Bishop Hill Lights on, factories off
Oct 26, 2014 Climate: Parliament Energy: grid There is some interesting stuff around in this morning's papers, which is good to see.
In the Mail on Sunday, David Rose has been taking a look at the network of green billionaires and trust funds that fuels the UK's green blob.
Meanwhile, in the Sunday Telegraph, Ed Davey is unequivocal that the lights are not going to go out. But there's a catch:
To boost supply, “mothballed” plants could be brought back into use. Generating companies could also be told to “max-generate”, running at full capacity for a short-term surge. New demand-side contingencies are potentially more disruptive. In the event of a sudden shortage of power, big industrial consumers such as factories would be paid to switch on emergency backup generators and produce their own power.
So, our heroic Secretary of State is telling us that he has got the country's energy market into such a shambles that factories are going to have to be switched off to keep the lights on.
A scandal.
Reader Comments (64)
We live on Fantasy Island - except you couldn't make it up!
I think David Rose is only exposing the tip of the iceberg with Big Green being far bigger than people imagined.
How much money do people in both Houses of Parliament make from the renewables industry or advisers to the Government?
How much does/has Lord Deben make?
How much does/had Tim Yeo make?
The Green Taliban have permeated every level of UK life like a disease! Reminds me a ISIL.
It should be a scandal that should be playing across the airwaves but as most of our journalists are nothing more than leftist green activists there I'd barely a murmur out there from the likes of the BBC and it's pprintversion, the Guardian!
Mailman
FUNDING STRATEGICALLY in the field of CLIMATE CHANGE
The ECF president states (Pre COP15) how their campaign stopped Kingsnorth and unabated coal in the UK, and how it can be repeated, Ed Milliband and behind the scenes lobbying of the conservative party get a mention....
“A collaborative effort was launched to convince the UK
not to build the planned new facility at Kingsnorth. “
“This became a complex, multifaceted effort over a year and
a half, with grass-roots mobilisation campaigns [my note - all those ECF grants!]
behind the scenes lobbying with the Conservative Party to
convince them to take the lead on the issue”
“All of this work, backed by substantial philanthropic
investment, resulted in UK Climate Change Secretary
Ed Miliband announcing in April that no new unabated
coal-fired power plants would be built”
“With this policy, the UK is setting a leadership example
and ‘walking the talk’ on emissions reduction, recognising
that the nation would not be able to live up to its
climate change commitments if new unabated coal
plants were built.”
“This is an example of a policy that can be replicated, increasing its impact.”
full document link (and attached)
http://www.instituteforphilanthropy.org/images/files/funding_strategically_in_the_field_of_climate_change.pdf
Some of the ECF grants made in 2008/2009 to stop Kingnorth and UK coal.
Greenpeace UK (London, United Kingdom)
Grant Year: 2009
Project Description: To support education and outreach to the media and policymakers on renewable and low-carbon energy options.
Grant Year: 2008
Project Description: To educate parliamentarians in Westminster on the climate impact of coal and the need for a wider consideration of the issues involved with the proposed coal-fired power plant at Kingsnorth.
People and Planet (Oxford, United Kingdom)
Grant Year: 2008
Project Description: To mobilise youth around a public inquiry on the Kingsnorth proposal.
ClientEarth (London, United Kingdom)
Grant Year: 2008
Project Description: To provide legal support for an anti-coal campaign at Kingsnorth and other proposed sites, including coordinating the public inquiry or judicial review process.
World Development Movement (London, United Kingdom)
Grant Year: 2009
Project Description: To support a grassroots campaign against a proposed coal-fired power plant at Kingsnorth.
Grant Year: 2008
Project Description: To support the development of opposition movements around other potential new coal plants in England based on the model developed by WDM around the Kingsnorth campaign.
Grant Year: 2008
Project Description: To support a campaign against new unabated coal-fired power plants in Scotland.
Friends Of The Earth Trust (London, UK)
Grant Year: 2008
Project Description: To support local opposition against the proposed power plant at Kingsnorth.
WWF European Policy Office (Brussels, Belgium)
Christian Aid (London, UK)
Grant Year: 2009
Project Description: To help Christian Aid play an effective role in stopping new unabated coal plants in the UK.
