Energy firms adding £242 to domestic bills as profits soar

Anyone feeling the financial strain of high energy bills, whether the charges are blamed mainly on subsidies or other factors, won’t find this pleasant reading. Tariff Watch says its report is ‘revealing the secret data behind Britain’s broken energy system’.
– – –
Energy companies’ operating costs are making up a substantial portion of customers’ bills, says Energy Live News.

On average, these operating costs add £242 to each customer’s annual energy bill, accounting for approximately 13% of the total bill, according to a report from the Warm This Winter Tariff Watch.

The report indicates that energy firms are allocating a considerable chunk of their operating costs to marketing activities.

This category encompasses expenses related to sponsoring football teams, event venues and the creation of television adverts.

Open peer review: The truth about weather extremes: What the past tells us – The GWPF

– – –
We are keen to receive review comments for our new report which is now available for open review here, says The Global Warming Policy Foundation.

Ralph Alexander: The truth about weather extremes. What the past tells us

This report refutes the popular but mistaken belief that today’s weather extremes are more common and more intense because of climate change, by examining the history of extreme weather events over the past century or so.

Drawing on newspaper archives, the report presents multiple examples of past extremes that matched or exceeded anything experienced in the present-day world.

Idea of green growth losing traction among climate policy researchers, survey of nearly 800 academics reveals

Prosperity via subsidies, making the energy that powers economies more scarce and/or more expensive, always sounded like a fantasy.
– – –
When she took to the floor to give her State of the Union speech on 13 September, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen largely stood by the script, says Phys.org.

Describing her vision of an economically buoyant and sustainable Europe in the era of climate change, she called on the EU to accelerate the development of the clean-tech sector, “from wind to steel, from batteries to electric vehicles.”

“When it comes to the European Green Deal, we stick to our growth strategy,” von der Leyen said.

Her plans were hardly idiosyncratic.

“Mind-blowing” Claims of Record Low Antarctica Sea Ice on BBC Contradicted by Statements Made Seven Years Ago – The Daily Sceptic

Antarctica [credit: Wikipedia]

The BBC once again trying to pull the wool over the unsuspecting public’s eyes on climate? Surely not! Or…guilty as charged? With Arctic sea ice scare stories looking increasingly hollow, something along apparently similar lines at the other end of the globe proved irresistible.
– – –
Antarctica sea ice is at a “mind-blowing” record low winter area of 17 million square kilometres, reports a three-person BBC “News Climate & Science and Data Journalism Team”, as lower levels than those recorded in the recent past provide the cue for yet more media climate hysteria, says The Daily Sceptic.

Of course, the BBC headline is clickbait nonsense, not least because it has been generally known in scientific circles that early NASA Nimbus satellites showed even lower winter levels around 15 million sq. kms in 1966.

But the BBC story does provide an excellent example of how science is twisted to fit the political narrative supporting the collectivist Net Zero agenda.

Study investigates primary drivers of observed warming: challenges of inadequate data

Urban heat island effect

The study, entitled The Detection and Attribution of Northern Hemisphere Land Surface Warming (1850–2018) in Terms of Human and Natural Factors: Challenges of Inadequate Data (August 2023), has 40 authors, some of whom are regular contributors to the ‘climate debate’ both in published papers and elsewhere. It takes a critical look at recent IPCC reports and summaries, especially the quality or otherwise of some of the data used to support its assertions. It suggests ways some of these issues could/should be addressed. Below is the abstract and the closing summary.
– – –
Abstract
A statistical analysis was applied to Northern Hemisphere land surface temperatures (1850–2018) to try to identify the main drivers of the observed warming since the mid-19th century.

Two different temperature estimates were considered—a rural and urban blend (that matches almost exactly with most current estimates) and a rural-only estimate. The rural and urban blend indicates a long-term warming of 0.89 °C/century since 1850, while the rural-only indicates 0.55 °C/century.

This contradicts a common assumption that current thermometer-based global temperature indices are relatively unaffected by urban warming biases.

New Paper Reveals Classic Logical Fallacy In IPCC Report

The alarmist media bought it at the time, which may well have been the idea.
– – –
A new paper from the Global Warming Policy Foundation reveals that the IPCC’s 2013 report contained a remarkable logical fallacy, says Climate Change Dispatch.

The author, Professor Norman Fenton, shows that the authors of the Summary for Policymakers claimed, with 95% certainty, that more than half of the warming observed since 1950 had been caused by man.

But as Professor Fenton explains, their logic in reaching this conclusion was fatally flawed.

