Poor people are hard hit by Germany's disastrous energy transition policy

Poor people are hardest hit by the continually rising energy costs in Germany - a consequence of Angela Merkel's disastrous energy transition policy. The renewable energy reallocation charge went on January 1 up from 5.3 to 6.2 cents per kilowatt hour. The price of electricity has since 2005 increased with 44%. Gas prices have gone up with  31% and distant heating prices with 45% during the same period.

Germany's poor are increasingly unable to pay for their energy, which is why in 2012 over 322000 households were cut off from the electricity supply, as they could not pay their bills. Last year the number is likely to have been much larger.

All this misery in order to finance an absurd energy transition policy, which has not even led to a decrease in CO2 emissions. On the contrary, in 2013 German power plants emitted more greenhouse gases than the year before.

No wonder that Merkel's new government is trying to sort out the mess. But, whether it will succeed is more than doubtful (unless they decide to scrap the entire energy transition policy - which is highly unlikely).

And as to the hitherto so strong German economy in general, it does not look very promising either:

The UK will be in a position to overtake Germany as Europe's largest economy, according to the think tank the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR).

The CEBR predicts that Germany will lose its current top spot in Europe by 2030.

Ice trapped alarmist Australian climate change professor and his followers rescued - Australian taxpayers likely to foot the bill

Chris Turney ‏@ProfChrisTurney 1h

We've made it to the Aurora australis safe & sound. A huge thanks to the Chinese & @AusAntarctic for all their hard work! #spiritofmawson

Australian climate change alarmist, professor Christ Turney and his followers - scientists and tourists on a research ship trapped by Antarctic ice since Christmas Eve - have been airlifted to safety.

They were flown by helicopter from the MV Akademik Shokalskiy to an ice floe next to the Australian icebreaker the Aurora Australis, after which they were taken by a small boat to the vessel.

According to a posting on the expedition website by Dr. Turney on Dec. 31, the nearest open water from the ship was 16 nautical miles away across the ice:

It has been a sobering week. At the time we were initially caught by the sea ice, the Shokalskiy was just 2 to 4 nautical miles from open water. Now the sea ice distance has become even greater with the continued winds from the east, putting our nearest point of exit at some 16 nautical miles. The international effort has been extraordinary and we are incredibly grateful for all the hard work and effort everyone has provided to assist the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013-14 in escaping from the ice – a big thanks in particular to the Chinese, French and Australians, co-ordinated by the Australian Maritime Rescue Centre.

It is of course fine that the alarmist professor and his followers have been rescued. But as so often, the bill for the huge rescue operation, probably running up to several million dollars, is likely to be footed by the Australian taxpayers - money that could be used for some more meaningful purposes.

Among the rescued climate change tourists, one was the BBC's Andrew Luck-Baker (Senior Producer, BBC Radio Science Unit, Brighton, UK). Why on earth does the BBC waste money on this kind of useless global warming tourism?

Australian PM Tony Abbott's chief financial adviser: Australia had became "hostage to climate-change madness"

AGW alarmists are not happy about what Australian PM Tony Abbot's chief business adviser Maurice Newman says about the previous government's climate change policies, but everyone else should be:

THE unprecedented cost of energy driven by the renewable energy target and the carbon tax had destroyed the nation's competitiveness, Tony Abbott's chief business adviser has declared.
Maurice Newman also says climate change policies driven by "scientific delusion" have been a major factor in the collapse of Australia's manufacturing sector. "The Australian dollar and industrial relations policies are blamed," Mr Newman said. "But, for some manufacturers, the strong dollar has been a benefit, while high relative wages have long been a feature of the Australian industrial landscape." --

Mr Newman said Australia had become "hostage to climate-change madness". "And for all the propaganda about 'green employment', Australia seems to be living the European experience, where, for every 'green' job created, two to three jobs are lost in the real economy," he said.
"The scientific delusion, the religion behind the climate crusade, is crumbling. Global temperatures have gone nowhere for 17 years. Now, credible German scientists claim that 'the global temperature will drop until 2100 to a value corresponding to the little ice age of 1870'."
Mr Newman said the climate change establishment, through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, remained "intent on exploiting the masses and extracting more money".
"When necessary, the IPCC resorts to dishonesty and deceit," he said.
In Australia, Mr Newman said, Victorian Democratic Labour Party senator John Madigan had told parliament how politicians and bureaucrats were paying tens of millions of dollars annually to wind turbine operators that had not received final planning approval.
"It could be hundreds of millions of dollars and we have a government that is keen to rein in the budget deficit," he said. "If you can save a million dollars that should never have been spent, we should be doing it."

