Alien solar system Kepler-80 has tightly spaced planets in synchronized orbits

Synchronized orbits of the Kepler-80 system [Credit: Florida Institute of Technology]

Another example of planetary resonance has been discovered thanks to NASA’s Kepler space telescope.
H/T Phys.org

Located about 1,100 light years away, Kepler-80, named for the NASA telescope that discovered it, features five small planets orbiting in extreme proximity to their star.

As early as 2012, Kepler scientists found that all five planets orbit in an area about 150 times smaller than the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, with “years” of about one, three, four, seven and nine days.

US energy chief makes bold claim for storage technology

Credit: impactlab.net

Is the world ready for organic flow batteries using extracts from rhubarb? PEI reports on some new electricity storage ideas hoping to save renewable energy from ultimate failure. ‘Holy Grail’ or wild goose chase – time will tell.

The US energy secretary, Ernest Moniz, believes the advances being made in storage technology means that the country will be completely decarbonised by the 2050s.

A global race, seen initially in Europe and the US is leading to a rapid acceleration in innovation that may dispense with the need for nuclear and thermal power by that time according to the technology’s backers, as the Achilles heel of intermittency will no longer impact on the overall effectiveness of renewables.

Site enhancement (minor)

Tim wrote,

Recently a Talkshop reader asked

stuartlarge says:
August 8, 2016 at 12:56 am

I have a problem bookmarking your site book, sometimes it just does not show new editions.
If you had a “home” button I would find it easier to check.
I like you blog and read it everyday, but the last article I can find is aug 1st

Stuart

Roger replied …

Arrival of US shale gas raises pressure on Scottish Nationalists

The launch of the Ineos Insight Dragon shale supertanker2 [image credit: scottishenergynews.com]

The days of North Sea gas and oil dominating the UK energy scene are over as this news demonstrates. If the Scot Nats are insisting on ‘no damage to the environment’ why are the hills and coasts increasingly strewn with towering wind turbines?
H/T GWPF

The first shipment of American shale gas extracted by the controversial fracking technique will arrive in Scotland next month, The Times has learnt.

Industry insiders have confirmed that the first of a fleet of “Dragon-class” ships, each capable of transporting huge quantities of the shale gas ethane, will dock within the next seven weeks.

Govt floats plan to pay individual households fracking dividend

Residents affected by fracking could be paid a proportion of the proceeds of shale gas projects, the government has suggested.

A shale wealth fund was unveiled in 2014 to set aside up to 10% of the tax proceeds from fracking to benefit communities in the UK hosting wells.

The PM is now considering paying the money directly to individual households instead of councils and local trusts.

The plan is one option due to be outlined in a consultation on Monday.

Solar radio and extreme UV during current cycle

Tim wrote,

From A& A (Astronomy and Astrophysics) this month is a paper where some readers will take a shine.

Comparison of solar radio and extreme ultraviolet synoptic limb charts during the present solar maximum
A. J. Oliveira e Silva, C. L. Selhorst, P. J. A. Simões and C. G. Giménez de Castro
A&A, 592 (2016) A91
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201527792
(free access with registration)

The US Renewable Fuel Standard: “Set up for fraud”

One fraudster’s toy

Reporter Marita Noon lifts the lid on various cases of biofuel fraud in the US.

America’s rush to renewables has invited corruption and fraud. Researcher Christine Lakatos and I, together, have produced the single largest body of work on green-energy crony-corruption.

Our years of collaboration have revealed that those with special access and influence have cashed in on the various green-energy programs and benefitted from the mandates, rules, and regulations that accompany the huge scheme.

‘Water Battery’: Charging water by means of a mini water bridge

Floating water bridge setup [image credit: Argonne National Laboratory / Physorg]

This Science Daily story dates back to March this year, but the water bridge phenomenon itself is nothing new. In the linked video [see note below] Robert Johnson discusses ‘Plasma Behavior in the Floating Water Bridge’.
So how do floating water bridges defy gravity?

Together with the Wetsus research centre in The Netherlands, researchers of TU Graz have managed to produce electrically charged water by means of a floating water bridge.

Until its scientific rediscovery in 2007 at TU Graz, the “water bridge” phenomenon, discovered in the 19th century, had sunk into oblivion.

Jamal Munshi: The United Nations: An Unconstrained Bureaucracy

An article about the failings of the UN highlights a paper by our friend Jamal Munshi -Professor Emeritus at Sonoma State University:

The situation has become so bad that some academics have concluded that it is time to shut down the UN’s out-of-control bureaucracies. A paper by Sonoma State University Professor Emeritus Jamal Munshi published by the Social Science Research Network, for example, makes a solid case for ditching the UN environmental bureaucracy. Under the headline “The United Nations: An Unconstrained Bureaucracy,” the June 2016 paper concludes that “unconstrained and undisciplined public sector bureaucracies do not serve the interest of the public” and that “such UN bureaucracies can safely be dismantled without any harm to the public interest.”

In a note to The New American, Professor Munshi said that “the case study is specific to the UNEP, however, the broader conclusion that we can draw from the UNEP case study is that a public sector entity without accountability and constraint and without adequate oversight and discipline mechanisms tends to serve itself and not the public.” That, he added, “would apply to the whole of the UN.”

First we #Brexit and then we #Clexit

After several years of fighting, and losing, various elections, winning the EU referendum campaign has been a real tonic for me. If it had been fought on the same electoral ‘first past the post’ basis constituency by constituency, ‘the Brexit party’ would have won 70% of the seats. In my home region of Yorkshire and Humberside, where I was a Leave campaign director, it would have been a landslide, with all but a few of its 54 constituencies voting for an exit from the EU.

While Brexit is being negotiated, we are starting another campaign – Clexit. The aim is to get all nations to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord. The founders, Marc Morano in the States, Christopher Monckton in the UK and Viv Forbes in Australia, have now invited me to head up the Clexit-UK campaign. I’ll have more details soon, discussions are ongoing.

New Dawn Of Truth: London Climate Change Conference 2016

It’s finally happening. Thanks to Herculean efforts by Niklas Morner, we are presenting a two-day conference in central London on the 8-9th September. Speakers are coming from all over the world to present their work, and it is not to be missed!

Take the 8-9th September off work and join us for this historic event. The first UK climate conference in decades which will counter the scaremongering of the IPCC with a cool, rational approach to the study of climate change, presenting alternative explanations, new data, theory and commentary. Topics include solar-planetary theory, causes of ENSO, sea ice extent, sea level, ozone depletion, volcanos, regional forecasting, journal gatekeeping and many more.

The list of contributors is long, we are packing a huge number of presentations into this two day event. Speakers include Niklas Morner, myself, Ned Nikolov and Karl Zeller,  Nicola Scafetta, Per Strandberg, Jan-Erik Solheim, and thats before lunch on day one! Piers Corbyn will be there! So will  Christopher Monckton! See the full programme and the extended abstracts in this 35 Megabyte document for full details. There are also some travel and booking details on the geoethic.com website. An updated version is available on reseachgate