What destroys a grid faster than than a socialist electricity system? A semi-socialist system that pretends to be a free market.
This hybrid monster combines the worst of both socialism and capitalism at the same time. Socialists get the power to destroy, then capitalists can use self serving interest to make it happen faster.
The socialist managers can pick loser options (wind and solar), rig the market, and also conveniently blame the market when things go wrong. In a pure socialist system, at least the public know who created the mess.
What socialism created — socialism can partly solve
In a free market Liddell’s cheap coal power would not be closing in 2022. Since we have no free market, and can’t suddenly create one, the only band-aid option is to buy the damn asset back:
If someone suggested that $3 billion in consumer-funded subsidies be paid to one energy source every year for the next 12 years, and if that one energy source was guaranteed significant market share for every one of those years, and if there were hundreds of millions of dollars available in grants and concessional loans to projects limited to that one energy source, would that policy approach qualify as a technology-neutral?
The millstone around the neck of Australia’s energy policy is the renewable energy target. It is a remarkably generous gift to wind and solar energy, and one that will keep on giving until 2030. It is impossible to debate energy policy sensibly without reference to the gold-plated pipeline of tens of billions of dollars of consumer and taxpayer-funded subsidies to the renewable sector.
Socialists cry “socialism” to stop government buying up coal asset (where were they when the government started forcing us to buy wind power?). Ron Boswell again:
Some have likened the option to socialism. Rubbish. The energy market was socialised by intervention a long time ago. A $45bn subsidy and guaranteed market share for renewables is not socialism? Would the car market be a real market if the government said 23 per cent of cars sold had to be a Tesla and that Tesla would receive a subsidy of $30,000 for every car sold?
In other fake news today Josh Socialist Frydenberg says he has “gained support” for the NEG (National Energy Grab) from the states. What he has achieved is that they all agree to meet again in four months and decide the hard stuff then.
RHIAN DEUTROM
The government’s cornerstone energy policy has passed its latest hurdle, with a commitment from states and territories to continue detailed design work. It gives ministers who identified concerns with aspects of the National Energy Guarantee a four month reprieve to push for changes before the federal government’s deadline for a decision in August.
So we get the “shock” result that no state in Australia wanted to secede, and State Ministers are happy to keep attending meetings.
Just heard little Bill say that electricity prices are going up because of uncertainty but I’m sure Hazelwood had something to do with it .
421
I heard that Richard Di Natale admit he’s not interested in lowering electricity prices and a secure energy guarantee for the nation. He’s adamant that we must save the planet from CAGW first and foremost. He is either a fool or worse.
650
That.man.is.a.complete.moron
320
As are the % of the population that vote for the Ganggreens. Why they get so much media attention beats me. They are irrelevant & support for them is shrinking. Ignore them & the rants of the “leader”! Won’t happen of course because the MSM really don’t know how to report anything else….that’s why their support is also waning at an ever increasing pace!
230
You have to understand there are many people who are fools, ignorant, evil or just plain dumb, or any mixture of the above. So it’s not really surprising to see the % of Green supporters. If a party was formed that stood for the complete destruction of the West and the instigation of a Marxist totalitarian regime I’m sure we would see a small but not too insignificant % of supporters (which is effectively the Greens anyway). Likewise for a far-right wing party. In fact the far right-wing Golden Dawn party in Greece hold 18 of the 300-seat Hellenic parliament. The Coalition of the Radical Left hold 145 and the Communist Party hold 15. If Greece, which is typically more left leaning than Australian can accommodate a far-right wing party as the third most popular one then I’m almost certain we could have one here too. Interesting that we don’t have the Australian version of the Golden Dawn Party, which does exist, not running for elections as far as I know, not that I would support them – far from it. It would be interesting to see how much support they would get compared to the Greens.
90
for completeness, the New Democracy party in Greece is the second most popular party and hold 75 seats.
50
Part of the reason the Gangrenous Greens get so much media coverage is that many in the media are Green (when they are not being yellow).
The ABC has a significant number of Gangrenous Greens as “employees”.
190
Thank God he has given up doctoring!
110
Alen,
I wonder how many of his past mistakes have been buried?
90
You’re too kind.
10
No , he has the brain of a twelve year old, which is why the Greens are trying, yet again , to lower the voting age. I think most primary school children would vote green to “save the planet “…
10
Hey,Big Spender!
70
Both, and very dangerous when given a platform to enact his caustic perception of the world and its inhabitants.
Men may change their climate, but they cannot change their nature. A man that goes out a fool cannot ride or sail himself into common sense. Joseph Addison
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/fool
50
Follow the money!
How many shares does he have in ‘green’ energy companies and what is in his carbon credit portfolio? Guys like that are only in it for the money.
120
Worse.
Don’t underestimate him as a fool.
100
Peter,
He certainly is not the classical fool. He has an agenda and is very dedicated to it. He may fall in the worse category because he apparently never questioned the evidence or lack thereof that supports his desire to save the planet.
There’s more to it. I find it hard to believe that someone with the intelligence it takes to hold down a position of considerable responsibility can fail to notice that all the predictions made because global warming was assumed as a given have failed to come true. So it’s hard to believe his motive is not selfish, plain old power, greed, lust for money, whatever it is and has nothing to do with saving the planet.
Such people are very dangerous.
100
Yep, where is Tony when we need him?
210
I think he’s given up. He probably now understands it’s necessary for the crash and burn scenario to play out before things get better as we come out of the ashes.
380
Keep the faith!!
https://www.corbettreport.com/episode-322-what-is-sustainable-development/
60
Peter Dutton said the NEG is “elegant”, which further illustrates that he is unfit to be PM and also explains his drift in the betting market.
310
Its an elegant was of putting the country into a socialist straight jacket….
Looks like the green recycling nonsense will continue, despite solid economics saying otherwise…
The Cause, Comrades….the Cause….
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-20/ipswich-council-backflips-on-dumping-recycling/9681682
“The Council said on Wednesday China’s import ban on recycling and the rising level of contaminated or non-recyclable rubbish in yellow bins meant it had become too costly for the city to recycle, so from now everything placed in yellow bins would go straight to landfill.
More than half of the items being placed in Ipswich yellow bins has been unrecyclable waste, and the city’s kerbside collections had already been going to landfill for four weeks.
Ipswich Mayor Andrew Antoniolli said the Council was looking to utilise a provision in the Local Government Act which would allow the employment of a short-term recycling contractor.
“We have been upfront with the people of Ipswich, and we have proudly sparked a national debate on council waste management practice. This is an issue of global significance, and our position is strong,” he said.”
80
Australia needs some power generating high temp incinerators.
For few wonderful years I lived in a very green centric part of Europe.
The local recycling centre was a site to behold. Fully paved with skips full of everything from sorted colur wine bottles (so many wine bottles), batteries, balls of alfoil etc. Garbage went to a high temp incinerator in woodlands above the town, its output was invisible except through winter when it put of a steam plume. The national recycling system expended real effort to ensure effective (and costly) recycling, rather than dumping stuff on China and brushing their hands and thinking their job was done.
191
When has economics won a debate in Australia since Howard, in 2006?
When has economics even been properly faithfully debated, or reported in a public policy context since Howard for that matter?
240
When has a politician really ever understood economics?
Perhaps with the exception of John Stone.
80
SS
I’m battling my way through Dani Rodrik “The globalisation paradox”.
From that you could pose that question as “When has an economist understood economics”.
80
John Stone was a senior public servant head of Treasury when he and Fraser Coalition Government Treasurer John Howard created their major economic reform plan that was endorsed by Economics Professor Campbell in his Report.
The Fraser Government lost office in 1983 just as the recession caused by the Whitlam Labor Government had ended, handing over to the Hawke Labor Government that adopted the Campbell Report as did the Lange Labour Government if New Zealand.
With full Coalition Opposition support the implementation legislation bills started to be passed and actioned from 1985.
60
John Stone subsequently became a Senator for Queensland representing the National Party from 1987 to 1990.
40
Campbell Newman, Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey made positive efforts to reign in debt, but were crucified for their attempts.
By none other than the once great Liberal Party of Australia, now totally destroyed by Turnbull.
240
Crucified is the right word, and ignoring that the Hockey Budget delivered in May 2014 was a Labor Budget repair exercise for 2014/15 and extended into Forward Estimate Years ahead to lower the deficit and debt and aiming for an economic recovery.
90
One of the big problems with labor is they tend to spend like drunken sailors and then when the Libs get in it seems like not only do they have to repair the financial mess left to them they go a bit extra to make sure there’s suffering for the ones who voted against them .
Hockey went a bit too hard a bit too fast and saying poor people didn’t drive cars didn’t help the cause one little bit .
20
Really poor people don’t drive cars.
THAT IS A FACT.
80
They did a terrible job of selling that budget. It’s worth looking back on as an example of what not to do.
10
It puzzles me as to why a mainstream political party wants to be a fringe or minor party in our political system , and it all started with Howard .
The Libs will become an unelectable rabble more hated than the greens .
140
“We are manipulating the market to get renewable energy onto the market.” Barnaby Joyce (member of the ginger group).
He recognises the socialist implications of government distorting the market, we just have to educate him on the science and Barnaby can be our champion.
By the way, the Greens will probably get a boost at the next election with their drug law reform platform.
90
Free drugs and a basic wage no matter what ! Hell even I will vote for that .
32
What I do in my sanctum is MY business! If I want to smoke pot or shoot smack is my right.I will not be told what to do by no.-one. I am the arbiter. Stuff the mob who would insert themselves.
46
Sure thing Glen.
Just make sure you’ve paid up your private health cover, so that I don’t have to cover the costs of your decisions.
210
Just saying.
10
OZ is EU Mark II – destined for economic demise.
In the EU’s case at least they are not as blessed with fossil fuel & uranium resources.
In Oz’s case – no excuse – ample fossil fuel & uranium resources – but we are exporting them and using little of these valuable resources for own benefit, ie providing guaranteed cheap & reliable base load energy generation. A recipe for “Economic Growth”.
While the Oz Economy heads south in the future expect most of our neighbours, not going down the “Hari Kari RE path”, to flourish utilizing our exported LNG, coal & uranium e.g. China, India and most of S.E. Asia.
Thank you very much our Australian Govt (not). You state that you are going down this destructive path because the “OZ Chief Scientist Dr Tinkel, I mean Dr Finkel”, says that it is imperative to reduce our carbon emissions – no matter what the price. Well the price will be a “Dysfunctional EU Mark II Type Economy!!!!”
The Turnbull Govt is wreaking havoc with our fine country applying “leftie feel good” policies which in reality equates to “Gross Economic Vandalism!!!”. Heavens knows how bad the “Oz Economy” will get if the ALP win Govt in late 2019. They will be the “Terminator with their key weapon being the 50% RET by 2030 and likely to be up-graded to a higher calibre weapon e.g. 75% RET by 2030 or sooner.
