Monday
Oct292012
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill The madness of dim George
Oct 29, 2012 Energy: gas Some spotty teenagers have occupied a gas-fired power station, according to the Guardian.
Around 20 climate change protesters have seriously disrupted operations at one of the UK's new generation of gas-fired power stations at West Burton in Nottinghamshire.
Police have made five arrests but climbing parties from the campaign group No Dash for Gas successfully scaled two 91m (300ft) concrete cooling towers overnight, securing themselves on ledges with supplies for a week.
This foolishness has been welcomed by, among others, George Monbiot.
The problem is that the shortfall in energy supply will be taken up by coal. Which produces more greenhouse emissions than gas.
They're not the sharpest tools in the box these greens, are they?
Reader Comments (44)
Leave them up there. Why not?
I would laugh heartily If the furnaces were accidentally started. I sincerely hope EDF can recover lost revenues from this anti-democratic idiots.
The comments under the Guardian article would be hilarious in any other context.
As proof of culpable ignorance some of these wazzocks really do take some beating.
I see the "what about future generations" drivel turns up at about comment 10!
I wonder if it would be possible to arrange a brief blackout in the Midlands at, say, between 5.30 and 6.30 this afternoon and point the finger. Probably more effective than trying to explain the truth.
Bluecloud, who reads this site and occasionally illuminates it with his humble approach to the things he cares about,
Bluecloud
"Great to see people taking action. Where are the rest of you? Show your support."
kevinward76
"At work! ;)"
A couple of wazzocks short of a full consensus, I'd say.
Wach it, BIsh. You'll be arrested shortly for offending the teenagers by calling them spotty. Come to think of it, calling them teenagers may be ageist.....
Why don't they climb on some (usually stationary) wind turbine blades..? (After all, those things create more CO2 than they reduce...)
Now THAT I'd pay good money to see..!
Good old Moonbat!
I any given situation he can always be called upon to provide the voice of insanity.
They are probably simply responding to the global warming brainwashing they have received in school and the steady stream of AGW propaganda from the BBC. This mendacious drivel has been drummed into them all their lives at the behest of a succession of government ministers drawn from all wings of the LibLabCon party. It's hardly surprising that it's now achieving its objective, assuming that a popular uprising against the industrialised society leading to a return to the stone Age is what the politicians want. Expect more of the same as the brainwashing intensifies, as intensify it must as the fraud becomes ever more widely recognised.
Putin is mocking Europe.
"“The German public does not like the nuclear power industry for some reason,” Putin said, adding that he would not comment on it. “But I cannot understand what fuel you will take for heating,” he said anyway.
“You do not want gas, you do not develop the nuclear power industry, so you will heat with firewood?” Putin asked, as reported by Itar-Tass. “Then you will have to go to Siberia to buy the firewood there,” he said, adding that Europeans “do not even have firewood.”"
http://rt.com/politics/putin-nuclear-europe-siberia/
Well, for once it's not a surprise that Putin appears to be a 'voice of reason'. Imagine what would happen if the heating went out in a Russian winter?
Wonder how long these numpties will last up there should the remains of Hurricaine Sandy track across to our side of the Atlantic? I suspect that being up the top of a cooling tower in gale force winds and driving rain in November might be enough for them to realise the benefits of modern central heating...
"This foolishness has been welcomed by, among others, George Monbiot."
Maybe this mis-educated gang and George should have their gas and all gas generated electricity cut-off. As winter arrives they may notice the difference.
A few suggestions:
1/ It's a cooling tower, no reason to not to just keep it running - They will only be exposed to humid air and temperatures in the 10-40°C range.
2/ Very loud, irregular bass heavy music or an ambulance/firetruck siren so that they can't sleep. Perhaps interspersed with skeptical presentations to really wind them up. Make it an eductational experience for them.
3/ Water cannon spray every few minutes - keep them cold, wet, awake and miserable
4/ If you are really feeling vindictive then pepper spray.
