In this newsletter:
1) Ukraine turmoil could mean more UK energy firms going bust, ministers fear
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
2) Putin sabre-rattling causes a seismic shift in views on North Sea energy
The Sunday Times, 20 February 2022
3) Wind farms were paid not to generate half their potential electricity
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
4) Tory nightmare: Boris warned of electoral disaster danger as poll exposes tax fury
Sunday Express, 20 February 2022
5) ‘I'm swapping my useless heat pump for a log burner’
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
6) Green steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta battles soaring electricity bills
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
7) Zoe Strimpel: My ‘debate’ with Extinction Rebellion confirmed all my worst fears about this eco doom cult
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
8) Benny Peiser: Why the Net Zero agenda will crash
Stephan Livera podcast, 19 February
9) US envoy warns geopolitics risk hurting climate efforts
Associated Press, 18 February 2022
10) The Largest Lithium-Ion Battery in the World Keeps Melting
Vice, 17 February 2022
Associated Press, 18 February 2022
10) The Largest Lithium-Ion Battery in the World Keeps Melting
Vice, 17 February 2022
11) Toxic fume danger as experts called in to extinguish lithium battery fire on Atlantic cargo ship
The Independent, 19 February 2022
12) UK green economy has failed to grow since 2014, according to official data
The Guardian, 18 February 2022
The Independent, 19 February 2022
12) UK green economy has failed to grow since 2014, according to official data
The Guardian, 18 February 2022
13) Boris urged to make urgent U-turn on UK fracking ban after Lord Frost's Brexit warning
Daily Express, 18 February 2022
Daily Express, 18 February 2022
14) Who are the Tory Net Zero Scrutiny Group?
The Week, 16 February 2022
The Week, 16 February 2022
15) Tom Harwood: Cheap energy is the answer to inflationary woes, so why are we sitting on a 21st century goldmine of it?
Daily Mail, 16 February 2022
Daily Mail, 16 February 2022
The Daily Telegraph, 19 February 2022
17) And finally: Alok Sharma criticised over private jet to climate meeting
Daily Express, 19 February 2022
Full details:
1) Ukraine turmoil could mean more UK energy firms going bust, ministers fear
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
Officials prepare for possibility that further small suppliers may collapse if gas prices rise even further
More British energy firms could go bust because of the turmoil in Ukraine, ministers fear.
Officials are preparing for the possibility that further small energy suppliers could collapse if gas prices rise even further as Vladimir Putin appeared to prepare for an invasion.
In the last three months of 2021, 25 firms collapsed amid a record surge in energy market prices. Two more, Whoop Energy and Xcel Power, failed on Friday, although they only supplied around 500 homes and businesses between them.
A Whitehall source said preparations for "more supplier failures" were under way.
Energy companies big and small have been under pressure over the past six months due to soaring wholesale gas prices.
The sudden price spike has been fuelled by Ukraine-Russia tensions, low levels of storage across Europe, the early retirement of several nuclear power plants and lower than expected levels of wind.
It has piled pressure on domestic energy suppliers, who are constrained on how much they can charge households on variable tariffs by a price cap and so have effectively been forced to sell power at a loss.
Firms that had not secured energy many months in advance – a practice known as "hedging" – have been the hardest hit as they had no cushion to protect them. On top of this, some have also had to shoulder the sudden costs of taking on customers transferred from collapsed rivals.
At its peak, the UK gas price stood at just over 450 pence per therm in December. However, City analysts have warned it could jump to as much as 1,000 pence per therm if war breaks out between Russia and Ukraine.
On Saturday, Martin Young, an energy analyst at Investec, said an increase to the price cap in April from £1,277 to £1,971 per year would ease some pressure on suppliers.
But he added: "I would certainly not rule out more failures, because even though we have a considerably smaller number left now, businesses sometimes fail because of cash flow problems.
"They will be able to recoup some of their money in April but for the moment there is obviously a gap between when they have had to pay out and when they will get some of that money back. And anything that puts upward pressure on gas prices is something that is going to exacerbate the situation."
In an appeal to fellow European leaders at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Boris Johnson said: "We must now wean ourselves off dependence on Putin's oil and gas.
"I understand the costs and complexities of this effort and the fact this is easier said than done… but the lessons of the last few years cannot be ignored."
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
Officials prepare for possibility that further small suppliers may collapse if gas prices rise even further
More British energy firms could go bust because of the turmoil in Ukraine, ministers fear.
Officials are preparing for the possibility that further small energy suppliers could collapse if gas prices rise even further as Vladimir Putin appeared to prepare for an invasion.
In the last three months of 2021, 25 firms collapsed amid a record surge in energy market prices. Two more, Whoop Energy and Xcel Power, failed on Friday, although they only supplied around 500 homes and businesses between them.
A Whitehall source said preparations for "more supplier failures" were under way.
Energy companies big and small have been under pressure over the past six months due to soaring wholesale gas prices.
The sudden price spike has been fuelled by Ukraine-Russia tensions, low levels of storage across Europe, the early retirement of several nuclear power plants and lower than expected levels of wind.
It has piled pressure on domestic energy suppliers, who are constrained on how much they can charge households on variable tariffs by a price cap and so have effectively been forced to sell power at a loss.
Firms that had not secured energy many months in advance – a practice known as "hedging" – have been the hardest hit as they had no cushion to protect them. On top of this, some have also had to shoulder the sudden costs of taking on customers transferred from collapsed rivals.
At its peak, the UK gas price stood at just over 450 pence per therm in December. However, City analysts have warned it could jump to as much as 1,000 pence per therm if war breaks out between Russia and Ukraine.
On Saturday, Martin Young, an energy analyst at Investec, said an increase to the price cap in April from £1,277 to £1,971 per year would ease some pressure on suppliers.
But he added: "I would certainly not rule out more failures, because even though we have a considerably smaller number left now, businesses sometimes fail because of cash flow problems.
"They will be able to recoup some of their money in April but for the moment there is obviously a gap between when they have had to pay out and when they will get some of that money back. And anything that puts upward pressure on gas prices is something that is going to exacerbate the situation."
In an appeal to fellow European leaders at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Boris Johnson said: "We must now wean ourselves off dependence on Putin's oil and gas.
"I understand the costs and complexities of this effort and the fact this is easier said than done… but the lessons of the last few years cannot be ignored."
2) Putin sabre-rattling causes a seismic shift in views on North Sea energy
The Sunday Times, 20 February 2022
Ukraine crisis ‘shows need’ to rely on home-produced energy but green lobby and trade group disagree over how to achieve aim
Vladimir Putin is emerging as an unlikely saviour of UK oil and gas as tension between Russia and Ukraine heightens worries over fuel imports and leads to further calls for ministers to encourage drilling in the North Sea.
Russia is the largest provider of diesel to the UK — about 3.6 million tonnes were imported in 2020 — but Putin, the Russian president, is likely to cut off supplies in retaliation for the tough sanctions threatened by Boris Johnson if Ukraine is invaded. Diesel is essential for motor vehicles, trains, construction and the military.
Separately, Offshore Energies UK (OeUK), the trade body, has warned that domestic production of oil and gas will decline sharply over the next five years, which will increase Britain’s dependence on imports. The group said that Russia’s threatened invasion of Ukraine had shown the importance of the UK having its own energy supplies and minimising imports.
“The best way of securing supplies for the UK is by being at the start of any pipeline, not the end,” said Ross Dornan, from OeUK. “The move to net zero means that UK demand for oil and gas should decline over the next three decades, but lack of investment means UK production is falling far faster than demand.
“That is creating an energy gap that will have to be met by imports, including from Russia. The resources under the UK’s continental shelf mean our nation can minimise this risk but only if we invest in new fields and wells.”
More than 11 billion “barrels of oil equivalent”, the industry measure, are in proven or probable reserves in the North Sea, enough to meet UK demand for 13 years at current rates, but low investment means that less than half (40 per cent) can be extracted. OeUK said less than £1 billion of North Sea investment had been committed by oil and gas companies this year, down from £16 billion in 2014.
In recent weeks, UK ministers including Greg Hands, the energy minister, and Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, have signalled greater support for new North Sea projects. Hands said Britain must keep drilling for gas in the North Sea for “reasons of energy security”.
Their position is at odds with environmentalists and the SNP, which has signalled a shift away from fossil fuels because of concern over the climate crisis. Ryan Morrison, from Friends of the Earth Scotland, said the answer was to focus on ending our need for diesel and boosting public transport.
“The UK’s fossil fuel energy system only benefits oil and gas companies who make billions in profits whilst millions of people can’t afford to heat their homes and our climate is destroyed. It beggars belief that anyone with a shred of concern for people or the planet would want to further lock us into that system.”
The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) indicated last week that increasing UK production could stabilise supply and benefit the climate as imported fuel may come from countries that are less committed to reducing emissions.
A three-year study led by the OGA, which concluded this month, found that using wind to power UK oil and gas platforms instead of gas and diesel generators could abate 70 per cent of offshore emissions. It said eight new North Sea fields were expected to come on line this year with a further 19 projects on the way.
There is speculation that drilling for oil and gas could begin in the Rosebank field, west of Shetland, and at Jackdaw (which was initially rejected last year), Marigold, Brodick, Catcher and Tolmount East in the North Sea.
Tony Mackay, an Inverness economist who advises the World Bank and the European Commission, said about 15 undeveloped oil and gas fields were in UK waters, including the Cambo discovery.
Their development, he said, should not have an adverse effect on the growth of renewable energy in the UK and “would certainly reduce our import dependency”.
According to the Digest of UK Energy Statistics, 3.6 million tonnes of diesel were imported from Russia in 2020. A further 854,000 tonnes came from Sweden. In total, the UK paid Russia more than £4 billion last year for fuel; £2.6 billion for refined oil (mostly diesel but also aviation fuel); £1 billion for crude oil and £600 million for gas.
About 3 per cent to 4 per cent of UK gas came directly as liquefied natural gas from Russia, which also supplies Europe via a pipeline network that includes the UK. It suggests that the UK’s dependence on gas from Russia could be higher.
The UK government has made a commitment to end the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2030 but the Committee on Climate Change estimates that UK oil and gas demand will still be about 65 million tonnes of oil equivalent by 2050, with only a third met by domestic production. Gas sourced from the UK continental shelf is projected to decline annually by about 6 per cent unless more fields are opened.
Ryan Crighton, policy director at the Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said increasing reliance on fuel imports placed jobs and Britain’s energy security at risk, and exposed consumers and businesses to price spikes.
“There is also a strong environmental case for producing more domestically. There is no current future scenario where there is not a requirement for some oil and gas,” he said.
“This leaves us with two options: to produce this domestically, supporting 200,000 jobs with full control over the regulatory environment in which it is extracted, or to import an increasing amount of our energy, with the heavier carbon toll that shipping it from other parts of the world carries. The latter makes little economic sense and even less environmental sense.”
