JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Statistics
Oh what a relief it will be when Australia decides to reject ‘renewable” energy, pull the old coal plans out of the draw then steadily start the blowing up of all those ghastly eyesore windmills.
It will happen.
All that prevents it is political refusal to conduct a proper investigation of whether –
1. The main GHG are too saturated by IR to add much more warming, or any;
2. Causality studies are verified to show that dominantly temperature change causes CO2 change;
3. For the NEM, renewables are more expensive than old king coal, all factors considered;
4. Major industries state new investments prefer reliable from or nuclear over intermittents;
5. The social cost of carbon, fairly calculated, shows large benefits.
It is really quite simple. These 5 master points can be clarified in 6 months by motivated, independent people who know the science,engineering and economics. Geoff S
331
Take away the subsidies that are afforded”renewables(sic)”and watch the investors shrivel up.
170
As a long time observer of coal and power generation on the east coast and having experienced the brownouts in NSW just before Bayswater PS came online, some comments:
1. Back in the 1960’s and 70’s in NSW, decisions were made to burn the high ash black coals in power stations rather than the better quality coals that could earn export $$. Coal reserves were set aside for domestic power production, later to be released for private commercial gain. The Mt Arthur North mine in the Hunter Valley of NSW is an example. There is now export demand for the poorer quality black coal. It is getting too costly for use for domestic purposes unless coal deposits are once again specifically set aside by the State for that purpose.
2. There is no export demand for brown coal or lignite. Its cost of production is only limited by domestic constraints. German engineering and technology has greatly improved the performance of power stations burning this fuel for power generation.
3. A gold-plated power distribution network already exists for the distribution of power generated by coal – no further expenditure needed, except for maintenance.
4. All current and future expenditure on power infrastructure is squarely on the renewables account and must be treated that way. It is due to the limitations of their power generation technique that this massive expenditure is needed.
It is simple really. If you accept the signs that we are heading for a power generation maelstrom relying solely on the weather without a grid-scale backup, our nation will be bankrupt. The rational, cost-effective short-mid term answer is brown coal power generation until the $trillion is found for batteries.
191
With coal a big factor is energy density with its bearing on freight costs.
That is why power stations using low energy density coal are constructed in the actual coal fields to minimise freight costs. And that is why brown coal is not exported.
70
And therein lies a wonderful ‘bargaining chip’, if it could be called that.
You have two, well three really, if you count the soon to be closed Liddell plant existing coal fired plants at Bayswater and at Mount Piper, with their own dedicated coal supplies and distribution network of transmission capability.
There is already that existing distribution network at both sites all the way to where the power is needed most, the Eastern Sea Board.
Now why both of those plants specifically.
There were already submitted and approved plans, with all the lead up work already in place to Upgrade both Bayswater and Mt Piper to UltraSuperCritical coal fired power plants.
I have said that there is a long lead time between thought bubble and power delivery.
All that was waiting for in both cases was to turn the first sod ….. and all that lead up work is half of the five years lead up time already done.
Both of these plants could be built and you would have huge amounts of electricity available.
Not a little bit here and a little bit there, and then the need for much more yet to be constructed transmission to get that piddly unreliable power to the same destination of where it’s needed.
The Infrastructure is already in place.
All that’s needed is vision.
Tony.
101
Tony
I’ve been absent for some months from Jo’s blog.
I respect your technical analysis greatly.
Very worrisome that so many in today’s media (including social media) and political class are totally unquestioning of the group think climate catastrophe mantra that has become their crusade.
Western civilisation could be on a self-chosen path to darkness it seems.
70
Tony,..
Whilst i 100% agree with your suggestion re Bayswater and Mt Piper, …..there may be a slight issue with cosl supply for Mt Piper which has become dependent on coal shipments from other areas. ( Hunter ?) following the reduction of coal production in the Lithgow basin.
The railway coal loading facility at Lithgow has had to be converted to enable UNLOADING of coal trans and a conveyor system installed to Mt Piper.
But a minor detail in the scope of things !
22
Another way of calculating the cost of stabilising our grid due to solar + wind acceptance:
Total NEM registered wind = 9,854 MW, total effective wind = 2,954 MW @ 30% capacity factor.
Total NEM registered solar = 8,506 MW, total effective solar = 1,701 MW @ 20% capacity factor.
Assuming a renewable life expectancy of 20 years, then projected total lifetime generation = 4,657*24*365*20 = 815,906,400 MWh.
Total reported cost of infrastructure upgrade = $12,000,000,000 divided by total estimated lifetime generation = $14.70 per MWh.
A bit of junk accounting I know, but it just highlights a small part of the hidden infrastructure cost that society must cop for “cheap renewables”.
21
All quite valid but irrelevant in modern politics. You omit the main driver of this stupidity which is the belief in the giant CO2 knob in the sky and that we are in the midst of a global, apocalyptic, tipping point, unprecedented crisis that requires “climate action” aka killing the coal industry. There is much virtue and some votes to be garnered for being seen to be “doing something” even if you just mouth the words and then go do something else.
Lefties are good at denying reality so a head on with said reality is imminent. Its coming quicker than I thought, which I think will probably be a good thing however damaging the self inflicted wounds are.
41
yarpos, I don’t know why I get this ‘impression’ that you might just have a finger on a pulse somewhere, but does what you say ‘allude’ to the fact that there might just be a hope for new coal fired power?
Tony.
41
Australia apparently has 1 million empty homes
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10960139/One-million-vacant-homes-Australia-2021-Census.html
That seems a huge proportion of the total number of homes available and must restrict the numbers available for renting.
Here in the Uk we have a huge problem with air b’n’b in tourist areas. landlords are throwing out long term renting locals so they can move in holidaymakers. It is causing a lot of resentment and an increasing number of coastal towns are banning second homes. ironically of course if locals cant rent locally then there are many fewer people to serve holidaymakers in the tourist facilities they want to visit. AS places like Venice can testify, tourism has got out of hand
121
Oh the humanity!
The Daily Male, enough said.
Woke verbalism weaving another tail of envy and unearned entitlement that prooves that the “boomers” “had it too easy” and must give up half of there savings to those who we’re denied the chance to work; because, you know, everyone should be equal, or something.
Its just so unfair and discriminatory that the non boomer’s have to do without holidays oversees and actually go to work every day to get the money for a house deposit.
And maybe the writer of this well researched artical could blame her teechers for her lack of spelling skills ’cause, after all, shees a post boomer and needs coddling.
And maybe she could ask that prominent boomer, Printz Charles to explain the difference between bear and bare.
Life can be so unfare.
161
This will ever be a problem while capital gain plus lack of maintenance costs for wear and tear sum up to more than can be earned by renting them out.
42
What does that mean Ted?
20
Keeping the house empty minimises wear and tear.
When capital gain is high, it can be more profitable to not rent the house out.
61
That’s seems like a difficult thing to get right, unless maybe in Byron bay or North Sydney.
20
There was also a rational follow up to this article that pointed out the many reasons a house may be empty during the census snapshot.
The number they claim stands as a number without much meaning.
101
They’ll stop coming when they can’t find anyone to make them a latte.
71
In the small BC community I live in there is a desperate shortage of homes for rent. There are also lots of empty 2nd homes. The reason is simple: if tenants trash a place or don’t pay the rent, landlords have no comeback. We rented out our house before we moved here and of 5 lots of tenants in 3 years, 2 paid the rent regularly and did not leave junk. One lot left 2 cars and a truck we had to have towed to junk yards as well as 2 F150’s full of junk we had to pay to dispose of.
Until landlords get some legal protection, there will continue to be empty dwellings and a shortage of rental property. This is the case in Canada, and I suspect also in Oz.
52
Depending what State you are in its becoming similar in OZ. The disincentives to being a landlord are growing and in what has been a booming property market it can make more sense to renovate and sell , which takes time and creates empty property.
31
A large percentage of those would be houses owned by absentee owners who have parked their Renminbi’s in a safe house.
00
holland has got it into its head that despit all its other problems it needs to press on with reducing ammonia and nitrogen from cattle. Obviously they haven’t heard of looming food shortages.
