Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
July 9, 2012
Recovery of gas and oil from shale is more than just a game changer – it is a mind-changer. The recoverability of oil and gas from shale postpones “peak oil” and “peak gas” indefinitely. For 3 decades we have suffered from the rampant pessimism of the alarmists and the coercive politics of fear. A change of mind-set from pessimistic environmentalism and backward-looking conservationism is called for. A shift of attitude from the joyless “glass half-empty and we are doomed” to the entrepreneurial “glass half-full but can be filled” is over-due.
Resource depletion with usage is a trivial truth – though matter at the elemental level is never destroyed by human use. However utilisation of resources does alter the composition and concentration of materials remaining available. But every alarmist and doom-sayer who has ever lived and has forecast impending catastrophe has been proven spectacularly wrong. Human ingenuity has faced every challenge and trumped the doom-sayers – every time.
The pictures say it all:
The scope of the US oil shale resource
The scope of the US oil shale resource
Related: “Peak Oil” hypothesis is following “Peak Gas” into oblivion
Moving peaks
Tags:"Peak" gas, Business, Energy, oil shale, Peak oil, Resource depletion
Posted in Alarmism, Conservation, Development, Energy, Environment, Gas, Oil, Politics | Comments Off on As with peak gas, peak oil and rampant pessimism need to be postponed
July 6, 2012
I don’t believe in subsidies.
In over 30 years in power generation I have yet to see a convincing case of public subsidies in the market place actually helping to commercialise new technologies. I have seen cases where Government support at the research stage has helped to bring new areas into focus and which has eventually led to commercially driven investments which have deployed the technology. But temporarily distorting the market place by means of public subsidy is unsustainable and does not – in itself – help to make a new technology commercially viable. In fact an artificially distorted market in favour of a new technology only helps to cuccoon and insulate it such that there is no incentive left to make it competitive. Subsidies shift the focus from technology development to subsidy maximisation and when subsidies begin to be removed all creativity is wasted on prolonging subsidies.
The case of subsiding the market place for the deployment of renewable energy is a case in point. Developing technology for wind and solar power is desirable but distorting the market place to deploy wind and solar is just plain stupid and unsustainable.
1. Der Spiegel
Solar subsidies cost German consumers billions of dollars a year and are widely regarded as inefficient. Even environmentalists are concerned that Berlin’s focus on solar comes at the detriment of other renewables. But the solar industry has a powerful lobby, and politicians have proven powerless to resist.
…… A new study by Georg Erdmann, professor of energy systems at Berlin’s Technical University, reveals just how far Germany’s current center-right governing coalition — made up of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU and the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) — has strayed from its own self-imposed goals. Erdmann has calculated the effects that the latest changes to the EEG will have between now and 2030. He believes that subsidies for renewable energy, including an expansion of the power grid, will saddle energy consumers with costs well over €300 billion ($377 billion). ….
2. BBC News
Fight on for wind power subsidies
Wind power firms warn they may take the government to court if they get caught in a political row over subsidies. After conducting technical studies, the energy department proposed a subsidy cut of 10% for power from onshore wind. But the chancellor is under pressure from back-benchers to scrap subsidies, and is said to favour a 25% cut.
The industry body, Renewable UK, says it may take legal action if the government makes a decision that overrides its own technical evidence. …
3. GWPF / IVN
California’s Green Suicide
New economic impact study on California’s Global Warming Solutions Act finds that the average California family will end up paying an additional $2,500 annually by 2020. In addition, the state is expected to lose an additional 262,000 jobs, 5.6 percent of the gross state product, and a whopping $7.4 billion through decreased annual state and local tax revenues as a result.
The California Manufacturers and Technology Association released a new report last week that suggests costs associated with AB 32 may be a lot higher than previously estimated. AB 32, otherwise known as the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, was signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger- propelling California to the forefront in the fight against global warming. Successful passage of the law effectively turned the state into one of the most stringent regulators of green house gas emissions in the nation and globally. Some would argue that the move all but eliminated California’s competitive edge in today’s market. ……
Tags:Energy, Renewable energy, Solar power, subsidies, technology commercialisation, wind power
Posted in Business, Energy, Politics, Renewable Energy, Technology | 1 Comment »
June 21, 2012
I have a theory that political correctness is transient and driven by electoral advantage. But common sense – over time – provides the restoring force.
