Climate change made Europe’s 2019 record heatwave up to ‘100 times more likely’

Attribution bullshit. You cannot prove cause without control groups so this is just unscientific speculation. Even Hume's constant conjunction is missing

The run of unprecedented temperatures in July – which sent records tumbling in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany – would have been “extremely unlikely” without climate change, according to a new quick-fire analysis.

The hot weather seen in the Netherlands and France was made up to “100 times more likely” by climate change, the study finds.

And the heat in Cambridge in the UK – which saw a new country-wide record of 38.7C in July – was made around “20 times more likely” by human-caused warming.

The findings come from the latest analysis from the World Weather Attribution network. “Attribution” refers to a fast-growing field of science that aims to quantify the “fingerprint” of climate change on extreme-weather events.

Across Europe, the July heatwave was “much more extreme than any other heatwave we’ve looked at over the *last few years*” [what about earlier than that?], a scientist from the network tells Carbon Brief.

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Greenies are wusses

The study below found that many pro-environmental behaviours are generally seen as feminine and may be avoided by men because of that.

There was however the interesting case of some environmental activities that were seen as masculine -- e.g. caulking windows.  Nobody liked women who did those things


Gender Bending and Gender Conformity: The Social Consequences of Engaging in Feminine and Masculine Pro-Environmental Behaviors

Janet K. Swim

Abstract

Although pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) have been characterized as feminine, some PEBs are masculine suggesting that gender bending (e.g., engaging in pro-environmental behaviors inconsistent with one’s own gender) and gender conformity (e.g., engaging in pro-environmental behaviors consistent with one’s own gender) are possible for both women and men.

Social consequences for gender bending versus conformity with PEBs were assessed in three studies. Gender bending created uncertainty about an actor’s heterosexual identity (Studies 1 and 2). Consistent with stigma-by-association, actors’ gender bending influenced judgments about an actor’s friend’s sexual identity (Study 2).

However, gender bending had limited effects on ascription of gendered traits: More feminine than masculine traits were ascribed to PEB actors, even actors of masculine PEBs (Studies 1 and 2).

Consistent with social ostracism, Study 3 illustrated that men were most likely to socially distance themselves from female gender benders, likely as a result of prejudice against gender-bending women. In contrast, women preferred to socially interact with gender-conforming women, likely resulting from a combination of their greater interest in feminine than masculine PEBs and preferring to interact with women more so than with men. Social repercussions are discussed in terms of stigmatizing engagement in PEBs.

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Dear Congress, stop subsidizing wind like it’s 1999 and let the tax credit expire

By Richard McCarty

Congress created the production tax credit for wind energy in 1992. In other words, wind turbine owners receive a tax credit for each kilowatt hour of electricity their turbines create, whether the electricity is needed or not. The production tax credit was supposed to have expired in 1999; but, instead, Congress has repeatedly extended it. After nearly three decades of propping up the wind industry, it is past time to let the tax credit expire in 2020.

All Congress needs to do is nothing.

Addressing the issue of wind production tax credits, Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning stated, “Wind energy development is no longer a nascent industry, having grown from 0.7 percent of the grid in 2007 to 6.6 percent in 2018 at 275 billion kWh. The rationale behind the wind production tax credit has always been that it is necessary to attract investors.”

Manning added, “wind energy development has matured to the point where government subsidization of billionaires like Warren Buffett cannot be justified, neither from an energy production standpoint nor a fiscal one. Americans for Limited Government strongly urges Congress to end the Wind Production Tax Credit. The best part is, they only need to do nothing as it expires at the end of the year.”

There are plenty of reasons for ending the tax credit. Here are some of them:

Wind energy is unreliable. Wind turbines require winds of six to nine miles per hour to produce electricity; when winds speeds reach approximately 55 miles per hour, turbines shut down to prevent damage to the equipment. Wind turbines also shut down in extremely cold weather.

Due to this unreliability, relatively large amounts of backup power capacity must be kept available.