3) Wind farms were paid not to generate half their potential electricity
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
MPs say ‘constraint payments’ made to three farms in 2020 are an example of unnecessary costs being charged to consumers
The Sunday Times, 20 February 2022
Ukraine crisis ‘shows need’ to rely on home-produced energy but green lobby and trade group disagree over how to achieve aim
Vladimir Putin is emerging as an unlikely saviour of UK oil and gas as tension between Russia and Ukraine heightens worries over fuel imports and leads to further calls for ministers to encourage drilling in the North Sea.
Russia is the largest provider of diesel to the UK — about 3.6 million tonnes were imported in 2020 — but Putin, the Russian president, is likely to cut off supplies in retaliation for the tough sanctions threatened by Boris Johnson if Ukraine is invaded. Diesel is essential for motor vehicles, trains, construction and the military.
Separately, Offshore Energies UK (OeUK), the trade body, has warned that domestic production of oil and gas will decline sharply over the next five years, which will increase Britain’s dependence on imports. The group said that Russia’s threatened invasion of Ukraine had shown the importance of the UK having its own energy supplies and minimising imports.
“The best way of securing supplies for the UK is by being at the start of any pipeline, not the end,” said Ross Dornan, from OeUK. “The move to net zero means that UK demand for oil and gas should decline over the next three decades, but lack of investment means UK production is falling far faster than demand.
“That is creating an energy gap that will have to be met by imports, including from Russia. The resources under the UK’s continental shelf mean our nation can minimise this risk but only if we invest in new fields and wells.”
More than 11 billion “barrels of oil equivalent”, the industry measure, are in proven or probable reserves in the North Sea, enough to meet UK demand for 13 years at current rates, but low investment means that less than half (40 per cent) can be extracted. OeUK said less than £1 billion of North Sea investment had been committed by oil and gas companies this year, down from £16 billion in 2014.
In recent weeks, UK ministers including Greg Hands, the energy minister, and Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, have signalled greater support for new North Sea projects. Hands said Britain must keep drilling for gas in the North Sea for “reasons of energy security”.
Their position is at odds with environmentalists and the SNP, which has signalled a shift away from fossil fuels because of concern over the climate crisis. Ryan Morrison, from Friends of the Earth Scotland, said the answer was to focus on ending our need for diesel and boosting public transport.
“The UK’s fossil fuel energy system only benefits oil and gas companies who make billions in profits whilst millions of people can’t afford to heat their homes and our climate is destroyed. It beggars belief that anyone with a shred of concern for people or the planet would want to further lock us into that system.”
The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) indicated last week that increasing UK production could stabilise supply and benefit the climate as imported fuel may come from countries that are less committed to reducing emissions.
A three-year study led by the OGA, which concluded this month, found that using wind to power UK oil and gas platforms instead of gas and diesel generators could abate 70 per cent of offshore emissions. It said eight new North Sea fields were expected to come on line this year with a further 19 projects on the way.
There is speculation that drilling for oil and gas could begin in the Rosebank field, west of Shetland, and at Jackdaw (which was initially rejected last year), Marigold, Brodick, Catcher and Tolmount East in the North Sea.
Tony Mackay, an Inverness economist who advises the World Bank and the European Commission, said about 15 undeveloped oil and gas fields were in UK waters, including the Cambo discovery.
Their development, he said, should not have an adverse effect on the growth of renewable energy in the UK and “would certainly reduce our import dependency”.
According to the Digest of UK Energy Statistics, 3.6 million tonnes of diesel were imported from Russia in 2020. A further 854,000 tonnes came from Sweden. In total, the UK paid Russia more than £4 billion last year for fuel; £2.6 billion for refined oil (mostly diesel but also aviation fuel); £1 billion for crude oil and £600 million for gas.
About 3 per cent to 4 per cent of UK gas came directly as liquefied natural gas from Russia, which also supplies Europe via a pipeline network that includes the UK. It suggests that the UK’s dependence on gas from Russia could be higher.
The UK government has made a commitment to end the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2030 but the Committee on Climate Change estimates that UK oil and gas demand will still be about 65 million tonnes of oil equivalent by 2050, with only a third met by domestic production. Gas sourced from the UK continental shelf is projected to decline annually by about 6 per cent unless more fields are opened.
Ryan Crighton, policy director at the Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said increasing reliance on fuel imports placed jobs and Britain’s energy security at risk, and exposed consumers and businesses to price spikes.
“There is also a strong environmental case for producing more domestically. There is no current future scenario where there is not a requirement for some oil and gas,” he said.
“This leaves us with two options: to produce this domestically, supporting 200,000 jobs with full control over the regulatory environment in which it is extracted, or to import an increasing amount of our energy, with the heavier carbon toll that shipping it from other parts of the world carries. The latter makes little economic sense and even less environmental sense.”
3) Wind farms were paid not to generate half their potential electricity
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
MPs say ‘constraint payments’ made to three farms in 2020 are an example of unnecessary costs being charged to consumers
Wind farms have been paid to refrain from producing up to half of the electricity they are capable of generating, according to research that led MPs to warn that "inappropriate" decisions on wind power were "forcing excess costs onto consumers".
An analysis found that, in 2020, three large wind farms in Scotland were paid a total of £24.5 million to fail to produce about half of their potential output.
Researchers said the "constraint payments", which are ultimately added to consumer bills, were being fuelled by a high concentration of onshore wind farms in Scotland often leaving the electricity grid unable to cope on windy days.
The Renewable Energy Foundation, a charity that publishes energy data, said the problem would continue until "until there is more than sufficient interconnection between Scotland and the centres of demand in England". The analysis comes ahead of an expected spike in electricity bills.
Craig Mackinlay, who leads the Net Zero Scrutiny Group of Conservative MPs, said the constraint payments were an example of unnecessary costs being charged to consumers.
A government spokesman insisted the payments were "not a viable income stream for onshore wind developers", but a new analysis by REF found some individual wind farms were agreeing to not produce up to half of their potential output in order to avoid overwhelming the grid.
Excess costs ‘forced onto consumers’
In one case, £7.7 million in "constraint payments" handed to the operator of a 23-turbine scheme in Scotland in 2020 led to the wind farm deliberately failing to produce 51 per cent of its potential output. In another, SSE, the operator of the 33-turbine Strathy North wind farm in the Highlands, was paid £5.9 million to avoid producing 48 per cent of its capacity.
Last year, which saw particularly low wind speeds, the 59-turbine Dorenell wind farm in Moray, owned by EDF Renewables, was paid £1.5 million to avoid producing a total of 179 gigawatt hours – 35 per cent of its potential output.
Dr Lee Moroney, REF's principle analyst, said: "When wind farms have been so poorly sited that they are discarding up to 50 per cent of their annual output, the public has every right to ask how on Earth these projects came to get planning permission."
Mr Mackinlay said turbines appeared to be constructed "in inappropriate locations, forcing excess costs onto consumers and harming our precious natural heritage in the process".
More renewables ‘will protect customers’
A government spokesman said: "Gas is expensive and wind power is cheap, so we need more renewables to protect consumers. Constraint payments remain the most efficient option for National Grid to keep Britain's lights on, and are only used when there is excess supply."
A spokesman for EDF Renewables said it had to respond to National Grid's constraint requests "in order to manage the system and keep the lights on".
Alistair Phillips-Davies, the chief executive of SSE, said: "Wind will end up generating most of the energy the country needs, and the best resource is in Scotland. Britain needs more wind power to minimise our reliance on volatile international gas markets."
Scottish Renewables, a trade body, said constraint payments added just £1 per year to the average household electrical bill.
On Friday, about 40 per cent of the day's electricity supply was generated by turbines – far higher than average – amid the strong winds brought by Storm Eunice.
4) Tory nightmare: Boris warned of electoral disaster danger as poll exposes tax fury
Sunday Express, 20 February 2022
EXCLUSIVE polling reveals the depth of fear in Great Britain about the cost of living crisis and shows that a majority of people want the increase in National Insurance contributions due to hit workers and employers in April to be ditched.
More than half of people (55 percent) support scrapping the tax rise while just 17 percent oppose axing it.
Senior Conservatives have urged ministers and Treasury officials to listen to the public and abandon plans for the increase. There is worry that the party's reputation for economic competence is in jeopardy and it risks punishment at the polls.
The rising cost of living is the source of greatest concern for adults in Great Britain (54 percent), according to the research by Redfield & Wilton Strategies.
It is a much greater source of anxiety than the pandemic (14 percent), the potential Russian invasion of Ukraine (14 percent) or climate change (11 percent).
Alleged rule-breaking parties at Downing St during the pandemic is the top concern for a mere four percent of respondents.
Former Brexit secretary David Davis, who has pressed for the Government to stage a u-turn and cancel the planned increase, said the polling showed “the harsh truth is the public are wiser than the officials at the Treasury”.
He said: “They know the impact on ordinary people; they know the impact on jobs; they know the impact on wages; they know the impact on how much they can spend.
“All of these you would think are critical variables for the economy generally and [ones] the Treasury appears to be ignoring – and ignoring at a time when it actually doesn’t need the money.”
Mr Davis fears the Government is in danger of suffering electoral damage comparable to the aftermath of 1992’s Black Wednesday.
Warning there is a “great risk in this for the Conservative party,” he said: “[People] vote Conservative because they think we are going to keep the taxes down and make the economy work. At the moment, I think people expect us to put taxes up more than anybody else so that’s a very bad reputation for a Tory party to have; the last time we had that reputation we lost over 100 seats.”
Last month the Chancellor and the Prime Minister insisted the increase in National Insurance, which is expected to raise £12billion, “must go ahead”. All employees, employers and the self-employed will pay 1.25p in the pound for a year; the additional tax will then be collected through a “health and social care levy”.
Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith urged ministers to focus on the top concerns of citizens, telling the Sunday Express: “They need to listen to what the public is really concerned about, given the terrible increase in cost of living, mostly driven by the energy price spike.”
Sir Iain warned against increasing National Insurance to fund the NHS.
He said: “That would be a mistake. That would be throwing the burden of that onto the shoulders of people who can’t really afford to pay it.”
The former work and pensions secretary also pressed for an end to “VAT on energy products full stop” and he wants green levies axed.
The Prime Minister is being told that people are caring less about so-called partygate but it is “essential” that taxes are slashed or the Tories will be “punished” at the ballot box.
A senior Conservative insider said: “The data is clear. Voters want to see the PM leading on their priorities.
“People are caring less and less about parties and more about the cost of living. A commitment has been made that, by the next election, taxes will be slashed. This is essential.”
Pressing for MPs to put pressure on No 10 and the Treasury, the insider said: “A Conservative party which oversees this level of debt and high taxation will be punished – MPs know this, and now is the time for them to apply pressure into keeping the PM and the Treasury honest.
"Significant power lies in the backbenches. They must use this to ensure conservative values are heard and acted upon.
“If we do not act fast, the positives we see will be for nothing. Party members are seeing the migration issue dealt with head on, the Government is leading on the Ukraine crisis, and our economy is well primed for a strong recovery.
“The party must ask one fundamental question: what kind of nation do we want? A high tax, debt ridden one? Or a freer, more dynamic Britain?”
Labour says it supports greater funding for health and social care but opposes increasing National Insurance contributions because of the impact on working people and businesses.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “We’re all noticing how much prices are going up – whether that’s school shoes for our kids, the ingredients for our Sunday roast, or when we get our energy bills. The Government needs to get a grip on this crisis made in Downing Street.
