THE ENDEMIC CLIMATE CHANGE CULTURE HERE IN THE UK

Yesterday I attended a Southern Water Stakeholder Workshop, by invitation as a local councillor. I did so in order to be better informed about the latest innovations in the water industry and to give my feedback on the future plans of the private company to tackle its various challenges. Top of its list of challenges is, guess what? Of course, it is climate change!

Here is a link to the report which runs to 47 lavishly illustrated pages. The section on climate change is from page 11 to 13 for anyone who is interested. It was written by a firm of consultants called MWH. What it reveals is how completely and utterly these businesses have absorbed the doctrine of human caused climate change. It was not as if the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the merits of the climate change hypothesis, so there was no point in my standing up to decry it - anymore than if I was to denounce the existence of god in a wedding service. Many attending a wedding may not believe in the religious aspects, but sit through it as a duty. Similarly there may be some in my workshop who have serious doubts about the climate hypothesis, but, like me, they want to find out if the waste water system is going to be more effective.

Just to pick out one of the worst excesses in the report. " Above all, the global climate is increasingly volatile.  2017 is forecast to be amongst the hottest on record.  In 2016, CO2 concentrations breached the scientifically and symbolically important 400 parts per million level, widely regarded as a potential trigger point". -  I don't no where to start here. First there is no evidence of increasing volatility in the global climate. There are and have always been extreme weather events. As for 400ppm of CO2 being a "trigger point", this is complete nonsense without any scientific merit at all. It is simply a round number.

THE COST OF TRYING TO COOL THE PLANET (AND FAILING!)

Here is the speech from Benny Peiser in the Cambridge Union debate on the motion, This House would rather cool the planet than warm the economy’. Benny, who is director of the GWPF opposed the motion and his speech contains a lot of excellent arguments. Well worth reading.

OCEAN COOLING CONTINUES THROUGH SEPTEMBER

This report gives the details.  September NH temps almost erased a three-month climb; even so 9/2017 is well below the previous two years.  Meanwhile SH and the Tropics are setting new lows for this period.  With current reports from the El Nino 3.4 grid sector, it seems likely October will go even lower, with downward moves across all oceans.

BBC GIVE EX POLITICIAN ED DAVEY FREE REIN TO MAKE DODGY CLAIMS ON RADIO

This article explains the hypocrisy at the BBC who only a few days ago issued an apology for allowing Lord Lawson to make a slight error on air have now allowed Ed Davey to indulge in wild speculation on the same Today programme - but of course his words were in support of the government's climate change policy, whereas Lawson was undermining it.  

UK CONSUMERS ARE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR ELECTRICITY SAYS REVIEW

This report explains how our electricity bill should be changed to try and reverse the escalating costs that consumers are faced with.
Professor Helm, who carried out the review, believes the legacy costs from the Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs), Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) and Contracts for Difference (CfDs) are a “major contributor” to rising prices and suggests ring-fencing and placing them in a “legacy bank”.
He says they should be charged “separately and explicitly” on customer bills and industrial customers should be exempt.

UPDATE
More on this here.

SCIENCE BECOMING MORE SCEPTICAL OF CLIMATE CHANGE ALARM

This piece looks at the way science has moved to a more sceptical position in 2017. The tide appears to be turning, if this is the case it is a welcome development

NEW REPORT ON UK ELECTRICITY HIGHLIGHTS CONCERN OVER RELIANCE ON IMPORTED SUPPLIES

The key conclusions from the report by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) include that:

• Interconnector capacity will almost quadruple by 2030, allowing 20% of UK electricity to be imported from Europe.

• Interconnectors can be a useful way of delivering secure and cheap supplies across Europe, given they can be used to import and export. But in Britain’s case it is increasingly one-way traffic.  In the 12 months to March 2017, the UK imported 17.22 TWh but only exported 2.78 TWh.

• There are concerns about growing reliance on imported electricity from Europe as surplus supplies there decline. This is particularly the case in light of the German elections. Germany is already decommissioning its nuclear plants. If the Greens form part of the governing coalition, as is likely, they will demand the closure of fossil-fuel plants.

• The more reliant Britain becomes on energy imported from Europe, the more vulnerable we become to disruptions in supply, to sudden price spikes, or a wider tightening of capacity which pushes up prices. (This is already set to happen.)

