Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org) The Science and Environmental Policy Project
THIS WEEK: By Ken Haapala, President
Where’s the Water Vapor? Tim Ball was a student of H.H. Lamb, who pioneered the modern study of climate change before it was taken over by those promoting dangerous global warming caused by carbon dioxide (CO2). Ball has worked with the wealth of meteorological data compiled by the naturalists employed by Hudson Bay Company. These data cover much of inland Canada as well as the Hudson Bay, roughly from the early 1700s to the late 1800s. They demonstrate that climate change is not unusual. These data are ignored by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its followers such as the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).
In a recent post, Ball questions why the most important greenhouse gas, water vapor, is missing from the IPCC reports. He states:
“I will focus on water vapour because it is the least measured, least understood, and yet critical to the entire basis of the warming due to human interference in the greenhouse gas theory.”
“The obsessive political objective was to isolate and demonize CO2 from human sources as the cause of global warming. This was primarily achieved by directing the controlled group of unaccountable people, mostly bureaucrats, to only consider human-causes of climate change. That eliminates the Sun because, as King Canute showed, there are things that no leader (person) can control.”
However, multiple laboratory experiments, dating back for almost a century show that effect of CO2 on temperatures is very limited. The famous 1979 Charney Report contained a claim made by climate modelers that strong positive feedback from atmospheric water vapor which would cause a warming far beyond that possible by CO2. It was impossible to test the claim in 1979 because the method of calculating atmospheric temperatures from measurements of the atmosphere taken by satellites had not yet been developed.
However repeated tests of atmospheric temperatures by John Christy, et al. have failed to show the strong positive feedback. As Ball states:
“I accept the argument that this sounds theoretically sound, but it is not supported by empirical evidence. It does not allow for negative feedback, for example, as more clouds form changing the albedo. Regardless, there is no empirical data and the only data they have is generated in a computer model. The outcome is determined by the data used to construct the model but there is no meaningful data or even good estimates. The sequence then is data is produced using models for which there is no data and the outcome is then used in models for which there is no data. The amount of water vapor increase suddenly becomes important in their narrative. But how much increased evaporation was necessary to create appositive feedback. How can they determine the amount if you don’t know what the original volume was or how it changes over time? Let me put a number on my opening claim. It is probable that even a 1% variation in atmospheric water vapor equals or exceeds all the effects of human sourced CO2.”
Other than in the bureaucratic science of the IPCC, poorly tested models creating data is not considered rigorous science. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy and Defending the Orthodoxy.
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Quote of the Week. “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.” – Sherlock Holmes [Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H/t Tim Ball]
Number of the Week: 11.9 million, 220% higher than 2009
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Independent Testing: The May 5 TWTW discussed four areas in which the global climate models appear deficient: 1) logic; 2) methodology (procedures used); 3) improper data (use of surface data rather than atmospheric data); and 4) extraneous data (leading to biases). Although it is embargoed until May 14, James Wallace requested that this TWTW discuss a new paper by Wallace, D’Aleo, and Idso, using techniques well established in econometrics to eliminate extraneous data from the satellite temperature record. The reviewers of the paper, “Comment on ‘Examination of space-based bulk atmospheric temperatures used in climate research’ by John R. Christy et al.” include Alan Carlin, Harold Doiron, Richard Keen, Anthony Lupo, Tom Sheahen, chairman of SEPP, and George Wolff.
The Wallace, D’Aleo & Idso paper focuses on the data published by John R. Christy, Roy W. Spencer, William D. Braswell and Robert Junod of the Earth System Science Center, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, but does not include the most recent adjustments to that data – that is the adjustments for orbital drift occurring in the 1990s. The orbital drift gave a spurious warming. Two adjustments are unnecessary and may give misleading results.
The major purpose of the Wallace paper is to confront the EPA finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare by causing dangerous global warming. Thus, the paper performs detailed analyses which some scientists may consider unnecessary. Many of the elements supporting the endangerment finding have already been abandoned by the IPCC, without it so declaring, and belief in the proclaimed certainty of the global climate models is eroding rapidly.
But the inertia of bureaucratic science continues within the EPA and many other government agencies. We see this inertia with:
1) The 2017 “interim” report of the USGCRP, which proclaimed drastic sea level rise, based on new measurement instruments that had not been calibrated with traditional instrument measurements. These “accelerating” sea level rise claims are being used by municipalities such as New York City, Oakland, and now, King County (Seattle), Washington, against oil companies
2) Personal attacks on the reputations of those who disagree with the findings of IPCC and the USGCRP.
The Wallace et al. report is not superfluous.
Further, independent testing is welcome, because the IPCC’s testing of its models is extremely weak. It is largely meaningless because the IPCC removes a variable from the model and shows the model then fails to calculate the data used. But this does not mean that the values of the variables used in the complete model are correct, or reasonably close to accurate. In the view of TWTW, many variables needed for understanding natural variation are not used.
The Wallace, et al. paper addresses the Tropical Hot Spot, which was called the distinct human fingerprint in IPCC second assessment report (1996) even though no published paper had appeared with such a claim. (Subsequently, a paper was published by Benjamin Santer, et al.) However, no pronounced warming centered about 10km above the tropics is been found in 38 years of atmospheric measurements. (This finding is a repeat of the April 2017 paper by Wallace, Christy and D’Aleo).
