Month: February 2017

Uncategorized 27 Feb 2017

Study: Wind Turbines Could Make This Endangered Bat Go Extinct

via Climate Change Dispatchhttp://climatechangedispatch.com

Wind turbines are killing endangered bats much faster than anybody thought, according to a new University of California study that warns hoary bats could go extinct if nothing is done. The new study found the endangered hoary bat populations could decline by 90 percent in the next 50 years as more wind turbines are built. […]

via Climate Change Dispatch http://ift.tt/2jXMFWN

February 26, 2017 at 10:31PM

Uncategorized 27 Feb 2017

GIGO-based energy and climate policies

via Climate Change Dispatchhttp://climatechangedispatch.com

Things are never quiet on the climate front. After calling dangerous manmade climate change a hoax and vowing to withdraw the USA from the Paris agreement, President Trump has apparently removed language criticizing the Paris deal from a pending executive order initiating a rollback of anti-fossil-fuel regulations, to help jump-start job creation. Meanwhile, EPA Administration […]

via Climate Change Dispatch http://ift.tt/2jXMFWN

February 26, 2017 at 10:31PM

Uncategorized 27 Feb 2017

Little Emily’s Replacement No Better!

via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAThttps://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com

By Paul Homewood

h/t Patsy Lacey

http://ift.tt/2lMKwju

Little Emily Gosden has now moved on to pastures new at the Times. But things at the Telegraph don’t seem to have improved, as her replacement Jillian Ambrose seems just as soppy.

This is her latest report:

In the North West of England a disused power plant site will play host to the next phase of Britain’s energy evolution.

The Roosecote plot in Barrow began flowing electricity from burning coal to homes across the country over 60 years ago. Decades later the plant was replaced with a gas-fired version in the Nineties. But within months Roosecote’s latest incarnation will mark far more than a shift in technology, as it ushers in a radical change of approach.

The project is as simple as it is groundbreaking. Energy giant Centrica will build the world’s largest energy storage depot, housing rows of hundreds of batteries. They are each the size of a briefcase but together are capable of storing enough energy to power around 50,000 homes.

The batteries can absorb the power which is not needed when gusty winds bring a flood of electricity, or a weekend afternoon of summer solar power. When renewables wane the power can be released back into the grid in under a second to provide cheap, clean energy.

For Centrica, the project is part of a £1bn strategy shift away from the old world of large-scale conventional generating plants towards smaller options which are a better match for an energy system increasingly dominated by renewable power.

http://ift.tt/2lMKwju

Presumably there was no mention in the Centrica hand out which she has evidently copied from, but she should be aware that the cost of the Roosecote storage plant is being subsidised to the tune of £1.1 million a year, through the Capacity Market mechanism.

This subsidy is guaranteed for 15 years, so Centrica are on to a nice little earner here, courtesy of electricity bill payers.

And the only reason we need such standby capacity is because of the ruinous renewable power strategy.

Our Jillian might also have asked Centrica just how long the Roosecote batteries will actually be able to supply power for. A few hours, days, weeks? They might be OK for storing solar energy overnight, but can they store enough in the summer to supply those 50000 homes all through the winter?

She also shows this chart, claiming that 54% of energy is lost by the time it reaches users. This supposedly makes the case for more localised supply.

In fact, historically power plants have tended to be built close to users. I wonder why she has not therefore questioned the sense in connecting wind farms to the grid, which in many cases are hundreds of miles from the primary centres of demand.

via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT http://ift.tt/16C5B6P

February 26, 2017 at 10:27PM

Uncategorized 27 Feb 2017

As Polar Bear Numbers Continue To Increase, GWPF Calls For Re-assessment Of Endangered Species Status

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)http://www.thegwpf.com

On the occasion of International Polar Bear Day, the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) is calling on the U.S. Administration to re-assess the ‘endangered species’ status of polar bears.

On May 15, 2008, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service listed the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The listing is based on the assumption that loss of sea ice threatens and will likely continue to threaten polar bear habitat.

In a GWPF video released today, Dr Susan Crockford, a Canadian wildlife expert, documents the latest findings about rising polar bear numbers.

In 2005, the official global polar bear estimate was about 22,500.

Since 2005, however, the estimated global polar bear population has risen by more than 30% to about 30,000 bears, far and away the highest estimate in more than 50 years.

A growing number of observational studies have documented that polar bears are thriving, despite shrinking summer sea ice.

By September 2007 sea ice extent was about 43% less than it had been in 1979 – a decline not expected until mid-century, and every year after was almost as low, or lower.

Yet no more drowned polar bears were documented, no more bears than normal starved to death, no unusual spikes in cannibalism occurred, and not a single polar bear population was wiped out.

New scientific evidence suggests that loss of summer sea ice, regardless of the cause, is not a major risk for polar bear survival.

“A thorough external review of the polar bear status issue is now required – not only because it’s the right thing to do but because it may help restore public support for science and conservation,” Dr Crockford said.