All it takes is a few kids with frostbite to foil a great government plan (and coal saves the day)

To cut smog and PM 2.5 pollution the Chinese government banned coal fired heating in 28 cities in Northern China and ordered them to convert to gas. But things aren’t going too well:

Public anger boiled over after China Youth Daily published video images of children at a primary school in Hebei province’s Quyang county who were forced to sit outside in the winter sun because their classrooms were too cold.

The Ministry of Education demanded “immediate” action to provide heating after students at another primary school showed signs of frostbite, the official English-language China Daily said.

It seemed like such a good idea at the time:

A joint government and municipal action plan for the 28 cities was released as far back as last March, calling for Beijing, Tianjin, Langfang and Baoding to ban small coal- fired furnaces by the end of October, among a host of other measures for the region.

“Areas in these cities will be declared completely ‘coal free,'” the official Xinhua news agency reported on March 31.

Communism fails for the 300th time:

Despite efforts to shift the blame, responsibility for the poor policy coordination seemed to fall squarely on the NDRC and the central government.

Coal futures at record highs:

The impact on gas supplies has already driven coal prices to new highs. On Dec. 11, coal futures hit a record of 689.8 yuan (U.S. $104.86) per metric ton, Reuters said.

Small coal burners are inefficient, so a gas transition could be a good thing, but sometimes when bureaucrats click fingers, kids lose them.

h/t GWPF

9.9 out of 10 based on 66 ratings

67 comments to All it takes is a few kids with frostbite to foil a great government plan (and coal saves the day)

  • #
    Lionell Griffith

    Top down command and control always fails in two ways and often a third.

    The first, it fails to achieve the stated objective.

    The second, the people upon whom the command and control falls upon suffer the consequences.

    The third, the people who issued the command and control hardly ever suffer any consequences for any of their failures until the final collapse. Why? Because they can get away with pretending to have good intentions in that it was for the good of the sacred other.

    It never really works out as planned. It is a war with reality and that is a war than cannot be won.

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    • #
      yonniestone

      China was also going to do coal gassification to appease the UN but has back flipped on that due to the huge cost for little return.

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    • #

      Will Chinese climate scientists suddenly have an epiphany so that their leaders can blame the IPCC?

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    • #
      el gordo

      Lionell its not so straight forward, the idea was to reduce particulate matter and smog in northern China during winter. There have been hiccups.

      http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201712/13/WS5a306c62a3108bc8c672b123.html

      It reminds me of the draconian effort in the UK to do the same in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

      I live in country NSW where wood fires are now banned and every winter I freeze, this is because of the pseudo Marxists in Canberra. The upside is that the smog has disappeared.

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      • #
        TedM

        “I live in country NSW where wood fires are now banned and every winter I freeze”

        el gordo, just how extensive (area) is this ban? I dread the thought of this ever becoming the case in country WA. I too would freeze, as I couldn’t afford alternative forms of heating. And nor could many other local residents.

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      • #
        Lionell Griffith

        I suggest the centralized power and control types try to have it both ways. They forced the use of coal for heat. That had an unintended consequence of smog. Then they forced coal not to be used for heat. That had an unintended consequence of frost bitten children.

        I expect the next thing they will force to be done will similarly have serious unintended consequences. Perhaps, natural gas heaters that leak carbon monoxide making dead children and teachers. This will result in fewer people to dig graves for an aging population. Then on to the next really bad idea by thinking that they need to do more of the same. As long as China stays on this kind of a path, they will consume themselves. Yet again, they will fail the learn the lessons of history.

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        • #
          el gordo

          Every year a million Chinese die from smog, that is a third of all deaths, they are learning the lessons of history.

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          • #
            Lionell Griffith

            But do they learn the right lessons? You presume they are looking at the long term aspects of what they do. They look only at the momentary past.

            Heavy handed top down command and control does not work out well. It comes up with one size fits all commands when fine tuning needs to be done at the individual level. In the final analysis, it fits no one well and many not at all. Yet, time after time, they come up with still another one size fits all with the different miserable results that fits no one well and most not at all.

            Doing the wrong thing quickly creates a situation that another wrong thing will have to be done quickly because the preceding thing made the situation worse. Rinse, repeat until the system collapses by running out people willing and able to be sacrificed to the nonexistent greater good.

            There are natural laws that govern complex systems that are as immutable as the Three Laws of Thermodynamics are for heat engines.

            1. The purpose of a system is what it does. Not what you think it does, nor what you say it does, and certainly not what you want it to do.
            2. No active component of a system can perform better than the system will allow no matter how good it is, nor the amount of effort or will it asserts.
            3. When challenged by external events, the system must have a control mechanism with sufficient verity and skill to meet all of the variety of the external event or it will not control the outcome.

            The top down command and control agent can no more get around these three laws than a heat engine can be designed to get around the Three Laws of Thermodynamics. They are just as much a part of the fundamental nature of reality and cannot be faked or wished away. No matter how convenient and useful it might be.

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            • #
              el gordo

              ‘You presume they are looking at the long term aspects of what they do. They look only at the momentary past.’

              Yea they fully intend to integrate themselves into the modern world, they have long term vision and a rich cultural and commercial past.

