The Real Deal #6

News from The Road

It’s amazing what happens when you open your ears and listen. We have been on a quest for understanding, trying to make sense of all there is to do for the planet.

This week we attended two events:

1. On Tuesday we went to a panel discussion with two meteorologists who discussed triple threat hurricanes.

2. On Wednesday we were in Boston at the Green Energy Consumers Alliance’s Fall meeting.

The Hurricane discussion was interesting. There were about 50 people present in a brew pub (yes I had a beer). We had a discussion with a civil engineer and asked him about opportunities for youngsters looking to get into climate. I’m hoping to profile him in a future issue.

The panelists, Cyrena-Marie Arnold and Dr. Todd Crawford, both with Atmospheric G2, discussed hurricane science and data. Then they had a Q&A session, mostly focused on recovery and mitigation approaches when dealing with these giant storms. A few important takeaways (which aligned with my discussion with Dr. Cary Moss two weeks ago):

• The warming ocean does not seem to be causing an increase in overall storm frequency. However, the frequency of severe storms is increasing.

• It’s also worth mentioning that they explained that ways to measure storm severity in the past was limited and more data is needed.

• Of all factors that endanger life and property, water is by far “more dangerous than wind, lightening, tornadoes, hail, and other factors combined,” according to Mz. Arnold.

• There was a great discussion about tornadoes which I hardly understood.

• They mentioned that damages have increased partially due to development and more people in high risk areas. I found it refreshing that scientists acknowledge this.

• Warmer air and water are causing more rain to fall inland. Asheville, NC was discussed as an example. This is important when considering future-proofing infrastructure and planning (adaptation).

• La Niña and El Niño are both important considerations in predicting hurricanes.

• Dr. Crawford said that Atmospheric G2’s team correctly predicted 19-”ish” named storms this year.

Many people in the crowd either had properties or relatives in Florida, and there was just a lot of worrying.

The Green Energy Consumer Alliance’s Fall Meeting was held in South Boston.

The intent of the meeting is to update anyone interested in the organization and clean energy endeavors. It seems that they focus on Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

The Allicance is a non-profit organization. I took a peek at their 2023 “Statement of Financial Position” and found that they get most of their income from “Contracts and Services Fees.” It appears to be well-run with strong support from the community.

The organization works to provide clean energy solutions to Massachusetts residents. Leaders from their different verticals provided status and progress updates. It was impressive. They are coordinating EV savings programs, offshore wind farm projects, and many other efforts to make Massachusetts more “green.”

Some takeaways:

• Several attendees voiced frustration about the state of the power grid. (This is a future newsletter topic; I understand it is a serious national problem but want to learn more.) Many companies and government officials are working on this. But in simple terms - our grid is not efficient at distributing power to the people and places where it is needed, when it is needed. There was little tangible information.

• It was good to get an understanding of all the initiatives around solar, wind, elective vehicles (EVs) and other clean energy efforts the organization is working on.

• The election was discussed at length. Many energy projects are federally funded.

• Melissa Lavinson gave the keynote address. She is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Office of Energy Transformation, and she handled all the questions from the audience. It was spirited, but positive. She assured the attendees that her department will continue to do it’s job and work toward the state’s clean energy objectives.

Musings

I decided to share this little gem of a cartoon I received the other day:

This is an example of reductionism - boiling down complex subjects in overly simple terms, often ignoring important factors (I am trying really hard not to do this myself!). Some examples I can think of in this case:

• Birds are killed by coal-burning emissions, power lines, cars, buildings they hit, and house cats (among other things).

• I have not met, watched or read anything from anyone who wants to turn pristine rural landscapes into wind farms and build cities near them.

• Energy can be transmitted and traded somewhat efficiently (though our grid needs some serious work as mentioned) away from the solar and wind generation sites.

• I don’t know what that truck is all about. Maybe it’s a Cibertruck? Not sure.

• The person portrayed… just — no comment but 🙄 

• The “before” picture should have a giant coal-burning, smoke-emitting power plant in the background if you really want to depict what clean energy people want to replace.

I could go on, I hope you understand my point. What things like this do is stop any conversation before it can start.

Now here’s what I agree with from the picture:

1. Neither solar nor wind farms are aesthetically pleasing

2. Wind turbines are dangerous for birds.

3. Pristine farmland and nature should be preserved to any extent possible (remember my New Jersey discussion last month?).

4. I would prefer a solar or wind farm near me than this:

It’s about tradeoffs. Who loves breathing fossil fuel fumes? Anyone?

Recently, I was participating in a workshop about marketing, and one of the presenters said something interesting. Everything you see that is man-made started in someone’s mind. It was just an idea. Whether it’s a street sign, a restaurant, a taco, or a rocket to the moon, someone thought of it and made it appear before your eyes.

If this is true about EVERY man-made object, wouldn’t it be outstanding if we could keep turning so many great ideas in the Climate and Energy space into real things in the world?

Building a better world could keep generations of people employed.