That which I predicted has come to pass:
Hundreds of businesses could be paid to switch off their power between 4pm and 8pm on winter weekdays as soon as next winter to prevent blackouts, under plans approved by regulator Ofgem.
Mothballed old gas-fired power stations will also be paid to come back to stand-by so they can be fired up to prevent the lights going out when demand is high.
The plans – which together could cost household energy bill-payers about £1 each – were drawn up in the summer after warnings that the risk of blackouts had dramatically increased because old power plants are being shut down and replacements not built.
They could fire up their coal burning stoves and heaters; and voila new employment for chimneysweeps!
Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey
Chim chim cher-ee!
A sweep is as lucky, as lucky can be
Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey
Chim chim cher-oo!
Good luck will rub off when I shakes ‘ands with you
Or blow me a kiss and that’s lucky too
Cheers
Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
The homes of the well enriched few, will serve to warm the impoverished many, for a brief period.
The people vote in and eat up their insane crap.. Its like drilling holes in your roof to improve ventilation and expecting the government to pay for the water damage..
The only thing nicer than seeing these green idiots jailed would be never having to listen to them again..
Could you imagine?
Expendable victims to Gia for Al Gore and his evil crew. This is what they get for buying the snake oil.
The people should revolt and use as much energy as possible during peak times.. This way the people responsible will not be able side step their complete failure and heads will have to roll..
More cost and suffering will not dislodge their hold on power, only complete failure will..
One bad winter is all it will take.. Turn everything on and hold THEM responsible..
Let them smell spring from inside a jail cell..
Can we please just refer to that place as ‘Airstrip Once’ already?
They could just stop showing East Enders and Coronation Street in the evening hours. The irony is that they rely on the French to cover surges now.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/britainfromabove/stories/people/teatimebritain.shtml
But they won’t take the “Circuses” away from the masses.
Thank goodness all that wind power is available. Good thing they made those investments!
Kate,
That’s why your blog has remained high on my list of favourites while many others have disappeared(I still check for Angry every once in a while), been moved down or deleted.
The Enviro-mental infection has spread to all levels of government. The most revolting evidence of the disease occurs among local governments that continue to insist on recycling even though they know the contents go to the garbage.
Enviro-mental Phobic
The problem has been getting worse every year and their solution is to build more windmills to stop global warming while people die every winter from the cold. They do have a multy $billion solution in case of emergency:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2046827/5billion-sea-cables-import-electricity-ministers-fear-UK-blackouts.html
If there was a law against stupidity the politicians would all be in jail.
… a great many of the voters, too.
One look at Britain’s winter history should have told them that shutting down coal powered power plants could be a bad mistake. Just as dumb as Ontario and even dumber when one considers they can’t tie into another grid for supplement like Ontario can with the USA.
http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=winter-history
Without cheap, plentiful electricity Britain will just turn into another 3rd world backwater as will any country that relies on wind and solar. If their idea of the future is ugly, expensive and inefficient they are right on track. As long as the Green party holds even one seat, they still haven’t learned their lessons. Common sense and logic is so yesterday. Replaced with screaming brainwashed tree huggers. Pity.
Beat you to it. California did this in the Davis era. Cost Gray (Tall GoodHair) his job.
Peter, they do tie into another grid. Britain has been importing a minimum of 15 TWh each year from France for the past two decades. That’s the equivalent of two nuclear reactors producing full time for a year. EdF (Electricite de France) also exports similar amounts to Italy, Spain, growing exports to Germany, and wheels through Switzerland to Austria and northern Italy. Total electricity exports earn EdF an average of about 4 billion Euros annually.
Oh, my name it is Sam Hall, chimney sweep;
Yes, my name it is Sam Hall, chimney sweep;
My name it is Sam Hall,
And I hate you one and all,
You’re a bunch of bastards all,
Damn your eyes!
You got to love it. France’s nuclear power is Europe’s reliable base load thanks to Saskatchewan’s Uranium. Meanwhile the UK is importing low density wood pellets from North America to power former coal fired plants, thanks to the goose-stepping Carbon Troopers.
You can’t make up stuff this bizarre.
A spokesman for the Department of Energy said: ‘Wind does not blow uniformly.
REALLY !!
You mean those bird chopping POS will not work when the wind doesn’t blow.
–
Next they will tell us that solar panels won’t work when the sun is not shining.
Unbelievable..
