Most of Asia’s bankers ignore climate risks. Hmm. Rich and dumb, or rich and skeptical?

A survey in Asia found that 69% of financial institutions there don’t bother with assessing climate change risks when considering financing projects. Either these bankers have missed the last 20 years of IPCC messaging (careless inattentive bankers), or they’ve seen it and they know it’s baloney (skeptical bankers). Hmmm. What’s more likely?

Looks like two thirds of Asian banks don’t believe the IPCC:

[The new survey] …undertaken by Asia Research and Engagement with support of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, … found that 31 per cent of the institutions factored climate change risks into their financing operations, with 61 per cent of banks referring to green products and 56 per cent providing some quantification of their exposure.

It said financial institution were factoring climate change risks into their policies and offered green finance products. But only over a quarter of banks referred to climate change factors as a reason to limit financing .

The bottom line is always where the money goes.

So over two thirds of financial institutions couldn’t care less about those forecasts of beachside apartments sinking under the waves, or cities becoming unlivable, nor of coal mines supposedly going broke. Nor do they think the average investor is likely to run from these either.

How many rich bankers are there that read the UN First Assessment Report in 1990 and knocked back loans to coal, oil, and car magnates, and beach-side property moguls?  The IPCC has made some people rich, but it wasn’t the investors who believed their climate predictions.

The article waxes lyrical about the wondrous trillion dollar investment opportunity. If someone discovered $7 trillion dollars of gold in Kazakhstan, who thinks they would have to survey bankers 20 years later to find out whether they were aware of the risks and opportunities…?

Read more at: Economic Times, India

h/t Willie

9.3 out of 10 based on 62 ratings

115 comments to Most of Asia’s bankers ignore climate risks. Hmm. Rich and dumb, or rich and skeptical?

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    Roy Hogue

    Either I’m as dumb as the bankers are or I’m as smart as they are. You be the judge. But either way I will not put my money into green schemes, smoke and mirrors or investments in carbon trading.

    However, since people still insist on smoking I will hold some tobacco stocks because they pay very good dividends. I’ve nothing against taking a part of the money someone spends voluntarily on a legal product he shouldn’t use… …sort of an investment in smoke without the mirrors. And I don’t like smoking, I’m just a pragmatist when it comes to my own welfare.

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      Roy Hogue

      I think it’s likely that when green investments are offered it’s because there are customers who will buy them, not because the issuer believes the IPCC. Bankers and brokerage houses are looking to make money, not play politics or climate games. As they used to end each X-Files episode, “The truth is out there.” And the truth is that there hasn’t been any climate change nor has there been any sea level rise that anyone can possibly justify worrying about.

      If you’re selling something you sell it equally to the wise and the foolish, even if you have to change what your product is to keep selling to both groups.

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        Roy Hogue

        So maybe… …just maybe they lie about taking climate change into account in their planning!? I think I would. A world that thinks in such terms about something no one can see, no one can show evidence of, no one can even talk about and be taken seriously by the sane and sober just might deserve to be lied to. Putting money at risk is bad enough when the risk is sound. But weighing the risk of climate change to make business decisions???

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    • #

      I suspect that the scientists they defer to are not as heavily influenced by Green political concerns and as a result, they’ve arrived at policy that’s in their best interest. This would be to give lip service to the alarmists to keep the competition at a disadvantage as they advance their own economies at the expense of the fools who believe the alarmists claims.

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        Olaf Koenders

        Financing institutions make enough money already with the current Fractional Reserve Banking system. Why would they want to hobble themselves and attract the ire of their shareholders?

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      Ted O'Brien.

      Roy there are lots of government funded schemes that I, a retiring farmer, have probably been a fool to have not studied. I know that they are Ponzis, but the money is there upfront and available. I could have planted trees, taken the money and sold out.

      I see a much bigger problem looming in relation to this. David would understand it well, he worked on it.

      From time to time we have fires which for one reason or another spend some time out of control. Sometimes somebody did something silly, or an accident or machinery breakdown, often it is a lightning strike which starts the fire. Often a cigarette butt thrown out the window of moving vehicle is the only possible explanation. When this happens people volunteer to rush off and bring the fire under control. Sometimes the fires are on private land, sometimes on what we of the Old Empire call Crown Land. Almost never somebody sues somebody for damages due to negligence. The Crown Land was mostly unmanaged native forest, with no dollar valuation till now.

      Since AGW came along, we now have official formulae for quantifying and valuing the “carbon” on an area of land. I haven’t seen a case yet, but soon the lawyers will be lining up to put these new formulae to work reaping damage compensation for fires which have damaged property due to perceived negligence. And some of that negligence is prescribed by law, such as a requirement that firebreaks be constructed at boundaries. The prescribed method has been ploughing, which I have almost never used because it causes bad soil erosion. I instead managed the grazing of land on the boundaries to minimise the fuel load when the fire danger was high. This would probably not be accepted in court as satisfying the requirement.

      So even a lightning strike which caused a fire which crossed a boundary might see people sued on the basis that they neglected to take sufficient precautions to prevent such a fire from escaping. And, once the ball starts rolling, leading the charge will be the Rural Fire Authority, charging for the cost of the work done to extinguish the fire. But the biggest rub of all is that the Crown Land, which previously had no dollar value attached to it, will have a huge value in the standing “carbon” consumed by a fire.

      I pointed this out to our politicians. They assured me it wouldn’t happen.

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      • #
        Roy Hogue

        I pointed this out to our politicians. They assured me it wouldn’t happen.

        Sure it won’t happen, anymore than laws allowing BS suits for being offended without even proof of real harm will happen, right? I looked a little into your 18.C. What a moral deception that piece of legislation is — worthy only of children yet put in place by supposed adults.

        Since I live where it was once chaparal all around me I understand the fire situation quite well. During one bad fire I sat up on my roof watching everything burn in an almost 180° circle around me. Fortunately I was far enough away that the risk was near zero. The fire went on all the way to the coast and rained down fire in the coast highway and the homes built along both sides of it. Bad enough without any new liability laws. But now, putting carbon into the mix, that’s a whole new ballgame.

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      Binny

      Shrug, walk into ANY bank anywhere in the world, and say you want to borrow 7+ figure sums to invest in climate/carbon projects. WITHOUT huge and iron clad government backing – and see how far you get. My bet is you’d hit the other side of the street on the third bounce.

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    Gordon

    Or maybe they have looked into who is actually screaming about climate change and realized it is all a left wing scam?!

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      Rereke Whakaaro

      The scam is neither right nor left. If anything is is both, with one side being played against the other. Donna Laframboise, in her book, “The Delinquent Teenager Who Was Mistaken for the World’s Top Climate Expert”, makes that point very clearly.

      The company I work for undertook a fair amount of research into Mr Rajendra Pachuri, and his “Network of Influence”, and realised that a lot of South Asian businesses did very well out of the panic response in the West, to the pronouncements orchestrated by the IPCC, and presented by Mr Pachuri.

      We constantly ignore the fact that Climate Change ™ is primarily an issue, only in the West – North America and Europe (and by association, the British satellite nations of Australia and New Zealand). We are expected to believe that it is of world-wide concern. It is not.

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      • #
        RoHa

        Thanks for saying that. I sometimes think I’m the only one who consciously recognises that.

        (Jo’s comments on bankers shows that she does know it, but can’t bring herself to express it clearly.)

