Phillippe Verdier (Top French Weatherman) was sacked, now hired by Kremlin

It’s an upside down world. Now, to be allowed to speak freely, dissident scientists depend on Russia.

Phillipe Verdier was France’s main weatherman on the big public TV channel. In October he released a skeptical book, and immediately got told not to come back to work. Sacked for holding the wrong opinion.

Now, Verdier is working for Russia Today.

French news outlet Le Figaro reports Philippe Verdier is covering the United Nations climate summit in Paris for Russia Today France. Verdier has a daily news segment dedicated to covering what goes on during the U.N. climate talks.

“Hello I am very happy to talk to you about the daily COP21 … in freedom,” Verdier said in his first segment on Russia Today, according to a translation by The Daily Caller News Foundation, clearly taking a swipe at the French media for firing him.

“The climate is a perfect occasion to end the year on a high note and get away from topics that will make people angry,” Verdier said, taking a shot at French President Francois Hollande, “like the rising unemployment where the latest results are very bad.”

h/t Bob Carter, Howard H.

9 out of 10 based on 116 ratings

118 comments to Phillippe Verdier (Top French Weatherman) was sacked, now hired by Kremlin

  • #
    Dennis

    I found the following comment at an article written by Viv Hyland;

    NASA Exposed in ‘Massive’ New Climate Data Fraud
    .
    Veteran award-winning journalist Günter Ederer reports of a shocking new global warming data fraud in NASA’s global temperature data series, as relied on by the UN and government climate scientists. The data has been carefully analysed by a respected data computation expert Professor Dr. Friedrich Karl Ewert and is being made publicly available for independent verification.
    .
    Professor Ewert’s findings seem to show NASA has intentionally and systematically rigged the official government record of global temperatures to show recent global warming where none would exist without the upwards ‘revisions.’
    .
    The astonishing results are now available online to the public. P Gosselin of notrickzone.com reports:
    .
    Ederer reports not long ago retired geologist and data computation expert Professor Dr. Friedrich Karl Ewert began looking at the data behind the global warming claims, and especially the datasets of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS).
    .
    Ewert painstakingly examined and tabulated the reams of archived data from 1153 stations that go back to 1881 – which NASA has publicly available – data that the UN IPCC uses to base its conclusion that man is heating the Earth’s atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels. According to Ederer, what Professor Ewert found is “unbelievable”:
    .
    From the publicly available data, Ewert made an unbelievable discovery: Between the years 2010 and 2012 the data measured since 1881 were altered so that they showed a significant warming, especially after 1950. […] A comparison of the data from 2010 with the data of 2012 shows that NASA-GISS had altered its own datasets so that especially after WWII a clear warming appears – although it never existed.”…………………”
    .
    http://www.principia-scientific.org/nasa-exposed-in-massive-new-climate-data-fraud.html?utm_campaign=nov-24-2015&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

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    • #
      Peter C

      I saw that article, Dennis and have wondered why it has not been taken up by others.

      Here in Australia the BOM has been homogenizing the temperature records, but all attempts to get a proper enquiry have been smothered. Stephen Goddard has published quite a bit about adjustments to historical temperature records by NOAA or NASA.

      The Global Warming Policy Foundation announced an enquiry into temperature data integrity in April 2015. I imagine that they are aware of all these allegations So far they have made no announcements.
      http://www.thegwpf.org/inquiry-launched-into-global-temperature-data-integrity/

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      • #
        Dennis

        Peter it is my understanding that after the BoM internal inquiry ordered by the minister responsible admitted to errors and omissions then PM Tony Abbott suggested to Cabinet that due diligence be conducted at the BoM, and he was out voted so nothing more was done.

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      • #
        Bulldust

        I wonder why WUWT isn’t running this yet.

        40

    • #
      dp

      Tony Heller has been making the same information available on line for a very long time. The problem is not that this information isn’t known and available – the problem is people limit their reading to the compliant popular press. In the US at least, students are not taught critical thinking and believe every celebrity’s tweet, pin, or post and don’t bother with what the data reveal.

      http://realclimatescience.com/

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  • #
    Lance Wallace

    The article includes a poll asking if Verdier is to be admired for dissenting. Present results–99% yes. Don’t report the numbers however.

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  • #
    Lance Wallace

    “It’s an upside down world. Now, to be allowed to speak freely, dissident scientists depend on Russia.”

    Not only dissident scientists–remember Snowden?

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    • #
      Rob JM

      There wasn’t a civil war in syria until Assad made the mistake of not allowing a saudi europe gas pipe line through his territory. It’s a crazy world where Putin is now the least worst guy.

      60

  • #
    Popeye26

    Who would’ve thought in their wildest dreams?

    Russia – The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave

    Certainly, Obama has not lived up to the words in their national anthem but Putin sure looks the goods from my perspective.

    Cheers,

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    • #

      I’ve been thinking much the same lately. As the US cowers deeper and deeper into itself, Russia is taking over the mantle that was proudly held by the US for such a long time. Who would have thought the tables turning in such a way? We now await to see what China does.

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      • #

        This is only a temporary phenomenon and will likely be reversed in about a year. Historically, US politics bounces between left and right with each polarity reversal overcompensating for the mistakes of the previous administration. The swing vote is the small group of people in the middle who can be swayed either way. This group is generally dissatisfied with Obama, thinks Hillary is a crook and Sanders is a lunatic, so there’s a good chance that this switch will flip no matter who the Republican nominee is. Of course, the media has significant influence over the uninformed, and this has certainly swayed elections in the past.

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        • #

          That’s one thing I wouldn’t be betting on. The US MSM is doing everything in its power to ensure that Clinton gets in and it’s the MSM that ensured that Obama got a second innings. There are also many other things going on that will make it much hard for the Republicans, such as the vote apparently being given to non-citizens.

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        • #
          RoHa

          “US politics bounces between left and right ”

          No, between far right and farther right.

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          • #
            Glenn999

            Sorry to disappoint RoHa. It’s actually between left and far left. But perhaps your confusion is from the fact that in different countries left/right definitions are vastly different.

            In the US, left means big government and right means small government, with a vast continuum in between.

            Hope this helps.

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      • #
        average joe

        As a lifetime citizen of the USA, with ancestors who immigrated here in the 1700’s and were part of our revolutionary war to free ourselves from Britian, I am greatly pained by Popeye’s words, because they are quite true. Through most of our history immigrants who come here have done so with the intent of assimilating into our culture and becoming one of us, with similar values and desires. That has all changed over the last several decades. The bleeding heart liberals among us have opened the floodgates to immigrants, and further, no longer insist that they adopt and assimilate into our culture. Obama has done great damage to our once great nation and the silent majority have had enough. This is why Trump is taking the country by storm – and will be the next POTUS, to undo the terrible damage from the last 8 years. I shudder to think what may happen if Hillary or Bernie get elected. Should that happen the country may quickly unravel, possibly splitting into two separate countries, or worse. My hope is that Trump on his first day in office fires all of the top administrators of the EPA, NOAA, and NASA GISS and puts in leaders who will purge the rot and do an about face in direction!

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        • #
          Rob JM

          Most of the US know that Washington DC is a corrupt cancerous corporate cesspit! Thats why trump is doing so well, they don’t care if he is insane they just want non DC president. Australia was similar with climate change and Abbott.

          70

        • #
          ROM

          .
          Average Joe @ #4.1.2

          I sympathize with you but why in the hell would anyone, particularly an advanced and civilised western nation who has felt the full weight of the Chicago Democrats utterly corrupt Democratic Party machine during a good part of the last century, ever even think of, let alone elect a Chicago Democrat who had no record of any sort in political depth or accomplishments and yet was elected to the highest political office, that of President in the worlds most powerful and wealthiest and technologically advanced nation, the USA.

          And then go on to do it all again as in TWICE.

          Once is an accident;
          Twice is coincidence
          Three times and its time to look in the mirror.

