Mercury rising
From The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley
Cancun, Mexico
I am in the plenary session hall at the Moon Palace, where diligent readers of this humble blog will recall that Ms. Figurehead, the president of the UN climate conference here in Cancun, opened these quaint proceedings last week with a prayer to the Moon Goddess of the ancient dwellers in what is now Mexico.
The vast, characterless session hall is known – appropriately enough – as the Cenote hall. Those familiar with the Spanish dialects of the New World will recognize the appropriateness of this designation. For a cenote is a sinkhole. Cenotes are widespread in the Mexican jungle, beneath great limestone caps. They were regarded as sacred by the “first nations”, as the indigenous peoples are now coyly called, and archaeologists have had much fun diving beneath the waters in the cenotes to recover all manner of pre-Columbian artefacts and assorted archaeological knick-knacks.
It is in the Sinkhole Hall that the President of Mexico, Señor Felipe Calderon, has just announced to admiring gasps from 1000 gaping enviro-zombs that he is to launch a Grand Initiative To Smash Global Warming And Make It Go Away, So There. And what, you may ask with a trembling frisson of salivating anticipation, was the President’s Grand Initiative?
Wait for it … wait for it!
OK, I’ll tell you. El Presidente is – tell it not in Gash and Ashkelon – going to ban the use of proper light-bulbs throughout Mexico. Ban light-bulbs. Throughout Mexico. Really and truly. I kid you not. Gee wow golly gosh.
As I sat and listened to the President, who talks even faster than me, I wondered if there was anything else new in his speech. Most of it sounded not just old but stale – a kooky cookie of a speech, long past its sell-by date.
The worstest ever problem the world has ever faced. Heard that before somewhere. Rising temperature. Natch: yet Cancun this morning was so cold, at 54 Fahrenheit, that it set a new 100-year record low for this day of this month (but don’t expect to read about this in any of the mainstream media: it’s Off Message). Rising sea levels. Pull the other one, Excellencia: it’s got bells on. Melting glaciers. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Need for international co-operation, courage, vision, yada yada. Gimme the cash: huge amounts of money from Western nations in reparation for their “climate debt” to developing nations like – er – Mexico. And so, tediously, ramblingly, near-hysterically on.
[Note: see also the new record low for Cancun in December here. – Anthony]
I turned to the rather spectacular young lady on my left, from the Eco-Village Movement (83,000 self-sustaining villages and urban communities in 100 countries), and asked whether the President had said something interesting that my indifferent comprehension of Mexican Spanish had failed to catch. No, she said, with a shapely sigh. She rather wondered why she had come.
There was a question-and-answer session: the only moment in the entire two-week beano when us ordinary citizens were allowed a voice. I was called to speak, but could not because my microphone had somehow been disconnected. Funny, that. So I passed the opportunity to a Singaporean gentleman who, it turns out, has made a fortune peddling a fuel additive which, he told me enthusiastically, improved average gas mileage by 10-35%. The Duke of Wellington would have said, “Sir, if you will believe that, you will believe anything.”
To pass the time – policemen with guns were not allowing anyone to leave while the President was in the room – I decided to calculate just how much “global warming” his Grand Initiative would forestall. I have recently been preparing a learned paper for the Econometrics Journal on the so-far-unaddressed but surely not-unimportant question of how to determine the amount of “global warming” that might actually be prevented by any proposed strategy to mitigate future “global warming” by taxing or regulating carbon dioxide emissions, or by adopting alternative technologies. So all the relevant equations were to hand.
Here goes, then. Electricity accounts for 40% of global carbon dioxide emissions. Mexico accounts for 1% of world electricity consumption. Light-bulbs use at most 3% of that electricity. Mercury-vapor fluorescent bulbs reduce electricity consumption per candela by – at the very most – 33% compared with incandescent bulbs that one can actually read by. So, once the President’s Initiativo Grande has been put into full effect throughout Mexico, world carbon emissions will have fallen by 40% of 1% of 3% of 33%, or a dizzying 0.004%.
So far, so good. We shall generously assume that 0.004% of the entire manmade greenhouse-gas contribution since 1750 will be forestalled by the Grand Initiative. Now for the equation. The amount of CO2 concentration forestalled by, say, 2100, is in the present instance, 0.004% of the difference between the CO2 concentration predicted for that year, 836 parts per million by volume on the IPCC’s A2 emissions scenario, and the CO2 concentration of 278 ppmv which the IPCC thinks was present in 1750.
So we’re looking at 0.00004(836-278), or 0.0223 ppmv. Not a lot, really.
Now we calculate the “global warming” that will be forestalled by reducing carbon emissions by this amount. For this we need another equation: 88% of 5.35 times the natural logarithm of [836 / (836 – 0.0223)]. And the answer? A little over 0.0001 Celsius, or around one five-thousandth of a Fahrenheit degree. And only that much if the IPCC’s exaggerated estimate of future warming is correct. If not, make that well below one ten-thousandth of a Fahrenheit degree. Either way, extravagantly pointless.
In the UK, the Climate Change and National Economic Hara-Kiri department has already enthusiastically banned real light-bulbs in favor of the flickering, mercury-filled alternatives which – if the appropriate EU “Directive” is followed – require a specialist cleanup team at a cost of $3000 every time one of the wretched things gets smashed.
On my recent visit to the Department, formerly the down-to-earth Ministry of Agriculture and now the up-in-the-air Ministry of Fantastical Nonsense, I asked its chief number-cruncher whether he could show me his calculations demonstrating how much “global warming” the $1.2 trillion that the Ministry of Madness plans to spend over the next 40 years will forestall.
He harrumphed that he had done no such calculation, so I asked: “In that case, Professor, on what rational basis is any of this expenditure being made or proposed?” Red-faced with embarrassment, he couldn’t answer that one either. Neither can I, for only a fool hunts a reason for the doings of fools.
However, with my econometric equations I can now work out how much “global warming” the Ministry of Pointless Extravagance will forestall with its – well, with its pointless extravagance. We begin with two very generous assumptions: first, that the IPCC’s estimates of how much “global warming” CO2 causes are not absurd exaggerations; secondly, that the Ministry of Misplaced Munificence has not flagrantly underestimated the cost of shutting down 80% of the British carbon economy by 2050.
Once again, then, hold on to your sombreros, amigos. Using the same analysis as before, there will be 506 ppmv CO2 by 2050, or just 5 ppmv less if the Ministry of Mumbo-Jumbo gets its way. “Global warming” forestalled will be just 0.03 Celsius, or around a twentieth of a Fahrenheit degree. And the cost per Celsius degree of warming prevented? A mere $34 trillion, or seven years’ total worldwide gross domestic product.
And that is why, Mr. President, one is less than impressed by your Grand Initiative. Don’t you think it strange, gentle reader, that after 22 years of The Process the very first serious calculations indicating just how spectacularly, gloriously futile is every proposed strategy for curbing carbon emissions are those that will appear in my forthcoming paper? No one, as best I can discover, has ever attempted to do this essential math before. Why on Earth not? Because, of course, the climate extremists know perfectly well what the answer will be.
Must stop now: time to pray to the Moon Goddess. At least the moon is brighter than those miserable new light-bulbs.
OK, I’ll tell you. El Presidente is – tell it not in Gash and Ashkelon – going to ban the use of proper light-bulbs throughout Mexico. Ban light-bulbs. Throughout Mexico. Really and truly. I kid you not. Gee wow golly gosh.
Its Gath, not Gash – but a nice metaphor none the less.
Madness! As in Insanity! Then, of course I am being repetitive.
I meant the ‘save the planet people’, not the author.
A classic sense of humour throughout.
I commend you for your upholding of this sense while most would be frothing with indignation.
We have thousands of unelected officials deciding, behind closed doors (they learned something from Copenhagen, at least) what they will tell the governments of the world they need to do to ‘fix’ Global Warming. As far as we can see so far, that decision that we assume they will announce today, will be that they will set up another set of unelected officials (mainly including the set of unelected officials currently making the decision), to administer billions of dollars that they will demand the richest governments of the world pay them. They will also get blanket powers to push their message that what they are doing is right and good, and absolutely necessary (regardless of evidence or observations), and (probably) sweeping powers to crush any dissent.
As my son says: “What could possibly go wrong?”
Excellent and convincing. Thanks Lord Moncktion.
20 years ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC Report 1990) came to the conclusion that CO2 was altering the climate and that “understanding and detecting the earth’s climate system must surely be the greatest scientific challenge yet to be faced by humankind. It is a worthy banner under which the nations of the world can unite” (IPCC, Working Group I, p. 328). That was designed to be good for science, but not necessarily for climate. More at http://www.whatisclimate.com/
Now it seems time for IPCC & supporters to pray to the Moon Goddess to rectify funding measures: “the cost per Celsius degree of warming prevented” for a “mere $34 trillion, or seven years’ total worldwide gross domestic product.”
“AGW” koolaid is a terrible addicting drug, and the promise by george soros of a destroyed western economy is like methadone to a heroin addict.
Good luck and Godspeed Sir M.
