The energy sector in the U.K. could be set for a major shakeup if the first significant shale gas discovery in the north of England is the start of bigger things to come. If natural gas were to be cheaper and more abundant than expected in the next couple of decades, the relative cost to consumers of subsidizing nuclear and renewable electricity would soar. Not something the public would accept easily as the years of austerity grind on. No wonder some environmental groups were reported to be “dismayed” by Cuadrilla’s discovery. --James Herron, The Wall Street Journal, 22 September 2011
Cuadrilla didn't need a green investment bank to find Britain's energy of tomorrow. The prospect of an abundant, cheap, domestic source of energy that could hit the market within two winters might sound like good news. If Mr. Huhne and his colleagues are serious about securing cheaper domestic energy, they could save themselves a lot of time and effort, and their taxpayers even more money, by letting it happen. --The Wall Street Journal, 23 September 2011
The UK's "dash for gas" will be halted by the government because if unchecked it would break legally binding targets for carbon dioxide emissions, Chris Huhne, energy and climate change secretary, said on Monday evening. "We will not consent so much gas plant so as to endanger our carbon dioxide goals," he told a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrats party conference in Birmingham. --Damian Carrington, The Guardian, 20 September 2011
The only real problem with UK shale gas seems to be political: we have a Climate Change Minister, Chris Huhne, who seems to be insisting that we should not, ever, extract this gas for it will make windmills unaffordable or something. To be honest, that’s really not a political position which I think is sustainable. Standing between 60 million Brits and a source of cheap heat and electricity is likely to get one trampled. --Tim Worstall, Forbes, 23 September 2011
Dozens of new fossil-fuelled power stations are being planned by energy companies, triggering concerns among green campaigners of a new "dash for gas" that could crowd out wind and other cleaner energy projects, the Guardian can reveal. The Guardian has unearthed as many as 30 potential gas schemes, which are either in late development stage or very early proposals, and which – if built could lock Britain into a higher carbon future at a time when it is trying to promote renewable power to cut emissions. --Terry Macalister and Jenny Roper, The Guardian, 18 July 2011
The statement by Professor Sir John Beddington, who has said that global sea level has increased by about 10 cm in the last 50 years (and so man must be to blame, unequivocally) is highly misleading, and a partial representation of the data. Whilst it is true that the sea level has increased by 10 cm in the past 50 years (coincident with a period of global warming), it also increased by 10 cm in the previous 50 years when man could not have been to blame! –David Whitehouse, The Observatory, 22 September 2011
