We’re at the early stages of mounting a legal challenge against UK government over various aspects of renewables. I thought there was a private messaging facility on here but I can’t see one? We are collecting good people…. I can be reached at rathergoodstays with the usual com ending… please pop me a message and I’ll explain more then delete this.
I believe if you just reply to the email notification of the post, assuming you subscribe, you will get through to the Substack host, in this case Richard.
There has never been a successful demonstration of a renewables plus storage energy economy. I am increasingly convinced that there has never been serious attempt at a demonstration because the advocates of such an energy economy KNOW that such a demonstration would also fail. The ongoing society-wide transitions will fail spectacularly if they are not terminated.
They, that is those presently holding the reigns of power, have no comprehension or understanding of EROEI, I fear they will run the experiment until it literally hits the buffers. What happens then will be very ugly. I heartily endorse your opinions Richard. I've been arguing for over two decades about the fallacy of global warming and its attribution to anthropogenic CO2 emissions. I like to point to Henry's Law which confounds their simplistic view, showing that temperature precedes increases in CO2 PPMV
Brilliant. This should be heard in the public discussion. What these crazy people are doing is either an ideologically driven action or ‘snake oil’ politics. Lots of money to be made here.
The simple fact that despite the majority rest of the world clearly not giving two hoots about reducing CO2 emissions, the UK Uniparty insists on pushing ahead with Net Zero unilaterally when this is obviously pointless even if the establishment climate CO2 pseudo-science were correct, which it isn’t, is proof that our Uniparty politicians are either certifiably mad or irredeemably bad in blindly following the instructions of their Malthusian globalist overlords to wreck our economy, immiserate us and ultimately depopulate us: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co2-emissions-per-country?country=GBR~CHN~OWID_WRL
The UK’s miniscule (less than 1% of global) CO2 emissions are actually on a downwards trend but the Uniparty lies about that, asking the general public to believe they are doing a great job when all they have done is to deindustrialise the UK economy and move the emissions overseas, using accounting sleight of hand to ignore the foreign emissions of the substitute imports.
These climate-obsessed Uniparty politicians are hopelessly out of their depth and they don’t even realise it. SNP boss John Swinney thinks he is “holier than thou” by insisting that retired Scottish nuclear power stations will not be replaced. Westminster leader Patrick Flynn obsesses about the Project Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage exorbitant white elephant. How is Scotland going to avoid repeated Spanish-type national blackouts when the only source of vital inertia connected to the Scottish grid is the modest-capacity Peterhead CGCT plant and piddling amounts of hydro? What will happen when Peterhead is offline for essential maintenance?
And to agree with your “bridge problem”, these mad or bad (take your pick) Uniparty politicians ignore the fact that if, by some miracle, they reached their Net Zero nirvana, society would inevitably collapse when all their wind and solar plants fall to bits at the end of their short service lives, unable to be replaced because by that time we will have no high energy density fossil fuel-powered heavy manufacturing and transportation facilities.
A very well explained expose ( sans accent) and new terms learned along the way. Milliband is either unaware of the Iron Law of Energy and its four pillars, or, has been given carte blanche to experiment to produce a 'green utopia'. Perhaps etched on his broken Edstone should be the words..."I should have been stopped", or, "A moron reversed civilisation's progress", or, " I grew richer as people became poorer...Amen".
Very clearly outlined, Richard, and thanks for those references.
Here is another one that's useful: Tim Morgan's 2013 research paper "Perfect Storm – Energy, Finance & the End of Growth", I wrote some notes on it here (and the original reference):
Hello Richard I think I need the app to reply …. So I’ll update my iOS to do that. Alternatively I’m at rathergoodstays with the usual suffix online /website …. Thanks so much. Fiona
And say as much on LinkedIn - especially to the climate council of Australia. I call it climate communism which as we know is a suppressive dark ideology that suffocates people
Thank you for your comment. I left LinkedIn after they started actively censoring posts that were critical of the orthodox narrative. Have they relaxed this policy?
