Global warming campaigner - now calling himself a climate change campaigner - and former US vice-president Al Gore is to be the keynote speaker at the Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference (SLCIC) which will take place in Edinburgh this September.
The event is described as a leading international forum for emerging renewable energy and other low carbon markets. The cost of the conference will be mainly met by the taxpayer ie the Scottish government and Scottish Enterprise.
Fancy attending? The bargain price for the two day bash, including refreshments and lunch, is £495+VAT but if you want to splash out and join the 'exclusive drinks reception' and dinner that will set you back £645+VAT.
Whilst I applaud the use of natural resources to create energy, I have no time for Mr Gore and his carbon scam. Why should anyone believe his environmental rhetoric about reducing our use of energy when he uses more than 20 times the US national average in his own home?
Only recently Fergus Ewing, the Scottish government's energy minister, stated the Scottish government was 'perfectly open' to the continued use of Hunterston and Torness power stations to ensure there was security of supply. This statement had the usual suspect, FoE Scotland, foaming at the mouth, but it was welcomed by those with common sense.
Where energy policies are concerned I have to agree with this man, although Scotland did address the issue well before Westminster.
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26 comments:
He's going to Scotland? Maybe you can put him in a Wicker Man for us.
I'm surprised at the headline you've linked Subrosa. It claims "energy bills will double in five years due to green energy costs". Come on now. You're a sharp cookie as many of us are. Energy bills are going to double anyway if the current pricing policy of the cartel, made up of current providers, is anything to go by. As always the Mail views anything new as suspect. Given the subject of the debate that is a very silly position to adopt and especially by a newspaper. To say energy bills will double solely because of green energy is ludicrous. The current cartel of consumer-robbing, shameless profiteers and extortionists should be challenged by the likes of the Mail on a daily basis as many of us can't quite enjoy the milder part of the year for worrying how we are going to meet heating costs in the winter. And I mean people who actually have a wage coming in. If they are worrying how much worse will it be for those will little more than nothing? That state of affairs is nothing to do with green energy but about energy companies who are answerable to no one because politicians will not rein them in. THAT's what is sending energy costs up.
Jo G - Exactly - well said.
I would if I could Michael but I won't be attending because I don't think I could sit still long enough.
I understand your point Jo, but part of the increase is to do with green taxes. How else will the windfarm feedbacks be paid?
By the end of next winter I'll know how much I've paid in that hidden tax and let you know.
But you're right, insofar as the MSM ought to be investigating this regularly. It'll be far too late once winter is over the the stats on deaths due to hypothermia have risen.
Subrosa, I am aware of your absolute hatred of windfarms and I respect that position but you mustn't let that lead you to ignore the exploitation of consumers by existing providers from traditional sources.
You are letting them off the hook if you take that route when they, more than anyone, have behaved appallingly and been allowed to do so by successive governments as they have bled the consumer dry. Cartel is the only word to describe them. Competition my foot. They work with each other with one aim and that is to fix prices and to screw the consumer blind. They have done it for how long now and still they get away with it.
There is a debate to be had on green energy but there are very serious charges to be levelled against the big boys. By focusing only on green energy as the reason for increases in fuel bills the Mail lies and it lies bigtime. But then for the Mail the privatised companies who now dictate whether some families can eat or heat are untouchable looking after, as they are, their own obscene profits and the interests of their shareholders.
If Gore is coming he's sure to be followed by terrible weather.
He's made a fortune from his global warming activism. Interestingly he bought a new house not that long ago which is right on the coast. What about his predictions of massive increases in sea levels.
It doesn't really matter where energy comes from as long as it's cheap and it doesn't pollute.
I'm hoping that our Scottish politicians of all parties do not see this as a photo opportunity. If they do they may find themselves in a very embarrassing position all too soon.
"It doesn't really matter where energy comes from as long as it's cheap and it doesn't pollute."
I disagree Pete: I think it matters very much where it comes from because consequences need to be considered always when it comes to energy. There are those who would call nuclear "clean". I always find that bizarre considering the radioactive waste it leaves behind.