              Beijing is reviving Confucianism and Taoism, they also invented the Belt and Road, this benevolent dictatorship intends to make its mark on this planet’s political culture. Do you have a problem with that?

              In our lifetime we witnessed the greatest economic revolution the world has ever seen, it was their industrial revolution, hence the smog.

              30

              • #
                Graeme No.3

                el gordo:

                The obvious solution for the Chinese is to destroy a tropical forest or three to produce wood pellets (what in the dim dark ages used to be called woodettes). Warmth for the masses, less smog and applause from those with green brains. It is true that more CO2 would be emitted but that didn’t bother the framers of the Paris Accord and the Chinese don’t have to count it anyway because they can call it renewable.
                Pity about the tropical forests but the greens won’t mind, they will just blame Trump and ask for more money.

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              • #
              • #
                Lionell Griffith

                el gordo: Do you have a problem with that?

                Yes. A benevolent dictatorship is a contradiction in terms and doesn’t work in the long run even by its own standards. A dictatorship cannot be benevolent. The primary reason is explained by the simple fact they attempt to dictate to reality what reality is to be and fail. Reality is what it is without exception. The whole society pays directly for the consequences of the attempt.

                In fact, the whole world has paid and will pay directly and indirectly for the consequences of any such attempt. The fee paid is despair, poverty, death, and destruction on a massive scale. Not necessarily instantly but absolutely eventually. If current events aren’t enough, see the Twentieth Century for many instructive details.

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              • #
                el gordo

                The two world wars of last century were caused by dictatorships of another hue.

                ‘The fee paid is despair, poverty, death, and destruction on a massive scale.’

                Not in the 21st century, have you heard of the Belt and Road?

                If push comes to shove the Australian Labor Party will throw off the restrictive shackles of the American Alliance and join the non-aligned nations, to satisfy the desire of our biggest trading partner.

                Do you think that a terrible idea? Its just that the Alliance demands we spend huge amounts of money buying US military hardware against an enemy that doesn’t exist.

                Pathetic.

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            • #
              Lucky

              Lionell Griffith #1.3.2.1.1 An excellent post!

              Your comments on the laws of complex systems and on not faking reality suggest a familiarity with
              Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety (control systems theory) and with Atlas Shrugged (Objectivism).
              ‘Nature, to be commanded must be obeyed’.

              30

              • #
                Lionell Griffith

                Thank you. You are absolutely correct.

                That and over 50 years involvement with complex problem solving in Industry and Government. All fully attended by the principles of “Paying Attention” and “Understand the Problem before Attempting to Solve it”.

                Although “Nature, to be commanded must be obeyed” was first accredited to Francis Bacon. Ayn Rand was the first philosopher to make it a front and center principle to be applied to all realms of life.

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            • #
              Dave in the States

              When command and control systems fail, the system is never blamed, but it is assumed that it was not implemented correctly instead. A tweaking is called for. They always claim they need a little more funding and a little more power and they can make it work. It becomes a ratcheting down of money and power.

              Another effect is reduction of freedom and choice. Alternatives must be eliminated. It’s a hellish cycle.

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              • #
                el gordo

                Democratic governments around the world have spent lavishly to stop the world warming. With the help of corrupt scientists and a toothless media they did some tweaking with the data to keep the propaganda on song,

                When it comes to climate change, Australia is a one party state.

                China is restrictive on free speech, there is no denying that, but on the upside they have universal health cover and citizens are not allowed to carry guns.

                10

  • #
    Yonniestone

    Yes as the old saying goes ‘s%it flows downhill’ I wouldn’t be too hard on China as I think our form of quasi -Communism is more effective in destroying living standards and potential, sad part is we slowly voted it in to the point voting has become a gesture to the party.

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  • #
    Roy Hogue

    Maybe this time, doing it for the children will get something fixed instead of continuing to break everything.

    Even in China they realize the importance of their children. I hope they raise hell clear to the top of the regime.

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    • #
      James Murphy

      As much as I agree with you, I wonder how many people will speak out when it could directly harm their livelihoods via their “social credit” rating:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System

      Alibaba and Sesame Credit are already willing and able to seriously influence lives based on their supposed “trial” scoring system.

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        There is a great but black humour Netflix series called “Black Mirror” that is a no holds barred take down of modern society.

        The first episode is horrific, so avoid, but one episode is where this young woman was blocked from moving into a new condo development as her social media status wasnt high enough…..yeah…ouch…

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        • #
          Roy Hogue

          I guess I’ll be a complete paria then because I bailed out of Facebook after realizing that all it offers is a game of trivia. I even sent email to those friends on facebook whose real friendship I value and told them I was going away and why.

          I wonder when the middle of the night knock on my door will happen. Oh! Sorry, I forgot, they don’t knock they use a battering ram.

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          • #
            Roy Hogue

            When I read that some employers are asking prospective employees for their user names and passwords I rejoiced that I’m retired and no longer have an employer to worry about.

            Yet even to this day I avoid mentioning who I worked for, much less bad mouthing them. That last company was one of the best I’ve ever worked for. But my opinions are mine, not theirs to even know, much less to try to dictate.

