These are dangerous economic times. I hope we don't make things worse by following Europe's example of trying to control "global warming" and climate change. Consider the following:
Peter
Following Europe's Lead on Climate Change
Paul Driessen Saturday, October 11, 2008 (source)http://townhall.com/columnists/PaulDriessen/2008/10/11/following_europes_lead_on_climate_change?page=1
Environmentalists, journalists and politicians say tough climate legislation is a moral imperative. Global warming science is settled, the United States is out of step with other nations, America must follow Europe’s lead to prevent climate chaos.
It’s great rhetoric. But which European lead should we follow? And how is it morally responsible to enact climate legislation that kills jobs and punishes families and businesses, to reduce global temperatures by perhaps 0.2 degrees?
There is no “consensus” on the “problem” or “solution.” Over 32,000 scientists, including hundreds of climate scientists, vigorously disagree with the assertion that human carbon dioxide emissions will cause a climate cataclysm.
Long ago ice ages and interglacial periods, the Sahara’s shift from verdant valleys to parched desert, and protracted droughts in the Yucatan and American Southwest had nothing to do with humans, they note. Sunspot counts are now at a 50-year low, indicating reduced solar activity and possibly explaining why planetary temperatures haven’t risen in a decade, despite soaring CO2 levels, say solar experts. Some computer models predict major climatic shifts, but they don’t include solar and other natural factors.
Hydrocarbons provide 85% of all US energy. They are the foundation of an economy that has been shaken to its core and may be entering a recession. Wind and solar represent less than 0.5% – and provide only intermittent auxiliary power. The new “Lights out in 2009?” study warns that the United States “faces potentially crippling brownouts and blackouts,” beginning in 2009, especially in regions that experience prolonged hot spells during summer months, due to insufficient generating capacity.
A bank that wanted to install solar panels found it would cost $850,000 – but would cut only 12% off its electricity bill. That meant it would take 90 years to pay off panels would last only 30 years. Fiscal and technological realities must remain the foundation of “social responsibility.”
House Democrats are nevertheless promoting new cap-and-trade legislation that could be even more punitive than Warner-Lieberman, which even sponsors admitted would cost nearly $7 trillion. They oppose oil and gas drilling, and new coal, nuclear and hydroelectric plants. Many want to “transform” our energy and economic system – from one that works to one based on heavily subsidized technologies that aren’t ready for prime time, and may not exist for decades.
We have to do our part, they insist, and join other nations in “saving the planet.” But which “responsible” leaders should we follow?
* Countries that signed the Kyoto Protocol and agreed to slash greenhouse gas emissions to 7% below 1990 levels? Or those whose actual emissions are well above their Kyoto targets: eg, Portugal 12% above, Italy 17% above, Spain 22% above, Denmark 25% above, Canada 27% above?
* A European Union that solved this predicament by agreeing to slash emissions 20% by 2020 – and presumably 30% by 2030 (or 40 by 40) when this new promise also proves too difficult or painful?
* Angela Merkel 2006, who promised to eliminate coal and nuclear power in Germany – or the chancellor of today, who wants to build new coal-fired power plants and shield chemical, steel, manufacturing, cement and automotive industries, by reducing emission goals or providing free cap-and-trade permits.
* Poland and other former Eastern Bloc nations, which intend to block a new EU climate change agreement, because they depend on coal for up to 90% of their electricity and on Russia for up to 97% of their natural gas, were held back for 50 years under Communist dictators – and now are loathe to be kept from developing by dictates from Brussels?
* EU companies that received “climate care” plaudits a few years ago – but now threaten to move jobs overseas, unless they receive preferential treatment under onerous emission controls?
* Britain, where politicians are being pummeled because climate taxes and skyrocketing energy prices have forced 5.5 million households to live in “fuel poverty”?
* Canada, where 78% of the citizens feel they have been mislead about the costs and benefits of Kyoto, and want fair and objective information from the media and politicians?
* The Australia of 2007, which supported taking action on climate change by a 55% margin? Or the Down Under of 2008, which opposed such action by 55% before the global financial meltdown?
