Scientists squeal at rising energy bills

If I remember what I have been told correctly, the scientific community is united in its belief that global warming is a real and present danger. So pressing is the crisis that it demands dramatic cutbacks in carbon emissions; rising fuel prices are therefore pretty much a given. There is only a handful of swivel-eyed "deniers" who say otherwise.

Or so the story goes.

If I actually believed this then I would find it hard not to feel just the tiniest hint of satisfaction at yesterday's article in the Guardian:

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Tiny world

Here's a body I came across recently - The Council for Science and Technology, which advises government on scientific issues cutting across departmental boundaries.

Several familiar names crop up, again and again and again.

Who are you?

I thought it might be interesting to find out who you all are, so here's a very short survey covering location, educational background and age.

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Nurse podcast

The Guardian podcast features Paul Nurse on the subject of FOI. This is presumably the interview where Prof Nurse's made his rather extraordinary claims about harassment of scientists.

Lockwood: no wind for 40 years

Well, that's not exactly what he said, but it's not far off:

...the last two winters have featured exceptionally low temperatures and were remarkably still when they should have been the windiest seasons of all, as high pressure diverted the jet stream from its normal position.

Meteorologists have found that the position of the jet stream has been influenced by the lower levels of activity on the Sun. This decline in sun-spot activity is expected to continue for the next 40 years, with potentially serious consequences for the viability of wind farms.

Professor Mike Lockwood, from Reading University, said: “Changes in the jet stream will change the pattern of winds that we get in the UK. That, of course, is a problem for wind power.

“You have to site your wind farms in the right place and if you site your wind farm in the wrong place then that will be a problem.”

So, when you see a windmill standing still, despite all the billions of subsidy thrown at them, you can console yourself with the fact that things will have picked up a little in time for your children to see the benefit.

If only Prof Lockwood had discovered this before we spent all that money eh?

Update on May 30, 2011 by Bishop Hill

Mike Lockwood via email says his research on solar/windspeed links is not new and the reduced average windspeed stuff mentioned in the article is nothing to do with his work. I think what he means here is that his research shows the jetstream will move (a problem for windfarms in itself) but says nothing about average windspeeds.

Quote of the day

A propos of my earlier piece about the Hockey Stick, here's Keith Briffa's take on the "NAS defence", from Climategate email no 1140039406.

...you have to consider that since the [Third Assessment Report], there has been a lot of argument re [the] `hockey stick' and the real independence of the inputs to most subsequent analyses is minimal. True, there have been many different techniques used... but the efficacy of these is still far from established.

Subscribe

I've switched the tipjar on for this month's fundraising drive. There's also now a subscribe button for anyone who thinks a regular payment might be more the thing.

Dealing with the civil service

Lubos had posted up this clip from a new Spanish movie about dealing with civil servants. Looks like fun.

Wolff on the Hockey Stick

I thought I'd set down my thoughts on one aspect of Eric Wolff's email to Neil Clark - namely the millennial temperature reconstructions. Eric has adopted what I called the "NAS defence" when I discussed it in the Hockey Stick Illusion. This is the idea that, whatever the failings of the Hockey Stick itself, a series of other temperature reconstructions have reached broadly the same conclusions - Mann may have used in appropriate data and a biased methodology but he still reached the correct conclusions.

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Engagement

Eric Wolff has sportingly responded to Neil Craig's emailed list of questions and Neil has equally sportingly acknowledged that he could have worded things more delicately. So we've had a hiccup, but everyone is being grown-up about it and making an effort to engage constructively.

Eric's response is here at Neil's site. I hope everyone can keep a lid on things over there.

'Eco-dictatorship'

I leave you on this rather depressing note:

Germany ‘Sliding Head Over Heels Into Eco-Dictatorship

Germany's green government advisors admit frankly that decarbonization can only be achieved by the limitation of democracy - both nationally and internationally.

Read the whole thing.

Nursing a hurt - Josh 100

More cartoons by Josh here

More from the Beddington FOI

Here is another interesting document from the Beddington FOI I mentioned last week.

This was sent in February 2010 when the furore over Climategate was still at its peak and before the inquiries got under way. It consists of a summary of the science of global warming sent to Beddington by Julia Slingo, the chief scientist at the Met Office. Slingo, you may remember, later appeared at the SciTech committee hearings alongside Beddington.

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Minority event

There is an interesting live chat at Sciencemag with Laura Manuelidis, a scientist who opposes the prion theory of BSE. Her story has a familiar ring:

Unfortunately, self-interest makes a few "expert" powerful scientists less than open to those who disagree with them. In TSEs, they populate most of the grant committees and are also the same people who are on the the editorial boards of most journals. Anonymous "peer" review allows people with a clear conflict of interest to make false statements. Without transparency they can never be held accountable. Their success is a poor ethical model for young scientists. And it also limits financial support for more creative approaches to a problem

The Hockey Stick and Gaia

Some discussion of the Hockey Stick and the Hockey Stick Illusion at the website of scientist Lee Klinger, a former NCAR researcher. Klinger has queried the presentation of Mann's graph at a conference about the Gaia hypothesis without mention of the controversy.

(H/T Jane Coles in Unthreaded)