          However, take heart.
          As I posted on Jo’s blog here some time ago, the western world, in fact most of the advanced world is starting the long swing back towards the right wing side of politics.
          Argentina has abandoned Peron’s legacy and moved right with the unexpected election of the right wing, Mauricio Macri as President [ lots of huffing and puffing from the leftist Huffington Post on this ],
          France with the right wing Marie Le Pen on the rise.
          Spain is now governed by a right leaning party as is most of the former east European nations who have a darn good set of reasons to rid themselves of radical socialism..
          The Scandinavians are moving right as they start to feel the increasingly disruptive societal impact of the socialists unlimited immigration programs.

          Germany is starting down the right wing path of politics as Merkel’s leftist legacy starts to unravel under the pressures of the utter stupidity of the Energiewende, the Transition to Renewable energy through the massive investments in wind and solar and the consequent immense social destruction as a million households a year are disconnected from the power supply as they can no longer afford or pay the rapidly increasing costs of power.

          Even China has and still is moving rapidly away from a socialistic political structure due in part to the late Deng Xiaoping’s admonition , “It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white so long as it catches mice” meaning it doesn’t matter if it is socialism or capitalism that reigns in China so long as it advances the nation and its peoples.
          And the Chinese know from the bitter experience and some 40 million dead from a politically created famine of Mao’s Great Leap Forward and the turmoil and societal breakdown of the Cultural Revolution that socialism in its purest form is a complete and utter failure in everything it touches.

          As do the Russians with similar experiences still just within living memory.

          Then there is India which is now moving rapidly right after playing with socialism for some 3 generations past.

          Some or most SE Asian nations are moving right towards more capitalistic mores including Indonesia our immediate neighbour [ Australia ] and the fourth largest global nation in terms of population with some 255 millions which has moved politically right over the last two decades.

          The right gained power in the 1930’s after the excesses of 1920’s and the rise of communism which was supported by a whole vast gamut of the academically educated in western nations even back then in those days near on a century ago .
          Too much so in the 1930’s with Hitler, Mussolini and various small time dictators in the eastern European nations, all fulminating against some percieved enemy that threatened their nation/ their egos and so it/ they must be punished and eliminated.

          And so we had a war, a World Wide War that cost somewhere between 70 million and one hundred million dead and this in a world of only some 3 to 3.5 billion souls.

          History just keeps right on rolling along and crushing all the wannabe world dictators and political ego trippers under its great wheel until they are but dust to be swept into the depths of the dust bin of the” failed” of this earth.
          And a new generation of wannabe dictators and saviours of the World will arise only for them too to be utterly crushed albeit at the cost of tens or hundreds of millions of innocent lives.

          We are “Man” and that is our history and perhaps our sad destiny for long into the future as it has been in the long past.

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    • #
      Peter Miller

      Well, we certainly live in a world gone mad, if we have to rely on the Russians and Chinese to make our effete political ‘elite’ see common sense.

      How many of the buffoons prowling the corridors of power in the West will agree in Paris to sign up to permanent reparations to the kleptocracies of the Third World as an apology for their ancestors following capitalist and not animist/socialist economic principles? I am truly scared by what the answer might be, but it looks like the UK and Australia will be right at the front of the queue.

      I have never seen so much BS in my life spewing out of the BBC and other science-challenged organisations over the past week. Interestingly, no one seems to be reading the BBC propaganda, according to their own ‘favourites’ ratings.

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      • #
        Manfred

        When the gigantic climafarce unravels as it most surely is doing, there may well follow a metaphorical shortage of piano wire and lamp posts. There simply aren’t enough global court rooms to undertake due process. Then watch the denialism, as everyone scrambles to claim membership of the hitherto silent majority.

        At the top of my ‘list’ for ‘adjustment’ is the Fourth Estate. No one, not one politician or one of the self-appointed 97% climate ‘scientists’, not one University Chancellor or academic who has added a spurious ‘climate change’ link to their research in order to more easily gain funding would have lasted a handful of minutes under informed, critical and close public scrutiny.

        The Fourth Estate are the great pretenders, a bane on civilised society and a boon for civil society.

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      • #
        Rereke Whakaaro

        Even at the height of The Cold War, the Russians and Chinese could be relied upon to accurately report what was going on in The West. They didn’t need propaganda, we in the free world did all the damage to ourselves.

        The Communist Bloc’s reportage of their own internal affairs was where the propaganda was prevalent, but that was for internal consumption. We currently have a parallel, because much of the Climate Change manure is propaganda, intended for consumption in the west.

        Yin, meet Yang.

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  • #

    The attitudes of the French and the Russians show it is just a political game. Presidents Hollande and Obama want to distract from their domestic economic failures by sideline their opponents. The despot Robert Mugabe and Mother Earth worshipping Evo Morales are given platforms to blame the every thing on the evil capitalist system. Others want to be photographed, so that they can boast they are players on the world stage. The political master is Putin. He (like a number of other world leaders) knows that climate science is a myth. But he has his myth to spin about the ascendancy and power of Russia. Putin will get at the West whenever he can. So when a Western power does something that is clearly wrong Russia exploits it to the full. The KGB, where Putin served for 16 years, were masters of it.

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    • #
      Dennis

      A wise elderly man once posted a reply to a question asking why the Socialists support Islam, are they not Infidels too?

      He replied that they have a common enemy: Capitalism

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      • #
        Rereke Whakaaro

        … they have a common enemy: Capitalism

        That is very true.

        But being a Socialist and supporting Islam are not mutually exclusive. Socialism is a philosoply. Islam is essentially a moral code (with a few quirks). The Kazaks and Uzbeks are examples where both coexist.

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      • #
        Rob JM

        Socialist do not support islam, they just support any cause that makes them feel superior to others. Once socialists get guns they happily shoot anyone with a different opinion.

        50

    • #
      el gordo

      Old habits die hard, Putin is a thug and needs to be watched closely.

      Talking of secret services, the communist Chinese have been looking for a weakness in our system and managed to penetrate BoM.

      http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-02/china-blamed-for-cyber-attack-on-bureau-of-meteorology/6993278

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      • #
        redress

        If you want a real conspiracy theory, may be this……….

        From Climate Depot….”We are going to be rooting for China to put up enough roadblocks to prevent any kind of ‘deal’….for the Chinese to essentially throw the monkey wrench in this whole climate treaty”

        Now if they have found the formula for the homogenization…..?!!

        40

      • #
        Greg Cavanagh

        Putin may be a thug at some level, but he’s a proud Russian. We only wish our own leaders were as proud.

        260

      • #
        Mike

        Good find el gordo. That explains everything including questionable climate data. Our team at the BoM need to check all the data.

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      • #
        Gary in Erko

        They want the weather report for Darwin.

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        • #
          graphicconception

          I think they were actually looking for the brilliant program that can convert temperature data with a falling trend into a rising one.

          That sort of technology is priceless.

          91

          • #
            Binny

            They want to know if the BoM doomsday scenarios are real.
            If the Chinese stop bidding on Australian farmland, you will know the BoM has pasted the audit.
            If they don’t … well

            31

      • #
        Mike

        [SNIP. Mike we’d need some evidence for that kind of conjecture and those topics will take the thread way off topic… Jo]

        40

        • #
          Mike

          I just wanted to add that if our weather prediction abilities are attacked by a bunch of chinesse or russins, it will wreak havoc here. We are all as it were in sailboats. If the ability to predict weather is compromised, what happens to the sailboats that cannot foresee a storm coming?

          I think the answer to that is self evident. El gordo, your link to the ABC news is a timely reminder. We need to be prepared.

          20

      • #
        Peter Miller

        The Chinese were probably impressed with the BOM’s temperature data manipulation techniques and simply wanted to know to know how it was done.

        Well, now they know and we still don’t.

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      • #
        Dean

        They were looking for the homogenisation algorithm

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        • #

          Let’s see the emails!

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        • #
          Turtle of WA

          I’ve found the BOM homogenisation algorithm. It can be expressed thus:

          Old temperatures down, recent temperatures up.

          I had a look in the black box and that’s all there was.

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          • #
            KinkyKeith

            Turtle

            The whole purpose of the “Black Box” in modelling is that it is the dumping place for all of
            those minor “unknowns” that have very little effect compared to the main factors and so can therefore be ignored.