Biden’s crazy electric car plan means grid collapse, probably this decade – Telegraph

EV charging station [image credit: InsideEVs]

The numbers just don’t add up. Net zero-style mandates from climate obsessives don’t take reality seriously. Firstly, the ageing electricity grid can’t take the strain. Secondly, new transmission lines take many years to approve, let alone build. Thirdly, a shortage of transformers – which take a long time to make and can’t be mass-produced – also precludes rapid progress. That’s without even discussing the unpredictable intermittency of renewables.
– – –
Policies enacted by the Biden administration and the previous, Democrat-controlled Congress are set to plunge the USA into a serious energy crisis in the coming years, says The Telegraph.

It all has to do with the Biden government’s decision to try to force mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) before either the market or the power grid can adjust to meet the whopping new demand for power generation or to supply the critical minerals needed to make the batteries that power the cars.

Democrat members of Congress and Biden’s appointed officials are coordinating an effort to force EV adoption on reluctant consumers via a classic carrot and stick approach.

SITYS: Climate models do not conserve mass or energy – Roy Spencer, PhD.

‘Potentially serious problems’. Advisable to view the linked blog post before commenting, it’s quite short.
– – –
See, I told you so — says Roy Spencer.

One of the most fundamental requirements of any physics-based model of climate change is that it must conserve mass and energy.

This is partly why I (along with Danny Braswell and John Christy) have been using simple 1-dimensional climate models that have simplified calculations and where conservation is not a problem.
. . .
Now, I just stumbled upon a paper from 2021 (Irving et al., A Mass and Energy Conservation Analysis of Drift in the CMIP6 Ensemble) which describes significant problems in the latest (CMIP5 and CMIP6) models regarding not only energy conservation in the ocean but also at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA, thus affecting global warming rates) and even the water vapor budget of the atmosphere (which represents the largest component of the global greenhouse effect).

These represent potentially serious problems when it comes to our reliance on climate models to guide energy policy. [Talkshop note – author’s emphasis]

It boggles my mind that conservation of mass and energy were not requirements of all models before their results were released decades ago.

Full post here.

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.
– – –
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.

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.
– – –
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.

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.
– – –
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.

Heatwave hysteria – Net Zero Watch

Credit: nationalreview.com

Media headbangers seem to be in a constant race to the bottom to try and get the most attention-grabbing nonsensical climate alarm headlines out of the latest short-term weather phenomenon, whatever it may be. If truth is a casualty, they may fail to notice.
– – –
Climate change extremism and the tendency to alarm first and analyse later is destroying clear and thoughtful environmental reporting, says David Whitehouse @ Net Zero Watch.

A good example of this is the European heatwave hysteria which was started by journalists confusing ground and air temperature.

It began with a report by the European Space Agency that referred to measured air temperatures above Europe.

The point of the press release was that it was very hot.

Beware the habitual El Niño hype – Net Zero Watch

Not hard to imagine so-called climate reporters with fingers hovering over the alarm button, ready to press it as soon as the first hint of an El Niño is mentioned somewhere.
– – –
The world is once again in the grip of a semi-regular climate alarm, says David Whitehouse @ Net Zero Watch.

I’m not referring to the latest onset of the El Niño cycle, declared in action on July 4th by the United Nations, but the amplified rhetoric about the pace and scale of warming temperatures that always accompanies such El Niño periods.

Do you remember what happened last time we had a record El Niño in 2015/16? Global temperatures increased rapidly – as they do during such an event – and, according to some, it was full speed ahead to a runaway thermal apocalypse … until global temperatures started to fall again.

Don’t listen to the Climate Change Committee on car bans, ministers are warned

.
.
Some light reading for the Climate Change Committee — Why Electric Cars Are An Expensive Scam.

NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

View original post 186 more words

Irony Alert: Why Offshore Wind Power Increases Carbon Dioxide Gas Emissions

.
.
A reminder that green industrialization is mostly fuel-powered.

STOP THESE THINGS

Wind power is delivered chaotically, it’s costly and critically depends on the weather. So, the only purported justification is said to be a reduction of carbon dioxide gas emissions in the electricity generation sector. Putting aside whether there’s any need to do so, STT is happy to attack the myth that wind power does any such thing.

One of our posts to that effect – How Much CO2 Gets Emitted to Build a Wind Turbine? – has clocked up over 130,000 hits and still attracts attention.

