QUICK NEWS, April 2: Think Win-Win To Beat Climate Change; Wind’s Role In The Fight Against The Bomb Cyclone; MIT Students Get Spring Break Sun Building Solar In CA

Think Win-Win To Beat Climate Change On climate change, zero-sum thinking doesn't work; There are win-win solutions to this problem.

Joseph Robertson, 2 April 2018 (UK Guardian)

Democracy is not a zero-sum game. Behaving as if it is degrades democratic process and our personal political sovereignty…[In a zero-sum game, whatever] one gains, another must lose…[But the] beating heart of a free society is the guarantee of personal political sovereignty…Political sovereignty is informational sovereignty…Distortion of our informational environment has slowed humanity’s overall effort to eliminate corruption and transcend harmful practices, like those that destabilize Earth’s climate…[H]uman intelligence, creative collaboration, and adherence to basic principles of fairness, make more good possible…Success requires dealing ably with complexity…Zero-sum thinking strips intelligence from our politics. Generative thinking recognizes that complex constructive interactions make us smarter, more capable, freer, and more secure…If we are informationally sovereign, we can scale up smart decision-making to correct hidden market failures and expand routine access to increased value for everyone…

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To distort and disrupt climate and energy decision-making, carbon polluters spent hundreds of millions of dollars over several decades. Their aim was to degrade the sovereignty of voters, consumers, rivals in the innovation space, the free press, and even nation states…[That] undermined the competitiveness of polluting industries, making outdated methods appear longer lived than they stand a real chance of being, even as they build up unprecedented, nonlinear carbon liability. Market forces will eventually stop rewarding ever more costly carbon-intensive practices that put irreplaceable natural life-supports at risk…There is no reason for such risky business models, or corrupt institutions, to continue to undermine humanity’s ability to solve big problems…” click here for more

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Wind’s Role In The Fight Against The Bomb Cyclone How Well Did Wind Energy Perform During the Bomb Cyclone?

Hannah Hunt, March 30, 2018 (EcoWatch)

"…[When the "Bomb Cyclone" blasted the Eastern U.S. with frigid air for a number of days, the power system held strong and there were] no major power plant outages…[Wind power] made an important contribution…[Wind’s] output was well above average when the power system needed it most…[The PJM system, which serves 13 states and Washington, DC, saw a 55% higher average wind output from] Jan. 3 through Jan. 7…[During the highest demand periods,] wind output was consistently three to five times greater than the level PJM plans for and compensates wind for…Wind's capacity factor exceeded 50% multiple times during the three-day period…[PJM's 2017 resilience analysis] found that scenarios with very high levels of renewables were among the most resilient…” click here for more

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MIT Students Get Spring Break Sun Building Solar In CA Spring break in Pasadena? For MIT students installing solar panels, it’s a way to give back

Steve Scauzillo, March 30, 2018 (Pasadena Star News)

“...[12 engineering students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are] spending spring break soaking up the sun by] helping install a solar power system…[T]he system will free up the homeowner — who is on a fixed income — from at least 90 percent of her electric bill. It will also produce clean energy without burning fossil fuels, thereby reducing smog emissions as well as greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming…[They are part of] Grid Alternatives’ week-long Solar Spring Break program for some hands-on learning in sunny Los Angeles…[T]hey helped position rails on the southeast portion of the house’s roof… hoisted onto the roof 11 solar panels, which were then fastened onto the roof at a 10-degree tilt for maximum capture of Southern California’s 5.6 peak hours of daily sunlight…The system will produce 2.7 kilowatts of electricity, which gets fed into the house’s electrical control panel. The homeowner’s $200 to $300 bills every two months will be reduced to less than $30…” click here for more

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