Scottish Office and Energy

Here is a copy of a reply to a letter concerning Scottish energy policy. It is based on the false assumption that carbon is responsible for global warming and that it is necessary to go all out for wind. I do not disagree about conservation but our electricity bills are being overloaded to up to 20% for development and 11% for carbon. As said by one realist, a lot of WAFFLE!!

Thank you for your e-mail of 10 January 2013 to Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland,
regarding wind farms. I work in the Energy Division of the Scottish Government and have
been asked to respond.
Whilst Ministers believe it is right to make the most of the opportunities that are offered by
our abundant natural energy resources, this must be done in a way that protects the
environment and takes account of local communities. Scottish Government only wants to
see the right developments in the right places - one-fifth of Scotland’s Landscape is
nationally or internationally designated is offered considerable protection from development
under Scottish Planning policy. In addition, there is no development in our National Parks
and only two community developments in National Scenic Areas, both in fragile island
communities.
A robust and transparent planning process is in place to ensure that each windfarm
application is assessed on its own merits, taking into account the views of all interested
parties, as well as the potential impact on the local environment. Scottish Planning policy
specifically advises that 'the design and location of any wind farm development should reflect
the scale and character of the landscape. The location of turbines should be considered
carefully to ensure that the landscape and visual impact is minimised.'
With regards to costs to consumers, Ofgem's Project Discovery Report shows that fuel bills
have risen considerably of late with increases averaging up to £190 largely due to volatile
wholesale fuel prices. UK Government predicts that pursuing low carbon policies would
make the average energy bill 7% lower when compared to carrying on with business as
usual. Renewable incentives currently add only around £15-£20 to annual household utility
bills in Scotland, a tiny sum in comparison to last year’s price hikes – precisely the reason
we need to invest in our own secure energy supply. Therefore, whilst the perception may
exist that it is renewables that have driven the major rises in fuel bills, this is not the case.
They have been substantially driven by the volatility in the gas market. Ofgem have
produced a factsheet explaining household energy bills:
http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Media/FactSheets/Documents1/household-bills.pdf.
Atlantic Quay, 150 Broomielaw, Glasgow, G2 8LU
www.scotland.gov.uk

I note your concerns regarding efficiency and can confirm wind farms, in comparison with
other generators, are relatively efficient. We know that no form of electricity generation is
100% efficient. Less than half the energy of the fuel going into a conventional thermal power
station is turned into useful electricity – most of it is wasted and still ends up producing ash,
nuclear waste or air pollution harmful to health as well as carbon dioxide. Also, the fuel for a
wind farm does not need to be mined, refined or shipped and transported from foreign
countries. Conventional fuels are not an unlimited, ever replenishing resource like wind.
Although wind farm output is variable, it can be forecast with some confidence and be useful
as one component of a balanced energy mix of renewables and conventional power sources.
When the amount of wind farm capacity which is contracted to supply the grid with power
rises, there is an impact on the amount of reserve capacity the grid needs to maintain its
overall security against the likelihood the wind power output is less than predicted. However,
independent studies show it is not true that wind farms need new dedicated back up on a
one-for-one basis. The impact of added wind generation on the backup the grid already has
is relatively small. Scotland has more generating capacity than it needs to meet the peak
demand for power, including a large amount of hydro-electric capacity which is relatively
easy to start up and shut down quickly as needed.
No energy will be wasted as we move to a low carbon generation mix. Some forms of
generation may be constrained at times of peak wind, but systems will be put in place to
manage these processes. The UK Government has recently consulted on these questions
as part of its electricity market
reform;http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/emr/emr.aspx.
The Scottish Government regards sensitively sited wind energy as an important part of the
Scottish Government’s strategy for achieving long-term energy security and protecting
Scotland’s environment for generations to come. However, we will not rely on this source of
electricity to meet all our energy needs. We expect new and established technologies
including (but not limited to) wave, tidal, hydro and biomass combined heat and power to be
fundamental to Scotland’s future energy generation. Nonetheless, onshore wind will continue
to be a vital component in Scotland’s energy mix. Investment in onshore wind is strategically
critical to the delivery of the grid infrastructure, supply chain and skills development that will
be necessary to unlock the full potential of our offshore resource and technologies. Without
deployment of onshore wind, Scotland would be forced to rebuild thermal generation plants
and as a consequence, we would be “locked in” to thermal generation for decades to come.
Yours sincerely,
Kirsty Howaniec
Policy Officer

Salmond's Cat Trap

 

A pretty little girl  named Suzy was standing on the
pavement in front of her home. Next to her was a
basket containing a number of tiny creatures; in her
hand was a sign announcing 
FREE  KITTENS.
Suddenly a line of big black cars pulled up beside
her. Out of the lead car stepped a chubby, grinning   man.