Unfortunately this is not fiction – it is real – and it seems we won’t be able to stop the inevitable mayhem that lays ahead.
360
The good? news is that a new credit cruch is coming. Currently we pay 16 billion in interest on the borrowings of the last 10 years, and as interest rates climb (to 5-6%) this will double. The reaction of both major parties will be to spend their way out of recession, so the deficit will accelerate and there will be even less money left to pay for welfare and public servant salaries. Then they will find that no-one will lend Australia more money except on onerous terms. I expect the pollies to accept these initially (as they don’t have to pay for them personally) and then, as the public realise what is happening, resign and depart overseas to various tax havens with as much cash as they can grab. So we can get a new lot of pollies to try and sort out the disaster.
250
If what you say is indeed heading our way….
I predict you will see workers Super “nest eggs” being snavelled to pay down the debt…
Have said it for years…and with nothing reversing in this “stupidly run” Country……the odds have shortened.
180
Yes well a smsf makes sense at that point…watch them change the rules to stop smsfs and allow them to raid our super to fund yet another usless bl**dy war on terrorism or something as equally useless and pointless…beat the war drum and watch the plebs sign up their kids to be shipped off to sone foreign country and “cause”…lunacy….youd reckon after multiple world wars people would have wised up by now…bah…
90
The odds have “Shortened”….
110
The answer, clearly, is the exciting new solar+wind+lithium-to-hydrogen-to-pumped-storage-to-whatsy technology. It’s what all Australians want, from Darling Point to Bowral. Each power bill will be cheaper than the next, and that’s guaranteed.
Malcolm is modelling a new hard hat and fluoro jacket as we speak. Joshie says he looks like one of the tough kids in the orange. Julie prefers the lemon fluoro.
251
mmmm because thats where all Australians live, between Darling Point and Bowral
61
“Oz fast tracking to RE” – not as disastrous as Canada doing likewise. During the last Ice Age (~110ka – 11.7Ka) nearly 100% of Canada was covered by ice (Laurentide & Cordilleran Ice Sheets). When the next LI inevitably returns I wonder how Canada’s RE grid will cope? I would suggest they have very good relations with their southern neighbour. Mind you the northern USA states will also be ice bound. Manhattan again covered in ice as those “glacial erratic boulders in Central Park” bear testament to.
80
Typo: LI should read IA.
20
It’s likely that, without the climate beat-up and crony capitalism which feeds off it, we’d be discussing this a lot more:
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellomistid#/media/File:Ice_Age_Temperature.png
There seems to be a conscious effort from the Common Enemy of Mankind (my new term for the media) to avoid discussion of recent climate and keep the focus either on remote eras or the present. In other words, we are encouraged to step too close to the picture to see or stand too far back to see.
Recent – ie last half-million years – conditions consist of ice age punctuated by warm bumps. The bumps tend to be pointy but not broad at all. Our whole civilisation has occurred at the top of this latest bump and there is good reason to believe that a minor cooling (Bond Event due?) or complete reversion to ice age is not far off.
None of this requires “belief”. These are the facts long accepted by pre-post-modern science, or “science”. Post-modern science, or “scienciness”, doesn’t so much seek to deny these things as to distract from them. Thanks to the CEoM, it can do that.
While we fritter the billions on whirlygigs, Uphill Snowy and Pepe le Pew submarines in Poodle-land, the ice age is coming. Really. Might take a few centuries, might be preceded by just a cooling dip like the LIA. But in this sorta-friendly sliver of solar system, it has to come. You can’t cancel it. Really.
110
Socialism is one of the surest and fastest ways to destroy freedom and living standards for all but the extreme elite. History is definitive proof of it. Crash and burn for the masses here we come.
230
Voting ALP/Greens is a sure fire way to destroy living standards.
220
Voting Team Turdball isn’t any better. It just ensures a slower path to the inevitable.
290
Totally agree wal…..
I have accepted that the “train cannot be halted” ..whether it be driven by L/Libs of M/Labor/Green.
Only hope would be a Coalition of Conservative Parties but who, has the “leadership” to save a Nation?
Sadly it will have to be “economic destruction” for Aussies, to STOP being complacent.
181
Well this us why i have advocated voting for none if the globalist owned Labor, Liberal or Greens parties….
If anyone votes for them, they are IMHO complicit in destroying the country.
It will all end in tears…..
In years to come i suggest learning to shoot….it may be necessary…
110
I wonder what truly conservative party will rise from the ashes of the next election? The Libs are going to be decimated, very few ‘delcons’ will return to the fold, and the fence-sitters must surely be looking elsewhere if they intend voting for a conservative party.
When was the last time our debt levels were mentioned?
That has been put into the too hard basket!
130
Sorry to be a pedant wal1957, but “decimate” is not the correct word. Decimate means losing one in ten.
If the Liberal rabble only lose one in ten you will hear then saying they’ve had a major victory.
What I think you really mean is “slaughtered”, or perhaps “annihilated”.
Frankly, I’m starting to come around to OriginalSteve’s position – especially in my electorate where Julie Bishop in the local member. At least I can write on the ballot papers what I think they need to know.
180
Sam I’m pretty sure if you draw anything or write anything on the ballot paper other than a tick in the right box or a number in the right box it’s invalid a so called donkey vote .
These are distributed evenly among the major parties so you could end up giving your vote to labor .
30
Robert,
They are different things.
A Donkey vote is where the voter numbers the ballot paper sequentially from top to bottom ie 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc. That vote counts as a formal vote and the numbers on the ballot paper determine the preference flow for that ballot paper.
A message written on the ballot paper (or one left blank) makes that ballot paper informal, since it has “not been completed properly”, and is not counted.
https://www.aec.gov.au/Voting/Informal_Voting/
60
Yep you’re right not sure where I heard my info from but it was obviously NQR.
10
Craig Kelly is spokesman on energy for the Coalition back-bench and he said the NEG would force “otherwise uneconomic renewables into the grid.”
He has the ability to rise through the ranks and save the nation with his partisan policy on energy and climate, but I fear the states will cave-in and adopt the NEG.
100
I’m liking mr Kelly a lot .
50
Craig is good value and warns the pseudo Marxists that he’ll bring on a class action if AGL doesn’t sell Liddell.
80
Absolutely, who would have thought the Libs would go full retard socialists, no better than David Cameron’s skunks.
140
Joe Hockey obviously did.
He saw what was coming and pulled the plug on the imbeciles.
121
And his very safe Liberal seat of North Sydney displayed contempt for the Turnbull coup and most branch members declined from helping during the by election campaign. Turnbull poured his own money into the campaign hiring workers to undertake letter box pamphlet drops and election day voting tickets.
And the swing against the Liberal candidate was 13 per cent.
90
“This hybrid monster combines the worst of both socialism and capitalism…”
…it is named Globalism
350
Agree Clint. The most powerful statement Jo made is “Socialists get the power to destroy…”.
And, I love your quote by Churchill.
120
LL
There is an email (arrived this morning) doing the rounds with 30 Churchill quotes
20
What about this one : If you are not a socialist at 20,you have no heart. If you are still a socialist at 30,you have no brain !
30
Slightly O/T but stop these things has it nailed once again.
https://stopthesethings.com/2018/04/19/dunce-school-electricity-generation-101-for-the-wind-sun-worshipper/
270
When the economy collapses due to green lunacy, id hate to be a pollie on that day….
Maybe the hard yards will wake people up, otherwise its going to be ugly and the schooks/ detention centres will be used to capacity as the ” troble makers” get rounded up and “purged”.
On that day, the ingrained Stockholm Syndrome sufferers who rail against the 2nd Amendment will realize the powers that be in reality sail under the Jolly Roger….
60
Don’t expect any changes from the present trajectory until the politicians and their families are directly affected. The public may come to their senses when the lights go out.
20
funny stop these things should talk about anything being rabid and shrill (the redthumb is down ther lower right)
38
Spot on Ian, STT (Stop These Things) tells it ‘like it is’, often leavened with a welcome dose of incisive humour, and like Jo Nova, should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in the truth about the renewable/industrial complex. Worth reproducing the STT text that follows on from what you quoted:
“Our good friends logic and reason were sacrificed on the altar of ideology, a generation ago.
Defending those critical attributes of an ordered and civil society is what STT is all about. Of course, the wind and sun cult hate us for that.
You can’t blame them; when you have a child-like belief in something you deeply love (think Father Christmas, the Easter Bunny, talking unicorns) and someone determines to deliver the stark cold reality, the messenger soon becomes the villain.
STT is happy to be that kind of villain, knowing that there is a perfect cure for ignorance. Although, perhaps not where that form of ignorance is necessary for one’s very existence (think renewables rent-seekers and those that spruik on their behalf). But then, that’s not really ignorance, it’s an exhibition of self-interest.
Since December 2012, STT has been laying out the facts and figures which demonstrate that massively subsidised, utterly unreliable and completely chaotic wind power sits in the very same category as gift-laden fat blokes in red suits coming down chimneys, rabbits laying chocolate eggs in gardens and one-horned ponies hopping into the laps of vestal virgins.”
130
This one graph cuts through all the political BS:
https://stopthesethings.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/moran-1.png
The ONLY topic to dicuss here is, how to get the red line to track the blue line again, as per when the system was economically functional.
Anything else is rank POLITICAL CORRUPTION and concerted MASS MEDIA BETRAYAL.
160
Jo, I think you are a bit optimistic in saying “What he has achieved is that they all agree to meet again in four months and decide the hard stuff then.”
I don’t think they will ever tackle the hard stuff, just keep waffling until they can grab the money and run.
120
Graeme should have stopped at “what he has achieved ” because he achieved very little apart from scorn .
60
In relation to the NEG no deal is the best possible.
Don’t come back in four weeks. Let it die.
110
Maybe Turnbull got an advanced copy of this and is hoping for wider application?
“Claim: Climate Skeptics Think What Elites Tell Them to Think”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/04/19/claim-climate-skeptics-think-what-elites-tell-them-to-think/
30
(via twitter)
Josh Frydenberg’s opening address at the COAG energy meeting:
‘The NEG has received the backing of a very loud and broad chorus of support…we know it is our best opportunity to properly integrate energy and climate policy.’
https://twitter.com/SkyNewsAust/status/987110034185179136
~ ~ ~
> Fusing “climate” ideology onto our power system is unforgivable act of sabotage & treason.
150
I think idealogy is the wrong word – it should ne “theology” ….this is a religious war of powers that be vs humanity….
Gunna git ugly….
140
Will only get ugly when the sun doesn’t shine ,the wind doesn’t blow , the price of electricity becomes unaffordable and the lights go out and stay out then and only then will the sheeple turn on their masters .
