Climate Politics as Manichean Paranoia by Roger Pielke Jr

Last night Roger Peilke Jr gave a superb talk, hosted by The Global Warming Policy Foundation, on Climate change politics. It was timely, challenging and positive. I will post the video links when they are available but you can read a Twitter version of the talk here. My cartoon notes are below and click the image for a larger version.

The GWPF video of the talk

Posted by Josh

Cartoons by Josh

Just in from the Nats

This just in from the deputy leader of the SNP in Westminster:

Scottish Tories to roll out red carpet to "rich people" through GM crops and fracking! No thanks! No GM. No Fracking. No Tories. #VoteSNP

— Stewart Hosie (@StewartHosieSNP) August 25, 2015

Words fail me.

Green Deal claptrap

Yesterday the government announced it was to scrap funding for the Green Deal, spelling the end for its flagship energy household efficiency programme. Richard Howard is head of centre-right think tank Energy and Environment, Policy Exchange. Ed Davey is former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

An extraordinary interview  on energy policy took place at 7.50 am on BBC Radio 4 Today programme, with John Humphreys soliciting the opinions on the scrapping of the Green Deal from the two below.  [Funny that a spokesman on energy policy from this think tank is OK, while Lord Lawson from the GWPF (the clue is in the name) is persona non grata. ]

After the usual introduction, (there is a scientific consensus, we are all doomed by dangerous climate change unless we act)  from JH,  there followed a  barmy mixture of  a reasonable helping of financial common sense from Richard Howard, tempered by the obligatory "renewables are a jolly good thing". He did say that the Government are "looking at the removal of subsidies"  in the Green Deal rather than definitely "removing them". Amber Rudd's speech should  clarify this, if anyone has read it carefully.

Ed Davey (Ed Davey!!) held forth with his usual breakneck-speed delivery of illogical claptrap, including the statement that renewables were a huge success under the coalition government. Apparently as electricity prices were forecast to be much higher but had dropped, this meant that the green subsidies cost less than they would have done otherwise. which made them really, really good value.

There are more comments on this on Unthreaded from BH readers quicker off the mark than me.

TM

Voters hiding in deep ocean - Josh 326

One of the main things we learned from the recent UK General Election was that the forecasters got it catastrophically wrong - catastrophic in that the pollsters reputations are now in shreds. The collective narrative was that it had to be a hung parliament, nothing else was possible - even Nate Silver agreed so it had to be true.

Yet how wrong they were.

Not everyone was wrong - Dan Hodges got it about right, as did Janet Daley, and I am sure there were others.

It is horriblly like that other consensus - the one that always has to be 97% and which we all know is also catastrophically wrong. 

H/t to Paul Matthews whose excellent blog post has the reference to voters hiding in the deep ocean.

Cartoons by Josh

A feature, not a bug

Eyebrows have been raised over Chris Huhne's landing a job with a US bioenergy business, reportedly worth £100,000 for two days a week, shortly after being released from prison for perverting the course of justice. Priyanka Shrestha, writing at Energy Live News, wonders if maybe crime does pay.

She's right of course. We at Bishop Hill have noticed that there is a curious tendency among those involved with energy policy to move on to extraordinarily lucrative jobs in the energy industry. And it's not just the politicians, it's the civil servants too. PJ O'Rourke has observed that when politicians decide what gets bought and sold, the first thing bought and sold is the politicians. Deals for the purchase of civil servants are not far behind though.

So make no mistake. Corruption is a feature of "government energy policy", not a bug.

Data in the Raw - Josh 217

With several questions from MPs recently, see here, here and here,  on the statistical analysis supporting the Met Office's claims about recent warming, it is probably time for the Met Office to do some revealing of evidence. Julia Slingo holds up the relevant papers on the subject.

Cartoons by Josh

Update on Apr 24, 2013 by Josh

H/t Anthony for the 'Gut instinct' quote and story here.

A treat in store- Big Energy Week

By Today's Moderator.

In advance of Big Energy Saving Week (w/c 22 October), Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey is writing to all Members of Parliament with advice for their constituents to help them keep energy bills down and their homes warm this winter.

Dear Colleague,

As winter approaches, I am writing to let you know how the Government is helping your constituents reduce their energy bills and keep their homes warm.

The Government cannot control volatile world energy prices, which account for around half the current domestic energy bill, but there are a number of ways it can help consumers to cut their energy bills, including additional support for those on low incomes and the vulnerable....[read on]

http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/beswletter/beswletter.aspx

Down the carbon drain

"If England's going down the drain with its energy policies, why not take Scotland with us? That must be what Davey is thinking- nothing else could explain this madness.

Click to read more ...

Paterson on renewables

[Owen Paterson at the Conservative Party conference] warned renewable developments can upset communities and promised to make sure this is taken into account when subsidies for wind farms are put up for review.

Click to read more ...

A glimmer of common sense

…Owen Patterson, the new Environment Minister, spoke at a fringe event last night, where he showed himself more than capable of rhetoric.

Click to read more ...

Yeo must go

The Telegraph is reporting that Conservative backbenchers are increasingly unhappy with Tim Yeo's chairmanship of the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee. It seems that the vast flows of cash he receives from renewables companies are now seen as unacceptable. Yeo apparently issued a statement to the Mail:

Not only have my interests been correctly registered at all times but... they were listed in full on the ballot paper circulated to all MPs when I was elected chair of the committee in June 2010.

Furthermore, I’ve held the views I’ve expressed regularly on renewable energy consistently and strongly since 1993, as many publicly available documents over the last 19 years show.

That the Commons elected him despite his conflict of interest in 2010 does not seem to be a good reason for him to keep his position now. Yeo must go.

Your life in their hands

The House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee began its inquiry into the economics of wind power last week, taking its first oral evidence. It was a fairly typical set of witnesses, with the panels constructed to ensure that the desired answer was received. The only dissenting voice among the nine witnesses was Gordon Hughes, author of the GWPF report on the same subject.

It is strangely compelling viewing, with something of the air of a disaster movie. The idea that UK energy policy is influenced by a forum like this is quite terrifying. It's interesting to see, however, how the tone of the inquiry moves from the platitudes of David Kennedy of the Climate Change Committee, to the zealotry of Robert Gross of Imperial, before everybody rather seems to give way to Hughes' authority.

UK energy policy faltering

The Telegraph is reporting that the government body charged with reviewing major state projects has sounded the alarm bell over UK energy policy.

Up to six flagship projects have been classified as "high risk" by the spending watchdog, including new nuclear power stations and key reforms of the electricity market.

However, the watchdog is “doubtful” that Britain can have a reliable energy supply from green sources and keep energy bills affordable under the current plans.

The authority, set up by David Cameron last year, has described the Coalition’s plans to encourage more wind farms and nuclear power stations as “feasible”.

A Miller's tale - Josh 139

The UK Goverment House of Lords debated the Green Agenda yesterday and spent some time talking about food, although it was not clear why. Perhaps they thought the subject was about 'greens' and eating enough vegetables.

Click to read more ...

Planning a fiasco - Josh 117

Something a bit different - but then so is trying to get your head round a 'green government' bulldozing green spaces. Inspired by George at the Guardian.