Ontario’s electricity, “carnage”, “a train wreck”, electricity costs double to reduce carbon at $250/ton

 Boondoggle: How Ontario’s pursuit of renewables broke their electricity system

Financial Post, Terence Corcoran

The Green industry has done over Ontario consumers. Government control of the electricity market was “cheered on by a growing industrial complex of wind and solar promoters backed by a large contingent of financial firms, big name consultants, fee-collecting law firms and major corporations. All were anxious to play a lucrative role fulfilling renewables objectives”.

Ontario was going to be the North American leader in renewable energy. It would save lives, create jobs, cost nothing, but instead the electricity bills have doubled, no lives were saved and the only jobs created were temporary (and almost certainly cost more jobs in other areas due to high electricity costs). The only “success” for the extra wind and solar power that’s locked into the grid is that it has “saved” some meaningless CO2 emissions at the exorbitant, flagrant cost of $250 per ton. Green energy was supposed to save $4.4billion in healthcare and other costs, but virtually none of that materialized.

Canada, electricity, supply, demand, costs.Costs have gone from 5.5c a KWh in 2006 to 11c KWh in 2016. (How is it still so incredibly cheap ask Aussies? We are the largest coal exporters in the world and have some of the largest uranium reserves but Australians pay from 25c to 36c per KWh* and the currencies are 1:1).

According to Terence Corcoran things are so on the nose that the premier can’t even mention hydro without getting booed. The costs of going green have been estimated at $170 billion over 30 years, and while smog has decreased somewhat, no one is sure whether that was due to the coal stations closing in Ontario, or is linked to US changes. In any case, the coal plants could have been fitted with smog-cleaning gear for a tiny fraction of the cost.

The Ontario government has finally started canceling new wind projects, but there are long term contracts for current wind farms that go on for years. Jan Carr was head of the Ontario Power Authority and says the government is “finally waking up to Ontario’s electricity carnage.”

Ontario’s Society of Professional Engineers has issued many reports describing how dismal the green policies are, but the Premier’s office appear to have been fooled completely by the Green machine. A former head of the OSPE, Paul Acchione, says “because they know how to turn a light bulb on and off, they’ll issue policy statements on the most complex engineering system on the planet”. He said the Premier’s office was pretty much running the grid and “hiring political scientists and environmentalists because they thought they were the experts”. (Does Australia have an OSPE equivalent, wonders Jo?)

But demand for electricity has cratered as the prearranged contracts for green energy have surged, and Canadians are paying for expensive electricity that comes at the wrong time of day and isn’t needed.

In a normal market when supply outstrips demand, prices are supposed to fall. But put a government in charge and the most expensive provider can get a guarantee to get paid, even if their product isn’t needed.

A bunch of parasites fooled the Premier and they are getting rich by selling expensive electrons that are supposed to change the weather 50 years from now.

h/t to Clipe, Pat and David B.

________________

*Australia retail prices. For cost estimates read AMEC’s 2015 report.  Each State is listed in the summary pages viii to xii, “In 2014/15, a representative consumer [in WA] using 5,229 kWh per year paid the government-set price and had an annual bill of $1,319 exclusive of GST. ”  “In 2014/15, a representative consumer [in SA] on the representative standing offer using 5,000 kWh per year had a total annual bill of $1,811 exclusive of GST.”

9.3 out of 10 based on 90 ratings

148 comments to Ontario’s electricity, “carnage”, “a train wreck”, electricity costs double to reduce carbon at $250/ton

  • #
    Geoffrey Williams

    We’ve always known that Australia and Canada have much in common; Unfortunately in this instance it is the belief stupid renewable energy. Who will wake up first?!
    GeoffW

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  • #
    pat

    Corcoran’s piece is brilliant, but this ain’t bad either:

