Meredith: Hi Libby!

Libby: Hey Meredith, how are you

Meredith: Great, thanks!

Meredith: you are almost done!

Meredith: Hi Madison!

Libby: I know it’s crazy

Meredith: goes by fast in the summer

Libby: sure does

Meredith: you all get a little break before fall, don't you?

Meredith: I haven't looked that far ahead lol

Libby: Yes I go home for all of August

Meredith: awesome - when does the fall semester start - in Sept?

Meredith: Hi drenken!

Libby: Yup I think the 1st

Meredith: You said you are from Long Island Libby?

drenken: Hello Meredith

MadisonMarie: ewwe i start the 25th

Meredith: I was reading about it the other day in a history book

Libby: Yes Huntington

Meredith: Madison you are at Elizabeth town?

MadisonMarie: yup!

Meredith: UD tends to start late . . . and they have 14 week semesters

Meredith: a little strange, but the students like it ;)

Libby: They are moving us back toward trimester

Meredith: seems like it

Meredith: when I was logging in . . .

Meredith: I noticed announcements on the SL page. . .

Meredith: about updated today and tomorrow

Meredith: so if we all get kicked out

Meredith: that's why

Meredith: hopefully we'll have a smooth final session

Meredith: and for this week, the major reading is posted in the course notes

Meredith: so you can kind of mainly ignore the book

Meredith: use it for picts

Meredith: and look at the course notes for week 7

Meredith: ok with that?

Libby: yes

Meredith: ok - so did you each pick a set from this week's discussion board posting?

Libby: we stuck with the same ones

Meredith: ok

Libby: So I am 1 again

MadisonMarie: I think I got off easy this week lol

drenken: yeah

Meredith: ok lol

Meredith: so the point of this week is to talk about things that can be done . . . some of the things we mentioned last week are out of human control

Meredith: but some things are not

Meredith: so this week we'll talk about what we can control and whether or not it seems useful in some cases

Meredith: so go ahead Libby and tell us what you looked into and what you found out

Libby: Well I talked about how the actual temperature only changes a fraction from the Sun variation

Libby: When I looked up long term effects it said that there is going to be very small changes, but possibly looking over many decades we'd see some

Libby: It said earlier in the 1900s solar radiation tended to be a bigger part of climate change, but ever since about the 1950s the non-natural or internal factors change climate temps way more.

Meredith: ok

Libby: I saw charts and things that verified this if you want me to send the link

Meredith: maybe for the others to look at?

Libby: yea hold on one sec

Libby: While, I'm pulling that up I wanted to add that I found out that the Sun is the cause of less than one third of the recent warming of the earth

Meredith: ok

Libby: I found this pretty cool Australian Environmental Government website

Libby: http://climate.weather.com/science/urban-legends/solar-variations.html

Meredith: I imagine after the ozone hole over Australia they really care about all this!

Meredith: thanks for that link

Libby: Here is one chart, there is another but it's in a PDF not webpage

Meredith: and if you all have the local chat window open you can click on it

MadisonMarie: ooh

Libby: So all in all I don't think the Sun variations are going to have any significant long term effects on global warming, However looking at a broad scale there are going to be highs and lows when the sun cycle hits its minimums and maximums

Meredith: ok

Meredith: any other long term effects you read about?

Libby: oh and I found this source that said that there are wobbles in the Earth's orbit that can account for the ice ages like we've seen in the Mauder minimum or whatever that was called apparently they happen every 20,000; 40,000; and 100,000 years- So even though that isn't about solar variations I know we spoke about those Ice age periods during the minimum marks

Meredith: ok - interesting

Meredith: are we at a high-point in a wobble or anything?

Meredith: or not even close

Libby: I don't know, but I can try to check it out

Meredith: no need - I think we are anywhere notable in that wobble, but that's good you mention it

Meredith: earth's climate has a lot of contributing factors, huh?!

Meredith: but some do seem to be due to us :)

Libby: yes- unfortunately

Meredith: ok - what amount of warming or melt can we expect and by when?

Meredith: did you see anything specific on that?

Libby: from the sun or in general?

Meredith: in general

Libby: hold on let me get the number

Meredith: ok

Libby: yea I did

Libby: It said from 2000 to 2050 there will be a temperature rise of about 2 degrees (0.8-2.6)

Libby: and from 2050-2100 it will go up anywhere from 1.4-5.8 degrees C

Meredith: ok

Meredith: pretty wide ranges, but upward trends

Meredith: how about ice melt?

Libby: The sea level will raise from 2000 to 2050 about 5-32 cm

Meredith: ok

MadisonMarie: doesn’t seem like much but all adds up

Meredith: way wide range

Libby: and from 2050 to 2100 9-88 cm

Meredith: ok

Meredith: hopefully the low side will be what actually happens!

Libby: if anyone wants to look at this table http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg2/029.htm

Meredith: thanks for that - wow - you are prepared!

Libby: haha thanks!

Meredith: any questions for Libby from either of you?

drenken: nope

Meredith: How about you Madison?

Meredith: she may be looking at that page

Meredith: so drenken, you have set 2?

drenken: yep

Meredith: go for it

Meredith: what did you look into and what did you find out

MadisonMarie: nope

drenken: I looked into methods for reducing CO2.

drenken: I read about carbon offsets, which are financial instruments representing a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Meredith: how does a typical carbon offset work?

drenken: There is a large market including companies and the government and then there is a smaller market including individuals...

drenken: They purchase carbon offsets, which put a cap on the amount of carbon dioxide they are allowed to emit

Meredith: ok

drenken: Offsets are typically generated from emissions-reducing projects.

Meredith: so companies trade how much CO2 they can give off?

