Steve Hilton, the Prime Minister’s director of strategy and ‘green guru’, is the latest person to admit to doubts about climate change. ‘I’m not sure I believe in it,’ he announced at a meeting of the Energy Department, prompting one aide to blurt out: ‘Did I just hear that correctly?’ — The Mail on Sunday, 27 November 2011
Britain’s leading green activist research centre spent £15,000 on seminars for top BBC executives in an apparent bid to block climate change sceptics from the airwaves, a vast new cache of leaked ‘Climategate’ emails has revealed. The emails – part of a trove of more than 5,200 messages that appear to have been stolen from computers at the University of East Anglia – shed light for the first time on an incestuous web of interlocking relationships between BBC journalists and the university’s scientists, which goes back more than a decade. They show that University staff vetted BBC scripts, used their contacts at the Corporation to stop sceptics being interviewed and were consulted about how the broadcaster should alter its programme output. BBC insiders say the close links between the Corporation and the UEA’s two climate science departments, the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research, have had a significant impact on its coverage. — David Rose, Mail on Sunday, 27 November 2011
Labour MP Graham Stringer last night said he would be writing this week to BBC director-general Mark Thompson to demand an investigation into the Corporation’s relationship with UEA. ‘The new leaked emails show that the UEA scientists at the Tyndall Centre and the CRU acted more like campaigners than academics, and that they succeeded in an attempt to influence the output of the BBC,’ Mr Stringer said. –David Rose, Mail on Sunday, 27 November 2011
Using research money to evangelise one point of view and suppress another defies everything I ever learnt about the scientific method. These emails go to the heart of the BBC’s professed impartiality… its actions must be investigated. –David Davis MP, Mail on Sunday, 27 November 2011
Steve Hilton, the Prime Minister’s director of strategy and ‘green guru’, is the latest person to admit to doubts about climate change. ‘I’m not sure I believe in it,’ he announced at a meeting of the Energy Department, prompting one aide to blurt out: ‘Did I just hear that correctly?’ Hilton has become a big fan of former Chancellor Nigel Lawson, a vocal critic of the global warming lobby. His new doubts chime with the Prime Minister’s decision to tone down his previous emphasis on environmental measures to concentrate on stimulating economic growth. —Mail on Sunday, 27 November 2011
Is the global warming scare the greatest delusion in history? The scare over man-made global warming is not only the scientific scandal of our generation, but a suicidal flight from reality.
On one hand there is the utterly lamentable state of the science which underpins it all, illuminated yet again by “Climategate 2.0”, the latest release of emails between the leading scientists who for years have been at the heart of the warming scare (which I return to below). On the other hand, we see the damage done by the political consequences of this scare, which will directly impinge, in various ways, on all our lives. — Christopher Booker, The Telegraph 27 November 2011
h/t to Dr. Benny Peiser of The GWPF
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ps That should be Boeing not boing! Mac auto correction issue.
If my calculations are any good (and they are based on the Central England Temperature as quoted by the UK MetOffice) return to the 1960s temperatures is on the cards.
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/CET-NVa.htm
If any of the relevant institutions are interested I will be happy to provide the equation of variability, unless they are happy to work out it themselves.
In any case it will be available on-line in a week or two.
The plot thickens…..
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2011/11/27/climategate-20-in-context.html
“Ahem, go and try to convince any railway company or office on the planet of solar-powered signals… Signals are safety critical. Doesn’t combine very well with an intermittent power supply.”
Er… I think they have rather good storage batteries which get them around that problem.
Richard Black continues to be in a state of denial
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15894948
This is all still playing out, but it’s beginning to look like there might be some money to be made in sales of sandwich boards to clothe the AGW faithful. Made of recycled cardboard of course.
Gareth Phillips says:
November 27, 2011 at 11:31 am
“The point with German solar power is that much of it is located in Bavaria which is a reasonably dry climate. Here in the UK we are more famed for our cloud and rain. ”
Well, Bavaria might get you 10 to 20 percent more insolation than Northern Germany, which is fairly identical to England in its cloudiness. The Solar businesses here in Germany have all kind of maps, it looks like each one picks one that shows that its own region is the best one, but I think you can trust the Europe map on this page.
http://www.sibu.de/fotovoltaikinfo.php
(One of their tricks is to mention the “sun hours” without integrating the whole energy; so a partially cloudy day can still count as “sunny”.)
