Strangely, the more free, clean, green energy we get the more household incomes fail to keep up with inflation. Who would have thought that using inefficient energy in an artificial government-picks-the-winner market could possibly reduce our living standards?
Of course, this is not all due to electricity efficiency and pricing. Bill Shock only affects things that need to heat, cool or move.
Bill Shock as Standard of Living Slumps
David Uren, The Australian
Australians have endured their longest period of falling living standards in more than a quarter of a century as growth in costs outstripped earnings for the fifth consecutive quarter, leaving households worse off than they were six years ago.
After allowing for inflation, taxes and interest costs, average household incomes dropped 1.6 per cent in the year to September, capping a sustained fall in living standards that has not been seen since the 1990-91 recession.
Economists say more than half the cost increases for households are being driven by electricity, rent, health, new housing and tobacco, while modest wage rises are being partially absorbed by workers being pushed into higher tax brackets.
Energy prices feed into every other cost. Even the value of a house depends on the capacity people have to pay off their mortgage. Higher electricity bills means more expensive food, smaller profit margins, reduced consumer spending, and fewer jobs.
The energy transition we-didn’t need-to-have has a hidden price.
PS: Can anyone find or create a graph of employment in the renewables energy industry in Australia that is up to date?
*The Kyoto Agreement date is just a marker, and indicator of a new government that put “climate change” as a much higher priority. All subsequent governments largely shared that priority. The RET has become increasingly important as the percentage of renewables required to meet the target has risen every year. Rudd was elected in Nov 2007. March 2008 was the point when electricity prices started rising faster than inflation.
At what point did “Bill Shock” begin?
From this post: Labor wants to waste $100b to make Australian energy 50% renewable, more expensive, by 2030
Electricity prices in Australia. The Carbon Tax was introduced July 2012.
Source: Parliamentary Library
Note the inflexion point:
…
h/t TdeF
Sources:
Australian Household Income: ABS, 6523.0 – Household Income and Wealth, Australia, 2015-16
Solar and Wind Generation from Prof Ray Wills page.
Notice the cost of power in Victoriastan and SA right now is elevated and wind generation is almost nonexistent.
190
Looking at http://reneweconomy.com.au/nem-watch/ it will be very interesting when the sun goes down as solar Is actually contributing to the supply in the southern states.
80
Cant be, Minister D’Ambrosio told me that renewable put “downward pressure” on prices. Using magic and wishful thinking apparently, because they couldnt explain how.
290
https://www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Australia-2017-OECD-economic-survey-overview.pdf
50
Interesting to note the report says we are falling way behind in the move to renewables, such as in % renewables in total primary energy supply. Yet over a thousand new coal fired power plants are being built all over the world, except here. I suppose that means in order for us to follow the rest of the world and become more green we need to start building new coal fired power plants too, right?
250
I am surprised.
According to 2006/07 Budget notes Australia had achieved a standard of living by OECD measures ranking 8th of 38 member nations.
When the Howard Government succeeded Keating Labor in 1996 Australia ranked 13th place and when Gillard/Rudd Labor left office in 2013 we had slumped to 12th place.
We are now four years later in 6th place …
https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/11-countries-with-the-highest-standard-of-living-in-the-world-in-2017-517038/?singlepage=1
20
It appears that Donald Horne’s description of The Lucky Country remains accurate.
Our continuing prosperity is certainly despite the best efforts of most of our political class, at all three levels of government.
110
He meant that in a sarcastic, even insulting way.
30
Dennis, from your link, New Zealand is in 4th place – with the rider:
So the number of plastic shopping bags littering the beaches, the tonnes of untreated effluent pumped into the oceans and the size of the mountains of empty beer cans and disposable coffee cups along the roadsides in New Zealand will dictate future temperatures around the globe?
Sounds about right. /s
70
When the cooling trend sets in big time expect another essential part of our lives to rocket up in price – food. We should be growing it like mad now and storing it. Instead we are killing our agricultural industries in the same way we killed other industries. I suppose it’s only to be expected. Australians in general really were never that clever – just lucky. I would not be surprised if the situation becomes so desperate we will have to import coal to survive because mining it here would be too expensive and as a result no one would be interested in doing so. There is one small ray of hope. Shorten wins the next election and he quickly wrecks the country and convinces at least 90% of the population that socialism is bad and evil after all. Then Australians never touch the ALP+Greens ever again, and they disappear from the political scene. I know – it’s probably too much to ask.
210
Australians are clever enough about science stuff, stupid about freedom, free speech and free markets.
We don’t have to have new coal (though it would be good). Firstly we need to stop closing old coal stations.
Then we can talk about USC coal and Nukes.
PS: More graphs added to the post.
