In a two-hour speech to kick off the week long Communist Party Congress, Xi said that prudence would govern China’s efforts to peak and eventually zero out carbon emissions. The cautious wording comes after a spate of high-profile power shortages in recent years, and as global energy costs have soared after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended trade flows.
Xi’s speech made China’s path to decarbonization clear: It won’t stop burning fossil fuels until it’s confident that clean energy can reliably replace them. The speech shows more emphasis on energy security and the significant role of coal in China’s energy supply given the resources endowment, said Qin Yan, lead analyst with Refinitiv. […]
China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and Xi electrified climate activists two years ago when he vowed to reach carbon neutrality by 2060 after peaking emissions before 2030. The announcement sparked a massive surge in investment in clean energy by local governments and state-owned firms.
But last year focus began to return to China’s mainstay fuel of coal after a shortage triggered widespread power curtailments to factories, slowing economic growth.
Their Parents Must Be So Proud
Activists with @JustStop_Oil have thrown tomato soup on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the national Gallery and glued themselves to the wall. pic.twitter.com/M8YP1LPTOU
— Damien Gayle (@damiengayle) October 14, 2022
War On Ag
Ian Cumming joins Stephen LeDrew.
Europe’s Fuel Supply Fears Worsen
The biggest refinery in Europe, Shell’s Pernis in the Netherlands, suffered a malfunction late on Wednesday, which could exacerbate an already worsening fuel supply situation in northwest Europe due to the strikes in France.
Shell Pernis said late on Wednesday that “Due to a malfunction on one of our installations, we are forced to flare.”
Shell is investigating the cause of the malfunction and is doing everything it can to solve the problem as soon as possible, and to limit the nuisance for the residents in the vicinity of the refinery near Rotterdam, the company said. […]
France’s fuel distribution continues to be disrupted by the ongoing strikes at refineries, with no end in sight to the industrial action that has left more than 60% of French refining capacity offline.
Thank-You for Saving The Planet
Townhall- ‘A Ticking Time Bomb’: Florida Home That Survived Hurricane Burns to the Ground From EV
The lithium batteries are not only catching fire but are proving to be a nightmare to put out, burning at extremely high temperatures and often reigniting several times. As state fire marshal, Patronis is asking for “immediate guidance” from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and help directly from the car manufacturers.
It’s Probably Nothing
The Telegraph- Companies collapse at fastest rate since financial crisis as energy bills soar
The sharp rise in energy bills was cited as the biggest problem for businesses, while difficulties paying debt, rising costs of raw materials and supply chain disruptions also took their toll.
While the squeeze on finances has hit all businesses, construction, retail and accommodation and food services suffered the highest number of insolvencies in the first half of the year.
I Hate Paper Straws
Fraser Institute- Science exposes Ottawa’s ill-founded war on plastics
by the government’s own accounting, regulating plastic waste into extinction by 2030 is a quixotic endeavour that will cost more than it will deliver in benefits to the environment, health or safety. In fact, it will perversely lead to a significant increase in waste production consisting of the substitute materials Canadians will employ in lieu of SUPs. And other studies also show that alternatives to SUPs have worse impacts on the environment—they create more conventional air and water pollutants, they lead to the generation of more greenhouse gases, they consume more energy over their lifecycles and they’ll likely increase the burden of disease facing the Canadian public.
Safe and Effective®
Burn The Forest To Save The Trees
Read the whole thing.
BBC-UK power station owner cuts down primary forests in Canada
One of the Drax forests is a square mile, including large areas that have been identified as rare, old-growth forest.
The provincial government of British Columbia says old-growth forests are particularly important and that companies should put off logging them.
Drax’s own responsible sourcing policy says it “will avoid damage or disturbance” to primary and old-growth forest.
However, the latest satellite pictures show Drax is now cutting down the forest.