Yes, there are some more PV panels in Bavaria, but that really does little to make it economic. Compare the 1000 sun hours of Germany /England to the 2000+ sun hours of Spain, and even they couldn’t make it work economically.
PV power really hinges on the subsidies. (This might change in about 10 years, assuming that panels etc. get cheaper along the same exponential they’ve been following for the past decades)
It does look suspicious. Although he has not been permitted to appear on BBC television or, to the best of my knowledge radio, Piers Corbyn has been referenced in BBC weather man Paul Hudson’s blog. Paul seems to take a pretty balanced approach to climat and weather and is at least willing to give Corbyn a hearing. However, following Corbyn’s recent dire prognostications with respect to an early blast of severe cold in Britain starting today, I wonder how his reputation will fare, for it is still pretty mild: http://durotrigan.blogspot.com/2011/11/politics-of-climate-science-energy.html
Question: Is the ENTIRE political class in Britain already too invested in CAGW to really address this in a meaningful way?
Gareth Phillips says:
November 27, 2011 at 11:35 am
““Ahem, go and try to convince any railway company or office on the planet of solar-powered signals… Signals are safety critical. Doesn’t combine very well with an intermittent power supply.”
Er… I think they have rather good storage batteries which get them around that problem.”
Looks like a massive installation, though.
http://www.wholesalesolar.com/kyocera-solar-electric-power-systems-for-railroad-applications.html
This HAS to be absolute rubbish. For one thing, Berlin sits at higher than 52 degrees North, a little father North than Kiska Island, Alaska. In winter Berlin gets about 7 hours of daylight and the sun angle is very low. Also, in winter in Germany, it can be cloudy for WEEKS on end. I lived in Berlin for a few years and (then) West Germany for a few more. I remember one day in February when the sun came out, people went to their windows and clapped! We had not seen the sun for almost two months. Ever seen ice fog? You get a lot of it in Germany. Hoarfrost can build up on everything in winter.
The problem Germany now faces is how to deal with huge intermittent surges of power. They are expecting 8 Gigawatts of rooftop solar to be installed across the country as the result of major subsidy programs. The problem? The sun suddenly breaks out from behind the clouds and now you have a surge of power into the grid and other sources of generation can not be dialed back fast enough. Then the clouds come back in and suddenly you lose a huge amount of power and can’t get alternative sources online fast enough. Basically the grid during the day stays in a constant state of whack-a-mole and one wrong move can bring down the entire grid.
Solar is fine as long as you have load management. If each home had some sort of battery storage to act as a “flywheel” of sorts it might be able to work.
Germany’s problem is that it is installing a huge amount of highly intermittent power without adequate backup on an ancient (in many places) distribution grid.
http://mygermantravels.com/2011/07/clouds-form-on-german-solar-power/
Concerning solar power in Germany:
First of all, its is only economically viable because of the massive subsidies available to the operators. It causes trouble on sunny days, when all these shiny panels do thei work and supply electricity, whether it can be used or not. In these peiods there are costs for getting rid of the electricity by feeding it into the power grids of neighbouring countries. It is of course unreliable, which means that conventional power stations have to be operated in stand-by mode – which is a waste of resources and money. I live in Bavaria, and here as elsewhere in northern Europe it is in the winter, when energy is needed most. Today we had a maximum of 9 hours of sunshine – and this was on a clear day with blue skies. It is not easy to come by meaningful numbers, for the very same reasons as in climate-“science”: Those who could provide the numbers are not impartial, but have economic as well as ideological interests at stake. As Dirk H already pionted out: It didn´t even work in spain, so how on earth can anybody in their right mind believe it will work further north?
Newsbytes: BBC In Cahoots With Climategate Scientists, prime minister “green guru” publicly doubts climate change.
All this good news recently just makes you want to burst into song:
A lot of thought here about how the AGW politicos and their friends are going to get out of all this without egg on their faces.
I really couldn’t care less how or if they get out of it, with or without their reputations intact or otherwise, so long as the bottom line is that the whole scam stops asap.
The big breakthrough will come when mainstream media start publishing what those of us who read here know already.
The media are watchdogs, all right. They just don’t work for the people they claim to serve.
