New Energy Policy Report

arrah jaysus the SoI thread just locked and here comes another 100+ comment barnburner 🙂

here’s a starter for 10:
http://www.juandemariana.org/pdf/090327-employment-public-aid-renewable.pdf

This study is important for several reasons. First is that the Spanish experience is
considered a leading example to be followed by many policy advocates and politicians.
This study marks the very first time a critical analysis of the actual performance and
impact has been made. Most important, it demonstrates that the Spanish/EU-style
“green jobs” agenda now being promoted in the U.S. in fact destroys jobs, detailing this
in terms of jobs destroyed per job created and the net destruction per installed MW.

The Greens are like the Reds: they have a …… vision!
The reality is different. There are benefits to be had from renewable energy, but not on the scale beloved of the Ds. Ds? Developers, who have a …… vision!
Barrages dams etc are sometimes beneficial and as Ireland is still one of the least populated countries in Europe, there is scope for some big development.

Ireland 8 Million pop in 1840
England 10 Million pop in 1840
Ireland 5 Million pop in 1970
England 55 Million pop in 1970

The Greens are like the Reds: they have a …… vision!
The reality is different. There are benefits to be had from renewable energy, but not on the scale beloved of the Ds. Ds? Developers, who have a …… vision!
Barrages dams etc are sometimes beneficial and as Ireland is still one of the least populated countries in Europe, there is scope for some big development.

Ireland 8 Million pop in 1840
England 10 Million pop in 1840
Ireland 5 Million pop in 1970
England 55 Million pop in 1970
Sorry… forgot to say great post – can’t wait to read your next one!

What this report argues for is a complete reversal of the government’s current energy policy. There’s more than a whiff of the ‘four legs good, two legs bad’ from it – with wind energy in the two legs category – which makes ti a bit of an irritating read.

Nonetheless, it contains many worthy points, in particular in seeking review of unreaslistic targets for renewables generation, government subsidies for renewable projects, proper economic cost/benefit analyses of capital projects including the EWIC. One would have thought that much of this is taking place anyway. At least one assumes that’s what government spokesmen mean when they talk about ‘everything being on the table’ for cutbacks. Are wind turbines, a 2bn invetment int he grid to accommodate them and interconnectors to the UK exempt from this review?

Thus far, the report has been largely ignored by the media. Likely, it will be entirely ignored by the political parties and their energy/climate change spokespersons, all of whom have allied themselves to the ‘green economy’ agenda – irrespective of any analysis of its viability or any other common sense consideration – and are happily competing with one another as to how many hundreds of thousands of ‘green economy jobs’ they will create on the back of their respective policy proposals that are all going to be financed by, er…. well, the national pension reserve fund usually!

The Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Policy has a public consultation underway on Ireland’s energy options post 2020. The guidelines for submission make it perfectly crlear that the Committee accepts and endorses the current policy on renewables. The Academy of Engineers are whistling in the wind.

Here’s a link to the final debate on the Scottish Climate Change Bill, that was passed in Holyrood last week. The Scots are now committed to a 42% emissions reduction by 2020 with annual targets of 3% or thereabouts.

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0624-01.htm

IAE make a long overdue challenge to Ireland’s seat-of-the-pants energy policy. No doubt their report will be dismissed by ideological or populist politicians peddling “green job” economic miracle-oil.

IAE say,

(1) pick the low hanging fruit first (energy conservation)
(2) ditch the expensive megalomanic visions.. electric cars, wind carpets
(3) plan for diversity, including nuclear and tidal
(4) publish a full and proper comparative study of all of the options and put this in the public domain. A full study should include engineering, environmental and all economic impacts.

e.g.

France has some of the lowest electrity prices in Europe, as well as the lowest Carbon intensity (tons of Carbon emitted per MWh of electrical energy comsumed). France is 80% nuclear. Nuclear is a low-cost way to reduce emissions which cannot be dismissed out of hand.

Denmark, often held out as a role model by wind vested interests, has high prices as well as high Carbon intensity. Denmark burns lots of cheap coal to keep prices down and back up their wind power.

By these metrics, France is cheaper and greener than Denmark. There is a danger that the current emphasis on wind is leading to disastrous mal-investment, all paid for by electricity consumers. REFIT for wind developers has alarming parallels to Section 23 for bubble-era property speculators.

It cannot be ‘business-as-usual’ for future energy policy. Would take a longish explanation. All the relevant, and inconvenient truths, are over on theOilDrum.com. You will have to read through many articles in the archives to get a basic sense of the problems associated with the change-over from fossil fuels (FF) to alternative sources. And, Renewable is not a suitable term to use – it obscures the real, engineering and energy shortcomings associated with a changeover – you have to ‘renew’ your infrastructure! Very energy intensive – needs a mandatory proportion of FF. Anyway, I believe we need not concern ourselves too much about global warming if we start to move down the FF depletion slope.

Brian P

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