As always it is not about how many degrees it is about how many votes. Much more important for a politician to be thought to be doing something green than actually doing something green (whatever that might be). Especially when ‘doing something’ is something that the government does not have to find any money for like banning something.
They’re in Cloud Cuckoo Land!
These calculations should be slapped onto the front page of every newspaper in the UK.
Surely, milord, you mean miniature heat globes.
Lord Moncton – you are amazing.
I crown you King of Common Sense.
Long may you reign.
tim
It would be more cost effective to give the glowing night time orb, ( like the ‘brighter than the new miserable light bulbs’ comment), our neighbourly moon, its own atmosphere and move out there for some peace and quiet from all this warmist nonsense and from there we can bow down and pray to the earth goddess, for by God she needs it.
If $34 trillion is 7 years of global GDP then global GDP per annum is $4.85 trillion?
I know that governments cook the books, but US GDP is reportedly $14 trillion per annum, Japanese GDP is 5.x trillion, China’s is 4.9 and etc … (see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29) and global GDP on the order of $70 trillion.
Something does not add up here.
That aside, I sure hope that Moon goddess is paying attention; it’s bloody COLD!
The usual rapier wit & acute attention to detail!
Forgive me if I have said this before, age is a curious thing. One need only ask two questions & answer them both before ever talikng about the science. Q1: What is the final solution to manmade global warming? Q2: What is the ultimate ideological objective of Marxist Socialism? Answer to Q1 & Q2: Global government! Qed. Easy-peasy-jackaneasy!
As pointed out on EUreferendum & elsewhere, UK CET record for last week in November & 1st week in December is the second coldest fortnight since 1659, when records began. Was this reported in the msm over here in barkingland or any other province of the PDRofEU/EUSR? Not on your nelly!
The EPA in Norway says that if you break any of these new green bulbs, then open all windows and doors, and leave the room for at least 15 minutes.
Doesnt sound very green to me?
The Viscount hits the nail of humour and good sense dead plum again!
Slightly OT, but a quick flick through the Daily Graun’s CiF this morning shows an overwhelming majority of respondents so angry they would throw rotten fruit and vegetables if they could at a young woman and her silly article rhapsodisiing about the conference and the importance of the young people there that represent ‘youth, gender groups and environmentalists’. I gather the message that CO2 is a non-problem is really getting through.
And what on earth are ‘gender groups’? Conjures up visons of my long-departed Mum’s elderly fellow members of the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers(Inc)
back home and long ago.
“[…] Eco-Village Movement (83,000 self-sustaining villages and urban communities in 100 countries) […]”
Now there’s a new one on me. Are there already 83,000 self-sustaining villages and urban communities in 100 countries or is it a goal to get to 83,000? Either way, all I can visualize is small groups of people eating nuts and berries and occasionally burning twigs for cooking and heat while they wait to die at an early age.
Or perhaps they all have a small nuclear reactor at their disposal for air conditioning and charging their cars. I’m not sure about their definition of ‘self-sustaining’ at this point.
Lord Monckton, you didn’t manage to get a photo of the ‘rather spectacular young lady’ by any chance? Sounds like a she is a real beauty. On the serious side my country (Ireland) has already banned those pesky lightbulbs thanks to a minority Green party in Government who, it is expected, will soon disappear forever from Irish politics. A couple of years ago one of our learned Green ministers warned on radio how the ice melting at the North pole would raise sea levels by x meters (where x is proportional to your level of hysteria). Obviously never heard of Archimedes principle!
LoL…. Lord Monckton certainly has a way with words….. and a damn fine grasp of mathematics too, I might add…. Certainly better then many of our so called economists, it would seem.
Lord Moncton, you and the other luminaries opposing AGW nonsense deserve a Nobel prize. How many of us would have the courage to go face to face with the mathematically challenged looney toons in Cancun as you have?
Attention: Lord Moncton.
Your next mission is to find out more about the Eco-Village Movement and report back, with pictures, especially of any of their spokespersons.
(It’ll give you a chance to chat up that “spectacular young lady.” I know, I know. Tough job, but someone has to take one for the team. Go get ’em.!)
I’m stealing that “No, she said, with a shapely sigh.” 🙂
kwik says:
December 10, 2010 at 1:47 am
The EPA in Norway says that if you break any of these new green bulbs, then open all windows and doors, and leave the room for at least 15 minutes.
Doesnt sound very green to me?
I wonder how much CO2 will be generated to reheat the room at this time of year?
As somebody once said, “the monkeys have the key to the banana plantation”
We have loads of those energy-saving light bulbs in our house. They save energy but for the high wattage ones you have to wait 10 mins for it to ‘heat-up’. If you smash one you have to call out a crack decontamination unit and seal off the street in case of mercury poisoning.
An I already eat a lot of mercury-rich tuna which puts me even more at risk. On no, wait, it doesn’t.
The $34 trillion figure seem to more indicate 7 month’ of total world GDP not 7 years’.
Anyway, the 83,000 self-sustaining villages seem to include all the poor sods of the world, usually, tragically, natives of every respective country that aren’t allowed to energize their lives. I believe this to be the case rather than there would be 83,000 self-sustaining villages inhabited by your local city village idiots, ’cause as far as I know they have never been able to become self-sustaining of anything. It is more probable that the rats these weekend hippies bring to, an already set table, will likely become both self-sustaining and self-aware before the bong-engineers even start to understand why their composts are infested by rats when it’s sub zero degrees outside.
Why does it feel like the last days of Rome?
Shevva: It feels like the last days of Rome because of the stinking corruption.
In Australia we’ve had regulated/legislated ‘energy’ saving bulbs for a few years. I’ve tripped over a few times, sprained my ankles multiple times because I cannot F$@#%^ing see!! I’ve replaced them at the same rate as incandescent bulbs. What a wank! I’m pissed and ready for a global citizen revolt. Don’t pay your carbon tax. Pay your bill without the tax. Citizens of the World unite! Hmmmmmm. Where have I heard that before? Oh, that’s right Andy Stern, communist, socialist, agitator – “Workers of the world unite”
Suddenly that NZ gook doesn’t seem so funny. I’ve thought since Copenhagen that we have been counting chickens prematurely.
I did a similar calculation to Monckton on the banning of incandescent light bulbs by the EU. Of course none of the bureaucrats or politicians do any calculations or cost benefit analysis. That is not the point of the exercise.
When all domestic incandescent light bulbs are replaced in the EU, the total energy savings will be less than 0.33%. This figure is on the high side as it takes no account of winter energy saving from the heat released from filament bulbs or the additional energy used in the manufacture of low energy bulbs. Additionally, because of the slow warm up time it is likely that these bulbs will be left on for a longer time than conventional bulbs. The use of mercury will lead to additional environmental costs of disposal and the pollution caused by uncontrolled tipping.
The net benefit is likely to be neutral or even negative.
Written from his airconditioned accomodation cubicle at:
Latitude:-23.15599
Longitude:120.47442
GPS location Date/Time:12/10/2010 10:10:50 GMT
Might I add the obvious fact that if one thinks that socialism, in all its forms, is a workable solution for humanity’s plight, then that view is wrong – for what you get for voting them in is what CM (tuggs forelock) writes about in his missives from Cancun.
Fighting this lot is not too difficult – don’t pay your taxes. If everyone suddenly decided to do so, what are the world’s governments going to do? But if you believe we need free health care, or a welfare state, and everything else that might possibly be listed on a trade union’s wish list, then stop complaining about the shenanigans of the UN and the IPCC – its existence is predicated by the belief that a welfare state is desirable.
Research the Fabians and you will start to understand the political mechanics of the climate change agenda.
Lord Monckton,
You are a bloody legend!! Except your a POM!!
If you were not beating us in the “Ashes” at the moment, i might like you even more!!!
The funny thing is, here in Australia we are a meant to be having terrible droughts and no water due to global warming, yet last time i checked, half of NSW was under water and the desalination plants (which have cost billions) have all been put into mothballs!! oh dear!!
No common sense anywhere i am afraid, except from you Lord Monckton!!
Off the track a bit…
Keep up the fight, just like old Ian Chappell and Ian Botham.
The funny story is;
” It all started years ago when Botham and Chappelli had a few beers after a Test Cricket Match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the late 70’s ! Suddenly Chappelli said to Botham, ” You are a pommy bastard!!” To which Botham replied with a five knuckle sandwich and laid him out flat on the ground! Chappelli seeing stars looked up at Botham and said ” You are still a Pommy Bastard!!” They have never liked each other since!!
Keep up the fight MY LORD!!!
Go the Aussies in the THIRD TEST!!
Kind Regards
Bill of Cairns QLD
Our home-grown idiot, Lord Stern, has demanded that I give up nearly two months of my annual pension to to help the fight against droughts and flooding in far off places, when I’m trying to fight against cold here, and having to turn down the heating to pay for it. I’ll have to resort to my log pile soon!
Monckton said:
“…I asked: “In that case, Professor, on what rational basis is any of this expenditure being made or proposed?” Red-faced with embarrassment, he couldn’t answer that one either. ”
I suspect, sir, that it wasn’t embarrassment that made his face red. It was barely contained fury that you would ask such an inappropriate question. After all, he’s Saving the Planet, and no cost is too much for the rest of us to bear.
