Climate and energy

Minnesota does groundbreaking study on how to get small and community wind into the grid. (North American Windpower) Quotable: “The study’s goal was to identify a total of 600 MW of small renewable energy projects that could be operated in the transmission grid with few or no changes required to the existing infrastructure. Dispersed renewable energy involves wind, solar and biomass projects that will generate between 10 MW and 40 MW of power. The second phase of the study will seek to identify an additional 600 MW of renewable energy and will begin this fall.”

Spies coming in from the cold. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) The U.S. intelligence community is much much less than pleased about the prospects of global warming and climate change for their already difficult job (US News and World Report). The full report will remain classified. Quotable:

“We assess that no country will be immune to the effects of climate change, but some will be able to cope more effectively than others,” says Thomas Fingar, who heads the National Intelligence Council, which drafted the assessment, adding that sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Central and Southeast Asia would be the hardest-hit regions. “However, the spillover—from potentially increased migration and water-related disputes—could have a harmful global impact.”

The full report, issued as a National Intelligence Assessment, is classified, and officials say they are not planning to release it. The NIA is distinct from the better-known National Intelligence Estimates by being more speculative and relying more heavily on public sources. Both represent the consensus judgment of the nation’s 16 intelligence agencies and carry great analytic weight in Washington.

In particular, they are concerned about the impact of climate change on agriculture.

Economic impact of energy efficiency. Energy efficiency means jobs. These jobs can help offset economic impacts of fighting climate change thru carbon regulation. Findings from the ACEEE on the economic impacts of energy efficiency at the state level: “The set of studies reviewed in this report demonstrate an average of 23 percent efficiency gain with a nearly 2 to 1 benefit-cost ratio; a 20 percent efficiency gain by 2030 could provide an estimated 800,000 net jobs while a 30 percent efficiency improvement might generate as many as 1.3 million net jobs; and efficiency-led policies, in effect an emphasis on greater energy productivity, would likely increase the nation’s economy (as measured by our Gross Domestic Product, or GDP) by about 0.1 percent by 2030.”

— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org