2050: The never-ending nightmare of Net Zero

Classifying this as humour may not be appropriate, but we live in hope.
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IT IS the year 2050 and Britain, relentlessly driven by the governing Labour-Green coalition, has achieved Net Zero, imagines David Wright @ TCW (The Conservative Woman).

The nation is quite unrecognisable from the comfortable, well-fed country it was in the early part of the 21st century.

Massive wind turbines cover the landscape; the old ones built 25 years ago now knocked down and lying next to the new ones because it was uneconomic to remove them.

The whole country is covered in a dense spider’s web of power lines from the multitude of wind and solar farms miles from where the power is needed.

Energy Grid Changes Leave California And The Midwest Vulnerable To Blackouts

Windfarm in the California desert

They plan to keep increasing electricity demand by (for example) mandating EVs, while reducing reliable supply in pursuit of climate obsessions. How long can US States go on ignoring the obvious?
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California and parts of the Midwest are at a high risk of electricity shortages in the coming years amid the transformation of their grid from one reliant on fossil fuels to one reliant on other sources of energy such as wind and solar, says OilPrice.com.

The warning comes from the latest annual assessment of the grid by the North American Reliability Corporation, as cited by CNBC.

According to the assessment, the Midwest and Ontario in Canada risk power shortages because they are retiring more generation capacity than they are adding.

Bacton, Norfolk ‘has undeveloped gas reserves of up to 2 trillion cubic feet’

Of course climate-obsessed policymakers want to use it produce hydrogen and capture any CO2, at unknown but hefty expense — doing things the hard way. Why not save a fortune and just put it into the existing gas network?
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Low carbon hydrogen could heat up to 20 million homes and businesses across London and the South East of England for decades to come, according to a new industry report.

The Bacton Energy Hub (BEH), a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) hydrogen project, located on the coast of Norfolk, could not only help to secure the UK’s energy supply but also play a major role in significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, says the North Sea Transition Authority.

Currently the National Transmission System (NTS), supplying gas to homes and businesses in London and the South East of England, consists largely of methane. However, it is possible that by 2030 hydrogen produced at Bacton could be blended into the NTS, helping the transition to net zero while ensuring energy security.

Sales of £1,400 batteries surge amid winter blackout fears

In demand

Soothing words about electricity supplies from power bosses and politicians are not fooling the public. If the wind doesn’t blow on a cold winter evening they need to be prepared. Net zero ideology matters more than people’s well-being it seems.
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Britons are snapping up large batteries costing up to £1,400, as concerns grow over winter power cuts, reports The Telegraph.

A large manufacturer of portable batteries, Anker Innovations Technology, has said that sales were up to three times higher in October than in the previous month.

Normally, it sells power station products to the US where power cuts are more common, while UK customers have traditionally only bought them for camping.

But Britons who worry about blackouts this winter are now stocking up, PR manager Lorna Smith told Bloomberg.

The 757 Powerhouse model, which costs around £1400 and can recharge a portable fridge for 22 hours, is sold out until December “due to overwhelming demand”.

Full article here.
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Meanwhile the UK National Grid informs:
Without the Demand Flexibility Service, we would expect to see a reduction in margins. In this scenario on days when it was cold (therefore likely high demand), with low levels of wind (reduced available generation), there is the potential to need to interrupt supply to some customers for limited periods of time in a managed and controlled manner. [bold added]

Swiss professor: “We still haven’t come up with the perfect energy storage solution.”

[image credit: latinoamericarenovable.com]

They’ve had coal, gas and oil filling that requirement for many decades. But now they scratch their heads and look for viable alternatives, with nothing of note to show for their effort. Climate obsessions like the ‘net zero’ illusion can do strange things to people’s ability to think rationally. Throwing away something vital without a suitable replacement is asking for trouble.
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If the transition to renewables is to succeed, we will need a viable means of storing surplus heat and electricity, says TechXplore.

Globe spoke to experts from ETH Zurich about the promising technologies that could help us reach net zero.

Switzerland aims to transition to a net-zero energy system by 2050. To meet this goal, it will need to replace fossil fuels with renewables.

Electric Car Obsession

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Those with a media platform using their manufactured climate stick to beat people with unwelcome demands, as usual.

Science Matters

Times Square Billboard

World Economic Forum Urges Public To Eliminate Ownership Of Private Vehicles

The World Economic Forum is advocating for the abolition of “wasteful” private vehicle ownership for the planet’s greater good as the organization attempts to advance its “Great Reset” agenda and transform the world so that the average person will “own nothing.”

“We need a clean energy revolution, and we need it now,” states a WEF’s July 18 article titled, “3 circular economy approaches to reduce demand for critical metals.”