On the lightbulb issue, the level of mercury at the light bulb stands at the supermarket must be through the roof, as the bulbs are accidentaly smashed by customers on a regular basis and just disposed of by staff in regular trash.
We have the following settlement in our county (along with many other interesting people and things, given our proximity to Washington DC):
http://www.ecovillages.com/index.php
Used to stress the co-housing aspect much more, and much of it sounds fine, but consider:
They are far from the work center of the city, and the “solution” to commuting on roads that are relentlessly kept unpaved in the area (bad for horses’ hooves) is of course telecommuting (see universal broadband initiatives, just about anywhere on earth).
However, the broadband faces the same hurdles in implementation that many renewables do when they are attempted, after much pious demand that other forms be discontinued–antennae are a no-no. Ugly, cancer-causing, viewshed destroying, wildlife killing, etc.
The answer proposed by some when our county attempted to implement our own broadband initiative for the rural policy area (since the density wasn’t there to make it viable for any business to attempt to do so)?
No antennae for commercial carriers–hundreds of little arrays attached directly to trees so they wouldn’t be seen, by small rural carriers.
I wonder what that does to the trees, to have hundreds of small devices nailed or screwed to them?
Not to mention the power that has to be generated to feed the computers everyone will telework on.
And don’t forget to sign up for the bus down to the coal plant protest next week! Signup sheets posted in the dining hall!
CFL are no good for rooms one goes in and out of quickly. CFL give horrible light. I have a few (at 10p (15c) each, who can resist?) but only in selected places. I leave them on more than I would an incandescent, because of the warm up time and short life if switched too often With UK so cold, I need the heat from the old incandescents : fortunately I have a large stock, purchased when the banning of them was announced, plus new Halogen ones where I want whiter light.
Written this to keep calm in the face of mounting anger if the elementary calculations of net CO2 savings have really not been done!!!! I think a brandy is called for, and something before lunch…..
(Do grapes grow during an ice age?)
Great story. Thank you.
However, as Monckton’s yesterday’s contribution has shown, I am afraid that all this BS events are only blowing smoke to hide what’s going on behind the scene. And there are enough stupid followers there, as Germany’s Roettgen. So while we are celebrating the failure of Cancun, the Gores and Soroses are celebrating another small step towards their goals. Let us focus on that and fight.
Ivan invades Yellowknife:
“Current Conditions
Clear
-40 °C”
http://weather.canoe.ca/Weather/CityYellowknifeNT.html
…-
AGW HotNews Report: Real progress by Ivan.
Nyet! Say Nyet! Minister Baird.
Say Nyet! to the AGW zombies at UNaBomber* Mao Stlong’s AGW “zombie conference”.
…-
“Russia will not renew Kyoto protocol
“Summit cast into doubt as Russia says it will not sign extension to treaty that has governed climate negotiations for more than a decade”
“After last year’s failure at Copenhagen, a weak result – or outright collapse – of talks at Cancún would damage the credibility of the entire UN negotiating process, the energy secretary Chris Huhne warned.
“Next year people will say, well, we’re not going to make any progress and we end up with a zombie conference where there won’t be anybody at a senior enough level to take any serious decisions at all.””
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/10/cancun-climate-change-conference-kyoto
*UNaBomber Mao Stlong is Canadian Liberal leader Bob Rae’s Uncle Mo Strong.(search)
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/mt/mt-comments.cgi
These numbers are backed up by acceptance from a renowned UK government advisor.
The FUTILITY of Man-made Climate Control by limiting CO2 emissions, watch:
On average world temperature is ~+15 deg C. This is sustained by the atmospheric Greenhouse Effect ~33 deg C. Without the Greenhouse Effect the planet would be un-inhabitable at ~-18 deg C.
Running the numbers by translating the agents causing the Greenhouse Effect into degrees centigrade:
• Water Vapour and Clouds account for about 95% of the Greenhouse Effect = ~ 31.35 deg C
• Other Greenhouse Gases GHGs account for ~5% = ~1.65 deg C
• CO2 is 75% of that remaining effect accounting for the enhanced effects of Methane, Nitrous Oxide and other GHGs = ~1.24 deg C
• Most CO2 in the atmosphere is natural, more than ~93%
• Man-made CO2 is less than 7% of total atmospheric CO2 = ~0.09 deg C
• the USA contribution to CO2 is ~20% equals = 17.6 thousandths deg C
• UK’s contribution to World CO2 emissions is ~1.8% = 1.6 thousandths deg C.
So closing the whole UK Carbon economy could only affect world temperature by a minuscule and immeasurable amount
As closing the carbon economies of the Whole World could only ever achieve a virtually undetectable less than -0.09 deg C. How can the Green movement and their supporting politicians think that their remedial actions and draconian taxes are able to limit warming to only + 2.00 deg C?
So the probability is that any current global warming is not man-made and in any case such warming could be not be influenced by any remedial action taken by mankind however drastic. If the numbers above are even close to the right ballpark, the prospect should be greeted with Unmitigated Joy:
• concern over CO2 as a man-made pollutant can be discounted.
• it is not necessary to damage the world’s economy to no purpose.
• if warming were happening, it would lead to a more benign and healthy climate for all mankind.
• any extra CO2 is already increasing the fertility and reducing water needs of all plant life and thus enhancing world food production.
• a warmer climate, within natural variation, would provide a future of greater prosperity for human development and much more food for the growing world population. This has been well proven in the past and would now especially benefit the third world.
Nonetheless, this is not to say that the world should not be seeking more efficient ways of generating its energy, conserving its energy use and stopping damaging its environments. It remains absolutely clear that our planet is vastly damaged by many human activities such as:
• environmental pollution.
• over fishing.
• forest clearance.
• industrial farming.
• farming for bio-fuels .
• and other habitat destruction.
And there is a real need to wean the world off the continued use of fossil fuels simply on the grounds of:
• security of supply
• increasing scarcity
• rising costs
• their use as the feedstock for industry rather than simply burning them.
The French long-term energy strategy with its massive commitment to nuclear power is impressive, (85% of electricity generation). Even if one is concerned about CO2, Nuclear Energy pays off, French electricity prices and CO2 emissions / head are the lowest in the developed world.
However in the light of the state of the current solar cycle, it seems that there is a real prospect of damaging cooling occurring in the near future for several decades. And as power stations face closure the lights may well go out in the winter 2015 if not before.
All because CO2 based Catastrophic Man-made Global Warming has become a state sponsored religion.
And now after “Splattergate” thanks to the 10:10 organisation the world now knows exactly how they think.
Splattergate is classic NOBLE CAUSE CORRUPTION. It is probably the most egregious piece of publicity ever produced in the Man-made Global Warming cause. This short film shows doubting schoolchildren being blown up and having their entrails spread over their classmates because they may have been less than enthusiastic about the CAUSE. So any misrepresentation is valid in the Cause and any opposition however cogent or well qualified is routinely denigrated, publically ridiculed and as we now see literally terminated.
Excellent article! Monckton’s renaming of that agency every time he refers to it reminds me of an incident involving composer Igor Stravinsky. One of his works was reviewed by Vladimir Dukelsky, better known as Vernon Duke, composer of the song ‘April in Paris.’ Stravinsky took slight exception to the review and replied to it. He never referred to Dukelsky by name, but first as ‘the composer of “April in Paris,”‘ then later as the composer of March in Marrakech, then February in Fujiyama, then London in Leap-Year, and so on. Very funny reply to an inconsequential review.
All that being said, we, too, are having no end of trouble with the new bulbs. I’ve already broken one (didn’t know of the hazard), and the ones that remain are dying off at least as fast as the incandescent ones they replaced. Further, they make lights throughout the house flicker maddeningly, and sometimes go out altogether. What a crock!
Thanks, Lord Monckton, for seeing things as clearly, and expressing them as well, as you do!
Every little helps! 0.0005% here, 0.003% there, it all adds up, you know, and in a couple of centuries we will have saved enough to knock this warming thingy on the head for good.
What has Monckton accomplished at COP-16? There seems to have been few people “needing” his ministrations, no “Hitler youth” needing to be spanked. It sounds like the most exciting items have been CFact’s petitions and whatever activities that have replaced bathing in the morning Sun.
So he gets to experiment with alliteration and experience shapely sighs. This is actually progress, perhaps we have made it past the “crisis” and are entering a phase of mopping up the remaining hot spots.
Ah yes, that’s what I was going to comment on. On the demise of Incandescent Classics:
> And the answer? A little over 0.0001 Celsius, or around one five-thousandth of a Fahrenheit degree. And only that much if the IPCC’s exaggerated estimate of future warming is correct.
Clearly President Calderon intended this to be merely one of “a thousand points of light” and that it, combined with 999 future similar gestures, shall bring us to, umm, a decline of 0.1°C.
Cool! (Of course, I’m now referring to my overnight low in New Hampshire of 4°F, about -15°C.)
speaking of corruption; knowing how Mexico works I’ll guarantee that the reason El Presidente is so eager to sign off on this light bulb deal is that he and his backers have been personally guaranteed a cut of the massive profits that will be made from the new, high priced bulbs that all the paisanos will now be forced to buy.
