The unbearable detachment of EU beings

This is a guest post by Pat Swords.

One sometimes has to go be persistent and dig out the evidence bit by bit until one has what can be justifiably described as a 'smoking gun'. Look at the attached emails, received from the EU Commission by Joseph Caulfield, one of those now following my 'road somewhat less travelled'. If you look at the first message you might be initially perplexed, but then you might not recognise the person in the Commission it is from. However, while not a household name, the sender does have some major significance: she is the Secretary General of the EU Commission.

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Lord Deben is worried

Lord Deben is worried. Veolia UK Ltd, the company he chairs, stands ready to connect just as many windfarms to the grid as the country is willing to subsidise. But without clear national carbon reduction targets, the company is unlikely to make its mint.

In an entirely unrelated step, Deben has written to the Energy Secretary.

We note that the Government has acknowledged the benefit of a 2030 carbon-intensity target in your recent proposed amendment to the Energy Bill. However, the delay in setting this until 2016 at the earliest means that a high degree of uncertainty about sector development beyond 2020 remains. This will adversely impact on supply chain investment decisions and project development, therefore undermining implementation of the Bill and raising costs for consumers.

• Scenarios recently published by the Government in its gas generation strategy suggest the possibility of a significant fall-off in investment in low-carbon power generation after 2020...
• This could be particularly damaging for investment now in the offshore wind supply chain.

That would be a shame, wouldn't it?

Yeo's speech

Tim Yeo has given a speech in London on energy policy (Telegraph coverage here). Here is the text.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, Britain sparked the first industrial revolution.

By harnessing the force of fossil fuels like coal;

Enterprising British engineers were able to deliver astounding innovations in industry and travel;

Creating huge wealth and prosperity as they forged the modern world.

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Joke of the week

I did really hear the story that a Minister, when told that the 'renewable energy facility' he was inspecting was limited by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, suggested that an Act of Parliament could be introduced into The House to remedy the situation?

Oct 16, 2012 at 8:44 AM |   Robert Christopher Bishop Hill blog

Today's Moderator

Plasma positives

By Today's Moderator.

 H/ T to Autonomous Mind. This is is a comment  he left a few days ago on a Daily Mail article about rubbish disposal.

There is a simple solution to disposing of rubbish that would go into landfill – PLASMA GASIFICATION. It is a safe form or incineration that doesn’t put dioxins in the air and leaves only a small amount of residue which is inert and can be used as hard core for roads and developments. Plasma gasification units, which have a 35-45 year life and would pay for themselves within 10 years, can also work in the same way as combined heat and power units. Instead of putting waste into landfill, incurring huge costs thanks to the EU, landfill can actually be emptied and sent for gasification thereby generating power and solving the waste problem. Ask your local and county councils and councillors why they are not installing this technology instead of burying rubbish or using incinerators.

http://autonomousmind.wordpress.com/

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To the trough

Last Friday I wrote to the House of Commons Energy and Climate CHange Committee about Lord Deben's interests in Veolia. I received an acknowledgement from the committee noting that my email had been circulated to committee members. My email was as follows:

Dear Sirs

I want to bring to your attention some information regarding your recent hearing with Lord Deben.

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More bad news for greens

The latest from the government reshuffle brings another piece of bad news for those who would sacrifice everything to Gaia.

In a surprise move, Energy Minister Charles Hendry has been axed in the government's reshuffle to be replaced by Tory MP John Hayes.

Writing on Twitter, Labour Peer Lady Bryony Worthington revealed earlier this afternoon that she had "just bumped in to Charles Hendry who is back to being a back bencher", adding that the demotion was "a real shame."

Number 10 later confirmed Hendry had been replaced by MP for South Holland and the Deepings, John Hayes, who has moved from his role as Minister for Skills at the Department for Business.

Hayes appointment will cause concern amongst renewable energy firms given his opposition to wind farms in his constituency, having previously describing wind turbines as a "terrible intrusion on our flat fenland landscape".

Hendry was not one of the MPs who called on David Cameron to reverse policy on wind farms, although as a minister this is perhaps not surprising.

Down on the farm with Yo 'n Dave - Josh 181

Apologies for another Tim Yeo cartoon but he is a bit of a news item at the moment.

Cartoons by Josh

UK energy prices unaffordable by 2015

That is the conclusion of price comparison website Uswitch.com:

According to the research, household energy bills have more than doubled in the last eight years. If this trend continues, uSwitch.com says the average annual bill is set to break the £1,500 barrier by 2015 and will continue upwards to hit £2,766 a year by 2018.

An annual energy bill of £1,500 is the tipping point at which energy bills will become unaffordable in the UK, says the research. When this point is reached, 77% will be forced to ration their energy use, 59% will go without adequate heating and 36% will be forced to turn their heating off entirely.

I wouldn't like to be a politician when that happens.

(H/T Haunting the Library)

Conservatory tax scrapped

A few days ago I mentioned new measures that would have required homeowners to spend thousands of pounds upgrading the energy efficiency of their homes if they wanted to introduce a home improvements such as a conservatory or a new boiler.

Yesterday the Mail reported that these plans have been dropped.

Ministers are to scrap plans for a ‘conservatory tax’ following a massive Tory backlash.

A senior Government source told the Mail that the proposals are ‘dead in the water’.

This latest abrupt U-turn comes only a week after we revealed the move which would force homeowners to fork out hundreds of pounds extra on measures to improve energy efficiency when they build an extension or fit a boiler.