The Oil Demand Outlook COP28 Leaders Would Hate

The 28th UN-sponsored attempt to reduce global ’emissions’, in line with its pet climate theories, stares its own failure in the face as emissions keep going up. The renewables industry is running fast to stand still in terms of making a global dent in oil usage, for example. Imposition of ‘net zero’ policies may impact some countries, but oil marches on as demand from the many aspiring – but less developed than the ‘net zero club’ – countries boosts business.
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->> The International Energy Agency said in its recent oil report that oil consumption is close to peaking, thanks to transition efforts and energy efficiency gains.
->> Goehring and Rozencwajg: In 12 of the past 14 years, the IEA has underestimated oil demand by an average annual of 820,000 barrels per day.
->> Goehring and Rozencwajg: “If the IEA’s error were a country, it would be the world’s 21st largest oil consumer”.

This week, a report from a climate organization warned that emissions from the combustion of hydrocarbons are set for a record this year, says OilPrice.com.

Vast village heat pump tests one route to net zero for rural Britain

At £12 million per village, what would the national cost of such devices be for all the other villages that might want one? If it ‘shows how the costs of the energy transition can be made more manageable’, we could ask: more manageable than what?
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In a quiet field in eastern England a vast heat pump generates enough warmth to supply houses throughout a historic village, a pilot project is testing ways to spur renewable energy use in a country that is falling behind its net zero targets, says Reuters.

Resembling a large agricultural site, with gleaming silver water vats, the heat pump produces water hot enough to feed existing domestic systems, removing the need for costly home retrofits. A 60-year funding scheme removed upfront costs.

Supporters say the network, the first of its kind in rural Britain, not only shows one way for the UK to catch up with Europe on heat pump adoption, but addresses how it can fund the wider net zero transition when household finances are tight.

The big chill: flights suspended at Glasgow Airport – as warnings for snow and ice in place across UK

One day into meteorological winter and already global warming has gone missing. As ‘cold health alerts’ are activated, renewable energy has all but dried up leaving gas to take the strain of electricity generation. Even coal is outperforming wind power.
Update: Flights resume at Glasgow Airport [announced at 1020 am].
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Weather warnings for snow and ice are in place across swathes of the UK as temperatures plummeted below freezing overnight, reports Sky.com.

Forecasters have warned the wintry conditions could affect some road and rail journeys with icy surfaces posing the risk of injury from slips and falls.

Glasgow Airport has suspended flights due to heavy snow, with passengers urged to check with their airline for updates.

Government has surrendered to green lobbyists – NZW

UK governments snookered themselves by passing the Climate Change Act. Now when the green lobby says ‘jump!’ all they can do is say ‘how high?’ They’ve given themselves no other option.
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Net Zero Watch says Claire Coutinho’s decision to award huge price increases to renewables operators is a wholesale surrender to green lobbyists.

— Generators awarded large and open-ended price increases to new offshore wind, with a minimum 66% increase.
— Government has offered further handouts contingent on delivery of a ‘low carbon supply chain’ and ‘social benefits’
— This can only increase costs to consumers, who should expect hefty increases in bills

Campaign group Net Zero Watch has ridiculed energy minister Claire Coutinho’s claim that handing a 66% price increase to windfarm operators is part of her plan for ‘bringing bills down for families’.

US Watchdog Has Grim Winter Warning: There May Be Blackouts

If it’s climate obsession versus reality in US power supplies, there can only be one winner. Strong opposition to new gas pipelines plus increasing reliance on intermittent renewables can only end badly for consumers of power.
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As much as two-thirds of the United States could experience blackouts in peak winter weather this and next year, the North American Reliability Corp has warned.

These warnings have become something of a routine for the regulatory agency lately, says OilPrice.com.

Earlier this year, NERC issued a blackout warning for some parts of the U.S. over the summer, citing extreme temperatures.

Germany To Bail Out Siemens’ Struggling Wind Turbine Division

Big Wind to governments: ‘We’re gonna need a bigger trough’. So much for cheap renewable energy, a stale myth if ever there was one, given the endless subsidies. How much is too much in climate obsession circles? Net zero targets have created a captive market for suppliers.
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The German government is preparing to provide financial support to Siemens Energy’s struggling wind turbine division amid a broader crisis in the wind and solar industries, reports OilPrice.com.

-> Siemens Energy, facing significant losses, is in talks for up to 15 billion euros in guarantees, with the German state covering 80% of the initial funding.
-> Siemens AG shares have plummeted over 70% since mid-June, with the company abandoning its 2023 profit outlook due to challenges in its wind turbine unit.
-> The UK government is set to offer higher subsidies for offshore wind projects, following a previous auction where developers backed out due to low pricing, indicating growing financial strains in the renewable energy sector.

