JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Statistics
Watching Jones & Co last night on Sky fills me with hope, it looks liike Shorten may be on the brink of losing the election. Have the people finally started to realise Labor are an incompetent lying rabble?
As Sir JBP used to say ” if the answer is labor, it must have been a really question”
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Oops should be silly question
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Removal of franking credits so investors are taxed twice, removal of negative gearing, bracket creep pushing most people into punitive tax brackets, death duties, carbon taxes, carbon credits, rocketing electricity prices, the destruction of electricity distribution and the demand that people drive useless electric cars will all push people away from Labor and the Greens. Everyone knows the tragic boats will start again if Labor wins. They are careful to play this down.
Labor voters used to be factory workers and tradesmen and laborers, like stevedore Bill Shorten’s dad. Now they are gone and their children middle class, like Bill who went to exclusive Xavier and have multiple properties, self managed super funds and well heeled university educated children. They will think twice about voting for an early Labor Christmas and a massive increase in taxation. Only 12% of workers are in unions outside the booming public service, mainly teaching and health where it remains closer to 40%. The Health Unions have been a major area for rorting the poorest workers and then Shorten’s own AWU whose sweetheart deals to advantage the union bosses and disadvantage the workers have not gone unnoticed.
As for the Greens, they have become even more lunatic under hothead Di Natalie who shows signs of utter frustration with people having their own opinions. The Greens representatives are forever being caught as total hypocrites and opportunists. “Tell them what they want to hear and when we get power, we will do what we like” is their motto, as for so many Liberal politicians as well, like Julia Banks, Julie Bishop, Christopher Pyne and especially Malcolm Turnbull. At the LINOS are all gone, expecting the tsunami which may not happen simply because they are now gone, fearing a Labor tsunami which they created. Especially anti Liberal Turnbull who hates conservatives and keeps his hundreds of millions in the Carribean.
However it could be a much closer election than anticipated. Only John Howard was elected on a new taxation promise, but he also promised that other State taxes would vanish to give a fairer system, especially the iniquitous Sales Tax and a dozen other taxes. Apart from the greedy monsters of Land Tax and Payroll tax, that happened. However Bill Shorten is promising nothing in return for a massive increase in taxation, principally on older Australians and their children. He is simply trying to grin his way through this, hoping the Greens carry him to power but in the face of Palmer’s millions, we will see if it is enough.
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You notice that industry super funds, the unions’ cash cows, will be able to cash out their franking credits, even though they are not tax paying entities.
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I have a theory that the opposition always does better in the polls than the government because of the “empty seat” syndrome. [That isn’t the word I wanted but you know what I mean]
It is easy to say you will vote for the opposition because you have an “ideal” party in mind but when the campaign starts the chair is no longer empty and you look at the leader or member on offer, hear their policies and realise that they are no way ideal, so you vote for the status quo. I’m pretty sure that will happen with Trump and hope it will happen nest Sat.
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For Oz to take note
“California’s government solely responsible for states forest management and wildfire debacle”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/05/14/californias-government-solely-responsible-for-states-forest-management-and-wildfire-debacle/
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Australian Aborigines learnt from nature how to deal with the Australian Bush and developed now traditional seasonal burning.
After British settlement in 1788 the new migrants learnt from the Aborigines and followed their seasonal burning tradition, one example being the Snowy Mountains cattlemen who always started grass fires as they drove their cattle back to the lower country to encourage new growth of the native grasses and discourage hot and damaging wildfires.
The failure by so many leftists in particular to manage the country is disgraceful and ignorant behaviour. On the other hand in the WA Kimberley Region and NT Kakadu National Park traditional seasonal burning has been adopted in recent years using modern equipment such as helicopters to quickly spread fire when the conditions are right.
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Did aboriginals “walk lightly on the ground” and leave it as they found it or did their constant fire-stick hunting change nature, eliminating some trees while encouraging eucalyptus in their stead? Should we try to reverse that and encourage forests that don’t have crown fires?
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Did aborigines “walk lightly on the ground” and leave it as they found it or did their constant fire-stick hunting change nature, eliminating some trees while encouraging eucalyptus in their stead? Should we try to reverse that and encourage forests that don’t have crown fires?
Is that better?
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Eucalypts were here long before Aborigines, and had moved into niches normally reserved for other species, examples are the alpine ash, the mallee and rainforests. Of those examples, only the rainforest species have lost their adaptations to fire. This was due to the relative biological isolation of Australia (Wallace line) and the geologically stable land mass as well as the eons involved.
So to answer your question – yes, the aborigines did walk lightly.
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As I understand Eucalypts took over as the continent moved away from Antarctica (north) and dried out.
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Yes, around 130,000 years ago when this climate zone became drier and the rainforests retreated.
Around 65,000 years ago the migrants arrived apparently entering from the north, the earliest evidence sites are in Kakadu National Park NT found not many years ago. Before that the earliest evidence was Mungo Man remains found near Mildura in NSW at Mungo Lake dated at 40-50,000 years.
Naturally occurring fires were already controlling “the bush”, lightning strikes for example. And even birds had learnt to spread fire to fish out small animals and insects. The migrants realised the value of fire and developed their traditional seasonal burning.
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Ahh, the noble savage.
The charcoal record suggests otherwise. There was a sudden marked increase in the deposition of charcoal deposits throughout the landscape at around the time we think the first aboriginals arrived in Australia. Either there were suddenly vastly more lightning strikes or man had a hand in it as he “walked lightly” over the land.
Whilst eucalypts existed in and dominated much of the continent, there is no question that aboriginal burning practices massively changed the floral distribution. Eucalypts that had been confined to drier zones were able to follow the fires and extend their range considerably, especially in marginal rainforest areas. Eucalyptus seed requires an ash-bed for healthy propagation in the wild. It will germinate, but frequently succumbs to fungal infection much of the time if it manages to germinate on unburnt ground. Obviously climate shifts played their part in plant distribution too when the drought associated with the last ice age in Australia desiccated the land.
Rainforest species retreated to refugia on the east coast mountains to places like Atherton, the Bunyas, Mt Warning area, Comboyne Plateau, Barrington Tops. We can infer that because their distribution spreads out radially from such places, except where it was interfered with by aboriginal burning after the ice age.
On the northern side of the Macleay River near Kempsey NSW species like Silky Oak and Hoop Pine were common, yet on the southern side of the river there were none at the time of white settlement. It turns out that the tribe on the southern side loved to play with matches. They were pyromaniacs compared to their northern neighbours. Their activities stopped a number of species in their tracks. After settlement those species quickly jumped the river and spread southwards, so much so that Silky Oaks are almost a weed now where I live in the Hunter Valley, a couple of hundred miles south of the Macleay.
In my area after white settlement in about 1815, the euc forests took over and choked the pastoral land on and off for a hundred years. It wasn’t until the Depression when men would work ring-barking trees all day long just for a couple of meals, that the local area was once again cleared to pre-white tree densities.
There are umpteen eye-witness accounts of the explosion of vegetation in early colonial days over much of NSW once regular aboriginal burning stopped. Aboriginals had a deep impact on our vegetation distribution and density. They certainly didn’t leave their land untouched. They heavily modified the landscape to suit themselves when they arrived as is clearly evidenced by the way the landscape rebounded after their demise. They walked lighter than white man, definitely, but I don’t really think you can say they walked lightly either.
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Thanks beowulf, you have knowledge of what I merely suspected.
But why did they light the fires, was it to pick up dead animals after it passed?
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Strewth, my ancestors founded this stretch of land during those Snowy Mountains amd Great Dividing Range cattle droves, and I am greatful to be apart of such marvellous history and tradition—something the Left severely lacks.
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In God’s truth.
a part.
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Comments also – one of note
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/05/14/californias-government-solely-responsible-for-states-forest-management-and-wildfire-debacle/#comment-2702109
and following
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Not sure what we need to take note of. Many lessons were learnt in Oz from our own disastrous bushfires. In my area infrastructure has been upgarded, there is regular power line tree clearing and rapid disconnect technology has been placed on at risk lines.
