Ex-National Grid Chief: Community Payouts Could Speed Up UK’s Net-Zero Goals

Electricity transmission [credit: green lantern electric]

Compensation payments for unwelcome transmission lines all over the place obviously crank up the build costs of wind power even further. Add to the list of net zero charges.
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City AM summary (via OilPrice.com):
>> Nick Winser’s report proposes streamlining the planning process for building new electricity transmission lines from 12-14 years to just seven, in line with the timescales for the development of large offshore wind farms.

>> He suggests changes to planning rules to fast-track new transmission infrastructure as a strategic asset and establishing community benefits, including lump sum payments for households near new lines and a community fund for areas affected by new projects.

>> Winser also calls for reforms to the queueing system for new projects and the rapid development of the Future Systems Operator to oversee the country’s electricity and gas systems, coordinate projects, and forecast supply and demand characteristics.
. . .
The report forecasts that the fees paid to generators to switch off when supply outstrips demand could rise from around £500m-£1bn in 2022 to a peak of £2bn-£4bn per year by around 2030, even if all current investment is delivered on time.

Net zero: on the path to destruction – Richard North

DESNZ – blaming humans for changing the climate

As the author points out, many of the public may fail to notice the inevitable pain and folly of net zero ‘climate policies’ until it’s too late to avoid them. Democratic choice is in effect suspended by compulsory five year plans.
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According to Guardian writer, Rafael Behr, Britain is trapped in political purgatory waiting for its undead government to fall, writes Richard North @ The Turbulent Times.

That may well be the case – or wishful thinking – but Behr goes on to add that “policy that can’t work and laws written purely for campaign slogans are clear symptoms of a moribund regime”.

He is, of course, talking about the controls over illegal immigration, which the entire Guardian collective would like to see junked, with no indication of what they would do to control the situation, other than open our borders and let all comers in.

Not one of the collective, though, would dream of substituting Behr’s homily on immigration with the same thought directed at net-zero. Yet it would be hard to find a better example of a policy that can’t work.

Global ‘Carbon’ Emissions Hit New Record Despite Green Energy Push

Coal-hungry China [image credit: democraticunderground.com]

How much of the increase is due to warmer oceans outgassing more CO2 and/or absorbing less of it? In any case the renewables delusion of an energy transition is shown up again. Unfortunately this article resorts to the old propaganda trick of using a sunset picture of cooling towers to make steam appear black.
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Despite growing investments in renewable energy, global carbon dioxide emissions reached a new record in 2022, driven largely by developing nations in Asia, says OilPrice.com.
. . .
The 2023 Statistical Review of World Energy revealed that fossil fuels account for 82% of the world’s primary energy consumption, and CO2 emissions from energy rose by 0.9% in 2022.

Although emissions from OECD countries have been declining, non-OECD nations, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, are seeing a sharp rise due to economic growth and increased energy consumption.

Addressing global emissions requires collaboration with Asia’s fast-growing nations, innovative technologies to bypass traditional fossil fuel dependence, and strategies to balance economic growth with environmental responsibility.
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The 2023 Review shows the world remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels for energy needs, even as renewables like solar and wind continue rapid growth.

Full article here.

The ‘Gulf Stream’ will not collapse in 2025: What the alarmist headlines got wrong

Gulf Stream map [image credit: RedAndr @ Wikipedia]

This article at The Conversation, by a former IPCC author warning against the excesses of media climate catastrophism, appeared on the 4th August but was somewhat undermined by another one it published the next day: The Atlantic is at risk of circulation collapse. It would mean even greater climate chaos across Europe.
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Those following the latest developments in climate science would have been stunned by the jaw-dropping headlines last week proclaiming the “Gulf Stream could collapse as early as 2025, study suggests” — which responded to a recent publication in Nature Communications, says The Conversation (via Phys.org).

“Be very worried: Gulf Stream collapse could spark global chaos by 2025” announced the New York Post. “A crucial system of ocean currents is heading for a collapse that ‘would affect every person on the planet” noted CNN in the U.S. and repeated CTV News here in Canada.

One can only imagine how those already stricken with climate anxiety internalized this seemingly apocalyptic news as temperature records were being shattered across the globe.

