It's been really hot here in Mountain View recently. Temperatures over 100 degrees are relatively uncommon in the Bay Area but perhaps they'll occur more frequently in the future. There's a good discussion of this topic on the TerraBlog (see this article). Specifically, the author discusses the impact of increases in mean temperature and/or variance on the frequency of heat waves. The third scenario - with an increase in both mean and variance - is particularly scary but unfortunately likely given the results of recent climate models trying to explain the extremely improbable 2003 European heat wave.Definitely concerning. As an aside, I'm still trying to figure out what I can do about all this - both personally and professionally. My wife recently bought a clothesline (see this article) and we got some CF bulbs awhile ago. But there's more than needs to be done.
1 comment:
It's all about the bike, baby. Well, okay, it's not all about the bike, but given that cars are least efficient in the first 5-10 minutes of use, biking to work could make a significant difference in your case. I think we're doing really well with laundry: 2 loads a week for a family of four and we only use the washer. That's not too bad. We've grown some of our own food this year - think of all the energy we've saved in that entire chain of processing. Let's figure out what our next step should be to cut back our energy consumption. love you. ap
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