            Unfortunately Carbon Dioxide is one of those insignificant factors that should have been in the black box from the start.

            But such is politics. It’s now out side and laughing at the whole world.

            🙂 KK

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      • #
        robin evans

        I hope they stole the whole of the ACORN-SAT data and methodology. BOM will have to go back to the drawing board – and do it properly this time!

        10

  • #

    United States of America, France : Home of Political Correctness and Censorship.
    Russia : Land of the Free and Home of the Brave and last refuge of Free Speech.
    What a turn-around we have seen.

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    • #
      TdeF

      America does have freedom, great freedom. The problem is in the very left journalist clique who are pushing their personal agenda from safe spaces to gay marriage to Global Warming. They are talking about their priorities not those of the people or the times. Important news is suppressed, like the success of the Ebola vaccine saving countless millions of live. Boring science. Thanks to the dominance of the telephone/internet social revolution, from smart phones to tablets to desktops connected to the internet, the 24 hour news cycle is saturated with nonsense stories and Global Warming is the greatest of these and a huge money machine. For example, apart from Andrew Bolt, no one mentions the routine public murder of Gays by ISIS where the right to marriage is an absurd idea. We in the West are not getting balance in our news and certainly not the facts. Public service utilities like the BOM and NASA are equally culpable for allowing raw data to be edited.

      Very Left journalists dominate Australia, uncontrolled in the taxpayer funded ABC. They in turn push the swinging voter and that pushes the politicians to abandon sense, fearful for their jobs. Now you have journalists having fun, controlling politics and telling us that Gay Marriage is the urgent issue requiring immediate National action and in our ABC, baiting and ridiculing conservative politicians has become standard fare. Malcolm Turnbull understands that he must kowtow, which he does happily.

      In the fabricated AGW story of evil capitalist democracies oppressing the poor with CO2 is in every report and it suits a lot of people, especially the smallest countries at the UN. Smokestack journalism. Of course they know it is water vapour!

      Amazingly, Russia is also the target of leftist journalists and the Russians can do nothing right because they have betrayed the left, wanting to be rich and successful. You never get the Russian point of view, especially in Syria and the Ukraine. It is just now people are wondering if the Russians are not right after all.

      In Global Climate Warming Change, if it wasn’t for satellite measurements and independent blogs like this, what would most people believe? Even though the climate at home or on their travels has not changed one iota in their lifetime, most are still prepared to believe what they are told by their government agencies, that AGW is the greatest challenge facing humanity and that CO2 is deadly pollution. Would the government and the media lie to them? Would NASA/BOM fiddle their data? I mean when you claim a disastrous change of 0.8C in an average temperature, who is affected? This is less than the resolution of thermometers not long ago.

      Even the French are discovering, from Gerard Depardieu to Verdier that the Russians have more freedom from oppression than in socialist and traditionally communist France. In Australia, far from providing independent news, the ABC is a rapidly growing taxpayer funded media giant with no accountability and recently managed to bring down a Prime Minister, solidly supported by Malcolm Turnbull the minister in charge of misinformation and the NBN. To quote Chicken Run, “Oh, yes. Them chickens are up to summat. They’re organized, I know it!”

      Forget media barons. The journalist chickens are running the hen house. Politicians are all falling into line. Soon we will need safe places for sceptics.

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    • #
      J.H.

      It’s fine to be sarcastic when comparing America and Putin’s Russia, but you have to temper that sarcasm with reality.

      The reality of Putin’s Russia is that Opposition politicians are assassinated, critical journalists are murdered and vocal dissidents are jailed and fined unto financial ruin…. it truly is “Putin’s” Russia, while Obama simply has a lend of America for as long as people are silly enough to vote for him or two terms, whichever comes first….. The second unfortunately.

      To be sure, there are some very serious problems concerning our Political elites, but you would be foolish to actually believe we are better off with Putin or Kim Jong Un as an ally or role model.

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  • #
    ScotsmaninUtah

    The good the bad and the ugly – RT, BBC/ABC and CNN

    by cross referencing these three , one can almost determine the days correct date.

    getting the truth however is not so easy 🙁

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  • #
    STJOHNOFGRAFTON

    фантастика!

    40

  • #
    pat

    China still willing to invest in coal-fired power plants:

    1 Dec: Mail&Guardian Africa: Bloomberg: Africa searches for renewable energy billions—as China does big deal with Zimbabwe for good old coal
    Western nations keen on financing clean energy, but as Zimbabwe deal shows, the continent’s power needs are too immediate.
    THE African Union, an alliance of 53 countries, has announced a plan to mobilise $20 billion to develop at least 10 gigawatts of renewable energy on the continent by the end of the decade…
    The programme is expected to be partially funded from the $100 billion pledged by rich countries to fight climate change in the developing world…
    But amid the buzz around renewable energy China is set to provide a $1.2 billion loan to rehabilitate and expand Zimbabwe’s coal-fired Hwange power plant, highlighting the difficulties of getting developing countries to choose renewable but costlier fuels over cheaper but dirtier sources.
    In news timed to coincide with Chinese president Xi Jinping’s arrival in the struggling southern African country, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said work on the plan would add 600MW to the creaking power supply, easing rationing…
    The AfDB in March defended its decision to continue financing power plants that use coal despite pressure from environmental groups and UN officials to shift more funds to clear energy.
    “It is hypocritical for western governments who have funded their industrialisation using fossil fuels, providing their citizens with enough power, to say to African countries, ‘You cannot develop dams, you cannot develop coal, just rely on these very expensive renewables,’” former president Donald Kaberuka told journalists in London on Wednesday. “African countries will not listen.”…
    http://mgafrica.com/article/2015-12-01-africa-set-for-billions-in-renewable-energyas-china-invests-in-good-old-coal

    while the CAGW cowboys & their elitist friends such as Naomi Klein insist the poor leapfrog fossil fuels:

    “Rather, this tragedy (Paris attacks) should inspire the opposite reaction: an urgent push to lower emissions as rapidly and deeply as possible, including strong support for developing countries to leapfrog to renewable energy, creating much-needed jobs and economic opportunities in the process.” – Naomi Klein & Jason Box, “Why a Climate Deal Is the Best Hope for Peace”, New Yorker, 18 November

    2 Dec: AAP: Renewables to light way for Africa
    The bank would also work with other power initiatives on the continent such as US President Barack Obama’s $US7-billion plan to “Power Africa”, projects by the European Union, Britain and others to raise their levels of investments in the energy sector…
    The countries also have to carry out fundamental reforms of the energy sector, their utilities and the pricing of energy to ensure subsidies on fossil fuels are diverted to renewables…
    The initiative goes to the heart of an issue under discussion at the climate talks — how to convince developing nations to leapfrog the cheap, carbon-intensive energy sources like coal that powered the industrial revolution and move directly to the low-emissions sources that many see as critical to slowing global warming.
    Although Africa has renewable power options that include hydro, solar, wind, geothermal and biomass, about 640 million people or about 68 per cent of the population lack access to electricity.
    Only about ***35 GW of power in Africa now comes from renewable sources of total installed electricity capacity of about 160 GW.
    https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/renewables-light-way-africa-235739379.html

    ***TonyfromOz – please unpack the claim 35GW of power in Africa comes from renewables. I realise hydro would make up part of that figure (if it is correct) but would like to see it broken down.

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    • #
    • #
    • #

      35 GW of power in Africa now comes from renewable sources of total installed electricity capacity of about 160 GW.

      Note here that whenever they talk about renewables, they always refer to the Nameplate, because it artificially makes Renewables look like a greater percentage of the whole, and that they always boost renewables by adding in Hydro, so then let’s do a breakdown for both, Nameplate and actual power generated, umm, for the whole of Africa.

      NAMEPLATE
      Total Installed Capacity (Nameplate) – 160GW
      Total Renewables – 35GW, of which 32GW is Hydro.
      So, non Hydro renewables make up 3GW of the the total, hence 1.9% Of Nameplate.