"Hi there little girl, I'm Alex Salmond.
What  do you have in the basket?" he asked.
"Kittens,"  little Suzy said.
"How old are they?" asked Salmond.
Suzy replied, "They're so young, their eyes aren't                 
even open yet."
"And what kind of kittens are they?"
"Scottish Nationalists," answered Suzy with a smile.
Salmond was delighted. As soon as he returned to his                 
car, he called his PR chief and told him about the little girl          
and the kittens.

Recognising the perfect photo opportunity, the two
men agreed that the Salmond should return the next
day; and in front of the assembled media, have the                 
girl talk about her discerning kittens.

So the next day, Suzy was again standing on the
pavement with her basket of "FREE KITTENS" when
another motorcade pulled up, this time followed by
vans from STV, BBC, and CNN.

Cameras and audio equipment were quickly set up, then
Salmond got out of his limo and walked over to little
Suzy.

"Hello, again," he said, "I'd love it if you would
tell all my friends out there what kind of kittens
you're giving away."

"Yes sir," Suzy said. "They're UK Independants."

Taken by surprise, the Salmond stammered,                 
"But...but...yesterday, you told me they were SCOTTISH                 
NATIONALISTS."

Little Suzy smiled and said, "I know.               
But today, they have their eyes open."

EU and Peace Prize

From Stephen Crowther Chairman Ukip

·     


      The EU claimed at the outbreak of the Bosnian civil war in 1991 that 'The hour of Europe has come'. Jacques Poos, who held the rotating presidency of the EU at the time boasted the EU would stop the war in Bosnia. Four years later, the EU had still done nothing, 250,000 Bosnians were dead or displaced, and it took the Americans to put it right.

•      The EU sold Gaddafi's Libya around €300 million worth of arms and arms licenses over a 5 year period before his overthrow. The Guardian has a very revealing exposé of this. Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/mar/01/eu-arms-exports-libya

·           Interesting that this was the same Gaddafi's Libya they said in a joint statement from Van Rompuy and Barroso was one of 'repression and despotism'. Source: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/125447.pdf 

·           How EU 'peace keepers' in the Congo during Operation Artemis were accused of torture. Heavily armed Europeans torturing Africans isn't exactly peaceful. Source: http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,3223692,00.html

·           The EU is a major arms dealer on the world market, making over $400 billion. The liberal New York Times has called the EU hypocritical. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/world/europe/06iht-letter06.html?_r=1&

·           Somali piracy. In the 1990s, EU fishing fleets destroyed the fish stocks off the Horn of Africa. As a result, desperate former fishermen in Somalia resorted to piracy. The African Prospects Magazine estimates that EU fleets stole five times the commercial value of fish from Somali waters that Somali receives in foreign aid each year. The destruction of the Somali coastal economy has bred piracy and violence. http://www.ukipmeps.org/news_622_Farage-Colonialism-by-fishing-boat-rather-than-gunboat.html

·           Now piracy off the Horn of Africa is one of the most serious challenges to global security. It has been estimated that it costs the global economy $8 BILLION a year. Around 80% of these costs are born by commercial shipping firms, who have to pay much higher insurance premiums, pay for armed guards on board and put extra fuel in their boats so they can pass through danger spots quicker. http://rt.com/business/news/somalia-piracy-cost-report-877/

·           The Nobel Peace Prize has an interesting list of former nominees. Soviet dictator Josef Stalin was nominated twice in 1945 and 1948. The first nomination was on the grounds he was going to help end World War 2, and thus create peace. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/shortfacts.html

·           One former winner is Yasser Arafat who won it in 1993. Arafat is on record as saying "Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations". http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/y/yasser_arafat.html#S0YXEqrEFeL18leQ.99

·           Norway refused twice to join the EU, in two separate referendums.

·           Barack Obama was given the prize just two months into office. He beat Morgan Tsvanagarai to the prize, who had bravely faced down Mugabe for years in Zimbabwe. Obama went on to expand the war in Afghanistan and backed NATO attacks on Libya.