140
Good thing the powers that be have all those shiny new para-military police forces and riot gear and schools with 6′ black fences, and……
Golly, anyone would think this has all been set up to create civil unrest to use riot police on….just sayin’…….
60
THE CO2 HORSESH*T HAS TO STOP.
90
Frydenberg is supposed to be on 2GB next Thursday morning talking to Alan Jones. Should be quite interesting after what Jones said about Frydenberg earlier this week.
110
18.4.18
Credlin v. Frydenberg
The climate wars are not over
It is surprising and appalling to learn that Australia’s very reasonable-sounding energy and environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, is actually a closet climate sceptic, beholden to the likes of Alan Jones and Peta Credlin.
https://www.themonthly.com.au/today/paddy-manning/2018/18/2018/1524027023/credlin-v-frydenberg?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The%20Monthly%20Today%20-%20Wednesday%2018%20April%202018&utm_content=The%20Monthly%20Today%20-%20Wednesday%2018%20April%202018+CID_6637b08dbc4e5ef8ec6c982151de1cae&utm_source=EDM&utm_term=READ%20ON
30
Duplicitous is Frydenberg. Their problem the azkhenazi.
60
To remind (courtesy of Dennis):
https://www.2gb.com/alan-jones-reveals-the-truth-behind-energy-minister-josh-frydenberg/
60
lengthy, read all:
18 Apr: TheWest: Questions raised over McGowan Government renewable energy deal
by Paul Murray
Here’s your Wednesday morning riddle.
If an investment fund owned by trade unions which oppose the privatisation of publicly owned assets buys some from a Labor government which was elected on the promise it would not sell off its energy assets, is it still privatisation?
Yeah, it’s a bugger, isn’t it?
And it appears to be one which the McGowan Government has shrugged off in privatising a clutch of taxpayer-owned renewable energy assets…
It didn’t disclose that Synergy’s Albany wind farms, the Greenough River solar project and all the existing value of its Warradarge project at Eneabba were to be 80 per cent owned by the Dutch Infrastructure Fund.
In the pantheon of left-wing sins, which is worse: foreign ownership or selling public assets?
And how bad a sin is it when Labor combines the two?
As I noted, premier Colin Barnett personally scuttled a similar deal with DIF put up to Cabinet by Synergy late in 2016.
So not only had Labor flunked another transparency test, but it failed to answer why it was a good deal now, but a bad one for the WA government two years ago…
If I were a member of a union super fund, I would want it to be maximising the returns on my money, not indulging in political actions and providing cover for a Labor government.
“The deal will deliver strong, sustainable long-term returns for Cbus members as well as make a meaningful contribution to the West Australian economy, creating local jobs and supporting the development of sustainable power for the communities in which our members live,” Cbus chief executive David Atkin said.
“This sustainable long-term investment is a significant milestone for the fund’s new direct infrastructure investment strategy as well as our commitment to addressing climate change.”
No consideration of opportunity cost there…
https://thewest.com.au/opinion/paul-murray/questions-raised-over-mcgowan-government-renewable-energy-deal-ng-b88808929z
more background:
13 Apr: TheWest: Wyatt denies Cbus favoured for green energy fund
by Daniel Mercer
Ben Wyatt has denied caving in to union interference after it emerged that a green energy investment vehicle spun out of Synergy had sold a stake to a union-backed superannuation fund…READ ALL
https://thewest.com.au/business/renewable-energy/wyatt-denies-cbus-favoured-for-green-energy-fund-ng-b88804739z
60
After watching today the Libs announce and explain the NEG, especially by Josh Frydenberg, I have finally figured it all out. It’s as though Turnbull is driving a bus with Australians as the passengers. His ministers, the ALP and the Greens are with him in the driver’s compartment all yelling conflicting instructions at Turnbull as to how to drive the bus while he himself is focussing in the rear view mirror most of the time and not focusing on what’s ahead. Meanwhile a very small percentage of the passengers (us) are yelling from the back of the bus warning of an impending crash coming up on the road. However, the yelling by his ministers, the ALP and the Greens is drowning out our warnings. Also drowning us out are the rest of the passengers who are participating in one of the several parties that are hostile to each other and throwing insults and blows oblivious to what’s happening outside and in the driver’s compartment. Fasten your seatbelts.
170
Peter you forgot the driver has no idea how to drive !
130
And the driver didn’t work for Goldman Sachs.
21
This does not accurately state the the terms of access to the market. Wind and solar are given unbridled. priority access for a much inferior product. The only time when the market is not obliged to take all they can produce is when the “market” is at risk of collapse.
Also the subsidies are a relatively minor cost of wind and solar. The really serious cost component is the destruction of base load. That makes all forms of low cost fossil fuelled generation uneconomic. The real winners are the owners of the fast response gas plants.
The RET has guaranteed massive transfer of wealth to the gas companies. It is only just starting:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-08/agl-half-year-profit/9407330
I expect that by 2025 the profit of the gas suppliers in Australia will exceed that of the banks. The ability of banks to cream charges on every transaction way above their costs has made them gold mines over the last two decades. Many people just accept the dollar here and there in their charges as acceptable. These are tiny sums compared with what the energy companies can cream when the majority of households are paying more than $2000 a year for energy.
110
Why do I feel so despondent about this?
Outwardly everything looks OK; we aren’t at war, we aren’t threatened by nature with volcanoes or cyclones, and yet, there is something seriously wrong.
Maybe it’s because we have become slaves without realising it; this is the new slavery.
Maybe it’s the lying media or maybe the politicians grabbing at everything and stashing it ready for the golden retirement.
Maybe it’s the thought that Big Onions have invested much of the nation’s superannuation savings in “green” projects coincidentally “managed” by officers of the Onions.
Maybe it’s the knowledge of hundreds of millions of Australian tax dollars being sequestered away at the U.N. for later.
We are not headed in the right direction.
KK
141
Australia will need some nest egg,
When paying the arm and the leg,
For the policy goal,
To end power from coal,
Through the insatiable Green-Guzzler N.E.G..
170
acronyms galore, jargon aplenty…
19 Apr: CarbonBrief: Zeke Hausfather: Explainer: How ‘Shared Socioeconomic Pathways’ explore future climate change
Over the past few years, an international team of climate scientists, economists and energy systems modellers have built a range of new “pathways” that examine how global society, demographics and economics might change over the next century. They are collectively known as the “Shared Socioeconomic Pathways”(LINK) (SSPs).
These SSPs are now being used as important inputs for the latest climate models, feeding into the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sixth assessment report due to be published in 2020-21 (LINK). They are also being used to explore how societal choices will affect greenhouse gas emissions and, therefore, how the climate goals of the Paris Agreement could be met.
They show that it would be much easier to mitigate and adapt to climate change in some versions of the future than in others. They suggest, for example, that a future with “resurgent nationalism” and a fragmentation of the international order could make the “well below 2C” Paris target impossible…
https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-how-shared-socioeconomic-pathways-explore-future-climate-change
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Pat
Sounds like more ways to be wrong!
10
Based on the book mentioned at #3.1.2.11
10
As some pundits point out, the fastest way to wreck a country is a dose of Communism but, evidently, a slightly larger dose of socialism works but just takes longer.
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Socialism with Chinese characteristics is doing fine.
10
It spells COMMUNISM in Chinese.
20
Its a sleight of hand, they think nobody will notice.
Over the past 30 years the peasants have deserted the communes in the countryside and moved to the cities to make their fortunes. Its socialism with Chinese characteristics.
10
9 Apr: International Institute for Environment & Development: Harnessing #MeToo momentum to drive climate action
by Christiana Figueres
Climate change remains one of the greatest threats to achieving sustainable development, and its effects often fall hardest on women. More women than men are killed by natural disasters, and women and girls are often last to receive humanitarian assistance in the event of climate shocks. Sourcing water, fuel and wood – often the responsibility of women – is a greater struggle both during extreme weather events and with more incremental climatic changes…
I have no doubt that the Paris Agreement was achieved because of the untiring efforts of thousands of women around the world…
There is not one woman alive who does not work for a better quality of life for her children. There is not one woman who even if she has not read the list of the 17 SDGs, does not act as a steward for her children and their children…
May we shout out: #MeToo I am taking a stand. #MeToo I am claiming my leadership. #MeToo I am leading the way.
https://www.iied.org/harnessing-metoo-momentum-drive-climate-action
18 Apr: Breitbart: ‘Ecosexual’ University of Michigan Professor Writes About ‘Talking Erotically to Plants’
by Tom Ciccotta
University of Michigan Professor Sarah Ensor published an academic journal article this month that argues that humans should establish erotic relationships with plants.
Originally highlighted by the Twitter account New Real Peer Review, Ensor’s journal article explores the field of “ecosexuality,” a term which means the sexual relationship between humans and plants…
The article, which is titled “The Ecopoetics of Contact: Touching, Cruising, Gleaning,” was published in April by the Oxford University Press…
http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/04/18/ecosexual-university-of-michigan-professor-writes-about-talking-erotically-to-plants/
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Oh good grief! Some women make me really ashamed of my sex. Christiana F, don’t be so arrogant as to presume to speak for me. As for the other….raised eyebrows?
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Annie:
See what tree hugging leads too.
30
I could answer that but I am a gentleman.
20
Annie
SDA masthead
” Why this blog?
Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me “what Canadians think”. In all that time they never once asked.
This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio – “You don’t speak for me.” ”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/
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18 Apr: AmGreatness: The NYT’s ‘Ridiculous’ Obsession With Scott Pruitt
By Julie Kelly
The paper’s latest rant, “Scott Pruitt Has Become Ridiculous,” (irony alert!) admonishes Pruitt for his spending, his hubris, and his ineffectiveness. (Anyone else notice the Left’s sudden interest in arrogant politicians who spend too much taxpayer money?) It insists Pruitt’s “self-aggrandizing and borderline thuggish behavior has disgraced his office and demoralized his employees” and that any replacement will “lift the moral tone of a once-noble office that Mr. Pruitt has besmirched.”
After months of claiming Pruitt’s actions will destroy the planet and sicken children, now the Times scoffs how “he has actually accomplished very little in terms of actual policy.”
This editorial is the 85th piece in April alone mentioning Pruitt. The Times has published more than 400 articles, columns, or editorials about the EPA chief since he was nominated in December 2016…
https://amgreatness.com/2018/04/18/the-nyts-ridiculous-obsession-with-scott-pruitt/
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all over the MSM…
behind paywall:
20 Apr: UK Times: Emily Gosden: Britain goes without old king coal for two days
Britain went for more than two days without burning any coal for electricity this week, the first time since the Victorian era.
