1/6 I am thrilled to announce that I have moved to to lead a new initiative on Climate Systems Engineering. See news story. This thread addresses some obvious questions.
news.uchicago.edu/story/david-ke
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David Keith
@DKeithClimate
Science and Technology Policy, mostly on climate, since 351 ppm. Now focused on solar geoengineering . Founded Carbon Engineering. Bias for nature.
David Keith’s Tweets
Read this if you care about solar geoengineering. (Where "Care about" includes a strong bias for or against research).
This is a terrific, well researched, opinion essay.
has found his voice on his topic, and it's a voice worth hearing.
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The private sector is suddenly interested in solar geoengineering — to the dismay of some scientists in the space: technologyreview.com/2023/04/27/107
technologyreview.com/2023/04/27/107
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Ideas ➡️ hardware
Almost 20 years since we started trying to cost out Klaus Lackner's claims about removing carbon from the atmosphere, and 12.5 years since forming Carbon Engineering.
Now construction moving fast on 0.5 MtCO2/yr plant.
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Today’s groundbreaking ceremony in Texas marks an important moment in Carbon Engineering’s history and for the deployment of large-scale Direct Air Capture (DAC).
CE’s founder @DKeithClimate was there for the shovel turn, witnessing a milestone on the journey he began in 2009. twitter.com/1PointFiveCCUS…
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Want a quick policy-relevant summary of cutting-edge research on climate impacts of heat? Too busy to read every word of Carelton et al, 2022? (academic.oup.com/qje/article/13)
Then check out the transcript of Michael Greenstone's testimony. It's great:
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Climate Now keeps making great pods & vids.
I had a walk-on role in this one, starting 32:30 -- "Nuclear is a shit show..."
It's also a known way to make carbon-free power with a small footprint. A big plus, but how to make it useful?
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winner of best "i lost my blue check" tweet competition
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Who needs a blue check when you have a BLUE WHALE?
read image description
ALT
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N.B., It's 50 years since first published on Animal Liberation, hope to see more to make the anniversary
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Join me on Monday April 3 in a special online event to mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of my first work on animal liberation: my review essay in the New York Review of Books, April 5, 1973. Here are the details and a link: networks.h-net.org/node/16560/dis
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Tomorrow on S4E9 of , , & guest dissect Canada's bet on electrification. Don't miss it, register now! 👉
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6/6 Q3-What about Harvard? I am very proud of what we built. A diverse group of faculty across the university are now keen on SRM research. Harvard's Solar Geoengineering Research Program has $$$. My hope & expectation is that it thrives as part of the Salata Insitute.
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5/6 Initial foci include solar geoengineering; aspects of carbon removal such as ocean alkalinity that, like SRM, demand a broad understanding of earth system science; and local interventions to reduce glacial melting.
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4/6 Q2-What is Climate Systems Engineering? It's the intersection of Climate Systems Science and Systems Engineering. Participants will decide the mix of topics as the initiative matures.
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3/6 Efforts at other institutions have been driven bottom-up by a faculty member who advocated for research on this topic, often against resistance. The launch of the UChicago initiative thus serves as yet another mark of how work on solar geoengineering is maturing.
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2/6 Q1-Why does this matter? The UChicago initiative is distinct in that it started with a wide-ranging faculty consultative process that led to a strategic choice by university leadership to pursue research in this area.
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Unusually clear and balanced explanation of carbon removal, including a smart extension of the bathtub analogy to explain why CDR is not CCS and why trees and different from geologic storage.
Kudos whose next topic is SRM
youtu.be/kfNr2zUDEZc via
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Don't panic about lithium (or Co, Ni, Sc, Y...)
Ted's thread does a sweet job making the argument. I have had some students write strong essays making the same points.
Yet the siren call of scarcity is so strong people keep returning to it against evidence.
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If you would have taken Julian Simon's side of The Bet, meaning you don't believe world will run out of raw materials - oil, coal, iron, copper, phosphorous, uranium, etc - then totally hypocritical to claim world will run out lithium or cobalt needed for energy transition.
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Good to see this out. Important paper.
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"Solar geoengineering research programs on national agendas: a comparative analysis of Germany, China, Australia, and the US"
'Climatic Change' article (lead @joshuahorton533) where we apply 'multiple streams' framework to anticipate SRM research programs rdcu.be/c87C4
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The Simons Foundation announces a 10 m$/year program to fund the science of solar radiation modification (SRM). Applications open now.
simonsfoundation.org/grant/solar-ra
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Wow! Mark just knows that no CCS project can ever be useful. Not one.