It seems as usual the US (or Ca at least) ignores lessons and developments elsewhere and puts itself in the ridiculous position of mass power disconnections because its windy. All this overlayed with the US love of regulation, fragementation, overlapping jusrisdictions and finger pointing makes me think this saga will just keep repeating.
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Many lessons have been learnt, but no corrective action taken.
Making the bush safe is as difficult now as it has been for way too long.
We owe it to the dead and to the future to stop bush management being made impossible by red tape.
KK
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Yes Keith, friends of mine from Gippsland Victoria regularly ride Horses in the Snowy Mountains and coming from Snowy Mountains Cattlemen families they are unhappy that since regular grazing was prohibited a tangle of undergrowth including blackberry bushes is creating a major wildfire hazard. Such a fire would destroy everything in its path.
So much for conservation for future generations.
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I’ve mentioned before the disgusting outcome at Glenrock lagoon a couple of years ago.
In the name of this coffee shop ecology, it was left to grow and entangle so that when it eventually went up it was massive.
KK
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No corrective action is a sweeping incorrect generalisation. Maybe near you, but not everywhere. Is whats being done enough, probably not, but things are happening.
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The point was, it took way too long and almost 200 lives in one fire.
I can still drive through roads that have a beautiful arch of branches touching in the centre. Romantic, until a fire breaks out and it is the only way out.
Locally we had an unprecedented firestorm last year near the RAAF base. Because routine maintenance was prohibited.
KK
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A friend of mine lost his life in a Hunter Valley NSW bushfire that was deliberately lit by teenage boys.
He was last in a small convoy of vehicles attempting to drive with both sides of the road burning, the driver in front of his car later reported that in the smoke the car behind seemed to disappear. Many hours later when the area had cooled down police discovered the burnt out car and cremated body, a newspaper picture showed only a burnt car body with no glass or rubber and only seat frames.
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The U.S. Is certainly not learning anything from Australia’s renewable power problems, which I try to mention frequently in my writing. My guess is that Americans think of Oz as a wild lad, as it is often portrayed, so not relevant. But then Americans think that about almost everywhere in the world.
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The U S can learn lessons from its own RE experience’s in California…..but the “Heard” mentality around CO2 etc blinds them to the obvious in their own back yard.
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We didnt learn from Germany , or internally from Sth Australia either
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True.
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Remember also, we ran a comprehensive “Pilot” RE mini grid experiment on King Iland…..complete with Wind, solar, Battery storage, smoothing systems, etc etc…..
…but it was very obvious the Fossil generator backup, was still essential to keep the lights on.
And King Isln is the optimum location for Wind power.
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And Flinders Island has also had its problems.
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Apparently allegations of a criminal offence involving a Mr.B.Shorten has been referred to Victoria Police again …
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/05/joint-statement-from-peter-faris-qc-and-alleged-bill-shorten-rape-victim-.html
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More
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2019/05/media-reporter-peter-ford-on-the-shorten-rape-allegation.html
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This accusation is being made by a woman who attended a conference with Bill Shorten n 1986. She made a statement years ago to the Victorian police. But the police took no action of her statement because she was the ‘only’ witness.
Now this woman’s accusation is coming into the public eye courtesy of Peter Farris QC, deciding to support the call for re-opening this police investigation.
And “Michael Smith News” website is also putting in the public eye so we all know about this accusation.
I do not know if this is a true accusation of false. But as a former Labor party member in Victoria at the time this is claimed to have happened, I am frankly horrified.
I note especially that the women who said she was raped by Bill Shorten has come pubiclly and not anonymously. That is a brave thing to do. And to her credit.
Sooooooo. Some questions for folk to think about :
How could Shorten become the National leader of the Party with this hovering in the background ?
How could Shorten have become a member of our parliament with this accusation hovering in his background ?
Surely Shorten would have wanted this issue cleared up decades ago. But he has not done so. Why ?
And why are the mainstream media suppressing all mention of this issue ?
How could any of us cast a vote on Saturday, which will support the Labor party, with this accusation hanging over the head of the party leader – Bill Shorten ?
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SHORTEN NUST STAND ASIDE
FROM THE ALP LEADERSHIP POST
UNTIL THIS CRIMINAL ACCUSATION IS SORTED.
DO WE REALLY WANT TO SEE AN ELECTED PRIME MINISTER
FORCED FROM OFFICE
TO STAND TRIAL FOR RAPE ?
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HAHA then therll be a ‘Mueller’ type investigation.
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odd, this rehash, just before the election.
in 2014 – it was all in the open
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/bill-shorten-opens-up-about-rape-allegations-20140821-106r7h.html
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Thanks For that link Fitz.
It adds to what we know
Slightly.
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IF you live in the Sydney water catchment, are you prepared to pay more for your water due to mining?
https://www.waternsw.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/132167/WaterNSW-submission-to-the-IEP-Task-1-of-Terms-of-Reference-vB.pdf
after all cheap coal is more important, right?
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You should consider the fact that no new dams have been constructed since the 1970s despite the every increasing population including immigration numbers.
That since the 1990s various dam sites have been handed over to National Parks & Wildlife and locked up against development.
The Morrison led Coalition has announced their dam building policy that was first mentioned by the Abbott led Opposition.
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Dennis, that should read Natural Parks and Wildfires.
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National Sparks and Wildfires?
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Sorry, yes.
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sooooooo, you are saying, let mining destroy Sydney’s water, just build new dams. Who’s going to pay?
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Keep mining, keep generating cheap power from coal and you would save more than any extra on a water bill would set you back.
Why is it you don’t care about high costs of electricity?
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can you point me to an economic model which supports this, or is the blowhardism?
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Who’s going to pay? Easy, stop putting up windmills and solar farms and use THAT money.
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Australians are going to pay for the no dams policy, now 25 million population and growing, was about 12 million in the 1970s.
Domestic water will be permanently rationed and irrigation farming crops will be lower with less room for export to hungry markets overseas and food shortages here.
And without the many billions of dollars a year in revenue from mining there will be many government services shortages as well.
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chanelling Cathy Newman again?
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PF, don’t have time to read the whole report.
As you have read it, can you note the particular chapter you are referring to for further discussion?
In the mean time, you might want to consider the good side of coal mining; there will never be a drought again!
Science!
Coal miners to blame for Queensland floods, says Australian Greens leader Bob Brown
https://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/coal-miners-to-blame-for-queensland-floods-says-australian-greens-leader-bob-brown/news-story/cbfe12042fa9c4149ea3c10524f57344
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Just when I’d thunked Scuttled Scéance was the all-knowing font of True Gospell Green Sellvation: “Severe storms, flooding, drought and other extreme weather events are expected to increase because of climate change”, Dr Smith of Landcare Research funded by MBIE (govt) said today –
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons
According to your Bobby Brown, the wondrous trace gas of life (CO₂) causes floods, while according to our Dr Smith it causes floods and droughts. I guess between those two extremes it’s also guilty of causing perfectly normal/average non-event type weather, which we’ve enjoyed all summer and autumn this year thanks to 410 ppm carbon™.
These zealots remind me of my nieces (when they were 6 or 7 years old) who continually changed/altered rules for a game as we went along. Thankfully at least they grew up and grew out of that childish habit.
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Minor correction, its now 415 ppm and Beijing doesn’t care.
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Oh, the Hugh Manatee! 0.0005% more plant food yet the temp remains the same, ie. flat. Presently 1˚C on Mauna Kea’s summit with -5˚C wind chill. At least it’s not snowing.
http://mkwc.ifa.hawaii.edu/current/road-conditions/
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https://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Kilimanjaro/snow-report
Hand Solo McRedthumb, so it didn’t snow in Hawai’i yet it’s snowing on Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (y’know, on the equator) and on Mt Kenya (which funnily enough is in Kenya) and Ruwenzori (on the Uganda-Democratic Republic of the Congo border) and it’s still snowing on Mt Etna (I’ll let you figure out where that one is). Hope your parents have paid your power bill for you otherwise you may simply disappear… as in ‘poof!’ ☁
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“The dangerous doctrine of equity”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/index.php/2019/05/14/the-dangerous-doctrine-of-equity/
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Chinee media offensive: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-14/china-calls-peoples-war-against-us-vows-fight-new-world
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related: https://balance10.blogspot.com/2019/05/chinese-investments-in-foreign-ports.html
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Speaking of an offensive on the media – NZ goes full Communist…to protect us of course….removing rights in the guise of “protection”?