            00

  • #
    pat

    help is on the way:

    26 Dec: Reuters: China urges miners to increase high-grade coal supplies for heating
    by Muyu Xu and Ryan Woo
    China has urged coal miners to increase high-grade coal supplies to ensure heating fuel for winter, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement on Tuesday.
    The statement comes after the central government scaled back its plan earlier this month to convert northern cities to natural gas from coal for heating, because provinces across China had warned of gas shortages.

    The NDRC asked miners to put more high-grade coal projects into operation “as soon as possible”.
    Coal-fired power plants are also encouraged to increase their thermal coal stockpiles and upgrade their equipment to reduce emissions.
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-china-pollution-coal/china-urges-miners-to-increase-high-grade-coal-supplies-for-heating-idUSKBN1EK0FU

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    • #
      Curious George

      A nice example of a planned economy. On December 26 they begin to prepare for winter (remember, China is in the Northern Hemisphere).

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    • #
      PeterS

      While Australia is moving away from coal the rest of the world is moving towards more coal. Stupid is as stupid does as does Australia.

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      • #
        farmerbraun

        You can only elect the politicians who stand for election. That is the problem. They are mostly all bought and paid for.And there are the usual “useful idiots” who will do it for free.
        And so you get what you vote for.

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        • #
          PeterS

          Yes we can vote only the politicians that stand for election but we do have choices to reverse things but voters are not willing to do make that choice at the moment. If voters really were concerned about the current madness to move away from coal so vigorously they would be voting for AC in droves but they are not. That means the voters either don’t care or ignorant of the situation. That can’t last forever unless they are brain dead but I don’t believe that.

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          • #
            Yonniestone

            Yes voting fright, who would’ve thought a small cardboard cubicle could evoke such terror and confusion in people that have freedom of choice?

            00

          • #
            OriginalSteve

            I advocate use of robust democracy and not voting for liberal, labor or greens, as all are globalist controlled.

            I notice interestingly that the Elite [appear to be] remaking “Romper Stomper” . It seems to be a bid to create a spectre of “extremism” that marginalizes anyone who actually cares about their country ( patriotism) by wrongly linking this to neo-nazi / white supremisist thugs.

            The Elite are trying to marginalize anything outside of comfortable ( i.e. brain switched off by comfort ) middle class by creating polarizing values – if the middle class actually have an alternative it means the globalust power cabal is sidelined [snip off topic speculation – J]

            00

  • #
    pat

    27 Dec: PR Newswire: The global market for commercial internal combustion engines reached $166.9 billion in 2016 and should reach $208.3 billion by 2020, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% from 2016 to 2020
    Read the full report (LINK)

    • Asia-Pacific as a segment of this market reached $69.7 billion in 2016 and should reach $89.3 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 6.4% from 2016 to 2020.
    • Western Europe as a segment of this market reached $30.2 billion in 2016 and should reach $36.2 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 4.7% from 2016 to 2020…
    https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-global-market-for-commercial-internal-combustion-engines-reached-1669-billion-in-2016-and-should-reach-2083-billion-by-2020-growing-at-a-compound-annual-growth-rate-cagr-of-57-from-2016-to-2020-300575551.html

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  • #
    pat

    28 Dec: Daily Mail: Liz Hull: Green activists withdraw adverts which falsely claim price of wind farm energy has fallen by 50 per cent
    Environmental activists have withdrawn an advertising campaign after being accused of making false claims about the price of wind energy
    The poster, launched in September by Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi and plastered around Westminster Tube station and across London’s transport network, claimed the price had fallen by 50 per cent over the past two years.
    But, following a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority, Greenpeace and a coalition of other environmental groups and green energy suppliers agreed not to use them again…

    The complaint was made by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, which said the ‘50 per cent off’ claim was ‘false and misleading’ because the price paid for electricity from offshore wind farms has not halved at all in recent years.
    It said the campaign relied on prices quoted for the cost of wind energy in 2022 – £57.50 per megawatt hour, down from £117.14 in 2015.
    Many of the wind farms supposed to produce this energy have not even been built yet and there is no guarantee they will go ahead…

    It is understood that Greenpeace led the campaign, which was supported by other organisations including ScottishPower, SSE and World Wildlife Fund.
    GWFP director Dr Benny Peiser said: ‘The claims in the Westminster offshore wind campaign are some of the most blatant distortions of the truth that I have seen in pro-wind advertising.’
    He said the groups had targeted Westminster station in a bid to influence ‘MPs, peers and other decision makers’.
    The ASA said it considered the case closed after Greenpeace gave an assurance that it would not use the disputed claims in any future campaign.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5213733/Activists-withdraw-advert-making-false-claim-wind-farms.html

    27 Dec: Paul Homewood: Green Activists Withdraw Adverts Which Falsely Claim Price Of Wind Energy Has Fallen By 50 Per Cent
    Unfortunately, as is often the case in these sort of complaints. Greenpeace and co have got effectively scot free, by promising not to do it again.
    This really is not good enough, and the ASA is making an ass of itself by allowing it.