* China and India, which put reducing rampant poverty, with its high human and environmental costs, ahead of the speculative effects of future climate change – and say they will be better able to adapt to climate changes (natural or human) if they are rich and technologically advanced?
* Countries that want to help impoverished nations develop abundant, reliable, affordable energy to reduce lung and intestinal disease and death, by bringing prosperity, safe water, refrigeration and modern hospitals? Or those that tell African and other destitute countries they must be satisfied with pitiful amounts of intermittent energy from “sustainable” sources like wind and solar?
* Al Gore, the prophet of ecological doom? Or Al Gore who flies only private jets, owns a fancy houseboat, and uses more electricity in a week than 28 million Ugandans together use in a year?
* Bureaucrats, scientists and politicians who seek open, robust, honest debate on climate change? Or those who use global warming hysteria to secure research grants, control every aspect of our energy and economic lives, and attend conferences at four-star resorts in Bali?
* Or perhaps three Italian ministers, who called the EU climate action plan “politically correct garbage” that “would kill any economic improvement” and “achieve very modest environmental benefits,” in a period of international economic difficulties that call for prudent decision-making?
California gets much of its electricity from coal-fired power plants located 600 miles from Los Angeles – enabling it to claim it’s “a leader” in curbing carbon dioxide. (It also gets substantial electricity from a nuclear power plant in Arizona, and most of its oil from Alaska.) Utah, on the other hand, generates most of its electricity from coal-fired plants within the state.
How many states can outsource their power and pollution? Which ones have more affordable electricity and gasoline, enabling poor families to live better on lower incomes – and still have money left for college, retirement, healthcare and charity? Which states are the more socially responsible leaders?
Morality, environmental justice and corporate social responsibility are too often defined by narrowly-focused environmental ideologies. They are too often winner-takes-all contests, pitting rich countries and eco-elites against poor families and nations that must worry more about immediate life-or-death concerns than speculative human-caused climate chaos. They too often replace rough-and-tumble debate over science and economics with intimidation and dogmatism.
We need to protect our economies, jobs and planet. We need conservation and all forms of energy – whatever works best, at lowest cost, for particular cities, states, regions and nations.
Will we follow politicians and activists who offer fear-mongering and utopian promises, as they lead us lemming-like off an economic cliff? Or will we follow leaders who offer honest, unflinching analysis and sound judgment – and stop us short of the precipice?
Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
New Shale Gas Plays In Europe
How long will it take Europeans to catch on to the idea gas can be produced from thick and extensive organic rich shales? Are there capable drilling rigs available? Are there engineers with the knowledge to drill and complete horizontal wells? These are big questions. My guess is this gas will be produced, it is just a question of when.
Peter
source
Europeans Starting to Search for Shale Gas
By David Jolly
While American shale-gas recovery efforts are booming, Europe is just getting into the game.
The first hurdle is to learn just how much shale gas might be available for recovery. Europe has numerous sites of potential interest.
"There's a possibility that under our feet are the same kind of shale-gas deposits that you have in the United States," said Brian Horsfield, a professor of organic geochemistry at the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences in Potsdam, Germany. "There are many of the same types of shale formations in Europe."
Working with institutions in France, the Netherlands and elsewhere, GFZ scientists will in January begin a six-year industry- financed study to map possible shale-gas sites in Europe. They will investigate the possibility of commercial recovery, using the Barnett shales around Fort Worth, Texas, as a yardstick. Their first project involves shale deposits in Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany, but there are other shale deposits in Austria, France, Poland and elsewhere.
New gas supplies would be welcome news to European Union officials, who have grown anxious over their increasing energy dependence on a resurgent Russia. Gazprom, the Russian state monopoly, already supplies more than a quarter of European natural gas needs.
"The Europeans have to hope that these shales will do for them what eastern shales have done for the U.S. gas supply, which is to boost the main supply that is coming from the Gulf of Mexico," said Don Hertzmark, an oil and gas consultant in Washington. "That would reduce the prices the Russians were able to charge the final consumers in Europe."