Funny how NZ is all of a sudden steaming full ahead out of the minor limits of democracy into the fire of far left nonsense….
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-15/jacinda-ardern-christchurch-call-europe-tackle-online-extremism/11112028
“A lot has been said of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s leadership in the wake of the Christchurch massacre that left 51 Muslim worshippers dead in March.
“But experts warn regulation is difficult to implement
Facebook and other tech giants have resisted pushes for regulation in the past
“She has earned praise for her resolve and her humility, and now she’s embarking on an ambitious plan to curtail the spread of extremism online across the world.
Later today, Ms Ardern will co-chair a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, on the sidelines of a Tech For Humanity meeting attended by digital ministers from G7 nations, to discuss her plan which has been dubbed the ‘Christchurch Call’.
“The bold initiative will ask signatory nations to adopt measures to ban objectionable material online and create a framework for media to report on atrocities without amplifying them.
“Queensland University of Technology’s Nicolas Suzor, who studies online regulation, said the Christchurch Call remained a non-binding agreement despite a growing sense that the regulatory status quo online was no longer acceptable.
“Governments aren’t really willing to defer to platforms anymore … right now everyone agrees this needs to be taken more seriously,” Dr Suzor said.
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Oceania (NZ, Australia, Pacific Islands) totals 0.7% of the world’s internet users and even less fb subscribers. Yup, those mega digital behemoths will be quaking in their boots when the Princess President stands up and mangles the English language as she does. Or is she really aiming for that cushy UN job next year…
https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats6.htm
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Chinese media offensive: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-14/china-calls-peoples-war-against-us-vows-fight-new-world
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Chinese media offensive: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-14/china-calls-peoples-war-against-us-vows-fight-new-world
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China today is where Germany was in the 30’s. There are many Chamberlins though, ideologically blind to the danger. Trump is under no illusions and this trade war is more than just that, it is an attempt to interrupt the river of dollars that fund the evil regime.
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Posted this link & issue 4 times = trolling !
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B#gger.
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nope, i tried to correct spelling error as i posted
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And the 12 year till we’re all dead is officially off!
Yes, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said that the 12 year deadline was a joke that only right-wingers didn’t get. See https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1127604746066583552?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1127604746066583552&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwattsupwiththat.com%2F2019%2F05%2F13%2Faoc-recants-world-ending-in-12-years-due-to-climate-change-it-was-a-joke%2F
So she lied for political gain and infamy? Maybe she’ll be politically extinct in 12 years, or maybe she’ll find a method of becoming the US representative for the Sea Sponge constituency (see link). 🙂
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Looks like the link broke so maybe it’s OK HERE
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Well that didn’t work, so try this
https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1127604746066583552
and
HERE
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I like her logic that you would have to be a numpty to believe what she says.
Who would be so silly as to take what a Congressperson says seriously?
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Funny, only the right got Trump’s joke “Vlad, if you’re listening could you get Hilary’s emails for us?” The left said it justified the Mueller probe.
10
Elections offer opportunities to make arguments that might not gain traction in ordinary circumstances.
A good example of this is the auditing of our temperature record. Jo has frequently presented articles on the manipulation of
the record (one past one on Darwin impressed me for some reason), and Anthony Watts has demonstrated the unsuitability of our surface station network. These items go unreported by the mainstream, and gain no traction.
But suppose that is presidential election debate, the Republican candidate were to say: ‘before we commit to a change in a way of life and hundreds of trillions of dollars damage to our economy we should audit our records to make sure they are correct. We don’t accept financials from a company without audit, and we since we know the temperature record of many places had been altered from the original, we should insist on a full audit, and, since these are public records, publication in easy to access form of the original data and that changes made to it for the analysis by the academic community.’
When protests are made: “what are they trying to hide”. Show us the data. Show us how you know you can manage the future climate”.
The climate community has made extraordinary efforts to hide their methodology and obfuscate the arguments.
Al Gore et al has always had the full support of the mainstream press in promoting the notion that further analysis is neither necessary nor useful. But, since an inconvenient movie they haven.t really had to play defense, nor discuss the economic consequences of a “green” policy (something you folks in OZ understand all too well).
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Someone enlighten me, please.
I just spent a few days in Sydney with family. No question of driving any more, I just took the XPT.
An arvo spent touring the eastern and southern suburbs where we grew up was mostly spent sitting in traffic. Parking in Bondi was brief, expensive and a long chore to find a spot. Parking in Kogarah was brief and a long chore. Parking in Hurstville was brief and a long chore. Lots of petrol used just waiting and hovering.
When we finally got to old Carss Park there was no traffic and parking was everywhere. But what’s the good of being able to drive and park in one place? Getting from Carss Park to a suburban station or to the city involves sitting in traffic and fighting for a park unless you choose another sleepy destination. In the real world you go to busy destinations to do business.
Next night dinner in hipster/green Enmore with nieces involved…guess!
So let’s just say the entire petrol fleet of the nation is replaced with an electric fleet. Let’s just say that by a miracle charging points and stations are everywhere. Tell me where all these cars are going to fit, whether moving or parking. Please, someone tell me.
If Big Green was on the level about reducing “carbon emissions” two things would have happened, two things would have attracted all the money:
A. Nuclear power would have been implemented yesterday.
B. Every city would long have had a complex underground rail system comparable to that of Singapore or Paris.
That’s where the dough and resources would go first if you thought your “emissions” were eating your planet.
Of course, Big Green is not on the level. But I’m curious: even if you can make your Tesla run on fairy dust…where are you going to put it? How will all the fairy dust-mobiles of the future avoid one another?
A potty type like me would say the globalists plan for inefficiency and mass frustration. But what’s the official story? Are they hoping to refashion existing cities to make them “smart”? Planning to build new cities that are smart? Demolish Sydney for a new start or build a shining new Turnbullia out Bowral way? What? How? When?
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Ahhh but you ignore the whole autonomous vehicle , car transport as a service thing. You wont own a car to have to worry about parking. A shared service car will come and transport you wherever and move on to the next punter. Parking will only be required to charge (maybe, as the aardvark 5000 unicorn forever battery will be standard by then) or waiting in low demand periods.
The transition to this Nirvana will of course be smoothly managed by the best and brightest from the social engineering elite. Just lay back and watch the Al Gore videos during your journey.
Having visited Sydnet recently I feel your pain. We stay down near Wollogong usually and visit grandkids across in Piction and have dinner with relatives around Gymea and normally dont touch the city. Last trip my wife arranged lunch with her uncle in Neutral Bay (lower north shore is people arent familiar) The trip up and the return was unpleasant, lengthy and at times confusing. God Bless GPS (and we grew up in what used to be Sydney)
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And you wonder why I have no time for those renewables of choice, wind power, solar plant power and rooftop solar power. It’s not political. It’s because the d@mned things don’t work.
Take Monday just gone. (13th May)
Every day, we have a time power when consumption is at a maximum, Peak Power, and every day at this time of year, it’s around the same time, has been forever, between 6PM and 6.30PM, and no amount of coercion and green tut tutting will EVER change that.
On Monday, that Peak was 27000MW.
So, we have the following:
Wind Power – Current Nameplate – 6106MW
Solar Plant Power – Current Nameplate – 2549MW
Rooftop Solar Power – Current Nameplate – (around) 8400MW
So, a total Nameplate of 17000MW ….. SEVENTEEN THOUSAND MEGAWATTS
At 6.25PM Monday, the time of peak power of 27000MW, all three of those renewables of choice were delivering ….. 1290MW in totality. So 4.7% of what was required at that time. 4.7%.
ALL of that power was from wind power, because the Sun had set for the day. So, solar plant power ….. ZIP, and rooftop solar power ….. ZIP. So, of the millions plus homes with panels on their roofs, every single one of them was consuming power FROM the grid, and every single one of them was consuming their own individual maximum power consumption for the day.
