Thursday 31 October 2013

LATEST LOOK AT COST OF GREEN POLICIES ON ELECTRICITY BILLS

This report calculates the price for a consumer in 2020 which is 33% more than the current price. Once this is clear to the consumer they will have no doubt as to who is to blame for price increases.

Wednesday 30 October 2013

ELECTRIC VEHICLE MADNESS ESSAY

This prize winning essay is a real insight into the fantasy world of green energy. A must read for those who think that electric vehicles are a solution to climate change.

Tuesday 29 October 2013

IS ROAD PRICING ON THE CARDS?

This article looks at the issue and warns that the Climate Change Committee are recommending it as an addition to road tax. This will not be a popular move and hopefully there will be strong opposition.

Monday 28 October 2013

SHOULD CLIMATE SCEPTICS BE KEPT OFF LETTERS PAGES?

This piece discusses the idea. As it is in the Guardian you may not be surprised that the conclusion is that, yes, they should be banned. Of course stupid letters, full of lies should not get published, but to ban letters that make a serious point is a form of censorship that has no place in a free country.

Jo Nova discusses the issue Here.

Sunday 27 October 2013

CHEVRON EXPOSES CORRUPT LEGAL CASE THAT COULD HAVE COST THEM $19 BILLION

This piece looks at the case in which the massive company was blamed for causing pollution on a huge scale in Ecuador, but it seems to have been blown apart by revelations that the charges were false and the case built on blackmail and corruption by the lawyers bringing the charges..

Saturday 26 October 2013

METHANOL FROM CO2 - A SUCCESSFUL LARGE SCALE PLANT

This article gives the details of a process which effectively recycles CO2. Is this the answer? It depends on the price.  

Friday 25 October 2013

MUSEUMS GIVE US CLIMATE CHANGE PROPAGANDA

This essay looks at what is happening in museums around the globe in respect of climate change information. You've probably deduced from the title of this piece that many museums appear to be providing climate alarmist propaganda, rather than objective, impartial information. This insidious one-sided stuff is particularly damaging as the public trust museums and so would not expect them to biased.

Thursday 24 October 2013

GRANGEMOUTH REFINERY UNDER THREAT

This article looks at the man behind Ineos, the firm that owns the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland. The refinery is in trouble due to strike threats as a result of proposals to reduce pay. All this is not helped by the increase in energy costs and the fact that the plant is losing about £10 million a month. There is over-capacity in European refinery capacity and the feedstock is much more expensive than that in the USA. Altogether this is not a good scenario and highlights the problems facing much of our chemical industry.

For more on this see here.

Wednesday 23 October 2013

MAINSTREAM POLITICIAN COMES OUT AS CLIMATE SCEPTIC

Here is the article in today's Telegraph by Jacob Rees-Mogg in which he lays the blame for our energy price increase squarely at the government climate change costs and charges. This is a significant step in confirming public awareness of this. It will very soon be impossible for anyone in government to be able to continue to deny this. So let's give three cheers to Jacob for saying the emperor has no clothes.

THE OFF-SHORE WIND TURBINE NIGHTMARE

This article by Matt Ridley looks at the problems with off-shore wind turbines, which the UK government are so proud of and so reliant on to deliver our green future, and it doesn't seem very rosy.

Tuesday 22 October 2013

EVIDENCE FOR HUMAN INFLUENCE ON CLIMATE AS CERTAIN AS SMOKING LINK TO CANCER SAYS LORD DEBEN

This article gives the detail of comments made by Lord Deben. However he is, as usual, vastly overstating his case. The evidence of a link between tobacco smoking and lung cancer is much easier to prove with a huge number of cases. On the other hand the climate is a vast chaotic system with a huge number of variables and outcomes - nothing like as straight forward. Deben is using people's emotions to draw them in to comparing climate change with cancer when there is no comparison at all. There are millions of people in the third world suffering from chronic lung disease and many will develop cancer, through using smoky wood and dung fires to cook and keep warm. If they had access to cheap electricity, and that means fossil-fuelled power stations, their lives would be immeasurably richer and healthier.