In the first of the pieces below, David Wojick tackles the myth that offshore wind power generation reduces carbon dioxide gas emissions, explaining that collapses in wind power output are met by using costly to run and highly inefficient open cycle gas turbines, ramped up to keep the grid from collapsing and the lights on when calm weather sets in. With the net result…

View original post 1,636 more words

Roy Spencer: New paper pushes climate fearmongering to stratospheric heights

Credit: nationalreview.com

Once again pushback is required against scientists using climate models to promote their biased ‘human-caused warming’ agenda.
– – –
A new paper by Santer et al. provocatively entitled “Exceptional stratospheric contribution to human fingerprints on atmospheric temperature” goes where no serious climate scientist should go: it has conflated stratospheric cooling with global warming, says Dr. Roy Spencer (via Climate Change Dispatch).

The paper starts out summarizing the supposed importance of their work, which is worth quoting in its entirety (author’s emphasis):

Green Omertà – Net Zero Watch

[image credit: beforeitsnews.com]

Conspiracy, mass delusion or a bit of both? Whatever it is, it’s not doing electricity consumers any favours.
– – –
There is a conspiracy of silence about wind power costs, says Andrew Montford @ Net Zero Watch.

I know, I do tend to be a bit repetitive about the cost of wind power.

How many times have I explained that the data is completely clear: that it’s expensive; and that if it’s getting any cheaper, it’s only doing so very slowly. In fact, for onshore wind the trend is clearly upwards.

My determination on the subject is prompted by the refusal of anyone in official circles to accept the facts.

To a man (and woman) they are absolutely resolute in their insistence that wind is staggeringly cheap because windfarms have agreed staggeringly low-priced “strike prices” for power. And because industry bodies and Whitehall says it is.

The fact that nobody has ever delivered power at such a price cuts no mustard with these people.

Nor does the observation that windfarm developers are all saying that new construction will not go ahead without further handouts.

And of course, if you point to the hard data in windfarm financial accounts, they really, really do not want to know at all.

Continued here.

Is Green Hydrogen Being Overhyped?

Credit: Scottish Power

Plenty of talk but not very much action, it seems. The author notes that ‘the small size of hydrogen molecules poses safety and greenhouse gas-related risks that must be mitigated’, while most current gas grids can’t cope with more than 20% hydrogen content anyway. Affordability looks at least questionable. Such issues will require years of effort and expense to even attempt to get to grips with.
– – –
The global discourse on addressing climate change, energy transition, and investments is currently dominated by the topic of green hydrogen, says Dr. Cyril Widdershoven @ OilPrice.com.

The media frenzy surrounding the expanding array of projects, subsidy schemes, and international strategies is fueled by the influence of Washington’s IRA plans and the EU’s energy strategic projects.

It appears as if the choice for a post-hydrocarbon world has already been made, with green hydrogen or its derivative, green ammonia, emerging as the favored options. Western parties remain highly optimistic, as large-scale renewable energy initiatives are closely tied to these alternatives.

However, it is crucial to bring realism into the discussion. This aspect should be addressed sooner rather than later.

Lord Frost: Net zero route “inevitably wasteful and damaging”

Leaving aside all discussion of whether ‘the climate’ is under any sort of human control, Lord Frost forecasts national economic pain and asks: where are the viable electricity storage options?
– – –
Lord David Frost, the former Brexit minister has voiced significant concerns regarding the nation’s chosen path towards achieving net zero emissions, reports Energy Live News.

In a speech delivered at the Global Warming Policy Foundation to an audience in Central London last night, Lord Frost expressed doubts about the viability and potential damage associated with the current approach.

Lord Frost said: “I am going to argue that the route we have chosen to deliver net zero is inevitably wasteful and damaging; that it is totally implausible that it will boost growth and much more likely that it will reduce it; that as a result governments are pursuing completely incompatible political and economic objectives, but will not be able to do so forever; that when the crunch comes they may well double down on further economically damaging measures in order to meet the goal; and, therefore, finally, that people like me must prepare for that moment when we will need to try to get onto a more rational path with a rethink of net zero methods and, almost certainly, timetable.”

Clintel Report Blows Lid Off Biased IPCC Report, Permeated With Errors, Bias

But not the end he was thinking of ? [credit: wizbangblog.com]

Each successive report is spun up for political purposes to look more alarming than the last one, with minimal change to any relevant data.
– – –
The IPCC ignored crucial peer-reviewed literature showing that normalized disaster losses have decreased since 1990 and that human mortality due to extreme weather has decreased by more than 95% since 1920, say Marcel Crok and Andy May @ Climate Change Dispatch.

The IPCC, by cherry-picking from the literature, drew the opposite conclusions, claiming increases in damage and mortality due to anthropogenic climate change.

These are two important conclusions of the report The Frozen Climate Views of the IPCC, published by the Clintel Foundation.

The 180-page report is – as far as we know – the first serious international ‘assessment’ of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report.