GWPF Newsletter: After GWPF Complaint, Green Activists Withdraw Wind Energy Ads

In this newsletter:

1) Green Activists Withdraw Adverts Which Falsely Claim Price Of Wind Energy Has Fallen By 50%
Daily Mail, 27 December 2017
 
2) Global Temperature For November 2017 Continues Decline
GWPF Observatory, 24 December 2017

 
3) 2018 Global Temperature Poll
Global Warming Policy Forum, 22 December 2017
 
4) An Interview With Prof Henrik Svensmark About The Link Between Cosmic Rays & Climate Change
GWPF Podcast, 23 December 2017
 
5) Climate Bullies Face Tough Penalties: Student Beliefs Must Be Challenged, Says University Minister
The Times, 26 December 2017

Full details:

1) Green Activists Withdraw Adverts Which Falsely Claim Price Of Wind Energy Has Fallen By 50%
Daily Mail, 27 December 2017
Liz Hull

Environmental activists have withdrawn an advertising campaign after being accused of making false claims about the price of wind energy.

The poster, launched in September by Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi and plastered around Westminster Tube station and across London’s transport network, claimed the price had fallen by 50 per cent over the past two years.

But, following a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority, Greenpeace and a coalition of other environmental groups and green energy suppliers agreed not to use them again.


The poster, launched in September by Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi and plastered around Westminster Tube station and across London’s transport network, claimed the price had fallen by 50 per cent over the past two years

The complaint was made by the Global Warming Policy Forum, which said the ‘50 per cent off’ claim was ‘false and misleading’ because the price paid for electricity from offshore wind farms has not halved at all in recent years.

It said the campaign relied on prices quoted for the cost of wind energy in 2022 – £57.50 per megawatt hour, down from £117.14 in 2015.

Many of the wind farms supposed to produce this energy have not even been built yet and there is no guarantee they will go ahead.


The complaint was made by the Global Warming Policy Forum, which said the ‘50 per cent off’ claim was ‘false and misleading’ because the price paid for electricity from offshore wind farms has not halved at all in recent years

It is understood that Greenpeace led the campaign, which was supported by other organisations including ScottishPower, SSE and World Wildlife Fund.

GWFP director Dr Benny Peiser said: ‘The claims in the Westminster offshore wind campaign are some of the most blatant distortions of the truth that I have seen in pro-wind advertising.’

He said the groups had targeted Westminster station in a bid to influence ‘MPs, peers and other decision makers’.

The ASA said it considered the case closed after Greenpeace gave an assurance that it would not use the disputed claims in any future campaign.
 
2) Global Temperature For November 2017 Continues Decline
GWPF Observatory, 24 December 2017
Dr David Whitehouse, GWPF Science Editor

At the moment the main question in the minds of those who study global temperature data is; how far are global temperatures going to fall in 2018?

The record El Nino of recent years took global temperatures to unprecedented highs for the instrumental era. But comparisons with very strong El Ninos in the past are of limited use. The one in 1982 was affected by the aerosol aftermath of a volcanic eruption. The strong El Nino of 1998 has a swift rise and fall and was followed by two years of a counteracting La Nina.

The data for November 2017 HadCRUT4 (click on image to enlarge) has just been released by the UK Met Office. It is 0.547, better expressed as 14.55 +/- 0.10 °C. Given the substantial monthly variability evident in this database one has to be careful in drawing many conclusions about it. Given that, it is interesting to note that November 2017 is statistically the same as most Novembers of the so-called pause years, i.e. 1997, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2010, 2012, 2014 and even 2016.



It seems the current La Nina is strengthening. Next year’s temperature data will prove fascinating.

Feedback: david.whitehouse@thegwpf.com
 
3) 2018 Global Temperature Poll
Global Warming Policy Forum, 22 December 2017
Dr David Whitehouse, GWPF Science Editor

Every year at this time the UK Met Office issues its forecast of the global annual temperature for the following year. This time it says that 2018 will be another very warm year globally, but it is unlikely to be a new record due to the cooling effect of about 0.1 °C from a moderate La Niña in the Pacific.