The move away from wind power euphoria is becoming all more evident in the UK. It is a shift that is inevitable since – eventually – common sense does prevail. And as with all such shifts of political correctness it is accompanied (or is it caused) by a change which appears to provide some electoral advantage for somebody. Causes which once provided electoral advantage to the Greens across Europe – because they were seen (partly) as being the “minority” view being suppressed by the establishment – are now themselves part of the establishment view across most parties. But these views are now perceived as being suppressive and coercive and the backlash is beginning to move us back towards common sense.
No doubt the coming Age of Gas will be supported by all the political parties as reduced energy costs provide electoral advantage. And being cynical, it will also – just like wind power – be exploited to excess, to the point where it becomes coercive and suppressive of other alternatives and then political correctness will shift again.
Benedict Brogan writes in The Telegraph:
A government re-think on costly green energy resources is a winning statement of intent. ..
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Tags:Age of Gas, political correctness, Renewable energy, Renewable Obligation, Shale gas in the United States, wind power
Posted in Alarmism, Behaviour, Energy, Politics, Renewable Energy | Comments Off on Political correctness shifts away from wind in the UK
June 20, 2012
Two decades of waste in the name of alarmist “environmentalism” are coming to an end.
The BBC’s Richard Black reports that a text has been agreed at the jamboree in Rio to be “approved” by country leaders later this week. The text appears to be watered down and to be largely meaningless in terms of binding commitments by any country for moving towards the politically correct view of “a more sustainable future”.
But actually the lack of commitments is itself of great significance. History will show that the Rio meeting of 2012 was the symbolic end of the era of profligate “eco-fascism”.
BBC:
Negotiators have agreed a text to be approved by world leaders meeting this week in Rio in a summit intended to put society on a more sustainable path.
Environment groups and charities working on poverty issues believe the agreement is far too weak.
The Rio+20 gathering comes 20 years after the Earth Summit, also held in the Brazilian city.
The text has yet to be signed off by heads of government and ministers, but it seems that no changes will be made.
“We have reached the best possible equilibrium at this point; I think we have a very good outcome,” said Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota.
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Tags:Earth Summit, Rio, Rio+20, UN CoSummit on sustainable development
Posted in Alarmism, Environment, Politics | 1 Comment »
June 18, 2012
Football as the indicator for politics??
Greece and the Czechs stay in but Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Poland, the Netherlands and Russia are already out. Germany stay in comfortably while Portugal scrape through.
Today’s matches will probably see Spain staying in and Italy may edge out Croatia while Ireland are already out.
And tomorrow France and England will probably confirm that they stay in and the second host nation Ukraine will also probably crash out.
A football match is a great leveller.
And so is the European Union – but unfortunately it levels down to the Lowest Participating Economy (LPE). How the profligacies of the tiny economy that is Greece can shake the mighty European Union is still a mystery. But the Greek voters seem to have realised that remaining subsidised by the Eurozone is probably their best option. In the long run however it is probably best for the Euro that the Eurozone shrink and for any monetary union to wait for a true fiscal and political union – which is at least some 200 years away.
Cristiano Ronaldo
The useless trappings of the bureaucracy in Brussels and the pig-trough that is the European Parliament need to be dismantled. Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain need to to leave the EMU. Sweden and Denmark and Finland need to get out from under the weight of oppression of Brussels. Poland and the Czech republic would grow faster without the shackles of the EU. There is no flair or brilliance on display in European politics which is suffocating, smothered by “consensus” and political correctness. Individualism and excellence have become “undemocratic”. Unlike politics, football still allows for excellence and flair and individual brilliance — a la Cristiano Ronaldo and Mario Gomez.
Tags:Cristiano Ronaldo, Euro 2012, European Union, football, Lowest Participating Economy - LPE, Mario Gomez
Posted in Football, Politics | Comments Off on Greece stays in the Euro! Football or is it the state of the European Union?
May 14, 2012
As distorting subsidy regimes are reduced or withdrawn and even with the collapse of prices for solar pv modules, solar power shows that it is still a long way from being commercially viable. This report is on the unhealthy and distorted situation in New Jersey where even more “artificial” legislation is planned to keep this non-viable industry alive. It would be far healthier to allow solar power plants to find their natural – unsubsidised – commercial niches. And there are commercially viable niches in industry and in domestic use for solar power – albeit only as an auxiliary energy source (pv) or in support of domestic heating or of conventional thermal power plants (solar thermal).
