Former Swiss Minister: Okay To Lie About Climate “If It Is For The Good” …And Germany’s “Heat Wave” Over After Just 4 – 5 Days

Two small stories today.

The first is the “heat wave” that has gripped Europe over the past few days. Europe saw weather patterns that were optimum for producing record heat in Germany and other countries. In Germany although a number of cities set new all-time highs, the country’s record high of 40.2°C set during the heat wave of 2003 did not fall.

UPDATE: Spiegel reports that Germany did see a new all-time high yesterday: http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/kitzingen-hitzerekord-in-deutschland-mit-40-3-grad-a-1042198.html

T-online.de here reports that yesterday’s German high was 39.4°C, recorded in Saxony Anhalt, and much to the disappointment of the media and alarmist scientists, who lately have been in the habit of seizing upon any data anecdote as a sign of global warming.

Though many records were set, the heat wave was as short as it was intense, lasting only a few days. For example at a station close to where I live, the temperature rose above 30°C only on three days. The so-called “tropical night” where temperatures don’t fall below 20°C occurred only once here.

Global warming alarmists in Germany have warned that in the future cities such as Hamburg would have to expect more stifling, long-lasting heat waves in the future, with tropical nights become increasingly common. But looking at Hamburg’s temperatures over the past days also shows that the “heat wave” involved only 2 days above 30°C, and not a single tropical night. hardly a heat wave.

Today a cold front with showers and thunderstorms has been sweeping across northwestern Germany, bringing an end to the heat after a mere 4 days. The cold front is expected to continue its sweep across the rest of Germany over the next day, and so end the heat wave there too.

Some locations of course will see the heat linger a little longer, seeing 5 or 6 days above 30°C, but is only a local phenomenon. Overall this heat wave was just a mere midget compared to the 2003 heat wave. And it was certainly nothing compared to what Europe saw back in 1540.

Lying okay if it is for the good

The other short story today comes from the Die kalte Sonne site here, which writes about a former Swiss Minister,  Moritz Leuenberger. The Swiss Tagblatt writes:

“‘The climate conference in Copenhagen just before agreeing to reduce CO2 emissions was disastrous,’ Leuenberger now admits. Yet back then he intentionally did not tell the media this, and thus lied so that the Swiss would vote in favor of it. Leuenberger: ‘Now I believe the lie is legitimate if it is for the good.'”

30 responses to “Former Swiss Minister: Okay To Lie About Climate “If It Is For The Good” …And Germany’s “Heat Wave” Over After Just 4 – 5 Days”

  1. Curious George

    Everybody only lies for the good.

  2. Jeff Wood

    Here in Italy we have serious heat. People are melting, leaving behind only their ice creams.

    You can have some of our heat if you like…

    1. DirkH

      You’re in Italy? Yesterday the North of Germany was 6 deg C warmer than Rome, according to AccuWeather. 36 degC vs 30degC (about 100 deg F vs 90 deg F or so).

      1. marque2

        38 = 100 degF, 30 is only 86. For people to winge about 86 degF in Summer seems rather comical to me.

  3. John F. Hultquist

    Leuenberger: ‘Now I believe the lie is legitimate if it is for the good.’
    He was misquoted, I think, and I will fix it for him:
    Now I believe the lie is legitimate if it is for my good.

    Perspective: Our last 3 days have had the following maximum temperatures, beginning on 2 July: 104, 103, 102; today it looks like a top of 97. {in central Washing State, USA}
    [ 104° F is 40° C ]

    We have air conditioning (nice) but more importantly we have a freezer and a refrigerator. I wonder if Moritz Leuenberger thinks it is “good” to deny reliable electricity to the many that do not now have it?

    1. DirkH

      No worries! You can run a fridge with pedal power!
      http://makezine.com/2008/07/31/bicycle-operated-refriger/

      1. sod

        “No worries! You can run a fridge with pedal power!”

        Air conditioning and solar power are natural partners.

        http://www.tradearabia.com/news/CONS_285106.html

        The relevant parts of the last few days have seen enormous solar PV output, replacing 15 Nuclear power plants easily.

        http://www.sma.de/en/company/pv-electricity-produced-in-germany.html

        At the same time, France is struggling to keep its nuclear power plants running in these heat conditions:

        http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-01/hot-july-to-cut-power-supply-in-europe-as-temperatures-increase

        http://www.icis.com/resources/news/2015/07/02/9900520/updated-french-heat-wave-to-ease-but-power-traders-wary-in-wake-of-price-spikes/

        1. DirkH

          “The relevant parts of the last few days have seen enormous solar PV output, replacing 15 Nuclear power plants easily.”