“Instead all they’ve done is hike taxes at the worst people time and given people a dodgy buy now, pay later scheme for their energy bills.”
John Longworth, a former director general of the British Chambers of Commerce who today chairs the Independent Business Network, wants the National Insurance increase cancelled and urged the Government to go for high growth policies.
He said: “The government need to get real if they want to be re elected: change course on net zero, cut VAT on fuel.” .....
5) ‘I'm swapping my useless heat pump for a log burner’
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
Families have turned to burning wood to cut spiralling energy costs
An analysis found that, in 2020, three large wind farms in Scotland were paid a total of £24.5 million to fail to produce about half of their potential output.
Researchers said the "constraint payments", which are ultimately added to consumer bills, were being fuelled by a high concentration of onshore wind farms in Scotland often leaving the electricity grid unable to cope on windy days.
The Renewable Energy Foundation, a charity that publishes energy data, said the problem would continue until "until there is more than sufficient interconnection between Scotland and the centres of demand in England". The analysis comes ahead of an expected spike in electricity bills.
Craig Mackinlay, who leads the Net Zero Scrutiny Group of Conservative MPs, said the constraint payments were an example of unnecessary costs being charged to consumers.
A government spokesman insisted the payments were "not a viable income stream for onshore wind developers", but a new analysis by REF found some individual wind farms were agreeing to not produce up to half of their potential output in order to avoid overwhelming the grid.
Excess costs ‘forced onto consumers’
In one case, £7.7 million in "constraint payments" handed to the operator of a 23-turbine scheme in Scotland in 2020 led to the wind farm deliberately failing to produce 51 per cent of its potential output. In another, SSE, the operator of the 33-turbine Strathy North wind farm in the Highlands, was paid £5.9 million to avoid producing 48 per cent of its capacity.
Last year, which saw particularly low wind speeds, the 59-turbine Dorenell wind farm in Moray, owned by EDF Renewables, was paid £1.5 million to avoid producing a total of 179 gigawatt hours – 35 per cent of its potential output.
Dr Lee Moroney, REF's principle analyst, said: "When wind farms have been so poorly sited that they are discarding up to 50 per cent of their annual output, the public has every right to ask how on Earth these projects came to get planning permission."
Mr Mackinlay said turbines appeared to be constructed "in inappropriate locations, forcing excess costs onto consumers and harming our precious natural heritage in the process".
More renewables ‘will protect customers’
A government spokesman said: "Gas is expensive and wind power is cheap, so we need more renewables to protect consumers. Constraint payments remain the most efficient option for National Grid to keep Britain's lights on, and are only used when there is excess supply."
A spokesman for EDF Renewables said it had to respond to National Grid's constraint requests "in order to manage the system and keep the lights on".
Alistair Phillips-Davies, the chief executive of SSE, said: "Wind will end up generating most of the energy the country needs, and the best resource is in Scotland. Britain needs more wind power to minimise our reliance on volatile international gas markets."
Scottish Renewables, a trade body, said constraint payments added just £1 per year to the average household electrical bill.
On Friday, about 40 per cent of the day's electricity supply was generated by turbines – far higher than average – amid the strong winds brought by Storm Eunice.
4) Tory nightmare: Boris warned of electoral disaster danger as poll exposes tax fury
Sunday Express, 20 February 2022
EXCLUSIVE polling reveals the depth of fear in Great Britain about the cost of living crisis and shows that a majority of people want the increase in National Insurance contributions due to hit workers and employers in April to be ditched.
More than half of people (55 percent) support scrapping the tax rise while just 17 percent oppose axing it.
Senior Conservatives have urged ministers and Treasury officials to listen to the public and abandon plans for the increase. There is worry that the party's reputation for economic competence is in jeopardy and it risks punishment at the polls.
The rising cost of living is the source of greatest concern for adults in Great Britain (54 percent), according to the research by Redfield & Wilton Strategies.
It is a much greater source of anxiety than the pandemic (14 percent), the potential Russian invasion of Ukraine (14 percent) or climate change (11 percent).
Alleged rule-breaking parties at Downing St during the pandemic is the top concern for a mere four percent of respondents.
Former Brexit secretary David Davis, who has pressed for the Government to stage a u-turn and cancel the planned increase, said the polling showed “the harsh truth is the public are wiser than the officials at the Treasury”.
He said: “They know the impact on ordinary people; they know the impact on jobs; they know the impact on wages; they know the impact on how much they can spend.
“All of these you would think are critical variables for the economy generally and [ones] the Treasury appears to be ignoring – and ignoring at a time when it actually doesn’t need the money.”
Mr Davis fears the Government is in danger of suffering electoral damage comparable to the aftermath of 1992’s Black Wednesday.
Warning there is a “great risk in this for the Conservative party,” he said: “[People] vote Conservative because they think we are going to keep the taxes down and make the economy work. At the moment, I think people expect us to put taxes up more than anybody else so that’s a very bad reputation for a Tory party to have; the last time we had that reputation we lost over 100 seats.”
Last month the Chancellor and the Prime Minister insisted the increase in National Insurance, which is expected to raise £12billion, “must go ahead”. All employees, employers and the self-employed will pay 1.25p in the pound for a year; the additional tax will then be collected through a “health and social care levy”.
Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith urged ministers to focus on the top concerns of citizens, telling the Sunday Express: “They need to listen to what the public is really concerned about, given the terrible increase in cost of living, mostly driven by the energy price spike.”
Sir Iain warned against increasing National Insurance to fund the NHS.
He said: “That would be a mistake. That would be throwing the burden of that onto the shoulders of people who can’t really afford to pay it.”
The former work and pensions secretary also pressed for an end to “VAT on energy products full stop” and he wants green levies axed.
The Prime Minister is being told that people are caring less about so-called partygate but it is “essential” that taxes are slashed or the Tories will be “punished” at the ballot box.
A senior Conservative insider said: “The data is clear. Voters want to see the PM leading on their priorities.
“People are caring less and less about parties and more about the cost of living. A commitment has been made that, by the next election, taxes will be slashed. This is essential.”
Pressing for MPs to put pressure on No 10 and the Treasury, the insider said: “A Conservative party which oversees this level of debt and high taxation will be punished – MPs know this, and now is the time for them to apply pressure into keeping the PM and the Treasury honest.
"Significant power lies in the backbenches. They must use this to ensure conservative values are heard and acted upon.
“If we do not act fast, the positives we see will be for nothing. Party members are seeing the migration issue dealt with head on, the Government is leading on the Ukraine crisis, and our economy is well primed for a strong recovery.
“The party must ask one fundamental question: what kind of nation do we want? A high tax, debt ridden one? Or a freer, more dynamic Britain?”
Labour says it supports greater funding for health and social care but opposes increasing National Insurance contributions because of the impact on working people and businesses.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “We’re all noticing how much prices are going up – whether that’s school shoes for our kids, the ingredients for our Sunday roast, or when we get our energy bills. The Government needs to get a grip on this crisis made in Downing Street.
“Instead all they’ve done is hike taxes at the worst people time and given people a dodgy buy now, pay later scheme for their energy bills.”
John Longworth, a former director general of the British Chambers of Commerce who today chairs the Independent Business Network, wants the National Insurance increase cancelled and urged the Government to go for high growth policies.
He said: “The government need to get real if they want to be re elected: change course on net zero, cut VAT on fuel.” .....
5) ‘I'm swapping my useless heat pump for a log burner’
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
Families have turned to burning wood to cut spiralling energy costs
Increasing numbers of households are turning to traditional log burners to cut their heating bills as prices continue to spiral.
In some cases the old-fashioned systems are replacing newer technology that is failing to live up to the task.
Chris Anstey, 68, from Shropshire, moved into a 10-year-old eco home two years ago, which is heated by an air source heat pump.
Although the house is well insulated and sealed off from any draughts, Mr Anstey said the heat pump is less efficient in colder conditions, when it is needed most. As a result, he uses a wood-burning stove to heat his house on cold nights.
“We tend to leave it burning from around 4 o’clock onwards and it probably saves us around 20kWh of electricity,” Mr Anstey said. “And of course if there’s a power cut, it provides us with a source of heat.”
Mr Anstey buys wood directly from the National Trust and dries it himself on his property. “You have to use seasoned wood,” he said. “Kiln-dried wood is quite expensive these days.
“At the moment, with energy prices so high, someone buying it to heat their home will still save a bit of money.”
Mr Anstey added that soaring bills had forced him to change his energy habits. “We are definitely using less electricity,” he said.
“We have an Economy 7 meter, which charges less for the energy we use at night, so we are using as much as we can off-peak.”
Jenny Holden, 47, from Lichfield, Staffordshire, bought her wood-burning stove six months ago as heating bills began to rise. She said that burning wood had helped keep her energy usage low.
“Previously, we didn’t really think twice about turning the thermostat up. But with rising costs, we have made a family adjustment to light the fire in the morning and at night to help heat the house.”
Ms Holden said her family had turned to creative ways to reduce their heating bill besides switching to the stove.
“We also have cosy blankets in the living room for the kids,” she said. “We’re only filling the kettle for the drinks we need, and I open the oven after cooking to utilise that heat. They are small changes that we hope will make a bit of a difference.”
6) Green steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta battles soaring electricity bills
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
The Liberty Steel's chief exec's budgetary shortfall has exceeded £200m
Soaring electricity bills are undermining the efforts of the troubled metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta to retain control of his British steel plants and save them from collapse.
Industry sources said that Mr Gupta's budgetary shortfall has now ballooned to more than £200m as he fights to restructure debts previously provided by failed lender Greensill Capital.
Parts of Mr Gupta’s Liberty Steel empire in the UK, have been left exposed to electricity prices that have tripled over the last year.
Many of the company’s plants make steel using electric arc furnaces rather than traditional blast furnaces as part of Mr Gupta “greensteel” initiative that recycles scrap steel.
The electricity is generated from renewable sources such as wind or solar.
Mr Gupta is fighting to stay in control of his UK interests despite the HMRC serving him with a winding up petition over £26m in unpaid tax. The business owns sites at Stocksbridge and Rotherham, which employ around 2,000 people.
Failure to pay the debt would lead to the four companies affected being placed into compulsory liquidation.
Other creditors could also “piggy back” the legal claims and also demand payment. Speciality Steel’s claim has been scheduled for a hearing in late March. It is unclear when the cases against the other three companies will be heard.
A spokesman for GFG Alliance, the holding company of Mr Gupta’s global interests, said the offer was £500,000-a-month for six months. GFG remains in talks with HMRC to remove the winding-up petition.
Mr Gupta has defied his critics by retaining control of his business during the pandemic despite the collapse of his main lender, Greensill Capital nearly a year ago.
GFG is also being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office in Britain and French authorities have launched an inquiry into whether the company misused assets.
Mr Gupta has retained control of operations in Australia after striking a rescue deal with debt funds Bain Capital, Oaktree and White Oak . He is also fighting to stay in control of his businesses in Continental Europe.