“But this transition from fossil fuels to renewables will need large supplies of critical metals such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, to name a few. Shortages of these critical minerals could raise the costs of clean energy technologies,” the forum continues.

The unelected globalist group recommends the public “go from owning to using” by implementing “vehicle sharing initiatives” to decrease mass reliance on critical metals.

“The average car…

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Unable to Pay Their Rocketing Power Bills, Germans Told to ‘Huddle Up’ Next Winter

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They’ll be trying to save themselves, not the climate. Moving from farce to disaster in pursuit of pointless and hopeless targets.

STOP THESE THINGS

Germany’s obsession with unreliable wind and solar has households and businesses paying the Europe’s highest power prices, when electricity isn’t being rationed, that is.

That more than 300,000 German households can no longer afford electricity, comes as no surprise. That hundreds of thousands of people in Europe’s richest economy are forced to heat their homes using timber scavenged from forests is criminal. But, that’s what the inevitable transition to an all wind and solar powered future looks like, for those forced to suffer it.

A few months from now, as another bitter northern European winter bites, those households will be belted from both angles: power and gas prices continue to skyrocket to a level that hundreds of thousands more will be unable to light and heat their homes.

But, never fear, their local governments have a cunning plan to prevent their constituents from freezing to death.

With a nod to…

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California emissions, carbon neutrality plan draws criticism

Los Angeles, CA

Desperately seeking ‘carbon’ capture. One of the obvious problems of course is that it’s energy-intensive, and that energy has to be generated by non-fossil sources to qualify as suitable for the job, in the eyes of climate obsessives. Ignoring other practical difficulties (storage etc.), where is all the extra power supposed to come from? If wealthy California can’t resolve such issues, most other climate-obsessed regions (excluding those with lots of hydro-power) will surely also struggle to do so, and it all has to be paid for. For ‘ambitious’ read ‘unworkable’?
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California air regulators are likely to hear a barrage of criticism Thursday on a plan to slash fossil fuel use and reach carbon neutrality by 2045, a proposal that would require a sweeping shift in how the state powers its massive economy in the face of climate change, says Phys.org.

It will be the California Air Resources Board’s first public discussion of this year’s draft scoping plan, which is updated every five years and lays out a roadmap for the state to reach its climate goals.

The 2045 goal is among the most ambitious in the nation, but the proposal has many critics beyond the oil industry, which says the strategy has too many bans and mandates.

Boris Johnson warned he won’t survive continued ban of UK shale gas

Plans to keep 1,2 or maybe 3 coal-fired power stations on standby over winter look somewhat threadbare for a population of around 70 million, as the gas crisis rages on. Meanwhile politicians cling to their climate saver fantasies.
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London, 15 June – Net Zero Watch is calling on Boris Johnson to stop dithering on UK shale gas, in the face of a sharp intensification of Britain’s energy crisis.

In recent days, UK natural gas prices have risen 25% in response to a fire at a major US LNG facility, which will severely reduce the supply for many months to come.

In addition, political turmoil has caused Libyan production to almost grind to a halt while Russia has announced to curtail gas exports to Europe.

Ireland’s climate targets problem: livestock numbers need to be reduced, say analysts

Irish farm [image credit: climatenewsnetwork.net]

Yet another climate folly induced by arbitrary targets. As usual they conveniently forget that most of their so-called ‘greenhouse’ gas is water vapour, which depends on the temperature. There’s so little methane in the atmosphere it has to be measured in parts per billion, but alarmism has taken over.
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In order for legally binding climate targets to be met, and agricultural subsidies to be granted, the number of livestock on the island needs to go down says Buzz.

The size of herds both North and South of the border is being scrutinised. It is likely both cow and sheep herds on both sides of the border will need to be cut – and soon.

Germany’s global hydrogen plans could accelerate climate change, UK government study suggests

German hydrogen train [image credit: Euractiv]

The issue is leakage. In any case the notion of part of the supposed cure for ‘climate change’ being worse than the supposed disease is ironic. Germany imagines a future of so-called climate neutrality, a concept lacking any real-world meaning.
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German Economy Minister Robert Habeck plans to import hydrogen from all over the world to satisfy Germany’s hunger for energy despite a new study questioning the climate-friendliness of hydrogen transport, EURACTIV Germany reports.

One thing is clear to all politicians and experts: Germany is an energy importing country.

To move towards climate neutrality, the German government wants to rely primarily on importing hydrogen molecules from all over the world – efforts which have been further accelerated due to the war in Ukraine and Germany’s dependence on Russian energy imports.