Wind energy often requires the construction of costly, new high-voltage transmission lines. This is because some of the best places to generate wind energy are in remote locations far from population centers or offshore.

Generating electricity from wind requires much more land than does coal, natural gas, nuclear, or even solar power. According to a 2017 study, generating one megawatt of electricity from coal, natural gas, or nuclear power requires about 12 acres; producing one megawatt of electricity from solar energy requires 43.5 acres; and harnessing wind energy to generate one megawatt of electricity requires 70.6 acres.

Wind turbines have a much shorter life span than other energy sources. According to the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the useful life of a wind turbine is 20 years while coal, natural gas, nuclear, and hydroelectric power plants can remain in service for more than 50 years.

Wind power’s inefficiencies lead to higher rates for customers.
Higher electricity rates can have a chilling effect on the local economy. Increasing electricity rates for businesses makes them less competitive and can result in job losses or reduced investments in businesses.

Increasing rates on poor consumers can have an even more negative impact sometimes forcing them to go without heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer.

Wind turbines are a threat to aviators. Wind turbines are a particular concern for crop dusters, who must fly close to the ground to spray crops. Earlier this summer, a crop dusting plane clipped a wind turbine tower and crashed.

Wind turbines are deadly for birds and bats, which help control the pest population. Even if bats are not struck by the rotors, some evidence suggests that they may be injured or killed by the sudden drop in air pressure around wind turbines.

Large wind turbines endanger lives, the economy, and the environment. Even after decades of heavy subsidies, the wind industry has failed to solve these problems. For these and other reasons, Congress should finally allow the wind production tax credit to expire.

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Biden's plan to eliminate fossil fuels is bad for our national security, worse for our economy

For two nights last week, the Democratic candidates for president treated the American public to round two of their socialist proposals to bankrupt our nation, kill good-paying jobs, and drastically alter the fabric of our economy.

While many ideas discussed by the nearly two dozen Democratic hopefuls for the White House would spell disaster for the future of an America that is now realizing unprecedented prosperity, Joe Biden’s call to eliminate fossil fuels is particularly egregious.

When pressed whether he would get rid of coal and “fracking” -- the predominant process by which natural gas is extracted from the ground -- Biden pledged to get rid of both. By selling out to the far-left extreme of his party, the former vice president told hundreds of thousands of hardworking Americans that he is coming for their jobs and prepared to jack up their energy costs.

While socialists in Congress and most of those seeking the Democratic presidential nomination continue to push for the Green New Deal, a recent study showed that it would cost Pennsylvania taxpayers $70,000 per person in the first year alone.

However, the complete elimination of fossil fuels spells more pain than just massive tax increases for working families.

It means weakening our national security by eliminating our ability to be energy independent, killing a thriving energy economy and the hundreds of thousands of jobs it supports, and stopping investment in rural America.

The success of the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania and across the United States has completely shifted long-term thinking about American energy policy and our role in the global energy marketplace.

Thanks in large part to our nation’s robust supply of natural gas, the United States is no longer energy dependent, relying on foreign adversaries to meet our energy needs.

For the first time in six decades, the United States is a net natural gas exporter.

We can now use our energy exports as leverage in our foreign policy, giving our allies flexibility, while diminishing the influence of unfriendly nations.

One way to marginalize countries that do not like the United States is to bankrupt them.

The less we are forced to buy the energy exports from our foreign adversaries, the worse their economy becomes, and the less they are able to exert influence over us.

For example, last year, Massachusetts was forced to import natural gas from Russia due to New York’s refusal to put in place pipeline infrastructure that can get natural gas to markets where it is needed.

Those concerned about Russian interference need to be concerned with Russia’s ability to influence our country when Americans are forced to buy natural gas from Russian gas companies and when countries like Russia have leverage to increase the price of natural gas in the winter time and turn the lights off for millions of Americans.

That absurdity is exponentially increased in a world where fossil fuels are completely eliminated to fulfill a campaign pledge made to satiate the unsound political interests of our country’s far-left base.

The elimination of fossil fuels would also severely harm the economy in states like Pennsylvania and affect rural investment in places like my home district.