One industry source said that the new investors could make it more difficult for Mr Gupta to move profits around GFG to fund the likes of the UK, France and Czech Republic.
A spokesman for GFG Alliance said: “The business is being supported with working capital, targeted at profitable production campaigns.
They added that the payments to HMRC were supposed to be an interim measure while the UK businesses restructured their finances.
The spokesman continued: “All current tax bills are up to date. Notwithstanding HMRC’s rejection of our offer we remain in discussions to reach a resolution which would protect thousands of jobs and domestic supply chains.
“GFG’s UK business are strategic assets for the country and can have a viable future. We are working with all creditors to achieve a consensual restructuring and settlement of debt, allowing recapitalisation of the companies.”
7) Zoe Strimpel: My ‘debate’ with Extinction Rebellion confirmed all my worst fears about this eco doom cult
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
Devoid of any answers to green problems, all they have is a narrative of death, destruction and despair
Rarely have I looked forward to a debate with less relish than the one I appeared in on Thursday night at the Cambridge Union. The motion was “This House Would Extinguish The Rebellion”. And I accepted because on the opposing side were none other than Roger Hallam, the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion (XR), and Rupert Read, eco-spiritualist and former XR spokesperson. They are two of the highest-profile climate activists in Britain and I wanted to see for myself what they were like and what they had to say.
Ever since the rise of the child-prophet of doom Greta Thunberg, my overriding impression of the climate movement has been that it is dominated by totalitarian impulses, a delight in mob rule, apocalyptic preaching, disdain for ordinary working people, and a profound dislike of human beings.
And with the XR offshoot Insulate Britain reportedly planning to hold raves – as in nightclub raves – on the M25 this weekend, it seemed as good a time as any to see if perhaps I’d been unfair on this lot.
Were they merely raising awareness of important issues, albeit in an irritatingly disruptive way, as their more intelligent defenders would have us believe?
Or were they, as I had always thought, a bunch of loony Lefties who have managed to seize control of the narrative and who couldn’t care less what damage they cause in pursuit of their extreme objectives?
Unfortunately, the debate was just as gruelling and unpleasant as I had feared. With such enormous scientific and political questions at play, it was hard not to wince at some of the more gratuitous and extreme rhetoric. At one point, one speaker compared carbon emissions to genocide. When so many people think they are grappling with imminent mass extinction, the mood cannot but remain drearily heavy.
But in general, the student audience, if somewhat predictably in thrall to environmental apocalypticism, was reassuringly intelligent and made a range of clever interjections and floor speeches – when they were allowed to, that is, by my irritable opposition.
Indeed, points of information from feisty earth science students, or cocky philosophy second-years, provided a welcome relief from Hallam and Read, who lost no time in confirming most of my worst assumptions.
They appeared to be, as I put it to the audience in my speech, every bit as authoritarian, full of millenarian quasi-religious zeal, and arrogant as I had feared.
XR has embraced a cold-hearted absolutism – its obsession with “climate justice” apparently requires nothing short of the dismantlement of democracy and capitalism. And Read seemed barely interested in debating at all.
This made an odd counterpoint to his wheedling contrition, whereby, on behalf of his generation, he apologised to the young people in the audience for having failed them. His generation, he said, had not done enough to prevent the students’ certain and untimely demise.
In this he was repeating an address to first-year students at UEA, in which he told them that “the later part of the lives of most of you in this room is going to be grim or non-existent”.
It’s worth noting that most serious scientists would likely consider such predictions pure alarmism, if not mad. But then, if like an Old Testament prophet you are convinced that you alone are communicating the truth, you don’t have time to take account of the anxieties of ordinary mortals – even those whose extinction you remorsefully claim you have contributed to accelerating.
Hallam, by contrast, veered from peculiar attacks on the terms of the debate itself, demanding to know if it was a joke, to barking about “killer facts” and shouting at the audience that they were committing genocide and participating in crimes on a par with the shipping of slaves to America.
Like Read, he turned down points from the floor, albeit fewer.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have expected anything less. With scorn for ordinary people running through the “radical” climate movement’s activism and rhetoric like a stick of rock, extreme eco activists have never had much time for rational and cool-headed debate.
And Extinction Rebellion and its allies have shown nothing but disdain for the commuter trying to get to or from work to earn their daily bread; the woman on her way to the hospital.
XR clearly thinks that the mob should rule above, not even alongside, parliament.
But what I find most disturbing about this movement and some of its proponents is the way that they play on human fears, marshalling grotesque and sometimes misleading statistics – “killer facts” – with which to berate impressionable young people.
They never seem to make any reference to possible solutions; they merely prophesise imminent catastrophe. It is all death and destruction and gloom and doom spirals.
Instead of talking about promising scientific breakthroughs, or the need to marshal human ingenuity in order to solve environmental problems, people are told they are victims soon to die and also accessories to mass murder.
So I’m afraid this debate at the Cambridge Union did nothing to change my mind about Britain’s eco radicals. This bunch of self-appointed soothsayers appear to be more obsessed with halting progress, and spreading anxiety, fear and misery than they are with saving the world.
8) Benny Peiser: Why the Net Zero agenda will crash
Stephan Livera podcast, 19 February
In some cases the old-fashioned systems are replacing newer technology that is failing to live up to the task.
Chris Anstey, 68, from Shropshire, moved into a 10-year-old eco home two years ago, which is heated by an air source heat pump.
Although the house is well insulated and sealed off from any draughts, Mr Anstey said the heat pump is less efficient in colder conditions, when it is needed most. As a result, he uses a wood-burning stove to heat his house on cold nights.
“We tend to leave it burning from around 4 o’clock onwards and it probably saves us around 20kWh of electricity,” Mr Anstey said. “And of course if there’s a power cut, it provides us with a source of heat.”
Mr Anstey buys wood directly from the National Trust and dries it himself on his property. “You have to use seasoned wood,” he said. “Kiln-dried wood is quite expensive these days.
“At the moment, with energy prices so high, someone buying it to heat their home will still save a bit of money.”
Mr Anstey added that soaring bills had forced him to change his energy habits. “We are definitely using less electricity,” he said.
“We have an Economy 7 meter, which charges less for the energy we use at night, so we are using as much as we can off-peak.”
Jenny Holden, 47, from Lichfield, Staffordshire, bought her wood-burning stove six months ago as heating bills began to rise. She said that burning wood had helped keep her energy usage low.
“Previously, we didn’t really think twice about turning the thermostat up. But with rising costs, we have made a family adjustment to light the fire in the morning and at night to help heat the house.”
Ms Holden said her family had turned to creative ways to reduce their heating bill besides switching to the stove.
“We also have cosy blankets in the living room for the kids,” she said. “We’re only filling the kettle for the drinks we need, and I open the oven after cooking to utilise that heat. They are small changes that we hope will make a bit of a difference.”
6) Green steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta battles soaring electricity bills
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
The Liberty Steel's chief exec's budgetary shortfall has exceeded £200m
Soaring electricity bills are undermining the efforts of the troubled metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta to retain control of his British steel plants and save them from collapse.
Industry sources said that Mr Gupta's budgetary shortfall has now ballooned to more than £200m as he fights to restructure debts previously provided by failed lender Greensill Capital.
Parts of Mr Gupta’s Liberty Steel empire in the UK, have been left exposed to electricity prices that have tripled over the last year.
Many of the company’s plants make steel using electric arc furnaces rather than traditional blast furnaces as part of Mr Gupta “greensteel” initiative that recycles scrap steel.
The electricity is generated from renewable sources such as wind or solar.
Mr Gupta is fighting to stay in control of his UK interests despite the HMRC serving him with a winding up petition over £26m in unpaid tax. The business owns sites at Stocksbridge and Rotherham, which employ around 2,000 people.
Failure to pay the debt would lead to the four companies affected being placed into compulsory liquidation.
Other creditors could also “piggy back” the legal claims and also demand payment. Speciality Steel’s claim has been scheduled for a hearing in late March. It is unclear when the cases against the other three companies will be heard.
A spokesman for GFG Alliance, the holding company of Mr Gupta’s global interests, said the offer was £500,000-a-month for six months. GFG remains in talks with HMRC to remove the winding-up petition.
Mr Gupta has defied his critics by retaining control of his business during the pandemic despite the collapse of his main lender, Greensill Capital nearly a year ago.
GFG is also being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office in Britain and French authorities have launched an inquiry into whether the company misused assets.
Mr Gupta has retained control of operations in Australia after striking a rescue deal with debt funds Bain Capital, Oaktree and White Oak . He is also fighting to stay in control of his businesses in Continental Europe.
One industry source said that the new investors could make it more difficult for Mr Gupta to move profits around GFG to fund the likes of the UK, France and Czech Republic.
A spokesman for GFG Alliance said: “The business is being supported with working capital, targeted at profitable production campaigns.
They added that the payments to HMRC were supposed to be an interim measure while the UK businesses restructured their finances.
The spokesman continued: “All current tax bills are up to date. Notwithstanding HMRC’s rejection of our offer we remain in discussions to reach a resolution which would protect thousands of jobs and domestic supply chains.
“GFG’s UK business are strategic assets for the country and can have a viable future. We are working with all creditors to achieve a consensual restructuring and settlement of debt, allowing recapitalisation of the companies.”
7) Zoe Strimpel: My ‘debate’ with Extinction Rebellion confirmed all my worst fears about this eco doom cult
The Sunday Telegraph, 20 February 2022
Devoid of any answers to green problems, all they have is a narrative of death, destruction and despair
Rarely have I looked forward to a debate with less relish than the one I appeared in on Thursday night at the Cambridge Union. The motion was “This House Would Extinguish The Rebellion”. And I accepted because on the opposing side were none other than Roger Hallam, the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion (XR), and Rupert Read, eco-spiritualist and former XR spokesperson. They are two of the highest-profile climate activists in Britain and I wanted to see for myself what they were like and what they had to say.
Ever since the rise of the child-prophet of doom Greta Thunberg, my overriding impression of the climate movement has been that it is dominated by totalitarian impulses, a delight in mob rule, apocalyptic preaching, disdain for ordinary working people, and a profound dislike of human beings.
And with the XR offshoot Insulate Britain reportedly planning to hold raves – as in nightclub raves – on the M25 this weekend, it seemed as good a time as any to see if perhaps I’d been unfair on this lot.
Were they merely raising awareness of important issues, albeit in an irritatingly disruptive way, as their more intelligent defenders would have us believe?
Or were they, as I had always thought, a bunch of loony Lefties who have managed to seize control of the narrative and who couldn’t care less what damage they cause in pursuit of their extreme objectives?
Unfortunately, the debate was just as gruelling and unpleasant as I had feared. With such enormous scientific and political questions at play, it was hard not to wince at some of the more gratuitous and extreme rhetoric. At one point, one speaker compared carbon emissions to genocide. When so many people think they are grappling with imminent mass extinction, the mood cannot but remain drearily heavy.
But in general, the student audience, if somewhat predictably in thrall to environmental apocalypticism, was reassuringly intelligent and made a range of clever interjections and floor speeches – when they were allowed to, that is, by my irritable opposition.