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  • #
    TdeF

    Look at the new many hugely expensive multi billion dollar airports around the world like Hong Kong, often built near sea level on man made islands near major cities like Yokohama built entirely in the water and this in a city destroyed by an earthquake in 1923. Then whole cities built in the water as at Dubai. Even airports like Sydney and Nice and Oahu, on the water and into the water. Even the Maldives are expanding their airports while demanding cash for Climate Change, even though everything is at sea level and the climate is the attraction. There is no mention of the alleged climate change problem in the publicity.

    Tsunamis are an unpredictable problem about which little can be done but generally there is no obvious engineering or financial or practical concern by developers, engineers or financiers for the next hundred years. What happens in a few hundred years time has never been a concern for mankind and as we have seen in the low lands, the Nederlands, mankind can cope with changing coastlines, silting harbours, sinking land below sea level. The flooded houses in New Orleans were in fact built well below sea level but as Prof Plimer pointed out, the year of Katarina also saw the greatest subsidence in the world in New Orleans of over one meter, dropping the sea wall to dangerous levels at exactly the wrong time. While some coastlines shrink, some grow. While some land subsides, some goes up as in Scandinavia and Scotland.

    So no one really is particularly worried about buying land at the beach, increased insurance risk but they have every reason to worry about changing coastlines, silting harbours and eroding beaches along most coastlines. That includes Tim Flannery’s waterfront home at the mouth of the Hawkesbury. None of this has anything to do with alleged rapid man made global warming which is not rapid, not happening, not global and not warming and climates which if changing are doing so at glacial speed, pun intended. Most humans live at the sea side, often at the water’s edge and apart from unpredictable storms, rising oceans have not been a problem at all for the last hundred years. The cries of Chicken Littles are being ignored by real engineers and scientists and bankers. Besides, bankers do not much care. Even wars can be good for business when you fund both sides.

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      Analitik

      Not banking funded but how about the Chinese artificial island airbases?
      If ever there was an indicator for how serious China is about CAGW and sea level rise, those bases are it.

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        Rereke Whakaaro

        They are not occupying the land of the islands per se. They are occupying the fishing rights for the economic zones around those islands. The airbases are there, to police the economic zones.

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        • #
          el gordo

          The fishing rights thing is only a ploy and the fishermen are pawns in China’s strategic plan to get hold of the oil and gas reserves. They have said they are quite prepared to share the bounty with the Philippines.

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          • #
            Analitik

            Exactly, plus as airbases, they act as a foil to the aircraft carriers of nations that might object.

            My point, though, is that the artificial islands aren’t that far above the high water mark. If the Chinese took CAGW and sea level rise seriously, they wouldn’t be building so much strategically vital infrastructure so close to the current sea level, especially with the modelled increase in storm activity.

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            • #
              el gordo

              The dictatorship knows sea level rises very slowly and is unconcerned, but its folly to think they will ignore a good financial opportunity.

              ‘With green bonds issued in the first half of the year reaching 75 billion yuan ($11 billion US), 33 percent of the world total, China has become the world’s largest green bond market, a central bank economist said on Friday.

              ‘This figure is around two percent of the total assets of China’s commercial banks, and demand for green bonds is expected to rise to 20 times that much, said Ma Jun, chief research economist at China’s central bank, told a green finance forum.’

              China Daily

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        • #
          Ted O'Brien.

          And the oil rights.

          20

      • #
        Robert Rosicka

        How many alarmists own beachfront property’s , I believe Suzuki and Flannery are not alone .

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      • #
        RAH

        The great military fiction author Tom Clancy foresaw the potential for a Naval war between the US and the PRC over the Spratly oil rights in his book SSN 20 years ago. Not one of his best but still a good indication that the potential for conflicts over the oil/NG rights we’re seeing now were on the radar of military strategic thinkers long ago.

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  • #
    Oliver K. Manuel

    Rich and knowledgable. The top of the “food chain” produces propaganda to help keep them on top.

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  • #

    I think the Asian bankers know where the real opportunities lie. When the West is struggling to survive in their modern day version of Palaeolithic conditions, the East will be far more advanced and prepared.

    They have probably also taken in what Bjorn Lomborg promotes; even if the horror stories propagated by the climate worriers comes even partially true, they will adapt, rather than fight what can’t be fought.

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  • #
    tom0mason

    Have a look at who the Asians think are the movers and shakers of Asia.
    HERE A caveat here — I can not find out what is all the criteria used by the anonymous judges.
    In 2014 all first 6 are politician, then at 7 comes Li Ka-shing (estimated personal worth about $31 billion ± nothing that matters)

    In fact looking through the list shows more politicians than the very very rich individuals who might be talking/persuading, or even funding them.
    A quick scan through the business and personal activities of these very rich, and I do not see them taking much notice of Mann-made Climate Change, (or even natural climate change).
    The only exception is Gao Xiqing. The President of the CIC, China’s sovereign investment fund, so he’s responsible for China’s overseas investment portfolio. With his direction it is estimated to be worth nearly US$500 billion. That portfolio has some minor interests in solar and wind generation.

    And here are Asia’s 25 richest people as calculated by Forbes magazine in March 2013.

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    • #
      OriginalSteve

      As i’ve always said, climate chnage is a very middle class problem.

      The working class know its nonsense
      The rich know its nonsense but make money off it.

      Its only the over educated but dim & cringing middle class that for some reason cant fight thier way out of a wet paper bag on this….

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  • #
    Greg Cavanagh

    You may have noticed that the believers don’t spend their own money on “climate change”.

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  • #
    handjive

    Carbon still on shaky ground, drops back below €4 near 3-yr low after auction clears at large discount

    September 5, 2016: EU Market: EUAs slide back below €4 after weak auction

    EU carbon prices plunged back below €4 to a fresh three-year low on Monday after the EU’s spot auction cleared a huge 7 cents below market.

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  • #
    Robdel

    Investing in Asian banks might therefore be a wise move.

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    • #
      John PAK

      Investing in any financial institution is probably a bad idea right now. We’re heading into some real changes in the climate pattern (blame that Evans bloke) which will see food production issues in the N hemisphere.
      Last year I made a 30% profit on a company manufacturing a biological control for Heliothus Moth and I’d suggest that ag investments might be a safer choice in uncertain times. Platinum and Palladium bars seem reasonable too.
      My experience of Western bankers is that they are not that bright and certainly not to be trusted and they would be struggling with something as complex as global climate.

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      • #
        Olaf Koenders

        You forgot the /sarc.

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        • #
          Greg Cavanagh

          I’m pretty sure John wasn’t being sarcastic. Western bankers aren’t all that bright, how many banking collapses have they completely missed so far? And the next one?

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          • #

            Many of the Western Bankers have donated funds to the corrupt Clinton Foundation, so they are not one of those investing in the real energy developments funded by Asian banks. Some of those Western banks need to start worrying a bit, the Bull Terriers of investigation are onto it.

            Australian politicians who have donated public funds to go missing, are all named in the posts from Michael Smith and investigative journalist Charles Ortel. At least $20million for a new PNG hospital disappeared.

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              Rereke Whakaaro

              In all fairness, Western Bankers*, are also donating funds to Trump. They think they are having a bob each way, and they haven’t figured out that whoever wins, they will loose.

              (* I have to be careful how I type that. Touch typing is not always your friend).

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  • #
    Dennis

    The future engine room of the global economy is Asia Pacific Region and not too far away countries.

