• On global warming • Kaua‘i Marathon shouldn’t stall roads • Solar water heater law needs second look On global warming Man-caused global warming (MCGW) believer, Luke Evslin, airily dismisses the fraud of Michael Mann who hid disprobative evidence debunking
• On global warming • Kaua‘i Marathon shouldn’t stall roads • Solar water heater law needs second look
On global warming
Man-caused global warming (MCGW) believer, Luke Evslin, airily dismisses the fraud of Michael Mann who hid disprobative evidence debunking MCGW. While skeptics haven’t lied or hid anything. They haven’t needed to.
The writer also ignores the century-long absence of a Category III or stronger hurricane making U.S. landfall.
He then cites “consensus” to support MCGW. But science is not consensus. It’s the product of empirical analysis. Peer pressure often prohibits the heresy of skepticism, and some scientists were fired for it.
The writer cites NASA’s James Hansen’s 1988 prediction of a catastrophic rise in temperature, which obviously never happened. An article in Real Science showed twice as many high temperature records set in the 1930s versus the 2000s. This is precisely why Hansen used the 1950s as the baseline for his alarmist junk science.
The holy grail of MCGW is CO2 emissions. The zealots believe that this life-supporting gas is causing the famous “hockey-stick graph” temperature rise. But Mann’s “climate gate” scandal showed this to be bogus. The best data show CO2 rises occur centuries after a major temperature rise, not before. Even MCGW advocate Fred Krupp said “one scorching summer doesn’t confirm climate change any more than a white Christmas proves it’s a hoax.”
MCGW godfather, James Lovelock, interviewed on msnbc.com, admitted being an “alarmist” on climate change. He said temperatures have not matched computer models, and added “we don’t know what the climate is doing.” Indeed. What is occurring is a bunch of green fanatics, wanting to strangle our energy supply, are running a swindle on the American public. But cranking up the volume, resorting to invective and scoffing at “inconvenient truths” won’t resuscitate their dead horse.
John Burns, Princeville
Kaua‘i Marathon shouldn’t stall roads
I have volunteered for an aid station for the Kaua‘i Marathon for three years. I was never aware that KM shuts ALL roads to Koloa from 6 to 9a.m.! I assisted with many runs with the Garden Island Roadrunners of old and do not recall a run that shut off access to an area so totally.
Po‘ipu offers many running areas to chart a course safely and sanely! If the taxpayer continues to foot some of the bill, I would like to work with race organizers to find a safer alternate course and expand the event to include shorter distances whereby people of all ages can participate in an event that requires such major planning.
A loop course would allow for individual and relay teams to participate with fewer aid stations and more opportunities for balancing the books with more smiling participants. I think KPD would be happier with a safe course not requiring rigorous patrolling and unhappy residents and visitors stalled by closed roads.
I congratulate all participants and finishers and hope you consider asking for an expanded and safely executed event in the future! I would like Kaua‘i to bring more aloha to the community for the aloha volunteers extended this past weekend!
Carolyn Lum, Lihu‘e
Solar water heater law needs second look
Councilwoman Nadine Nakamura has it right. The Council should get more information before pressing the State to “close the loophole” in Act 104, the solar water heater law. Since the law went into effect in 2010, 65 percent of the new homes built on Kaua‘i opted for tankless gas water heaters rather than solar.
Fortunately, those owners had a choice, and they have spoken. They likely had good reasons but apparently no one has asked why they made their choices. I believe Act 104 is intended to reduce the amount of fuels we need to import to Hawai‘i. Compared to conventional water heaters, both solar and tankless gas meet that objective. However, it’s not easy to pick the best of the two for the consume, or the environment for that matter.
The costs of backup power and propane go into any comparison of life cycle costs. Tankless gas water heaters only heat when needed and automatically shut down when the water flow stops. Solar water heaters must be backed up by electric heaters at night and during cloudy weather. With our system, we must manually switch the backup power on and off. If we turn it on or leave it on unnecessarily, our energy use and costs go up. As another example of other life cycle costs, our 21 year old storage tank is way past its life expectancy. Replacement won’t be cheap.
In closing, two other things about Act 104 are mystifying. One — you can only consider a tankless water heater if there is another gas appliance in the house. Why? Second, Councilwoman Yukimura’s amendment requires an applicant to sign an affidavit that they will be the buyer/owner before being allowed to apply to use a tankless water heater. Why does it matter who is going to live in the house?
John Love, Kapa‘a