Coal-fired power stations were Britain’s biggest source of electricity as recently as 2013, but usage is now in decline because of environmental legislation and the carbon tax. This levy makes it expensive to burn coal relative to gas. The government has said that the polluting fuel source will be phased out by 2025 at the latest.
National Grid said that no coal plants were running for a record of 54 hours and 55 minutes, from 10.25pm on Monday to 5.20am yesterday. Wind farms and gas-fired power plants provided the majority of Britain’s electricity over the period, with wind power accounting for 33.7 per cent of supplies on Tuesday. The resumption of coal generation appeared to reflect wind power declining in the calm weather yesterday morning. Plants are struggling to survive financially and they now rely on government subsidies to help them in winter, when they are needed to meet peak demand…
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/britain-goes-without-old-king-coal-for-two-days-wqxpt7jf8
behind paywall:
19 Apr: Bloomberg: The U.K. Just Went 55 Hours Without Using Coal for the First Time in History
by Jesper Starn and Lars Paulsson
Coal, which fueled the world’s biggest economies for more than a century, is increasingly losing out to renewables…
20 Apr: Daily Mail: Britain goes for a record 55 hours without coal power relying on gas, wind, nuclear, solar, and biomass
By City & Finance Reporter for the Daily Mail
The UK is trying to get rid of coal-fired generation by 2025 to protect the environment…
National Grid director of UK system operations Fintan Slye said: ‘It’s important to remember coal is still an important source of energy as we transition to a low-carbon system.’
James Thornton, chief executive of environmental legal charity Client Earth, said: ‘As if we needed any more proof, the UK has moved beyond coal.
‘We now need the grid to be ready to bring renewables on-line.’…
50
Personally I dont give a rats whats used to create power. Each country should use the most effective, reliable method that suits their resources, economy and culture.
This appears to be exactly what China, India and the USA are doing. The rest of us are effectively a rounding error. If you think that coal is going away anytime soon on a global scale , you have to be completly delusional. Red thumbers this way >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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behind paywall:
19 Apr: Financial Times: HSBC to promise an end to its financing of coal power stations
HSBC will seek to head off criticism from pressure groups at its annual meeting on Friday by promising to stop financing coal power stations in many countries, as well as oil sands and Arctic offshore drilling projects. The move by Europe’s biggest bank underlines the mounting pressure from investors and …
20 Apr: IBS Intelligence: HSBC withdraws financial support from tar sand projects following controversy
HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, has today confirmed that it will no longer provide project finance for new tar sands projects including the construction of any tar sands pipelines. This policy would exclude HSBC from providing project financing for the Keystone XL and Line 3 Expansion pipelines. HSBC also stated that its overall exposure to tar sands will reduce over time.
HSBC’s move, disclosed in its new Energy Policy, is the most recent in a series of decisions by international financiers to distance themselves from the controversial pipelines in North America. French banks BNP Paribas and Natixis, and insurance and investment giant Axa, as well as Dutch bank ING, and Sweden’s largest pension fund, AP7, all made similar announcements in 2017.
Greenpeace is now calling on Barclays, the only other major UK-based bank providing loans for tar sands pipelines, to rule out financing new tar sands pipelines in North America…
Annie Leonard, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, said: “The world has changed dramatically since these controversial tar sands projects were first proposed. In the US, we’ve seen record floods, hurricanes and wildfires super-charged by climate change”…
Hindun Mulaika of Greenpeace South East Asia said: “By ruling out new coal funding by the end of 2019 in many countries, HSBC has taken a step in the right direction. However, by singling out Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh as exceptions to their coal policy, they are creating a loophole in the countries that are most aggressive in their coal power planning and condemning their citizens to a lifetime of air pollution impacts. HSBC must close this loophole as soon as possible and turn their financial support to accelerating a transition to clean energy.”
https://ibsintelligence.com/ibs-journal/hsbc-withdraws-financial-support-from-tar-sand-projects-following-controversy/
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behind paywall:
20 Apr: UK Times: RSPB disputes research on turbine threat to seabirds
by Jerome Starkey
The RSPB has distanced itself from a study which claimed that seabirds were half as likely to crash into wind turbines as previously thought.
The charity, which was part of an expert panel that advised the research, said that the authors had twisted the results by presenting an “extremely optimistic interpretation of the data”.
The threat to birds from offshore wind farms is one of the key barriers to new developments, and industry officials seized on the results when they were published yesterday to call for more and bigger offshore turbines…
“RSPB does not subscribe to the study’s conclusion that ‘the collision risk of seabirds is less than half of what would be expected’, ” a spokesman said…
19 Apr: EnergyVoice: Study of wind turbine effects on seabirds ‘very optimistic interpretation’ of data, RSPB says
by David McPhee
The Scottish division of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has hit out against a study published today on the risk to seabirds through collision with offshore wind turbines, calling the findings a “very optimistic interpretation of data”.
Despite being a member of the collaborative group taking part in the construction of the report, the RSPB Scotland has said the data does not go far enough to prove seabirds avoid offshore wind turbines more than expected.
A spokesman for RSPB said: “We were pleased to take part in this expert panel. We are very supportive of the broad stakeholder investment of time and resources to advance understanding of behaviour of seabirds in and around offshore wind farms. The study has collected a vast amount of new data which will be invaluable to growing our knowledge of how wind farms affect seabirds for many years.
“However, it is extremely important to note that RSPB does not subscribe to the study’s conclusion that “the collision risk of seabirds is less than half of what would be expected”.
“The results are interesting, but we believe this is a very optimistic interpretation of the data, and it has simply not been possible to apply them to the current means by which we assess collision risk in the UK.
***The ORJIP is a joint industry project involving the Carbon Trust, Marine Scotland, The Crown Estate, The Crown Estate Scotland and offshore wind developers.
Partners of the report include Vattenfall, EDF Energy, Statoil, SSE, Ørsted and Marine Energy Scotland…
https://www.energyvoice.com/otherenergy/169267/study-of-wind-turbine-effect-on-seabirds-very-optimistic-interpretation-of-data-say-rspb/
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no mention of RSPB dissenting view:
19 Apr: UK Telegraph: Wind farms less harmful to seabirds than first thought
By Sarah Knapton
Researchers used radar and video to monitor seabirds flying near the Vattenfall’s Thanet offshore wind farm in the English Channel over a two year period.
They found that birds were present near the turbines in just two per cent of the 600,000 videos shot during the period, and they recorded just six collisions – an average of one every four months.
Previously it was thought the number of birds being killed by wind farms was more than double that figure.
During The Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme (ORJIP) bird collision avoidance study, seabirds were observed to exhibited avoidance behavior and change their flight path to avoid the turbines.
Dr Aly McCluskie, Senior Conservation Scientist, RSPB said: “There is currently much uncertainty in our understanding of how birds behave in the vicinity of wind turbines.
“The ORJIP bird collision project has collected an unprecedented amount of data on the behaviour of seabirds in and around an offshore wind farm.
“The project has been a collaboration involving industry, government agencies and seabird specialists and as such is exactly the type of project we need far more of if we are to realise our ambitions for offshore renewable deployment at scale and in harmony with nature.”…
Tim Frayling, Senior Environmental Specialist Ornithology, Natural England said: “Natural England acknowledge the significant achievement of providing empirical evidence of bird avoidance in relation to an offshore wind farm for the first time, and the progress in starting to address some key questions in this area.
“The proof of concept has been successfully demonstrated and we would look forward to seeing similar studies in different locations, including wind farms closer to seabird colonies.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/04/19/wind-farms-less-harmful-seabirds-first-thought/
brief mention of RSPB dissenting view at end:
19 Apr: Scotsman: Report finds offshore wind turbines not as dangerous for seabirds as thought
by Ilona Amos
Analysis of more than 600,000 videos recorded during the study revealed only six seabirds hit turbines during 12,131 flights in the vicinity of the wind farm, none of which occurred at night.
The report was commissioned by the Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme (ORJIP), which is made up of developers, the Crown Estate, Crown Estate Scotland and Marine Scotland, with funding from the UK government. The study was developed and run with support from ornithologists and environmental advisors…
The findings have been welcomed by government and industry representatives…
“Offshore wind developers must complete years of monitoring before consent for a project can be granted, and research like this is crucial to better understand the interaction between offshore wind farms and bird populations,” said Stephanie Conesa, policy manager at industry body Scottish Renewables. “The renewable energy industry is committed to making the most of our natural resources in a way which enhances our environment while helping to tackle climate change.”
Scottish energy minister Paul Wheelhouse said: “This study provides invaluable data for understanding the potential impact of offshore wind developments on seabirds as part of our efforts to develop this vital energy resource with due regard to the marine environment. The data yielded will therefore be of great help to inform our offshore wind consent and planning process.”…
But conservationists said the study has limited use and should not be broadly applied to all potential wind farm sites.A spokesman for RSPB Scotland said…
https://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/report-finds-offshore-wind-turbines-not-as-dangerous-for-seabirds-as-thought-1-4726627
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I’d like to point something out here.
Note that (here at this site anyway) whenever the subject of electrical power generation and its closely related subjects comes up, we don’t see any of those people coming in to ‘kibbitz’ like that guy who calls himself after an aeroplane and others of that ilk. They threadbomb the science Threads and ask for ‘citations’ etc, but when it comes to something like this thread, they are conspicuously absent. They reckon they can ‘get by’ with their bluster at those other threads, but subjects like this are outside their knowledge base. They can get by at other sites where they have their so called renewable ‘consensus’, full in the knowledge that those who do know what they are on about will be moderated out of existence, but here, they know that it’s no contest.
Now, what that does is to give me hope that sooner or later the points we make so admirably, and with knowledge, cannot be countered. I also noted that one of them commented at one of the other threads here at this site that we spend too much time talking about this. What that tells me very starkly is that they really do have no idea just how important this subject is in the whole scheme of the overall thing.
It worries me that when the truth does come out, there will be shock like we have never seen before, that they have not been told the truth, and in their heart of hearts, shock that they didn’t even realise, and then did not bother to go and check for themselves. It will be easy to blame others for not telling them the truth, but if most of us here can find out the truth, then so could they have done the same.
Do not ever expect thanks when that truth does come out, because there is a chance the could even turn on us.
We need to keep doing what we are doing, because most of all, we are actually the ones who ARE correct.
And I actually think some of them know that, but just won’t let on. Fear is an amazing thing, and the fear they have is that maybe we’re right, while on the other hand, we actually KNOW we are right when it comes to this, so we have no fear of being proven wrong.
Tony.
370
Good points Tony.
Harry the aeroplane has been given 60+ scientific studies (from 2017) to read at Jo’s recent Greenland temperature post.
He won’t read them. Why? Because he already knows his position is untenable and he can’t bear the psychological pain associated with accepting he is wrong (along with the rest of his unscientific CAGW alarmist comrades).