    Australia should be able to tap into the demand for our natural resources, off farm produce, educational institutions, etc.

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      • #
        el gordo

        ‘future?’

        The future is now, but we are not quite there yet, waiting for the passing of the baton when the yuan becomes king.

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        • #
          tom0mason

          Yuan or Renminbi — what’s the correct word for China’s currency?

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          • #
            el gordo

            The yuan is a basic monetary unit like the dollar.

            Its important to grasp the nettle, our new overlords are going in boots and all.

            HANGZHOU – ‘For the first time, green finance is included on the Group of 20 summit agenda thanks to the efforts, mainly from China, to make the financial sector contribute more to environmentally friendly economic growth around the globe.

            ‘After China took over the G20 presidency last year, it quickly moved to make green finance one of the major topics at the summit ….’

            China Daily

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      • #
        Dennis

        The time from now forward …

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    • #
      TdeF

      Bankers are opportunists. Renewable energy is actually a quite different topic to man made global warming. There is nothing wrong with pursuing renewable energy sources, but they are near useless without storage. Most research should be into storage of energy and a giant flywheel will not do it. Water is a scarce resource. Batteries, even Lithium batteries are very limited and age quickly. The only major development is fracking and it has changed the face of energy in many countries like the US.

      Other major research should be into safe nuclear like Thorium with 50x less waste, no risk of nuclear explosion and no need to generate plutonium and 50x the resources. Perfect for India and Australia. Also the incredible idea of fusion. You would think that the $1Trillion a year building windmills and solar cells would have solved fusion by now, but politicians are primitive people who are scared of real science, so its windmills and waterwheels for them.

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        Analitik

        Molten Salt Reactors have all those advantages regardless of the fuel they use.

        The plutonium proliferation argument against uranium fuelling is ridiculously overstated – commercial power reactors produce far too much of the 240 isotope to be useful for bomb making and there is no technology developed for plutonium isotope separation.

        The Chernobyl RBMK was an example of a plutonium production reactor with a secondary power production capability where the positive void coefficient which allowed the runaway (after all the safety systems were disabled) was largely due to the requirement for fuel rod extraction during operation so that the plutonium would not get overly poisoned. A commercial reactor cannot be operated in this manner as the fuel burn would be too low and down time too high to be worthwhile.

        You might as well talk about production of U233 from Th232 in thorium based reactors as a bomb proliferation risk.

        Current LWR reactor technology, with suitable monitoring for safety, is safe RIGHT NOW. The bigger issue is the limited availability of U235 in the future, hence the need for MSW reactors with a small breeding ratio (or metal cooled breeder reactors).

        The cost of reactors is a separate argument altogether and you can bet your a$$ that once MSRs have been developed for commercial deployment, the greentards will try to impose the same level of over-regulation on MSRs as are currently applied to LWR (and HWR) reactors in order to make them “economically unviable”

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        • #
          Analitik

          MSR, not MSW

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          TdeF

          The problem is that there is not enough U235 in Uranium. Possibly lower reserves in total energy than than oil or coal. So if the world switched to nuclear power today, without breeder reactors and plutonium we would run out quickly, so it is not a medium to long term solution for world power.

          I understand the key problem with Uranium is that 98% is useless U238 and only 2% the fissile U235, which is why the centrifuges are needed to separate them by weight. In contrast Thorium is 100% usable, a huge attraction. The other attraction is that it requires a small U235 reactor to start and maintain the process, so it is inherently safer with the same risk of runaway.

          The third is that perhaps 25% of the world’s Thorium is in India and another 25% in Australia. A huge problem solved for energy poor India and a great economic result for Australia. It is why the Indians are leading in Thorium research and I understand trying to build the first commercial Thorium reactor.

          So 50x as much fuel, so proven reserves last 50x longer. Far less risk of Chernobyl or danger from sabotage or a terror attack and 50x less waste in volume.

          As for U233, there appears to be little information about weaponizing where U235 and Plutonium are well known. The toxity of plutonium is extraordinary at around a picogram and a huge half life. The world does not need more plutonium being created in volume.

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            Rereke Whakaaro

            A huge problem solved for energy poor India and a great economic result for Australia

            Two underdeveloped countries, but for totally different reasons.

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          • #
            Analitik

            You are ignoring that U238 can be used in much the same way as Th232 and that the toxicity of plutonium is yet another danger that has been vastly overstated by the anti-nukes crowd.

            And read up about the RBMK reactors and the Chernobyl sequence of events – putting any western commercial reactor in remotely the same category shows you have some potential homework to do.

            Here’s a start
            http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/appendices/chernobyl-accident-appendix-1-sequence-of-events.aspx
            http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/appendices/rbmk-reactors.aspx

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              TdeF

              Sure, but I think you are completely missing my point, that research into Thorium is just one example of what else could be done with $1,000,000,000,000 a year spent on windmills and solar panels and other Victorian power generation methods like tides. There are many other areas where this sort of money could make a real difference.

              Fission is currently the only long term solution for sustainable power but only 10% of world power is nuclear from France at 76% down so the demand for uranium can meet supply. It hardly matters too that Chernobyl was someone else’s fault and the West is so much safer. It is a world problem. Three mile Island and Fukishima had huge impact. Who puts backup generators in the basement when the biggest real danger is a tsunami? This was criminal but finding guilty parties in a world where the news is dominated by terrorism does not restore public confidence.

              In fact huge China and India are only 3-3.5% nuclear. In Australia it is 0%. If thorium is potentially much safer, lower polluting and I mean real pollution and has a much larger fuel source, it is worth spending some of the sustainability money on real research not solar panels. The world held its breath with Fukishima and Chernobyl is a world problem for a million years.

              Wikepedia: Concerns about the limits of worldwide uranium resources motivated initial interest in the thorium fuel cycle. It was envisioned that as uranium reserves were depleted, thorium would supplement uranium as a fertile material.

              However, for most countries uranium was relatively abundant and research in thorium fuel cycles waned. A notable exception was India’s three-stage nuclear power programme. In the twenty-first century thorium’s potential for improving proliferation resistance and waste characteristics led to renewed interest in the thorium fuel cycle.

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              • #
                TdeF

                The windmill money is also being spent almost entirely in coal and oil and fracking rich countries which do not need it, thanks to the absurd idea the CO2 is pollution. I wonder sometimes how promoters of the CO2 scare can keep a straight face. Water is more dangerous.

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                TdeF

                Safe handling and ultra long term storage of nuclear waste is also a massive and unsolved problem in nuclear power. Research money here would make a huge difference to public confidence and real safety.

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                TdeF September 8, 2016 at 1:57 am

                “Safe handling and ultra long term storage of nuclear waste is also a massive and unsolved problem in nuclear power. Research money here would make a huge difference to public confidence and real safety”.