    Fortunately on this occasion the Mail has made the whole thing public. This, ironically, has probably made more people aware of the truth than saw the original fake advert.
    READ THE COMMENTS
    https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2017/12/27/green-activists-withdraw-adverts-which-falsely-claim-price-of-wind-energy-has-fallen-by-50-per-cent/

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  • #

    And switching to gas made from coal is grossly inefficient. Uses around twice the energy necessary, while making twice the co2 per unit of useful energy. https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/12/26/chinas-great-climate-joke-switching-to-gas-made-from-coal/

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  • #
    PeterS

    Coal is saving many days in many countries. Chinese corporations are building or planning to build several hundreds of new coal fired power stations in China and around the world – except here in Australia of course where we have collectively banded together (both major parties, corporations, schools, Universities, media, etc.) to embark on an economic suicide mission to destroy Australia. There must be something in the water we drink or something like that to cause such widespread insanity in Australians. Perhaps it’s the remoteness from the rest of the world, which has it’s good points too, although China isn’t that far away. Whatever the reason, I look forward to the day when all the global warming alarmists here in Australia have egg on their faces (or something much worse) when China comes to the rescue and finally starts building coal fired power stations here as a last ditch effort to save us from economic ruin.

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  • #
    pat

    Trump had nothing whatsoever to do with this, but ultimately he is to blame, says this funded Vice article:

    20 Dec: Vice News: I Tried to Make My Home Energy Efficient and It’s Ruining My Life
    By David Dayen; illustrated by Pedro D’Apremont
    (This article was supported by the journalism nonprofit the Economic Hardship Reporting Project)
    People across America are pitched what seems like a win-win: make your house more climate-friendly for little or no money down. Advocates say it’s a nightmare.
    McBean was ensnared in a harmless-sounding program called Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), which helps people finance solar panels or energy-efficient windows with no money down. Homeowners pay through a surcharge assessed to property taxes, enjoying clean-energy upgrades that might otherwise be out of reach financially. And society benefits from more energy-efficient housing stock. “You can go solar right now,” President Obama, a longtime PACE booster, said last year. “And in the process, you can help America lead the world in the fight against climate change and for a cleaner, safer planet for our kids.”…

    “This is the next subprime crisis,” said Anne Richardson of Los Angeles-based Public Counsel, the nation’s largest pro bono law firm. “It’s a frightening development.”…

    “I think PACE program can be reformed in way that’s beneficial,” said RL Miller, head of the California Democratic Party’s environmental caucus and president of Climate Hawks Vote, an advocacy group. “I could see the potential for abuse, but at the same time, so many well-meaning good people fought for a good program…

    The watchdog with the most power to implement real oversight is a federal one: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But the CFPB has thus far not gotten involved, at least in part for an obscure technical reason. In 1969, according to NCLC’s John Rao, the Federal Reserve determined that tax assessments weren’t loans, and therefore didn’t require compliance with regulations like the Truth in Lending Act…

    A bill moving through the US Senate would direct CFPB to consider creating federal underwriting requirements for PACE, and Renovate America and Ygrene expressed support for the measure. But does anyone expect Donald Trump’s handpicked foot-soldier, a guy who sees the agency as “a sad, sick joke,” to take that on?

    Meanwhile, low-income homeowners who feel tricked by the program are in the lurch. And with companies interested in expansion, both in locations and in types of work (in Florida, PACE has been applied to home protections against hurricanes), more people could suffer the cruel, ostensibly environmentally-friendly fate of Leonard McBean.
    https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/paqbpv/the-wrong-way-to-make-your-house-energy-efficient

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  • #
    pat

    26 Dec: WaPo: Unforgiving cold snap will engulf eastern two-thirds of the nation through New Year’s Day
    By Jason Samenow
    The worst of the cold may grip the central United States from Saturday through New Year’s Day, when temperatures may fall more than 30 degrees below normal. Then it may spill eastward.
    Some of the cold could be record-challenging if the most extreme forecasts are correct…
    The initial blast of cold supported snow that blanketed half the nation Christmas Day, the highest percentage on Dec. 25 in five years. For the first time on record, Seattle had at least an inch of snow on the ground for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Meanwhile, thundersnow rocked Boston while a blizzard warning was hoisted for southeast Maine…

    As the Arctic air poured over the Great Lakes, it produced astronomical snowfall amounts…
    On Tuesday morning, a reinforcing blast of cold sent windchill temperatures across North Dakota and northern Minnesota crashing to around minus-40, offering just a taste of even more bitter cold to come…

    TWEET: NWS Bismarck: Wind chill temperatures this morning are 30 below to 40 below zero and colder across North Dakota. Be careful when spending time outside! …

    Worst is yet to come
    The extreme cold over the north-central United States on Tuesday will ooze into the Northeast by Thursday, when the National Weather Service predicts record-cold high temperatures from the Delmarva to New England, from the 20s south to the single digits north…

    But it’s the surge of cold that follows, expected to be unleashed this weekend and to continue into early next week, that may be even more severe — particularly in the central United States.
    Jason Furtado, a meteorology professor at University of Oklahoma, described the forecast as “about as anomalously cold as it gets” in a tweet…

    The same areas of North Dakota and Minnesota witnessing minus-40 windchills Tuesday may see these levels plummet to between minus-50 and minus-60 by the weekend…

    Taylor Trogdon, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, tweeted that the American model is forecasting some of the most extreme cold “ever observed” in central Missouri, with highs below zero and lows near minus-20 around New Year’s.