More importantly, the Wallace team uses econometric structural analysis to eliminate the effects of solar changes, volcanic activity, and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on satellite data from the start of the satellite record in 1979 to 2016. There is an issue of simultaneity – when the oceans warm they give up carbon dioxide. In two or more equations, temperatures (or CO2) can appear as a dependent variable and an independent variable. Simultaneous equations provide a technique for addressing the problem. [In his movie, Al Gore got the simultaneity problem wrong. He assumed CO2 increases caused oceans to warm. Detailed ice core studies reveal that oceans warm first, followed by increases in CO2.]
To address the influence of ENSO, the authors use NOAA’s Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI) These data go back to 1950, but to be consistent with satellite temperature measurements, this discussion is limited to starting in 1979.
To give the data a better fit, less calculated error, the analysis uses a step analysis with the step occurring in 1995. Such analyses are common to econometrics.
Using these techniques, the Wallace paper finds that there is no statistically significant warming of the atmosphere since comprehensive measurements began in 1979. In short, no greenhouse gas warming from CO2, water vapor, a combination of both, or a combination of all greenhouse gases.
This is not to say that decades of laboratory experiments are wrong, but merely that we have not been able to identify greenhouse gas warming. The endangerment finding is premature, at best, and possibly totally wrong. So are the regulations regarding other greenhouse gases and the fear CO2 instilled by the IPCC, et al.
Links to the Wallace et al. study will be provided next week. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy and https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/enso/mei/#discussion.
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Confusing Beliefs With Character: In 2016, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the formation of a group of attorneys general to combat global warming by suing oil companies. According to the press release they were “committed to aggressively protecting and building upon the recent progress the United States has made in combatting climate change.”
“The participating states are exploring working together on key climate change-related initiatives, such as ongoing and potential investigations into whether fossil fuel companies misled investors and the public on the impact of climate change on their businesses. In 2015, New York State reached a historic settlement with Peabody Energy – the world’s largest publicly traded coal company – concerning the company’s misleading financial statements and disclosures. New York is also investigating ExxonMobil for similar alleged conduct.
“Many of the states in the coalition have worked together on previous multi-state environmental efforts, including pressing the EPA to limit climate change pollution from fossil-fueled electric power plants, defending federal rules controlling climate change emissions from large industrial facilities, and pushing for federal controls on emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane emissions from the oil and natural gas industry.”
These AGs have initiated several lawsuits against oil companies, which named individuals claimed to be paid by oil companies yet gave no evidence. SEPP, and past chairmen Fred Singer, and Fredrick Seitz have been so name. Many of the claims are wild, such as drastic sea level rise of more than 4 feet (1.3 meters) by the end of the century. Apparently, the so-called “Green 20” care little for veracity or evidence.
On May 3, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) won an important decision in the New York Court of Appeals that the AG’s office must turn over communications the AG hoped to hide under the guise of “attorney-client privilege.”
A few days later, on an unrelated issue, AG Schneiderman fell from grace. Many supporters were shocked. Apparently, they confuse political beliefs with moral character.
As described by Manhattan attorney Francis Menton, and others, for decades the New York AGs have been using a previously little known 1921 New York law called the “Martin Act” to extort money from companies that are not politically favored. Proof of intent is not needed, only false statements or omissions by the company. No doubt, Wall Street firms need solid policing, but what about Mr. Gore’s false evidence from ice cores showing CO2 increases cause temperature increases?
King County (Seattle), in Washington State (Puget Sound) just filed a public nuisance complaint claiming dire increases in temperatures up to 8.6°F (4.5°C), sea level rise to 4.5 feet (1.4 meters). The suit discusses the 2017 report by the USGCRP and states the following regarding the Charney Report:
“84. By 1979, the National Academy of Sciences, which is charged with providing independent, objective scientific advice to the United States government, concluded that there was “incontrovertible evidence” that carbon dioxide levels were increasing in the atmosphere as a result of fossil fuel use, and predicted that a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide would cause an increase in global surface temperatures of between 1.5°C and 4.5°C (2.7°F and 8.1°F), with a probable increase of 3°C (5.4°F).”
It’s interesting to see how the models used to make the “predictions” were tested, since there were no comprehensive atmospheric temperatures in 1979. See Article # 2 and links under Litigation Issues.
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No Bonding in Bonn: The festivities of the UN Framework Convention ON Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn closed. According to the Secretariat’s web site:
“The roughly 500 staff of the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn works towards the goal set out in the Framework Convention and in the Kyoto Protocol, namely to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.”
The May 11 press release stated:
“’I am satisfied that some progress was made here in Bonn. But many voices are underlining the urgency of advancing more rapidly on finalizing the operational guidelines. The package being negotiated is highly technical and complex. We need to put it in place so that the world can monitor progress on climate action,’ said Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change.”
Apparently, Mr. Trump did not appear promising buckets of money. See links under After Paris https://www.unbonn.org/UNFCCC and https://www.unbonn.org/node/13135
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Number of the Week: 11.9 million barrels per day (b/d), 220% higher The Energy Information Administration’s Short-Term Energy Outlook reported: “EIA projects that U.S. crude oil production will average 10.7 million b/d in 2018, up from 9.4 million b/d in 2017, and will average11.9 million b/d in 2019, 0.4 million b/d higher than forecast in the April STEO.”