      GENERATED POWER
      Total – 750TWH
      Total Renewables – 125TWH, of which 118TWH is Hydro.
      So, non Hydro renewables make up 7TWH of the total, hence 0.9% of Generated Power.

      Big difference.

      Note that this is for the whole of Africa. That 750TWH is greater than Australia’s total generated power by a factor of 3.75

      Africa’s population is greater than Australia’s by a factor of, umm, 51.

      President Obama’s plan to power Africa (give me strength) would cost a hell of a lot more than $7 Billion to bring them up to anywhere even remotely close to what we take for acceptable.

      Tony.

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        TdeF

        Tony, is Africa’s hydro just nameplate too? Our Snowy Mountain hydro from our one big river would be exhausted in a day or two if that is all we had. It is used to top up for peak loads, not baseload. Apart from the Nile at Lake Nasser, what big rivers have enough drop in altitude combined with volume?

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        • #

          Snowy Mountains Hydro. Thank heavens Bill Hudson got it built when he did. The Greens would go balistically apoplectic if they tried to do it now.

          There are 7 (major original) power stations for a little under 4,000MW Nameplate, and three (I think) mini plants more recently constructed.

          There are 16 Dams on 7 rivers and a creek in all, made up as follows:

          Murrumbidgee River – 1
          Snowy River – 3
          Tumut River – 5 dams or reservoirs plus one Pondage
          Swampy Plain River – 2 (this at the southern end of the Scheme, and this river flows into the Murray)
          Eucumbene River – 1
          Tooma River – 1
          Geehi River – 1
          Deep Creek – 1

          There are 12 tunnels ranging in length from one mile to two of them at 15 miles long. These tunnels are 20 to 26 feet across and the longer ones were started at either end, blasting through the mountains and meeting in the middle. These tunnels move the waters from dam to dam to power stations.

          There are 2 Major pumping stations, and some minor ones as well.

          Still one of the engineering wonders of the World, no matter what they say.

          If you’re interested, get the book Snowy. The making of modern Australia by Brad Collis. Most libraries have it. Without doubt, the best book on the Scheme.

          Tony.

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          • #
            TdeF

            Thanks Tony and Dean for such useful information, especially in Africa. However my question still stands. Are the African hydro schemes 24/7 power or for peaks? Is their NAMEPLATE the same as their GENERATED POWER, or are they like our Snowy, only for peak loads? If nothing else, we cannot afford to release all the water at once as it would produce massive flooding and take all year to refill, maybe more. Also what is the GENERATED POWER/NAMEPLATE for the Snowy? I would suspect 1%.

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            • #

              I’m pretty sure that (most of) The Snowy Hydro operates at a typical (for Hydro) Capacity Factor of between 30 and 35%. As you mentioned, it’s only used mainly for peaking Power, and not for Base Load.

              Tumut 3 (1500MW Nameplate) is Pumped Storage

              They just move the water around via the tunnels and the pumping stations.

              Tony.

              30

            • #
              Dean

              These are base load hydro. There is no mechanism to pump water back upstream.

              00

        • #
          Dean

          Zambezi river has two enormous dams used for hydro power generation with 3700MW of installed capacity between them. Aswan in Egypt has 2100MW installed capacity.

          Cahora Bassa dam in Mozambique is the largest hydro power dam in southern Africa, with just under 56 cubic kilometres of capacity in the reservoir.

          Lake Kariba is also a major source of hydro in southern Africa, and is the largest man made lake on the planet. it is 223km long and 40km wide at its maximum, and holds 180 cubic km of water.

          For comparison Blowering Reservoir in the Snowy Mountain Scheme holds 1.6 cubic kilometres.

          30

          • #
            TdeF

            Interesting, I had never heard of Lake Kariba 223km x 40km and 180 cubic km but had seen Lake Nasser 550km x 35km and 132 cubic km. Kariba is half the area but clearly more than twice as deep. I have only seen Lake Nasser in Egypt from the relocated tomb of Ramses II and from the top of the lake on the dam at Aswan. It is heavily fortified with missile batteries as 81 million people depend on it.

            What is fascinating about Aswan is that the Nile has cycles of 11 years, like the sun. They have written records of river levels for 1600 years, long before the motor car.

            So while the 1880s British dam at Aswan held a year of water and finally stopped the Nile valley flooding to the top at 35 metres every year, the Aswan dam now holds ten years and stopped the droughts. So a drought in Africa is a cycle which is well known, predictable and not Climate Change. In Australia According to our famous scientists like Tim Flannery, dead kangaroo expert, our recent drought was caused entirely by world CO2. So are our bushfires apparently, even if we exported them in the 1880s to California, Greece and Spain and Jordan with our gum trees. Climate Change. Caused by exporting and growing carbon capture trees.

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        TdeF

        So the African 35Gw of ‘renewables’ looks like less than 33% of actual Power generated / Nameplate, dropping the % of renewables over a day from 35/160 or 22% to 12/125 or 10%. This is how people can be misled by ‘renewables’ success. Better called Unreliables and often impracticals as there is no power without sun, wind or water.

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          redress

          What is not reported with regard to South Africa is the daily rolling power outages. I am a fairly frequent visitor to South Africa…since 1999.

          In 1999 there were NO power outages…in 2012 and 2015 there were, and according to locals are now scheduled daily for several hours. Those who can afford to have back up generators.

          Its a sobering scene to fly into Johanesburg from Kakamas and watch the lights of the suburbs flicker out….and its all due to reliance on renewables.

          Australia does NOT want to go down the same path.

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            ROM

            We ain’t seen nothing yet compared to what is to come in Africa.

            From; Hydro in Africa: Navigating a Continent of Untapped Potential

            Dated ; Oct 2013

            Quoted;

            Africa in perspective

            Throughout Africa, electrification rates are extremely low (see Figure 1 ).
            Africa houses 13% of the world’s population but only produces 3% of its electricity.
            On average, fewer than three out of 10 Africans have access to electricity.
            Africa also has the world’s lowest annual per capita electricity consumption: 450 kWh.
            Despite this, there is a large capacity shortfall within the continent.
            This low level of electrification not only affects the citizens’ way of life, but it starves industries of development or growth.

            Nonetheless, the economy of Africa as a whole is growing.
            Reports reflect positive growth of Africa’s gross domestic product, which is expected to reach $2.6 trillion in 2020, up from $1.9 trillion in 2008.

            The population of Africa is expected to grow fast too, with projections indicating it will reach 3 billion by 2050 (as compared to 1 billion in 2010).
            At the same time, per capita income levels are rising and Africa is urbanizing.
            The urbanization rate ranges from 18% in Ethiopia to 50% in Nigeria, but it is well above 70% in some north African countries.
            These three trends will drive energy demand growth and consumption in the coming decades.
            It is estimated that by 2030 about 50% of all Africans will reside in cities, increasing the demand for electricity and security of supply.

            Reports indicate that Africa is only using 5% to 10% of its hydropower potential.
            Compared to the rest of the world, Africa has been slow in taking advantage of its electricity generation potential (see Figure 2).
            Data show that the undeveloped hydropower potential in Africa may be as high as 95%
            &
            Countries best suited for development

            At present, 75% of Africa’s generation capacity comes from South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Libya and Algeria.
            Interestingly enough, this capacity is not generated by means of hydropower, as these countries are in areas not well suited to hydro.

            Africa has 588 small hydropower plants of less than 10 MW in operation,8 with an average size of 2.5 MW (a total of about 1.5 GW).
            Total hydropower capacity in Africa in early 2011 was about 26 GW.

            According to estimations, 12% of the world’s hydro potential is found in Africa — and due to geographical conditions, most of it is located in the sub-Saharan part.
            There are multiple reasons why sub-Saharan Africa is suggested as prime hydropower development territory.
            First, the majority of rainfall falls within basins in sub-Saharan Africa.
            This is important to track in order to ensure future water supply.
            Second, the majority of sub-Saharan countries are English-speaking.

