Must Read: The Conversion Of A Climate Change Skeptic By Physicist Richard Muller

From the Koch brothers funded, Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project, Professor Muller in his NYT op-ed of July 28 says:

"Call me a converted skeptic. Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real  and that prior estimates of the warming were correct. I'm now going a step further. Humans are almost entirely the cause."

See www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/opinion/the-conversion-of-a-climate-change-skeptic.html.

Professor Muller goes on to say that temperatures have increased 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit in 250 years, with 1.5 degrees taking place in the last 50 years.  Professor Muller projects another 1.5 degree increase in the next 50 years, but states that temperatures could increase 1.5 degrees in just 20 years, if Chinese growth and energy patterns continue.

Those numbers have major operating implications for the electric industry as well as our environment and economy.  See the posts about cooling water problems caused by record heat.  Put simply, its going to get hotter than the record heat experienced in the last 2 years, and pretty quickly, and there will be substantial impacts, whether or not we are prepared.

Professor Muller is an intellectually honest scientist who rigorously examined and probed the immense collection of data and, as a result, has done a "total turnaround" on the reality of climate change and its causation.  That the Koch brothers funded his work in part is remarkable.