In 2009, the U.S. Crude Oil Production averaged 5.5 million b/d. The 2019 estimate is 220% higher than 2009. In 1977, Haapala was under a government contract to evaluate the models used to predict the world would run out of oil and the US out of natural gas around 2000. He reported that the models were incapable of making such predictions, and why. Global climate models have similar problems. His report disappeared in the bureaucratic science of the time.
We are fortunate that independent oil and gas producers did not believe government models and predictions. See links under Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
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SEPP’S APRIL FOOLS AWARD
THE JACKSON
SEPP is conducting its annual vote for the recipient of the coveted trophy, The Jackson, a lump of coal. Readers are asked to nominate and vote for who they think is most deserving, following these criteria:
· The nominee has advanced, or proposes to advance, significant expansion of governmental power, regulation, or control over the public or significant sections of the general economy.
· The nominee does so by declaring such measures are necessary to protect public health, welfare, or the environment.
· The nominee declares that physical science supports such measures.
· The physical science supporting the measures is flimsy at best, and possibly non-existent.
The six past recipients, Lisa Jackson, Barrack Obama, John Kerry, Ernest Moniz, John Holdren and Christiana Figueres aka Cruella de Ville are not eligible. Generally, the committee that makes the selection prefers a candidate with a national or international presence. The voting will close on July 30. Please send your nominee and a brief reason why the person is qualified for the honor to Ken@SEPP.org. Thank you. The award will be presented at the annual meeting of the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness in August.
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NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science
Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, 2013
https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-II/CCR-II-Full.pdf
Summary: http://www.nipccreport.org/reports/ccr2a/pdf/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, 2014
http://www.nipccreport.org/reports/ccr2b/pdf/Full-Report.pdf
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-IIb/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming
The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus
By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, NIPCC, Nov 23, 2015
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/
Download with no charge
https://www.heartland.org/policy-documents/why-scientists-disagree-about-global-warming
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
The Biggest Deception in the Human Caused Global Warming Deception
By Tim Ball, A Different Perspective, May 8, 2018
http://drtimball.com/2018/the-biggest-deception-in-the-human-caused-global-warming-deception/
Examination of space-based bulk atmospheric temperatures used in climate research
By John R. Christy, Roy W. Spencer, William D. Braswell and Robert Junod, Earth System Science Center, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, International Journal of Remote Sensing, Mar 8, 2018
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01431161.2018.1444293
Both Sides Ignore the Major Finding of Recent Climate Research
By Alan Carlin, Carlin Economics and Science, May 11, 2018
http://www.carlineconomics.com/archives/4363
81 Graphs From 62 New (2018) Papers Invalidate Claims Of Unprecedented Global-Scale Modern Warming
B Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, May 10, 2018
Defending the Orthodoxy
Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A scientific Assessment
By Leon Charney, et al. Report of an Ad Hoc Study Group on Carbon Dioxide and Climate to the Climate Research Board, Published by the Nation Academy of Sciences, 1979
https://www.nap.edu/read/12181/chapter/1
Shift to renewables would save Australians $20bn a year – report
Study says 40% of transport could be emissions-free by 2035 and neighbours could trade clean electricity
By Ben Smee, Guardian, UK, May 2, 2018
Link to report: A Plan to Repower Australia
By Nicky Ison, Miriam Lyons, John Atkinson, Policy Analysts, Repower Australia, 2018
file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/download%20(1).pdf
[SEPP Comment: Does not take much to impress the Guardian. The goals are vague and idealistic. Just ban reliable electricity!.]
Questioning the Orthodoxy
German Scientists: Real Scandal Not Big Oil, Rather Cover-Up Of Natural Climate Factors
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 8, 2018
Goethe University, US Climate Scientist Confirm: Clouds “Can Result In Significant Changes To Earth’s Surface Temperature”
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 10, 2018
After Paris!
UN climate stalemate sees extra week of talks added
By Matt McGrath, BBC, May 10, 2018
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44060910
Extra climate talks scheduled amid Bonn stalemate
UN climate officials add a week-long session in Bangkok in September to the diary, as Bonn talks make insufficient progress on the Paris Agreement rulebook
By Karl Mathiesen, Climate Home News, May 8, 2018 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/05/08/extra-climate-talks-scheduled-amid-bonn-stalemate/
UN climate talks stalled as developing countries demand long-promised $100 billion aid from richer nations
The holdup threatens to unravel three years of work on the Paris Agreement, which set out an ambition to limit fossil-fuel pollution in all nations
By Staff Writers, National Post, Can, May 11, 2018
Change in US Administrations
Haley: No to UN global pact for the environment
By Ben Evansky, Fox News, May 8, 2018
“A proposal for bringing international environmental law under one legally binding treaty at the United Nations will be up for a preliminary vote later this week at the U.N. General Assembly. The United States U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley tells Fox News in a statement that the U.S. won’t support the measure.”