271
ABC has employment in renewables through to 2015-16 at “4631.0 – Employment in Renewable Energy Activities, Australia, 2015-16”:
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4631.0Main+Features12015-16?OpenDocument
The FTE (Full Time Equivalents) employment in renewables almost halved from 2011-12 to 2015-16. Where’s all these renewables jobs I kept hearing about? Must be in China I guess…
150
Jo Nova, yes I know we have people who do some very clever stuff in science. So do most other countries though. The problem is we have a unique situation that differentiates us from the rest of the world. Perhaps it’s our remoteness – not sure. As you know while the rest of the world is busy building new base load nuclear and coal fired power plants as well as promoting renewables, we are closing down our base load plants and doing nothing to replace them without a second thought on the part of mainstream politicians and much of the public. Although it would be a good idea not to close down our existing ones, I would be willing to have a “truce” with the global warming crowd here and come to a compromise to build the USC ones to reduce our emissions, just like many other countries are doing. Our existing ones are getting too old anyway, and will cost a bundle to maintain. Unfortunately the global warming crowd here won’t come part way. It’s only ever renewables and nothing else. That’s what really bugs me. How come the rest of the word don’t have the same problem and get away with building hundreds and hundreds of new coal fired power plants? Is it something in the water we drink? Of course not, but there has to be an explanation. It can’t be intelligence since countries with much lower and higher average IQ than ours are building them.
140
What emissions? You mean CO2? What’s wrong with CO2?
130
Don’t ask people.
What do they know?
Ask the plants.
They just love it.
Life is a Gas: CO2, the gas of life … 🙂
40
“Stupid about freedom”.
I grew up in a society that set a very high value on personal freedom. Only twenty years later (in the 1980s) I began to see the dominant thinking as not so much that I be free as that nobody else be more free that I am. That outlook is now well entrenched.
It seems that only when freedom is taken away do societies stop taking it for granted. Many people don’t want the responsibility that comes with freedom.
80
And the rest of our supposedly wise world leaders cannot look at the example of Australia, the UK, Germany, etc. and learn anything from what they see.
They have eyes but do not see, ears but do not hear and brains but do not think. Much of the world is an object lesson in how not to do things yet the lesson is lost on the very people who should learn from it. But then, your Australian leaders can’t see it either. How did we all become a bunch of lemmings following the leader off a cliff?
There isn’t anyone talking about the right decisions, much less making them except Donald Trump. And he’s attacked from all directions because he threatens the very people who’re making the wrong decisions. Go figure.
110
Roy, I have been told that only one in forty of the population has the mental capacity to initiate new thinking. While I had led a fairly isolated existence that fitted neatly with my own observations, that the number of people who can see around the first corner is very low.
So I suppose that we should be grateful that society holds together at all.
The first question I would put in relation to the possibility of Chinese expansionism is when will China forgive Japan for atrocities perpetrated against the.Chinese people less than a hundred years ago? I’d say never!
And why would North Korea send a bomb to Guam when Tokyo is under the flight path?
10
The average Australian voter is apathetic, not interested in politics, and only reacts when an issue hits them directly, the so called hip pocket nerve is said to be the most significant motivating factor of all.
However, Australia’s average voter gets over pain very quickly.
Watch them forget all about the Rudd, Gillard and Rudd musical chairs of 2007 to 2013 and related chaos, dysfunction and incompetence.
210
Peter you paint a grim picture, this socialism with Australian characteristics.
Bill has plans to join Beijing’s Belt and Road extravaganza because new infrastructure means more jobs. Of course Turnbull might ignore Washington’s advice and hitch a ride with the new world order before the election. Impossible to predict.
Around the world wages growth is sluggish and energy prices are high because of renewables, but I can’t see any change until the masses recognise that CO2 doesn’t cause global warming.
Unless we come up with a tangible explanation for unusually severe weather, we won’t get any traction in the MSM.
150
el gordo, I’m a realist and I try to see how things really are based on history. Human nature is actually very transparent. We go through the same cycles over and over. The only unknown is the exact timing of the major events. We have to wait for them to occur to confirm history keeps repeating.
70
There are no cycles in Australia’s political history, everything is always new and variables many.
‘We should be growing it like mad now and storing it. Instead we are killing our agricultural industries in the same way we killed other industries.’
No, agribusiness is doing well and its unnecessary to store it. The world has changed greatly since the old days, mass transport for foodstuffs for example, so there isn’t any concern in that direction.
In regards the cooling, its probably no different to the 1950s and 60s and within living memory.
60
I don’t believe that Australian agriculture will be impacted by a cooling trend as much as Canada and USA’s northern states. With a future cooling trend, I would expect that the NH temps will drop much more than the SH temps.
60
Of course. 2% of the world’s population live below the Tropic of Capricorn.
60% live North of the Tropic of Cancer.
Glaciers never went past 40, so even Tasmania is safe where Europe is doomed. So is Canada and half of North America and China. It’s everyone back to India and Africa time. Plus Australia. Our windmills will save us.
70
The main problem with cooling is monsoon failure, which has a history of killing millions but that won’t happen on this occasion.
30
Try H.H. Lamb’s explanation. As cooling comes to the Northern Hemisphere the wet and dry zones contract towards the equator, letting the Arctic zone expand southwards into the settled areas in northern Europe, Canada and northern USA. The sub-tropical dry zone (roughly 15-30 degrees latitude) moves south, leading to monsoon failure (in regularity). The wet zone (roughly 30-45) moves south, so the dry southern european countries get more rain and cooler temperatures.
In the converse case of heating the tropical wet zone expands (more heat, more atmospheric moisture) bringing rain to the Sahara (see Tassili frescoes, Roman wheat supply from Egypt, Libya and Tunisia).
