By Paul Homewood

Alan Smith – Church Estates Commissioner

The Daily Telegraph has published a comment piece by Alan Smith, titled “Fossil fuel backers are becoming the real anti-capitalists”

As the title suggests, it is an anti-fossil fuel rant, full of misinformation worthy of Extinction Rebellion.

He begins by attacking those opposed to woke ESG nonsense, which attempts to block investment in fossil fuels. In Smith’s topsy-turvy world, those opposed to ESG are assaulting “investors’ rights”. In reality the opposite is true.

The Church of England is welcome to invest in whatever it wants. But when I put my savings into a pension fund, I want it to be invested with a view to maximising returns, not forced by ESG regulations and dogma to put it into green energy.

But the main thrust of the article is an attack on fossil fuels themselves. According to him, climate change will bring “catastrophic costs”, and we will leave our children with “a world beset by famine, natural disasters and social upheaval”

I’ll ignore the fact that he is talking through his hat.

What really concerns me is his apparent and total ignorance of the immeasurable benefits brought to humanity by fossil fuels in the last couple of hundred years. Or the fact that the poorer countries of the world need greater access to cheap fossil fuel energy, if they are to improve the lives of their people. Does he really want to put all of this at risk?

Worse than that, he shows no appreciation that hundreds of millions will inevitably die if chemical fertilisers are banned and mechanisation phased out, both of which will be inevitable when fossil fuels are taken away.

Putting political ideology above the interest of people is utterly inexcusable for a Churchman.

If the COE wants to divest in fossil fuels, that’s up to them. But calling for them to be phased out without a practical alternative is not only wrong, it is wicked.

Read the full article here.

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January 14, 2025 at 05:59AM

By Paul Homewood

h/t Philip Bratby

Consumers could get greater control over their energy usage and save money on their bills under plans for an energy smart data scheme.

Smart data is the process of securely sharing customers’ data, such as information on their energy consumption, with businesses known as authorised third parties (ATPs). These third-party providers then use the data, which is only shared at the customer’s request, to provide customers with bespoke products and services which can be tailored to consumers’ needs.

Smart data has the potential to give customers more control over their own data which will help them better understand their energy usage as well as access more personalised services that help them save money. For example, new services could help customers compare prices, change suppliers and switch to low-carbon tariffs.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/potential-new-smart-data-scheme-to-drive-innovation-and-support-consumers-in-the-energy-market

It all sounds very innocent, but as the Telegraph warns:

A privacy row has broken out over government proposals to allow energy companies to harvest household smart meter data as part of a net zero push.

Ministers are consulting on plans to allow household energy usage to be shared with third parties who could steer them to cheaper deals, as well as lower carbon tariffs from rival suppliers.

But campaigners warned the proposal amounted to “intrusion”, and that bill payers should be “very wary” about agreeing to have their data shared.

Neil Record, a former Bank of England economist who is now chairman of Net Zero Watch, told The Telegraph: “Energy companies get a tremendous amount of data from you, and the public should be very wary of increasingly having their household information provided to external agents.”

He added the proposals “represent an intrusion which once authorised, will provide information about your household, and the public do not realise how extensive that will be”.

Although it will be voluntary at first, how long will it be before it is compulsory?

One more reason not to have a smart meter.

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January 14, 2025 at 04:20AM

The warming woke attribute any event to climate change no matter how absurd.

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January 14, 2025 at 04:06AM

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January 14, 2025 at 04:06AM