• This imported electricity also has an unfair competitive advantage, as it is not subject to the GB Carbon Price Floor or transmission charges faced by British generators.

• Indeed, rather than cutting carbon emissions, Britain is to some extent “offshoring” them – closing down our own coal fired power plants but continuing to buy energy from Europe which is likely to have come from plants of the same type.

All in all our electricity supply appears to be dodgy to say the least. All this is going to rebound on the government, pushing voters into the arms of our very left-wing Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn, which is another looming disaster that could have been avoided.

DATA FIDDLED TO GET A BAN ON CHEMICAL WEEDKILLER

This piece looks at the scandal around glyphosate (roundup) weedkiller and the attempt to get it banned. It is worth noting that none of this has been shown on any mainstream news channel here in the UK, though there was plenty of space to mention a spurious report on the decline of insects. 

UK ELECTRICITY FIRMS BEING DRIVEN OUT BY GOVERNMENT

This article explains the pressures facing the main electricity firms. There is the role out of smart meters, reputed to cost around £6 billion, then there is the prospect of coping with a massive expansion of electric vehicles and now the government's proposed cap on prices. Oh, and then there are all the green taxes to pay for the renewable (or should I say unreliable?) energy. Who would want to invest in the electricity industry in the UK today?

THE WORLD BANK FAILS THE POOR

This piece explains how Donald Trump and the Global Warming Policy Foundation are both highlighting the failure of the World Bank to help third world countries to use the most cost-effective fuels to get power to their people.  Of course the reason is that they want to force them to develop using wind and solar energy, rather than coal or gas. In other words they are prioritising a hypothetical problem that might affect generations far into the future over the urgent needs of the poor people of today.  

THE FAILURES OF GREEN ENERGY

This article looks at the shortcomings of green energy by studying the example of Minnesota where $15 billion has been spent on wind farms to replace electricity that already was being produced by coal, nuclear and natural gas plants.

Minnesota’s colossal investment in wind energy has been a total failure, in its own terms–a failure for which the state’s consumers and businesses have paid dearly. Historically, Minnesota enjoyed the advantage of relatively cheap electricity. Generally, electricity prices were around 18% lower in Minnesota than the national average.  Since then the billions spent on windmills and transmission lines has led to this cheap electricity advantage disappearing. In fact, 2017 is the first year on record in which the price of electricity in Minnesota is above the national average

FIRST OFF SHORE WINDFARM RETIRES - LESSONS MUST BE LEARNT

looks at the lessons that should be learnt from its performance. Here is one important paragraph:

"The secret of the fossil fuel success in the world economy is the high calorific value of the fuel. A ton of coal costing £42.50 produces of the order of 2000 kWh of electricity in a new coal-fired power plants (up 30% from older plants). This sells for £400 wholesale, with an energy return on energy invested (EROEI) of 10:1. A therm of natural gas costs £0.40, and produces 30 kWh of electricity, which sells for £6, representing an EROEI of 15:1.  Fuel-less technologies do not have this advantage."

PETITION TO US EPA CHIEF TO REVOKE CO2 ENDANGERMENT FINDING

This post looks at the letters sent to US EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, urging him to revoke the endangerment finding for carbon dioxide which underpins so many other policies to clamp down on uses of fossil fuels. 

PUBLIC INDIFFERENT TO CLIMATE NEGOTIATIONS, SAYS SURVEY

This report gives the background to this headline. I am inclined to agree with commenter, jeandemeung, who writes of the Paris agreement to limit CO2 emissions:

"First, there were no binding commitments. This is a huge strike against it right there, the only way the commitments, such as they are, would have been met would have been if they were binding.

Second, the biggest and fastest growing emitters made no commitments to reduce, even within the voluntary and good will nature of the agreement.

Third, all the studies done since have come to the same conclusion, that the result of the agreement, even if fulfilled to the letter, will have no measurable effect on global warming. Tiny fractions of a degree C are usually quoted."

What he is saying makes sense, in that the Paris agreement will (if you believe that urgent and draconian action is essential to save the planet) be too little to have any effect.

Jean then goes on to say: "This may have had something to do with the fact that the world's biggest polluter (China) was not prepared to sign up to making any reductions. An example which will have encouraged the entire developing world, and which is a significant indicator that actually the Chinese political and intellectual establishment are not persuaded that there is any real problem. I don't think there is any evidence the Russians are either for that matter, nor the Indians.

