Michael de Podesta
9.1K posts
Michael de Podesta
@Protons4B
Scientist, professionally retired since April 2020. Science is an activity carried out by human beings for other human beings. @[email protected]
Teddington Se unió Eylül 2011
540 Siguiendo1.5K Seguidores
@BritinLithuania @mgshanks Nope, on a full system basis nuclear is cheaper than renewables and in some markets also cheaper than gas
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Solar and onshore wind are the cheapest power you can build and operate - and today we’ve secured new projects at record scale. Claims that AR7 will push up bills simply ignore the facts. 1/3
Claire Coutinho@ClaireCoutinho
🚨🚨NEW: Ed Miliband has just handed 189 new subsidy contracts to onshore wind and solar developers. The question we should ask is: is this cheap? The £68 for solar and £75 for onshore wind are inflation-linked, fixed price contracts with extra hidden costs. We have to pay for grid connections, pay to turn them off when we don’t need them, and pay for expensive backup when they don’t produce enough. On top of the Carbon Tax which has doubled on Ed’s watch, all he has done is make our electricity more and more expensive. He doesn’t even want to know the truth - I started a full system cost to show the true cost of putting this many renewables on our energy system. Ed Miliband cancelled that work. By far the most important thing for Britain is to make electricity cheap. For industry, for living standards, and it’s much better for decarbonisation too. We cannot continue to have sky-high electricity prices whilst the leaders in AI are being chosen now. We can’t continue to lose our industrial power as the world gets ever more dangerous. We cannot force consumers to use electric heating whilst making electricity ever more expensive. WE NEED TO MAKE ELECTRICITY CHEAP. Our Cheap Power Plan would be a start, cutting the cost of electricity for businesses and households by 20% instantly. Then we need to completely rewire our energy system to put cheap, reliable energy first.
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@KathrynPorter26 @mgshanks "Wind and solar are the most expensive when the full system costs are considered"
...says the person who advocates nuclear power... the most expensive technology of all.
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@mgshanks That's just nonsense
Wind and solar are the most expensive when the full system costs are considered
And since that's what consumers pay your comments are misleading
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@ronaldgrf @RARohde The satellite record does measure the air temperature above the land surface of the Earth.
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@RARohde Berkeley Earth (BE) is highly contaminated with non-climate warming, land use and land change, (LULC) as well as urban heat island effects, (UHI). Also, BE only accounts for the land station records, not the 2/3 or the planet covered by seas. Here is the satellite record:
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For 50 years, global warming had a very consistent trend (+0.19 °C/decade) with a boring, predictable range of natural variations around it.
During the last three years, we've broken out above that range, suggesting the pace of change has quickened.
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@MhehedZherting @KathrynPorter26 @Keir_Starmer There are triggers all the time. It is the response of the entire system which determines stability.
Sorry for quoting what you actually said.
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You need to *understand* what I wrote!
Why have you DELIBERATELY misquoted me with your "caused by renewables" in inverted commas?
What was pointed out to you was that unnatural frequency fluctuations at Iberdrola’s Núñez de Balboa photovoltaic plant ‘A’ in Badajoz were identified by Red Electrica as the *TRIGGER* for the Iberian peninsula blackout.
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We have unlocked thousands of clean energy jobs for people in Scotland.
£3bn of private investment, bringing secure, clean energy to people right across the United Kingdom.
Our Clean Industry Bonus is taking back control of our supply chain and delivering for working people.
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@MhehedZherting @KathrynPorter26 @Keir_Starmer Read what you have written.
This was not "caused by renewables" - it was caused by a failure to manage the grid well enough.
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“But the failure was not "due to renewables" ….”
Spanish grid operator RedElectrica’s June 2025 report identified unnatural frequency fluctuations at Iberdrola’s Núñez de Balboa photovoltaic plant ‘A’ in Badajoz as the trigger for the Iberian peninsula blackout that occurred on April 28, 2025.
There followed inappropriate disconnections of wind and solar generation, and widespread failure of reactive power support, escalating the disturbance.
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@MhehedZherting @KathrynPorter26 @Keir_Starmer We don't disagree that this was a grid management failure. And I am sure lessons will be learned.
But the failure was not "due to renewables" or "due to gas" - it was a failure to foresee - and insure against - a complex chain of events.
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“(Spain) also had gas.”
True. But you forgot to mention that the Spanish grid operator purposely chose to prematurely shut down some of its dispatchable, (free) inertia-providing, synchronous gas-generation plants. Possibly in an endeavour to replicate its then-recent achievement of running the grid without its insurance policy.
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@MhehedZherting @KathrynPorter26 @Keir_Starmer "Spain had some". Obviously they needed more.
They also had gas.
