Posted on 04/08/2008 7:55:54 AM PDT by Froufrou
In the very same week that Gore launched a $300 million public relations campaign to convince Americans that "together we can solve the climate crisis," prominent climate alarmist Tom Wigley essentially endorsed President Bush’s approach to global warming while criticizing that of Gore’s co-Nobelist, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC.
In Nature on April 3, Wigley writes that the technology challenge presented by the goal of stabilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations "has been seriously underestimated by the IPCC, diverting attention from policies that could directly stimulate technological innovation."
Wigley describes that document as relying on "unrealistic" and "unachievable" CO2 emissions scenarios — even for the present decade. For the period 2000-2010, the IPCC assumes that energy and fossil fuel efficiency is increasing.
But Wigley points out that in recent years energy and fossil fuel efficiency have decreased, reversing the trend of previous decades. One reason for this phenomenon, says Wigley, is the economic transformation occurring in the world, particularly in Asia.
Whereas the IPCC assumes in its emissions scenarios that CO2 emissions in Asia are increasing by 2.6 percent to 4.8 percent annually, China’s emissions actually are increasing at a rate of 11 percent to 13 percent annually.
"Because of these dramatic changes in the global economy, it is likely that we have only just begun to experience the surge in global energy use associated with rapid development. Such trends are in stark contrast to the optimism of the near-future IPCC projections and seem unlikely to alter course soon," Wigley writes.
As a consequence, "enormous advances in energy technology will be needed to stabilize atmospheric CO2 concentrations at acceptable levels," he concludes. Wigley faults the IPCC for assuming these technological advances will occur spontaneously as opposed to creating the conditions for innovation to occur.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Actually, they are correlated. Just not the way the green's are arguing. Increasing temperatures release CO2 dissolved in ocean water, thus raising the atmospheric concentration.
Regards,
GtG
Cap and trade will just give money to speculators and take it away from energy innovators.
It doesn’t matter that climate change may be a problem that doesn’t exist.
What does exist is the energy problem. I presume you have paid for gas or heating in the past months. Creative entrepreneurship in expanding the availability of various kinds of energy can create jobs and income, and in many cases be helpful in the climate change situation should it turn out that it does exist.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.