Companies are reticent about discussing their exploration activities, possibly because they fear land speculation could raise their costs. In Texas and Louisiana, mineral rights prices skyrocketed after the discovery of recoverable shale gas. Horsfield said the same land-rush mentality has begun to appear in Europe, with "huge interest, not just from locals, but also from as far away as Canada and Australia."
OMV, an Austrian energy company, has been conducting tests of gas shale in the Vienna Basin, an area that has provided hundreds of millions of barrels of oil since the 1930s. Ashiq Hussain, an OMV executive, was quoted in a March interview with Platts's International Gas Report as saying the gas deposits in the basin were "quite substantial," though he noted that the deposits lay far deeper than those of the Barnett shale in Texas. The deeper the gas deposits, the higher the market price of gas would need to be to make recovery economically feasible.
"We've started with projects on shale gas, but we're actually in the first phase of evaluation," said Christa Hanreich, an OMV spokeswoman.
Elsewhere, Royal Dutch Shell has obtained contracts to explore for gas in two sites in southern Sweden. And Lane Energy Poland is exploring in that country.
"Nobody even knew what we were talking about when we got started 18 months ago," said Kamlesh Parmar, director of Lane Energy Poland. The company was granted licenses in October to explore one million acres, or 405,000 hectares, in Poland's Baltic Basin region.
Despite the new enthusiasm, it will take years to develop Europe's gas resources, assuming doing so is economically feasible.
"It's at a very embryonic stage in comparison to the United States," said Alastair Syme, an energy-sector analyst at Merrill Lynch in London. "It's a story for the middle of the next decade, not for right now."
Originally published by The New York Times Media Group.
(c) 2008 International Herald Tribune. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
Peter
source
Europeans Starting to Search for Shale Gas
By David Jolly
While American shale-gas recovery efforts are booming, Europe is just getting into the game.
The first hurdle is to learn just how much shale gas might be available for recovery. Europe has numerous sites of potential interest.
"There's a possibility that under our feet are the same kind of shale-gas deposits that you have in the United States," said Brian Horsfield, a professor of organic geochemistry at the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences in Potsdam, Germany. "There are many of the same types of shale formations in Europe."
Working with institutions in France, the Netherlands and elsewhere, GFZ scientists will in January begin a six-year industry- financed study to map possible shale-gas sites in Europe. They will investigate the possibility of commercial recovery, using the Barnett shales around Fort Worth, Texas, as a yardstick. Their first project involves shale deposits in Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany, but there are other shale deposits in Austria, France, Poland and elsewhere.
New gas supplies would be welcome news to European Union officials, who have grown anxious over their increasing energy dependence on a resurgent Russia. Gazprom, the Russian state monopoly, already supplies more than a quarter of European natural gas needs.
"The Europeans have to hope that these shales will do for them what eastern shales have done for the U.S. gas supply, which is to boost the main supply that is coming from the Gulf of Mexico," said Don Hertzmark, an oil and gas consultant in Washington. "That would reduce the prices the Russians were able to charge the final consumers in Europe."
Companies are reticent about discussing their exploration activities, possibly because they fear land speculation could raise their costs. In Texas and Louisiana, mineral rights prices skyrocketed after the discovery of recoverable shale gas. Horsfield said the same land-rush mentality has begun to appear in Europe, with "huge interest, not just from locals, but also from as far away as Canada and Australia."
OMV, an Austrian energy company, has been conducting tests of gas shale in the Vienna Basin, an area that has provided hundreds of millions of barrels of oil since the 1930s. Ashiq Hussain, an OMV executive, was quoted in a March interview with Platts's International Gas Report as saying the gas deposits in the basin were "quite substantial," though he noted that the deposits lay far deeper than those of the Barnett shale in Texas. The deeper the gas deposits, the higher the market price of gas would need to be to make recovery economically feasible.
"We've started with projects on shale gas, but we're actually in the first phase of evaluation," said Christa Hanreich, an OMV spokeswoman.
Elsewhere, Royal Dutch Shell has obtained contracts to explore for gas in two sites in southern Sweden. And Lane Energy Poland is exploring in that country.