In the Southern Hemisphere cooling would bring more rain to southern Australia as the roaring forties came North. Agriculture in South Australia would move north of Goyder’s line as it did in the 1860’s, but the monsoon in the Northern Territory etc. would be weaker. This opens the way for Green Jobs….all those Greens could be sent north to ‘save the crocodiles’.
50
Sound thinking, that man.
40
The other major victims are small businesses. The cost of electricity is crippling many small to medium businesses. All these have owners with kids and mortgages to pay as well. Everything goes to pay off the bills. Kids’ education, clothing, even food, go short. Eventually the business goes under or is bought by the Chinese or something.
I suppose in a socialist paradise it is better that everyone is on the government teat anyway, so maybe this is just another brick in the wall for our progressives.
41
The Grand Plan is working, soon we will be as CO2 neutral (and as industrially advanced) as North Korea and some countries in the African continent.
140
I’m puzzled. What is offsetting all that CO2 emitted by the rocket exhausts?
30
Goal 6. The Goals and targets are the result of over two years of intensive public consultation and engagement with civil society and other stakeholders around the world, which paid particular attention to the voices of the poorest and most vulnerable.
[defined as the thousands of UN accredited NGO’s and, pause for thought, … if one is not a member of UN defined ‘civil’ society, does that make one ‘uncivil’ and ready for a purge?]
Goal 28.We commit to making fundamental changes in the way that our societies produce and consume goods and services. …
Australia, New Zealand and Canada have become leading Globalist devotees courtesy of their political elite backed by the eco-Marxist MSM Party. The seeming reluctance of their dependent populations to express their independence may be born of several things, including an addiction upon socialism that has woven its way through academia, county hall, the unions and so much of national thinking. There also appears an imbued English reticence and stoicism that dials down the push back against authority to a dull, growing resentment.
Once people perceive the rip-off is in the open, I anticipate their tolerance and mercy will be openly short and their retribution ruthless.
120
“What good fortune for governments that the people do not think.”
Adolf Hitler
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/adolf_hitler_164695
20
Jo: The heading needs revising – “get” should be “getting” or delete “are”.
It’s the same situation in the UK. Fuel poverty is on the increase due to bill payers subsidising renewable energy. It’s essentially a regressive tax.
There is a similar problem with food poverty and the increase in food banks – due to huge quantities of crops going into anaerobic digesters to produce renewable energy (except that more energy is used growing, harvesting and transporting the crops than is delivered at the end of the process).
110
O/Topic – Macron (the soy boy French President in case you’ve been in a cave for a while) has decided that it in order to protect the French democracy some fake news sites may have to be banned during elections.
https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2018/01/frances-president-macron-wants-to-block-websites-during-elections-to-fight-fake-news/
Nothing says liberal democracy like banning free speech!
180
Not wishing to speak ill of two southern states so I won’t name Victoriastan and south Australia but the investment in wind turbines are not really working so much for you today is it ?
South Australia has 40% plus of their eggs in that basket but no wind and the alarm bells go off and as for the other failed communist state they are striving to beat SA into a grid meltdown .
160
They are mad, BlueScope in NSW is shutting down Saturday (getting paid to)
It’s old sister company Lysaght is also being paid NOT to work – they work 24/7!
So roofing, purlins, and all the steel products won’t be made!
Yet they’re getting PAID not to open?
Who is paying them? AEMO etc?
The Taxpayer is footing the bill for this garbage!
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT is paying companies NOT to operate because of lack of electricity generation!
Wind, Solar, Tidal are all useless intermittent energy supplies, between 8 and 80 times more expensive than coal!
No wonder Pratt is opening Visy in the USA! He’s getting paid also not to open on Saturday!
180
Smells a lot like socialism to me.
80
More like political corruption.
40
Dave,
Paid to shut down production?
Where did you see that? Their ABC doesn’t seem to say anything about it. Rather, it’s all under control according to this:
“Meanwhile, an Australian Energy Market Operator spokesman said there was “no short-term concern for this weekend” in terms of the risk of blackouts.
“Supply demand balance looks good across all regions and we will certainly be proactive in our communication should the balance become tight over summer,” he said.
According to AEMO, for every one degree over 38C there will be an additional 125 megawatts of demand.
The power system is under the most strain during the hours of 4:00pm and 7:00pm, which is when temperatures generally hit the forecast maximum.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-06/heatwave:-south-eastern-states-brace-for-soaring-temps/9307364
10
Fact or fiction?
If fact, the world needs to know!
00
5 Jan: Courier Mail: Queensland coal mining: Billion-dollar projects in pipeline for Surat and Galilee basins
by JOHN McCARTHY
A RACE valued at billions of dollars for Queensland has started among a handful of mining companies with the potential to dwarf Adani’s megamine.
GVK Hancock, in which Gina Rinehart has a minority stake, has revealed renewed interest in its Galilee Basin projects, while New Hope and Glencore have their sights on 2020 to 2022 for projects costing billions.
GVK cited a report from the International Energy Agency predicting stronger coal demand in 2022 and that Asian countries, including India, were expected to more than offset lower demand in other markets in Europe, America and China.
GVK has two Queensland projects, the $10 billion Alpha mine and rail line and the $6 billion Kevin’s Corner mine, and the renewed interest follows a major spike in coal demand, which has pushed thermal coal spot prices above $US100 a tonne.
