And so it flows. Climate causes bored dogs, but warmer winters cause, er, heated cats. The randy felines make more kittens, which means more strays, more ferals, and less marsupial mice.
Track the logic. We took long showers which made more CO2, the Earth warmed and so more cats have kittens out of season. The answer then is to take cold showers to change the weather and save the Black-tailed Antechinus. Then again, we could give the cats the cold showers instead…
When Kristina Vesk started working at the Cat Protection Society of NSW in 2006, she rarely saw kittens in winter. Now warmer weather means cats are breeding all year round, increasing the numbers of unwanted kittens and the threat to native wildlife from strays and feral cats.
Hold that thought — there is another theory. Conflict coming:
Vanessa Barrs, a Professor of Feline Medicine at the University of Sydney, said … breeding can be influenced by photoperiod, the number of available daylight hours, and “cats artificially exposed to 12 hours of light indoors … can be induced to breed all year round”, she said.
So that would be all the CFL and LED blue light bulbs that light up our homes, cause insomnia, are keeping Spots up too?
What has changed more since 2006 — the temperatures in NSW or the type of light globes we are allowed to put in our homes?
What to Do? We can blame coal miners and set up a global carbon market, or blame the Greens/ Malcolm Turnbull and bring back incandescents. Let’s think…
h/t to Tim Blair
And maybe this wonderful economy causes people to not want more cats ? Naaah … surely not !
40
Assume spots = kitty or fluffy, cos spot is typically a dogs name…..thats all I can say on the matter…..I am thinking many scientists have thrown the theory of evolution out the window, because ANY change in ANY species niw seems to be humanities fault and the chsnges Suppressed! WTF?
20
And think of the POOR fish too…
http://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science-tech/lost-sea-%E2%80%93-fish-getting-drunk-rising-carbon-dioxide-emissions
10
And that rabbit hole turns into a bottomless pit.
60
There are two feral feline stories doing the rounds in the UK news today , one is about a leopard attacking people at an Indian school , the other is about a crazed feline that lost a primary in the states to Bernie Sanders , i know which one i sympathize with 😉
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Crazed, certainly, but I wouldn’t call her a feline. More like a Harpy.
90
I recall Jo promoting F.Lux for Windows a couple of months ago as a way of reducing insomnia from staring at pale white computer screens. That is a Windows-only program. As I use Linux as my main PC operating system I had to find a free equivalent.
Last week I found Redshift is available for Debian-based builds of Linux such as Mint and Ubuntu. In my distro it was actually in the package manager, just click and install. However it tries to use geo-location to figure out the sun angle, which I guess it technically needs because the sun angle depends on your latitude and day of the year, not just local time of day. I found this unnecessary and it can be replaced with a given lat/long on the command line. I also found it would not start up automatically at login unless I gave it hardcoded co-ordinates. But it runs okay now.
It doesn’t seem to do any harm, just a bit weird to see the whole screen tinted slightly orange-ish at night. Too early to tell if it has worked in reducing insomnia, which probably has many contributing factors.
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I have no particular expertise in this area other than owning a newted male farm cat. My cat sleeps most of the day, only waking up for a snack of biscuits a few times. He forages a bit at night culling the odd mouse.
My expectation would be that you would get an “explosion” in cat numbers if they are well fed and otherwise a bit “bored”.
Basically they are a hunting creature that domestically is discouraged from hunting. Eat, sleep, preen, ablutions. What else is a cat to do.
70
The cost of sterilization of cats could be another factor along with what Kevin Marshall says below about changing “other factors”.
30
Oops, newted should be neutered in 4.1
40
Well, if the cat was named Ted it would be.
50
There’s a Linux version of F.lux available now. Also versions for Mac and OS-X.
40
Oh! and for iPhone/iPad. Apparently not yet for Android, unfortunately.
30
The Android app is called Twilight
30
.
Andrew McRae @ #4
After Jo’s post on the blue spectrum effects of LEDS and after going back and re-reading the The Chiefio’s blog post on the same subject of a year or so ago, I changed the LED globe in my
officeumm! make that a “scruffy hangout” my wife despairs of and complete with an old Mac, to a Halogen globe.Less illumination but I’m darn sure I am sleeping better and longer and more restfully with far less laying awake for long periods during the night plus getting to bed earlier instead of feeling wide awake near midnight when all good ol boys of near 78 should be dead tired and in bed.
And feeling better in the mornings as one wearily falls out of bed and staggers forth into the trials and tribulations of a new day.
———————–
I appreciate Jo’s post on the feline propagation prospects with the catastrophic predicted and increasing anthropogenic warming which, no doubt, will be viewed with great sorrow by Mr Fiddles who has had the unfortunate outcome of having his feline breeding hopes and the conquests of feline females and sundry competitive males terminated at a very early date in his career as a cat.
However I think he sometimes gets considerable enjoyment by trying to beat the daylights out of Monty the Cockatiel if he could ever nail him with a [ very ] leisurely swipe of the paw, who is in love with Mr Fiddles and follows him around the house for hours on end, sometimes practicing the Cockatiel version of Caruso doing his best at wooing the opposite sex, a small mistake which Monty as an oversexed and not the brightest Cockatiel on the planet hasn’t figured out yet even after seven years.
10
Morocco moving away from oil
apologies for the off topic post…
Morocco has switched on what will be the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant
According to the World Bank, Imported fossil fuels currently provide for 97% of Morocco’s energy need. As a result the country is keen to diversify and start using renewable energy.
This “goal” was one of the reasons that Morocco was chosen to host the next United Nations climate change conference (COP 22) in November 2016
This plant can provide 3 hours of electricity at night.
Here is the link – as is typical with CNN there is no real detail
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/08/africa/ouarzazate-morocco-solar-plant/index.html
40
I thought they were going back to Marrakesh because there have probably been some nice changes in hotels since the last time the green bob was there in 2001, spending other peoples money.
80
Winston Churchill used to spend some of the winter months there; a nice warm exotic spot for a conference on climate change, even some snow on the Atlas Mts.
30
Skiing in Morocco.
30
Interesting tidbit from your article. Apparently, the Noor power plant is planned in four stages, and the operating one is the first stage (Noor 1). Obviously, the need to clean the mirrors. Wikipedia (I know) says,
for us ‘mericuns, that’s almost 450 million gallons per year. And four more stages are planned!!
It always amazes me how little regard the enviroloons have for other precious natural resources (water in the desert!!) in pursuit of their “clean energy” fantasies.
130
Some better technical information here
http://www.power-technology.com/projects/noor-ouarzazate-solar-complex/
Stage 1 is only 160MW of the 560MW design so the emphasis should be on “what will be the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant” and this alone makes the linked article headline patently false. Plus the final 80MW of this (phase 4) plant will be PV
There’s no mention of the external heating needed to get the system up to temperature in the morning (since the salt cools down as its heat is used overnight) which is usually added to the solar output figures for these plants. In Spain, the figure is about 15% of the plant output is required as gas heating in the mornings
http://euanmearns.com/a-review-of-concentrated-solar-power-csp-in-spain/
The media talks about the Noor project being 2GW in size but that is only if the other 3 plants for the project get financed (total cost is 9 BILLION US$) and the financing hinges on how successful Noor 1 is. I predict all sorts of hype and twisted mathematics will be used to justify/obscure the actual, disappointing generation in an attempt to secure this finance.
http://cleantechnica.com/2016/02/06/160-mw-of-2-gw-noor-solar-thermal-project-in-morocco-now-connected-to-grid/
60
I think the comment about the water use is valid, its either coming from some barrage in the Atlas, or underground perhaps. I have driven from Marrakesh to Quarzazate over the Atlas years ago but can’t remember seeing any rivers at all.