So 17000MW Nameplate and 1290MW power delivery.
At the same time, coal fired power was delivering 18010MW. It has a Nameplate from its 48 Units of 23000MW. Eight of those Units are currently off line for maintenance and upgrades. So of that 23000MW, we had 40 Units with a remaining Nameplate of 19300MW, delivering 18010MW at a Capacity Factor (CF) of 93.3%, and if you do it across the whole Nameplate, it’s still at a CF of 78.3%, compared with 7.6% from those three renewables in their totality.
So, okay, that’s just one day in isolation, cherry picking some might say. But hey, those peaks are the same every day, and until late Spring, 6 Months away now, you won’t be getting any solar power at that peak time. Wind may even have some good days, but even on those good days, it’s still a pitifully low total from those three renewables of choice.
And hey cherry picking or not, what do you do if this is all you have, and you get times like this?
4.8% of what is actually required means that Australia just stops. How palatable is that going to be for politicians who demand more renewables.
That peak power is not just in the private homes of the Australian citizens. It’s across the whole of Australia, everything.
Wait around and hope the wind picks up. Install batteries in every home, keeping in mind that residential power only makes up around 25% of consumption, so that won’t work either.
THAT is why we so desperately need coal fired power, to actually run the Country, and to do that you need REAL power, power that can deliver when it’s needed the most.
Now think what that Nameplate for wind power, solar plant power and rooftop solar power actually cost. And it’s for effectively ….. NOTHING.
Tony.
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Tuesday, yesterday.
Peak – 6.20PM – 26600MW.
All three Renewables – 700MW – 2.63% of total. (again, all wind power)
Tony.
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Yeah but to be fair Tony it was all free .
33
The wind was free, but the equipment to utilise that wind is very expensive when the big picture is considered, for example;
Capital Wind Farm Bungendore NSW has 67 wind turbines covering 15,000 acres of land (6,000 hectares) with capacity factor they average 42 MW.
So to duplicate Liddell Power Station (coal) 48 Capital Hills would be needed. And the price would be many Liddell replacements. And noting that suitable land is limited.
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Excellent work T, nice numbers. Numberwatch’s statistician Willaim Briggs would be proud :).
10
The response will be (gauranteed) is that, therfore its clear, we dont have enough renewables.
I hear foreheads hitting desktops.
10
a single taxpayer-funded ABC program just days prior to the election:
AUDIO: 15 May: ABC AM: Queensland resources sector reputation ‘nearing crisis’, research shows
By Stephen Long on AM
Adani’s planned coal mine is widely seen as a negative for Labor and a vote-winner for the Coalition, the view being that coal-loving Queenslanders don’t share southern voters’ views about coal and climate change.
But confidential mining industry research, obtained by the ABC, puts that view in doubt.
It says the reputation of the resources sector in Queensland is “nearing crisis”, largely because of strong negative perceptions about coal-mining and coal-fired power.
Featured:
Julian Vincent, Market Forces
Richard Denniss, chief economist, Australia Institute
TRANSCRIPT:
SABRA LANE: Queensland could be crucial to the outcome of the federal election this weekend…
But confidential mining industry research, obtained by the ABC, puts that view in doubt…
SPOKESWOMAN: (Extract from Queensland Resources Council (QRC) video) Resources: good for jobs, good for Queensland.
STEPHEN LONG: But secret research for the Queensland Resources Council shows the public is not convinced…
RICHARD DENNISS (TAI): You know, the irony is there is a good news story here for the mining industry; the public are actually interested in the resources required to build a transitioning economy. They just want to get out of a fossil fuel economy…
RICHARD DENNISS: Coal-loving Queensland doesn’t really exist. This data shows even the mining industry knows that…
STEPHEN LONG: The Queensland Resources Council said the research shows the industry needs to get better at telling its story and strengthen the understanding of all Queenslanders of its benefits…
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/programs/am/qld-resources-sector-reputation-nearing-crisis,-research-shows/11113926
AUDIO: 3min47sec: 15 May: ABC AM: ‘The resource industry supports renewables’: Ian McFarlane
On AM with Sabra Lane
The chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council, Ian McFarlane, joins AM to discuss the resources sector and Queenslanders’ attitudes to mining.
TRANSCRIPT:
SABRA LANE: The leaked research: are you embarrassed about that, and why do you think miners are held in such little regard?
***IAN MACFARLANE: Well, a) it is not secret research, and b) it wasn’t leaked; it was handed out and the ABC has come across a copy. ***We were going to release it next week after the election because we didn’t want to get caught up in the madness, but such is life…
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/programs/am/the-resource-industry-supports-renewables:-ian-mcfarlane/11114232
more to come.
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AUDIO: 3min19sec: 15 May: ABC AM: Green groups admit silence on koala threats from coking coal mine
By Isobel Roe on AM
The Olive Downs mine is about the same size as the scaled-down Adani project and will require large scale clearing of vital koala and glider habitat.
But while Adani has become a vexed political issue, this project is meeting with little opposition.
Featured:
Gavan McFadzean, Australian Conservation Foundation
Cameron Dick, Queensland State Development Minister
Carmel Flint, Lock The Gate Alliance
Lloyd Hain, resources analyst, AME Research
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/programs/am/green-groups-admit-silence-koala-threats-from-coking-coal-mine/11114206
AUDIO: 3min1sec: 15 May: ABC AM: Pacific leaders set to discuss climate change in Fiji
By Stephen Dziedzic on AM
Australian diplomats might be put in an uncomfortable spot today in Fiji.
Pacific leaders are gathering in the capital Suva today for a rare meeting with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
They’re expected to use the summit to ramp up their demands that developed nations do more to fight climate change and promise deeper cuts to emissions.
With the federal election looming, Prime Minister Scott Morrison isn’t attending, which means officials going in his place may bear the brunt of Pacific frustration with Australia’s climate policies.
Featured:
Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General
Tess Newton Cain, TNC Pacific Consulting
Tuilepa Sailele, Samoan Prime Minister
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/programs/am/pacific-leaders-set-to-discuss-climate-change-in-fiji/11113990
00
ABC AM guest this morning – ***Julien Vincent, “Market Forces”(?):
MarketForces.org.au: About Us
Who We Are
Market Forces believes that the banks, superannuation funds and governments that have custody of our money should use it to protect not damage our environment…
How We Work
Market Forces is proud to be an affiliate project of Friends of the Earth Australia and a member of the BankTrack international network, connecting us with passionate campaigners, environmental issue experts and advocates of environmentally sustainable behaviour from the finance sector…
The Market Forces Team
***Julien Vincent
Executive Director, Lead Campaigner
Julien has been an environmental campaigner and activist for over a decade. He was Climate and Energy Campaigner with Greenpeace Australia Pacific and Greenpeace International from 2006-2012, leaving in order to found Market Forces…ETC
https://www.marketforces.org.au/about-us/
Vincent is something of a media darling; Super/pension funds a target, as usual: :
19 Oct 2018: SMH: Whitehaven next in frame for investor pressure on climate
***by Julien Vincent
(Julien Vincent is the executive director of Market Forces, an environmental group affiliated with Friends of the Earth)
Market Forces has helped coordinate a resolution from over 100 Whitehaven shareholders to be put to the meeting asking the company to disclose the risks it faces from both the impacts of, and efforts to reduce, climate change…
Why might that matter to you? Because if you have a superannuation fund or shares in the ASX100, you’re likely invested in Whitehaven and exposed to its climate-related financial risks…
The IPCCs analysis on coal is in stark contrast on this matter. It requires at least a 2/3 reduction in coal power generation by 2030 and its virtual elimination by 2050…
Two of South Korea’s biggest pension funds last week announced plans to divest from coal and the province of South Chungcheong joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance, committing to bring forward the retirements of 14 coal power units by 2026…
The question now is what will investors do? They’re voting with our money and we need investors like our superannuation funds to put our money where their mouths are on climate risk management…
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/whitehaven-next-in-frame-for-investor-pressure-on-climate-20181016-p50a07.html
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2 Aug 2018: SMH: It’s about time super funds came clean on climate
***By Julien Vincent
A major emerging issue facing financial markets is climate risk…
You’d expect super funds, empowered to grow our nest eggs over a period of decades, to be all over this issue…
Mark McVeigh is a 23-year-old landscape ecologist from Brisbane. Last year he used the Market Forces website to ask his superannuation fund, REST, whether it was considering climate change risks when making investment decisions.