The two mines at full production will produce around 60 million tonnes, more than double Adani’s first stage of 27.5 million tonnes…READ ON
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-coal-mining-billiondollar-projects-in-pipeline-for-surat-and-galilee-basins/news-story/0dfdab8ef9d4139443f2f096a5ecedc2
4 Jan: EconomicTimesIndia: Reuters: Asian coal prices hit late 2016 high amid huge shipping congestion
Asian benchmark thermal coal prices have pushed to their highest levels since 2016, fuelled by demand in China and loading delays in Indonesia that have ramped up shipping congestion outside major coal ports.
Spot cargo prices for Australian Newcastle coal have risen nearly 15 percent from lows in late November after China loosened import restrictions to help meet a winter fuel shortage…
Traders said strong orders from India have also supported prices, which hit $105.65 per tonne on Wednesday, the highest since November 2016.
“India is buying throughout Q1, which means the shortage is not expected to end any time soon,” said a coal trader with a major trading house, who declined to be named…
https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/coal/asian-coal-prices-hit-late-2016-high-amid-huge-shipping-congestion/62366301
20
3 Jan: Power Mag: Darrell Proctor: Spanish Government Takes Steps to Support Coal-fired Generation
Iberdrola’s global strategy to close its remaining coal-fired power plants has met with government opposition in its home country of Spain.
Days after Iberdrola, the country’s largest utility, said it would close its last two coal plants in the country, the government said it might step in to keep the plants operating. The country’s Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda in late November said it could seek a legislative veto on coal plant closures, saying the shutdowns threaten the security of Spain’s electricity supply, a similar argument to that used by the Trump administration’s Department of Energy (DOE) with its support of changes to pricing in U.S. electricity markets, designed to prop up struggling coal and nuclear facilities…
Álvaro Nadal, Spain’s energy minister, recently reiterated to Iberdrola that the government’s opposition to closing the coal plants is firm. In the wake of the government’s action, the European Commission has begun investigating Spain’s state aid for coal-fired power plants to determine whether it is in line with European Union (EU) rules, according to EURACTIV Spain. Environmental group WWF Spain in a statement said the government is trying a “desperate move” to block the country’s transition to a “100% renewable and fossil-free future.”…
“If you pollute, you pay—this is a long-standing principle in EU environmental law. EU State aid rules do not allow member states to relieve companies of this responsibility using taxpayer money,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement…
Energy analysts have said opposition to the closure is being led by labor unions fearful their members will lose jobs and by Spain’s powerful coal-mining lobby…
Coal-fired generation in Spain served about 17% of the country’s electricity demand from January to October 2017, according to government figures, second only to nuclear power and double that of hydropower. Regulators argue the country needs coal to guarantee a baseload supply of power. They pointed to nuclear outages in France this year and record low hydro output as evidence of coal-fired power’s importance…
Enel, the world’s largest utility in terms of customers, has faced political opposition to its closures in Italy, and still needs government officials to sign off on the retirement of units in Genoa and Bastardo…
http://www.powermag.com/spanish-government-takes-steps-to-support-coal-fired-generation/
40
This winter will concentrate a few minds in Europe. Poland is close to open revolt against EU rules on coal fired. Germany needs coal fired as neighbouring countries become less and less willing to supply during periods of low generation by renewables (e.g. in cold overcast weather). They would like to replace their nuclear and coal by gas fired, but that would mean becoming more dependent on Russia. Besides the Energiewende has practically wiped out their CCGTs as the variable renewables supply forces up the running costs.
A lot of Europe is finding that the higher demand for natural gas isn’t helping. Coal now looks cheaper. Greece for example is installing 2 new coal fired stations to use local (dirty, low grade) coal and save foreign exchange, despite their hopes of a new offshore gas field (as per Israel and Egypt). Spain went close to national bankruptcy through a boom in renewables, and they won’t want to lose jobs and depend on foreign fuel supplies in a ‘sellers market’.
A blackout in Scotland (or England) would be the end of any enthusiasm for renewables. And across the Atlantic coal in the USA is starting to expand again, and places like New England are suffering gas shortages. The more the climate cools and the Democratic governments there insist on renewables, the faster people will migrate away.
30
4 Jan: HellenicShippingNews: Reuters: Chinese coking coal futures jump as mills restock
Chinese coking coal futures extended gains on Wednesday as steel mills accelerated restocking of the raw material on concerns that snows forecast for northern regions could disrupt transportation.
Coking coal futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose as much as 3 percent to 1,372 yuan ($210.90) a tonne before closing at 1,352 yuan a tonne, up 2 percent…
Some coke producers in Shanxi province, China’s top coke producing region, have been ordered to raise production to increase coke oven gas that can be turned into liquefied natural gas, also boosting appetite for coking coal…
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/chinese-coking-coal-futures-jump-as-mills-restock/
4 Jan: EasternEye: Gupta expands steel interests with Australian coal mine
BRITISH Indian businessman Sanjeev Gupta’s firm is set to purchase Tahmoor, an Australian coal mine belonging to Glencore…
The latest deal comes after Gupta last year bought the financially troubled Wyhalla steel works in southern Australia, as part of his plan to build an integrated steel business by purchasing the unwanted assets of other companies.