Global discord threatens COP28 climate talks, EU commissioner says

Yet another round of the usual excesses of costs and consumption looms, ending with the usual fudges and indecision presented as somehow worth mentioning, to the usual bemusement of onlookers. All paving the way for future COPs ad infinitum of course, or so it seems.
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The need for agreement to tackle global warming is “higher than ever”, but it has never been harder as the geopolitical backdrop complicates international cooperation, the European Union’s climate chief said on Monday (30 October) ahead of next month’s COP28 summit. Euractiv reporting.

Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra also said the EU would not accept an outcome at COP28 that only reached deals on less contentious topics – such as increased use of renewable energy – if it failed to solve tougher issues such as phasing out fossil fuels.

“This is not an à la carte menu. It is actually all that is on the menu that needs to be delivered on,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of a preliminary COP28 gathering in Abu Dhabi ahead of the UN summit starting at the end of November.

UK government drops support for controversial deep sea mining as it backs temporary pause

Seabed mining

The report explains that the driver for a supposedly ‘greener energy future’ faces an expected global shortage of ‘critical’ raw materials. The problem of course is that just like so-called fossil fuels all these minerals have to be extracted from somewhere, so somebody is inevitably not going to like it. Plus they won’t be relying on renewable power to do the work.
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The UK has for the first time come out in support of a pause in highly controversial mining of the deep sea bed, having previously supported it, reports Sky News.

On Monday, the government added its name to a group of countries seeking a moratorium on new licences to exploit minerals such as lithium, copper and cobalt – vital for green energy – from the deep sea.

The environment department said the precautionary pause is designed to protect the world’s ocean from such projects, which involve heavy machinery scraping deposits from the world’s largest habitat, until more evidence on the impact is available.

Energy “transition” to be much more expensive

The cost deceptions of wind power lobbyists can’t be maintained any longer, as the UK government has closed off their favourite loophole. As this Net Zero Watch press release headlines it: ‘Wind industry confirms Great Green Lie’.
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Campaign group Net Zero Watch says that the wind industry has effectively admitted that it has been deceiving the British public over the cost of the energy “transition”.

RWE Renewables has just told the Government that it needs its subsidy “strike price” to rise by 70% if any more wind farms are to be built.

Net Zero Watch director Andrew Montford said:

Rishi Sunak has said that there has been a long-term deception of the British public. RWE’s demand for more subsidy confirms it. The Green Blob has been lying about renewables costs for years. The truth is that wind power is expensive, and becoming more so. The energy “transition” is a transition to poverty, but few in Westminster seem to have the guts to say so.”

Full press release here.

Britain ‘will need gas to avoid blackouts for decades’

The story here refers to Britain’s ‘gas addiction’, but a renewables addiction will be far more problematic. At present gas power stations are being made ever more uneconomic by government net zero policies, but low wind days and hours are a given. Energy intensive carbon capture plans will only make matters worse.
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The man running Britain’s gas network has said the country will need fossil fuels to prevent blackouts for decades to come despite calls for the Government to begin shutting off the pipes. — The Telegraph reporting.

Jon Butterworth, chief executive of National Gas, said a growing reliance on intermittent power sources such as wind and solar meant Britain would be increasingly reliant on gas to make up for shortfalls when renewable energy sources are not generating power.

Mr Butterworth said: “In 2022, the wind didn’t blow enough or at all for 262 days. And in those 262 days, we would have had rolling blackouts, or a full blackout across the UK if it wasn’t for gas.”

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’.
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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.

NSW fireghters foil fire risk at smoking green energy unit

Credit: mgathermal.com

Storing electricity, e.g. from renewables, is an ongoing headache with a recurring problem. If things go wrong ‘hazardous materials crews’ may be needed, along with a ‘bulk carbon dioxide tanker’ to cool things down – spot the irony. The company’s aim of ‘Making 24/7 renewables a reality’ is looking a tad optimistic.
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Firefighters have called in expert technicians to help deal with a dangerous heat build-up at a cutting-edge renewable energy storage plant but the incident has been stabilised, reports The New Daily.

MGA Thermal is behind a new form of thermal energy storage that allows retrofitted coal-fired power stations to distribute renewable energy long after it was produced.

But the company had to call in firefighters on Friday morning at its demonstrator plant in the Tomago industrial area, north of Newcastle.

Initial assessments of over-heating machinery led to the evacuation of 15 businesses.

