Wind Farms Above The Law Eagle Killers

“It happens about once a month here, on the barren foothills of one of America’s green-energy boomtowns: A soaring golden eagle slams into a wind farm’s spinning turbine and falls, mangled and lifeless, to the ground.

Killing these iconic birds is not just an irreplaceable loss for a vulnerable species. It’s also a federal crime, a charge that the Obama administration has used to prosecute oil companies when birds drown in their waste pits, and power companies when birds are electrocuted by their power lines.

But the administration has never fined or prosecuted a wind-energy company, even those that flout the law repeatedly. Instead, the government is shielding the industry from liability and helping keep the scope of the deaths secret.“

 

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/ap-impact-wind-farms-pass-eagle-deaths-19173724

 

Canada April 2013 – Really, Really Cold in the Middle

According to the Environment Canada “Normals” (the stations EC calculates anomalies for) , Canada was colder than the 1971-2000 average in April 2013.

The mean of all the “Normals” was -1.83C colder than 1971-2000 average.

If you look in the top left corder of the anomaly map and note the black circle represents 5C anomalies. Blue is colder than normal. Red is warmer.

The middle of the country was really, really cold. What little warmth there was, was concentrated in a handful of arctic stations.

And many of the stations had values too small to really show up on the map.

The anomaly map for April 2013 follows. Click to make it bigger.

Where do I get the data? From Environment Canada monthly summaries.

The URL for April 2013 BC data is here. You can replace BC with nothing (PROV=) or SASK or MAN etc.

I use the data with a D column  value because EC calculates the anomalies for me. And because they are supposed to be better/long stations.

Canada March 2013 – Really Cold in the Middle

According to the Environment Canada “Normals” (the stations EC calculates anomalies for) , Canada was colder than the 1971-2000 average in March 2013.

The mean of all the “Normals” was -.55C colder than 1971-2000 average.

If you look in the top left corder of the anomaly map and note the black circle represents 5C anomalies. Blue is colder than normal. Red is warmer.

The middle of the country was really, really cold. The warmth was concentrated in the far east and a couple of arctic stations.

And many of the stations had values too small to really show up on the map.

The anomaly map for Mar 2013 follows. Click to make it bigger.

Where do I get the data? From Environment Canada monthly summaries.

The URL for March 2013 BC data is here. You can replace BC with ALL or SASK of MAN etc.

I use the data with a D column  value because EC calculates the anomalies for me. And because they are supposed to be better/long stations.

Arctic Sea Ice Extent Only 1.4% Lower Than 1981-2010 Mean

Did you know that the Arctic Sea Ice Extent is only 1.4% lower than the 1981 – 2010 mean?

NSIDC data says that on March 19 (day 78) Arctic Sea Ice Extent was 15.09 million sq km. The mean for 1981-2010 for day 78 is 15.30 million sq km.

Wow. Only 1.4% below normal. Has that made the news?

 

Arctic Data from here.

Conservation group sues to stop California solar plant

It’s only fair …

“LOS ANGELES – A U.S. conversation group has sued the federal government over its approval of a major solar power plant in the California desert, the latest in a string of challenges to the nation’s renewable energy goals from the environmental community.

According to court papers, the non-profit Western Watersheds Project alleged U.S. regulators approved Brightsource Energy’s 370-megawatt Ivanpah solar energy plant without conducting adequate environmental reviews, and asked the court to order the defendants to withdraw their approvals.”

…

“”In an ill-conceived rush to accommodate massive renewable energy projects … the federal defendants precipitously approved unnecessarily destructive energy development of the California Desert Conservation Area without first conducting adequate environmental reviews.The complaint said the project’s approval process failed to analyze and mitigate the Ivanpah plant’s impact on migratory birds, the desert tortoise, which is a threatened species under federal law, desert bighorn sheep, groundwater resources and rare plants.“”

Original Article

 

 

Canada Feb 2013

According to the Environment Canada “Normals”, Canada was warmer than the 1971-2000 average in Feb 2013.

The warmth was concentrated in the far west and the far east.

The middle was slightly warmer or slightly cooler. And the Arctic was mostly cooler than normal.

The anomaly map for Feb 2013 and an animated gif of Jan 2012 to Feb 2013. Click to make them bigger.

 

Stop AGW – Try For 55% Unemployment Like Spain

Study: Global Warming Can Be Slowed By Working Less

“Want to reduce the effects of global warming? Stop working so hard. Working fewer hours might help slow global warming, according to a new study released Monday by the Center for Economic Policy and Research.

A worldwide switch to a “more European” work schedule, which includes working fewer hours and more vacation time, could prevent as much as half of the expected global temperature rise by 2100, according to the analysis, which used a 2012 study that found shorter work hours could be associated with lower carbon emissions.

The Center for Economic Policy and Research is a liberal think tank based in Washington.”

A “more European” work schedule???

Like Spain?

Spain unemployment rate hit a record: youth rate at 55%

Spain’s unemployment rate has hit a modern day record, and joblessness among young people has topped 55%.

Official data showed that the jobless rate in the last three months of 2012 rose 1% to 26%, or 5.97 million people.

The figure, the highest since the mid-1970s, follows Spain’s prolonged recession and deep spending cuts.Spain unemployment rate hit a record: youth rate at 55%

(h/t Tom Nelson)

Good News! Onshore Wind Turbines Will Slaughter Birds For Only 12 – 15 Years!

Good News. Wind Turbines will wear out a lot quicker than previously estimated. Which means the slaughtering of Eagles and other birds will be more expensive.

“The Renewable Energy Foundation today published a new study, The Performance of Wind Farms in the United Kingdom and Denmark, showing that the economic life of onshore wind turbines is between 10 and 15 years, not the 20 to 25 years projected by the wind industry itself, and used for government projections.

The work has been conducted by one of the UK’s leading energy & environmental economists, Professor Gordon Hughes of the University of Edinburgh, and has been anonymously peer-reviewed. This groundbreaking study applies rigorous statistical analysis to years of actual wind farm performance data from wind farms in both the UK and in Denmark.

The results show that after allowing for variations in wind speed and site characteristics the average load factor [performance] of wind farms declines substantially as they get older, probably due to wear and tear. By 10 years of age the contribution of an average UK wind farm to meeting electricity demand has declined by a third.

This decline in performance means that it is rarely economic to operate wind farms for more than 12 to 15 years. After this period they must be replaced with new machines, a finding that has profound consequences for investors and government alike.”

(h/t The Hockey Schtick)

Wind turbine collapses in high wind

Would you want your hospital reliant on wind turbines that can’t handle 50mph gusts?

“A 35-metre turbine has collapsed near Holsworthy leaving the tower lying on the ground. The turbine at East Ash Farm in Bradworthy was erected in 2010 by Dulas Ltd. Dulas confirmed this morning that an “incident” had occurred with the turbine and said the situation is currently being investigated”

 

Canada 2012 – Anomalies Mapped

I have mapped the anomalies in the Environment Canada monthly summaries that have “normals”. The anomalies are calculated from selected stations based on the 1971-2000 average.

The 5C black dot in the top left hand corner represents 5C difference from “normal”. Red dots are warmer than normal. Blue are cooler. And Green are 0.

March April and May are really close to normal (all the dots are small). Other months have extremes. October is colder than  normal. March is really interesting for having no red dots in the Arctic which means below normal temperatures which has not been true for years.

There is an animated gif at the bottom showing all months of 2012.