Pentagon removes numerous climate change references from Obama-era report
By John Bowden, The Hill, May 10, 2018
[SEPP Comment: Perhaps the removed maps and paragraphs should have been stamped “wild speculation?”]
Many mocked this Scott Pruitt proposal. They should have read it first.
By Robert Hahn, Washington Post, May 10, 2018 [H/t Cooler Heads]
“It’s still hard to tell how this rule will affect EPA decisions, but one thing is clear: The rule will make the evidence by which we make policy decisions more transparent. The policy might not be perfect, but its benefits will likely far outweigh its costs.”
Scott Pruitt’s Science Legacy
By Patrick J. Michaels and Terence Kealey, CATO, May 8, 2018
https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/scott-pruitts-science-legacy
Trump’s transition chiefs urge him to stay the course on auto rollback
By John Siciliano, Washington Examiner, May 10, 2018 [H/t Cooler Heads]
Review of Recent Scientific Articles by CO2 Science
The Interactive Effects of Elevated CO2 and Drought on Grassland Species
Niboyet, A., Bardoux, G., Barot, S. and Bloor, J.M.G. 2017. Elevated CO2 mediates the short-term drought recovery of ecosystem function in low-diversity grassland systems. Plant and Soil 420: 289-302. May 11, 2018
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V21/may/a7.php
Elevated CO2 Enhances the Physiological Performance of an Antarctic Diatom
Qu, C.F., Liu, F.M., Zheng, Z., Wang, Y.B., Li, X.G., Yuan, H.M., Li, N., An, M.L., Wang, X.X., He, Y.Y., Li, L.L. and Miao, J.L. 2017. Effects of ocean acidification on the physiological performance and carbon production of the Antarctic sea ice diatom Nitzschia sp. ICE-H. Marine Pollution Bulletin 120: 184-191. May 10, 2018
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V21/may/a6.php
Disease Severity of Two Plant Pathogens Reduced by Elevated CO2
Williams, A., Pétriacq, P., Schwarzenbacher, R.E., Beerling, D.J. and Ton, J. 2018. Mechanisms of glacial-to-future atmospheric CO2 effects on plant immunity. New Phytologist 218: 752-761. May 9, 2018
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V21/may/a5.php
A Century-long Influence of Rising Atmospheric CO2 and Temperature on an Evergreen Tree Species
Weiwei, L.U., Xinxiao, Y.U., Guodong, J.I.A., Hanzhi, L.I. and Ziqiang, L.I.U. 2018. Responses of intrinsic water-use efficiency and tree growth to climate change in semi-arid areas of north China. Scientific Reports 8: 308, doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-18694-z. Apr 30, 2018
http://www.co2science.org/articles/V21/apr/a17.php
Measurement Issues – Energy Flow
In Defense of the Term “Greenhouse Effect”
By Roy Spencer, His Blog, May 9, 2018
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2018/05/in-defense-of-the-term-greenouse-effect/
Lowering Standards
Jillian Ambrose [Telegraph, UK] Shows Her Ignorance About Micro Gas Plants
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 9, 2018
“Given the intermittency of renewable energy, there will still be a need for large amounts of reliable and flexible baseload capacity, which small gas plants are not capable of supplying. They certainly won’t do anything to balance the energy system as old coal-plants are shut down, as she claims.”
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
Activists Continue To Peddle Unsupportable Claims Of NEVER-BEFORE Climate Alarm, Ignoring New Science
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, May 7, 2018
Communicating Better to the Public – Do a Poll?
Study: Skeptics are more environmental — believers do less but want government to solve it instead
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 10, 2018
Link to paper: Believing in climate change, but not behaving sustainably: Evidence from a one-year longitudinal study
By Hall, Lewis, Ellsworth, Journal of Environmental Psychology, April 2018
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494418301488?via%3Dihub
[SEPP Comment: Shocking news! Global warming skeptics are concerned about the environment!]
Questioning European Green
Central Europe faces a climate policy whipping
It’s crunch time for EU politicians, who over the next weeks will try to hammer out the bloc’s green goals for the next decade.
By Anca Gurzu, Politico, EU, May 3, 2018
https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-climate-change-central-europe-faces-policy-whipping/
German CO2 Reduction Targets “Completely Illusionary,” Comments German National Daily
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 9, 2018
Scottish Government accused of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ approach to fracking
By Auslan Cramb, Telegraph, UK, May 10, 2018 [H/t GWPF]
Green Jobs
Renewable Energy Jobs Reach 10.3 Million Worldwide in 2017
Sector adds half a million jobs boosted by strong growth in Asia
Press Release, International Renewable Energy Agency, May 8, 2018
“Large hydropower directly employs 1.5 million – 63% in operation and maintenance.”
[SEPP Comment: Is this a counter to a 2017 study that found “US oil, gas industry supported 10.3 million jobs in 2015”?]