The other point is although it on the northern edge of the Sahara, at night it is very cold, a degree or two above freezing (think Alice Springs) and it will need some heating to warm-up the salt.
50
Phil,
I agree with you , and for concentrating solar power (CSP) systems the problem of the costs of maintenance has largely been ignored. I cannot imagine (actually I can) what is required to keep the mirrors in perfect working order.
In addition CSP systems have been under fire with problems of measured capacity, some being downgraded by as much as 40-60%.
Three CSPs in California and Arizona were closed down because they were too expensive to operate.
20
New Slogan: Climate Change, don’t be a pussy!
110
Cold showers never did much to quill my randiness.
20
There are two problems with this catty hypothesis. First is that the data is only vague impressions of one example. Second is that the hypothesis about the empirical result does not control for other factors. Their might be other explanations for more kittens being handed in during the winter other than there are more kittens being born. It could be a change in social attitudes, so they are handed in rather than being drowned. Or the RSPCA NSW may have introduced a no-questions policy for accepting unwanted kittens, or publicized this service.
90
So it’s a Global Catastrophe? Only Kitten.
80
What about the paws? Trying to amewse. Attracted to cats is catastrophic.
131
Looking at rural stations in rural NSW, I noticed how there are very few stations that are still open and have a long history. Parkes closed recently but it does show a problem I’ve pointed out often – the max temps show a jump up around 2000.
while min show UHI.
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“What has changed more since 2006 — the temperatures in NSW or the type of light globes we are allowed to put in our homes?”
If “the temperatures in NSW” have changed, it’s not because of carbon (sic) pollution:
The 2015 NSW Annual Air Quality Statement reviewed air quality across the state, and found that most of NSW experienced good air quality by international standards.
The results are similar to those of 2014.
61
Well, what can I say? This is getting boring. I long ago gave up any pretense at arguing the science since it wasn’t about the science in the first place. So I’m left with this question,
Aren’t there some streets somewhere they could spend their days sweeping? Isn’t there enough trash all over the landscape to keep them busy and useful?
Or as an alternative, can we sic Mark Steyn on them. Maybe that will shut them up.
Finger pointers… …you’ve just love their inventiveness? Cats now. Soon enough something else. I guess there’s nothing the human race has ever done that isn’t evil. I don’t know whether or not society is collapsing but sanity sure is — mine. 🙁
100
Yes I agree. Perhaps they can be provided with a micro fibre cloth and some Windex to clean the ever increasing area of solar surfaces. A gold coin to clean a 1.5kv solar array, homeowner to provide a ladder. OH&S considerations to be put aside as this is for the greater good.
80
1.5kW not kv, I hate these tiny Android keyboards!
20
The Law of unintended consequences Roy. If we go down that path then bins will not be emptied properly and unhygienic public phones will be the death of us all,
30
Thinking, thinking, thinking…arr to hell with it, I’m off to take a cold shower; to cool my overheated brain.
30
It’s official: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-11/csiro-boss-larry-marshall-defends-controversial-shake-up/7157650
80
Yeah laughed pretty hard when I saw that this morning. Somewhere in the universe the god of irony laughed him (or herself) to death I reckon.
80
Is this the climate science rapture? The collective apoplexy from climate scientists globally… quite a thing to see. So very far off the reservation…
30
Reservations? . . . this should cheer them up.
CSIRO embracing the ‘yarts’ as they sail to Antartica:
Our tax dollars at work.
It really IS worse than we thought.
30
green = no hierarchy in fears or priorities
30
correction honest green = no hierarchy in fears or priorities, the dishonest ones know but ignore it to promote their ideology.
30
Larry Marshall is one of us, AGW is a religion.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-11/csiro-boss-larry-marshall-defends-controversial-shake-up/7157650
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Andy Pittman “if we don’t maintain the modeling capability we will be investing taxpayers money in mitigation, blind”.
Oh you mean like desalination plants??
Today has been a great day, I think my wife is already getting sick of the grin I have had since 6am and my cheeks are starting to hurt.
If you really want a laugh, go to the ABC News Facebook and check out the comments on this story, heart warming is the only description I can give.
70
I wandered through the facebook comments and I’m not confident the wit of Mark Steyn and Barnaby Joyce can change their minds.
They are quite ferocious.
10
Yes it’s a religion but it’s also a cult, which is much worse. I never thought I’d see the day when supposedly grown men or women of science would fall for a religious cult of runaway global warming. Given they ignore the evidence rejecting such a belief, much like a cult does, I don’t think it would be incorrect to say those so called scientists are delusional at best, much like the members of the flat earth society.
40
CSIRO chief Larry Marshall has apologised for describing the emotion of the climate debate as almost “more religion than science”
Splitter . . . 😉
20
Went to water straight off, he may lack a backbone.
20
from the Larry Marshall piece:
“I’ve been told by some extreme elements that they’ve put me at the top of the climate deniers list and what perplexes me is how saying that we’re going to shift more resources to mitigation – i.e. doing something to address climate change versus just measuring and modelling it – I don’t see how that makes me a climate denier.”
meanwhile:
10 Feb: USA Today: Matt Krantz: Elon Musk just lost $3.5B on a double whammy
Musk’s holdings in solar panel installer SolarCity (SCTY) and electric car maker Tesla (TSLA) are down a staggering $3.5 billion – just this year. Musk is the largest single owner of both companies – which together have handed all investors total market value losses of $15.7 billion this year…
Both Musk’s companies have been falling out of favor with investors this year as the market punishes companies that are thin on profit but high on valuation. Falling oil prices have also taken out the urgency and enthusiasm over alternative energy plays.
Musk is now down $682 million in his shares of SolarCity on the year. The stock plunged 29% Wednesday to $18.63 after the company that installs and leases solar panels told investors late Tuesday it will likely lose up to $2.65 a share in the current quarter. That’s deeper than the $2.49 a share loss investors were expecting, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence…
Musk’s massive $4.2 billion stake in the electric car maker makes his $404 million position in SolarCity look minor. Shares of Tesla are down 40% this year – serving up a nearly $12 billion loss to investors – of which Musk has personally eaten $2.8 billion…
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2016/02/10/elon-musk-just-lost-33b-double-whammy/80086284/#
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So Pat, are you telling me that the 15 year warranty on my Soopa Doopa Tesla Powerwall won’t be worth a cracker when the thing conks out in 4 years time and Tesla is already broke?
Wish you had told us this before I mortgaged the baby and sold off the kids for medical experiments to buy the damned thing.
I just hope kitten sales from my nymphomaniac cat are enough to offset my losses. I’ll be leaving the lights on all night from now on to give Tiddles the hint.
90
Well maybe if the surfeit of cats eat the canary in the coal mine, then maybe global warming might go away. Or something.
Honestly, it gets difficult to believe that even the global warmers would read the stuff they’re inventing these days.
90
also note ABC’s url includes CONTROVERSIAL shake-up, but CONTROVERSIAL has now been edited out of the headline:
CSIRO boss defends shake-up, says politics of climate ‘more like religion than science’
ABC decides what is and isn’t “controversial”…and can’t find anyone to defend the decision! cut their funding.
60
Andy Pittman just stammered out a weak defense. Then thanked Tony for the opportunity, I thought it would have gone without saying.
20
Here is Larry defending his actions.