Client Earth Group (above) – Corporate Vision will make you laugh:
We are activist lawyers committed to securing a healthy planet.
http://www.clientearth.org/about/vision/
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/kingsnorth-six-jim-hansens-full-statement-20080912
In the ECF document I linked above in my earlier comment,I they mention bringing Hansen in.
Seen from the outside, it is astonishing how over several years, as this slow-motion train wreck has been approaching, its predictability has been consistently ignored, poo-pooed and waved away as denier nonsense. Staggering. Has there ever been a more obviously cretinous and incompetent minister than Davey?
There were over 40 grants made by the ECF to various groups around the EU\UK in 2008\2009 (and no doubt many more since) trying to stop coal power in the EU, as had been successfully done in the UKUK. So politicians get lobbied by multiple groups on the same issue, all funded by ECF and the dead billionaires club, behindbehind the ClimateWorks foundationfoundation that funded the ECF.
Climate works also directly funded the CarbonBrief (where Leo is now off to work at) Richard Blackk's ECIU a carbon copy of CarbonBrief? Also gets ECF grants. How much does it take to pay Richard and co's salaries I wonder
Reading the comments on both articles is well worth a few minutes.
Delusional Davey and his DECC advisors appear to be in complete denial of the seriousness of the situation we are in. Do we have any moth-balled plants which can be resurrected a short notice? (I thought we had pulled down the cooling towers, and sold most of the transformers to the Germans for their new coal stations? ). If this is government policy I'd like to see some figures:
moth-balled capacity 2GW ?
STOR 3GW ?
Let's not forget that Davey wants to close all coal power stations by 2025, that's 15GW ?
Does Davey have any clue how this GB peak demand / generation capacity graph (page 24) would look with no coal stations?
Should Davey be sectioned or prosecuted for his scorched earth policy of wrecking our generating capacity? Of the two the first would likely be the most appropriate because the man is clearly insane. But on the other hand he was in the final analysis still only doing Sam Cam's bidding, as Dhimmi Dave required of him (and us).
But full marks to Davis Rose yet again. Hopefully Nigel is taking notice because there is little sign that anyone in LibLabCon is.
These factories have no future in the insane politics we have at the moment.
The 40% reduction in CO2 of the EU can only be achieved by having 40% or our economy shifted abroad by the destruction of what little industry we still have and by buying fossil-fuel energy produced bird-mincers from China (it costs too much in the EU because of the insane energy policy).
The EU has just signed an economic suicide note. Anyone who stays in the EU is also committed to economic suicide. No matter how bad it is out side the EU, our children will undoubtedly be worse off in the EU than out.
And the biggest irony, is even the fraudsters and scammers who caused us to go down this suicidal path will lose out in the end because even a fraudster need their victims to have a workable economy.
It looks to me as if you would get more economic sense and responsibility out of a Zombie than out of Ed Davey. All this nonsense is a good match for the deluded industrial suicide note signed recently by the EU. The Chinese and Indians are ready, eager and waiting to fill the intellectual and industrial voids created by the EU.
Agouts @ Oct 26, 2014 at 9:24 AM "slow motion train wreck".
Absolutely right. One might note that "mothballed" plants have long lead times to "switch on"; especially in the power business. Just buy another few layers, bundle up, and be careful burning the dried dog poo (suggest building a yurt). Oh, and be sure to take that last bath before winter as late as you can.
Bryony Worthington's (who drafted the Climate Change Act) Sandbag had this to say about the ECF
"ECF has played a critical role in helping to co-ordinate Sandbag’s work with the broader efforts of its
grantees to maximise the impact of European NGOs, and has been particularly helpful in guiding the timing of our reports, and identifying political pressure-points for our communications and
lobbying."
pg 7
http://www.europeanclimate.org/documents/ECF_Newsletter_Autumn2011.pdf
At least Davey has put his neck on the line. I hope he has the honour & integrity to resign when he is proved wrong.
I use "when" rather the pan "if" because there is no way back from this catastrophe unless we start building more fossil fuel stations immediately.
I am truly amazed that we have failed to build any power stations than can provide despatchable power for almost two decades. That we have retired perfectly satisfactory fossil fuel power stations on a bureaucratic whim. Staggered that our ruling class don't see the narrowing of despatchable power against demand as an existential issue.
If we have a severe winter, such as they have had in the USA for the last few years, hundreds of thousands of people will die.
Or am I exaggerating?
C'mon, don't be too harsh on Ed Davey. It's his cunning plan to reduce next year's EU "Prosperity Bill".
I tried to post this comment under Rose's article but it doesn't seem to work.
I wrote about the European Climate Foundation recently at
http://geoffchambers.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/out-of-the-mouths-of-malnourished-babes-and-sucklings/
They're one of the funders of Richard Black’s Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, along with the The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation which ostensibly exists to fight ebola, famine and AIDS, but which channels some of its money to finances an ex-BBC journalist's green think tank. Funny world.
When people get laid off from work, and the old start to die, and the lights go off, only then will the bbc report it as a 'scandal', and maybe, not even then.
When readers of the 'stun' or the gruniad start to hurt, that's when politicians will take notice.
Davey and the rest of his crew should be tried in Court for fraud and "misfeasance in public office" or some such....or we could bring back the Law against treachery because to de-industrialise a Country is treachery. I do not understand how the eco fascists could stop the building of Kingsnorth and not face prosecution, it seems corruption is not confined to third world Countries. But we must not forget the leader one Cameron who gave these important posts to these stupid, no good people. His track record for employing any one is disgraceful.
The funniest thing in the Telegraph article is that Davey - modestly - sees himself as a possible leader of the LDs.
He says: " “mothballed” plants could be brought back into use. "
That's could, not would. This is the idiot who had the Drax power station converted to run on wood pellets (7 million tonnes/year) that have to be imported from the US, because the UK does not produce enough. I wouldn't trust this half-wit to look after my thermostat, let alone Britain's whole energy policy.
I would assume that Ed Dsvey, and his predecessor, Chris Huhne were suffering from some mental disorder, were it not for the support they both receive from the entire LibDem and Labour parliamentary parties. Furthermore, our own PM, Leader of the House, and a considerable fraction of the Tory party also support the Energy Secretary. Perhaps there is a great deal of the Emperor's clothes syndrome about the matter.
I don' t think that Davey should take all the blame for this. Did not the tories understand that giving the Environmental broef to the Lib Dems was a monumental blunder,akin to giving Mr Fox the keys to the hen house in 2010. Successive Labour politicians, especially the heir apparent, brought the UK and the EU to its energy knees. We face an aggressive Russia with a clueless political class moving the deckchairs on a sinking ship with polotically motivated advisers kicking in the port holes.
Where the Germans go, we follow in the end like lemmings over the cliff. Of course, those energy-intensive factories will have to be reimbursed for shutting down and guess who'll be picking up that bill ...
http://thepointman.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/examples-will-have-to-be-made-germany/
Pointman
When the (progressive) Guardian first started promoting global warming, they almost exclusively used members of the global aristocratic elite to write the articles. Here are some of the names Viscount Porrtt, Lord Melchitt, Oliver Tickell, George Monbiot, Zak Goldsmith, David de Rothschild, Paul Kingsnorth (Goldsmith servant), James Lovelock, Edward Goldsmith.
They were eventually ridiculed off the stage and replaced with one man, George Monbiot who as it happens is descended from French aristocracy himself and is an even more forthright advocate of anti democratic tendencies of deep ecology.
George Monbit's mentor at Oxford, Sir Crispin Tickell was Thatcher's ambassador to the UN. He co-wrote her famous global warming speech (to the UN). He is also a patron of the Optimum Population Trust, and told the BBC that the ideal population for Britain could be around 20m (currently 71m).
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-a-retort-to-the-population-control-freaks-399128.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispin_Tickell
Like the true politician he is, Ed Davey chooses his words carefully. The lights will probably stay on, as he says, but they will be our domestic lights, voters' lights, very electorally sensitive lights. However, his remarks make clear that to achieve this state of guaranteed household illumination there will be power cuts elsewhere. If firms are asked to go off grid and use their own generators, that's a power cut from the National Grid and thus an admission that the system has insufficient capacity. What else is that other than a major policy failure and one that taxpayers will pay for by compensating the firms affected? The same argument applies to firms who reschedule to avoid peak demand periods. These contingency plans are an admission of failure.
What about the splendidly Monty Python economics that it's cheaper to pay people not to use Grid power than it is to build power stations to supply their needs?
Will these contingencies plans due to be announced next week be debated in Parliament, I wonder, and if so will anybody ask the obvious questions? The whole thing is a national scandal as BH says and should be headlines everywhere - but I wouldn't bet on that happening.
With regard to factories using diesel generators to maintain production there are a couple of questions which come to mind.
1.In general do factories have enough backup power to maintain normal operations or just enough to cover essential services?
2. If using the backup systems proves to be more cost effective than buying power from electric companies what's to stop them using backup more frequently than actually necessary due to power constraints? Pollution cannot be an issue otherwise this type of long term and frequent operation wouldn't be sanction by government and the DECC.
Dominoes. I wonder how many are missing for the chanpionship topple? A pandemic, a strike, a bad winter, a damaged pipe, terrorism? What will be the last piece?
re David Rose's article.
Profits of doom
The European Commission has paid environmental campaigners directly to carry out its political agenda. In 1999, at a cost of about EUR500,000, it set up a new group, the European Environmental Bureau, while also paying both the Friends of the Earth and the WWF EUR250,000 each to set up offices in Brussels. On another occasion, the Climate Action Network was given EUR140,000 for "capacity building". In fact, the Commission funnels about EUR3 million (£2.48 million) a year to environmental groups that it favours.
But that's a drop of oil in the Gulf of Mexico compared with the amounts that private foundations in the US are estimated to provide each year to environmental causes. The sums involved run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. One green organisation - the Tides Foundation - had net assets of $142,007,356 in 2006. Local green groups may rely on "flapjack and organic-soap fundraising mornings" - but real campaigns are funded by a very different and largely invisible mix.
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=412726&c=2
"Did not the tories understand that giving the Environmental broef to the Lib Dems was a monumental blunder" trefjon .
If I thought the current Conservatives were that bright I'd assume they planned it this way. They get to flirt with being green but get to blame the cost and any problems on the Lib Dems.
You are probably right. However, political games when the stakes are so high shows how poor they are.
After the next election, Ed Davey and his party of inept, petty little opportunists will cease to exist. The LibDems will be competing with the Green Party to see who can lose the most deposits.
Re David Rose's article:
Caio Koch-Weser of Deutsche Bank is another former World Bank functionary, (Stern is ex World Bank, his brother I think is still there).
His wife Maritta Koch-Weser, also formerly of the World Bank, has served on the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) with Rajendra Pachauri, head of the IPCC. She is currently a trustee of Pachauri’s TERI-EU, based in London. Crispin Tickell was a founding member of CCICED with Maurice Strong.
Advisors to Teri-EU are Sir John Houghton and Sir Crispin Tickell, http://www.terieurope.org/trustees.htm
Pachauri in turn was a member of the Deutsche Bank Climate Advisory Board, together with Lord Oxburgh and Lord Browne and John Schellnhuber, head of the German Potsdam Institute and chief advisor to the German government on climate matters. Jennifer Morgan of WRI, (Al Gore is a director), formerly WWF, former advisor to Blair and Schellnhuber, formerly of E3G, (John Ashton, Tom Burke et al), is currently on the Science Advisory Board at Potsdam with Brian Hoskins. Stern was on it for a while, Schellnhuber is on the Grantham Advisory Board.
In 2010, Koch-Weser issued a report on carbon taxation with George Soros
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/new-green-drivers-of-growth
“One essential condition is setting a robust carbon price of $25 per ton of CO2 in order to unleash the large private-sector investments that are necessary to finance the transition to a low-carbon economy. We are concerned, however, that the political will for carbon pricing is lacking.”
Deutsche Bank is part of the UN Global Compact, advocating Global Socialism.