Since REST’s regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, calls climate change an emerging “defining issue for financial stability”, and The Economist Intelligence Unit has placed a damage bill of $4.2 trillion to $43 trillion between now and the end of the century, it seems reasonable that Mark would want to know what REST is doing to protect his retirement savings…
Moreover, barristers James Mack and Noel Hutley SC made it clear in an opinion last year that superannuation trustees should be considering and documenting climate risks as part of their legal duties.
But it’s more than a simple question of legality. Unless funds like REST rapidly shift their investments away from fossil fuels, by the time people of his age are able to access his super, the world will be facing the full force of climate change.
So when REST refused to answer his question, he wrote back and insisted. When his insistence hit a brick wall, he got a lawyer to press for answers on his behalf.
Eleven months later Mark and his lawyers, Environmental Justice Australia, ran out of patience and took REST to the Federal Court of Australia…
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/it-s-about-time-super-funds-came-clean-on-climate-20180801-p4zuy0.html
10
G’day Pat,
The ABC Just In version of the story includes:
” Without prompting, nearly one in five people said the resources industry “damages the environment” — almost as many as those who said it “supports the economy” or “creates jobs”. ”
That sounds more like ‘most people are ambivalent’ or ‘more support mining’ than comes over in the story.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-15/queensland-mining-reputional-crisis-due-to-coal-survey-finds/11112234
Seems to me the Headline should read “More Queenslanders support mining than oppose it”, even though the margin is small.
Cheers
Dave B
“
10
A most interesting read . . . . .
https://gizadeathstar.com/2019/05/coming-soon-to-an-australian-store-near-you-misprinted-banknotes/
20
Once again. The “alternative” energy program was not intended to work. If, by work, you mean deliver the power necessary for the nation to live and to accomplish the work of a thriving technological civilization. It was knowable from the get go that it couldn’t accomplish that task. Thus it was intended to fail. In the process, it was intended to destroy everything that did work and to reduce the nation to a painful destructive poverty with the government in control of the equivalent of a soon to die anthill.
They did not mean well in the beginning and do not mean well in its continuation. You have been viciously attacked by the self same people you voted in to fix the problem. Unless something fundamental is not changed, it is all down hill from here with no bounce at the bottom.
30
Nothing has changed from the cold war era except the tactics. The US economic power overwhelmed the USSR so they must break that power of the democratic nations.
You can vote your way into communism but must shoot your way out, that’s why they are anti private gun ownership. Sad to say Howard was one of their useful idiots as is Jacinta Ardern.
21
Thought I heard an air raid siren going off !
The ABC has a last ditch plea to the voters of the Northern Territory.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-15/federal-election-protecting-northern-territory-native-species/11097304
00
Copied from someone:
“You can trust a millionaire who becomes a politician, but never trust a politician who becomes a millionaire.”
80
IMO. Even better when stated as
“I’m not interested in seeing the tax return of a millionaire that becomes a politician.
I’m very interested in seeing the tax return of a politician that becomes a millionaire”.
Though Clive Palmer, though it could be held that he didn’t spend enough time at it to be considered one
30
12 May: NYT: Air Pollution Fears Put London’s Ice Cream Trucks at Risk
by Anna Schaverien
But Londoners could soon find it harder to track down soft-serve on a hot day, because of fears that pollutants from the trucks’ diesel engines may be endangering lives.
Councils in the city are threatening to clamp down on ice cream trucks that roam their streets if they do not become more environmentally friendly.
“No one wants a side order of asthma with their ice cream,” Caroline Russell, a Green Party member of the London Assembly, said in a recent phone interview…
30 Apr: UK Sun: MR DRIPPY Snowflake health and safety killjoys ban ice cream vans from streets over pollution claims
Camden council in London has put ‘No Ice Cream Trading’ signs in 40 streets
By Shaun Wooller
Nearby Westminster council will also prevent ice cream sellers operating in some of its roads near schools…
And London Green Party politician Caroline Russell said: “No one wants to be the fun police or see people lose their businesses. But people don’t want a side order of asthma with their ice cream. This is a serious health issue.”…
Zelica Carr, of trade body The Ice Cream Alliance, said: “We would encourage councils and other bodies to install electricity power points in parks and other relevant sites so ice cream vans can operate with their engines off…
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8974726/ice-cream-van-ban-some-london-camden-pollution/
reminder:
Apr 2017: RTE Public Radio Ireland: Former Green minister regrets decision to promote diesel engines
By Donal Byrne
The former Green Party minister, Eamon Ryan, has agreed with a former British government advisor that decisions to give diesel cars a tax advantage were wrong.
Mr Ryan was responding to remarks by David King, who was the chief scientific adviser and a special representative for climate change to successive British governments. Mr King said he had been misled by the car industry about dangerous nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel cars.
The number of diesel cars sharply increased after the British Labour government cut fuel duty on diesel vehicles in 2001.
Mr King told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It turns out we were wrong.”…
Since 2008, up to 70% of cars sold in Ireland have been diesels as a result of tax advantages. The move was promoted by the Green Party because of concerns about CO2 emissions from petrol cars. Mr Ryan was Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources…
https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/motors/2017/0405/865457-former-green-minister-regrets-decision-to-promote-diesel-engines/
6 Apr 2017: Spiked: Ben Pile: Diesel charges: pushing poor drivers off the road
London mayor Sadiq Khan is waging war on diesel. His latest move is an exclusion of certain diesel cars from London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ). From April 2019, drivers of diesel cars built before September 2015 must pay an additional charge to use the roads within the city’s congestion-charge zone, even during times when the congestion charge doesn’t apply…
Diesel has recently gone from being a climate-change hero to a climate-change villain. Only 10 years ago, the EU and the UK government encouraged drivers to use diesel cars to cut carbon emissions. The chief scientific advisor responsible for the UK’s implementation of that guidance was Sir David King. ‘It turns out we were wrong’, King said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this week…
00
Is this the methodology they used to come up with the Adani finch results?
“Not Threatened By Climate Change: Bengal Tigers”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/05/14/not-threatened-by-climate-change-bengal-tigers/
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25 Apr: WalesOnline: £15million solar farm in doubt because of birds
Cardiff council wants to build a massive solar farm but ***”significant concerns” have been raised by Natural Resources Wales
By Matt Discombe
Fears over two species of birds have thrown plans for a £15m solar farm in Cardiff into doubt.
Cardiff council is planning to build a 42-acre solar farm, which could power 2,600 homes, at the former Lamby Way landfill site.
But Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has raised “significant concerns” about the plans which could threaten two species of birds which roost alongside the site…
“Our main concern is potential disturbance of two species of birds, redshank and dunlin, who roost on the Rhymney River spit alongside the site.
“We are working closely with Cardiff council to try and resolve these concerns before planning permission is granted.“…
Cardiff council’s planning committee next meets on May 15.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/solar-farm-lamby-way-cardiff-16180938
***not so “significant” after all! you are on your own, redshank and dunlin:
14 May: InsiderMedia: Solar farm plans set for green light
Plans to build a 42-acre solar farm at a former landfill site near Cardiff are set for the go-ahead after being recommended for approva as wildlife concerns were withdrawn.
Natural Resources Wales previously had concerns relating to roosting birds at the site on Lamby Way, with the application from Cardiff Council to be considered by the planning committee tomorrow…
Cllr Michael, cabinet member for clean streets, environment and recycling, said: …”A climate emergency has been declared by the council and by national governments and this project is a significant step forwards in this difficult area.