          Sorry to hear that, little boy. I guess you will get a tariff increase. Better count your cents.

          1. DirkH

            Last year’s August, the prime production month for PV energy, was cloudy, leading to a big drop in production. This saved so much subsidy money that 2015 saw stable electricity consumer prices as the FIT cross-subsidy did not have to be increased. The little solar fanboys explained it with fantastic solar production, leading to dropping bulk prices, but that was a) wrong b) failed to figure out that if you produce LESS of a subsidized good you SAVE money. (Yes, boys, the world is upside down when you reward sloth and punish productivity.)

            So the (looming) fantastic solar production of 2015 will RUIN the electricity consumer.

            We can only hope that August will become cloudy again.

            Pray for rain.

          2. DirkH

            Welcome to the funny world of SPD-CDU-Germany.
            Enjoy it while it lasts.

          3. sod

            “Last year’s August, the prime production month for PV energy, was cloudy, leading to a big drop in production. ”

            You are wrong on all accounts:

            http://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en/downloads-englisch/pdf-files-englisch/news/electricity-production-from-solar-and-wind-in-germany-in-2012.pdf
            (page 13)

            http://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en/downloads-englisch/pdf-files-englisch/news/electricity-production-from-solar-and-wind-in-germany-in-2013.pdf
            (page 10)

            http://www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en/downloads-englisch/pdf-files-englisch/data-nivc-/electricity-production-from-solar-and-wind-in-germany-2014.pdf
            (page 11)

            In not a single one of the last 3 years was august the “prime” production month.

            and August output actually was rather stable around 4 TWh, while other months saw huge jumps and changes. Please try to get the facts right!

          4. Brian G Valentine

            Mister Sod,

            I don’t see that added PV capacity was accounted for to maintain August PV production.

            The numbers for Nuclear are pretty sad (sod) compared with PV. What a waste of money, right down the drain

          5. sod

            “I don’t see that added PV capacity was accounted for to maintain August PV production. ”

            if you look at the numbers, you see massive swings in June and July.

            I just do not know, why August, which is not the maximum in any year and which did show a rather steady output should be the cause of a change to consumer pricers (it is one in 12 months and the consumer price also depends on wind power, even if we only look at the EEG part of it)

            So the original claim about August is simply false.

        2. Josh

          It is worth noting that the conditions that have led to a spike in solar power production and a decrease in Nuclear power production are the exception and not the rule. The reality is that over the span of an entire month or year, solar power does not come close to replacing either coal or nuclear. Also of importance is the fact that conventional power has to be kept on or on standby in order to stabilise the grid, even where a strong feed-in of so-called green energy occurs.

          1. sod

            “The reality is that over the span of an entire month or year, solar power does not come close to replacing either coal or nuclear.”

            I was replying to this post:

            “We have air conditioning (nice) but more importantly we have a freezer and a refrigerator.”

            it basically made the claim, that “unrelyable” alternative power threatens your fridge or air conditioning.

            The simple truth is the exact opposite: this weather threatens nuclear and coal, while solar PV can easily power the applications needed during a heat wave.

            The claim was just plain out false and so is yours. Solar PV is actually backing up the conventional plants during such a heat wave, not the other way round!

          2. AndyG55

            “Solar PV is actually backing up the conventional plants during such a heat wave, not the other way round!”

            The claim was just plain out false.

            A fanciful hallucinogenic fabrication.

            A LIE.

            Coal and nuclear have never had an issue in warm weather, except that there sometimes isn’t enough of it installed. Having a decent buffer of coal and nuclear to cope with large pulses in demand is plain engineering common sense. This buffer has been eroded by the stupidity of wind and solar.

          3. sod

            “Coal and nuclear have never had an issue in warm weather, … ”

            This is totally false!

            Why do you constantly make claims that are just plain out false?

            http://www.climatecentral.org/news/in-tennessee-heat-waves-frustrate-nuclear-power

            http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2006/jul/30/energy.weather

            “… except that there sometimes isn’t enough of it installed.”

            It is exactly the same for solar and wind!

            Apart from that, of course even more nuclear reactors would not help, if they sit on the same river!

        3. AndyG55

          Let’s see how this pans out of winter, shall we. 😉

          Solar tends to zero, and I really hope France does have a problem with their nuclear power stations in December, in Paris.

          A -20ºC temperature with no nuclear power available would be absolute icing on the cake 🙂

          Although there will be lots of hot air, it won’t generate anything worthwhile.

          1. DirkH

            sod says:
            6. July 2015 at 10:22 PM
            “You are wrong on all accounts:”
            I’ll come to that in a bit.

            “In not a single one of the last 3 years was august the “prime” production month.”