It's still full of climate numpties and a lot gets censored. But more and more comments seem to be allowed. The mind control for climate mypoicism is mind numbing to watch though. It's like they're cast under a spell. You call them out and they come back with the usual 'conspiracy tin foil hat' BS. But I keep commenting and plodding away. One person commented on your article as 'opinion' only and therefore irrelevant :(
Its weird - when I point the absolute sheer climate hypocrisy in the Eco-cide in the making - installing swathes of solar farms and and cutting down swathes of forest for copious number so of (lack of ROI) turbines + BESS- they simply cannot see it. Cognitive dissonance.
Here in Canada we are blessed with PM Carney who is a zealous disciple of the green Jonestown Kool aid of net zero. He may find that the country might prefer break-up to slow and certain suicide.
Julie - it's a bit of a classic and out of print, so I'm sorry about that. In consolation, Google AI Studio's "Gemini 2.5 Pro" model, which is still free, does a decent job of summarising it. Alternatively, there are other accounts of the same topic. John Michel Greer's "The Long Descent: A User's Guide to the End of the Industrial Age" is arguably better, and available on Amazon for under a tenner.
"The real choice, dictated by the unyielding physics of civilisation, is between a high-energy future of continued prosperity and a low-energy future of inevitable collapse."
But we're already over half way through high-energy (extractable) fossils, which, given we started on them ~250years ago with under 1billion people, and that the downslope is always steeper, we must be headed towards "inevitable collapse" in ~100years or so, with a bit of nuclear electricity expansion (currently ~4% of global energy) to soften the fall?
This is a brilliant evisceration of the lunacy of Net carbon zero. Sadly you won't see this type of comment on the BBC or Sly news etc.
Bloody excellent as usual.
We’re at the early stages of mounting a legal challenge against UK government over various aspects of renewables. I thought there was a private messaging facility on here but I can’t see one? We are collecting good people…. I can be reached at rathergoodstays with the usual com ending… please pop me a message and I’ll explain more then delete this.
Thank you, Richard.
I believe if you just reply to the email notification of the post, assuming you subscribe, you will get through to the Substack host, in this case Richard.
Fiona - drop me an email at good.wire3799@fastmail.com
A good insight into the energy and resources used to produce this unreliable power.
https://x.com/robertd85962257/status/1933251031564976219?s=46&t=L2eL_FH-crT9ME_-0pahfA
Each one is an environmental disaster.
There has never been a successful demonstration of a renewables plus storage energy economy. I am increasingly convinced that there has never been serious attempt at a demonstration because the advocates of such an energy economy KNOW that such a demonstration would also fail. The ongoing society-wide transitions will fail spectacularly if they are not terminated.
https://www.therightinsight.org/Ultimate-Demonstration
They, that is those presently holding the reigns of power, have no comprehension or understanding of EROEI, I fear they will run the experiment until it literally hits the buffers. What happens then will be very ugly. I heartily endorse your opinions Richard. I've been arguing for over two decades about the fallacy of global warming and its attribution to anthropogenic CO2 emissions. I like to point to Henry's Law which confounds their simplistic view, showing that temperature precedes increases in CO2 PPMV
Brilliant. This should be heard in the public discussion. What these crazy people are doing is either an ideologically driven action or ‘snake oil’ politics. Lots of money to be made here.
The simple fact that despite the majority rest of the world clearly not giving two hoots about reducing CO2 emissions, the UK Uniparty insists on pushing ahead with Net Zero unilaterally when this is obviously pointless even if the establishment climate CO2 pseudo-science were correct, which it isn’t, is proof that our Uniparty politicians are either certifiably mad or irredeemably bad in blindly following the instructions of their Malthusian globalist overlords to wreck our economy, immiserate us and ultimately depopulate us: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co2-emissions-per-country?country=GBR~CHN~OWID_WRL
The UK’s miniscule (less than 1% of global) CO2 emissions are actually on a downwards trend but the Uniparty lies about that, asking the general public to believe they are doing a great job when all they have done is to deindustrialise the UK economy and move the emissions overseas, using accounting sleight of hand to ignore the foreign emissions of the substitute imports.
These climate-obsessed Uniparty politicians are hopelessly out of their depth and they don’t even realise it. SNP boss John Swinney thinks he is “holier than thou” by insisting that retired Scottish nuclear power stations will not be replaced. Westminster leader Patrick Flynn obsesses about the Project Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage exorbitant white elephant. How is Scotland going to avoid repeated Spanish-type national blackouts when the only source of vital inertia connected to the Scottish grid is the modest-capacity Peterhead CGCT plant and piddling amounts of hydro? What will happen when Peterhead is offline for essential maintenance?