                Indeed! As is any accumulation of power (automobile fuel in auto)! The waste from Coal burning (toxic ponds) is worse than nuclear waste, yet has much valuable matter contained within.
                One real upcoming is the junk in Alberta, and Keystone XL! Build Alberta refinery. Refine the junk in situ, pump the valuable via existing means. Leave the more toxic in place until it also becomes valuable. Just like nuclear waste!
                In the US, all nuclear waste could be safely stored in 80 ft covered trenches in the medians of the interstate system. The worst thing you can do is put toxic goo where you cannot get to it, when you finally realize you made a mistake. Which is always, eventually.:-)

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                TdeF

                While on the subject of where research could go, I want to mention a technology which seems to have vanished. When the OPEC cartel jacked up oil prices, people were desperate for future power. It will happen again as oil goes back up, as it will. The technology was offshore power generation from the temperature differential between the ocean surface and the depths. This is small but an ammonia cycle would act as a refrigerant driven by this differential, much as you can use gas power to refrigerate. Best of all, so unlike solar, the heat would come to you as you cooled the surface and heated the depths. Scientists (yes, those people) were building prototypes to be anchored offshore. So forests of windmills polluting the seascape, just floating generators with power cables back to land, like the link between Victoria and Tasmania. From memory the only problem with this idea was the environment attacking the power station, filling the water inlets with happy molluscs and the outlets with plankton and algae and hosts of sea life loving the warm and cold water streams. Possibly guano on the roof as the seagulls chased the fish who chased the other fish and plankton. An ecologically rich area which would clag up, but the idea is amazing, manufacture cheap and the area covered far more than a windfarm on land.

                Total interest by Greens? Zero. They are into stopping everything, like governments, especially communist governments. What has driven our cheap power and high quality of life is consumer demand and free trade environment. Governments just want more cash and more control, like the EU assault on Apple in Ireland, an ambit claim for $11Bn in cash when even the Irish government objects. Nothing will push Ireland into their own Brexit faster than the EU demands for money who see punishing the Irish as a way to replace the lost income from England.

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                Analitik

                I fully understand you are pushing thorium in the place of renewables but I am taking you to task on deeming uranium as too unsafe to use. The working version of the MSR that ran back in the ’60s originally ran on enriched uranium (33% U235) and then with U233 added. thorium was never used directly – the U233 was bred from thorium in other reactors.

                So the MSR is proven with uranium fueling with all the attendant reduction in waste, greater fuel burn, inherent safety etc that a thorium fueled version would also have. The Canadian IMSR is probably the MSR design that is most advanced in terms of commercialization and that is because it is a uranium (and plutonium) consumer.

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten-Salt_Reactor_Experiment
                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_reactor
                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMSR

                There is also ample depleted uranium already mined for MSRs taht are being developed with small breeding ratios – a feature which is needed for thorium to be used.

                But non-RBMK water moderated reactors are still safe and you are fear-mongering with your assertions about the world problems.

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    ianl8888

    If someone discovered $7 trillion dollars of gold in Kazakhstan …

    I know that is a throwaway line, some impossibly large dollar number combined with an exotic location most people can’t find on a map, but mining geology is about facts and best estimates based on those facts …

    Kazakhstan had been a essentially a collection of small villages on one of the many branches of the Silk Route, populated by the settlers left from Ghengis Khan’s wake. These villages were becoming increasingly disturbed by constant raiding from what we now call Turkey, so they appealed to the Russian Czar for help.

    The Czar did indeed help. His army engineers built Almaty as a city fort and this survived very well (current capital of Kazakhstan) – but the Russians never left, of course, despite many local insurrections. There are many “romantic” stories of conflict with the Cossacks.

    As the Soviets emerged in the early 20th century and exercised their colonial power (best description), they instigated a whole series of geological exploration programmes throughout Siberia and the Russian satellites, including Kazkhstan. Many rich discoveries were made and recorded by the meticulous Soviet bureaucracy (I’ve inspected several offices in Almaty packed to the rafters with these records), but the Soviets thought that opening deposits to mining willy-nilly was wasteful – competition was forbidden. So many, many of these deposits remained undeveloped, despite adequate geological mapping.

    So why are these not now being exploited ? A combination of xenophobia (please explain) and bankrupt economic decisions. Kazakhstan has a small-enough population level and is not a rich country, so it needs off-boundary capital to develop. The Kazakh Govt has for a long time banned the supply of geological reports from being disseminated to foreign countries (these reports are deemed a precious state secret) so no one can list a proposed development on world stock exchanges to raise capital. As Kazakhstan itself does not have the capital these deposits stay undeveloped.

    So $$trillion of Kazakhstan gold, while an obvious exaggeration, does indeed have a real point. Central Asia, and mining geology, remain a country untravelled for most Australians.

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      john karajas

      Too right! Reaching Almaty meant a lengthy plane journey, although now Fly Dubai have flights from Dubai to Almaty and Kazakhstan is much easier to get to from Perth. Pity about the exploration reports being off-limits.

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    gnome

    I’m sure Asian bankers are as well aware as we are of the benefits of a warmer wetter world. Like farmers everywhere, they’d be foolish not to take account of the likelihood of higher crop yields and associated increased agricultural wealth, lower relative spending on subsistence, and increased average disposable incomes.
    They’re not climate scientists!

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      Albert

      There has been no place on Earth where meteoroligical conditions have changed over a period of 30 to 60 years, so there can not be any ‘climate scientists’

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    A C, of Adelaide

    The biggest climate change risk is the over investment in climate modifying technologies like renewables which raise electricity prices and bunkrupt the companies who rely on reasonable power prices. Therefore the Chinese would be insane not assess the climate change risk factors before investing in energy intensive industries in Australia (for example). And coal – given the Australian madness – anyone would be mad to invest in coal in Australia now. Shorten is only one more blunder from being PM.
    Take home message – I dont think we should take too much notice of where the Chinese are putting their money – I dont think they are as canny as you might think – its just that there is a lot of them, with a lot of other people’s money.

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      Olaf Koenders

      Strangely, using other people’s money makes financial institutions take far more risks than if they use their own. Aren’t they afraid of the lynch mobs? Must be Ivory Tower syndrome.

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      • #
        Greg Cavanagh

        Lynch mobs usually go after those who impose the imposition in the first place. Polies and Al Gore and the like.

        While bankers make a good profit, I think people understand that society wouldn’t function without them. Polies on the other hand….

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      • #
        PeterS

        Yes eventually the evil doers do get punished harshly. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of time and so many get away with their crimes before them.

        20

    • #
      el gordo

      ‘I don’t think they are as canny as you might think …’

      You underestimate them, they are taking over the world and intend flogging renewables in Africa as a stop gap.

      ‘Across the continent only 10% of individuals have access to the electrical grid, and of those, 75% come from the richest two quintiles in overall income. Less than 2% of the rural populations of Malawi, Ethiopia, Niger, and Chad have access to electrical power. Electrical provisioning in Africa has generally only reached wealthy, urban middle class, and commercial sectors, bypassing the region’s large rural populations and urban poor.’

      wiki

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  • #
    Manfred

    Rich and dumb, or rich and skeptical?

    Ethical funds are a self-identified group which have appropriated the mantle of ethics without any objective test… Hoggett & Nahan 2002

    Moral and cultural relativism in financial action or is it really inaction?
    UNEP divestment and Green propaganda prosper on the highly dubious notion of ‘ethical investment’, another one of the kollectivists wet dreams where they decide what you invest in. Politicians and investment corps alike fear being seen as politically incorrect by not marching lock-goose step, are inclined to bow to this virtue signalling.

    In the Western World where virtual signalling appears to be almost a commercial requirement, ethical investment is defined not by individual choice but by large companies intent on being seen to be virtuous and responding to UNEP and Green impoverishment divestment strategies. Whether the financial decision makes the greatest financial sense or yields the best return is conflated with the moral relativism, which makes a reduced return acceptable because the financial pain is salved by the compliance with the virtue signalling of the moment.