"Nobody even knew what we were talking about when we got started 18 months ago," said Kamlesh Parmar, director of Lane Energy Poland. The company was granted licenses in October to explore one million acres, or 405,000 hectares, in Poland's Baltic Basin region.
Despite the new enthusiasm, it will take years to develop Europe's gas resources, assuming doing so is economically feasible.
"It's at a very embryonic stage in comparison to the United States," said Alastair Syme, an energy-sector analyst at Merrill Lynch in London. "It's a story for the middle of the next decade, not for right now."
Originally published by The New York Times Media Group.
(c) 2008 International Herald Tribune. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Some Refreshing Cool, Clean Air From Europe......
Here is some common sense coming from across the big pond, (The Atlantic Ocean), from a member of the European Parliament. This kind of comment, and clear thinking is rarely reported in the American mainstream media. I wonder why? And the IPCC says the "debate is over"? Either they are trying to fool everyone, or they are lying, because the debate among politicians and surely among scientists, is far from over. Be very skeptical of what you hear on the mainstream nightly news.
Peter
THE SANE MAN OF EUROPE SPEAKS
An email from Roger Helmer [roger.helmer@europarl.europa.eu], Conservative Member of the European Parliament
You may be interested in the letter below which I sent today to the Environment Editor of the Daily Telegraph, Charles Clover:
Dear Charles,
I was surprised to read in your piece in the DT yesterday that "no politician from a British party would side with the flat-earthers" (in your charming phrase) in the climate debate. I am afraid you are wrong. I myself have been campaigning against climate alarmism for some time. Only in April I conducted a major and very successful conference presenting the case against global warming hysteria, here in the European parliament in Brussels. My key-note speaker was former Chancellor Lord Lawson of Blaby, who shares my view on the issue. I also took the issue to a packed fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference in October.
The evidence shows that climate drives CO2 levels, not vice versa. And as an erstwhile mathematician, I know that the climate forcing effect of atmospheric CO2 is not linear, and certainly not exponential (as hinted at in Al Gore's mendacious disaster movie). It is logarithmic. We are already well up the curve, and further increases in CO2 levels will have a marginal effect on climate.
In the eighteenth century William Herschel showed that sunspots drive the price of wheat. We can now explain this phenomenon -- sunspots lead to an increase in the Sun's magnetic field, which reduces the cosmic ray flux in our upper atmosphere and reduces cloud formation, leading to warmer weather, higher crop yields and lower grain prices. Yet now you describe those who recognise that the Sun drives climate as "flat-earthers".
You would do well to read your fellow columnist Jan Moir in today's paper. "I've yet to meet the person, politician or otherwise, who takes carbon emissions seriously". This is my experience. While organisations, companies, political parties and the media buy into climate alarmism at the official level, I am astonished by the large numbers of well-informed people who admit privately that it's nonsense.
This is a scare like the Millennium Bug. We shall look back from the cold winters of the 2020s and be astonished at our gullibility.To be fair, the Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph have given a good platform to the other side of the debate. But I am disappointed that you personally seem to see no need to report in a balanced way, but have chosen to act as a cheerleader for the alarmists.
source
Peter
THE SANE MAN OF EUROPE SPEAKS
An email from Roger Helmer [roger.helmer@europarl.europa.eu], Conservative Member of the European Parliament
You may be interested in the letter below which I sent today to the Environment Editor of the Daily Telegraph, Charles Clover:
Dear Charles,
I was surprised to read in your piece in the DT yesterday that "no politician from a British party would side with the flat-earthers" (in your charming phrase) in the climate debate. I am afraid you are wrong. I myself have been campaigning against climate alarmism for some time. Only in April I conducted a major and very successful conference presenting the case against global warming hysteria, here in the European parliament in Brussels. My key-note speaker was former Chancellor Lord Lawson of Blaby, who shares my view on the issue. I also took the issue to a packed fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference in October.