Look under any global warming initiative, theft and fraud will always be the true motivation. Fitting that this should be in Mexico, where that’s been a way of life for a long, long time.
Meanwhile, the econutty kool-aid guzzlers are gearing up for a fight come January, launching such powerful, fact-laden missives as the one below, from the Union of Hysterical Bedwetters, aka UCS:
“Dear Friend,
Are you ready for 2011? I hope so, because boy do we have our work cut out for us! Come January, climate deniers—backed by big oil, the coal industry, and electric utilities—will descend on Congress, governors’ offices, and state legislatures across the country. Taking a page out of the tobacco industry’s playbook, they will manufacture doubt about the science of climate change and stop at nothing to protect their own interests and deep pockets by blocking efforts to reduce global warming emissions. We’re gearing up for a fight and are prepared to move forward. —Karla”
Sigh. It’s incredible that, after all these years they still resort to the same, tired tactics. You can smell the fear, though. The “climate deniers”, of course are all the newly-elected Republicans, who will be descending on Washington D.C., like viking hordes. What’s in your wallet? Not much, if the Warmistas have anything to say about it.
“[…] Eco-Village Movement (83,000 self-sustaining villages and urban communities in 100 countries) […]“
And most of those nut and berry-eating eco-loons are down at the EU district in Brussels…
.
In theory, a legal argument could be made at the class action level that the Federal government cannot force you to bring a potentially lethal substance into your home (Mercury-vapor fluorescent bulbs) by denying you a safer alternative……..
Joe Hopkins,
I work for one of those US “large Hg emitters”. I must thank you for that article you linked to. I’ve sent the link to our environmental compliance folks and other chemists in our region. It has also changed my view of mercury emissions considerably. While I’m not totally conviced that wastewater point source emissions into a lake would be acceptable, the atmospheric emissions may be another story.
Thank you, again.
Now that we in the UK have been saddled with another “jobs for the boys” Ministry, that of climate change, this reduces the chance of any abandonment of this economically-suicidal scam. When has government ever voluntarily grown smaller, anywhere in the world, without being forced to do so at gunpoint? Oh well, maybe it’s for the best – Earth’s climate has, after all, been changing continuously since its crust began to solidify, and it’s time we put a stop to it, dammit! Up with Global Cooling!
The Climate Scandal will now start unravelling in the political arena due to Wikileaks (though nothing to do with their non-performance in Climategate), this to do with Soros, Rothschild, Goldman Sachs and the EU as NWO Proxy. Over the next two weeks they will do everything they can to grab Assange and stop the final revelations, because this is truly now the endgame.
Hopefully the US will repeal the ban on real light bulbs with Republican gaining more power. I was not anti-CFL by any means, seemed easy and reasonable, however the damn things, advertised to last 5 years, barely make it 1 if I’m lucky. And replacing a $6 bulb isn’t quite as inconsquental as replacing a 50 c bulb or whatever incandescents cost, they cost so little I never really noticed. Hopefully LEDs will prove more effective and efficient than the awful CFLs. Oh did I mention CFLs are useless for about 3 or 4 minutes after they are turned on, and require hazmat, and don’t work with dimmers, and don’t work with a large number of lamp shades, and dont fit in a large number of domed ceiling fixtures?
You would think that Calderon would be more worried about people being beheaded….
Thank you, Lord Monckton, for an enjoyable read. I needed the laugh.
Careful, careful there Lord Monckton. If they’re close enough to unplug your microphone, they’re close enough to slit your throat. The closer we get to the downfall of their enterprise, the more desperate they become. We need you with us for the long haul so watch yourself while you’re down there in the sinkhole.
You’re ire against the idiotic banning of incandescents is fine, but, your condemnation of compact fluorescents is completely off base. I write to you from under the virtual sunlight from high colour temperature compact fluorescents, an effect not achievable with incandescents. See: http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/6052/FC65-S65.html for my choice in bulb.
Can you perhaps run the numbers if Calderon had banned jet airplanes from landing in Mexico? That would be so much more effective at reducing the Mexican CO2 footprint. Or are we attributing Mexican tourism to the originating “bad” first world countries?
Another excellent riposte from our favourite peer. Who will wager, which country will be the first to be destroyed by government mandate? The UK is looking favourite in that particular competition, although Spain and Germany are strong contenders. A year ago the US would have been a contender, but sadly, the American people no longer want to play.
“Don’t pay your carbon tax. Pay your bill without the tax.”
Here in the UK my last bill from Scottish Gas included a box where the renewables tax could be displayed. It wasn’t. I wonder why?
Have any of the UK posters reading this had a utility bill quantifying this imposte?
Eco Villages appears to be a social movement. But look for yourself.
http://www.ecovillagenews.org/wiki/index.php/Ecovillage_Resources
What’s the probability that regulating the burning of fossil fuel will have any effect on climate change? My educated guess is around .0000001. Read Alan Carlin’s post. http://www.carlineconomics.com/archives/711. Extreme costs with no benefits.
As a child in the Detroit area, I remember the alarm over eating local fish due to mercury released by some plant further upriver. So, as we use more cfl bulbs, how many people will really dispose of them properly? As these bulbs are sent to the local trash pit, the mercury will start to contaminate the local groundwater. Think of the cleanup issues in 100 years?
I wonder how safe it is to mine for mercury and refine it and are those costs factored in the overall energy and environmental impact?
Has no one studied the energy difference between making a mercury vapor CFL versus an incandescent? In one case you have to deal with some very poisonous stuff, which imposes some kind of safety regulation (unless these things are made in India?), in the other you’ve got a process that’s been perfected over 100+ years (?) and only requires a filament of somewhat common metals and a low pressure environment. One process requires internal circuitry to work, requiring a separate production facility, the other has straight wires. One product requires special handling for disposal in many municipalities, one does not.
I would be willing to believe that CFL’s, when all is said and done, are just as stupid an idea as converting agricultural production to ethanol.
1DandyTroll; the “US” Trillion is what, in the UK, is a Billion… I suspect his Lordship is using the UK measurement.
Those wonderful green lightbulbs are the next generations’ nightmare for landfill or recycling, whichever. As someone has remarked here, you need a decontamination team in if you break one – but then, what are a few thousand cases of mercury poisoning if it ‘saves the planet?’ One more big ‘change one problem for another’ is the batteries used in all these ‘Green’ electric and hybrid eco-cars. First off, the Prius engine has just about the worst fuel economy consumption you can get – it only looks green because mileage on the battery power makes it look better…
But what is not addressed is that the battery life is 5 (Five) years in all the electric and hybrid cars. There is no way to recycle them and no way to dispose of them …
Nuclear fusion anyone?
I must ask, do global warming science conventions start with such a prayer? Sounds like Cancun has turned into Cankook!
Jose Suro says:
December 10, 2010 at 5:43 am
Yes, but LED’s are a safer alternative than incandescents, so that specific argument wouldn’t go far.
“Here in the UK my last bill from Scottish Gas included a box where the renewables tax could be displayed. It wasn’t. I wonder why?
Have any of the UK posters reading this had a utility bill quantifying this imposte?”
I have not seen the tax, or cost of ROC included in my electricity bill. I don’t suppose they will ever show those details, because once people see for themselves how they are being fleeced, there will be outrage.
Thanks, Lord Monckton, for your endless efforts to combat CAGW!
After reading your latest reports, I can only conclude that the inmates are running the asylum… What else can you expect with these moon-worshipping cargo-cultists 🙂
Jeremy says:
December 10, 2010 at 6:55 am but LED’s are a safer alternative …
Yes, specially for traffic lights when snow falls….They are so shy that they simply disappear.
Hey, Monckton, tell them that the US is the new Energy Kingdom;
http://www.thegwpf.org/energy-news/2007-north-america-the-new-energy-kingdom.html
Well, at least Calderon is getting into the Carbon Cult’s spirit of national suicide. All the incandescent bulbs I’ve bought lately are made in Mexico.
I am in full agreement with m’lord about the absurdity of these AGW initiatives.
However, it is indeed possible to save a good deal of money with alternative lightbulbs.
The ones I am using now are LED bulbs.
The new technology bulbs are the ones with heat sinks surrounding the light element.
The ones from Sylvania are especially nice, they are very “white” in color, come on instantly, and work well with dimming fixtures.
They are rated at about half the power consumption of their CFL counterparts.
A 40W incandescent equivalent bulb takes 8W, the CFL takes 15W.
Unfortunately, they cost around $40 each.
They pay for themselves many times over.
Also, I note that the rated 800 lumens for the bulbs appears much brighter than the 800 lumen rated CFL equivalent bulbs in side-by-side comparison.
And they should last about three times longer than the CFL’s, and don’t poison your home with mercury if dropped.
Just because you are an AGW sceptic, there is no reason not to save money.
The AGW people are causing electricity rates to skyrocket, and this is a good way to combat this.
“Tell it not in Gash (Gath) and Ashkelon”
This Humble Red Neck had to look it up. They were two of the five principal cities of the Philistines in the Old Testament. And, the Philistines were, well, Philistines. And the Philistines were the bitter enemies of the Chosen People.
