The Blog
2 February 2012Ruth Lea follows Colin Gibson in seeking to draw attention to the costs of intermittency latent in wind power, but is very well aware how hard they are to quantify accurately.
Offshore wind is generally accepted as more expensive than other large-scale means of meeting demand for electricity. There are further potential uncertainties that detract from stability of supply and cost. These are more important from a customer’s perspective than from that of a generator.
Understanding of additional costs has developed since 2003. The Milborrow article in Power UK underestimated transmission costs. Scaling back optimistic assumptions about capacity credit increases the costs of intermittency.
1 February 2012By Lucy Hatton A political stalemate has emerged in Brussels between the UK Conservative Party and one of its more outspoken members, Roger Helmer MEP, over the succession of the latter’s seat in the European Parliament (EP).
30 January 2012Last Friday the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) announced that it had estimated the growth in American GDP in the fourth quarter of 2011. The BEA estimated that the American economy had grown at an annualised rate of 2.8 per cent. This shines a harsh light on the current economic growth, or… [Read More]
24 January 2012By Lucy Hatton Last Tuesday (17 January) German MEP Martin Schulz became the new President of the European Parliament (EP). He may have won a majority at the mid-term presidential election but his election is certainly not without controversy.
13 January 2012Yesterday on The New York Times online and today in the print edition, economist Paul Krugman discussed why ‘America Isn’t a Corporation’. Krugman makes a number of interesting points that all politicians would do well to remember, however, he perhaps fails to explain one of the most important reasons that a state is not a… [Read More]
9 January 2012Energy experts warn that unwarranted support for wind-power is hindering genuinely cleaner energy The focus on wind-power, driven by the renewables targets, is preventing Britain from effectively reducing CO2 emissions, while crippling energy users with additional costs, according to a new Civitas report. The report finds that wind-power is unreliable and requires back-up power stations… [Read More]
6 January 2012On Wednesday, the Guardian published an article in ‘Comment is Free’ dismissing the claims made in Civitas’ latest report, CO2.1: Beyond the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (available here). Damien Morris, the author of the article and senior policy advisor at Sandbag, described the report as ‘cynical’ and containing ‘remorseless pessimism’. What is the report’s crime?… [Read More]
By Lucy Hatton There is suggestion that Hungary’s position in the European Union may no longer be tenable after the coming into force of the new Hungarian Constitution, or Fundamental Law, on 1 January. This controversial constitution has been heavily criticised for being overly right-wing and eroding the democracy so precious to Hungary since the… [Read More]
4 January 2012The Ministry of Justice and Department for Work and Pensions are to be congratulated for linking together databases of offenders and benefit claimants to see what can be learnt about individuals appearing on both systems. There is enough overlap, people that at different times offend and receive benefits, to reveal some patterns, provided one is… [Read More]
Emissions Trading System shrinks economy but not Britain’s carbon footprint The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is siphoning billions from industry and consumers to plump up finance and energy fat cats, according a new Civitas report. The report reveals that, via the EU ETS, each EU citizen is effectively subsidising the power industry by… [Read More]
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