“The figures show that we can also generate a small surplus income for the council from an otherwise difficult site to develop.”…
https://www.insidermedia.com/insider/wales/solar-farm-plans-set-for-green-light1
00
Lovely satellite image today of NZ, Aus, S.E. Asia, China, Japan and the western Pacific, 0000 UTC (midday NZ-time):
http://www.fvalk.com/images/Day_image/HIM-0000.jpg
RIP ex-cyclone Ann… hello Roaring Forties snowstorms! Minus 21˚C Greenland, -68˚C Antarctica – so where’s all this warming?
12
-68˚C Antarctica , I know its so funny, to us realists, that THEY think that the snow and ice melts in the Antarctic when its well BELOW ZERO C!. It hardly ever , if at all, (check needed) that the temp at even Scott Base ever get much above -20! I was told, by a friend who wintered over there, on a warm day mid winter its -60!
42
Scott Base 10 pm tonight: -26˚C with -40˚C wind chill. Don’t step outside – you may be a while…
http://antarcticanz.staging.e2digital.co.nz/antarctgovtnz5/sbweather.html
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lengthy, read all:
14 May: EnergyVoice: Bloomberg: Offshore wind will need bigger boats. Much bigger boats
How do you install a wind turbine almost the size of the Chrysler building in the open ocean? Just get a boat with deck space larger than a football field and a crane that can lift the weight of 1,100 Chevy Suburban SUVs.
Those specialist ships are scarce, numbering about a dozen in the world. And at a cost of more than $300 million, they each need to be capable of hoisting generators the size of shipping containers atop steel towers hundreds of feet tall.
While wind turbine manufacturers led by MHI Vestas Offshore Wind A/S and General Electric Co. are expanding the size of their machines quickly, the small cadre of mainly closely-held specialist shipowners that does the installations is hesitant to build more ships before they know how big the vessels need to be. That indicates a looming ship shortage in the next decade, threatening the outlook for a seven-fold jump in offshore wind capacity by 2030…
BloombergNEF expects offshore wind capacity to jump to 154 gigawatts by the end of the next decade from about 22 gigawatts now as the thirst for cleaner electricity grows. Most offshore wind farms are in northwest Europe, but China, the U.S., and South Korea will be big markets in the future…READ ON
https://www.energyvoice.com/otherenergy/199247/offshore-wind-will-need-bigger-boats-much-bigger-boats/
20
Okay then, now think of maintenance on these offshore wind plants.
With a coal fired plant, of say four Units, you have maintenance being done on the basis of one Unit at a time. There are four Units, so it’s a schedule thing, and from what I have seen, Units are off line for maintenance for between two and four days. All the work is at ground level, so plenty of room to move around. Maintenance on all four Units is usually spread across four to five Months, so down time for the plant is minimised.
Now we have offshore wind plants with anything up to fifty plus of those towers with turbines on top of the tower. It would now need to be done on a virtually continuous basis.
The top of the tower can be more than 200 Metres above sea level. The generator is inside the nacelle on top of the tower.
So, get out there by boat. Climb the spiral staircase inside the tower, up anything up to 1500 steps, carrying all your equipment. Work inside a confined and cramped space servicing the generator and gearbox, etc. I have heard it’s easier to access them by helicopter, and lower them down, so you’re looking at fine weather at worst, and danger money all round.
Now I hear of cases about the leading edges of the fan blades, so don’t tell me that’s a cheap task either. And not four ground based Units, but more than 50 of them in some cases.
What extra costs are involved with this.
Similar applies to land bases turbines.
But hey, it’s all free power, eh!
Tony.
100
Yep, an engineering nightmare to maintain.
40
Hey at least they are above water. The world of tidal and wave energy awaits us, next time they will surely get it right. The marine environment is so friendly on machines and electrics, so really, how hard can it be?
20
Four tankers sabotaged with limpet mines in UAE port.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Four oil tankers anchored in the Mideast were damaged by what Saudi and U.S. officials say were “sabotage” attacks, though images of the ships have shown clear visible damage to only one of the vessels. Details of the alleged sabotage to two Saudi, one Norwegian and one Emirati oil tanker on Sunday remained unclear, and none of the nations to which the vessels belong had assigned any blame.
However, on Monday American officials told CBS News senior national security correspondent David Martin that the initial assessment of a U.S. team sent to investigate the incidents was that Iran or Iranian-backed proxies had used explosives to blow holes in the four ships.
The incidents demonstrated the raised risks for shippers in a region vital to global energy supplies as tensions soar between the U.S. and Iran in the wake of President Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the nuclear deal agreed by world powers and to impose harsh new sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-news-sabotage-tankers-fujairah-us-donald-trump-warns-iran-live-updates-2019-05-14/
Trump will have his work cut out for him dealing with all the threats he faces.
20
I wonder how vulnerable we here in Australia are to a major disaster from a terrorist attack on one or more tankers delivering more volatile refined petrol to our shores, seeing as we have outsourced refining to Singapore ?
00
13 May: BusinessGreen: ‘Liberating force’: Businesses urge government to simplify EV charging system
by Madeleine Cuff
In a speech in London last week, CBI director-general Carolyn Fairbairn warned zero emission vehicles have the potential to be a “liberating force” for the 21st century economy, but only if more is done to make the process of building out the necessary infrastructure simpler.
“Today, if you want to install an electric vehicle charge point, you must deal with multiple regulators and agencies – Ofgem, the local planning authority, the National Grid – each of which has different standards, different levels of responsiveness, operating under different legislation,” she said. “It’s a complex picture and it’s already having consequences. We have 22,000 charge points across the country, but the spread is inconsistent as one area pulls ahead of another.”…
Meanwhile, an industry group statement signed by BP, National Grid, Centrica, and Siemens, among others, last week called on the government to clarify its strategy for a network of rapid chargers, which the firms claim is vital in order to convince households to ditch fossil fuel vehicles in large numbers…READ ON
https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news-analysis/3075502/government-under-pressure-to-simplify-ev-charging-system
14 May: iNewsUK: James Dyson: Government has ‘watered down’ its commitment to electric cars
by Rhiannon Williams
The British inventor, 72, said he met with prime minister Theresa May’s PPSs, (parliamentary private secretaries, who work on behalf of senior ministers in government) to discuss making electric cars compulsory a year ago.
“I said: ‘Why don’t you make electric cars compulsory by 2030?’. This was a year ago, so it gave the industry 12 years to adjust, build the charging points, etc,” Sir James told i, speaking to mark the permanent opening of the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College, London…
“Two days later, they announce it’ll be 2040, 22 years on. It just seemed watered down, I don’t know why they watered it down. Maybe pressure from industry, I don’t know. But I thought that was a shame.”…
The government also cut grants for buyers of new eco-friendly cars in autumn last year, getting rid of incentives to purchase plug-in hybrid vehicles, which run on a combination of combustion engines and battery power, and slashing the grant for pure electric vehicles from £4,500 to £3,500.
Dyson confirmed it was working on an electric car in September 2017, expected to be the first in a range of electric vehicles powered by solid state batteries, scheduled for launch in 2021…
Sir James also defended his company’s controversial decision to manufacture its forthcoming car in Singapore, where the company has also relocated its head office, explaining that many cars which claim to be manufactured in the UK contain overseas components…
“The main market for electric vehicles is China, so we want to be close to China and get into it under the ASEAN agreement (a trade bloc agreement for south East Asian nations),” he continued.
“Of course, all our competitors make their cars in China as well, so those cars are lost to England. It’s also true, I think, that 90 per cent of the components in cars made in Britain come from abroad.”…
https://inews.co.uk/news/technology/james-dyson-government-watered-down-its-commitment-to-electric-cars/
00
14 May: TheNationalScotland: Leading builder plugs into future demand for electric vehicles at new development
By Greg Russell
All of the 84 homes at The Crescent at Donaldson’s, by Cala Homes (East), will be served by an EV fast charger, with infrastructure built into the underground parking at the premium Edinburgh development.
