How Many Btus in a British Bureaucrat?

[missouriboy]

Up front let me state that I don't have anything personal against British Bureaucrats.  I am sure that, overall, they are just your
standard, run-of-the-mill government employed screw-ups.  We have taken many to raise here in the States and can testify to their
general uselessness.  You may get 5 or 10 years of service out of them before they cease to function ... and you're stuck with them.
I should know.  I worked amongst them for many years and and can testify that they're great at a party (I'm being charitable), but
you're not likely to get your full 40+ out of many of them without resorting to illegal prodding devices.  Actually, I'm being a triffle
unfair ... as there are many good, dedicated public servants (disclaimer).  

I'm picking on the British because of late I've run across several articles making the point that they may actually have become 
dangerous to those they 'serve' because of very poor planning in energy policy.  I am sure that our American bureaucrats will be
suitably perturbed that they have not been given an equal shot at the honor.  But there you have it.

The following article will serve as an example of which many more will undoubtedly be contributed.  This very issue has been
mentioned and discussed at various times in different threads, but, as far as I can tell, not as a collection under a specific theme.
So have at it.  As it's thought by some (many?) that we may be drifting towards a colder climate over the next few years (decades?),
the issue of heat may well become near and dear to our hearts.  Dearer to some than to others I suspect.

As Flea put it so succinctly not long ago ... 
"some one de-ice the wind turbines theres no power.. why did they shut down the coal stations mom ..."

wattsupwiththat.com/2016/07/28/a-possible-triple-climate-whammy-for-the-uk-ahead/

A possible Triple Climate Whammy for the UK ahead?
Two separate indicators of climate change suggest that there is a risk of substantial cooling from 2017 onward. There is also likely to be a gap in energy production worsened by hasty climate change policies, making it three unrelated problems at the same time. In the worst case we could have rolling blackouts in Europe in the next few years.

[acidohm]

www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

You can watch it all go wrong in horrible detail here missouriboy!!

2 or 3 winters ago I was watching this and they were bringing extra stuff on-line to give the freezing masses enough juice to warm their mugs of tea...

interestingly/worryingly, in the last 2 years former crop fields have had solar arrays flung all over them, quite a few in fact. I hope these aren't the hope for the future, I mean, winters are dark as well as cold here yeah??

Personally I have 2 generators now for work purposes and the knowledge how to take the power lead of my gas boiler and put a plug on it. if the lights go out i'll probably have to invite the neighbours round/rent a warm room in timed slots!!!

[missouriboy]

Does the British citizenry really support the policies that have dismantled your 'reliable' power grid?  Or do they just not
pay attention?  I guess I've just never thought of the English as particularly 'green' in a fanatical sort of way.  More pinkish white
in need of a climate more conducive to a sun tan.  

In Arizona I can understand solar arrays.   In Northern Arizona you can provide much/most of your
space heating needs with a good, passive solar design.... but in England ... not really.

Hopefully I won't have to watch it go terribly wrong.  But someone needs to have a talk with their politicians.

[acidohm]

I think it's the not paying attention one

Too busy eating strawberries cream and scones while ordering the butler to polish the Aston in time for polo

[missouriboy]

Jul 30, 2016 8:43:04 GMT acidohm said:

I think it's the not paying attention one

Too busy eating strawberries cream and scones while ordering the butler to polish the Aston in time for polo

Oh well, I can certainly understand that.  But I'm really going to have to talk to that butler ... cause as we all know that
watches the TV series, the English butler done saved the empire time and time again from dem crazy white folk.  For an
English butler to abandon his duties that way is simply unheard of.  It just won't do.  Won't do atall.

Nothing so focuses the attention as good ole butt-chilling cold Giles.  Please see that Sir understands that.

[graywolf]

We're half way through our Summer here and it has been similar to what I expected ( which is an improvement over recent ones!) with some promise that our 'back to school' heatwave will actually rudely interrupt the kids summer hols in mid Aug!!!

I know we have the dreaded 'blob' to deal with but , over winter, Atlantic weather is always warmer than anything off the land mass to our East. The Jet is the driver ( the atmosphere the cargo) and 2012's alteration do seem to have altered the average positioning keeping flooding instances to the odd downpour ( and not weeks of sodden weather finally spilling into major flooding in prone areas). should we go ice free net summer it won't be until the 2020's that we will see the 'tweak' this places on things but I believe our worst is over ( 'our' being West Yorkshire).

