– If only “free energy” was free. UK Govt spending £319bn on quest to change future weather:
UPDATE: Full GWPF report (PDF)
A bargain at half the price
The geniuses in the UK government decided to take £10,800 from every UK household to cool the world by a figure which, rounded to the nearest tenth of a degree, is 0.0 degrees C a century from now.
Hot air: Bombshell report shows green levies backed by government will cost the economy £319bn by 2030
- The radical shift to green, renewable energy will have cost £319bn by 2030
- The huge sum is three times the annual NHS budget for England
- The policy will be adding an average burden of £584 a year to every household by 2020 and £875 by 2030
- Shocking report takes its calculations from official figures issued by government
The real cost to poorer families paying vastly higher electricity bills might be measured in terms of people choosing second best health options, putting off treatments, foregone holidays, going cold, and for some on the brink, perhaps divorce or worse. (It’s hard to imagine how forcing people to do £10k of pointless work will improve mental health stats). If the UK government came knocking at doors asking for cash, how many households would choose to spend £500 – £800 a year to slow storms and hold back the tide for their grandchildren by a factor too small to measure?
Judging by what western citizens willingly donate to green causes and to offset their flights, we’re talking about very small number. Only half a percent of Australians are willing to voluntarily pay 5 or 6 c KWh more for Green energy.
Subsidies squared – when you need subsidies to rescue you from your subsidies
The artificial pricing for renewables has made the reliable cheap coal fired electricity uneconomic. So Britain now has to subsidize coal in order to keep the lights on over winter.
The Government on Friday awarded £1.2bn of subsidy contracts through its capacity market auction to companies that could help ensure Britain has the power it needs in four years’ time at the lowest cost.
Well, it’s nothing really. Just a billion here, a billion there…
Note that coal is so cheap even gas was unable to compete for the most part:
The Government is keen to see new gas plants built as a cleaner replacement for old coal plants, which it wants to shut by 2025. It hailed the capacity market as a success after securing the construction of two mid-sized gas plants, as well as a raft of new battery storage projects.
In total the Government said 1.5GW of new gas generation won. However, this was dwarfed by the 5.7GW of ageing coal plants that secured subsidies.
The figures are based on a soon to be released GWPF report:
The report, The Cost Of The Climate Change Act, is by Peter Lilley, the Conservative MP and former Trade Secretary. He was one of only three MPs who voted against the Act, piloted through Parliament by then Labour Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. The report will be published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, the think-tank founded by Lord Lawson.
H/t reader kevin a.
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