Ye gods! Are all Guardian readers as dim as most of those making the comments?!
I recently read (oh, how I wish I could get in the habit of marking for sourcing) that the plan was to reduce the cost of “renewable” energy to £100/MWh (implying, I think, that it is presently above that figure, though how far above, I have not been able to ascertain). Being an inquisitive mouse, I chased the idea, to find that present “evil” production methods cost about £55/MWh. I am no economic expert, but the former does sound to be a lot more expensive than the latter; how the creation of hundreds of thousands of green jobs (presumable replacing the few thousand of present day jobs) will reduce household energy bills is beyond me. Similarly, how the covering square mile of otherwise scenic countryside with vast, non-recyclable bird-mincers (and still requiring the usual few acres of similarly unsightly chimneys as back-up) benefits the environment, or solves fuel poverty is also a mystery to me.
As an aside: do these numpties know the origins of the “green” technology they so lovingly embrace?
AGW fanatics at the end of the day are lawless and dangerous.
It reminds me of the Greenpeace numpties who invaded Sizewell B to paint slogans on the walls. They were about to step on the live rail of a crane track on the outside of the sea-water cooling house when an astute operator spotted them and turned the power off. It transpired that once the nutters had invaded the site, their Elf an' Safety was the responsibility of the site owners, even if they were there illegally and weren't wearing the correct safety equipment. Hence the Elf an' Safety of the spotty teenagers is now the responsibility of the West Burton power station owners, so no water canons allowed.
Des O'Connor at high volume should do the trick.
In some American resort towns where rowdy teens are a problem late at night, they turn on special loudspeakers that only broadcast very high frequency noise, high enough that older people cannot hear it, to create an effective curfew for younger people. I believe they call it "the mosquito". It might be useful here.
Much as we all hate the Left .You have to admire their tactics.We have to learn from them.
I agree with Jack savage @ 1:42.
But add that high-power water hoses be used to soak the idiots & let 'em freeze.
Then, the police should prevent then from coming down.
They should have taken enough for 62 days ... then they could have enjoyed the Global celebrations as Kyoto Commitment ends.
@ Phillip Bratby - Oct 29, 2012 at 4:14 PM
"Hence the Elf an' Safety of the spotty teenagers is now the responsibility of the West Burton power station owners, so no water canons allowed."
A gentle but thorough soaking in freezing cold weather will increase their discomfort, but as we're told they've "secured themselves to ledges", their safety cannot be an issue.
Arrest them all.
Charge them with every possible violation of the Criminal Law.
Then bang them up.
People like this have no place in a democratic society.
Would it take much to damage a windmill blade?
Plant food phobics. Strangely they seem unaware that under the Windmill Plan most of the energy, around 75%, has to come from gas fired power stations. The inevitable corollary of throwing up their wretched worthless windmills is the provision of the new gas fired power stations they plan to sabotage. "Joined up" thinking in action.
What does it cost to insure wind turbines and solar arrays against, say, hurricane damage? Who pays the direct premiums? The whole burden eventually devolves to the balance of the insured universe, obviously.
300 ft, can a bow and arrow reach that high? One with honey, and one with ants?
Anyone checked through Guardian and counted the number of Car,Tourist and Airline industry related advertizing in their paper today.
"Securing themselves on ledges with supplies for a week"
Does that include sanitary facilities? I'm sure just hanging over the edge and letting fly is illegal under some law or other. Regardless, just leave them up there - I suspect they will want to come down after the food runs out...
Forgive me, but does this mean that the power station will have to close down for a week? assuming the youths and youthesses stay up there for that long. If that's the case will the other power stations have to provide the missing energy? And will the owners of West Burton have a case to sue these juveniles for loss of earnings for a complete week's output?
"wind turbine blades..? (After all, those things create more CO2 than they reduce...)"
