More Evidence of UK's Catastrophic Energy Policy!!

The latest from Booker, without whom we would be “in the dark” about the Government’s ludicrous and scandalous energy decisions. Why isn’t our once-esteemed national broadcaster talking about this? Don’t all answer at once – we know why!!:rolleyes::(

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/10220083/We-could-soon-be-paying-billions-for-this-wind-back-up.html

In other news..”Risk of energy blackouts triples.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10145803/Risk-of-UK-blackouts-has-tripled-in-a-year-Ofgem-warns.html#disqus_thread

“Shale gas in northern England could meet Britain’s gas needs for 40 years”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10145414/Shale-gas-in-northern-England-could-meet-Britains-gas-needs-for-40-years.html
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2013/6/27/outgassing.html

It looks as though we are going to finally get a look at the British Geological Survey’s report on shale gas resources later today. The media seem to have got their hands on a press release and there are some big numbers being touted around:

UK shale gas resources may be far greater than previously thought, a report for the government says.

The British Geological Survey was asked to estimate how much gas is trapped in rocks beneath Lancashire and Yorkshire.

It said there could be 1,300 trillion cubic feet at one site alone, but it is unclear how much could be extracted.

With UK demand at slightly less than 3 tcf per annum, that looks like very good news, but of course the figure of 1300tcf (assuming the reports are correct) is not what will ultimately be extractable. There’s an interesting exchange of views about these figures on Twitter, with Greenpeace’s Damian Kahya (an ex-BBC journo) saying that we should be using a figure of 4% and the BBC saying 10%.

Nick Grealy notes that the average in the USA is 18%, and one has to recognise that this incorporates all the older wells, in which relatively primitive fraccing approaches were used.

Cuadrilla have said that 15-20% will ultimately prove to be a conservative estimate, as the technology improves, and numbers as high as 40% have been mooted by industry insiders.

Steven

With the President of the largest power in the free world expelling hot air like this from his nether regions, what hope is there for common sense and a rational approach?

” In sweeping proposals released after four years of frustrated efforts, Mr Obama ordered new curbs on carbon emissions from power plants and called for America to ready its defences against an already-changing climate.

The president also surprised environmentalists by signalling he would reject a controversial oil pipeline if it was found to “significantly exacerbate” the problem of carbon pollution.

“I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that is beyond fixing,” Mr Obama told students at Georgetown University. “As a president, as a father and as an American I’m here to say we need to act.”

Mr Obama first promised a new push on climate change during his inagural address on a freezing morning in January, warning that failing to cut emissions “would betray our children”.

I just wish I had the chance, let alone anyone else.:highly_amused:
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Your wife was having sex worldwide? I just wish I had the energy.

The mind boggles, Linc!!;)

.
If you really want to save the planet work on reducing the population. By 2025 there will be over 8billion of us!

I agree, why not impose a moritorium on having sex worldwide for say..2yrs. My wife did that years ago, and it worked.:D
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Quite so. There really is little or no evidence that the planet will be a better place by concentrating on the green agenda. It will certainly become much more costly.

What’s the point in going green if those of us on the planet have so many rules and regulations that living becomes unbearably unhappy?
Energy is part of life. Either we are given as much cheap (potentially green) energy as we want or we go back to pre-industrial times.
If we start strangling people with taxes and threats we will start falling behind the rest of the world who undoubtedly will earn lots of money with bigger airports, cheaper petrol, cheaper energy.
If you really want to save the planet work on reducing the population. By 2025 there will be over 8billion of us!

Climate and weather get confused – they are different and not interchangable.
Simple question – if man has any influence how can the cyclical changes in global climate for the last few hundred thousand years and a few million before that be explained?

I only caught the end of the conversation on the wireless today, but this week, Climatologists, Geologists and scientists involved in climate/weather change, are having their 7 yearly meeting to discuss, but the interesting bit to me was that no one could explain whether these weather changes are caused by man, or Mother Nature, my bet would be the latter.slightly helped by man
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Your final paragraph spills the beans. Yes the truth is out – more and more people realise that the AGW science just doesn’t add up but will you find any politicians to admit they were wrong? Not in my lifetime!

So, if it comes to compulsory blackouts to reduce UK power consumption, then I’ll follow the route my friends in Bangalore use. As they frequently suffer power outages (demand regularly exceeds electricity supply), most offices/factories and “better off” households have standby generators wired in that automatically cut in (or can be started up by a manservant) to generate a local power supply until mains comes back on line. Easy innit!

Ofc ourse the power cuts do tend to cause glitches with sensitive electronics (computers etc), but I am sure that could be overcome without too much trouble by installing suitable batteries to cover the time delay between mains power being lost and generators kicking in.

As for all these bloomin’ windmills – I am in no doubt that they NEVER generate more power during their lifetime than is used to manufacture, transport, install and service them during their operating life, and they are only “in vogue” as they are so heavily subsidised by HMG at the moment. Likewise solar panels….