    For example, arms investment (a favourite non-pick preference by current ‘ethical investors’) might well be deemed as a traitorously unethical investment were we at war (some argue we are!) when the investment in one’s victory seems more than a good idea but a national necessity – remember The Spitfire Fund for example – currently described by the BBC as ‘the whip-round that won the war‘.

    Asian bankers and their banking clientele are philosophically and culturally indisposed to pseudo-emotions of social guilt that appear so typically Western. One might argue that they are as a result considerably less restrained by any perceived social need to salve their guilt with financially pointless gestures of moral relativism. But like the West image remains key, only their image is so clearly and wildly different. It is one that reflexively promotes a robust image of wealth, prosperity and success, of control of one’s destiny and the ability to dutifully support dependents. It is in so many ways the absolute antithesis of the eco-social malaise of the West.

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  • #
    TdeF

    The people who would love Global Warming are Insurance companies. They would love something where people see an increased risk, supported by kangaroo scientists like Professor Flannery, Australian of the Year and Climate commissioner but where there is no actual increased risk. This enables them to charge much more without an actually increased risk. A neighbour two years ago received a house insurance renewal at this beachside suburb for $7,000 citing dramatically increased flood risk. She immediately changed companies and paid about $1000, but how many just pay? The average sea level has not changed in this area. The link for nearby Williamstown supplied recently by another blogger.

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  • #
    Ruairi

    The billions that bankers invest,
    In the East, are not climate assessed,
    Which is all to their gain,
    And reveals their disdain,
    For the climate-change hype in the West.

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  • #
    ROM

    Just an old man’s mental meanderings!
    .

    Rich and dumb, or rich and skeptical?
    .

    Dumb? No!

    Skeptical or not skeptical? Doesn’t come into the equation.

    Every Asian banker can probably point to a near relative or a junior associate whose relatives are is still trying to climb out of poverty.

    They are only the second generation and for some only the first generation whose nation and culture and social structures have finally evolved enough for the old rigid social structures to break down as western technology in all its numerous forms; universal,cheap communications as an example, penetrates and begins to change the long established and accepted community and societal norms of the rising Asian nations.

    Western originated technology for the most part has dramatically transformed those Asian nations which has give them the room and opportunity to begin that climb out of centuries of what we in the west define as “poverty”.

    So they including their banking executives see only one direction now for their nations and communities and that is “up”.

    A deep culturally based desire to bring their nation, their people, themselves even through the very selfish lenses of self centrism, still with that deep ingrained desire to move up towards a better, easier and more fulfilling life for everybody and everything around them.
    ———

    In the west, the US, western Europe and the UK, Australia, Canada we largely reached that point at least two generations ago.

    Eastern Europe whose latest generation is now completely separated from the old Soviet Empire’s choke hold on its citizen’s aspirations is finally beginning to match the western European community’s social mores and outlooks.

    The last generation in the west now removed from mass poverty and any significant hardship as a generation by at least two generations before it, now believes it is their right to take what they want and not be expected to return anything substantial in exchange.

    They are and have in a very considerable percentage of our population become the “dilettante” generation.

    [ A contemporary understanding is that “dilettante” is a person who enjoys the arts or someone who engages in a field without investing the usually required effort ]

    They have access to everything of any consequence, food in unlimited quantities, clothing, adult electronic toys, throw away goods [ and gods! ], high wages allied with little responsibility for their actions and the outcomes of those actions.
    They have endless services supplied for little cost compared to the cost and lack of availability of those services in the past.
    They have advanced medical technology to keep them healthy even when they indulge themselves for years on end.
    They have become reliant almost completely in a very large percentage of the population, over half now in the english speaking world, on government handouts and wages and salaries.
    In short, almost totally reliant on an endless supply of “Other Peoples Money.”

    What and where are their goals now?
    What is left to want and desire as a basics of human existence except to find the latest fad or cause which they, being mostly being godless, like every human being who deep down and psychologically needs something to believe in, something, someone superior and higher than they can ever hope to achieve themselves to look up to.

    Often it is some rock star or actor or actress that becomes the god like figure to be consulted and followed incessantly by those looking for something to fill their lives, lives in which everything they want and desire can be accommodated.

    Often when the shine wears off the rock star as they get older, it is some latest and supposedly popular cause that is adopted to believe in as a substitute for a God they can look up to even if that cause leads to the destruction of others lives and hopes and dreams.

    The destruction of the hopes and dreams and lives of others is of no consequence if their peers and associates who make regular appearances in their own personal bubble, also approve of that cause.
    And so the “Cause” becomes the central item, at least for a fashionable time, to be pursued.
    All this of course so long as it does not impinge or infringe on their own dreams and hopes and lives.

    A large section of the Asian population still has dreams and hopes and aims which they are still reaching for so as to improve their own lives and their lot in life.

    The Asian bankers are merely reflecting the priorities of their own people in just ignoring the so called climate risk.
    They are ignoring it because the present and imminent future is of far more consequence to their peoples and nations than some hypothetical and predicted happening of some unknown quantity and consequence which may or may not occur into that unknown future.

    The last western generations have never seen hardship as a whole community and society and really no longer have any great dreams and hopes that could further lift their living standards and quality of life very much beyond that they already have.

    They are already there in living standards and the dreams are now little more than some vapourous hoping that something might turn up that will give their lives meaning and another dream to pursue into the unknown future.

    And therein lays the entire reasons for the differences in attitude between the western bankers and the Asian bankers towards the grossly hyped and unproven , indefinable and inseparable from a naturally changing climate, the hyped up “Climate Change” of the western dilettantes who already have everything of consequence in standards of living and no longer have any real goals left to aim for in their lives.

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    • #
      tom0mason

      Some are rich and ignorant, some are stupid but currently rich.
      Of the two the ignorant can learn, thereby retaining some wealth.

      Ignorance is temporary; stupidity is forever.

      30

  • #
    pat

    those Asian bankers might want to bypass British beachside property!

    novel-length madness:

    5 Sept: BBC: Rachael Thorn: Could Brexit affect beach water quality?
    Environmentalists fear Brexit could see European rules on water cleanliness being undermined. But could leaving the EU result in filthy coastlines and smelly beaches?
    Until recent decades, swimming in the sea off the coast of Britain could be a perilous and unhealthy activity.
    “We were frequently surfing in poo,” says Steve Crawford, who remembers the seas off Cornwall in the 1970s and 80s and is now a member of the campaign group Surfers Against Sewage…
    “We were called the ‘dirty man of Europe’.”
    That the situation is different now is largely due to legislation by the European Union (EU), he believes…
    Until now, Friends of the Earth say pressure to maintain standards has largely come from the EU…
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-37198688

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  • #

    Rich and dumb, or rich and skeptical, or false dichotomy?

    12

    • #
      Greg Cavanagh

      True; take “rich” out of it and you’ve got the subjects at hand.

      Dumb; i.e. not taking into consideration the imminent doom of the world.
      Sceptical; they don’t believe the money would be well spent (for the world or their profits).

      My comment at top was a bit cryptic; but I was trying to point out that the true believers also don’t spend their own money, as they advise everybody else to do so. Are they dumb? or Sceptical?

      11

      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Just smart…..as I said before, climate chnage is purely a middle class muddle – the working class and wealthy know its nonsense, its just the middle class with all thier expensive uni degrees and investment properties to fund, want to do well, and so are vulnerable.

