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Climate and energy

How the climate works, why it is changing and what the choices about energy involve, from the greenhouse effect to how a solar panel or a nuclear plant makes electricity. The notes say what the evidence shows and what is still argued.

12 notes from Graphite. Free to read, with no account. Nothing here is for sale.

Start here

Where to begin.

The note that answers the topic’s biggest question, then the two it leads to most directly.

  1. Start here

    What is climate change? Causes and effects, plainly

    Climate change is the long-term shift in Earth's temperatures and weather. Since the 1800s it has been driven mainly by greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.

    Graphite6 min read

  2. Then

    What is the greenhouse effect? How Earth stays warm

    The greenhouse effect is how gases in the air absorb heat rising from Earth and send part of it back down, keeping the planet about 33°C warmer than it would be without them.

    Graphite6 min read

  3. And then

    What is renewable energy? Solar, wind, water and more

    Renewable energy comes from sources nature refills faster than people use them, such as sunlight, wind, flowing water and Earth's heat. How each one makes power, and its limits.

    Graphite6 min read

Every note

All 12 notes in Climate and energy.

The three above, then the rest. Each answers one question and links to the notes it leads to.

  2. What is El Niño? And La Niña, explained

    El Niño is a natural warming of the tropical Pacific that shifts weather worldwide every few years. La Niña is its cool opposite. How the see-saw works and what it does.

    Graphite7 min read

  3. What is OPEC? How the oil cartel works

    OPEC is a group of oil-exporting countries, founded in 1960, that sets production targets to influence oil prices. How its quotas work, what OPEC+ is, and where its power ends.

    Graphite6 min read

  4. How do tornadoes form? The science of twisters

    Tornadoes form when a thunderstorm's rising air spins up winds that change with height, most often in a rotating storm called a supercell. Why only some storms make them.

    Graphite6 min read

  5. How is oil formed? From ancient plankton to petrol

    Oil is formed from tiny sea plankton and algae buried in mud and slowly cooked at 60 to 120°C over millions of years. Not from dinosaurs, and not fast enough to replace.

    Graphite7 min read

  6. What is an ice age? Why Earth freezes and thaws

    An ice age is a long period when ice sheets cover parts of Earth's land. Strictly, we are in one now, in a warm spell between glacial advances paced by Earth's orbit.

    Graphite6 min read

  7. How do hurricanes form? Warm water, wind and spin

    Hurricanes form over ocean water of about 27°C, where rising moist air releases heat that feeds a spinning storm. The ingredients, the eye, the categories and climate's role.

    Graphite7 min read

  8. What is nuclear fusion? The power of the Sun, on Earth

    Nuclear fusion is two light atomic nuclei joining into a heavier one, releasing energy. It powers the Sun; on Earth it has made net energy only at the target, not yet electricity.

    Graphite7 min read

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