Climate change Professor Chris Turney and his followers ringing in the New Year in Antarctica

Australian climate change professor Christ Turney and his followers are still waiting to be rescued in Antarctica:

Passengers on a climate change research ship stranded in Antarctica are likely to ring in the New Year on the ice-trapped vessel – as a rescue helicopter on a nearby Chinese ship waits for the weather to clear.

The helicopter on board the Snow Dragon will be used after the Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis failed to reach the Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said today.
But the rescue attempt is on hold due to ongoing blizzard conditions.
“Weather conditions are unlikely to start improving until tomorrow and decisions related to carrying out the rescue may be made at short notice,” AMSA said. --

The 74 passengers on board include scientists and tourists and the 22-strong Russian crew.
Expedition leader Chris Turney said the last week had been “sobering” but morale was good.

Happy New Year 2014 to you professor and your co-passengers! We hope you all will soon be safely back home - perhaps a little bit wiser.

With the IPCC almost forgotten R.K. Pachauri is now concentrating on something he is good at

Better as a bowler

"they call it the Patchy Greens... Lush green outfields.. nice strips... a kind of a place where every cricketer dreams of playing cricket..."


Now that only a handful of global warming zealots remain interested in the activities of the IPCC, Indian railway engineer R.K. Pachauri is finally able to concentrate on something he is good at:

A little known but fascinating facet of his character is the fact that Dr Pachauri is a keen cricketer with particular skills as a seam and swing bowler. His vision has led to the creation of TERI Oval (later known as Patchy Greens) —one of the finest and most scenic cricket grounds in India—which is now recognized as a venue for first class matches. Several International, national and indeed corporate cricketers enjoy visiting and playing at Patchy Greens. Dr Pachauri’s remarkable achievement of 600 wickets in corporate cricket for TERI is a milestone few can aspire to match in the foreseeable future.

 

Dr. Pachauri has been a driving force in not only developing interest in cricket in TERI, but also among various corporate who have participated in the tournaments conducted at Patchy Greens. Annually, the ground holds five to six corporate cricket tournaments and has been instrumental in keeping the interest among working professionals. Dr. Pachauri himself is a fitness conscious personality and plays for team TERI as its premier bowler.

 

He has bowling, mostly during power-plays, and has now brought 600 wickets in his corporate cricket career. He has been maintaining a  stunning strike rate of just 14 balls per wicket since the last two years and in the duration of less than two years he added 100 more wickets (from 500 to 600) to his tally. It is not only his swing which is difficult for the batsmen to handle, but his skill to read the batsman's mind that does the trick. Although, he is a non-interfering on the cricketing fields, but he is ready provide strategic inputs  to the captain and coach. Team TERI recently won the 8th Madhao Rao Scindia Cricket Tournament, the 16th D.G Phadkar tournament the Ist Krishna Maruti Tournament, and the 2nd Tiger Pataudi Cricket Tournament beating the leading corporate cricketing teams.    

We wish Dr. Pachauri a Successful New Year 2014 on the cricket field!

PS

If Pachauri gets tired of bowling at the "lush green outfields", he can use another of the first class TERI facilities in Gurgaeon (although the local town planner does not seem to be quite so  enthusiastic about it):

Here, it runs a five-acre golf course as part of the 69 acres of institutional land it acquired from Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) in 1985 to build a residential training facility for executives called Retreat. Work on the golf course began in 2005.
According to Gurgaon's district town planner Vijender Singh Rana, commercial activity through sports on institutional land is illegal. "HUDA gave this land to TERI for institutional or public and semipublic purpose," Rana said. "Though they have asked for change of land use (CLU) regularly from HUDA, permission cannot be given for any sporting activity. If TERI is selling golf course memberships, it is wrong." Rana said the conditions for use of institutional land were clear.
"If TERI uses it for its own purpose, there is no problem. But it cannot use it commercially and sell golf memberships," he said.
A TERI spokesperson denied it was making commercial use of the course. However, when MAIL TODAY anonymously contacted the course officials, they offered memberships for Rs.25,000.

Germany and the UK would benefit from a euro break up

In the long run Germany and the UK would benefit from a break up of the euro, according to the leading British research group the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR):

"Germany is forecast to lose its position as the largest Western European economy to the UK around 2030 because of the UK's faster population growth and lesser dependence on the other European economies," the report said.
"If the euro were to break up, Germany's outlook would be much better," it added. "A Deutsche Mark-based Germany certainly would not be overtaken by the UK for many years if ever."
The think-tank's chief executive claimed that Britain's economy would grow even faster if it left the European Union.
"My instinct is that in the short term, the impact of leaving the EU would undoubtedly be negative," Douglas McWilliams told the Daily Telegraph. “My suspicion is that over a 15-year period, it would probably be positive."