A Philistine, see second meaning:
1. A member of an Aegean people who settled ancient Philistia around the 12th century B.C.
2.
a. A smug, ignorant, especially middle-class person who is regarded as being indifferent or antagonistic to artistic and cultural values.
b. One who lacks knowledge in a specific area.
So….I believe that the good Lord of Brenchley means that there is no point in telling this to the Philistines (that’s us!) because we won’t understand. It would be similar to: “words of wisdom are like pearls cast before the swine”.
What a Hoot!
Proud to be a Red Neck AND a Philistine!
Regards,
Steamboat Jack (Jon Jewett’s evil twin)
Someone is doing a very fine job of turning off all the lights over at Wikipedia as well.
http://ourmaninsichuan.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/shutting-up-wikileaks-the-gameplan/
Pointman
Hey, no fair using logic and facts and stuff!
I caught the last 15 minutes of blather from Robert Watson, chief scientific poohbah in charge of advising the UK government (if I understood correctly) on the CBC radio program The Current. He repeated all the assertions that we so roundly condemn. I thought at first that he was some wild-eyed activist brought in to comment on Cancun, and was flabbergasted to hear that this is the misinformation being fed to the UK government.
Anyone who takes their nausea pills in advance should be able to hear the program from Monday 13th by going to http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/ and finding the program segment. (It will probably also be on this evening (Dec. 10) at 2300 or 2400 in the various time zones across Canada; go to http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ and click on “The Current”.)
IanM
H.R. says:
December 10, 2010 at 2:10 am
“[…] Eco-Village Movement (83,000 self-sustaining villages and urban communities in 100 countries) […]“
Now there’s a new one on me. Are there already 83,000 self-sustaining villages and urban communities in 100 countries or is it a goal to get to 83,000? Either way, all I can visualize is small groups of people eating nuts and berries and occasionally burning twigs for cooking and heat while they wait to die at an early age.
HR:
“Ralph says:
December 10, 2010 at 5:31 am
“[…] Eco-Village Movement (83,000 self-sustaining villages and urban communities in 100 countries) […]“
And most of those nut and berry-eating eco-loons are down at the EU district in Brussels…”
“WillR says:
December 10, 2010 at 6:30 am
Eco Villages appears to be a social movement. But look for yourself.
http://www.ecovillagenews.org/wiki/index.php/Ecovillage_Resources”
As with many of those lucky enough (and big-headed enough) to have the time and resources to devote to onanistic obsession over their mission to control the planet because of their effect on it, I think a lot of fashionably green people miss the larger agenda, while furthering it through their participation.
Here, it is the baby-boomer retirement/back to the commune of their ever-so-relevant and rebellious youth in the 60s, but without the lack of sanitation etc. Many of the younger types who buy in are the trust fund Franny Armstrong types who have made the decision to damage the earth by reproducing, but do so in a SUSTAINABLY RESPONSIBLE way.
I am frequently reminded of the scene in “The Aviator”, when the Hughes character is lunching at the Connecticut estate of Katharine Hepburn’s clan, and finally bursts out at Mrs. Hepburn’s blithe “We’re all socialists here, Mistah Huuuuughes!” with “Yes ma’am, because you can afford to be!”
H.R. says:
December 10, 2010 at 2:10 am
“[…] Eco-Village Movement (83,000 self-sustaining villages and urban communities in 100 countries) […]“
Now there’s a new one on me. Are there already 83,000 self-sustaining villages and urban communities in 100 countries or is it a goal to get to 83,000? Either way, all I can visualize is small groups of people eating nuts and berries and occasionally burning twigs for cooking and heat while they wait to die at an early age.
HR:
Last night I went to a meeting of more than 20 such people It was the local chapter of The Council of Canadians (Saint John, NB). Totally wandering discussions, but the reality came through that many want to return to local self-sufficiency. No evidence of intelligent life to be seen.
IanM
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!
I love The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley.
I wish they hadn’t asked the Moon goddess. She’s turned down the thermostat in Cancun and in northern Europe. Far too effective a deity for my liking.
I wish Obama and his troops would come clean about what this is really about. Reducing the western world’s dependence on oil from flaky dictatorships, an ethos I can’t argue with. I really don’t mind paying more for fuel, having to use lightbulbs that I switch on ten minutes before I want to go into the room, and having wind turbines put up all over the countryside, but be honest about the reasons why! This is not going to save the planet from climate change. It’s enormous hubris to think that anything we do here on the planet’s surface will have more effect than the natural oscillations of the earth and the sun.
Some CFL’s made by Philips are dimmable. They are the fairly high brightness ones and labelled ‘dimmable’. You have to get the right type of dimmer, though. There are two available so read carefully. Some of the Philips dimmable bulbs (not all) buzz when dimmed.
I understand that the UK may have lower power ones – it depends on what is being subsidised. 50 cents/pence is a fraction of the production cost. Look around for the 150 watt equivalent.
While it has been mentioned that there is Hg in them, the white powder is I think the main culprit. Ordinary flourescent bulbs are similarly treated in some countries (in terms of disposal/breakage).
Vince Causey says:
December 10, 2010 at 6:15 am
Who will wager, which country will be the first to be destroyed by government mandate?
Hasn’t NZ already won that one? I believe NZ is the only country with an up-and-running ETS which is costing the citizenry an average of $3/week. (Those in NZ may like to confirm.)
Shut down and turn off NZ completely and what difference would that make to AGW? Diddly squat. But hey! we are there for the rest of the world when you need us most.
All this is a smoke screen as jaypan implied. The tactics by Soros and his far left elite is to get our heads spinning by all the insanity that is going on with the environmental crap. The more insane the better so all our focus is directed towards those issues to the point that we feel totally numb and helpless. Their ultimate goal is to get to a central government and a process to flow money in the system so it can be tapped off to the desired accounts around the world. While this insanity keeps us busy they line up the proper pieces at the fringes of this insanity for the final kill of democracy around the world.
In US the only piece that is missing is the control of the internet which they are working on now by distracting us with the ongoing scandals. And of course they have to deal with us who are not ready to bow to the new world order.
H.R. says:
December 10, 2010 at 2:53 am
“Attention: Lord Moncton.”
Dang it! Lost a ‘k’ somewhere, and I’d swear I looked twice before posting. Sorry.
I still wanna see the pictures.
=============================
Ian L. McQueen says:
December 10, 2010 at 7:48 am
“[…] Last night I went to a meeting of more than 20 such people It was the local chapter of The Council of Canadians (Saint John, NB). Totally wandering discussions, but the reality came through that many want to return to local self-sufficiency. No evidence of intelligent life to be seen.”
The bears like it when their food is concentrated in one place like that, eh? ;o)
I have just put in an on-line order for several 60w and 100w incandescent light bulbs (before they’re banned completely in the UK). They should keep me in lovely light for decades to come – and I shall be the envy of my neighbourhood! The fact that their useage may be deemed illegal will only make the light all the sweeter to bathe in.
Seems to me that outlawing bean and cheese burritos would have a greater impact on reducing global warming than the light bulb initiative. After all, methane is a more effective greenhouse gas than CO2.
Regarding these mercury-filled light bulbs and the panicy reaction to their breakage, I’m surprised that some “eco-terrorists” don’t smash a few at the Cancun Summit and watch the whole thing shut down.
My Lord
If you able to access The London Times of today, 10th December, in the wilds of frazzling Cancun, you will find an unmistakable clue as to the transition process for our great humble pie eating extravaganza which will undoubtedly be the next great global feature of media-warming pazazz.
His Holiness Pope Oleg Deripaska, he of the aluminium wars and rather a rich chappie, was describing a rather superficially sane set of proposals for non-coal-based energy (which mostly covered hydro and nuclear in those terribly backwater economies of Russia and China) initiatives across the Northern Hemisphere of Eurasia.
To be sure he was still singing the global warming mantra a bit, but reading his piece one was struck by the common sensical thesis that hydro is a mechanism, used properly, which can turn on electricity rapidly and off again equally rapidly according to demand. His claim, which no doubt your Lordship will be able to refute or deny more easily than I can, was that Russia’s great eastern wilderness can tap this to a great degree (which I assume means in the summer, as Siberia has a habit of being a bit cold in the winter, so I wonder how deep the rivers must be to allow any flow of water through the turbines in January or February…….), hence servicing the Chinese energy needs beautifully at prices suitable for both sides, just as the Sahara may generate more solar power in the summer than the winter for Europe (the time when usually we want more of the damn stuff….), although that might be OK in practice…….
One wonders whether this will bring a new feature to manufacturing in the Orient: a 4 month holiday in the winter freeze up? Or are the hydro turbines capable of operating in a Russian oriental winter??
But the overall message was clear: clean energy to reduce energy costs for business. Oh and all in the cause of climate change.
How much longer before the Pigs invite back Farmer Jones back to Global Warming Farm, eh??
From Cancun:
“In one paper Professor Kevin Anderson, Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, said the only way to reduce global emissions enough, while allowing the poor nations to continue to grow, is to halt economic growth in the rich world over the next twenty years.”