    14 Oct: Australian: Graham Richardson: Baird’s backdown a lesson for Shorten, Weatherill and Andrews
    I believe in climate change but I am not an extremist. I love the idea that sun, wind and water can keep the lights, the stove, the fridge and the airconditioner going. The problem is how long it will take to improve the technologies for clean energy sources to power our country. Labor needs to consider its position on this issue, and in particular Bill Shorten, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill need to watch videos of Baird over and over again. They need to back down on their renewable energy targets. It has nothing to do with electoral popularity. This is all about energy security. The prolonged statewide blackout across South Australia was the perfect reason to change tack. Closing coal-powered electricity plants that are reliable is dangerous when the energy to replace their output simply can’t hack it…

    Watching him (Weatherill) pretend that the closure of a coal-fired plant and too much reliance on wind farms were not among the causes of the blackout was as embarrassing as it was excruciating. When the lights go out, minds are concentrated on finding a reason.
    The message here for Weatherill is that the mob, as they always do, have worked him out. When the wind disappears, the wind farms don’t work. When the wind blows too hard, the wind farms don’t work.
    Given his history I am hopeful the Premier will redeem himself and make his energy targets realistic. His task will be made more difficult because of the role of federal Labor frontbencher Mark Butler, who continues to stick to Labor’s 50 per cent renewable energy target, which he seems to want in place within the week.
    The farce of this policy has become obvious to all. The government has done little to expose the extraordinary hole in this stupid Labor policy. Labor has no plan on how this target would be reached. Australia must keep some of its reliance on coal until the renewable energy technologies are proven…

    Sadly, Labor is playing games with people’s lives. It is no good playing roulette and hoping your number comes up. The poor and pensioners particularly require certainty about lights and heat. Labor owes it to its base to modify its stance.
    A complete backdown a la Baird is not necessary…
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/graham-richardson/bairds-backdown-a-lesson-for-shorten-weatherill-and-andrews/news-story/c12f322fd15a5d4ea6e0e7376402209d

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  • #
    reformed warmist of logan

    Hi Jo,
    Pretty disgusting huh??!!??
    To be brutally honest, I have absolutely no idea how these “Watermelons” sleep at night! Or for that matter, how they look at themselves in the mirror in the morning before they leave for work. (Though to use a “Stan Zemanic Classic”…they couldn’t work in an iron lung!!)
    They keep parrotting about being “The only progressives” and “new clean jobs” – and yet these people and their plans are/create the exact opposite of what they so loudly/often proclaim and boast.
    I am by no means an active Christian (presently) but just love the irony that these people (greens/labor/lame-stream media) who respect nothing of our judeo-christian roots and hence aren’t aware of one of the basic tenets of same … that pride comes before the fall!!
    They’re so proud of themselves that they’ve created the largest scam in the history of the western world (though they wouldn’t call it this), in the coming weeks/months their fall will start to take on “Everest-like” proportions!!
    Keep on keeping on Jo.
    Warm regards from reformed warmist of logan.

    453

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      Because leftism seems to a weird condition of the mind…..it’s like those paradites that turn animals kamikaze so they get eaten so the parasite spreads to another host…..

      Great movie called “Fallen” …. Has an elenent of this to it too

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  • #
    King Geo

    Here comes Einstein’s famous quote again “Two things are infinite:the universe and human stupidity, and I am not sure about the universe”.

    Yes this quote sums up perfectly those controlling Ontario’s base load energy generation in a nutshell.

    And add the ALP Govt’s of SA, VIC & QLD to that list.

    The bottom line is that Einstein was a genius but unfortunately witnessed the “total opposite” all around him and if anything the “stupid brigade” have got even stupider these days, ie like characters from that iconic 1994 film “Dumb & Dumber”. Ironically actor Jim Carrey (who played the extraordinarily dumb character of Lloyd in the film, was born in none other than Ontario).

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    • #
      Maverick

      This is my biggest question about people today – “how and why does self destructive stupidity evolve”?

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      • #
        Rereke Whakaaro

        My hypothesis is that it is counter evolutionary. The theory of evolution is that only the fittest of the species survive. In mankind, that would be the most intelligent and the most physically fit.

        This is what kids at school are taught, but looking around at their peers, the smartest ones realise that none of them fall into either of those categories.

        Because of this, they resort to stealth and subversion, and take up professions that make their weaknesses appear as strengths, and treat intelligence as an impediment.

