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Post by SeanBroseley on Nov 29, 2021 23:45:35 GMT 1
Temperature difference between northern Sweden and southern Greece this morning: 67 degrees celsius.
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Post by SeanBroseley on Nov 29, 2021 23:58:14 GMT 1
There is no reason to be depressed. Don't dwell too much in what you can't change. The time for gradualism was thirty years ago. There is little possibility (not quite none) of remaining within 1.5 degrees celsius warming compared to pre-industrial times. The current trajectory is already causing catastrophic effects and further warming will be destabilising. There is always the possibility that reducing the increase of carbon and methane in the atmosphere will mean less catastrophic consequences for at least some people. There's no guarantees. But if you let go of the idea that we're going to get out of this and there is going to be a happy ending then your mood lifts.
After all we're here shooting the s**t about football whilst being fully cognisant that we are going to die. Scale that up by some multiple.
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Post by SeanBroseley on Nov 30, 2021 0:23:52 GMT 1
You told me off (on the 8th October) for taking your posts on this subject too seriously. I am cured of that.
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Post by Chief Inspector Swan on Nov 30, 2021 0:32:37 GMT 1
You told me off (on the 8th October) for taking your posts on this subject too seriously. I am cured of that. Are you going to meet your previously stated target of having a carbon neutral festive season?
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Post by SeanBroseley on Nov 30, 2021 0:41:40 GMT 1
You told me off (on the 8th October) for taking your posts on this subject too seriously. I am cured of that. Are you going to meet your previously stated target of having a carbon neutral festive season? Er..... Was this on the 8th of October too? More chance of that than a methane neutral festive season after an extra helping of sproats.
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Post by northwestman on Dec 24, 2021 12:54:32 GMT 1
Sky announced that it was collaborating with the “independent Behavioural Insights Team” to nudge viewers into supporting Net Zero. The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) — colloquially known as the “Nudge Unit” — was one–third owned by the Cabinet Office until the shares were sold to NESTA earlier this month. A company which was part owned by the government could not fairly be described as “independent” at that juncture.
The collaboration between a major UK broadcaster and the Nudge Unit to promote one of the most controversial policies today is deeply alarming.
The Critic.
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Post by staffordshrew on Dec 24, 2021 13:44:05 GMT 1
Well, the Coca Cola Christmas truck stil toured the country, we have to keep warm, we don't want to be reliant on Russian gas. So, for our own energy security, development of Scotland's oil fields should continue. Plus green energy, plus insulation of course.
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Post by servernaside on Dec 24, 2021 17:49:18 GMT 1
I'm having a roaring log fire tomorrow.
Could do with a bit of global warming around here.
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Post by SeanBroseley on Dec 24, 2021 21:15:34 GMT 1
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Post by SeanBroseley on Dec 24, 2021 22:12:57 GMT 1
Greenland is great this time of year. Not much sunshine but warm
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Post by MartinB on Dec 31, 2021 9:21:09 GMT 1
Went out in London last night. Got back to my car in Essex at 23.35 and temperature as I was driving was 14C. That is ridiculous for nearly midnight at the end of December
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Post by The Shropshire Tenor on Dec 31, 2021 9:44:16 GMT 1
Sky announced that it was collaborating with the “independent Behavioural Insights Team” to nudge viewers into supporting Net Zero. The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) — colloquially known as the “Nudge Unit” — was one–third owned by the Cabinet Office until the shares were sold to NESTA earlier this month. A company which was part owned by the government could not fairly be described as “independent” at that juncture. The collaboration between a major UK broadcaster and the Nudge Unit to promote one of the most controversial policies today is deeply alarming. The Critic. Is the advertising industry ‘deeply alarming’?
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Post by staffordshrew on Jan 6, 2022 11:44:56 GMT 1
There has to be a better way!
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Post by SeanBroseley on Jan 17, 2022 0:07:28 GMT 1
Professor Wadhams quite cheerily delivers his message of disastrous changes in the Arctic, interspersed with the odd chuckle. Quite entertaining
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Post by staffordshrew on Jan 25, 2022 19:47:06 GMT 1
It hasn't taken long to show that there is more to this switch from fossil fuels than just switching off gas and oil exploration.
