In Hanover and Munich people won’t get hot water in museums, swimming pools, sports halls, and other public buildings. But hey, hospitals and schools will still have hot water. In Berlin, the lights around public buildings and monuments and the fountains will also be switched off. Germany is in a world of trouble, and the cut-backs are just starting, mid-summer, to avert the tragedy that will be winter, if Russia blocks all gas. Germans have cut gas by 5-6% in summer, but in a normal year they get between 30% and 50% of their gas from Russia. All the talk of a 15% cut across the EU disguises that many of the other nations don’t want to do it, and Germany faces an extra difficult situation if they can’t get alternative gas supplies.
As Russia cuts gas to Germany, Hanover residents forced to take cold showers
Cities in Germany are switching off spotlights on public monuments, turning off fountains, and imposing cold showers on municipal swimming pools and sports halls, as the country races to reduce its energy consumption in the face of a looming Russian gas crisis.
Hanover in north-west Germany on Wednesday became the first large city to announce energy-saving measures, including turning off hot water in the showers and bathrooms of city-run buildings and leisure centres.
Breweries told to stop making BEER after Putin chokes energy supply to Germany that could cancel Oktoberfest
GERMAN breweries have been told to stop the production of beer amid fears Oktoberfest will be cancelled after Russia cut off gas supplies. … It was axed in 2020 and 2021 for the pandemic.
Rosi Steinberger, a member of Bavaria’s regional parliament told the New York Times that the country’s Christmas markets could also be pulled.
And non-essential industries – including Bavaria’s breweries – could be forced to shut down in a bid to conserve energy amid rocketing gas prices.
Other European states are not happy about cutting gas to save Germany from its own energy mistakes, especially after the lectures during the financial crisis:
Habeck, of the [German] Green party, pointedly criticised the “strategic mistakes” of previous German governments and suggested his country could achieve “16 or 20%” of savings, depending on the severity of the coming winter.
The turning of tables in the bloc of European states has not gone unnoticed in German media. “Some states suffered heavily during the financial crisis and had to bear the lectures of the Germans,” wrote the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. “And now they are meant to massively save gas to bail out those same Germans, who have brought this situation on themselves with a misguided energy policy.”
Germany does not only need gas from Russia. BAFA showed that 34% of Germany’s crude oil came from Russia in 2021 and coal group VDKi said 53% of hard coal received by German power generators and steelmakers came from Russia last year.
Yet they still won’t start up the nukes.
[…] German cities start to turn off public hot water, lights, fountains, and may cancel beer too […]
50
A good guess is that there is going to be a war. Same reason as last time. Oil.
188
Or, from an opposite view, the Ukraine conflict is suddenly brought to a halt with a miraculous peace keeping mission by Germany. (just in time to turn the gas back on for Winter)
143
I suspect, like most socialist countries, Germany is about to learn that primary industry is worth more than just portion of total gdp than it thinks. It’s the same mistake australia makes, not realising that the entire service industry, and manufacturing industry, is actually second fiddle to the primary industry, which ultimately dictates the value of the currency.
The EU will have to undertake step down in living standards to remove its dependence on Russian coal and gas. Personally I believe by mid winter, EU will have long forgotten about the war and will be brokering peace, a the civil unrest will be colossal once people are freezing in their homes.
240
Cancel beer too? Now this is getting serious with the Munich Beer Festival just around the corner.
342
Global sobering. Okay, NOW I’m worried.
80
Oktoberfest patrons will need to downsize their steins.
231
Good morning Jo, James et al.,
O. M. G.
Are you onto your second bucket of popcorn yet?
This green house of cards is imploding this year!!
I thought this “Madof-esque” Pyramid scheme would be over about 5 years ago!?
But we may still have another few months to go…hopefully sometime in 2023 most of us in Aust. will be able to see through all this green/teal bull-tish!!
Warm regards, Reformed Warmist of Logan
310
Dont gloat too soon. We have to go through this compulsory climate hell too before the penny drops. But Bowden is doing his best to hurry things up, so relax.
100
Sorry “Bowen”. Not paying attention!
70
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/europe-can-come-out-of-this-crisis-greener%e2%80%94if-it-wants/ar-AAUloP2
According to this article from lefty Slate magazine, the answer for Germany is to electrify everything so you don’t have to rely on gas to heat buildings and for industry. So more wind and solar is the answer and energy efficiency in buildings. The whole article is an astonishing look into the distorted mind of the greens, how they obfuscate the reality before them.
731
This is the same twisted, distorted philosophy of our own Australian “Government”.
Our mob also believe that the more wind & solar we have the cheaper & more reliable the unreliables will become.
When will the MSM tell the Australian public the truth about what is happening in Europe??
The ABC + the usual suspects always seem to find another “look over there” story to distract public attention from the true star of “ renewables”!,
581
A brave opposition would begin it’s campaign for nuclear power and more coal plants now using their mailing resources and TV appearances to at least educate their constituents about Bowen’s futile and un-achieveable plans. People need the facts rather than the lefts BS science and economics.
As for the Germans; they made their own bed.
321
The Lib Coalition have given up. Now totally useless. They’ll back Labor climate agenda all the way & the. Claim it’s all Labor’s fault when the country & all of us go ‘tits up’.
We’re adrift in a sea of certain disaster!
140
Same with the “Voice”. They seem to have capitulated.
50
Same over this side of the ditch. Its disturbing to watch albasneezy flip out the Shwab WEF play book and we a hear the same Marxist bile being spewed out to Australian citizens that we hear from the [snip] in Atearrower
70
The MSM and ABC+ will never tell the pundits the truth – they are the biggest cheerleaders for the unreliables.
150
“The MSM and ABC+ will never tell the pundits the truth – they are the biggest cheerleaders for the left.
There, fixed it for you, no need to thank me.
