Not surprisingly, the insurance industry is leading the drive to increase corporate awareness of the looming climate change disaster. Unlike oil or manufacturing companies, they will be the first to get hurt as waterfront properties become valueless, as worsening weather creates disasters and as tourism economies lose their viability. Claims are already skyrocketing and the insurance companies are starting to refuse to insure waterfront homes.
They aren’t just saying no however. As this article details, they are offering discounts for driving hybrid cars and incentives to build greener buildings. This is a long term strategic (and practical) approach that other industries would be well advised to take seriously. After all, these are the guys who track the likelihood of practically anything happening. If their actuarial tables show losses due to warming then you can bet it’s real.

An Italian company is developing generators powered by kites that have the potential to produce electricity at rates comparable to nuclear power. They claim that the technology is ready to scale. Cryptic Flash animation here. Wired covers it in detail.

These kinds of stories are popping up all over (see Solar Chimney, Wave Power, Gladwell on Geothermal ). The combination of high oil costs and rising awareness of climate change is driving investment in alternative energy to all time highs. I love finding this stuff because it has a positive spin, unlike so many of the stories coming out of the warming crisis.

According to Wired.com, Aqua Sciences Inc., a Florida company that I cannot find anywhere on the web (they’re not Aqua Science singular) has demonstrated a machine that inexpensively mines clean potable water out of air and works even in low humidity situations. The projected cost per gallon is around $.30. Like many such breakthroughs this is a military application driven by the cost of delivering water to a place like Iraq, where it costs the military an estimated $30.00 gallon to fly water in (I know- $30 a gallon sounds crazy but it includes the costs of running C17 transports).

The twenty foot long device can generate 600 gallons per day.

Given the dire water situation in many parts of the world, it would be great to see this technology targeting saving lives in non-war circumstances. The Wired article does not mention the cost of the devices.

Update: Thanks to Stuart for pointing out that the company’s site is here.

A comprehensive new report available here details what the climate in the northest may look like at the end of the century. The changes are alarming to say the least:
By the end of this century, winters could warm by 8 to 12°F and summers by 6 to 14°F.
• Historically, major cities in the Northeast experience 10 to 15 days per year when temperatures
exceed 90oF. By mid-century, cities such as Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston could
experience 30 to 60 days of temperatures over 90°F each summer. By late in the century, most
cities in the region are likely to experience more than 60 days with temperatures over 90oF,
including 14 to 28 days with temperatures over 100°F (compared with one or two days per year
historically).
• As winter temperatures rise, more precipitation will fall as rain and less as snow. By the end of
the century, the length of the winter snow season could be cut in half.

Climate Change in the U.S. Northeast
• The frequency of late summer and fall droughts is projected to increase significantly, with short-
term droughts (lasting one to three months) becoming as frequent as once per year over much of
the Northeast by the end of the century.
• The character of the seasons will change significantly, with spring arriving three weeks earlier by
the end of the century, summer lengthening by about three weeks at both its beginning and end,
fall becoming warmer and drier, and winter becoming shorter and milder.
• Sea-level rise will continue, reaching anywhere from a few inches to more than one foot by mid-
century. By the end of the century, global sea level could rise from eight inches up to nearly three
feet, increasing the risk of coastal flooding and damage from storm surges.
• Higher global temperatures also imply a greater risk of destabilizing the Greenland and West
Antarctic ice sheets. It is possible, particularly under the higher-emissions scenario, that warming
could reach a level during this century beyond which it would no longer be possible to avoid
rapid ice sheet melting and a sea-level rise of more than 20 feet over the next few centuries.

Thanks to the Union of Concerned Scientists for access to this report (and lots of additional material).