Funding Issues
Barclays bank busted for misleading customers on solar home “investment” that loses money
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 9, 2018
Litigation Issues
Washington county files lawsuit against oil and gas industry over climate change
By Miranda Green, The Hill, May 10, 2018
Link to litigation: King County v. BP P.L.C. et al
Public Nuisance Complaint, The Superior Court of the State of Washington, May 8, 2018 [H/t Russell Cook]
CEI Freedom of Information Victory Upheld Against NY AG Schneiderman’s Appeal
Press Release, CEI, May 4, 2018
https://cei.org/content/cei-freedom-information-victory-upheld-against-ny-ag-schneidermans-appeal
A.G. Schneiderman, Former Vice President Al Gore And A Coalition Of Attorneys General From Across The Country Announce Historic State-Based Effort To Combat Climate Change
Press Release, AGs United for Clean Power, March 29, 2016
Good Riddance To Eric Schneiderman
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, May 8, 2018
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2018-5-8-good-riddance-to-eric-schneiderman
The Question Of Eric Schneiderman’s Successor
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, May 11, 2018
https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2018-5-11-the-question-of-eric-schneidermans-successor
Climate hawk’s stunning fall from grace emboldens skeptics
By Josh Kurtz and Benjamin Hulac, E&E News, May 9, 2018
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060081219
“Not only does New York have deeper pockets than other states to pursue such litigation, but the law itself is a muscular tool unavailable elsewhere. The Martin Act is particularly powerful because, unlike federal securities law, it does not require prosecutors to prove a defendant knew its acts were deceptive — just that they happened.”
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
UK Green Investment Falls 56% As Govt Subsidies End
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 4, 2018
Onshore Wind Development Collapses As Subsidies End
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 8, 2018
“As I have been pointing out for the last few months, new onshore wind developments have plummeted to virtually zero since subsidies were withdrawn in 2016. This proves for once and for all that onshore wind is nowhere near to being viable without the generous subsidies and guarantees previously handed out.”
“As for the claim that wind farm technology has now progressed to the extent that many onshore wind farms being built across Europe are set to be subsidy-free, the dearth of new investment reveals this to be just more lies from the renewable lobby.”
Connecticut Votes To End Costly Solar Subsidies
By Jason Hopkins, Daily Caller, May 10, 2018 [H/t Cooler Heads]
http://dailycaller.com/2018/05/10/connecticut-end-solar-subsidies/
Vermont reduces incentives for renewable energy program
By Lisa Rathke, Phys.org, May 4, 2018
https://phys.org/news/2018-05-vermont-incentives-renewable-energy.html
“The ‘net-metering’ program, in which solar is dominant, is the most expensive of Vermont’s renewable energy programs because the utility essentially is buying energy at higher-than-market rates, the commission said.”
[SEPP Comment: Latitude about 44.5 degrees north, cloudy weather, about 70% of the potential of Tucson AZ, go solar.]
A Government Loan Program for Auto Manufacturers on Road to Repeal
By Nicolas Loris, The Daily Signal, May 8, 2018
“Among programs on the chopping block in the White House’s new plan to cut more than $15 billion in wasteful government spending is the Department of Energy’s loan program for certain automakers. Congress should drop the guillotine and rescind the $4.3 billion remaining in this Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program.”
DOE Set to Support Small Modular Coal Units
By Darrell Proctor, Power Mag. May 10, 2018
Energy Issues – Non-US
Oil Price Forecasting: It’s a Mug’s Game
By William O’Keefe, Reality Based Policy, May 10, 2018
http://realitybasedpolicy.com/oil-price-forecasting-its-a-mugs-game/
“Crude oil prices have never been easy to forecast very far in the future, except under very stable conditions. And, that difficulty in forecasting also applies to oil companies who have a very strong economic incentive for greater accuracy. The problem is that there is a great deal of uncertainty in the political, economic, and technical factors that can drive price.”
China is replacing Europe as Russia’s No. 1 oil customer
By Tsvetana Paraskova, Oil Price.com, May 2, 2018
COLUMN-Sanctions spell the end of OPEC output deal: Kemp
By John Kemp, Reuters, May 9, 2018
Energy Issues – Australia
The Battery of the Nation disconnected for two months – Basslink cable inoperable again
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 10, 2018
“If your aim is world leading electricity costs, the highest unemployment, and businesses abandoning the state while others revert to fifty-year-old diesel tech, SA is the place to beat!”
Australia: where governments spent thousands to irrigate prime land, then subsidize a solar farm on top
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 5, 2018
Renewable snowflake investors false tears for “certainty” (Gimmedat guaranteed income!)
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 7, 2018
Energy Issues — US
Endangering American Lives
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, May 11, 2018
http://ddears.com/2018/05/11/endangering-american-lives/
Renewables Increase Costs
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, May 8, 2018
http://ddears.com/2018/05/08/renewables-increase-costs/
Looming Catastrophe: Power Grid Collapse Now In Sight in New York
Guest essay by John Droz Jr., WUWT, May 7, 2018
Link to report: 2018 Power Trends
By Staff Writers, The New York Independent system Operator (NYISO), 2018
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
REPORT: US Could Produce 12 MILLION Barrels Of Oil A Day By 2019
By Michael Bastasch, Daily Caller, May 9, 2018
http://dailycaller.com/2018/05/09/us-oil-production-energy-department/
Link to report: Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO)
By Staff Writers, EIA, May 2018
https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/pdf/steo_full.pdf
American Shale-Oil Producers Are on a Roll
By Staff Writers, The Economist, Via GWPF, May 11, 2018
https://www.thegwpf.com/american-shale-oil-producers-are-on-a-roll/
Shale Drillers Face New Test of Will as Crude Tops $70 Mark
By Alex Nussbaum and Jessica Summers, Bloomberg, May 7, 2018
Speed up production or heed calls for fiscal discipline?
