Keynote Address given by Dr. Alfred Pekarek, Associate Professor of Geology at St. Cloud State University at the 2008 Award Dinner.

Dr. Alfred Pekarek, Keynote Presentation on “Climate Change & Energy”

Climate Change and Energy
INTRODUCTION
About 20 years ago, a small, but vocal group of scientists raised the issue of supposed anthropogenic global warming. A willing media picked up the cry and popularized it into a media event. About 15 years ago, the rest of the scientific community started to react, exclaiming, “wait a minute”, “you don’t have all the data”, “there are other explanations”.

In the last 5-10 years, we have heard ad nauseam that there is a scientific consensus— that anthropogenic global warming is real, that man is causing the earth to warm at an alarming rate by the burning of fossils fuels, that we are nearing a tipping point after which we are doomed. That consensus arose out of the UN’s IPPC group of 2500. However, in that group there are only about 300 qualified scientists. At the same time, dissenting groups of scientists numbering 100’s to 1000’s, and in one case, lOs of 1000s have disagreed.

Let’s be very clear on this – there is no scientific consensus on global warming.
So what is the real story?

Click link below for PowerPoint Presentation:

Climate Change and Energy

Selected Bibliography on climate change

• Leroux, M, 2005, Global Warming – Myth or Reality – the Erring Ways of Climatology: Springer, 509 p.An extended text, somewhat advanced, that explains the current state of climate science. Although the author is a leading French climatologist, the book is in English.
• Herman, JR, and Goldberg, RA, 1978, Sun, Weather, and Climate: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 360 p.This older publication by NASA extensively documents the correlation between solar activity and climate. At the time of publication they had very little understanding of the causative mechanisms. The mechanisms are now known to some extent and documented in the book by Svensmark and Calder (below).
• Singer, SF, and Avery, DT, 2007, Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1500 Years: Rowman and Littlefield, 260 p. This book extensively documents the cyclical nature of earth’s climate. It is probably the best book in this list for the beginner.
• Svensmark, H, and Calder, N, 2007, The Chilling Stars – a New Theory of Climate Change: Icon Books, 246 p. The Chilling Stars presents leading edge science on how the Sun controls our climate. It is a must read for anyone that wants to be fully informed on climate change.
• Spenser, R, 2008, Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science. Spencer is responsible for processing the satellite temperature data and is a very well-qualified climatologist. This book as equal to that of Singer listed above.

Great Websites for Information on Climate Change
www.co2science.org
Covers the literature on climate change, gives access to temperature records throughout the world Weekly online newsletter reviewing recent scientific articles. Good summaries in their archives
www.sepp.org (Fred Singer) Based in Washington, DC
Good science, but also covers the political aspects
Weekly online newsletter reviewing recent scientific and political developments
www.solarcycle24.com
Daily update on solar activity

A Great Reference on Energy

• Hayden, H. C., 2001, The Solar Fraud — Why Solar Energy Won’t Run the World: Vales Lake Pub., 22 p. Author is a retired physicist, University of Connecticut.A solid discussion for the general public of the physics involved in all current energy sources with an in-depth discussion of the inherent limitations of wind and solar power. These limitations are severe and will prevent wind and solar from ever providing a significant amount of our energy.