Oct 29, 2012 at 2:37 PM | David
Only in insane denier land, would a ridiculous comment like that go un-mocked.
Oh OH The dead head's back. Dead Lead oh Dead Bed. Oh It's the idiot again !!!
'The madness of dim George'
George has moved on to the ash trees. Strangely, he favours the ash rather than the fungus. Fair do's, George, the embers of sanity still glow. Blow hard.
George Monbiot is what we used to call in the old days a "poseur". A man of limited intellect, his life revolves around the idea of how he thinks he should act and how through acting in a thoroughly politically correct way others will respect him for it. There is'nt a an ounce of substance in anything he says. Which is why of course he makes such a good british uk tabloid journalist.
Kingkp
You just perfectly described the resident troll as well.
Wrong, Jack. The cockroach wouldn't make any sort of a journalist and from the quality of its contributions doesn't have the brain power and certainly doesn't have the sophistication to be a poseur even.
'Dead' is a good description for it. Mainly from the neck up.
Time to just turn the power off.
A few days of rolling blackouts, and any public support will evaporate.
I wish I had shares in the West Burton Gas plant.
Given that Wind-Energy suppliers make more out of not supplying energy when forced to shut down production how much will these gaseous-geezers coin in by being unable to provide MWh by the actions of the 'planet-savers'?
If I was on the right side of the WB Gas-plant I'd be sending food, toiletries, peanuts, clean towels and congratulationary messages to these courageous eco-warriors.
Every day those 'durdy' turbines don't turn I'd be claiming mega-dosh for the CO2 that I'd be sparing the planet for. Just like the 'Burdie-choppers' do
Don't tell me I'm wrong. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. No?
Luv the 'Big-Society'
I wonder at the surges in activism like this.
How many dreadlock constables are up there gathering intelligence and selecting the mothers of their offspring whilst indulging in the occasional spliff purely to maintain their cover of course.
I do wonder if the EDF safer tree elfs are doing all the risk assessments and JSAs for the protesters - poor dears - now there's a thought - get HSE in to prosecute them - I'd pay for a ringside seat and bring extra popcorn for that.
Young people can look some of the words I will use up on the net.
When my children were teenagers we had a "problem" getting them up on time to go to school.
SO
I bought a boom box and a cassestte - - - "Twenty years of the best country music"
I played the first song from this cassette on the boom box one night after dinner.
Then I announced that I would do the same at 7 AM any morning that ONE count them ONE child decided to sleep in!
It worked well.
Time for some facts. The Dutch province of North Holland has stated on the basis of the evidence from the Dutch and other similar power systems that windmills with primarily CCGT standby save 1.6% of the CO2 emissions you would get if the same windmill power is from fossil fuels, including the CO2 cost of the windmill infrastructure.
Holland has a dc interconnect to Norwegian hydro so sends surges out of the country. Without that interconnect, the windmills would produce more CO2 emissions than without windmills. In the spring, Davey was reportedly told these facts by MacKay; that we need to build massive pump storage before we can save any CO2 with our windmills.
Apparently, Davey and others in government are still acting as if they cannot understand these engineering facts, or the windmills are a political symbol, a combination of the Windmill in ‘Animal Farm’, the Easter Island Statures and the Swastika, showing EU domination.
I think this seriously puts the gas plant's security in to question. How did they get access. I think in line with the threat they should have the same security as nuclear plants !.
Ross Lea
On the basis that there is almost nothing as vital to modern civilised society as keeping the electricity flowing, all power stations — whether powered by nuclear fission, coal, oil, gas or wind — should be as secure as possible.
An electrified fence and CCTV cameras should be the starting point. Personally I would be tempted to include a small minefield as well but that could cause the odd maintenance problem when it comes to cutting the grass.
The cost of the fence to be born by the generating company, of course.We'd see just how keen they are on wind farms then!
Just leave 'em there. Don't arrest them when they come down - just restart the station and ignore them.