Friday
Nov232012
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill It's gas
Nov 23, 2012 Energy: gas Energy: wind The news this morning is that the government seem to have plunked once and for all for a gas dominated future. The Energy Secretary Ed Davey has said this morning that we are going to need a lot of unabated gas fired generation.
They're not saying that they're abandoning renewables of course, but it seems clear that the shale gas revolution is indeed going be central to the UK's energy future.
A wildly expensive policy of promoting windfarms is going to be increasingly hard to justify.
Reader Comments (62)
Brandy and cigars all round for the renewable boys has they celebrate years of fat subsides to come .
Lets hope they can spare some time to think about those that have to pick between heating and eating thanks to increases in fuel bills needed to provided the subsides in the first place.
"Energy Bill’s Impact ‘Catastrophic’ For UK Businesses"
"The impact of the today’s Energy Bill announcement could be “catastrophic” for businesses in the UK. Up to 300,000 companies could go out of business if energy bills continue to rise by 15% which looks increasingly likely due to Energy Bill."
http://www.thegwpf.org/energy-bills-impact-catastrophic-uk-businesses/
This is what happens:
"Steel giant Tata is cutting 900 jobs and closing 12 sites under plans to improve competitiveness amid a slump in demand across Europe....
A Welsh Government spokesman said: "This is very disappointing news, and a massive blow to those who will be losing their jobs. In addition to these challenges, it is clear that high energy costs and uncertaintyover UK Government energy policy are having a significant impact on business investment decisions."
Read more: Wales Online http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/2012/11/23/tata-s-900-job-cuts-devastating-91466-32296221/#ixzz2D4nxmN1t
Well I just watched Channel 4 News on this. John Snow's extreme alarmism pervades Channel 4 News. He wasn't anchoring it this evening though. "Science" correspondent (Tom Clarke I think) clearly didn't know anything about energy, neither of course did Ed Davey and to make sure there was no balance, some w****r from Greenpiss spouted yet more garbage. No wonder the public is ill-informed.
I note that the evening news on both the BBC and ITV tied increases in fuel bills with green energy directives.
That seemed a singular difference from normal reporting on the subject. I think I detect a change of narrative.
ITV saying they have seen studies that estimates an average family fuel bill will rise to £2000 in 5 years (though I can't find a web quote to back that up yet).
I am not one to speculate on the reasons for changes of narrative - I think they naturally arise out of complex undirected reasons.
Even so I predict an inevitable thing is happening - that green campaigners will have ever smaller wriggle room for blaming "capitalism" for ripping off the average guy. I think most people will start realising with that mere moral and "evidence" base fiat declarations are setting the agenda for squeezing the disenfranchised man in the street without any recourse to democratic intervention.
We have a "climate and energy" ministry but we have never seen an election campaign based on either.
ITV news showed a family with two young girls with asthma who needed all year heating, and they have had their energy bills double in two years.
I suggest they are just the canaries in the coal mine. There will be a realisation from us the in the slowly boiling pot of an increasing energy squeeze – and a sudden jump will be made and then a reassessment of who put us there will happen. ;)
On Tuesday, on the R4 1pm news, Davey stated he had no means of reducing the price of natural gas.
Evidently he has never heard of a socio economic system popular in England and elsewhere in the west for a couple of centuries that somehow had supply appear spontaneously and mysteriously in response to a 'demand' price signal, with no bureaucratic intervention whatsoever!. I think that the system was called 'free market capitalism'. And the way to encourage the spontaneous emergence of supply, a Mr Bastiat, Smith and others reasoned, was for the likes of Mr Davey's ancestors to keep their meddling regulating taxing subsidising incompetent officiousness well away.
This whole episode reminds me of a boat that sells too many tickets.
It hobbles along with decreasing freeboard until it sinks.
When it does everybody says it was "obviously going to happen."
"There should be a law against it"
Today the media announced that already inflated fuel bills will be doubled in a short time frame yet the only media criticism came from Greenpeace.
They think the energy bills should be even bigger!
All about the Minister of State for Climate Change Gregory Barker ( from his own blog bio) and how he suckered the Prime Minister-
'Greg served on the House of Commons Environmental Audit select committee between 2001 and 2005. He was appointed to the Opposition Front Bench as a Conservative whip in 2003, and resigned on July 2005 to help run David Cameron’s successful leadership campaign.
David Cameron appointed Greg as Shadow Environment Minister in December 2005. He accompanied David to the Arctic in March 2006, to highlight the dangers of global warming and has since been working closely on Climate Change and wider environmental policy. His policy paper “Power to the People”, advocating a radical increase in the use of decentralised energy, greatly informed the Conservative Party policy paper of the same name, published in November 2007. In 2008 he authored ‘Root to Branch, Education for a Greener Future’ published by the Education Commission.
Greg was closely involved on behalf of the Conservatives with the passage of the Climate Change Act, which passed through the House of Commons in 2008 and in October of the same year he was promoted to Shadow Climate Change Minister to shadow the newly created Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Greg was a key contributor to the Conservative Party’s ‘Low Carbon Economy’ green paper, launched in January 2009, and ‘Rebuilding Energy Security’, launched in March 2010.
After the General Election in May 2010, the Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Greg as Minister of State for Climate Change.
Following the Prime Minister’s Cabinet reshuffle in September 2012, Greg remained Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change with an extended portfolio. In addition to his role he has become a Privy Counsellor, after being appointed to the Privy Council.'
http://www.gregorybarker.com/biography/
Nov 23, 2012 at 10:02 AM | jamesp
"Davey actually said this morning that consumers would SAVE £94 per year by 2020, although I didn't hear how he arrived at that. "
That's easy. He said we would save money by NOT using the energy. Seriously.
We are going to be told how to reduce usage and better insulate. As someone who uses the minimum and is fully insulated [me and the house!] I'm not able to save anything.
That's like saying I can save you £2000 on your next family holiday - don't go.
Yes, Greenpeace and FoE are very unhappy bunnies. :^)
Why upset politicians with facts? You know it upsets the poor daaahlings.
As expected Booker has taken note and promises more to follow
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/9700241/The-only-way-we-can-renegotiate-is-by-asking-to-leave-the-EU.html