Monday 21 October 2013

NEW ONSHORE WIND FARMS DOUBLES SINCE 2011

Here is the news that the number of planned new onshore wind farms has doubled in the UK since 2011. This is not good news for the price of electricity, but it is good news for the electricity generating companies who are making fat profits thanks to the subsidies.

Sunday 20 October 2013

SCEPTICS RALLY TO SUPPORT BOB CARTER

This link goes to the BBC Feedback blog where climate sceptics vent their anger at the treatment of leading climate sceptic scientist by some listeners dismissive comments. It seems extraordinary that the BBC appeared only to get negative comments about Prof Carter's appearance on The World at One, where he was invited to comment on the release of the latest IPCC report. The whole programme appears to be a contrived attempt to smear him, though looking at the comments it seems to have back-fired.

CLIMATE SCEPTIC SONGS FOR LIGHT RELIEF

Below are links to a couple of catchy songs with a climate sceptic theme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwGdICfOqF4 (Beach House in Blue Mountain)

http://joannenova.com.au/2013/10/the-climate-brick-road-song-surrender-your-neurology-to-the-church-of-climatology/#more-31070  (The Climate Brick Road)

Humour is a powerful and much under-used weapon, used correctly.

Saturday 19 October 2013

OCEAN ACIDIFICATION GREATLY EXAGGERATED

This article reveals yet another false claim being made which exaggerates the effect of CO2, this time on ocean "acidification.  

Friday 18 October 2013

NIPCC SUMMARY JUST PUBLISHED

This is the summary of the Non-governmental International Panel on Climate Changeer a thousand.

Here is a 30 minute TV programme in which two of the lead authors are interviewed on the San Diego News Channel.

The job now is to ensure that politicians are aware of this document and they use it.

Thursday 17 October 2013

WHAT THE UK SHOULD DO ABOUT ENERGY POLICY

This piece has some excellent ideas, but I doubt that the major political parties are bold enough to adopt them.

This article looks at the Climate Change Act and its implications in more detail.

Wednesday 16 October 2013

UK ELECTICITY PRICES TO SKYROCKET

This piece looks at a report by a House of Commons committee in which the price increase figures are buried. A cynic might say that as it is a government report the increase is likely to err on the low side.

Tuesday 15 October 2013

MILIBANDS FREEZE ON ENERGY PRICES DAMAGES MARKET PROSPECTS

This article looks at the situation caused by the leader of the opposition promising to freeze energy prices from 2015 to 2017. It seems he has spooked the markets and frightened investors off, not a bad days work for a politician.

Monday 14 October 2013

UK TO DEPLOY DIESEL GENERATORS TO KEEP THE LIGHTS ON

This article from Christopher Booker takes a look at this little known aspect of the government's insane energy policy among other things. What I would like to know is whether any significant CO2 emissions savings will even be made at the end of all this expensive charade? 

Sunday 13 October 2013

CLIMATE CHANGE IS DOMINATED BY WATER NOT CO2

This article from the Washington Post makes a very reasonable suggestion that water has a much greater influence on the climate than CO2. A good and very readable piece.

Saturday 12 October 2013

CLIMATE PRAT OF THE YEAR

This website is asking for nominations, so if you have any suggestions just let them know.

SPAIN'S PROPOSED NEW SOLAR TAX KILLS SOLAR INDUSTRY

This report on the BBC website gives the details of the proposed new tax. Clearly the Spanish government is desperate to get out of it's foolish dash for solar which has left it in a financially disastrous position. It is the poor old citizen who must pay the price. 

Thursday 10 October 2013

WOE, THRICE WOE, WE ARE DOOMED AFTER ALL


Those of a nervous disposition should not read this article from the Mail. It warns of a rapid warming over the next two or three decades. After the 16 year pause in global warming the authors of this report are not afraid to announce that we have already passed the tipping point. They claim that even massive reductions in emissions of CO2 will only slow the onslaught by two or three decades, so we (or our descendants) are doomed.

"IPCC JUST A PRESSURE GROUP" - BOOKER

This piece by Christopher Booker sums up the way many people now perceive the IPCC - as simply another pressure group campaigning for their "cause".