The Dutch farmers have responded by blockading motorways with Tractors
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1634054/EU-news-farmers-protest-the-netherlands-mark-rutte
151
I think it’s time to that to divide the periodic table into those elements which are bad and those that are good.
We know that carbon is bad.
Responsible government should warn of us the other bad elements.
Perhaps at some point, government policy can rehabilitate those marginalized elements allowing them to become fully productive members of the periodic table.
But for now, carbon crimes of the past can only be corrected by being anti-carbon.
141
I don’t know. Some of my friends are carbon based. That sulfur though is always making a stink.
121
Tellurium too.
21
I don’t think Tellurium is on the list, but in the days of 16mm movies the NSW department of Agriculture used to run a doco titled “A grain of wheat”. Very informative.
For plants to grow there is a set of elements which are absolutely necessary. From memory less than 20. A lot are only needed in trace quantities, but, like the links of a chain, if any one is lacking the plant can’t grow. That is where the science of fertilisers comes in.
The main ones of course are hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon and sulphur.
51
The problem is WHO judges the elements?
Refer each to the USA Supreme Court?
Remember that Greenpeace wanted to ban chlorine, but apparently not common salt. Still, let’s see: Lithium is toxic so that has to be banned. Beryllium definitely bad. Boron not yet the subject of hysteria so OK? Carbon definitely good except lots of gulible people think it is bad, so it will be banned. Nitrogen is everywhere, makes fertiliser but hysteria rules again (esp. in The Netherlands). Oxygen is essential so should be rationed (say the hysterical). Fluorine, definitely dangerous and must go.
The Noble gases are inert and have some uses, but Radon is radioactive so the whole lot must be banned.
In fact it is hard to find any element that some ignorant clot cannot demand it be banned so it would be easier to ban the lot.
121
Oxygen.
It has long puzzled me that the worriers haven’t hit on an impending lack of oxygen in the atmosphere.
After all, every atom of carbon in CO2 ties up two atoms of oxygen.
91
It’s the amount of urine seeping through the soil and into the water ways that’s causing a problem. Poor cows can’t do anything right.
62
Cow urine is well known for its antibacterial applications. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4566776/
41
I think it’s time that all carbon based life forms be banished to the nearest landfill for carbon capture and provide carbon credits for the leftover non-carbon based life forms. Alternatively, a second best option, each life form that expels a carbon product needs to carry a carbon eating life form nearby it’s carbon outlet to maximise the carbon capture of that life form.
61
Right now, given the state of both of our governments (and citizenry), I’d make sure you put gold and silver into the “good” column.
If Trudeau is any indication, they’re seeing the value of leaving their political opponents impoverished. Get ready for their cashless society.
71
If they ban cash crypto will become popular.
22
A few “news” sources reported on this story.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/vic/2022/06/30/frydenberg-bankruptcy-claim-delayed/amp/
The heading to the photo is “Josh Frydenberg is due to have a bankruptcy claim over $410,000 in legal fees heard in court.”
All designed to make readers think that he was the one going to court and not someone who lost a legal case against him.
I became aware of this because Google thought it was a story of interest. The original court case? Not so much. The guy contested Frydenberg’s eligibility to be elected because his mum was born in Hungary. A guy used by some group who didn’t want to pay legal costs?
91
Josh Frydenberg’s mum was a Jewish refugee and legally stateless.
100
R.B. is right on the ball here. That headline’s first impression was that Josh Frydenberg was bankrupt. Some journalists just can’t help themselves.
Now can we hope to see the Blockade Australia crowd held to account for the costs they impose on people?
61
Interesting article in the British Medical Journal from Maryanne Demasi.
She has a good track record in undermining medical orthodoxies, particularly with regards to dietary fat/carbohydrate and statin prescriptions.
She has now looked into funding of government drug regulatory bodies and it’s not a pretty picture.
https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1538.full
71
Having drug companies pay for the regulators seems to be a world-wide practice, and the amounts of money going to the regulators has risen steeply-
“Of the six regulators, Australia had the highest proportion of budget from industry fees (96%) and in 2020-2021 approved more than nine of every 10 drug company applications.”
” In Australia, experts have called for a complete overhaul of the TGA’s structure and function, arguing that the agency has become too close to industry.”
So generally the regulators don’t do any of their own research, they just read the results on the application form, their members have money invested in drug companies and their members come and go from regulator to drug company employment and back again.
What could go wrong?
100
Scott Morrison declared there will be no inquiry into the management of COVID.
There has to be!
50
No, we might learn something or the truth might come out. Neither of those is a desired outcome.
20
Building the naritive for the next fear porn installment. (50 mins of WHO)
ON THE PLANDEMIC(S) & OTHER EMERGENCIES (WORLD HELLTH ORGANIZATION, MEDIA BRIEFING, JUN 29, 2022)
https://www.bitchute.com/video/xD5mI4nZpWA1/
Because they care only about your hellth.
22
Looked into
[Fixed]AD
11
Rural Africans are socially conservative farmers and ranchers so naturally music about cows and trucks speaks more to them than pop or hip hop especially if it gives them an excuse to wear their cowboy hats and boots
https://twitter.com/RisenChow/status/1542567437459136514
20
“Large-Scale Reforestation Efforts Could Dry Out Landscapes Across the World”
https://eos.org/articles/large-scale-reforestation-efforts-could-dry-out-landscapes-across-the-world
So the Qld Veg Management Act main beneficiary might be NZ?
21
““Large-Scale Reforestation Efforts Could Dry Out Landscapes Across the World””
Ahhh.. so more trees in a drier landscape..
… to cause more severe bush fires.
Blamed of course on ‘climate change”
41
Reforestation vs solar panel deserts where nary a bush nor weed is seen. The hypocrisy is overwhelming!
00
Still quite a few victims of the Covid psyop wearing masks out there. It’s funny seeing a family out and about doing their shopping with one or two masked to the gills and the other members not. What the heck do they think they are doing?
111
The masked crusaders, they have them scared of their own imaginations.
Sadly we will be dragged down with them, misery loves company.
61
Similar observations here. In my local shopping centre I estimated about 1/4 of people maybe with masks. But there’s no pattern. Old people with, old people without. Same with younger people and then also the people working in the shops/ supermarkets. The N95’s are really annoying, people look like ducks!!
71
Yes, we have a retirement village next to the local grocery store, many of the residents go shopping there and quite a high percentage of them are still wearing masks. At this point everyone is just leaving them to get on with their lives. I haven’t seen anyone there who is not what I would call elderly wearing a mask but I am not there all the time.
Very sad that so many people have been frightened so much.
91
Seems here the most masked are women between 20 and 40. This could be consistent with Jordan Peterson’s proposal that the high levels of negative emotion and threat aversion in women is because they have evolved to protect babies and children.
41
Some may have some medical issues going on or be close to someone who does. My mother in law has a lot going on and we adjust what we do when we are with her. Havent resorted to masks but have some available for her if it makes her feel more comfortable e.g. medical waiting rooms.
Noticed a few mask theatre people in the supermarket and half of them dont even have it covering their nose.
21
That’s because they breathe through their mouth.
I asked one. That’s what he said.
00
Thats funny. I mentioned this in an off topic area in a car forum I’m. A US poster proposed the simplest answer, which rings true with your experience. He said they are so stupid they dont realise their nose is part of their respiratory system.
10
More on the Netherlands Nitrogen kerfuffle
“Y2Kyoto: State Of Anorexia Envirosa”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2022/07/01/y2kyoto-state-of-anorexia-envirosa-16/#comments
And comments
21
It’s not safe going outdoors anymore, at least not until they can get sufficient masks to remove Nitrogen from the inhaled breath.
61
It’s everywhere that stuff, it’s quite terrifying
10
Innovation is needed here.
This week’s patent: Rhizobia impregnated N95s.
