Deindustrialization, Degrowth and Climate Alarmism

From  mirror.co.uk , “However, I want to make it clear that if there is a Conservative Government in place we will remove all subsidy for on-shore wind and local people should have a greater say. “Frankly I think we have got enough on-shore wind and we have enough to be going on with, almost 10 per cent of our electricity needs, and I think we should give local people a say if they want to block these sorts of projects. “The only way to stop more on-shore wind is to vote Conservative there is no other party with this policy. We are saying very clearly we would remove the subsidy and give local people the power to say yes or no."  -- David Cameron during the campaign period. From  countytimes.co.uk/  below. One day before the UK elections 2015, some greens were praising Ed Milliband as "A climate change champion". These greens, they hated Cameron? From  Climate Progress  above, “Milibrand’s Labour party is calling for a policy to reduce carbon emissions from...

* Ny article for  the  March 2015 issue of  Business 360 , a monthly magazine published  in  Kathmandu, Nepal. ---------- Electricity and Development When I was in Nepal for  one week in January this year, the lack of electricity was among  the most prominent issues that I  observed. Many road intersections have no  stoplights, all hotels have generator sets, many streets are dark at night, and so on. The business potentials of Nepal are huge, with its unique geography and mountains tourism, and its young and big population. The need for more stable supply of electricity is evident. Economies that use more machines and automation that run on extensive electricity have higher labor productivity and are generally richer. Table 1.  Electric power consumption, kWh per capita Source: ADB, Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2014. See the big jump in power use in just 21 years by Vietnam (10.9x increase), China (6.4x), Bangladesh (5.4x), M...

* Originally posted on Nov. 21, 2015. I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last Sunday-Tuesday, for the IPRI 2015 launching + other visits arranged by IDEAS and SEANET. It was my second visit in KL this year, I was there last April for another SEANET event. My 5+pm return MAS flight to Manila (arrival should have been 9:20pm) on Tuesday was cancelled, should be due to additional APEC security measures in Manila. I needed to go back home, so IDEAS got a new ticket for me, KL-SG-Mla via SG Air. Left KL Tuesday at 9:45pm, left SG at 12:20am, Manila by 4:30am. So, I was able to see KL and suburbs at night from the air as I took the window seat. Again, like what I saw in Thailand last month when I arrived Bangkok at midnight (see  Thailand's bright nights and nat gas power ), Malaysia has a wide, huge area of well-lighted roads, houses and buildings. This photo I got from the web, not from my camera. It shows KL center and suburbs. The dark areas are the many urban forest in KL. The br...

* Originally posted on Oct. 31, 2015. The Washington Post ran a story last October 12, 2015,  As appetite for electricity soars, the world keeps turning to coal . It is a climate alarmist story and yet the authors recognize that as of 2012, the world -- rich, middle income and poor countries combined -- was dependent on 68% fossil fuels (coal + natural gas + oil) for their electricity needs. The 21% renewables are largely "old renewables" like big hydro and geothermal. The "new renewables" like wind and solar should contribute something like 2-4% of total. In terms of total global electricity output from 1980 to 2012 (32 years), the biggest increase in GWh are (1) coal with 6.1 M and (2) natural gas with 4.1 M. Percentage wise, biggest increase were recorded by nat gas and nuke. So although it is a climate alarmism article, there is honesty in recognizing that if people want more and stable electricity, fossil fuels are inevitable and reliable energy sources. From a...

* Originally posted on Sept. 5, 2015. Global oil prices have slightly recovered in recent days, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for instance went down to as low as $38/barrel in late August, then recovered to $48+, and $46 a barrel as of this writing. Still, these are very low compared to prices 5-6 years ago. My sister's accounting and auditing office, Alas Oplas & Co. CPAs, produced its most recent monthly Economic Update, August 2015 entitled  Opportunities for Low Oil Prices . Among the data shown there are the following. Net increase in global oil supply (supply minus demand) has increased from a deficit of 0.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2013 to a surplus of 1.1 mbpd in 2015, and rose to an average of 2.9 mbpd in July this year. That is a huge number. If it is 2.9 million barrels per week, the price should not decline significantly. On the other hand, oil demand by Organization for Economic Cooperation  and  Development  (OECD) countries is declining, f...

Two chilling news from  No Tricks Zone  about environmental militance and deception  in German.The  first article  was published on May 26, 2015, and the  second  article  was posted on March 21, 2014. The first paper is an example of "regulatory capture", wind lobbyists writing the renewables cronyism law in one state in Germany. "The FDP Free Democrats accused Wenzel of having parts of the 79-page draft legislation “dictated to him by the wind industry.”   Bild quotes Free Democrat Dr. Gero Hocker, an environment expert:    "The Environment Minister must concede that the wind lobby took over the job of drafting the law. That’s an outrage!”" Good work, FDP. Fiscalize the green zealots mainly responsible for ever-rising energy prices in Germany. From the second article, FNF's website, Liberal, was also quoted saying "The proposed law by Environment Senator Joachim Lohse foresees a system of monitoring that allows for detection of vi...

* Originally posted on July 25, 2015. Last Thursday, July 23,  I attended this forum held at the Ayala Museum, Makati. Main speaker was Atty. Raphael Perpetuo "Popo" M. Lotilla, former DOE Secretary and Chairman, Center for the Advancement of Trade Integration and Facilitation (CATIF). Discussants and reactors were (1) Mr. Vicente S. Perez, Jr., former DOE Secretary, President of ALTERNERGY and Chairman of WWF-Philippines, (2) Mr. John Eric T. Francia, President & CEO of Ayala Corp. (AC) Energy Holdings, Inc., and (3) Dr. Peter Lee U,Dean, School of Economics, University of Asia and the Pacific (UAP). This photo from the UPSE  website ; from left: Perez, Lotilla, Francia, Lee U. Popo talked about the various provisions of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) law of 2001, in particular the Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA), the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), etc. It was a full-packed room, as usual. Many part...