    This frigid air may well expand east into the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast by New Year’s Day or shortly thereafter.
    The cold waves, together, could become noteworthy for their intensity and duration. The National Weather Service is calling for New York City’s average temperature over the next seven days to be around 19 degrees, which is about 10 degrees below average…

    ***Keep in mind that model forecasts, so far this year, have tended to run colder than reality beyond three days into the future…
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/12/26/unforgiving-cold-snap-will-engulf-eastern-two-thirds-of-the-nation-through-new-years-day/?utm_term=.f0f083de30e4

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  • #
    pat

    27 Dec: Guardian: ‘This is insane’: Erie, Pennsylvania buried under 1.3m of snow
    Record snowfall over Christmas and Boxing Day has left the city battling a ‘snow emergency’
    by Guardian staff and agencies
    The National Weather Service office in Cleveland said Monday’s storm brought 34in of snow, an all-time daily record for Erie.
    Another 19in fell before dawn on Tuesday, bringing the total to 53in, the greatest ever two-day total in the state’s history. The previous record was the 44in that fell in Morgantown in March 1958…

    TWEET: David Wolter, Meteorologist, Erie News Now: This is insane! We have seen 92.5 inches of snow this month. 19″ since midnight, and 53″ since Christmas Day. #Erie #Snowmageddon
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/27/this-is-insane-erie-pennsylvania-buried-under-13m-of-snow

    FROM REPLIES ON DAVID WOLTER’S TWITTER PAGE:

    duss: so what happen to global warming ????? @potus is right the paris agreements is bullshit
    Stephen Watson: Global warming is global, not just Erie. And it means that the air holds more moisture so that when it’s cold enough … you will get more snow! Read the science, not the garbage that Trump comes out with.

    James Brown: I thought Al Gore said that snow would be a thing of the past by now. Wow was he wrong.
    jeff: He never said that…he said summers would be hotter with more storms & winter’s colder with more snow.
    Wow was he right…

    10

  • #
    pat

    comment in moderation re: 27 Dec: Guardian: ‘This is insane’: Erie, Pennsylvania buried under 1.3m of snow

    26 Dec: DailyWire: Here’s The Latest Global Warming Narrative FAIL
    By Amanda Prestigiacomo
    Remember when we were told that ever-ambiguous “Climate Change” (formally known as “Global Warming”) was going to leave us with milder winters and a decrease in snow? Well, that narrative has caught a slight snag: the United States has seen a steady trend in increased snow…

    WBAL-TV Chief Meteorologist Tom Tasselmyer reported an increase in snow cover over the last four Christmas holidays, up from 36% in 2014 to 49% in 2017…
    New York meteorologist and Weather-Track, Inc. president Kevin Williams highlighted an even longer trend in snowier winters…
    Moreover, Pennsylvania just broke a state record for snowfall…

    But don’t let the data fool you. Weather has nothing to do with climate, unless it fits the Left’s narrative, you rube. This remains “settled science,” and anyone who dares to question the climate gurus are heretics.
    https://www.dailywire.com/news/25102/heres-latest-global-warming-narrative-fail-amanda-prestigiacomo

    25 Dec: NoTricksZone: Kennith Richard: Snowcover Increasing Since 1950s, But Newsweek’s Reality Is That Christmas Snow May Soon Be History
    With the advent of this cheery holiday comes a somber warning from Newsweek, purveyor of climate doom.
    “[A]s global temperatures rise due to climate change, snow on Christmas Day could increasingly become a rarity—even a distant memory.”…
    http://notrickszone.com/2017/12/25/snowcover-increasing-since-1950s-but-newsweeks-reality-is-that-christmas-snow-may-soon-be-history/

    26 Dec: HuffPo: Global Warming Is a Slow-moving Civilization-ending Catastrophe
    by Evaggelos Vallianatos, Historian and environmental strategist
    The savage thinking that legitimized nukes also legitimizes the burning of fossil fuels. In both cases, human hubris triumphed…

    “Climate change is… happening now… wildfires in California [are burning] right now, certainly the hurricane season, epic, tragic, catastrophic in so many ways…. Not only is there a lot of science linking the severity of these storms to climate change. They are… fueled by warm water… [and] increased precipitation that comes along with these storms,” said Miles O’ Brien, science correspondent of PBS Newshour…

    The federal government is now hiding the risks of global warming. Indeed, it is resurrecting the “1984” terror world of George Orwell. The Trump administration “sees burning more fossil fuels as the path to global energy dominance.” This kind of thinking and policy defies reason and national security. It delays actions against fossil fuels. It fails promoting life-saving conversion to solar power and other technologies that might minimize the violence of global warming…
    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/global-warming-is-a-slow-moving-civilization-ending_us_5a42a196e4b0d86c803c7396

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    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      I just love the ‘objectivity’ of this Communist-green subversive opinionista analysis.

      Communist-green media – a fact free zone.

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  • #
    pat

    people want politicians to cool down the planet? don’t think so.

