97 Nobel Winner Steve Chu - BC Pines Gone By 2013; Deffeyes - Time Short For Serious Energy Action

[hatrack]

EDIT

The conference lectures began with Dr. Steven Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkeley Lab and 1997 Nobel Prize winner. Chu said climate changes are occurring much faster than predicted just a few years ago. Forty percent of British Columbia's pine forests are already dead and most of the rest will be gone by 2013 due to warming that allows predatory beetles to survive winters in the pine forests.

Tibetan glacial ice provides summer runoff that supplies water to one-third of the population of the world. Tibetan glaciers are rapidly melting and dependent streams will seasonally run dry as the glaciers disappear.

EDIT

Ken Deffeyes, geologist and a professor of geosciences, emeritus at Princeton University, discussed the rapid depletion of crude oil. The global discovery of conventional crude oil peaked in 1964 and production peaked in 2005, according to Deffeyes. The upward trend in oil prices we are now experiencing is a natural outcome of growing global demand and depleting reserves. Competition to secure access to the remaining reserves on is underway between large consuming nations such as Russia, India, the U.S., Canada, Japan and the European Union.

The rapid loss of Arctic ice has led nations to lay claims to possible energy reserves under the thinning polar ice cap. Deffeyes said more than 100 deep-sea holes have been drilled elsewhere and no oil has been found. A set of special conditions are all required to produce oil and natural gas reserves and most of the planet never had all of them. There may be no significant reserves beneath the Arctic ocean

EDIT

http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=12&a=311956

[kestrel91316]

1. News flash: NOBODY is gonna take meaningful action

"...Time Short For Serious Energy Action....."


I'm moving into my 1-BR apartment here in SoCal and hoping that I simply won't need ANY heating at all this winter. I am willing to make that sacrifice.

[XemaSab]

2. Last year the only time when I needed heat

was during that nasty cold snap, but since I had the heater shut off, it wasn't in the cards.

Most of the time just cooking will heat the house when it's cool out, and you can always put on a sweater or go to bed at 8:00 to avoid the worst of it.

The flip side of that is keeping the windows open all summer. Hence, no AC either.

Santa Barbara is too balmy by far. B-)