Al Gore, a worthy contender for the Nobel Prize for Fiction. (If there was such a category.)
@ Jo G - various comments
The UK's energy prices are no longer heavily influenced by local (i.e. western Europe) prices / supplies / demands.
Prices now react to worldwide supply & demand.
20 - 30 years ago, the population at about 55 million & GDP of the UK was relatively stable. And, we were energy-rich.
Since then, the BILLIONS in BRIC - China, India, Russia & Brazil (to name just 4 countries) have worked to raise their standard of living from abject poverty. This uses energy. Do you deny them a lifestyle & comfort even way below that of the average UK resident?
They're competing with you (on price) for a limited commodity. That's why energy prices will rise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_consumption#By_country
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_electricity_consumption
'Green energy' is a good thing, but let its vociferous proponents depend exclusively upon it for 12 months (and without subsidy from the rest of the population), or forever be tagged as hypocrites.
The Green Agenda looked a bit "whacky" to me at first but I haven't been able to find any faults except for the odd out of date link...
http://green-agenda.com/index.html
"I believe it is appropriate to have an 'over-representation' of the facts
on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience."
- Al Gore,
Climate Change activist
The whole site is worth a scoot around imho.
Sorry, can't resist posting a few more Gore quotes - I haven't checked the references for these but everything I have checked from this site before has been fine...
"The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and
spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest
opportunity to lift Global Consciousness to a higher level."
- Al Gore,
Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech
"Humanity is sitting on a time bomb. If the vast majority of the
world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a
major catastrophe that could send our entire planet's climate system
into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods,
droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have
ever experienced - a catastrophe of our own making."
- Al Gore,
An Inconvenient Truth
"We are close to a time when all of humankind
will envision a global agenda that encompasses
a kind of Global Marshall Plan to address the
causes of poverty and suffering and
environmental destruction all over the earth."
- Al Gore,
Earth in the Balance
"We require a central organizing principle - one agreed to voluntarily.
Minor shifts in policy, moderate improvement in laws and regulations,
rhetoric offered in lieu of genuine change - these are all forms of
appeasement, designed to satisfy the public’s desire to believe that
sacrifice, struggle and a wrenching transformation
of society will not be necessary."
- Al Gore,
Earth in the Balance
"Adopting a central organizing principle...
means embarking on an all-out effort to use every
policy and program, every law and institution...
to halt the destruction of the environment."
- Al Gore,
Earth in the Balance
"Our insatiable drive to rummage deep beneath
the surface of the earth is a willful expansion
of our dysfunctional civilization into Nature."
- Al Gore,
Earth in the Balance
"The fate of mankind, as well as of religion, depends upon
the emergence of a new faith in the future.
Armed with such a faith, we might find
it possible to resanctify the earth."
- Al Gore,
Earth in the Balance
"The spiritual sense of our place in nature...
can be traced to the origins of human civilization....
The last vestige of organized goddess worship
was eliminated by Christianity."
- Al Gore,
Earth in the Balance
Jo, I think I've mentioned the cartel of our energy providers before but if not then I confirm I agree with you.
What also riles me is OFGEM who are so ineffective it would be amusing if it wasn't so serious.
To be fair to the mail, it's about the only paper who has kicked the big boys a few times. Others just print the big boys' press releases.
He'll certainly be bringing plenty hot air with him petem.
There should be a category for that Joe as I can think of several who would be in line for it.
It's an interesting site that one Sheila.
Isn't he a silly fool yet he'll be getting thousands to come and talk to the faithful for an hour or so.
Thanks for the extra quotes Sheila. It really is a religion isn't it.
Al Gore will be remembered by historians as one of the great climate scam charlatans. Like all global warming scamming liars he never practices what he preaches. He lives in a luxurious mansion with a large gas heated swimming pool. He flies first class around the world more often than the average joe in order to attend weather conferences in exotic locations. He denies the fact that there has been no warming since 1998 and that we're entering a mini ice age. He'll be dead and buried by the time the whole scam is debunked so he doesn't give a monkeys.