Government says half of all new UK cars should be electric by 2028

The availability of new hybrids after 2030 is also thrown into question, as the government puts its foot on the climate obsession accelerator. Sales figures of full EVs will now be part of that policy decision. Basically freedom of choice will end in 2027, well before the government’s latest energy strategy has had much chance to take any effect. This looks over-ambitious in terms of electricity supply, to put it mildly.
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More than half of all new cars sold in the UK must be fully electric by 2028, under detailed government proposals unveiled on Thursday to pave the way for phasing out the sale of traditional petrol and diesel vehicles by the end of the decade, says DUK News.

Ministers want to bring in a China-style sales mandate from 2024, which would force carmakers to increase the proportion of electric cars as a percentage of their sales each year until 2035, when all models must be zero emission.

Under plans unveiled two years ago, the government would ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 but allow some new hybrid models to be sold until 2035.

Specific year-by-year goals disclosed online on Thursday include a 22 per cent mandated all-electric share by manufacturer at the start of the scheme in 2024, rising every year to 52 per cent in 2028 and 80 per cent by 2030.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders industry body said the new rules “must encourage consumers to purchase not just compel manufacturers to produce.” It renewed its call for manufacturers to be released from the binding targets if not enough electric chargers were installed across the UK.

Last month the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that 59 per cent of new car sales would be electric by 2027, double the level it forecast in October.

Battery-electric cars accounted for 12 per cent of the new vehicles sold last year but some manufacturers, such as Toyota, currently rely on hybrid systems to lower emissions and have only this year begun selling full electric vehicles. Jaguar Land Rover, Britain’s largest carmaker, only sells one electric model and is not due to release its next electric car until 2024.

Full article here.

New inquiry into how the UK can (?) cut fossil fuels and accelerate net zero transition

[image credit: latinoamericarenovable.com]

Re-writing the laws of physics is not an option. The only thing accelerating at the moment is the downward spiral into energy poverty for ever larger numbers of the population, in manic pursuit of the mystical ‘net zero’ climate target. Another trip to cloud cuckoo land beckons for these blinkered climate obsessives.
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The Environmental Audit Committee announced the inquiry in response to the rise in fossil fuel prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and continued speculation on what will be included in the government’s Energy Security Strategy, reports Energy Live News.

The Committee believes protecting consumers from high fossil fuel prices and fuel poverty while ensuring security of supply and continued progress towards net zero is critical for any strategy on energy security to be successful.

IEA Wants Energy Lockdowns

The war in Ukraine will morph into the war on climate change. So predictable we already predicted it. Paul Homewood provides the details of the plan.

https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2022/03/18/iea-wants-energy-lockdowns/

Neom: What’s the green truth behind a planned eco-city in the Saudi desert?

Who is this supposedly green all-renewable energy virtue signalling mega-project actually for, some are asking. The BBC attempts to look behind the curtain, while the Saudis confirm they want to keep selling oil until there either isn’t any more to sell or there are no buyers.
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Glow-in-the dark beaches. Billions of trees planted in a country dominated by the desert. Levitating trains. A fake moon. A car-free, carbon-free city built in a straight line over 100 miles long in the desert.

These are some of the plans for Neom – a futuristic eco-city that is part of Saudi Arabia’s pivot to go green. But is it all too good to be true?

Neom claims to be a “blueprint for tomorrow in which humanity progresses without compromise to the health of the planet”.

Net zero targets could cause more unrest and division than Brexit, Tory MP warns

Some might say the unrest has already started. The futile pursuit of policies that supposedly ‘improve’ the climate somehow, but cost energy consumers a small fortune and make the electricity grid ever more difficult to manage, is bound to end badly sooner or later.
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Carbon emissions targets could be “bigger than Brexit” for the potential of causing unrest, and division in the country, an organising member of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group of MPs has warned.

Serial rebel, Brexiteer and Tory backbencher Steve Baker helped establish the group of around 20 MPs who are concerned about the costs of reaching net zero, says Sky News.

And his warning comes amid an escalating cost of living crisis.

Mr Baker told Sky News: “I genuinely believe that when the full costs of net zero start hitting us, if people have never been given a choice at the ballot box, we could end up with something bigger than the poll tax, certainly bigger than Brexit, because the numbers of people hit by it and their inability to cope will be huge.

“I am sick to death of people talking to me about food and fuel poverty, and then piling costs on the poor.

“This is a fundamental moral issue.”

‘MPs know this is going to hit all voters and hit them hard’

“I’ve started three big projects of MPs on the issue of the day – one on Brexit, one on COVID, which of course affected everybody, and one on net zero.

“Of the three of them, the one that grew fastest by miles was net zero, simply because members of parliament know this is going to hit all voters and hit them hard and hit them fast and they aren’t going to like it.”