        Ironically, in asia where life is a bit more on the sleeve and “is what it is” you dont see people worrying about fairy stories told by leftist eco-fai****…..*ahem*

        The middle class are vulnerable and willing to believe what they are told to get ahead and just want to contribute to society, but its this enthusiasm that makes them vulnerable. So with their new found education and new cars, the eco vultures prey on them, milking them of eco taxes, making them feel bad due to their “carbon footprint” and levying more and more taxes to “change behaviour”….in short its nothing short of a complete doing over of well meaning people, who havent the common sense to know they have been done.

        The bankers and people in poor countries know BS when they see it, but the middle class just cant bring themselves to think someone would intentionally put their hand up their finanancial rear end and rip out their financial heart, trash their families through propaganda & emotional manipulation through trauma based mind manipulation techniques, and run off to pee it all against the wall for some leftist lunatic fantasy…..its this foolish ignornace that will sink the middle class unless its very careful.

        This is why at age 11, my child is now unfortunately having to get a real world education about propaganda and how to suss out BS by applying cold hard logical reasoning.

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  • #
    pat

    ignore stories that India is dropping its billion tonnes target:

    6 Sept: BusinessStandardIndia: PTI: Coal India in talks with Bangladesh for coal exports
    Government has set a production target of 598 MT for CIL for the ongoing financial year
    Exports to Bangladesh would also aid CIL in increasing sales as India in July inked a landmark deal with Bangladesh to construct a 1,320 mw coal fired power plant, the biggest project under bilateral cooperation…
    On coal production target, Swarup said the ministry is working towards achieving the coal production target of one billion tonnes and will decide on reviewing this after 2-3 years. The government has not scrapped this target…
    http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/coal-india-in-talks-with-bangladesh-for-coal-exports-116090600323_1.html

    6 Sept: ClimateChangeNews: Megan Darby: Poland to back UN climate deal – if it can burn more coal
    Warsaw’s demand for financial guarantees for new coal plants could delay EU ratification of the Paris Agreement
    Dependent on coal for around 90% of its electricity, Poland is protective of its mining sector…
    The government’s statement was unapologetic. “Poland needs to build new power units. Coal will remain the primary source of energy for many years, ensuring energy security,” it said…
    It is not clear exactly what kind of extra support Poland hopes to secure. The country already gets concessions within the EU climate policy framework, including less demanding emissions targets and free carbon allowances for power generation.
    Its lobbying efforts have seen EU “modernisation funds” go to upgrade fossil fuel infrastructure rather than developing clean alternatives…
    Another avenue for Poland could be an exemption from EU state aid rules against subsidising coal mines, CAN’s Trio speculated…
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/09/06/poland-to-back-un-climate-deal-if-it-can-burn-more-coal/

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    • #
      tom0mason

      King Coal lives on giving heat and power to those who deserve it, those who are bright enough not to play the dumb UN game.

      “The world is greener with coal!” 🙂

      ¯

      ¯

      Red thumb please ———–>

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        YOu wont get any – school work experience time ahs finished…unles sthey have a part timer from the local Ignorance Collective doing overtime…..

        🙂

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        All I coudl think about was the folk song of “old King COle/Coal”…

        maybe the king of Climate Haiku, Ruairi, might come up with a few words?

        “Old King Coal was a merry old soul,
        And a merry old Sceptic was he;

        He called for his wealth, and he called for his grandchildrens fine lifestyle,
        And he called for his Libertyyyyyy.

        Every future he had solid science,
        And a very fine science had he;

        Oh there’s none so rare, as can compare,
        With King Cole and his proper science for thee.[1]”

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  • #
    pat

    worth a read:

    7 Sept: BusinessStandardIndia: Bloomberg: World’s hottest oil market gets a jolt from China
    China’s oil imports have averaged an unprecedented 7.5 mn barrels a day so far this year, boosted by the teapots
    Purchases by the country’s independent refiners, granted permission last year to buy foreign crude, have soaked up some of the global oil glut and helped revive prices after the biggest collapse in a generation. Sellers from Saudi Arabia to BP Plc have been supplying the plants known as teapots, which account for a third of the nation’s processing capacity. Now a government tax crackdown threatens to constrain this new source of demand from China, which rivals the US as the world’s biggest importer.

    The emergence of the private refiners as major buyers of crude and exporters of refined products represents the biggest change in international oil markets since the US shale revolution, according to Trafigura Group’s Asia head. Their future will be a hot topic at the annual Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference, which gathers traders, executives and bankers in Singapore this week. At stake is as much as 1.4 million barrels a day of demand, more than Saudi Arabia supplies to the world’s second-biggest user…READ ALL
    http://www.business-standard.com/article/international/world-s-hottest-oil-market-gets-a-jolt-from-china-116090700031_1.html

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  • #
    pat

    Canadian $$$.

    6 Sept: FinancialPost: Geoffrey Morgan: Enbridge Inc deal to buy Spectra creates ‘energy infrastructure colossus’ with $48 billion of future projects
    Calgary-based Enbridge announced Tuesday it would merge with Houston-based Spectra in an all-share deal to create the largest pipeline company by market value on the continent — leapfrogging competitor Kinder Morgan Inc.
    The combined company, which would retain the Enbridge name, would have $26 billion worth of projects currently underway and $48 billion worth of projects planned following 2019…
    JP Morgan analyst Jeremy Tonet called the combined Enbridge/Spectra entity an “energy infrastructure colossus” in a research note with a combined $74 billion “growth backlog.”…
    The merger combines Enbridge’s network of oil pipelines with Spectra’s natural gas pipeline system. It would give Enbridge the ability to ship natural gas to major population centres in the U.S. northeast to deliver gas from Pennsylvania to Mexico…
    One area into which Enbridge hopes to grow is the southeastern U.S. population centres with new natural gas pipelines. Spectra has been working, for example, to develop a US$2 billion Sabal Trail pipeline through Alabama, Georgia and into central Florida and that project is expected to be in service next year…
    Enbridge shares jumped 3.85 per cent or $2.05 to $55.30 in Toronto trading. Spectra jumped 13.45 per cent or US$4.86 to US$41 in New York.
    http://business.financialpost.com/news/energy/enbridge-inc-to-buy-spectra-energy-in-stock-deal-worth-37-billion

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  • #
    pat

    7 Sept: Australian: Michael Owen: Costly relic powerless amid the outback heat at Coober Pedy
    One of the first commercial-sized wind turbines erected in Australia at a cost of $700,000 to South Australian taxpayers is now a ­broken relic after 25 years of producing barely enough energy to power 100 homes.
    The Danish-made Nordex 150 turbine was erected in the remote opal-mining town of Coober Pedy by the Bannon Labor government in 1991. The cost of the turbine in today’s money is more than $1.28 million.
    The turbine, which had provided a small supplement of wind power to the outback town’s existing 3.9MW diesel generation plant, will be replaced by a $37m, 4MW wind, solar and battery storage power array, construction of which is due to start this month…
    The turbine is managed by ­remote power specialist Energy Dev­elopments Limited, which has had an agreement with ­Coober Pedy Council since 2004 to run the town’s power, supplied by diesel generators.
    “That turbine was put there by the government back in 1991 and there is some debate as to whether it was the first or second commercial-sized wind turbine brought into Australia,” EDL technology chief Keith Barker said. “In the scheme of things, it is a very small turbine. It is 25 years old and ­really on its last legs. Nobody ­really knows what will happen to it. It has pretty much stopped working and will be decommissioned in the next 12 months.”…
    Daniel Groves, who like most people in Coober Pedy lives underground, has been staying at his parents’ “dugout” home next to the turbine. He said as far as he could tell the turbine had not been working properly for a couple of months…
    “They seemed to have stopped doing any maintenance.”
    He was ­sceptical about the proposed new micro-grid of ­renewables being built on time and on budget…
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/costly-relic-powerless-amid-the-outback-heat-at-coober-pedy/news-story/3dc300a914ffc526f05e909194593942