            The following countries are the highest potential hydropower players:

            Democratic Republic of Congo:
            Total potential estimated at 100,000 MW but only 2,400 MW developed.
            Projects currently under development include 40,000 MW Grand Inga, which will cost about $80 billion, with an interconnection cost of $10 billion. Construction of this facility is to be completed by 2025.

            Ethiopia:
            Estimated potential of 37,000 MW by 2037.
            Projects in development include 1,870 MW Gibe III, expected to be on line in 2013, and a facility at Grand Millennium Dam of about 5,250 MW.

            Cameroon:
            Estimated 23,000 MW of exploitable hydropower resources, of which only 3% is developed.

            Uganda:
            Large hydropower potential, with the 250 MW Bujagali project completed in 2012 as the largest private sector investment in the country’s history.
            As a result of Bujagali, Uganda’s supply exceeds its demand for the first time ever.
            Daily power outages are rare and the industrial operations can run freely, no longer compromising the country’s progress.

            &

            Will ‘world’s biggest’ hydro power project light up Africa?

            But the DRC government’s bold vision ultimately involves five further stages that would complete the “Grand Inga” mega-project, giving it an astonishing capacity of 40,000 MW — that’s twice as much as the Three Gorges dam in China, currently the world’s largest hydro project.

            When completed, Grand Inga could provide more than 500 million people with renewable energy, say its proponents.

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    Ruairi

    With no option Philippe Verdier,
    Left France for Russia Today,
    As his rights were denied,
    He is now qualified,
    To comment on French Liberté.

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    handjive

    Wait. What?

    Liberte’ found in Russia?

    It’s that parallel universe where the Beatles never broke up …

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    nc

    In Canada it was the MSM media that basically played to the uninformed public that over threw the Harper government and gave the liberals a majority. The government sponsored CBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was out to get Harper because of budget cutbacks whiles the liberals promised them 150 million. The CBC has also played the heavily biased “climate change theme” more so than the other MSM especially leading upto the Paris party.

    Wonder how Paris will feel about the world Paris, being used in conjunction with the biggest scam in history.

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    ROM

    Newton’s Third Law [ of Motion ] is stated as;

    “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

    The “Third Law” along with both of Newton’s other Laws are always stated as Laws that pertain to concrete, measurable physical entities.

    However during [quite ? ] a few decades past I slowly have come to the belief that under all the political gloss and outsized egos and the disassembling of those in positions of power and influence in politics, business , media right down to the level of street, Newton’s Third Law also applies to just about any situation involving people you can name.

    If it didn’t we would see just one single totally dominant ruling entity in every single human endeavor we could point to.

    Instead we see an incredibly complex mix of politics, business, and endeavors all competing against one another and frequently in co-operation with one another to counterbalance some other entity that is aiming to become the dominant and sole entity in its sector of operations be it global, national, regional or local right down to family political or the equivalent in business, media, personal relationships and friends where opinions and actions are formulated that are in conflict with or directly contrary to the supposed dominant power centre or to that of the guys and girls you are having a drink with or eating with.

    And we can see those counter forces, Newtons Third Law as it applies to global politics and national aspirations everywhere we wish to look both down through all of known history and as well as happening right here and now around us today.

    Somebody thought as they usually do in this type of power situation , that firing, “eliminating” in the more extreme political ideologies, a figure who was severely upsetting their program of domination, Phillippe Verdier in this particular case, by publicly stating an opposing and different viewpoint, would fix and eliminate that problem once and for all.

    In this case as in every other case where this is attempted, a “counter force” of a completely unpredictable and usually a completely unexpected variety will either be reinforced or be created and appear that is never expected or predicted and which will often eventually grow into an equal in power and influence political, business or ideological centre of influence and that will severely limit the expansion and influence of the original power lusting entity that created the whole charade in the first place.

    Phillippe Verdier and his action in shifting to reporting for a non sympathetic to the Climate change meme, nationalistic media in the form of the Russian media is a classic case where as so often happens, a body corporate or a political individual or entity in trying to suppress an irritating pimple with brute force, instead creates a suppurating wound that can and often does lead to the weakening of the original creator of the situation and sometimes leads directly to its or his / hers nasty demise.

    Without the political and human interaction version of Newton’s Third Law of “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”, we would still be swinging from the trees and we as a race and species would be little more than a bi-pedal ant colony with one over arching Queen or King bi-pedal controlling and directing every single aspect of what would then have passed as human society.

    We are what we are and where we are because the biological version of Newton’s Third Law ensures that we along with ALL life on this planet competes continually, passionately and occasionally almost fanatically with both their own life forms and species and with every other life form and species on this planet.

    Nobody and Nothing is or can ever become the dominant entity ever on this planet.

    Call it what you like but to me it is Newton’s Third Law interpreted in its biological and political version as the driving force that drives all life and all human and biological endeavors that will ensure as long as life exists on this planet, , nobody, nothing will ever become the truly dominant single ruling entity at any level on this planet ever!

    And that is why the entire power lust of the Left [ or the hard Right ] and all its machinations and all its attempted destruction of any individual and political and business entities that don’t toe or refuse to toe the Leftist [ hard Rightist ] ideological line or bow to its dictates will, as has always been the case down through history, FAIL, sometimes / often quite spectacularly.

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      Rereke Whakaaro

      There is also, of course, The Law of Unintended Consequences, which holds that … actions of people, and especially of governments, always have effects that are unanticipated or “unintended”.

      Economists and ofher social scientists have heeded its power for centuries; for just as long, politicians and popular opinion have largely ignored it.

      Further reading:

      1. Hayek, Friedrich A. New Studies in Philosophy, Politics, Economics and the History of Ideas. 1978.
      2. Merton, Robert K. Sociological Ambivalence and Other Essays. 1979.

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      Wayne Job

      Thank you ROM that just about sums up everything that has happened in recorded history, always a correction happens. Oddly that means everyone is not stupid.

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      Graeme No.3

      And when they find the Treasury is empty and cut down on Bread & Circuses the Left will be there promising to spend like in the old days, and being believed by the gullible. You can fool some people all of the time.

      A little more seriously, the pullback from neo-Keynesian economics is going to be very hard and probably bloody. The collapse in the oil price isn’t good news to most countries. Most western nations are close to bankruptcy, and the continuing lack of inflation is disastrous news – they may be expected to pay their debts. They can’t and won’t, so economic turmoil will result, and one of the first casualties will be green policies followed by a slashing of the Welfare State. This will play out over the next 50 years as the western countries find themselves becoming economic backwaters.

      It won’t be that easy for the Chinese and Indians to climb to the top, especially as some of Africa starts to develop their natural resources in coal, gas and hydro to fuel development. Nor will the drop in temperature help as anywhere above, say 50º north freezes, and agricultural yields decline. The countries that will really be places to avoid are the Middle East and North Africa where a combination of social backwardness and lack of food will lead to rapid and violent de-population. Fleeing to Europe won’t be as popular when the europeans can’t afford Social Welfare for themselves, let alone would-be free loaders.
      We live on the verge of “interesting times”.