00
There have been many discussions on here about Ivermectin and HQC etc. Do the Australians realise that the TGA gets 96% of it’s funding from the pharma industry? The BMJ has just published a paper looking into the independence of various country’s drug regulators
https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1538.full
“The BMJ article shows that the Australian TGA:
*IS 96% FUNDED BY THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
*HALF OF THE COMMITTEE WHO APPROVED THE COVID VA**CINES HAVE FINANCIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST (e.g. they are being funded by Big Pharma in some way)
*These conflicts of interest WERE NOT DECLEARED TO THE PUBLIC
*The TGA drug regulators do not routinely receive patient level datasets from the pharmaceutical companies whose products they are asked to regulate.
*The TGA approves 94% of all drugs that are submitted for approval. ”
Why bother having a regulator when they are effectively rubber stamping applications and “bending at the knee” for requests to ban drugs the funders do not like?
160
Great highlight, Thanks. We have Ivan “boarding” at our house and have trotted out a couple of times when thought needed. The real paradox for us is hearing of the inoculated friends/acquaintances who have succumbed with the latest (yesterday) a very forceful inoc accepted supporter, advising they have tested positive. In their case it seems mild whereas a couple of months ago another, again inoc accepted supporter, remains very sick with clots on lungs
30
We’ve got Heidi Hydro curled up in a closet at our place, waiting patiently for her time to come. She says she’s not lonely either. Her best friends are Zane Zinc and Donald Deethree.
10
Its called “user pays” and is the same system that permeates throughout a lot of government regulatory bodies. The good – it reduces the taxpayer funding required to run these bodies. The bad – outcomes or decisions can produce huge conflicts of interest. The FDA are hopelessly compromised and I think the TGA in Australia is also. Plus the TGA suffers from being the regulator authority for such a small populated country. They are effectively just rubber stamping applications especially when products (eg. pharmaceuticals) are already approved in other jurisdictions like the USA or some of the major European countries. They will contend that they examined throroughly all the COVID vaccine support data, but in reality all they are probably doing is picking up typos.
50
If you want to use that argument Ross, why stop there. Why not have private funding, say from gangs, for the Police. Why not have private funding for the IRD from large Corporates and wealthy individuals. I could go on but I hope you see the point.
I believe drug regulatory agencies like the TGA and Medsafe here in NZ should be TOTALLY funded by Government.
BTW. Who would “rubber stamping” of a new drug based on the FDA approvals.
40
There’s pro and cons as I outlined. No, definitely no private funding in the Police, the political interference is already too much. I understand what you are saying, what I am pointing out is what is reality. The problem is the optics when these bodies are “user pay”. If they are perceived as basically rubber stamping then that is bad, which is why the likes of the EPA, FDA, TGA, APVMA should be stricter in their review of product applications that come across their desk. Periodically they should actually reject product applications or at the very least produce some queries. For the COVID vaccines, the TGA basically just waived them through. How could little itty bitty Australia, with only 25m population reject any of the COVID vaccine applications? But the same probably would have happened if the FDA ( or the TGA) was fully taxpayer funded. We have a health industrial complex that is incredibly powerful unfortunately. You would like to think Australia may not be influenced, but COVID highlighted that it is.
21
There is no need for any direct funding link between Pharma and the TGA. User pays goes to the Govt funding pool. There should be no leverage and no acceptance of largesse.
20
Logically the funding for police should be from shopkeepers, or wealthy home owners … in other words the people who have something worth stealing. There’s no point asking the poor and the homeless to fund police, because robbers are generally smart enough not to attempt to squeeze blood from a stone.
Then you get the complaint, “Hey the cops are serving the interests of the wealthy!”
No duh … but sticking government in as a middle-man to facilitate that transaction only provides one more group of people looking for a pay-off. In every situation taxation falls most heavily on those who are able to pay, that’s called Willie Sutton’s Law … meaning the police are nevertheless paid by the successful business or the wealthy property owner.
Getting to the regulatory agencies … the TGA is ultimately funded by the people who BUY the medications, and if they stubbornly refused to buy anything then the TGA would become both irrelevant, and unfunded. There’s just a large bunch of middle-men looking for their slice, sitting in between the producers and the customers.
21
However- no point in refusing to buy a product that is ‘mandated’.
As well, the largest crime sector by activity, if not money stolen, is against poor people.
20
The new round of covid punishment/torture has been kicked off by the guardian. Here comes your dollop of “survivor guilt” with the full story of five victims being personally identified and their story told. Then at the end of the article you have further reading choices (published 21hrs prior) headed “Australia’s 10,000 deaths and the paradox of covid normal” coupled with (as in also published 21hrs prior) “Ten thousand covid deaths and counting… the road to Australia’s grim milestone”. Another 5 stories from Feb/Mar are also presented each specifically dealing with individuals/couples and the loss that their passing has left.
Yes, feel very sorry for all the cases portrayed and may they RIP and their families find strength in the memory of their lives however if you (guardian) are going to politicise them then you open the right for people to comment on them. Again, YES, we are dealing with a tragedy here however the 10,000 deaths is for the duration of covid which is getting on for three years. In the single year that was 2020 when covid commenced the following also applied:
COVID-19 was the 38th leading cause of death (898 deaths).
In 2020 there was a decrease in mortality in Australia.
The five leading causes decreased, with a significant reduction in respiratory diseases.
Rates from suicide, drug overdoses and car crashes decreased.
Alcohol-induced death rates increased by 8.3%.
The last one is of particular interest given the political handling of the covid situation. What part did lock downs and business closeurs play in the alcohol-induced death rate increase? It is one thing to die from an “external” cause but dying as a result of something you have “better” control over – isn’t that a form of suicide? Is that a story equally as important to pursue further?
I did a search of guardian using Australian alcohol death rate – and to their credit back on 26 May they ran a story “Deaths from drug use rose in first year of pandemic to rate not seen since Australia’s late 1990s peak” however, this like all the other non-current stories are behind their register to continue reading (not a paywall) condition.
50
In normal years (whatever they are) thousands die from influenza, thousands die of pneumonia and yet no maudlin MSM score keeping and talk of grim milestones. This is just maintaining the hysteria.
30
The Daily Mail has today also reported on the grim 10,000 covid deaths saga. Their report notes:
“Australia has reached the grim milestone of 10,000 Covid-19 related deaths, with more than 7,000 fatalities reported in the last six months.”
The obvious concern with that statement is – but haven’t we had a program of inoculation which, while not stopping you from getting covid or passing it on, was meant to make the severity/danger of the infection less and even keep you out of hospital?
Guess masks, booster shots and even lockdowns are just around the corner.
20
The Daily Mail Link sorry gremlins again.
00
In a Dutton government …..
‘Schools reform a Dutton priority.
‘Peter Dutton will target education as a key political battleground, calling for a debate over the curriculum that he says is at risk of being hijacked by unions and activists.’ (Oz)
Eventually he will say we need to have a debate over energy and climate change.
61
I daresay he is keeping his powder dry, big fight, that one.
30
Albo and Bowen already proving to be complete economic ignoramuses, but who expected any different? As for Chalmers, I am unaware of any financial qualifications he may possess, but judging by the overwhelming ethnicity of most of the red-shirted ALP posse standing behind him on the election night coverage from Brisbane, he could have been running as a councilor in a precinct of Hong Kong. So I am not sure how he ended up as Treasurer of Australia, but here we are.
All that was missing was Mao’s little red book.
71
Jim Chalmers was Wayne Swans right hand man…how’s that for economic credentials !
50
Didn’t Swanny deliver half a dozen surpluses? I sorta recall him talking about that. lol
20
In his nightmares.
00
The electric Hummer has hit the market. What a green machine. Sarc.
30
Well, it had to happen. As of today, on the ASX, Dominos Pizza with a market cap of $5.9 billion is worth more than Australia’s largest electricity generator, AGL, with a market cap of $5.5 billion.
Another article in the Weekend Oz waxes beautific on the wonders of large grid-storage batteries. ” Batteries to boom as nation plugs in “. And Rupert Murdoch is working hard to address carbon issues on his huge newly purchased cattle ranch in Montana. I guess the Murdochs do need to offset their private jet emissions.
It’s just another day in the Matrix.