Lets be more constructive, admit the failure, and ask what sort of international event it would take to reverse the public indifference.

Surely it would be a really draconian agreement? Surely it would be one where all governments signed up to binding, real tonnage reductions. And these should be very large, they should be ones that will only be possible with very big and visible lifestyle changes. Like, for instance, closing down the automobile industry and investing heavily creating an environment in which work and leisure can take place using public transport.

One in which the biggest emitter talks to its people, tells them that economic growth of the kind they have enjoyed so far has come to an end, and that they must all work together on a different kind of great leap forward, and go back to the bicycle."

So Jean believes a much more draconian agreement is needed. But this has no chance of happening as the leaders of these countries either do not believe it is a real or urgent problem, or they know that they could not sell such an agreement to their people.

All the surveys show that, even though a significant number of people claim to believe that urgent action is needed, they are not prepared to make major changes to their lives to achieve it. That is the reality.

AUSSIES TO DUMP CLEAN ENERGY TARGET

This post explains the reasoning. This is excellent news on top of President Trump quitting the Paris agreement. It is, perhaps, the start of cracks appearing in this scientific fraud. There is still a long way to go, but it shows that when governments make decisions that adversely impact peoples lives by hiking electricity prices, for example, they soon find the pressure mounting to reverse those decisions. This is particularly true when there is an opposition party ready to offer an alternative.

UK TAXATION POLICY POST 2020 - DOMINATED BY CLIMATE CHANGE

This piece gives the details of the policy that gives a clear though only sketchy indication that electricity sector policy will move towards carbon taxation post 2020. £1.2 billion will be spent “to make cycling and walking the natural choices for shorter journeys”. The government is actually considering an annual “Green Great Britain Week” which will, the Strategy tells us:

Focus on climate and air quality issues across the UK

Share the latest climate science

Demonstrate our progress and successes on climate action

Highlight and promote economic opportunities arising from clean growth especially to international investors 

I think it may be that before long people will come out to protest as their energy price increases start to become more obviously due to government policy. 

PRESIDENT TRUMP APPOINTS A CLIMATE SCEPTIC TO TOP WHITE HOUSE JOB

This article explains the details. Although progress in unravelling all this climate alarmist bureaucracy seems very slow, at least it is heading in the right direction. If only we in the UK had made half as much, but, sadly there is no one in a position of power here to stop the mad dash for high energy prices.

RELAX ABOUT SEA LEVEL RISE

Jo Nova has an excellent index on her blog and under the heading of "sea  level" there are a number of excellent posts which will bring you up to speed with this aspect of the global warming narrative. The general message is in the title of this post.

TWO BIG CRACKS IN THE CLIMATE CHANGE HYSTERIA EDIFICE IN ONE DAY

This article puts the case for major setbacks for climate alarmism. While no doubt these are serious setbacks, there is still some way to go. Nevertheless it is welcome news and it helps to stiffen the sinews of those in front-line politics who might otherwise be too timid to put their true views in the public domain. 

USA EPA TO SCRAP CLEAN POWER PLAN

This article gives the details. At last the EPA is on the side of the people.  My hope is that if this goes ahead other governments may follow, but it's not guaranteed.

More details here.

CAN YOU HELP A STUDENT WITH HIS CLIMATE CHANGE SURVEY?

The following email came into my councillor's inbox on Monday, so, of course I took part.

Dear Councillor,

I am a PhD Student at Northumbria University, currently researching under the title of "Climate Change Perception, Reaction and Engagement in the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies: the case of youth participation”. My research would benefit greatly with input and opinions from councillors within the local government sector. I was hoping if you had some spare time you would be willing to complete a questionnaire. The questionnaire should only take roughly 10 minutes to complete, it follows all the Data Protection Laws, and only over 18 year olds can complete it.

The Questionnaire Link: here

If you are able to, why not help this research student with his PhD. I am sure he would welcome the views of others who are not councillors.

Looking at the title of his project I was surprised to see that it was about "the case of youth participation" in climate change (even though he says the survey is only open to those over 18) and yet he had asked the views of councillors, most of whom are far beyond the youth category, sadly. I suspect that my answers were not what he was expecting. I ticked the box at the end, saying that I would like to see his finished survey results. If I get them I will put them on the blog.