60
Turning down the thermostat is not that big a deal really. Problem is it is insignificant compared to what industry requires. Conserving energy use is just novelty for tight people like me. Even when I burn a fire with free wood I’m always trying to get the longest best burn possible. But Im glad I live here with a saw and some trees in winter, sure beats an apartment in Berlin ruled by those greens.
591
I wonder if the brick kilns will be asked to turn down the thermostat? Now that will save some gas.
Maybe the funeral industry can turn down the cremation oven or maybe just burn a couple at a time.
If you ‘really’ need to see the sarc tag then you clearly have problems.
10
Also our winters are shorter and much much warmer than those in Europe.
100
Quite how Mrs Merkel was held in such high esteem is beyond me, after her reckless general trading with Russia, her determination to be dependent on that country for gas, and to shut down nuclear power stations whilst endorsing windmills. She also started the rush to trade with China. A much over rated Chancellor
621
After WW2, measures were put in place to prevent a repeat. I prime example is what has become the European Union. Economic union between France and Germany has prevented a repeat of the many wars the two countries have fought. The same thinking went behind the economic ties between Germany and Russia, a process that started with Willie Brandt in the 70’s. Russia gives Germany cheap gas, Germany exports its cars and manufactures to Russia. It could have been (and was) a solid foundation for peace and economic growth in Europe.
Unfortunately the hegemonists in the USA – the one indispensable nation -could not stop fighting Russia even though the iron curtain had long fallen. It expanded NATO, engineered the coup in the Ukraine in 2014, (equivalent to putting missiles in Cuba), and has been using that episode to split Russia from Europe ever since. And let’s be very clear, despite what you hear on the MSM, it is the USA and NATO that have pushed Putin into war. The off-ramp was to negotiate in good faith under the terms of the Minsk Accords, and to simply agree to not let the Ukraine join NATO. The West did neither. In fact, 3 days before Putin invaded the Ukraine, the Ukrainian puppets commenced a heavy bombardment of Donetsk, in Eastern Ukraine. It convinced Putin that negotiation with the West was no longer possible.
Recent German leaders have been too stupid to know on which side their bread is buttered, because after all, NATO was formed to “keep the Americans in, Russians out, and the Germans down”. The German Greens are in a completely different class of stupidity. They have been happy to go along with Biden, and start a war in Europe, because they saw Russian sanctions as a way to reduce German fossil fuel usage.
German fossil fuel consumption is certainly going to be reduced – permanently – and Germany is economically ruined for good, because the cheap Russian gas that was going to Germany, will now be going to China, and it isnt coming back.
[Heading off topic here. Please take detailed replies about the Ukrainian war to the unthreaded. – Jo]
509
TonyB, you forgot to mention that she opened her borders to illegal immigrants. That disaster is still unfolding to this day. The USA is following in Merkels footsteps in this regard.
She was the worst thing to happen to Germany since WW2
290
According to Politico, Germany is rethinking the closure of their last 3 nuclear plants at the end of this year.
https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-nuclear-opposition-energy-crunch-fear/
You would have to be a fully paid up member of the green cult to think it a good idea to shut down nuclear power stations at this time
611
Possibly rethinking started when Poland wanted to rent those nuclear plants. “If you don’t want them, we can use them” may have started some Germans thinking “why would they want them?”.
331
Tony b it’s interesting to find that Germany’s energy use per person is higher than the average EU 27 and the UK.
Of course still way down on Canada’s gluttonous behaviour.
See my comment and link below.
60
Most Canadian homes have a furnace in the basement.
Now why would that be?
110
Because it can get freaking cold up there north of the US Border. Vancouver for example is nearly 50 degrees from the equator, and there is a lot of very cold land between them and the Arctic circle, by contrast Hobart is 42 degrees south of the equator with ocean between it and the Antarctic.
110
OGG
As to how right you are –
A reply I got on another blog somewhat abbreviated
This bloke is a helicopter pilot and he is moving a drill rig above the Arctic Circle.
At night, with the diesel heater flat chat it was -43 in the tent and, wearing everything he had and inside a double sleeping bag with his arctic overcoat on top he was still cold. Outside the wind was about 45 mph so the wind chill was -90. Seems it doesn’t get worse than that if the wind is faster.
His chopper was not rated for below -40 so he had to wait for things to warm up before he lit up.
The rig was big, so many moves, and he was getting less than 3 hours of daylight.
Not a place I’d be from choice.
00
I think safety considerations will prevail. Germany wants to be safe in case of a tsunami.
20
There should be a list of the “greens” and “Climate Cult” with their whereabouts each week. I map with arrows showing their migration to southern France, Spain, and other warm places would be of interest. OZ is an expected destination about mid-October.
If there is such a thing as citizenship papers, those should be revoked for anyone that leaves the country (necessary exemptions allowed).
201
John H;
I think that’s a bit undemocratic, esp. with various moves to get rid of democratic choice underway. Besides we in OZ have more than enough Greens and assorted loonies.
If the Climate Cult want to avoid the USA winter I suggest alternative destinations like the Arctic because we know it is warming rapidly (those Greens tell us so).
Another alternative might be some Pacific islands & New Zealand, so long as they renew cannibalism. The world would cheer them as they ate their greens.
232
We in Florida, without income tax, always thought the warm climate here was the big draw, since
most of the northern elite paying big buck for their seasonal ‘cottages’ on the beach never
seemed to have anything but contempt for us crackers that kept things running when they weren’t
here in the winter. New York’s method for reducing power use seems to be massive out-migration;
about which mixed feelings here are the norm. Amazing how many warm places in the world prosper by catering to elites
from colder climes, who travel after advising the proles to turn down their thermostats.
150
Just watching the news here in Oz cost of beer going up 4% and ACCC are warning of a massive gas supply shortfall on the east coast next year . Of course the gas supply issue has nothing to do with green tape and socialist state governments and increasing the price of beer tax is just just just well it’s just unaustralian . We are copying Europe and not in a good way as we increase our dependence on weather to generate electricity.
261
Seems the beer tax timing is on par with all the rest “green” CC targeted industries….ie beef..fuel etc. Only thing that surprises me is that the using of CO2 in beer and alcohol production hasnt be singled out ..long ago.!!! Next the soft drink industry will be slugged…same reason but using “sugar” as the BAD….Pathetic times we live in ..and sad more BS to come……..
30
Watch the German delegation laugh as President Trump addressed the UN and warned Germany about this.
https://youtu.be/FfJv9QYrlwg (30 secs)
As usual, Trump was 100% correct.
311
Does anyone know the names of any of those German delegates? It would be interesting to see what positions they are in now and if they’re still laughing.
161
The Principle Delegate from GE was Christoph Heusgen. I cannot find names of the rest of the delegation, but he was the primary delegate in 2018, who laughed at Trump’s suggestion that GE would become dependent upon RU energy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_Heusgen
90
You can be absolutely sure that they are not laughing now, it must be incredible galling to the leftard clowns that Trump was right all along 4 years ago.
70
Ve haf ou veys to make you obey says WEF
161
AGAIN here’s the energy used per person of a number of countries.
Canada leads the pack and it uses 1.6 times the energy of we terrible Aussies.
But the clueless Germans have cut their energy use and today Canada uses 2.2 times times the energy ( per person) of the Germans.
And the EU 27 and the UK are even lower than the German’s per person use of energy.
Canada seems to be untouchable, but Aussies are hated by the MSM and so many other countries.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-energy-use?tab=chart&country=RUS~AUS~CHN~USA~OWID_WRL~European+Union+%2827%29~CAN~GBR~NLD~CHE~SWE~JPN~DEU
81
Neville
I hazard a guess that Canadians like to keep warm 12 months of the year.
Auto
10
If the German government intereferes with the Beer Supply in Germany, there is a fair chance that there will be widespread riots and the government may even fall.
112
Just what I was thinking! Nothing will bring it home quicker the the locals that something is really amiss if the beer supply is cut off.
O me miserum
31
Unlike Australia, which immediately destroys prematurely closed power stations for spectacular media events, I understand that Germany, unlike the stupid country, is smart enough to mothball closed power stations. They have certainly done this with the nuclear power stations.How many mothballed coal power stations do they have that can be restarted?
131
Seems America will fight Russia to the last German too. Its now clear who is really in control of Germany, the invaders of 1944 never really left.
Still, the Germans will be OK, the winter will be warm and they’ll be unlikely to see any snow at all, global warming will solve it all.
132
There is something wrong with the logic processing capability of socialists (and many other aspects of their moral depravity).
Germany’s National Socialists had the same Green dream as Germany’s International/Green Socialists today.
The origins of today’s Green tyranny with the National Socialists is explained in Rupert Darwall’s book “Green Tyranny: Exposing the Totalitarian Roots of the Climate Industrial Complex”.
Today’s Green Socialists continue the evil started 89 years ago.
81
I’ve observed the social media of national socialists for years, and yes a deep green philosophy exists. The whole off grid grow your organic vegetables thing is a fantasy they have as much as greens. The dissident right has pockets of it as well.
51
There is madness afoot and it is more contagious and threatening than Covid.
A graph showing the world’s emissions over the last 20 years would be sobering.
Meanwhile, shifting the sources of these emissions around the globe comes at an horrendous cost.
Why would sane people do it?
[Requested Graph: https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions#how-did-co2-emissions-change-over-time ]
40
A very powerful graph Rob, but outside of the present readership, there won’t be a single politician, pretend green or government “scientist” who understands or cares.
40
A very powerful graph Rob, but outside of the present readership, there won’t be a single politician, pretend green or government “scientist” who understands or cares.
40
Well, last night daughter said she was informed yesterday that her Sydney northern beaches suburb would not have power from 7pm till 7am this morning. Company said it was for “maintenance” but I have not experienced a loss of power for that long for a reason other than a lightning strike or something similar.
A problem with power distribution on the national grid??? Sign of things to come?
161
Thankfully for the power company, Australia no longer has “journalists” or politicians prepared to ask hard questions so we may never know the truth.
Australians have to change their attitude to electricity. Gone are the days of when it was an invisible and inexpensive commodity, that apart from exceptionally rare instances, was always “just there” at some of the world’s cheapest prices.
Australians have to think of electricity as something that is “maybe there, maybe not”, just like the wind and the sun.
It will stay that way while the Lib/Lab/Green Uniparty support current energy policies. And there is no sign of any of them changeing their policies. In fact, arguably the most sensible party, not that that’s saying much, is the pretend conservative Liberal Party. In Vicdanistan they are trying to set even higher CO2 emissions targets than the Andrews regime, 50% instead of the 43$ of the Labor regime.
What is happening in Germany should be a warning sign for Australia but, present company excepted, no one seems to understand or care.
160
That’s like comparing what is stuck on the bottom of your left shoe to what is stuck on the right shoe.
Choosing the lesser of 2 evils is why we are in this situation we find ourselves. The madness of powering the grid by unreliables has been championed by both Lieberal and Liebor parties.
A pox on both their houses.
150
In NSW, you can go to the Ausgrid site, and look at a map planned and unplanned outages, clicking on one of those will tell you all you would need to know. Regional customers would use the Essential Energy site
32
As so often you provide no link; by going to https://www.ausgrid.com.au/Outages/Current-Outages you could have discovered as I did when clicking the “view and report outages” button that one can “search and report an outage” but the provision of a list of outages on a map is simply not mentioned.
50
Practice run, check feedback, outrage, etc.
20
He is another article on the possible canceling of Oktoberfest.
SEE LINK FOR REST
This really is an EXISTENTIAL CRISIS for Germany if Oktoberfest is to be canceled.
60
DM
The “REALY, RELY Crisis” is that there are enough people around to know that Putin didn’t do it
00
How much misery are Germans or anyone else prepared to tolerate until someone works out that you cannot run industrial civilisation on solar and wind power with or without Big Batteries?
81
Govts will delay the misery by
1. Blaming Others.
2. Subsidizing voters at the encumbrance of future taxpayers, for their present folly.
3. Denying there is a crisis or misery
4. Claiming that misery is transitory
5. Claiming that Good Citizens Support Temporary Hardship for the Benefit of Future Generations.
Bollocks to all of it. If those in power now, cannot defend voters that put them in power, then there isn’t any future. It’s all a lie.
130
Without big batteries?
I am not aware of any battery in existence, or planned, that will keep an industrial economy running if wind and solar dies.
70
Like Australia, Germany has vast amounts of lignite, brown coal. Soggy at 66% water but not as wet as peat 80%, brown coal is the same rotted plant matter as black coal for the purpose of energy. Just remove the water. But the Greens have vilified brown coal as 3x the CO2 of black coal per kw by including the weight of water. A lie. And Victoria and NSW are still shutting down and even dismantling working power stations in the middle of a crisis.
It’s the same when Australia is vilified as having the highest per capita CO2 in the world. But China with 1/5th of the world’s population has 57% of all CO2 output, so that is 3x as much CO2 per person as the rest of the world. So it’s a world of lies by the Greens. Why? And who is backing them? One guess. Watermelons, Green on the outside and Red under the skin.
You will see the games here from the World Nuclear Association
Hard black coal (IEA definition) >23.9 MJ/kg
Hard black coal (Australia & Canada) c. 25 MJ/kg
Sub-bituminous coal (IEA definition) 17.4-23.9 MJ/kg
Sub-bituminous coal (Australia & Canada) c. 18 MJ/kg
Lignite/brown coal (IEA definition) <17.4 MJ/kg
Lignite/brown coal (Australia, electricity) c. 10 MJ/kg
Firewood (dry) 16 MJ/kg
Australian brown coal is half the energy per kg of international brown coal because we include the water in the weight.
And twice the tons of ‘coal’ for the same power is used to imply incorrectly twice the CO2.
And this year more coal power stations will shut in Australia while gas is strangled by government order in Victoria
which demands more gas. We are in an age where purely political governments are acting strongly against the wishes of the
majority of people. And this is true for both Liberals and Labor in Victoria where the rich teals have no problem
paying more for electricity and manufacturing is nearly dead.
340
That’s a useful stat to have at the ready.
90
The problem is that warmists are immune to facts.
Because it’s not about facts.
It’s about the destruction of Western Civilisation.
That’s why China is immune to criticism.
161
Yes, how did they manage to demonise brown coal?
It burns with the same chemical reaction(s) as other coal or hydrocarbons.
It’s because we don’t have any journalists or politicians prepared to ask hard questions, or who are so ignorant that they don’t know what questions to ask, or even worse, whether they should even ask a question.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, there are no government funded “professional” scientific organisations such as CSIRO or the Office of the Chief Scientist, universities or professional scientific and engineering organisations which will give advice contrary to established beliefs of the anthropogenic global warming fraud. It is incomprehensible that there is no one in those organisations who don’t know the truth that there is no anthropogenic global warming.
181
The truth is that the level of CO2 is not man made or man controllable. Our total output is tiny compared with the massive exchange of gases which occurs continually . Unbelievable amounts of O2 and CO2 enter and leave the water every day across 2/3 of the planet. Even calculations of outgassing come up with figures like 4% and 1% but I would not be suprised if human CO2 was 0% in comparison. So we have nothing to do with it.
Antropogenic was just a made up pseudo science term thrown in to make it seem that a scientist came to that conclusion. No scientists were used in the creation of this myth. Whether CO2 produces warming is a separate question and now the world is rapidly cooling, the answer is no.
200
I would love to see the calculations for the amount of air which goes into water each year and comes out. It must be absolutely massive or fish would drown. As I learned years ago, you cannot measure outgassing with a static situation. Fish drown in still and then stagnant water, so you use bubblers in fish tanks. It is the turbulent water surface which traps the oxygen and releases carbon dioxide.
In the real world covered in water, the wind and storms churn the water surface and how anyone calculates the exchange of gases would be wondrous to see. I would not be surprised if human CO2 was under 0.001% of the continuous CO2 exchange with the oceans. To suggest we have any impact on CO2 levels is ridiculous. And the IPCC idea that any highly soluble CO2 stays in the air forever defies logic.
Look at the graph of CO2 vesus time and see if you can spot even a tiny sign of human CO2, like the world shutdown for the Wuhan Flu, or massive bushfires or volcanoes. Nothing. And still we build windmills and shut down power stations. Science is being tortured to justify this insanity.
190
I remember well the demonisation of Hazelwood as ‘the dirtiest power station in the Southern Hemisphere’, really, I doubt it, but anyways, it’s gone.
60
And CO2 is not “dirty” in any case.
50
Don’t forget that the Victorian government has no problems with brown coal being used to generate hydrogen for export to Japan…
70
The nuclear reactors restarting are important but they don’t provide gas- that’s essential for so many industrial processes. Some of the gas heating can probably be replaced by other means. Increasing coal fired electricity is also good, but again it’s not gas. It’s the gas, gas, gas.
120
The most critical use is fertilizer but a major byproduct of that is CO2, as was discovered the UK when CO2 supplies stopped and meat distribution struggled. Extracting the necessary CO2 for preserving meat is expensive. It is only 0.04% of air.
Plus even Andrew Forrest’s dream of Green hydrogen is based on taking ethane and extracting the hydrogen, throwing away half the power and somehow, as yet undiscovered, hiding the CO2. The world is full of non scientist scientists like the newly christened Marine Biologist Dr. Forrest.
Calling everyone a scientist, even economists, ‘social scientists’ is killing trust and credibility in science. The Science of Climate Change has no science at all but is supported by armies of amathematical self proclaimed scientists with newly minted doctorates in the most amazing non science subjects. The one group absent from self appointed Climate Scientists is a group called meteorologists, who know nothing about climate apparently.
230
apparently only 15% of German electricity is made by gas. Most is for heating buildings and industry.
70
And, as in Australia, the discovery of ‘natural’ gas in Victoria meant that we no longer made gas from lignite. When Bass Strait gas was discovered we knew two things, it was free and it was very limited. Gas is fantastic, 100% efficient for heating and suffers no energy loss in transmission, dependent on required pressure. Electricity is 100% efficient for electrical tasks. So perversely we moved to generating electricity from gas, originally for peak load but was almost mad in levels of waste because turning heat into electricity wastes 2/3 of the energy. And would exhaust our supplies quickly, as has now happened. Leaving us with nothing as we dismantled gas production. And our communist leader, Comrade Dan, has shut down nearly all supplies of power, even firewood being banned. You cannot pick up sticks for firewood in Victorian forests.
200
Tell me about it, I live in Victoria. Have also experienced rolling blackouts due to that poorly managed electricity grid. What we actually need, right now, is for one of those Loy Yang B coalies to break down and stop power supply to greater Melbourne. Have you seen those generators performance? They have been operating at about 110% output now for months. So much for unreliable coal.
230
Here is a uplifting video from 1948 about the Yallourn Power Station and coal mining from the time when it appeared that Australia had a bright future based on science and reason.
Note the NFSA who put the film on YouTube is a government agency and notice how they added some propaganda to the description about how brown coal supposedly produces more CO2 than other coal.
https://youtu.be/eWXFnVT5Wj0
101
The briquettes developed had calorific values between 18.632 and 24.101 MJ/kg. Durability of the briquettes ranged from 98.12% to 99.77%. The energy values were within the range of 17.462–24.101 MJ/kg, which was comparable to other fuel sources such as sub-bituminous coal (20.000–24.730 MJ/kg).”
So dry brown coal briquettes could be comparable as fuel source to black coal. What an export!
Of course we had to stop. To save China, because they refuse to save themselves.
100
And the Victorian Labor government stopped the export of $400Million of brown coal to India in 2009. Why? Because The Age newspaper said they would make it ‘blacker’. And black is bad. Pollution. So is invisible CO2. Diamonds are pure carbon, so they should be banned too, except the ignorant Greens know no chemistry.
110
My dad’s generation – real nation builders, not the fake ones we have now.
60
Ross, I don’t even think anyone even claims to be a “nation builder” anymore, that wouldn’t fit with the globalist agenda that “we are all the same” and as in Animal Farm “All animals are equal.”.
50
Question to Simon and Peter Fitzroy:
Is it your intentions to see Australia suffer in a similar manner to the Europeans by denying the provision of enough reliable energy to maintain its population?
202
I think it’s more an attitude of cleansing and purification.
Like the Inquisition, the rack, the scourging, and the fire are in the service of saving misguided, corrupted souls.
Jo had a previous post on this … ‘Puritans’.
Mistakes will be made.
Beer is colonialist anyway.
Everywhere is indigenous except Europe.
But sometimes my Pict heritage, is in conflict with my Anglo Saxon, Germanian self.
Not to mention the Italians.
The Norman part causes some problems as well.
Seriously, a French Viking?
Years of therapy are required just for that.
60
Ah, the New Liberal World order, moded for making jokes.
50
Those around me agree that it is going to be a rough time if this new world order/reset persists in its current form. They say let every one suffer – that will show them how wrong the pastel and green mob were, but they most likely will never own up to it.
It really doesn’t need to be like this in Australia. We have all the resources at our fingertips. There was nothing wrong with a staged transition to whatever will come next for power generation. Replace old with new/more efficient/less emitting until the future engineering bit is solved and the funds secured for the next best thing, but no – the existential threat of climate catastrophe has to be met head-on by creating a human catastrophe that will end up creating more emissions.
There was comment earlier in the blog about not throwing out your old shoes until you know the new shoes fit properly. This mob in charge have taken away the old shoes, have kept the new shoes because they were not quite right and asked the rest of us to make our own footwear with whatever can be found – old car tyres cut up for soles and held together with string should work.
40
It’s way past the stage where they can pretend this is all just by accident.
161
It’s a disease strangling democracies across the world. Political parties play to the swing voters and extremists and utterly ignore the sensible center who just want to stay warm in winter and go to work. Now they play to the elites as well, simply because they are rich and untouched by energy prices but want to virtue signal with their wealth. And it’s the poor who pay for their extravagant moral posturing. Let them eat cake.
150
There was some chatter on social media over the weekend that those nuclear reactors are being restarted under a huge veil of secrecy. But, I’m not sure how you restart a bloody big nuclear reactor and keep it a secret.
90
If they were not decommissioned, they never stopped.
90
Fuel rods not available was what I read somewhere weeks ago.
40
Yes, they always need fuel rods. But otherwise it should be ready to go.
20
Well, the woke German energy sector can forget solar PV comming to the rescue for their heating, lighting and beer because woke WEF mad scientists are planning to block out the sun with ‘space bubbles’.
https://thewashingtonstandard.com/world-economic-forum-reveals-plan-to-block-out-the-sun-with-space-bubbles-seriously/
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Bizarre, the cognitive dissonance driving sun dimming projects; must be heaps of money to be made in it.
31
Snowpiercer. Surviving the Green Deathtrap. https://0123movies.com/movies-snowpiercer-2013-0123movies.html
In a future where a failed climate change experiment has killed all life except for the survivors who boarded the Snowpiercer (a train that travels around the globe), a new class system emerges.
