Green Energy: The worm turns

Roger Helmer MEP UKIP’s energy spokesman picks up the story on the fledgeling EU ‘green’ energy revolt…

Roger Helmer MEP

I have been arguing for a long time that EU energy policy is a disaster for competitiveness.  It is driving up energy costs, forcing industries, and investment, and jobs out of the EU altogether.  And at the same time, it is leaving millions of households and pensioners in fuel poverty, many forced to choose between eating and heating.  And after all that, it is not clear that it is having any impact at all on emissions.  Indeed it may, perversely, increase them, by forcing industry out to other jurisdictions with lower environmental standards.  I understand that a ton of steel made in China results in twice the emissions as the same ton of steel made in Europe.

I’ve been puzzled by the fact that industry generally has been very slow to make the case on energy costs.  I’ve had some large energy users worrying privately about power costs, but most…

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Another victory for sceptic lobbyists : Europe’s politicians start to wake up from the Green Energy Dream

From EUractiv:

Europe’s plan to decarbonise its economy by 2050 could be turned on its head at a summit today (22 May) if EU heads of state and government sign off on measures prioritising industrial competitiveness over climate change in draft conclusions seen by EurActiv.

The draft text says that EU policy must ensure “competitive” energy prices, and declares it “crucial” that Europe diversify its energy supply and develop “indigenous energy resources” – a reference to renewable energies, but also coal, nuclear power and shale gas.

One high-profile German MEP Holger Krahmer (ALDE), hailed the end of “climate hysteria” in a jubilant press statement.

“For the first time, rising energy costs and the declining competitiveness of the European economy will be rated higher than obviously unenforceable global climate change ambitions,” he said.

“The economic and social consequences of collective hysteria can no longer be ignored, as the governments of the EU member states admit in this paper,” Krahmer added, saying that it was right to give more attention to energy sources such as gas and coal.

GWPF takes up Sir Paul Nurse’s suggestion – Offers to host climate debate

Popcorn futures explode. But joking apart, I think (hope) this will be productive. Tim Palmer is realistic about model uncertainty (apart from being clueless about the magnitude of uncertainty around solar caused climate variation). Brian Hoskins is candid (though behind the curve on the latest findings).

GWPF INVITES ROYAL SOCIETY FELLOWS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE DISCUSSION

London, 22 May: In response to a suggestion by Sir Paul Nurse, the President of the Royal Society, the Global Warming Policy Foundation has invited five climate scientists and Fellows of the Royal Society to discuss the current state of climate science and its wider implications. 

In a letter to Lord Lawson, the GWPF chairman, Sir Paul stated that the Royal Society “would be happy to put the GWPF in touch with people who can offer the Foundation informed scientific advice.”

Sir Paul suggested that the GWPF should contact five of their Fellows: Sir Brian Hoskins; Prof John Mitchell; Prof Tim Palmer; Prof John Shepherd and Prof Eric Wolff.

The GWPF has now invited the five climate scientists to a meeting with a team of members of the GWPF’s Academic Advisory Council and independent scientists and has proposed a two-part agenda:

Ben Pile: Lewandowsky, Institutional Science, and Politics

Ben Pile has posted a long and well written piece about l’affaire Lewandowsky at his blog. It will soon be published on Spiked, but I thought a preview to be in order. The paragraphs below are from the concluding section, since most here are familiar with the story so far. If not, you should read the whole thing.

Extract from: The Lewandowsky Papers
Posted by Ben Pile on May 21, 2013

Scientists such as Lewandowsky are better at self-justification than scientific research. Rather than being an investigation into the workings of the material world, Lewandosky’s ‘research’ — a poorly executed and error-prone online survey, seen through dodgy statistical methods and bogus categories — is a naked attempt to explain why people dare challenge scientific authority. But there are good reasons for challenging it. Science has turned its gaze on the public as politicians have sought to remedy their diminishing public support by recruiting the academy. It is not a coincidence that the scientific agenda increasingly reflects the prejudices and problems of elite politics.

Is the EU behind anti-democratic moves in Italian politics?

Beppe Grillo has a new fight on his hands, and the EU may be behind moves to exclude his M5S popular party from Italian politics. UKIP take note.

@ukip @2tweetaboutit M5S Italian party run by Beppe Grillo had around 25% at election EU trying to get them banned. ansa.it/web/notizie/ru…

— John Payne (@Rosehaven69) May 21, 2013

@mcjwalsh @rogtallbloke @ukip @2tweetaboutit Previous Italian PM was unelected Mario Monti,he &his Cabinet was appointed by EU to run Italy.

— John Payne (@Rosehaven69) May 22, 2013

 

From Ansa.it

(ANSA) – Rome, May 21 – Beppe Grillo said Tuesday that there would be “an expansion of violence” if his anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) were shut out from politics by a proposed law. “If we disappear there will be an expansion of violence,” said the comic-turned-politician at a rally in Lodi, northern Italy. “We’re keeping democracy on its feet, and they want us to vanish with a law”.

