Our friend Mr Milliband was on the Today programme this morning trying to defend the Government's record on carbon emissions. His first premise was that under Labour carbon emissions had decreased by 11% and that we were now well on the way to meeting our Kyoto targets.
Not according to a documentary I caught a couple of weeks ago - and which given this Government's record on spin I am inclined to believe - carbon emissions have actually increased under this government. A view supported by The Independent too.
In an earlier life I spent a lot of time campaigning against the Child Support Agency and I became well versed in some of the ways that the figures get manipulated. Carbon emissions it seems are no exception. For example: carbon emissions from international flights are excluded from the emissions that the Government owns up to. Did you know that?
The difficulty I have with all this is that this really isn't an issue that people should be spreading lies about. We are talking about the entire fossil fuel based energy industry being phased out over hte next 50 years. There are some people who aren't going to like it - get used to it.
Showing posts with label carbon emissions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label carbon emissions. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
White House Muppet v Big Energy
It would be nice to think that George Bush was watching the UKTV History channel last night. Somehow I don't think he was, but when he reads this he'll know what it was all about.
'Meltdown' was a part of a series on climate change. The big question is - given that we know beyond doubt that the planet is heating up, how much can be attributed to natural variations and how much can only be explained by man made effects?
For thousands of years the temperature of the Earth was governed by two main drivers: the solar cycle (i.e. variations in the sun's output) and the amount of volcanic activity which affects the amount of dust in the atmosphere and hence the amount of sunlight that can penetrate. The match between the actual temperature and the predicted temperature is stunning - until you get to the last 150 years. The increase of greenhouse gasses and with it the global temperature has been in liftoff, tracking the course of the industrial revolution and consequent carbon emissions.
Surprisingly one of the big voices in the debate in America putting pressure on the White House Muppet has been Big Energy. Surprising? Yes, until you realise that they own massive infrastructure and they need to be able to plan their businesses. They know that carbon emission caps will be arriving sooner or later, but until they have a regulatory level playing field it is hard for them to know how to invest their shareholders' capital.
Watch this space.
'Meltdown' was a part of a series on climate change. The big question is - given that we know beyond doubt that the planet is heating up, how much can be attributed to natural variations and how much can only be explained by man made effects?
For thousands of years the temperature of the Earth was governed by two main drivers: the solar cycle (i.e. variations in the sun's output) and the amount of volcanic activity which affects the amount of dust in the atmosphere and hence the amount of sunlight that can penetrate. The match between the actual temperature and the predicted temperature is stunning - until you get to the last 150 years. The increase of greenhouse gasses and with it the global temperature has been in liftoff, tracking the course of the industrial revolution and consequent carbon emissions.
Surprisingly one of the big voices in the debate in America putting pressure on the White House Muppet has been Big Energy. Surprising? Yes, until you realise that they own massive infrastructure and they need to be able to plan their businesses. They know that carbon emission caps will be arriving sooner or later, but until they have a regulatory level playing field it is hard for them to know how to invest their shareholders' capital.
Watch this space.
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