It’s UK General Election time again. On 22 May, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gave the country just six weeks notice of the date on which voters will go to the polls. This has left very little time, especially for independents to organise their pitches to the public. Net Zero is unlikely to be the major… Read More »Ask your next MP about energy policy…
In the middle of the last decade, the issue of climate change began to merge with claims that air pollution in cities had created a public health crisis. The public had shown little appetite for climate policies that would restrict their mobility and likely price them off the road and this was creating an impasse.… Read More »“Toxic” Air
Environmentalism has a difficult relationship with democracy. Claims that the planet can only be saved by a radical transformation of society rarely, if ever, state the need to persuade voters of the case for such changes. Consequently, there is no real culture of democracy within the green movement. According to an article (now removed, but… Read More »Can climate policy be democratic?
Green comments in response to the recent crisis in UK domestic energy prices have claimed that the ‘gas market’ is responsible. The CarbonBrief blog, for example (which is also the origin of the false claim that “wind power is nine times cheaper than gas“) claims that “An 11-fold increase in UK wholesale gas prices since… Read More »Are energy price rises being “driven by gas”?
According to the World Economic Forum, China is a global leader in investment in “energy transition investment”: China increased its overall energy transition investment by 60% from 2020 levels, further cementing its position as a global leader. The country’s wind and solar capacity increased by 19% in 2021, with electrified transport also accounting for a… Read More »Is China really ‘green’?
In the wake of the recent natural gas price crisis, politicians and campaigners have claimed that wind power is “nine times cheaper” than power produced from gas plants. The origin of the claim is the green-billionaire funded eco-propaganda blog, Carbon Brief, which published an article in July 2022 comparing wholesale electricity prices with “strike prices”… Read More »Is Wind Power “9 Times Cheaper Than Gas”?
Low-lying island states have become a major symbol of the urgency of global climate talks. In 2009, Mohammed Nasheed, President of the Maldives, held an underwater cabinet meeting as a stunt to highlight what he believed the perilous situation his country faced, ahead of that year’s UNFCCC COP meeting in Copenhagen. But evidence that sea… Read More »Is Sea Level Rise Drowning Small Island States?
Many politicians and activists claim that enforcing Net Zero compliance on households will ultimately reduce their energy bills. But retrofitting homes with insulation and heat pumps, and other “energy efficiency” measures is not cheap. According to the UK Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee of MPs, the current government has significantly underestimated the costs of making homes… Read More »Will Net Zero Reduce Domestic Energy Bills?
Natural disasters are one of the least significant mortality risk factors in the world. But is the problem getting better or worse? There has clearly been a significant fall in the number of deaths caused by natural disasters, including extreme weather, over the 20th Century. The number of people killed by natural disasters today is… Read More »Is Climate Change Killing People?
Claims that storms, hurricanes or tropical cyclones are becoming more frequent or intense are made very often, but have no basis in observations. As the data compiled by Dr. Ryan Maue shows, there is no increase in the frequency of major (category 4 or 5) or minor hurricanes in the Atlantic. Since we can see… Read More »Are Storms Getting More Frequent and Intense?