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Bob Bingham Blog page.

A series of opinion pieces on, mostly climate change and related subjects to do with New Zealand.

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Hansens report on climate change.

26/3/2016

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Hansen’s report on climate change has been getting a lot of publicity so I thought a ‘Bob Bingham’ summary might help explain the overall picture.
​Hansen comments that we have been burning fossil fuels and producing CO2 without any idea of the consequences to our planet. The report compares the Eemian period, which was the previous warm period, 125,000 years ago, when the temperature was only 0.5 C warmer than today, and sea levels were 2m to 7m higher.

The level of CO2 at that time was 300 ppm compared with 400 ppm today but the temperatures were similar.

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​His report centres on the ‘Great ocean conveyor, or thermohayline circulation which flows round the world and distributes heat around the planet.
With CO2 in the atmosphere at 400 ppm, heat from the sun is warming the planet and most heat goes into the oceans. This heat in the oceans melts the grounded ice shelves from below and increases the release of fresh water.
This fresh water interferes with the sinking of the salt laden sea water at the poles and slows the thermohayline circulation and consequently slows the distribution of heat around the planet.
As the ice shelves break up there is an increase in the speed at which the big ice sheets move towards the sea and consequently they are melted by the warmer ocean water.

The physical action of ice melting uses heat and keeps the poles cooler.
The result is that the Poles remaining cold and the tropics becoming warmer makes an energy imbalance in the planet which can drive much more powerful storms. Typical instances would be along the course of the Gulf stream, across the Pacific Ocean and round the Southern Ocean. 
Read the report
Hansen is warning about sudden pulses of sea level rise of several metres, which has happened before, but for the people here today a sudden increase of one metre would be catastrophic to the economies of the rich nations. London for instance is currently protected to one metre and could withstand two metres given enough time but after that it is flooded and this would be true for the USA East coast, South West coast and California, China and Holland.
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Sea level rise in NZ.

20/3/2016

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In my early morning walk this summer I have noticed that the Maori ford over the Kerikeri river has been flooded very frequently. It takes some time for these simple observations to filter though the grey matter but eventually I found that the sea level has risen close to 200 mm due to the El Nino causing expansion of the much warmer sea water.
This chart from the new Jason 3 ESA/ NASA satellite shows the dramatic rise in sea level around the New Zealand cost. Let’s hope that we don’t get an autumn gale from the North or we may get some serious flooding. 
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Feeding eleven billion people.

12/3/2016

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By the end of the century the world will have eleven billion people, even though birth rates are largely under control. The cause is that, with better health and education, we are all living longer which is explained very well by Hans Rosling Here.

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At the same time, we have already missed the two easy opportunities to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to control temperatures and are now only left with the more difficult options.    (Red and Green lines) 
​We can still achieve our targets to feed this 50% increase in population if we reduce waste and eat all the food that the farmers grow, and also cut back on the inefficient system of feeding cattle good food to get back a small amount of meat od dairy. The livestock population needs to be reduced by 75%.

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If we do not move fairly quickly to make changes it is difficult to see how we are going to avoid a catastrophe in food production as this chart of the USA indicates. How can farmers grow crops in those temperatures?
As we are seeing in the Syria/Europe disaster it’s not easy to stop the mass flow of desperate people and it is better to make changes now than to try and fight it out later.   


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Adapting houses to a changing climate.

8/3/2016

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As part of a course on climate change with Exeter University through Future Learn I have to show a house that is adapted to the changing climate.
​As I have made some changes myself I am showing what I have done to adapt my own house to today’s conditions compared to the conditions it was built to encounter.

The changes I have made are
  1. Doubled the number of rain down pipes to 6 to accommodate the more extreme rainfall we experience.
  2. Fitted drainage gutters in the garden on the upside of the slope to channel away flood water.
  3. Put in more thermal insulation to the roof and to the underfloor to preserve heat in the winter.
  4. Fitted heavy curtains to insulate the windows in winter as the heating could not keep up with the heat loss.
  5. Installed solar panels to eliminate electricity bills.
  6. Fitted a time switch to use the solar electricity to heat the water during the day.
  7. Installed fans over the cooker and shower to reduce moisture inside the house.
  8. Fitted LED lighting to reduce electricity consumption at night.
  9. We moved to the middle of town and dramatically reduced our petrol consumption.
These changes were not expensive and have made the house much more comfortable and save very considerably on the running costs
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    Bob Bingham 

    Occasional blog posts on topical news items concerning the climate.  Please click the RSS feed to receive updates.

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