    VIDEO: 2mins03secs: 27 Dec: ABC America: Over 5 feet of snow falls in New York, Pennsylvania; cold temperatures headed to Northeast, Midwest
    By Max Golembo, Melissa Griffin and Emily Shapiro
    Over 5 feet of snow has fallen in parts of western New York and Pennsylvania in a record-breaking lake effect snow event as bitter cold temperatures are heading to the Northeast…
    The airport in Erie, Pennsylvania, has had a whopping 65.1 inches of snow…
    Now, with over 100 inches of snow in December, this has become Erie’s snowiest month on record…

    The upstate New York town of Redfield has seen 62.2 inches of snow since Christmas Day, making it the highest two-day snowfall on record for Oswego County, New York.
    A state of emergency was declared in Oswego, with the mayor saying in a statement that City Hall is closed and residents should avoid traveling and parking on city streets.
    In Lorraine, New York, firefighters reported that a resident was trapped in her home after several feet of snow fell in the area…
    PHOTO: A resident was trapped in her home after over 6 feet of snow fell in the Lorraine, New York, area, Dec. 27, 2017…
    http://abcnews.go.com/US/lake-effect-snow-colder-temperatures-northeast/story?id=52006526

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    • #
      PeterS

      That’s another irony. Most people prefer warmer climates otherwise they wouldn’t be flocking to the places where it’s warmer. Still there are some who much prefer colder ones but they are in the minority.

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    Antoine D'Arche

    mmmm…there’ll be a few organ transplant recipients following this little debacle…..

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    Lance

    Not to worry. The next Mini Ice Age starts in 2021. So Sayeth the Modelers

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5215575/Plummeting-temperatures-cause-mini-ice-age-2030.html

    Popcorn, anyone? Ought to be a good show.

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    David Maddison

    When I was a child at school in Sydney I remember the class rooms had what I believe are called storage heaters which are essentially a large ceramic or concrete block that is heated at night on cheap night time tariffs and it released its heat during the day.

    Back in the day of a well managed power grid with proper generators this was a way the excess power at night could be efficiently utilised, along with dumping power into water heaters and aluminum smelters.

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    pat

    good thing it is only weather:

    27 Dec: Accuweather: Another Arctic blast poised to usher in 2018
    By Faith Eherts, AccuWeather meteorologist
    Brutally cold weather will soon be refreshed as another bout of arctic air dives through the United States…
    Temperatures in Minneapolis are forecast to fail to exceed zero F over the weekend.
    “Bitterly cold arctic air will settle in across a large swath of the U.S. as we turn the calendar from 2017 to 2018,” said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski.

    “People will really need to bundle up if they are heading out Sunday night for New Year’s Eve celebrations in places like Chicago, for example, where the high will be 15 F on Sunday, around 15 degrees below normal,” he warned.

    Cities as far south as Nashville and Atlanta will experience temperatures over 20 degrees Fahrenheit below average by the end of the weekend, where high temperatures are expected to remain below 30 F.
    Frigid weather is expected to reach the Big Apple just in time to chill those visiting Times Square, though the record low of minus 4 F from 1918 will not be challenged.

    “It could be near 11 F in Times Square when the ball drops on Sunday night in New York City, with AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures below zero,” Pydynowski said.
    At that level the temperature may be within the top two lowest since records have been maintained in the 1800s. In 1962, the temperature at midnight on New Year’s Eve was 11. The only lower midnight temperature at the brink of the new year was in 1917, when it was 1 F in Midtown Manhattan.

    These conditions will be dangerously cold, especially for those spending many hours outdoors overnight across the majority of the eastern two-thirds of the country.
    Consuming alcoholic beverages increases the risk of hypothermia, if not alert and properly dressed, according to the Mayo Clinic…
    https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/another-arctic-blast-poised-to-usher-in-2018/70003663

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    pat

    27 Dec: PowerEngineering: Tildy Bayar: Chinese firms to build Bangladesh clean coal plant
    In its first phase, the 1320 MW project is planned to include two supercritical units which are expected to be commissioned in April and October 2019. Around 30 per cent of the work has been completed so far at the almost 400-ha site.
    Bangladesh’s power minister, Nasrul Hamid, said the project is being financed by his and the Chinese governments along with funding from the China Ex-Im bank…

    The consortium reportedly intends to develop a second 1320 MW plant in Bangladesh using the same technology, in addition to 100 MW of solar PV and 50 MW of wind power.
    ***The country aims to get 40 GW of its power from coal-fired plants by 2030.
    http://www.powerengineeringint.com/articles/2017/12/chinese-firms-to-build-bangladesh-clean-coal-plant.html

    April 2016: Reuters: Bangladesh set to pursue coal-power push despite opposition
    by Syful Islam
    Dhaka plans to set up 25 coal-fired power plants by 2022, to generate 23,692 MW, in order to meet rising electricity demand. Of the total, 16 will be built by the public sector and nine by the private sector…
    ***Currently only 2 percent of Bangladesh’s power is generated using coal…

    28 Nov: EnergyBangla: Trump Coal Alliance To Include Bangladesh
    by Judy Peters, Bonn
    As coal output and sales continue to rise in the United State, a senior energy adviser to the White House has signaled a global “clean coal alliance” that would include Bangladesh.
    David Banks, who represented Washington at a United Nations climate change conference in Germany last week, said the US “wants to help all coal-dependent economies to burn coal efficiently and cleanly.”

    The plan, he said, would be driven by billions of dollars already signed off by President Trump for clean coal research, along with technology developed in Australia, India and China.
    “President Trump still intends to withdraw from the Paris agreement, but in good faith we will continue to work with parties to the accord,” Mr. Banks said. “There are 1,600 new coal plants being built around the world, and demand for coal and gas is growing. It’s in the global interest that, if these fuels are going to be used anyway, it must be done as cleanly as possible.”