The report on the blackout makes clear the event was complicated. Kathryn Porter was looking for a simplistic explanation which would have the same solution she always advocates: "burn more gas". This is
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@Protons4B @KathrynPorter26 @Keir_Starmer "Grid forming batteries would have prevented that."
Spain had some. They failed to prevent the blackout.
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@KathrynPorter26 @Keir_Starmer I am not arguing that we need no gas resources. For the foreseeable future we will need gas generation in extremis. But the role of gas will become to fill in the gaps left by renewables.
You would call this waste of capital assets. I call it the cost of decarbonisation.
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It's people who think like that who are risking our energy security
Tell it to the 11 people who died in the Iberian blackout because REE thought it didn't need gas power stations until it was too late
Literally. They tried to get cold CCGTs to synchronous and were told it would take 2 hours for them to warm up. Before 2 hours were up the entire grid had collapsed
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@KathrynPorter26 @Keir_Starmer "You're causing the loss of thousands of energy jobs in the North Sea"
We have to stop burning things to make electricity. Gas is an obsolete industry.
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@Keir_Starmer Give it a rest
You're causing the loss of thousands of energy jobs in the North Sea
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@KathrynPorter26 @LoftusSteve Kathryn, your stated solution to low carbon power is to build nuclear power stations - the most expensive way to generate electricity of the options available!
Or is that you don't want to reduce carbon dioxide emissions at all?
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@LoftusSteve Plus £billions in extra grid and balancing costs
It's a nightmare
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I can't even serious rebut this. The whole thing is just retarded nonsense.
Ed just locked you into to 20 years of index linked offshore wind that is about 50% more expensive than the price of gas.
Ed Miliband@Ed_Miliband
1/ We’ve secured a record-breaking 8.4GW of offshore wind, enough to power the equivalent of over 12 million homes. This is the largest amount of offshore wind procured in any auction ever in Britain or indeed Europe.
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@KathrynPorter26 @TrisOsborneMP *Reducing* reliance on gas definitely *enhances* energy security.
It doesn't *guarantee* energy security by itself, but then nothing does.
Without wind & solar, the pricing chaos caused by dependence on gas would have been even worse.
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@TrisOsborneMP Wind does not give energy security. Only an idiot thinks it does
PS how much solar was there??
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Energy security 💪
Yes, even in the winter… 🥶
You can be ahead of the curve, or behind the curve, but it’s happening. ⚡️
National Energy System Operator@neso_energy
On Thursday #wind generated 59.2% of GB electricity followed by gas 13.8%, nuclear 12.8%, imports 8.9%, biomass 3.7%, solar 1.6%, *excl. non-renewable distributed generation
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@Kenneth72712993 @ScienceBlog3 @ncdave4life @ChrisBBacon3 @Roadshow11235 @AristotleMrs @priscian @BenKoby1911 @DaleGribble_666 @Michael_D_Crow @ammocrypta @Data79504085 @emilio97493490 @InspirallPE @Mark_A_Lunn @RichardLWeiss @SpiruSensei @DenisDaly @WernerReinhard5 @controscience @Willard1951 @Fynnderella1 @SapientHetero @Veritatem2021 @C_R_O_M________ @balls95652097 @S_D_Mannix @Devonian1342 @AndreGrossza @Climatehope2 @S_Metzeler @3GHtweets @PvtMcAuslan @EdwardRiffle @AuroriaEn @JusticeTrudeau @judgementalbe1 @wallytoms0 @LesserMegadeath @BillPrecht @DiseaseMatters @CoralReefFish @DavidJSuggett @CoralResearch @SteinhartBart @CoralMorph @reefgenomics @BBC I am sure they did not make up data. For a product like Sea Surface Temperature there are inevitable holes in the data. But the sea surface temperature still needed to be estimated. The data will have been interpolated, and the overall uncertainty increased accordingly.
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@Protons4B @ScienceBlog3 @ncdave4life @ChrisBBacon3 @Roadshow11235 @AristotleMrs @priscian @BenKoby1911 @DaleGribble_666 @Michael_D_Crow @ammocrypta @Data79504085 @emilio97493490 @InspirallPE @Mark_A_Lunn @RichardLWeiss @SpiruSensei @DenisDaly @WernerReinhard5 @controscience @Willard1951 @Fynnderella1 @SapientHetero @Veritatem2021 @C_R_O_M________ @balls95652097 @S_D_Mannix @Devonian1342 @AndreGrossza @Climatehope2 @S_Metzeler @3GHtweets @PvtMcAuslan @EdwardRiffle @AuroriaEn @JusticeTrudeau @judgementalbe1 @wallytoms0 @LesserMegadeath @BillPrecht @DiseaseMatters @CoralReefFish @DavidJSuggett @CoralResearch @SteinhartBart @CoralMorph @reefgenomics @BBC "The UK Met Office not known for making up data."