‘It’s time to take action; our nation needs us to do something about environmental change. In fact, the National Science and Research Priorities say specifically, one of our key strategic goals is to respond to environmental change, not just climate change, but all impacts on the environment, and not just measurement and modelling, but response, ie mitigation – take action. That’s the major shift that we’re doing. I think we can do it, and I think we’ll be a stronger organisation as a result.’
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/maybe-im-naive-csiros-larry-marshall-tries-again-to-explain-deep-staff-cuts-20160210-gmr03b.html#ixzz3zowWbloF
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook
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Carbon tax hit small: CSIRO
. . .
What else is there to discover?
Job done. Science settled.
Unless they can discover other things to tax in order to save the planet:
NYT: “A new scientific study has confirmed a swiftly changing view of what causes the greenhouse effect -heightening both the urgency of the problem
and the difficulty of controlling it.
The study finds that the leading role in the earth’s warming belongs not to carbon dioxide, as long believed, but to an assortment of rare, mostly artificial gases, many never seen in the atmosphere before the 1960’s.”
30
Handjive
1985 NYT article doesn’t mention what the other 30 trace gasses are. A non runner I think.
10
I’m guessing they’re taking CFCs being 1985 but they don’t say.
10
Rock:
There is a variant going around claiming that CFC’s destroy the ozone layer letting the UV rays further into the atmosphere where they generate heat.
The essential point is that Man is still to blame and continued funding should be available as it will take a 1,000 years to solve the problem.
30
So presumably if longer day light hours makes cats more randy, surely then the artic areas with 6 months of day light , must be overrun by kittens?
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Disguised as polar bears?
20
9 Feb: NoTricksZone: P. Gosselin: German Authorities Open Investigation Into Wind Energy Corruption …”In Part A Criminal Business”…Only A Few Profit
Yesterday I wrote about how wind park planners and the city councilmen who recklessly approve them may be held personally liable for damage to health that they cause, primarily through infrasound. With locals wind parks, too often crony deals are involved and legitimate opposition gets brushed aside or squashed. The result is often a select few end up lining their pockets while the rest are left to suffer.
A few days ago the German language NWZ mobil here reported on a heated wind park controversy that is boiling over in northwest Germany, writing that “state attorneys are now opening investigations on the profiteers of big money wind energy and how planned wind parks are dividing communities“…READ ON
http://notrickszone.com/2016/02/09/german-authorities-open-investigation-into-wind-energy-corruption-in-part-a-criminal-business-only-a-few-profit/#sthash.ZQjPztHe.dpbs
40
“warmer winters cause, er, heated cats”. Er… Southern New Zealand has a summer like Australian winter. By this rationale Southern New Zealand cats wouldn’t be able to reproduce for more than a couple of months a year, and some years not at all. I remember the summer of 1996 when I was finishing my PhD and there was only one day in the whole summer where I lived where one didn’t need a jacket/cardigan/jersey to stay warm enough at peak heat of the day. That was a cold year in the south. No reports of a lack of reproduction there. Daft!
50
10 Feb: ClimateChangeNews: Alex Pashley: China breezes past EU to become wind power leader
China installed half of all new wind capacity worldwide last year, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).
The country added an “astonishing” 30.5 gigawatts to boost installations to 145.1GW, the Brussels-based industry group said on Wednesday.
It overtook the EU total for the first time, which added a record 6GW to increase its capacity to 141.6GW…
***Last month the head of the European wind lobby said its turbine makers were choosing fast-growing markets in the developing world over EU member states, whose policies to invest in the technology were uncertain…
Total global capacity reached 432.4 GW, a 17% increase on the previous year.
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/02/10/china-breezes-past-eu-to-become-wind-power-leader/
10
What a pathetic propaganda exercise: Quick, the EU is being left behind.
10
Slightly off topic. The moderator at Andrew Bolt seems to be a bit fussy lately so I’ll post this here.
This is a laugh (I might have a strange sense of humour but I loved the voice over) from a year ago.
There have been ads on recently about Australia’s future being in innovation. This clip pretty much shows why its not going to happen. We’re too obsessed with things like investigative journalism that is barely more than sneering at Tony Abbott. You can’t be that superficial and be innovative. Criticism is the most important part to get right and while there might be some valid criticism of Prof Hughes, you have to dig the deadpan style.
20
Ooops, sorry 1000frolly rather than Prof Hughes who was being interviewed.
10
10 Feb: NYT: Coral Davenport: Supreme Court’s Blow to Emissions Efforts May Imperil Paris Climate Accord
(Ellen Barry contributed reporting from New Delhi, Chris Buckley contributed from Beijing and Justin Gillis York)
But in the capitals of India and China, two of the world’s largest polluters, climate change policy experts said the Supreme Court decision threw the American commitment into question, and possibly New Delhi’s and Beijing’s, too.
“If the U.S. Supreme Court actually declares the coal power plant rules stillborn, the chances of nurturing trust between countries would all but vanish,” said Navroz K. Dubash, a senior fellow at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. “This could be the proverbial string which causes Paris to unravel. The Paris agreement was a fragile and hard-fought consensus.”…
“If the American clean energy plan is overturned, we’ll need to reassess whether the United States can meet its commitments,” said Zou Ji, the deputy director of the National Center for Climate Strategy and International Cooperation, a government policy think tank in Beijing…
“But without those commitments, that could be a blow to confidence in low-carbon development. In China domestically there is also resistance to low-carbon policies, and they would be able to say, ‘Look, the United States doesn’t keep its word. Why make so many demands on us?’”…
American policy experts agreed that the Supreme Court decision might be the first of many fractures in the deal. “The honeymoon for Paris is now definitely over,” said John Sterman, a professor of management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who attended the Paris talks.
***“This pushback is not something that’s unique to the United States,” he added. “It’s happening all over the developed world.”…
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/us/politics/carbon-emissions-paris-climate-accord.html?smid=tw-nytpolitics&smtyp=cur&_r=1
30
10 Feb: TimesofIndia: PTI: Another sexual harassment complaint against Teri’s RK Pachauri
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/defaultinterstitial_as.cms
10 Feb: Quartz: Hamish C. Menon: Why on earth is TERI’s star-studded governing council still backing Rajendra Pachauri?
Quartz tried to get responses from members of the council—some of them heavyweights in their respective industries—to the controversy. Needless to say, there was none.
(LISTS THOSE CONTACTED)
With the creation of the new post, Pachauri may have demonstrated his survival skills. But the damage to his reputation, as much as to TERI’s, has left the environment extremely toxic.
http://qz.com/613661/why-on-earth-is-teris-star-studded-governing-council-still-backing-rajendra-pachauri/
10
7 Feb: UK Telegraph: Emily Gosden: £2bn wind farm faces the axe amid fears over bird deaths
Neart na Gaoithe wind farm could be scrapped unless judicial review brought by RSPB is resolved ahead of March 26 investment deadline
The 450-megawatt Neart na Gaoithe wind farm would see up to 64 turbines, each up to 646 feet tall, built nine miles off the coast of Fife.
It was one of only two offshore wind projects to win a crucial subsidy contract from the Government last year…
The charity argues the wind farm, together with three other proposed projects in the Firths of Forth and Tay, would be among “the most deadly for birds anywhere in the world”…
Turbine manufacturer Siemens, which plans to take a stake in the project, disclosed last week that the delay was due to the “backlog on a particular judge’s caseload”…
Andy Kinsella, of project developer Mainstream Renewable Power, said it had lined up investors and financing to cover the full £2bn project cost and was “ready to go and reach financial close” but could not take “the last step” while the legal threat remained, since this could result in the planning consent being declared “null and void”.
