Washington Post: This Scientist Just Changed How We Think About Climate Change With One GIF
Ed Hawkins spends his days doing, you know, climate science. A professor at the University of Reading in the U.K., he has published widely on the overturning circulation in the north Atlantic Ocean, as well as trends for sea ice in the Arctic and how to predict future temperatures, among other topics. And he contributed to the most recent mega-report of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which everybody cites for pretty much everything in this area.
He’s now famous, though, for something quite different.
ClimateWire: Trump Promises He Will Reopen Coal Mines. He Probably Can't.
Donald Trump's promise to open shuttered coal mines in Appalachia might be as hard to fulfill as getting Mexico to pay for a new wall, analysts suggested.
The vow by the presumptive Republican presidential nominee would likely mean turning back regulations on greenhouse gases and perhaps toxic air pollutants, experts said. Even then, it's unlikely that the cost of extracting coal from eastern mines would be cheaper than using natural gas in power plants, they said, making a widespread mining revival improbable.
"It's very, very, very unlikely he could do something to get coal back to where it was seven years ago," said John Deskins, director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at West Virginia University.
Guardian: World's CO2 Concentration Teetering on Point of No Return
The world is hurtling toward an era when global concentrations of carbon dioxide never again dip below the 400 parts per million (ppm) milestone, as two important measuring stations sit on the point of no return.
The news comes as one important atmospheric measuring station at Cape Grim in Australia is poised on the verge of 400 ppm for the first time. Sitting in a region with stable CO2 concentrations, once that happens, it will never get a reading below 400 ppm.
Electrek: Tesla and the LAPD Testing the Model S as a "High-Pursuit" Police Cruiser
Last year, the City of Los Angeles announced that it would lease 288 electric vehicles, including 160 fully electric vehicles (BEVs), which resulted in Los Angeles operating the largest city-owned fleet of pure electric vehicles. Among the selection of vehicles distributed to the city’s different departments, the LAPD got a Tesla Model S P85D.
At the time, the department said that the Model S will be used for “testing and research by (LAPD) technical experts to determine how this technology can support their future needs.” Now we have learned that the vehicle is being tested as a "high-pursuit" police cruiser.
PVTech: Total Putting Its ‘Money Where Its Mouth Is’ on Clean Energy Transition
French oil major Total’s impending €950 million acquisition of battery manufacturer Saft puts the company at the front of the pack of fossil fuel firms looking to diversify, according to SolarPower Europe CEO James Watson.
The offer, announced widely on Monday and expected to be accepted by shareholders, would give Total access to a major manufacturer of industrial and transport batteries. Total declared in April that it wanted to become a top-three solar company within 20 years. It already owns a 60% stake in PV firm SunPower and is an active member of SolarPower Europe.