The evidence shows that climate drives CO2 levels, not vice versa. And as an erstwhile mathematician, I know that the climate forcing effect of atmospheric CO2 is not linear, and certainly not exponential (as hinted at in Al Gore's mendacious disaster movie). It is logarithmic. We are already well up the curve, and further increases in CO2 levels will have a marginal effect on climate.
In the eighteenth century William Herschel showed that sunspots drive the price of wheat. We can now explain this phenomenon -- sunspots lead to an increase in the Sun's magnetic field, which reduces the cosmic ray flux in our upper atmosphere and reduces cloud formation, leading to warmer weather, higher crop yields and lower grain prices. Yet now you describe those who recognise that the Sun drives climate as "flat-earthers".
You would do well to read your fellow columnist Jan Moir in today's paper. "I've yet to meet the person, politician or otherwise, who takes carbon emissions seriously". This is my experience. While organisations, companies, political parties and the media buy into climate alarmism at the official level, I am astonished by the large numbers of well-informed people who admit privately that it's nonsense.
This is a scare like the Millennium Bug. We shall look back from the cold winters of the 2020s and be astonished at our gullibility.To be fair, the Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph have given a good platform to the other side of the debate. But I am disappointed that you personally seem to see no need to report in a balanced way, but have chosen to act as a cheerleader for the alarmists.
source
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Carbon Credits....
I had no idea this business was as huge as it is. We don't hear about it in the US, but consider this from Europe. It is mind-boggling. All from the Financial Times in London
Peter
1-10 of 630 FT Articles results for Carbon Credits
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COMPANIES INTERNATIONAL: Credit Suisse in forestry carbon offset venture
...Forestry Management (SFM), based in London.The carbon credits that are generated by the venture will be sold...environmentally conscientious travellers buy carbon credits to offset the carbon emissions caused by their journey."I believe...
May 18 2007, By Kevin Morrison in London, Financial Times
WORLD NEWS: Carbon credits market triples to $30bn
The market in carbon credits grew faster than expected last year...while $5bn was from the sale of carbon credits by developingcountries.China was...selling 61 per cent of last year's carbon credits, while India took 12 per cent and...
May 03 2007, By Fiona Harvey in Cologne, Financial Times
Ask the Expert: Carbon offsetting and carbon credits
...not without problems. The EU's carbon credits trading scheme has seen the value...carbon offsetting and the regulated carbon credits markets. Gilles Corre is director...would open the way to 'produced' carbon credits - we could move progressively...
Apr 27 2007, FT.com site
Carbon credits market triples
The market in carbon credits grew faster than expected last year...while $5bn was from the sale of carbon credits by developing countries.China was...selling 61 per cent of last year's carbon credits, while India took 12 per cent and...
May 02 2007, By Fiona Harvey in Cologne, FT.com site
FRONT PAGE - FIRST SECTION: Industry caught in 'carbon credit' smokescreen
...their own energy use by buying carbon credits that cancel out their contribution...burgeoning regulated market for carbon credits is expected to more than double...very little - or from gaining carbon credits on the basis of efficiency gains...
Apr 26 2007, By Fiona Harvey and Stephen Fidler, Financial Times
Credit Suisse in forestry financing first
...Management (SFM), based in London.The carbon credits that are generated by the venture...environmentally conscientious travellers buy carbon credits to offset the carbon emissions...considered a potential buyer of carbon credits from forestry schemes.Mr Bernstein...
May 17 2007, By Kevin Morrison, FT.com site
MARKETS AND INVESTING: Credit Suisse in forestry financing first
...Management (SFM), based in London.The carbon credits that are generated by the venture...environmentally conscientious travellers buy carbon credits to offset the carbon emissions...considered a potential buyer of carbon credits from forestry schemes.Mr Bernstein...
May 18 2007, By Kevin Morrison, Financial Times
Carbon credit trading given a boost
...break in the Budget on Wednesday.Carbon credits held in offshore funds, primarily...which have already started trading carbon credits using derivatives and other ways...It will also buy and dispose of carbon credits to reduce further the fund's carbon...