Explorers face output choice, conflict with oilfield servicers
[SEPP Comment; Self-discipline has been a supposed characteristic of cartels, not independent oil drillers.]
Shale boom to keep oil markets under pressure
Trump’s May 12 decision on Iran could either see crude extend gains or trigger a deflation of risk premium
By Fareed Rahman, Gulf News & Energy, May 8, 2018 [H/t GWPF]
https://gulfnews.com/business/sectors/energy/shale-boom-to-keep-oil-markets-under-pressure-1.2217308
US Shale Producers Battle to Meet Iran Shortfall
By Staff Writers, Financial Times, Via GWPF, May 10, 2018
https://www.thegwpf.com/us-shale-oil-producers-battle-to-meet-iran-shortfall/
Return of King Coal?
Coal Is Dead! Long Live King Coal!
By Bernard Weinstein, IBD, May 11, 2018
https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/coal-is-dead-long-live-king-coal/
Asia’s hunger for cheap energy will sustain coal
Ask Vietnam, Pakistan and even Korea: the era of steam coal is not over yet. Banks don’t want to finance it, big miners are dropping it, and China is migrating to cleaner natural gas. But the shift to green fuels is slow, and Asia’s demand for electricity is outpacing it. That will keep prices lofty for longer than many had forecast.
By Clara Ferreira-Marques, Economic Times, India, May 4, 2018
Countries in and around the Middle East are adding coal-fired power plants
By Bonnie West, et al. EIA, May 11, 2018 [H/t GWPF]
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=36172
The War on Coal Is Making the World’s Top Mine Owners a Lot Richer
By Thomas Biesheuvel and Thomas Wilson, Bloomberg, May 2, 2018
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Media meltdown as Russia’s first floating nuclear power goes on fueling trip (PHOTOS)
By Staff Writers, RT, Apr 30, 2018
https://www.rt.com/news/425491-floating-chernobyl-lomonosov-nuclear/
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
A review of recent solar & wind auction prices
By Roger Andrews, Energy Matters, May 7, 2018
http://euanmearns.com/a-review-of-recent-solar-wind-auction-prices/#more-21969
“It’s hard to see how the bidders are going to make money at these prices, which raises the question of whether they bid low simply to secure rights to develop the MW or GW they bid for while hoping to negotiate a better deal in the future. Did they? Or did they simply assume huge reductions in future wind and solar costs? I don’t know, but maybe some of our commenters can fill in the gaps.”
What [Solar power advocate] Simon Evans Forgot To Tell You!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 7, 2018
[SEPP Comment: Mid-day power is not all-day power?]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
Swansea Bay Tidal Scheme Examined By Select Committee
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 11, 2018
“To put Swansea Bay into perspective, it will produce about 500 GWh a year, worth £22m at market prices. Shorrock admits that running costs will be £16m a year, so there will be added value of just £6m. This hardly seems much of a return on a spend of £1.6bn!”
[SEPP Comment: An annual rate of return of 0.375%! Assuming algae and salt water do not muck things up.]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Storage
Indonesia has far more than enough pumped hydro storage sites to support a 100% renewable electricity grid
By Andrew Blakers, Bin Lu And Matthew Stocks, Phs.org, May 3, 3018,
https://phys.org/news/2018-05-indonesia-hydro-storage-sites-renewable.html
“Indonesia has large solar potential because of its tropical location. Much less than 1% of Indonesian land would be required to produce all of the nation’s electricity using PV. About half of the panels would be on the roofs of buildings. Although Indonesia has only a small amount of PV at present, exponential growth can change this quickly—as happened in Australia, China and many other countries.”
[SEPP Comment: Imaginative energy! The coal resources are sufficient for decades or centuries.]
Short-term energy storage with “Gravitricity” – iron versus ion
By Roger Andrews, Energy Matters, May 10, 2018
http://euanmearns.com/short-term-energy-storage-with-gravitricity-iron-versus-ion/#more-21996
California Dreaming
California’s Self-Inflicted Housing Disaster Couldn’t Get Worse — Or Could It?
Editorial, IBD, May 11, 2018
Oh Mann!
Climate Scientist Won’t Back Down Despite Threats, Harassment
By Craig Miller, KQED, May 7, 2018 [H/t Dennis Ambler]
Other News that May Be of Interest
Is 1.8% Economic Growth The Best We Can Do?
B Alan Reynolds, IBD, May 11, 2018
https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/is-1-8-economic-growth-the-best-we-can-do/
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE:
It’s all in the mind
By Climate Change Predictions.org, May 10, 2018
http://climatechangepredictions.org/uncategorized/3855
“This week 2,500 of the world’s leading environmental scientists warned politicians of the drastic global warming which will result if governments fail to reduce greenhouse gases. Scientists have warned that the early arrival of Spring may lift people’s spirits but can also trigger migraines. A study has shown temperature rises increase the number of people requiring hospital treatment for debilitating headaches.” The Telegraph (UK), 14 Mar 2009
Wakeup call
By Climate Change Predictions.org, May 11, 2018
http://climatechangepredictions.org/uncategorized/3794
“Climate change is bringing animals out of hibernation prematurely, making them lose weight and causing them stress, Italian scientists said yesterday. Spring-like temperatures too early in the year are waking animals up sooner and putting their feeding and breeding habits out of kilter with the environment.” The Guardian, 8 Jun 2006
[SEPP Comment: Black bears, which hibernate, ranged from central Mexico to Alaska, from southern Florida to Labrador and Ungaya Peninsula [Hudson Strait] – the climates are not similar.]
