posted April 25, 2011 12:49 PM            

Turn off your ice makers to save the planet

Oh boy, now the idiotic Socialist administration of Barack Hussein O'Bomber is attacking...Ice makers!

Global-warming zealots to ban ice makers
Energy efficiency standards to expand scope of product confiscation
The Washington Times
1:00 a.m., Saturday, April 23, 2011

Ice makers are the latest target in the left’s ongoing war against the conveniences of modern life. Earlier this month, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued a report that may condemn this essential household item to the contraband list that already includes functional light bulbs, toilets, washing machines and showerheads.

Those looking for an easy way to cool down their drinks with ice cubes are guilty of increasing their refrigerator’s energy consumption by about 12 to 20 percent. That’s unacceptable to global-warming alarmists at the Department of Energy (DOE) who are hard at work finalizing regulatory standards for the fridge. The proposed changes will increase prices by an estimated $2 billion per year, but DOE justifies this added expense by claiming consumers would save $37 in electricity costs over the lifetime of a typical side-by-side.

Paying more up front to obtain paltry energy savings might appeal to some consumers. Others struggling to make ends meet might not see it as such a bargain. Liberals, however, have no interest in letting the public decide what types of products suit their particular needs. Dishonest bureaucrats impose their one-size-fits-all choice on Americans while simultaneously denying they regulate consumer behavior or ban items like light bulbs, showerheads and refrigerators. “I’m pro-choice on bulbs,” claimed Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency Kathleen Hogan in congressional testimony last month. “I really do not believe that the appliance standards end up restricting personal choice.”

Yet the likes of Ms. Hogan pull popular products off store shelves and replace them with inferior - but government-sanctioned - products. They do so by forcing appliance manufacturers to file statements confirming that their products meet every aspect of the regulations, that the products have been tested according to government rules and that the manufacturer “is aware of the penalties” involved. [b]Distributing a product that fails to meet with Ms. Hogan’s approval carries a typical fine of $7,300 per item. That adds up quickly. Last year, DOE accused a company of producing a showerhead that worked a little bit too well. For this “crime,” DOE demanded payment of $1.9 million and destruction of this highly effective product.

posted April 25, 2011 12:51 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by jwhop:
Now, back on topic!

[b]Turn off your ice makers to save the planet

[/B]

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posted April 25, 2011 01:37 PM            

One day the O'Bomber Oven Police will show up and cart your oven away!

Don't be silly acoustic. Of course you attempted to change the subject...away from the origins of the "Greens" to an argument over "wording"...in one sentence!

posted April 25, 2011 01:43 PM            

We were not discussing the origin of the Greens. We were discussing the conspiracy-theory-like post you posted to start that thread.

posted April 25, 2011 01:56 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by jwhop:
Hey AD, they'll get around to you in due course.

One day the O'Bomber Oven Police will show up and cart your oven away!

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Guess I better let Kevin go ahead and build that subversive brick oven in the back yard...

posted April 25, 2011 03:38 PM            

Reasonable, logical, rational people would conclude you would have made it by now instead of attempting to divert the focus to an argument over a couple of words you don't like.

I don't know about building that outdoor brick oven AD.

posted April 25, 2011 04:05 PM            

quote:

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Reasonable, logical, rational people would conclude you would have made it by now instead of attempting to divert the focus to an argument over a couple of words you don't like.

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posted April 25, 2011 05:42 PM            

Now acoustic, don't be shy.

posted May 02, 2011 10:14 AM            

Since you say you don't want to contest that..then what are you complaining about. That's the thrust of the article YOU are complaining about.

posted May 02, 2011 10:26 AM            

If you're the United Nations IPCC, you just make those predictions go away to avoid the embarrassment of having been wrong.

Kind of like Phil Jones and Michael Mann disappeared their input data to avoid having real climate scientists poking around in their fraudulant data.

The UN ‘disappears’ another inconvenient climate claim, then botches cover-up
Published: 10:30 PM 04/27/2011 | Updated: 6:01 PM 04/29/2011
Anthony Watts

It seems there’s a purge on at the UN to remove failed climate claims. Last week it was the cover-up of the claims that there would be 50 million climate refugees by 2010. This week it’s the poor of Africa they’ve “disappeared.” This one I stumbled upon quite by accident, doing some research for my previous story: World opinion on global warming: not so hot.

In that story, I noted Lawrence Solomon’s observation that:

In Sub-Saharan Africa, where 54% are not aware that their climate is alleged to be warming, a mere 22% have heard of the global warming issue and predominantly blame humans for the warming. In undeveloped Asia, 48% are unaware that the climate is warming and 27% predominantly blame humans.

But one has to wonder, if the people that live closest to the earth (such as natives in sub-Saharan Africa) can’t detect changes around them, are we manufacturing a crisis that we wouldn’t notice otherwise?

