Zambian President blames Global Warming for Economic Problems

Thank god for the UN ‘green climate fund’. Now Zambia can have financial security – compensation for evil mankind creating erratic rainfall patterns.

Watts Up With That?

Zambian President Edgar Lungu, public domain image, source Wikimedia Zambian President Edgar Lungu, public domain image, source Wikimedia

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Zambian President Edgar Lungu has blamed global warming for his country’s worsening economic problems.

According to Bloomberg;

Zambian President Edgar Lungu said global warming was partly to blame for the “unprecedented” power crisis robbing the economy of jobs and restraining productivity.

The energy shortages in the southern African nation are linked to unpredictable rainfall patterns caused by climate change, Lungu told the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday. Hydro-electric generation, which accounts for more than 90 percent of the country’s energy mix, has been curbed because of a drought, putting pressure on the key mining industry to reduce its power usage.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-29/zambian-president-blames-global-warming-for-worst-power-crisis

I guess this is a reminder that even hydroelectricity, the only economically viable renewable, has its limitations. However there is hope – if Mr Lungu approaches the Chinese…

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Jagdish Shukla’s #RICO20 blunder may have opened the ‘largest science scandal in US history’

Watts Up With That?

Yesterday, Shukla and GMU got notice that they have piqued the interest of a congressional committee, and via a written notice are required to preserve documents for an impending Congressional investigation and to provide proof that all employees of IGES/COLA have been notified that they are aware they can’t destroy documents. As we follow the unraveling behind the scenes and new FOIA documentation, rumors of some aberrant behavior in the past have begun to surface from former colleagues that suggest we might be dealing with the same sort of ego induced blindness that led to the downfall of IPCC chairman Rajenda Pachauri. The combination of information WUWT is being given behind the scenes suggests to me that this episode is going to get far worse for Shukla and GMU before it gets better.

At issue is at least 63.5 million dollars from the National Science Foundation, and…

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Fusion reactors ‘economically viable’ say experts

Watts Up With That?

fusion-reactorFrom Durham University:

Fusion reactors could become an economically viable means of generating electricity within a few decades, and policy makers should start planning to build them as a replacement for conventional nuclear power stations, according to new research.

Researchers at Durham University and Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire, have re-examined the economics of fusion, taking account of recent advances in superconductor technology for the first time. Their analysis of building, running and decommissioning a fusion power station shows the financial feasibility of fusion energy in comparison to traditional fission nuclear power.

The research, published in the journal Fusion Engineering and Design, builds on earlier findings that a fusion power plant could generate electricity at a similar price to a fission plant and identifies new advantages in using the new superconductor technology.

Professor Damian Hampshire, of the Centre for Material Physics at Durham University, who led the…

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