The Crescent is home to a selection of unique apartments ranging from £950,000 to £1,925,000 in Edinburgh’s Unesco World Heritage Site, in 18 acres of grounds that comprise the largest new shared garden built to date in the capital…
Jorro managing director David Pickles said: “While many buyers may not yet have EVs or plug-in hybrids, it is inevitable that a majority will do in the not-too-distant future, as range increases and costs fall…
“All buyers need to do is add the relevant plug unit, due to different car brands choosing varying solutions. Any costs therefore will be negligible.”…
https://www.thenational.scot/business/17636714.leading-builder-plugs-into-future-demand-for-electric-vehicles-at-new-development/
10
84 possible cars and one charger?
Are they running a lottery on the side?
00
Labor economics , zero percent inflation is bad !
Why is Venezuela always their goto model of utopia .
00
15 May: ABC: Futuristic renewable-energy agribusiness Sundrop Farms sells to trans-Tasman investment firm
ABC North and West SA By Patrick Martin
World-leading agriculture business Sundrop Farms has a new owner, but the final price tag remains a closely-guarded secret…
At its peak it produces 39 megawatts of thermal energy, which is used for electricity, heating and making water.
The commercial facility cost about $200 million to build, with private equity firm Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts (KKR) investing $100 million.
The facility produces about 17,000 tonnes of truss tomatoes a year and holds a 10-year supply contract with Coles Australia…
Sundrop Farms CEO Steve Marafiote said the final price was “in-line with parting and incoming shareholders’ expectations” but refused to state how much was paid.
***Reports suggested the deal was worth between $30 million and $250 million, with negative facility performance noted as a factor impacting its value.
But Mr Marafiote refuted those claims…READ ON
https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-05-15/port-augusta-sundrop-farms-sold-to-investment-fund-morrison-co/11108046
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read all:
15 May: SolarQuotesBlog: Public Comment Opens For WA’s Huge Wind, Solar And Storage Project
by Michael Bloch
The Environmental Review Document for the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH), an 11+ GW wind/solar project with storage proposed for Western Australia, has been made available for public comment.
The AREH (LINK) web site states the overall project area will occupy 7,000 square kilometres in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia. Originally announced as 6GW capacity, that was revised upwards to 9GW, then to 11+ GW in October last year – 7.5+ GW of wind turbines and 3.5+ GW of solar panels…
The facility will generate electricity for large energy users in the Pilbara region, for export overseas and for use in hydrogen production…
As for transmitting wind and solar power generated electricity overseas, AREH proponents NW Interconnected Power Pty Ltd state Australia’s abundant renewable energy resources combined with the latest High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission technology will enable the export of competitively-priced electricity from Australia to help countries such as Indonesia and Singapore meet their own renewable energy goals…
The project will require the permanent clearing of 11,962 ha of the site area (around 1.7% of the development envelope)…
The Environmental Review Document can be downloaded here (LINK).
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/areh-wind-solar-storage-mb1054/
10
forgot to excerpt re the jobs bonanza?
Renewable Energy Jobs Bonanza
Should the project go ahead, it will create bunch of jobs – an estimated 3,000 direct construction jobs and 400 direct operational positions.
10
Plenty of reasonable-priced gas up there, so can’t see this making a profit.
10
what a surprise!
15 May: ABC: Federal election 2019: Vote Compass finds broad desire for more action on climate change
Story Lab By Catherine Hanrahan
Updated about 2 hours ago
A majority of Coalition, Labor and Greens voters all want more government action on climate change, Vote Compass data has found.
A majority of voters also support more renewable energy, a higher uptake of electric cars and a price on carbon, with renewables amassing the most support.
More than 80 per cent of Australians want the Government to take more action on climate change, up 20 percentage points since 2013…
Strikingly, support for more action was almost universal among Labor and Greens voters, the strongest response to any Vote Compass question during this election.
Nearly 60 per cent of Coalition voters agreed with the desire for more climate action…
The desire for more action was even stronger among young Australians…
Voters back renewable energy and electric cars
Nearly 90 per cent wanted to see more renewable energy, including a majority of voters from all parties…
(Rosemary Lyster, co-director of the Australian Centre for Climate and Environmental Law at the University of Sydney law school) said people found the idea of technological and innovation solutions very appealing.
“They see that as contributing to the economy and they see lots more jobs, which is good for the economy,” she said…
About the data
•The sample size for this report is 513,335 respondents and 137,226 respondents for the electric car question of the day…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-15/federal-election-vote-compass-climate-change/11110912
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lengthy, read all:
14 May: CityLab: HuffPo: Tesla’s Busted Solar Panels on Vieques Are a Cautionary Tale
by Alexander C. Kaufman
After Hurricane María plunged the island off Puerto Rico into darkness, Tesla’s arrival heralded the dawn of a microgrid future. But it wasn’t that easy…
Electrical lines still hang perilously from poles across the street, but inside the mint-green, one-story Ciudad Dorada senior center, fans blow cool air and refrigerators stocked with insulin and other medicines run cold even as the noon sun broils in a cloudless Caribbean sky. On its roof are a set of Tesla photovoltaic solar panels, attached via cable to a pair of Tesla batteries hitched to the wall beneath.
And yet, a diesel generator growls on full blast behind the center…
Constructing the system was simple. But when workers attached the panels and batteries to the old electrical wiring in the former schoolhouse, the batteries blew out.
“It doesn’t work,” a nurse at the senior center said in Spanish during a HuffPost visit in late February. “It never has.”
The circuitry issue proved ominous…
Today the island still depends on dirty power from the mainland, and some solar panels and batteries sit useless and broken with another hurricane season less than a month away…
At one water-treatment facility, the battery sat dormant and, during HuffPost’s visit to the site in late February, the field of solar panels was overgrown with weeds and brush. Several panels bore the shattered imprints of horse hooves, a predictable problem on an island with one wild horse for every two humans…
It’s not enough either to build the solar panel and battery farms. They have to be maintained. The busted solar panels at the facility on Vieques’s northern shore is a textbook case of what Jenean Smith, an executive at the California-based nonprofit solar installer Grid Alternatives, calls a “solar graveyard.”…
“We see it with off-grid systems all around the world, where well-intentioned organizations will install systems, get a lot of PR, get funding upfront, then they leave,” Smith said by phone…
https://www.citylab.com/environment/2019/05/puerto-rico-vieques-solar-power-tesla/589441/
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15 May: Guardian: The Liberal party’s rank opportunism spells danger for Australian energy policy
Whoever forms government this weekend, we can expect the Coalition to keep playing silly buggers with climate policy
by Richard Denniss, The Australia Institute
Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Australian voters, scientists, economists and business leaders want the climate wars to end and the new investment in renewables and storage to begin, the Liberals seem to be setting themselves – and the country – up for another three years of inaction. Whether they win office or not, their determination to lengthen the energy wars will cost Australia dearly…
***It is time for the Liberals to put power prices ahead of power politics.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/14/the-liberal-partys-rank-opportunism-spells-danger-for-australian-energy-policy
14 May: CNBC: Energy firm E.ON calls for a CO2 tax in Germany
by Anmar Frangoul
The CEO of major utility E.ON called for a new carbon tax in Germany on Tuesday, stating that a “better and fairer energy transition” was possible.
The tax would be 35 euros ($39) per metric ton of emissions that result from the use of fossil fuels for power generation, transport and heating. Authorities in Germany are currently in discussions about such a tax, according to Reuters.
In a printed statement issued at the German firm’s annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday, CEO Johannes Teyssen said that the levy would generate 25 billion euros in tax revenues for the German Finance Ministry…
Teyssen explained that while electricity in Germany had become “increasingly green” the conversion of its “entire energy system” was supposed to be financed by customers through electricity prices.
***“As a result, clean electricity has become more and more expensive relative to dirty fossil fuels,” he added. Customers with lower incomes were financing the country’s energy transition, he said…READ ON
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/14/energy-firm-eon-calls-for-a-co2-tax-in-germany.html
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a big story in the UK today, mostly being attributed to Brexit problems. however, how much have EU CAGW policies contributed to the problem?
14 May: GrimsbyTelegraph: British Steel update on future of Scunthorpe works as unions warn of ‘devastating blow to workers and families’
Thousands of jobs said to be at risk in Scunthorpe as company blames Brexit for uncertain future
by David Elliott
The company, reported to be close to collapse, blamed uncertainty over Brexit for current problems but insisted it was trying to “navigate through” the issues.