So I decided to ask the question: How hard is Africa being hit by climate change? I recalled the catchphrase “Africa hit hard by global warming” that I had read before, so I decided to start with that. My first Google search produced the answer in the form of a UNEP report from 2001, except . . . the report isn’t there. But, according to Google cache, it was there just a few days ago. See the process of discovery below........
http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/27/the-un-disappears-another-inconvenient-climate-claim-then-botches-cover-up/

posted May 03, 2011 10:57 AM            

STOCKHOLM – A new assessment of climate change in the Arctic shows the ice in the region is melting faster than previously thought and sharply raises projections of global sea level rise this century.

The report by the international Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, or AMAP, compiles the latest science on how climate change has impacted the Arctic in the past six years.

A summary of the key findings obtained by the AP on Tuesday shows Arctic temperatures during that period were the highest since measurements began in 1880.

posted May 03, 2011 11:04 AM            

quote:

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e report by the international Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, or AMAP, compiles the latest science on how climate change has impacted the Arctic in the past six years.

A summary of the key findings obtained by the AP on Tuesday shows Arctic temperatures during that period were the highest since measurements began in 1880.

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History has a way of repeating it`s self (olden golden years of climate heating up) and moving forward. Climate change is here to stay!

posted May 03, 2011 11:23 AM            

Increase in Arctic ice confounds doomsayers -but does not spell the end of global warming, scientists warn
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:00 AM on 3rd April 2010

The amount of sea ice covering the Arctic dramatically increased last month, reaching levels not seen at this time of year for nearly a decade.

Returning ice - after years of declining cover - has astonished climate scientists who blamed unusually cold weather over the Bering Sea.

Researchers said they recorded the most ice in March since 2001 - and that the cover is approaching long-term average levels for the first time in ten years.

The scientists who released the data stressed that last month's rise was part of yearly variations in ice cover and could not be taken as a sign that global warming is coming to an end.

But sceptics argued that the findings undermined 'alarmist' claims that the North Pole could be free of summer ice by 2013.

The unusual trend last month is revealed in figures published by the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado.

In a typical year, Arctic ice cover peaks in mid-March and starts to fall as milder weather arrives.

But this year, levels continued to grow in the second half of March. Dr Mark Serreze, of the NSlDC, said parts of the Arctic were going through an unusually cold spring - but that other areas were warmer than normal.

He added: 'What this doesn't show is any indication that global warming is over. If you look at the Arctic as a whole we might get to average amounts of sea ice for the time of year. But the ice is thin and quite vulnerable and it can melt very quickly.'

The best measure of the health of the Arctic was not only the amount of cover, but also the thickness of ice, he said.

But Dr David Whitehouse, of the Global Warming Policy Foundation think-tank, said: 'The recent observations make the 2007 projections that the region would be ice free by 2013 look very unrealistic.'

posted May 03, 2011 12:50 PM            

Seas could rise up to 1.6 meters by 2100: study

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO | Tue May 3, 2011 12:04pm EDT

OSLO (Reuters) - Quickening climate change in the Arctic including a thaw of Greenland's ice could raise world sea levels by up to 1.6 meters by 2100, an international report showed on Tuesday.

Such a rise -- above most past scientific estimates -- would add to threats to coasts from Bangladesh to Florida, low-lying Pacific islands and cities from London to Shanghai. It would also, for instance, raise costs of building tsunami barriers in Japan.

"The past six years (until 2010) have been the warmest period ever recorded in the Arctic," according to the Oslo-based Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), which is backed by the eight-nation Arctic Council.

"In the future, global sea level is projected to rise by 0.9 meters (2ft 11in) to 1.6 meters (5ft 3in) by 2100 and the loss of ice from Arctic glaciers, ice caps and the Greenland ice sheet will make a substantial contribution," it said. The rises were projected from 1990 levels.

"Arctic glaciers, ice caps and the Greenland ice sheet contributed over 40 percent of the global sea level rise of around 3 mm per year observed between 2003 and 2008," it said.

Foreign ministers from Arctic Council nations -- the United States, Russia, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland -- are due to meet in Greenland on May 12. Warming in the Arctic is happening at about twice the world average.

WORRYING

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in its last major report in 2007 that world sea levels were likely to rise by between 18 and 59 cm by 2100. Those numbers did not include a possible acceleration of a thaw in polar regions.

"It is worrying that the most recent science points to much higher sea level rise than we have been expecting until now," European Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard told Reuters.

"The study is yet another reminder of how pressing it has become to tackle climate change, although this urgency is not always evident neither in the public debate nor from the pace in the international negotiations," she said.

U.N. talks on a global pact to combat climate change are making sluggish progress. The United Nations says national promises to limit greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, are insufficient to avoid dangerous changes.

The AMAP study, drawing on work by hundreds of experts, said there were signs that warming was accelerating. It said the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice free in summers within 30 to 40 years, earlier than projected by the IPCC.

As reflective ice and snow shrink, they expose ever bigger areas of darker water or soil. Those dark regions soak up ever more heat from the sun, in turn stoking a melt of the remaining ice and snow.

"There is evidence that two components of the Arctic cryosphere -- snow and sea ice -- are interacting with the climate system to accelerate warming," it said.

The AMAP report was due for release on Wednesday but AMAP officials released it a day early after advance media leaks.

