Month: April 2017

Uncategorized 7 Apr 2017

Poland Rejects EU Climate Policy, Prime Minister Warns

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

Poland doesn’t agree with the introduced European Union (EU) climate policy norms, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo announced Wednesday.

Image result for Beata Szydlo EU climate directive

“As for climate policy, our position is clear: we do not agree with the norms that have been introduced. We will be consistent in protesting and looking for new solutions,” Szydlo said.

She made the remarks at a press conference when asked about Poland’s strategy towards the EU climate directive, considering that the country’s power industry is based mainly on coal.

Szydlo referred to an amendment to the National Emission Ceilings Directive (NEC) that aimed at reducing emissions from industry, traffic, power plants and agriculture. National emission commitments concern the period after 2020, but targets after year 2030 are also set.

The prime minister added that the EU climate norms were not only problem to Polish economy but to the other central European countries as well. “We will protect our economy,” Szydlo said.

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

April 6, 2017 at 09:21PM

Uncategorized 7 Apr 2017

UK Looking To Renege On Climate Goals Post-Brexit – Reports

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

The British government is assessing ways to scrap pledges made to hit 2020 clean energy targets without incurring any penalties, reports Bloomberg, in a first sign of the country reneging on mandatory environmental action made under EU membership.

UNITED British PM Theresa May signed Article 50 on March 29, thereby formally beginning the process of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. photo: Number 10/Flickr

The U.K.’s treasury and business department is seeking ways to scrap the country’s binding EU target of sourcing 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, reports Bloomberg.

Citing an anonymous individual with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg says that officials are hopeful that a post-Brexit Britain can avoid the fines and penalties associated with missing its EU target if they can find ways to abandon the goal – a goal that the country is unlikely to hit either way.

Fines could run into the tens of millions, and officials believe that rather than fall short and face the penalty, the far easier option for Brexit Britain is to take its foot off the clean energy accelerator, rather than press ahead with scaling up investment in wind and solar power.

If the U.K. is successful in wriggling out of its obligations, it would be another tangible sign that the country is increasingly out of step with the majority of mainland Europe.

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

April 6, 2017 at 09:21PM

Uncategorized 7 Apr 2017

Shale Boom Is Helping America’s Trade Balance with China

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

The United States has been exporting crude oil for less than a year and a half after the four-decade ban on exports was lifted, but already buyers are lining up to tap this new, stable supply.

Canada has bought up most of this crude to date, but China just surpassed our northern neighbor to become the biggest buyer of American crude in February. The FT reports:

To date, Canada has taken about half of the 239m barrels exported since the US ban was lifted, while China bought only 7 per cent, according to US census bureau data. But recent pipeline upgrades, and the surge in shale oil and gas production since the 2000s, has created ample supply and pushed output from Texas and Oklahoma into the Gulf Coast, depressing prices enough to justify the shipping cost to Asia. […]

Exports have begun flowing even as China goes head-to-head with the US as the world’s top oil importer. Within the next three to five years China is expected to become the world’s largest oil-refining nation, surpassing the US.

China has eyes on becoming the world’s biggest refiner of crude oil, and it knows that the United States is a much more reliable supplier than the Middle East. Lin Boqiang, dean of the China Institute for Energy Studies at Xiamen University, admitted as much to the FT, saying that “the Middle East is very risky, so we need to diversify, to look at all continents.”

This is an opportunity for the United States to help address its lopsided trade balance with China.

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

April 6, 2017 at 08:50PM

Uncategorized 7 Apr 2017

Wind Farms Could Be Paid To Stop Producing Power

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

Wind farms could be paid to switch off their turbines this summer as the growth of solar panels leaves the national network swamped with too much power.

Image result for Josh cartoon wind farms

National Grid, which manages the network, forecast yesterday that the minimum demand on the high-voltage power grid would fall to a record low this summer because of the continued installation of rooftop panels and solar farms.

As more households and businesses generate their own electricity and more solar farms supply power directly into local networks, National Grid has experienced a significant drop in the amount of electricity that needs to be drawn from the national system.

“With falling minimum demands on the transmission system, we anticipate there may be times this summer when there is more generation on the system than is needed,” National Grid said in its annual summer outlook report.