By Paul Homewood
h/t Patsy Lacey
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So-called ‘green’ fuel refineries have used loopholes in federal regulation to become massive polluters, according to a new report.
The 275 Biofuel and ethanol manufacturers in the US released 12 million tons of toxic materials into the air in 2022 compared to 15 million emitted by oil refineries, the report detailed.
Further, these plants released more of four kinds of toxic chemicals that can cause vomiting, diarrhea and shortness of breath in the short term, and have been linked to cancer in the long term.
Their report reviewed 2022 data that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released from 191 ethanol plants, 71 biodiesel plants and 13 renewable diesel plants.
Not only were the ‘green’ manufacturers emissions nearly on par with oil and gas, they also released more of particularly potent toxins than the petroleum manufacturers – including hexane, acetaldehyde, acrolein and formaldehyde than traditional oil and gas refineries.
Labour To Keep Strategic Reserve Of Gas Power Stations?
By Paul Homewood
There’s little in the Labour Manifesto on energy which we did not already know.
Except for this little snippet:
https://labour.org.uk/change/make-britain-a-clean-energy-superpower/#clean-power
This raises more questions than it answers:
- How long will this reserve be maintained?
- Does this mean they won’t decarbonise fully by 2030?
- What action will they take to ensure this reserve is maintained in the long term?
- How much capacity is involved?
- How much will it cost?
By Paul Homewood
Some climate scientists don’t like it when their shoddy work is exposed as junk!
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German Hydrogen Rollout Fails To Take Off
By Paul Homewood
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h/t Patsy Lacey
ESSEN, Germany, June 12 (Reuters) – Investor caution about hydrogen as a future source of energy to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases did not suggest slowing resolve to phase out fossil fuels, German industry executives and policymakers said on Wednesday, pleading for patience.
They told a conference organised by the Handelsblatt business newspaper that regulatory support for new value chains would bring about a large-scale switch to renewably derived hydrogen energy early next decade.
By Paul Homewood
h/t Ian Magness
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For once Justin Rowlatt gets it right!
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp335p7x315o
He comes to the conclusion there is none!
By Paul Homewood
Sir Keir Starmer is standing by a pledge to ban new drilling in the North Sea, despite New Zealand abandoning a similar policy amid blackout fears.
Labour’s manifesto, due out on Thursday, will feature a pledge to block all new licensing for oil and gas as one of its key energy policies.
The party “will not be issuing licences to explore new [oil and gas] fields as we accelerate to clean power”, a Labour spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.
It follows last weekend’s announcement that New Zealand’s government was lifting a ban on new oil and gas exploration.
The ban was announced by former prime minister Jacinda Ardern in 2018. “The world has moved on from fossil fuels,” Ardern proclaimed at the time.
New Zealand’s trailblazing policy, which was the first of its kind, became a key inspiration for the Labour Party’s own plan.
However, some in the party are now questioning the commitment after New Zealand resources minister Shane Jones last weekend denounced its own ban as a disaster – and revoked it.
Global Heating Will Increase Parasite Outbreaks–SWW
By Paul Homewood
h/t Paul Kolk
First we had the boss of Network Rail blaming the Stonehaven crash on global warming, before his company was fined for negligence.
Now SSW are trying to deflect the blame for the cryptosporidium outbreak in Devon:
The owner of South West Water has warned that global heating will increase the risk of outbreaks of the parasite that caused diarrhoea and vomiting in south Devon. Pennon Group said that “gradual and significant increasing average and high temperatures” could pose “risks to water quality and water treatment” – including the cryptosporidium parasite – in its annual report, published this week
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As the BBC reported a month ago, responsibility for the outbreak lay solely with SWW themselves:
Hydrogen CfD Costs
By Paul Homewood
In my post on hydrogen costings yesterday, I had forgotten that the government had already awarded CfDs for small hydrogen projects a few months ago:
Following the launch of the first hydrogen allocation round (HAR1) in July 2022, we have selected the successful projects to be offered contracts. We are pleased to announce 11 successful projects, totalling 125MW capacity.
How Wet Was The Spring?
By Paul Homewood
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After all the hype about how wet it’s been this spring, and how it’s due to climate change, the actual figures confirm that it has actually been far from unprecedented.
Much wetter were the springs of 1979, 1981 and 1983, all occurring during the period of global cooling, which set in after the 1940s.
More to the point, there are no long term trends to either drier or wetter springs. It’s all just weather:
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Nor has any month been unusually wet:
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By Paul Homewood
h/t Ian Magness
Silly Emma!!
Temperatures in June 2024 are at half the level of 2023, the Met Office has said, although warmer weather is predicted towards the end of the month.
While London was experiencing 32C (89.6F) a year ago, temperatures were around 16C (60.8F) in the capital on Tuesday. Similarly Cambridge had temperatures of 30.3C (86.5F) on June 11 2023, and 15C (59F) on the same day in 2024.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/11/june-temperatures-cold-half-2023-met-office-rain-summer/
As one commenter put it:
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 