Mark, what did God look like when you talked with her?
This level of overconfidence may help get Twitter followers, but I suspect it makes it harder to craft sound environmental policy.
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Replying to @mzjacobson @DKeithClimate and 4 others
It is black and white
Direct Air Capture (DAC) & Carbon Capture and Use/Storage (CCUS) are useless at reducing CO2 and increase fossil mining, pollution & infrastructure
They serve only to lengthen the life of the fossil industry while damaging health and climate
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S4E8 of : Can Contracts for Difference Keep Canada Competitive? w/, , , is live today at 11am MT! Register now for the live webinar recording
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Another day another webinar...but this one is hosted by Electrify Now, electrifynow.net
Live 12:30 MT today or later on the interwebs
eventbrite.com/e/solar-radiat
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“You don’t call something SATAN if you’re playing it straight.” -- in excellent piece by on previously undisclosed solar geoengineering experiment.
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Scoop: Researchers launched a solar geoengineering test flight in the UK last fall
technologyreview.com/2023/03/01/106
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An open letter seeking more discussion of doing research into solar radiation management. Yes, it's risky - but is it more risky than not doing the research? I've signed the letter. Read and decide for yourself:
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Tomorrow on S4E7 of , , & talk how to separate politics from policies in the #energytransition. Don't miss it, register now! 👉
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Drill for Hydrogen? I strongly recommend the extended news article in Science -- more nuanced and pix of the operation on Mali.
Very interesting but also deep (literal and figurative) uncertainties.
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I am floored. nytimes.com/2023/02/27/opi
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Among the notable signatories Peter Singer, Thelma Krug, Jim Hansen, Thomas Peter, Peter Cox, ....
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Press conference today:
Topic: Press briefing - Call for balanced research and assessment of SRM
Time: Feb 28, 2023 04:00 PM Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna, Tunis, Lagos
ethz.zoom.us/j/62796570938
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Another open letter on solar radiation modification (SRM), this one led by Claudia Wieners of Utrecht with help from many others, particularly Mathias .
call-for-balance.com
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An open letter on Sunlight Reflection Methods released today offers strong arguments for research from earth scientists.
I am happy to be an early signatory. Thanks to Sarah Doherty and Phil Rasch for leading this effort.
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Whatever one calls it, SRM needs trustworthy international assessment.
(SRM=Solar Radiation Modification, Intervention, or geo...)
This report is important both for what it says and for UNEP, the agency that said it.
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New report from @UNEP:
"One Atmosphere: An Independent Expert Review on Solar Radiation Modification Research and Deployment"
All "key findings" in the images.
wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.
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Thanks for the thread and the shout out. Lots's happening in this space these days. The taboo is really breaking. Research is (I hope) starting to get serious. And the diversity of people and opinions is expanding fast.
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1/ First in order to even make sense of the book read @DKeithClimate
He’s a short primer on all things Solar Geo and as controversial as he is considered, I find him smart, straightforward, and eyes wide open about the gravity of the convo
keith.seas.harvard.edu/a-case-climate
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AFP excised bugs bunny! The quote I gave them was:
"This is so crazy it’s like asking if the earthquake was caused by bugs bunny digging for carrots. There is simply no known mechanism for anything remotely like HARP to have any impact on earthquakes."
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Le séisme en Turquie lié au programme américain de recherche HAARP ?
Il n'existe aucune preuve scientifique, ni aucun mécanisme plausible permettant au programme de provoquer un tel séisme, selon des chercheurs interrogés par l'#AFP
En détails 
u.afp.com/isnH
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Hey, just glanced at Twitter first time in a while. Looks like I have only 2 notifications.
Please help me understand what's up:
1. World rebooted an hour ago
2. Wheels coming off twit bus
3. Some new settings on notifications that I don't yet understand?
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And in another noteworthy Geoengineering op-ed just out, makes shines a light on NOAA's SRM-motivated stratospheric research
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...We have insufficient scientific evidence to say whether it is or isn’t. But inaction won’t change the incentives for blocking sunlight or sap wishful thinking: only publicly accumulating evidence will."
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"Scientists working on solar geoengineering should
welcome — indeed, demand — governance"
And, finally..."Sometimes, when I make these arguments, colleagues misinterpret me as saying that solar geoengineering is a
good idea...
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