Climate Roundup: Global Warming Trick

How scary is global warming compared to other fears that Americans hold?

In advance of Halloween, researchers at Chapman University in Orange County asked that question in a poll released mid-October. It found that global warming ranked 21st among Americans’ fears with 30.7 percent of those surveyed saying they are either afraid or very afraid of it.

The top fear identified in the poll was government corruption, of which 58 percent either were afraid or very afraid.

Other fears besting global warming included such things as terrorist attacks, economic collapse, going broke, identity theft, credit card fraud, Obamacare, war, personal illness, nuclear power plant meltdowns, and reptiles.

Being poorly dressed, in the eyes of others, ranked last on the list. * * * * *

California’s coal use declined in 2014, according to a California Energy Commission analysis released this month.

Coal use produced 19,353 GWh of power, about 7 percent of the state’s total power use last year. In 2013, coal produced about 8 percent of the state’s power, or 24,334 GWh.

The Energy Commission notes that use of coal-fired power in California has fallen about 40 percent since 2007. It is expected to almost completely disappear by 2025 as California utilities phase-out their interests in coal power plants under state law. * * * * *

The California Air Resources Board Oct. 28 released a draft of the state’s second climate investment plan, which provides ideas about how to spend the proceeds of quarterly carbon emissions rights auctions under the state’s cap-and-trade program.

The auctions bring in more than $2 billion annually now that transportation fuels are covered by cap-and-trade. Under state law, the money is to be used for projects that cut greenhouse gas emissions, with 25 percent reserved for efforts in disadvantaged communities.

The Air Board plans to hold hearings on the draft plan—which covers fiscal years 2016-17 through 2018-19—over the next two months and deliver it to the state Legislature in January. Lawmakers then are to consider it in conjunction with the state’s next budget.

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California’s carbon dioxide emissions from using energy from mobile and stationary sources increased again in 2013 for the second year in a row, according to an Energy Information Agency report issued Oct. 26.

Emissions rose from 349.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2012 to 353.1 million metric tons in 2013, an increase of about 1 percent. EIA data show that the low point for carbon dioxide emissions from energy use was 2011, when energy use in the state resulted in 344.8 million metric tons of emissions.

Overall since 2000, however, EIA data show state emissions in 2013 were down 7.5 percent. Over the same period, New York, the state with the biggest decline, saw its carbon dioxide emissions fall 25 percent.

EIA data show that while its emissions have risen a bit of late, the state has the fourth lowest level of emissions per capita, at 9.2 metric tons per person in 2013. That’s down 18.2 percent since 2000. Coal-rich Wyoming has the highest per capita emissions. In 2013 emissions there were 117.3 tons per person. * * * * *

The California Air Resources Board is holding a series of meetings to learn about how its carbon cap-and-trade program may be affecting air quality in any unintended ways. Depending upon what’s found, the agency says it may make adjustments to the program.

Such a review of the potential unintended consequences of a program is dubbed “adaptive management” by the Air Board. The meetings are slated for next month in several locations.