He should be rendered down for oil and put in a central heating system in an old folks home. At least he would be of use at last.
Here we're stuck with 7 homes speedy gonzales lesbian chaser Huhne and his climate bill madness or 14,000 mile holiday of a lifetime Harvie and his mad greenie agenda so we're finished.
Hi SR and RM. Thanks for the laugh RM, I agree with your thoughts.
It annoys me considerably that the power companies are ripping us off and getting away with it, but even more, it annoys me that our governments are equally ripping us off with green taxes which will put half the country into fuel poverty for no good reason. A lot of people don't understand the basics of power generation or power usage.
Got a big screen TV? great picture?
Your TV uses 200 watts of power every hour it is turned on. Double the power your old tube TV used.Note the hours the TV is on each day and work out the power consumption for a year, then find out what the power company charges per Kilowatt hour and calculate the cost per year, you will get a fright at what it costs to run your new TV. Consider the number of these TV's in use in the country, plus the Sky box, another 40 watts each,and remember this is double what it was ten years ago,we are using more power, the fuel costs have gone up and the green taxes are on top of all this !
And these low consumption lights we are forced to use, couple of weeks ago out of curiosity I checked the power being used and it was 40 watts while the box claimed 21 watts.Will check again when time permits, could have been faulty, but it makes me wonder?
Rendering is surely too good for him RM - think about the smell.
You're right, but what surprises me is how many people just say 'we knew the prices of gas and electricity would increase greatly'. When I ask how they knew I'm told 'The media's been telling us for years'.
How's that for brainwashing and it's from usually sensible individuals.
If you check it out Apogee, the UK is the third highest user of power in Europe. We're only behind Germany and France.
UN reveals its master plan for destruction of global economy
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100095817/un-reveals-its-master-plan-for-destruction-of-global-economy/
"What’s amazing about this stuff – and believe me, there’s plenty more where this came from – is the unblushing shamelessness with which it advocates this economic insanity. Here is the world’s most powerful intergovernmental institution essentially arguing for the destruction of the global economy, enforced rationing, Marxist wealth redistribution, greater regulation, the erosion of property rights and global governance by a new world order of technocrats and bureacrats. And being so upfront about it they actually issue press releases, telling us what they’re planning to do and encouraging us to write about it."
Hi SR.I was not aware of that, but I seem to remember we pay more for our power per Watt consumed. Generating by inappropriate means is also increasing the cost.Wind power is of no use if there is no wind.Or if the average power generated is less than 10% of the capability and the other 90% still has to come from thermal, and that includes nuclear. It worries me that I keep seeing reports from the States of wind farms being abandoned. We are going into all these schemes without all the information to know if they will really deliver,and it will cost us dearly, while at the same time making the snake oil salesmen like Al Gore a fortune.A lot of possible ways to generate power are being denied to us by dictat,at the altar of AGW ,when the Chinese alone are wiping out any "gains"we might make, and a medium sized volcano for a few months will do more damage to the environment than we will in a year.People do not understand the scale of the things they are so lightly talking about.
Consider a kids toy boat alongside the QE2 and you may start to grasp the size of what AGW fanatics claim they are going to do something about. We are being controlled in this by people who do not know their subject,but know how to talk.
Hi SR and Sheila.I had forgotten that article of Dellers. The bit that amused me was the UN idea that we only need $10.000 to survive. Fine. Apply that to every man and woman on this planet WITHOUT EXCEPTION and a TOP LIMIT ON EXPENSES OF 1.O% OF THAT $10.000 AND I WILL VOTE FOR IT. That would empty the capital cities of the EUSSR of the parasites IN A WEEK.
But it won't happen, said parasites would make damn sure they were excluded.
Sheila, thanks for that link. I perhaps should have included it in the post because I too think it's important.
Why do so many stick their heads in the sand? Has our society become so dumbed down that the behaviour of tabloid journalists is more serious? Seems so.
Here you are Apogee. It's a bit dated though:http://www.energy.eu/#Domestic
Not only the US are abandoning windmills but Sweden also.
Auch Apogee yer an optimist at times. No way would they even utter that proposal.
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