Mar 21 2007, By James Mackintosh, FT.com site
BUDGET 2007: Trade in carbon credits is eased
...break in the Budget yesterday.Carbon credits held in offshore funds, primarily...which have already started trading carbon credits using derivatives and other ways...It will also buy and dispose of carbon credits to reduce further the fund's carbon...
Mar 22 2007, By James Mackintosh, Financial Times
FT REPORT - FT FUND MANAGEMENT: High noon tolls for the carbon cowboys
...Financial Services Authority, carbon markets can help to deliver...market mechanism whereby carbon credits are formed in the developing...There are allegations of "carbon cowboys" selling, or...times over, non-existent credits. The solution here as...
May 14 2007, By Lionel Fretz, Financial Times
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
Peter
1-10 of 630 FT Articles results for Carbon Credits
Sort by: Relevance Date
Email Bookmark
COMPANIES INTERNATIONAL: Credit Suisse in forestry carbon offset venture
...Forestry Management (SFM), based in London.The carbon credits that are generated by the venture will be sold...environmentally conscientious travellers buy carbon credits to offset the carbon emissions caused by their journey."I believe...
May 18 2007, By Kevin Morrison in London, Financial Times
WORLD NEWS: Carbon credits market triples to $30bn
The market in carbon credits grew faster than expected last year...while $5bn was from the sale of carbon credits by developingcountries.China was...selling 61 per cent of last year's carbon credits, while India took 12 per cent and...
May 03 2007, By Fiona Harvey in Cologne, Financial Times
Ask the Expert: Carbon offsetting and carbon credits
...not without problems. The EU's carbon credits trading scheme has seen the value...carbon offsetting and the regulated carbon credits markets. Gilles Corre is director...would open the way to 'produced' carbon credits - we could move progressively...
Apr 27 2007, FT.com site
Carbon credits market triples
The market in carbon credits grew faster than expected last year...while $5bn was from the sale of carbon credits by developing countries.China was...selling 61 per cent of last year's carbon credits, while India took 12 per cent and...
May 02 2007, By Fiona Harvey in Cologne, FT.com site
FRONT PAGE - FIRST SECTION: Industry caught in 'carbon credit' smokescreen
...their own energy use by buying carbon credits that cancel out their contribution...burgeoning regulated market for carbon credits is expected to more than double...very little - or from gaining carbon credits on the basis of efficiency gains...
Apr 26 2007, By Fiona Harvey and Stephen Fidler, Financial Times
Credit Suisse in forestry financing first
...Management (SFM), based in London.The carbon credits that are generated by the venture...environmentally conscientious travellers buy carbon credits to offset the carbon emissions...considered a potential buyer of carbon credits from forestry schemes.Mr Bernstein...
May 17 2007, By Kevin Morrison, FT.com site
MARKETS AND INVESTING: Credit Suisse in forestry financing first
...Management (SFM), based in London.The carbon credits that are generated by the venture...environmentally conscientious travellers buy carbon credits to offset the carbon emissions...considered a potential buyer of carbon credits from forestry schemes.Mr Bernstein...
May 18 2007, By Kevin Morrison, Financial Times
Carbon credit trading given a boost
...break in the Budget on Wednesday.Carbon credits held in offshore funds, primarily...which have already started trading carbon credits using derivatives and other ways...It will also buy and dispose of carbon credits to reduce further the fund's carbon...
Mar 21 2007, By James Mackintosh, FT.com site
BUDGET 2007: Trade in carbon credits is eased
...break in the Budget yesterday.Carbon credits held in offshore funds, primarily...which have already started trading carbon credits using derivatives and other ways...It will also buy and dispose of carbon credits to reduce further the fund's carbon...
Mar 22 2007, By James Mackintosh, Financial Times
FT REPORT - FT FUND MANAGEMENT: High noon tolls for the carbon cowboys
...Financial Services Authority, carbon markets can help to deliver...market mechanism whereby carbon credits are formed in the developing...There are allegations of "carbon cowboys" selling, or...times over, non-existent credits. The solution here as...
May 14 2007, By Lionel Fretz, Financial Times
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next
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