The United Kingdom implemented rigorous policies to reduce the use of fossil fuels and to achieve “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions.

It works so well for them that a grid operator is paying customers to lower use on short notice.

Britain’s grid operator has paid households and businesses over £9 million ($11.4 million) so far this winter to curb their power use under a program to save energy with customers asked to shift demand at much shorter notice.

The program has seen 2.2 million businesses and households sign up to the so-called Demand Flexibility Service, which encourages eligible properties with smart meters to shift power usage outside of peak hours, the National Grid’s Electricity System Operator said in a statement Thursday.

In a first, consumers are being asked to take part in energy saving on the same day or a day ahead this winter, shorter notice than in previous years. The UK, along with much of Europe, is more aware of the need to control demand after the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent power prices soaring across the region.

Now comes news that a British climate committee assigned to develop “net zero” goals may have used ‘insufficient data.’

Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, who led a recent Royal Society study on future energy supply, said that the Climate Change Committee only “looked at a single year” of data showing the number of windy days in a year when it made pronouncements on the extent to which the UK could rely on wind and solar farms to meet net zero.

“They have conceded privately that that was a mistake,” Sir Chris said in a presentation seen by this newspaper. In contrast, the Royal Society review examined 37 years worth of weather data.

Last week Sir Chris, an emeritus professor and former director of energy research at Oxford University, said that the remarks to which he was referring were made by Chris Stark, the Climate Change Committee’s chief executive. He said: “Might be best to say that Chris Stark conceded that my comment that the CCC relied on modelling that only uses a single year of weather data … is ‘an entirely valid criticism’.”

Interestingly, it appears some of the British want to follow the American energy plan…which now seems more inclusive of fossil fuels.

According to a report by the International Energy Agency, the US is now producing more oil than any other country ever. Likewise, Canadian production is hitting fresh highs, with the Alberta province reaching an all time record for energy output in November. Fracking is exceeding all expectations, with dramatically better yields, and a far better safety record than anyone foresaw when the industry was started a decade ago.

Quite sensibly, Joe Biden has called on producers to increase output to keep prices down. Yet while the UK has vast reserves of shale oil and gas, we banned it. We could be generating massive amounts of wealth this side of the Atlantic, and have chosen not to.

It’s hardly as though the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill, which progresses through Parliament this week, will add much to our domestic energy production. Companies will be allowed to apply for new licenses for the North Sea, although with a headline tax rate of 75 per cent, and with the Labour Party seemingly wanting to call time on the industry as quickly as possible, it is hard to understand why anyone would bother.

It appears, at least, that the US is “quiet quitting” net zero.

Guess what is really “net zero”….the credibility of climate experts!!!

More than 2,800 families are about to lose good jobs in Wales.

With no reduction in global emissions.

This is the world net-zero fans want.

They shouldn’t be proud of this.

The “angry god of net zero” is a cruel, immoral contrivance.

No decent person should worship him. https://t.co/uWoGbuUQmQ

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) January 22, 2024



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