I know this first-hand. On any given day in my congressional district, natural gas companies produce between one-tenth and one-twentieth of the entire nation’s natural gas supply. The district is also home to two of the largest natural gas producing counties in the country.

In Pennsylvania, the natural gas industry supports more than 300,000 jobs, contributes $45 billion to the commonwealth’s economy, and saves the average household $1,100 every year in energy costs.

This means more financial security for families, making day-to-day life more affordable.

The natural gas industry has created good-paying jobs and injected new life into our local economies as energy companies continue to partner with local communities to invest in schools and higher education, improve our infrastructure, and grow down-stream jobs.

The loss of this economic engine under Joe Biden’s plan to completely eliminate fossil fuels would set my district—and the rest of energy-producing America—back decades.

Natural gas as a fossil fuel has dramatically improved the quality of life and the economy in areas like my congressional district and across America. Our ability to become energy independent is making our nation stronger.

As a member of Congress, I will not let radical proposals to eliminate fossil fuels set America back, make us weaker, and hinder our growing economy.

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South Australian blackout blows wind farms into court

No precautions taken against interruption of supply.  They just accepted the delusory Greenie belief that "renewables" were adequate

The Australian Energy Regulator will take four South Australian wind farm operators to court accusing them of failing to perform properly during SA's statewide blackout in 2016.

The action in the Federal Court will allege AGL Energy Ltd, Neoen SA, Pacific Hydro Ltd and Tilt Renewables all breached the National Electricity Rules.

"The AER has brought these proceedings to send a strong signal to all energy businesses about the importance of compliance with performance standards to promote system security and reliability" chair Paula Conboy said.

"These alleged failures contributed to the black system event, and meant that Australian Energy Market Operator was not fully informed when responding to system-wide failure."

The allegations relate to the performance of wind farms during the severe weather event that swept across SA in September 2016 and which ultimately triggered the statewide power outage.

The storms damaged more than 20 towers in the state's mid-north, bringing down major transmission lines and causing a knock-on effect across the state's energy grid.

About 850,000 customers lost power, with some in the state's north and on the Eyre Peninsula left without electricity for several days.

A report from AEMO released about a month later found nine of 13 wind farms online at the time of the blackout switched off when the transmission lines came down.

It found the inability of the wind farms to ride through those disturbances was the result of safety settings that forced them to disconnect or reduce output.

The blackout also sparked a war of words between supporters of renewable power and those who blamed SA's high reliance on wind and solar generation as a contributing factor.

That included an infamous confrontation between former Premier Jay Weatherill and then Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg at a media conference in Adelaide, with Mr Weatherill lashing the coalition's "anti-South Australian stance" as a disgrace.

Current Energy Minister Angus Taylor said it was important for the regulator to enforce market rules. "We need to have reliable power in this country ... and that means all generators need to perform," he said.

In its action, the AER alleges each of the wind farm operators failed to ensure that their plant and associated facilities complied with their generator performance standard requirement to ride-through certain disturbances.

It also alleges that the wind farm operators failed to provide automatic protection systems to enable them to ride-through voltage disturbances to ensure continuity of supply, in contravention of the National Electricity Rules.

The AER is seeking declarations, penalties, compliance program orders and costs.

The action against AGL relates to the Hallett 1, Hallett 2 Hallett 4 and Hallett 5 wind farms.

In relates to Neoen SA's Hornsdale Wind Farm, Pacific Hydro's Clements Gap Wind Farm and Tilt Renewables' Snowtown 2 Wind Farm.

In a statement, AGL said it had previously considered that it had complied with its legal obligations in relation to the 2016 events.

But it said it would review the allegations made by the AER and consider its position.

Tilt Renewables said it believed it had acted in good faith and in accordance with the applicable National Electricity Rules in relation to the SA blackout. "The company will continue to engage with the AER in an endeavour to resolve this matter," it said.

Pacific Hydro said as legal proceedings had just commenced, it would not be making comment at this stage.

SOURCE 

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