(Additional reporting by Pete Harrison in Brussels; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/03/us-climate-arctic-idUSTRE7422YQ20110503

posted May 03, 2011 01:01 PM            

Yes they did, yes they did, yes they did!

In fact, by now America's coasts are all supposed to be underwater and we're all supposed to be crispy critters.

posted May 03, 2011 03:24 PM            

if so i hate to sound out of date but i hardly consider them "essential"...unless one cannot carry an ice tray from sink to freezer without spilling it ALL...

and while they may seem convenient to some, i doubt if anyone would miss the chute-type dispensers for more than a minute...

in other words, "essential" is a ludicrous adjective for this contraption without which the human race survived for THOUSANDS of years,

in fact the only fridge i've had that had an "icemaker" was 10 years ago and extremely annoying in that it was often...empty! how crucial is that?

as to ice in the arctic the earth is doing her thing. when warming gets to a certain level water evaporates from the sea to be recycled as precipitation, which even at its warmest, means snow and ice at the poles. this is why i really don't worry much about global warming, because the planet has built in fail-safe regulators like this.

posted May 03, 2011 04:33 PM            

Oh yeah, and opening and closing that freezer door every time you want an ice cube or need to replace an ice cube tray heats up the air in the freezer compartment and makes the compressor and fan run. Now, that does use excess energy.

posted May 03, 2011 04:42 PM            

just saying i don't consider those icemaking machines "essential" in any way shape or form. we have come to believe a lot such gizmos are "essential" but that is largely due to collective short term memory loss.

i suspect all such edicts are sponsored by the lobbyists for recalling (and making replacement necessary) obsolete machines that people want to hang on to for some unknown reason.

though i suppose it is possible that the MAKING of such contraptions is wasteful of energy...

i have two ice trays in my freezer but i have to admit i don't spend much time opening and closing it to make or break them...ice is also an overrated commodity !!

posted May 05, 2011 03:56 PM            

We've dumped hundreds of billions and possibly a trillion dollars into wind and solar.

Result..nothing to show for it but an empty treasury and promises of more debt to come as O'Bomber and the Loony-Tunes leftists promise to spend even more on these failed energy sources.

If voters had believed O'Bomber was stupid enough to make good on his promise to skyrocket energy prices...he never would have been elected. There's a good chance voters are going to correct that error in judgment on November 2, 2012.

posted May 09, 2011 06:30 PM            

By Jonathan Amos

Science correspondent, BBC News
As much as we all enjoy the warm weather, some rain would be welcome.

The scale of just how dry the start of 2011 has been is evident in some fascinating data from one of Europe's latest Earth observation satellites.

Smos senses the moisture in the top layers of soil, and it is very clear in these maps that the ground across the UK and much of Europe is now gasping for water.

Last month was the warmest April on record in Britain.

It was also the 11th driest month, with on average just half the usual rainfall. And in parts of south-east England, there was less than 10% of normal precipitation.

Smos is an experimental mission of the European Space Agency (Esa), and is providing some novel information to meteorologists, hydrologists and other scientists interested in how water moves around the globe.

The 760km-high satellite carries an 8m-wide interferometric radiometer that senses the natural emission of microwaves coming up off the planet's surface.

Variations in the water content of soils will modify this signal.

The maps at the top of this page - which were specially prepared for the BBC - are monthly averages. Blue colours denote wetter earth; yellow colours show drier conditions.

The comparison between the two maps illustrates neatly the process of drying out through March and April.

Data from Smos agrees well with recorded rainfall patterns.

Traditionally, meteorologists have used air temperature readings taken just above the ground to infer soil moisture content. Smos is providing a new means to get at this information.

Understanding how much water is held in the earth under our feet is a key variable if you want to make weather forecasts.

If soils are wet then much of the energy coming from the Sun will be used to evaporate water from the ground, keeping temperatures cooler than they would otherwise be. Generally speaking, more precipitation would be initiated as well.

But if soils are dry, then the water available for evaporation is limited. As a result, the incoming solar energy will warm the surface, raising the temperatures above it. Over a sustained period, this can lead to drought conditions.

At the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), researchers are experimenting with Smos data.

The ECMWF, which is based at Reading, UK, produces forecasts that look 10 days ahead and more, including making seasonal forecasts.

"We already have soil moisture data in our forecast system which does not use Smos, and our soil moisture data is already quite good. But there is potential to improve it with Smos," said the centre's Dr Patricia de Rosnay. "At the moment we are not sure at what range into the future, Smos data will be most useful to us in making forecasts."

Some studies that were competed after the great European heatwave of summer 2003 showed that if more had been known about the relative dryness of soils in the springtime, meteorologists might have been in a much better position to predict the extreme conditions that followed a few months later. It is an area for ongoing research.

Smos was launched in October 2009. Its radiometer instrument will also measure variations in the saltiness of seawater, a capability which is reflected in the mission's full name: Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (Smos) satellite.

The investigation of soil moisture data is led from the Centre for Spatial Studies of the Biosphere (Cesbio) in Toulouse, France.