        This is why so many become journalists, or presenters on afternoon info-mercial television shows. Their skills are complementary: One can write, and the other can read.

        Those that can do neither become the teachers of the next generation, preparing fighters for the counter-evolution.

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        • #
          Andrew McRae

          The theory of evolution is that only the fittest of the species survive.

          Evolution is not a theory, it is a fact.

          Calling the survivors the fittest doesn’t do justice to Darwin. The original wording was not the “fittest” as the definition of “fit” changes along with the environment so does not have any fixed meaning. The theory of evolution by natural selection is that diversification happens regularly but the survivors are the most adaptable to change.

          In other words, it’s okay to be a dinosaur as long as you act like a chicken. 🙂

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          • #
            Rereke Whakaaro

            My apologies Andrew.

            I don’t know how to generate a “tongue in cheek” emoticon. Or a “wry comment” emoticon, for that matter.

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            • #
              stan stendera

              Reneke, your very name is “tongue in cheek” and “wry comment” to your very great credit.

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            • #
              Andrew McRae

              If your reference to evolutionary fitness was not intended to be taken seriously by virtue of being part of a larger comment that was intended entirely to be a joke, then I regret I was unable to discern any jocularity in anything you said.
              It was, after all, the sort of thing many people here say seriously on a weekly basis.

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      • #
        Andrew McRae

        >> “how and why does self destructive stupidity evolve”?

        • Stupidity is our natural state, and any departure from it requires great preparatory effort and capital expense, so not everyone does it.
        • Self destruction occurs when people discount future pain in favour of immediate gratification. This most frequently occurs when people as a rule “go along to get along” with the group’s meme instead of choosing the consequences that are best for themselves.
        • In military terms, technology is a “force multiplier”, therefore it is also a stupidity multiplier. As it gets cheaper we’re all only getting more of it.

        Combine these three ingredients and stir.

        Example: Mobile phones are now cheap enough that even the poor can use social media apps.

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Mine is destroying the middle class through a concerted effort of mismanagement so business becomes impossible and all that is left is the State…..aka Communism.

        Thing is, they cant just stand up and say “Hey, we have this plan to wreck this country and bring in Communism, but we have to be sneaky about it and hide behind infinitely replaceable fall guy politicians, otherwise we’d be lynched in the streets, but we know most Australians are too dumb to work it out, so lets have fun…….”

        Note to anyone who cares – find out who the “advisors” are to these jokers, and you will find their actual NWO handlers…..then you will find who really is calling the shots.

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  • #

    OT but related: QREEP (gives you the creeps) have released their draft report.
    I could not stand reading much of it, but it seems they expect to get most of it paid for by the federal LSRET and private enterprise, they think that their preferred plan will be cost neutral with regard to retail charges, and they don’t intend to close any coal fired stations before 2030. Is there a slight indication that common sense might be creeping in?
    http://www.qldrepanel.com.au/draft-report

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  • #
    Robert Rosicka

    Geez double our elec costs and we wouldn’t be able to pay the bill , waste that much money in renewables and we won’t be able to pay the tax bill .
    When will these idiots wake up to themselves .

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  • #
    King Geo

    Now for the bad news for those residing in Ontario. The province is surrounded by 4 of the 5 Great Lakes (drowned glacial valleys) – Lakes Erie, Huron, Ontario & Superior. Add to that Hudson Bay to the N. During the last “Ice Age (~100,000Ka – 11,700Ka)” Ontario was like an ice skating rink. The Great Lakes comprised glaciers advancing to the S/SE, even reaching as far as Manhattan and Hudson Bay was full of ice as well. Now the next “Ice Age” is unlikely in the near term but the next “LIA” is due next decade. What will Ontario’s climate be like from the mid 2020’s onwards? I would be pulling up stumps and heading S. The glaciers won’t return but the Winters will be longer and more severe, and Spring/Autumn (Fall) will be like current Winters. Only the Summers will be pleasant. And with this “Armageddon like scenario” looming the “IPCC/Warmists” continue their “CAGW indoctrination” of the MSM & Govts.

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    • #
      Another Ian

      Oh dear! We’ll need more windmills.