We need to develop renewable energy, as they are doing with off shore wind farms.
We need to insulate.
And, crucially, we need to reduce the West's, especially Germany's, requirement for Russian gas. We need to keep the money out of Putin's hands, be able to turn off the pipelines as a sanction, even if that means Norway and the UK stepping up supplies from the North Sea.
It's not as simple as turning our backs on future exploration and putting Europe's industry and heating in the power of the Russians.
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Post by northwestman on Feb 4, 2022 10:38:20 GMT 1
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Post by TOP MONNER on Feb 4, 2022 10:53:53 GMT 1
Yep, we can thank the green levy for that.
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Post by sheltonsalopian on Feb 4, 2022 11:01:59 GMT 1
Yep, we can thank the green levy for that. Scrapping the green levy would save everyone £29 a year, wow. That will really help everyone.
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Post by northwestman on Feb 4, 2022 11:36:46 GMT 1
Senior Cabinet ministers believe there should be a rethink of the Government's net zero plans as the country faces the biggest cost of living crisis in a generation, The Telegraph can disclose.
A number of ministers have expressed concern that the pace of the planned switch to renewable energy is too fast and is increasing costs for consumers. They believe Britain should use more of its own gas in the short-term.
Cabinet ministers are increasingly uneasy about Downing Street’s focus on its net zero target and have warned that the cost of living crisis should be given more priority in the coming years.
Sunak indicated that he may share these concerns, and highlighted that North Sea gas “plays an important part of our transition to net zero”.
He told a Downing Street press conference: “I want to make sure that people acknowledge that we should also exploit our domestic resources. We have resources in the North Sea, and we want to encourage investment in that because we're going to need natural gas as part of our transition to getting to net zero.
“And in the process of getting from here to there, if we can get investment in the North Sea that supports British jobs, that's a good thing. So that has to be part of the mix as well.”
The Telegraph can reveal that Mr Sunak has asked Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, to fast-track new licences for North Sea gas exploration.
A source close to Mr Kwarteng said he believed the North Sea oil and gas industry should be protected to prevent imported energy becoming a “geopolitical weapon” that can be used against Britain.
A good start Sunak in your quest to replace Boris as PM, as The North Sea oil and gas industry isn't too high up on Mrs Johnson's priorities. Now I suggest you revisit fracking.
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Post by staffordshrew on Feb 4, 2022 11:54:40 GMT 1
We can thank world leaders for that. Too quick to court popularity with Greta. Reduce emmissions of course, but there is a duty to keep us all warm, safe and secure.
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Post by northwestman on Feb 10, 2022 11:35:26 GMT 1
It is government policy that has landed us in this mess in the first place.
It rushed into a net zero target, phasing out coal and nuclear power regardless of the dependability of wind and solar alternatives.
It ran down the North Sea, demonising the few companies still willing to operate there. It closed down gas storage facilities to save money, complacently assuming it could always buy whatever we needed on the global market. And it effectively banned fracking, even though we have plentiful reserves in the UK, and the scare stories about it make the anti-vaxxers look sensible.
But what we are witnessing is the result of three decades of abysmal failure to develop a coherent energy strategy.
All parties are to blame for this parlous state of affairs. The Conservatives abandoned the nuclear programme proposed by the Thatcher government in a “dash for gas”; Labour intervened in the market on environmental grounds, loading costs on to energy production that were carried forward by the Coalition government. Legislation supporting this approach was backed by most Tory MPs 12 years ago and has been reinforced by the current Government’s carbon reduction targets. Around 20 per cent of energy bills is now accounted for by social and green levies.
The craven failure to exploit vast quantities of shale; the neglect of the nuclear programme; the deliberate refusal to give the go-ahead to continued oil and gas exploration in the North Sea while importing both from abroad; all have conspired to create the mess in which the Government now finds itself. Loaning billions to energy companies so that they do not pass on the full costs to their customers but recoup them when wholesale prices fall assumes they will fall. If they don’t, the taxpayer is liable for the cost, so will pay in the end anyway.