Indeed, points of information from feisty earth science students, or cocky philosophy second-years, provided a welcome relief from Hallam and Read, who lost no time in confirming most of my worst assumptions.
They appeared to be, as I put it to the audience in my speech, every bit as authoritarian, full of millenarian quasi-religious zeal, and arrogant as I had feared.
XR has embraced a cold-hearted absolutism – its obsession with “climate justice” apparently requires nothing short of the dismantlement of democracy and capitalism. And Read seemed barely interested in debating at all.
This made an odd counterpoint to his wheedling contrition, whereby, on behalf of his generation, he apologised to the young people in the audience for having failed them. His generation, he said, had not done enough to prevent the students’ certain and untimely demise.
In this he was repeating an address to first-year students at UEA, in which he told them that “the later part of the lives of most of you in this room is going to be grim or non-existent”.
It’s worth noting that most serious scientists would likely consider such predictions pure alarmism, if not mad. But then, if like an Old Testament prophet you are convinced that you alone are communicating the truth, you don’t have time to take account of the anxieties of ordinary mortals – even those whose extinction you remorsefully claim you have contributed to accelerating.
Hallam, by contrast, veered from peculiar attacks on the terms of the debate itself, demanding to know if it was a joke, to barking about “killer facts” and shouting at the audience that they were committing genocide and participating in crimes on a par with the shipping of slaves to America.
Like Read, he turned down points from the floor, albeit fewer.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have expected anything less. With scorn for ordinary people running through the “radical” climate movement’s activism and rhetoric like a stick of rock, extreme eco activists have never had much time for rational and cool-headed debate.
And Extinction Rebellion and its allies have shown nothing but disdain for the commuter trying to get to or from work to earn their daily bread; the woman on her way to the hospital.
XR clearly thinks that the mob should rule above, not even alongside, parliament.
But what I find most disturbing about this movement and some of its proponents is the way that they play on human fears, marshalling grotesque and sometimes misleading statistics – “killer facts” – with which to berate impressionable young people.
They never seem to make any reference to possible solutions; they merely prophesise imminent catastrophe. It is all death and destruction and gloom and doom spirals.
Instead of talking about promising scientific breakthroughs, or the need to marshal human ingenuity in order to solve environmental problems, people are told they are victims soon to die and also accessories to mass murder.
So I’m afraid this debate at the Cambridge Union did nothing to change my mind about Britain’s eco radicals. This bunch of self-appointed soothsayers appear to be more obsessed with halting progress, and spreading anxiety, fear and misery than they are with saving the world.
8) Benny Peiser: Why the Net Zero agenda will crash
Stephan Livera podcast, 19 February
Benny Peiser of Net Zero Watch joins Stephan Livera on his show to talk about ‘net zero’ and the inaccuracy in the presentation of arguments on renewables.
We discuss:
* What is ‘net zero’
* Accurate treatment of costs and benefits
* How much of it is regulation or market choice
* ESG box ticking
* The impact on everyday people
* ‘Greenwashing’ by some countries
* Why it will crash
Full interview
15) Tom Harwood: Cheap energy is the answer to inflationary woes, so why are we sitting on a 21st century goldmine of it?
Daily Mail, 16 February 2022
Against a backdrop of inflationary pressures from all angles – from construction to groceries to gas bills – petrol and diesel prices are the latest pinch point soaring to record highs.
In the last few days petrol prices have seen hikes to 148.02p a litre, and on Thursday diesel reached a new record per litre high of 151.57p.
Consumers are feeling the pinch and wage growth is unlikely to catch up. With the Governor of the Bank of England advising Brits to not ask for pay rises this year, what are we to do?
While horrendously out of touch and overwhelmingly unlikely to be heeded, the call to not raise wages without a corresponding rise in productivity makes sense, all that more cash for the same amount of production would do is push inflation higher still.
Prices rise, people get paid more to afford those prices, and in response prices rise again. It’s an inflationary trap.
No, the only way to sort this cost of living crisis is to deal with the supply side, not simply inflate the demand side of the equation.
This country needs to end years of dither, delay, and contradictory policy destroying our energy market.
Fixing energy will not fix inflation in general – after all the United States which has had far wiser energy policy under successive presidents is still seeing inflation breach 7 per cent – but it will help avoid the horrific choices some are being forced to make, between heating and eating.
After all, energy is connected. If we have a greater supply of electricity from other sources, be they hydro, solar, nuclear, or natural gas, there will be less demand for coal, oil, and diesel in electricity generation. And less demand means lower prices. Cheaper fuel at the pumps.
Yes, by delivering a powerful energy generation sector in the UK, not only may gas and electricity bills fall but petrol and diesel too. These are just the start of the myriad positive spillover effects of cheaper energy.
Yet as things stand, for thirty years politicians have ducked the decision on nuclear. While Margaret Thatcher approved the construction of three new nuclear power stations during her time in office, John Major and Tony Blair didn’t approve one between them. Brown, Cameron, and May then prevaricated.
The best time to construct a new wave of nuclear power stations was more than a decade ago. The second best time is now.
But despite being the cleanest and most powerful source of energy we have yet devised, nuclear takes time. If we are to embark upon an enormous nuclear building crusade this decade, there are still years to fill before we see the benefits.
And that is where hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, comes in. The UK sits upon a wealth of natural gas, a 21st century goldmine. The moratorium currently imposed upon extraction has done nothing but lower global supply and therefore bolster the hand of Mr. Putin.
It has done nothing to reduce UK CO2 emissions either, as we still rely on considerable amounts of expensive gas from other countries.
If politicians were to lift their self destructive moratorium, prices could come crashing down, as they did in the United States.
When the US got fracking, particularly under President Obama, natural gas production in the USA rose by around 60 per cent. In the same timeframe, prices which had previously been rising have since fallen by 50 per cent.
This is not rocket science, the UK could repeat this success story. It could do so to not only bring down energy prices as we transition to a much bigger base of nuclear, but also generate the tax revenue to help fund the construction cost of that nuclear revolution as it unfolds.
The solutions are there, for the pound in our pocket and the climate too. All they need is the political will to deliver.
16) Francis Egan: Jeremy Warner is wrong on shale gas
The Daily Telegraph, 19 February 2022
SIR – Jeremy Warner is wrong to say that Cuadrilla’s shale gas exploration wells in Lancashire “produced no burnable quantity of gas at all” (Business, February 16).
Each of our two Lancashire gas exploration wells flowed very high-quality natural gas to surface from just a handful of fractures completed in the underlying shale rock. The limited number of fractures was due to the regulatory requirement to halt operations any time micro-seismicity induced by fracturing exceeded just 0.5 on the Richter scale. A study by Liverpool University has equated the impact of a 0.5 micro-seismic event to sitting down on an office chair.
Just 10 per cent gas recovery from the Bowland shale could supply 50 years of current UK gas demand. To produce the same amount of energy as a single 10-acre shale gas site of 40 wells would require a wind farm some 1,500 times that size or a solar park nearly 1,000 times the size. Shale gas is by far the best option to minimise land use per energy produced.
At current UK gas prices, the value of just 10 per cent of the in-place British resource would be approximately £3.3 trillion. The potential tax take from producing this could be close to £200 billion. Imported gas produces no tax, no jobs and higher carbon-dioxide emissions.
Gas from the existing Cuadrilla wells could and should be flowing to local domestic consumers within 12 months of equipment remobilising to site.
The case for shale gas is strong and fundamentally logical. The Government needs to lift the moratorium urgently.
Francis Egan
Chief Executive Officer, Cuadrilla Resources Limited
Manchester
We discuss:
* What is ‘net zero’
* Accurate treatment of costs and benefits
* How much of it is regulation or market choice
* ESG box ticking
* The impact on everyday people
* ‘Greenwashing’ by some countries
* Why it will crash
Full interview
9) US envoy warns geopolitics risk hurting climate efforts
Associated Press, 18 February 2022
BERLIN (AP) — Geopolitical tensions, including the current crisis between Russia and Ukraine, could hamper international efforts to curb global warming even as time to tackle the problem is running out (sic), U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said Friday.
Speaking at the annual Munich Security Conference, the former Secretary of State warned that the rise in the cost of energy stoked by the crisis may make consumers and governments wary of taking tough measures needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“It’s not going to be positive because it’s going to distract rather enormously,” Kerry said of the current tensions.
“The prices of fuel will inevitably rise even more,” he said. “It will push people towards the path of least resistance, which we are already too much locked into, and that will bring about the path of greatest destruction.”
At the same time, Kerry said the situation could encourage some European nations such as Germany, which depend on Russian gas, coal and oil for much of their energy needs, to expand the use of renewable energy or seek other suppliers faster.
“Will it spur transition? Yes, I think it will,” he told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Kerry, who has led the Biden administration’s international climate diplomacy efforts, said the U.S. and European Union are in talks about their plans to prevent domestic producers suffering because of imports from countries without stringent emissions reductions measures.
Washington and Brussels hope to ensure their respective approaches to the problem are compatible, but potential trade conflicts loom with Russia and China, which strongly oppose any possible tariffs on their goods.
“Any country that is serious about climate will not be passive about competing with countries that are not,” Kerry said.
″(Russia and China) want freedom to continue to produce dirty products, that’s unacceptable,” he added.
Still, Kerry noted that without Russia, China and other major emerging economies reducing their emissions of planet-warming gas, global goals to limit temperature rise by the end of the century can’t be met.
“It is dictated by simple mathematics and physics,” Kerry said during his comments at the Munich conference.
Scientists have said emissions need to drop drastically this decade to prevent the worst impact of climate change.
“This is really the critical year during which we will either prove we’re serious and we’re going to try to do what we have to do in 10 years, or we can’t do it,” said Kerry. “In which case we will be spending trillions of dollars cleaning up the mess and trying to cope with the crisis.”
A U.N. science panel report currently being finalized and due to be published at the end of the month will likely highlight to governments the urgency to act, he said.
“I think it’s going to be quite dramatic in the picture it paints of how far behind we are.”
10) The Largest Lithium-Ion Battery in the World Keeps Melting
Vice, 17 February 2022
Ten battery packs melted in an energy storage facility in California, the second meltdown in five months.
The largest lithium-ion battery in the world experienced a meltdown over the weekend, its second in five months.
An energy storage facility owned by Vistra Energy in Moss Landing, California, triggered fire alarms on the evening of Feb. 13. Four fire trucks responded to the event and found around ten battery packs in the facility melted entirely, according to local broadcaster KSBW.
“The building’s systems contained the event without the need for outside assistance,” the company said in a Feb. 15 statement on the outage. “There are no injuries to personnel. An investigation is underway to determine what caused the safety system to activate. While this is in its very early stages, what we know is the water-based suppression system released water that contacted some batteries.”
Though it’s too early to know how the meltdown started, North Monterey County fire district chief Joel Mendoza told KSBW that the facility’s fire suppression system was activated and had successfully cooled the batteries when his team arrived on the scene "to the point that there wasn't any flame or fire.
