Green/Climate

2021-10-15

"In fact, it’s just plain stupid. And breathtakingly so"

"But the worst thing about this plan is that it will do virtually nothing to improve the climate while it destroys much of the free-market economy"

"In fact, what is coming to pass was best forewarned by late economist and Nobel laureate Friedrich von Hayek in his seminal 1944 work The Road to Serfdom"

Yes, it's another article critical of "green" energy policies, and well worth reading, not for the green/ungreen arguments but for the unspoken assumptions upon which these arguments are put forward. 

Well, they are spoken of now, and the

2021-10-11

We have heard a lot about Net Zero recently and we will likely hear a great deal more as COP26 bursts upon the media scene at the end of October, so it is entirely fitting that we mark the launch of a new web-site that will monitor and analyse developments in government green policy and its effects on the real world in which we must all continue to live.

So congratulations to the stalwarts at the Global Warming Policy Forum for setting up this initiative, and we wish them every success in their quest to inform public opinion and to bring reason and logic to this otherwise largely religious debate.

2021-10-09

In its latest UK News release the GWPF (Global Warming Policy Forum) warns "our" government that sending heating bills sky high by applying green levies on top of high and rising fuel prices may not be the best way to endear their policies to the people, already bruised and battered financially through lockdowns, pandemic costs, and the associated closures of small businesses.

Being also bruised and battered by the effective curtailment of NHS and private hospital services that have sent waiting lists rocketing and patients both fuming and despairing, they may not be in any mood to indulge his government's reckless pursuit of zero carbon UK, when push comes to shove and the bills drop through the letterboxes of the nation.

Does nobody remember Mrs Thatcher's

2021-09-29

“Government considers temporary nationalisation of energy companies to stop collapse”

"Minister warns of ‘really difficult winter’ amid rising energy costs and food shortages"

Yes, it's that 'conservative' word "nationalisation" again. Sir Kier must be groaning at the pursuit of socialist policies so arrogantly being bandied about by the Tory's - isn't "nationalisation" supposed to be Labour Party property? Maybe (along with the Green Party) he should have a word with the Met about such blatant theft.

Clearly failure of government to recognise failure of government policy is nothing new -  Climate Discussion Nexus has the appropriate rejoinder: "As was once said of Philip II of Spain, 'no experience of the failure of his policy could shake his belief in its essential excellence'".

So the green zombie policies march unthinkingly on...

2021-09-26

The Sunday Telegraph today carries a report on the way that the costs of transitioning the UK to "net zero" may not have been transparently and independently assessed, leading to a likely misrepresentation of these costs to Parliament.

"Committee on Climate Change spreadsheets only revealed after 2 year freedom of information campaign"

"... analysis of their financial models by the Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) shows that key assumptions were not credible even at the time the report was published"

"... but it is now clear that the CCC’s costings were incomplete, biased, and grossly misleading"

"The GWPF’s analysis of the CCC’s costings is ongoing, and further announcements are expected in the coming weeks"

2021-09-24

Nigel returns to the politico-financial fray to talk green and financial - of course the two topics are inextricable, each one feeding off the other in a symbiotic dance of wealth-transfer from the 99% to the 1%.

Nigel being Nigel, he does not beat about the bush:

"The biggest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich that we've ever seen"

Welcome back Nigel, we have missed you.

Like /Dislike this video here.

2021-09-14

GWPF gives evidence to the House of Lords inquiry into the Costs of Net Zero

"The GWPF has repeatedly drawn attention to growing evidence that casts doubt on official estimates of the costs and feasibility of renewable energy to reduce CO2 emissions to meet the targets implied in the Climate Change Act (2008) and more recently the 2050 Net Zero target that has replaced it"

Read the full GWPF press release.

This is a very calm and careful inquisition by the Committee of Dr Constable, well worthwhile and can be viewed either by following the link from the press release, or from the link below.

"It's perfectly rational to have a decarbonisation policy, but the decarbonisation policy must itself be rational. In essence, this is

2021-09-08

This success story well illustrates the truth that incessant propaganda over many years can lead even the finest lawyerly minds to join the most dubious of band-wagons.

Of course if

(a) you believe the hype about the "settled" nature of probably the most complex science known to man (settled according to the many climate science models, which inevitably perform exactly according to the wishes of their designers - we have explored how models may not be science elsewhere) and

(b) that legal coercion is an acceptable way to enforce an entirely political agenda, 

then you will share the delight of the climate zealots who still believe that our world

2021-09-07

I know this because I took advantage to get back into the saddle and pedal my way around the local topography, resplendent in green and brown (the farmers were busy harvesting) and generally beautiful to the eye and challenging to the legs in equal measure.

It was a day when the call for power should have been pretty low, since no heating would be required, although perhaps there was some demand for air-conditioning. 

Anyway, the sunshine was abundant and surely all those solar panels would be pumping the electric juice?

Apparently not. It seems that solar was meeting less than 12% of our energy needs, and wind-power not even 2%. Gas was meeting just under 50% of demand but at a high price amid high global demand (if it's high now, how much higher will demand climb in the

2021-09-01

Climate Discussion Nexus investigates - the Antarctic? the Arctic? Greenland? Bangladesh? Well, no - the troposphere. More precisely, the tropical troposphere. 

What were the 2007 IPCC predictions predicting? and what happened according to the temperature data measurements?

