Thursday, July 09, 2009

What Could Possibly Go Wrong? - Iain Murray - The Corner on National Review Online
George "Moonbat" Monbiot is outraged at the number of climate skeptics
who have the affrontery to comment negatively on his articles. Now,
reasons the Moonbat, because most of them use pseudonyms, they must be stooges for evil energy corporations and astroturf groups.
So he demands they say who they are, on the grounds that they have
nothing to fear from him. Why not go the whole hog and ask for their
addresses, too, George? There are very good reasons why people, especially in Britain, choose anonymity.
Canada, Russia backtrack from G8 emissions targets
L'AQUILA, Italy — Climate change "bad boys" Canada and Russia were distancing themselves Thursday from an ambitious declaration at the G8 summit here that developed countries will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

Environment Minister Jim Prentice indicated there were no plans to adjust Canada's goals that currently project cuts of up to 60 to 70 per cent by mid-century over 2006 levels.
Wyoming gov joins delegation against climate bill - News Wires - CNBC.com
CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Gov. Dave Freudenthal has joined Wyoming's congressional delegation in opposing a bill that would attempt to limit climate change by regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

The bill should do more to recognize that fossil fuels will provide much of the nation's energy for decades to come, Freudenthal said Wednesday.

"This bill has some real biases built in that interestingly enough, from my point of view, are negative for fossil energy," he said in his regular news conference.

1 comment:

Lighthouse said...

Well Tom, RE the emission article, there is no doubt that emission reduction could be much simpler!

Sufficient first phase 2020/2030 emission reduction is achieved by acting on ELECTRICITY generation (coal, gas) and TRANSPORT (mainly automobiles) alone, since these 2 sectors typically (as in the USA) account for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions.

The focus on electricity and transport gives several advantages - apart from lowering CO2 emissions:

1. Local environmental benefit from less pollution of sulphur and all else that’s in the emissions, regardless of the less certain or immediate global benefit from CO2 reduction.

2. Electricity supply alternatives which together with improved grid distribution gives better competition and keeps down electricity bills for consumers.

3. Transport alternatives (using electricity, hydrogen and other energy sources), which give variety of choice and competition advantages for consumers, additionally reducing the dependency on oil imports.

4. No trade problems: Unlike Cap and Trade, which involves cement, steel and other industries having to face imports from unregulated countries, the here suggested electricity and transport changes are not just more limited, but also largely local. Since there is little competition between say utility companies internationally, "best practice" results can be compared and shared.



Funding and Impact
Equity and long term loan finance can be used: Long term industrial loans from financial institutions, particularly if federal/state guaranteed, give low yearly interest repayments and lessen the effect on electricity bills or transport cost.

Compare with
today’s all-encompassing Cap and Trade (emission trading) suggestions, with unpredictability, expense, and needless disruption from normal business practice on one hand, or unnecessary profiteering from free allowance handouts with little actual emission reduction on the other hand - together with extensive -and unnecessary- regulation on what people can or can’t buy and use.

Understanding why proposed Cap and Trade is bad, in USA and elsewhere
http://www.ceolas.net/#cce5x
Basic Idea — Offsets — Tree Planting — Manufacture Shift — Fair Trade — Surreal Market — Real Market — Allowances: Auctions + Hand-Outs — Allowance Trading — Companies: Business Stability + Business Cost — In Conclusion

The Way Forward
http://www.ceolas.net/#cc10x
Introduction — Funding and Impact —No Energy Efficiency Regulation — A New Electric World
Electricity Generation — Distribution
Transport Power Generation — Regulation — Taxation