And to agree with your “bridge problem”, these mad or bad (take your pick) Uniparty politicians ignore the fact that if, by some miracle, they reached their Net Zero nirvana, society would inevitably collapse when all their wind and solar plants fall to bits at the end of their short service lives, unable to be replaced because by that time we will have no high energy density fossil fuel-powered heavy manufacturing and transportation facilities.
By coincidence I‘ve just received a very similar post from a New Zealand energy analyst on the same theme as Richard’s, concluding with:
“Energy constraints already undermine New Zealand’s industrial base and economic competitiveness. Without action:
• Industrial closures will accelerate.
• Energy poverty will rise.
• Grid stability will deteriorate.
• The risk of an economic collapse becomes an increasingly likely outcome.”
Great minds think alike! https://newzealandenergy.substack.com/p/new-zealand-energy-strategy.
A very well explained expose ( sans accent) and new terms learned along the way. Milliband is either unaware of the Iron Law of Energy and its four pillars, or, has been given carte blanche to experiment to produce a 'green utopia'. Perhaps etched on his broken Edstone should be the words..."I should have been stopped", or, "A moron reversed civilisation's progress", or, " I grew richer as people became poorer...Amen".
Very clearly outlined, Richard, and thanks for those references.
Here is another one that's useful: Tim Morgan's 2013 research paper "Perfect Storm – Energy, Finance & the End of Growth", I wrote some notes on it here (and the original reference):
https://alexstarling77.substack.com/p/perfect-storm-energy-finance-and
Hello Richard I think I need the app to reply …. So I’ll update my iOS to do that. Alternatively I’m at rathergoodstays with the usual suffix online /website …. Thanks so much. Fiona
This was fantastic. It prompted me to write a short post. I’ll link you in it.
Brad - thank you for taking the time to read it, and I look forward to reading your take on the matter.
Brilliantly written! I call it Nutty Not Zero
And say as much on LinkedIn - especially to the climate council of Australia. I call it climate communism which as we know is a suppressive dark ideology that suffocates people
Thank you for your comment. I left LinkedIn after they started actively censoring posts that were critical of the orthodox narrative. Have they relaxed this policy?
Hi Richard
It's still full of climate numpties and a lot gets censored. But more and more comments seem to be allowed. The mind control for climate mypoicism is mind numbing to watch though. It's like they're cast under a spell. You call them out and they come back with the usual 'conspiracy tin foil hat' BS. But I keep commenting and plodding away. One person commented on your article as 'opinion' only and therefore irrelevant :(
Its weird - when I point the absolute sheer climate hypocrisy in the Eco-cide in the making - installing swathes of solar farms and and cutting down swathes of forest for copious number so of (lack of ROI) turbines + BESS- they simply cannot see it. Cognitive dissonance.
I will keep sharing though.
Here in Canada we are blessed with PM Carney who is a zealous disciple of the green Jonestown Kool aid of net zero. He may find that the country might prefer break-up to slow and certain suicide.
Thank you Richard excellent article very clear explanation. Only complaint can’t afford the book by Mr Tainter. High price tag on eBay
Julie - it's a bit of a classic and out of print, so I'm sorry about that. In consolation, Google AI Studio's "Gemini 2.5 Pro" model, which is still free, does a decent job of summarising it. Alternatively, there are other accounts of the same topic. John Michel Greer's "The Long Descent: A User's Guide to the End of the Industrial Age" is arguably better, and available on Amazon for under a tenner.
Sadly this book is above a tenner. Word has got out. I shall seek out your other recommendation. Thanks for responding ..
good stuff...Plenty of us out there that agree with you.... more at my substack
"The real choice, dictated by the unyielding physics of civilisation, is between a high-energy future of continued prosperity and a low-energy future of inevitable collapse."
But we're already over half way through high-energy (extractable) fossils, which, given we started on them ~250years ago with under 1billion people, and that the downslope is always steeper, we must be headed towards "inevitable collapse" in ~100years or so, with a bit of nuclear electricity expansion (currently ~4% of global energy) to soften the fall?
Read Ayn Rand's ATLAS SHRUGGED have you?
I have.