Subsea cable failures could derail offshore wind ambitions – insurance costs ‘becoming prohibitive’

Image credit: nawindpower.com

Another blow for net-zero dogmatists. More evidence that cheap offshore wind power doesn’t exist and nobody can control its costs, or be sure of a good level of reliability.
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Global Underwater Hub (GUH) is leading the charge to tackle failures in underwater cables which could derail global offshore wind ambitions, says AGCC.

The trade body, which champions the UK’s £8billion underwater industry, says that reliability of subsea cables is “paramount” to the success of offshore wind and the energy transition.

But failure of these cables is all too common, to the point that the cost of insuring them is becoming prohibitive.

Blow for UK ‘net zero’ plans as zero firms bid for offshore wind contracts

Hornsea wind project

Much hand-wringing by the climate obsession lobby, but there it is – zero interest in bidding for government offshore wind business, as expected. The government seems to have two choices for more part-time offshore wind – give up or pay up. If it pays up, the already dubious claims of cheapness are toast.
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The government’s green energy plans have been dealt a blow after firms snubbed an auction for contracts to run new offshore wind sites, says Sky News.

There were successful bids for onshore wind, solar, tidal and geothermal projects to supply the grid with electricity.

However, there were none for offshore turbines, which provide the backbone of the UK’s renewables system.

Insiders had warned the process had struggled to attract bidders because the government has set the maximum price generators can receive as too low, failing to reflect the rising costs of manufacturing and installing turbines.

Do not heat your homes in the evenings, net zero quango tells public

Domestic radiator

Hairshirts all round to ‘save the climate’? Not likely. It’s just another admission that current energy policies are no good, due to endlessly obsessing about harmless trace gases in the atmosphere.
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Millions of families will be urged by a green quango not to heat their homes in the evening to help the Government hit its net zero target, says The Telegraph.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) said people should turn off their radiators at peak times as part of a wider drive to deliver “emissions savings”.

In a document on “behaviour change” the body recommended Britons “pre-heat” their houses in the afternoon when electricity usage is lower.

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.

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.
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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.

Domestic oil and gas production would unlock funding for energy transition, fossil fuel firms tell government

North Sea gas rig [image credit: safety4sea.com]

Climate dogmatists can’t bear such ideas, but money doesn’t grow on trees. Meeting oil and gas demand mainly from imports is poor policy in many ways, but fixed ideas about trace gases in the atmosphere may prevail despite a glaring lack of economic rationality.
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Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), the trade body for the UK’s oil and gas companies and contractors, has today announced the sector could invest £200bn in technologies and projects critical to delivering on climate targets by the end of this decade – provided the government enables new oil and gas fields as well as offshore wind projects, reports Business Green.

In a new report released this morning, OEUK said the government can maximise the development of the UK’s offshore energy supply chain if it delivers on the policies set out in its British Energy Strategy, including its controversial promise to grant licenses for new domestic oil and gas production.

Pyrotechnic Pandemonium: Wind Turbines Can’t Help Exploding In Toxic Fireballs

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“There’s a lot of oil up there”. One for deluded anti-oil protesters to ponder.

STOP THESE THINGS

Wind turbines love exploding into toxic fireballs that firefighters don’t even bother putting out. It’s a case of burn, baby burn when these things self-immolate.

The staggering rise in the number of turbine fires and total turbine collapses has caused insurers to ramp up the premiums they require to insure them.

Understandably, neighbours are getting sick and tired of being covered with palls of toxic smoke when these things burst into flames.

This time the pyrotechnic pandemonium takes place in Ontario.

Wind turbine blaze ‘contained’ north of Goderich, Ont.
London CTV
Scott Miller
4 June 2023

Todd Edginton could hardly believe his eyes when he looked out his back door to find a wind turbine on fire. He wasn’t alone, as people stopped just north of Goderich to see the spectacle unfold.

“I was going back to the cottage along Highway 21 from Goderich, and saw this. I said…

View original post 520 more words

As predicted, wind industry blackmails the UK – demands yet more subsidies – Net Zero Watch

Hornsea Offshore Wind Project, Yorkshire, England
[image credit: nsenergybusiness.com]

Forget the cheap electricity hype. The Oliver Twists of the loss-making renewables business are raising their voices again.
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London, 5 July – Net Zero Watch has urged the Government to stand up for consumers and businesses by rejecting the wind industry’s latest demands for more subsidies.

In a move that gives the lie to years of propaganda claiming falling costs, the wind industry’s leading lobbyists have written to the Government, threatening to abandon the UK unless there are hugely increased subsidies for their companies (see RenewableUK press release).

The industry is claiming that unforeseen rising costs now necessitate and justify three actions: