…
You can’t make this stuff up.
The Government advertising bureau — the ABC — is telling Queenslanders that it’s good for them if the government switches off their air conditioning. As we pay more than ever for electricity, we also lose control of even our household appliances. If we get something back for the overpriced service, the propaganda unit calls this a payment, and a benefit. If you have a Christmas party and 30 guests and you can’t use your own air conditioner, don’t forget, the State knows best. If it causes “whitenoise” interference, adds one more failure point, or causes people to turn their air conditioners down in temperature preemptively, or program them to come on earlier, who cares?
If the ABC says something is smart, we know it’s …
Power companies will soon be paying you to cut your energy use
Stephen Long, ABC
The units installed on the walls of his apartment look the same as any other air conditioners, but there is a difference. They’re fitted with “PeakSmart” technology. It allows the electricity network company to send a signal that turns the air conditioning down for a short while during times of peak demand when the network is feeling the strain. “We cycle down the compressor, which is what creates the cooling part of the air conditioner,” says Peter Price, an executive general manager at Energy Queensland.
It’s a miracle, who needs electrons? Every day the ABC undoes something the education system tried to teach children.
“It cycles down for 20 minutes. The fan still runs, blowing out cold air. Customers don’t know that we’ve done that, but it pulls down the peak demand enough to make a difference.”
Mr Casey got a rebate that covered about half the cost of installing the air conditioners, and he’s a happy customer.
“We’ve not noticed a thing,” he tells the ABC.
About 100,000 Queensland houses already have these installed. Gone are the luxury days when consumers could control their own appliances, get cheap reliable electricity, and not need invasive, complicated schemes in order to keep some of their own money.
Demand response is coming, nationwide
Soon the rest of the nation will get a taste of what the Sunshine State has pioneered, but in an even more sophisticated form.
‘Wholesale demand response’ is coming, and it’s set to revolutionise the electricity system.
“It will be the biggest reform ever in the history of the National Electricity Network,” says Dan Cass, the energy policy lead at The Australia Institute.
The ABC appears to be writing for ten year olds.
Demand response could allow coal plants to close early
The flow-on benefits are enormous.
Enormous benefits for who? The international conglomerate renewable giants? The bureaucrats whose jobs depend on selling and managing your airconditioner use?
Most of the time Australia does not need all of the electricity that its mix of coal, gas, solar, wind and hydroelectricity is capable of supplying.
Effectively, the nation builds massive overcapacity compared to electricity demand in ordinary times to avoid power disruption on a small minority of extreme days when there is huge demand.
Effectively, the nation has paid to build an enormous overcapacity that can’t be relied upon in the hope of stopping storms and bushfires. Our entire gird generation is being doubled so half the infrastructure can run 20 – 30% of the time while the other half sits around like a deadweight costing staff, maintenance, land, and capital.
Jo are you aware that Australia’s lowest maximum temperature for summer was broken on December 3rd. Here is the report from Weatherzone: https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/coldest-summer-day-on-record/530627
Thredbo recorded a maximum of only -1 degree celsius, beating the previous record of -0.8 at Mt Buller in 2006.
Why does it not surprise me that I heard nothing in the MSM about this.
260
Yet the Ch10 weather presenter was warning last night about, I forget his words, but extreme heat of mid 30s and one day of 40C next week.
How not unusual for summer.
But all of the weather people use words chosen to impress gullible viewers and too many fail to think about it.
120
Let me think…
Everyone dependent on electrical power and electronic pulses…all centrally controlled, sort of in your own country, but not really, “country” being only a place for sending bills…
What if, for our benefit, of course, a full ID and biometric system could be laid under or over or around all that? I say it’s for our benefit, because look who the benefactor is: http://www.oldthinkernews.com/2019/12/04/bill-gates-wants-to-export-indias-national-id-system-around-the-globe/
It’s early days for this tech, needless to say. Still in the “brown people” stages. The fun starts for Bill when its injectable right around that globe thingy he always talks about.
Remember the days when we were up in arms over the Australia Card? Talk about quaint. Despite our love for Hawkie (I’m sure we loved him, it said so in the newspaper) we just didn’t want that thing. Dunno why.
Stop globalism. Do tradition, family, privacy, property. Do coal. (Oh, and do Linux, the freebie Bill doesn’t like.)
270
If the signal to shutdown the aircon comes directly through the powerline, and not via a separate box that is run via the cellular network, then putting a 240v RF filter between the supply and aircon would block the signal to control the aircon.
If the control signal was via a cellular device, that would be even easier to dud.
Simples…..
With all this, it is almost like those cringy 1950s govt ads about whatever patriotic duty was required at the time…..
80
This might sound a bit tossy, but the effective response to creeping globalism will be philosophical, through person to person conversation (as opposed to The Conversation). I’ll go so far as to say spiritual and philosophical response.
Right now people are media-mesmerised. I just tried watching a YouTube about a favourite subject, lentils, only to find it is a mish-mash ad for NGOs, Big Green and the climate industry. As YouTube moves toward becoming the modern equivalent of the patriotic radio you mention this sort of thing becomes so pervasive you just give up.
The problem is these compromised mega-corporations that don’t need profits, just compromised friends. As the counter-culture was a statist, spook-controlled hoax, the new counter-capitalism is all state. Talk to Alexa, ask Google…you’re conversing with a grey government building. When a kid loses his inhibitions in the mosh-pit at a concert he’s probably embracing a state-crafted message, not rock ‘n roll.
How to get electronically zonked people interested again in privacy rights, communal property and individual property, the real freedoms that preceded mass voting, elitist “revolutions” like 1789 and 1917…and which matter much more? I guess it starts with me being prepared to make myself foolish by having actual conversations with actual physical people. And, of course, to do that I have to turn off the enemy’s refuse media.
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It would most likely have two-way signaling and would detect a lack of status signal after the switching was sent.
50
This type of situation is exactly why I will NOT change to smart meters. I always insist on an energy supply plan with rates fixed for at least 12 months when I review all suppliers again.
I even have an official legal warning notice inside my (locked) meter box insisting that no smart meters will be considered and that penalties would apply if such changes were attempted.
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You would probably find that you would be denied permission to have any electrical modifications at all to your home unless you first have a smart meter installed.
The soft coercion has already started …but will necessarily become more militant as AEMO finds there’s no other way but by force…to ‘orchestrate’ a 100% weather-dependent solarPVhome-based electricity system….the only electricity system in the world winging it on the weather that the cult says is going to become massively more unreliable.
All of Australia’s competitors have multiple baseload alternatives in huge river hydro…nuclear…vandalism of forests for uncounted biomass…and/or multiple interconnectors to neighboring countries that have the baseload alternatives….and they have them forever…while Australia will be forever without them…as far as anyone alive now is concerned.
00
240V RF filter in a hardwired AC circuit is not something the average consumer can contemplate so far from simples really.
20
Ah yes agreed but most of us some form of tech background….
By the way, the “How many words or anagrams can you make from the word “PeakSmart”” competition is now open….
20
Mosomoso @ #2 said:
Yep: I’ve been doing Linux since 1994. It’s one of the half dozen freebies Bill doesn’t like.
It and OpenBSD (the really secure Freebie) are my two OS’s.
I don’t like Winders nor MS-Offiss, nor any other application from Mr Gates monolithic heffalump, so I don’t use them, at all ever. There’s nothing from MS on my machines; I can strongly recommend these two OS’s — there’s mountains of OSS (Open Source Software) which will keep you busy and productive without costing you anything. And I’ve never had any virus/malware to worry about …
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Being a tech doofus I just use simple flavours of Ubuntu, mostly Peppermint, but I find I can do everything I want, with some fiddling. Put a nippy little OS like Peppermint on an old workstation and it flies. I save every file in plain format for universal use, books are mostly epub, pdf for reading on a Kobo or whatever. Though I’m not big on phones my next will be a Librem 5, if that product goes well. I haven’t tried BSD but I’m sure glad it’s out there and that you’re using it.
I’m surprised when tech minded people say that Linux is difficult or fraught with limitations. Have I imagined the last decade? It’s yet another of those ingrained ideas which the big boys keep ingraining. (Back in the early days I used to go running with an indie tech writer who was actually a paid shill for Microsoft. His job was to write articles dumping on Apple and boosting Windows.)
Now that YouTube is ThemTube the one mainstream thing I still like is eBay, if I wear my mistakes and don’t hope for much help when things go amiss. It comes down to my assessment of another person, not just the goods and price, and then having faith. Even though a corporate giant is involved, it can be real human-to-human commerce if I make it that way. It’s up to me.
This is sort of off-topic, but not entirely. A lot of people don’t seem to realise that options exist beyond the Coke-Pepsi dualisms that are supposed to be our “choices”. That said, I don’t know what the options are once a
statecorporation has its finger perpetually on my power switch. But I won’t stop trying to find out.20
They should implement a ‘peak smart’ initiative with mobile phones. All phones ending with an even number the signal would turn off for an hour at an odd hour and those ending with an odd number turn off at an even hour. I wonder if people would notice and start wondering a bit more about ‘renewable energy’?
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What do they do if my blood boils over things like this? Probably nothing since I don’t live in Oz. But we have it here too. For now it’s voluntary whether you participate or not. And to induce participation they offer a reduced rate.
Same old same old result when government gets involved.
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The flip side of a voluntary discount is the involuntary cost of opting out.
When the free market is not free, how would we know if people were effectively paying more for the right to control their own appliances?
If there was no alternative supplier setting a market rate without “discounts” soon the discounts become the standard fee, and the price of opting out rises.
210
That’s about it. But when they intend to drive us off the cliff to Nirvana no matter what then what does it matter?
I really don’t think anything near honest accounting goes on in Sacramento.
140
PeakSmart = PeakSmarmy
50
Seems like a lot of extra sophisticated electronics which they say will only be used a couple of times a year at most.
A separate controller has to be installed that takes signals over the power lines.
The cost effectiveness must be marginal.
170
That stared me thinking — if a signal has to come in via power line it would have too be able to survive going through maybe a couple of transformers with their design optimized for 50 or 60 Hz. Anything very high in frequency would be seriously attenuated. So how complex could that signal be? I don’t know but it ought to be possible to build a simple plug in device that would interfere with that control signal and render the shutoff device useless.
You could get the rate reduction and enjoy air conditioning too. What am I missing here, aside from the fact that your power utility wouldn’t like it?
180
I don’t think there is a rate reduction, just a $400, $200 or $100 rebate off the purchase of a controller equipped Air conditioner.
The scheme has been around since 2011 apparently.
https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1810508
They say the air conditioner still runs when controlled but in economy mode like 75% rate.
70
Correction
There are 3 Demand Response Modes (DRM) for air-conditioners, depending on how extreme the need for demand management becomes.
DRM1: Compressor off
DRM2: capped to operate at 50%
DRM3: capped to operate at 75%
In 2019 there have been 2 peak smart events so far =
Date Start Finish Duration Demand Response Mode
12 Mar 17:20 19:20 2 hours DRM2
13 Feb 17:20 19:20 2 hours DRM2
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They keep it simple, right? 😉
60
I think there is an australian standard for it…as such its a “how to”….
This will start out boluntary then it wont be….the occult gaia worshippers consider humanity a “pest” to be controlled….
60
That is far different to the 20 minutes of just the fan blowing reported in the article.
50
Interesting they are both at the end of useful solar input. Uniformly 2 hrs a month apart, some tests maybe?
20
A good heavy duty 50/60 Hz pass filter works wonders since most of the control signals are at about 250 Hz.
I had to fit one to clean up the power to an office (the imposed garbage signals were upsetting most of the data recorders) and discovered it also stopped the day/night switch over signal from the electricity people.
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Any suggestions about where to buy one please?
Do you need to get it via a sparky via a wholesaler, and can you get 3 phase ones or just use 3 x in line 240V ones?
Actually, I wonder if an isolation transformer would work just as well? In theory it should….
30
Roy Hogue @ #5.1
Signalling over power lines: it’s been done since at least WW2, Roy, to control Hot Water Heaters and other mains power loads. I know it was/is used in Aus and the same goes for NZ.
is an example.
10
Thanks. That confirms my suspicion that the signal isn’t all that sophisticated and you might be able to fool it and keep your A/C on.
10
Sophisticated electronics? No.
As far back as I remember we had “Off Peak” discounts in electricity pricing, using clock switching.
About 55 years ago we saw being applied a new system which was switched by a signal sent down the power line. The one that I saw being demonstrated had 35 channels.
The only real change today is that those switches can be produced very cheaply, and the 35 channels would now be a huge number.
No doubt though that in Australia they would be expensive to fit.
50
I was wrong to negate the “sophisticated” call. I was imputing novelty into the word. That technology was sophisticated at the time and still is, now enhanced by the insertion of the silicon chip.
10
Peak bullying of gullibles maybe?
180
You got it Annie. Turn down the air conditioner for 20 minutes and then it takes more power to cool the room when the AC comes back on. Savings? Yeah, pull the other leg. 20 minutes today. 2 hours tomorrow.
302
Sorry Tony K, I hit the Red Thumb by mistake!
80
But according to the blurb the customers dont even notice. They really live in lalaland
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Amazing!
“We cycle down the compressor, which is what creates the cooling part of the air conditioner”
Then
“It cycles down for 20 minutes. The fan still runs, blowing out cold air. Customers don’t know that we’ve done that”
Just fascinating, you cycle down the cold air compressor, but the fan still blows out cold air!
RUBBISH!
Like a perpetual motion machine!
All it means is the Government controls what electricity you use!
Almost CRIMMINAL!
330
Yes, the usual stupid comments from non engineers designed to fool the gullible public. I assume it is also designed to stop people going out and buying their own generator.
80
The “hyper-renewable” California just managed to force all people with means to buy a generator. Generac sales are through the roof.
120
40C+ day and you “cycle down” the compressor. If you think the customers wont notice that you are just a continuation of the wishful thinking/rainbows and unicorns approach that characterises everything around so called renewables.
90
If we had too much capacity from coal powered electricity so we needed peak smart to become more efficient, then how come electricity prices are going through the roof.
180
I wonder when people actually start to realise something like this.
The cost for electrical power started to go UP ….. when those two renewable power sources of choice, (wind power and solar power) started to come into being.
Tony.
260
But you weren’t supposed to notice that, Tony. Repeat after me, “Electricity got cheaper. Electricity got cheaper… …got cheaper…”
Got it now?
140
And the cost of wind and solar is also getting cheaper, apparently.
60
“Electricity got cheaper, got cheaper” sounds like the chorus, from the new musical,”We love Paris” by the Turnbullesque government spin doctors written & directed by Angus Taylor, and accompanied by the Scott Morrrison singers, musical backing from the famous Gangreen Labor orchestra .
It hasn’t even got to no. 15 on Top of the Pops.
160
Had to laugh when govt claimed the ever rising cost was really due to investment in infrastructure hardening and capacity overbuild.
60
They are wrecking a reliable working electricity supply network and replacing part of it with not cost effective wind, solar and back ups for them, plus feeder transmission lines not needed originally.
And consumers pay for it and subsidise those private sector businesses for profit to shareholders.
60
Its for our own good, really it is
30
They should have realised it already, Tony, yet they still keep regurgitating the blurb that “renewables are cheaper than coal”.
I can’t figure it out myself.
(PS. A couple of us got together in Rockhampton on Friday in response to Jo’s suggestion of a general Christmas get-together of like minded folks from the blog. We thought, based on some of your previous posts, that you might be from our Central Queensland/Capricornia area, and hoped you might be able to join us.)
00
No matter how large the wind/solar generation system is, there needs to be the same capacity fossil-fuelled generation available for when the Gods deem there to be no wind or sun.
The Green Dream requires there to be double the capacity, yet they complain that we end up with an apparent over capacity.
110
The green dream to power the NEM does not include any fossil fuel.
The lowest cost option at present demand is 400GW of solar panels optimised for winter insolation combined with 1250GWh of storage with a peak power capacity of 40G. Of course that cannot happen because heading further down that path will cause a deep recession thereby cutting power demand dramatically. Only a few government employees will be paid enough to buy electric cars so they will not add much demand.
50
No it will be fine because the wind is always blowing somewhere, and the sun is always shining somewhere , and batteries are getting cheaper and cheaper, and pumped hydro n stuff. Isnt that right?
40
More than double . They’re talking about having an overbuild of 700% of demand now.
And it all becomes academic when you see today that the Northern Territory’s two power CEOs hve been sacked in response to the 10 hour-long Alice Springs blackout caused by a cloud going over and the consequent very sudden reduction in generation at a solar farm.
00
Peak smart ? more like peak dumb!!
160
I warned people many years ago what ‘smart’ devices were for —
‘Smart’ is an acronym for Societal Monitoring And Recording Technology.
🙂
230
Birth Certificates now come with a disclaimer at the bottom, which reads:
“This life may be recorded for training purposes.”
80
surely theirABC could have found a satirist to write the PeakSmart article:
Phillip Adams’s final show of the year before the big taxpayer-funded holiday:
AUDIO: 53m21s: 5 Dec: ABC Late Night Live: Phillip Adams: Was 2019 a good year for comedy?
A panel of eminent satirists canvasses the comedy fodder offered up in the past year.
Guests (with add-ons from Wikipedia)
Alice Fraser: The Alice Fraser Trilogy was commissioned as a six part podcast series on ABC Radio Podcasts.
Dan Ilic: Hungry Beast (ABC) produced Censordyne for GetUp.
Cathy Wilcox: SMH/Age
Andy Matthews: Channel 10’s The Project, The Checkout on the ABC, Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell (ABC).
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/5-december-2019/11769502
a few bits, paraphrased:
6m30s: Cathy Wilcox: does regular climate change cartoon. denialism. mock the PM. the lump of coal. Morrison/White House/Hillsong saga.
11m20s: the Mark Humphries’ Greta Thunberg Helpline.
20m32s: Alice Fraser: UK comedy/newscape dominated by Brexit & Trump. only Aussie content will feel-good stories or when an idiot like Barnaby Joyce says stupid things. he’s a man of the people, if by people you mean idiots, and by man you mean idiot (laughter).
22m03s: Andy Matthews: we almost consciously decided not to talk about Trump. he is so effectively satirised by both himself & the enormous satirical machine that is so much of late-night TV in the US.
34m: Dan Ilic: recently got Comedy Channel $30million commission for a show. the premise of the show is the media makes us scared of things, but all the wrong things. I wanted to make a show about what we should be scared about. mostly it is all about climate change. over the last year, we re-invigorated the brand & took the show around Australia.
Adams: how quaint.
Ilic: that’s how you make money. we took it to the Powerhouse in Brisbane, sold out there, we did a big climate show, CLIMATE REALITY TRAINING THEY DID UP THERE, etc…
TWEET: Dan Ilic
Big 2019 (includes)
Sold out nat. tour ***@ARationalFear…
Obama Foundation Leadership conf…ETC
5 Dec 2019
https://twitter.com/danilic/status/1202804967146278912
TWEET Leeanne Eoch MP, QLD Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, Science, and the Arts
There are more than 30 events across Qld this week as part of #ClimateWeekQld and #WorldEnvironmentDay. Amazing to have @algore and @ClimateRealityA in Brisbane for Climate Reality Leadership Training. It is clear we need to take urgent action on climate change.
5 Jun 2019
https://twitter.com/LeeanneEnoch/status/1136167559701491713
7 Jun Tanya Ha, Enviro/sustainability/climate, broadcaster, author, steminist. Engagement Director @scienceinpublic. VP @scienceAU. Board @DivCouncilAus
It’s #ClimateWeekQLD with ***@danilic and ***@ARationalFear podcast – you’ll laugh and cry at the same time!
https://twitter.com/Ha_Tanya/status/1137207726163910656
guess the PeakSmart article would not be improved by any of this lot.
PeakStupid.
70
By THEIR
Australian Brainwashing Corporation
90
The Northern Territory are the only mainland province that now has an electrical engineer in charge of new renewable subsidy farms it seems , no need to worry about turning down your aircon if this new proposal gets the rubber stamp from government.
This is the most realistic proposal I’ve seen for renewable energy and I wholeheartedly back it in 100% and yes it does still have some rough edges but it’s what should be mandated everywhere .
https://reneweconomy.com.au/billionaires-huge-solar-dream-overshadows-troubling-energy-wars-in-top-end-99660/?fbclid=IwAR0CGiT7HBstao_ikJADfIcIaOPvWODpglBNMFAWt5PrJeKwdz3p3S2lKfE
50
Electricity generators supplying reliably??? No wonder ‘reneweconomy’ is upset.
Next thing someone might suggest that the renewable operators should pay for all those extras needed like connectors, a new BassLink, Snowy 2 etc.
140
How quaint, the grid used to be managed to meet demand, now the demand will be managed to meet available grid power availability—which is dependent on the weather. Better buy batteries.
200
Indeed Sean,
How dare people think that just because your country is lucky enough to have the resources (coal), and the technology to be able to affordably build a power distribution system that supplies all the power that people could want, just because they can pay for it.
How would cheap and reliable electricity benefit the control freak government officials and their crony capitalists mates?
What next? Nuclear power and all the reliability problems that would give the government squanderers of national wealth, by offering affordable 24/7 electricity for 40 to 60 years.
Oh the misery of it, electricity supplied on demand!
🙂
130
I always use thus logic to exposes the CAGW nonsense:
If CAGW was real, govt shoukd be building nuclear power plants that run reliably 24×7 and have no real emissions.
Deathly silence at the table…….
The trouble with the climate cult followers is that they are like children…not deep thinkers and easily lead. Actual adult thinking kills the puppy dog and windmills la la land thinking very quickly, as it should.
120
Better buy generators so you have something to put in the batteries
40
By the time we get to totally peak stupid…to the LEFT’s holy grail…Australia as the only 1st world nation that’s completely dependent on a 100% weather-dependent electricity system….any batteries anyone has…along with the pumped hydro ‘batteries’ like Snowy2 and Tassy…will be weather-dependent as well…since they’ll only be charged with wind or solar.
10
Further to the meme of the Qld proposal the latest issue of the RACV magazine, Royal Auto, has a seriously bad article promoting Victoria’s suicidal electricity plans. The article blames coal and gas plants for “not keeping up with the system”.
It goes on to tout all the new solar and wind projects with a note that much new infrastructure investment in the grid is needed without mentioning the cost.
And of course it quotes the capacity of these projects without any mention of their actual levels of output being only a small fraction of that. For instance it talks about the Numurkah solar farm as “producing 120 MW of electricity”. And from only 515 hectares!
The article blithely admits that our grid cannot handle all these renewables and would need to be completely revamped but does not admit that this would be at a huge cost.
Finally the article claims that further interconnections between states (although all will soon be in the same situation so won’t have the spare production to prop up another state) along with grid scale storage would solve all problems, again without any notion of the costs.
210
Good, relevant summary.
100
We’d better not open the latest Royal Auto mag. Need to watch the old blood pressure doesn’t rocket.
120
Its good as a budgie cage liner.
I stopped reading iwhen it became clear it had drunk of the climate kool aid….
Only mad dogs and englishmen…..
70
I have made a request to the RACV to delete me from the mailing list. Will feedback if its successful.
30
Good luck with that Yarpos , I was at one stage getting three copies and gave up trying after three months .
Although I only have one to throw in the bin these days and somehow I manage to get the mag the same day I get the bins emptied .
10
5 Dec: Artshub: The images that rocked politics in 2019
Jon Kudelka has been named the Australian Cartoonist of the Year as part of the Behind the Lines 2019 exhibition at the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD).
by George Dunford
A multi-Walkely Award winning cartoonist at ***The Australian, Kudelka mastered the artform by drawing one cartoon every weekday for years. The exhibition puts him in good company with other cartoonists including David Pope, Cathy Wilcox and Mark Knight who are among the many talented cartoonists showcased this year…
***Other headlines that dominated were poked at by cartoonist’s pens this year. Climate change features in several cartoons. ***Kudelka sees climate change as the significant issue of the last 12 months.
‘I think people are genuinely starting to get worried about climate change and our lack of action from the government and the lack of too much opposition by the Opposition. So I think that the political class being out of step with public sentiment is similar to marriage equality the year before,’ he explained…
As a reflection of the year, Behind the Lines also had to take in the the raids on journalists at the ABC and News Corp in June. Kudelka reflected that while they represented a threat to the free press, cartoonists are fortunate in how they can comment on it.
‘If there was a [truly] free press we’d be less necessary. I think satire arose out of the need to sneak things under the radar. Saying one thing and meaning another is, you know, the ultimate way of pulling down the authoritarians,’ Kudelka said…
‘One of my hard and fast rules is to not explain the cartoon. And if someone doesn’t get it, that’s perfectly fine, the world will not stop turning, but nonetheless, I’m not going ruin it for everyone by explaining it. ***A cartoon is an in-joke that’s for everyone.’
https://visual.artshub.com.au/news-article/sponsored-content/visual-arts/george-dunford/the-images-that-rocked-politics-in-2019-259390
CAGW-advocacy cartoons are not for everyone, and those advocating a climate election lost, Kudelka.
60
Thank god for privatisation
015
Yep, The ABC should most definitely be privatised !
210
Yes long overdue. Better still let the ALP and Greens fund it given it’s their mouthpiece. That way it will dry up their funds and go broke.
220
A privatisation of public assets story from the 1980s for you PF.
The company I managed was a member of an employer’s group in the Bankstwon District of Sydney and the NSW Government’s Chullora Railway Workshops sent a delegate to the meetings. Our manufacturing manager returned from one meeting and expressed his surprise that the Railway delegate had told other delegates that the rate of absenteeism there was 60 per cent a day. So six out of every ten government unionist employees taking sick leave every working day. Obviously productivity at the Workshops was poor.
The Liberal-National Coalition Government led by Premier Nick Greiner, well experienced company director and business man, and his ministers decided to close the Workshops and put the work out to tender with the private sector which resulted in substantial cost savings for the taxpayers of NSW and the work completed on time.
I understand that for similar reasons of cost and poor work practises the Greiner Government also shut down the NSW Electricity Commission and replaced it with some government owned private companies (federal NBNCo is an example) managed by qualified people. Again cost savings were achieved.
The following Carr Labor Government replaced senior managers with their own people. Remuneration packages were increased and other new benefits provided. And several years later (Labor were in government for 16 years) when the Federal Labor Government decided to create a close to 30 per cent Renewable Energy Target with subsidies state governments planned on selling power stations and transmission lines to the private sector and no doubt encouraging closure of coal fired power stations over time to be replaced with so called renewables.
As I recall it, there was in NSW an estimated market value for the electricity assets, no transmission lines included, of $12-15 billion. The sale was completed by a Coalition Government and the total proceeds was about $6 billion. And when debt from borrowing by the government owned private companies was repaid, debt used to boost dividends to the state government, all that was left was $800 million.
And now we have world’s highest electricity pricing and unreliable in peak periods electricity supply with profiteering permitted, forcing the present Federal Government to make changes to stop excessive pricing, which should have been done from the start of privatisation.
120
Yep Dennis, I’ve yet to see any privatisation yield the promised benefits, and as you so eloquently write, never see one where the now private companies don’t make a motza for the shareholders, the board, and mahogany row.
77
Peter capitalism has provided the prosperity enjoyed by people in the developed world, government laws and regulations that require fair trading, bans monopolies etc., correctly enforced by specific government bodies, keep businesses under control.
Our problems, water and electricity two examples, are because our politicians at all three levels are not focused on what is best for the people they are supposed to represent and instead impose UN based agendas regardless of the cost to taxpayers and damaging the economy.
130
Agreed…for examples of State controlled misery look at Victoriastan, China, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea and Califonia.
100
State controlled misery….Victoria….do you beleive your own bullsh1t?
Having lived in two States and 3 countries , Victoria is nothing like State controlled misery
10
Give it time…I lived there too…
Watching whats happening with Dangerous Dan, writing is on the walls…..
I also have added insights from my Hungarian uncle who escaped communism. He has many stories to tell that are enlightening.
50
Fitz cannot see that he is living in a more properoys society than those in which production, distribution and exchange are all run by government.
Instead he blames “private enterprise” for the results of government manipulation and mismanagement in this country.
There are none so blind as those who will not see….
20
Thanks for that very interesting inside view of the mess.
50
lengthy:
6 Dec: ABC: What is load shedding and who decides whose power is cut when there’s not enough electricity?
By Dan Harrison
Updated about 6 hours ago
When the demand for electricity exceeds supply, sometimes people need to be cut off from power to prevent the whole system from collapsing.
This is called load shedding.
Here’s how it works…READ ALL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-06/what-is-load-shedding-and-how-does-it-work/11650096
Pelican Point power plant owners Engie in court over
Blackout blunder that hit 90,000 homes heads to court
Adelaide Advertiser – 1h ago
When 90,000 Adelaide homes were hit by a blackout, a gas-fired power plant sat idle. Now, the Federal Court is considering if the plant’s owners should be penalised…
Representing the Australian Energy Regulator in a case against the Pelican Point gas-fired power station over the 2017 blackout in SA that…
90
At some stage this madness will get to a point when the people will wake up and retaliate by voting for a minor party that promises to turn things around, at which stage it ceases to be a minor party and becomes a major one, perhaps the only major one. Until that day arrives we have to suffer somewhat more of this total stupidity.
80
And therein lies a major problem, there is no minor party with the assets and organisational strength to seriously take on Union controlled Labor and their Greens friends that receive union donations, and the Union supported GetUp political activist organisation.
The solution would be to support the Liberal and National parties and as a member demand changes continue to return to centre-right. Most people today understand that the Coalition was hijacked by Turnbull and his Black Hand faction supporters, including in NSW headquarters senior staffers. They, one example, changed the selection of candidates from electorate branch selections to head office selections. The LINO (Liberal In Name Only Black Hand) leftists were trying to get rid of real Liberal and National MPs and planned to merge themselves with Union Labor Greens to form a single alliance party that if they succeeded in forming would be a permanent governing party or alliance on the left side of politics, globalist socialist new world order supporters.
Our problem is that the leftist plot has been in play since formation of the United Nations in the early 1950s. Australian Labor Attorney General Evatt convinced fellow travellers at the UN to create treaties with member nations that could in future be used to get around constitutional laws. Like Agenda 30: Sustainability and the creation of land and marine National Parks, water control and much more. UN Lima Agreement to effectively transfer manufacturing industry and related jobs to developing nations. Kyoto Agreement to reduce “greenhouse gas” emissions and Paris Agreement. And Australia has been subjected to economic vandalism for decades past. And people wonder why the economy is sluggish?
102
There might not be one now but one will eventually surface. Be patient. The only real issue is will it happen in time or will we crash and burn. It’s a race against time. Democracy in action can be too slow sometimes.
110
‘The Too Late Party’ ? or maybe: ‘The Too Latte Party’, (has a nice ring to it).
110
Two encouraging recent signs of a new direction.
(1) The NSW Premier just announced that “back to basics” subjects will be reintroduced to education in her state. This is the plan the Abbott led Opposition, later Government tabled when they agreed to support the Federal Labor Gonski education grants to state governments, an agreement with the state governments. Team Abbott said that they would not guarantee support of Gonski after 2013/14 and following Forward Estimate years.
(2) The Prime Minister has just announced closure of 4 Federal Government Departments, and no more funding for many Non Government Organisations (that too often duplicate or at least dabble in government department areas of responsibility), and removal of red and green tape regulations that cost businesses time and money for compliance. This was started by the Abbott Government and they announced that their first targets had been dealt with and that a list of others was being compiled. After Prime Minister Turnbull replaced Prime Minister Abbott nothing further was reported until now with the Morrison announcement.
ABC/MSM are criticising PM Morrison for not “admitting” that the bushfires are caused by “global warming”, when he was appointed PM his Government refused to sign the UN Compat of Migration that would have effectively handed Immigration Department responsibilities to the UNHCR. He and other ministers have indicated that they are open to all technologies to secure reliable electricity generation and lower electricity pricing, but added that without State Government cooperation this cannot proceed because development application and other approvals are constitutionally state matters.
Legislation requiring private sector energy supply companies to stop the profiteering is being prepared, to force supply competition in that market sector.
And more, but as we learnt when the Abbott Government was in office we won’t be told about government iniatives by ABC/MSM.
70
Of course I am still wary of the Morrison Government because too often they do things or fail to act on things that annoy me and many other voters.
70
Peter there won’t be a crash and burn, give Morrison a chance. Laura Tingle spoke to a political insider who understands the PMs full intentions.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” this person snorted. “If anything, this Government is more ideologically driven than Abbott. They want to win the culture wars they see in education, in the public service, in all of our institutions, and they’ll come for the ABC too, of course. There will be a big cleanout at the top of the public service, but Morrison will wait for a while to do that. They believe the Left has been winning the war for the last 20 years and are determined to turn the tables. Morrison will just be craftier about the way he goes about it.”
ABC
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You simply do not know there won’t be one. All I am saying is if we don’t act accordingly we very likely will have one. Common sense, logic and history makes a very strong case for one.
50
In the same way you cannot forecast there will be one. We cannot fall back on political precedence because everything has changed beyond recognition and in this new world order the PM is going to end the culture wars.
‘Labor MP Meryl Swanson has delivered strident defence of the coal sector, declaring miners did not want to leave their jobs to “screw solar panels on roofs for $40,000 a year”.
‘The MP for the coal electorate of Paterson hit out at “bullshit” claims the coal sector only employed 3800 in her region in the NSW Hunter Valley and declared workers “hate” being told they need to transition into the renewables industry.’
Oz
50
Then it’s up to the voters to elect representatives that have a good chance of making the changes we need. At the moment most do not.
00
China has proven you don’t need more than one Party to produce the perfect Utopian Democratic paradise. The Australian Greens are simply ahead of the curve in recognizing that authoritarianism works and is the human ideal, and that only sycophantic unelected Party elites should ever get a vote. I wonder, does China have open borders and free speech? Well, whatever, probably not important. You can get a new kidney in just 3 hours, which is simply amazing service! They don’t even have ‘waiting-lists’! How do they do that?
70
The farmyard, all comrades are equal, some however are more equal than most.
60
You are too close to politics mate, that is never going to happen out in voter world
10
If I’ve been using the aircon in my car, I normally turn it off about a mile from my destination. This lets the condensation evaporate from the internal parts of the cars ventilation system, and also allows the inside temperature to raise to ambient gradually – so it’s less of a shock to my system when getting out! Some might say I’m wasting my time, but what I do know is that there is NO WAY energy companies could turn off your household A/C for 20 minutes without you noticing. And, as noted above, the compressors will then run longer to get the temperature back down to the set point afterwards.
180
I do exactly them same for anything going back in the garage just to avoid the resulting puddle on the floor
30
Nobody notices energy ‘omissions’ these days 🙂
100
Wouldn’t be a subsidy farm in oz without omissions .
70
Mr Casey got a rebate that covered about half the cost of installing the air conditioners, and he’s a happy customer.
“We’ve not noticed a thing,” he tells the ABC.
Anyone else noticed this? His A/C has been downgraded and he hasn’t noticed a thing. He could of course be terminally stupid and much research has shown that these people are quite common. Or his unit could be crap if nothing changes.
150
I guess he wont notice much till summer arrives and an event arrives
Nothing happens until it happens , if I can share some Yoda-esque wisdom, or is it Yogi Berra? whatever
40
So much for the con of aircon.
Australia just suffered its coldest summer day on record
just in case you missed that:
AUSTRALIA JUST SUFFERED ITS COLDEST SUMMER DAY ON RECORD — MAINSTREAM MEDIA SILENT
110
It is far more important to send the message about very hot days next week, normal summer temperatures presented by television news weather reports as if unusual.
70
Plenty of snow in the NH too
https://globalcryospherewatch.org/state_of_cryo/snow/fmi_swe_tracker.jpg
90
hot days = climate
cold days = weather
90
It’s been icy but not “brutal”, and the snow wasn’t “deep”, it was light to moderate and occurred in isolated eastern high mountain terrains. It snowed over large areas of TAS-mania since the beginning of December, but only within small elevated isolated mountain areas of VIC-mania and NSW-mania. Snow in Tasmania in mid-Summer is not unheard of, even during the recent ‘hiatus’ period.
It’s true S and SE Oz has been colder than normal this late-Spring and early-Summer and remains so in forecasts a week before Christmas, but it’s not “brutal”. It’s only marginally colder than has been experienced before.
But given how the past keeps getting colder within BOM’s statistical fantasy ‘climate’ of Australia it is becoming more unusual to still statistical ‘breaking’ of BOM’s fake all-time coldest max and min temp records.
In reality, due to what we know of BOM’s deep-seated dishonesty, complete lack of transparency, zero accountability and their incredible incompetence and unprofessionalism as daily being revealed by https://kenskingdom.wordpress.com/ ; and the blatant retrospective corruption of Australia’s temperature record, it may have in fact been a colder on several occasions in the past, for these new all-time coldest locations, as even “coldest-evah” days have been rendered suspect, due to the unmitigated corruption of BOM as a public meteorological agency.
Anthony Watts COP25 rebuttal to the faked UN/EU Climate-Crisis™
https://youtu.be/W-vFIiWJKLs
Even so, it’s best not to exaggerate about the early December coldness, as around half of Australia was well over 35 degrees C on the 4th of December. Which is fairly typical interior December heat.
50
O/T – but needing more air conditioning?
“The Mysterious Warmth at Mackay”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/06/the-mysterious-warmth-at-mackay/https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/06/the-mysterious-warmth-at-mackay/
40
And while I’m at it
“How Wrong Can One Article Be?”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/12/06/how-wrong-can-one-article-be/
50
Mackay is clearly being punished by the climate for being a mining town. Our nothing is really happening and its against the backdrop of an artificially cooled past.
20
For focks sake, just give me time of day pricing on my smart meter.
Let me configure my own PLCs to determine my usage around it.
I don’t want my power company deciding for me when I can or can not use my air con.
Just tell me what it will cost at any time, and I/my PLCs that I have configured will decide whether it is worth it.
50
I wrote an article on this system, also appropriately called DRED, in the April 2017 Silicon Chip Magazine.
http://www.siliconchip.com.au/Issue/2017/April/DRED%3A+they+can+turn+your+aircon+off%21?res=nonflash
90
I remember your article David. We checked ours before buying it…many belated thanks.
50
We have two swampys which are low tech so good luck being able to remotely dial them back .
40
? RR. I’m not clear on what you mean by that. “Please explain”.
10
I am guessing evaporative coolers
30
I assumed that what was meant but I haven’t heard evaporative coolers called that previously. Useless in a small badly insulated house on a 40C day…says she with feeling, having experienced such occasions. Stirring super warm damp air doesn’t do much for comfort.
Even worse is a Dubai summer evening in the 40C to 45C range with high humidity with a large fan; it just produces a furnace-like blast of hot air. I tend to retreat indoors and leave hardier spirits to it.
20
Yes Swampys are evaporative air cons Annie , picked the nick name up when we lived in Tennant Creek and it seems to have stuck .
20
A friend spent a year teaching in Beijing (early 2000s). One thing she found out was that the government decided when your home needed heating. The ski gear she’d brought with her proved useful.
It used to be that we lagged the USA by a decade or so. Now we’re taking our cues from China.
90
Welcome to the third world.
50
Most third world countries are not democracies but some form of authoritarian dictatorship. We still have a form of democracy but waste it by placing in direct power either the LNP and ALP+Greens in a ping-pong fashion. Time for voters to use democracy properly and not give either majority rule and give a minority party that’s the best of the bunch more influence to form a government with one of the majors after some haggling. That would obviously be the LNP plus perhaps ON given one of their policies on their website, namely:
90
Australia is not a democracy, it is an elected dictatorship.
Lib-Lab-Green are just the three faces of the uni-party.
They quibble about issues that do not really matter and agree on everything that does (eg they are all pro unsustainable immigration).
They maintain their iron grip on power through the MSM.
121
Agreed. This is why to break that stranglehold we need to get rid of compulsory voting….
Australians are locked into a compulsory voting system they loathe. Its sole purpose is providing sham “legitimacy” of a closed 2 party system provided by e Elite tthat forces “voters” to “choose” one pile of misery or the other…..both parties appear to be fully controlled by the Elite and its agendas.
Thats not democracy….
92
And go the whole hog by eliminating preference distribution in the House of Representatives which would eliminate the entrenched tiresome two party outcomes we’ve been subjected to for all of living memory and beyond.
62
Definition of a democracy:
You and others are making up your own versions that don’t exist.
30
representatives that do not represent.
ergo it is not a representative democracy.
41
That’s because the voters are bought and paid for. If we stopped voting for the bastards if they didn’t represent us properly, the problem would be solved.
21
Then more people should stop voting for them – that’s how a democracy works. So the real problems is not the system but the voters.
11
Sorry, Steve…. but you are wrong.
We are a democracy – by definition.
It’s not the system that is broken, it’s the voters. You are kidding yourself if you think that we can fix things by changing the system but not the voters.
The majority have been bought or scared into voting where they do, and they won’t change until those of us who care are all outside polling booths campaigning for valid alternatives.
If what you propose is so damned good, explain why the situation is equally bad in places that have that system?
America, Britain, France….. no compulsory voting. Are they shining examples of better government?
Pull the other leg. Changing the voting system to get better government is like putting up magic windmills to get better weather. Neither addresses the root problem.
20
Thank you PeterW you are in 100% agreement with me. It appears we are the only two here who recognises the real problem. It’s not the system but the voters, as I’ve noted for some time here. Wake up Australia!
20
By definition we are a democracy. What you are referring to something that never existed.
13
A detailed account of the Sydney bushfires of January 1964.
I remember those days very well and that all roads in and out of Sydney were closed to traffic for many days, smoke haze like now in Sydney.
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~macinnis/fireweek.htm
40
1994
50
was going to say I dont remember that and I was old enough to have remembered
by 94 I had got out of Sin City
30
In 20 years if all goes to plan (and so far it seems to be) everything from lights to food will be controlled by the superstate via the internet of things.
I would have thought all new heat pumps and washing machines etc already have the wifi control systems built in. Any “smart device does”.
Some years ago when I still listened to the NZ national Progrom, A female minister was on (I forget which one) talking about how great it was going to be when they turn on and off the washing machines. And they would control when your washing is done centrally via your smart meter.
Hence the heavy handed thuggery involved in making you put one in, or on your house.
All controlled by govt partnered (“public”private partnership) telco’s wifi in your area.
Wires are old.
50
Be patient…there will be an industry pop up to knobble these devices….and i suspect being able to spoof non-govt command signals as neded to actually use *your* aircon tgat is in *your* house will be important.
I actively now look for ways to buy non wifi conbected anything.
Id also suggest buying a book on microwave engineering – this can be used to identify the 2.45 Ghz, 5Ghz , 4G or 5G antennas on circuit boards and remove them accordingly. Failing that, wrap the main controller in alu foil as a faraday shield.
Funny ….people call conspiracy theorists tin foil hat wearers, and now….
50
I remember when they installed smart meters telling us they would save us money , haven’t met anyone that actually did .
Now I wonder if they can be used remotely to choke or cut supply in times of low supply .
20
Not sure, although all the smart meters I have seen appear to be mostly for metering purposes, as opposed to switching your house supply on and off.
The PeakSmart stuff seems to be PLC control via the power lines directly, so if it was isolated it couldn’t be done.
My thinking is that the PeakSmart concept currently relies on direct PLC control to all devices inside a house.
However, that could change with the IoT and 5G.
The IoT in my line of thinking a massive data harvesting and eventual sneaky control grid for all this sort of stuff. It will be built in and difficult to remove, and like smart tvs, if the “smart” bit ( what was found to harvest a lot of personal info ) was shut down, the tv lost a lot of its high tech capability. There is always a sting in the tail these days.
Just like smart phones were sold to us as “useful” devices ( and no doubt on occasion, they are ) their main purpose appears to be personal data acquisition and tracking IMHO.
As a way of checking this, once I opened gurgle play – used for app downloads etc – what it required access to was nothing short of full sysadmin access to *everything* on my phone.
I happily deleted my gurgle account and my phone now whinges at me all the time to access the mother ship, but I just ignore it. Cr*pple is not much better.
This is similar to the current loathed national broadband “initiative” – its main purpose appears to be keeping all comms in a single spot of apparent ease of intel agencies monitoring. Which is why the powers that be don’t care its rubbish for performance, as long as you can be monitored, and why the main telcos push this glowing 1940s glowing “home front” nonsense of “everyone together”….yep floating in the same fetid soup. No thanks.
Now connect IoT to the national broadband and you have a full monitoring and control grid…Comrade….
Back in the cold war days, the main uni in Canberra was created as the brains trust, the Snowy scheme was the power supply, and Maralinga was the test facility…..but it was sold as “nation building”. Now we have a high tech version, but its more inward looking national surveillance grid, not nation building…..
30
Yes … but … trrists!
30
Imported trrists!
20
Yep. I hear ya. Analogue rules. And wont cause headaches cancer or insomnia.
20
It’s all empty talk of the like PM Gillard teased us with when she posited we’d be getting up at three in the morning to do the washing thereby availing ourselves of a cheaper power tariff.
30
behind paywall:
The device that will slash $100s off power bills
Adelaide Advertiser – 7 Dec 2019
South Aussies can cut their power bills under a new trial with a device able to cut back on power use when market prices are high. SEE IF YOU CAN GET INVOLVED.
6 Dec: CanstarBlue: EnergyAustralia to reward customers for reducing power use in summer
Posted by Jared Mullane
EnergyAustralia has teamed up with Victorian distributor Jemena to help reduce pressure on the grid over summer, as well as save customers money on power bills.
The ‘Demand Response’ program is an initiative set to help customers in Melbourne’s north-west by encouraging them to lower their electricity use during peak demand periods over the warmer months.
Those who participate in the program will be rewarded by EnergyAustralia and Jemena in the form of bill credits totalling up to $100, however they will need to satisfy the conditions of their ‘reduction target’…
Jemena Managing Director, Frank Tudor, explained the program is following on from the success of a similar demand response that the distributor trialled in the summer of 2017 and 2018…READ ON
https://www.canstarblue.com.au/electricity/energyaustralia-program-save-money-victoria/
30
5 Dec: RenewEconomy: AEMC delays demand response mechanism ruling, concedes participation should be expanded
by Michael Mazengarb
The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has delayed a decision on the introduction of a wholesale demand response mechanism into the National Electricity Market but has conceded that both small and large energy users should be able to take part in a ‘two-way’ market.
The long awaited final decision – nearly two decades after the idea was first raised – had been due on Thursday, but the AEMC advised it was putting it on hold after receiving new advise from other regulators about the development of a demand response mechanism, and to consider its impact on flagged reforms to the overall market design…READ ON
https://reneweconomy.com.au/aemc-delays-demand-response-mechanism-ruling-concedes-participation-should-be-expanded-61877/
4 Dec: RenewEconomy: Huge influx of solar will reduce risk of power outages this summer, says AEMO
by Giles Parkinson
“The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) is forecasting both warmer than average and extreme temperatures this summer, and an ongoing and significant risk of bushfires with drier than usual conditions,” AEMO chief executive Audrey Zibelman says in a statement accompanying its Summer 2019/20 Readiness Plan.
“These risks add to the deteriorating reliability of some of the older coal generation plants.”…READ ON
https://reneweconomy.com.au/huge-influx-of-solar-will-reduce-risk-of-power-outages-this-summer-says-aemo-39807/
30
Poor Giles, what a miserable existence it is being sentenced forever to be talking out of one’s pocket.
30
One small correction here. When we installed two air conditioners we were given the option of being in Peaksmart. And got a $100 rebate as a consequence.
But my concern is not air conditioners, its industry.
Demand management is actually a quaint name for BLACKOUTS. And having had to deal with them in the past in factories they are nothing fun at all in a factory. In PNG the factory I managed had its own power supply which kicked in when the grid lost power as per usual. Maybe we will have industry having to do that soon….particularly in Victoria…
60
6 Dec: Bloomberg: Saudi Aramco raises $25.6 billion in world’s biggest IPO
by Matthew Martin; With assistance by Nour Al Ali, Claudia Maedler, Bruce Stanley, and Archana Narayanan
Oil giant to overtake Microsoft, Apple as biggest listed firm
Aramco share offering was more than 4.6 times oversubscribed
The state-owned oil giant set the final price of its shares at 32 riyals ($8.53), valuing the world’s most profitable company at $1.7 trillion. It received total bids of $119 billion…READ ON
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-05/saudi-aramco-raises-25-6-billion-in-world-s-biggest-ipo
30
they had to fake the October warmth. no other MSM reporting this good news!
5 Dec: UK Telegraph: Climate change could boost British crops, pioneering field trial shows
By Sarah Knapton
The experiment, carried out by scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norfolk, was set up to investigate the link between warmer Octobers and higher yields of oilseed rape.
In a first of its kind trial, researchers heated small plots of land to mimic the temperatures that Britain may reach in the coming decades under global warming.
The extra heat allowed the crop to flower later, giving weeks of extra growing time which could increase yields by up to 30 per cent.
Professor Steve Penfield who carried out the trials said the findings were also likely to apply to other field vegetables such as lettuce, and soft fruits.
“By establishing the link between autumn temperatures and yield, our study highlights an example of climate change being potentially useful to farmers,” said Prof Penfield.
“Cold Octobers have a negative effect on yield if you are growing oilseed rape, and these are now rarer.
“We found that oilseed rape plants stop growing when they go through the floral transition at the end of October, and that warmer temperatures at this time of year enable the plant to grow for longer, giving more potential for higher yields.”
Normal Octobers are around 10-12C and Met Office data shows cold Octobers are now much less frequent than they were in the past and are likely to continue warming…
For the study the team used soil surface warming cables to raise the temperature of field plots by between 4-8C, simulating warmer October temperatures…
The research was published in the journal Current Biology.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2019/12/05/climate-change-couldboost-british-crops-pioneering-field-trial/
5 Dec: EasternDailyPressNorwich: Heated fields experiment finds an upside to climate change for farmers
by Chris Hill
The field trial at the John Innes Centre in Norwich – the first of its kind – was set up to investigate why warmer Octobers tend to bring higher yields of oilseed rape…
In this study, the team used soil surface warming cables to raise the temperature of field plots by between 4C and 8C, simulating warmer October temperatures…
https://www.edp24.co.uk/business/farming/john-innes-centre-trial-explores-effect-of-warm-october-on-oilseed-rape-yield-1-6411279
40
on the other hand, this is being picked up by all MSM:
7 Dec: Yahoo: Runaway warming could sink fishing and reef tourism, researchers warn
By Laurie Goering, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Countries from Egypt to Mexico could lose 95% of their income from coral reef tourism, and parts of West Africa could see their ocean fisheries decline by 85% by the turn of the century if planet-warming emissions continue to rise, oceans experts warned Friday…
The study, released at the U.N. climate negotiations in Madrid, was commissioned by the leaders of 14 countries with ocean-dependent economies, and looked at ocean fisheries and seafood cultivation industries, and coral reef tourism…
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, an ocean expert at Australia’s University of Queensland and one of paper’s authors, said his country’s Great Barrier Reef tourism industry – worth billions a year a year – was already seeing losses as corals bleached and died…READ ON
https://news.yahoo.com/runaway-warming-could-sink-fishing-210158199.html
commissioned by Scott Morrison, not the Australian Govt?
6 Dec: RenewEconomy: Morrison sponsored report says reef tourism may be virtually wiped out by climate change
by Michael Mazengarb
Tourism to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, worth billions to the Australian economy, could be all but wiped out due to climate change, according to a new research report commissioned by a panel of world leaders that includes Scott Morrison…
Australia’s reef tourism industry was identified as particularly vulnerable and its value could decline by as much as 94% by the end of the century due to the impacts of global warming…
https://reneweconomy.com.au/morrison-sponsored-report-says-reef-tourism-may-be-virtually-wiped-out-by-climate-change-30728/
10
Hmm…is there a climate cult conference on currently? Just wondering…..
50
To my surprise, the ABC has reported the record lowest maximum in Oz:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-07/lowest-maximum-summer-temperature-at-thredbo/11774908
Cheers
Dave B
30
Unreliable renewables, windmills, solar panels and home batteries, now ‘demand response’ . . .
When will the gullible Australian public wake up and say ‘enough’ We’ve had enough.
GeoffW
50
When one of their kids dies on the operating table, coz the hospital backup gennies didnt kick in for the 10th time that month……
Australians are apathetic, but inflict pain upon them and they wake up fast.
60
most would never join the dots
as per original Steve, real pain needs to occur. Loss of life, prolonged blackouts, loss of assets and income has to happen for any awareness. Look how far SA went down the rabbit hole before blackouts and then the startling revelation that half a billion dollars would be needed to stablise the network and they would still need to run diesel/gas gens in spite of having too much wind power.
After all of that Victoria lines up to repeat the process, having learnt nothing apparently. They are being quiet about distributed back up power but it will appear in bills, which they may get away with.
50
“After all of that Victoria lines up to repeat the process, having learnt nothing apparently.”
Yes….just like Socialism…people keep trying it despite its 100% failure rate, Socialists are sure that “no one has done it right yet” which is why they stupidly keep trying. Says a lot about how dim and ideologically driven most socialists must be….
20
This whole aircon thing is such a crock of bovine waste product.
When I was with the RAAF and posted back to Wagga Wagga in 1986 to teach the electrical trade to new trainees, I learned a few things. The first was that these new trainees didn’t have anywhere even close to the training we got back in the early 70s. Back then, when I was trained in the electrical trade, the idea was to train their tradesmen to just one step short of Electrical Engineering capability so that they knew everything, but they didn’t have to give you the full Engineering Degree, which was reserved for Engineering Officers, who did have that full degree. (and the considerably higher pay) In 1986, when I got back to teach the trade, it was around half what we were taught. I was one of around 30 Corporals and Sergeants who were now technical trade Instructors, and again, it was a case of employing tradesmen to teach so they didn’t have to employ actual teachers, those with the requisite teaching degree who were Education officers. (again with the considerably higher pay) So we (collectively speaking) were for all intents and purposes (almost) Electrical Engineers now acting as (almost) Teachers.
As Instructors, we were each given two subjects which we had total control over, and had to master, and we also had to teach anything up to four or five other subjects. My control subjects were Electrical Technology 2, (ET2) and Batteries. ET2 was AC theory, and in the main, was Mathematics based teaching of Alternating Current (AC) theory, and Batteries was, well, all types of batteries.
One of my four secondary subjects I taught was Air Conditioning, and it completely and utterly changed all my thinking on that subject. Before my first actual stand in front of student ‘Teach’, I had three ‘sit ins’ where I would sit in the class up the back with the Syllabus and the lesson plans to learn it all before the deep end of teaching it. So, I got to know about aircon.
Originally, I was under the impression that you turned it on when it got hot, but all that thinking went out the window when I learned it all properly.
There are temp setting and here I’ll use the Summer settings, upper and lower.
When it reaches (detects) the internal temp has reached the upper temp, the Clixon turns on the Compressor, which runs air over the Heat exchanger (like your cars radiator) The gas flowing inside those thin pipes (in those days R34 I think, a Freon derivative, now highly verboten) provided the cooling for that air, which was then directed into the space to be cooled, (and here, for ease of understanding, I’ll use the inside of your home’s lounge room, the usual area when a household aircon Internal Unit is located) so that cool air is pumped into that space.
When the inside temp now cooling falls to the lower temp setting, the clixon detects it, and shuts off the compressor.
Now, all that comes into the home is outside air to recirculate air into and out of that space. The air still ‘FEELS’ cold, because it is switched to the cooling cycle, but is only meant to recirculate fresh air into that space.
As the space (slightly and slowly) warms again, it eventually reaches the upper temp setting, the clixon detects it and turns on the compressor again, and the whole cycle starts over.
So, if the ambient temperature is (Summer time) 35C or even hotter, you turn on the Aircon set at say 22C, and that setting of 22C now becomes the low temp setting.
The upper temp setting is 3 to 4C higher.
What happens now is that the aircon Unit has to get that temperature in that large space (35C or perhaps even hotter) down to 22C. So the Compressor comes on, and labours like crazy for a helluva long time to get that large and whole space down to the set temp of 22, before the compressor turns off and starts to cycle around the two temp settings.
That compressor itself is a large (very large) electrical motor, and it is what consumes the most electricity, while the fan itself is a tiny (by comparison) electricity consumer. To get that temperature down from the 35C to 22C setting might see the compressor running for a very (very) long time, depending on the size of the Unit itself, and the volume of the space to be cooled.
So, and here’s where my thinking changed considerably on the subject.
The best idea is to turn the aircon ON first thing in the morning when you get up. The ambient is cooler than later in the day, and could well be only 20 to 25C. Set your conditioner to 25C (the temperature mine is always set at) and the Unit will run, circulating air via just the fan into and out of that space. As the day warms up, then, when the ambient reaches the upper setting, the compressor turns on. Now instead of having to lower the space from 35C or hotter, it is at a much lower temp, so the compressor only runs for a short time.
Now, you may think it incongruous, but doing it like this is actually cheaper to run. Because between those two settings, the compressor is only running for a short time.
Those extra short times by turning it on earlier are a lot less run time for the compressor than trying (if at all) to get the temperature down from 35C or more to 22C and the compressor will be on for a lot lot longer in that manner.
So, back to this silly idea mentioned with the ‘Smart’ aircon, where they turn it off. The temperature rises considerably if it’s really hot out, and when they finally decide that they can turn YOUR aircon back on, that temperature now might be quite high, and so the compressor runs for a much much longer time.
So, in fact, the perceived electricity savings might actually result in greater electricity power consumption, and spread across a number of these Units, a considerably larger power consumption in the long run.
I know it’s been a long explanation, but sometimes it’s worth telling the whole story.
Incidentally, when I got out of the RAAF, that trade training was even further shortened to around 10% or less of what we were taught in the 70s’. Electrical tradesmen had become just ‘black box’ changers, as aircraft electrics might have become much more complex, but it was way simpler for the tradesman to work on the actual aircraft itself, as speed was of the essence, so they just changed the whole black box. Plug in, plug out, and the plane was back ready to fly again.
Sometimes, even people who are trained still learn new things, all the time really.
All of the above is highly simplified so it is more easily understood by lay people not trained in electrical theory or practises.
Tony.
130
We turn on our evap cooling before we leave home in summer to stop the internal temp of the house getting too high. Evap cooling is not very good at lowering temperature quickly, like aircon can.
So what you say makes perfect sense.
50
Interesting Tony, but I’m not so sure that economical approach would work out in the tropics where half the problem is humidity and a running compressor provides the added benefit of dehumidifying the air.
PeakSmart is one of the more cringe-worthy terms I’ve seen this year.
60
Yes, but the point here is that the Compressor will always run, and do that, but here, as I described above, the compressor is in operation for a lot less time than waiting for it to get stinking hot, and then turning it on.
We came from Rockhampton, directly under the Tropic of Capricorn, down to Beenleigh, a Southern Suburb of Brisbane and still in hot and humid Queensland. The only difference in temperature is slight, but in Rockhampton, it got to that peak earlier in the day, and stayed there longer into the evening.
The home we lived in at Rocky was a rental we lived in for eight years, and four years for the previous occupants, the original owner, and the first tenant. The aircon unit there was new when the home was new, so twelve years old when we left, and it was a cheapie to start with.
Here in Beenleigh, our home is similar floor space all round, so virtually the same coverage volume for the aircon here, and this apartment was new when we moved in, as was the aircon unit, a better quality unit as well, so that makes it 18 Months old.
We operate it at the same rate as the one in Rocky, cooling in the warmer Months, and heating in the Winter Months, and no need in the benign Spring and Autumn. The difference in technology, as this has an Inverter additional operation, sees a much more efficient operation as well.
Power consumption in Rockhampton was an average of 20KWH per day and here, we are only consuming 15KWH a day.
I operate it as I described, and rarely has it been too hot on the occasional time we have returned home after being out for most of the day (hence turned off) so that the compressor runs overtime.
Tony.
70
That’s total power consumption in the home, averaged, not just for the aircon unit.
Tony.
70
I’ve lived in Cairns, Pt Douglas and Townsville for most of the post-70’s warming period, and worked in Western QLD, NT, or on the reef. In NQ I find there’s no good time during Summer to turn aircon off. Perhaps you might save some money if you turned it off between 2:00 AM (when we get a weak land-breeze) and 5:30 AM. As it heats up real fast after that.
The early evening humidity often rises to about ~90 percent each evening around 8 PM in Summer with night temps hovering around 27 C to 29 C, which sends feels-like temps way up. The feels-like temp is generally just as uncomfortable when you want to go to bed (if not worse) as it is in the mid-afternoon, when rising hot air over land coincides with ~30% to 40% lower surface humidity.
Consequently the feels-like temperature really doesn’t change much, its range is much smaller than the prevailing temperature change range itself, which is about 6 C to 7 C per day in summer, as I’m coastal. I lived in Rocky through all of Dec and Jan in 1987 (stayed at the Savoy Hotel) and it was nowhere near as humid as in Cairns or Townsville.
So I mostly forego aircon use as it really needs to be on 24/7, and just use fast fans (which are terrible on your eyes) as the cost of operating the aircon in North Queensland’s humidity level, during the past 10 years, has become much too expensive. But this means when there are northerlies or north-westerlies, you regularly wake up actually dehydrated, in a puddle of sweat, and you get a much poorer interrupted sleep.
Good luck having a cold-shower as the water in the cement walls and underground pipes gets hotter than the ambient air temp. So all you can do is drink ice-cold water to re-hydrate, then replace your soaked pillow with a backup, and try to get back to sleep, once you have cooled your core temp down again.
Comfortable complacent southern politicians will never get why we will not put-up with their incredibly dumb policies and excuses. They and their families will never have to experience sleeping like that for months on end, due to their bad policies making aircons unaffordable to operate. And the fact that it’s all been unnecessary and self-defeating (despite being endlessly warned) is all the more unforgivable (and one of many reasons I don’t even vote anymore). This is why Greens clowns like Bob Brown and fools like Bill Shorten are being told to get-lost. And Scott Morrison has no more clue what matters then either of those two.
90
And therein lies the reason that a REAL power plant is needed for North Queensland, if they ever want to open up the North.
The last real currently existing power plant to supply the North is at Rockhampton, and that’s the four Unit plant at Stanwell, and that’s in constant use now, so that’s all but tapped out as it is.
Consider that the distance between Rockhampton and Cape York is further than the distance between Rockhampton and Melbourne.
I’d like to see them demand manage all that distance, if they want to open it up.
If they do want to open it up, all those people will demand air conditioning, and that’ll only be a small part of the total power consumption.
The idea of solar and rooftop solar for all that distance is laughable, and wind power would be just wonderful along the Cyclone prone Queensland Coast.
Tony.
90
All true Tony. Despite the talk from Abbott then Turnbull and now Morrison, I’ve come to the conclusion that the development of the north of Australia is just more cynical blah-blah, which the Lib/Nats always trot out to lift the vote and some morale, but the infrastructure that matters is not approved, is not funded, and is not coming. They’ll start talking about it again when they want to get elected once more.
Canberra has no problem spending vast sums on an overpriced noncompetitive low-demand NBN. It’s been in my building for over 3 years now and literally no one has hooked it up, as who can afford it and air-conditioning and other life essentials? And they order unproven submarines that cost at least twice what they should with half the weaponry they need with obsolete propulsion and the wrong performance levels. The first might show up in service in 2035 and the last in about 2055, and are variously described as “war after next” submarines (i.e. WW IV). $50 billion dollars for that hopelessly late mess (and all I can smell is corruption).
But North QLD and NT homes and businesses don’t need a cheap hardened 1.5 billion power generator for 50 years so we can run an aircon for a couple of generations. If Canberra was sited in North Queensland the obvious need for affordable air-conditioning and assured scaleable power, would have been dealt with decades ago.
30
WX You are doing it wrong. A domestic fan is a small wind turbine that is driven by electricity. If the fan blades rotate due to an external force it creates electricity.
I suggest that you buy 250 fans from your local retailer and bolt them to your roof or on poles in your yard. Connect them to your separate home grid and the wind “that always blows” will power their blades. The electricity created by this system is free due to a natural force that is called wind. No one has taxed that yet and that is why it is free.(remember subsidies that you and I pay to renewables don’t count)
The outcome is that you can claim your AC is carbon neutral, your electricity bills drop, you have virtue signalled to your neighbours, they will subsequently believe that you are saving the planet and you will be cool in summer.
its a winner
40
Sounds too good to be true … 😉
30
They dont care about your overall consumption, they just want to knock the top off the peaks
20
A good post Tony. You describe pretty much what we do with the AC and it isn’t struggling to cool a very hot house.
20
NoGoodNewsReuters:
5 Dec: Reuters: In New York lab, centuries-old corals hold clues to climate shifts
by Maria Caspani
PALISADES, N.Y. – Some 20 miles north of New York City, a team of scientists is searching for clues about how the environment is changing by studying organisms not usually found in the woods around here: corals.
In the labs of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, a research unit of Columbia University overlooking the Hudson River, the scientists led by Professor Braddock Linsley pore over feet-long coral cores they extracted from far-away reefs…
As humans burn more fossil fuel – the biggest contributor to global warming – oceans absorb growing amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Some of Linsley’s recent research on corals from the South Pacific island of Tonga suggests that increased seawater acidification caused by excess CO2 could lead to a decline in coral growth rates, endangering the wellbeing of entire reefs…
Environmental changes are happening much more rapidly than in the last several thousand years and they are “clearly linked” to human activity.
Linsley’s childhood home in Connecticut – which he said now regularly battles encroaching waters – stood as a stark reminder.
“My children are 11 and 13. I think about in 50 years from now when I’m not here, what’s it going to be like,” he said.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-corals/in-new-york-lab-centuries-old-corals-hold-clues-to-climate-shifts-idUSKBN1Y91DD
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all over the FakeNewsMSM:
5 Dec: BBC: Ryrkaypiy: Far-north Russian village overrun by polar bears
More than 50 polar bears have descended on a village in Russia’s far north.
All public activities in Ryrkaypiy, in Chukotka region, have been cancelled, and schools are being guarded to protect residents from the bears.
Conservationists say climate change could be to blame, with weak coastal ice forcing the bears to search for food in the village rather than at sea.
Other experts have said polar bear visits are now so frequent, Ryrkaypiy should be permanently evacuated…
The polar bears normally live on Cape Schmidt, just 2.2 km (1.4 miles) from Ryrkaypiy. WWF conservationist Mikhail Stishov said the area had been experiencing unusually warm weather.
“If the ice were strong enough the bears, or at least some of them, would have already gone to sea, where they could hunt for seals or sea hares,” he said.
While waiting for the ice to freeze they are drawn to villages for food, Mr Stishov added…
Anatoly Kochnev told Tass news agency that polar bear visits are increasingly frequent – and that just five years ago, only about five bears got close to the village.
“I as a scientist believe [Ryrkaypiy village] should not remain there,” he said. “We try to control the situation, but nobody would want to think what may happen there in three to five years.”
The region’s animal protection official Yegor Vereshchagin told Tass that if residents wished to leave, “they could organise a referendum”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50677161
Village on lockdown as polar bears ‘pushed south by climate change
UK Independent – 12h ago
Russian village is under siege from FIFTY-SIX polar bears
Daiy Mail – 15h ago
READ ALL:
5 Dec: Polar Bear Science: Susan Crockford: Ryrkaypiy ‘over-run’ by >50 polar bears is probably due to more Chukchi Sea bears
A scary-sounding headline from the BBC today screams “Ryrkaypiy: Far-north Russian village overrun by polar bears“. A little research would have shown (as I do below) that this sort of event is not unusual for this village, there is adequate sea ice off the coast to allow polar bears to hunt for seals if they choose to do so, and the photos provided do not support the claim that almost all of the polar bears “appeared to be thin” (see photo below and others). Similar incidents happened in 2013 and 2006. Increasing numbers of Chukchi Sea polar bears is the most plausible explanation for the recent abundance of bears at this village…
Recent history of polar bears at Ryrkaypiy…READ ALL
https://polarbearscience.com/2019/12/05/ryrkaypiy-over-run-by-50-polar-bears-is-probably-due-to-more-chukchi-sea-bears/
20
Same guy who claims to be an ABC economics and finance reporter, who narrated an ABC Four-Corners report a few years back on ‘renewables’, comparing them to coal generation, but which somehow totally failed to mention the hopeless economics and poor life-cycle duration of ‘renewable’ installations and their affordability and economics effects and imposts on the grid-supply. Namely, the expense of building and operating two generation infrastructures, instead of just one, the first an uneconomic and unreliable hobby-horse fantasy, and the one which actually works 24/7 to catch the gold-plated hobby-horse system, as it routinely fails to supply electrons on at least a daily basis.
Stephen Long is a proper snake-in-the-grass but he’s from the ABC so it goes without saying that he’s a deceiver and professional propagandist and part of the attempt to turn Australia into an all-powerful authoritarian proto-communist state utopia. He and is cohort are intent on destroying economics, finance and the energy generating capacity and supply within Australia. Stephen and friends will not be happy until SW Tasmania becomes Australia’s Gulag-Archipelago, for re-educating people who don’t like their rising power bill and third-world electricity grid, foisted on to the public by dishonest asses like him.
Stephen is currently sitting in a comfy air-conditioned office that is being paid for by taxing Australian businesses and workers, while Stephen dreams up more deceitful ways to promote the destruction of the Australian economy and to do as much damage as possible to base-load electricity supplies, continuity and service.
90
You should send him your post on the offchance it will penetrate his groupthunk smugness and start a much needed conversion process.
40
6 Dec: ABC News Radio: Greta Thunberg to address ‘slow going’ COP 25 Climate Change Conference
DOWNLOAD AUDIO: 5m4s
The teenager arrived in Spain by boat earlier this week to a huge crowd of supporters and media.
Richie Merzian is the climate and energy program director at the Australia Institute and is attending the conference.
He says so far there’s been a lot of goodwill expressed at the summit, but there’s not been a lot of urgency.
“There’s a bit of an empty urgency in terms of actually progressing that, trying to make sure that ambition matches that task at hand,” he says.
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/newsradio/greta-thunberg-to-address-slow-going-cop-25/11773156
paraphrasing:
Merzian: inside the halls, there’s an empty energy, empty urgency. hopefully, that gear shift will happen when Greta arrives etc.
ABC: Guterres, point of no return. didn’t that imbue the conference with a sense of urgency?
Merzian: even the Pope came out recently about the lack of ambition etc.
ABC: how do we fare in Madrid?
Merzian: Australia has quite a poor track record etc…Europe has really stepped up.
Merzian: Greta is a real ray of hope here. she’s still in Lisbon, will arrive in Madrid tomorrow to lead quite a massive march, to build that grassroots momentum. her messages are really cut-through…everyone must increase their ambition.
31
An inexperienced, unskilled, poorly-educated, mentally unstable, psychologically undermined and deeply brainwashed 16 year old girl, who talks like a religious zealot and who has no record of solving any problem, ever, is COP25’s only “… ray of hope“? I wish I was there, this sounds just awesome! 🙂
Imagery of Greta arriving in Madrid on the back of Donkey (yes, from Shrek) brushing off snow and checking her nose for frostbite.
70
“Greta is a real ray of hope here. she’s still in Lisbon, will arrive in Madrid tomorrow to lead quite a massive march, to build that grassroots momentum.
her messages are really cut-through…everyone must increase their ambition.”
There was one 1930s leader who used sit back stage at his huge open air rallies for hours, as the MC used to keep winding up the crowd telling them he was getting closer and closer…..
Eventually when he stepped out on stage the crowd went off…..hysteria had won…..
Not quite on the same scale, but you wonder….
40
Looks like she made it to Lisbon a few days earlier than expected so they had to postpone the entry into the new-Jerusalem for a few days until the Cherubims could get their choreography and triumphant trumpeting schist together.
40
Steve B – comment #1, posted yesterday:
Jo are you aware that Australia’s lowest maximum temperature for summer was broken on December 3rd…
Thredbo recorded a maximum of only -1 degree celsius, beating the previous record of -0.8 at Mt Buller in 2006.
Why does it not surprise me that I heard nothing in the MSM about this.
TheirABC/BoM had to compose a CAGW novel first, but it’s out now!
7 Dec: ABC: Coldest maximum summer temperature on record at Thredbo
ABC Weather By Kate Doyle
While large parts of the country have been baking or battling bushfire, Thredbo in New South Wales recorded Australia’s lowest maximum summer temperature on record.
On Monday, the second day of summer, the temperature only reached -1 degrees Celcius at the Thredbo weather station, the coldest maximum temperature recorded anywhere in Australia during summer.
The previous record was -0.8C, recorded at Mount Buller in Victoria on Christmas Day 2006…
Despite these temperature fluctuations, summer is still expected to scorch.
Blair Trewin, senior climatologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, confirmed that it was a summer as well as December record but pointed out there was more to it.
“In some ways it’s not quite as impressive as it looks,” Dr Trewin said.
“This is because before automatic weather stations were installed in the 1990s, manual observations at high mountain sites [like the top of Thredbo, Mount Hotham and Falls Creek] were very limited outside the ski season.”
He said at Thredbo they used to take observations at the top of the mountain in winter and in the village in summer.
Luckily they filed the data as separate stations so they could be differentiated, but most of the coldest mountain-top temperatures from summer before the ’90s would not have been recorded.
“This means that effectively, you’re really only looking at the coldest summer maximum of the post-1990 period,” Dr Trewin said.
“We don’t have any real information about high alpine summer temperatures before then.”
That doesn’t mean Monday wasn’t a big deal.
Cabramurra, another station in the alpine region, with records going back to 1955, also broke its December and summer record for lowest maximum temperature.
The maximum temperature there on Monday was 2.8C.
The previous lowest summer maximum temperature was 2.9C, recorded on the December 2, 1969.
Parts of north-central Victoria, like Bendigo and Strathbogie, also recorded low maximum temperatures this week.
Why so cold?
There was a very strong south-westerly air flow bringing cold air from way down over the Southern Ocean up into south-eastern Australia.
“It’s important to realise here that ocean temperature’s seasonal cycle lags a couple of months behind air temperatures,” Dr Trewin said.
Down over the Southern Ocean it is still slowly warming up after winter so we are much more likely to get these cold outbreaks in December than in March, even though it is technically autumn.
According to Dr Trewin there is snowfall in the alpine regions at least once during most Decembers, but there was no denying this was a big one.
“We’ve seen reports of 20 to 30 centimetres at the alpine resorts,” he said.
“In that sense it was a snowfall you might expect to see in December maybe once a decade or so.”…
This isn’t the first time it has been cold in December
Dr Trewin said the Christmas day 2006 cold outbreak was a colder air mass than the one this week but passed through more quickly.
The minimum temperatures at the mountain sites were significantly lower than they were this time, but the daytime maximum temperatures were mostly a bit higher.
In that event in 2006 there was snowfall down to 500 metres around Melbourne. This time round it was more like 1000 meters, according to Dr Trewin.
This event has seen below average temperatures hang around Victoria, Tasmania and parts of SA for around a week but it is expected to warm up over the weekend.
Melbourne is forecast to get up to 37C this Monday…
No it doesn’t negate climate change
Even in a warming climate, cold records can still occur, but they are much less frequent than heat records.
“Some work we did in 2010 found that in the 2000s in Australia, record highs were outnumbering record lows for Australia by a ratio of about 3:1 for maximum temperature and 5:1 for minimum temperature,” Dr Trewin said.
The Southern Ocean hasn’t only been lagging behind at the end of the seasons, it has also been warming up at a slower rate as the world around it warms.
“We perhaps see a few more of these type because the Southern Ocean hasn’t warmed up as much as the land has. So you’ve still got the potential for cold air to come from the South. But, you know, record heat is certainly outstripping record cold. You see that globally as well.”
Human induced climate change is about averages and not just one-off temperatures.
Several places in the northern tropics have had their highest temperatures on record in the past few days — Kowanyama in Cape York (41.9C), and Milingimbi (39.5C) in Arnhem land.
Perth airport is having its fourth day in a row over 38C, which equals the record long streak for days over 38 in December.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-07/lowest-maximum-summer-temperature-at-thredbo/11774908
20
6 Dec: S&P Global Platts: Russian power policy sidelines carbon cuts: report
by Henry Edwardes Evans
London — Russian national interests will remain ahead of climate action, making the country one of the slowest to decarbonize globally, according to a new report by S&P Global Platts Analytics.
Although Russia ratified the Paris Climate Agreement in September, Russian interests are focused on developing power equipment manufacturing, social welfare and security of supply, the December 4 report said.
“Investments in the power sector are driven by distinct technology-specific capacity auctions, which will guarantee a stable role for nuclear and hydro,” it said.
With cheap gas and coal resources, however, fossil-fired capacities “remain a compelling option for Russia and thermal demand will remain supported,” it said, with gas continuing to dominate and coal’s share of the mix stable at around 20%…
Platts Analytics expects renewables to increase from a low base of less than 1% of the generation mix, but remain marginal due to costly local content manufacturing requirements…
With Russia a net exporter of power to the EU, the fact the country neither had or planned a CO2 pricing mechanism “could become an increasingly politically sensitive issue,” the report said.
In line with more ambitious policy proposals on cutting CO2 emissions, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has promised to look at a carbon border tax for all imports, including electricity.
“Although this is very unlikely to happen anytime soon, the proposal could pose additional risks for Russian power flows,” the report said.
https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/electric-power/120619-russian-power-policy-sidelines-carbon-cuts-report
10
more ABC/Merzian:
ABC presenter: Australia managed to win Fossil of the Day (giggle) on the first day of the conference.
Merzian: Greta Greta.
ABC: if we’re not fulfilling our obligations, are their other countries who are shining lights?
Merzian: NZ.
Youtube: 4m27s: 4 Dec: ABC The World – Richie Merzian at COP25
Richie Merzian, climate & energy director at the Australia Institute discusses COP25 with The World on ABC News Channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4ZlcFeaRmc
ABC were there for Greta, it seems, but only got to speak to Mr. ***Whitelum?!
5 Dec: ABC: Greta Thunberg’s La Vagabonde voyage let an Aussie family meet the girl behind a climate movement
By Briana Shepherd
(Briana Shepherd is a tri-media reporter in the Perth newsroom. She completed a Bachelor of Communications with a double major in Journalism and Broadcasting and a Graduate Certificate of Radio Broadcasting from Edith Cowan University)
Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu have crossed many oceans since they began sailing the world in 2014, but never has the couple received a reception like the one that awaited them upon pulling into the port of Lisbon in Portugal on Tuesday morning (local time).
“When we arrived there was, I don’t know, thousands of people waiting and then huge amounts of media,” said Mr Whitelum, owner and skipper of 15-metre catamaran La Vagabonde…
‘We had to say yes’
After seeing her Tweet for assistance Mr Whitelum and Ms Carausu, who sail the seas with their almost one-year-old son Lenny, said they felt compelled to answer her call.
“It was one of those things that we couldn’t say no to,” Ms Carausu said.
“It was like the mission was put up to us and … we had to say yes even though it wasn’t maybe the best time of the year to be doing the crossing and there was a little bit more risk than usual.”…
Much more than an ‘angry kid’
In a brief media conference upon her arrival in Lisbon, Ms Thunberg was asked how she felt about politicians blaming climate activists for current environmental problems.
“I mean when people in power are criticising you like that, that is only proof that you are having an impact,” she told the crowd to loud applause…
***Mr Whitelum, who spoke to the ABC after having slept for 12 hours straight, said while the crossing had not been without its challenges it had been more than worth it.
“So a crossing in November in the north Atlantic is going to always be very difficult,” he said.
“There’s going to be a huge amount of challenges and that’s because of the weather systems that are just constantly going through, and they’re going through faster than your boat.
“You need to position yourself and be looking at the weather forecast constantly and making the best guess as to the safest place to put your boat…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-05/the-real-greta-thunberg-emerged-aboard-la-vagabonde/11766208
4 Dec: ABC: Greta Thunberg ‘energised’ as she heads to COP25 climate talks after three-week voyage across Atlantic Ocean
by ABC/wires
Ms Thunberg told dozens of reporters and activists she felt “energised” after the journey and plans to keep pressing political leaders to make climate change their top priority.
She said she wants senior officials gathered in Madrid to “finally understand the urgency” of climate change and cooperate internationally.
“People are underestimating the force of angry kids,” she said…
She travelled by catamaran instead of plane, but pointed out living sustainably must become much easier.
“We can’t require, from everyone, to rely on people like this to sail you across the ocean, that is absurd,” she said.
Ms Thunberg was to be met in Lisbon by local dignitaries and other activists…
“She is making a statement that you don’t always have to take the easy way,” said Belgian climate activist, Lander Wanters…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-04/greta-arrives-in-portugal/11763386
2 Dec: ABC: Greta Thunberg late to COP 25 climate meeting in Madrid, still sailing across Atlantic
by ABC/AP
Oxfam report shows ‘climate chaos’
The latest Oxfam report, released in conjunction with the climate summit, has found people were three times more likely to be displaced by cyclones, floods or fires than by conflicts.
Some countries had been battered by both droughts and floods and sometimes in the same year, the report found…
Nations such as Cuba, Dominica and Tuvalu are seeing on average close to 5 per cent of their people out of their homes in any given year, (Oxfam’s climate policy leader, Tim Gore) added.
“This is the warming world we have long been warning about. Now we’re seeing it play out before our eyes.”…
Confluence of disasters leaves many poor nations — where most of the displacement is occurring — struggling to recover from one crisis before the next hits, Mr Gore said.
“This is climate chaos — what it actually looks like,” he said…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-02/greta-thunberg-late-cop25-climate-meeting-madrid/11758518
10
ColdPlay could not be reached for comment.
30
Looks like the plastic jacket she’s wearing to keep her from suffering from exposure to cold temps is covered in her sponsor names.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/image/11763514-3×2-940×627.jpg
40
Merzian re-tweeted 20h ago:
TWEET: Eytan Lenko, Chair @beyondzeronews. Director @MobilizeClimate and AEGN
This is an incredible piece of climate communications – See how climate change has impacted the world since your childhood
LINK ABC BELOW
from the 4 replies:
Tracy Loebner: Left leaning progressive. Atheist/secular humanist. Union electrician
Well created piece. But so very alarming
https://twitter.com/eytanlenko/status/1202836108213506048
6 Dec: ABC: See how global warming has changed the world since your childhood
By Tim Leslie, Joshua Byrd, and Nathan Hoad, Story Lab
Global warming is already changing the world before our eyes — let’s see what has happened in your lifetime.
When were you born?…READ ON
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-06/how-climate-change-has-impacted-your-life/11766018?pfmredir=sm
20
” See how global warming has changed the world since your childhood”
I dont need to be told I have eyes and a brain. The answer is not much.
The real change has been population.
30
More specifically, immigration from cultures vastly different from ours.
10
29 Nov: Engineering&Technology: UK businesses hit by power cuts as electricity demand expected to rise
By Jack Loughran
A third of UK businesses have suffered a power cut in the last year, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has said, calling into question the reliability of the nation’s power networks.
The National Grid has been undergoing significant changes in recent years with record levels of renewables coming online alongside declining use of coal power plants.
While renewables are seen as essential for the UK to meet its carbon reduction obligations, their intermittence does create greater instability on the Grid, prompting concerns that even elongated power cuts could become more commonplace without proper backup systems.
The BCC surveyed more than 1,000 businesses, a quarter of which said they expect dependence on electricity to increase in the years ahead, thereby placing even greater strain on power networks that are struggling to cope.
The body called for better support to help firms make the transition to clean energy and improved energy efficiency…
BCC director-general Dr Adam Marshall said: “Our message to policy-makers couldn’t be clearer – work with us in business to fix Britain’s energy infrastructure and ensure it’s fit for the future…
Will Gardiner, chief executive of the Drax Group, which helped with the research, added: “Electricity demand is expected to rise as the economy digitises and sectors such as heating and transportation decarbonise.
“With weather-dependent wind and solar set to generate more power than ever, we’re going to need more fast-acting and flexible electricity generation to maintain a reliable grid.
“Businesses across Britain can play their part too by installing on-site batteries, switching their fleets to electric vehicles, conducting energy audits, buying 100% renewable power and taking up smart meters, enabling a zero-carbon, lower-cost energy future.”
https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2019/11/uk-businesses-hit-by-power-cuts-as-electricity-demand-expected-to-rise/
10
6 Dec: CNBC: (Jim) Cramer: Like or hate Trump, ‘these are the best numbers of our lives’ on jobs
by Matthew J. Belvedere
•CNBC’s Jim Cramer says no matter your view on President Trump there’s no denying we’re living in the best labor market in more than a generation.
•”This is the best number I’ve ever seen in my life,” says Cramer, 64.
•Zeroing in on the 3.5% unemployment rate in November, Cramer says, “Fifty years ago, that number was a curse. Now it’s a blessing.”
“You can’t contradict that these are the best numbers of our lives. You can’t,” Cramer, 64, said following the government report showing the U.S. economy created a better-than-expected 266,000 nonfarm jobs in November, with the unemployment rate dipping to 3.5%, matching a 50-year low. Economists had expected the jobless rate to hold steady at 3.6% last month.
“People don’t want to say good things” about the economy, said Cramer, echoing comments he made Thursday evening on “Mad Money,” telling investors: “Don’t let the armageddonists and the negativists and the hucksters scare you away from owning stocks.”…
Referring to Trump, Cramer said Friday on “Squawk Box,” shortly after the jobs report was released, “It doesn’t matter whether you hate him or like him, these are real numbers.”
“This is the best number I’ve ever seen in my life,” Cramer said, zeroing in on the unemployment rate. “Fifty years ago, that number was a curse. Now it’s a blessing.” He added, “I don’t see inflation. I don’t see recession.”…READ ON
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/12/06/cramer-like-or-hate-trump-these-are-the-best-numbers-of-our-lives-on-jobs.html
30
6 Dec: Rasmussen Reports: Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 51% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance…
(CHART OBAMA 45% SAME DATE IN HIS FIRST TERM
PREVIOUS DAY – 5 DEC – TRUMP 52%, OBAMA 46%)
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/political_updates/prez_track_dec06
40
They must be close to theoretical minimum unemployed. There is and always will be a layer of unemployable people
30
They’ve been turning of people’s brains for decades, We’ll soon reach peak stupidity!
30
There isn’t a peak. It’s infinite.
70
VIDEO: 1m13s: 6 Dec: Daily Mail: Emma Thompson delivers bizarre climate crisis ‘forecast’, warning we may have to EAT our pets to survive imminent ‘crop failures, water contamination and ruined lives’ – at Extinction Rebellion protest outside BBC
•The star, 60, spoke outside the BBC Broadcasting House in central London today
•Thompson stood in front of a UK map showing areas at risk of flooding by 2030
•The stunt was organised as part of climate change group’s ‘Election Rebellion’
By Joe Middleton
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7761065/Dame-Emma-Thompson-gives-gloomy-forecast-Extinction-Rebellion-protest.html
6 Dec: Fox News: Emma Thompson foresees people eating pets for ‘protein’ due to ‘climate crisis’
By Melissa Roberto
The actress, 60, attended an Extinction Rebellion protest outside of the BBC Broadcasting House in London on Thursday, where she claimed there is “extreme weather” ahead.
Citing climate trends, the “Saving Mr. Banks” star warned citizens there will be an “increased chance of warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers, along with an increase of frequency and intensity of extremes.”
The activist read a script as she advised the public to prepare for what the “gloomy” future holds.
“Better wrap up warm, stockpile food and remember there is a surprising amount of protein in the average household pet.”
Also included in the British film star’s grave warning was the possibility of flood warnings “almost everywhere,” the Evening Standard reported.
“Expect crop failures, water contamination, damaged houses and ruined lives, and we will see these persistent weather fronts continue to wreak havoc across the nation, albeit with one or two days of dry and settled weather,” she continued…
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/emma-thompson-foresees-people-eating-pets-climate-crisis.amp
10
Ah actors….thier profession is playing dress ups and make believe…..
Maybe they should leave science to actual scientists….
30
protest over about 13h ago, yet BBC has no video and only a Getty pic with a few hundred protesters, plus a few pics with several protesters:
6 Dec: BBC: COP25: Thousands gather for change climate protests in Madrid
Organisers say around 500,000 people are taking part in the demonstrations. Officials have not given a figure…
DW has an unrelated video, no pics of crowds:
6 Dec: DeutscheWelle: COP25: Protesters call for action at Madrid climate rally
by Louise Osborne, Irene Banos Ruiz
“Time for Action” is the motto of the United Nation’s COP25 climate conference and the demand made by some 500,000 protesters as they took the streets in the center of Madrid on Friday…
6 Dec: Common Dreams: Even as 500,000 March in Madrid, Greta Thunberg Warns Climate Movement Has ‘Achieved Nothing’ Until Emissions Fall
by Andrea Germanos
(SCROLL DOWN)
Tweet: Fridays for Future Germany
VIDEO: 5secs
In a tweet from the march and rally, Thunberg said the marchers may have numbered as many as half a million—a figure echoed by Greenpeace Germany
PIC
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/06/even-500000-march-madrid-greta-thunberg-warns-climate-movement-has-achieved-nothing
videos 12 and 13h ago – not 500,000, but large:
TWEETS: Fridays for Future Germany
Hundreds of thousands are currently gathering in the streets of Madrid to show that we won’t back down. And: the eight & eleven y/o @kletterkinder are supporting us from above!
6 Dec 2019
PLUS MORE VIDEO/PIC
https://twitter.com/FridayForFuture
20
The police would know….
20
7 Dec: ABC: Tasmanian wilderness hut shelters trekkers suffering hypothermia during trek
By Monte Bovill
Strong winds, thick snow and freezing temperatures have hampered the operation to rescue three walkers in the remote Tasmanian wilderness.
The walkers, believed to be from India, got into trouble after they started to succumb to hypothermia on the Overland Track in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park yesterday afternoon.
The trio, aged 28, 37 and 45, are now being escorted from Kitchen Hut following a failed attempt to rescue them last night when winds of 100 kilometres per hour forced the police helicopter to return to Hobart…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-07/three-bush-walkers-in-tasmania-suffering-hypothermia/11776702
an interesting case…read all:
6 Dec: BBC: Briton Audrey Schoeman revived after six-hour cardiac arrest
Audrey Schoeman developed severe hypothermia when she was caught in a snowstorm while hiking in the Spanish Pyrenees with her husband in November.
Doctors say it is the longest cardiac arrest ever recorded in Spain.
Mrs Schoeman, who has made a near-full recovery after the ordeal, says she hopes to be hiking again by spring…READ ON
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50681489
10
6 Dec: WaPo: Coldest air of the season en route to Great Lakes, Upper Midwest next week
In some places, lows will fall into the double digits below zero.
By Matthew Cappucci
The coldest air of the season so far is set to descend over the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes next week, with temperatures falling more than 30 degrees below average beneath Arctic high pressure.
Chicago could spend more than 80 hours below freezing, starting Monday night as the pocket of frigid air lingers overhead before relief finally arrives next weekend. Signs point to another potentially significant shot of cold toward the middle of the month.
The air mass responsible for the deep freeze is already consolidating over Canada’s Northwest Territories near the Beaufort Sea, 2,500 miles or more away from Chicago. Computer models depict an initial batch of cold arriving across the Northern Tier on Sunday before a reinforcing blast of cold sweeps south Monday night into Tuesday…
This high-amplitude wave packet evolving next week is gonna release the beast. Coldest air of the season is on tap for parts of the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes. Chicago and Minneapolis included…
Snow is also anticipated preceding the front, which could total three to five inches in Minneapolis by Monday evening. By Tuesday, the high temperature may be only 3 or 4 degrees, with lows more than 10 degrees below zero…
Minneapolis is no stranger to bone-chilling, bitter cold, so managing to snag a record low there is a challenge. But there’s a chance it could be done on Wednesday morning. The current National Weather Service forecast is minus-12 degrees. The record low for December 11 is minus-14, set in 1972…
Quickly thereafter, however, another shot of exceptionally cold air will surge down over the Dakotas and possibly the western Great Lakes. At more than a week in advance, however, confidence in the timing, placement and magnitude of the second wave of cold remains very low.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/12/06/coldest-air-season-en-route-great-lakes-upper-midwest-next-week/
10
Nigeria has an energy problem and blackouts happen regularly, is this Australia’s future?
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/11/24/781132932/the-powerlessness-of-nigerias-tech-startups
10
I have an evaporative cooler can i still get the rebate can i? Pleeeze can i?
Signed
Wokest of the woke wokey woke
50
No.
You are dealing in irony.
Therefore you are not a woke.
Next case.
50
Dear Joanne,
I am a silly old fool, 80 next year, that nobody important would take seriously. Admittedly all my friends and relatives are not gullible to fake news and especially the global warming scam.
I am still working and our 3 children have happy families with 2 children each. All 6 grandchildren have respected jobs and pay tax. The grandchildren’s peers seek my opinion on many matters and we have discussed how biased and uninformed their education has been. With assignments we would discuss the option between getting a good grade and or telling the truth. They saw and understood the difference, they got good grades, knew they were lying and that was the greater lesson.
My frustration is that so much can be said by sceptics simply but because of their intellect they write intellectually. They are above most journalist’s comprehension.
I am proudly sceptical about everything and always encourage research and reasoning. History teaches that wisdom is scepticism and blind acceptance is gullibility.
I believe T shirts and promotions featuring “NOT GULLIBLE” would be a huge way to help people particularly young people to be proud of being “NOT GULLIBLE”
I would like a rally of the “Not Gullible” to promote empirical scientific understanding.
You could ask O.I.S.M. for a copy of the list of scientists. One line per scientist that states their name qualification and institute where the degree was earned protects their privacy but is very credible. On A4 at 14 point portrait stuck together this would be about 250 metres long. That commands attention from even the AlpBC. Even the dumbest of alarmed people see proof that the science isn’t settled.
The promotion would start by announcing a date and place with a request for the Australian army to protect the protesters from potential violent uninformed zealots.
Their Zeal and ignorant state governments would make police unavailable and that controversy starts an interesting news promotion. We are peaceful, the alarmists would want to fight.
We locate on a public holiday in a large garden so that we don’t disrupt anybody.
We carry simple signs with the banner of American scientists. Note Medicine is a science. When listening to Christopher Monkton I found myself surrounded by medical doctors all independent of each other but GPs concerned about their patient’s mental health and serious anxiety that was triggered by AGW propaganda.
It takes several people to carry a ‘banner’ 250 metres long and they should be accompanied with posters of coloured photographs of important scientists.
Jennifer Marohasy, Murry Salby, the Late Bob Carter, Peter Ridd, Ian Plimer & yourself for starters as Australians.
International stand outs include Richard Lindzen, Willie Soon, Roy Spencer, Judith Curry amongst others to display a wide range of related disciplines.
We need signs that are simple. About A1 size. A pale “?” background on simple signs saying things like:
NOT GULLIBLE
Who’s Hansen
Arctic ice gone 1999
Antarctic ice grows
Submarine volcanoes
Polar bear numbers
Vikings in Greenland
Hadrian’s Grapes
No snow in OZ after 1999
Sea Level at Pt Arthur.
Sea Level in Sydney Harbour
Life expectancy
Crops Increase
Barrier Reef safe.
Flat Battery Cars
Solar Panel Toxic Waste.
Windmills kill.
Anxiety kills
This and other simple catchy comments to make people think.
Some people could dress as Vikings and Polar Bears.
All simple but thought provoking.
It would be very helpful for us to wear scepticism proudly as NOT GULLIBLE.
Teenagers particularly would not want to be identified as being GULLIBLE.
What do you think?
Richard Jenkins Mobile: 0418363770
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