Koch-Weser and Soros were both on Ban Ki Moon's High Level Climate Finance panel, post Copenhagen, together with IMF's Lagarde, (then French Finance Minister), Huhne, Stern and others of a similar ilk.
"High Level Climate Finance, the key to Global Governance" http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/high_level_climate_finance.html
This is not so much a Green Blob but a "Greenback Blob". The networks are endless, but the same names crop up time and time again. A global carbon price is what they seek, in order to control the world economy via the UN.
As Richard North's posts about the "new bill from the EU" show, the real driver is the UN.
http://www.eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=85273
Also see "United Socialist Nations" for some more background on Socialist International, Deben's GLOBE International and their impact on all of this, http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/un_progress_governance_via_climate_change.html
Esmiff:
And they've earmarked 3.4 BILLION euros for funnelling over the next six years. Fromhttp://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32013R1293&from=EN
Steve Jones
Re the LibDummies crashing and burning in 2015 - bring it on, it couldn't happen to a more worthless bunch of idiots. Hmm, but then there's NuLab. Hmm, and then there are the Cameroons.
Better get a food stock in. The local supermarket doesn't operate without power to their tills.
When I was reading David Rose's article earlier today, I felt like it was déja vu all over again! Same billionaires have been channelling funds to same Canadian branches of Big Green for several years - particularly here in BC.
In BC we don't have the proliferation of Windmills (yet), but they certainly do in Ontario. And the BC branch of the "Green Blob" has infested far too many Native Canadian bands (and municipalities ... Vancouver, being one) with their mantras and demonstrations ... and (now mercifully no longer increasing, but still extant) Carbon Tax.
As Vivian Krause has documented, Suzuki and others have benefitted from the largesse of these billionaires for several years. And over here our CBC plays the same role as BBC.
For example, see my Of ethics, forests and fuelling fury: the CBC in action
One of these days - when I have some spare time (hah!) - I'm going to take a look at your Climate Change Act and compare it with that which has been foisted on British Columbia. They both came into existence at around the same time. And I will be very surprised if there are not a number of similarities in the provisions and choice of phrasing!
mike fowle:
That's the best laugh I've had all day, Mike. By June next year the Lib Dems will be a rump - possibly one of the cheeks on the arse of (green) history, with the Greens, in ascendency, being the other cheek. But together they will not trouble the scorer much. And nor will Labour, unless they bang their 'Eds together and dump 'em.As much as I think this Winter has the capacity for tragedy writ all over it, I look forward to a Summer of enlightenment and a clear-out of the Greens (from all parties) who would see this country beggared if it satisfied their agenda.
Transcript from the Today programme in 2003:
https://sites.google.com/site/mytranscriptbox/home/20030701_r4
A country like ours shouldn't even be talking about blackouts from lack of capacity. We should always have a reasonable buffer.
Ambition? Surely he'll walk into some big
American......'world'- nope......oooh er - Brussels....try the CITY green lobbying scamsters division, funded by Hewlett Packard/Deutsche Bank. Or, he could lead the zombie yellows into deeper ignominy [if it would be possible to excavate any further - surely they'll be meeting up with Jo (Nova) in Aus].I don't wish to seem impatient but, the bickering and blame game - as to which political party is 'responsible' for the green calamity aka 'green agenda' is a vain pursuit for quite plainly all of the past 'mainstream' political claque are basically reading from the same manual and just about on the same page.
As one of our astute - and most here are keen minded contributors on this blog - even the ones I disagree with [and there are not many of those however I may just add], I digress, it was pointed out that, some or all of the top 50 corporation/businesses n the EU are fully signed up to the emissions targets limitations guff - looking at Paris in 2015.
Whether it is Brussels, or what is enforced by Westminster, all of our politicians get it in the neck, are converted, are bribed [pick, mix and choose] from both the corporate world, NGOs and shady lobbying organizations ECF and the more dodgy sounding "CLIMATE WORKS" - what it is all about is something I first heard Lord Monckton refer to, called OWG [one world government].
