QUICK NEWS, July 31: How To Know What Climate Change Causes; New Energy Facts For Investors

How To Know What Climate Change Causes Droughts, Heat Waves and Floods: How to Tell When Climate Change Is to Blame; Weather forecasters will soon provide instant assessments of global warming’s influence on extreme events

Quirin Schiermeier, July 30, 2018 (Scientific American)

“…[New University of Oxford computer modeling shows] climate change made the current heatwave] more than twice as likely to occur in many places…Germany’s national weather agency is preparing to be the first in the world to offer rapid assessments of [human-induced climate change’s] connection to particular meteorological events [like heatwaves and floods]. By 2019 or 2020, the agency hopes to post its findings on social media almost instantly, with full public reports following one or two weeks after an event…The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in Reading, UK, is preparing to pilot a similar programme by 2020…[A]fter more than 170 studies in peer-reviewed journals, attribution science is poised to burst out of the lab and move into the everyday world.

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…[Disasters] are likely to become more common because the build-up of greenhouse gases is altering the atmosphere…But extreme weather can also arise from natural cycles…Researchers say that teasing out the role of human-induced global warming—as opposed to natural fluctuations—in individual weather extremes will help city planners, engineers and home-owners to understand which kinds of floods, droughts and other weather calamities are increasing in risk. And surveys suggest that people are more likely to support policies focused on adapting to climate-change impacts when they have just experienced extreme weather, so quickly verifying a connection between a regional event and climate change, or ruling it out, could be particularly effective…” click here for more

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New Energy Facts For Investors …Misconceptions About Renewable Energy That Could Lead Investors Astray; Blindly believing these renewable energy arguments could lead investors to sell great stocks (or buy bad ones) at the wrong time.

Maxx Chatsko, July 30, 2018 (Motley Fool)

“…The fast rise of wind and solar bodes well for reaching international climate goals, and it has also proven to be great for individual investors who know where to look…[but] there are still quite a few misconceptions about renewable energy…[W]ind and solar energy have sprinted down the cost curve -- and they're headed lower…[O]n a levelized cost basis unsubsidized wind power is the cheapest source of electricity generation in the United States at just $0.03 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). That's followed by the newest natural gas-fired power plants at $0.04 per kWh and, surprisingly, unsubsidized utility-scale solar power at $0.043 per kWh…

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…[O]il majors generate tens of billions of dollars in free cash flow per year, and they're beginning to invest in renewable energy businesses…[They appear to be slowly transforming] into electric and gas utilities, which will come in handy as global transportation shuns liquid fuels for electric charging…[Much of the investment is in offshore wind technology, which holds tremendous promise for taking renewable energy to the next level…[W]ind energy is on pace to overtake hydro as the nation's top renewable energy source [by] 2019…At 55%, solar comprised the majority of all new generation capacity installed on the grid in the first quarter of 2018…Investors who dare to peek ahead to 2030 will see plenty of reasons to be optimistic for the future of renewable energy…Renewable energy represents a great opportunity for individual investors to build long-term wealth…” click here for more

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