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    pat

    talk about creepy! a “safe place” “far from the eyes of the public and the media” to discuss “transparency”! worth reading all…forewarned is forearmed:

    2 Dec: ReutersCarbonPulse: Mike Szabo: World Bank CO2 pricing support group’s to-do list: allay corporate discord, help isolated govts, and tackle other “thorny” issues
    The main objective of the World Bank’s new high-level Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC), according to the institution’s top climate change official, is to act as a support group for governments and companies that back assigning a cost to greenhouse gas emissions.
    Officially launched this week at the UN climate summit in Paris, the coalition is aimed at providing “political cover” to government leaders who feel isolated by their views, while also attempting to tackle, with the input of the private sector, the difficult underlying issues such a carbon leakage and border tariffs, said Rachel Kyte…
    Five of those companies – BHP Billiton, BP, EDF, Statoil, and Total – are also members of the CPLC, highlighting the perceived contradictions in corporate engagement efforts that are increasingly being flagged…
    “SQUEALING” ABOUT LEAKAGE
    Kyte said the coalition will challenge the resistance against carbon pricing from the corporate world…
    In keeping with the support group imagery, Kyte suggested that the CPLC would also provide a ‘safe place’ for governments and corporations to discuss the contentious issues at length, ***far from the eyes of the public and the media.
    “When you close the door with all the ministers and CEOs in the room, you can talk about issues of carbon leakage, efficiency, ***transparency…
    “There’s a work plan that has been agreed. The World Bank is the interim secretariat, and in April the members will elect a steering committee,” she added.
    “This is a very, very important moment in time.”
    http://carbon-pulse.com/12772/

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    pat

    the real business of COP21:

    2 Dec: ReutersCarbonPulse: COP-21 Roundup: Dec. 2 – Day 3
    FIRST CARBON PRICE CHAMPION: The Climate Markets Investment Association and the International Emissions Trading Association have awarded the inaugural COP-21 Carbon Pricing Champion Award to Ontario and Quebec for their efforts in building a sub-national carbon market. “Quebec in particular has played a big role in inspiring other jurisdictions – including Ontario – to look at cap-and-trade as a tool to curb emissions at lowest cost, building on the success of its linked market with California,” the groups said.
    WORLD BANK CO2 PRICING ‘SUPPORT GROUP’:…ETC
    DIVESTMENT CAMPAIGN SURPASSES $3.4 TRILLION: More than 500 institutions representing $3.4 trillion in assets have now joined the campaign to divest from fossil fuels, green groups 350.org and Divest-Invest announced Wednesday. Among recent additions are 19 French cities including Bordeaux and Lille, the Dutch pension fund PFZW and the cities of Melbourne and Oslo…
    BUSINESS BACKS CARBON OFFSET MARKET: A group of businesses, including Fuji Xerox, Sky and Dow, together with UN climate chief Christiana Figueres on Wednesday said carbon offsets should play an important role in future efforts to gut GHG emissions, pointing to recent research suggesting that companies that use offsets take the lead in reducing carbon output.
    Backed by the International Carbon Reduction Offset Alliance, Figueres and the companies released a series of videos (LINK) arguing the case of offsets.
    http://carbon-pulse.com/12762/

    VIDEO: 10 MINS: ICROA (International Carbon Reduction & Offset Alliance) Presents OFFSETTING TOGETHER
    This video is introduced by Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and will feature at this year’s global climate change negotiations in Paris. Read the full Press Release here.
    https://icroa.wildapricot.org/offsetting/offsetting

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    pat

    3 Dec: BusinessStandardIndia: Nitin Sethi: US wants developing nations to also share finance costs
    The Umbrella group (the US and its allies), going against the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, has asked developing countries to contribute on conditions on a par with those of developed countries. The radical departure from agreed UN principles by the rich countries has dimmed hopes of a compromise…
    Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, only developed countries have legal commitments to provide funds to poor countries to help them reduce emissions and adapt to climate change…
    Developing country negotiator: “This is just preposterous. So, after two decades of not delivering on their financial commitments, today we are told there is a chance the developed world may not be in a position to provide funds and developing countries should contribute.”
    This was being done to stall the talks in the first week so that the Umbrella group can say this needed political resolution and then push the ministers from the developing world to agree to their ideas in the second week, said the negotiator. “They know if they put such proposals that completely militate against the convention, we will bracket the text (signifying that some countries don’t agree to the proposal) and the climate finance text in the Paris agreement will only balloon and become irreconcilable,” he added…READ ALL
    http://wap.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/us-new-proposal-on-finance-turns-un-climate-convention-on-its-head-115120200952_1.html

    2 Dec: ClimateChangeNews: Ed King: COP21: Slow progress ‘frustrating’ says UN climate official
    “What we’re finding frustrating is we are not making anywhere near the progress we need to at this point,” said Dan Reifsnyder, one of the two men chairing negotiations.
    Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister presiding over the talks, agreed in a midday press conference. “My view is we need to speed matters up, we have much work to do,” he said…
    The head of the 134-strong G77 and China group tweeted her anger today at a longstanding US proposal to ensure all “parties in a position to do so” contribute to a climate finance package…
    The US remains engaged in talks on how best to help countries already being hit by climate impacts, Stern added, but emphasised the country was “not at all supportive of the notion of liability and compensation” in a Paris agreeement…
    Frustrations boiled over late on Wednesday when a proposal by St Lucia to include a new piece of text into the agreement relating to the 1.5C warming target met a fierce response from a number of countries.
    The issue was “beyond sensitive,” said the Saudi negotiator. The importance of 1.5C to island countries “isn’t news to anyone,” replied MJ Mace, a lawyer representing St Lucia at the talks.
    A tired-looking Reifsnyder – chairing the discussion – said all countries needed to go away and “remove brackets, reduce options, come together”…
    One negotiator, speaking off the record, said he expected Fabius to read the riot act when he meets envoys on Wednesday night.
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2015/12/02/slow-progress-frustrating-says-un-climate-official/

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      Graeme No.3

      So the countries panicking about “global warming” can’t afford to bankroll the rest. Might have something to do with spending all their money on useless projects that do nothing except send their productive businesses to those countries wise enough to have ignored the hysteria.

      The phrase “He who robs Peter to pay Paul, will have the support of Paul” presupposes that Peter has money. When it turns out he has none then Paul gets very angry with the robber.

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  • #
    pat

    BBC divide & conquer. Matt McGrath claims a scoop.
    unnamed “other nations” welcome the news!

    3 Dec: BBC: Matt McGrath: COP21: India signals willingness to cut coal for climate cash
    A senior Indian negotiator says his country will cut back its use of coal, if sufficient cash for renewables emerges from a Paris deal.
    Dr Ajay Mathur said coal would be restricted if there was help to pay for “more expensive” green energy…
    Other nations welcomed the statement, saying that it enhanced the chances of a new agreement…
    In recent days, the Indian Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar told BBC News that his country had every right to continue using as much coal as it needed…
    But on Wednesday, Dr Mathur, a senior negotiator in the Indian delegation, adopted a much more conciliatory line.
    He argues that the cost of solar, which has declined by 75% in 4 years, is still double the cost of coal…
    If cash was provided to make the capital investments in renewables cheaper, India would use more sun and wind, and less coal.
    “We look forward to an agreement that enables financial support from the countries that have developed on the backs of cheap energy, to those who have to meet their energy with more expensive but low carbon energy,” Dr Mathur said.
    When asked if the amount of coal that India consumed would reduce if more money was available from a Paris deal, he replied: “Absolutely…
    US lead negotiator Todd Stern said the Indian statement was encouraging.
    “We support the notion of India greatly increasing [renewables]…
    Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc
    http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34989719

    25 July: Indian Express: It’s like a homecoming for me: New TERI chief Ajay Mathur
    Ajay Mathur, the newly designated director general of TERI, is not as visible as R K Pachauri but no less illustrious. The current head of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, a government body under the Ministry of Power, is a technocrat who has been active on the climate change circuit for several years now…
    Incidentally, he had started his career at TERI in 1986 and was last associated with it in 1999. “It is like a homecoming for me. I admire and like the organisation and I am looking forward to my new role there,” he said…
    The appointment of Mathur, who has done a stint at the climate programme of World Bank and headed the Bonn-based Green Climate Fund, has been welcomed by TERI employees…
    http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/its-like-a-homecoming-for-me-new-teri-chief-ajay-mathur/

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    pat

    3 Dec: SMH: Tom Arup/Peter Hannam: Paris UN Climate Conference 2015: 5 things we learnt on day 3
    Environment Minister Greg Hunt created a minor diplomatic incident when he appeared to suggest that the French government had its own version of the text for a new climate deal
    If true, that would be highly controversial. Negotiators are currently trying to prune back the text of a deal that has been worked on for months. If the French tried to impose an entirely new one developing countries would likely be up in arms.
    Having made the suggestion at a press conference, Hunt later called journalists to clarify that he was referring not to a separate, new text. A senior member of the Australian delegation visited the media room to further emphasise the point.
    The French delegation insisted that it did not have a different version of the agreement in its back pocket. There is apparently no plan B…
    http://www.smh.com.au/environment/un-climate-conference/paris-un-climate-conference-2015-five-things-we-learnt-on-day-3-in-paris-20151202-gle039.html