The Met Office forecasts the global average temperature for 2018 to be between 0.59 °C and 0.83 °C, with a mean forecast of 0.71 °C above the 1961–1990 long term average of 14.0 °C. This means that global temperatures will more or less stay the same, or just 0.05 °C below the estimated 14.75 °C for 2017.

During the so-called Warming Pause (1997-2014), Met Office predictions were often wide off the mark. In the past few years, however, with records being broken due to the record warm 2015/16 El Nino, elevating global temperatures above the static warming pause, the Met Office has mostly been very good with its forecasts.

In 2014 they forecast the global mean temperature for 2015 to be between 0.52 °C and 0.76 °C above the long-term (1961-1990) average, with a central estimate of 0.64 °C. It was 0.77 °C so it was 0.15 °C warmer than predicted. Within the errors but not a very good prediction.

In 2015 they said the global mean temperature for 2016 was expected to be between 0.72 °C and 0.96 °C above the long-term (1961-1990) average, with a central estimate of 0.84 °C. 2016 was indeed 0.84 °C.

In 2016 they said the global average temperature for 2017 was expected to be between 0.63 °C and 0.87 °C above the long-term (1961-1990), with a central estimate of 0.75 °C. So far it is 0.75 °C.

Personally I think 0.71 °C for 2018 is too high, and we will have further discussions about it when the annual temperatures for 2017 are confirmed by all the global datasets.

But what do you think? We know that prediction is difficult, especially about the future as the saying goes, but as an entertainment in the festive season we are asking for your 2018 forecasts.

The winner will get a bottle of House of Lords Scotch and a copy of Bernie Lewin’s brand-new book. What better incentive could you want?



(If the embedded form doesn’t appear for you, try the link here).
 
4) An Interview With Prof Henrik Svensmark About The Link Between Cosmic Rays & Climate Change

GWPF Podcast, 23 December 2017

Dr David Whitehouse interviews Prof Henrik Svensmark about his team’s new paper on the link between cosmic rays and climate change


 
5) Climate Bullies Face Tough Penalties: Student Beliefs Must Be Challenged, Says University Minister
The Times, 26 December 2017

Universities must “open minds, not close them” and face tough new penalties if they do not promote freedom of speech, Jo Johnson will warn today.



Students should expect to encounter controversial opinions and “frank and rigorous discussions”, the universities minister will argue.

His defence of open debate comes amid a row at Oxford University, where dozens of academics have criticised a professor for arguing that Britain’s imperial history was not entirely shameful. Nigel Biggar, regius professor of moral and pastoral theology at the university, has been criticised by colleagues and students after writing an article in The Times calling for a more nuanced appraisal.

In a speech to be delivered in Birmingham at the Limmud Festival, a celebration of Jewish learning and culture, Mr Johnson sets out the dangers of shielding students from views that differ from their own through “safe spaces” and “no-platforming”.

Next year the newly created Office for Students (OfS) will be given the power to fine, suspend or deregister universities that fail to uphold free speech.

“Universities should be places that open minds, not close them, where ideas can be freely challenged,” Mr Johnson says. “In universities in America and worryingly in the UK, we have seen examples of groups seeking to stifle those who do not agree with them.

“We must not allow this to happen. Young people should have the resilience and confidence to challenge controversial opinions and take part in open, frank and rigorous discussions. That is why the new regulator, the Office for Students, will go even further to ensure that universities promote freedom of speech within the law.”

Full story

see also GWPF coverage of the new Dark Age:

* British Universities may censor student reading

* University professors afraid to teach controversial subjects for fear of being sacked

* Universities stifle debate as academics lurch to the left

* Politically correct universities ‘are killing free speech’

* At British universities freedom is dying

The London-based Global Warming Policy Forum is a world leading think tank on global warming policy issues. The GWPF newsletter is prepared by Director Dr Benny Peiser - for more information, please visit the website at www.thegwpf.com.