Disappearing clouds blamed for ‘crazy’ rise in ocean temperatures

Is this a case of ‘be careful what you wish for’? In a world of unproven climate assumptions masquerading as facts, the potential for unintended consequences is unlimited.
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Disappearing clouds are to blame for the “crazy” rise in ocean temperatures, scientists have warned.

A policy introduced in 2020 to cut the amount of sulphur emitted by ships resulted in an 80 per cent reduction of the element in the Earth’s atmosphere, says The Telegraph.

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) demanded that the sulphur content in fuel be cut from 3.5 per cent to 0.5 per cent for all vessels operating worldwide.

The policy resulted in fewer build-ups of the element in clouds and less cloud coverage overall.

End of the line: first adopter of hydrogen trains last year opts for all-electric future

German hydrogen train [image credit: Euractiv]

Being known as the misery line didn’t help the case for hydrogen trains, with a third of the train drivers resigning amid various operational difficulties. One German state estimated hydrogen trains would be 80% more expensive to run than electric over a 30-year period.
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The state-owned public transport company responsible for introducing the world’s first hydrogen-only railway line last year has effectively ruled out using any more H2 trains, saying that battery-electric models “are cheaper to operate”, reports Hydrogen Insight.

LNVG, which is owned by the government of Lower Saxony, had invested more than €93m ($85m) in 14 hydrogen fuel-cell trains, which began operating in August 2022.

The federal government also contributed a further €8.4m — €4.3m of which was spent on the world’s first H2 train refuelling station, built by Linde in the town of Bremervörde.

Record-Breaking Detection of Solar Photons

The HAWC detector (2014) [image credit: Jordanagoodman @ Wikipedia]

In a related Phys.org article a researcher says: “The sun is more surprising than we knew. We thought we had this star figured out, but that’s not the case.” But it has long been known that cosmic rays go up when solar activity goes down, and vice versa.
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Observations over the past decade or so have shown that the Sun emits many more gamma rays at GeV energies than is expected from modeling, says APS Physics.

Now a collaboration operating the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory in Mexico show that this gamma-ray excess extends up to TeV energies [1].

This finding has implications for our understanding of both stellar atmospheres and astroparticle physics.

Shoppers desert High Street after record rain storms

Some UK areas had their wettest July on record, despite media headlines full of ‘global boiling’ and suchlike alarmist psychobabble attempting to blame any unusually warm weather on humans. Even the Met Office had to admit it was ‘more like autumn than summer’. What a difference a year makes; after last year’s July record the Met Office proclaimed that ‘The chances of seeing 40°C days in the UK could be as much as 10 times more likely in the current climate than under a natural climate unaffected by human influence’. This July 20°C days or less were closer to the reality for many, but at least June was generally sunnier and warmer than usual.
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The number of people heading out to the shops fell for the first July in 14 years as the UK grappled with one of the wettest months on record, says BBC News.

Overall footfall was down by 0.3% in the first drop in July since 2009, said retail analysis firm Springboard.

High Streets were hit hardest but shopping centres and retail parks got a boost in visitor numbers.

The Guardian’s (ocean) circulation problem – Net Zero Watch

Gotta keep those climate alarm bells ringing in media-land! A review of the Guardian’s habitual Gulf Stream misreporting.
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Is there no loyalty among climate extremists? – asks David Whitehouse @ Net Zero Watch.

The Guardian makes a mistake about the fundamental difference between the Gulf Stream and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and suddenly everyone is on its case, some accusing it of sloppy reporting, others demanding a correction of its fake news (which didn’t come.)

To be fair it wasn’t just the Guardian – the BBC, CNN and others also got it wrong.

The slowdown or possible collapse of Atlantic currents was everywhere on the internet.

Massive sun ‘umbrella’ attached to asteroid could help fight global warming, scientist says

[image credit: latinoamericarenovable.com]

Carbon dioxide in varying concentrations has been around for millions of years. Plants, trees etc. depend on it, and here we are. But climate scientists know best – don’t they? Looks like another trip to cloud cuckoo land here, in pursuit of the absurd climate control illusion.
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A new study lays out the theoretical plan of tethering a giant solar shield to a captured space rock, says Space.com.

Potentially, this contraption could protect Earth from the sun.

To help combat the effects of global warming, scientists are toying with an innovative idea to shield our planet from the sun with a spaceborne “umbrella” of sorts.