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    pat

    TonyfromOz – over to you:

    3 Dec: ABC AM: Naomi Woodley: Electricity system will need up to $1 trillion of investment by 2050, Energy Networks Association report finds
    The CSIRO has modelled four different scenarios for Australia’s energy market: one where consumers “set and forget” their energy use, the rise of the “prosumer” who is actively involved in sourcing their energy, another where people leave the grid altogether, and finally a market of 100 per cent renewables…
    But the ENA said that does not mean consumers will face higher electricity bills…
    The report also found the cost of solar energy and battery storage is falling faster than anticipated just two years ago.
    “We knew that the costs of storage and solar was going to come down, but what we found when we look back at it now, in 2015, solar panels and storage are both 20 per cent lower than we thought they’d be,” CSIRO chief economist for energy Paul Graham said.
    “The costs of these technologies are changing so quickly, so we predict within the next 10 years storage costs could fall by two-thirds, and solar costs continue to fall by another third again,” Mr Bradley said.
    The report has warned that increased use of solar energy will come with risks for some consumers.
    The CSIRO has forecasted that by 2050, there will be around $1,000 difference between the power bills of those who have rooftop solar panels, and those who do not.
    “This is a really tricky problem because on the one hand you might say what we’ve got to do is get more people on solar and then everyone can benefit from it, but obviously that’s difficult for people who don’t own their own homes, they might live in apartments or otherwise can’t access that technology,” Mr Graham said.
    The ENA said that was why changes were needed to electricity regulation and pricing in the next 5 to 10 years.
    “Demand-based tariffs which reward customers for shifting their consumption off peak, but out into the long term there’s also the opportunity to provide new services that reward customers for helping to reduce demand in particular parts of the network,” Mr Bradley said…
    The industry has also argued that there will always be a need for a centralised electricity grid, even if more Australians choose to generate and store their own energy.
    “The best value they’ll get out of their solar is usually by selling excess energy back into the market,” Mr Bradley said.
    “For those reasons you need to have a grid in the middle which is enabling all the customer choices in that future energy system.”
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-03/electricity-networks-need-up-to-$1-trillion-of-investment-ena/6996200

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    pat

    and if you believe this?

    2 Dec: ABC: Peter Lewis: Could we see an election fought over climate change again?
    (Peter Lewis is a director of Essential Media Communications (EMC), a public affairs and research company specialising in campaigning for progressive social and political organisations)
    Polling shows the public was never that against climate action, but that they were just let down by successive leaders. Now there is cause to believe that’s all changing writes Peter Lewis…
    Q. Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time? …
    Meanwhile, a majority of us say we do not think Australia is doing enough to address climate change, while just a quarter are satisfied with Australia’s progress…
    Flowing form this is majority support – even among Coalition voters – for increasing Australia’s current target to reduce its carbon emissions by 5 per cent on our 2000 levels by 2020, by somewhere between 10 per cent and 30 per cent…
    These findings give rise to a few thoughts.
    First, they highlight what a skilled politician Abbott was in mobilizing opposition to action that the majority of people supported…
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-02/lewis-have-climate-politics-changed/6993050

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    pat

    Dec 7 Issue: New Yorker: James Surowiecki: Money to Burn
    But if there really is a war the U.S. government doesn’t seem to know what side it’s on.
    Consider, for instance, the Powder River Basin—an immense area of northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana, which contains the richest coal deposits in the U.S. In the past few decades, Powder River has become our most important coal-producing region. More than forty per cent of the coal we burn is mined there—nearly five hundred million tons every year.
    Unlike the Appalachian coal fields back East, almost the entire basin belongs to the government, which leases the coal rights to mining companies. You might think that regulators would manage this land with an eye toward the coal’s impact on the environment in the U.S., or at least would insure that the government was getting a fair price for its assets. But you’d be wrong…
    And while the law stipulates that all mining leases are subject to competitive bidding, the Center for American Progress found that, since 1990, nearly ninety per cent of federal coal leases have had just one bidder. That’s held down the price of leases, in effect handing the coal industry a giant subsidy. A study released in September by a coalition of research groups found that production subsidies in the basin amount to nearly three billion dollars a year…
    Besides costing the taxpayer billions, these subsidies have had a dismal impact on the environment: by artificially holding down the price of coal, they’ve encouraged utilities to use more of it than they otherwise would, slowing the transition to natural gas and renewables…
    What this means is that we’ve ended up with a coal policy that’s totally incoherent. The Clean Power Plan aims at getting U.S. power plants to use less coal, but we’re still subsidizing coal companies to produce more of it…
    http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/12/07/money-to-burn-the-financial-page-james-surowiecki?utm_content=buffer75083&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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    John Watt

    So Russia managed to change Obama’s mind re terrorists in Syria…one of the planet’s big problems. Maybe Phillippe (and Miranda) can help Russia open minds re climate which has been quoted by reputable sources as the planet’s other big problem.

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      el gordo

      Had a glance at Pravda and there is nothing on climate change, so we’ll have to assume the Ruskies don’t regard global warming as a problem.

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        ROM

        The following about sums up the Russians predictions for the future of the global climate.

        GRAND MINIMUM OF THE TOTAL SOLAR IRRADIANCE LEADS TO THE LITTLE ICE AGE

        by Habibullo Abdussamatov [ highly ranked Russian solar physicist from St Petersburg ]

        Layman’s version; The Hockey Schtick; New paper predicts another Little Ice Age within the next 30 years

        ———————–
        Regional impacts of the changes in localised climate are of course are a great deal harder to get a grasp on than even that of the Global climate.

        And they haven’t yet got any real time verified and observed indications of just what the future of the Global Climate trends will be let alone Regional Climate trends, the real time localised climates each of us wherever we are on the planet, actually live in as distinct from the supposed trends of the macro Global Climate.

        Climate science today consists of a great deal of huffing and puffing by highly inflated egos and and a mind boggling immensity of the public’s hard earned all being entirely directed in its entirety towards just one single and extremely narrow and specific line of research into the supposed and claimed factor [ singular ] affecting the future of the Global climate.

        The immensity of other aspects of the global and regional climates [ regional and localised climates of course actually being of far more importance to the local and regional populace than the trends of the macro Global climate ] are to all intents and purposes being mostly ignored and drastically starved of funding.

        Of course, to generously fund the possible and increasingly probable alternatives to the CO2 created global warming catastrophe ideology and cult might just finish up as it is now doing, in driving great holes through the pseudo scientific claims of the massively financed global catastrophe climate change cultists ideological narrow single minded in flexible and totally rigid stance on the future direction of the Global climate

        If ever somebody could have suggested a re- design of the Scientific system that was designed to be so open and so subject to manipulation and so subject to a complete corruption of the previous century’s old scientific system that has served our age so well for some two or more centuries now, I seriously doubt that most real time scientists would have been believed that it could have been done, given the scientific culture that was in place for those last two centuries.

        Climate science has indelibly proven that such corruption and outright faking of data and research and welcoming of incompetent carpet bagging scientists with extremely dubious backgrounds and incompetent bigoted, biased pseudo research into climate science and the rewarding of outright faking of data and science that can be and is being carried out now right across climate science and now, sadly , that same corruption of the scientific culture of the past is increasingly penetrating into other formerly quite respected and cleanskin branches of science.

        Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

        Martin Luther King, Jr.

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          Peter C

          Dr Habibullo Abdussamatov

          has joined the super skeptics known (humorously) as the Slayers (of the Sky Dragon- after their book)
          http://www.principia-scientific.org/dr-habibullo-abdussamatov-joins-principia-scientific-international.html

          The Slayers have got some things wrong (unfortunatley), which has blunted their message. However they are firmly of the view that CO2 does not affect the global temperature.

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          Peter C

          Climate science has indelibly proven that such corruption and outright faking of data and research and welcoming of incompetent carpet bagging scientists with extremely dubious backgrounds and incompetent bigoted, biased pseudo research into climate science and the rewarding of outright faking of data and science that can be and is being carried out now right across climate science and now, sadly , that same corruption of the scientific culture of the past is increasingly penetrating into other formerly quite respected and cleanskin branches of science.

