Month: September 2017

As Climate Extremes Grow, a More Resilient Grid Emerges

irma480

Hurricanes, floods, snow/ice storms, and other weather events are the leading cause of power outages in the United States.  That’s not going to get better.

Science:

If you think you can use the solar panels on your roof to power your home during an outage, think again. During an outage, while your home remains connected to the grid, the devices that manage your solar panels are powered down for safety reasons. In other words, this permanent connection to the grid makes it impossible for homeowners to draw on power generated by their own renewable energy resources.

A team of engineers at the University of California San Diego wants to change this. They have developed algorithms that would allow homes to use and share power from their renewable energy sources during outages by strategically disconnecting these devices, called solar inverters, from the grid. The algorithms work with existing technology and would improve systems’ reliability by 25 to 35 percent. Researchers detail the algorithms and their applications in a paper they presented at the American Control Conference in Seattle, Wash.

“We were inspired to start investigating a way to use renewable power during outages after Hurricane Sandy affected eight million people on the East Coast and left some without power for up to two weeks,” said Abdulelah H. Habib, a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering at UC San Diego and the paper’s first author.

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Records Rocked as Irma Rolls

Phillip Klotzbach, Colorado State University:

Hurricane Irma Meteorological Records/Notable Facts Recap (through September 5 at 9pm EDT)

Intensity Measures

‐ 185 mph max winds – tied with Florida Keys (1935), Gilbert (1988) and Wilma (2005) for second strongest max winds of all time in Atlantic hurricane. Allen had max winds of 190 mph in 1980

‐ 185 mph max winds – making it the strongest storm on record to impact the Leeward Islands, defined as 15‐19°N, 65‐60°W for this calculation. Okeechobee Hurricane (1928) and David (1979) were previous strongest at 160 mph

‐ 185 mph max winds – the strongest storm to exist outside of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico on record

‐ 916 mb central pressure – lowest since Dean (2007) and tied for 11th lowest in satellite era (since 1966)

‐ First Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic since Matthew (2016) and first Category 5 hurricane in the tropical Atlantic (7.5‐20°N, 60‐20°W) since Hugo (1989)

Integrated Measures
‐ Generated the most Accumulated Cyclone Energy by a tropical cyclone on

record in the tropical Atlantic (7.5‐20°N, 60‐20°W)
‐ Generated more Accumulated Cyclone Energy than the first eight named storms

of the Atlantic hurricane season (Arlene‐Harvey) combined

‐ Generated 3.75 major hurricane days in the tropical Atlantic (7.5‐20°N, 60‐ 20°W) – trailing only Luis (1995) for major hurricane days in the tropical Atlantic

Senior Hurricane expert weighs in.

Rush Limbaugh: Irma is Fake News

UPDATE:

Climate expert Mike Mann comments on Rush’s rant.

As climate denial retreats to a dead end box canyon, expect more of this denial derangement syndrome.
In this case, the very distillation of Dunning-Kruger.

Excerpt:

Now, in the official meteorological circles, you have an abundance of people who believe that man-made climate change is real, and they believe that Al Gore is correct when he has written, and he couldn’t be more wrong, that climate change is creating more hurricanes and stronger hurricanes. And, of course, when Harvey hit, it was the first hurricane that had hit in 12 years. There haven’t been more hurricanes and they’re no more dangerous than any others in previous years.

Do dopes float? Stay tuned.

 

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As US Dithers, World Charges Ahead to Renewables

India charging ahead on renewables. Vying with China for global leadership in the growth industry of the new century. Meanwhile, Washington looks longingly to the 19th century.
Watch for new video on this topic coming very soon.

Meanwhile, Denmark has decided to offload oil interests, and begin using current oil revenues from the North Sea to accelerate its renewable transition.

Bloomberg:

In another sign that the petroleum era is drawing to a close, Denmark is selling off its last oil company with barely a peep.

Once considered a strategic asset, on a par with national carriers or shipyards, the oil and gas division of A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S is being bought by French giant Total SA. The $7.45 billion deal is expected to be completed by 2018, pending regulatory approval.

Coming just three months after the sale of Dong Energy’s North Sea oil and gas production to German-based Ineos AG, Maersk’s move to offload its oil division has been welcomed by the government and trade unions alike. Even the nationalist Danish People’s Party, which supports the government in parliament, didn’t object.

The irony is that Denmark will need the income from oil and gas to finance its green transition and meet a pledge to stop using fossil fuels by 2050. That will mean keeping up production from the North Sea fields, which Total has promised to do.

“The more money they make on the North Sea, the more money there will be for us to spend on the green transition,’’ Energy Minister Lars Christian Lilleholt said in an interview in Copenhagen.

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Irma Update: Now Cat 5, Targeting Florida

Story below was written last October, but even more relevant today.

Jason Samenow in Washington Post:

A Category 3 or stronger hurricane, defined as a “major” hurricane, has not made landfall on the U.S. coastline in exactly 11 years. By far, this 11-year stretch is the longest period on record without a major hurricane strike.

The last major hurricane to come ashore was Wilma along Florida’s southwest coast on Oct. 24, 2005.

So, yes, by strict definition, the nation is experiencing a record-breaking “major-hurricane drought.”

As US impact becomes more likely than not, one has to ponder the potential political impacts of a double whammy from storms like these. David Titley raised the issue yesterday when the chances of a hit were smaller.

But the criteria for what makes a major hurricane is impossibly restrictive. It is tied to a single hazard, wind, and ignores impacts from water, which causes the lion’s share of fatalities and damage in most hurricanes.

While big wind speeds grab people’s attention and sound scary, precious few people, if any, ever experience a storm’s peak winds. Such high winds are typically confined to a tiny area near the hurricane’s eye.

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