James McSweeney has a very useful Critic piece on the insanity of Net Zero.
2035: the end of civilisation
Where is energy policy taking us
On a cold, windless December night, a rare bout of religious fervour has broken out in the control room. Not usually given to spirituality, the station controller finds himself whispering a prayer for a change in weather as the clock ticks down to New Year’s Day, 2035. Shaken from a vague recollection of Luke 4:12 by the sound of fireworks, the seasoned engineer takes a deep breath and orders his subordinates to disconnect the gas turbine — a ritual being repeated at power stations across the country. There is a moment’s peace, and then the lights go out. Miles away, the staff of the Electricity National Control Centre watch helplessly as the sudden drop in power collapses the entire national grid...
Readers will be relieved to know that the described events are unlikely to transpire. They do, however, illustrate what would happen if politicians do as they say they will: ban petrol and diesel-powered cars and gas boilers, and switch the electric grid to net-zero generation by 2035.
Anyone paying even casual attention knows that the Net Zero numbers are not even close to adding up. The whole piece is well worth reading as McSweeney makes this very clear indeed. After running through the numbers he has this to say.
There must be a plan, right? You would think turning off 73 per cent of the grid whilst forcing everyone to buy electric boilers and cars isn’t the sort of decision a politician makes on a whim, or for the sake of a press release.
Having looked into this extensively, I can confirm that there is no plan.
Readers will be relieved to know that the described events are unlikely to transpire. They do, however, illustrate what would happen if politicians do as they say they will: ban petrol and diesel-powered cars and gas boilers, and switch the electric grid to net-zero generation by 2035.
Anyone paying even casual attention knows that the Net Zero numbers are not even close to adding up. The whole piece is well worth reading as McSweeney makes this very clear indeed. After running through the numbers he has this to say.
There must be a plan, right? You would think turning off 73 per cent of the grid whilst forcing everyone to buy electric boilers and cars isn’t the sort of decision a politician makes on a whim, or for the sake of a press release.
Having looked into this extensively, I can confirm that there is no plan.
7 comments:
I really don't understand it. Even if you buy into the whole 'global warming/climate change' shtick, what is being done (or proposed to be done) makes no sense to a rational human being. So one is left with two conclusions - either the aim of the 'plan' is different to that which is stated, or the entire Western governing class has gone stark raving bonkers. The former takes one into the whole 'depopulation' tin foil conspiracy area, which even I find a stretch. And the latter seems equally ludicrous.
However one thing springs to my mind - the Western reaction to covid shows us that it is possible for an entire population (barring the 10-15% oddballs who refused to go along with it all) to become fixated on one thing, and to take an entire society down bizarre and utterly unpredictable paths. Thus I can see it is entirely possible for a class of people to be taken over by an idea and for it to drive them into some very odd places.
My best guess is that the Western governing class has become infected with a mental virus, a false idea that has managed to drive out all other ideas within the class, and is now so dominant that it can prevent anyone from exposing its falsehood. Just as it would have been impossible to be in the governing class in 1930s Germany and not publicly espouse Nazi ideology in its entirety, it is not possible to be in the Western governing class and not publicly espouse the green ideology. Any hint of public dissent is crushed, so everyone is forced to toe the line, regardless of what thoughts may go on inside their heads. Some are true believers, others just in it for the money and power/prestige, and the rest in a state of self imposed mental incarceration. They want their jobs and position in life to continue, so toe the line.
How one breaks this ideological hold I don't know. Breaking the Nazi ideology took much blood. I personally think that only catastrophe will cause people to break cover. When the grid somewhere fails and people die in droves, and that society becomes like something out of Mad Max, then you could see a change. But before that? I struggle to see what lesser outcome is strong enough to break the ideological bonds.
This time last week, Chateau Vega was experiencing a mini energy crisis of its own. The radio thingie which tells us how much heating oil we have malfunctioned, meaning we ran out of oil. When that happens, the pump tends to suck air into the feed-pipe, which normally means it stops working. So we had to order oil (a week) and only then could we call in an engineer (three days, and we were lucky!) to get us up and running.
We kept the immersion tank on for really expensive hot water so Girl-Vega and Mrs. V. could keep their hair nice, but apart from that we had no heating (we have an open fire which does not work too well) for keeping warm and - very importantly - for drying clothes.
If we had to, we could survive like that, of course. But it's a barbarous form of subsistence. We've lost the fortitude, and we've lost the skills.
One can only hope that enough people are galvanised by articles like McSweeney's so that we start getting politicians who understand the problems. Meanwhile, when nice well meaning people start wittering on about oil and climate catastrophe, let's all stop smiling benignly and start asking awkward questions.
Sobers - I agree and I don't understand it either. Explanations such as mass stupidity don't seem to work without some other explanation which may be related to effort expended in working things out. Many people just don't seem to expend the effort unless a need to do so is pressing and immediate.
In which case, your grid failure scenario seems likely. Until it happens, nothing much will change, although maybe something very alarming but less than catastrophic will do.
Sam - that sounds like a tedious experience. We don't even have an immersion heater if our gas boiler goes down, so I think we'd end up with endless kettles of hot water. The wood burner and gas fire would help with the heating. I think you are right, we should stop smiling benignly and start asking awkward questions.
We've not Gone To The Next Level and installed a wood-burner. But we do have gas and an immersion heater. Our old camping gas stand-by presumably is dead after decades living in the garage and being unused. What to do for next winter? Rationally we should probably go to live in a warmer climate, at least in winter.
We've not Gone To The Next Level and installed a wood-burner. But we do have gas and an immersion heater. Our old camping gas stand-by presumably is dead after decades living in the garage and being unused. What to do for next winter? Rationally we should probably go to live in a warmer climate, at least in winter.
Not quite mass stupidity but… A lot of people don't think much, they just churn over and recycle what they hear others say: many people's thought processes are equivalent to ChatGPT.
dearieme - with gas, immersion heater and wood-burner you ought to be well covered. We have a camping gas stove which does work plus spare gas cannisters. I know from our caravanning days that some people take their caravans to Spain for the winter.
djc - I think that's it, many people don't make the effort and just adopt what they hear. There is no immediate incentive to do otherwise.
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