Roger Pielke Jr. gave a talk in London last night, on “Climate politics as Manichean Paranoia”. This phrase refers to the idea that “your opponent is considered to be malign and willfully ignorant, whereas your own side is noble and uniquely enlightened”, which Pielke says is one thing that unites the two sides of the climate … Continue reading
Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) appears to be a contagious disease spreading through academia and the media and becoming more virulent. Thus we have Stephen Hawking, a man I used to have a lot of respect for, saying “We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes irreversible. Trump’s action could push the Earth … Continue reading
I was going to write something about the new French government’s policies of banning petrol and diesel cars by 2040 and at the same time closing nuclear power stations. But these two tweets from David Rose and Chris Baker say it all. France announce this as they plan to reduce their nuclear capacity too, who … Continue reading
“Just don’t call me an alarmist,” says Sarah E. Myhre, a junior climate scientist from the University of Washington in Seattle, at the end of her article for Live Science. Yet earlier in the same article she writes of “the immense challenge of communicating the terrifying and heartbreaking (and I mean those words specifically) risks … Continue reading
In 2015, PNAS published a paper by Jacobson et al claiming that all of the US energy requirements could be provided by renewables (wind, hydro and solar) by 2050, and that this could be done at low cost. Jacobson had published similar claims on previous occasions, and his nonsense been promoted by irresponsible unscientific organisations … Continue reading
People may wish to discuss the election result, so here’s a post for that. The Conservatives have 318 seats, and it looks like they will form a government with support from the DUP (10 seats) that will have a small overall majority. Theresa May seems to be hanging on as leader, though it’s hard to … Continue reading
Theresa May launched the Conservative’s election manifesto today. Here’s the page relevant to energy policy (click for bigger version): Here are some of the key points: We want to make sure that the cost of energy in Britain is internationally competitive, both for businesses and households We will therefore commission an independent review into the … Continue reading
