It's not just the heat...

An interesting study was recently published this week in the journal Nature. The study showed that yet another affect of man-made emissions of GHG's is increasing humidity. As this article from the Associated Press notes.. "it's not just the heat, its the humidity".. an ironic cliche. The study notes that humidity will raise 6% with every 1 degree raise in temperature. The 40degree humidex they had in Toronto last week starts to make a little more sense now, doesn't it?

Humidity plays a large role on the stress that heat causes on the human body. This was more than evident in the record European heat wave of 2003 that caused over 35,000 deaths; most of which were elderly due to their higher susceptibility to both heat and humidity. Humidity also causes increased evaporation, as well as prolonged heat during the night in urban areas, because of the increased the heating effect on concrete and asphalt structures. Lastly, like many climate change phenomena, it is in itself a contributer to global warming, as water vapour can trap heat in the atmosphere causing yet another vicious circle (similar to the melting arctic ice).

What this article doesn't mention is if the raise in temperature is the only cause of this increased humidity. I wouldn't be surprised if coal and nuclear thermal plants play a large role in adding humidity to the atmosphere. To generate electricity using coal or nuclear, water is boiled into steam which then powers a turbine. Most of this steam then turns back into water and is reheated, or returned from where it came (river, lake, ocean etc). However, about 2L/kWh for coal and 3L/kWh for nuclear is lost as water vapour into the atmosphere. This isn't that huge a problem in Nova Scotia, because we use salt water from the ocean, but it is having extremely negative consequences in Ontario and Alberta, where fresh water is being used. (this steam turbine technology was invented in 1884, in case you wondered about the technology that powers your iPod)

On a very related issue, the Great Lakes are at an all time low, as Ontario plans to bring its second nuclear reactor online and as higher temperatures cause increased evaporation. (here).

Premiers meeting on GHG Emissions

Well, I can manage to type with two hands again, which allows me to comment on the recent Council of the Federation meetings in NB. The Premiers of the Provinces and Territories were meeting over the past few days, and the major topic of discussion was GHG Emissions. While almost every province was in favour of a Cap and Trade system, none of the Premiers was able to stand up to Alberta to sign a country wide agreement to Cap and Trade emissions. So the greatest environmental pillaging our county has ever seen will continue, unfettered still. Alberta has a yearly surplus of over $8Billion, population growth that can't be handled, and crumbling infrastructure, yet they can't see the benefit of investing in clean technology, or in their future. They have even recently decided to impose a cap on wind energy production, yet they won't put a cap on oil sands development. What the powers that be in Alberta, along with our Calgarian Prime Minister, fail to realize that forcing companies to reduce their emissions by putting a dollar value on those emissions will only encourage innovation and establish an industry of carbon sequestration and diversion that could apply its trade all over the world. The technology has already been established to pump CO2 into the ground, and it can even be used to force more of their precious oil out of the ground, and implementing would barely make a dent in the oil companies record breaking profits.

Closer to home, Premier MacDonald said that many of the Premiers were asking about his Environmental Goals and Sustainability Act that states that NS will reduce our GHG emissions by 10% below 1990 levels by 2020. He also stated that "the province needs to move forward more quickly on determining specific plans on reducing emissions ... but we should have an added urgency based on what other provinces are doing". Very true. Nova Scotia needs a government who can make the tough decisions in the short term so that the province will benefit long after they are out of office. We have heard enough talk, when the governments sits in the Fall, the people of Nova Scotia will be looking for action.