Riots in the rich countries?
Now you can bet your boots that these guys will insist each of us has a personal energy allowance but, of course air travel to exotic climate change, aka global warming, conferences will be exempt, as will any travel by an accredited climate scientist or government employee or any politician. Anyone of course, regardless of their academic status, will not be able to get accreditation if they disagree with AGW.
I like low energy bulbs. They are a bit cheaper to run than the incan whatsists so I can leave them on all the time. Only one I ever switch off is the bedroom light. Couldnt do that with the other sort.
when will the greens invent perpetual motion, waiting for that too
Here in the UK my last bill from Scottish Gas included a box where the renewables tax could be displayed. It wasn’t. I wonder why?
Have any of the UK posters reading this had a utility bill quantifying this imposte?
Scottish Power have a pie chart on their website showing VAT & Govt obligations as 9%. This also appears on my bill. May not be the whole story though.
Another point. As a dentist I worked with mercury for 36 yrs. As students in the 60’s we thought nothing about handling the stuff. When we renewed the floor covering in the surgery we found mercury embedded in the floor & also underneath it. I am now 71 so it couldn’t have been that bad.
Crispin in Ulaanbaatar says:
December 10, 2010 at 8:16 am
> While it has been mentioned that there is Hg in them, the white powder is I think the main culprit.
The white powder is the phosphor, and as far as I know is fairly benign. Don’t inhale it, but don’t inhale talcum powder or volcanic ash either.
The amount of mercury in the CFLs is really small. Being in small town New Hampshire, we have a town dump (okay, town transfer station) and they have an area for fluorescent bulbs and “Honeywell round” thermostats. I’ve been thinking of collecting a few of those to add to my Hg supply in my “heirloom chemicals” box at home.
Found a “Convenient Planet”:
NASA’s Spitzer Reveals First Carbon-Rich Planet
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-409
JDN
December 10, 2010 at 6:14 am
###
You do realize, I hope, that you will need to replace those bulbs at least yearly, to maintain that wonderful spectrum.
“A shapely sigh!” An absolute gem. This gets filed in my miscellany of all-time top pieces of descriptive writing. Brevity, wit, allusion and in only three words. And who said the good Viscount overuses language.
Great blog. I have now just figured out why governments are right to impose swinging aviation carbon taxes. This stops tourists going to pleasant islands for a vacation. Just imagine the help to the Maldives, the Pacific Islands and the W. Indies. Reducing the weight of tourists and the associated infrastucture – this will stop them sinking into the ocean.
@The Gray Monk says:
‘1DandyTroll; the “US” Trillion is what, in the UK, is a Billion… I suspect his Lordship is using the UK measurement.’
Pretty much every properly speaking country are using trillion to mean 1000 billions. And even, believe it or not, the US is adapting itself to the metric system, but, of course, it is as slow going as the brittons change from stone to kilograms. :p
However GDP is counted in US dollar and all I did was take 2009 world total of 58 dived it with 12 and multiply the dividend with 7 which gives about 33.8 which is close enough for 34. 🙂
Regarding the disposal of low-energy light bulbs, I phoned Falkirk District Council Refuse Department and asked what to do with broken ones. They replied “Put them in the dustbin.” I said that I thought that the remains were dangerous due to the presence of mercury. They said that there wasn’t enough to make any difference.
Kind Sir –
Next time, please do include in your calculations the carbon effect on public utilites of the net loss of heat, formerly produced by incandescents but not by flourescents, which must now be made up through the use of heaters and the like.
While I am sure Lord Monckton’s narrative is accurate, I think he missed the nuances (or for journalistic integrity, is just reporting, not opining). It is clear Calderon cares nothing for the Hoax. But like all the charlatans involved, they see a gold mine! So by making this empty gesture, he lines up at the trough of the $100 billion/year from the rest of the developed world!
In the end, that is his job. And except for his rhetoric, he is at least being honest in that regard.
The real problem with cfl’s is that they contain mercury vapour which really is toxic, unlike the metal itself which is harmless unless you drink it.
Well said Sir! You found some humour after all.
I think it really amusing when some pontificating politicians’ palaver is shot down by the expedient use of some science and and a little arithmetic.
AGWers prayed to the goddess of the Moon. Could that be because they realize that the Moon does influence climate? Is there also a Mayan goddess of the Sun… a goddess of Magnetic Forces… a goddess of Ocean Oscillations? Or has it got something to do with Ban Ki Moon?
Cenotes were the sites where the human-sacrificing Maya sacrificed people to their demonic gods and goddesses. Very appropriate for this now openly demon-worshiping cult to open with prayers to one of those demons which demanded human blood – as do the warmists.
Far safer for English aristocracy in Mexico than in the London’s Regent Street.
Shouts ‘off with their heads’ were heard as the top royals were passing by.
My lord, Ferdinand Maximilian von Hapsburg was no full; I believe there is a vacancy currently.
Earlier in the blog I made a statement that the banning of incandescent bulbs and the introduction of CFLs would result in a maximum energy reduction of 0.33 %. Mindful of the need for ‘transparency’ (unlike Climategate) and that my figures might be disputed, I give below my calculation:
Although energy savings per bulb may be very significant, the direct impact on household and national energy use are more difficult to fathom. For a start, if people use low-energy bulbs, they are often more inclined to leave them on for longer. The same thing happens for other energy efficiency measures. Also, it will take a very long time to phase out use of filament bulbs once they are no longer available. It is clear that many people are stocking up, and their supply could last many years. So, the phasing in of actual CFL use in homes will be a long process.
EU statistics show that lighting accounts for just under 3% of domestic energy consumption (about 10% of electricity use, but remember that much of the energy used is for heating, and supplied by gas or oil). Looking at overall energy consumption, including transport and industry, domestic lighting represents 0.76% of the total used in the 27 Member States.
But this is not the whole picture. A study by VITO consultants showed the following breakdown of lamp use in European homes in 2007:
>54% incandescent (down from 85% in 1995 and still decreasing)
>18% low-voltage halogen (and increasing)
>5% mains-voltage halogen (and growing)
>8% linear fluorescent
>15% CFL
So, if we assume that all remaining filament bulbs are replaced by CFL at some point in the future (unlikely, as use of halogen bulbs is likely to increase), that these bulbs are used to the same extent as those they replace and that the energy reduction per bulb is 80%, the total reduction in EU energy use would be 0.54 x 0.8 x 0.76% = 0.33%. This figure is almost certainly an overestimate, particularly as the inefficiency of conventional bulbs generates heat which supplements other forms of heating in winter. Which begs the question: is it really worth it?
The data were taken from an earlier WUWT transmission – credit goes to the unnamed author..
Your contributors have reinforced my view that the net impact on carbon emissions is negative, taking intp account production and disposal costs and the longer duration of use. I was unaware that they their life cycle was limited also.
On the positive side though, contributors give LEDs a good right up. Would it have been better to miss out the CFL step in technology and concentrate on LEDs
The Eco-Village movement will probably (if it hasn’t been already) be taken over by leftist interests. Perhaps if enough well-intentioned people sign up to go down to these Third & Fourth & Fifth World places, some real good will be accomplished. For more information, follow the link:
http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/volunteers-trailer/n22T46C0OzOTbtcY6nvd7A
Call me a sceptic, but I’m waiting for a dam of data to burst once the Cancun bun fight is over. The trouble for the Warmistas is that the data is going to be showing a cooling world. Of course the Warmistoids will scrabble around and try to find natural reasons why the world is cooling, something they refused to do for the last warming cycle. But the public is not stupid, they know just how damned cold the last few winters have been and how miserable the summers. So unless we see Polar bears sipping martinis on the beach or penguins riding camels pretty soon, this Cancun party will probably be the last big Warmistovian party.
But like they say, the party has got to end sometime!
wws says:
December 10, 2010 at 5:31 am
…speaking of corruption; knowing how Mexico works I’ll guarantee that the reason El Presidente is so eager to sign off on this light bulb deal is that he and his backers have been personally guaranteed a cut of the massive profits that will be made from the new, high priced bulbs that all the paisanos will now be forced to buy.
—–
Not to mention the fact that the manufacturers of the CFLs make a lot more money off of those products than they do off the incandescent bulbs. I’m sure they’re just fine with the bulb ban.
————-
j.pickens says:
December 10, 2010 at 7:14 am
…The ones I am using now are LED bulbs….
—-
There’s just that matter of cost… and it’ll be a very long time before those bulbs pay for their cost through energy savings, unless your power rates are truly grim.
With time and increased use the costs will come down, but it will also be a long time before they are as affordable as the incandescent.
LOL, Great Blog Post.
This just in:
Canada says world should engage with U.S., chose Copenhagen over Kyoto.
December 10, 2010 3:13 PM
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/world/Video+Climate+conference/3959772/story.html
“Koyto is Not on the radar screen at all. – Canadian Ambssador to the U.S. Gary Doer
“U.S. will never sign onto Kyoto. Al Gore could not get a single Senator to support that.” – US Environment Minister John Baird
Monkton says “I turned to the rather spectacular young lady on my left, from the Eco-Village Movement…”
Heh!! Way to go, Lord Monkton! Now you know why I used to hang out with the anti-nuke crowd in grad school = great parties, hot chix & rock and roll!