Auto, current warmist policies, whether the politicos understand them or not (I think they do), are to force up the price of energy and food. Completely insane, yes. The politicos know what they do and will plead ignorance and of being duped bythe best scientific advice available. Even though they were knowing conspirators .. paying and encouraging this hysteria for their own benefit.
from 0306.txt Joe Smith to Mike Hulme and Asher Minns Managing the propaganda.
>>Neill
>>Is the ENTIRE political class in Britain already too invested in CAGW
>>to really address this in a meaningful way?
Yes, it is true that David Ca-Moron’s first acts as ‘president’ of the UK were to pat some huskies in the Arctic, like some sixth-former on a school outing, and attach a propeller to his rooftop, like some Greeny nerd who was too dim to realise the said propeller would only produce 7 watts.
But, but, but – the second big news story of the day, was that Steve Hilton, the Prime Minister’s director of strategy (the pratt who dreamed up these naive video- and sound-bytes) has had a change of heart. It would appear that Steve Hilton, aided and abetted by WUWT, has had a (reverse?) epiphany, and lost his ‘faith’ in AGW.
Quote:
<i." I’m not sure I believe in it,’ he announced at a meeting of the Energy Department, prompting one aide to blurt out: ‘Did I just hear that correctly?’ "
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2066720/David-Camerons-green-guru-Steve-Hilton-reveals-doubts-global-warming.html
And you have to remember that David Ca-Moron is too thick to have an opinion of his own, which is why he relies on a paid thinker to think for him. And the paid thinker is now saying to one of Ca-Moron’s brain cells: “Forget what I told the other brain cell, the Green Emperor actually has No Clothes”.
Haaallelluuuuyyaa. May the Great Spaghetti Monster be praised…..
.
Corruption of professional journalism ethics
Contrast “BBC’s Editorial Values”
See also “BBC’s principles: Accuracy”
3.2.3 The BBC must not knowingly and materially mislead its audiences. We should not distort known facts, present invented material as fact or otherwise undermine our audiences’ trust in our content.
crosspatch says:
November 27, 2011 at 12:27 pm
“”and solar electricity is already dominating its energy supply. Thanks to this source, the peak electricity price in that country has been falling, winter and summer. ”
This HAS to be absolute rubbish.”
It might even be that it has; don’t forget we also have thousands of wind turbines. So it might be that the average of the peak prices have fallen. But so what? These are momentary spikes of prices at the electricity exchange. The inflation adjusted electricity tariffs for industry and households are on the rise anyway since the introduction of the renewables cross-subsidy.
( http://luzifer-lux.blogspot.com/2010/07/merken-sie-dass-der-strom-immer-teurer.html ;
chart of inflation adjusted tariffs for households and industry since 1970. The lower industry tariff is available starting with an annual consumption of 60 MWh or so)
Even worse: due to the falling peak prices, there is less economic incentive to construct new peaker plants. Nobody builds them, yet we’ll need them when we’re deep in Winter and the winds don’t blow…
DirkH says:
November 27, 2011 at 2:32 pm
“chart of inflation adjusted tariffs for households and industry since 1970. The lower industry tariff is available starting with an annual consumption of 60 MWh or so)”
You might notice the increasing discrepancy between households and industry. Our politicians have at various times slapped on extra taxes on the private consumption. The renewable energy cross subsidy starts in 2000.
RE Sunday Times Letters
Thanks for all your replies, if I have the time and inclination I may well, for the first time in my life, write to the editior of the times.
Having done a bit of researh I don’t think Prof Keith Barnham is going to be neutral on this:-
http://www.imperial.ac.uk/college.asp?P=7522
http://www.sgr.org.uk/pages/sgr-sponsors#KBarnham
http://www.imperialinnovations.co.uk/node/286
Thanks
Sandy
What would you do if your pension money was partly invested in a carbon scheme?
International Investors Group on Climate Change – Members….BBC Pension Trust…
http://www.iigcc.org/about-us/members
BBC climate bias was set in stone some time ago.
As for any possible private investments by BBC journalists in carbon schemes – I plead ignorance………… for now. ;O)
I used to be proud when I once worked there, today I am ashamed that this once great institution has lost its way by joining the GREATEST SCAM EVER PERPETRATED ON THE HUMAN RACE (Co2 trace gas, man’s trace rise of the trace gas co2).
We must learn, as I should do, to avoid using the words “climate change”. I do not doubt climate change in the slightest. I do doubt Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming as I have yet to read one shred of credible evidence to support the alarm.