He added: “Through this purchase we secure and de-risk an important feed for the Whyalla Steelworks. This, together with our iron ore mines in South Australia, now makes GFG the only fully-integrated Australian steel producer, whether from iron ore and coking coal to primary steel, or from scrap metal and renewable energy to green steel.”…
40
5 Jan: Washington Examiner: Can America’s power grid withstand a brutal winter?
by Terry Jarrett
(Terry M. Jarrett is an energy attorney and consultant who has served on both the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the Missouri Public Service Commission)
New England faces the added challenge of lacking sufficient natural gas pipeline capacity to cover increased electricity usage during the latest cold snap. In contrast, however, some areas of the country have been able to ramp up more successfully — thanks to robust coal capacity. PJM Markets (LINK) reports that coal cranked out 47,000 megawatts of electricity this past weekend, compared to only 21,000 MW for natural gas. And nuclear power also exceeded gas-fired power generation, delivering roughly 35,000 MW. Notably, wind turbines offered only a paltry 3,000 MW.
Coal and nuclear plants have long anchored baseload power generation in the United States. And clearly, during the current chill they are proving their mettle — with all of America’s 99 nuclear power stations in operation right now to help keep the grid intact.
There’s an important lesson here — akin to the old adage “You don’t miss your water until your well runs dry.” The renewable energy crowd that haughtily lobbies for a wide-eyed transition to wind and solar believes the nation can simply close down coal plants and make a bold leap into “green energy.” But as the latest round of frigid weather demonstrates, it’s a very good thing to have sturdy, baseload power on hand when it’s suddenly needed.
All of this doubly matters because America has lost an unprecedented amount of baseload capacity in recent years. Since 2010, more than 60 gigawatts of coal capacity has disappeared — enough electricity to power 40 million homes. And by 2020, an estimated 80 gigawatts of coal capacity will have been shut down.
Thankfully, Energy Secretary Rick Perry has identified (LINK) this pressing concern for the nation’s power sector…
In a week, FERC is slated to make a decision on Perry’s proposal…
Coal and nuclear plants still produce 50 percent of the nation’s electricity, and they are indeed working overtime right now to keep the grid afloat. Thus, Secretary Perry is wise to take a real-world approach to future energy use.
Polling (LINK) shows that 70 percent of voters favor a diverse mix of fuel sources to maintain grid reliability and affordable power. And so, coal and nuclear power must continue to serve as sturdy twin pillars of a reliable, national electric grid. And with the population of the United States continually growing, it makes sense to upgrade existing baseload plants over the long term — to ensure that the nation can continue to keep its lights on and its homes, schools, and hospitals warm.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/can-americas-power-grid-withstand-a-brutal-winter/article/2644952
50
pat:
Sorry, replied to your post 11 before reading this one.
10
How many coal-fired power stations must Victoria close before Victoria prevents it’s first single hottest day in two years?
http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/major-manufacturing-may-have-to-shut-down-this-weekend-to-stop-power-blackouts/news-story/af7422d121cf4a35603b13e12dcf5233
60
OT but too good to not throw it in .
How hot does it have to get before a major freeway is closed because the bitumen melts ?
Just over 30c and they missed a chance to blame it on global warming !
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-05/hume-freeway-melts-in-heat-in-victoria/9307344
80
Has the quality of that stretch of road been inspected? No road built in Australia should melt at such a relatively low temperature.
20
***this is the rubbish you will hear on partially taxpayer-funded SBS, via CAGW-infested AAP:
5 Jan: SBS: AAP: Australian trade slumps to $628m deficit
Australia’s trade slumped to a $628 million deficit in November, as weaker coal and grain exports combined with increased imports for the worst result in more than a year…
A 26 per cent lift in metals exports was also partially offset by a two per cent drop off coal, coke and briquettes, as China’s ***environmental focus weighed on thermal coal volumes…
reality:
20 Dec 2016: Reuters: Keith Wallis: Ships in a bottleneck: China, Australia ports clogged as coal, iron ore demand soars
SINGAPORE – More than 300 large dry cargo ships are having to wait outside Chinese and Australian ports in a maritime traffic jam that spotlights bottlenecks in China’s huge and global commodity supply chain as demand peaks this winter.
With some vessels waiting to load coal and iron ore outside Australian ports for over a month, key charter rates have jumped to their highest in more than three years. Placed end-to-end, the total delayed fleet would stretch more than 40 miles, enough to span the English Channel from Dover to Calais and back…
“There are some ports in east Australia that have 80 vessels anchored, which translate into 20-25 days of delay and congestion,” said Ziad Nakhleh, managing director of Greek ship owner Teo Shipping.
Shippers and brokers said the delays were typical, especially during the peak demand winter season, as bad weather including fog and strong winds in China and infrastructure issues in Australia exacerbate increased demand for vessels to satisfy China’s soaring minerals appetite.
Australian ports affected include Queensland export terminals at Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay, where there are 76 capesize and panamax vessels – named for being the largest size than can navigate the Panama Canal – waiting to load, according shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon…
Once finally loaded, most ships will head to China, where some vessels have already waited over two weeks to unload, according to shipping data…
***Adding to the congestion is a coal and iron ore buying spree that kicked in after the National Congress of China’s communist party in October…
China’s December coal imports are set to hit 28 million tonnes, the highest since December 2013, according to Ralph Leszczynski, head of research at ship broker Banchero Costa in Singapore.