The great get out for all of the west's politicians and thereby world bodies are set up to make the case and draft the 'legal' enforcement. I think you'll find that, Baroness Worthless, Ed the Red Miliband would [have] all quote verbatim from UNIPCC reports - IPCC drafts. IPCC drafts, which are often written by the NGOs and so it goes, a bloody merry go round of lobbyists, groupthink lobbying themselves - in a frenzied mass hypnoses [any climate conference that you care to mention]. The UN the focus - to persuade national governments to do stuff [the CCA] but, BUT.......... the original IPCC was set up by national governments to report to the UN.....confusing it certainly is and it is meant to be that's how progressives work.
running round like Chicken Little's shouting doom laden nonsense but none of it is based in real science, it never was.
Man made CO² induced warming is a chimera, all of this great scam it is based on info from bogus government funded scientists and circulated by unaccountable organizations who sound kosher - and that's all they - the likes of Ed Davey, Dave Cameron, Miliband - needs.
If one draws this lunacy to the end of the line, it can only mean one thing, decarbonization = de-industrialization and thus, the end of western technological revolution and that has always been the divine dream and sole purpose of the progressives - only that they never do think that for ahead, or do any thinking when it comes to it.
Revolution?
The left leaning political consensus of Tory, Labour and Liberal extant here in Britain has to be smashed and smashed very, very hard until it is finished - and trodden into the ground.
Then suddenly, like in a biblical miracle, everybody will be able to see 'the light' [if you'll excuse that] and properly! It's a funny trait in human beings, take a look at Soviet Russia, where die hard communist bureaucrat one minute - turned fabulously rich businessman the very next day, just look at our Russian friends here ensconced in London - the conversion was in a flash and far quicker than Sauls'. Amazing really.
Then, we must seek to cleanse the British education system, let it be commenced from the top [appropriate word] and Oxbridge.
Davey Deben Cameron Milliband - architects of the UK's drive towards third world status.
Janet Daley in today's Telegraph is worth reading. She is actually writing about the Establishment attitude to the immigration debate but there are echoes ... And similarities.
While the LibDems may well be deservedly obliterated at the next election, there is the depressing possibility that many of their votes, especially in seats where it might make a difference could go to the Green Party. The outside possibility that the Greens might hold the balance of power in a new coalition government is terrifying.
Has an "Ed Davey promise" ever come true ? There must be some website which monitors UK politicians promises vs what actually happens or even one dedicated to Mad Davey's. Perhaps someone has more time than me to check
a commenter there says ". The promise to offer no subsidy to nuclear is not worth the paper it is written on."but 20s of Googling shows me
- yet in 2013 the Telegraph said "Subsidies for UK nuclear plant could reach £17bn"
: that is a bit different to Ed's "there will be no public subsidy for nuclear" promise
@artwest - I can't see the Green party itself holding many seats ..as it's support is almost entirely concentrated in 2 or 3 university towns.
Does their record in Brighton help ? Oct 2013 Poll shows Green Party would be unseated in Brighton "produced by ComRes for BBC South East revealed if local elections were held now, Labour would gain the largest proportion of votes with 38% ahead of the Conservatives with the Greens in third with just 21% of the vote."
the Green Party & Liberals are basically the same party anyway - a slightly right of communist party funded by wind & renewunable barons.. So they do hold the balance of power now.
The issue should NOT be about how this idiocy will affect the carve-up of the electoral cake in next May's general election, but what it's going to mean to us as a Nation this winter. How is it going to affect the fuel-impoverished, such as the elderly, or low-income families? How much is it going to cost taxpayers to fund industry to go offline? And, is anyone else really so totally thick as Ed Davey to believe that a moth-balled power station can be brought online at the flick of a switch? - you're talking weeks, if not months.
"The Green Taliban have permeated every level of UK life like a disease!"
Oct 26, 2014 at 9:01 AM | CharmingQuark
What was it the Club of Rome said? That mankind is a cancer on the face of the planet.
That good old projection at work again.
Just one word for the scamsters of "Big Green".
Prison.
Wow. Not only are you paying through higher energy bills for the privilege of blighting your landscapes with wind turbines, you limeys will be asked to pay for Industry to turn on their diesel generators when the green grid is not producing enough. Well, you get what you vote for.