As an island on the eastern edge of a large Ocean it is hard to escape it's influence. Rain is one part but 'warmth' is the other. Sitting inside a continent is a no, no! Extremes are far too big and events can drag on into months ( or years if you're California?)

As for 'energy'? We will become self sufficient in renewables before the 2030's ( Finland just did 140% of its need via renewables?) following the German model but then we've been 20 years away from via fusion all my adult life so how close are we to that game changer now?

As far as AGW is concerned we will be one of the least impacted. Areas of the planet will become uninhabitable over the hot months but we struggle to get warm months over summer ( up north) so no worries there! changes to hydroponics and L.E.D. technologies are now removing the need to import exotic foods with our first warehouse farms now up and running so Energy and food look sorted? Security? Well we don't need any 'wall'! We have our moat. Only Ireland and Iceland are better isolated from the hoards that will flood into Europe from areas no longer viable.

The U.S.? Well you can forget the south. Poor Canada is all I can say!!!

[nautonnier]

Jul 30, 2016 11:43:38 GMT graywolf said:

As for 'energy'? We will become self sufficient in renewables before the 2030's ( Finland just did 140% of its need via renewables?) following the German model but then we've been 20 years away from via fusion all my adult life so how close are we to that game changer now?

The only way to become 'self sufficient in renewables' is by stopping all heavy industry. UK is well on the way to doing this. Finland is not known for its steel works either. Any industry that needs continuous guaranteed base load power has left or will leave UK. The 'smart meters' will drop random households off the grid for a couple of hours rather than whole areas making people think that the power problems are small and only affecting their house - this is the real reason for 'smart meters'.

You better hope that it gets warmer because if it gets cold UK is shafted. All it needs is a belt of heavy snow followed by several days of anticyclonic hard frost with null winds and all the 'self sufficient in renewables' are out the window. No solar (covered in snow) no wind (anticyclone) and STOR ran out of fuel after 8 hours (the refuellers cannot get to the fields of diesel generators snow blocked roads). There will be a LOT of angry people about.

And I should add it could easily become worse than that if the power out continues as all the fuel stations cannot pump petrol (gas) or diesel and if the problem lasts more than 2 or 3 days there will be fuel shortages for road transport supermarkets have only 3 days food supplies on average and they will run out. Electric driven cars and trains will stop running and the nightmare starts.

[graywolf]

I'm all caught up now. This is another Fun WUWT thingy isn't it, Milankovich cycles an' all!!!

No mention of the Nino's worth of energy we now expect from the Arctic each year ( compared to the early noughties ) I note? No looking at jet streams bursting through the ITCZ from north to South? No mention of IPO turning positive ( nor hint that the PDO did two years back?)

Problems will be The Far East , India, Southern Europe, Sub Saharan Africa and the U.S. ( But i suppose the West coast already know seeing as the promised relief of nino rains/snows never turned up?). Over winter it will be the areas that see the jet buckle South and allow the PV to shift down into it for extended periods? I seem to see a pattern , post 2012, of a west coast ridge and east coast trough over the U.S.? 2012 appears to have shifted the resultant storm tracks from the west Atlantic north so western Europe sees warm windy over early/mid winter? We discovered the downside of this on December 26th this past winter......

With the Saudi Royals selling off their oil fields I get the idea that they are selling up a making ready to run? Do they know something is coming that they do not wish to stick around for ( and I'm not just talking Death Valley temps let loose across the Middle East either!!)??

With Europe and U.S. in odd turmoils I wonder if our 'elites' are also setting up smoke screens to cover their exits? Didn't I just see your Pres. sign up for the army to take on US citizens on US soil? Hmmmm...... it'll be that sanders Guy causing a rumpus probs........

[icefisher]

Remember this ALL can be blamed on Madam Thatcher! Damn pesky coal miners!

[missouriboy]

This is not energy, but is a picture (literally) of Britain some decades back.  Having not lived there, it is interesting to compare
to the 1970s and 80s in the US that I grew up in.  But we (central MO) were farms and a university town that were riding the 
wave of a rising 'bubble' of light industry and education, not the tenements of an old heavy industry bubble that was 'bleeding out'.  
There are multiple types of 'luck' or 'fate' ... however you wish to express it.

www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160726-does-this-image-sum-up-britain-right-now

[missouriboy]

Jul 30, 2016 11:43:38 GMT graywolf said:

We're half way through our Summer here and it has been similar to what I expected ( which is an improvement over recent ones!) with some promise that our 'back to school' heatwave will actually rudely interrupt the kids summer hols in mid Aug!!!