Mr Baker’s warning comes as the prime minister is fighting another significant division – battling to regain support from within his party as it responds to the ongoing “partygate” scandal.

The Net Zero Scrutiny Group, which includes former cabinet minister Esther McVey MP, recently signed an open letter demanding the government scrap green levies on energy bills and increase the amount of gas extracted from the North Sea.

But the larger, greener wing of the Conservative party sees things very differently.

Full article here.

Guardian: solve the UK energy crisis for the long term – store more power

Image credit: thecount.com

‘Four storage solutions to help Britain keep the lights on deep into the future’ says the paper’s sub-heading. But given the puny nature of their suggestions, that looks to be about all they could hope to do. What about actual reliable power for heating, transport, industry, commerce, hospitals, shops, services etc.?
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Soaring energy bills rooted in a global gas supply crunch have focused minds on the age-old problem: how can we better store power? says The Guardian.

Attention has turned to the closure of the Rough gas storage facility in the North Sea in 2017, which left the UK with only enough storage to meet the demand of four to five winter days.

But while gas is being phased out, Britain’s growing reliance on renewables, such as offshore wind and solar, does not solve the problem of intermittency – what happens when the wind does not blow or the sun does not shine.

The key to securing enough affordable, low-carbon energy is more storage to make the most of the renewable energy available. A storage boom has been forecast over the coming decade as governments race to meet their climate targets.
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Their four suggestions:
— ‘Gravity’ storage
— Concentrated solar power storage [see below]
— Green hydrogen
— ‘Cryogenic’ batteries

Full article here.
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If anyone finds any or all of these a convincing and/or ‘affordable’ alternative to existing fuels as a storage medium, please explain why.

UPDATE 10/1/22, 7PM (UK)
The Concentrated solar power storage project cited by the Guardian (Crescent Dunes) as an example to follow has already been wound up!

U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey:
‘As a result of alleged misfeasance, nonfeasance, and malfeasance, the project failed, and the plant is now nonoperational.’
[Report dated December 09, 2021]

Energy Anguish Hits Britain

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Don’t we know it. The pain will appear big-time when the energy price cap gets revised massively upwards from April. Piling on green levies adds insult to injury for bill payers.

PA Pundits International

By David Wojick, Ph.D. ~

We are just weeks into winter and already an energy crisis is starting to burn in Britain. Part of this anguish is directed at climate policy, especially net zero.

The Brits are way ahead of the US when it comes to threatening people with direct hits, so this is no surprise. We have high natural gas prices, but they are being told they will have to pay huge sums to insulate and convert their gas heated homes to electric heat pumps. We have high gasoline prices while they are threatened with outlawing new fuel-fired cars. The stupidly green government has even suggested that personal car ownership might be ended. No wonder the Brits are running hot.

One aspect of this green shock is that supposedly conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson was elected largely because of his role in Brexit. That he was a roaring green…

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As demand rises, activists demand an immediate end to oil production

Demand for energy on a global scale is set to increase substantially in the coming years, as this article points out. So-called activists need to activate their brains a bit more. Unless they hope to suppress demand permanently in some ultra-draconian manner, the current system has to continue unless or until something better takes its place, which won’t be any time soon as demand now exceeds 100 million barrels per day.
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Europe may be in the grips of an energy shortage and forced to reopen retired coal plants to cope but climate activists insist that it is time to part company with fossil fuels, the sooner, the better says OilPrice.com.

According to them, this is a simple solution to the world’s emission problems. “It is overflowing with too much carbon. The world can’t absorb any more,” said Tom Goldtooth, an activist and the executive director of the North American Indigenous Environmental Network on the sidelines of COP26, as quoted by CNBC. “The simple solution, that we are still demanding, is the world has to turn the valve off.”

Yet the solution of turning off the valve appears to not be as simple as it may sound. Goldtooth is neither the first nor the last activist to call for an immediate end to oil and gas production.

Declare an energy emergency or risk economic disaster, Boris Johnson warned – Net Zero Watch

Fracking: note the deep shaft

The chances of the UK government listening to anybody other than climate obsessives on energy matters are about zero. Most of the opposition parties are even more addicted to the notion of climate being determined by the level of trace gases in the atmosphere, with wildly unrealistic policies to match.
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London, 29 December – Net Zero Watch has called on Boris Johnson to declare an energy emergency and introduce radical policy reforms in order to prevent the energy cost crisis turning into an economic and social disaster.

The call comes as fears grow over a devastating energy cost and energy security crisis, with spiralling prices hitting households and businesses hard, and warnings that energy bills could double or even treble next year.

It is reported that Boris Johnson is considering to hand out £20 billion of taxpayers’ money to energy suppliers who are threatening to double or treble energy costs.