Climate change agenda brings about energy poverty

Published 2:20 pm Monday, July 25, 2016

It seems no hyperbole is too great for climate change true believers. In the face of deadly ISIS-linked attacks in Europe, the Middle East and in America itself, Secretary of State John Kerry is warning us of the dangers of air conditioning.

“Secretary of State John Kerry said in Vienna on Friday that air conditioners and refrigerators are as big of a threat to life as the threat of terrorism posed by groups like the Islamic State,” Fox News revealed last week. “The Washington Examiner reported that Kerry was in Vienna to amend the 1987 Montreal Protocol that would phase out hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, from basic household and commercial appliances like air conditioners, refrigerators, and inhalers.”

Here’s what Kerry said: “As we were working together on the challenge of [ISIS] and terrorism,” Kerry said. “It’s hard for some people to grasp it, but what we–you–are doing here right now is of equal importance because it has the ability to literally save life on the planet itself.”

Not only is that a ridiculous claim in the face of the thousands of lives lost to vicious attacks, but it’s the opposite of the truth.

The fact is, air conditioning and heating save lives. Energy poverty – something reintroduced to Great Britain and to Europe by draconian climate change legislation – has resulted in real, documented loss of life.

Plentiful, inexpensive energy has been of tremendous benefit to humanity, particularly since the industrial revolution. But new laws aimed at fixing the hypothetical global warming problem (which is still mostly based on models), have limited energy access and affordability.

Look at what Great Britain faced last winter.

“Britain faces the highest risk of blackouts in almost a decade this winter, National Grid is expected to say next week, amid warnings that households will have to pay billions of pounds in subsidies to new gas power stations to prevent the crisis worsening,” the Telegraph reported. “National Grid is expected to confirm estimates that Britain’s capacity margin – the effective ‘safety buffer’ between peak electricity demand and available power supplies – will fall to about 1.2 per cent this winter, the lowest in a decade.”

Why should the birthplace of the industrial revolution face third-world energy problems?

“The tightening of supplies has been caused by the old polluting coal plants being forced to close by environmental rules more quickly than new plants are being built,” the Telegraph explained. “More coal plants and old nuclear plants are expected to close in coming years, worsening the crisis. Expert warned a solution to keep the lights on was likely to be costly for consumers.”

Not just costly, but deadly. As the Telegraph reported in February 2015, “The cold weather death toll this winter is expected to top 40,000, the highest number for 15 years… Age UK has warned that one person could die every seven minutes this winter and called on the government to improve energy efficiency in a bid to end fuel poverty.”

Air conditioning isn’t a killer. Bad energy policies are.