Right now in a fire unmatched in recorded Northern California history is raging. The smoke from this fire has suffused the Bay Area, making it worse to breathe here than Bejing! This is all because of a recent forest fire. When fires engulf forests, smoke containing fine particulate matter is released into the atmosphere. This material can penetrate the lungs and cause a whole range of potential problems. This is how forest fires cause air pollution.
How More Extreme Coldwaves will Harm Transportation Infrastructure
10/25/18
“How will Transportation Infrastructure be harmed by more extreme coldwaves?”
Transportation infrastructure will definitely be impacted by the changing weather. But climate change is doing much more than rising temperatures. More extreme coldwaves in certain parts of the earth are resulting from changing polar vortex. The behemoth damage brought onto transportation systems includes more delays in train/plane schedules, heavier icing of streets, and more stress on structures. This is How More Extreme Coldwaves will Harm Transportation Infrastructure.
How Extreme Weather Events Can Cause Energy Prices to Skyrocket
10/22/18
“How can extreme weather events cause energy prices to go out of whack?”
When the weather gets too hot or too cold, people will turn on HVAC systems to compensate. This will cause greater demand on the electricity system, which in turn will lead to more constraints and therefore higher costs for everyone. This is How Extreme Weather Events Can Cause Energy Prices to Skyrocket. The advent of climate change will only exacerbate this, as extreme weather events will become far more frequent. So in the end, it will pay in the long term to upgrade critical infrastructure systems to more resilient standards.
Image credit Bigerna, S. (2018). Estimating temperature effects on the Italian electricity market. Energy Policy, 118, 257-269.
How Climate-Induced Coastal Flooding Will Harm Power Generation
10/20/18
“How will coastal floods make worse by climate change harm power generation?”
As the average temperature of the Earth rises, so will its sea-levels. This will spell major trouble for areas with large amounts of coastal power generation, as they may soon become flooded. As many as 100 of such facilities in the US are at risk for this phenomenon. Passive sea level rises will not be the only problem facing generation facilities, but also climate exacerbated storms could rip apart infrastructure in the same way as Fukushima. This is How Climate-Induced Coastal Flooding Will Harm Power Generation.
As more and more greenhouse gasses are sent into the atmosphere, the Earth’s climate will become more and more extreme. Dry areas such as California, Portugal, Palestine, Israel, and Punjab are becoming drier with each passing year. This will lead to a greater risk of not only fires breaking out but also makes them more difficult to control due to a lack of moisture. This is just a small example of How Climate Change Will Exacerbate Fires.
How Recontouring the Baylands can Make the Bay Area More Resilient
10/17/18
“How can making the sediment in the Baylands help protect the Bay Area against climate change?”
The Bay Area has a problem. Decades of infill developments in the Baylands have changed its sediment runoff cycle and left it exposed to flooding from rising sea levels. However, a consulting group has found that by reversing things to its natural order through softening its edges, tidal wave energy can be dissipated and upgradings the Bay’s safety by an order of magnitude. This is How Recontouring the Baylands can Make the Bay Area More Resilient!
[Image: Public Sediment/courtesy Resilient by Design]
“How can we deal with stormwater runoff using our infrastructure?”
Stormwater runoff poses a massive problem for communities all around the world. To solve this, these same groups can build Stormwater Infrastructure to equip them with the necessary resilience to deal with it. This can include rainwater collection, green roofs, and vegetation-rich areas.
Global warming is partially caused by having too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and turn it into breathable air. Therefore Planting Trees Helps Combat Global Warming.
Much of the debate around decarbonization centers around the energy sector. But in some areas such as California, the transportation sector have become the highest emitter of CO2 emissions. To combat this, governments can adopt Vehicle Emissions Standards which regulate how polluted vehicle emissions can be.
Isaac's Science Blog 