Amazing to see the wind coming out of the CAGW balloon, the record-cold temps in Cancun must be a real blow to these folks! I’m sure they chose Cancun because they were hopin’ & prayin’ it would be HOT! Heh!! Better luck next time, try Riyadh next time.
The Viscount Monckton of Brenchley rocks!
His brand of inspired erudite wit is simply dazzling.
An excellent read, your Lordship – but one has to wonder why ‘El Presidente’ is SOOOO far behind the curve on lightbulbs, since LED’s are infinitely more efficient than the so-called low-energy mercury-filled jobbies AND last for ever… I just bought a string of 800 brilliant white Christmas tree lights – LED’s – total power consumption 17W…! But then again, as you probably know, supermarkets in the UK are practically giving ‘low energy’ lamps away…
We have been living with those stupid lightbulbs for some years now in Australia. They are 10 times dearer than what they replaced. Their light dims within a few months so they have to be replaced more frequently ie about every year. They fail completely within 2 to 3 years. They are costing us heaps. We throw them in the bin to dispose of them just like everyone else does (so much for the delicate handling). Many of our “old” lightbulbs which we did not replace are still going strong years later and outsurviving the new design.
He ROCKS, indeed!
Hey, Somebody!
These Missives would be great ‘stocking stuffers’ next Christmas (comments and Cartoons by Josh, included) and those of us who actually survive this Christmas…(still praying for bus riding oldies in the U.K.) can laugh by the fireside for years to come.
That is… if “THEY” still ‘allow’, us to – of course – even have fireplaces to sit in front of to actually KEEP warm…by then….right?
Scientists, Friends, and ‘Flies in the Ointment-Types’…
It’s so VERY TIME for each of us to find our place – and take a noble, ‘flat-footed stand’ (to quote everyone’s prison buddy, Van Jones, who I’m certain looks better in that suit than he does in orange fatigues) for the INVERSE that he and The A-yers Team are hopin’ an’ prayin’ for this Christmas.
Allow THEM to ‘rise in rebellious rancor’ (akin to brainless stampeding cattle, and believe me, out here…I’ve seen that now and it NEVER works) while ‘we’ take our unique intellects and make a Stand for Truth and Reason.
Like Monckton shared just recently… and I take great pleasure, in reiterating ~ there are some issues that THIS female will dare say: ‘OVER MY DEAD BODY’ (whether it be figuratively or literally, it matters not.) For, “If you don’t LIVE for something, you’re gonna die daily for all that’s going on” – (I ‘think’ that’s the ‘death by a thousand little paper cuts, right? I actually ‘see’ that in Prince Charle’s eyes, sadly.) But, nonetheless – we may as well examine where that line in the sand is for each of us and then… see where we’re placed, I suppose.
So…… while we’re deciding… I’m really hoping that someone is saving all these ‘Blasts of Brilliance ‘- for the saying ‘steel sharpens steel’ is being proved (AND, a…hum, PEER REVIEWED) on a daily basis…indeed.
God bless each of you, Yes…and even my Atheist friends…
Cynthia Lauren
Yet again Mr Monckton makes the competition look sad, small and — wait for it! — cold. I salute you, sir!
They were praying to the Goddess Coyolxauhqui (pronounced coyol-sa-wa-key), the moon goddess. Coyolxauhqui was killed by her unborn brother, conceived in shame, who sprang as a fetus from his mother’s womb (at a convenient time of course) in full war armor, killing her and many of her brothers and sisters. He cut off her head and hurled it into the sky where it became the moon.
Its ironic they should pray to Coyolxauhqui. Global warming alarmists await the birth of a new paradigm. Only that paradigm is rather shamefully and prematurely taking on a life of its own – one not so friendly to their cause.
Psychoneurologically speaking, blushing embarrassment is actually suppressed and concealed rage at being “centered out”. So your correction is quite correct.
I almost got derailed entirely from my reading entirely by the “shapely sigh”. Truly brain-blasting imagery …
P.S. I am also impressed by your multi-lingualism. How many others besides Mexican Spanish?
About the $ error; I suspect the “7X” is meant to apply to the EU GDP, not global.
David says:
December 10, 2010 at 2:46 pm
I think he wants to stash a bunch of the squiggly bulbs in the Mayan pyramid tomb he is building for himself at Chichén Itza. Think of the CFLs as Shawabtis, there to do his bidding in the afterlife, since they will need no external power source to provide light.
I think LM has been using the US terminology for some time; multiplying his number by 1,000 doesn’t resolve the problem I think he just used “global” when “EU” was the correct base.
As for batteries, the TeslaMotors EV and other EV batteries are LiIon, and are almost entirely recyclable; in fact, most are also re-usable for lower-demand applications after being retired from automotive duty.
Well, as long as we’re on the CFL topic… My kitchen has 17 recessed ceiling fixtures that take PAR-40 bulbs, so I have a lot of experience replacing them! I started marking the month & year I put new bulbs in and I replaced one today, one I installed in May 2010!
Feit Electric. I’ve called some vendors and gotten warranty replacements, some were good enough to leave a toll-free phone # on the bulb. FEIT didn’t, but there’s contact info on their web site.
I do keep the lamp over the stove as an incandescent, currently I think it’s a halogen bulb. Current CFLs are better than old ones, but they have a strong yellow line in the gas mix that washes out the color of egg yolks.
That’s fast ending on its own. The huge glut of frac-gas (fracure mined natural gas) the world over means there is no energy shortage for the next few centuries:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/1108/opinions-steve-forbes-fact-comment-energy-crisis-over.html
Prices have dropped 2/3, and will likely go further. The stuff is everywhere; even Israel has found enough in a nearshore field to be independent soon, maybe even an exporter. The impacts are going to be vast.
1DandyTroll;
You’re seriously confused about British/SI numbering. Each step is the square of the previous. So “billion” is one million million (10^12). Trillion is one billion billion (10^24). So in American terms a British Trillion is a trillion trillion.
1. Cynthia Lauren Thorpe says: December 10, 2010 at 4:11 pm
…………………Like Monckton shared just recently… and I take great pleasure, in reiterating ~ there are some issues that THIS female will dare say: ‘OVER MY DEAD BODY’ (whether it be figuratively or literally, it matters not.) For, “If you don’t LIVE for something, you’re gonna die daily for all that’s going on”………………….
God bless each of you, Yes…and even my Atheist friends…
Cynthia Lauren
********************
Cynthia Lauren,
If you ever in the Austin Texas area, stop by. You’d fit right in! Back during the Civil War/War of Northern Aggression, all the men went off to fight. That left the women home to defend their homes from the Indians. It was brutal. And the Indian raids didn’t stop until about 1875. Texas women are NOT push overs!
Regards,
Steamboat Jack (Jon Jewett’s evil twin)
Cynthia Lauren said:
“God bless each of you, Yes…and even my Atheist friends…”
—————–
Cynthia, thank you for the pleasant sentiments, but, really, you don’t need to capitalize the word ‘atheist’ any more than I feel obliged to capitalize the word ‘god’.
phlogiston says:
December 10, 2010 at 12:09 am
OK, I’ll tell you. El Presidente is – tell it not in Gash and Ashkelon – going to ban the use of proper light-bulbs throughout Mexico. Ban light-bulbs. Throughout Mexico. Really and truly. I kid you not. Gee wow golly gosh.
Its Gath, not Gash – but a nice metaphor none the less.
———————-
Since this missive (mithive) originated in Mexico, it might merely be a matter of ‘seseo’ versus ‘ceceo’.
So who followed the Moon Goddess worship ceremony as the “Cenote speaker”?
How many Cenotes (C notes) will their wealth-sucking schemes cost?
Nib says:
December 10, 2010 at 10:45 am
“AGWers prayed to the goddess of the Moon. Could that be because they realize that the Moon does influence climate? Is there also a Mayan goddess of the Sun… a goddess of Magnetic Forces… a goddess of Ocean Oscillations? Or has it got something to do with Ban Ki Moon?”
Well, Nib, you’ve danced all around it but the simple reason is because they are lunatics. (If you’ll note; “luna” is another term for “moon.”)
@Brian H
‘1DandyTroll;
You’re seriously confused about British/SI numbering. Each step is the square of the previous. So “billion” is one million million (10^12). Trillion is one billion billion (10^24). So in American terms a British Trillion is a trillion trillion.’
You should really come out of the past and the lengthier scale and join the small folks of the modern era that has adopted a slightly easier scale, it’ll thus get much easier to communicate. :p
Oh, Oliver…..Oliver……..oliver……..
Originally, I was just gonna say ‘thanks, my friend’ and (somehow) give a ‘High Five’ to Steamboat Jack…..obviously a true MAN from Texas. …but, since I read ALL of the comments when I thoroughly enjoy a topic… I’ve dutifully ceased any initial thoughts of humble ‘blushing’ (’cause acknowledgment of thanks TO me, frankly makes me wanna blush! I ‘thought’ it was ’cause I was ‘a bit’ embarrassed, right??? well…well…well… Now I read what ‘seems like’ ‘expert knowledge’ of where blushes come from’…..(But, gentlemen…perhaps they truly do have two sources. Maybe blushes originate in either ANGER ‘or’ EMBARRASSMENT. Either way ~ a warm flooding hits the cheeks, right? Okay. I’ll research blushing later.