60
Those articles in the Australian- more often than not, I find the comments way more entertaining and informative than the journalistic piece itself. Anything to do with climate change or energy with get a very good pasting of realistic comments pointing out the stupidity of the articles.
70
Wow I just looked at their price chart, they have lost 66% of value in 5 years.
What are the stock holders doing? Nothing, it seems.
Dominos must be breaking through in the US.
30
During lockdown here the McDonald’s drive thru was banked up to the highway. Healthy eating is very important during a pandemic /sarc.
50
Ready, set, panic/yawn.
Never-before-seen microbes locked in glacier ice could spark a wave of new pandemics if released
Stunned scientists have uncovered more than 900 never-before-seen species of microbes living inside glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau. Analysis of the microbes’ genomes revealed that some have the potential to spawn new pandemics, if rapid melting caused by climate change releases them from their icy prisons.
Unfortunately they are in the steady hands of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and probably in Wuhan already for “testing”.
Evidence suggests that some of the newfound bacteria could be very dangerous to humans and other organisms. The team identified 27,000 potential virulence factors — molecules that help bacteria invade and colonize potential hosts — within the TG2G catalog. The researchers warned that around 47% of these virulence factors have never been seen before, and so there is no way of knowing how harmful the bacteria could be.
https://www.livescience.com/hundreds-of-new-microbes-found-in-melting-glaciers
40
Sigh…here we go again!
40
One of my friends thinks that when the permafrost melts so much methane ” a powerful greenhouse gas” will be released that the world will burst into flames. So it only a matter of what gets us first it seems.
30
yarpos:
Ask him what happened at the Holocene Climatic Optimum when the temperature was at least one℃ warmer. Mountain passes in Norway etc. free of snow and trees growing at least a hundred miles further north than now in Canada. Or refer to the Eemian (approx. 125,000 years ago) when the Earth was 2.5℃ warmer and so much snow and ice melted that the sea level was 6-7 metres above present. No sign of runaway warming then.
And point out that John Tyndall (who first measured IR absorption in gases) noted that methane was 4.8 times stronger than CO2 and not the latest scare figure (83? 85? times).
He also noted that ammonia was 13.3 times a stronger IR absorber and nitrous oxide 4 times stronger. Relevant because hydrogen freaks want to convert it into ammonia for easier transport and then burn it into nitrogen oxides and water vapour, which even without ammonia leaks would be stronger “greenhouse gases”.
30
A bit wordy and complex for lunchtime arguing. I just tell that the world has been much warmer than it is now and yet somehow we are all still here and prospering. Its they same line i use with another car club contact who thinks the oceans are boiling and the GBR will be gone on a couple of years (note: his daughter is at JCU)
20
For those who might wonder why 29% of Australia’s prison population is indigenous.
https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2008/11/the-cultural-roots-of-aboriginal-violence/
41
Has anyone noticed that 90% of the prison population are men, even though only 50% of the overall population are men?
I’m wondering how long before politicians blame the women for this obvious systemic bias.
70
Remarkably the indigenous population amounts to only 3% of the Australian population.
51
Have you seen this woman? Canadian police would like to know.
Description:
• 5ft 10in
• short hair
• full beard
• strong jawline
• named as Isobella Degrace
• photo issued
Police in Toronto, Canada, asked members of the public to help them find a “woman” on Thursday.
The news release attracted thousands of responses on social media, with many users expressing scepticism of Degrace’s sex/gender.
“Beyond parody,” commented the popular conservative account Libs of TikTok.
“Missing dog. Please help,” joked another user, sharing a picture of an animal very much resembling a cat.
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/07/01/canadian-police-describe-person-with-full-beard-missing-woman/
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Looks like a very precise overbite – does she offer a vasectomy service as a sideline?.
10
They have found her.
10
Cloud causing outback chill, but the story doesn’t include a blocking high in the Bight bringing cool south easterlies.
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/extreme-chill-in-outback-qld-parts-of-nt/664271
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Latest Pointman
“THE REACTION TO THE SLEDGEHAMMER BY WEST BLOCK EUROPE.”
https://thepointman.wordpress.com/2022/07/01/the-reaction-to-the-sledgehammer-by-west-block-europe/
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A less than optimistic piece. Oh well, all that donated weaponry would only have protracted western europe’s defeat had it been retained.
It’s hard to see how the world will survive more than a few more months at this rate of deterioration so let’s grasp the nettle and dynamite all our coal fired power stations and maintain the australian reputation of being always first with the worst and beat europe to the bottom.
50
“An army marches on its stomach – and its arsenals”
With some of his personal experience
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2022/07/an-army-marches-on-its-stomach-and-its.html
30
India now the third largest country of birth for the Australian populace, behind only Australia and England. China fourth. NZ fifth. My hunch is quite a few immigrants fly under the official radar and don’t necessarily fill in census forms.
Statistics as stated in the Weekend Oz Inquirer section.
As usual, nobody gets to vote on the globalist agenda of flooding the West with third world migrants. The elites have decided. Albo will no doubt bring in more. We have labour shortages, after all. Not due to a virus. Due to government policies in response to the ” pandemic “.
It’s just the way it is, innit.
60
This is the “browning” of the world. It would seem most British, Asian, European, American (North) countries have a significant population of Indian background people. Even the Pacific island countries. They also love country towns! Go to most towns in Victoria and at least one of the businesses will be owned by either Indians or Vietnamese.
30
Indians have become attached to fuel supply in parts of rural Qld too
40
Everywhere Ian.. Any cash business for them or the Chinese, I hate to see what happens if the Govt decides to ban cash. I expect we will get a great surprise when Indians and Chinese block-vote to a party of their choice.
That may also influence our politics with the Yanks, who seem to be doing their best to upset India and China these days, and we may have enough voters who disagree to affect our response. It would be hilarious if the whole “China is trying to invade us!” got blown away by an Indian/Chinese political party.
20
A couple of small notes to our Indian friends, based on local observation.
When you visit a small town and enjoy its facilities, try spending some money in the town, it helps to maintain the facilities.
Pick up your own rubbish
30
Another ill-informed article in The Australian “Batteries to boom as nation plugs in to grid-scale storage” by Busness Editor Cameron England.
“By 2027 Queensland is expected to overtake Victoria as the state with the most storage capacity at 1.8 gigawatts, the Clean Energy Council estimates”
“Over the next five years it is expected an additional 18 projects will be switched on, bringing an extra 3.6GW (a 351 per cent increase) of power to the market”
As many readers, better informed that the journalist it would appear, have pointed out, batteries do not generate power and quoting the power delivery without specifying the duration is pointless.
For example, Neoen’s new 300MW/450MWhr battery in Victoria can deliver 300MW for just 90 minutes.
Adding a further 3,600 MW of batteries that must be charged and than deliver for just 90 minutes will cost over $4 billion – to be paid for by consumers. That’s the real cost to be added to the cost of “free” intermittent wind and solar generators.
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Yes indeed. And the free energy also requires transmission lines to connect to the batteries to the grid.
TANSTAAFL.
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The reality of Australia’s carbon challenge laid bare
With an estimated price tag of $320 billion, there are still big questions as to how the economics and politics of Australia’s decarbonisation will evolve.
Jacob Greber Senior correspondent
The smartest energy experts have had their say; the task of decarbonising Australia’s sprawling, decentralised, energy system is both complex and costly.
Above all else, it brings to mind the old joke about a tourist asking for directions to Dublin. “I wouldn’t start from here.”
“Our energy system transformation is accelerating and irreversible, and ever more comprehensive and challenging,” said the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).
Yet here we are.
AEMO outlined this week in its much-anticipated road map, or Integrated System Plan (ISP), how the energy transition should unfold in a sustainable dependable manner over the next three decades. The main takeaway was that the technical challenges are as inherently surmountable as they are spectacular.
Storage capacity will need to increase by a factor of 30, grid-scale solar will grow nine-fold, energy grid usage will double, and the capacity of gas-fired peaking plants will jump 43 per cent to 10 gigawatts.
All the while, coal, which accounts for about two-thirds of Australia’s current energy generation mix, will crash by 60 per cent this decade before vanishing entirely by the early 2040s. Those are the outlines of the most consequential upheaval of Australia’s economy since the industrial revolution.