***For all of 2017, China is on course to import 220.2 million tonnes of coal, up 10 percent year-on-year, according to shipping services firm Clarkson…
The strong demand for iron ore and coal adds to already soaring Chinese consumption of oil and natural gas, most of which is also imported. That’s a boon for a shipping industry that is struggling to recover from on of its worst-ever downturns…
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-shipping-china-jam/ships-in-a-bottleneck-china-australia-ports-clogged-as-coal-iron-ore-demand-soars-idUSKBN1EE0ZD
40
Would like to see a simple graph showing the percentages of solar and wind vs electricity prices over the same time period I.e. 2003-present.
50
I just had a look at nemwatch the diesel generators are now running in SA and small solar is still supplying some power.
50
‘An Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) spokesman said there was “no short-term concern for this weekend”.
“Supply demand balance looks good across all regions and we will certainly be proactive in our communication should the balance become tight over summer,” he said.’
Weatherzone
10
OMG sewage is de-oxygenating the water & Climate Change is to blame enthuses the Guardian with:-
“Oceans suffocating as huge dead zones quadruple since 1950, scientists warn
Areas starved of oxygen in open ocean and by coasts have soared in recent decades, risking dire consequences for marine life and humanity
Ocean dead zones with zero oxygen have quadrupled in size since 1950, scientists have warned, while the number of very low oxygen sites near coasts have multiplied tenfold. Most sea creatures cannot survive in these zones and current trends would lead to mass extinction in the long run, risking dire consequences for the hundreds of millions of people who depend on the sea.
Climate change caused by fossil fuel burning is the cause of the large-scale deoxygenation, as warmer waters hold less oxygen. The coastal dead zones result from fertiliser and sewage running off the land and into the seas.
The analysis, published in the journal Science, is the first comprehensive analysis of the areas and states: “Major extinction events in Earth’s history have been associated with warm climates and oxygen-deficient oceans.” Denise Breitburg, at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in the US and who led the analysis, said: “Under the current trajectory that is where we would be headed. But the consequences to humans of staying on that trajectory are so dire that it is hard to imagine we would go quite that far down that path.”
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And if they treated their sewerage what effect would that have on the oceans?
As for the oceans turning anoxic I draw your attention to the Coelacanth, a deep sea fish which survived the (supposed) anoxic oceans during the end Permian mass extinction, as well as the end Triassic mass extinction and the end Cretaceous mass extinction.
There are a number of marine animals that survived many of those events.
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Thanks Eddie,
I love this bit:
” Climate change caused by fossil fuel burning is the cause of the large-scale deoxygenation, as warmer waters hold less oxygen. ”
I wonder if they know a guy called Henry was made famous by having a Law named after him, and that Law included CO2?
Cheers,
Dave B
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Isn’t Bill Shock what was expected under Electricity Bill Shorten. How could the Libs. have let it come to this on their watch?
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Gullibility and stupidity.
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ABC’s agenda is always uppermost:
5 Jan: ABC: Adani $1b loan bid was likely to fail key criteria for NAIF approval
By Josh Robertson
Adani’s bid for a $1 billion taxpayer-funded loan may have been doomed even before it was scuppered by Queensland’s Palaszczuk Government, the Productivity Commission has said.
The miner’s proposed Galilee Basin rail line faced rejection by the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) because it may have failed key hurdles, the commission’s latest bulletin suggested.
However, the commission is yet to analyse a rival NAIF loan bid by rail operator Aurizon, which the State Government will also consider blocking in line with an election promise relating to Adani.
It comes as environmental activists plan to target Aurizon over its rail proposal, which would set up an export route for Adani.
State Labor told lobby group GetUp! during the election campaign in November it would veto “any NAIF loan” that enabled Adani’s coal project…
Galilee Blockade spokesman Ben Pennings said the protest group would be “making sure (Labor) rule out Aurizon’s proposed loan to keep this election promise”.
“Now Downer is out and Adani are on the ropes, our focus is to prevent a railway to any proposed mine in the Galilee Basin.”…
EXCERPTS FROM COMMENTS –
by Lachlan:
However, providing electricity to the poor of India is a furphy. The cheapest new-build of electricity is solar. Also, distributed generation doesn’t require transmission lines. One of the big problems with India’s power system is the transmission (and distribution) network, rather than the generation…
by Lachlan:
The mine will not only destroy the reef through its immediate pollution. It will also cause more bleaching. Bleaching never happened until late in the 20th century, and recently it has been almost a yearly occurrence.
This bleaching was predicted. It occurred. We should trust the predictions that say it will get worse. The bleaching will come further south as the ocean warms.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-05/adani-loan-bid-likely-to-fail-before-palaszczuk-intervention/9305040
reality…India can’t get enough of it:
5 Jan: SteelGuru: Livemint: Coal India assures ICPPA of coal supply
Coal India chairman and managing director Mr Gopal Singh along with other senior officials held a meeting with members of ICPPA in Delhi on Tuesday, a person privy to the development said. In India, captive power producers’ capacity stands at 40,000 mega watts and about 30,000 MW is produced by using coal, which is about 75%…
Earlier, the ICPPA had urged the government to ensure coal availability, saying most CPPs are facing severe shortage of the fuel, which may lead to closure of plants. The body had said that the dry fuel must be supplied by Coal India Ltd to CPPs at the same rate at which it is being given to the IPPs…
https://steelguru.com/auto/coal-india-assures-icppa-of-coal-supply/499122?type=coal
VIDEO: 5 Jan: MoneyControl India: from CNBC TV18: Looking to outbeat dispatches achieved in December 2017: Coal India
Coal India has reported their highest ever monthly dispatches in December. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Gopal Singh, CMD of the company discussed what the outlook for the remaining FY18 is.
