint of plants and modern diagonal drilling technologies, these worries are not necessary.

Papua New Guinea, Climate Change Commitment Through Geothermal

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is now the first county to register its climate change agreement in accordance with the Paris Agreement. Their proposal is 100% renewable energy by 2030, through the use of hydro and geothermal potential. Currently, on the Island of Lihir, they have drilled 27 geothermal wells up to 1800m, and tapped into reserves as hot as 250°C. The initial electric plant was funded by Lihir Gold Limited in June of 2002 and displaced the existing diesel generation plant. In 2003, the plant added more power production to the existing facility.

It is this success with geothermal electrical production that has sparked the interest of PNG in this free resources, which will help to transition many communities off of the existing diesel generators. I suspect that the brine the plant is using to drive the geothermal plane is likely laden with gold minerals, and they could extract this gold through a process similar to that used at the Salton Sea in California. In this way, we may find ourselves without the need to use open pit mines to access gold.

Climate-Related Death of Coral Around World Alarms Scientists

New York Times Article April 9th, 2016 by Michelle Innis. 

Some key points from this article:

• 30 million fishermen and woman depend on these reefs
• the damage is caused by a severe El Nino and climate change
• the reefs ecosystems provide food and shelter for a quater of earths marine species
• this is a huge planetary crisis
• off of Australia alone, of the 620 miles of pristine reefs, only four have not been damaged
• this is the largest coral bleaching event ever observed and we may loose half of the worlds coral reefs
• this could trigger a colapse of one of the ecosystems that supports life on earth

Sources: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, GEBCO

More Geothermal Development in Salton Sea Moves Forward

Controlled Thermal Resources has secured a lease in the Imperial Valley on which they will build a 250 megawatt geothermal electric plant. The plant is expected to be operational in 2020 at which time it will be supply electicity 24 hours a day seven days a week. When you compare it to other renewable resources of geothermal plants operate at 92% of capacity where as wind operates at 38% and solar at 25%. Ironically geothermal production runs at a higher capacity than coal or nuclear, which are both massively dangerous to the environment compared to geothermal, which is benign.
As one megawatt of energy can power 750 homes. This plant will in its initial phase be capable of powering 187,000 homes, unlike hydro it is possible to continue the expansion of this plant.
Expansion is done by adding additional wells and addition additional turbines to the plant.

Hudson Ranch I geothermal power plant, January 2012, Salton Sea, California/ U.S. (source: EnergySource)

El Salvador plans with 40% power from geothermal by 2019

From a March 15th Article in the Noticias de America Latina Y el Caribe.

The Salvdor government hopes to move from 25% of its energy being produced by geothermal to 40%. This change to more renewal sources of energy has lead to a more stable economy than surrounding countires.

Business-as-Usual Emissions Could Deliver $24 Trillion Hit to Global Economy

Article by Lauren McCauley, April 4, 2016, highlights the findings of the London School of Economics, which released a report saying we are on target to do 24 trillion dollars damage to the global economy through climate change. The following points are made in the article:

1. The financial damage from climate change will damage from 2 to 17 percent of global assets.
2. Moving away from fossil fuels will only reduced the percentage, and currently we are not doing moving away from fossil fuels at a fast enough pace.
3. "Our research illustrates the risks of climate change to investment returns in the long run and shows why it should be an important issue for all long-term investors, such as pension funds, as well as financial regulators concerned about the potential for asset-price corrections due to an awareness of climate risks," Dietz said. He added that, as the first comprehensive economic model on climate change, the study "should be seen as one of the first words on the topic, not the last."

Climate Change from Fossil Fuels will Collapse Economies

A Renewable Energy Boom

New York Times Opinion Editorial, April 4, 2016

The article suggests that renewables are moving into the mainstream for the following reasons:

• The cost of wind, solar and geothermal electrical production has dropped significantly
• Renewables now account for a majority of the new capacity around the world.
• Between 2009-2015, the cost of solar panels has fallen by 60% and during the same period wind 14%.
• In sunny areas around the world, they are selling solar power at half the price of global electric prices.
• The taxing of carbon for the burning of fossil fuels in British Columbia is encouraging cleaner fuels.

In addition to fossil fuel energy is not cheap when you factor in the environmental damage and the significantly great amount of employment that is created by renewables. In the case of geothermal electrical production, it decentralizes the grid making it more survivable and boost local economic development. This helps prevent boom and bust communities that often results from fossil fuel extraction.

Australia as a renewable energy superpower – the business case for zero emissions transit

Highlights from an article in RE new economy by Stephen Bygrave, April 4, 2016.

"Australia has an estimated economically demonstrated wind and solar resource of 5054 exajoules – this is only 4 percent of Australia’s total renewable energy resource yet is 75 per cent greater than all of Australia’s coal, gas, oil and uranium resources combined. We’ve already demonstrated how Australia can make the shift to 100% renewable energy. Britain has already done the same as has the US and so have 10 European countries and France.  This list grows each day. Cities and regions around the world have announced transitions to 100% renewable energy – Vancouver, Copenhagen and our own Adelaide, Melbourne Byron and Sydney are amongst dozens in the race to 100% renewables or zero emissions."

The growing demand for clean energy and energy efficiency will mean that businesses will flourish who firstly; supply the components and services that make up the ‘platform’ for the new energy systems, and secondly; supply and service the ‘new energy solutions’ that ‘use’ the new energy system – electric vehicles, rooftop power generation, heat pumps for water and space heating, utility-scale renewables, thermal and chemical energy storage, microgrids and smart infrastructure.  These are the businesses that will thrive in Australia’s Renewable Energy Superpower.

