Climategate Scientists Cleared

Kelly Smith — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:00:00 GMT

Seven months ago, the Climategate email scandal broke. Emails that described some statistical methods used with the climate data were made public. To many climate change skeptics, these emails seemed to bring the validity of some climate change research into question and suggest fraudulent or unscientific research methods.

Now an independent review panel has released their findings in this matter to the general public. This 160-page report does not find any problem with the scientists or the data that should cause anyone to question the validity of the climate change research conducted at the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, or the data they contributed to reports made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The panel did find that researchers should be more open with the public when they receive requests for information, and they should make it more clear to the general public how they used the data to create various graphic organizers and climate predictions.

Climate change skeptics can no longer legitimately hold onto this scandal as a means to deny climate change.

Record heat waves on the East Coast of the US add to the list of recent extreme weather events that will become more common as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere increase.

Meanwhile, oil is still spilling and cleanup and containment efforts are still going on in the Gulf of Mexico months after an explosion caused oil to start spewing into the water at a rate of 60,000 barrels each day.

Now is not the time to make petty arguments about statistics. Now is the time to find alternatives to the dirty fossil fuels of the past. Investing in energy efficiency, purchasing renewable green power, and conserving conventional energy use are a good way to start turning to clean energy.

Photo via .Martin.

Can green power providers be trusted?

Rahul Chitrapu — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:09:00 GMT

I was talking with one engineer today who is pretty passionate about the environment and wants to do his part to curb climate change. We got into a discussion about green power and how it has one of the biggest impacts on a person’s environmental footprint. When I asked him whether he would purchase green power from his local utility or an independent provider (he did not know about Ecoelectrons), he indicated that he was skeptical as to whether green power – power form wind or solar or other eco-friendly sources – would really be injected onto the grid on his behalf by the green power provider. I explained that it is a regulated industry and there is oversight by organizations like Green-e. Green power will be injected onto the grid on his behalf. He didn’t seem convinced.

Why is there this lack of trust despite of regulation? Do you have any thoughts as to how the green power industry can improve its credibility amongst the public?

The Green Power Blog

Climategate Scientists Cleared

Can green power providers be trusted?