"... basic problem with models is that they are not based upon fundamental physics, they are based upon approximations of what happens in the atmosphere..."

Like / Dislike this video here.

2021-08-20

The GWPF (Global Warming Policy Forum) thinks that it probably does. They believe that the government's prioritising of Wind and Solar renewables (both intermittent and inherently unreliable) over a robust combination of renewables underpinned by reliable thermodynamic power sources such as natural gas and nuclear, will likely cost the UK our geopolitical status, since the affordable and reliable availability of power underpins confidence in our economic and global leadership.

This is a concept that China and India, both intent on building more coal-fired power-stations, fully understand.

I would hesitate to place all our reliable power generation eggs in the nuclear basket however - whilst small modular reactors are fine in principle, Windscale is still home to ponds full of spent nuclear fuel that nobody seems either to know what to do with or to want to talk

2021-08-12

The GWPF (Global Warming Policy Forum) press release notes the oncoming political pressures on the Conservative Party if Boris continues with his stated plans to move the UK to "Net Zero".

As most normal people know, the costs will be vast and will fall disproportionately on the ordinary citizenry.

Even if the government ministers and their advisers haven't noticed, Tory MPs have and are making their views felt.

Whilst this is good news, a loss to Labour at the next election doesn't seem likely to redress the situation in the eyes of the voters since the Left are perhaps even more determined to push ahead with "green" initiatives than the Right, so the calculation may be that the public has no choice and will get the green

2021-08-10

The Global Warming Policy Forum press release puts the case, and restates the reason:

"despite yearly UN climate conferences it is now beyond doubt that renewable energy policies have failed to halt or slow the relentless rise in global CO2 emissions"

"these policies have only destroyed industry in the West and exported production and their CO₂ emissions to areas still using low cost fossil fuels, such as China. The conclusion is obvious. Climate policies are failing not because of a lack of political will, but because the technologies selected are extortionately expensive and ineffective"

In fact, these policies were designed to fail, and fail they have in

2021-07-26

The GWPF (Global Warming Policy Forum) notes the government plans for raising the costs of power in order to pay for EV charging stations.

The point about the switch from coal to oil was two-fold - convenience (oil didn't have to be shovelled) and energy density (you could go further on the same weight of oil) thus minimising the cost of carrying the stuff when used to power transport.

It's true that oil required the additional step of refining to produce a relatively clean fuel, but that cost was worth it. 

Government subsidies to persuade people to make the switch were simply not required.

Electricity has been around for a very long time, however is still tricky to store. It isn't available from wells and mines, it has to be generated at point of use, or transmitted via power lines. So it made perfect sense for railways trams and trolley-buses and powering static homes off a fixed grid, and was widely

2021-07-23

The GWPF (Global Warming Policy Forum) in their 23 July newsletter reminds us of a number of issues, and we are indeed approaching the brink of another UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, COP26 to be held in Glasgow from 31st October. It will be interesting to see how many luminaries come jetting in for the occasion - let us hope that Covid restrictions will not put too much of a dampener on the attendances.

On the other hand the GWPF finds little sign of the much foretold incoming climate disaster in current news, although it must be said that recent adverse weather events including severe flooding in Europe (not seasonal) and China (seasonal), and heatwaves and wildfires along the Pacific coast of North America and Canada

2021-07-07

Climate Discussion Nexus picks up on an article in Market Watch which appears to be another out-of-place polemic explaining to us benighted slow-coaches how we must change the world to avert the imminent catastrophe.

"Evict short-termism from human thinking and all will be splendid. Except if you want to look before you leap, don’t, because we must act in the short term and without sober second thought: 'The window for launching a climate revolution—and achieving an inclusive recovery from COVID-19 in the process—is rapidly closing.' And if it doesn’t, the government will slam it shut with you inside just in case"

There is more of

2021-07-02

This rather begs the question of whether "models" are science, could be science, or can never be science.

I would suggest that to qualify as science, they should have to be incorporated into the scientific method.

The basic scientific method involves several stages, more or less as follows:

1. Consider a problem
2. Collect facts and data about the problem
3. Formulate a hypothesis
4. Make predictions using the hypothesis
5. Test the predictions
6. Repeat as required

2021-07-02

The GWPF (Global Warming Policy Forum) points up the every-rising energy costs that will be necessary to force households off gas and petrol and onto "green" electricity over the coming few years.

Perhaps they are relying on a nation grateful for "saving them from Covid" - but then voters are notorious for their short memories, particularly when being hit in the pocket and driven out of business.

They should tread carefully.

2021-06-30

The Guardian reports that 80% of new coal power generation investment will take place in five Asian countries.

Which begs the question: was it really wise of the UK Europe and the USA to outsource our heavy industries to the East during the last century?

Has it not led overall to more global pollution and CO₂ generation rather than less?

Is it not now high time to begin repatriating our heavy industries back to the UK so that we can use the abundant supplies of green energy that we have been promised to create our steel, aluminium etc rather than importing it from high-polluting Asia?

Especially as (again according to the Guardian)

2021-06-07

The GWPF report on a new study which claims to verify the accuracy of climate models used to predict the climate in the North Atlantic.

"The basic questions for climate models is whether they realistically simulate observations, and to what extent can future climate change be predicted? It’s an important concept as political and environmental action is predicated upon it"

Scientific modelling has had a bit of a bad press in the Coronavirus pandemic scenario, so how do these climate models fare when put to the test?

The GWPF has the story.