Thread by @FrankJannuzi

@existentialfish @dpletka Hi Danny - couple of points prompted by your climate change remarks:
1) Not sure where you got impression that global temperatures have reversed course. They have not. WaPo has good article here explaining the lull in rising temps.

google.com/amp/s/www.wash…

@existentialfish @dpletka This brings me to second point. Scientists (you and I are rightly humble about NOT being scientists), DO talk about /EXPLAIN the variations in weather that occur in context of climate change/global warming. And WaPo article is proof that press DOES talk about..we must listen.

@existentialfish @dpletka Final point is on coal. You said that USA had stopped burning “dirty coal.” I am afraid that is largely irrelevant for climate change. “Dirty” and “clean” refer to particulates and efficiency. While supercritical coal plants can be up to 40% more efficient than oldest gens...

@existentialfish @dpletka Nonetheless, ALL coal plants emit large amounts of CO2. Coal plants (even the “cleanest”) emit FAR more greenhouse gases than carbon fuel alternatives (like LNG). We should STOP burning coal.
“Clean” coal is a trump charade. You and I are not scientists, but we can figure it out.

@existentialfish @dpletka Only way to burn coal “cleanly” from a climate change perspective would be to perfect CO2 capture and sequestration technology. That would require World to store about 4 BILLION tons of CO2/year. GLOBAL capacity under construction to store CO2 geologically totals just 40m tons.

@existentialfish @dpletka Climate change demands a massive response for the sake of our children and our children’s children. Zero emission energy sources are becoming much more economical. The choice is not between protecting the earth and economic growth. We won’t have the second without the first.