Maybe wavepower or tidal turbines are the way to go, far more predictable in nature, but really difficult to work with. But then , if we can beat the North sea to get the oil out I am sure we can develop sea-related power generation technology.

And of course, there is always the argument that global warming would be happening anyway as it may well be down to natural forces more than down to human activity, in which case all this green energy malarky is going to make naff all difference to global warming….. but I won’t open that can of worms…..

Thanks Chas for taking the time and trouble to put it down for me.
I know, that both you and I share the same opinion on this subject, They are a waste of time and money. As I posted on the Climate Change Post, my brother works alongside the engi neers who repair the turbines, and repairs to ones not working, cost more to repair, than they generate in money they should be putting out in leccy.
This has just got to be one of the biggest cons ever.
I could go on, but what’s the point.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Linc – sorry about that – here’s a few edited morsels for you to get your teeth into!!

“A new analysis of government and industry figures shows that wind turbine owners received £1.2billion in the form of a consumer subsidy, paid by a supplement on electricity bills last year. They employed 12,000 people, to produce an effective £100,000 subsidy on each job.
The disclosure is potentially embarrassing for the wind industry, which claims it is an economically dynamic sector that creates jobs. It was described by critics as proof the sector was not economically viable, with one calling it evidence of “soft jobs” that depended on the taxpayer.

The subsidy was disclosed in a new analysis of official figures, which showed that:
• The level of support from subsidies in some cases is so high that jobs are effectively supported to the extent of £1.3million each;
• In Scotland, which has 203 onshore wind farms — more than anywhere else in the UK — just 2,235 people are directly employed to work on them despite an annual subsidy of £344million. That works out at £154,000 per job;
• Even if the maximum number of jobs that have been forecast are created, by 2020 the effective subsidy on them would be £80,000 a year.
One source, who owns several wind farms, and did not wish to be named, said: “Anybody trying to justify subsidies on the basis of jobs created is talking nonsense. Wind farms are not labour intensive.”

Industry figures show that for the 12 months to the end of February, the latest period for which figures are available, slightly more than £1.2billion was paid through the consumer subsidy — known as the Renewables Obligation.
It was introduced by Labour to encourage investment and is added to all energy bills, meaning that besides households, industry and employers also pay, adding to the cost of all goods and services.
According to the Renewable Energy Foundation, a think tank that has criticised the cost of wind farms, it currently adds about £47 to the average household’s cost of living.
They say the total subsidy is likely to rise to £6billion by 2020 if the Government meets its target of providing 15 per cent of energy needs from renewable energy.
The industry’s projection is that by 2020 it will create up to 75,000 jobs — an effective subsidy of £80,000 a year — but failing to reach that figure will raise the effective subsidy.

“Truly productive energy industries — gas, coal, oil, for example — create jobs indirectly by providing cheap energy that allows other businesses to prosper, but the subsidy-dependent renewables sector is a long way from this goal; it’s still much too expensive.”
There is even doubt within the wind industry that job creation projections can be met. Last week, Renewable UK issued a 64-page report urging the Government to “agree a long-term vision” for offshore wind or see jobs created on the Continent.
An Energy Bill, currently before Parliament, is the subject of wrangling over prices for renewable energy for the next 20 years. The wind industry says that without price and subsidy guarantees, a “green collar” jobs boom will not materialise.
Manufacturers are warning that some planned wind turbine factories are under threat without the price guarantees.”

Linc, it’s not a case of IF – it is what’s happening NOW, if you read the article. That’s why the whole energy policy is a scandal and has been for a decade.

My Comp couldn’t pick up the link, so I couldn’t read it.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Linc, it’s not a case of IF – it is what’s happening NOW, if you read the article. That’s why the whole energy policy is a scandal and has been for a decade.

If this stupid idea ever comes into being, and the “Lights go out” at a given time, have they ever thought of Hospitals?, folks being turned away because the lights are soon being have to be turned off, or the chap/woman on the Operating table, halfway through the surgeon states, “Thats it chaps, we will come back in the morning to finish the job”

What about the Homes for the elderly, (Chas take note, it could be you) who will freeze to death. The older you get, the colder you get, FACT.
As I have been banging on for ages, pay all M.P.s the minimum wage, no perks, and see how we have to scrape through life.Once I had plenty of Savings, but it’s being gradualy erroded by ever increasing costs, mainly gas and leccy bills.
Having read Silver Foxes thread, it will be our turn soon when all our woodlands are chopped down for fuel.
I think I will get a jump start, and get a chain saw, and start to stockpile wood, for the wood burning fire.
Bloody M.P.s, just what planet are they on?.
Trouble is, is that many of them are so well heeled, changes that affect us, never does them.
Jim.
Lincoln .7.

Here in black and white is what some of us have been saying for a very long time!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/10122850/True-cost-of-Britains-wind-farm-industry-revealed.html

I doubt it Charlie….our leaders never listen to us 😀