Channel 4’s Dispatches had a half-hour programme last night on The True Cost of Green Energy. You might be able to see it by following the link (though you have to register, and for me it doesn’t work, the video just hangs).

The presenter Antony Barnett is of course fully signed up to climate alarm, and the programme started with the usual words of worry and images of melting ice. But he seemed genuinely concerned by the insanity brought on by so-called green energy policy, whereby trees in America are cut down, pelleted, shipped across the Atlantic, and burnt at Drax power station. The story is a familiar one to those who follow Bishop Hill or Paul Homewood, but it’s good to see it getting a wider airing.

Barnett travelled to Virginia, to see for himself the clearing of trees carried out by US company Enviva. He discussed the effect this had on the wildlife and showed that there did not seem to be any replanting of trees, as is sometimes claimed.

He also showed an experiment at the University of Nottingham, which demonstrated that burning wood actually produces more carbon dioxide than burning coal, for the same amount of energy produced, and that was not even taking into account the extra energy used to dry the wood, grind it into pellets, and ship it across the ocean.

But absurdly, burning wood is classified as carbon-neutral, so these emissions simply are not counted. Worse still, Drax recieves enormous subsidies, about £700 million per year, for this bogus green energy production, a subsidy that is paid for through our higher electricity bills.

The Daily Mail also picks up on the story: Burning green pellets is ‘filthier than using coal’…and British consumers are subsidising the use of pellets in pursuit of Government green policies, and also reports that subsidies and bills are set to rise further.

There’s also an article at The Ecologist.

So next time you hear a claim about how successful the UK has been at reducing its carbon dioxide emissions and switching to ‘renewable’ energy, remember to press the bullshit button.