The way they’ll eventually deal with it – in the main – is to just go quiet. They’ll stop commenting and slink away. That’s the nature of zealots. Hopefully, they won’t take a leaf out of their Mr Buckel’s book.
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All of us never lose certain behaviours of childhood, whether it be a sense of humour or the excitement of sports at least something lingers through our adult lives, those of left leaning politics seem to have never lost the rebel against authority stage and I’m not talking about how most adults evolve from that stage to rationally question ideas or rules that others want to implement that has a direct impact on their lives but the childish stubbornness of not cooperating because you want me to attitude.
The notion of the average citizen having the right to debate, negotiate or vote out those that oversee our lives is not permissible in Socialist/Communist systems so those that consider themselves some sort of counter revolutionary against Democracy/Capitalism will feel deep frustration and self loathing of living within one and usually quite well.
Consider the popularity of any SJW cause that exists on the web regardless of how ridiculous or erroneous it is people will get behind it because they see an underdog scenario or a perceived oppression of a supposed minority even when facts prove it doesn’t exist, I’ve personally attempted to debate such people only to end up being incoherently screamed at when they begin to lose ground thus the reversion to a child’s tantrum when the world doesn’t cooperate with their needs.
Opportune to quote George Santayana The Life of Reason,
Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted; it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in whom instinct has learned nothing from experience.
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SS
You mean that bloke “Hairy Plane”?
20
I think of him more as a Blackburn Roc. One of the most useless introductions by the pre-WW2 UK Air Ministry (who had considerable ability at that). Supposedly a fighter plane it was handicapped by stupid design based on a fashionable idea, inadequate performance and total inability at anything. It was obsolete before entering service and had been prefered over a far better performing design. It was only proceeded with as a ‘subsidy’ for the builder. It hung around for years, unwanted and unused, and relegated to backwaters where it wasn’t worthwhile salvaging it.
30
Fairey Battle then?
10
I think the Fairy Battle’s attempted to bomb the Maastricht bridges in May 1940. Not many came back.
20
The Fairey Battle was another obsolete design and recognised as such early in 1939, but it was left in service and indeed in production until early 1941 when it was known to have been useless.
The dogma was that “the bomber would always get through”. Hence the employment of useless and dangerous designs was allowed. The Blackburn Botha killed so many RAF crews (even more than the Manchester) that it had to be removed from service, but it was then put into Training Command where it killed a lot more RAF.
Re the Maastricht bidges, the battle lacked a reliable bomb sight so the attack was flown along the canal so bombs could be released by “eye”. The Germans lined the northern bank with AA guns and shot plane after plane down. One RAF pilot was dragged from the canal and stood in front of an indignant German officer who up-braided him on the stupidity of attacking in that manner. Net result, the RAF lost a lot of planes, a lot of very brave crew and did no damage at all.
On a minor matter, Dowding’s refusal to commit Spitfires to France led the Germans to underestimate the British fighters. They captured about 20 INTACT Hurricanes as the RAF fled France and found that the 109E could run rings around them.
20
Tony, you have to understand those who control the media and the education systems control the people’s thoughts. It’s also not just a matter of who is right and who is wrong. It’s a matter of freedom of decision, choice and thought using all the available evidence. George Orwell was a great visionary yet most people today don’t even bother do understand his messages to avoid the traps we as a society are falling into as we speak. Our MSM and education system for example are hell bent on spreading as much propaganda about the CAGW scam as possible. If they also presented the other side of the argument as we do here it wouldn’t be so bad. Yet if anyone dare tries to present our arguments in a school you can be sure the teacher would at least be scolded and “corrected” or worse still lose his/her job. Such is the bias in our education system from school to Universities. Much the same applies to the MSM. Until all that is rectified there is no hope of the truth to reach the masses in sufficient quantities and strength to turn things around. The only way is for the crash and burn scenario to play out first, then the people will have to learn the hard way, as history has shown over and over.
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19 Apr: Daily Caller: Congress Approves Trump’s NASA Pick, Ending 15 Months Of A Leaderless Space Agency
by Michael Bastasch
Democrats have seized on Bridenstine’s lack of a science degree and questioning of party dogma on man-made global warming as reasons he should not be confirmed…
Democrats also grilled Bridenstine on his social conservative beliefs about gay marriage — something seemingly unrelated to NASA…
Trump has big plans for NASA. The president wants the space agency to focus more on exploration and less on Earth sciences, like climate modeling, that’s carried out by other agencies and government-funded groups…
http://dailycaller.com/2018/04/19/congress-trump-nasa-pick/
19 Apr: The Hill: Senate confirms Trump’s pick to lead NASA
By Timothy Cama
The Senate on Thursday voted along party lines to confirm Republican Rep. Jim Bridenstine (Okla.), President Trump’s choice to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The 50-49 vote came after months of Democratic attempts to stop Bridenstine’s confirmation and a day after a procedural vote that nearly failed…
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) cast the final “yes” vote after holding out for about 15 minutes longer than his fellow Senators…
All Republicans voted to confirm and all Democrats and independents voted against.
Bridenstine, who has represented Tulsa, Okla., since 2013, is a former Navy pilot, and previously led the Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium…
While Republicans hailed Bridenstine as a top-notch candidate to lead NASA, Democrats argued that he was unqualified for the high-profile scientific spot and too divisive of a politician. They also argued that his views, such as doubting climate change science and opposition to LGBT rights, ought to disqualify him…
“Jim Bridenstine, the nominee that we are considering, served as a Navy pilot, and I thank him for his service. But that does not qualify him to run NASA,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).
“Just because you know how to fly a plane does not mean that you have the skills and experience to lead the federal government’s space agency,” he continued.
“James Bridenstine is a climate denier with no scientific background who has made a career out of ignoring science,” Schatz said…
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/383950-senate-confirms-trumps-pick-to-lead-nasa
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behind paywall:
21 Apr: Economist: A burning issue in Africa: Africa’s big carbon emitters admit they have a problem
Can they continue developing and still uphold the Paris climate agreement?
https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21740796-can-they-continue-developing-and-still-uphold-paris-climate-agreement-africas
Carbon Brief summary/excerpts: Most African countries do not emit much CO2, says an article in the Economist, “yet there are some notable exceptions”. It points to South Africa, where CO2 emissions are higher than Britain, despite having 10m fewer people and an economy one-eighth the size. “Like nearly all of its power plants, many of its vehicles depend on coal, which is used to make the country’s petrol.” It adds: “Other countries are following South Africa’s lead and embracing coal, the filthiest fuel. A dozen of them are building or planning new coal-fired power plants totalling 40GW [gigawatts], according to Coalswarm, a watchdog…Yet it is not all gloom…Many of Africa’s proposed coal plants, including the one planned for Lamu, may never get built.” It concludes: “Adaptation will remain Africa’s chief climate concern for the foreseeable future. But it is no longer the only one.”
30
behind paywall:
Saudi Arabian infighting casts shadow on solar deal
Financial Times-18 Apr. 2018
Saudi Arabia’s $200bn deal with Japan’s SoftBank to create the world’s largest solar project is the latest gambit to transform the oil-rich kingdom under Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. But friction between the energy ministry and the sovereign wealth fund, two of the country’s most powerful bodies, …
anti-Trump, anti-Brexit and usually a
19 Apr: New Statesman: The Queen’s commitment to tackling climate change is both endearing and sad
by India Bourke
“You said that [one] was Andrew?” says the Queen, pointing at a large oak tree in the grounds of Buckingham Palace. There’s a look of bafflement on her face, because her companion and fellow nonagenarian, Sir David Attenborough, has just pronounced that the plaque under a different tree is also dedicated to the same son. “They can’t both be,” she says, now mildly vexed.
“Oh dear, oh dear,” Attenborough responds, bending right over and peering through his glasses to double check…
Their slow steps and almost-childlike enthusiasm for their surroundings lend them a quality reminiscent of Tolkien’s mystical Ents (tree-like creatures who acted as wardens of the forests of Middle-earth)…
“If countries continue to plant [more trees], it might change the climate again,” she remarks at the end of the film, in what is believed to be her first public acknowledgement of climate change’s threat to the planet.
Yet there is also a sad undertone to this light bit of primetime TV. The viewer is left with a gnawing suspicion that the Queen knows only too well that her power to change the environment is only symbolic – and in this case it is unlikely to be enough…
The new scheme may be overflowing with celebrity endorsement – Angelina Jolie makes a flying appearance as an ambassador for a new tree “nursery” in Namibia – but with no real means of enforcement the project risks becoming dead wood…
This matters because, when Britain leaves the EU, it will also leave behind important tools of environmental justice…
https://www.newstatesman.com/2018/04/queen-s-commitment-tackling-climate-change-both-endearing-and-sad
30
was prefacing the New Statesman piece, when it got posted before I finished:
anti-Trump, anti-Brexit and usually anti-royalty, the left-leaning New Statesman is almost kind to the Queen, given she’s acknowledging CAGW.
btw some examples of New Statesman’s politics:
10 Mar: Could Donald Trump refuse to leave office when his presidency is up?
4 Apr: Why Labour must back a new Brexit referendum
31 Mar: Hares are magical harbingers of spring when climate change has blurred seasons
50
To Pat,
Thank you for all of the sourced news media articles you have found and posted.
It always helps to understand what’s going on and reading your posts shows tie is not science or common sense that is giving the world direction but the media.
It is frightening, the number of people who are firmly convinced that we have reached eco_Nirvana because we can now store all of the randomly produced renewable based electricity in BATTERIES.
Frightening.
KK
110
Why are we even discussing socialism in energy ?
The “private sector” built exactly zero of our energy supply capacity prior to our governments being stupid enough to sell off ALL (except Queensland) the existing viable energy supply assets to the people who are now milking the rest of us for as much as they can get whilst building near useless “renewable” targets for Don Quixote. They wouldn’t build even these if they weren’t really paid exorbitant amounts extorted from us suckers.
The only input from the private sector into electricity generation in Australia before the federal government lost it mind backing renewables – if that were ever possible – was to mine the coal – hell our governments built most of the rail infrastructure.
But that’s what you have to do in a tiny insignificant market by world standards.
It isn’t socialism – its common sense if you want a modern country.
91
In the old days they called it a ‘mixed’ economy, free enterprise alongside government monies for hospitals, jet fighters and coal fired power stations.
Sadly the pseudo Marxists politicians have decided that energy should be in the hands of multinationals and that the people must pay through the nose for this service.
There is a lot of pessimism about and you can see it in this thread, along the lines of we have to crash and burn before rising from the ashes, but I disagree. Democracy is on its last legs in Australia and Beijing is patiently waiting for us to become their outpost of empire.