    He said the administration also wanted to try and change a World Bank ban on lending to projects that use coal. Such a change would allow Dhaka to borrow from the World Bank for future power plants…
    The US delegation said the proposed clean-coal alliance could include China, Australia, India, Bangladesh South Africa and the Philippines.
    https://energybangla.com/trump-coal-alliance-to-include-bangladesh/

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    pat

    comment in moderation re: 27 Dec: PowerEngineering: Tildy Bayar: Chinese firms to build Bangladesh clean coal plant

    27 Dec: ShippingWatch: Bulk rates soared in 2017 thanks to China
    BY NIKLAS KRIGSLUND
    The growth is particularly attributed to China’s increased imports of iron ore and coal, prompting demand for bulk freight to rise more than the majority of analysts had expected…
    “There has also been increased coal imports despite the fact that restrictions on their own coal industry have been removed,” (Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at shipping organization Bimco) says…
    Furthermore, the Chinese appetite for iron ore and coal was large, which particularly benefited the large Capesize vessels…

    the following underestimates China’s appetite for coal, despite the rhetoric:

    26 Oct: Reuters: Florence Tan: Southeast Asia, India turn to coal for power, imports expected to jump
    India and Southeast Asia will account for the bulk of increased coal use in the decades ahead as they rely on one of the cheapest sources of power to supply electricity, although pollution concerns have delayed some projects.
    “Coal maintains a strong foothold in (Southeast Asia‘s) projected consumption, not only because it is markedly cheaper than natural gas, but also because coal projects are in many cases easier to pursue as they do not require the capital-intensive infrastructure associated with gas,” the International Energy Agency said this week in its outlook for Southeast Asia…

    Some 100 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired capacity is expected to be built in Southeast Asia by 2040, boosting the total installed capacity to 160 GW, the agency said. Forty percent of the new capacity will be in Indonesia, it said…

    Wood Mackenzie expects Southeast Asia’s thermal coal imports to more than double to 226 million tonnes by 2035, up from 85 million tonnes currently.
    Imports into South Asia, which includes India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, will rise to 284 million tonnes, up 72 percent during the same period, a forecast from the consultancy shows…
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-asia-coal/southeast-asia-india-turn-to-coal-for-power-imports-expected-to-jump-idUSKBN1CV1GP

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    Greg in NZ

    Meh, that’s nuffin’! Here in the boiling, burning, runaway, catastrophic, drowning, end-of-the-world South Pacific summer –

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/347099/cold-snap-to-bring-snow-heavy-rain-and-gales

    “Freezing levels are low, so it will be snowing on all the higher parts of the ranges, especially Ruapehu. Waiouru this morning got down to one degree so it’s definitely cold across the Central Plateau so that would help the snow to fall to low-ish levels.”

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11966327

    “Mt Hutt webcams show snow still falling today [yesterday]… ‘Who asked for a white Xmas? [Me!] We received snow today. Sorry for picture quality we have turned off our camera heating as its meant to be summer? ‘” [sic]

    It started snowing on Christmas Eve down south and, five days later, it’s still snowing in New Zealand. My Holocene deny!ng friends & family are – how can I put it – shocked, that an old, longhaired surfer/snowboarder called it spot on… just like last year, too. Thank you, Santa! 😉

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    pat

    attributed to John Powell and John Power – both names show up as writers for SCMP:

    27 Dec: SouthChinaMorningPost: Australia’s balancing act between US and China will prove one of its greatest challenges
    It would be a massive understatement to say Australia relies heavily on China for its enviable standard of living, the result of 26 years of uninterrupted economic growth. Beijing isn’t just the country’s biggest trading partner – it’s its biggest by far. In 2016, Australia’s two-way trade in goods and services with China amounted to a whopping A$155.6 billion (HK$938.5 billion), more than double its commerce with the United States. China’s ferocious appetite for commodities such as iron ore and coal is a large part of the reason Australia rode out the 2008 financial crisis practically unscathed…
    Lately, though, political realities expose uncomfortable truths at the heart of this relationship…READ ON
    http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2125701/australias-balancing-act-between-us-and-china-will-prove-one

    PICS: 27 Dec: Xinhuanet: China powers Africa to narrow energy deficit
    In 2017, Chinese firms have successfully built or are in the process of building many hydro-power plants across the continent.
    These projects are located in a good many African countries including Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo).
    When all projects are finished, they are expected to create nearly 3,700 MW of electricity for the continent. (1 MW=1,000 KW)
    The construction of all these projects have also created tens of thousands of jobs for the locals.