It has appealed to the UK Government’s Low Carbon Contracts Company, which handles the subsidy contracts, to declare Force Majeure and grant an extension to the milestone deadline, but the LCCC has so far refused to do so.
“If they won’t grant any extension then the project is dead,” Mr Kinsella said…ETC
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/12149242/2bn-wind-farm-faces-the-axe-amid-fears-over-bird-deaths.html
9 Feb: UK Telegraph: Emily Gosden: Church urges Christians to switch to green energy deals
Church of England’s lead bishop for environmental issues endorses campaign encouraging Christians to choose renewable electricity tariffs
The Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam, endorsed a new charity campaign called the ‘Big Church Switch’ encouraging Christians to choose renewable energy tariffs.
The campaign, launched by Christian Aid and Tearfund on Ash Wednesday, hopes to spur “hundreds of thousands of Christians to switch energy suppliers”…
“If Lent is about renewing our lives in response to the love of God here is a way to follow. You can do it, and so will I.”
Households will be directed to switching site the Big Deal, which is offering a deal from energy supplier Green Star Energy with “100 per cent clean electricity”…
The campaign is also backed by the Bishop of Liverpool, Paul Bayes, the Bishop of Manchester the Bishop of Guildford, Andrew Watson and the Bishop of Truro, Tim Thornton…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/12149213/Church-urges-Christians-to-switch-to-green-energy-deals.html
20
Why don’t you set up your own blog site, pat?
It would be easier to back reference posts rather than wading through comments
20
No! I, for one would miss my morning fix. Pat picks up loads of stuff the MSM ignores, especially from India & the Far East. Its a service that our hostess appreciates – after all most is O/T. Besides, without Pat’s drawing power we end of thread posters would have no audience at all.
20
Pat; this wind farm is located close to a site where history shows calm conditions aren’t unknown.
http://www.bellrock.org.uk/misc/misc_poem.htm
The heroic efforts of the RSPB in opposing this are to be commended though it is a pity that they did not apply themselves closer to home.
http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/our-green-energy/our-green-electricity/from-the-wind/wind-parks-gallery/rspb-the-lodge-bedfordshire
On a personal note, at least the turbine is not visible from the cemetery at Sandy, where reside many of my and my wife’s and my families and, before long, ourselves.
Reflecting on the state of the world I think I will be doing more spinning than the turbine.
In respect of that, this link was posted here last week.
http://notrickszone.com/2016/02/04/unreliable-power-major-technical-failures-sideline-another-offshore-wind-park-adding-to-exploding-costs/#sthash.A3Zxhvo9.dpbs
The point missed was that it is in no-ones interest to repair this feed. The penetration of wind power into the German grid has reach the stage beyond it being more economical to pay to turn off the turbines when the wind is blowing. At this stage, especially with the price trend of fossil fuels, it is cheaper to pay them not to produce at all!
10
diogenese2,
your first link goes to the song of how the pirate tried to steal the Abbott’s bell from the rocky shoals at Inchcape.
Following on from that, and how those notorious shoals took so many ships, is the amazing story of how a Civil Engineer, Robert Stevenson constructed the Bell Rock Light over three years, and that light still stands today, 216 years later, the oldest ocean washed light on Earth.
I have a Post of mine at my home site about it.
The Bell Rock Light
Tony.
30
I have an issue with any church effectively indirectly equating green with Biblical Godliness.
If anything, the green agenda is closer to paganism and occultist than Christian.
By a church senior person suggesting that going green is good, it equates christainity with green. While the Bible does say Christains are in reality stewards of the planet God gave us, going along with the green agenda in many ways illustrates a complete lack of understanding of the whole Green Blob and what it is, stands for, and that if you boil it all down, the Green Blob would happily in a very un-Christain way , cull most humans to preserve its precious fictitious pagan “Gaia”……
I shake my head…..
00
reminder for the Church of England:
1 Feb: Reuters: Growing cost of grid, green fees blocks UK power price cut
By Karolin Schaps and Susanna Twidale
Cornwall Energy data showed the costs of government policies, which also include discounts for low-income households and payments for energy efficiency measures, on energy suppliers have risen to the highest level ever.
This means non-energy costs now make up as much as 60 percent of the average British electricity bill, up from 45 percent four years ago, according to Cornwall Energy data.
The main drivers here are the increasing costs to help finance building renewable energy plants, such as solar panels or wind farms.
Suppliers’ cost of the Renewable Obligation, the outgoing mechanism to distribute green energy subsidies, is 12.86 pounds per megawatt-hour, up from 10.57 pounds a year ago, Cornwall Energy said.
“These utilities are not selling electricity, they’re passing through renewable subsidies,” said Mark Freshney, utilities equity analyst at Credit Suisse.
The demand for renewable energy subsidies has been much higher than anticipated by the government, which has now imposed cuts to support for more mature technologies…
http://www.reuters.com/article/britain-electricity-bills-idUSL8N15C4LK
the Church, like Bernie Sanders’ brother Larry (former Greens candidate) in Oxford UK, apparently can’t recognise the consequences of CAGW policies:
6 Feb: Oxford Mail UK: Matt Oliver: East Oxford resident Larry Sanders is backing campaign for his brother Bernie to become US president
Based in an unassuming terraced house in East Oxford, Larry Sanders is a former social worker, legal adviser and activist who only recently stepped back from frontline county council politics with the Green Party…
He is promoting ‘Oxford for Bernie’, one of five campaigns set up in the UK to encourage Americans living abroad to back Sanders-the-younger, who is reported to be taking the youth vote by storm with his signature firebrand style and socialist views…
Mr Sanders, who now lives with his wife Janet Hall in Bedford Street, retired in 2001 and soon after stood as a Green Party candidate for Oxfordshire County Council.
He lost, but was eventually elected councillor for East Oxford in 2005 and was re-elected in 2009.
He led the Green group from 2005 to 2013 and stood as its parliamentary candidate in last year’s General Election as well, losing to Conservative MP Nicola Blackwood…
Sanders: “Human life can never just be a bed of roses, but I see no real reason why, in a rich country like this one, we should have so much poverty.
***”There are elderly people in this county who have to choose between heating their homes and how much they will spend on food.”…
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/14255089.Feature__Oxford_resident_Larry_Sanders_is_backing_his_brother_Bernie_Sanders_for_US_presendency/
recent stories:
9 Feb: ThisIsLancashireUK: Daniel Holland: More than 8,000 Bury households living in fuel poverty
THOUSANDS of Bury families are living in fuel poverty, resulting in an estimated 100 extra deaths every year in the borough during winter months…
9 Feb: Falkirk Herald UK: Sheona Small: Quarter of Falkirk homes in fuel poverty
Fuel poverty – the term used to describe being unable to afford a reasonable level of heat and power – is a significant problem, with the latest figures classing more than a third of Scottish households as being in fuel poverty and ten per cent as being in extreme fuel poverty.
The Scottish Government figures, broken down by local authority area for the three years to 2014, show that 28 per cent of households in Falkirk are in fuel poverty and seven per cent in extreme poverty…
The national average for fuel poverty is 35 per cent (845,000 households) and ten per cent for extreme fuel poverty…
8 Feb: HartlepoolMailUK: Free gas boilers to help tackle fuel poverty
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It’s called the ‘Butterfly Effect’. If I skip my hot shower this morning or don’t use my car or not turn on my air conditioner (not possible in Perth at the moment), in twenty years from now there will be less cats and more marsupials roaming the planet. These so called experts try to blame AGW for every variation in the natural order because they are too lazy (or stupid) to investigate or understand the actual cause of their observations.