Yes indeed, John. And the French have put their money where their mouth is. They’ve built at least two uranium mines in northern Saskatchewan, Cluff Lake and McClean Lake, including the McClean Lake mill, which is the most modern uranium mill in the world. They are full partners in two other mines, Cigar Lake and Midwest. Cluff Lake is currently decommissioning.
The company Areva has put a lot of capital into Saskatchewan over the past 20 years, and it’s done so under the heavily restricted conditions of foreign ownership of uranium mines in Canada. For all the snarling that’s been done about France on this forum from time to time, the French nuclear industry has been pretty good for Canada.
I usually can’t think of many good things to say about France, especially since Hollande has taken over the social paradise, but on this issue the french have played the right cards. Selling their electricity to dimwits too stupid to comprehend the long term impact of going green must feel very rewarding. The ironic part is that Nuclear power is as green and efficient as it gets.
Why do I sense the future of Ontario here?
cgh, completely agree with you. While it may seem preposterous, the “best second raters in the world”, have a nuclear industry which should be the envy of any country. What I’d really like to see is an expansion of the nuclear power production capacity in Canada. While natural gas prices now may be low enough that it makes economic sense to utilize natural gas to provide heat for extraction of bitumen from the oil sands, it would make far more strategic sense for Canada to buils a large number of breeder reactors in N. Alberta to provide the waste heat to extract bitumen as well as providing Canada with supplies of Plutonium which will be essential in the future, much more dangerous world we’re entering into.
What I find curious is why the French haven’t partaken of the CAGW koolaid? Most other European countries are despoiling their rural landscapes with bird blenders but the French have resisted and are making a tidy profit supplying electricity to the stupid.
Loki, lots of interesting stuff here. First, as to why France hasn’t bought into the CAGW scam, there are several reasons for this, all of more or less equal importance:
1. CAGW is about Kyoto. Kyoto is based on the concept of reducing emissions from whatever they are from the base year, regardless of what they are on a per capita basis. France’s nuclear program largely predated 1990, so France got no credit for already having the lowest CO2 per capita emissions of any OECD nation. There were no large number of ancient coal-fired stations to shut down, so any significant emission cuts would really hurt.
2. Kyoto was really about making more room for European exports at the expense of North America. This is much more a German issue than a French one, given the North American and Japanese industrial competition over machine tools and various high technology items.
3. Unlike any of the other big Euro nations, France still has one huge, vertically integrated electric utility, Electricite de France. In its heart of hearts, NO electric utility wants anything to do with this mess, as it means nothing but difficulty for absolutely no reward of any kind. If Ontario Hydro still existed instead of the plethora of government agencies, Ontario would not have a Green Energy Act. Ontario Hydro would have put its foot down just like in the good old days (at least, before Marc Eliesen and Maurice Strong were let loose on the place).
It should be noted that the rest of the Euros, particularly the Germans, Belgians and Spanish, have been putting pressure on the European Union for at least the past decade to in turn put pressure on the French government to break up EdF.
Now you opened the topic of the prospect of nuclear in northern Alberta. The problem with oil sands using nuclear is delivery. If you build a large nuclear plant, you can provide electricity, but delivering steam over dozens or hundreds of kilometres becomes impractical at best. Studies have shown that nuclear is roughly cost competitive with gas at about $5-6. However, all this largely predates all the work done over the last six years or so on small modular reactors, things which are portable and can be moved from place to place.
Second reason re. the oil sands is the oil companies have problems enough with public image issues over the oil sands. They are afraid to add a nuclear dimension as well.
Third and probably most important reason is that nuclear is the only meaningful competitor to fossil fuels. The oil companies have been funding most of the ENGOs for the past two or three decades, shoveling money into antinuclear environmental groups. The oil companies know very well that renewables will never be a threat to them, but nuclear is and will be, as only nuclear can operate on a scale providing sufficient energy to meet all needs.
Fourth reason is that the United States would take it very ill if Canada developed breeder reactors and the associated reprocessing technologies. The US does NOT want Canada to have the capacity to produce nuclear weapons. The Canadian industry has had trouble enough with US sideswiping Canada’s CANDU reactor technology over the years at various international bodies such as IAEA.
If we charged for power based on demand, then the charge would be higher for that post 4pm period to encourage people to use less. Don’t run your electric clothes dryer , washing machines, vacuums in the peak period. Smart meters will enable this to happen so I’m all for smart meters and fortunately that is what BC Hydro is now installing.