This is the second time in five months that the 300-megawatt facility has gone offline due to battery issues. The plant was less than a year old when the first incident took place in September, setting off sprinklers that damaged around 7,000 batteries, or 7 percent of the facility’s nearly 100,000 battery modules.
The energy generation company said in a release issued months after the September meltdown that the facility’s fire management software detected low levels of smoke in one area of the facility due to a "failed bearing in an air handling unit," the company wrote, which armed the heat suppression system that, due to "failures of a small number of couplings on flexible hoses and pipes, sprayed water directly on a number of battery racks, causing some to overheat. This created more smoke, which generated more water, and so on.
In its statement regarding the latest meltdown, Vistra Energy said there are early indications that the September incident repeated itself. "There is early evidence that water hoses leaked and that some batteries shorted, creating smoke in the building, similar to what we observed with the September incident at our 300-MW Phase I facility next door," the release states.
The most recent incident highlights how fragile battery storage systems are: Lithium-ion batteries ignite easily and the fires they generate are difficult to contain. Water only reacts with lithium—it doesn’t put lithium fires out. This poses problems for energy storage companies like Vistra, which are crucial to the renewable energy transition.
“The Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility is playing a key role in helping California achieve lower emissions and improve grid reliability, and systems like these will become more necessary as additional renewable power is integrated into electric grids across the US,” Vistra chief executive Curt Morgan said in a January release on the facility’s last meltdown.
In large facilities, any number of factors can create a cascading incident like Sunday’s meltdown. Vistra has embarked on an investigation into the source of this one, the company said in a statement. The facility remains offline in the meantime.
11) Toxic fume danger as experts called in to extinguish lithium battery fire on Atlantic cargo ship
The Independent, 19 February 2022
Specialists will be needed to put out a raging fire on an abandoned cargo ship in the Atlantic Ocean due to complications from burning lithium-ion batteries inside the thousands of luxury cars aboard the vessel.
The Felicity Ace ship carrying luxury cars, is seen as it is adrift in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean after it caught fire - Anadolu Agency via Getty Images© Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A number of electric luxury cars caught fire aboard the ship, which was then abandoned as the blaze spread throughout the vessel. According to Reuters, it is unclear if the batteries started the fire, or if the fire started elsewhere and spread to the batteries.
“The ship is burning from one end to the other ... everything is on fire about five metres above the water line,” the ship's captain, Joao Mendes Cabecas, told the outlet.
Experts are now going to be called out to help stop the blaze, as burning lithium-ion batteries can be difficult to stop. Lithium-ion battery fires often require dry chemicals or total flooding of the battery with water to stop.
According to a study done in 2013 by the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building, and Urban Development, the batteries burn extremely hot and produce noxious gases.
“In the event of a lithium ion battery catching fire, it is important to note that such a fire reaches very high temperatures, produces toxic gases and is inextinguishable,” the report concluded.
Fires caused by the batteries – or which they are caught up in – have become a major concern for international shipping entities, particularly as electric vehicles become more affordable and popular among consumers.
Full story
Associated Press, 18 February 2022
BERLIN (AP) — Geopolitical tensions, including the current crisis between Russia and Ukraine, could hamper international efforts to curb global warming even as time to tackle the problem is running out (sic), U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said Friday.
Speaking at the annual Munich Security Conference, the former Secretary of State warned that the rise in the cost of energy stoked by the crisis may make consumers and governments wary of taking tough measures needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“It’s not going to be positive because it’s going to distract rather enormously,” Kerry said of the current tensions.
“The prices of fuel will inevitably rise even more,” he said. “It will push people towards the path of least resistance, which we are already too much locked into, and that will bring about the path of greatest destruction.”
At the same time, Kerry said the situation could encourage some European nations such as Germany, which depend on Russian gas, coal and oil for much of their energy needs, to expand the use of renewable energy or seek other suppliers faster.
“Will it spur transition? Yes, I think it will,” he told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Kerry, who has led the Biden administration’s international climate diplomacy efforts, said the U.S. and European Union are in talks about their plans to prevent domestic producers suffering because of imports from countries without stringent emissions reductions measures.
Washington and Brussels hope to ensure their respective approaches to the problem are compatible, but potential trade conflicts loom with Russia and China, which strongly oppose any possible tariffs on their goods.
“Any country that is serious about climate will not be passive about competing with countries that are not,” Kerry said.
″(Russia and China) want freedom to continue to produce dirty products, that’s unacceptable,” he added.
Still, Kerry noted that without Russia, China and other major emerging economies reducing their emissions of planet-warming gas, global goals to limit temperature rise by the end of the century can’t be met.
“It is dictated by simple mathematics and physics,” Kerry said during his comments at the Munich conference.
Scientists have said emissions need to drop drastically this decade to prevent the worst impact of climate change.
“This is really the critical year during which we will either prove we’re serious and we’re going to try to do what we have to do in 10 years, or we can’t do it,” said Kerry. “In which case we will be spending trillions of dollars cleaning up the mess and trying to cope with the crisis.”
A U.N. science panel report currently being finalized and due to be published at the end of the month will likely highlight to governments the urgency to act, he said.
“I think it’s going to be quite dramatic in the picture it paints of how far behind we are.”
10) The Largest Lithium-Ion Battery in the World Keeps Melting
Vice, 17 February 2022
Ten battery packs melted in an energy storage facility in California, the second meltdown in five months.
The largest lithium-ion battery in the world experienced a meltdown over the weekend, its second in five months.
An energy storage facility owned by Vistra Energy in Moss Landing, California, triggered fire alarms on the evening of Feb. 13. Four fire trucks responded to the event and found around ten battery packs in the facility melted entirely, according to local broadcaster KSBW.
“The building’s systems contained the event without the need for outside assistance,” the company said in a Feb. 15 statement on the outage. “There are no injuries to personnel. An investigation is underway to determine what caused the safety system to activate. While this is in its very early stages, what we know is the water-based suppression system released water that contacted some batteries.”
Though it’s too early to know how the meltdown started, North Monterey County fire district chief Joel Mendoza told KSBW that the facility’s fire suppression system was activated and had successfully cooled the batteries when his team arrived on the scene "to the point that there wasn't any flame or fire.
This is the second time in five months that the 300-megawatt facility has gone offline due to battery issues. The plant was less than a year old when the first incident took place in September, setting off sprinklers that damaged around 7,000 batteries, or 7 percent of the facility’s nearly 100,000 battery modules.
The energy generation company said in a release issued months after the September meltdown that the facility’s fire management software detected low levels of smoke in one area of the facility due to a "failed bearing in an air handling unit," the company wrote, which armed the heat suppression system that, due to "failures of a small number of couplings on flexible hoses and pipes, sprayed water directly on a number of battery racks, causing some to overheat. This created more smoke, which generated more water, and so on.
In its statement regarding the latest meltdown, Vistra Energy said there are early indications that the September incident repeated itself. "There is early evidence that water hoses leaked and that some batteries shorted, creating smoke in the building, similar to what we observed with the September incident at our 300-MW Phase I facility next door," the release states.
The most recent incident highlights how fragile battery storage systems are: Lithium-ion batteries ignite easily and the fires they generate are difficult to contain. Water only reacts with lithium—it doesn’t put lithium fires out. This poses problems for energy storage companies like Vistra, which are crucial to the renewable energy transition.
“The Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility is playing a key role in helping California achieve lower emissions and improve grid reliability, and systems like these will become more necessary as additional renewable power is integrated into electric grids across the US,” Vistra chief executive Curt Morgan said in a January release on the facility’s last meltdown.
In large facilities, any number of factors can create a cascading incident like Sunday’s meltdown. Vistra has embarked on an investigation into the source of this one, the company said in a statement. The facility remains offline in the meantime.
11) Toxic fume danger as experts called in to extinguish lithium battery fire on Atlantic cargo ship
The Independent, 19 February 2022
Specialists will be needed to put out a raging fire on an abandoned cargo ship in the Atlantic Ocean due to complications from burning lithium-ion batteries inside the thousands of luxury cars aboard the vessel.
The Felicity Ace ship carrying luxury cars, is seen as it is adrift in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean after it caught fire - Anadolu Agency via Getty Images© Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A number of electric luxury cars caught fire aboard the ship, which was then abandoned as the blaze spread throughout the vessel. According to Reuters, it is unclear if the batteries started the fire, or if the fire started elsewhere and spread to the batteries.
“The ship is burning from one end to the other ... everything is on fire about five metres above the water line,” the ship's captain, Joao Mendes Cabecas, told the outlet.
Experts are now going to be called out to help stop the blaze, as burning lithium-ion batteries can be difficult to stop. Lithium-ion battery fires often require dry chemicals or total flooding of the battery with water to stop.
According to a study done in 2013 by the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building, and Urban Development, the batteries burn extremely hot and produce noxious gases.
“In the event of a lithium ion battery catching fire, it is important to note that such a fire reaches very high temperatures, produces toxic gases and is inextinguishable,” the report concluded.
Fires caused by the batteries – or which they are caught up in – have become a major concern for international shipping entities, particularly as electric vehicles become more affordable and popular among consumers.
Full story
12) UK green economy has failed to grow since 2014, according to official data
The Guardian, 18 February 2022
Office for National Statistics finds ‘no significant change’ in turnover and jobs in low-carbon and renewable energy sector
The Guardian, 18 February 2022
Office for National Statistics finds ‘no significant change’ in turnover and jobs in low-carbon and renewable energy sector
The UK’s low-carbon and renewable energy economy has failed to grow since 2014, according to official data showing a fall in the number of green jobs.
In a blow to the government’s pledge to boost net-zero employment opportunities, the Office for National Statistics said its latest figures, covering 2020, showed “no significant change” in turnover and job numbers in the sector compared with six years earlier.
Employment in the low-carbon and renewable energy economy – which includes manufacturing, energy supply and construction – fell by about 28,000 across the UK over the period, to just 207,800. Among the steepest declines were in factories producing energy-efficient products, onshore wind, and solar energy.
Trade unions raised questions over the government’s plan to boost Britain’s low-carbon economy after years of limited progress. Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, said the UK had an opportunity to be a pioneer on the path to net zero. “But we will miss out on these opportunities if ministers do not step up public investment and action. And we could see existing jobs lost to other countries who modernise their industry faster,” she added.
Although the latest snapshot includes the first year of the coronavirus pandemic – when the British economy plunged into the deepest recession for 100 years – the figures show that in 2019, before the health emergency struck, green business turnover also fell compared with a year earlier.
According to the latest data, the sector with the largest growth in jobs was in low-emission vehicles and infrastructure, where employment more than doubled to 19,100. However, this was not enough to offset bigger falls elsewhere, including a decline of more than a quarter, or 32,000, in the number of jobs in energy-efficient product manufacturing.
The number of green businesses operating in the UK fell by 13% over the six-year period, while the combined turnover for the low-carbon economy fell by almost 6% to £41.2bn.
The ONS said the fall in turnover was largely driven by the energy-efficient products and low-emissions vehicles sectors. The majority of businesses in the low-carbon and renewable energy sectors are in manufacturing and construction, both of which suffered a downturn in 2020. However, it said employment should have been less affected than turnover because the figures included staff on furlough.
