Oil: enough energy to melt glaciers! 14

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1. 

   Erik Hoffner Posted 2:20 pm
   18 Nov 2009

   That is so ironically prescient. Amazing.
   
   Erik, Orion Grassroots Network

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2. 

   Tom Twigg Posted 2:40 pm
   18 Nov 2009

   You just don't see that kind of truth-in-advertising anymore ;^)

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3. 

   tidal Posted 4:30 pm
   18 Nov 2009

   classic. thanks for that!

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4. 

   alexismadrigal Posted 4:44 pm
   18 Nov 2009

   I would like to see a gallery of old oil ads. They are really tremendous in all decades.

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5. 

   Michael Tobis Posted 8:40 pm
   18 Nov 2009

   I do the numbers here:
   
   http://initforthegold.blogspot.com/2009/11/melting-ohio-daily.html

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6. 

   subconscious Posted 9:11 pm
   18 Nov 2009

   Scary ad, does anyone know the name of this glacier. I can't read the photo label and I would really like to find a modern day photo for comparison purposes, i.e. show a class.
   thanks,

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7. 

   libkat Posted 9:01 am
   19 Nov 2009

   @subconscious - I got a better look at the caption below the photo by clicking on the Google Books link. It says it is Taku Glacier in Alaska, a "river of ice stretching 270 square miles." Hope that helps with your class!

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8. 

   NewNews Posted 10:21 am
   19 Nov 2009

   Lol, amusing in retrospect. Though to put in context, early-60s were characterized by some brutal cold snaps and cooler weather in general. Global cooling and the New Ice Age were the big news items of the day.

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9. 

   sindark Posted 12:57 pm
   19 Nov 2009

   Every square metre of the Earth’s surface receives about 340 watts from the sun. Anthropogenic climate change has increased that by about 1.66 watts per metre: a total increase of 850 trillion watts (terawatts, TW).
   
   For the sake of contrast, all of industrial civilization uses 13TW. The flow of heat from the Earth’s core to the surface – driver of volcanism and continental plate movement – is 40 TW. The net primary productivity of all of Earth’s ecosystems is around 130TW, 15-30TW of which are human croplands, pastures, and forestry plantations.
   
   That gives some sense of just how enormous the influence of our greenhouses gasses is, because it affects the massive energy flow from the sun.
   
   Another way to look at this is to note that for every watt of energy humanity uses for its own purposes, it is adding over 65 watts of warming power to the climate system.

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   1. 

      Albionwood Posted 9:35 am
      25 Nov 2009

      Sindark, allow me to be pedantic, because I think it is necessary to be precise when describing these things. Your first sentence is incorrect - many square meters of the Earth's surface receive less than 340W, and some receive more. What I think you meant to say is that the Earth receives an _average_ of 340W per square meter.
      
      Your second sentence is even more inaccurate. Anthropogenic activity has had very little effect on the amount of energy _received_ from the Sun; what we have done is reduce the amount re-radiated back into space. That increases the net gain from solar energy, but it doesn't actually change the amount that strikes the surface. (To be precise, the amount that strikes the atmosphere is unchanged; changes in atmospheric conditions can change reflectivity, causing increases or decreases in the amount that strikes the ground surface.)
      
      I think it's important to state things accurately so that others don't misinterpret your meaning. Plenty of AGW deniers would love to sieze on misstatements like these.

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10. 

    Michael Tobis Posted 1:03 pm
    19 Nov 2009

    Sindark, yes, and climbing; the lifetime of carbon in the air is long.
    
    By counting power rather than energy you are in a sense actually underestimating the impact. In my article I used the multiplier 100 (specific to petroleum) rather than 65. Even that only counts impacts over the next century. If you look deeper into the future it gets even worse.

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11. 

    2349 Posted 1:40 pm
    19 Nov 2009

    The actual person that found this was Jay Leno. He showed it on the air on Monday night.

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12. 

    CyberBrook Posted 9:53 am
    20 Nov 2009

    A rare example of truth in advertising for the oil industry, which funds so much misinformation about oil, pollution, and global warming.
    
    I wonder if we could find any gems like this from the meat or tobacco industries...

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