Earth Hour This Saturday Is a Colossal Waste of Time and Energy.

Bjorn Lomborg

-No Lights to Turn Off-

On the evening of March 23, 1.3 billion people will go without light for the rest of the night—just like every other night of the year. With no access to electricity, darkness after sunset is a constant reality for these people.

See Copenhagen Consensus Center’s YouTube video http://youtu.be/9SVVADAX_cU with a different message for Earth Hour.

Earth Hour teaches us that tackling global warming is easy. Yet, by switching off the lights, all we are doing is making it harder to see.

Electricity has been a boon for humanity. And the cozy candles that many participants will light, which seem so natural and environmentally friendly, are still fossil fuels—and almost 100 times less efficient than incandescent light bulbs.

Read the full commentary on Slate . Translations in 6 languages are distributed worldwide and available at Project Syndicate http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/earth-hour-s-counterproductive-symbolism-by-bj-rn-lomborg

-Electric Cars Have A Dirty Little Secret-

Is the electric car green? Not really.

It easily emits more CO2 than a gasoline car, because its production (especially the battery) is so energy-intensive.

Even in an optimistic scenario, the electric car barely differ from conventional cars as measured by their carbon emissions. Read the full op-ed in Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324128504578346913994914472.html

-“Zero emissions” vehicles-

Bjorn Lomborg shows how electric cars are anything but “zero emission”. Electric cars are hugely carbon intensive to manufacture. Their driving distance is extremely short, so most consumers have not been interested in purchasing them (even with a generous tax credits of up to $7500). Lomborg joined Jenna Lee at Happening now to elaborate on the WSJ piece, see the interview on Fox News here http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/happening-now/index.html?playlist_id=86919&intcmp=features http://video.foxnews.com/v/2223634871001/zero-emissions-not-so-fast/?playlist_id=86919

He also explained the environmental impacts of electric cars to Melissa Francis on FoxBusiness http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/money-with-melissa-francis/index.html #http://video.foxnews.com/v/2226612790001/the-dirty-little-secret-behind-electric-cars/?playlist_id=1671716501001

-Cost of Feel-Good Energy-

In 2012 Germans paid €20 billion for green energy that otherwise could have been produced for about €3 billion. The extra cost is because of green subsidies that will have almost no effect on Global Warming even a 100 years from now. If all that money was spent on energy research instead, Germany would actually help solve Global Warming.

Lomborg’s article is listed as “Most important this week” in “Der Spiegel” in Germany behind paywall https://magazin.spiegel.de/reader/index_SP.html#j=2013&h=12&a=91568151

Snow Shut Down Congress

Lomborg was scheduled to testify for the US Congress on “How we need to think about global warming and what we need to do”, along with Dr. Judith Curry from Georgia Tech and Dr. William Chameides of Duke University — but ironically Congress was shut down because of a snowstorm that failed to materialize.

It was a bit puzzling for a Scandinavian native – we’re used to dealing with a lot of snow! The hearing has been re-scheduled for April 25, and in the meantime you can read his summary here http://lomborg.com/sites/default/files/Congress%20testimony%20March%202013.pdf

-Propping EU permits?-

The European Union should not approve a proposal to boost the price of carbon permits.

“The carbon price is low because we have had a big economic crisis so actually we are doing what the EU has promised to do, which is cutting the carbon emissions by 20 percent,” Lomborg said. “Wanting a higher carbon price is wanting to cut more than 20 percent. It is just pushing the policy goal which seems a little bit arbitrary at best.”

Read the full Reuters interview where Lomborg points to smarter solutions. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/03/14/us-eu-carbon-lomborg-idUKBRE92D1DB20130314

-Australian Climate Damage-

When it comes to property damage in Australia, the climate has not produced an “angry summer”, but clearly this point is a thorn in the side of the Australian Climate Commission http://climatecommission.gov.au/media-releases/correction-misrepresentation-the-angry-summer you aren’t allowed to make that point.

A graph produced by two Australian commentators http://theconversation.edu.au/weighing-the-toll-of-our-angry-summer-against-climate-change-12793 shows this is clearly not the case. The graph uses peer-reviewed data that reflects changes in dwelling numbers and value, and an adjustment in the building code.

Follow Bjorn on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bjornlomborg and read this and other commentary.

Share this: Print

Email

Twitter

Facebook

Pinterest

LinkedIn

Reddit



Like this: Like Loading...