Ministers invite us to believe that they are grappling with circumstances over which they have no control and yet Government policies are at the root of our problems, whether it be the stampede to net zero, the Climate Change Act, the energy price cap, the botched regulation of suppliers or the failure to take critical decisions when they were needed. This is not a crisis visited upon us by outside forces. It is home grown. The fault and the solution lies with our own politicians.
Daily Telegraph.
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Post by northwestman on Feb 10, 2022 14:12:47 GMT 1
Another win for Carrie! The government has ordered that the shale gas wells be sealed. www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/10/fracking-firm-cuadrilla-to-permanently-abandon-controversial-uk-sitesThe owner of shale fracking firm Cuadrilla will permanently plug and abandon its two shale wells in Lancashire, drawing a line on Britain’s failed fracking industry. Cuadrilla set out plans to permanently seal the two shale gas wells drilled at the Preston New Road (PNR) Lancashire shale exploration site a little over two years after the government brought an end to fracking in England. Francis Egan, the chief executive of Cuadrilla, said the government’s oil and gas regulator had ordered the “ridiculous” shutdown of the wells in the northern Bowland Shale gas formation despite Europe’s gas supply crisis. Egan said: “At a time when the UK is spending billions of pounds annually importing gas from all corners of the globe, and gas prices for hard-pressed UK households are rocketing, the UK government has chosen this moment to ask us to plug and abandon the only two viable shale gas wells in Britain.” Francis Egan, the chief executive of Cuadrilla, said the government’s oil and gas regulator had ordered the “ridiculous” shutdown of the wells in the northern Bowland Shale gas formation despite Europe’s gas supply crisis.
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Post by northwestman on Feb 12, 2022 10:53:15 GMT 1
www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10503839/ANDREW-NEIL-madness-ignore-answer-energy-crisis-thats-lying-feet.htmlHouseholds across the country are gripped in a cost-of-living vice, with the price of essentials, from food to travel, soaring. But none more so than energy costs, with the average family fuel bill rising by an incredible 54 per cent to just shy of £2,000 a year. For folks on modest and low incomes, there will be real financial hardship. ‘It’s a global energy crunch,’ say our politicians. ‘There’s not much we can do about it.’ In fact, we are reaping the bitter consequences of 25 years of increasingly costly, stupid and self-defeating energy policies promoted in unison by these very same politicians — Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrat alike — who now bleat there’s nothing they can do about it. The solution has been under our feet for more than a decade. Britain sits on some of the world’s richest reserves of shale gas. The Bowland Field in Lancashire harbours 37.6 trillion cubic metres of the stuff. Even if we were to extract only 10 per cent of it — through a process called fracking — we’d have enough gas to be self-sufficient for 50 years. Far from exploiting our shale reserves, the Oil and Gas Authority, a state quango which increasingly dances to the green net-zero carbon emissions tune, has ordered Cuadrilla, the drilling company, to seal forever its two shale gas wells by pouring concrete down them. Of course, we’re still going to need gas. Even as billions have been poured into renewables, gas is still the biggest generator of electricity — accounting for on average 40 per cent, and more than 50 per cent when the wind isn’t blowing. But instead of extracting it from our own lands, we’ll have to import it. Already 50 per cent of the gas we need comes from abroad — mainly Norway and Qatar, with some from Russia. By the end of the decade, we’ll be importing 70 per cent and by 2050 — when we’re meant to hit that magical net-zero for carbon emissions — 85 per cent of the gas we need will be imported. Instead of cultivating our own shale industry, which would generate billions of pounds in tax, we’re spending billions to import gas. Our energy failures are not confined to gas. Twenty-five years after Blair was told we needed four new nuclear generators, we’re building only one (at Hinkley Point). Actually, the French are building it since we don’t have the know-how to do it ourselves. France has shown nuclear is an alternative to gas. It has 56 reactors which generate more than 70 per cent of its electricity. Only 10 per cent comes from gas, which has insulated French households from the current surge in gas prices. UK energy policy used to be driven by the need for security of supply and for affordability. Today we have neither. Both have been sacrificed to the great god of decarbonisation, which has taken precedence over everything else.
