Guest essay by Eric Worrall
As Britain turns to coal to fend off blackouts during the Europe wide wind drought, British PM Boris Johnson has scolded other world leaders for not agreeing to a shutdown of the coal industry.
Boris Johnson rebukes world leaders on climate change and warns history will judge them
By Bevan Shields
September 21, 2021 — 6.40amLondon: A “frustrated” Boris Johnson has chastised fellow world leaders for shirking a key pledge to tackle climate change, warning history will judge them if they fail to step up.
The British Prime Minister, who hopes to make a breakthrough at November’s Glasgow climate summit a landmark achievement of his prime ministership, used a United Nations address to blast rich countries for not giving developing nations $US100 billion ($137 billion) a year to combat global warming.
Johnson said he was angry at the failure to meet the Paris Agreement promise because it was central to limiting the damaging impacts of climate change.
“Over the past year we’ve come together many times to discuss climate change,” he said. “So you know by now how this conversation goes.
“I talk about the need to rid the world of coal-fired power and internal combustion engines, the need to stop deforestation, and for developed nations to find that $US100 billion.
“And everyone nods and we all agree that something must be done. Yet I confess I’m increasingly frustrated that the ‘something’ to which many of you have committed is nowhere near enough.
“And while progress is being made all over the world, the gulf between what has been promised, what is actually being delivered, and what needs to happen … it remains vast.”
…
Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/boris-johnson-rebukes-world-leaders-on-climate-change-and-warns-history-will-judge-them-20210921-p58tct.html
If it wasn’t for coal, the lights would have gone out this week over much of Britain.
Renewables cannot produce when there is no wind or sunlight. No economically plausible battery could keep the lights on for days on end.
And prolonged wind droughts are not that unusual. In 2018, Britain experienced a nine day wind drought, just like the current wind drought.
Renewables will never be a fit replacement for reliable electricity. Every prolonged wind drought or renewable generation disaster is just more evidence that renewables are unfit for purpose.
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Someday students in schools will ask why they need to study the Hundred Years Climate Wars when they were a wasted period for generations and real science. Their teachers will explain its part of the curriculum and that era was important in the decline of the Western nations before Mandarin became the dominant language and the U.S. degenerated into a banana republic with numerous debt defaults.
Speaking of wind droughts, I was in Tracy Calif and had an office in Pleasanton until 2012. There is a mountainous area between Tracy and Livermore called the Altamont Pass. It was littered with windmills; fairly old. I used to ride my bike through the area in the east side of the pass and observed the windmills numerous times. At any one time perhaps 20-25% were still even with good wind. One Christmas time the was approx a two week wind drought and of course none were operable. I think they are at the end of their service life.
Altamont was the single worst place on the planet to put wind turbines as far as birds are concerned and the 1980s designs of small turbines with latticed towers didn’t help.
Thankfully we don’t put turbines in places like that any more, nor use those incredibly old and inefficient designs.
so when you quote bird deaths from turbines, if the data is based on Altamont, reject it: it isn’t valid anywhere else for any modern turbine design.
The only thing that Johnson got correct was that “History will judge them”
BoJo & Blank Looks Matter:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/09/chaotic-scene-oval-office-uk-pm-boris-johnson-takes-questions-bidens-handlers-shout-reporters-video/
(hard to understand because they talk through the stupid masks)
Out on a limb, over a cliff, that cannot support their weight. The problem is they brought the public with them.
Not to worry BoJo as China has nabbed all the low hanging fruit with coal fired power stations and now offers a sop to COP26 to keep you climate changers happy-
China announces it will stop building foreign coal-fired power stations (msn.com)
Mind you they’re saying nothing about continuing their coal fired power station rollout domestically chumps but no doubt the usual suspects and Gretaheads will all wax lyrical over this measly morsel thrown their way.
I think they had to say that: so many coal plant schemes are being cancelled.
I can’t tell what China will do at home: futile to try to predict.
Boris Johnson rebukes world leaders on climate change and warns history will judge them
History will judge them – and it won’t be pretty. Why destroy a perfectly good civilization.
“No economically plausible battery could keep the lights on for days on end.” Will the environmentalists ever wake up to the reality that their wind/solar dreams will never work? Until battery technology greatly improves, and I mean GREATLY, it is not happening. Even then we will need a great increase in wind and solar capacity to have enough extra energy to store in the batteries. This will never happen and we are wasting billions of dollars chasing a fool’s dream.
But the great increase in wind and solar is already happening in many countries – e.g UK and Germany. For example by 2030 UK will have added 3 times its current offshore wind: and I say that because that capacity is already building, approved or in the planning process.
and those countries are additionally connecting their grids, so there is a wider area to draw renewable power from, including hydro rich Norway. Long distance connections to areas with more solar or wind capacity are on the cards.
Plus it isn’t only batteries – UK is sharply increasing its pumped hydro, smart car charging will act as a collective battery, there’s a demand response industry, a multitude of small additional power sources from anaerobic digestors to small hydro to tidal turbines.
You’re assuming that Scotland’s Coire Glas proposed 1500MW project at a cost of over £1 billion will actually be built. How are they doing with raising the finance?
The news reports today of President Biden’s address to the UN state the US is doubling its contribution to the Green Fund to $11 billion, out to 2024.
I am unsure whether this is a one off contribution or an annual figure.
I am also not clear how much the UK is promising but $100 billion a year for the Green Fund looks entirely out of reach.
Further, President Imran Khan of Pakistan was quoted in April asking for “at least $400 billion a year” from the 28 developed countries for the 165 developing countries.
And one of the developed countries,Turkey, has still not signed up for the Paris Accord.
It wants to be removed from the Annex 1 group of nations.
The Green Fund is the very definition of a hopeless case.
When the alleged leader beats a dead horse that he knows it is dead…
It’s all a political ploy coupled with putting blinders on the missus.
To BoJo, it’s a wonderful no-win/no-win situation giving him a perfect grandstand performance opportunity without BoJo having to publicly bankrupt the UK, today or this week.
It’s not BoJo running the show in the UK. It’s his eco-nutter, Marxist wife.
Long past time we “defund the COPs”. 😎
Politicians routinely make promises they have no intention of keeping. That is why they become politicians. The ability to lie without conscience. The better you are at it, the further you will go.
A political promise is meaningless.
“The key to a successful political career is sincerity …
… if you can fake that you’ve got it made !” — Original source unknown
“Always be sincere, whether you mean it or not.” — Michael Flanders
From what I have just read, he’s admitted his objective is to destroy the UK economy permanently, & destroy the once beautiful British landscape by covering it with useless windmills & solar arrays!!! Good Lord, please give us a sign that there is a politician with some common sense!!! (Oh that’s a contradiction in terms). How about an honest politician instead!!! (Oh, that’s also a contradiction in terms)!!!