TRANSCRIPT:
Sonia: Can you give us what the targets could be in terms of dispatches for the rest of the year on top of 53.8 million tonne per month that you have done this time?
Gopal Singh: Every month we will be creating a milestone in terms of the highest ever dispatches. So January, February, March, all these months are going to be very good for Coal India.
Sonia: Can you give us some numbers, what kind of dispatches are achievable and what would you be targeting per day?
Gopal Singh: We will be dispatching about 56-57 million tonne very month more than this, this is the minimum.
Latha: To achieve your 600 million metric tonne target for FY18, you have to do actually 59 million tonne every month, achievable?
Gopal Singh: That is what I told you that 57 million tonne plus every month we will be dispatching.
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/companies/looking-to-outbeat-dispatches-achieved-in-december-2017-coal-india-2476149.html
4 Jan: SteelGuru: Coal India December production achieves 93pct of target
Coal India Ltd announced that it had achieved 93% of targeted production for the month of December 2017. Production for the month stood at 54.63 million tonne, a 1.6% increase yoy. So far CIL and its subsidiaries have produced 383.9mt of coal, which stands at 94% of required production. CIL was given a production target of 600mt for FY18, an annual growth of 8.3% over FY17. Thus, there is a strong possibility that CIL would miss its production target…
CIL plans to grow volumes by 9% in FY18E to cater to domestic as well as export demand. It is in talks with neighbouring countries like Bangladesh to export coal…
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4 Jan: Breitbart: James Delingpole: The Frozen U.S. Is Paying a Terrible Price for Green Lies
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/01/04/delingpole-the-frozen-u-s-is-paying-a-terrible-price-for-green-lies/
4 Jan: ClimateDepot: Marc Morano: Al Gore: ‘Bitter cold’ is ‘exactly what we should expect from the climate crisis’
http://www.climatedepot.com/2018/01/04/al-gore-bitter-cold-is-exactly-what-we-should-expect-from-the-climate-crisis/
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According to Australia’s ‘State Of The Energy Market’, coal fired power generates 76% of all Australia’s power, and that actually seems to have risen again in recent times.
That’s around 155TWH of power a year, and the simple maths equates that to a daily average of 17,700MW at any one time throughout the day.
When you add on gas fired power at 7% of total generated power, you have 83% of every watt of power being consumed coming from CO2 emitting sources.
That has gone up, not down.
They can say whatever they want to about renewables.
Until they can supply those levels of power on a constant basis, they’ve got NOTHING.
If that data shows one thing, that is that when you want REAL electrical power run things, that can only be from one source.
Tony.
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“They’ve got NOTHING”. You do have a knack of getting to the Nub of it Tony.
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Why am I not surprised by Jo’s revelations above?
Because back on Feb 2nd 2017, the University of Portsmouth economic researchers released an economics paper in Psy-org titled ;Study suggests choice between green energy or economic growth
In fact I have posted the name and the URL of this paper at least twice here on Jo’s site in the last year.
But there was no discussion and seemingly no interest nor even a modicum of interest displayed and if in what I regarded as a very pointed indicator on where the economic future of Australia was going to be if we just kept right on slithering down into the Renewable Energy economic and social abyss without even trying to consider the long term consequences.
And where these utterly irrational, free of all evidence and justification for their imposition on the Australian people without discussion or debate for their implementation and where it would all go to if the whole crazy stupidity drive towards Renewable energy all went the proverbial tits up due to economic failure and social disruption.
If there might have been such a public discussion begun out side of the green’s incessant and ignnorant howling at the coal powered moon, it has been quite deliberately suppressed by a blatantly ignorant, totally bigoted, frequently lying Main Stream Media who have come to believe they are the true rulers of Australia and can dictate what and how and when Australians will, not only be expected to live, work, speak, behave, treat others and etc but will if necessary to be forced to conform to the medias and the socialistic elites leftist social ideology where only the elites are allowed to give free reign to their ideology and beliefs.
There has never been to my knowedge any discussion , any background prepared on how we as a nation were going to extract ourselves and our nation from out of the potential economic disaster zone we are being led down, forceably driven down in fact, without any of the common folk who are by far the most affected and most vulnerable to the elites actions and decisions and who have had NO say at all or any input at all into the direction that our nation is being taken down, note “down” ,not “up,” by our incomphrehensively incompetent political, academic, media and bureacratic elite.
The whole of the current and developing economic and social debacle and potentially disastrous economically and socially dangerous situation has been engineered entirely by a selfie admiring, self satisfied, arrogant “we smarter than you”, elitist academic ,political, media and green elite who in reality are so completely ignorant of the basic and vital civilisation, technology based, support systems and who are on the brink of finding out for themselves their own level of utter incompetency and ignorance of the most basic facts a that keep a civilisation going the distaste turning to outright contempt by the common folk when so many of their claims on climate , on cheap and readily available energy from coal, on strident anti coal without a shred of evidence to prove that coal is highly beneficial to humanity in nearlty every aspect.