I know we have the dreaded 'blob' to deal with but , over winter, Atlantic weather is always warmer than anything off the land mass to our East. The Jet is the driver ( the atmosphere the cargo) and 2012's alteration do seem to have altered the average positioning keeping flooding instances to the odd downpour ( and not weeks of sodden weather finally spilling into major flooding in prone areas). should we go ice free net summer it won't be until the 2020's that we will see the 'tweak' this places on things but I believe our worst is over ( 'our' being West Yorkshire).

As an island on the eastern edge of a large Ocean it is hard to escape it's influence. Rain is one part but 'warmth' is the other. Sitting inside a continent is a no, no! Extremes are far too big and events can drag on into months ( or years if you're California?)

As for 'energy'? We will become self sufficient in renewables before the 2030's ( Finland just did 140% of its need via renewables?) following the German model but then we've been 20 years away from via fusion all my adult life so how close are we to that game changer now?

As far as AGW is concerned we will be one of the least impacted. Areas of the planet will become uninhabitable over the hot months but we struggle to get warm months over summer ( up north) so no worries there! changes to hydroponics and L.E.D. technologies are now removing the need to import exotic foods with our first warehouse farms now up and running so Energy and food look sorted? Security? Well we don't need any 'wall'! We have our moat. Only Ireland and Iceland are better isolated from the hoards that will flood into Europe from areas no longer viable.

The U.S.? Well you can forget the south. Poor Canada is all I can say!!!

As far as I know, the mid-latitude east coasts of continental land masses have always been well watered and, by definition, temperate in
comparison to locations poleward or equatorward.  Don't know how the Eemian was in the N American southeast ... steamy I expect.  But
that was prior to Homo Sapiens arrival (as far as we know).  Climates change at the margins ... as per your quote (a well-turned phrase)
... The Jet is the driver ( the atmosphere the cargo).  Even in the glacial periods the east coast continental circulation appears to have been
intact.  The northern edges were just a little frostier.  I hope those alternative energy and hightech home-grown food scenarios work out,
but without industry and a tax base to pay the bills,  I don't know how the sons and daughters of the humbler class are expected to make
a living.  But then again, I'm not an economist ... thank God.  My observations say that development has made us less resilient, but the
survivors will probably do OK.

[missouriboy]

Jul 30, 2016 16:02:59 GMT graywolf said:

With the Saudi Royals selling off their oil fields I get the idea that they are selling up a making ready to run? Do they know something is coming that they do not wish to stick around for ( and I'm not just talking Death Valley temps let loose across the Middle East either!!)??

With Europe and U.S. in odd turmoils I wonder if our 'elites' are also setting up smoke screens to cover their exits? Didn't I just see your Pres. sign up for the army to take on US citizens on US soil? Hmmmm...... it'll be that sanders Guy causing a rumpus probs........

Like you hint, the Saudi elites will not be running from the weather.  Daesh takes no prisoners ... and if we are smart neither will we.
Their ranks will be full again the next day until this generation is spent.  So it's always been.  The New Caliphate will extend the wave.
Another sunny history lesson ... Have a good day.  

[sigurdur]

Jul 30, 2016 16:02:59 GMT graywolf said:

I'm all caught up now. This is another Fun WUWT thingy isn't it, Milankovich cycles an' all!!!

No mention of the Nino's worth of energy we now expect from the Arctic each year ( compared to the early noughties ) I note? No looking at jet streams bursting through the ITCZ from north to South? No mention of IPO turning positive ( nor hint that the PDO did two years back?)

Graywolf: Please maintain your credibility. IF you have actually been following meterological metrics, you would KNOW that the jet stream bursting through the ITCZ is common, and has been happening ever since we figured out what a jet stream was.

As far as California, why should it rain there? LONG term precipitation averages, based on CLIMATE trends, clearly show that even at todays levels, they are well above norms.

Stop reading all those op-ed pieces. Rely on the SCIENCE for a change.

Sheeeesh.

And here I thought you had the potential to understand.

[nonentropic]

How can one degree or even two degrees C make great areas of the world wastelands. The north of Australia is 10C warmer than the south people both places.

Regardless of how warm it becomes there will still be very cold periods in the future even in temperate little UK.

[missouriboy]

www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/world/europe/british-decision-on-nuclear-plant-angers-china-and-france.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-1&action=click&contentCollection=Europe&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article

A New Cog in the British Power System 'May' not have China at the Controls.

This new prime minister 'may' provide many new word plays.