Read all about it

There are a great collection of stories in the Mail on Sunday this morning, with a story and leader on the idiocy of smart meters and a story on Antarctic Sea ice from David Rose. The latter is accompanied by a comment piece by someone called "Andrew Mountford". I think they got it right in the print edition.

Comments

[JamesG]

Correction.....if it [Antarctic ice] had been decreasing it would have been touted by those very same people as thermageddon"...

[Billy Liar]

Many, many people have huge misconceptions about 'smart meters' including some of the posters above. An energy consumption display such as those which have been commercially available for a number of years is NOT a 'smart meter'. Many people also think that the cost of a meter will be added to their bill: it will not; ALL bills will go up to pay for the 'smart meter' programme - whether you accept one or not.

Below is an extract from the 2010 version of the OFGEM Smart Metering Implementation Programme: Statement of Design Requirements. If these requirements don't frighten you, you don't understand the programme:

High-level functionality

A. Remote provision of accurate reads/information for defined time periods - delivery of information to customers, suppliers and other designated market organisation.

B. Two way communications to the meter system; communications between the meter and energy supplier or other designated market organisation; upload and download data through a link to the wide area network; transfer data at defined periods; remote configuration and diagnostics, software and firmware changes.

C. Home area network based on open standards and protocols; provide "real time" information to an in-home display; enable other devices to link to the meter system.

D. Support for a range of time of use tariffs; multiple registers within the meter for billing purposes.

E. Load management capability to deliver demand side management; ability to remotely control electricity load for more sophisticated control of devices in the home.

F. Remote disablement and enablement of supply that will support remote switching between credit and pre-pay.

G. Exported electricity measurement; measure net export.

H. Capacity to communicate with a measurement device within a microgenerator; receive, store, communicate total generation for billing.

Not all the above requirements apply to gas 'smart meters'.

The government wants to install a sophisticated computer network in your home over which you have no control. They want to both measure your energy consumption and control devices within your home. Consumption data is recorded every 5 seconds and aggregated into 30 minute periods. Tariffs can be changed in 30 minute time slots.

Such is the complexity and resolution of a smart meter that by knowing the consumption characteristics of a range of home devices it would be possible for those with access to the data to determine when you started watching your TV and when you turned it off.

A glance at the supposed 'Impact Assessment Benefits' reveals that the benefits to the consumer are largely unwanted or illusory whereas the supplier and the government benefits massively from your micromanagement.

Consumer Benefits:
Energy savings
Load shifting
Customer Switching
Time-of-use tariffs
CO2 reduction

Supplier Benefits:
Avoided meter reading
Inbound enquiries
Customer service overheads
Debt handling
Avoided prepayment costs (domestic only)
Remote disconnection
Avoided site visit

Other Benefits:
Reduced losses
Reduced theft
Microgeneration

Rest assured if you don't volunteer for a 'smart meter' you will be strongly coerced by punitive prices for non-compliance.

I see 'going off grid', and out of Big Brother's purview, as an increasingly attractive option for the future in Britain.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/42723/225-smart-metering-imp-programme-design.pdf

[hunter]

EM,
When you assume things you make an ass out of u.
I note with ridicule to you that you are back to global warming as the pseudonym of your pseudo faith.
To ask if I am afraid of global warming is as idiocratic as if you were to assert you are afraid of the sunrise or the tides.
What is there to be afraid of, twit?Polar bears in trouble- oh they aren't. sea level rise? It isn't changed. Storms? flat line. Temps? Paused for nearly 18 years. Arctic ice? Within historical norms and Antarctic ice highest in modern area.
What is stupid and deceitful of you is to deny that the scale of a change is unimportant. If the total is unimportant, then so is the anomaly.
But then without relying on your stupidity and deceit, what would the climate obsessed like you have left with which to cobble together their arguments?

[jones]

EM, you said

"The total ice is not relevant."

Does that statement only apply for increases in ice coverage?

[johanna]

O/T, but since I can't currently comment in Unthreaded, hope the Bish will forgive me.

Richard Drake, or anyone else, when I want to delete cookies manually, they just appear in an alphabetical list, and there is no way of knowing which sites they refer to. So, any guidance on how to delete just the ones for BH would be very much appreciated.

I use the latest version of Firefox, with a few add-ons.

Thanks in advance.

And yes, I will start a thread in Discussion about climate websites. Great idea. There is a lot to talk about.

[johanna]

Help! I just started the new thread in Discussion, and while I was editing it I was unknowingly locked out again. So now I can't edit my post or comment there either.

Bish, can't we at least get a warning a minute or two before being logged out?

[johanna]

OK, the original post seems to have survived somehow. The edits are gone forever.

Perhaps a little clock showing how much time was left on the screen would help?

[Richard Drake]

Hi johanna, technical support here, let's do the tech discussion in BH cookies and login :)

[Entropic man]

James G

So far, several factors have been identified as possible contributors to the increasing Antarctic sea ice area.

Reduced Southern ocean salinity due to land ice sheet melting.

Increased storm activity and wave action breaking up floating ice.

Stronger meriodonal winds spreading ice floes further North.

Temperature data is equivocal. Some areas with extended ice extent are warmer, some cooler.

Data on past sea ice extent is available from past extent data from fossils in sediments . It shows that current extents are minimal for the late Quarterny.

[Entropic man]

James G

You might also be interested in this extract from a recent paper by Judith Curry.

“The observed sea surface temperature in the Southern Ocean shows a substantial warming trend for the second half of the 20th century. Associated with the warming, there has been an enhanced atmospheric hydrological cycle in the Southern Ocean that results in an increase of the Antarctic sea ice for the past three decades through the reduced upward ocean heat transport and increased snowfall.”

Jiping Liu and Judith A. Curry

http://www.pnas.org/content/107/34/14987.full.pdf

[Nial]

EM, do you ever feel that you're making up excuses, 'cos that's how you come across.

You are like a sports fan unable to see their team lost the game because the other team were better.

[John M]

EM's practicing the "throw 'stuff' on the wall and see what sticks" approach.

[sherlock1]

Cue Ronald Reagan's famous quote, which he said guaranteed to strike terror into anyone:

'I'm from the government and I'm here to help...'

[jones]

EM, would you kindly see fit to answer my question above?