ARTICLES:
1. California Takes Big Step to Require Solar on New Homes
State would be first in U.S. to mandate solar arrays on most residences, starting in 2020
By Erin Ailworth, WSJ, May 9, 2018
https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-set-to-require-solar-on-new-homes-1525866318
SUMMARY: According to the journalist: “California took a major step Wednesday toward becoming the first state to require solar panels on nearly all new homes, the latest sign of how renewable energy is gaining ground in the U.S.
“The California Energy Commission voted 5-0 to approve a mandate that residential buildings up to three stories high, including single-family homes and condos, be built with solar installations starting in 2020.
“The commission estimates that the move, along with other energy-efficiency requirements, would add $9,500 to the average cost of building a home in California. The state is already one of the most expensive housing markets in the country, with a median price of nearly $565,000 for a single-family home, according to the California Association of Realtors.
“Still, the change appears to have broad support from home builders as well as California leaders and solar advocates.
“Nationally, solar power makes up less than 2% of U.S. electricity output, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But it is rising because of large solar farms as well as rooftop solar arrays on homes and businesses.
“Renewable-energy technologies, in general, are gaining market share in the power sector as their costs go down, along with natural gas, which has become plentiful and cheap due to fracking.
“California has often been a bellwether on U.S. environmental and energy efficiency issues, with states such as Massachusetts, Minnesota and New York sometimes following its lead. But some experts were skeptical that California’s solar-panel mandate would widely influence policies elsewhere.
After discussing praise from some, the journalist writes:
“Severin Borenstein, an energy economist at the University of California, Berkeley, said he thought the state was making a mistake by approving this mandate instead of prioritizing larger solar farms, which are more economical. The state’s policy will be difficult for other states and countries to follow, he said.
“’Every energy economist I know is shaking their head at this,” he said. “In many ways this is setting the wrong example.’
“The policy would provide a big boost to California’s residential solar industry, which saw a slowdown last year.
“An Energy Commission study forecasts that overall solar demand in California would rise by as much as 15% annually, given that California’s low-rise residential housing stock increases by about 2% annually.
“But it is likely to create challenges for California as more electricity generation takes place at homes, said Joe Osha, senior analyst at JMP Securities. That is problematic for power companies because they have to deal with the excess power coming on transmission lines from residences.
“’This is more bad news and challenges for the utilities,’ Mr. Osha said.
The solar proposal, part of an update of the state’s energy efficiency building codes, needs final approval from the California Building Standards Commission. But that panel has traditionally adopted Energy Commission recommendations, officials said.
In the generally glowing report, these was not discussion of the problems facing the California Systems Operator in balancing the load, unloading solar power mid-day in the summer and how much it will cost the consumers.
*****************
2. Why N.Y. Pols Aren’t World Class
Too much conformity makes it easy for the Empire State’s fakers and role players.
By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., WSJ, May 8, 2018
https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-n-y-pols-arent-world-class-1525817358
SUMMARY: The columnist begins by quoting the final scene in the 1954 movie “The Bridges at Toko-Ri” where a Rear Admiral asks: “Where do we get such men?” Jenkins continues:
“Admittedly it’s only from a deeply perverse sense of irony that this quote, from a movie about World War II veterans giving up their burgeoning civilian lives to fight the Korean War, often has come back to me while watching the career of New York state’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
“Politicians, by definition, spend their careers claiming to be motivated by the higher good, not personal ambition. They are professional liars in this sense. We forgive them. We understand why it must be so. But even by today’s lax standards, Mr. Schneiderman was prolific.
“Where do we get such men?
His office pumped out two or three press releases into my inbox every day, highlighting his use of his law-enforcement powers to confront individuals or businesses that mainly were on the wrong side of some prevailing Manhattan political correctness.
“Facebook, fuel-economy standards, the Russia investigation, Harvey Weinstein, anything involving EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt —there was no subject in the news that was so far afield from the concerns of New York law that Mr. Schneiderman couldn’t justify rushing out a statement or preferably announcing some sort of pseudo-action (often in the form of “filing comments” if not an actual lawsuit).
“’A.G. Schneiderman To Trump Administration: Don’t Drill On Our Coast,’ went one recent press announcement, not even bothering to state a basis in New York law for the attorney general’s interest in the matter.
“His short-lived case against Exxon was a fabulous example of his method: Adopt the views of Manhattan liberals who are ornamentally passionate about a subject that they bother to know nothing about, in this case the uncertainties inherent in climate predictions.
File a lawsuit and then discover, by opening the first page of any report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that Exxon was right: Climate prediction is replete with uncertainties.
