Politics | Claverton Group

The NASA Climate Scientist James Hansen – urgent warning

The NASA Climate Scientist James Hansen and an international team of researchers have very recently completed a paper for the Open Atmospheric Science Journal, concerning an in-depth analysis of Climate history at the Earth’s Polar regions, relating it to today’s warming conditions.

Published on 7th November 2008, the peer-reviewed research paper shows, by careful calculations on proxy data for the very distant past, that we should expect high Climate Sensitivity, the warming signal of the Earth in response to Greenhouse Gas accumulation above ground.

The team looked at the relative changes in Carbon Dioxide concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere and showed that the rate of change showed strong negative “radiative forcing” clearly associated with the formation of the polar ice caps, and used that as a basis for calculating the Climate Sensitivity.

Systemic Fiscal Reform – way to beat boom and bust

By Dr Adrian Wrigley, Neale Upstone and Robin Smith (10th Sept 2008) – SystemicfiscalReform.Org

Systemic Fiscal Reform is a radical programme for the reform of taxation, subsidies and welfare. It is designed to stabilize economies, improve quality of life, and facilitates the transition to full environmental sustainability.

The reforms mainly comprise the abolition of cumbersome and wasteful tax, welfare and subsidy systems, together with abolishing the bureaucracies which implement them.

In their place, a simple integrated tax and welfare system is introduced. This includes retaining a number of existing taxes which have been found to operate effectively where they have been tried.

2008 Claverton Energy Group Conference Papers Available

Those that have been forwarded in text format have been published as News Articles. Those in PowerPoint or PDF format have been uploaded to the website, and can be downloaded for reading at:

What is Microgeneration? And what is the most cost effective in terms of CO2 reduction

The UK Government definition of Microgeneration[1] applies to a rather surprising mix of heat and power generating technologies with a thermal output below 45kWt or an electrical output of 50kWe. It covers electrical generation from wind, solar photovoltaics (PV) and hydro, and heat generation from biomass, solar thermal and heat pumps as well as micro CHP which produces heat and power from renewable or fossil fuels. It is not just another term for small scale renewables, but comprises a portfolio of low carbon technologies.

There has been a tendency amongst advocates[2] and sceptics[3] alike to lump all Microgeneration technologies together, either as “all good” or “all bad”. This is particularly unhelpful when attempting to understand the potential contribution Microgeneration can make to UK energy strategy and it is important that we understand the particular characteristics and potential role of each technology.

UK ENERGY SYSTEM COULD SUFFER SAME FATE AS BANKS, EXPERTS WARN

Representatives of an independent group of over 250 international energy and financial experts are meeting this week to reveal how the UK, Europe and other continents can run on renewable electricity for a similar price to that currently paid for fossil-based electricity. The Claverton Energy Research Group is also warning on the eve of its conference, which runs in Bath from 24-26 Oct, that current world governments’ energy policies are inadequate to meet growing global energy demands, and says serious action needs to be taken now!

George Soros Agrees With Claverton?

During In an Interview on the Global Financial Crisis and investment in Energy, George Soros appears to agree with Claverton Group’s previously expressed views. In an interesting ‘Global Viewpoint’ article distributed by Tribune Media Services Inc, entitled “My Interview with George Soros: End of Financial Crisis Could Be in Sight” it seems that George has caught up with our thinking, in that he says what the markets (or government!) should be investing in is new/ alternative energy sources:

High Profile EU Speaker at 2008 Claverton Conference!

Dr. Gregor Czisch is a confirmed speaker for this years Claverton conference, with a paper titled “Common Affordable and Renewable Electricity Supply for Europe and its Neighbourhood – Optimal solution: 100% Renewable HVDC-Supergrid To Save Our Climate”

Squaring the Circle on Coal – Carbon Capture (CCS)

By Chris Hodrien

2008 Claverton Conference Paper Synopsis: Huge global reserves of coal remain, well-distributed among relatively stable supplier nations, and its production is increasing. With the recent rapid increases in oil and gas prices, especially in the UK, it is again becoming the minimum cost option for power generation and heavy industry. Large thermal (steam turbine) powerplant is also the global utilities’ preferred generating option because of its predictability/reliability, operational characteristics, retrofit to existing powerplant sites and “fit’ to the existing grid structure.

Carbon Pools – Financing Energy after Peak Credit

By Chris Cooke

2008 Conference Paper Synopsis

1/ Conventional Financing – involves both “asset-based finance” (Investment) and “deficit-based” finance (Debt), typically “secured” or “asset-backed.”

– investment is either “Public” – by the State – or “Private’ through a legal entity known as a “Joint Stock Limited Liability Company.”

2/ Peak Credit and the Credit Crunch – following last year’s point of “Peak Credit” conventional “deficit-based” financing is drying up rapidly, and probably permanently.

3/ “Equity – but not as we know it, Jim” – using legal frameworks which are not based upon Company Law, but upon Trust and Partnership Law.

4/ Introducing the Carbon Pool – a simple new investment mechanism where assets remain in Public ownership, but investors could buy Energy Units redeemable against units of energy eg 10 Kilo Watt Hours.

– Carbon Pool funds may then be created, unitised, funded by a carbon levy and used to invest directly in renewable energy (“MegaWatts”) or energy savings (“NegaWatts”).

5/ Outcomes – by creating, and Unitising energy – with intrinsic value – energy value of carbon may be monetised rather than monetising by government “fiat” intrinsically worthless CO2, or TEQ’s .

Electricity Prices In The United Kingdom – Fundamental Drivers and Probable Trends 2008 to 2020

Fundamental Drivers and Probable Trends 2008 to 2020

Hugh SharmanThe mindless and self-congratulatory drift and chatter in the UK’s energy area during the last fifteen years, in particular the last ten, has the UK sleep-walking into brown-outs and/or severe energy rationing in less time than it takes to plan, engineer, license, procure, build and commission more than 30 GW in new, “clean coal” or nuclear plant by 1st January 2016.

Some gas capacity is on its way but this will be commissioned just in time for a World gas-supply crunch, sparked by the serial failure of Indonesia to meet its Far East contractual commitments, continued decline of gas production in Russia and Canada, the cap on new LNG exports from Qatar and exports from Norway and the continued reluctance of Iran to develop any gas export business at all. Most seriously of all, for UK (and Europe), it is the deliberately contrived investment policy of Gazprom to remain very tight on upstream capacity far into the foreseeable future, while dominant in down-stream infrastructure.