50
I have a long association with the power supply industry in Australia. A few points:
1. The States often built the mines and mined the coal as well as generation and transmission.
2. By the 1980s the State power monopolies had become cumbersome and inefficient.
3. There were many opportunities for low cost co-generation from private operations not being developed because of the poor terms of access to the grid. Those already supplying the grid had poor terms.
4. What few now recognise is that the early years of the National Grid actually resulted in reduced power prices:
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0150/2930/files/Electricity_Cost_Price_History_Australia_large.png?521
The Industry Commission reported in 1991:
https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/energy-generation/11energyv3.pdf
But through the development of the report the industry players were well aware of the direction. Trading did not actually begin till 1997 but early changes had already improved efficiency.
5. The electricity price rises followed the establishment of the RET in 2001 while the first modern wind farm commenced in 2003.
As far as I can assess there is no one properly modelling the impact of intermittent generation. There is some belief that it will all come good. The problem is that high cost, fast response gas now rules the roost and sets the price most of the time. It truly is a mess. With some hope I look forward to AEMO actually stating how it is but with the present head I doubt that will happen.
Without the RET we may still have low cost power but there is no doubt that many of the current private players are milking the mess to maintain their fat salaries. It is a good time to be in power generation in Australia – even for households. Electricity consumers will be increasingly burdened.
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I’m still waiting for any politician to declare that they have a plan to restore lower electricity prices before 2020. I am encouraged by recent statements from Rod Sims of the ACCC – an ACCC report on retail electricity prices commissioned by the treasurer Scott Morrison is due mid year.
In a Feb 2018 speech Rod Sims said: “Turning to much more immediate issues, as I have repeatedly said Australia faces an energy affordability crisis. This has upended one of Australia’s core sources of competitive advantages, and caused significant consumer harm. It must be fixed. Through our Retail Electricity Pricing Inquiry, and our Gas Inquiry, we are solely focused on affordability”.
And in an AFR article: “Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims has warned the Turnbull government’s National Energy Guarantee could stifle competition in the energy sector or push up prices for businesses and consumers if it was not properly designed.” ‘The intervention of the ACCC is significant because the competition watchdog has already said there are serious concerns with electricity affordability in Australia as part of its inquiry into competitiveness of the electricity supply chain with a final report to government by June’.
The ACCC’s preliminary report published last October reported: “After considering wholesale price increases in 2016-17, the ACCC estimates that average bills in dollars per customer increased in real terms by 44 per cent since 2007-08, while prices in cents per kWh have increased in real terms by 63 per cent”.
The ACCC’s preliminary findings were that, on average across the NEM, a 2015-16 residential bill was $1,524 (excluding GST). This average residential bill was made up of:
– network costs (48 per cent)
– wholesale costs (22 per cent)
– environmental costs (7 per cent)
– retail and other costs (16 per cent)
– retail margins (8 per cent).
Since 2015/16, wholesale prices have doubled in Vic/SA, and increased by 60% in NSW/Qld.
90
You have to love the chutzpah of this absurd analysis. “Environmental costs” 7%. Absolute rubbish.
Coal power stations have been blown up, forced to close. In Victoria, the price of our coal was tripled. Everything to force coal out of the market. Hundreds of millions of our tax money to silently subsidize Port Pirie, Whyalla, Alcoa and more. None for the plastics recyclers who are actually doing essential environmental work and have to close. More again to build infrastructure, interconnectors, power lines to windmills. More again to rent, ship and install giant diesels to replace the shut power stations and Tasmania’s gas turbine which was to be sold off. Then all the costs of people having to buy more diesel to keep the factories, businesses, supermarkets going and of course all the enormous costs to industry for losing days and weeks of business and income.
but the ACCC says environmental costs are only 7%. Really?
That’s the point of the RET scheme, to make any fossil fuel uneconomic and add massive costs of using fossil fuel to every electricity retailer and pass it on to the people who build, own and operate wind towers and solar panels.
Yes, wholesales prices have doubled and as listed, that’s only part of the problem. Shuttered businesses. Unviable processing. Factories which cannot continue. Smelters which are now utterly uneconomic. Entirely because of Environmental costs and the ACC has the cheek to pretend that the direct environmental component of electricity is only 7%.
Plus the world’s highest electricity prices, all due to the hatred of fossil fuels by a tiny component of Australia and our vote hungry politicians and the UN.
What left wing committee came up with this absurd figure? 7%?
So what has all this pain and suffering done to the world’s CO2 levels? Nothing. All for nothing, except the destruction of Australia. Socialism masquerading as environmentalism. Theft.
Chutzpah: “Leo Rosten in The Joys of Yiddish defines chutzpah as “gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible ‘guts’, presumption plus arrogance such as no other word and no other language can do justice to”.
180
Great outline of all the hidden subsidies and ripoffs TdeF, if only the public could know and understand how badly they are being treated.
Small business is under pressure from electricity costs and jobs will go.
Larger businesses like the Kurri Aluminium smelter have already closed down over 3,000 direct and indirect jobs.
That the Australian political class could treat their own voters like trash is almost beyond belief.
No sign yet of a public revolt so carry on up the Khyber.
KK
120
The other devastating issues is how misleading this table is
network costs (48 per cent)
– wholesale costs (22 per cent)
– environmental costs (7 per cent)
– retail and other costs (16 per cent)
– retail margins (8 per cent).
Now the RET doubles or triples wholesale costs, which it shows as 9c kw/hr say, thanks to the RET. Half of this is legally compelled theft, taking your money and giving it to anyone prepared to produce wind or solar power at any time of the night and day and this not for the power itself, for the fact that they generated it. The power is an extra income for them and they keep the cash.
However the retail margins stay constant, so doubling the wholesale cost doubles the retail costs. In otherwords the retailer considers the RET just another cost and marks it up.
Like any carbon tax, the distribution business is a chain. Double the prices at the bottom and it multiples x2, x2 all the way along to you.
Of course our genius PM (his own view) is going to pass a law one day which guarantees that we do not run out of power. It says nothing about the price of this guarantee. In fact it would require a lot of huge batteries, like the other mad idea he has.
110
Then there is the other appalling idea, now reality. The state pays factories to close down when there is not enough power. The proponents of this madness think the government paying people not to work is not socialism? It is the core of socialism.
130
Excuse me, so what, what about my wage rise?
sarc.
30
Rod Sims has clearly described the issues. Is anyone else listening?
They probably need repeating over and over.
60
Richard di Natale is both a ‘fool’ and worse, he is not interested in learning anything from experience that runs counter to his dreams.
110
I agree but I was being polite – perhaps too polite. In fact if I stated my exact sentiments my post would be moderated out.
40
You are right TdeF. It appears that the ACCC has only counted as environmental the cost of “schemes” such as the Renewable certificates – about 8 cents/Kwhr times 15% market share for LGCs, and some more for the small scale rooftop subsidies and feed in tariffs.
The ACCC in their preliminary report state that the network asset base (the value of the assets that the networks can receive a return on) increased in real terms by 75 per cent from $49 billion in 2006 to $86 billion in 2016. Presumably a lot of that investment can be attributed to the need to cope with the surge in intermittent distributed renewables in the network.
100
The distortion of the market is that the renewable ripoff pushes the cheapest biggest most reliable suppliers out of the market and hands this carbon penalty to the most expensive, smallest, least reliable suppliers. The government is puzzled at the effect of this and blames the market? What market?
Then you get other costs in your electricity, say the tree clearanace program in Victoria overseen by Energy Safe Victoria who spend an a amazing $100Million a year trimming trees to prevent bushfires, mainly in the inner city. Of course the money would be better spent putting wires underground as in Perth but that would reduce the payment for the 1920s infrastructure of termite poles and ugly lines.
The whole energy scene from the Weatherill’s battery to Turnbull’s Battery in the Sky is a money sink. This all has to be added to the cost of our power. Plus all the energy agencies at Council, state and now Federal level. Another law, another agency stuffed with people who put their hands in our pockets and push up our electricity prices.
And governments blame the free market? What free market?
90
Free market, look outside, free air, free sunshine …… even free money at Centrelink.
40
CO2 is driving the failure of love, worse than we thought
From ‘Grist’:
(if you value your brain cells, avoid this site)
———-
My boyfriend wastes so much water. Am I wasting my time on him?
By Eve Andrews on Apr 12, 2018
” … It’s probably hard for Al to understand that, because it’s hard to articulate! “The idea of climate change hurts me personally” feels very foolish to say out loud, but I think we have to get better at it. Until then, however, I think you should explain to Al that you’re actually not blaming him for all of climate change, or for even for a state-wide drought. Simply tell him that wasting water is important to you, SADS, the person — not the entire world — and the fact that he’s been ridiculing that has been hurtful.
If Al is an even average boyfriend, he’ll realize that he’s been disrespecting your feelings and amend his ways. If he refuses to do that, well, I think you’d be within your rights to consider hanging him out to dry.
Conservatively,
Umbra
Are there any environmental concerns or climate worries that are causing problems in your relationships? Any kind of relationship! Love, friendship, family, work. Please write in to askumbra@grist.org — she’d like to answer more of these. …”
https://grist.org/article/my-boyfriend-wastes-so-much-water-am-i-wasting-my-time-on-him/
————–
That’s just got to be written by a bot. Love the sig too, “Conservatively, Umbra”, how about, “Pressively more stupid, Umbra”. Emails to an idiot about the manifold quandries and soap-opera melodrama of the urban “climate change” catastrophe.
This is what occurs when you go full pothead.
100
So very true. That’s why the chief pothead runs the Greens and wants “pot for all” and “a basic income for all” irrespective of whether they make a contribution to society.
They are imbeciles and Di Natale is the enviro-fascist of the month.
40
I took a look at the Infigen half year report for Jul-Dec 2018. The unit revenue was $145/MWh. If gross profit is excluded the cost to break even is $96/MWh.
Given that the average price of LGCs through the period was $84, the achieved wholesale price was $61/MWh.
If there was no subsidy Infigen would lose $35/MWh. However if the depreciation and financing costs were removed it could still make money on its operating cost of $30/MWh providing the wholesale price did not fall. That is unlikely while gas remains the price setter.
The fastest way to get more affordable electricity is to end the RET. We need an End the RET Party.
Over time the”run whenever you like” generators would gradually diminish and base load would increase thereby making coal generation much more attractive.
Intermittent generators are a disease infecting the grid. They destroy base load. That means they destroy the low cost base load generators. They are the cause of rocketing power prices.
80
Correction Jul-Dec 2017 period. Report is dated Feb 2018.
60
***the first link isn’t active for me; second “LINK” is:
20 Apr: RenewEconomy: Giles Parkinson: States wave through NEG that is even worse than thought
New analysis from Owen Kelp (***LINK), one of the principals of ACIL Allen, a leading energy consultancy that has not always been seen as a friend to renewables, suggests the NEG is assuming that electricity only achieves 5 per cent of Australia’s overall emissions reduction target by 2030.