Press of Atlantic City
The prices that power companies pay for solar power have all but collapsed, curtailing future development and leaving those who installed systems struggling to repay their loans. A glut of power has meant that prices have fallen by more than 80 percent in the span of a year.
In response, solar power advocates are pushing for state legislation that would limit the amount of solar power that can be produced by large companies, while mandating that power companies buy more solar power. …..
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Tags:New Jersey, price collapse, Solar power, subsidies
Posted in Energy, Politics, Renewable Energy | Comments Off on “Boom and bust” for solar power in New Jersey
May 11, 2012
It would seem that the wind lobby is more influential with the US Government than the wildlife lobby. Of course there is a lot more money involved in extracting subsidies for wind and solar energy than there is in wildlife.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has been investigating the increased incidence of wildlife deaths (large birds, foxes and tortoises among others) at solar and wind energy project sites. The USFWS now proposes – presumably because these deaths will continue for a long time at such projects – that they be given a licence to kill for 30 years! But this support for solar and wind projects is a tacit acknowledgement by the US Fish and Wildlife Service that renewable projects are rather more dangerous to large birds and other wildlife than the enthusiasts would like us to believe.
Euphemistically, the USFWS obscures these licences to kill under the innocuous sounding “programmatic permits to authorize eagle take“.
The Foundry has this :
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Tags:Bald Eagle, Bird kills by wind turbines, licence to kill, Renewable energy, United States, United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Posted in Behaviour, Business, Energy, Politics, Renewable Energy, US, Wildlife | 4 Comments »
May 9, 2012
Finally, David Cameron actually voiced what all politicians in Europe know but will not voice publicly. And they will not voice it publicly because a single European Government – in the current state of European politics – would be a many-headed monster – of bureaucracy, of over-represented fanatic fringes, of minority oppression, of waste, of scams and inefficiency.
Reuters:
A successful euro zone requires a single government if it is to work properly, British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a newspaper interview on Wednesday.
“There’s nowhere in the world that has a single currency without having more of a single government,” Cameron told Britain’s Daily Mail.
(more…)
Tags:David Cameron, Euro, European Union, Eurozone, Single currency, Single European government
Posted in Behaviour, European Union, Politics | Comments Off on “Single currency needs a single government” and a single European government would be a monster
May 6, 2012
Sarkozy has lost in France according to Belgian and Swiss sources though the exit polls in France are not yet out. Hollande is expected to win by 5%.
The exit polls are also out in Greece.
In Greece, the only two parties supporting the Eurozone bailout and the austerity measures – PASOK and New Democracy – will probably not be able to form the next government. And that means that the chances of Europe leaving the Euro are greatly enhanced. In the short term this will cause massive turbulence in the Eurozone.
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Tags:Elections, Euro, Eurozone, France, Greece, New Democracy, Nicolas Sarkozy, PASOK
Posted in Economy, European Union, France, Greece, Politics | Comments Off on More turmoil awaits Europe as Sarkozy loses and Greeks vote against Europe
April 29, 2012
German politicians and plagiarised dissertations are reaching new heights. You can now get political credit for returning your doctorate awarded for a plagiarised dissertation provided you do it before you are found out.
Copy Shake and Paste has this story:
Florian Graf, CDU photo:dpa
There’s a bizarre case brewing in Berlin, Germany. A local politician, Florian Graf, chief of the CDU party group in the city-state governing council, announced Friday afternoon that he was returning his doctorate to the University of Potsdam.
His announcement (here his text) was a very strange tale. It seems that he had submitted his thesis and delivered the copies to the library, but requested that they not be on loan because he was publishing an article and the journal wanted to be the first publisher. And then he got the piece of paper saying he had a doctorate and has been using it ever since, even though he does not have the thesis published.
And now he’s come to realize, as he said to the Bild-Zeitung, that he is sure that he did not follow quoting conventions and asks for everyone’s forgiveness. And his fellow party members are rushing to hug him and say: ohhhh, that’s bad, we’re so sorry, you are such a nice guy. He’s requested a vote of confidence for Thursday (Tuesday is a holiday in Germany, and most of the country will take Monday off as well).
Tags:doctorate rescinded, Florian Graf, Germany, Plagiarism, University of Potsdam
Posted in Academic misconduct, Germany, Politics | Comments Off on Plagiarism one-upmanship – return your doctorate before you are found out
The k2p blog 