Best Of

Inspiring stuff.

https://x.com/pippacrerar/status/2030952994733179302

Keir Starmer warns that the longer the Iran conflict goes on, the greater the impact on the domestic economy.

"You will sense I think, that the longer this goes on, the more likely the potential for an impact on our economy, impact into the lives and households of everybody and every business.

“And our job is to get ahead of that, to look around the corner, assess the risk, monitor the risks, and work with others in relation to that.”

File under "PM Insights: No Shit, Sherlock..."

"Get ahead of that". Try firing Ed Miliband. Oh you can't, because then he'd be working to unseat you as PM.

Why would he fire Ed Miliband whose renewables vision will save the UK whilst Kemi and Farage lick Trumps oily ass

Ed is ridiculously blinkered.

It's the oil and gas dinosaurs who are blinkered.

Yep let's start drilling... Wait 5 years and sell it where?

International market

Oh hang on.

If you think there will be no market for oil in 5 years I have a bridge to sell you.

You completely missed the point.

Drill baby Drill

But you've still got to pay

INTERNATIONAL market prices.

Dubai Latest

"Moved to Dubai a month ago…

"Then two drones exploded next to our building, I was listed #3 on the UAE public prosecutor’s list for “publishing illegal content” (the video of the Fairmont on fire that got 1.7m views) resulting in my X account being banned across the country, followed by another week of hiding in the basement due to constant barrages of missiles and drones.

"Then a couple days ago after Marina 23 and the airport got hit I decided we’ve pushed our luck far enough.

"Made our way over the border into Oman the night before last and flew out this morning.

"Good luck to everyone in the GCC. But if you have the means to get out – I suggest you do so. Don’t FAFO."

https://x.com/ElonTrades/status/2030929933682262280?s=20

Twat discovers being a twat in UAE creates a whole set of problems for said Twat

Twat discovers that there’s actual consequences for being a twat in places like the UAE.

Which is a large part of why those of us who live here like the place - there’s very few twats.

Dubai Latest

"Moved to Dubai a month ago…

"Then two drones exploded next to our building, I was listed #3 on the UAE public prosecutor’s list for “publishing illegal content” (the video of the Fairmont on fire that got 1.7m views) resulting in my X account being banned across the country, followed by another week of hiding in the basement due to constant barrages of missiles and drones.

"Then a couple days ago after Marina 23 and the airport got hit I decided we’ve pushed our luck far enough.

"Made our way over the border into Oman the night before last and flew out this morning.

"Good luck to everyone in the GCC. But if you have the means to get out – I suggest you do so. Don’t FAFO."

https://x.com/ElonTrades/status/2030929933682262280?s=20

LOL, need to monetise the clicks, likes, and shares.

No-one who isn’t an ‘influencer’ is leaving Dubai right now.

Dubai Latest

"Moved to Dubai a month ago…

"Then two drones exploded next to our building, I was listed #3 on the UAE public prosecutor’s list for “publishing illegal content” (the video of the Fairmont on fire that got 1.7m views) resulting in my X account being banned across the country, followed by another week of hiding in the basement due to constant barrages of missiles and drones.

"Then a couple days ago after Marina 23 and the airport got hit I decided we’ve pushed our luck far enough.

"Made our way over the border into Oman the night before last and flew out this morning.

"Good luck to everyone in the GCC. But if you have the means to get out – I suggest you do so. Don’t FAFO."

https://x.com/ElonTrades/status/2030929933682262280?s=20

I'm reminded of Brendan Behan being told that every hangover killed ten million brain cells.

"Yeah, but only the weak ones..."

Oil and gas will be needed forever. Even once we completely transition to renewable energy, there will still be uses for oil and gas.

We should as a matter of policy be seeking to be a net exporter, not an importer, of the stuff. It is something we have a practical, competitive advantage in for international trade.

Instead we "model" the "emissions" of extraction but model zero emissions for extraction abroad and don't tax the emissions abroad, so we are just off-shoring pollution and thus foregoing all the economic advantages and taxes while doing diddly squat to help the environment.

Ignorant, stupid policy.

We should be cutting consumption of oil and gas for environmental reasons, where possible, but not production for which we should be net exporters.

If oil and gas are going to be needed forever, then the rational thing to do is to eke out our remaining finite reserves as carefully as possible so that we still have some left when they are really needed rather than selling them off as fast as possible at the first hint of rising prices.

Conserving them as feedstocks for the chemical industry rather than burning them too.

