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Community The end of the world is nigh The golden rule about predict- ing the end of the world is to be vague about the precise date. No-one likes to give hostages to fortune. Climate change scientists, too, tend to follow this tenet, so Disconnector was struck by the latest call to arms by a group of scientists led by Christiana Figueres, who as executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change played a key role in the Paris Agreement. In the prestigious science journal Nature they declared that if the world doesn't sig- nificantly reduce the amount of emissions by 2020 it will be too late. Calling for world leaders to be guided by the scientific evidence rather than "hide their heads in the sand", they said "entire ecosystems" were already beginning to collapse, summer sea ice was disappear- ing in the Arctic and coral reefs were dying from the heat. Citing a report published in April, they added: "Should emissions continue to rise beyond 2020, or even remain level, the temperature goals set in Paris become almost unattainable." No hedging their bets there. Get a sense of perspective Meanwhile, in a universe far, far away, the US Environmen- tal Protection Agency (EPA) headed by Trump appointee Scott Pruitt is aiming to get to grips with all this climate change malarkey from a dif- ferent perspective, by review- ing the evidence outside of the established peer-to-peer processes. Pruitt is championing the use of a military concept to conduct an "at-length evalua- tion of US climate science". It is called the "red team, blue team" method and is used by the military to pit competing ideas against one another in order to try and find vulner- abilities in field operations. "The administrator believes that we will be able to recruit the best in the fields which study climate and will organise a specific process in which these individuals… provide back-and-forth critique of specific new reports on climate science," a source at the EPA told the website EENews. The source didn't reveal whether one of the hypotheses to be tested would be Donald Trump's assertion on the cam- paign trail that climate change was a hoax dreamt up by the Chinese to boost their manu- facturing industry. Power plant babes! One so oen hears how politi- cal correctness has "gone mad" that it's easy to forget what the world was like before it existed. But even in the bottom- pinching 1970s, Disconnector can't remember female appli- cants for engineering intern- ships being asked to take part in a bikini competition. Yet that's exactly what Czech Republic power utility CEZ asked of ten female appli- cants to a graduate internship at its Temelin nuclear plant – and not in the 1970s but last month. The women were photo- graphed in bikinis inside one of the company's disused cooling towers and the pictures posted on its Facebook site. Visitors were asked to rate the women to see who would get the job. The only creditable part of the story is that the stunt pro- voked such a furious backlash on social media that CEZ was forced to abandon the competi- tion and offer placements to all ten women. "The purpose of the competition was to promote technical education," said a company spokesman. "But if the original vision raised doubts or concerns, we are very sorry." Disconnector is prepared to bet that Donald Trump wouldn't have been able to see what all the fuss was about. Disconnector Editor, Utility Week, and content director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellenbennett@fav-house.com; Deputy editor: Jane Gray, t: 01342 332087, e: janegray@ fav-house.com; Insights editor: Mathew Beech, t: 01342 332082, e: mathewbeech@fav-house. com; Features editor: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080, e: loisvallely@fav-house.com; Senior reporter: Tom Grimwood, t: 01342 332061, e: tomgrimwood@fav-house.com; Reporter: Josh Downes, t: 01342 332102, e: joshdownes@fav-house.com; Policy correspondent: David Blackman, e: davidblackman@fav-house.com; Business development manager: Kevin Pearce, t: 01342 332116, e; kevinpearce@fav-house.com; Conference sponsorship manager: Sophie Abbott, t: 01342 332062, e; sophieabbott@fav-house.com; Publisher: Amanda Barnes, e: amandabarnes@ fav-house.com. General enquiries: 01342 332000; Membership enquiries: Peter Bissell, t: 01342 332057, e: peterbissell@fav-house.com. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Printed by: Buxton Press, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE. Published by: Faversham House Ltd, Windsor Court, Wood Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 1UZ 3,580 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2015 Membership subscriptions: UK £669 per year. Overseas £781 per year. Contact Peter Bissell on: 01342 332057 Utility Week is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK's magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors' Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint please contact the editor, Ellen Bennett, at ellenbennett@fav-house.com. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors' Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk Jonathan Graham @enerjg For every article about city or company w/ "100% renewable energy", it's so hard not tweeting them definitions of 'energy' and 'electricity' Liz Lainé @lizlaineuk Looking at list of 86 #smart energy services. Not one will save the £/CO2 of thermal mass (heavy bricks) + passive solar (sun) + insulation William Marchant @richonlyinname Replying to @lizlaineuk Yes. There's an obsession with high tech novelty that can mean boring old low tech things get overlooked even though they work really well. John Penrose @JohnPenroseNews Ofgem's energy price cap proposals far too timid. Leaves 14m households at mercy of even higher bills from Big 6 energy firms. David Lloyd Owen @Daviddwr After £35 mn in penalties and fines, @thameswater needs to re-jig its approach to #water compliance and governance. Thomas Edwards @TomHenryEdwards Consumer impact of increasing EG residual from £1.62/kW to £5/kW is £0.8bn, highlighting the impact of basing decisions on work you do later Chaitanya Kumar @chaitanyakumar Keith MacLean from @UKERCHQ makes an imp point. UK's had 36 energy ministers with 4 in last 12 months. Brings indecision with it. #uwsummit Julie Minns @ElectricJoules "I question whether fuel poverty should be part of energy policy or part of general policy" Joan MacNaughton, The Climate Group #uwsummit Lois Vallely @LoisVallely Final panel discussion underway #uwsummit @alanwhiteheadmp says way things are at the moment, renewables are "going off a cliff" in 2020 Top Tweets UTILITY WEEK | 7TH - 13TH JULY 2017 | 31