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Warmest winter around here by mean max was in 1915 (though you hear stories about 1895 and those August fires). 1917 was pretty hot, and 1946 finished very strong indeed.
Maybe the cool winters from 1922 to 1925 polished off all the cats from the Catageddon Catastrophe of 1915.
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BREAKING NEWS
Global warmists are Religious Fanatics.
Head of CSIRO
Who has not known this for years
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Interesting paper from the Royal Society.
Big data integration shows Australian bush-fire frequency is increasing significantly
WTF?
Big data integration? Only add up the weally big numbers? I must have missed that class.
I’m pretty sure it only depends on the weather. “Bush-fire frequency” maybe, except only a quarter of fires are lit naturally by lightning so unless more cats mean more fire bugs, I some don’t think that one degree per year extra warmer minimum temperatures will make much difference.
If its due to rainfall, then that is the metric for global warming, except warmer means a more greener and more fuel for when it does eventually dry out.
Should have saved this for April 1?
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pathetic:
11 Feb: ABC: CSIRO boss Larry Marshall sorry for saying politics of climate ‘more like religion than science’
By national science reporter Jake Sturmer and Rebecca Armitage
At Senate estimates this afternoon he backed away from those comments.
“I’d like to apologise for any offence I may have caused to anyone with respect to my reference to religion,” Dr Marshall said.
“I was merely referring to the passionate zeal around this issue, not any other reference, and I deeply apologise.”…
Dr Marshall detailed exactly which areas would be pared back under the changes — with 65 jobs to go in the Oceans and Atmosphere teams, up to 60 from Land and Water and 40 from manufacturing.
But he insisted redundancies would be a last resort.
“This change is a refresh and redirection of capability of CSIRO, not a cut to staffing level,” he said.
“After this process, over two financial years a number of team members should be the same or slightly higher.
“But worst case, up to 350 team members could be affected and if they can’t be redeployed or reskilled they will leave.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-11/csiro-boss-apologises-for-climate-religion-comments/7160288
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I’ve already pointed out on WUWT that this has nothing to with Global Warming. It’s part of the master plan. Cats have taken over the Internet. Now they increase production. Soon, total world domination.
We’re doomed.
But then, we have been since the moment they learned to miaow at us.
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Neon Night Lights are good thing for sleep. None of that evil BLUE to keep you awake while stumbling around at night.
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11 Feb: ClimateChangeNews: Climate torture: UN’s IPCC science panel must deliver clearer message
At an Oslo meeting this week, communications experts challenged the IPCC to make its reports easier to understand, but will it listen?
By Richard Black in Oslo
(Richard Black is director of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit)
One recent study concluded that the summaries for policymakers – the bits that are supposed to be the most readable – are more complex than scientific papers by Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking. Yes, there are scientists such as Angela Merkel among the world’s body politic, but even so it’s hard to see how such a product can really claim to being written ‘for policymakers’…
And so the IPCC invited about 70 people with different forms of expertise in communication to Oslo for a couple of days of discussions and debate this week.
Top of the agenda: how to make its output more relevant and comprehensible to its main target audience, whether it should prioritise other sectors of society as destinations for its reports, and how to engage more effectively with journalists in every corner of the globe…
Leaving Oslo, it’s not clear which of the many recommendations we gave to the IPCC Secretariat will be implemented in the AR6 process…
But there was one optimistic sign. Shortly before the meeting started, the (???)distinguished US commentator Andy Revkin asked publically whether a meeting on communications should not be – erm – communicated openly.
As a result, all of the whole-group sessions were live-streamed, with a heap of Twitter activity following (putting the hashtag #IPCCOslo among the top 10 trenders in Germany)…
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/02/11/climate-torture-uns-ipcc-science-panel-must-deliver-clearer-message/
still desperate to frame all CAGW sceptics as being rightwing:
11 Feb: UK Independent: Tom Bawden: The address where Eurosceptics and climate change sceptics rub shoulders
The offices of 55 Tufton Street in Westminister are home to no fewer than eight right-of-centre organisations
“This zealous ideological clique are trying to imprint their extreme agenda on government policy. It’s clear they enjoy preferential access to some parts of government and, considering their small size, they are having a disproportionate impact,” said Bob Ward, policy director at the London School of Economics’ Grantham Institute.
“This small cabal is undermining the democratic process, which should be based on robust and open debate, rather than clandestine meetings between ideological bed-fellows,” he added…
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-referendum-eurosceptics-climate-change-sceptics-55-tufton-street-westminster-a6866021.html
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10 Feb: Guardian: Terry Macalister: Swansea tidal energy scheme faces ‘disastrous setback’ from government review
Plans to generate energy from Swansea Bay lagoon are further delayed as UK energy minister announces wider review of the sector
The promoters of the £1bn plan, Tidal Lagoon Power, said it welcomed any extra focus on this type of renewable energy but needed a final decision from ministers on its south Wales project within six weeks.
The government has been in negotiations with Tidal Lagoon Power for more than a year and has repeatedly failed to meet company expectations about when it would agree a final subsidy necessary to make the project commercial…
Energy minister Lord Bourne argued that government still needed to make sure that tidal power was in the interest of the country and household energy consumers.
“Tidal lagoons on this scale are an exciting, but as yet an untested technology. I want to better understand whether tidal lagoons can be cost-effective, and what their impact on bills will be – both today and in the longer term…
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/10/swansea-tidal-energy-scheme-faces-disastrous-setback-from-government-review
10 Feb: UK Telegraph: Emily Gosden: Swansea Bay tidal lagoon plan hit by fresh delay
Government commissions new review into “untested” tidal energy technology, deferring decision on subsidies for Swansea project
Talks have so far failed to reach agreement, with the Prime Minister raising concerns that the costs of the project were too high and developers seeking an unprecedented 90-year deal…
Mark Shorrock, Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay chief executive, claimed it was “imperative” that negotiations with the Government were concluded within six weeks and urged DECC to reconsider.
“We need to start work on Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon now. Otherwise the opportunity will be lost and the review will be all for nothing,” he said…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/12151013/Swansea-Bay-tidal-lagoon-plan-hit-by-fresh-delay.html
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Thanks again pat for bringing items like this to our attention.
This Wave electrical power generation scheme is another of those renewables which are made to look so good for the average reader, but when explained correctly, they turn out to be not all that much at all.Let’s point out a few things from the plant’s proposal site, and keep in mind that this is what the average punter reads and from that might think that this is quite reasonable.
Link to Swansea Tidal Lagoon Project
Point one.
It mentions here that it is a 320MW plant and that it has reliable power generation for 14 hours a day, and this gives the impression that will be 320MW for 14 hours. This is again clever detailing of an expectation from readers. The plant is actually modelled at a Capacity Factor (CF) of 17%, and again, be wary of modelled CF’s for any renewable power plant, as they are always overstated, and rarely, if ever meet that CF, but let’s use it anyway. CF can also be expressed as a period of time, so that’s the full rated power of 320MW for 17% of the time, so 17% of 24 hours is just a tick over 4 hours, so that full rated power delivery for 4 hours is now spread across 14 hours, so it rises and falls somewhat similar to a power generation curve for solar PV power. There may even be the occasion when it actually might reach that maximum of 320MW, but as it’s spread across 14 hours you can see there will also be times when it is very little, and there’s 10 hours of every day with no power at all, even by their own statement.
Point two.