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    • #
      Analitik

      Fear not. Hydro Tasmania are bringing the expertise gained from KIRIEP to Coober Pedy for the new renewable/microgrid

      The Guardian say the $37m project beginning this month will see the 4MW of wind turbines, 1MW of solar PV and 1MW/500kWh of lithium titanate battery storage reduce diesel use by 70%, and for half the time no diesel will be used at all

      “Our view is if it can be done at Coober Pedy, it can be done for Adelaide. If it can be done for Adelaide, it can be done for Sydney,” says David Leitch [regular contributor to RenewEconomy]
      And he notes if it can be done for the nation’s capitals, then it can be done for the whole country.

      https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/aug/04/mining-town-coober-pedy-shows-the-rest-of-australiahow-to-turn-to-renewables

      Oh, and half the cost will come from ARENA so the full burden won’t fall on South Australians.

      31

      • #
        tom0mason

        Lithium titanate battery looks interesting —

        http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1325358

        However I can not help think that this will be quite expensive, relying on the “technology’s characteristics is that the chemistry uses nanocrystals on the anode instead of carbon, which provides much more effective surface area.”
        How scalable is that? How much more expensive than bulk carbon, and carbon film technology?

        31

        • #
          OriginalSteve

          Hey, if the recent phone battery debacle with phones catching fire is anything to go by…..now imagine MWh of charge going up in one flash..it would be like a micro nuke going off….

          41

        • #

          tom0mason September 8, 2016 at 3:07 am ·

          “Lithium titanate battery looks interesting”

          Indeed!

          “How scalable is that? How much more expensive than bulk carbon, and carbon film technology?”

          The right questions at the right time! Carefully explain all you do not know about this, before I invest as some solution. Might be just like Gallium Arsenide, “semiconductor material of the future”, always has been,always will be! 🙂

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          • #
            tom0mason

            Might be just like Gallium Arsenide
            It was a big jump from tubes(valves) to Ge transistors. Then to Philips NORBIT discrete ICs and Si components, then to Unijuctions, GTO, FETS, ICs, etc..
            Back then the next big thing was Silicon on Sapphire, then SI-Ge, Gallium Arsenide, SiC, AlGaN/GaN HEMTs, and now the latest is/was high density carbon nanotube transistors.
            Such is progress.
            ¯
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
            I’m not saying it can’t be done but can it be done cost effectively.

            So I started looking from http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=21950.php
            And it says —

            Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc. a publicly-traded corporation designs, manufactures, and delivers lithium titanate electrode materials and energy storage systems such as lithium-ion batteries for military and mass transportation applications. Altair Nanotechnologies Inc., has developed NanoSafe™ lithium-ion batteries, which takes only a 10-minute charge time, is being supplied to Phoenix Motor Cars (U.S.) and The Lightning Car Company (U.K.).

            That was back in 2011, and as the military are using it, so it must cost???

            There has been masses of research into improving manufacturing methods since then. (Just put ‘nanocrystal manufacturing “Lithium titanate”‘ into the search engine).
            It all looks to be in it’s infancy.
            So I looked at a few patents and there’s lots of promise but I feel it has yet to settle down to a few reasonable methods and then keep refining them.
            Again this looks promising …
            https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283984430_One-step_continuous_synthesis_of_a_spherical_Li4Ti5O12graphene_composite_as_an_ultra-long_cycle_life_lithium-ion_battery_anode

            Again the questions are – Is it scalable and at what cost?

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Then there is this http://www.aston.ac.uk/news/releases/2014/july/big-battery-tackles-energy-shortage/
            but I can not find any outcome or results of the trial.
            ______________________

            They are definitely the battery of the future, so far not much else.
            __________________

            20

      • #
        AndyG55

        Thing with Coober Pedy, is that most of its 3000 or so inhabitants already live in caves 🙂

        41

  • #
    Albert

    Follow the money

    30

  • #

    In the West, large institutions know when to roll out the green prayer mats…and when to roll ’em back up.

    Your local takeout has to worry about making a buck on the day while satisfying every punter who walks into the shop, and has to eg balance the cost of letting food go to waste or pay exorbitant amounts to re-gas a fridge if carbon taxes are applied. A big institution which can move money around and make losses for fun and profit only has to be big, not efficient. It can afford all the bribery and green claptrap and EO claptrap because it can afford to waste. The more shameless the contradictions and hypocrisy the better: just look at Tom Steyer’s lightning-quick steer from coal zillionaire to ranting anti-coal mullah once the mineral prices dropped. If you went to the bathroom you would have missed the transformation.

    The memories of poverty are stronger in Asia, the public would rather watch soaps about rich people than tune into a night of flagellation and self-loathing with the ABC cucks and harpies. Maybe their institutions don’t have to suck up so much to Big Green…yet.

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    • #
      ianl8888

      Steyer hung in financing Nathan Tinkler for quite a long time, despite being told, with demonstrable fact, many times of Tinkler’s modus operandi (just not paying creditors – this eventually ended in Tinkler being declared bankrupt, of course).

      So yes, I agree – Steyer is a hypocrite with an abyssal depth to his hypocrisy. Having said that, to one such as Steyer, hypocrisy is just another colour for his coat.

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  • #
    pat

    6 Sept: Scientific American: Andrea Thompson: Pacific Typhoons Are Hitting Asia with More Intensity
    The proportion of storms that strike land as a Category 4 and 5 in the western Pacific is rising, because of warmer coastal waters
    The findings, detailed Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience (LINK), are in line with the broader increase in the most intense tropical cyclones expected with rising global temperatures, though these trends have not yet specifically been linked to human-caused climate change…
    “The results leave little doubt that there are more high intensity events affecting Southeast Asia and China, and these are also intensifying more rapidly,” MIT’s Kerry Emanuel, who has been studying the links between hurricanes and climate change for more than a decade, said in an email. Emanuel provided some material to the researchers, but was not otherwise involved with the study…
    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pacific-typhoons-are-hitting-asia-with-more-intensity/

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    • #
      tom0mason

      Quick Andrea get that piece published about Pacific Typhoons before El Niño is history and La Niña arrives with vengeance.

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    • #
      el gordo

      It seems that 2015 saw some devastating typhoons in the north-west Pacific, but up to July this year it was quiet.

      ‘This has now set a new record for the longest stretch without at least a single tropical storm in the western North Pacific basin in 66 years of records, according to Colorado State University tropical scientist Dr. Phil Klotzbach.’

      Hurricane News

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  • #

    In the spirit of pat showing links from the news, I’ll do the same here, and it is relatively on topic here as this is where that finance is going to.

    Well, well, well, who would have thought.