( would have been better if the Greens had been thwarted before they killed off humanity)
31
‘Space bubbles’, that’s what the green morons have between their ears.
20
This is the really scary stuff.
20
#YouGetWhatYouVoteFor
Good and hard.
71
“#YouGetWhatYouVoteFor
Good and hard.”
Do you get a choice of lube or no lube.
10
Not our fault! We warned them.
21
The Left hate fun in all its forms.
It is no surprise that they are going after beer as well, in Germany and elsewhere.
SEE LINK FOR REST
41
When they have to shut off the beer supply in Germany things are really serious.
I do not beleive there was ever a beer shortage in Germany in WW2!
Angela Merkel was borm in East Germany and was a Commie at heart.
Has handed Germany on a plate to the Russians – the greatest Trojan Horse gambit of all time!
40
West London faces new homes ban as electricity grid hits capacity
Greater London Authority warns developers that upgrade might take more than a decade
Developers in west London face a potential ban on new housing projects until 2035 because the electricity grid has run out of capacity to support new homes, jeopardising house building targets in the capital.
The Greater London Authority wrote to developers this week warning them that it might take more than a decade to bulk up grid capacity and get developments underway again in three west London boroughs — Hillingdon, Ealing and Hounslow.
In those boroughs, “major new applicants to the distribution network – including housing developments, commercial premises and industrial activities will have to wait several years to receive new electricity connections”, according to the GLA’s note, which has been seen by the Financial Times.
A recent applicant to the distribution network was told that there is not “sufficient electrical capacity for a new connection” until up to 2035, according to the note.
The three boroughs accounted for almost 5,000 homes in 2019-20, equivalent to 11 per cent of London’s housing supply. Stalling new projects would exacerbate a chronic housing shortage in a city which already routinely undershoots its delivery targets.
But new projects are being rejected because the electricity network in the area has hit capacity, according to the GLA.
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The vast majority of folks the government is forcing to consider EV’s face the same problem;
Assuming you have a dedicated parking place each night that electric service can be run to
(ooops, that lets out nearly half of our stock of housing….)the required service for a fast
charger is not within the capablity of the subgrid, sized base on zoning & ‘urban planning’ for a specific
population density and code mandated load; often more than 30 years ago thus undersized already as
demand in households has increased. I ordered 200 amps & 80 for a shop when I built; a neighbor
recently wanted a separate line for his Tesla and was refused on capacity grounds; he now has a charger
with a switch: charge the car, or run 240V appliances in the home, but not both at the same time.
This is for their supercharger, of course….but without it you drive every other day.
60
Seems to tie in with
Speedboxsays:
July 30, 2022 at 4:53 pm
Vicki – the oil companies are all betting you’re correct. They will convert the petrol stations to re-charging stations and you will re-charge your car at the local Ampol, BP etc. or maybe when you go to the shopping centre. Ditto or those living in multi-storey apartment buildings. Ditto those living in rental accommodation. Millions of Australians will have no access to home re-charge and some (many?) will not install home charging (even if they could) so will re-charge at a public facility.
Speedbox
Do we have the Infrastructure? – I have 3 Phase to my house but my electrician said I was lucky as output from local area transformer would restrict number of 3 Phase installations in Area.
Have been not able to confirm following, but makes sense.
ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLY ISSUES FOR EVs (of the future).
It Really Aint Gonna Work!!
Leastwise Not Yet Any Way
Some Wise Words from An Electrical Contractor In Melbourne
60
AMPOL, our only ‘Ozzie’ fuel company is now parading a new marketing slogan called ‘AMPlify’, no prizes for guessing just what this aimed at.
30
Well there is that joke of old about Ampol and lubritorium’s
10
What they really mean is that they need to build more windmills.
You just wouldn’t run out of electricity from coal, gas or nuclear power plants.
They will soon start rationing electricity in Once Great Britain. Unless they can find some more forests to cut down and burn in Drax.
41
I guess that they could recycle the “Mary Rose”?
10
Well done OO for trawling through all the “media” to get these type of stories. It’s a portent to where all countries are going.
70
Putin is the Grinch who stole the Christmas beer!
00
All this misery from the vilification of utterly natural CO2! The essential organic gas which is the basis of all life on earth. And a ridiculous belief that humans so dominate the planet that we can change the weather. It makes the Rapture seem like a sensible religion. The sky is falling!
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I really do not care if people believe mad things. Or want to identify as chipmunks. Or tell us the world is burning up. Really soon. But when they wreck the lives of everyone else, it has to stop.
100
Really the original fairy tale of the gullible chicken Chicken Little was also that there is always a Foxy Loxy who is more than prepared to dine on Chicken Little and Goosey Loosey and Lucky Ducky and friends.
In Australia the rich Teals are the latest converts to carbon dioxide lunacy. It is fascinating that so many are medical doctors who should know their organic chemistry, but many medical doctors spend their lives from childhood believing and repeating everything they are told, so why change now?
A real scientist listens and questions everything and wants proof at every step. A real scientist is a skeptic, so unlike the Science Guy, Bill Nye who really is an aeronautical engineer, not a scientist.
20
And the foundation proof which is missing is the statement made by NASA and friends that the increase in CO2 is ‘obviously’ man made. No one proves that. They ask you to take it as true. There is only the correlation equals causation argument. In fact it is easy to prove it is wrong, a number of ways. And with correlation just as easy to argue that warming increases CO2 rather than the other way around. The second, simpler and more obvious inference is actually true.
50
To be fair, there is now the ‘unprecedented’ argument that CO2 levels have never been so high, another ‘hockey stick’ obtained by adding near instant CO2 measurements onto archeological evidence in ice cores which seem to indicate that CO2 never changes. Of course.
Any measurement which goes back millions of years is inadequate for changes which only take 100 years. Which is why it is improper to just bolt modern rapid measurements onto old data obtained by a very different method. This is exactly what happened when tree rings temperature proxies were bolted onto temperature measurements to create Michael Mann’s infamous Hockey Stick. Real scientists do not do such things.
70
“Real scientists do not do such things”.
Exactly.
30
“unlike the Science Guy, Bill Nye who really is an aeronautical engineer, not a scientist.”
With what you know now would you chance flying in one of his designs?
00
Assuming this coming European winter is a little cooler than average, the Germans might surrender. This would leave NATO and the EU in tatters.
40
The Ruskies flogged the Germans once, looks like they are back for another ‘lesson’.
20
If we really want to bring all this nonsense to an end then ban booze & cigs in Oz.
The puppet rats in power would all be gone in a week. 😅
Little wonder they declared bottleshops “essential” …
80
The Greens organised a draconian tax on tobacco, but alcohol has been left untouched.
10
“In Berlin, the lights around public buildings and monuments and the fountains will also be switched off. ”
So every day will be Earth Day. Isn’t that what they want? ;-p
80
With less public lighting I bet crime shoots up dramatically.
70
Good advertising slogan.
Every day is Earth Day in Germany.
20
“Breweries told to stop making BEER after Putin chokes energy supply to Germany that could cancel Oktoberfest”
WHAT !, no beer, this is a bridge too far.
40
“As Russia cuts gas to Germany, Hanover residents forced to take cold showers”
Hmm. I have a cold shower every morning. Addicted to them. Feel wonderful after them, and as being cold means the blood rushes to the skin, a wipe down with a towel and I’m dry. Some evidence it lowers Cortisol (aka stress) and all I know is that I feel great after one.
31
Yeah I know what you’re talking about but no thanks. I lived for 15 months without a hot water system. It made me energy aware, to know how beneficial energy is. I wouldn’t do it again. One reason why I won’t travel in the 3rd world again is the lack of hot showers. It is just too brutal and you’re body has to do too much work with the cold bathing.
Though in summer I often turn the hot water off for a few seconds at the end to cool the body down, and I bought a plunge pool, where cold water belongs.
70
If Victoria went back to making briquettes, there would be a wonderful business with instant world demand. It would have to be better than the Americans wood chipping old growth forests for Drax in Britain and claiming it was carbon neutral.
70
Briquettes are awesome.
40
This carbon neutral classification of burning wood is a strange one. I remember it wasn’t so with the bush fires, they were claiming then it was disaster for the climate, complete nonsense of course if their maths for wood fired power is applied, after the fire all those trees keep growing and sucking in the co2.
90
Three things.
1. there was a massive phytoplankton bloom in the Pacific as the NSW bushfire CO2 swept over the ocean. QED. Phytoplankton uses photosynthesis to convert CO2 and makes O2. It is estimated that half the world’s O2 comes from phytoplankton.
2. it means highly soluble CO2 went straight into the ocean. Not the absurd 80 year half life in the atmosphere on which all IPCC standards are based.
3. as CO2 climbed since 1990 by 14%, total green cover of the planet increased by 14%, the size of all of Australia. So if CO2 goes up, trees grow. Conversely if trees grow, CO2 does not go down. So trees are determined by the amount of CO2. They do not control CO2. Nor do we.
40
I never thought I would live in a Stalinist state but Daniel Andrews has proved me wrong.
90
And Dictator Dan has also politicised Victoria Police and turned them into his own private army because under the federal constitution it is illegal for the states to raise their own army.
60
Spooky stuff.
50
Doomed Planet
The Unaffordable Costs of ‘Free’ Renewables
Throughout the 99.9 per cent of human existence before the recent widespread adoption of fossil fuels, almost every individual toiled at manual labour from mid-childhood until the end of life. Even with the help of horses, mules, and oxen almost all of the population was needed in food production in order to sustain themselves and produce enough extra to support a small population of nobles and town dwellers. Today, in developed nations three-quarters or more of the population now live in large urban areas, and about half of the populace is no longer engaged in any productive activity.
As a group these overwhelmingly urban non-producers seem to be remarkably unfamiliar with even the most elementary understanding of the basic principles underlying the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fundamental to modern society.
Nowhere is this more clearly displayed than in both the mainstream media and in government policies pertaining to renewable energy.
Although the idea of cheap, clean, endlessly renewable energy is fantastically appealing, it is just that, a fantasy.
The technology being proposed is extravagantly expensive, resource-intensive and has a relatively short service life. It also requires huge quantities of many scarce materials which demand extensive mining and processing as well as complex manufacturing. The mining and processing in particular result in high levels of toxic waste and have been greatly restricted in developed countries. This has enabled China to simply ignore any environmental concerns and achieve a near monopoly dominance of the global supply.
However, all this is only the initial hardware level of the problem. A further major difficulty involves the siting of energy farms.
Wind and solar are diffuse sources of energy. They require extensive acreage devoted to energy farms where other important land uses can be displaced. Then, in addition to the limitations imposed by site suitability and an extensive environmental footprint, there is still another major problem. To be of any use, all of this diffuse and distant power must be integrated into a vast power grid.
Worse still, to accommodate the requirements for storage and backup imposed by the highly erratic nature of wind and solar power, as well as adding a major increase in the use of electricity to power electric vehicles, all this is going to demand at least a doubling of both grid infrastructure and maintenance costs. It is further worth noting that about half of the cost of electricity is not in the generation of power. It is in the grid, and in the 20 per cent of power which is lost in transmission.
Finally, for all of this enormous assemblage of technology, there will be an overwhelming difficulty in managing the highly erratic variability of wind and solar power generation, this further compounded by the huge demands and fluctuations of both a greatly expanded grid and increased demand for power. Finally, to top it all off, there will be a massive increase in vulnerability to accidents, equipment failures, weather extremes, terrorism, solar flares and cyber hackers. The bottom-line reality is that if earnestly pursued, a rapid large-scale switch to wind and solar power will be virtually certain to result in at least a doubling or tripling of power costs with frequent blackouts and a strong probability of occasional extensive longer-term outages with catastrophic consequences.
50
Hawaii Electricity Prices To Skyrocket As Final Shipment Of Coal Arrives
Hawaii is receiving its final shipment of coal this week, which Gov. David Ige called a huge step forward in the state’s transition to clean energy. What he meant was that local are about to pay a lot more for basic essentials.
A law put in place a couple of years ago will finally shut down the island’s last coal burning power plant. And since coal is the dirtiest * but cheapest – source of power for Oahu, it means that all else equal, power prices are about to skyrocket.
“In its time, coal was an important resource for Hawai‘i and I’d like to thank the workers who have run our last remaining coal plant,” Ige said in a statement. “Renewable energy projects to replace coal are coming online with more on the way.”
“Even as we face challenges in making this transition, it’s the right move for our communities and planet. Most importantly, it will leave Hawaiʻi a better place for our children and grandchildren.”
So noble, Scandinavian teenagers would approve: there is just one problem: as KHON2’s Always Investigating reports, replacement power projects are behind schedule due to unexpected global events with supply chain issues, so Oahu residents should prepare to pay even more for electricity this fall. In other words, Europe’s catastrophic experience with the “Green transition” where an entire continent moved to “energy alternatives” some 30 years before it was ready to replace fossil fuels, is coming to at least one American state.
In the meantime, consumers can either cut back on power, try solar and batteries, or pay more for oil-generated power — which costs as much as five times more than coal.
The Kapolei plant has been Oahu’s largest single generator for three decades, meeting about 16% of the island’s peak electricity demand. Its closure on Sept. 1 means eliminating 180 megawatts of power, or about one-tenth of what Oahu needs. There is no ready replacement for this source of energy which is about to go offline.
30
They can just burn diesel if they need extra power. Hawaii will be well supplied with oil derivatives. Tourists want their AC. Australia is more likely to go dark than anywhere in the US.
00
When they ban the Germans’ wursts there will be a real riot.
40
No, no, no! I want my currywurst!
30
There is a great German sausage shop in Hobart, Salamanca Place. “The Best Wurst”. I am sure Germans would not see the joke. I remember on my first trip, I tried to explain that calling the Town Hall the Rathaus was funny. No laughter.
60
I just looked outside. They have changed the name to Wursthaus. It’s not the best.
But it’s still funny. Outside a pawnbroker’s shop, it is traditional to have three spheres hanging. Wursthaus has three slices of sausage.
40
Coming soon, the first carbon-neutral wurst! 😀
10
When I lived in Germany, it was important to find out from locals where the best “Bratwurst Mit Brotchen” (Hot dogs) were located. Often they were in a small stall in front of the main railway station. And no tomato sauce – it had to be Senf, or mustard. Their bratwursts seemed to be far better than ones made here in Oz – I find the local ones too dense and not that well spiced.
10
Interesting to see that Germany is still pushing “green energy security”.
An article published 11th July 2022.
https://windeurope.org/newsroom/news/10-gw-of-new-wind-farms-a-year-german-parliament-adopts-new-onshore-wind-law/
Header:
10 GW of new wind farms a year: German Parliament adopts new onshore wind law.
End header.
Two excerpts from the article:
“Last week the German Government passed the so-called “Easter Package”, including a new onshore wind law (WindLandG). It aims to ramp up the expansion of renewables. It mandates Germany to achieve an 80% share of renewables in electricity by 2030 and a completely climate-neutral energy system by 2045.”
“WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson said: “Germany has set a huge level of ambition for the expansion of onshore wind. 10 GW a year from 2025 is just what Europe needs to help deliver its energy security and climate goals. And Germany understands you only deliver a big increase in wind if you simplify the permitting.”
Ok.
My comment:
Despite their current energy crisis, Germany’s parliament, last week, has legislated/mandated an 80% share of renewables in electrical energy sources by 2030.
Ohh my, my, we are living in a world that does not understand a sustainable energy supply.
One that can drive industry, increase productivity, power homes, critical infrastructure and works 24/7.
I wish One politician could stand up in their parliament and ask:
“If we implement this policy, what would be the net result achieved in reducing the earths temperature?”
No one ever answers that question. That petitioner would stand there unanswered, whilst the next climate emergency mandate is being drafted.
30
When you read of the Crusades, young men going off to war for the keys to Jerusalem, even the Crimean war, what was it about?
And what did it achieve except misery? It made sense and a lot of those young men were German and French and British and Italian.
Off to fight for something. Pointless.
Now we have the crusade against carbon. Any form of carbon. An element of the periodic table. Led by those masters of Chemistry, the Germans, who know you cannot crusade against an element of the Periodic table.
What are they even trying to achieve? Coal, oil and gas are free and natural and ancient plant matter, captured solar energy. Absolutely non polluting. Carbon dioxide is the gas every person breathes out as we do what insects, birds, elephants, microbes and fish do, breathe. It is as natural as breathing.
And the goal is what exactly? The reduction of CO2 in the air? How’s that going?
Why is it a problem? The world is cooling.
Never in the history of mankind has absolutely nothing been achieved at such great expense for no reason at all. Except perhaps the crusades.
40
And the endless statements by the UN, EU, NASA, our own CSIRO and so many others the the increase in CO2 is man made is a lie. No one has bothered to prove this outrageous statement. This is before you get to the other lies, that CO2 causes warming, that the seas are rising rapidly, that CO2 is the biggest threat to human existence. Not a single statement is true. And they know it.
In a world of Mutually Assured nuclear Destruction where life on earth could be over in 20 minutes, we are told our single biggest problem is staying warm without warming the planet? Doesn’t anyone see the insanity in that logic?
40