With an estimated price tag of $320 billion – a figure that includes investment, operating, and maintenance costs out to 2050 – there are still big questions as to how the economics and politics will evolve, regardless how much the new Labor government insists the “climate wars are over”.
Whether that occurs will be determined by how Labor manages and owns the huge decisions it will need to make in coming months. At this point, there are still too many missing pieces of the puzzle for Labor to rest easy.
The government’s Rewiring the Nation election policy calls for $20 billion in government money to underwrite the rebuilding and modernisation of the grid, as outlined by the AEMO.
Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen is also pushing to establish a capacity mechanism that would keep investors in the business of maintaining dispatchable “emergency” supply as the shift away from coal accelerates.
Pressures abound
Both are credible cornerstone features of Labor’s plan, but still largely untested and very much subject to being derailed. Much can and will no doubt go wrong. As they have in the past, states might scuttle the capacity mechanism by adopting nativist solutions, rather than uniting on a single National Electricity Market (NEM) fix.
The transmission piece of Bowen’s plan is no walk in the park either, not least because it is so overdue. There’s a great deal of nervousness about the AEMO transmission road map, published on Thursday, since it sets federal and state governments directly on a course into political badlands.
Already some of the biggest and most important transmission projects spotlighted by the Integrated System Plan are overshadowed by community and activist pressures.
Marinus Link, which would connect more of Tasmania’s renewables generation to the mainland, is being fought by Bob Brown who objects because the project will likely spur more investment in wind farms on the island.
NIMBY politics is on fire in places like Victoria’s west, where locals are fighting tooth and nail against AusNet’s project to build 190 kilometres of power lines and transmission towers.
AEMO may well be right to urge the immediate construction of Marinus and VNI West, plus HumeLink and lines around Sydney and through New England. They are “urgent” investments that will return 2.2 times their estimated $12.7 billion cost by helping distribute all that newly installed renewables power across the NEM in a way that reduces reliance on coal and gas.
But for the communities whose land will be blighted by such transmission infrastructure, there are no lasting benefits. Once built, they leave no ongoing activity or jobs for local workers. Putting lines underground is equally disruptive and might help soften the blow. But at what cost?
40
Large set of problems
Daniel Westerman, AEMO’s chief executive officer, is aware of these tensions.
“The NEM is capable of delivering enough low-emission electricity to support the nation’s most ambitious economic and environmental goals, but it does need a clear social licence for the scale of investment needed,” he writes in the report, which contains 21 references to “social licence”.
That is not to say such reforms and investments cannot succeed. The strongest argument in their favour is that the national cost of failure will ensure the transmission and capacity elements eventually succeed. But that still leaves a very large set of problems, which the new government has not addressed in any meaningful way.
As the AEMO report makes clear, coal-fired power is coming out of the grid far more rapidly than the operator anticipated as recently as late last year. At least one third of the 23 gigawatts in capacity generated by coal will vanish by 2030, according to what generators have told us so far.
AEMO suspects that number will rise to 60 per cent, or 14 gigawatts this decade. And there’s a good prospect of even more as the shift to renewables becomes a kind of self-reinforcing mechanism that drives out coal by making it uncompetitive.
“Competition, climate change and operational pressures will intensify with ever-increasing penetration of firmed renewable generation,” the report says.
Significantly, it’s happening far more rapidly than Bowen promised late last year when he released Labor’s climate policy and associated economic modelling. At the time, Bowen insisted the modelling showed there would be “no bring forward of coal-fired power closures as a result of any of these policies”.
“Is there any policy lever that a Labor government will pull that will bring any of those coal-fired power station closures forward?
No,” said Mr Bowen. “The market will determine that.”
Coal oblivion
This is patent nonsense, and a direct consequence of Australia’s infantile political debate. It was not something Labor wanted to talk about before the election.
But whether they want to acknowledge it or not, this is the actual point: coal is headed for oblivion under their plan and the road map outlined this week by the AEMO. Intensifying renewables penetration by investing in transmission and capacity mechanisms only quickens coal’s decline.
Labor is probably better off owning this reality, for a multitude of tactical and political reasons.
Primary among them will be the need to manage the community adjustments these closures will inevitably trigger.
Second, will be distributing the cost of replacing that coal capacity. While there is considerable uncertainty about the size of the eventual bill, it is likely to be considerable.
According to one estimate, crunched this week by Macroeconomics Advisory’s Stephen Anthony and Alex Coram using what has unfolded in Germany, the rough net cost of replacing coal-fired plants with renewables and back up is about $7.5 billion for each retired gigawatt.
That implies a total bill of $160 billion, much of it due this decade.
The changes outlined by AEMO and its Integrated System Plan, plus the rest of Labor’s climate and energy agenda, which includes a safeguard mechanism for heavy emitters and transport policy tweaks, will take years to put in place. And the benefits won’t flow until late in the decade, by which time there will have been at least two more elections, perhaps three.
The irony is that there was once a sound solution in place for many of these issues. A decade ago, Labor’s climate tax generated revenue for households and communities least able to bear the cost.
“The linkage between the costs that would be created through a carbon price and how those costs would be spread and cross-subsidised isn’t there because we’re not talking about it,” says Tony Woods, from the Grattan Institute. “We’re pretending it will miraculously go away.”
Fewer policy tools
Blair Comley, partner at EY’s net zero centre and a former Commonwealth and state government mandarin at the forefront of the climate wars for well over a dozen years, made this observation at a conference on Friday.
“I don’t think politics will come back to an economy-wide carbon pricing, and part of that might be the urgency of the task and the 28-year time horizon.
“We shouldn’t lose sight of the reason people toyed with one in the first place, which is ‘Let’s send a signal that goes into all the nooks and crannies of the economy.’”
Bowen, speaking at the same event, said the world “has moved on” from carbon pricing. “You don’t need that signal now. The sectoral approach will increasingly be a better fit for the times.
“That’s where the debate has got to over the last 10 years.”
Bowen has time to get this right, and manage the difficult politics. But he has fewer policy tools to ease the transition than his predecessors had.
Like that confused tourist in Ireland, Australians are starting this journey from a state of absurdity.
40
People consistently talk about batteries as though they are there for baseload backup. They have been feed a line of BS about “firming” They have no idea what “grid scale” means. There is no current effective, affordable, widely deployable grid scale storage system.
40
Ohio zoo’s 14-year-old tiger dies from COVID-19 complications
The Columbus Zoo is mourning the loss of its 14-year-old Amur tiger, Jupiter.
The zoo said Jupiter died Sunday from pneumonia caused by COVID-19.
Zoo officials said Jupiter had been on a long-term treatment for chronic underlying illnesses he had which made him more compromised to the virus.
He is the first animal at the zoo to die from COVID-19, the zoo said.
https://www.wlwt.com/amp/article/ohio-columbus-zoo-tiger-covid-19-pneumonia-death-virus/40474040
Shoulda worn a mask 😉
40
Burger that tastes like human flesh, despite being Vegan, wins top award
If you’ve ever hankered after the taste of human flesh, now you can sample it in the form of an all-new plant-based burger that claims to perfectly replicate the taste and texture of human meat.
A bizarre “human-meat” flavoured burger has won a top award.
The bizarre burger is said to taste exactly like human flesh, despite being completely meat free and vegan friendly.
Its creator, Swedish food company Oumph!, said it had even worked to get the perfect texture of flesh for their cannibalistic creation.
However a spokesperson for the company insisted: “No humans were injured in the development of this product.”
https://thearcanelaboratory.com/burger-that-tastes-like-human-flesh-despite-being-vegan-wins-top-award/
Why bother. Just wait until the food supply shuts down 😉
Probably tastes like chicken anyway…
40
“Burger that tastes like human flesh, ”
Lol!! How do they know??
50
They asked the “Soylent Green Team?”
00
From a marketing perspective I would have gone with chicken.
00
Just a reminder to everyone that tonight’s Powerball jackpot prize is one tank of petrol, a 12 pack of TP and your power bill paid for a week 😅
131
SARS-CoV-2 virus can lose 90% of infectivity when in aerosol particles within 20 minutes
The SARS-CoV-2 virus can lose 90% of infectivity when in aerosol particles within 20 minutes, according to new University of Bristol findings. The study, published in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), is the first to investigate the decrease in infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 in aerosol particles over periods from seconds to a few minutes. The aim of the study was to explore the process that could change viral infectivity over short timescales following exhalation.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2200109119
..and aerosol transmission distance is 20m not 1.5 but keep on standing on those circles…
50
How dengue and Zika infections could make people more attractive to mosquitoes
Being bit by a mosquito carrying dengue or Zika virus can make you sick. The infection can also make you even more attractive for other mosquitoes, new research finds.
Mosquitoes that aren’t already carrying the viruses could be more drawn to sick humans, become infected, and go on to infect more humans. The spread of dengue, in particular, is a threat, with about half the world’s population at risk and hundreds of millions of cases each year. Most cases are asymptomatic, but serious cases can lead to fever and vomiting, and in some instances, organ failure or death.
The study, published Thursday in Cell, identifies a specific scent emitted from both Zika- and dengue-infected mice that makes them more attractive to mosquitos than those without the viruses. It also points to a potential route to neutralize the olfactory flag.
In the experiments, performed at Tsinghua University in Beijing, mosquitos in a cage could enter a chamber with virus-infected mice or one with healthy mice. The mosquitos had no preference among the mice when the experimental group was newly infected, but on days four and six of infection, around 70% of the mosquitos flew to the infected group.
https://www.statnews.com/2022/06/30/dengue-zika-virus-scent-acetophenone/
With Dengue cases going crazy ( as predicted) this is valuable research.
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Hair growth genetic trigger discovered that may cure baldness
Scientists have discovered the molecular signal which triggers potent hair growth in both men and women. The discovery of this signaling molecule, SCUBE3, may finally put an end to baldness and hair loss conditions such as alopecia.
Researchers from the University of California-Irvine say dermal papilla cells are responsible for promoting new hair growth. These are specialized signal-making fibroblasts (cells which produce collagen) that sit at the bottom of each hair follicle. Although scientists knew dermal papilla cells contributed to the growth of hair, they didn’t have a clear picture of the genetic process behind it — until now.
“At different times during the hair follicle life cycle, the very same dermal papilla cells can send signals that either keep follicles dormant or trigger new hair growth,” says Maksim Plikus, Ph.D., UCI professor of developmental & cell biology, in a university release. “We revealed that the SCUBE3 signaling molecule, which dermal papilla cells produce naturally, is the messenger used to ‘tell’ the neighboring hair stem cells to start dividing, which heralds the onset of new hair growth.”
https://www.cell.com/developmental-cell/fulltext/S1534-5807(22)00414-2
Hope for the cue balls out there!
I have a full head of hair even at my age 😊
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At 77, other than where parts have been cut out, coming back full dark after Head Op – no Grey – much to wife’s dismay (will have to keep dyeing hair)
20
Soil pollution could be a hidden cause of heart disease, study warns
Soil pollution may be just as bad for your heart as it is for the planet, a new study warns. Researchers in Germany say any link between heart disease and soil is likely due to pesticides and heavy metals left in the ground.
The team adds pollutants in soil could be damaging our hearts by causing inflammation and disrupting our body clocks. Soil pollution could also be causing heart disease by raising oxidative stress, which leads to more free radicals in the body, which cause chain reactions that damage other cells. It also leads to the body containing fewer antioxidants, which help to clean out radicals.
Study authors say even dust from deserts could be damaging people’s hearts when wind sweeps particles away, sending them long distances to big cities and towns. People in Japan were 21 percent more likely to end up in a hospital on days when desert dust from China and Mongolia was in the air. Pollution of air, water, and soil is responsible for at least nine million deaths each year, according to estimates.
Soil contamination is a less obvious danger to human health than dirty air, but more than 60 percent of pollution-related disease is due to cardiovascular issues such as chronic heart disease, heart attacks, stroke, and heart rhythm disorders.
https://academic.oup.com/cardiovascres/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/cvr/cvac082
Which is why I never buy food from China, India etc because of their heavily polluted soils especially heavy metals.
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Plant-based meats less nutritious than the real thing, study reveals
Plant-based meats don’t pack the same protein punch, making them less nutritious than the real thing. A team from The Ohio State University says their experiments reveal human cells take in fewer proteins from meat alternatives because they are harder to absorb.
The discovery could lead to the development of healthier products, ranging from faux fish sticks to chicken “cheats.”
Nevertheless, proteins from plants commonly display inferior digestibility compared to their animal counterparts. This adds uncertainty to the nutritional value of proteins in MAs unless the gap between digestion and absorption is bridged.”
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jafc.2c01711
Cows have been turning plants into tasty meat for thousands of years.
Mmmmm…REAL beef…mmmm…bacon…
I see a piece of cow on a bbq coming up!😉
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Looking at Nemwatch just now. Tassie $255 MWh? why?
Zero transfer on Basslink. Sitting their running happily on hydro and a smudge of wind.
Unsullied by Putin, or the price of gas, coal, and the vagaries of mainland “RE”
But still the Taswegians need to pay $255.
40
Very strange – Does Govt own the Hydro in Tassie, so hidden revenue source?
20
Just ‘because’.
There is a rort going on and they’re all in on it. $$$$
20
You would think some young journo with an enquiring mind at the Hobart Mercury would ask
Scoop Mctavish where are you?
00
India: 19 year-old dies of Rabies in Palakkad despite vaccinations
A complaint has been raised over the death of the 19-year-old girl Sreelakshmi, hailing from Mangara in the district, the other day due to rabies attack after she was bitten by a dog while going to the college last month.
Sandeep, a relative of Sreelakshmi, came up with the complaint that her life could not be saved even though she took four rounds of vaccines as per the strict instructions of the Health Department.
He also said that the same dog had bitten two more people from the same locality.
https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2022/06/30/sreelakshmi-rabies-attack-palakkad.amp.html
That’s VERY strange. Rabies is endemic and seasonal in a number of countries but fully treatable and no risk if caught early and you haven’t been bitten on the neck or head. The article doesn’t say where the bite was though.
Will have to wait for the final report…
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“Will have to wait for the final report…”
Why, do you think they will even consider if she had her immune system depleted by being vaccinated for Covid?
Sad, but straight under the carpet.
20
FDA votes to add omicron-specific component to coronavirus boosters
The Food and Drug Administration’s independent panel of experts voted 19-2 in favor of updating COVID-19 vaccine boosters, recommending that an omicron-specific component be included.
The advisory committee was not asked to vote on whether the booster should be a monovalent vaccine or a bivalent vaccine, which means the vaccine would include two strains. The FDA has not yet decided which route to go but is leaning toward a combination shot that includes the existing COVID-19 vaccine and one that targets omicron or its newer subvariants.
https://www.wxyz.com/news/coronavirus/fda-votes-to-add-omicron-specific-component-to-coronavirus-boosters
Ooohhh…another shot I won’t be lining up for. Can’t wait. 😉
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Unusual crater discovered on the Moon caused by a mysterious rocket plunge
An unknown rocket has crashed into the Moon, leaving an unusual crater.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter recently detected a rocket of unknown origin that crashed into the Moon, leaving an unusual crater.
https://scienceinfo.net/unusual-crater-discovered-on-the-moon-caused-by-a-mysterious-rocket-plunge.html
No country is owning up.
Likely causes:
1. Elon’s Tesla did a u-turn
2. Faucie fled Earth
3. Aliens
4. Russia! 😅
41
Doesn’t the article mention the possibility of a booster stage of a Chinese rocket?
30
Have they forgotten the B52 that crashed there with Elvis on board ?
10
Another double-pager in the Weekend Oz magazine extolling the virtues of an EV, this time the Hyundai Kona plug-in variant. The Oz’s resident car expert admitted he used the thing mostly as a second car and only needed to charge it from his solar panels once a fortnight or so. His wife also liked the machine.
One hiccup. The, er, price. This Hyundai costs $66,000. And for that amount, there are better vehicles on offer.
He did mention there is currently a 13 month wait for a Tesla for Oz buyers. Some folks are determined to go green and preen outside the local cafe.
80
I was reading an article about EVs and Teslas competition emerging. At the end of the article there was this throw away line “Australia is lagging behind most of the world with its uptake of electric vehicles – a situation that has been blamed on our lack of fuel efficiency standards.”
How on earth would Oz having its own fuel efficiency standards make any difference whatsoever to EV sales? We dont make cars and we buy cars already made to meet overseas fuel efficiency standards where applicable. How on earth would they imagine this would herd people to EVs. Surely if EVs are so stylish, functional, virtue laden and effective they would sell themselves.
80
I watched the carwow guy go for a spin in a 1000 horsepower Lucid Air EV with the Stig on Utube. Okay, so the thing goes 0 to 100 kph in 2.4 seconds. So what? Who needs that kind of speed? It costs $200k. It’s a niche machine. It weighs 2.4 tonnes for goodness sake.
40
Same old one trick pony stuff as in any EV review. Yep good acceleration.
Watched a review of two trucks, an EV Ford Lighting and a petrol equivalent F150 towing identical trailers.
The EV barely got out of site before running out of charge (90miles) and yes it had the biggest battery option.
In a separate review of the EV truck going up and down a long mountain pass they use as a standard test, the EV excelled going downhill (!?) with great stability and regen braking. It lost a third of its charge in 10 miles going back up the hill. So basically the large EV trucks are still just suburban runabouts, which is probably OK as a good chunk of them probably do little else. The people that do loads and distance will buy something else.
30
A 1+yr wait for any new car is not unusual currently if you want a specific model, color, spec etc !
There are few EV choices in Oz because ..
The market is small..
Local regulations need specific modifications to be made…
Right hand drive..
High cost of electricity..
Low disposable income..
They are expensive.. !
10
How would anybody know that the EV was charging from their solar panels or the grid?
30
Control panel.
20
As an owner of a home solar system, I’m interested to know which “control panel” this is. While my system shows how much energy is coming from my solar, I don’t believe that I can determine whether a particular appliance is receiving its electrons from the grid or my solar.
10
Depends on if it’s cloudy or night time Graeme no4 , oh hang on Albo said you can charge them at night now so I guess 24/7 charging from solar panels .
30
Just had somebody commenting in The Australian that a “reputable” research institute has advised that you can pay off your home solar in one year…
20
Would that would be the 6.6kW unit with sawn off shotgun and mask?
Re EV query your solar output just goes into the general mix. Unless you have a separate system you can’t say that Watt goes there and the other Watt goes elsewhere.
00
That’s what I thought Graeme. Thanks for your input.
00
With the EV bring charged, if you are still exporting power to the grid, you car is being charged by your panels……
00
CSIRO chief reveals his bias.
“We missed an opportunity and made decisions that weren’t the best for a green recovery.“
“This tells you that the massive change we saw in the economy — in this case because we were shutting it down — an equivalent change needs to happen in the decarbonisation of the world,” said study co-author Pep Canadell from the CSIRO.’ (WUWT)
40
I wonder what Pep Candell has ever done in the real world?
00
Top Ender says:
July 2, 2022 at 8:15 am
Reasonably interesting if you are contemplating an aged care home for a rellie or yourself…
Germaine Greer’s life as an aged-care ‘inmate’
CAROLINE OVERINGTON. LITERARY EDITOR
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Beer lovers in Singapore have a new kind of ale to try out — if they’re brave enough.
Bloomberg reported this week that a beverage called NEWBrew hit the shelves in April this year, and it’s made from recycled and treated sewage water.
“I seriously couldn’t tell this was made of toilet water,” one local who bought the beer and gave it a taste test told the financial pub. “I don’t mind having it if it was in the fridge. I mean, it tastes just like beer, and I like beer.”
The brewery Brewerkz makes the beer with Singapore’s own municipal reclaimed water, called NEWater, which Bloomberg says first left treatment plants in 2003. Repurposing reclaimed water or treated waste water has gotten a lot more efficient over the years — and it’s also more necessary than ever. Cities around the globe have little to no access to clean water, and aging infrastructure in the US leaves consumers here without a consistent supply, either.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-30/singapore-utility-uses-beer-made-from-sewage-to-educate-people-about-recycling
Couldn’t tell the difference???
Methinks he needs to go upmarket a fair bit on grog.😅
60
Is it branded Shitsz.
30
I have just visited the Fullers Grifin brewery in London . Its an iconic historical brewery hundreds of yrs old sited on the Thames from which it draws water ( as does much of london no doubt !)
That part of the Thames is the color of a flat white coffee !,..and has no doubt been “recycled” many times befor making its way down to London !
But Fullers beers are eternally popular !
10
Of course, the volume of water on the Earth is the same now as when it was formed. It’s all been through many pairs of kidneys before getting to us. Nice thought.
00
An interesting and sometimes appalling read about the cycle of life in Wadeye.
https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2008/12/wadeye-failed-state-as-cultural-triumph/
30
Travelling the Tanamai track short cut from Alice Springs to Halls creek we found Balgo a very pleasant and tidy place with easy access to the bowsers and cheaper fuel than the settlement just down the road that looked like a cyclone had just been through . Some years back though this was not the case and as the YouTube vids show Balgo was also quite violent at one time but now have turned it around and have even created a tourist trail which I’m keen to go on . So how did they turn the cycle around I wonder .
20
If like Palm Is, off Townsville, they may have limited the booze.
Palm locals are only allowed one slab of midstrength on the ferry and the canteen MUST open the bottle before serving. Must be working because they aren’t in the news as they used to be.
30
On occasions they can get some grog smuggled to Palm Island though.
Like when their ex-Mayor (Alf) and his mates brought a load across from Cardwell in a 12 foot tinnie.
00
It is Yarpos, but completely unsurprising. This explains a lot of it-
“The Northern Territory is full of public servants with tertiary degrees and masters degrees of one thing or another who are uninterested in anything but their own careers, and when faced with difficult problems such as the one in Wadeye, fall into denial and uselessness.”
..and its interesting how the normal term for the Europeans is “Whitefellas”, as he uses, but it would be suicidal to use “Blackfellas” these days.
Yet another situation where everyone would be better off without the Govt involved. Welfare only breeds parasites and dependency.
21
The big problem in our current age is Dysfunctionality. I’m seeing that generally, broadly and massively – many different areas and many different ways. It’s causing many problems.
10
Its become normalised. Do you really expect competence anymore? basic competence is the new excellence.
20
Cooling trend discovered by NOAA ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2odqOp-_Qc
10
CLIMATE BIAS: CSIRO, BOM, ABC, UN,EU…the list goes on and on
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Wouldn’t be hard find an EV charging station in the USA surely ?
https://fb.watch/e0vrqq6seV/
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That’s a car wash with charge points. Where do you get a coffee while charging?
Petrol stations have matured into somewhere you can have a proper pit stop, not so with charge stations. What if it is freezing or ‘ot as ‘ell? You are stuck in the car playing eye spy with the family.
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The pause continues, now seven years and ten months.
https://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_June_2022_v6.jpg
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“EU Caves Putin Wins, Transportation of Russian Goods to Kaliningrad Through Lithuania Will Resume
July 2, 2022 | sundance | 20 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/07/02/eu-caves-putin-wins-transportation-of-russian-goods-to-kaliningrad-through-lithuania-will-resume/
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“Get back to me”
https://youtu.be/JrQYJMGc7RU
Via http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2022/07/01/y2kyoto-state-of-anorexia-envirosa-16/#comments
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“Massive Implications, Saudi Arabia in Discussion to Join BRICS Coalition – The Outcome Would be Global Energy and Economic Cleaving
July 2, 2022 | sundance | 307 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/07/02/massive-implications-saudi-arabia-in-discussion-to-join-brics-coalition-the-outcome-would-be-global-energy-and-economic-cleaving/
And
“Russia Now Demands Rubles For Grain As World’s Largest Wheat Exporter”
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/russia-will-now-demand-rubles-grain-worlds-largest-wheat-exporter
“How are those sanctions going?”
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The BRICS coalition is growing and presumably the US dollar will eventually be threatened by the yuan.
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Rather open and blunt piece in the Daily Mail although ‘disproportionately affected’ is included.
Quotes:
‘Our investigations and information from confirmed cases continue to show that the overwhelming majority of cases are in gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men.
Please don’t attend if you have monkeypox symptoms or feel unwell. If you have a rash or blisters, stay at home, phone a sexual health clinic, and get tested.
Gay and bisexual men have been ‘disproportionately affected’ health officials have said.
Of the 1,185 cases where gender data is available, 1,180 cases appeared in men with just five in women.
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It’s the Christmas season and the northern communities depend on Buffalo more than ever to fly in food and supplies. But the engine in the C-46 seizes up in the tiny town of Norman Wells, stranding Scott and AJ and causing a chain reaction that pushes the whole company to the breaking point
https://youtu.be/Od9O-RuFYE0
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Help needed re solar cell inverter.
Any electrician out there who knows if I add extra cells to my roof array which may over power my inverter, will the inverter fail or simply fail to give max output?
Also, theoretically, what performance degrade would be expected with the existing 4 yr old cells?
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I have just answered the second part of my Q: <5%.
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What sort/brand name is the inverter?
Usually a reputable panel seller come installer woulld match the capacity of the inverter to the maximum output of the panels (with a small amount extra because they are built in set sizes).
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That’s the point. I want to ADD panels. I have little leeway with 3.5 [nom] kW cells and a 3 kW inverter. That is OK because I have two strings on different roof surfaces. Even with a couple of extra cells per string I would seldom exceed 3 kW but I don’t want it to expire if/when it did.
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Can you check the brand name on the web? As I implied you might have a 3.5 kW inverter or even a 4kW one. You shouldn’t have one with a rating below that of your cells.
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This implies that there would be no harm done:
Under-sizing your inverter
……. under-sizing your inverter will mean that the maximum power output of your system (in kilowatts – kW) will be dictated by the size of your inverter. Regardless of the output of the solar panels, the power output will be cut-off (‘clipped’) by the inverter so that it does not exceed the inverter’s rated capacity (e.g. 3kW, 5kW etc).
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Don’t know if these are a help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4ER6I8Y9gA
solar inverters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueVHg2Q83Go
micro inverters
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I’m installing an inverter battery and solar system on the pop top camper at the moment and using ex house panels so higher OCV but system is 24 volt . Solar controller will handle 150 OCV but beyond that it restricts anything over . Inverter is 3000watt but capable of handling up to 6000 for start ups . Battery’s are 24volt 280 amp lithium iron phosphate there are 8 at 3.2 volt each . Planning on installing a small split system .
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You can’t overpower your inverter. It will draw power dictated by its capacity and output load.
(I have a 5kw rms continuous pure sine 10kw peak inverter as a backup which works nicely. It’s HF but with better transient handling than most but the company that makes the LF ones I wanted has stopped making them for now. A HUGE pity as the specs were just awesome, especially for overload transients…)
You can add solar panels to your hearts content so don’t worry, just don’t go cheap on the inverter. it no eBay Chinese crap.
There is a solar company in NZ I talked to a few years back that are exceptionally knowledgeable but I don’t recall their name but will find it in my emails as they’re a great source of info.
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Vaccine declaration rules eased for travellers
Passengers arriving into Australia from overseas will no longer have to declare their COVID-19 vaccination status from this week, under the latest easing of rules by the Albanese government.
Based on advice from Commonwealth chief medical officer Paul Kelly, passengers on flights and ships will be able to travel to and from Australia without providing vaccination information from 12.01am on Wednesday, July 6. Unvaccinated people will not require exemptions to enter.
The change means overseas travellers will no longer have to complete a digital passenger declaration form.
The system has been plagued by technical issues and left travellers frustrated. Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil conceded the digital system needed “a lot more work to make it user-friendly”.
Under the changes to biosecurity orders, travellers must still comply with any remaining COVID-19 requirements put in place by airlines and shipping operators, as well as overseas countries and states and territories.
Health Minister Mark Butler said remaining rules still include the wearing of masks on inbound international flights.
State and territory public health orders mandating masks on domestic flights also remain in place.
‘No longer necessary’
“The Australian government makes decisions on COVID-related issues after considering the latest medical advice,” Mr Butler said in a statement.
“The chief medical officer has advised it is no longer necessary for travellers to declare their vaccine status as part of our management of COVID.
“Unvaccinated Australians, as well as certain groups of visa holders, have been able to travel to Australia for some time.
“We will continue to act on the medical advice as needed.”
Health authorities are preparing for a new wave of omicron cases, driven by the emerging BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
Australia passed 10,000 COVID-19 deaths on Sunday, up from 9984 in the previous 24 hours. Victoria reported 22 deaths on Sunday, with six in South Australia and two in NSW.
Ms O’Neil said the easing of vaccination reporting requirements meant the digital passenger declaration [DPD] was no longer required.
“This is great news for families coming home from school holidays who now don’t need to use the DPD,” she said.
“As more and more of us travel internationally, and we get more confident in managing our risk of COVID, our airports are getting busier.
“Removing these requirements will not only reduce delays in our airports but will encourage more visitors and skilled workers to choose Australia as a destination.
“I know anyone who has travelled internationally since the borders have opened will find this as one less thing to worry about – especially as more Australians get back to travelling overseas.”
A review of the eligibility criteria for access to COVID-19 oral antiviral therapies is under way, and Mr Butler last week commissioned former Health Department boss Jane Halton to conduct a snap assessment of Australia’s vaccine supply.
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Looks like a Flannery* has been declared in NSW.
*A very large flooding event, despite predictions that dams and river systems will dry up and any rain that does fall won’t soak in
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““We have thrown a BOMBSHELL on this delicate balance (Geert Vanden Bossche & Bret Weinstein)” ”
https://youtu.be/6M1MmbjZzxw
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Russell B and the latest Phizer
“Pfizer and the Elite Decision Makers”
https://youtu.be/hQdik4bUZ6Q
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“Tucker Carlson: This is a manufactured disaster”
https://youtu.be/BgSqVNnH0R8
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Look out!
“Aussie ‘Ambassador for Women’ claims ‘climate change’ causes rape! ‘Exacerbates the risks of sexual & gender-based violence’ ”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/07/03/aussie-ambassador-for-women-claims-climate-change-causes-rape-exacerbates-the-risks-of-sexual-gender-based-violence/
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Maybe this will fix it?
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/australian-journal-of-environmental-education/article/regeneration-time-ancient-wisdom-for-planetary-wellbeing/B4A67BAEDCCB006ABE3CA7A87E64E30F
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Here is the answer to range problems with alternative vehicles e.g. EVs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ0cmw3CXbM
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Is the bugs diet a part of that strategy?
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Humbly I must inform you that in Townsville, show day, it is cold, wet and windy.
It ain’t always perfect in paradise,
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Sounds about right for a show
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Hey last year there was a covid scare
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A good question
https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/
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Love the headline in The Australian today (Tuesday)
Natural disaster declared, Albanese to visit flood hit region
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A quarter of young people in the UK believe CO2 is not to blame for global warming.
‘The study found that on average, older people were more likely to believe in human-driven climate change.
‘While 63 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds believed that climate change is “real and caused by human action”, the figure was 66 per cent for 30 to 54-year-olds and 71 per cent for those aged 55 and over.
‘Among 18 to 29-year-olds, 22 per cent believed that climate change is “part of the earth’s natural cycle and human action is not to blame”, while 4 per cent thought it is “not happening”. (WUWT)
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In a Queensland study they didn’t ask the right questions so we don’t know if a quarter of young people think AGW is wrong headed, but I grabbed this.
‘… children of tertiary-educated parents much more likely than others to be concerned about planetary warming. A strong gender divide is also apparent, with young women consistently more concerned about ‘the environment’ than young men are.’ (Tranter and Skrbis 2014)
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