How is this so? Kelp argues that Australia’s emissions should be seen as a “budget”, rather than a number achieved in a particular year…
Kelp explains his calculations and the implications, in more detail here (LINK). But it underlines a critical point – the NEG is being used by the government as a deliberate attempt to put the brakes on the clean energy transition…
https://reneweconomy.com.au/states-wave-through-neg-that-is-even-worse-than-thought-33879/
30
“hardcore climate and energy policy tragic” Katharine Murphy says Abbott is the virtue signaller??? lol:
21 Apr: Guardian: Frydenberg’s Neg challenge is like climbing Everest with no oxygen
Party colleagues, the states and Labor are the big obstacles in energy minister’s push for the national energy guarantee
by Katharine Murphy
For folks who aren’t hardcore climate and energy policy tragics, it might be hard to stay on top of the various twists and turns in the debate about the national energy guarantee. This is a good weekend to take stock…
Frydenberg is also being shadowed at every turn by Tony Abbott. Abbott, more than any other person, has created the energy mess Australia finds itself in. You’d think his previous miscalculations might trigger a bout of quiet introspection, or even remorse, but no such luck. Our former prime minister is nothing if not relentless, always up for another round of virtue signalling, followed by vandalism…
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/21/frydenbergs-neg-challenge-is-like-climbing-everest-with-no-oxygen
20 Apr: Victoria demands new detailed analysis on Neg after Coag meeting
Meeting on Friday between energy ministers almost derailed by disagreement over how Energy Security Board should proceed
by Katharine Murphy
The federal energy minister Josh Frydenberg secured agreement on Friday for further work to be done on the Neg, but the process was almost derailed by a backroom skirmish about the riding instructions for the Energy Security Board before a critical meeting in August.
The Energy Security Board was established last year by the Commonwealth and the states to provide advice about the proposed energy policy overhaul, and given it is a joint body, there has been sensitivity behind the scenes about who instructs it.
Victoria and Queensland wanted a detailed form of words recorded in a joint communique setting out specific lines of inquiry for the Energy Security Board to pursue before the Coag energy council reconvenes in August for a meeting that will either tick or torpedo the policy – but Frydenberg refused.
The argument played out at a private dinner the ministers attended in Melbourne before Friday’s meeting.
The wording of the joint communique distributed after Friday’s meeting is entirely non-specific, saying the Energy Security Board “will consult with jurisdictions on the specific details of the design” and the meeting “noted that the states have raised issues that will require further work ahead of the August meeting”…
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/20/victoria-demands-new-detailed-analysis-on-neg-after-coag-meeting
20
“climate” bullying:
20 Apr: SMH: Ruth Williams: Super funds shy on backing climate change votes
Super funds remain reluctant to back shareholder motions calling for more transparency from Australian companies on climate change risks, despite supporting similar proposals targeting companies in the US, research suggests.
And the research, produced by NGO Market Forces, argues that super funds are also lagging on their own standards of transparency, with many making only limited disclosures about how they voted at company meetings – and some not revealing this information at all.
Market Forces examined the proxy voting records of Australia’s 50 biggest super funds to track how they voted on 53 climate change-related shareholder resolutions at company AGMs in Australia and the US…
***Market Forces has itself coordinated climate change-related shareholder resolutions at companies including Oil Search, Santos and Origin Energy, and – with industry fund Local Government Super – has lodged a resolution to be voted on at the QBE Insurance AGM in May.
Market Forces found that HESTA, Local Government Super, Vision Super and Mercer were the Australian institutions most likely to back climate change resolutions, with HESTA and LGS voting in favour more than 80 per cent of the time. CBUS and VicSuper were the two funds least likely to back climate resolutions – supporting just five of 40 that they voted on…
Market Forces analyst Dan Gocher highlighted what he said was a “lack on consistency” by funds, with all almost all voting in favour of high-profile resolutions targeting US oil giants ExxonMobil and Occidental last year, both of which passed with majority shareholder support, but many balking at backing similar resolutions at Australian companies…
When asked about its voting record, Cbus pointed to the constitutional change requirement as a factor, repeating calls for reform of the laws from the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors and others.
“Cbus, like ACSI, considers this framework too restrictive and in need of reform if there is to be meaningful long-term change around issues such as climate change disclosure,” Cbus said. “Cbus recognises climate change as an important issue and we believe that assessing investments against environmental, social and governance matters and engaging with the companies in which we invest, is an essential part of delivering long-term returns for our members.”
VicSuper said it had “strengthened” its proxy voting and engagement late last year and had revised its approach to international proxy voting. “As a result, we expect to support a greater number of climate change resolutions, both in Australia and internationally in the coming year,” it said.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/super-funds-shy-on-backing-climate-change-votes-20180419-p4zajb.html
10
Pat
Remember smh also = “shaking my hear”
20
head!
30
funny how only Sinanian, the believer, is a GUEST!
1 Apr: ABC Science Show: Robyn Williams: Denial a coping mechanism for climate change
The evidence for a fast warming world collects day after day. Summers longer and hotter. Oceanic heat waves. Arctic ice being replaced by open ocean. Can anyone honestly say it isn’t happening? Well yes!…
We hear from a scientist and would-be scientist who don’t see it or feel it or point to explanations other than greenhouse gases trapping heat. Then engineer Arek Sinanian looks to psychology to explain why some people deny climate science.
Guest: Arek Sinanian, Consultant in Environmental Risk Assessment, Engineer and author
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/denial-a-coping-mechanism-for-climate-change/9680300
above has broken link to Sinanian/Longueville Media. however, have found this:
LonguevilleMedia Sydney: Recent Books
A Climate for Denial: why some people still reject climate change science by Arek Sinanian
“An excellent primer … this thought provoking book shines a light on a range of reasons why people don’t appreciate the urgency of the changes required.” – John Connor, CEO, The Climate Institute…
Arek Sinanian, an engineer, was one of Australia’s earliest practitioners in climate change risk assessment and in 2005, was accepted into the international roster of experts for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and became the only Australian on the prestigious six-person Accreditation Panel of the Joint Implementation Supervisory Committee.
Energy Unlimited by Barbara Albert
If you would like to reduce or eliminate fossil fuels in your organisation but need to build a business case to get others on board or if you are an engaged community member who wants to find out more about renewable energy, then this book is for you.
Packed with case studies, critical success factors, illustrations, checklists and practical examples from the author’s experience Energy Unlimited provides a powerful, step-by-step framework that will walk you through the end-to-end process of converting to renewable energy
Visit the author’s website, 100% Renewables (LINK)
https://longuevillemedia.com.au/books/
50
pat:
If the book was any good it would be selling on Amazon.
20
“NEG-ATIVE THAT: THIS WON’T CUT BILLS”
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/negative-that-this-wont-cut-bills/news-story/4b5b8bbd20bcdc8f7a46284a46dcf6f7
70
Seems that the Basslink cable outage is now extended until end of May.
Basslink Cable outage extended.
90
Oooooh.
50
So much for the Big Battery that is Tasmania Hydro.
Tasmania could suffer through winter and will definitely hit Victoria in summer if not repaired.
80
Big surprise
30
It will be interesting to see if there is any real impact, apart from some costs in Tas.
If they have water they should be OK. They have the gas plant that was saved from dismantling by the the last crisis and and rats and mice wind. The now know what it takes to lay in extra power and what the lead times are.
60
Are they still renting all those diesels they flew in when they had to unpack the gas turbine? Ironic, diesel to replace gas. Only the Greens would think this makes sense.
50
“Most of today’s political class will end their lives as failures, too, and without even the consolations of contrarianism. But, on statism, Europe, multiculturalism, and much else, Powell taught a very basic lesson — that any sane person should be instinctively skeptical when all the smart people agree. The “unforeseen consequences” are usually out there on the not-so-far horizon looming large in plain sight.”
https://www.steynonline.com/5063/mr-powell-and-his-peers
40
https://reneweconomy.com.au/nem-watch/
Take out the power supplied by coal and gas.
Good luck.
40
sheer lunacy:
19 Apr: Vox: “Are we prepared to endure lives with less comfort?”: William T. Vollmann on climate change.
The famous novelist and journalist has a new two-volume tome on climate change.
By Eric Allen Been
(Eric Allen Been is a freelance writer who has written for the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, Vice, Playboy, the New Republic, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and TheAtlantic.com.)
“For a long time I was a climate change denier,” says author, journalist, and war correspondent William T. Vollmann. “I didn’t want to be stressed out by something that might someday affect people after I’m dead.”
And yet for Vollmann — a brilliant, idiosyncratic writer whom some have described as a plausible candidate for the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature — the reality of climate change has become a personal obsession. Last week, he released the first volume of a sprawling, two-volume polemic called Carbon Ideologies. Titled No Immediate Danger, it explores in more than 600 pages how our society is bound to the ideology of energy consumption. Addressed to humans living in a “hot dark future,” the book is highly technical, chock-full of tables, studies, and hundreds of Vollmann’s own photos…
Eric Allen Been: Do you think some Republicans sometimes deny climate change in bad faith? Maybe, perhaps, because they know if they accept that it’s real, their economic policies would need to come to an abrupt stop.
William T. Vollmann: Well, that’s certainly a possibility…
(scroll down) It’s not just what some consumer does at home. It’s niggling little issues that add up. In Japan, roughly 50 percent or so of all the methane emissions — and that’s one of the three most dangerous greenhouse gases — are caused by rice growing. All this stuff that seems so innocuous. It seems to me that you have to drag people into some kind of regulatory hell, unfortunately. Maybe there’s a better way to do it, but I don’t see one…
Eric Allen Been: Speaking of absurd stuff, and back to your new book, the BBC recently was criticised for not properly challenging a climate change denier in an interview. How do you think, ideally, the media should approach telling the story of climate change?
William T. Vollmann: Well, here’s what I would say, Eric. My old physics textbook talked about the characteristics of a scientific theory, and there are two points that are relevant. One is that no theory can ever be proven; it can only be disproven. So the theory of gravity would fail if the next time I opened my hand and let a glass loose and it didn’t fall. And that’s always a possibility.
But the other aspect of a theory is that it allows you to make accurate predictions — and I feel that I can accurately predict that that glass would indeed fall to the floor if I let go of it. So let’s do stories about how accurate the predictions of the climate change model have been. From what I understand, they have been fairly accurate…
https://www.vox.com/conversations/2018/4/19/17254166/climate-change-earth-day-april-2018-carbon-ideologies
20
“Vollmann — a brilliant, idiosyncratic writer whom some have described as a plausible candidate for the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature”
Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature, so just being a plausible candidate is damning with faint praise. Not quite as good as Bob Dylan then.