            Well, a more useful chart shows that AUG is just 10 sun hours below JUL, or 5%, so, it’s a close second. In the long term mean. Ok. Not prime, but close second.
            http://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/5578/umfrage/durchschnittliche-monatliche-sonnenscheindauer-in-deutschland/

            “and August output actually was rather stable around 4 TWh, while other months saw huge jumps and changes. Please try to get the facts right!”

            I was talking of total production. But thanks for pointing out that your favorite power source has huge jumps. I couldn’t have said it better.

            In the chart I found that AUG2014 did disappoint, by about 12.5 % compared to the long term mean of sun hours.

            And you failed to notice it. Tsk tsk. Maybe because you loved these little yellow mountains in the ISE charts so much you didn’t actually care for their area.

          2. DirkH

            …Now I forgot the most important part. While claiming I was wrong on everything, the kid didn’t even address my most important point – that his planned chaos economy perverts incentives and rewards waste and punishes efficiency, as I demonstrated.

            As the complete dolts in our government are as proficient logical thinkers as the kid, they make a mess of everything they touch, the inverse Midas touch.

            So go short government. The easiest deal in the history of mankind.

          3. sod

            “Well, a more useful chart shows that AUG is just 10 sun hours below JUL, or 5%, so,”

            you are looking at a completely wrong metric. Solar PV output is strongly influenced by the direction it faces.

            Apart from that, 10% of about 10% (one month) of total output, of 50% (with wind) would at best add/subtract milli- or micro- cents from the price of electricity!

          4. DirkH

            sod says:
            7. July 2015 at 4:01 PM
            “Apart from that, 10% of about 10% (one month) of total output, of 50% (with wind) would at best add/subtract milli- or micro- cents from the price of electricity!”

            You are really a complete dolt now aren’t you? You might have noticed that the GIANTIC wasted subsidy of 2014 will STILL be wasted in 2015. We are talking only about the GROWTH of this waste – which has been stalled for a year.

          5. DirkH

            sod says:
            7. July 2015 at 4:01 PM
            “you are looking at a completely wrong metric. Solar PV output is strongly influenced by the direction it faces.”

            Sigh. They taught you some nice half-knowledge. YES the angle changes between SUMMER and WINTER. That’s why the angle in which the PV panels are installed (since trackers became uneconomic which was in 2008) is optimized for summer.
            Probably not for July but more for May and…
            …AUGUST…

            …thanks for helping me out AGAIN…

          6. sod

            “That’s why the angle in which the PV panels are installed … is optimized for summer.
            Probably not for July but more for May and…
            …AUGUST…”

            Sorry, but you are still plain out wrong.

            We are discussing the best months for solar PV output.

            I gave you data of direct measurement of solar PV output. You use an indirect metric (sunshine hours) to make claims about the same thing.

            There is no discussion who is right or who is wrong. my three links above are just showing the facts.

            so to directly answer your point: solar PV could be placed to favour August output, but they are NOT, as the data shows.

            “We are talking only about the GROWTH of this waste – which has been stalled for a year.”

            your main point (waste of subsidies) is false as well. But you could at least look at really impressive numbers: In Scotland, the wind output in June did increase by 100% over the last year.

            http://cleantechnica.com/2015/07/07/wind-power-scotland-continues-astound/

            These huge changes (100% of direct output in contrast to 10% of an indirect measurement) would at least give some meaning to your claims about an effect on subsidies.

            (though it also means, that they ran on a much higher capacity factor last June, something that you complain about as well…)

          7. AndyG55

            How SWEEEEEET it is ! 🙂

            http://utilityweek.co.uk/news/summer-budget-treasury-delivers-39bn-body-blow-to-renewables-sector/1149402#.VZ20ZWcw-fA

            First of many steps to getting back to a solid RELIABLE electricity supply.

  4. DirkH

    “Leuenberger: ‘Now I believe the lie is legitimate if it is for the good.'”

    Ok forget my Skinner box experimental setup, we have results already.

  5. DirkH

    Jubilations! New heat record in Germany!
    http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/kitzingen-hitzerekord-in-deutschland-mit-40-3-grad-a-1042198.html
    40.3 deg C in Kitzingen, up from last record 40.2 deg C first measured in 1983 in Rhineland-Palatinate.
    This is consistent with a Global Warming proceeding at a speed of 0.1 deg C in 32 years, right?

  6. sod

    ” In Germany although a number of cities set new all-time highs, the country’s record high of 40.2°C set during the heat wave of 2003 did not fall.”

    That is not that important, but it looks like it did fall:

    http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/kitzingen-hitzerekord-in-deutschland-mit-40-3-grad-a-1042198.html

    1. Ulrich Elkmann

      UHI?

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