Study: Data Centers Not Causing “Heat Islands”
For the record, I am hopeful that the new congress will haul a number of high profile Tech Bros before committees and question them under oath about their influence in government, the concentration of their power in political and media spaces, and the dangers of unbridled AI technology.
Put me down also as firmly opposed to sentient AIs taking control of nuclear weapons and driving humanity into extinction.
That said, I’ve done a lot of pushing back on a number of myths that have been bandied about on the more hyperbolic anti-data center spaces, on both left and right wings.
One of the talking points about Data Centers that I believe has been overdone is the idea that they create enough excess heat to actually alter weather conditions locally. Much of this traces back to an unfortunately headlined article in Forbes that allowed for a lot of misinterpretation.
The study mentioned there had a number of deficiencies, as discussed above by Andy Masley, a former Physics teacher in the Washington DC area, who has carved out a platform looking into issues real and unreal in the Data Center space.
In any case, new research has thrown some cold water on the whole idea.
A new study published in Environmental Research Letters has found little evidence that hyperscale data centers cause significant heating of surrounding land. While a previous study suggested data centers heat surrounding land by about 2 °C on average (up to 9 °C), reaching 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away, 13 years of satellite data reveal that server waste heat causes minimal nighttime surface warming, while building materials actually cool ground temperatures during the day.
Energy balance calculations in the study show that generating such large regional temperature increases would require 6 to 43 times more heat than the facilities can release.
Continue reading “Study: Data Centers Not Causing “Heat Islands””West Palm Beach Still Flooded 8 Days after 1000 Year Rains
Report from local Palm Beach, Florida TV.
As I mentioned in a recent post, this situation is set to get a lot worse, quickly, as Florida voted to approve Amendment 3, which will impose large cuts on property taxes and severely limit local government’s ability to respond to emergencies, from 911 calls to stormwater and sewage issues.
Takes effect in January, about the time that a giant El Niño event, which historically is linked to these kinds of storms, will peak.
No Rare Earths. No Lithium. New Battery Tech has Promise
Democrat Smoke Jumper Flips Montana Congressional Seat
Interview above was conducted pre-election.
Sam Vorstag, a 32 year old smoke jumper who references Montana’s catastrophic wild fires in his ads, flipped a Republican seat to join the House next year.
Tne New York Times reported that Forstag was the first Democratic House member elected in Montana in 30 years. While his ads prominently feature his work as a smoke jumper, and in one instance, mention “I’ve seen the Montana that we love burn around us..”, he did not emphasize climate change as a campaign issue.
Sam Forstag, a Democrat running for Congress in Montana, is in many ways a familiar kind of progressive: He is a union worker calling for taxing the rich and expanding Medicare for all Americans.
But there’s one topic he appears to avoid, in his platform and in public forums. When asked recently about the growing threat of wildfires and drought in the West, he discussed a terrible ski season and record-high temperatures but did not name the climate crisis directly.
Continue reading “Democrat Smoke Jumper Flips Montana Congressional Seat”Ex MAGA Senator tests New GOP Messaging: “You Should Suffer for the Higher Good”
And the higher good, is to start another war for oil to distract Americans from the Epstein files.
Got it. How’s that working?
Under Water: “Florida is About to Become a Hellhole”
Well, somebody finally “defunded the Police”. It wasn’t the lefties.
Miami Herald has some apocalyptic reporting on the results of a Florida ballot initiative, known as Amendment 3, from last week. The initiative would change the way property owners pay taxes, increasing the Homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. The move is being called a “severe blow” to local governments.
The Herald quoted Broward County Commissioner Steve Geller as saying, “I advise people to move to another state because Florida is going to be a hellhole,….We’re going to be underwater.”
Underwater, because crucial flood control efforts rely on property taxes, which may now be cut radically. Watch and see if the “conservative” Florida voters start screaming for the rest of us to (literally) bail them out.
Local property taxes fund critical services for Floridians—from drinking water supply and water quality improvements to land conservation. Local emergency response and protection from flooding are also funded by property taxes. The loss of revenue to local governments and water management districts will have severe, negative impacts on Floridians’ quality of life.
Continue reading “Under Water: “Florida is About to Become a Hellhole””“I’ve Never Seen a Forecast Like This” – Extreme El Niño Update
UPDATE:
Reading the data, and maybe a few tea leaves, with Daniel Swain of the University of California Los Angeles.
“The predictions specifically for California, for this winter in particular, is unlike anything these models have ever generated for California in any previous winter.”
“The coastal flood risk is already here, and its getting worse, and its going to be significantly more disruptive as we go into the King Tide period from late November into January.”
“It probably won’t materialize until at least December, and maybe in some regions not until January….January almost certainly wetter than average, and that’s when the balance is likely to tip over.”
UPDATE: “How is this possible?”
Bakersfield, California local weather reporter notes beyond remarkable ocean temperatures off of the west Coast, below. No mention of a warming planet.
Continue reading ““I’ve Never Seen a Forecast Like This” – Extreme El Niño Update”Democrats Can Act on Climate – Permitting Bill is Job One
The Associated Press reports that Democrats will make Clean Energy a part of their push to lower costs for voters.
Broad pushes specifically branded as climate initiatives might fall to a Presidential veto, but important work can be done with Republican support, and an important component will be to pass Permitting Reform, which has been making its way through Congress in recent months. A bipartisan bill could be passed yet in the lame duck session before new lawmakers hit town in January.
The bill is huge, and basically takes on some of the red tape and bureaucratic processes that have stalled projects dear to Democratic hearts, like grid transmission and offshore wind, but would also make permitting fossil fuel infrastructure, pipelines and Data Centers easier. That’s where the friction arises.
Climate champions like Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Senator Martin Heinrich have both come out in favor of the compromise – their view is that given something approximating a level playing field, renewables will win out.
Last week the Sierra Club came out against the bill in its current form, arguing there are some fatal overreaches in the way the bill weakens some environmental protections.
Continue reading “Democrats Can Act on Climate – Permitting Bill is Job One”Ag Expert: How Clean Energy Keeps Farms in the Family
Paul Gross, a former Michigan State University Agricultural Extension educator, and farmer in Isabella County, Michigan, told me how clean energy helps keep farmland in families.
The New York Times and many others have noted how economic pressures on farmers were an obvious contributor to last week’s Blue Wave election.
According to the Times, “While farmers welcomed the $12 billion farm bailout disbursed early this year, several groups said the funding was a Band-Aid that didn’t address deeper problems in the industry.”
That’s where clean energy can come in and make a big difference – farmers have known this for years, but they don’t always stand up and make their voices heard in the local meetings where siting decisions are often made.