The Elfstedentocht proxy

Some time ago I came across talk about a long distance ice skating race held in the Netherlands during deep winter when the ice on the canals is thick enough. Someone had noticed there is a possible match with solar activity. I happened to notice a file on disk here and twigged what it was. This makes an apt article given the recent paint drying excitement of the Alaskan Nenana river ice melt. On doing a quick web trawl something new turned up.

I don’t recall who or where this was raised, thank you whoever.

e-Petition against proposed 32% MP pay rise

Up to 23,000 overnight, please sign this if you are UK based. Forcing a debate on this matter will be delicious.

e-petition
No MP Salary Increase

Responsible department: Office of the Leader of the House of Commons

At a time when the country is in deep financial crisis, the ordinary working people of this country are still losing their jobs, have been, still are suffering wage freezes while living costs are spiralling, and the government cutting or capping benefit payments, is it right for MP’s to get ANY pay rise, let alone a 32% increase they have been reported as wanting.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO “WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER”

SAY NO TO ANY PAYRISE FOR MP’S.

Prof. Roger Pielke Jr: A Handy Bullshit Button on Disasters and Climate Change

Reposted in full (I hope Roger P doesn’t mind) from his excellent blog, a brief synopsis of the SREX section of the new IPCC report, which confirms that there is no proven link between extreme weather events and longer term temperature trends or co2 levels.

The full IPCC Special Report on Extremes is out today, and I have just gone through the sections in Chapter 4 that deal with disasters and climate change. Kudos to the IPCC — they have gotten the issue just about right, where “right” means that the report accurately reflects the academic literature on this topic. Over time good science will win out over the rest — sometimes it just takes a little while.

European Commissars: Bankrolling Pro-EU and Pro-Green Energy Groups

Guy Bentley at backbencher.co.uk explains how the EC is investing millions in pro-EU groups.

On Wednesday the Institute of Economic Affairs released a new report authored by Christopher Snowdon titled ‘Euro Puppets: The European Commission’s remaking of civil society’.

This report exposes the vast scale to which the European Commission uses taxpayers money to fund charities, think tanks and other lobby groups which campaign not only for closer European integration but a vast array of regulations and spending programs.

The groups the Commission decides to fund skew heavily to the left and a significant proportion of these groups would fail to exist if it were not for the taxpayer money the European Commission so freely hands out to its favoured groups.

Kepler is crippled: Positioning system broken

Coutesy NASA – click for BIG image

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – NASA’s first telescope dispatched to hunt for Earth-like planets that may support life elsewhere in the universe has lost use of its positioning system, threatening its mission, officials said on Wednesday.

Launched in 2009, the Kepler space telescope revolutionized the study of so-called exoplanets, with discovery of 130 worlds orbiting distant stars and 2,700 potential planets still awaiting confirmation.

The telescope was designed to gaze at about 100,000 distant sun-like stars, searching for planets passing by, or transiting, relative to its line of sight. Detecting slight dips in the amount of light from a planet crossing the face of its parent star requires extremely precise pointing.

The telescope, the cornerstone of a $650 million mission, lost that ability on Tuesday when a second steadying spinning wheel stopped working.

Nenana Ice Classic 2013

FAIRBANKS – The ice went out at 3:41 p.m. in Nenana on Monday and there was only one winning ticket holder in what was the latest breakup on record in the 97-year-old Nenana Ice Classic.

The official winning time was 2:41 p.m. Alaska Standard Time because the contest uses standard, not daylight, time to determine the winner(s).

— KTVA

The date and time was 2013, May, 20th, 2:41 PM AST, day 139.612 day 140.362  [correction]

The existing record 1964, May 20th, 11:21 AM AST, day 140.487   140.104  [correction], 1964 was a leap year.

This is a repost of an existing article with updates.

The Delphi Technique: How to manipulate the manipulators

By Albert V. Burns

More and more, we are seeing citizens being invited to “participate” in various forms of meetings, councils, or boards to “help determine” public policy in one field or another. They are supposedly being included to get ”input” from the public to help officials make final decisions on taxes, education, community growth or whatever the particular subject matter might be.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, surface appearances are often deceiving.

You, Mr. or Mrs. Citizen, decide to take part in one of these meetings.

Generally, you will find that there is already someone designated to lead or “facilitate” the meeting. Supposedly, the job of the facilitator is to be a neutral, non-directing helper to see that the meeting flows smoothly.

Actually, he or she is there for exactly the opposite reason: to see that the conclusions reached during the meeting are in accord with a plan already decided upon by those who called the meeting.

Breaking: Destructive tornado hits Oklahoma

A two mile wide trail of destruction is sweeping across Oklahoma. I expect WUWT will pick this one up. Maybe Tim C will update as more news comes in.