Wednesday 9 October 2013

LORD DEBEN ANSWERS QUESTIONS

This link is to the video of the session in the UK Parliament where Lord Deben answered questions from the Energy and Climate Change Committee,  including Peter Lilley MP.

SIX QUESIONS TO ASK THE IPCC

This post by Bob Tisdale on Jo Nova's blog poses some important questions that the IPCC should be answering about why their computer models are not able to simulate the ocean currents or the downturns in surface temperatures. Their failure to address these important questions shows us how much they don't know. 

Tuesday 8 October 2013

Monday 7 October 2013

IPCC DRAFT REPORT PLAYS DOWN SCARY PREDICTIONS OF CLIMATE

This report on Bishop Hill is about a meeting at the Royal Society into the latest IPCC report. In the report there is a table which seems to have been overlooked, or at least very much under-reported.

Here are the main points from the table:

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), also known as the Gulf Stream is very unlikely to undergo a rapid transition. This prediction has "high confidence".

It is exceptionally unlikely that either the Greenland ice sheet or the West Antarctic ice sheet will suffer near complete disintegration. This also has "high confidence".

The possibility that permafrost will become a net source of greenhouse gases has "low confidence".

It is very unlikely that methane from clathrates will undergo catastrophic release - high confidence.

There is "low confidence" in collapse of large areas of tropical forest.

There is "low confidence" in collapse of large areas of boreal forest.

There is "low confidence" in projections of changes in the frequency or duration of magadroughts.

There is "low confidence" in projections of changes in monsoon circulations.

It is "likely" that the Arctic becomes nearly ice free in September by mid century under high emission scenarios. This prediction has "medium confidence".

As can be seen from the above the only item which is likely is the loss of ice in the Arctic. So where is the catastrophe?

   

Sunday 6 October 2013

ARGO BUOYS DO NOT FIND MISSING HEAT IN THE OCEANS

This post refers to a recent paper which has studied the data produced by the Argo Buoys. Its conclusion is that the ocean temperature is not increasing, and may even be decreasing slightly. This seems to fly in the face of the tentative proposition from those scientists trying to find a solution as to why the global surface temperature has been flat for the past 15 years.

Saturday 5 October 2013

UK GOVERNMENT TO PAY FIRMS GREEN ENERGY TAXES

This article explains the policy. It begs the question - just who is going to pay these green taxes? Of course it will be the poor citizen who is unable to move away quite so easily, and who is not that important to the economy. But one thing the citizen can do is vote and he is not going to be too happy when his energy bills keep rising.

Friday 4 October 2013

LORD LAWSON - A VOICE OF REASON ON THE IPCC REPORT

This article by Lord Lawson himself gives a very clear and concise summary of what is wrong with the IPCC report. 

Thursday 3 October 2013

IPCC IS THE PROBLEM, NOT THE SOLUTION

This piece by climate scientist Judith Curry looks at what has gone wrong with climate science and how it can be made to function in a more useful way for the benefit of the world. Her conclusion is that the IPCC must go makes perfect sense, but those at the UN are unlikely to see it that way.

Wednesday 2 October 2013

Tuesday 1 October 2013

THE CONSENSUS CRACKS

This article by Roger Helmer MEP is an excellent summary of the failings of the IPCC report.

LIES, DAMNED LIES...........

The primary basis for global-warming alarmism is unfounded. The Met Office has been making false claims about the significance of climatic changes to Parliament—as well as to the government, the media, and others — claims which have seriously affected both policies and opinions. When questioned about those claims in Parliament, the Met Office did everything feasible to avoid telling the truth.

Above is the concluding paragraph of this article which relates an attempt to get the UK government to answer a simple question on the statistical method used to assess the temperature record. Finally at the sixth attempt the answer is given, leading to the conclusion above.

Now The question is being asked again of the Chief Scientist at the Met Office, Julia Slingo. This question of statistics is quite hard to follow and will never be likely to fill the pages of a national newspaper, but it is fascinating nevertheless.

On a lighter note try googling "Senna the Soothsayer" and see what comes up first! (for the benefit of those who wonder who she was, she was a character in a popular TV comedy show from the 1970's called "Up Pompeii" and her main dialogue always began "Woe, thrice woe"