    Some of you may remember that I’ve occasionally mentioned that the manufacturers of the big unit equipment used to run large scale coal fired power have been increasing their output and doing pretty well, as Developing Countries realise that they need large scale power and not wind and solar ‘toys’, there’s this article about how GE is going gangbusters thank you very much, so much that it has purchased another large scale manufacturer Alstom.

    The article is by Larry Bell from CFACT at this link.

    A couple of take outs here:

    Power accounted for 20% of GE’s total 2015 revenue sales.

    and that’s an awful lot of money.

    Referring to India and other foreign markets, Lusch said, “They are as hungry for energy as we were probably 40 or 50 years ago, and they do not have this mindset to say we want everything to be renewable . . . First they want power.”

    The (clueless) headlines might say that the Paris deal is being ratified by some big Countries, but the actuality is that construction hasn’t even blinked in those still Developing Countries.

    Tony.

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    • #
      Dennis

      Even hungrier that South Australians are now?

      20

    • #
      David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

      Thanks for that Tony,
      I have passed the Bell link on to my local member. (With electoral boundary changes, and a retirement, he is new to me. I hope for a positive response.)

      On a different front, how did you go with your submission to Qld inquiry?
      Cheers,
      Dave B

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      • #

        No idea actually.

        Every few days, I revisit the site that the Government set up, (shown at this link) and if you check out the engagement hub, (tab along the top) where the thousands upon thousands of, well, concerned Queensland citizens have interacted, you’ll see that there are, umm, 24 commenters over the 6 Months or so, since it was announced.

        The, umm, Draft Report will be handed to Government in October, in a flourish of camera bulbs popping, and a Premier, smiling for her personal advertising channel, Queensland’s ABC sycophants, and then consigned to, well, wherever, minutes later, behind closed doors.

        Then, the second round of forums will begin, but you can guess that’ll just be a publicising exercise.

        I doubt that I will be getting an invitation, even though I will be applying for a place at the Rockhampton forum, because it’s by invite only, and if invited, then they will send you the address of the secret location, but only if invited.

        Please excuse my cynicism.

        Tony.

        For those of you who are interested, the link to my Submission is as follows, and it’s a 15 page pdf document

        SUBMISSION FOR QUEENSLAND 50% RENEWABLE ENERGY TARGET BY 2030

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        • #
          David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

          Thanks Tony,
          I share your cynicism, but have rsidual hope in that the facts are on our side. Even groupthink gets revealed at some stage. Hopefully it will be soon enough.
          Cheers,
          Dave B

          10

    • #
      Andrew McRae

      Pat mode engaged.
      http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-08/aust-solar-power-production-triple-with-12-new-plants-beingbuilt/7826302

      ARENA said they would increase Australia’s large-scale solar capacity from 240 megawatts to 720 megawatts, providing enough energy to power 150,000 average Australian homes.

      Kettles for the 1%ers.

      00

  • #
    pat

    6 Sept: Time: Time Inc. to Host Global Forum Featuring Pope Francis
    Time Inc. will host a forum in Rome on the global economy, culminating in a special address by Pope Francis at the Vatican, the company announced Tuesday.
    The 2016 Fortune/Time Global Forum—the first of its kind— will take place Dec. 2 and 3 and aims to bring together Fortune 500 CEOs, members of the TIME 100 most influential people and other academic, religious and business leaders to discuss international economic issues, including creating jobs, eliminating poverty, solving the refugee crisis and broadening prosperity…
    http://time.com/4479257/time-inc-global-forum-economy-pope-francis/?iid=sr-link1

    Time, rather conveniently, doesn’t list CAGW as a topic, but of course –

    Working Group Topics/Fortune/Time Global Conference 2016
    Energy & Environment
    The burden of environmental degradation—and the imperiling effects of climate change—are borne disproportionately by the poor. Pope Francis has called for “a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet.” Conscientious global business leaders have shifted their own operations to reduce their impact on the Earth and its climate. An expanding middle class is demanding ever more access to energy, yet the use of carbon-based fuels appears to be leading to climate change. What more can be done to stem the tide, to more realistically account for the economic and social costs of using up shared resources, and to achieve what the Pope calls an “ecological conversion”? What can the private sector do to meet the world’s ballooning energy needs while reducing the impact on the environment? – See more at: http://www.fortuneconferences.com/global-forum-2016/working-groups/#sthash.IKlIeaca.dpuf

    Official Host Committee includes Richard Branson, Lynn Forester de Rothschild, plus reps from McKinsey & Co., L1 Energy, Eni, BlackRock, Johnson & Johnson, Monsanto, Novartis, Siemens, Alcoa, Dow Chemical, Barclays, Rockefeller Foundation, IBM, PepsiCo, Ford Foundation, Teneo Holdings, Columbia University (Andrew Stern), Wells Fargo, etc:

    Fortune/Time Global Forum: Host Committee
    http://www.fortuneconferences.com/global-forum-2016/host-committee/

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    pat

    found on ClimateDepot, read all:

    6 Sept: The Remnant: Elizabeth Yore: The Money Trail: Why Catholic Bishops Are Silent on Hillary
    (Elizabeth Yore served on the Heartland Institute Delegation that traveled to the Vatican in April 2015 to urge Pope Francis to re-examine his reliance on UN population control proponents who promote climate change)
    Following the lead of Pope Francis and his globalist agenda, the American Catholic hierarchy are relegating the prolife ministries to the doctrinal ash heap and committing funds and personnel to promote environmental and migration issues…
    Follow the greenbacks in the environmental “green” movement…
    Pope Francis and his minions now are welcomed and celebrated on the global stage as elite players. This unholy alliance is exposed in the leaked Soros Open Society documents and the embedded Vatican presence of Soros operatives, like Jeffrey Sachs and many others…
    READ THE COMMENTS
    http://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/2746-the-money-trail-why-catholic-bishops-are-silent-on-hillary

    reminder:

    Sept 2015: ClimateDepot: Marc Morano: Special Report: ‘Unholy Alliance’ – Exposing The Radicals Advising Pope Francis on Climate
    http://www.climatedepot.com/2015/09/24/special-report-unholy-alliance-exposing-the-radicals-advising-pope-francis-on-climate/

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    Amber

    The global warming scam is theft . The result is the fleecing of tax payers
    and the premature death of thousands every year from fuel poverty .
    So what is stopping charges being laid on the perpetrators of this massive fraud ?
    1. Start with scientists who were used to create the air of credibility to set the sting .

    A select number of UN recruited scientists (less than 50 and even less drafting the IPCC
    Reports) were paid to produce an outcome that was already determined by projecting the effects of an increase
    in CO2 from humans when the other main drivers of climate were not even fully understood or considered .
    The public was mislead on purpose in an attempt to deceive .

    The IPCC report writers crafted documents that the paymasters wanted . Scary global warming exaggeration that were nothing but
    false and misleading computer models .

    The models have been proven false and the promoters of the scam know it .

    Armed with that knowledge they continue to try and sell the scam misleading the public .

    Wire fraud on a global scale. It can and needs to be taken down .

    Scientists can help as a larger group by dousing the last of the bias and misrepresentations of The IPCC
    with the truth .

    The Oregon Petition signed by over 30,000 scientist challenge the misallocation of resources and outline
    the deficiencies of the claims but more needs to be done before the crooks are rounded up .

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    RoHa

    Am I the only one on the internet who knows the difference between “lose” and “loose”?

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