CNN reported quoting local witnesses reported that when the violent tornado that is ‘struck the Town of Moore, near Oklahoma City destroyed two schools, one in 75 children were present, but that’ it sarbbero repaired in an underground shelter. Thirty were already ‘rescued. This is the school of Moore Plaza Towers, a suburb of the city ‘. Emergency services are working to rescue the survivors.

[Tim adds]  This seems to have been a monster in an area used to tornadoes, the details will trickle out over the coming days.

CERN’s Jasper Kirkby: The Newest Unpublished Results Of CLOUD “Are Very Interesting”

Repost from Pierre Gosselin’s No Tricks Zone

CERN’s Jasper Kirkby On The Newest Unpublished Results Of CLOUD: “The Results Are Very Interesting”
By P Gosselin on 19. Mai 2013

The Latest On The CLOUD Experiment at CERN
By Sebastian Lüning and Fritz Vahrenholt

On May 10, 2013, at the online Austrian ORF, there was a rare interview with the CLOUD Experiment director of the European European Organization for Nuclear Research, Jasper Kirkby. Within the scope of the CLOUD project, it is being investigated to what extent solar activity has on cloud formation via the mechanism of cosmic radiation and the impact this could have on the Earth’s climate (see Chapter 6 of our book “Die kalte Sonne“). Here’s an excerpt of the worthwhile interview:

ORF: What is the relationship between solar activity and cosmic radiation?

Kirkby: Cosmic radiation consists of high energy, charged particles. When they reach our solar system, they are deflected away by the magnetic field of the sun. Foremost by the magnetic field of the solar plasma. When the sun is active, less cosmic radiation reaches the Earth. The relationship to the solar cycle: When there are many sunspots, the Earth receives 10 – 30% less cosmic radiation.

A victory for Climate sceptics and common sense: EU forced to backpedal

From globalPost
The European Union, which has spearheaded efforts to curb global warming, is set to adopt a change of focus in response to concerns over costs and the impact on companies in economically depressed Europe. Under the change, the European Uniln will prioritize the supply of energy at affordable prices over cutting greenhouse gas emissions which impose burdens on industries, in a turnaround of the region’s energy policy, an EU official said Saturday.

Home made physics for real

Many of us love looking at the work done by real do-ers, the things they make for the fun and pain of doing it. These are the same as scientists of old.

Someone known as Robert has put up a web site showing his experimental physics done old style, create the devices yourself. He does glass work too.

“and also for the defibrillation of elephants.” but we won’t go there just now.

I’ve chosen the following item since it starts to approach the bizarre world of wave/particle duality. He has done much more.

Magnesium Photoelectric Cell

When electromagnetic radiation falls on a metal surface, electrons can be released. Electron emission only occurs if the frequency of the radiation is above a value called the threshold frequency. The threshold frequency is dependent upon the type of material.

Wave theory does not explain the photoelectric effect. Instead, it is necessary to consider the radiation as particles called photons. The energy of each photon is related to the frequency by E = hf where E is the energy in joules (J), h is Planck’s constant (6.626×10-34Js) and f is the frequency in Hz. Joules can be converted to electron volts by dividing by 1.6×10-19.

Second peak cycle 24? Sun does X-class

Original image entitled “NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of the X1.2 class solar flare on May 14, 2013. The image show light with a wavelength of 304 angstroms. Credit: NASA/SDO”, post processing for the Talkshop, Tim Channon
Original article here

The sun has woken up, throwing out 4 CME during the past few days, one will near miss earth today, 17th.

Kepler planet seeking spacecraft launched 2009, reaction wheel failed

Credit NASA, artist’s impression

We have a problem…

Here is an associated article from Stanford

May 15, 2013
Stanford professor and former NASA official explains how NASA might revive the Kepler space telescope

Scott Hubbard, a consulting professor of aeronautics and astronautics, helped guide the Kepler mission when he served as director of NASA Ames Research Center. He explains how NASA might bring the planet-hunting spacecraft back online.

Twinkling clouds, insolation higher than normal

Sometimes the sun shines through, reflects off and other optical effects of cloud. This does lead to insolation well in excess of the maximum for the time of year. An instance is shown above complete with an hourly sky thumbnail which almost caught one at the time, the effect comes and goes very quickly.

Suspect GRL Letter on claimed polar shift, a hockey stick again

Figure from preprint

From

Chen, J.L., C.R. Wilson, J.C. Ries, B.D. Tapley, Rapid ice melting drives Earth’s pole to the east, Geophys. Res. Lett., DOI: 10.1029/2013GL056164, 2013
GRL Letters site

A Letter in GRL makes a fuss about about earth polar shift, where of course some new toy is involved, GRACE in this case. Unfortunately for the authors they also deal in a dataset where I know far more than most, polar wobble.