I’m Going To Miss The Greenland Icesheets
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 29 times, shame on me. We don’t need these spinny things
Alberta has now built 29 wind farms connected to its grid, and on Saturday, they were collectively putting out 8 megawatts out of a total of 2,734 megawatts capacity.
One of the arguments for wind has been if it’s not blowing here, it’s got to be blowing somewhere. We just need to spread it out of a large enough area.
Well, the area of southern Alberta populated by wind farms is larger than the area of the BENELUX countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg) combined. Alternatively, it’s about the size of all of Austria.
So apparently, Alberta is not spread out enough.
The saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
What happens when you get fooled 29 times?
Because that’s what’s happening in Alberta. The denominator in the wind power equation has grown as well, as another wind farm was added onto the grid. The new total is now 29, an increase of one from the previous week. (You have to be sharp about this, because new facilities are continually being added.)
That was Saturday. And today, on Monday, for the third day in a row, and four days out of the last six, Alberta’s wind turbines crapped out again. At noon, their total output dropped to just 6 megawatts. Only one wind farm was contributing to the grid, out of hundreds of wind turbines.
2Kyoto: Enemy Of The People
Over the last week, the mainstream news media claimed that hurricanes are becoming more frequent & intense, but they’re not, as the data clearly show. What’s more, it’s clear that the media are engaging in *deliberate* misinformation. These aren’t innocent mistakes. pic.twitter.com/sAG1Dq4YEF
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) October 2, 2022
Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
Recycle Everything
Including the old slogans, propaganda and failed strategies.
European Council- Council agrees on emergency measures to reduce energy prices
The agreement reached today will bring relief to European citizens and companies. Member states will flatten the curve of electricity demand during peak hours, which will have a direct positive effect on prices. Member states will redistribute surplus profits from the energy sector to those who are struggling to pay their bills.
Can You Hear Me Know?
Reuters- Europe braces for mobile network blackouts
Telecoms industry officials say they fear a severe winter will put Europe’s telecoms infrastructure to the test, forcing companies and governments to try to mitigate the impact.
Currently there are not enough back-up systems in many European countries to handle widespread power cuts, four telecoms executives said, raising the prospect of mobile phone outages.
Net Zero
This is big. Story is still developing. And there’s a lot of speculation going round.
ZeroHedge- Damage To Nord Stream Pipelines “Unprecedented;” May Have Been ‘Sabotaged’
Jerusalem Post- Blasts occurred near Nord Stream gas leaks, seismologist tells SVT
Seismologists in Denmark and Sweden on Monday registered powerful blasts in the areas of the Nord Stream gas leaks, Sweden’s National Seismology Centre (SNSN) at the Uppsala University told public broadcaster SVT on Tuesday.
“There is no doubt that these were explosions,” SNSN seismologist Bjorn Lund told SVT.
The size of the Nord Stream pipeline gas leak is huge.
According to the Danish armed forces, it measures about 1 kilometer in diameter. The smaller circle in the center is approximately 200 meters wide https://t.co/7FJQNN5hNg
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) September 27, 2022
Hola
Do we have any readers who’ve made the move?
Armstrong Economics- The Flight to Mexico
The Biden Administration has been at war with fossil fuels from the beginning, despite trying to blame Putin. This has benefited Mexico from a value perspective, but while claiming to be on board with this Great Reset, they are not as gun-ho as Canada and the USA.
Our capital flow model has been pointing to tremendous inflows to Mexico since they have had the best anti-COVID mandates so there are a lot of Europeans leaving for South and Latin America and Mexico has been a primary target.
This trend appears to be continuing into 2024.
Tim Ball [1938 – 2022] R.I.P.
Mark Steyn shares his thoughts on the passing of a noble man.
h/t James MacMaster
You Snooze You Lose
I’m old enough to remember when they asked Canada to be the supplier.
Financial Times- UAE agrees LNG deal with Germany as Berlin looks to replace Russian gas
Looking Ahead
Zerohedge- Europe’s Energy Crisis Will Not Be “A One Winter Story”
But for now…