I thought best to just take another sip of coffee, and Thank GOD for men like Christopher and Jack…and even guys like YOU, oliver. For, you see ~ for all the ‘wit’ for slappin’ me with a ‘little a’ ‘little g’ comments… It’s only pure cynicism emanating outta that Heart (okay, okay……..’heart’) of yours that made you…insisted that you ‘defend’ your position by writing that ‘smear’ to me.
Do you know what that REALLY is, Oliver? That’s ANGER, kiddo. I bet you were blushing when you wrote it, even. I mean, COME ON, Oliver. How petty ~ or low~ does one have to be??? I FLY through my typing…… and now that I remember my ‘state of mind’ when I typed ‘Atheists’ yesterday……….. It was because there’s a cool piece of scripture in the Bible (I enjoy The Message, myself ~ but, I have over 70 that I peruse from time to time…, just f.y.i.) that says ‘God is not a respecter of persons (ie:humans).’ And, you may enjoy researching that verse, Dear. ‘Cause I was only giving RESPECT. EQUAL RESPECT AND EQUAL ‘PRAYER’ TO EACH INDIVIDUAL ON THIS SITE. I was not ‘doing the human-thing’ by respecting those I empathized more with (like Steamboat, for instance ~ for I’d gladly stand at an open window ANY TIME for a husband or my family of THAT caliber, in other words, I’d ‘give my life’ for them…Oliver, okay?)
But…………here’s the point, in case you’re now getting a headache because of those little nasties that egg you on daily… for I know they don’t like reading words from a sold-out Christian…….but, I was jus’ being LOVING AND RESPECTFUL to those of ‘your ilk’ oliver……..that’s all. I meant NO HARM…….get that? I meant no harm eIthEr way, Dear. And………..by the by………….YOUR pettiness (as I stood in the window wishing a blessing to all and finding later that you’d shot an arrow ‘near’ where that window was (typing-wise, Oliver……you were slinging ‘arrows’ of ‘words’……..do you get that? I hope you do, seriously, I do.)
‘Cause today……….folks that STAND FOR THE WORD OF GOD ‘are’ gettin’ ‘shot at’, Oliver. It hasn’t been ‘real arrows’ as of yet, perhaps…but, they’re REAL nonetheless. And, kiddo…..Kiddo………..KIDDO………we’re still standing. We’re standing in LOVE AND IN TRUTH and that’s ALL THAT COUNTS. It ‘matters not’ if no one knows me………or they give me a capital C or a ‘little teensy tiny c’…….. or anything petty like that, Oliver. What MATTERS is that men like Steamboat, Monckton, Beck, heck…even Davey Crockett….(I bet you’d love to read his biography, Oliver. It’d hearten you, much more than reading Hess’s Glass Bead Game or……Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Madness……like I used to read when just a kid……..) or…….gosh…….. just CHOOSE THE MAN, OLIVER. Let’s all read about when Stalin’s daughter turned into an IMMEDIATE CHRISTIAN by sitting by her father’s (Father’s?) bedside and saw him fighting off the demons that desired to take him to Hell….?(would you prefer I wrote…..’hell’??? Too Bad. EITHER WAY, IT’S THE SAME, OLIVER ~ don’t you GET THAT???) IT’S ‘THE SAME’. Your ‘little g’ ‘little a stuff’ is CHILD’S PLAY, and it was a nasty arrow, Oliver. A petty……nasty arrow, Dear. The TRUTH of the matter is that you guys that believe stuff like that want to actually BE ‘gods’ ‘YOURSELVES’…and just like Shirley McClaine (sp?) you’re jus’ squeekin’ and a squeekin’ about stuff that doesn’t hahaha….’progress’….hahaha….*oh, THAT’S rich!…the argument one iota.
Gosh……..I feel like I’m ‘almost blushing’…..now, I’m laughing and I’m gonna go ‘out back’ and smoke a Winfield Red, Oliver… they ‘calm me’ and I ENJOY them… and, I swear to you, Oliver. I’d do just like I’d do with that ChrisC1983 or whatever…. I’d invite you to hunt ‘roo (yes………we hunt them. Why? They EAT OUR COWS GRASS, Oliver! but……..that’s another issue……….and I want my smoke, now.)….or, I’d make you some GREAT turkey minestrone soup and we’d discuss this after tea by a fire on the beach……….(they’re still ‘allowing’ that, so……..it’d be okay…..) ‘Cause DEBATE is what it’s ALL ABOUT TODAY, Oliver. The arrows today are verbal and we’d best use these………but, I was JUST saying……….just sayin’ Dear……..that I respect you all.
An’…….yeah, of COURSE. I still respect you even after the ‘petty jab’…but……enough is enough. ‘atheists’ and their man-made crap have pushed us around long enough. It’s time to get the BIG TRUTH out and stop the infestation for good. You don’t feed ants, do you, Oliver??? You stamp them out. That’s what I’m doing by standing in this open ‘window’/forum. I’m standing up for my family…and, Oliver? That INCLUDES YOU.
Be blessed.
c.L. thorpe
HOLY SMOKE, Cynthia!!!
Them thar Winston Reds are some potent herb.
Yeah……..I like ‘um. (They’ve STILL got the cute lil’ motto on the side of the hard pack, too. It says: Force No Friend – Fear No Foe. Cool motto, huh? (And, I AM having a good laugh, Oliver…’cause when Ian read my ‘rant’ he poured me another cupper (it’s what they say out here) and also said you’d always be welcome out here
so we could ‘discuss’ stuff under incredible stars on the beach across from us. Isn’t that cool?!) Just think. Working with Angus cattle and cross-bred (oophs! nawww…
they REALLY ARE called ‘cross-breds’….) sheep during the day under the vast Aussie skies (I’d provide you the sometimes necessary ‘fly veil’, even) then – a hearty meal
and then we’d hop on the 4-wheelers, with a ute or two… ~ over the ‘hummocks’ (yep. it’s what they’re called) to the beach where you and I could debate about how we’ll best start the fire……..first, of course………then, break out…….what??? Some of Monckton’s wine they pour over in the U.K.???? Nawwww… I’d get us some… I AM thinking now…….hmmmmmm…… we could start with Cooper’s Pale Ale, I suppose…
Then, after ‘the beach’ we’d come back to the farm (most likely, the next morning… ’cause we may talk a bit…) and I’d quietly do eggs (googs) and bacon with a ton of great toast, O.J. and coffee…served in those cute lil’ mugs I jus’ got from Watts Up, of course.
Then, ‘the whole globe’ would be a happier place, indeed, and we’d be the richer for it, Oliver.
Ian seriously suggests that you could ‘google earth’ us ~ we’re under the Coorong a few miles (3.5 hours from Adelaide) and right in back of the home is a ‘salt lake’ sometimes known as Lake Nadzab. The guy who ‘founded’ this place called it “Nadzab” after an a reconnaissance base he worked at in New Guinna. It’s really an amazing place and you’re welcome ‘anytime’, Oliver.
(Can you just imagine a bunch of us – all jus’ hanging out on the beach…..under the stars……by a warm fire… me, smoking WINFIELD Reds (I’d actually smoke Winstons, if they had them) and anyone else jus’ relaxing the way they like?
Enough, though. I seriously wish you the best. It’s just that we’ve gotta stop with petty stuff. That’s all. I used to BE AN ATHEIST, Oliver. I truly was. Then……God decided to ‘stop by’ one evening. That’s all it took for me. I really pray that He’ll do that for you, sometime, too. An intellect is a terrible thing to waste, and as Einstein once said…… (I’m wingin’ it on the quote)…..he roughly said that when man blends his intellect with his Creator…….well……..that’s when TRUE genius ignites.
Warm smiles to you, Oliver – from your ‘verbal pistol-packin Larikin’ friend’ in the Outback who truly hopes you’ll take her up on our invite.
C.L. Thorpe
Oliver! I just re-read these comments and I thoroughly enjoyed the ‘mi’th’ive’ part…
BRILLIANT! I love real Bar’th’elona Spanish when it’s spoken/written, whatever!
It’s Sunday over here (and while I FEEL like goin’ into a diatribe about how we’re even forced to use instituted Greek ‘gods’ such as our days of the week ~ (talk about indoctrination! Geez…!) I’m rather gonna go hang out in the kitchen and muse about the innumerable brilliant minds that stop by here on Watts Up…all my talk about my soup has Ian and I hungry.
Well, Cynthia, there’s plenty of life in you. Good on ya! But some of your data’s been a little too long on the barbie.
When it comes to the days of the week, it’s the Teutons you should take it up with, not the Greeks. Although, in fairness, all those gods drifted over from even further east.
There’s moon, tiwaz, wotan, thor, frig (a bona fide feminist) then it’s off to Rome.
They’re ALL silly to me.