Solar panels will adorn the roofs of buildings, not the
fields of Britain’s countryside, eneryg minister Greg Barker says.
Speaking at the launch of the government’s first solar power
strategy said he expected the 500,000 homes with solar panels to
double by the end of 2015. Barker announced plans to put 4 million
solar panels on the roofs of government owned buildings as well as
England’s 22,000 schools.

The amount of low carbon energy providing the world’s power
will have to triple by 2050 of policymakers are going to keep
warming below two degrees, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change’s (IPCC) new report will say, according to Reuters. The
IPCC’s third report will say world powers are “running out of time
to slash their use of high-polluting fossil fuels and stay below
agreed limits on global warming”, Reuters reports.

Geoffrey Lean argues that the prime minister’s plan to limit
onshore wind power is “not without merit” but “is damaging” to the
government. While the policy “may be populist, it is probably not
particularly popular”, he argues – as most Brits favour more
renewable power. Most importantly, the move suggests the government
are making energy policy in response to popular pressure, scaring
off much-needed long-term investment, he argues.

Charles Moore reviews a new book by historian Rupert Darwell
on climate change action advocacy. Those calling for governments to
cut emissions hold beliefs implying an “anti-industrial nature
worship, post-colonial guilt, a post-Enlightenment belief in
scientists as a new priesthood of the truth, a hatred of population
growth, a revulsion against the widespread increase in wealth and a
belief in world government”, Moore says.

Christopher Booker says the IPCC has “cried wolf once too
often”. Its latest report on the impacts of climate change was met
with less excitement than previous iterations despite “picking out
the scary bits” of climate change research, he argues. He argues
that the panel’s credibility has been harmed by previous mistakes,
including claims about Himalayan glaciers, African crop yields, and
the Amazon rainforest.

The Conservatives’ proposal to cap new onshore windfarms is
symbolic of David Cameron’s government’s move to the right, a
Guardian editorial argues. When elected, the prime minister was
keen to be seen as a progressive reformer, and that included
pushing a renewable energy agenda. Much has changed since then, it
argues, with the government undercutting its green credentials by
holding petrol prices, cutting levies on long-haul flights, and
freezing the UK’s carbon tax even before it announced its latest
wind power ‘eradication’.

The protesters against onshore wind appear to be more noisy
than numerous”, says former energy minister Chris Huhne. He says
the Conservatives’ moves to cap Britain’s onshore wind power and
cut ‘green levies’ are potentially damaging in the long term, as
the policies do the most to protect the UK from volatile energy
prices.

A new paper by University of Bristol professor Stephan
Lewandowsky suggests increased scientific uncertainty makes it more
likely the world will fail to meet its climate goals, Guardian
blogger Dana Nuccitelli says. The paper implies the policymakers
needs a “certain” climate budget to incentivise action. If
policymakers think there is more uncertainty around climate science
than evidence suggests is the case, they’re likely to set this
budget too high, the paper argues.

David Rose’s column focuses on a dispute between an
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change author and one of its
experts reviewers. The Grantham Institute’s Bob Ward says he has
pointed out errors in Sussex University professor Richard Tol’s
work, but that these are yet to be corrected. The errors concern
estimates of the costs of climate change. The article also alleges
that the IPCC “sexed up” the language in a summary document for its
latest report, making climate change sound more alarming than the
evidence suggests.

A new paper finds the number of large fires and/or total
large fire area per year is on the rise over the western US. This
pattern coincides with trends towards increased drought severity, a
problem that looks set to worsen with continuing climate
change.

A new paper looks at the economic impacts of climate change
on freshwater fisheries and coral reefs in the United States. If
emissions stay high over the 21st century, coldwater fisheries look
set to be replaced by less desirable ones and coral cover is
projected to decline. Global policies to limit GHG emissions could
save a $10 to 28 billion, say the researchers – though the full
benefits are likely to be much higher.

With artificially elevated carbon dioxide concentration of
550 ppm, the amount of carbon taken up and stored in arid regions –
areas that see less than 10 inches of water each year – rapidly
rises, according to a 10-year study. This is an example of how the
so-called carbon dioxide fertilisation effect could work, but the
researchers point out that study didn’t take into account the
impact of temperature, water or nutrient availability.

A new study into aerosols – microscopic liquid or solid
particles suspended in the atmosphere – shows observations can be
wrong, as well as models. In fact, models can reveal errors and
biases in observed records, it argues. “Observations are often
taken as truth and used as the standard against which to compare
models. We should make a concerted effort to continue correcting
these important observations, while always considering potential
bias when they are incorporated into studies. Observations, not
just models, can also be wrong”, one of the papers’ authors
argues.