While green sectors including offshore wind have recorded substantial growth in recent years, with a sharp rise in renewable energy production, critics argue that much of the activity has been driven by foreign companies, with a reliance on the UK importing turbine blades and components manufactured abroad.
Boris Johnson announced an ambition in late 2020 to create 250,000 green jobs across the country through a 10-point plan, as part of a wider government drive to hit net zero and embed a green recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Ministers are seeking to encourage the growth of green jobs in sectors such as offshore wind, including through the creation of freeports in an attempt to boost investment and jobs in the low-carbon economy.
However, experts and campaigners have warned the government’s net zero plans lack the required ambition and are not backed up with adequate funding from the Treasury, instead relying on the private sector.
In a blow to the government’s pledge to boost net-zero employment opportunities, the Office for National Statistics said its latest figures, covering 2020, showed “no significant change” in turnover and job numbers in the sector compared with six years earlier.
Employment in the low-carbon and renewable energy economy – which includes manufacturing, energy supply and construction – fell by about 28,000 across the UK over the period, to just 207,800. Among the steepest declines were in factories producing energy-efficient products, onshore wind, and solar energy.
Trade unions raised questions over the government’s plan to boost Britain’s low-carbon economy after years of limited progress. Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, said the UK had an opportunity to be a pioneer on the path to net zero. “But we will miss out on these opportunities if ministers do not step up public investment and action. And we could see existing jobs lost to other countries who modernise their industry faster,” she added.
Although the latest snapshot includes the first year of the coronavirus pandemic – when the British economy plunged into the deepest recession for 100 years – the figures show that in 2019, before the health emergency struck, green business turnover also fell compared with a year earlier.
According to the latest data, the sector with the largest growth in jobs was in low-emission vehicles and infrastructure, where employment more than doubled to 19,100. However, this was not enough to offset bigger falls elsewhere, including a decline of more than a quarter, or 32,000, in the number of jobs in energy-efficient product manufacturing.
The number of green businesses operating in the UK fell by 13% over the six-year period, while the combined turnover for the low-carbon economy fell by almost 6% to £41.2bn.
The ONS said the fall in turnover was largely driven by the energy-efficient products and low-emissions vehicles sectors. The majority of businesses in the low-carbon and renewable energy sectors are in manufacturing and construction, both of which suffered a downturn in 2020. However, it said employment should have been less affected than turnover because the figures included staff on furlough.
While green sectors including offshore wind have recorded substantial growth in recent years, with a sharp rise in renewable energy production, critics argue that much of the activity has been driven by foreign companies, with a reliance on the UK importing turbine blades and components manufactured abroad.
Boris Johnson announced an ambition in late 2020 to create 250,000 green jobs across the country through a 10-point plan, as part of a wider government drive to hit net zero and embed a green recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Ministers are seeking to encourage the growth of green jobs in sectors such as offshore wind, including through the creation of freeports in an attempt to boost investment and jobs in the low-carbon economy.
However, experts and campaigners have warned the government’s net zero plans lack the required ambition and are not backed up with adequate funding from the Treasury, instead relying on the private sector.
13) Boris urged to make urgent U-turn on UK fracking ban after Lord Frost's Brexit warning
Daily Express, 18 February 2022
EXPRESS readers have had their say on the recent calls by Lord Frost and other Tory MPs to lift the ban on shale gas extraction in the UK - with a huge 90 percent agreeing the ban should be lifted.
Express.co.uk launched a survey on Monday asking our readers: "Should the UK ban shale gas extraction after Frost's Brexit warning?" The results today showed a huge majority wanted the ban lifted.
It came after Lord David Frost and more than 30 other MPs urged the Prime Minister to end the ban on shale gas extraction.
The poll, published on February 14 and open for almost four days, received a huge 5,265 responses from Express.co.uk readers, with 90 percent - 4,758 responses - stating the ban should be lifted.
Just 493 - 9 percent - of voters said the ban should remain in place, while 14 people said they did not know.
The call comes after the only company to frack for shale gas in Britain was ordered to seal off their shale gas wells near Blackpool in 2019.
In a letter addressed to the PM, Lord Frost and other MPs urged Boris Johnson to end the ban on fracking, which they claim could prevent future energy crises like the one the country is currently experiencing.
In a joint letter to the PM, the group pressured him to "reverse this moratorium" which has prohibited the mining of shale gas since 2019.
The letter reportedly argues that lifting the ban would "allow us to combat the cost of living crisis, level up, create jobs, opportunity and a renewed sense of community in the north, improve our energy security, reduce our reliance on imported gas, stabilise energy and achieve net zero without increasing the cost of living for already hard-pressed working families."
Lord Frost said reversing the fracking ban would herald a “British energy renaissance”.....
Daily Express, 18 February 2022
EXPRESS readers have had their say on the recent calls by Lord Frost and other Tory MPs to lift the ban on shale gas extraction in the UK - with a huge 90 percent agreeing the ban should be lifted.
Express.co.uk launched a survey on Monday asking our readers: "Should the UK ban shale gas extraction after Frost's Brexit warning?" The results today showed a huge majority wanted the ban lifted.
It came after Lord David Frost and more than 30 other MPs urged the Prime Minister to end the ban on shale gas extraction.
The poll, published on February 14 and open for almost four days, received a huge 5,265 responses from Express.co.uk readers, with 90 percent - 4,758 responses - stating the ban should be lifted.
Just 493 - 9 percent - of voters said the ban should remain in place, while 14 people said they did not know.
The call comes after the only company to frack for shale gas in Britain was ordered to seal off their shale gas wells near Blackpool in 2019.
In a letter addressed to the PM, Lord Frost and other MPs urged Boris Johnson to end the ban on fracking, which they claim could prevent future energy crises like the one the country is currently experiencing.
In a joint letter to the PM, the group pressured him to "reverse this moratorium" which has prohibited the mining of shale gas since 2019.
The letter reportedly argues that lifting the ban would "allow us to combat the cost of living crisis, level up, create jobs, opportunity and a renewed sense of community in the north, improve our energy security, reduce our reliance on imported gas, stabilise energy and achieve net zero without increasing the cost of living for already hard-pressed working families."
Lord Frost said reversing the fracking ban would herald a “British energy renaissance”.....
14) Who are the Tory Net Zero Scrutiny Group?
The Week, 16 February 2022
The Conservative rebels blame government’s green policies for cost of living crisis
A group of backbench Conservative MPs sceptical of the government’s net-zero targets have launched a campaign that threatens to derail the UK’s green agenda.
The Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG), comprising around 20 Tory MPs and peers, have tried to “link the government’s net-zero agenda to the cost-of-living crisis”, The Guardian reported, and are calling for “cuts to green taxes and an increase of fossil fuel production”.
Critics have accused the group of attempting to drag climate policies into a “culture war” – a “dangerous new tactic” by “those opposed to addressing the ecological emergency”, Michael Mann, author of The New Climate War, told the paper.
Eurosceptic roots
The group was set up last summer by Tory MP Craig Mackinlay, who quickly enlisted fellow Conservatives including serial agitator and “self-described Brexit hardman” Steve Baker, said The Guardian. Both Mackinlay and Baker are also members of the eurosceptic European Research Group (ERG).
The NZSG “says it accepts the fundamental facts of the climate emergency and the need to reduce emissions”, the paper continued. But the Tory rebels have argued that the government’s net-zero plans are “too bold, dreamed up by out-of-touch elites, and would impoverish working people, ‘making them colder and poorer’”.
The group gained “minimal traction” in the run-up to the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow last year, but have reportedly “sensed an opportunity” in recent weeks as gas prices and other living costs have soared.
According to The Guardian, Mackinlay and Baker “stepped up their recruitment campaign in the corridors of Westminster ahead of the Christmas break”, targeting the 2019 intake of Tory MPs. The duo was said to have showed colleagues “alarming graphs and data about the cost-of-living crisis”, and to have argued that the government’s environmental targets were becoming “politically toxic” and that the “obsession with the green agenda was putting their slim majorities at risk”.
Who are the members?
The group’s members kicked off 2022 by sending a letter to The Sunday Telegraph calling for an end to green levies and more fossil fuel extraction.
Alongside Mackinlay and Baker, the letter was signed by former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey; Tory peer Peter Lilley; ex-schools minister Robert Halfon; Julian Knight; Anne Marie Morris; ERG member Andrew Bridgen; David Jones; Damien Moore; Andrew Lewer; Karl McCartney; Marcus Fysh; Philip Davie;, Adam Holloway; and Craig Tracey. The signatories also included 2019ers Scott Benton, Mark Jenkinson, Greg Smyth and Lee Anderson.
Baker is also a trustee of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), a group described by The Guardian as a “prominent publisher of material questioning the consensus on climate science” that was launched by former MP and climate change-sceptic Nigel Lawson in 2009.
How could the NZSG impact green agenda?
Baker told Sky News last month that he believed that the campaign against net zero could be “bigger than Brexit” and was addressing a key “moral issue”.
“I genuinely believe that when the full costs of net-zero start hitting us, if people have never been given a choice at the ballot box, we could end up with something bigger than the poll tax, certainly bigger than Brexit, because the numbers of people hit by it and their inability to cope will be huge,” he said.
“I am sick to death of people talking to me about food and fuel poverty, and then piling costs on the poor. This is a fundamental moral issue.”
More recently, NZSG chair Mackinlay told The Telegraph that the group could “play a similar role to the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown sceptics who defied Boris Johnson on Plan B measures, or indeed the Tory Brexit rebels under Theresa May,” according to the paper's political reporter Dominic Penna.
Nigel Farage has also drawn comparisons between net-zero targets and what he calls the “European question”, calling for a referendum on the issue on GB News.
“It's been imposed on people without any public discussion,” he said. “There is no difference between the political parties, no difference between them, on any of this stuff.”
But Conservative Environment Network member Chris Skidmore “said warnings of social unrest over net zero were irresponsible and populist”, Sky News reported.
Boris Johnson believes that his government’s net-zero strategy is “the answer to the energy price crisis”, the broadcaster added, and that “the switch to renewables and nuclear will eventually provide a greater degree of energy sovereignty and reduce exposure to volatile fossil fuel prices”.
“Anyone who thinks high energy bills are the result of ‘green crap’ obviously hasn’t been paying attention to the price of crude oil,” wrote The Telegraph’s associate editor Ben Wright. In fact, “analysis suggests that 90% of the increase in household energy bills over the past year has come from the increase in gas prices alone”.
“Opponents of net zero” argue that the UK’s failure to invest in the North Sea reserves, a ban on fracking and shutting down storage facilities gas has “increased our vulnerability” and left us reliant on Russian oil, Wright continued. But “fans of net zero” argue that “we haven’t moved far or fast enough on the development of renewables” and that “increased domestic gas production would simply feed into global markets where the price is open to manipulation”.
“Both sides have a point,” Wright concluded. But “the key is getting the balance right between running down fossil fuel dependency and developing renewable sources of energy. It can’t be an either/or proposition.”
The Week, 16 February 2022
The Conservative rebels blame government’s green policies for cost of living crisis
A group of backbench Conservative MPs sceptical of the government’s net-zero targets have launched a campaign that threatens to derail the UK’s green agenda.