The green. political and bureacratic and media elites vicious attitudes towards coal which has given mankind so much in cheap reliable energy for nearly three centuries counts for nought with the abject ignorance of the green and political elites.
That anti coal fanaticsm and the promotion of Renewable Energy with all the inherent and unpredictability characteristics that are in direct opposition to the role of coal in building our civilisation and our societies.
The rapid immigration of non compatible racial groups in large numbers ito Australia, without any real discussion and inputs by the people of the streets ,the deliberate destruction of long established societal cultural memes , the deliberate attacking of the Christian heritage on which so much of western civilisation has been based on in favour of a religious group and its ideology that spells out the deliberate destruction of any other beliefs and believers and societal structures other than its own.
And so much more just proves up up the almost complete failure of Australia’s present political and moral leadership and its strident avoidance of taking any resonsibility what so ever for the increasing failures by our political representatives to actually rule Australia and to hold to the moral and ethical cores and the glue and its meme that bind society’s together as a nation and as a people.
And to cap it all off, others have been having a long hard look and in fact have experienced the disaters that evolve fron focussing on a immensely costly , unreliable , unforecastable, relatively “short term economic generating life energy systems in Renewable Wind and Solar and battery storage energy systems from which they are now begining to back away from as the the economic and social costs are being realised and are now becoming impossible to justify under just about any circumstances.
But here in Australia , the sheer blind to reality, bull headness and ignorant obstinacy apparently prevents the elites from checking on and re-searching all of this is available for perusal information of the Renewable energy and its economic and social costs on the internet as are innnumerable contact sources of every persuasion which point out all the failings that others have been through in this utter stupidity of the so called Renewable energy where people, particularly those of the lowest social strata don’t count at all for the pompous, strutting, self promoting “virtue signalling” by the political and academic and environmental elite.
And in the end the brazeness of elitist ” virtue signallers” really comes out when they can’t even articulate or show even a smidgin of verifiable evidence that all their posturing, all their grandiose displays of “virtue signalling” , all of their incessant propaganda has no measureable or observable effect on the earth’s climate for over thirty years past.
BUT there is irrefutable evidence covering more than three decades now that those same anti-human condescending elites in their arrogant and utterly selfish contempt for others have destroyed untold wealth and the hopes and dreams for better life for millions of ordinary people on this planet through their casual contempt for the fate and future of their fellow man.
All the time whilst ensuring that they themselves would continue to enjoy the good life and enjoy their contempt as human beings for all those peasants in the flynover country .
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From the economic’s article above on the relationship between national Renewable energy installation levels and national economic gains or losses this post started of with;
Study suggests choice between green energy or economic growth
Some Quotes from the article;
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Would love to share your post with the public outside of this blog, ROM, but very few that would see it on FB would have the attention span or basic intellect to take any of it in !
Even here, 5 green thumbs is pathetic !
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ROM … you are dead right … we are on a one way trip to economic ruin and lower standard of living with this renewable craziness.
Do not, however, overlook the fact that all this is happening by design … the drive to a global socialist one world government … all funded by the carbon and emission trading taxes. At the same time the unions (here), global banks and renewables manufacturers all get filthy rich …. ripping off the taxpayers through government subsidies to keep the scam afloat.
This is just another wealth re-distribution scheme.
We as a nation will get poorer and the middle class backbone of Australia will be broken. All for the global warming, renewable scam that seems a religion … and the media pump out the propaganda daily to give the impression the Earth is melting … and we humans are to blame.
State after State (Tasmania, Victoria, SA, Qld) has all announced their renewable targets … the costs to taxpayers will cripple us
And as you have found … nothing will happen to stop the madness … because no seems to care … apathy … and all the while the scammers (and politicians) line their pockets with money that should be building infrastructure and investing in the future prosperity of Australia.
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We are getting poorer by design …. the global socialists and the corporate elite (eg Goldman Sachs) WANT us poorer so they can enrich themselves and fund the UN’s NWO … OWG
Turnbull is THEIR representative here in Australia … it’s not in his interest to deliver cheap clean coal technology to Australia … he WANTS us poor through expensive power ..
Sounds shocking? … then just check the UN Agenda 2030 objectives .. it’s their own documents that spell out how they intend to impoverish us and enslave us … and by that I mean the middle class Australians …
The stinking rick multi-millionaires only see us as serfs …
Ask Turnbull why he keeps standing by the PROVEN inadequate renewable energy !!
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Climate Crisis? Al Gore and Michael Mann Fail Science 101
In this post I will address Michael Mann’s assertion that record cold temperatures are the result of man-made CO2 as detailed in a recent Climate Reality Project article, mentioned by Al Gore in his “Tweet.” Before I go any further, without addressing any of his claims, the important take home is that even if Al Gore and Michael Mann are 100% correct in their analysis and conclusion, the solutions they offer will only make matters worse.
If CO2 causes more draught, biofuels like Ethanol are idiotic solutions as best.
If CO2 causes more rain, then solar is an idiotic solution at best.
https://co2islife.wordpress.com/2018/01/05/climate-crisis-al-gore-and-michael-mann-fail-science-101/
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