Ocean temps predict US heat waves 50 days out, study finds

Pacific pattern often forms in advance of hot days in the eastern US research from the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, as reported in release for Eurek Alerts.

"At 50 days out, the scientists were able to predict an increase in the odds--from about 1 in 6 to about 1 in 4--that a heat wave would strike somewhere in the eastern U.S. during a given week. At 30 days out or closer, the scientists were able to predict an increase in the odds--to better than 1 in 2 for a particularly well-formed pattern--that a heat wave would strike on a particular day."

These are sea surface temperature anomalies in the mid-latitude Pacific 50 days in advance of June 29, 2012. The pattern inside the green box resembled the Pacific Extreme Pattern, indicating that there would be an increase in the odds of a heat wave in the eastern half of the United States at the end of June.

Climate change: Greenland melting tied to shrinking Arctic sea ice

'Blocking-high' pressure systems spawn most of the warming that melts Greenland surface ice, study says

Rutgers University Study cited in Science Daily March 28, 2016

Summary: Vanishing Arctic sea ice. Dogged weather systems over Greenland. Far-flung surface ice melting on the massive island. These dramatic trends and global sea-level rise are linked, according to a new study.

 

Rivers of melted ice and a meltwater lake on Greenland on July 19, 2015.

 Credit: Maria-José Viñas, NASA Earth Science News Team

Windows of Skyscrapers to Produce Energy

Penn Energy Editors article of March 28, 2016, talks about a new solar energy technology that can create energy from transparent coatings placed on glass or plexiglass. The current research shows that this coating, when applied to the windows of skyscrapers, can generate 50 times more energy than traditional rooftop solar because of the surface area being covered.

Geothermal Sector Begins Heating Up in Mexico and Zinc Extraction from Geothermal Plants

Bloomberg's BNA article written by Emily Pickrell March 22, 2016, suggests that there could be a rapid expansion of Mexico's geothermal power capacity. Since passing new regulations this year thirteen new permits have been issued, for the exploration of new sites.

Mexico has five Geothermal Power stations all located in south Mexicali, Baja California, (32.413129, -115.252069). This is just across the border from the Cal Energy geothermal plants that are located at the bottom of the Salton Sea. This geothermal electric plant uses 40% of its output to power an adjacent zinc recovery plant, that extracts this mineral from the geothermal brine coming from the plant before it is reinjected. It is anticipated that the plant will extract 30,000 tons per year.

 A place to learn about geothermal electrial energy and see the future of electrical energy.

Geothermal Mapping taking place in Munich Germany

An Press Release from the DMT March 29, 2016 describes the largest inner-city survey of deep underground geothermal resources. They anticipate being able to switch to fully renewable energy by 2040.

From the video above you can see the technology being deployed to do this survey are vehicles that use geophones to create three-dimensional results. It is an environmentally friendly way to do this kind of survey in a built up area.

Philippines: Drilling for 20 MW Mabini Geothermal Power Project to Start Soon

The Standard, business news indicates more geothermal drilling will take place in the Phillippines Batangas province. The International Geothermal Association ranks the Philippines as second in capacity to the US for Geothermal Energy at the moment, followed by Mexico. The Philippines will currently have 16 Geothermal Electric production facilities with a capacity of 2733.56 MW.

BacMan Geothermal Production Field (BGPF)

Energy Success Stories: Discovering Utah's Geothermal Potential

The Danger of Runaway Antarctica

The New York Times Editorial Board article of March 31, 2016, highlighted a number of critcal points about climate change underlining our need to move to renewables at a much faster pace.

"Now comes another scary prediction: If carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels continue unabated, the vast West Antarctic ice sheet could begin to disintegrate, causing the sea to rise by five to six feet by the end of the century, destroying coastal cities and low-lying island nations and creating environmental devastation within the lifetimes of children born today."

More frightening than these scientific revelations are the US elected officials that are racing in the opposite direction. Members of the Congress that doing their best to promote the increased use of Fossil Fuels. Despite this the US Geothermal Technologies Office is working on the acceleration of adoption of clean energies.

The Geothermal Technologies Office accelerates the adoption of clean, domestic geothermal energy by investing in research and development that reduces the costs and risk of bringing geothermal power online. The U.S. leads the world in existing geothermal capacity, with more than 3,400 megawatts (MW) already installed, and this growth is creating new job opportunities in many parts of the nation.

The Rise in Sea Levels Could Be Almost Double Previous Estimates

Story by John Dyer in Vice News

Some key points made in the article are as follows:

"All the big airports from here to Boston are built on land near the water," said Larry Atkinson, an oceanographer at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, a seaside city that's among the most vulnerable in the United States to higher sea levels. "It takes 50 years to move an airport. We should start thinking now."

The rising waters won't stop either. If greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated at current levels, the study predicts disappearing ice will add an additional 49 feet to sea levels by 2500

Anthony Carpi, an environmental scientist and dean of research at John Jay College in New York City, pointed out the Antarctic contains 90 percent of the world's fresh water — and the alarming results of the study show how previous sea level forecasts haven't adequately taken temperature trends in the South Pole into account.

This image, which was originally posted to Flickr.com, was uploaded to Commons using Flickr upload bot on 07:20, 13 November 2008 (UTC) by Nguyễn Thanh Quang (talk)