The Net Zero Scrutiny Group (NZSG), comprising around 20 Tory MPs and peers, have tried to “link the government’s net-zero agenda to the cost-of-living crisis”, The Guardian reported, and are calling for “cuts to green taxes and an increase of fossil fuel production”.
Critics have accused the group of attempting to drag climate policies into a “culture war” – a “dangerous new tactic” by “those opposed to addressing the ecological emergency”, Michael Mann, author of The New Climate War, told the paper.
Eurosceptic roots
The group was set up last summer by Tory MP Craig Mackinlay, who quickly enlisted fellow Conservatives including serial agitator and “self-described Brexit hardman” Steve Baker, said The Guardian. Both Mackinlay and Baker are also members of the eurosceptic European Research Group (ERG).
The NZSG “says it accepts the fundamental facts of the climate emergency and the need to reduce emissions”, the paper continued. But the Tory rebels have argued that the government’s net-zero plans are “too bold, dreamed up by out-of-touch elites, and would impoverish working people, ‘making them colder and poorer’”.
The group gained “minimal traction” in the run-up to the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow last year, but have reportedly “sensed an opportunity” in recent weeks as gas prices and other living costs have soared.
According to The Guardian, Mackinlay and Baker “stepped up their recruitment campaign in the corridors of Westminster ahead of the Christmas break”, targeting the 2019 intake of Tory MPs. The duo was said to have showed colleagues “alarming graphs and data about the cost-of-living crisis”, and to have argued that the government’s environmental targets were becoming “politically toxic” and that the “obsession with the green agenda was putting their slim majorities at risk”.
Who are the members?
The group’s members kicked off 2022 by sending a letter to The Sunday Telegraph calling for an end to green levies and more fossil fuel extraction.
Alongside Mackinlay and Baker, the letter was signed by former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey; Tory peer Peter Lilley; ex-schools minister Robert Halfon; Julian Knight; Anne Marie Morris; ERG member Andrew Bridgen; David Jones; Damien Moore; Andrew Lewer; Karl McCartney; Marcus Fysh; Philip Davie;, Adam Holloway; and Craig Tracey. The signatories also included 2019ers Scott Benton, Mark Jenkinson, Greg Smyth and Lee Anderson.
Baker is also a trustee of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), a group described by The Guardian as a “prominent publisher of material questioning the consensus on climate science” that was launched by former MP and climate change-sceptic Nigel Lawson in 2009.
How could the NZSG impact green agenda?
Baker told Sky News last month that he believed that the campaign against net zero could be “bigger than Brexit” and was addressing a key “moral issue”.
“I genuinely believe that when the full costs of net-zero start hitting us, if people have never been given a choice at the ballot box, we could end up with something bigger than the poll tax, certainly bigger than Brexit, because the numbers of people hit by it and their inability to cope will be huge,” he said.
“I am sick to death of people talking to me about food and fuel poverty, and then piling costs on the poor. This is a fundamental moral issue.”
More recently, NZSG chair Mackinlay told The Telegraph that the group could “play a similar role to the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown sceptics who defied Boris Johnson on Plan B measures, or indeed the Tory Brexit rebels under Theresa May,” according to the paper's political reporter Dominic Penna.
Nigel Farage has also drawn comparisons between net-zero targets and what he calls the “European question”, calling for a referendum on the issue on GB News.
“It's been imposed on people without any public discussion,” he said. “There is no difference between the political parties, no difference between them, on any of this stuff.”
But Conservative Environment Network member Chris Skidmore “said warnings of social unrest over net zero were irresponsible and populist”, Sky News reported.
Boris Johnson believes that his government’s net-zero strategy is “the answer to the energy price crisis”, the broadcaster added, and that “the switch to renewables and nuclear will eventually provide a greater degree of energy sovereignty and reduce exposure to volatile fossil fuel prices”.
“Anyone who thinks high energy bills are the result of ‘green crap’ obviously hasn’t been paying attention to the price of crude oil,” wrote The Telegraph’s associate editor Ben Wright. In fact, “analysis suggests that 90% of the increase in household energy bills over the past year has come from the increase in gas prices alone”.
“Opponents of net zero” argue that the UK’s failure to invest in the North Sea reserves, a ban on fracking and shutting down storage facilities gas has “increased our vulnerability” and left us reliant on Russian oil, Wright continued. But “fans of net zero” argue that “we haven’t moved far or fast enough on the development of renewables” and that “increased domestic gas production would simply feed into global markets where the price is open to manipulation”.
“Both sides have a point,” Wright concluded. But “the key is getting the balance right between running down fossil fuel dependency and developing renewable sources of energy. It can’t be an either/or proposition.”
15) Tom Harwood: Cheap energy is the answer to inflationary woes, so why are we sitting on a 21st century goldmine of it?
Daily Mail, 16 February 2022
Against a backdrop of inflationary pressures from all angles – from construction to groceries to gas bills – petrol and diesel prices are the latest pinch point soaring to record highs.
In the last few days petrol prices have seen hikes to 148.02p a litre, and on Thursday diesel reached a new record per litre high of 151.57p.
Consumers are feeling the pinch and wage growth is unlikely to catch up. With the Governor of the Bank of England advising Brits to not ask for pay rises this year, what are we to do?
While horrendously out of touch and overwhelmingly unlikely to be heeded, the call to not raise wages without a corresponding rise in productivity makes sense, all that more cash for the same amount of production would do is push inflation higher still.
Prices rise, people get paid more to afford those prices, and in response prices rise again. It’s an inflationary trap.
No, the only way to sort this cost of living crisis is to deal with the supply side, not simply inflate the demand side of the equation.
This country needs to end years of dither, delay, and contradictory policy destroying our energy market.
Fixing energy will not fix inflation in general – after all the United States which has had far wiser energy policy under successive presidents is still seeing inflation breach 7 per cent – but it will help avoid the horrific choices some are being forced to make, between heating and eating.
After all, energy is connected. If we have a greater supply of electricity from other sources, be they hydro, solar, nuclear, or natural gas, there will be less demand for coal, oil, and diesel in electricity generation. And less demand means lower prices. Cheaper fuel at the pumps.
Yes, by delivering a powerful energy generation sector in the UK, not only may gas and electricity bills fall but petrol and diesel too. These are just the start of the myriad positive spillover effects of cheaper energy.
Yet as things stand, for thirty years politicians have ducked the decision on nuclear. While Margaret Thatcher approved the construction of three new nuclear power stations during her time in office, John Major and Tony Blair didn’t approve one between them. Brown, Cameron, and May then prevaricated.
The best time to construct a new wave of nuclear power stations was more than a decade ago. The second best time is now.
But despite being the cleanest and most powerful source of energy we have yet devised, nuclear takes time. If we are to embark upon an enormous nuclear building crusade this decade, there are still years to fill before we see the benefits.
And that is where hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, comes in. The UK sits upon a wealth of natural gas, a 21st century goldmine. The moratorium currently imposed upon extraction has done nothing but lower global supply and therefore bolster the hand of Mr. Putin.
It has done nothing to reduce UK CO2 emissions either, as we still rely on considerable amounts of expensive gas from other countries.
If politicians were to lift their self destructive moratorium, prices could come crashing down, as they did in the United States.
When the US got fracking, particularly under President Obama, natural gas production in the USA rose by around 60 per cent. In the same timeframe, prices which had previously been rising have since fallen by 50 per cent.
This is not rocket science, the UK could repeat this success story. It could do so to not only bring down energy prices as we transition to a much bigger base of nuclear, but also generate the tax revenue to help fund the construction cost of that nuclear revolution as it unfolds.
The solutions are there, for the pound in our pocket and the climate too. All they need is the political will to deliver.
16) Francis Egan: Jeremy Warner is wrong on shale gas
The Daily Telegraph, 19 February 2022
SIR – Jeremy Warner is wrong to say that Cuadrilla’s shale gas exploration wells in Lancashire “produced no burnable quantity of gas at all” (Business, February 16).
Each of our two Lancashire gas exploration wells flowed very high-quality natural gas to surface from just a handful of fractures completed in the underlying shale rock. The limited number of fractures was due to the regulatory requirement to halt operations any time micro-seismicity induced by fracturing exceeded just 0.5 on the Richter scale. A study by Liverpool University has equated the impact of a 0.5 micro-seismic event to sitting down on an office chair.
Just 10 per cent gas recovery from the Bowland shale could supply 50 years of current UK gas demand. To produce the same amount of energy as a single 10-acre shale gas site of 40 wells would require a wind farm some 1,500 times that size or a solar park nearly 1,000 times the size. Shale gas is by far the best option to minimise land use per energy produced.
At current UK gas prices, the value of just 10 per cent of the in-place British resource would be approximately £3.3 trillion. The potential tax take from producing this could be close to £200 billion. Imported gas produces no tax, no jobs and higher carbon-dioxide emissions.
Gas from the existing Cuadrilla wells could and should be flowing to local domestic consumers within 12 months of equipment remobilising to site.
The case for shale gas is strong and fundamentally logical. The Government needs to lift the moratorium urgently.
Francis Egan
Chief Executive Officer, Cuadrilla Resources Limited
Manchester
17) And finally: Alok Sharma criticised over private jet to climate meeting
Daily Express, 19 February 2022
CLIMATE change envoy Alok Sharma has come under fire for lavishing £125,000 of taxpayers' cash on a private jet to China.
Daily Express, 19 February 2022
CLIMATE change envoy Alok Sharma has come under fire for lavishing £125,000 of taxpayers' cash on a private jet to China.
Mr Sharma, president of the COP26 climate summit, took the trip in a bid to persuade Chinese officials to agree targets for limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
Accommodation, meals and visas added another £18,000. In total he flew 150,000 miles to 37 countries at a total cost of £250,000 in less than a year to gain support for the agreement signed in Glasgow last November.
Benny Peiser, of campaigners Net Zero Watch, said the private jet "was completely wasted given that China's assurances to Alok Sharma were dropped just before the COP deal was signed so that they can continue burning coal forever."
China and India vetoed a pledge to scrap fossil fuels for the phrase "phase down" instead.
Whitehall said there were no scheduled flights to the Chinese city of Tianjin, forcing Mr Sharma to book a private jet.
Accommodation, meals and visas added another £18,000. In total he flew 150,000 miles to 37 countries at a total cost of £250,000 in less than a year to gain support for the agreement signed in Glasgow last November.
Benny Peiser, of campaigners Net Zero Watch, said the private jet "was completely wasted given that China's assurances to Alok Sharma were dropped just before the COP deal was signed so that they can continue burning coal forever."
China and India vetoed a pledge to scrap fossil fuels for the phrase "phase down" instead.
Whitehall said there were no scheduled flights to the Chinese city of Tianjin, forcing Mr Sharma to book a private jet.
The London-based Net Zero Watch is a campaign group set up to highlight and discuss the serious implications of expensive and poorly considered climate change policies. The Net Zero Watch newsletter is prepared by Director Dr Benny Peiser - for more information, please visit the website at www.netzerowatch.com.
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