Chris Morrison
Earlier this week, Labor backbencher Bill Esterson, chairman of the UK Parliament's energy committee, noted that people will have to adapt their habits to meet the 2030 net-zero emissions target. Like a donkey, it deserves applause. For now. Try to reduce energy demand by 30%. After 2030, it is contemplated that all beef, lamb and dairy products will be banned and “replaced by new diets”. Then there was a massive 45% reduction in the use of the most common building materials, such as cement, and a similar reduction in road freight volumes. As fertilizer restrictions halve “direct emissions” from soil, the attack on agriculture will be relentless. In summary: widespread rationing and power outages, as well as food, holiday and travel restrictions, all within about 60 months.
Looking at what they funded, what they wrote and who they consulted, rather than what they said, is the best advice for countering all the big lies about net zero. Sir Keir Starmer's statement at the recent COP29 that he did not want to tell people how to live can only be explained by pointing out that this statement came from a British Prime Minister who has trouble distinguishing between women and men. Thankfully, we have the government-funded UK Fire Project that can give us an honest look at the near-term impacts of net zero emissions. The above-mentioned substantial reductions in energy, food and industrial materials are all due to its “pragmatic approach.” Its evidence-based conclusions rely on technology available today. It does not include processes such as carbon capture and hydrogen that have not yet been proven on a meaningful scale.
Its conclusions warm the hearts of even the most staunch green theorists. Its report also happens to be the most honest statement yet about the horrors faced when the “net zero” fantasy becomes reality.
By 2028, a total of 7 million heat pumps will need to be installed and extensively retrofitted in domestic homes. Meanwhile, all rental and non-residential properties will need to have an EPC A rating by 2030.
UK FIRES rightly points out that “there will not be enough time to plan, develop and build new large-scale infrastructure to meet the 2030 targets”. What is true again is that we observe that increased use of wind and solar power creates intermittent problems. “Ultimately, this problem must be solved through demand shifting or storage,” it noted. With current technology, large-scale storage is more or less impossible. Another word for “demand shifting” is rationing. In order to implement these consumption restrictions within a wide range of modern industrial lifestyles, a “whole of society” approach must be mobilized.
Fire UK received a £5m grant from the UK government and its warning for 2030 – or if that's the hope – is contained in a report called Minus 45, presented at COP26 in Glasgow 2021 Prepared previously. The report builds on the UK government's commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 45% from 2018 to 2030. COP29.
That would be the COP29 conference, which has made huge progress in destroying the bribery system that provides so-called climate aid to developing countries to prevent them from developing on hydrocarbons. No one knows who will pay for the £1.3 trillion a year pledge until 2035, especially since President Trump will reverse any US pledges with the stroke of a pen on January 20. Helpfully, creative climate accounting is still possible if someone cares enough to move from lip service to real action. A requirement to ban the construction of coal-fired power plants was removed from an earlier draft and was therefore not included in the final communiqué. This will no doubt please the Japanese who are backing the construction of the Mattabari ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plant in Bangladesh, which uses Japanese technology to generate more energy with less coal. CFACT's David Wojick noted that diplomacy “is really the art of not agreeing on anything” at COP29.
The chaos at the COP shows that the world is giving up on the idea that hydrocarbons can be eliminated from the modern economy. But a recent surprise in electoral politics has given the UK a fanatical government of net-zero enthusiasts. The anti-working class Labor Party returned to power with a lower popular vote than its defeated Marxist leader received in 2019. A resurgent America moved forward on cheap energy and an unleashed entrepreneurial spirit, in stark contrast to its European allies who shut down industrial manufacturing in pursuit of an increasingly unpopular state-mandated apocalyptic cult.
Chris Morrison is daily skepticof Environment editor.
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