Of course Al Gore won the Peace prize, along with hundreds of others and the IPCC. The Nobel used to mean more once.
40
Of course you can win the Nobel for fiction. The answer is blowing in the wind.
50
fairly accurate?
behind paywall:
If winter in DC seems unending, the proof may be in the numbers by Martin Weil
Washington Post-9 hours ago
Friday’s average temperature was seven degrees below normal for the date. And the entire month has been almost two degrees cooler than normal. Weather is known for its fluctuations. Most of us recognize that some days will be cooler than the norm, and some warmer…
When will Mother Nature make Washington warm again?
Washington Post-19 Apr. 2018
On Friday afternoon, the forecast highs of 50 to 55 are about 15 degrees colder than average. Thirty-five of the past 50 days, back to March 1, have been colder than normal. The average temperature has held below 50 degrees on 33 days since March 1, the most since 2001, according to Peter Mullinax…
40
So being colder longer is now being classed as ‘climate change’ and a direct consequence of warming. You know it makes sense.
130
ABC news bulletin this morning preferred to report that people in Britain were sweltering through hottest day in 70 years or whatever, rather than mention:
April on track to be the coldest in 143 years in Detroit
Chicago sees its coldest start to April in 137 years
This is Syracuse’s coldest April in 75 years
British MSM has been a little sensational too, especially The Guardian, which has ***Britain experiencing a heatwave:
Britons head to seaside as heatwave expected to last into weekend
The Guardian-20 hours ago
Share your underwhelming photos of Britain’s heatwave
The Guardian· Apr 20, 2018
20 Apr: NetWeather.TV: Unusually Warm For April For Some, But Is It A Heatwave?
The past few days have seen some unusually warm weather for April across southern and eastern Britain, with yesterday’s top temperature of 29.1C recorded in St James’ Park in London the highest UK April temperature recorded since 16th April 1949, when 29.4C was recorded. Today the temperature has reached 26C in London and a few other spots in the southeast. Very welcome after what has seemed like a very long and extended winter and, of course the media has been quick to jump on to this, hailing it a ‘min-heatwave’ in some papers and the usual comparing with usually warmer climes, with ‘warmer than Ibiza or Greece’. However, we are not technically in a UK-wide, or even England-wide heatwave…READ ON FOR TEMPS
https://www.netweather.tv/weather-forecasts/news/8868-unusually-warm-for-april-for-some-but-is-it-a-heatwave
VIDEO: 56secs: 20 Apr: BBC: UK weather: Why this isn’t a heatwave… yet
People across the UK have been enjoying unusually warm weather, but when can we call it a heatwave?
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-43832363/uk-weather-why-this-isn-t-a-heatwave-yet
never mind – the “heatwave” is short-lived:
Heatwave over: Scotland set for sub zero temperatures
The Scotsman· Apr 20, 2018
UK weather – forecasters warn of SNOW next week with temperatures set to tumble following 29C heatwave
The Sun· 15h ago
21 Apr: UK weather forecast: April heatwave could be followed by SNOW next week, forecasters warn
PARTS of Britain could be hit with a blast of SNOW next week – just days after the country recorded the hottest April day for almost 70 years.
By Belinda Robinson
Tumbling temperatures could prompt snow and frost in the north of the country, according to the Weather Channel, which warns subzero temperatures could return in parts of Scotland.
It will come as a shock to Brits who had been enjoying a blast of hot weather, with the mercury soaring to 29C (84F) on Thursday.
Thursday was the hottest April day for nearly 70 years and yesterday temperatures reached highs of 28C (82F) in the South East, the Met Office said…
“Gardeners should beware ground frosts later next week. We may see air frosts by the end of next week too with temperatures -2 or -3C in Scotland…
But temperatures could plunge below average next week, as low pressure sweeps into the north, The Weather Channel warns.
And, by the middle of the week temperatures could fall close to freezing, bringing sleet and snow showers over high ground in the Pennies…
https://www.express.co.uk/news/weather/949279/weather-forecast-UK-snow-weather-channel-met-office-UK-heatwave
UK weather: Put away your sunglasses as SNOW is coming back and temperatures set to tumble
Mirror UK – 21 Apr 2018
Yesterday Britain sweltered for a third day running as temperatures climbed to 26C and parts of the country saw “barely a cloud in the sky”…
The Met Office is predicting lows near freezing from Tuesday night in Scotland, and frost in northern England and Scotland…
The Weather Outlook forecast -5C lows in Scotland and 0C in northern England with frost, and cool daytime highs “crashing back down to earth.”…
30
I keep hearing the argument that Australia co2 output is too small to make a difference to global emissions, or more to the point, globull warming.
The point is : Even if the whole planet stopped co2 emissions tomorrow , it would still make no difference, as was similarly quoted by one of the foremost atmospheric physicists on the planet, Richard Lindzen.
Even our very our Turnbull appointed globull warmer (pretend)Chief Scientist, ‘the Foinkel'(another ex bankster)admitted that Australia’s contribution of emission reductions would amount to zero.
The question is then: why are we doing this ?
Or the more appropriate question would be : Who is profiting by this obvious scam and who is in a position of authority and influential enough to force its continuance ?
Billions of dollars in subsidies(forced taxpayer funding)and power price increases are all going somewhere…..Who stands to lose if all this crap was shut down?….there scurry the guilty parties, the shysters, the racketeers !
50
“Who stands to lose if all this crap was shut down?”……
Follow the money trail…….as they say.!!
Pinpoint WHO the investors are, contributing to Wind and Solar Farms…eg Union Super Funds,Local and OS Financial Funds/Banks for starters…
Lets not forget either…Power Station owners..who WIN both ways ie Subsidies..one hand,and elevated “spot” electricity charges ..the other.!!
Then there is the..GST increase, for the Govn “coffers”..!!
I cant see this SCAM ending ANYTIME soon…
Too much money to be made ..by ALL concerned….
Meanwhile the average Aussie’s standard of living falls, and most continue to “live in the dark”..!!
40
Nicely put.
20
What a complete joke…
Julie Bishop handing over millions $$$$$, again,to Indonesia…
Meanwhile back in “backwater” Australia WE cant even dispose of our own rubbish.!!
Lets not mention that the Australian Govn have hoodwinked us (again) into “feeling warm and fuzzy” about “saving” the Planet through recycling !
….and is it little wonder that now THEY are slowly “turning the lights off ” while assuring us that renewable’s are the ONLY way forward..!
Oz Govns at all levels today…are focused on “anything” but looking after the welfare and protection of their people..
How disgustingly sad…as we edge towards another ANZAC DAY, and remember ALL Australians who gave their lives so their descendants could live in a ” fruitful and free” Country.
60
Well said Shannon what you say is spot on.
Brainwashed green ideology, ‘Fake’ environmentalism, ‘Fake’ climate change and self serving political interests to name a few matters, all contribute to Australia’s current demise. We have so few politicians with the backbone to stand up and speak the truth.
These people have not destroyed our power grid as yet, but they are hell bent an doing so. And all the time our economy and our living standards are in decline. One day the voting public may finally wake up to what is really going on.
Geoff W
30
Shannon, I remember reading about Indonesia and its demographic, and how it puts the “donation” by our foreign minister into perspective.
The main point was something like: there are 30 Million Indonesians whose personal accumulated wealth was greater than the top one third of Australians.
Whatever the detail, the message was clearly that Indonesia has more disposable wealth than Australia.
Undoubtedly our donation is welcome in Indonesia but the question is, by whom.
Probably the wealthy, glad to accept the donation from patronising white fools.
KK
10
Keith …my thoughts have always been focused on the “deterrent” strategy…..
ie While we keep feeding the natives….they wont get restless (30 million of them) !
00
Hi Shannon,
You seem to be contradicting the content of your first comment.
I think Australians should be entitled to keep most of the money they earn, apart from a little bit of tax.
If we are worried about Indonesia’s 266 Million people maybe we could spend more on defence.
KK
00
It’s Trumpism. Socialism always looks appealing when covered by a veneer of democracy and nationalism.
Last week you said:
This week you say that Boswell “gets it” when he states:
No. It is socialism insofar as communism is a type of socialism. It is the workers controlling the means of production (modern definition of socialism) only via their representatives in political bodies (Russian communism) rather than owning those means personally (original definition of socialism).
It’s a bit like having a moral objection to hard drugs, but supporting shooting galleries and rehab clinics as a pragmatic “harm reduction” strategy. As long as you keep advocating for abstinence your principles haven’t been bought, but it is still hypocrisy. All your whataboutism on Frydenberg doesn’t change that. The same counterclaim of hypocrisy can now be used against you whenever you don’t support any other socialist moves in the future.
The DelCons thought pragmatic compromise involved voting for the enemy. Is this new Australian Energy Pragmatism a continuation of the same thinking?
We may not be able to see energy, but energy and high energy prices are real as they have a reliably observable effect. I guess H.L.Mencken got it half right. The hobgoblins that scare conservatives into clamoring to be lead to safety by progressives are not all imaginary.
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First suggestion of introduction of “smart”meters in Qld with teaser ad on TV this morning……
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Snowy 2 is being hailed by the government as the greatest. But no one will explain where all the EXCESS electricity will come from to pump water uphill!!!!! Remove coal from the equation, (and you obviously can’t use hydro) so what is left to pump the water? Looking at AEMO and virtually all NSW power is supplied by BLACK COAL, wind and sunbeams are not going to do anything but the question is being completely ignored. Surely someone has asked the question!!!!
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The Australian Government has set a Renewable Energy Target of 33,000 gigawatt hours of renewable energy generation by 2020. In 2016 the Clean Energy Regulator estimated that for the 2020 target to be reached the total new capacity of renewable energy power projects required to be committed through to the end of 2018 was 6000 MW. Since then, 1500 MW of new capacity has come online, a further 4580 MW is committed, and a further 1500 MW has been announced.
That gives a total nameplate capacity of over 7,500 MW. With an assumed 30% capacity factor that is estimated to provide an additional 22,000 GWhr.
Anero.id reports a current nameplate capacity for wind of 4,900 MW, and hydro 8,000 MW.
Interestingly according to AFR: “The Renewable Energy Target of 33,000 gigawatt hours by 2020 is estimated by Green Energy Markets, a firm that advises on renewable energy, to have been met sometime in the second half of December 2017”. “The continued activity is intriguing because it was long considered that meeting the Renewable Energy Target, or RET, would be a signal to stop investing in wind and solar. If the RET is filled, the price of the Large-scale Generating Certificates or LGCs issued to generators of clean energy should fall, cutting incentives to invest”.
So will wholesale electricity prices and the price of renewable energy certificates drop this year?
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I liked the joke in your last line there.
🙂
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Of course I forgot to factor in the shutdown of some more of those unreliable baseload coal stations!
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