That total power stated there of 155,000 homes is actually where they detail the total generated power, and here that comes in at around 500GWH, again based on the Modelled 17% CF and extrapolated into what the average home consumes to give a total number of homes. Keep in mind here it mentions in Point three that the plant is overall connected to the National Grid, so at no time is it the sole supplier for those 155,000 homes. It then goes on to say that this is 90% of Swansea Bay’s domestic electricity use, again, an impressive statement, and quite true, but hiding the truth in plain sight because no one really understands the supply of power. Where it says ….. domestic that is residential consumption, which using the average for the UK, is around 20% or so of the overall power consumption, so here we have 90% of 20%, so 18% of Swansea Bay’s total power consumption, and 90% always sounds better than 18% eh!
Point four.
Here, it says there is a saving of 236,000 tonnes of CO2 each year. Again, those savings are not actual, because it is an extrapolation of what might be saved ….. IF ….. IF a similar sized coal fired plant were constructed in its place. Just because this plant delivers that power, it does not translate that an equal 320MW is closed down so it does not emit CO2. In fact, actual reliable power plants will still be needed to provide backup for the ten hours this plant is not delivering, and the 14 hours during modelled generation time when it is not delivering its full rated power.
All those other points are just fluff and feel good statements.
See now how something which is patently only average in nature is made out to be something which the average reader would actually find quite reasonable.
They hide the real truth in plain sight, because very few people understand what is ….. actually being said.
Tony.
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watch your retirement funds, investments, etc because an investment manager, an environmental lawyer and a climate economist are on the prowl:
10 Feb: Nature: Global warming: Shareholders must vote for climate-change mitigation
Investors who are standing idly by as emissions erode the value of their stock could find themselves in court, warn Howard Covington and colleagues.
by Howard Covington, James Thornton & Cameron Hepburn
The largest 500 companies listed on the world’s stock markets account for about half of market value and 14% of global emissions…
One way to encourage their cooperation would be for their shareholders to propose and vote for resolutions aimed at increasing or preserving stock value while reducing emissions. Why would shareholders do this? Senior lawyers have concluded that those who manage other people’s money have a duty to control for ‘material risks’.
In finance, that means risks that might trigger a 5% or more loss in investment value. Climate damage in the future is expected to be one such risk.
Therefore, we (an investment manager, an environmental lawyer and a climate economist) believe that clients and beneficiaries of investment firms might have a legal case to bring against their investors who stand idly by as emissions erode the value of their stock. We are researching and designing such actions…
http://www.nature.com/news/global-warming-shareholders-must-vote-for-climate-change-mitigation-1.19319
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10 Feb: Financial Times: EDF faces €100bn bill for upgrading ageing nuclear power stations
by Michael Stothard in Paris
French utility EDF is facing a €100bn bill for upgrading its ageing nuclear power stations at the same time as a new law could force it to close a third of its reactors, according to the country’s state audit office.
The report by the Cour des Comptes comes at a bad time for the world’s largest nuclear power generator as it scrambles to secure financing for a contentious £18bn nuclear project in the UK..
Unions and analysts have already raised concerns that EDF might be biting off more than it can chew with the proposed nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset…
Shares in EDF, which is 85 per cent owned by the French government, have fallen 55 per cent in the past year, reducing its market capitalisation to €21bn. The group has net debt of €37bn…
The audit office said on Wednesday that the cost of increasing the life expectancy of the 58 nuclear plants in France from their current 40 years would be €100bn during the 2014-2030 period.
This is well above EDF’s €55bn estimate for the 2014-2025 period. The difference is in part because the €100bn also includes EDF’s operating expenses over that period…
The audit office also said that a law passed last year to reduce the share of nuclear in French energy production from 75 per cent at the moment to 50 per cent by 2025 could lead to the closure of 17 to 20 EDF reactors…
The energy transition law passed last year has long been contentious. It stems from a promise made by President François Hollande in the 2012 election as part of an alliance he had at the time with France’s green party, which is anti-nuclear…
Many in the industry say that, in practice, there are unlikely to be any nuclear reactors shut down to meet the 2025 targets, because to do so would be too costly and politically sensitive. Closures could also lead to a rise in electricity prices…
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/581cb61a-d00d-11e5-92a1-c5e23ef99c77.html
11 Feb: WorldNuclearNews: EDF faces €100 billion reactor upgrade bill, says audit office
http://world-nuclear-news.org/RS-EDF-faces-EUR100-billion-reactor-upgrade-bill-says-audit-office-1102164.html
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MUST-READ, especially if you are a Victorian. nothing like asking CAGW-infested Baker & McKenzie to do a report on CAGW policies! my advice – tear it up:
12 Feb: Age: Tom Arup: Victorian climate laws face massive overhaul including new emissions targets
Victorian climate laws face massive overhaul including new emissions targets
Victoria’s climate change laws face a major overhaul, with an independent review recommending the state establish new targets to cut emissions, put in place a legally binding charter on government decisions and give the environmental watchdog powers to limit greenhouse gases, among other sweeping reforms.
But the Andrews government, which commissioned the review, has immediately ruled out setting up a state-based emissions trading system or adopting a “shadow carbon price” on government decisions, which were both floated in the review’s recommendations…
“We went to the last election with a commitment to reintroducing an emissions reduction target and … to put Victoria back as a leader responding to climate change, and this is one of the first steps,” Victorian Environment Minister Lisa Neville said on Thursday morning…
***Under the proposals there would be a “climate change charter”, similar to Victoria’s existing human rights charter, which would be given legal force so groups could take the government to court if they felt global warming had not been considered…
The Greens climate spokeswoman Ellen Sandell said the government could not claim to be serious on climate change unless it sought to replace coal-fired power stations, banned onshore gas extraction and stopped native harvesting of forests.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victorian-climate-laws-face-massive-overhaul-including-new-emissions-targets-20160210-gmqyss.html
11 Feb: ReutersCarbonPulse: Stian Reklev: Australia’s Victoria to toughen Climate Act, rules out state ETS
***The review panel’s report is available here (LINK)
http://carbon-pulse.com/15499/
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lol.
10 Feb: China Daiy: Chris Davis: Why spending – not saving – will help make China greener
It makes sense to worry that weaning China off of king coal will lead to an economic slowdown.
But a new study – co-written by an MIT professor and scholars at the Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy, at Tsinghua University in Beijing – shows that China’s newly announced plans to cap and trade carbon can reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions significantly without hobbling economic growth at all…
“Using carbon pricing in combination with energy price reforms and renewable energy support, China could reach signifi cant levels of emissions reduction without undermining economic growth,” writes Valerie Karplus, an assistant professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a co-author of the new paper titled Carbon emissions in China? How far can new efforts bend the curve? in the journal Energy Economics…
In the model, coal’s use as a primary source of energy would drop sharply from around 70 percent in 2010 to around 28 percent in 2050.
“Coal today is used with varying degrees of efficiency across the Chinese energy system,” Karplus writes. The model is capturing the fact that you have a lot of low-cost opportunities to reduce coal, from heavyindustry direct use as well as the electric power sector.”…
The study has gotten the nod from the energy policy world. John P. Weyant, a professor and deputy director of the Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency at Stanford University, called it “state of the art” and a “realistic representation of the pathways by which the Chinese and world economy can be expected to adjust to policy initiatives.”
One more argument for China to push aggressively ahead on the environment.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2016-02/10/content_23446315.htm
Tsinghua-MIT: Carbon emissions in China: How far can new efforts bend the curve?
by Zhang, X., V.J. Karplus, T. Qi, D. Zhang and J. He
Link to full document (1429 kB PDF)
http://globalchange.mit.edu/CECP/publications/latest/2849
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lol.