·           What will the EU do with the prize money? Will it donate some to the EU mechanism for stability? Maybe the EU will give some of the prize money to Spain, which is now so poor thanks to the Euro, that the Red Cross are handing out food parcels.  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2215479/Red-Cross-urges-Spanish-donate-money-food-parcels-to-countrymen-2-3-million-deemed-extremely-vulnerable.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

 

Thoughts on the EU Project

Let is give a thought to the European Project as is is now called. There are to be no more wars and Europe will live in peace for evermore. Not a bad idea but NATO was ensuring that. Next there was to be a happy brotherhood of nations all in love with each other but of very different cultures and languages. The US have managed it so can we. Forgotten; the US is a young country by European standards and do not have a long history behind them. Next let us have a nice new currency so that holiday makers do not have to bother with the tedious business of buying D marks, liras, drachmas etc. Good idea but some countries liked to work and others liked to sit under an olive tree sipping black coffee and/or wine. No trouble here as the books could be fudged to show that the country was indeed solvent and could afford to be a member of the club. Anyway if not, there would be a  nice subsidy form those who could. It was to be a good idea to some as there would be a lot of cash to spend on some good roads, buildings, businesses etc to say nothing of the fine salaries that had to follow together with a nice pension at the end of the day. They had a field day but then came the crunch. Money ran out. No problem. The hard workers would pay; but would they or better still would the people pay? There by hangs the dilemma. In recent history there have been several attempts to bring nations together with varying success. Germany did it in the nineteenth century, successfully as there was a common culture and language. Russia failed, Yugoslavia failed, so too little Cyprus where both language and cultures were different. The UK is heading in that direction with the policy of immigration that will cause huge problems in the not too distant future. The same is probably happening across Europe too. What should Britain do? Simple, get out now while the going is good and we are not dragged further into a dirty and prolonged mess. Get Cameron off the fence upon which he has climbed so that the people can decide. They are not daft like the politicians appear to be.

Political Confession

I remain confused by politicians and never cease to wonder why they do not listen to me! Ever since this country started importing labour to fill the jobs created for our youth I have been banging on about this foolhardiness and lack of foresight. Now we have one of the founders of this policy admitting the last government was wrong! Yes,Ed Milliband. Listening to John Denham wheeling and dealing with words to explain it, claiming that immigrant labour was necessary to fill the gaps in our own labour force was absolutely farcical. You will recall that thousands of jobs were created for our youth and  that all were taken up by people from Eastern Europe. Nothing could be done about that, of course, as the EU had opened our borders. There seems to be some progress in the control of people from the rest of the world with tighter controls at the airports. However we are left with a diminishing native population with ghettos sprouting everywhere and a country that is slowly being handed over to the powers in Brussels, with their debt and all. I look forward to wakening on that Monday morning to hear that Brussels has finally blown apart, Barroso. Rumphy Humpy, Fuhrerein Merkel and all.

EU Number Plates

There may be no better time to show your support for your country. Remove the EU emblem from you vehicle number plate. Many think this is legal necessity but it is not. Also it is thought that it is required for travel in Europe. It is not. All that is required is a national sticker. So with the EU imploding either replace the number plate adding your regional flag with GB or purchase a sticker from the UKIP Shop http://www.ukip.org/shop/category/view/rosettes-stickers In this way we can add to the ever increasing number of vehicles that have either a plain plate or one that is national. Long live Britannia!

Headache. The EU Cure

Spain has been promised 100bn euros to shore up its ailing banks. Will this cure the chronic problems within the euro zone? Yet again the whole point is being missed. When treating a disease it is the cause that matters and not so much the symptoms, not that the latter are not important but to hope for a cure treating these will get you nowhere. From the very start of the European project, as it now called, any attempt to rationalise the impossible task of bringing so many divergent nations together under one umbrella was totally ignored. There were fudges, deceits, subterfuge and total lack of democracy. It is now time as it was many moons ago, to revise the whole structure and recognise the many nations that compose the whole wretched organisation. Germany will not support them as they stand. We all know that this was their aim at the start of the last century and that did not work. The goal posts have moved and now they are to be expected to support them without tyranny. They will not. Who will? A break up has to happen with nations returning to their own management, particularly the fringe states, perhaps leaving a central core which might exist for a short while until Germany and France fall out! For Britain to be outside euroland is indeed a fortunate freak occurrence (against the wishes of such "silly" people like one K Clarke MP) and it looks that the dream of a referendum is not too far away. If won the world will become our oyster again with so many opportunities long denied us by the unelected scoundrels in Brussels. Think of world trade, the Commonwealth, fishing, agriculture to mention just a few huge opportunities. For the sake of our children I cringe if this does not happen.