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Post by staffordshrew on Feb 12, 2022 13:51:47 GMT 1
"UK energy policy used to be driven by the need for security of supply and for affordability. Today we have neither. Both have been sacrificed to the great god of decarbonisation, which has taken precedence over everything else". The Greta effect: Every politician, pundit and broadcaster taking their eye off the ball to follow the young lady. Switching off fossil fuels isn't the answer until energy security is ensured, neither is fracking - there's plenty of gas and oil in the North Sea. There's plenty of imsulating to still do, there's plenty of steel making and high energy uses to revolutionise, there's plenty of renewable energy projects that should have been a higher priority for years.
Maybe a Severn barrage type project should have now been ready to come on stream giving power from the tides?
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Post by zenfootball2 on Feb 12, 2022 14:19:57 GMT 1
there are no short term fixes but essentialy we have goverment incapable of long term planning were a combination of common sense and energy security is required
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2022 14:32:54 GMT 1
www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10503839/ANDREW-NEIL-madness-ignore-answer-energy-crisis-thats-lying-feet.htmlHouseholds across the country are gripped in a cost-of-living vice, with the price of essentials, from food to travel, soaring. But none more so than energy costs, with the average family fuel bill rising by an incredible 54 per cent to just shy of £2,000 a year. For folks on modest and low incomes, there will be real financial hardship. ‘It’s a global energy crunch,’ say our politicians. ‘There’s not much we can do about it.’ In fact, we are reaping the bitter consequences of 25 years of increasingly costly, stupid and self-defeating energy policies promoted in unison by these very same politicians — Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrat alike — who now bleat there’s nothing they can do about it. The solution has been under our feet for more than a decade. Britain sits on some of the world’s richest reserves of shale gas. The Bowland Field in Lancashire harbours 37.6 trillion cubic metres of the stuff. Even if we were to extract only 10 per cent of it — through a process called fracking — we’d have enough gas to be self-sufficient for 50 years. Far from exploiting our shale reserves, the Oil and Gas Authority, a state quango which increasingly dances to the green net-zero carbon emissions tune, has ordered Cuadrilla, the drilling company, to seal forever its two shale gas wells by pouring concrete down them. Of course, we’re still going to need gas. Even as billions have been poured into renewables, gas is still the biggest generator of electricity — accounting for on average 40 per cent, and more than 50 per cent when the wind isn’t blowing. But instead of extracting it from our own lands, we’ll have to import it. Already 50 per cent of the gas we need comes from abroad — mainly Norway and Qatar, with some from Russia. By the end of the decade, we’ll be importing 70 per cent and by 2050 — when we’re meant to hit that magical net-zero for carbon emissions — 85 per cent of the gas we need will be imported. Instead of cultivating our own shale industry, which would generate billions of pounds in tax, we’re spending billions to import gas. Our energy failures are not confined to gas. Twenty-five years after Blair was told we needed four new nuclear generators, we’re building only one (at Hinkley Point). Actually, the French are building it since we don’t have the know-how to do it ourselves. France has shown nuclear is an alternative to gas. It has 56 reactors which generate more than 70 per cent of its electricity. Only 10 per cent comes from gas, which has insulated French households from the current surge in gas prices. UK energy policy used to be driven by the need for security of supply and for affordability. Today we have neither. Both have been sacrificed to the great god of decarbonisation, which has taken precedence over everything else. Do we honestly believe that if we fracked and became self sufficient our fuel prices would actually come down? To my mind that’s just utter naive nonsense as those extracting and selling it would still have the market cornered and charge the absolute earth for it to line their greedy pockets.
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Post by northwestman on Feb 13, 2022 18:26:18 GMT 1
Wholesale gas prices in the UK are indeed considerably higher than across many other European countries – and way above those in the US. This reflects our lack of gas storage, an aversion to exploiting our own energy resources, not least in the North Sea, and years of drift and complacency from successive governments when it comes to energy strategy.
Our rush towards “net zero”, and related taxes on commercial energy users, also helps explain why the increase in fuel bills faced by UK businesses is “substantially more than those of our EU competitors, specifically France and Germany”.