11 Feb: SouthChinaMorningPost: Jun Mai: Cold snap could delay travellers heading back to jobs after Chinese New Year
Temperatures expected to hit zero around Yangtze Delta, with traffic jams likely in Beijing
Hundreds of millions of mainlanders returning to their jobs after the Lunar New Year festival are likely to get caught in freezing weather.
A massive cold front is expected to move south from the north and west, sending temperature plunging by up to 14 degrees Celsius in various parts of the country.
Beijingers will also have the added headache of snarled traffic, with drivers advised to steer clear of key intersections…
The official holiday began on February 7 and ends on February 13. But the mass migration began earlier – on January 24 – and will run 40 days to March 3. Some 2.8 billion domestic trips are expected to be made during the period.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1912267/cold-snap-could-delay-travellers-heading-back-jobs-after-chinese
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as phony as CAGW:
11 Feb: Fox News: Maxim Lott: Monkey business: Gorilla’s message about global warming was staged
A recent video featuring a gorilla named Koko appearing to use sign language to warn man of the dangers of global warming was staged, and animal communication experts say there is no way a gorilla could comprehend the complexities of global warming.
The video, shown at December’s Paris climate change conference, shows Koko use sign language to say things like “I am gorilla, I am flowers, animals, I am nature… Man Koko love… but man… man stupid… Koko cry, time hurry, fix Earth…”
The video was produced by a French environmental group and the gorilla Foundation, which cares for Koko the gorilla and notes on its website that the video was produced “with a script” and “edited from a number of separate takes, for brevity and continuity.”…
Animal communication experts say the video is misleading.
“This group has been really upping the ante for making incredible exaggerated claims for her comprehension,” Barbara King, an anthropology professor at the College of William and Mary and the author of “How Animals Grieve,” told FoxNews.com.
King also worries that the ad, by exposing the idea of ape communication to ridicule, could undermine views about primates’ abilities…
But animal experts agree that climate change is way beyond the understanding of gorillas.
“A complex phenomenon like climate change is not understood by many humans, let alone an ape,” Sally Boysen, an Ohio State University psychology professor, told FoxNews.com.
Even if Koko could understand climate change, experts disagree about the effect of climate change on primates. Warming has nearly paused over the last 17 years, and increases in the greenhouse gas CO2 in the atmosphere have increased plant growth…
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/02/11/monkey-business-gorillas-message-about-global-warming-was-staged.html
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shhh…don’t tell the Obama devotees at ABC/Fairfax, etc:
11 Feb: HuffPo: Tom Z. Collina: Obama’s Shop-’til-You-Drop Nuclear Spending Spree
Nearly seven years ago, President Obama gave hope to tens of thousands gathered in central Prague, and to billions around the world. In no uncertain terms, he declared “America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
It was a declaration the world was hungry to hear…
The hope felt in Prague back in 2009 was once again dashed with the release of the administration’s $583 billion defense budget — including a major down-payment on the whopping $1 trillion nuclear upgrade.
The president’s budget request for fiscal year 2017 includes large increases for new nuclear weapons, including new nuclear cruise missiles, new land-based ballistic missiles, and new nuclear-armed bombers and submarines. At the same time, the budget reduces funding for critical programs to prevent nuclear terrorism…
In the final stretch of his presidency, Obama is on course to leave a legacy that boosts, not busts, America’s nuclear arsenal. As former Defense Secretary William J. Perry recently wrote, “Far from continuing the nuclear disarmament that has been underway for the last two decades, we are starting a new nuclear arms race.”…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-z-collina/obamas-shop-til-you-drop_b_9212814.html
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11 Feb: SunHerald: Michael Doyle: Investors in huge California wind farm might end up repaying federal subsidies
A giant wind farm in California’s southern San Joaquin Valley is blowing gusts through a faraway federal court, with tens of millions of dollars potentially up in the air.
Some of the wind farm’s early investors want more than $200 million in additional subsidies that they say the federal government owes them. Obama administration officials, in turn, argue that the government paid $59 million too much. This week, a judge sharpened the administration’s side of the sword, agreeing that the U.S. can try to retrieve some of the taxpayer dollars paid.
U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Thomas C. Wheeler said in a decision Monday that the Treasury Department could counter the claims from investors in the Alta Wind project, the largest wind farm in the United States…
Under the Democratic-drafted $787 billion stimulus bill, renewable energy developers could receive federal grants equal to 30 percent of the project’s “reasonable and allowable” costs. From 2009 to 2013, according to a Treasury Department report, at least 9,016 such grants worth at least $18.5 billion were provided. Some, in turn, prompted lawsuits over how the government calculated grant amounts. At least two dozen such suits have been filed in claims court, according to a tally by Hunton & Williams…
The Alta Wind investors pegged their grant applications to the purchase price from Terra-Gen…READ ON
http://www.sunherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article59876436.html
11 Feb: Rolling Stone: Tom Dickinson: The Koch Brothers’ Dirty War on Solar Power
“They’ve twisted the words around so that it keeps the monopolies in place,” former Vice President Al Gore explained at a Climate Reality Project conference in Miami, blasting the utility initiative as the
“dumb” solar amendment. Even Jack Abramoff, the infamous influence peddler, traveled to Tallahassee to denounce the utility amendment as “right out of the lobbyist playbook.” Abramoff, who served four years in federal prison, is now seeking atonement by crusading against special-interest corruption. The Smart Solar campaign, he says, “reminds me very much of what we used to do in the old days … Now it’s a fight between two amendments – so they can obfuscate what’s going on.”…
The Koch grassroots political group, Americans for Prosperity, does not appear on Smart Solar’s donor rolls, but did issue a call to arms for its Florida activists to fight solar choice.
The Smart Solar campaign played dirty. In a seemingly transparent effort to confuse petition-signers, the utility-backed measure aped the “choice” language of the rival pro-solar campaign with its formal
ballot title. Smart Solar called itself Rights of Electricity Consumers Regarding Solar Energy Choice.
“It’s pure deception,” an exasperated Smith (Stephen Smith, director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy) tells Rolling Stone. “Many, many people have been misled into signing their petition – it’s fraud!” Bascom (Smart Solar spokeswoman Sarah Bascom) insisted there was no intention to mislead. “It would defy all logic,” she tells Rolling Stone. “Why would we confuse ours with one that does not have public support?”
In the end, the utilities crushed the Solar Choice campaign by spending it into submission…
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-koch-brothers-dirty-war-on-solar-power-20160211?page=5
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11 Feb: WSJ: Dominic Chopping: Dong Energy Sells U.K. Wind Farm Stake for $958 Million
Lego’s parent company and a Danish pension provider to buy 50% stake in development
Denmark’s Dong Energy A/S, part-owned by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has agreed to sell a 50% stake in a U.K. wind farm to the parent company of toy maker Lego and a Danish pension provider.
Lego Group’s parent company, Kirkbi A/S, and pension firm PKA will each take a 25% stake in U.K. offshore wind farm Burbo Bank Extension, paying a total of £660 million ($958 million)…
Dong will start offshore construction at the development this year and it expects the wind farm to be fully commissioned in the first half of 2017…
http://www.wsj.com/articles/dong-energy-sells-u-k-wind-farm-stake-for-958-million-1455179876
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11 Feb: France24: The highs and lows of outgoing Foreign Minister (Laurent) Fabius
Saving the planet
Fabius’s final big project, one which is likely to seal his legacy, was a truly international deal to save mankind from global warming.