The company statement came after reports that the future of steel manufacturing in Scunthorpe was at risk along with thousands of jobs as the company faced a critical shortage of cash.
The reports, leaked to Sky News, said discussions had been held with senior government officials over loans to keep the company buoyant for the coming months…
“Last month the company agreed a short-term bridge facility with government to help it meet its EU ***emissions obligations, and discussions are continuing about a package of additional support to assist the company address broader Brexit-related issues, whilst continuing with its investment plans.”…
But there are concerns more funding would not be made available over concerns about the long term prospects for British Steel – and the industry as a whole in the UK…
British Steel employs 6,000 people, including more than 4,000 in Scunthorpe, and is one of the biggest single employers in the Humber region.
Several thousand more jobs in the supply sector are dependent on British Steel in the region.
https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/british-steel-brexit-scunthorpe-government-2867858
***British Steel is not alone. so there may be more pain to come for British industry:
1 May: Guardian: British Steel receives £120m government loan
Government makes emergency loan to cover an EU bill for carbon dioxide emissions
by Jasper Jolly
The government has given British Steel an emergency £120m loan to cover an EU bill for carbon dioxide emissions, after the delay in reaching a Brexit withdrawal deal forced it to intervene.
The business secretary, Greg Clark, told parliament that British Steel would have faced a bill of more than £600m from EU regulators if the government had not given it the support.
British Steel has been unable to obtain its free carbon emissions credits for this year under the EU’s Emissions Trading System, after the European Commission suspended the UK from the scheme in December in preparation for a possible no-deal Brexit.
While the UK’s membership of the EU has been extended until October, parliament’s inability to vote through a withdrawal agreement has meant that ***British companies***, including British Steel, are still locked out of the system.
British Steel faced a fine of £500m from the European commission, on top of the £120m cost of buying the allowances, which polluting industries must have if they continue to emit greenhouse gases…
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/01/british-steel-receives-120m-government-loan
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Youtube: 40min05sec: Sean Hannity [FULL] 5/14/19 | URGENT!TRUMP BREAKING News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK0Fg-nW0wM&feature=youtu.be
14 May: The Hill: State Department’s red flag on Steele went to a senior FBI man well before FISA warrant
By John Solomon
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/443710-state-departments-red-flag-on-steele-went-to-a-senior-fbi-man-well-before
7 May: The Hill: Steele’s stunning pre-FISA confession: Informant needed to air Trump dirt before election
By John Solomon
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec’s written account of her Oct. 11, 2016, meeting with FBI informant Christopher Steele shows the Hillary Clinton campaign-funded British intelligence operative admitted that his research was political and facing an Election Day deadline.
And that confession occurred 10 days before the FBI used Steele’s now-discredited dossier to justify securing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and the campaign’s ties to Russia…
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/442592-steeles-stunning-pre-fisa-confession-informant-needed-to-air-trump-dirt
VIDEO 5min40sec: 14 May: GatewayPundit: BOOM! Joe diGenova: For the First Time I Believe These Guys are Going to Jail… This is Big Time! Brennan and Comey Needs 5 Attorneys
by Jim Hoft
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/05/boom-joe-digenova-for-the-first-time-i-believe-these-guys-are-going-to-jail-this-is-big-time-brennan-and-comey-needs-5-attorneys-video/
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Shorten has promised to reduce energy bills. So what happens when they inevitably go up due to their fanatical commitment to expensive and unreliable “renewables”? Do we get a refund (obviously out of our own taxes…)…?
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Excellent 38 minute video. We are in a trade war and it has become a war simply because we have a POTUS that is fighting back against the Chinese. This is the best short explanation of what has been going on and what will happen if we don’t win so if you can spare the time listen to Curtis Ellis, a real expert in this field, explain it in concise and easily understandable terms: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/05/14/video-overview-of-the-u-s-vs-china-trade-confrontation/
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‘The world’s oceans soak up about a quarter of the carbon dioxide that humans pump into the air each year—a powerful brake on the greenhouse effect.’
Phys org
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A number of studies have merged on the point that CO2, in the atmosphere from humans, will be recycled in 4 years.
i.e. it doesn’t build up in the atmosphere as the scaremongers suggest.
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AND, That total is only 4% of natures contribution.
CO2 does NOTHING to the climate.
“a powerful brake on the greenhouse effect.’” this is the continued BS that publications push. Now that there is NO warming.
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Remember also, that “natures contribution” cannot actually be measured,..only estimated.
So on a global scale its unlikely to be within +/- 10% of the true figure.
Ditto, to the rate of carbon adsorbtion by the oceans or land/forrests .
So, at 4% of natures contribution….mans efforts are far outweighed by the likely range of measurement error in the Natural carbon cycle.
Its all such unbelievable B.S. !
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K.K.
The scaremongers claim that it “captures I.R.” and presumably stores it out of an evil desire to turn the Earth into a fiery desert.
In practice a CO2 molecule can only “store’ IR for 0.5 milliseconds until it radiates it. In practice the CO2 molecules (at sea level pressure & temp.) would be hit by about 1,000 molecules and kinetic transfer of energy would result in a (fairly) uniform distribution of energy (I.R.) among the atmospheric molecules. I know that the father of the Swedish goggle-eyed ‘saviour of the Earth’ says otherwise but I reject his claim.
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Scientists say that it wasn’t predicted and they don’t have a clue what to expect in the future, but they suggest the cold winter of 2013 stopped the glacier thinning.
https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2019/05/15/mighty-greenland-glacier-slams-on-brakes/#more-42646
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the Danish met service has been reporting for a couple of years that Greenland ice sheet is increasing. Someone hasnt been listening.
“they don’t have a clue ..” true they are clueless idiots.
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Ask them, the (climate alarmists) this:
If one year the winter is so severe that the summer sun does not melt all the snow and ice?
What does that do to the Earths Libido?
Why it increases it!
What does increased Libido do?
Why it reflects more of the suns energy!
Why is that significant?
Well current theory is that ice ages happen with remarkable rapidity!
The change from warm to very cold happens over a few years not centuries.
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This mob have been set up.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/daily-brief/australian-islanders-to-lodge-landmark-un-complaint-on-climate-change
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Ho hum, !
Any islands gone under recently ?
Or just storm erosion ?
More publicly funded lawyers out for big bucks
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Most are actually growing, but let’s not mention that.
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You have to ignore subduction zones it that survey, lol
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Court dates announced for awarding of penalties in Dr Peter Ridd’s case.
https://www.gofundme.com/peter-ridd-legal-action-fund?viewupdates=1
It prompts the equal but opposite question; If JCU is such a terrible place why would Dr Ridd want to go back there? I guess it is about money and principle rather than the unpleasantness of the task. It would be hypocritical to fight for the right to say upsetting statements and then recoil from the battlefield of ideas.
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How about making JCU a better place where real scientists can actually do respected science?
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Money Talks
Ok so this is old news and sort of off topic but I think relevant.
Many years ago, even decades, there was a ‘Cholesterol is Bad’ report. Scientists produced a graph that showed death rate against cholesterol levels in the blood for various countries. Very, very convincing! Even I believed it!
Result:
Ok Cholesterol in blood is really bad.
We at xyz pharmaceutical company have a medication which lowers cholesterol in your blood.(Statins)
We at zyx manufacture an animal fat fee and therefore cholesterol free alternative to Butter. (Margarine)
‘They used Oil Seed Rape but re-named it Canola!’
Both xyz and zyx companies made lots of money!
The rate of heart attack deaths INCREASED in the USA over the next ten years!
It was some time later that the actual data that that graph had been collated from was published. Those pseudo-scientists had cherry picked results to show a relationship that did not actually exist!
Pseudo-Scientists score big, so follow the money.
If Michael Mann reads this, I dare him to sue me for deformation, show us your income before the hockey stick and after!
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You all need to read this!
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/comment-ive-become-very-isolated-the-aftermath-of-near-doomed-qf72/ar-AABsGce?ocid=spartanntp
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