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Climategate Fall Out Heats Up Global Warming Debate
29th November 2009
Whether it be the introduction of low-energy light bulbs, high efficiency condensing boilers, or the supposed guilt we're all meant to feel over our carbon emissions, the climate change industry has had a massive effect on everyday British life.
The British oil heating industry has been to the fore in embracing the need to minimise emissions, maximise energy efficiency and develop new technologies - most notably, the Bioheating Oil. And the industry has unquestionably benefited from such initiatives.
For instance, former US Vice President, failed Presidential Candidate and Climate Change Activist Al Gore's Generation Investment Management has acquired a significant stake in Republic of Ireland building products conglomerate Kingspan Group plc - the largest manufacturer of rotationally moulded, heating oil tanks in the world under the Armet, Atlas, Deso, PC Rotomoulding, Roug, Titan Eko and Titan Environmental brands.
Consumers have benefitted too. Condensing oil boilers are unquestionably more efficient than their predecessors. And when combined with the latest system controls, they are proven to dramatically reduce fuel consumption and operating costs. Thanks to eco-labeling initiatives, consumers and technicians are now better informed than ever before when purchasing oil heating equipment. Proof - if any were needed - that reducing emissions and saving money need not be mutually exclusive.
However the supposed consensus on climate change has been increasingly questioned over recent months. Those brave enough to put their head over the parapet are now suggesting that rather than getting warmer, the earth is actually in reality cooling down. The inference if not the suggestion, is of a very real danger that far from preventing climate change, efforts to combat supposed global warming will simply land humanity with a sodding great bill and little else.
Mathematician, scientist and television presenter Johnny Ball is on record as saying that he cannot get the climate change arguments presented by Climate Alarmist to 'add up'. And even some of those who have been nominally tasked with environmental matters have experienced the same problem. Not least former Northern Ireland Environment Minister, The Rt. Hon. Sammy Wilson MP, MLA.
Writing in the Belfast Telegraph newspaper in December 2008 to howls of derision from climate alarmists, Mr. Wilson said, "I think in 20 years' time we will look back at this whole climate change debate and ask ourselves how on earth were we ever conned into spending the billions of pounds which are going into this without any kind of rigorous examination of the background, the science, the implications of it all. Because there is now a degree of hysteria about it, fairly uninformed hysteria I've got to say as well."
Last month, BBC Weatherman Paul Hudson appeared to challenge the 'accepted wisdom' on climate change in his blog. His essay entitled, 'Whatever happened to Global Warming?' claimed that global temperatures have not increased in a statistically significant manner during the past eleven years. The 'Look North' Weatherman set out the arguments of climate change sceptics who have consistently argued that global temperatures are controlled by natural cycles. And, in the interest of balance, Mr. Hudson also laid out the counter arguments advocated by climate alarmists, who believe that humankind's actions are actually warming the planet.
At OilFiredUp.com we're probably as confused by all this as anyone else. Perhaps more so. Ordinarily, we would seek to adopt the approach of Socrates and follow the evidence wherever it may lead.
That was until last week, when it was alleged that at least some of that evidence was either being withheld or manipulated, by one of the UK's supposed centre of excellence on Climate Change, the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit. Within the UK's oil heating industry, the UEA is probably best known as one of OFTEC's project partners in the development of Bioheating Oil. A series of e-mails leaked by hook or by crook (probably, by crook) from the UEA triggered allegations that climate change data was being manipulated and its publication into the public domain was being deliberately and possibly illegally withheld. There were also suggestions that some of the data was being massaged to conceal the fact that rather than rising, global temperatures have actually been falling.
Scientists at the UEA have now pledged to publish their climate change data in full, once it has completed the release of the data from non-disclosure agreements. Yet despite the apparent u-turn by the UEA, criminal prosecutions may yet be on the cards.
David Holland, a self-styled 'David taking on Goliath' is seeking prosecutions against some of Britain's leading academics for allegedly holding back information in breach of disclosure laws. Mr. Holland has complained to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) after leaked emails from the UEA included several Freedom of Information requests he had submitted and the private response of scientists to them. Viscount Monckton of Brenchley has made similar complaints to the ICO, requesting that his concerns be investigated and writing for Pajama, claims that those involved are not 'merely bad scientists - they are crooks' and went further by calling them 'criminals'
Any open, fair and free debate on the subject of alleged climate change, has always required that information, such as that held by the UEA, is made freely available. The fact that (for whatever reason) it to date has not been, is a matter for regret to anyone committed to an open and up front debate on the evidence (or perhaps, lack thereof) that underpins the science of climate change. It is to be hoped that the process of releasing critical data from non-disclosure agreements can be completed in a timely manner. Until then, we've got three books to give away - all of which provide a useful insight into the science and the politics of climate change, as well as some interesting Christmas reading:
- The Real Global Warming Disaster by Christopher Booker
- Air Con: The Seriously Inconvenient Truth About Global Warming by Ian Wishart
- Global Warming and Other Bollocks by Stanley Feldman and Vincent Marks
To be in with a chance of winning, simply e-mail info@oilfiredup.com before 15 December 2009, with your name and address, inserting 'Christmas Competition' in the Subject Field.
