Category: Climate facts

Memo shows the federal plan won’t just cause upheaval in oil and gas provinces but will eliminate or reduce whole sectors of the Canadian economy

By Don Braid, National Post, Jan. 17, 2023

The federal plan to “transition” jobs and regional economies in the fight against climate change is even more vast and all-embracing than suspected by the most suspicious sovereignty fan in Premier Danielle Smith’s office.

“When I saw the memo, I felt a pit in my stomach,” Smith said Monday. “It’s worse than I feared.” She’s talking about a memo made public by Blacklock’s Reporter, a diligent subscription news service based in Ottawa.… Read more

BP considers scrapping its annual energy review because report’s numbers undermine company’s rhetoric about its pursuit of alternative energy

By Robert Bryce, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 7, 2022

Reuters recently reported that energy giant BP is “considering ending the publication of its Statistical Review of World Energy, over 70 years after it first published the benchmark report.” The reason? The report’s numbers are supposedly undermining the company’s rhetoric about its pursuit of alternative energy. To give in to such claims and cancel the Statistical Review— one of the most reliable energy resources in the world— would be an egregious mistake.

The review is a benchmark report.… Read more

Fossil fuels have dramatically improved humanity’s quality of life. This would not be true if fossil fuels were the enemy climate alarmists want us to believe

A questioner on Quora asks: “If we are in the middle of a ‘climate crisis,’ as is alleged by many, then why is the health, wealth, and quality of life for the majority of people still improving so rapidly?”

A good question, and here’s a possible answer. Look at the following chart, from Alex Epstein’s book The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, keeping in mind that we measure a country’s fossil-fuel consumption by the amount of CO2 produced:

… Read more

Ukraine war means Swiss face severe limits on electricity use, including EVs, home heating, even hot water. Meanwhile, the nation is phasing out nuclear power

By Verity Bowman, Daily Telegraph, Dec. 3, 2022

Electric cars could be banned from making non-essential journeys in Switzerland this winter under a Covid lockdown-style plan to deal with potential energy shortages. 

Emergency proposals have been drafted by the government that could see buildings heated to no more than 20 degrees Celsius, shop opening hours reduced and streaming services limited. The strictest measures – designed to avoid a blackout in the worst case scenario – include a ban on sports matches, concerts and theatre performances.… Read more

From a CNBC interview on Oct. 2, 2022, with Jeff Currie of investment firm Goldman Sachs

How much has green investment given us? Here’s a stat for you. At the end of last year [2021], overall, fossil fuels represented 81 percent of overall energy consumption [in the United States]. Ten years ago, they were at 82.

So after all of that investment in renewables, you’re talking about $3.8-trillion, let me repeat that, $3.8-trillion of investment in renewables, fossil fuel consumption fell from 82 to 81 percent of [the U.S.’s] overall energy consumption. The net of it is clearly we haven’t made any progress.… Read more

Governor Gavin Newsom doubles down on green projects while state’s energy bills soar

Editorial, The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 21, 2022

California can barely keep the lights on as its climate policies bite the electric grid, but Gov. Gavin Newsom is undaunted. On Friday he signed no fewer than 40—count ’em 40—new climate bills to amp up California’s green-energy shock experiment.

Even as gasoline prices nationwide have fallen to an average $3.68 a gallon, Californians are still paying $5.45 a gallon. California’s electric rates are already more than double those in neighboring states. This is what happens when politicians try to eliminate fossil fuels with a Molotov cocktail of regulation, taxes, and renewable mandates and subsidies.… Read more

While the Antarctic ice losses seem stupendously large, the recent annual losses amount to 0.001% of the total ice and, if they continued at that rate, would raise sea level by only 3 inches over 100 years

By Steven Koonin, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 20, 2022

Alarming reports that the Antarctic ice sheet is shrinking misrepresent the science under way to understand a very complex situation. Antarctica has been ice-covered for at least 30 million years. The ice sheet holds about 26.5 million gigatons of water (a gigaton is a billion metric tons, or about 2.2 trillion pounds). If it were to melt completely, sea levels would rise 190 feet.… Read more