Perpetual Innovation

Author: SustainMe

  • A Song Of Fire And No Ice: We Just Had Our Fourth Record-Breaking Hottest Month In A Row This Year | ThinkProgress

    A Song Of Fire And No Ice: We Just Had Our Fourth Record-Breaking Hottest Month In A Row This Year | ThinkProgress:

    Oh poop, crap, scat!.

    Each month of 2016 has been a record hot month. (Even though 2015 was wicked record hot with 10 months matching or exceeding record highs!)

    April blew past the last record in 2015 by a mile or two (+0.28 C or +0.43 F). [See NASA summary data here. Note that you have to go back to 1992 to find the first negative monthly number (-1) below average, and much further to the 1970s to find a year with a good spattering of negative numbers (below the mean).]

    If the first quarter holds true in predicting the full year, 2016 will take us to about +1.3 d C, almost three-forths of the way to that magical +2 d Centigrade that so many scientist warn we need to stay away from.

    Good news, we’ll be able to navigate the north pole by boat & barge form months this year. China’s gonna love that, avoiding the Panama Canal.

    The early thaw and dry conditions results in ugly fire conditions as demonstrated by the Alberta fires.

    Ironically, the fires caused by global warming, aggravate and accentuate the very factors that cause — you guessed it, global warming.

    And, in a double irony, the oil sands have a very heavy carbon footprint and environmental footprint. (Do a Google search on Alberta “Oil Sands before and after”.)  Visit Canadian TV News to look at McMurray fires.

    Fire and no ice!.

    Hot. Sad, True.

    Poop!:-(

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  • The Volusia County Water Summit – Stetson Today

    The Volusia County Water Summit – Stetson Today:

    The water summit discussed here, turned out to be a rather big event. Really good information & analysis. The right people thinking about the right issues.

    It seems that everyone agreed to do something about improving water management and water quality in the county. Although this is a non-binding agreement among the players, it is a really big step forward.

    Once everyone realizes those few areas where most of the efforts should be focused, it really helps get a concerted effort from all of the players, private, public and individuals.

    When we have these wicked algae blooms, that demonstrates a massive overshoot of what our waterways can handle. Such blooms cause problems all the way out to the reefs, accelerating the reef kill-off that has already been accelerating from record warm temperatures and increase acidification.

    The quality of life as we know it, is being eroded by the quality of our water and waterways.

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  • A single round (1 round) Delphi study. Conundrum of HR – Scenario Plans

    A single round (1 round) Delphi study. How can that be? – Scenario Plans (:

    Give a look at the two blogs related to Scenario plans and Delphi studies related to the 2007 research by Dr. Cheryl Lentz. Notice how Delphi-type research can be used for all kinds of studies.

    These are two blog posts. One on the actual Delphi research doing two things that make it a modified Delphi: 1 round, and quantitative.

    The second post is

    We love Delphi for scenario planning and a mechanism for innovation. But scenario planning is absolutely critical for sustainability planning. 
    See what you think?

    Keywords: Scenario Plans, Horizon Planning, innovation, Delphi, Future, innovation, perpetual innovation, 

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  • Lagoon faces unprecedented peril | News-JournalOnline.com

    Lagoon faces unprecedented peril | News-JournalOnline.com:

    Henderson does a great job of addressing the issues, the sources of the problems and various solutions.

    Volusia County is not alone in dealing with these problems. Tampa Bay, St Lucy and more have similar problems. Lawns and septic tanks are mentioned. Many people have their lawns on automatic, so it gets irrigated, rain or shine, winter or summer. They want to have beautiful green lawns year round in Florida. Especially in the rainy season, the fertilizer washes off so they add even more.

    Fertilizing at the right time, and careful water management is critical to avoiding all of the runoff of fertilizer. Systems are starting to get really smart, in fact, by sensing the moisture in the ground and checking weather forecasts. No need to water if it is likely to rain tomorrow.

    But what do you do with people who won’t be proactive in water management. In Florida, you have snow birds who are gone a lot. Renters who are less attentive and vacant houses.

    Septic is another issue. Passing a law that everyone has to have it pumped and inspected every couple years is overkill. Probe tests are ineffective, the last I heard, so opening it and pumping it, is the only sure way. And moving to a mandatory municipal service has lots of problems.

    In most of these areas, it seems that a combination of carrot and stick must be used.

    And that’s just two of the sources. There’s Ag, industrial, traffic, boating and other sources of pollutants.

    At the source types of remedies are always easiest. Identifying the biggest issues and concentrating on those big issues and are actionable is a critical place to start.

    Imagine that almost every community everywhere (Flint, Michigan) is have medium to major water issues. Droughts, floods, contaminants, and aging water systems.

    There are some good sources on the topic(s):

    • Out of water: From abundance to scarcity and how to solve the world’s water problems by Chartres and Varma (2011).
    • Aqua Shock: The water crisis in America by Marks (2009)
    • World Water Day (at UN): http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday 

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  • ECO:nomics | The Wall Street Journal

    ECO:nomics | The Wall Street Journal:

    The WSJ’s big forum on ECOnomics seems to have been a great learning and sharing session for divergent ideas on how to blend economic growth/development with environmental needs.

    A special report in the WSJ on Wed, April 13, 2016 offers several takes and interviews covering the spectrum of associated topics.

    A couple base statistics are that coal generated electricity has dropped from half of all US generation to less than 1/3 within about 10 years. The big gain is Nat Gas, but that too is changing. In 2015 solar was the #1 install base with 9.5 gw (37% of new), NatGas 8 gw (31%), wind 6.8 gw (26%). Only 4% new nuclear and fractions of other.

    Related to the switch from coal to NatGas, this is only a stop-gap measure: moving from one really bad non-renewable, coal; to a relatively better non-renewable, NatGas. Michael Brune from the Sierra Club comments on the methane and other issues that brings NatGas closer to parody with coal (really ugly vs. relatively ugly).

    Coal is really taking a hit, as Peabody goes bankrupt this week, bringing down all of the big coal companies. No victory laps here; the pain and suffering in the mining communities is going to be horrendous. (Also, bankruptcy doesn’t mean the mines will all stop, just that the debt associated with the companies will replace the equity positions.)

    Even against crashing oil/coal prices, solar & wind are winning major solid footing. Even with the likelihood of subsidies going away, are now starting to be very price competitive (especially if you consider externality costs). BUT when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine (night) we still need regular power generation. Or battery-type storage.

    You have to marvel at the gain of renewables during the second year of record low fossil fuel costs. That is really, really impressive.

    Check out all the articles on the ECOnomics conference and interviews at the special business & energy section of the WSJ: http://www.wsj.com/news/types/journal-reports-energy

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