Something a lot of geologists in the business have been saying for the last 40 years or more. In spite of my well known scorn about the AGW stuff I still don't think we should be burning hydrocarbons. But by the same token we shouldn't be shutting down the North Sea and relying on external sources. Once we have closed own the North Sea it won't be coming back. It simply won't be economic to start again.

Dubai Latest

"Moved to Dubai a month ago…

"Then two drones exploded next to our building, I was listed #3 on the UAE public prosecutor’s list for “publishing illegal content” (the video of the Fairmont on fire that got 1.7m views) resulting in my X account being banned across the country, followed by another week of hiding in the basement due to constant barrages of missiles and drones.

"Then a couple days ago after Marina 23 and the airport got hit I decided we’ve pushed our luck far enough.

"Made our way over the border into Oman the night before last and flew out this morning.

"Good luck to everyone in the GCC. But if you have the means to get out – I suggest you do so. Don’t FAFO."

https://x.com/ElonTrades/status/2030929933682262280?s=20

Twat discovers being a twat in UAE creates a whole set of problems for said Twat

US possibly pulling air defence out of S Korea to send to the Gulf.

Korea, US kick off major spring drills amid speculation over Patriot redeployment
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/defense/20260309/s-korea-us-kick-off-major-spring-drills-amid-speculation-over-patriot-redeployment
..The exercise comes amid rising indications that Patriot missile systems operated by USFK have been redeployed to the Middle East, as demand for interceptor missiles and air defense systems grows following the Feb. 28 U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Several U.S. military transport aircraft have been seen arriving at and departing from a U.S. air base in Pyeongtaek, just south of Seoul, in recent days, fueling speculation that USFK may be preparing to move missile defense systems to other regions.

USFK has not confirmed the deployment, citing operational security..

Just the sign the North Koreans need...

There isn't necessarily always going to be a cold, dark, still week in January that we are never able to cover with renewables. Tidal and geothermal continue regardless of the weather. Hydroelectric is less connected to the weather and pumped-storage hydroelectricity is unaffected by the weather. More efficient solar and more solar means you make the most of whatever the weather conditions are. Better interconnectivity means you can rely on somewhere where it's windier and brighter.

If you are going to burn carbon, it can be domestically produced biofuels, biogas and waste-to-energy.

So, should we be spending money on a big investment in methane storage capacity, or could we spend it better on nuclear, wave, geothermal, biofuels, solar...?

I was curious what the current figures are for UK gas imports. 2024 figures are...

Norway 50.2%
Domestic (North Sea) 33.8%
US 11%
Qatar 1.2%
Trinidad and Tobago 1.1%
others less than 1% each

And then I thought, what would Trump do? Presumably invade Trinidad and Tobago. How quickly can we get an aircraft carrier to the Caribbean?

As I said earlier, remember Norway already proposed cutting the supply of gas to the UK last year.

And a few other points:

Current hydro capacity is about 1 percent of demand.
Pumped Storage is not generation. It is simply a liquid battery.
Tidal and geothermal are almost non existent in the UK and successive governments have refused to invest in them, which is criminal to my mind.
Interconnectvity can only provide about 9GW of power total. Peak demand in the UK is around 60GW.

All of these things are important and on a decades level, if we get a government with any sense (no laughing at the back please), then tidal, geothermal and nuclear could be a huge leap forward for us. But that is a very very long way away. Even further with the sorts of governments we seem to get these days.

It's worth a mention that the UK's first geothermal power plant has just been turned on:

Earth's heat to power 10,000 homes in renewable energy first for UK

It's not much and it's been a long time coming, but it's a start.

Its brilliant and we should be doing far more like this. There have been geothermal projects running in the Hampshre Basin for decades but they have never been commercialised/adopted because the Government isn't interested in them.

The average temperature gradient for the North Sea is 25 degrees C per 1000m. This is even higher in some places onshore. The scope for geothermal is huge even though we don't have the vulcanism like Iceland.

There's been some interesting moral positioning by elements of the Right. They've always asserted that the ultimate responsibility for the bloodshed caused by the war in Gaza was with Hamas, because they started it. But we now learn that ultimate responsibility for soaring fuel prices caused by the war in Iran is with Ed Miliband.

Yes if it wasn't for him we could be cleaning up here apparently.

And I'll tell you another oddity.

On carbon emissions there's no point us doing much because our contribution doesn't make any difference to the overall outcome. We're just a pin prick.

But with bombing Iran although us joining in would make no difference to the outcome that is irrelevant and we need to stop being such pussies and get in there!