Biofuels nonsense, expect subsidies to continue

The New York Times is reporting that the European Agency has been double-counting the potential reductions in carbon emissions from shifting to biofuels.

“The potential consequences of this bioenergy accounting error are immense since it assumes that all burning of biomass does not add carbon to the air,” the committee wrote.

I don't suppose that this will make the slightest bit of difference to government policy in the UK though. Expect subsidies to continue to flow to biofuel projects.

(In related news, 13 windfarms had to shut down during the recent windy weather here in the UK - it was too windy. H/T Jiminy Cricket in the comments)

Comments

[TheBigYinJames]

Drip, drip, drip..... it's coming apart.

[not banned yet]

This has been brewing for a while:

http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/20110301/commission-delays-action-indirect-land-use-change-relation-biofuels-policy.htm

http://www.transportenvironment.org/Publications/prep_hand_out/lid/590

Search under "indirect land use" for more.

[Viv Evans]

The scandal of the National Grid having to pay the wind turbine conglomerates when they cannot take their electricity - and passing this sum on to us, via our energy bills, needs to be exposed again and again.

Not that anybody, Huhne and Cameron first and foremost, will take a blind bit of notice!

[meltemian]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14916451
It's OK folks, they are using a balloon, a hosepipe and a jet-wash to stop all this 'Global Warming', wonder if they are working from a shed??

[HaroldW]

criticism by environmental groups ... likened the carbon accounting error by European Union officials to a “subprime carbon mortgage that it may never be able to pay back.”

I don't know how accurate that is, but my, it's a wonderful metaphor.

[Stuck-Record]

Can't be wrong. Greenpeace, FOTE and all the other Enviro NGOs, scientists, activists and their magazines didn't spot it. If the consensus didn't see it, it didn't happen.

[Green Sand]

"Merkel’s Solyndra – Germany’s Green Industries Start Their Collapse"

"The latest to bite the economic bullet are a biofuel plant in Freiberg, and Germany’s E10 ethanol blended fuel."

http://notrickszone.com/2011/09/13/merkels-solyndra-germanys-green-industries-start-their-collapse/

[not banned yet]

Greenpeace's view:

http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/Publications/2011/Biodiesel-tested/

[Lord Beaverbrook]

Now the politicians will sit up and take notice!!!!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3812584/Windfarms-shut-by-too-much-wind.html

[RoyFOMR]

I wonder how long we have to wait to get our first case of "Windfarm Roulette"?
If you don't know what this then just imagine the following.
It's a very windy day and you've got a decision to make quickly.
If you voluntarily shut down your turbines just now then you'll ensure their safety but you'll lose
money. Wait a while hoping that the Grid will request that you shut down and you'll be rolling in cash.
Wait too long and you lose your farm.
That's Windfarm Roulette!

[Viv Evans]

May I urge all UK residents visiting this blog to use the report, linked above, h/t Jiminy Cricket, and write to your MP about this - and if yours (like mine) is a NuLab climate change fan, then write to those MPs who are more sensible, or who are heavy-weights.

One good MP to start with is John Redwood (who has just answered briefly that this is indeed an important issue), as is Graham Stringer. The more e-mails they get, the better.
We need to kick loose an avalanche here.

(Am I glad that e-mail is one's friend - think of all the dead trees one would have had to used in the olden times, never mind having to hand over huge parts of one's disposable income to the Royal Mail ... trips to the letter box inclusive ...)

[ZT]

Windmills paid to shut down when there is too much wind and the country's AGW hope being shed bound jet-wash boffins: I'm forced to conclude that Britain could be run more effectively by a gang of eleven year old children using Facebook, in a break between satellite TV shows.

[G.Watkins]

Read the comments following the Sun article. They are enough to make you cry!

[ZT]

@RoyFOMR

I think it is more a case of: Heads the land owners win, Tails the surfs lose.

Hooray for feudalism!

[ZT]

serfs, even...

[Phillip Bratby]

Here'swhat I wrote to a fellow anti-wind farm campaigner. He's been trying to get the Minister to sever the grid between Scotland and England, since the Scottish Government wants to get all its electricity from renewable sources (~99% wind, ~1% hydro), so let them get on with it and pay for it themselves:

Since they had to curtail operation of some Scottish wind power stations on 3 nights due to high wind and low demand, one wonders what will happen after they have built thousands more turbines in Scotland. We will pay even more for not generating electricity, no doubt. Can you imagine any other business where the manufacturer gets paid for not producing something nobody wants to buy?