Businesses are seeing electricity prices go up by 100pc-150pc, with gas prices up three or four-fold”. While very high-intensity energy users, like steelmakers, get some protection against spiralling prices, most manufacturers don’t – and then they have to pay renewable obligations on top of that.
This energy crisis, then, is threatening the future of countless firms based largely across the Midlands, Yorkshire, the North West and North East, employing numerous workers in Red Wall constituencies. These are the seats Johnson won from Labour in the December 2019 election, seats he must hold to retain his parliamentary majority.
Daily Telegraph.
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Post by venceremos on Feb 13, 2022 19:17:33 GMT 1
"UK energy policy used to be driven by the need for security of supply and for affordability. Today we have neither. Both have been sacrificed to the great god of decarbonisation, which has taken precedence over everything else".
I don't know who you're quoting but the security of supply point is a bit of a nonsense. We don't own "our" fossil fuel reserves because they're not nationalised; they belong to the companies extracting it. Those companies can sell "our" gas wherever they can get the best price. In 2021, the UK exported 32 GWh of gas - 1GWh will power a million homes for one hour. This was double the quantity exported in 2020. In 2020, about 28% of our primary fuel was imported, which implies that 72% came from domestic production. Most of our imported fuel comes from Norway, followed by the US. We're part of a global energy market. If we've sacrificed security of supply, it's to the great god of the marketplace, not decarbonisation. I somehow doubt the carbon addicts are suggesting we nationalise oil and gas production.
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Post by staffordshrew on Feb 13, 2022 21:51:16 GMT 1
"UK energy policy used to be driven by the need for security of supply and for affordability. Today we have neither. Both have been sacrificed to the great god of decarbonisation, which has taken precedence over everything else". I don't know who you're quoting but the security of supply point is a bit of a nonsense. We don't own "our" fossil fuel reserves because they're not nationalised; they belong to the companies extracting it. Those companies can sell "our" gas wherever they can get the best price. In 2021, the UK exported 32 GWh of gas - 1GWh will power a million homes for one hour. This was double the quantity exported in 2020. In 2020, about 28% of our primary fuel was imported, which implies that 72% came from domestic production. Most of our imported fuel comes from Norway, followed by the US. We're part of a global energy market. If we've sacrificed security of supply, it's to the great god of the marketplace, not decarbonisation. I somehow doubt the carbon addicts are suggesting we nationalise oil and gas production. Energy security has nothing to do with companies and market price. Energy security is not relying on Russia. Germany, in particular, buys lots of their gas which we, the West, could supply. With Russia, we, the West, need to be able to impose sanctions that hurt them, not us.
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Post by venceremos on Feb 13, 2022 22:18:51 GMT 1
I don't know who you're quoting but the security of supply point is a bit of a nonsense. We don't own "our" fossil fuel reserves because they're not nationalised; they belong to the companies extracting it. Those companies can sell "our" gas wherever they can get the best price. In 2021, the UK exported 32 GWh of gas - 1GWh will power a million homes for one hour. This was double the quantity exported in 2020. In 2020, about 28% of our primary fuel was imported, which implies that 72% came from domestic production. Most of our imported fuel comes from Norway, followed by the US. We're part of a global energy market. If we've sacrificed security of supply, it's to the great god of the marketplace, not decarbonisation. I somehow doubt the carbon addicts are suggesting we nationalise oil and gas production. Energy security has nothing to do with companies and market price. Energy security is not relying on Russia. Germany, in particular, buys lots of their gas which we, the West, could supply. With Russia, we, the West, need to be able to impose sanctions that hurt them, not us. We don't rely on Russia for our energy, others are more dependent. But if Germany buys more from Norway and the US, then the UK is in trouble too. But, as I said, it's not governments controlling these resources, it's corporations. Unless you put them under state control, they're not obliged to sell to any particular country. It's impossible to apply sanctions against one of the world's biggest economies and expect it only to hurt them, not us. You might do it against Iran or Cuba, but not Russia. That's economic globalisation for you - it creates inter-dependence and consequential effects. What are we going to sanction - Russian oil and gas, metals, wheat? Good luck avoiding damage to western and other economies - not to mention the potential impact on African and Asian food prices and the political fallout that could bring.
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