Oil Firing

In the Guardian this morning, there is an analysis of the economics of developing the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields in the North Sea. It estimates the economic damage caused by the carbon pollution from the oil and gas produced would be between £119bn and £336bn in the coming decades, compared with the £28.7bn in value to the UK estimated by Adura, the fossil fuel company promoting the new fields

The assessment applies peer-reviewed research on how rising temperatures harm economies to the production estimates for the fields from the company. The figures are likely to be underestimates, as they do not include losses from amplified extreme weather, sea level rise or climate deaths..

Why are the fossil fuel companies not made to pay the cost of the pollution caused by their products? Instead we ply them with subsidies! The only reason we are still using oil and gas is to maintain oil company profits; for the general public the costs are greater than the benefits. According to Prof Ian Bateman, at the University of Exeter Business School, said: “This is an interesting study which shows the cumulative global climate damage of oil extraction and use is beginning to exceed its face value. When we add in the tax giveaways to the oil industry and compare this to the declining cost and zero climate damage of renewable energy then the economic case for leaving oil in the ground is overwhelming.”

Time to price fossil-fueled vehicles off the road and aircraft out of the sky!

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...omy-north-sea-oil-gas-fields-rosebank-jackdaw

 

Ah, so we may as well shut everything down. That'll save a lot of worries about fundraising to keep heritage railways running. If you read the Guardian this is what you must expect.......

 

It is a good job we only use oil and gas for transport fuels. It we were to use it for other things like road surfaces, pharmaceuticals, plastics for insulation, fertilizer, then we would still need some for these products, but as it is only transport fuel, we can manage without oil and gas......

 

Unless we stop using oil and gas altogether, those environmental costs will still be incurred regardless of where the oil and gas originate, and may be reduced by using oil from the north sea instead of shipping it around the world. It is more complex than that, though - the pipework, pumps etc. for the north sea could well be manufactured and installed using UK labour, but the alternative of maritime transport will almost certainly be based on ships and shipbuilding labour based in the far east. I just think it would provide an object lesson in how to do things using what we have at home rather than outsourcing everything because it "cheaper" to do so.

 

They say bu115h1t baffles brains. Fortunately, like most people, I’m not that brainy.

 

Yes I too read the article and I'm every bit as concerned as you are but you can't just "price fossil-fueled vehicles off the road and aircraft out of the sky!", it's by no means as easy as that.
Firstly the technology required to fly aeroplanes without using fossil fuels just doesn't exist yet but there are hopeful signs that it will within the next fifty years and secondly the existing battery electric technology for surface transport is really inadequate.
There is on YouTube a video of a bloke in Machynlleth taking a new Inster car to Edinburgh and back again. He managed it OK but the trials and tribulations enroute are truly horrendous, neither the car batteries or the charging facilities for them were good enough. He spent a long time either charging or even finding a charger that worked. He did though manage to get the vehicle to deliver the journey at a cost of 15ppm overall and it seems to be a very comfortable car. Compare that with my Honda Jazz Hybrid which delivers a fuel consumption of around 64mpg, a range of >500 miles and the 30 litre tank can be filled up in less than 1 minute at a cost of around 19ppm even with the affects of Trump's Iranian war.
BEVs are not the practical answer but I'm hopeful that the forthcoming green hydrogen technology will be.

 

Unfortunately I do not think we have fifty years left while we wait for fossil fuel less planes. Climate change is upon us, and it is too late.

I envisage that at sometime in the future the few survivors will sit, of an evening, around their campfire at the mouth of their cave, and curse us. They will curse us roundly, asking how could we be so stupid, so shortsighted and so selfish.

 

What for? Giving up fossil fuels?

 

Gee wizz there's pessimism for you. I agree we're in mitigation mode, but too late? History moves on.