COLDEST EUROPEAN WINTER OF THE 21ST CENTURY PREDICTED

Here is the article giving this prediction which I am merely reporting. We will all be able to see how good a prediction this was in a few months time. 

AUSSIE CLIMATE SCEPTICS WEAR DOWN THE BoM

This article highlights the dogged way in which climate sceptics in Australia are keeping up the pressure on the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) to come clean over their data. Thanks to the campaigners and press backing, the BoM have been forced to answer some awkward questions. Progress is slow, but at least the public are beginning to see that there are serious issues over the integrity of the data. If only a similar light could be shone on our own Met Office. 

WORLD WIND SPEEDS ARE SLOWING DOWN SINCE 1960 SAY SCIENTISTS

This article gives the details of this little known phenomenon. "Stilling" as it is called has important effects, the article explains. Of course some suggest that climate change may be behind the drop due to changing patterns in the way air circulates around the planet. Others say it could be due to ageing wind speed instruments producing inaccurate results. It sounds like there is much more research to be done - requiring more government funding no doubt!

DECEITFUL CAMPAIGN BY UK OFFSHORE WIND LOBBY TO INFLUENCE MPS LEADS TO COMPLAINT

This piece explains how the claims of a reduction in the price of electricity from offshore wind farms is untrue. In most cases the prices paid for electricity from the UK’s offshore wind fleet have not fallen at all, and though there were small cuts to subsidies for new offshore projects built from 2015 on, this amounted to a reduction of around 5%.  The ads at Westminster station are deliberately misleading MPs and the wider public into thinking that existing wind farms have been cutting their prices by 50%.

USA EPA TO PROPOSE REPEALING THE CLEAN POWER PLAN

This piece provides the details. The Clean Power Plan, or CPP, was challenged in court by 27 states after Obama’s administration launched it in 2015. It is currently suspended by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which set a deadline of Friday for a status report from the EPA on how it plans to proceed.

COMMON SENSE ON GW FROM A NOBEL PRIZE WINNING PHYSICIST

This 30 minute video is delivered in a very understated manner but it contains a lot of simple truths.  It was delivered by Ivar Giaever , born in 1929, who is a Norwegian-American physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973. He is not a climate scientist, but he raises a lot of issues that need to be given more consideration.

"PLAN B" CLIMATE ALARMISTS WANT TO FORCE 100% EMISSIONS CUT BY 2050 ON UK

This article reveals yet more lunacy from a small group of climate alarmists here in the UK calling themselves "Plan B", including the former chief scientist to the government, Prof Sir David King. "Ministers should tighten the UK's official climate change target - or face the courts", the government's former chief scientist has said. I wish he could have his day in court, if only the government took a different view, but I fear they actually agree with him and so will probably simply amend the current 80% target to 100%. What could be easier than that? I particularly liked this: "The science has clearly hardened since the Climate Change Act was agreed," said Tim Crosland, a former government lawyer. Jonathan Crow, Attorney General to Prince Charles, and a former senior Treasury lawyer, would be the man to argue the case in court.

Perhaps some sceptics should take the government to court instead to try and get them to reduce the target. Let's abolish the target altogether and call it "Plan C" for common sense.  Far from the science hardening, the fact is the recent evidence is that warming has been a lot lower than predicted and the expected future warming is also expected to be lower. Not only that, but also other nations are not reducing their emissions in line with our present target. In fact the biggest emitters are planning to increase their emissions for the next decade or more. Any cuts that we make would be wiped out by the likes of China and India in one year. 

GREAT BARRIER REEF DAMAGE GREATLY EXAGGERATED

This article refers to the exaggerated statements by alarmists and how recent studies now contradict them. What we are seeing, yet again, is an attempt to get the public to support punitive measures to restrict the use of fossil fuels by making out that the damage they are causing is far worse than is the case. The more these attempts are found out the less support they will get. It is a classic story of the boy who cried wolf. 

JUDGES DECISION MAY FORCE TRUMP TO REVERSE ENDANGERMENT FINDING

This piece sets out the reason why the President may have to act. Despite the 20-year non-warming, which clearly shows that the models are worthless for prediction, the Federal Appeals Court in Washington recently blocked a new natural gas pipeline’s regulatory approval. This ruling encourages Greens to keep thinking they can regulate gas and oil production and transport into oblivion.