Good news: signs are coming in from all over the non-Australian-and-New-Zealand world. Hints of sanity are spreading. Everywhere Green schemes are being slashed, junked and rethought.
I’m heartened. There are reasons to be optimistic, (even if, in the end, the good news was not because politicians got rational, but because the money ran out).
For those that missed it, Delingpole reported the beginning of the October good-news shift with ‘Let’s commit suicide more slowly,’ suggests Osborne.
George Osborne has vowed that the UK will not lead the rest of Europe in its efforts to cut carbon emissions, raising the prospect that the country’s carbon targets could be watered down if the EU does not agree to more ambitious emission reduction goals.
EU referendum reports on the collapse of the UK’s largest Carbon Capture Scheme and what it means for the Green Agenda
It has come to pass that Longannet, the flagship scheme for carbon capture in the UK, has been junked, despite the availability of £1 billion funding from this moronic administration. And since it is the only remaining project in the running for CCS funding, that makes it about thirty months from inception to total collapse of this absurd policy. God only knows how much money has been wasted on it.
The Spanish announced they’re cutting wind power subsidies by 40%: Spanish Wind Energy Companies Distressed By Subsidy Cuts. The Times reports that the UK government was thinking of cutting it’s wind subsidies too. “In addition, Britain’s target of producing 30 per cent of its electricity from renewable means by 2030 could be in jeopardy.”
The renewable energy firms quake…
“Renewable energy leaders say that any cut in the incentive regime would be a disaster for the wind industry, which claims that it would not be able to afford to build commercially viable wind farms.”
A Californian program of $104 million in Green tax breaks has been frozen to new applicants amid questions about how the recipients were chosen.
“Just as Congress is asking whether the loan guarantee program is worth the risk to Americans, the state is asking if its tax break program is worth the risk to Californians.
According to the authority, the state’s $104 million exemption is estimated to generate 653 jobs and help fund infrastructure projects and improvements that could lead to thousands more jobs. So far, it is unclear how many jobs actually have been created — the tally will be made public next year when annual reports from the companies are due. “
Green is coming undone in many quarters. Walmart (of all places) tried to “go green” and be politically correct for 5 long sales-declining years. Then in April, they chucked out the holistic and organic approach and what do you know, their customers came back.
Quote of the day: Tom Nelson
RE: At least 2,700 people are dying in Britain every year because they are unable to adequately heat their houses, according to the interim findings of a report commissioned by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). — Telegraph
“Insanity in Britain: With people dying from the cold because they can’t afford enough home heating, the government is deliberately raising heating costs in an attempt to make it slightly colder outside ” Tom Nelson.
H/t Tom Nelson.
PS: To put the Australian scene in perspective, marvel at the level of our national debate. Reader Helen A. wrote to me this week telling me that on the ABC’s “Q & A” show: “Stuart Blanche of the NT Environment Centre suggested we place a big cable between Oz and Indonesia and send them our Solar array power so they don’t have to burn our coal……”