          The following Science Associations have tried to prevent congressman Lamar Smith from investigating data adjustments of the temperate record compiled by NASA;
          American Association for the Advancement of Science
          American Chemical Society
          American Geophysical Union
          American Meteorological Society
          American Statistical Association
          Ecological Society of America
          Geological Society of America
          Society for Conservation Biology

          Now why would they do that?
          Especially the Society for Conservation Biology! Of all the science groups they have the least direct involvement or knowledge (in my view).

          The whole of science seem to be in crisis! Where are the seekers after the truth? Why do they not want to root out the bad amongst their midst?

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    Sunray

    Thank you Jo, I have to say that this blog is better than excellent, thanks to both yourself and the pursuit of excellence by most of the commenters herein.

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    AndyG55

    UAH November Global is in. a slight drop to +0.33Cº anomaly.

    On a year to end November basis.. anomaly Cº in order from least cold.

    1998 — 0.505
    2010 — 0.366
    2015 — 0.253

    By my calculations that means that December needs an anomaly of +2.772Cº for 2015 to be the “hottest heffer”

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      AndyG55

      by the way..

      my calculations on the required December anomaly are incorrect.

      I’m sure someone else will correct them soon . 🙂

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        AndyG55

        pps.. I know the correct answer. 😉

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        AndyG55

        Waiting !. 🙂

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          Graeme No.3

          3.28 roughly – monthly not corrected for number of days.
          So what, the idea of anomalies is merely lipstick on a pig. An average of Min. & Max. daily temperatures doesn’t measure heat content or trends, it is just a holdover from the past when that was the only figures recorded. Since these same figures have been ‘homogenised’ any conclusions are just wind with the only choice being which orifice.

          And what is it related to? It is all apparently based on “things aren’t what they used to be in the old days” type approach i.e. things were really, really great when the Climatologists were about 18 years old and ‘climate’ was just perfect. So any deviation from that time ‘must’ be bad news. I mean, it is really dangerous to have a minor bit more warmth and more plant food which enables twice as many people to live better than then. As the climate continues to cool slightly the consequences are likely to be so adverse that many will be wishing for some minor warming.

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    pat

    Sydney deserves Clover Moore:

    3 Dec: Herald Sun: AAP: Sydney shows way on climate change: mayor
    Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore is calling for federal and state governments to work with Australian cities to battle climate change.
    With around 80 per cent of carbon emissions produced in cities, Ms Moore believes Sydney plays a critical role in tackling global warming and wasn’t willing to wait for the federal government to get on board.
    She’s in Paris for events on the sidelines of major United Nations climate talks, and is spruiking her city’s achievements to reduce emissions and build climate resilience…
    The mayor says Sydney has already achieved 23 per cent emissions reductions on its way to the 70 per cent goal by 2030.
    The city has slashed emissions by implementing LED lights, and extensive bike-lane network and solar energy program…
    Ms Moore “desperately” wants to see a strong agreement to curb emissions and limit global warming to at least two degrees in Paris.
    “That’s what we urgently want and need,” she said
    http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/sydney-shows-way-on-climate-change-mayor/news-story/41d40154d0ea03af9081ac448bf6b9b1

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    pat

    the Turnbull dynasty takes hold:

    3 Dec: SMH: Jacob Saulwick: Lucy Turnbull to run Greater Sydney Commission
    Lucy Turnbull will head the new organisation charged with overseeing planning and development across Sydney.
    Ms Turnbull, a former Lord Mayor of Sydney, had been favoured to be selected to chair the Greater Sydney Commission, a new body with significant powers to steer the future direction of the city…
    “The Greater Sydney Commission has the great potential to be a transformational way of having a collaborative working model for state and local government which has often not been the case in metropolitan Sydney,” she said.
    The Greater Sydney Commission will have the power to create plans for development and public space across the city…
    There will also be independent environment, economic and social commissions, as well as six district commissioners, nominated by councils but appointed by the minister.
    The heads of three government departments – Planning and Environmental, Transport for NSW, and NSW Treasury – will sit on the commission…
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/lucy-turnbull-to-run-greater-sydney-commission-20151203-gleai8.html

    12 Nov: Clayton Utz: Strategic Planning for NSW: the Greater Sydney Commission and a new Part 3B
    By Brendan Bateman and Alison Packham
    The Greater Sydney Commission Bill 2015 does more than establish the Greater Sydney Commission; a new Part 3B in the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act would introduce strategic planning into NSW’s planning law.
    The Greater Sydney Commission Bill 2015 passed the lower house of Parliament on 28 October 2015, signalling a commitment to strategic, interdisciplinary and collaborative planning, which has been on the agenda since the planning law review process of 2011-2013…
    Part 3B will create a hierarchy of plans, where these regional and district plans will guide the development of local environmental plans (LEPs). Part 3B will require LEPs be prepared “to give effect to” regional and district plans; on the making of a district plan, each relevant council must review its LEP, prepare a planning proposal necessary to give effect to the district plan, and report to the GSC on its review and proposed amendments to its LEP…
    ***Following a whole of government approach, the GSC will be charged with co-ordinating the different levels of government involved in infrastructure and land use decisions, guided by the principles of ecological sustainable development…
    2. Encourage development that is resilient and takes into account natural hazards
    The GSC will assist Sydney councils to develop resilience plans to address the risks posed by climate change. Many Sydney councils have already begun this process.
    3. Promote orderly development in the Greater Sydney Region having regard to the economic, social and environmental principles of ecologically sustainable development…
    https://www.claytonutz.com/publications/edition/12_november_2015/20151112/strategic_planning_for_nsw_the_greater_sydney_commission_and_a_new_part_3b.page

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    Turtle of WA

    ‘Upside down, upside down. Everything’s upside down these days.’

    Blackboard, from the children’s show Mr Squiggle

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    Andrew McRae

    Jo, add another video link if you want, as Mssr Verdier has also done an interview speaking in English.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZSKvgfnyHI

    He’s not an AGW skeptic, and says human presence has a link to climate change and that climate change “is important and we have to deal with it”, but does not clarify if “dealing” means adaptation or mitigation.
    Probably more detail in his book, but that is in French and… umm.. je n’est comprehende pas francais.

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    Anton

    That Putin is playing a double game is proved by his hiring Verdier even while changing his tone and saying that “Climate change has become one of the gravest challenges humanity is facing”:

    http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/climate/2015-paris-climate-talks/vladimir-putin-climate-change-pledges-russia

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    ScotsmaninUtah

    spineless and double standards the French ….

    When Phillippe Verdier was fired from his job for expressing an opposite opinion to his company…. we should have seen outrage from the news media and condemnation from political leaders.

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    wert

    Now, Verdier is working for Russia Today.

    You can kill me now. I’ve seen enough. Before Putin takes a full Adolf approach.

    (RT is a medium very famous of containing absolutely NO facts but only propaganda. That means Verdier is considered to be just propaganda. Sad for him. And you trolls who lurk to attack: just отвали. I’m not interested.)

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    Scott M

    The RT site also has more accurate and timely information on oil from ISIS to Turkey, and even the California shooting.
    There are many questions about the oil that the US should answer and now by supporting this weather person Russia is really upsetting Obama. My own belief is that whem Russia gave assylum to Snowdon it embarressed Obama and he hates Putin eversince, constantly vilifying him in the press. This character Ergodan is really evil, makes Putin look like nun, why is the US helping him to help ISIS?

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      wert

      The RT site also has more accurate and timely information

      No, RT site has no information. It is just and only an institution for propaganda. Really. Don’t trust it on anything. Verdier might really have something important to say, but anything from RT is to be distrusted. It’s like the NPR, but on the black side and far, far worse.

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    Roy Hogue

    He’s probably got a better deal. At least he’s working for someone who wants him. And that’s a real good start.

    RT can be trusted only if the same thing is said by a more trustworthy source. RT works for mother Russia and is controlled by mother Russia for the sake of mother Russia.

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