    The following is a list of six Chinese-constructed hydro-power plants, some of which are already commissioned, or still under construction in 2017…READ ON
    http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-12/27/c_136855640.htm

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    pat

    24 Dec: EnergyBangla: Move To Create 9000MW Power Hub At Payra
    by Shahnaj Begum back from Payra in Patuakhali
    Under the plan, around 9000-MW of electricity will be produced from here in the next couple of years, using coal and LNG to implement the power sector master plan.
    “To create this new energy hub in the country’s southern part, we need about $US13 billion, which is three times more than the cost of Padma Bride project,” State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said while addressing a press conference at Payra Friday noon.
    To implement the project, the government to take loan from China and Europe, he added…

    “We already completed 34 per cent work of the projects by this time, we are ahead of the schedule and hopefully we could be able to complete it by the stipulate timeframe,” Nasrul Hamid said.
    The plants which are to be built on a 397 hectares of land is a part of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina government’s plan to set up a series of coal-fired power projects to generate 20,000MWelectricity by 2030.
    As per the government plan, the first unit of 1320 (660) MW coal-power project will come into operation by April 2019 and another one will come into operation by October 2019.
    The government has already engaged state-owned North-West Power Generation Company Limited (NWPGCL) to produce 6,240MW of electricity from this energy hub. It has also engaged Chinese CMC to produce another 1320MW of power, Germen’s Siemens to produce 3600 MW from LNG, Rural Power Company to produce 1320 MW and Asuganj Power Company to produce 1320 MW of electricity in the next couple of years…

    Nasrul said the government will build energy hub in different parts of the country to fulfil its dream to make Bangladesh a middle income country…

    Bangladesh needs to produce 24,000 MW of electricity daily by 2021 to meet its demand for power that is growing 10 percent annually. At present, it produces 8,500MW a day and has the capacity to produce 11,000 MW per day.
    “After achieving the 24,000MW goal, we will be planning for producing 60,000MW of electricity,” hopes Nasrul Hamid…
    https://energybangla.com/move-to-create-9000mw-power-hub-at-payra/

    28 Dec: Courier Mail: Adani: Palaszczuk Government not ruling out loan to rival Aurizon for Galilee Basin rail line
    by Anthony Galloway
    A RIVAL rail line into the coal-rich Galilee Basin is gaining traction with the Palaszczuk Government not ruling out vetoing the move to seek a federal government loan.
    Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce told The Courier-Mail the proposal by rail giant Aurizon should be seriously considered, now that Indian miner Adani has been blocked from receiving concessional loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF).

    Aurizon plans to build a common-user rail line from proposed mines in the Galilee Basin – including Adani’s Carmichael coal project – and connect to its existing network…
    Mr Joyce said the LNP should be criticised for making the case for a rail line a “discussion about an Indian mining company”, instead of a “discussion about the Galilee Basin and jobs”.

    “Joh (Bjelke-Petersen) developed the central Queensland coalfields, the Surat Basin, and immense wealth came into Queensland,” Mr Joyce said.
    “You can’t dress it up, they (the LNP) didn’t develop a message and they didn’t sell a message. I don’t think the message about the Galilee Basin was wrong, but I think when you spend the whole time talking about Adani you probably lose people.
    “If it’s in northern Australia, and they’ve got a business that can pay the money back, get onto it.”…
    http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-government/adani-palaszczuk-government-not-ruling-out-loan-to-rival-aurizon-for-galilee-basin-rail-line/news-story/2f17fb6e7dcfdbf1f8d90bd4a155dbd4

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    Phillip Bratby

    Joe Stalin would be proud of the results of this Communist planning.

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      el gordo

      Xi is a Stalinist who purges corrupt officials and outspoken liberals at the same time, thinking them two sides of the same coin.

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    maurie

    I really liked the story of Russia installing hot water systems in the centre of some Chinese cities so a weeks worth of water was wasted getting the heat through the almost frozen pipes to wash their feet.

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    Richard Ilfeld

    When I moved into my current environmentalist’s nightmare home, I was in my twenties.
    The smokestacks of the local and visible coal burning power plant did leave us soot on north wind mornings,
    but power was plentiful and cheap. Manatee shrived in the outflow. Fisheries renewed themselves in the mangroves in the backyard estuary, and birds nested in our garden. Thankfully, we live in a region of modest regulation and some common sense.

    In my seventies, I still look upon the stacks, now water vapor stacks. The north wind cools, but there are no other consequences.
    Power is still plentiful and cheap, the coal comes from a dedicated mine via a unit train that makes the journey twice a week, pulled by “hybrid” diesel-electric locomotives that have made commercial sense since the end of the age of steam. There are more fish and the water is cleaner, as cities have finally treated their sewage rather than dumping it, 25 years after requiring the same of everyone else.
    There are more birds and some of their spaces are protected….we voted on that. Manatee still thrive in the heat from the power plant — there are more of them too. The regulators forced the utility to build a solar plant, thankfully this multimillion dollar virtue signal is adjacent to the coal plant without replacing it, raising rates a bit without hurting dispatch.
    We still live in a region of comparatively low regulation, small government, and some common sense.

    As a result of our fiscal and environmental successes, the federal folks call us stupid rednecks, dumb crackers, and yes, deplorables.
    If you have a PhD AND a southern accent, you’re still stupid, ya know.

    By the way, our state and city pension funds are fully funded, and bonded debt is a small fraction of cash flow. Stipulation: we do tax the heck out of the tourists, but they come anyway. Its warm. WARM. People Like WARM. Plants like WARM. And CO2.

    Life’s lessons are hard for authoritarians; why are those who complain about our “undereducated, future-constrained” children worried about their dying ones?

    Still speeding on the Road to Serfdom, I guess.

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    boof

    Why blame communism this is just the usual result for a green scheme.

    10