Has AGW Been Found Out?

Q-Cells, once the world's biggest maker of solar panels, is filing for bankruptcy.  The German firm says it has abandoned an attempt to refinance its debts and filed for insolvency on Tuesday.

The panel manufacturer has been hit by falling prices and last year the company lost €846m (£702m). It had been trying to organise a deal to swap debt for shares in the company but it said that a court ruling last week, which blocked a similar restructuring for a wood processing company, convinced it that it could not go ahead with its rescue plan.

Last year there was political controversy regarding the giant US solar panel manufacturer Solyndra went into administration.

It's been obvious that solar panels are non-profitable and cannot operate without large subsidies.  Fortunately Scotland hasn't been too badly affected because we lack the regular quality of light required to power the panels, but there are still households which will suffer should they have one of the many now defunct manufacturers panels installed.

Jonova's latest post begins:

Soon, the moment will come when the crowd will say "I always knew it was a fake'.  Here are three signs we are at the beginning of The End [of global warming].  Read it here.

AGW has been found out but it will take much longer to unravel the plots than it took to plan them.  I can wait.

Tweet

A Little Fun With The Climate Catastrophists

A post from Edward Spalton.

As the climate has failed to warm in the last fifteen years, it is interesting to recall how the language of the debate has been manipulated. Initially we were told of imminent, catastrophic, “man-made global warming”. Those who wanted to be gender-neutral and more high-falutin' called it “anthropogenic”.

Then they altered the term to “climate change” whilst retaining the original meaning. Of course, the climate has always changed. Nobody has ever denied that. But the meaning of the term “climate change” was subtly altered to mean global warming – as in the government department for climate change.

As no trend warming was discernible, they hit on “climate disruption”. So any out-of-the-ordinary weather – hot, cold, dry, wet, windy or calm can be blamed on the fractional amount of that life-giving trace gas carbon dioxide, which is attributable to human activity. You may think it's colder but it's really getting warmer.

Present understanding of the scientific record shows that there have been times when carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was much higher than at present and the climate much cooler. Some of today's hottest catastrophists predicted a new ice age from this cause as recently as the Seventies.

The next scare is extinction of species. The seas will become more acid from absorbing carbon dioxide, they say, and this will dissolve the shellfish and corals, which are made of calcium carbonate.

People who remember their chemistry lessons will know that limewater (a solution of calcium hydroxide) turns cloudy when mildly acidic carbon dioxide is bubbled through it. That cloudiness is insoluble calcium carbonate, produced by the reaction – a very common mineral and the main constituent of coral reefs.

If you continue to bubble CO2 through the solution, a strange thing happens. It goes clear again. The insoluble calcium carbonate is attacked by the carbonic acid (CO2 and water) to form calcium bicarbonate which is not only soluble but alkaline, thus de-acidying the water and making the calcium available for metabolism by the corals. This aids new growth and is why coral reefs have never suffered from “too much” carbon dioxide in the past.

O Level Chemistry trumps the increasingly sub prime science of official alarmist climatology.

I am indebted to the Rev Philip Foster MA (Nat Sci and Theol) for reminding me of my chemistry lessons.

Tweet

Money For Nothing

A guest post from Joe Public.

Such prescient lyrics, composed in 1985

"Money for nothin' and chicks for free 

Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it

Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb"

Who'd like to be paid, not for doing something, but for not doing something?

Charles Hendry, Minister of State for Energy, has stated recently that “in 2011 constraint payments totalling £12.1 million were made to wind farms through the balancing mechanism”. 

The Renewable Energy Foundation claims on its database the biggest recipient of constraint payments was Hadyard Hill wind farm in south Ayrshire which received £2,150,068 since 2010. It is operated by Scottish & Southern Energy on land owned by former presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament Alex Ferguson. According to his declaration of interests last year, he estimated his rental income to be between £40,001 and £45,000 a year.

REF's enlightening database is searchable & sortable. An invaluable tool.

It was Bob Dylan who sang:

"The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,

The answer is blowin' in the wind."

Meanwhile, in Hungary, a $billion-worth of Forints is being put to good use, in the ultimate recycling scheme...

Annually, Hungary recycles about $1 billion worth of old forints (currency of Hungary), and converts the worn out currency into briquettes. After which, these are distributed to different charitable organizations . The briquettes are used as a heating fuel. This unique government program covers up to a third of the expenses in heating some of the buildings.

Tweet

Dear Santa

A post by Tedious Tantrums

Dear Santa,

Hello Santa. It’s been a few years since I last corresponded with you. I say corresponded although in reality it was all one-way traffic. I wrote and asked and you delivered, up to a point anyway.

I enjoyed the red and yellow fixed wheel Triang tricycle with the solid tyres you brought for my 4^th Xmas. I was also particularly keen on the huge crane for my 7^th, the gun that shot round corners for my 8^th and Tommy Gun (down market version of Action Man) although his orange facial colouring may well have been ahead of it’s time.

There were many other presents, which I also enjoyed. The pretend shop with it’s own wee till and the pretend post office with it’s stamper could be enjoyed for hours at a time. Meccano and Lego were equally splendid as was plasticine. Spirograph had it’s moments along colouring in books, sticker book rub on transfer book thingies, painting by numbers and plastic moulds for making plaster of paris figures could also be entertaining but probably only the once. Other oddities, included bagatelle, home knitted jumpers or socks or gloves, pyjamas, slippers etc. didn’t quite hit the spot.

The Broons, Oor Wullie, The Beano, The Dandy, The Victor and The Rothmans Football Year Book were all very acceptable for reading material. And the copious amounts of chocolate from selection boxes.

All in all Xmas presents were pretty damn fine. Well done you Santa.

In later years things became a tad more sophisticated. My Timex watch, which showed numbers rather than having hands and a face, was a wow moment. I didn’t realise that buses didn’t run exactly to the timetable until I had that watch. There was also a pen, which could produce about ten colours of ink although it was fairly bulky. A full size drawing board complete with set square, those clear plastic triangles and a proper compass and dividers was used for years.

Music albums, cassettes CDs, music players of varying sizes and sound quality, cameras of varying size and quality although it was rare that the films were ever developed because it wasn’t cheap.

Yes Santa you did me proud.

I’m offering a deal here. I’ll not write to you again, ever, if you deliver the following requests? I’m sure this would save you and the elves time since it would reduce the metal bashing, wood turning and electronic soldering which modern day elves have to be experts on.

My list this year is –

1. Reduce the size of the BBC as suggested by Peter Jay.
2. Make the Guardian cease to exist or have it move right by a few degrees.
3. Shut the IPCC down.
4. Begin criminal prosecutions against all those scientists, journalists, politicians and general gobby warmists who have been responsible for presenting information in a misleading and biased form, which have resulted in policy development detrimental to the wider population.
5. Disband the EU instantly.

I have many other similar requests Santa but I think these five should “hit the spot as it were”.

I shall ensure that a drink, a cake and a carrot or two are left out for you and the reindeers when you make good the delivery of the aforementioned items.

All that is left to say is “have a restful time following your busy evening on the 25^th. I hope your New Year is jolly good and all the better for knowing you will have one less delivery to make from now on.

Bah humbug!  

Tweet