Initially lukewarm in his approach to environmental issues, Fabius gradually embraced the cause and studied climate science intensely for two years before the 2015 talks.
As host of the global climate talks in November and December 2015, just after the November Paris attacks that threatened to overshadow the event, he presided over 13 days of gruelling talks, amidst persistent rumours that he was suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
***But in the end he secured the agreement of 195 nations to transform the energy system underlying the world economy…
Fabius will stay on as COP president for the next few months, as the UN body moves towards implementing the Paris deal signed in December 2015…
http://www.france24.com/en/20160211-successes-failures-outgoing-foreign-minister-fabius
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11 Feb: Vineyard Gazette: Alex Elvin: Fishermen Give Cold Shoulder to Offshore Wind Developer
A representative from Denmark’s largest energy company had a cold reception in Chilmark this week as commercial fishermen and others discussed a proposed wind farm south of the Vineyard. Andy Revill, a fishermen’s liaison for Dong Energy, traveled from the U.K. to meet with fishermen in preparation for mapping a large area of the sea floor where the company plans to install up to 100 turbines. The 472-square-mile lease area begins 15 miles south of the Vineyard and extends diagonally to the southwest…
But fishermen who gathered at the Chimark town hall on Tuesday said that would almost surely interfere with gillnetters in the area…
Wes Brighton, a commercial fisherman out of Menemsha, said the area south of the Vineyard would be thick with fishing gear in May. He said each gillnetting boat would have between 10 and 20 nets, each one extending about three quarters of a mile on the sea floor. In July the area is habitat to crabs and lobsters…
He said a better time would be March, when the area closes to fishing. “That’s your best bet if you don’t want to get a hammer through your windshield,” he said.
Mr. Revill (Dong) said March would be too soon in terms of planning, but he was confident the obstacles could be overcome. “You guys sent people to the moon, so I’m sure we can work this out,” he said.
“The moon would be a much better place for a wind farm,” replied Mr. Brighton…READ ON
http://vineyardgazette.com/news/2016/02/11/fishermen-give-cold-shoulder-offshore-wind-developer
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11 Feb: Global Capital: Victor Jimenez: Abengoa requests yet another 700 million Euro loan
Spanish renewable energy company Abengoa has asked lenders to sign a new credit facility as its March 28 deadline to avoid bankruptcy looms ever closer, but an accord appears elusive
The company met its main creditor banks, including Santander, CaixaBank, Bankia, Popular, Sabadell, HSBC…
http://www.globalcapital.com/article/wg0bsd1l8zv2/abengoa-throws-request-for-new-700m-loan-into-bargaining-with-creditors
9 Feb: Boston Globe: Jon Chesto: Major solar incentive runs out in Mass., surprising many
Solar energy in Massachusetts faces an uncertain future as two state programs that helped fuel a boom in solar installations are on hold, awaiting action by state officials.
On Friday, a generous incentive for the industry quietly evaporated, as subsidies that have helped finance solar power projects reached the limit set by the state. Another program, which allows homeowners and businesses to sell excess solar power to utilities, hit its limit in a large part of the state last year, and the Legislature has yet to lift the cap on the amount of power that utilities must buy from these sources at retail rates…
“I would say Massachusetts has more uncertainty than any of the other large solar markets in the US right now,” said Mike Hall, chief executive of California-based Borrego Solar…
The solar certificates are far more lucrative than net metering — often twice as valuable — in terms of their value to solar power owners. Even solar supporters have been talking about replacing them with less expensive incentives…
Last week, AIM circulated an ad claiming that the average homeowner paid an extra $83 a year to support solar power in the state in 2015, and that the typical manufacturer paid $750,000.
Eversource and National Grid say that they support solar power, but that it’s time to rework incentives to ensure they are sustainable and affordable
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/02/09/major-solar-incentive-runs-out-mass-surprising-many-industry/w3Uskmamtp3Oky3nCJJuFL/story.html
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11 Feb: LA Times: Samantha Masunaga: Solar City stock, already down more than 60% this year, continues to dive
SolarCity Corp.’s stock has lost more than 60% of its value since the start of the year, and shares continued to dive Thursday, two days after the Northern California solar company reported disappointing fourth-quarter results.
Shares of the San Mateo firm, the nation’s largest solar panel installer, closed Thursday at $16.67, down $1.96, or nearly 11%. The company’s stock plunged 30% in after-hours trading Tuesday, after its financial results were released, to its lowest point since 2013, Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov said…
During a call Tuesday with analysts and investors, President Tanguy Serra showed some fumbling in his new, additional role as chief financial officer. An analyst asked why SolarCity had not provided quarterly revenue guidance as usual, and Serra passed it off as an oversight, saying, “My bad.”…
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solar-city-stock-20160211-story.html
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11 Feb: KCET: Chris Clarke: End of the Line for the Palen Solar Project
The Palen Solar project, proposed for almost 4,000 acres of Riverside County near Joshua Tree National Park, has been on bureaucratic life support for years. On Wednesday, the state’s lead energy agency finally pulled the plug.
Project owners Maverick Solar, who bought the project from the ailing Spanish firm Abengoa in December, had asked for an extension on the California Energy Commission’s 2010 permit to build the project north of Interstate 10 at the east end of the Chuckwalla Valley. That permit, which technically expired in 2015, had been extended to give Abengoa a chance to redesign the project to include thermal storage…
But instead of submitting those design changes on time, Abengoa instead began selling off its holdings prior to bankruptcy proceedings in Spain. Maverick, a subsidiary of the energy firm EDF Renewables, asked the Commission for time to redesign the plant to use photovoltaic panels instead of heat to generate power. That ruled out any thermal storage component for the plant…
That was a misstep on Maverick’s part…ETC
http://www.kcet.org/news/redefine/rewire/commentary/end-of-the-line-for-the-palen-solar-project.html
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11 Feb: WRALTechwire: LAURA LESLIE: Solar backers try to allay NC lawmakers’ fears about panel removal
Raleigh, N.C. — Solar industry members and advocates told a legislative panel Wednesday there’s little need to worry about the safe removal of solar panels in the state’s future.
Solar skeptics, both at the legislature and at free-market think tanks, have expressed concern recently about how the panels will be disposed of when their working life of around 25 years is done.
Department of Environmental Quality Deputy Secretary Tom Reeder echoed many of those concerns during his presentation on the issue to the Environmental Review Commission, noting that more environmental safeguards are required for large-screen televisions, composting operations and strip malls than for solar panels, which are proliferating as more solar farms come on line in North Carolina.
“There are 250 million pounds of these photovoltaic cells in North Carolina,” Reeder told the commission, urging lawmakers to consider adding a bond requirement to solar farms for eventual decommissioning, as he says California and the federal Bureau of Land Management do…
“They do contain toxic materials,” he warned. “There’s no market for recycling these things.”
Speaking of an 80-megawatt solar facility in Edgecombe County, which is the largest east of the Mississippi River, Reeder asked, “What if a hurricane or a tornado goes through there? Who’s going to clean up that pig in a poke?…
Asked what would happen if a solar company went bankrupt before a solar farm lease was up, Frank Marshall with FLS, a solar company in Asheville, said the investors and banks that financed the project would take it over…
Ricky Sinha, environmental director for Arizona-based First Solar, the world’s largest solar business, said the company is in the process of scaling up its existing solar-panel recycling process for large facilities…READ ON
http://wraltechwire.com/solar-backers-try-to-allay-nc-lawmakers-fears-about-panel-removal/15350995/
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