Energy for Britain

[RenewableCandy]

How old is the mother-in-law ?..

[Tarrel]

The way to redeem their eco-credentials would be to repurpose the hot tub as a community communal bath-house, so mother-in-law gets to go pruney with the dodgy-looking bearded guy from down the road and the nomad-type who hasn't had the luxury of a bath in weeks!

[emordnilap]

Talking of subsidies, here's a link to a pdf produced by OilChange International detailing the massive amounts of public - your! - money handed over to the fossil fuel industry.

As per standard economic madness, these subsidies take no account of externalities.

The UK stands out as a major industrialized economy that, despite the G20 pledge, has dramatically expanded the scope of its oil and gas exploration subsidies, in particular for shale gas and offshore resources. Exploration subsidies in the UK total up to $1.2 billion each year, mostly through tax exemptions introduced as recently as 2013.

Public finance for fossil fuel exploration from the UK averaged $319 million between 2010 and 2013 for overseas activities. The UK government also provides fossil fuel exploration support through the CDC Group, its development finance institution, but data on the share of CDC financing for these funds are not available.

(The UK is not the biggest culprit by a long shot. But.)

So, how exactly does commitment to emissions reduction + free money for fossil fuel exploration work?

Another thought: how does this subsidy compare to tax paid (if any is paid) by the corporations themselves? Not tax on fuel but actual tax on company profits paid to the UK government by subsidised corporations?