Meredith: ok

drenken: The most common being renewable energy projects (wind farms, biomass energy)

Meredith: ok

Meredith: so some offsets are putting money toward developing those projects?

drenken: yeah

Meredith: how legit did the companies that offer the offsets seem?

drenken: other common projects are energy efficient projects, including the destruction of industrial pollutants or agricultural byproducts.

Meredith: ok

drenken: The one article said that the whole idea seems simple, but there is no easy way to confirm that offsetting companies are doing what they promise

Meredith: so there doesn't seem to be any oversight?

drenken: No

Meredith: did you see any kind of independent rating of the companies?

drenken: I don't remember, but I can look back

Meredith: it’s ok

Meredith: one of the articles listed something like 75% or more of the carbon offset companies - at least at the time of publication of their analysis - as being suspicious

Meredith: which seemed interesting

drenken: wow, that's a lot

Meredith: something for consumers to keep in mind

Meredith: yeah - I agree that's a lot

Meredith: or, not suspicious, but not obviously doing what they say they are doing

drenken: yeah

Meredith: what was the other method of reducing carbon in your set?

Meredith: some of the companies seemed to be doing good, by the way, so if you decide to buy offsets just do some research

drenken: CO2 capture and carbon

drenken: and storage - I mean - not carbon

Meredith: ok - how does that work?

drenken: The CO2 is separated from other gaseous products...

drenken: that captured CO2 is transported to a suitable storage site...

drenken: The carbon can be stored in a couple of different ways...including injection into underground geological formations, injection into the deep ocean, or industrial fixation in inorganic carbonates

Meredith: interesting

Meredith: last question - did those things seem very feasible from what you read?

drenken: The main objective is to stabilize the amount of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere

Meredith: ok

drenken: the CO2 capture and storage? or all of it?

Meredith: the capture part

Meredith: and storage

drenken: I don't know...I've never heard of it before. It's hard to imagine how they do it, but I guess it's possible.

drenken: I don't really know...

Meredith: ok - just curious

Meredith: from what I saw before it seemed like middle-sized companies had the best chance of using them

Meredith: large companies make too much carbon

Meredith: and small ones can't afford the technology

Meredith: but for the mid-sized ones, it seemed feasible given a means of storage

drenken: oh...yeah

Meredith: ok - well thanks for that

drenken: sure

Meredith: and Madison, let us know what you looked into and found out

MadisonMarie: ook

MadisonMarie: I was to find energy alternatives

MadisonMarie: I found five main ones

MadisonMarie: the first is biopower

MadisonMarie: that’s using plant and organic matter as fuel

MadisonMarie: the second is fuel cells

MadisonMarie: that’s using hydrogen and oxygen

MadisonMarie: the third is solar electricity and the fourth is solar hot water

MadisonMarie: and the fifth is wind which has been used for years

Meredith: ok - what are some pros and cons of each of these?

Meredith: just the main points

MadisonMarie: expenses obviously

MadisonMarie: inconvenience

MadisonMarie: basically while they’re all safer for the environment

MadisonMarie: they’re not as convenient or efficient

Meredith: ok

Meredith: and as an idea of cost, my husband and I looked into the solar power idea for our house. . .

Meredith: to power 1/3 of our house it would have cost $20K

MadisonMarie: w0ow!

Meredith: and we were told we would have to cut down all our trees

Meredith: and some of our neighbor’s lol

Meredith: we kept the trees and just turned down the thermostat lol

MadisonMarie: that sounds like an oxymoron almost huh, cut down trees for solar power

Meredith: geothermal heating was going to also be $20K lol

Meredith: yep - at least in places like the mid-Atlantic in the burbs

Meredith: so did you do any of the personal calculator things or find out simple ways to reduce usage?

MadisonMarie: well like simple ways are switching your light bulbs to fluorescents

MadisonMarie: which by the way I have all through my house and they’re very dim!

Meredith: same here lol

Meredith: agreed

MadisonMarie: drive hybrids or carpool

MadisonMarie: plant trees

Meredith: hopefully the LED bulbs will go somewhere more

MadisonMarie: by land to protect from deforestation

MadisonMarie: high efficiency refrigerators

MadisonMarie: then common sense things like turn off electronics when not using them

MadisonMarie: and lights and such

MadisonMarie: off*

Meredith: question on some of this . . . how does home energy use compare to car energy use consumption-wise or green-house gas emitting wise?

Meredith: if you saw

Meredith: for an average person

MadisonMarie: hummm I’m not sure

Meredith: for most people, about 1/2 or more of their energy use (in the US) comes from driving

Meredith: at least, of direct consumption

MadisonMarie: oooo

Meredith: so cutting down on the driving part does make a difference

MadisonMarie: definitely

MadisonMarie: no hummer for me =(

Meredith: it is amazing that 1 whole house and one car use about the same energy in a year

Meredith: I bet Hummers are cheap these days lol

MadisonMarie: haha not for gas!

Meredith: lol

Meredith: ok - so good wrap-up there

Meredith: and you all are even closer to done now

Meredith: if any of you want a session to study for the final just let me know

Meredith: that is totally doable

Meredith: I'll also release a column to you all today

Meredith: what that column in the grade book will tell you is what amount of your total score for the class you've earned

Meredith: keep in mind the final is worth 20%

Meredith: and this week's work another 4% or so

drenken: ok

Meredith: so the max you could have in that column today is around 75%

Meredith: in other words - don't freak out if it looks low

Meredith: just use it to calculate what you'd need to earn on this or that to get the grade you'd like

Meredith: ok with that?

drenken: yep

Meredith: alright - well it was nice talking with you all and we'll be in email contact until the semester is out

MadisonMarie: ok =) thanks gnite

Meredith: and good luck to you all!

drenken: thanks cya

Meredith: night!

Libby: bye!

Meredith: bye!