Purloined e-mails among Met Office overseers:
"Remember all the fun we had last year over 1995 global temperatures...'inventing' the December monthly value"
SST normals "are mostly made up"
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@Willard1951 @ncdave4life @Michael_D_Crow @Nockit1 @Fynnderella1 @ScienceBlog3 @SapientHetero @Veritatem2021 @ChrisBBacon3 @wilsonjohn8823 @C_R_O_M________ @emilio97493490 @balls95652097 @SpiruSensei @BenKoby1911 @S_D_Mannix @Devonian1342 @AndreGrossza @DenisDaly @InspirallPE @Climatehope2 @S_Metzeler @priscian @Data79504085 @3GHtweets @Anvndarnamn5 @PvtMcAuslan @EdwardRiffle @AuroriaEn @JusticeTrudeau @Mark_A_Lunn @judgementalbe1 @AristotleMrs @Coleski14 @wallytoms0 @LesserMegadeath @WernerReinhard5 @ammocrypta @JimBlack48 @Jaisans @CarrudoDon @LiveLifeBK24 @TheDisproof @Joeyd87745119 @Hji45519156 @waxliberty @SuperFoxyLoxy @JaapTitulaer @wjack76995 @Rocky35418823 Snapshot of the isolation/purification please.
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@KathrynPorter26 @nicolasfulghum And since the original the original post was about worldwide electricity generation, solar is obviously the dominant growth technology.
And that's great!
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@nicolasfulghum 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂
Solar is a total waste of money in the UK. Next to zero output in winter and literally zero during the demand peak
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Solar is and will be the main story in the energy sector for years to come ☀️
It is the dominant driver of change in global electricity generation ⚡️
Growth in Q1-Q3 2025 was much larger than from any other source. Wind was the only other source with a significant increase.
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@KathrynPorter26 @nicolasfulghum Solar in the UK Is not pointless.
In December it supplies about 10% of the electricity I require.
From May to June it supplies 100% of the electricity I require.
Overall it dramatically reduces carbon dioxide emissions.
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@ScienceBlog3 @ncdave4life @ChrisBBacon3 @Roadshow11235 @AristotleMrs @priscian @BenKoby1911 @DaleGribble_666 @Michael_D_Crow @ammocrypta @Data79504085 @emilio97493490 @InspirallPE @Kenneth72712993 @Mark_A_Lunn @RichardLWeiss @SpiruSensei @DenisDaly @WernerReinhard5 @controscience @Willard1951 @Fynnderella1 @SapientHetero @Veritatem2021 @C_R_O_M________ @balls95652097 @S_D_Mannix @Devonian1342 @AndreGrossza @Climatehope2 @S_Metzeler @3GHtweets @PvtMcAuslan @EdwardRiffle @AuroriaEn @JusticeTrudeau @judgementalbe1 @wallytoms0 @LesserMegadeath @BillPrecht @DiseaseMatters @CoralReefFish @DavidJSuggett @CoralResearch @SteinhartBart @CoralMorph @reefgenomics @BBC Completely wrong. The UK Met Office not known for making up data.
On the contrary, having previously inspected their measurement laboratory and spoken with staff, their have an assiduous attention to measurement rigour.
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@Protons4B @ncdave4life @ChrisBBacon3 @Roadshow11235 @AristotleMrs @priscian @BenKoby1911 @DaleGribble_666 @Michael_D_Crow @ammocrypta @Data79504085 @emilio97493490 @InspirallPE @Kenneth72712993 @Mark_A_Lunn @RichardLWeiss @SpiruSensei @DenisDaly @WernerReinhard5 @controscience @Willard1951 @Fynnderella1 @SapientHetero @Veritatem2021 @C_R_O_M________ @balls95652097 @S_D_Mannix @Devonian1342 @AndreGrossza @Climatehope2 @S_Metzeler @3GHtweets @PvtMcAuslan @EdwardRiffle @AuroriaEn @JusticeTrudeau @judgementalbe1 @wallytoms0 @LesserMegadeath @BillPrecht @DiseaseMatters @CoralReefFish @DavidJSuggett @CoralResearch @SteinhartBart @CoralMorph @reefgenomics @BBC Yes, the UK Met Office is known for making up data. I've personally reported many instances of made-up data where models create data that they then use to create a graph and misinform the public.
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protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/11/18/sin…
I've been singing about Climate Change at my local folk club.
If it's your sort of thing, please do share the songs and enjoy!
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protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/spe…
I have just a few days pointing my spectrometer at various lights sources around my home:
The Sky; the Moon; a Candle; ... and many more
and recording their spectra. Enjoy!
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protonsforbreakfast.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/i-m…
Friends, I made spectrophotometer that sort of works.
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