“If Donald Trump was sent to make our existing political class look good by comparison, he’s failing. His flogging of the birther conspiracy, in retrospect, now appears merely opportunistic, dishonest and campy in comparison to the Democrats’ opportunistic, dishonest and malignant flogging of the Russia conspiracy theory.
“Abuses of law as instruments of partisan politics first became a stock in trade of state attorneys general 20 years ago, and nowhere more enthusiastically than in New York. Mr. Schneiderman’s efforts to ride the Russia express, though unavailing, have included promoting a constitutionally dubious proposal to repeal double jeopardy in New York so the state can prosecute people who receive presidential pardons.
“As with his predecessor Eliot Spitzer, the interesting question about Mr. Schneiderman quickly became: How will the great American experiment in self-governance, in order to remain great, bring his cynical, demagogic career to an end? Mr. Spitzer got as far as the governor’s office before succumbing to a prostitution scandal. Mr. Schneiderman resigned Monday after allegations published in the New Yorker magazine that he had hit, choked and threatened women he dated.
“The New York Times noted with understatement: ‘Mr. Schneiderman was widely seen as harboring ambitions to be governor.’ No kidding. Lachrymosely the Times editorial page added that he would now join a ‘sorry list of once-rising stars in New York’s Democratic Party whose careers imploded amid allegations of personal misconduct, including former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and former Congressman Anthony Weiner.’
“Unmentioned is how New York’s one-note political culture brings exactly this result on itself. There are no complexities, no ambiguities, no conflicting views to consider or conciliate. Just adopt the catechism and go. This is the formula for a career in New York politics. As the paper’s editorial page demonstrates on a daily basis, hardly is there even a limit on the amount of self-righteousness that will be tolerated as long as you internalize the correct checklist of things to be self-righteous about.
“It’s an environment abnormally conducive to persons who lack real political instincts, talents and convictions, who make their way by being more loudly conformist than the next guy. Mr. Schneiderman tweeted Monday that, while he never assaulted anyone, ‘in the privacy of intimate relationships, I have engaged in role-playing.’ Where do we get such men? Their role-playing, paint-by-numbers political careers are a product of New York’s warped one-party politics.”
*********************
” the naturalists employed by Hudson Bay Company”
It is Hudson’s Bay Company, not Hudson Bay Company.
From Wikipedia:
The Hudson’s Bay Company … is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada, the United States, and parts of Europe, including Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany. The company’s namesake business division is Hudson’s Bay, commonly referred to as The Bay …
The company was incorporated by English royal charter in 1670 as The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson’s Bay. It functioned as the de facto government in parts of North America before European states and later the United States laid claim to some of those territories.
Buy a Pointe Blanket. “still produced at the same woolen mills used centuries ago. Solid red blankets first appeared in the 18th century” It was their original Trade item:
http://www.thebay.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/en/thebay/scarlet-point-blanket-0012-30789903–24
Minor nitpick, but “personal attacks on the reputations of those who obediently agree with the findings of IPCC and the USGCRP”, would do well. In fact, alarmists don’t mind if you disagree with IPCC probable ranges, not at all, if you just toe to the alarmist party line.
Basically, they attack contrarian voices, the more prominent voice, the better criticism, the more ferocious attack. Those those go along the lines of marginal sky dragon denialism, are not necessarily attacked so much, at least not at the personal level. What happens is that the marginal people’s opinions are used as a strawman argument against those who agree with the IPCC-stamped science.
Common law nuisance only applies to harm done in the past. Going nowhere.
– Firstly, the ‘IPCC’ (Intergovernmental Group on Climate Change), is an association of crooks that includes NO scientists!
– Secondly, “If we are concerned about global warming caused by carbon dioxide, would not it be worse if we all drove cars that had steam in the exhaust?”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/09/07/the-making-of-a-climate-skeptic-at-university/
– Tertio, For millions of years there are billions of km³ of fresh water (from rains, rivers & rivers) that have poured into the seas & oceans … WITHOUT WHICH THEY DO NOT AM UP !!! That’s it! Quite simply because water continuously seeps into the ocean and sea floors to the magma where this poisonous soup (the fish shit in the sea!) Is heated / boiled and goes up (as in a coffee maker) to the sources (hot or cold depending on the altitude) and towards the water tables it fills.
https://huemaurice5.blogspot.fr/2017/12/est-ce-que-40-000-volcans-sont.html
https://huemaurice5.blogspot.fr/2015/03/les-volcans-sous-marins-finalement-pris.html
https://huemaurice5.blogspot.fr/2018/01/la-terre-est-une-planete-froide.html
http://huemaurice5.blogspot.fr/2015/04/le-co2-nest-pas-un-poison.html
http://huemaurice5.blogspot.fr/2013/11/effet-de-serre-gaz-carbonique-et-oxyde.html
http://huemaurice5.blogspot.fr/2015/02/trou-dozone-cfc-et-propagande-climatique.html
http://huemaurice5.blogspot.fr/2013/10/le-changement-climatique-est-dominee.html
I enjoy reading your weekly postings. However, I must complain about the many typos and grammatical mistakes , especially in today’s issue. You go to great pains to dig out good and useful information, but the lack of proofreading would make many people wonder: “Are they this careless with the facts?”