      /s ought not be necessary

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    • #
      Senex

      Two minor quibbles: Three of the four Great Lakes in Ontario (Erie, Ontario and Superior) are actually flooded rifts, not originally of glacial origin. And during the past Ice Ages, they weren’t skating rinks, they were covered with km-thick glacial ice sheets like Greenland and Antarctica today.

      If only the early inhabitants had switched to solar and wind power instead of burning wood to keep warm, the ice would still be here.

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      • #
        King Geo

        Thanks for the clarification about the origin of the Great Lakes. Senex, during the last Ice Age, was Ontario and its surrounds (sub-aerial) also covered in ice? If so lets trust the next IA doesn’t commence any time soon. Mind you being 11.7k into the current Holocene Interglacial [IG] it could rear its ugly head in the near future given that the duration of the previous IG (Eemian) was ~ 15K. To a geologist like myself a few thousand years is nothing – in that time the Australian Plate should only move north a few 100m’s. Maybe the Pet Shops Boys can do a new version of “Go West”, ie “Go North”. Naturally giving credit to the “Village People” who wrote the original version of “Go West”.

        51

  • #
    john karajas

    Looks like we are heading towards peak fossil fuel denial.

    191

  • #
    PeterS

    I’m seriously starting to think the Greens have been taken over by an Islamic terrorist organization. What better way to destroy Western civilization than to willfully upset our electricity supply systems, which are supposed to be key to our security. I’d be willing to be proven wrong.

    162

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      A Theory :

      It seems to be facilitated by our own gummints…as I have said numerous times, there s no “left” and “right” – only wrappers around the same globalists who are given their scripts and parts to play to create the shell game of “democracy”…..

      Now when you control both sides, you control the whole game……how better to wreck a country and have each sock puppet blame each other on cue….its perfect….

      Can anyone find fault with this, based on the piles of evidence so far?

      Some people would call it T*****n

      52

  • #
    Asp

    I do not understand how Australia’s power prices can reach the figures mentioned. More so when Canada’s price is that much lower, despite a good dose of renewables. Somebody is taking us for a ride of a lifetime. At AUD 0.36 per kWh, you are getting close to the point where firing up your personal diesel genset starts to make sense.

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    • #
      Rod Stuart

      Ontario Hydro generates much of its power from nuclear plants (Bruce, Darlington, Pickering combine about 12 GW capacity) and hydro. At least it used to, before the NDP (read Greens) got their hooks into it.
      Lambton GS in Sarnia used to be 4×500 MW fired on coal. Lennox in Kingston was nearly identical but oil fired. I suppose they are both gone now, John Bennett?
      When I was with General Electric I worked in both of those facilities. There used to be a lot of smaller coal oil and gas fired plants totaling (If I remember correctly) about the same dozen GW. They’ve gone insane with giant fans, so I suspect many of those have been displaced.

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      • #
        Senex

        Hearn GS in Toronto, Lakeview GS in Mississaugua, Nanticoke GS and Atikokan GS were all coal-fired, and are all shut down and/or demolished. Wesleyville GS near Newcastle is oil-fired, but was mothballed as soon as it was built, and has never been operational.

        Even with several of the 20 reactors at Bruce A/B, Pickering A/B and Darlington shut down, over 60% of Ontario’s electricity comes from nuclear generation, and over 20% comes from hydroelectric, so there is still a reliable majority of the electricity coming from non-wind or solar. However, apart from the recent upgrades (such as the new tunnel) at Niagara, I’m not aware of any significant new hydro or nuclear investments, nor do I expect any in the foreseeable future, and the newest large GS at Darlington is over 30 years old and due for a major maintenance shutdown.

        41

    • #
      mark

      Our electricity price increases coincide with privatisation of the Victorian market. The disconnect is what it costs to produce becomes how much the company can raise prices till reaching public pushback. Retail theory!

      Go to the Latrobe valley, same power stations, same coal deposits alongside power stations, same extraction method….yet prices have gone from 6c per Kw to close to 26c per Kw. Monash accurately picked that regardless of inefficiency of lignite compared to anthracite there is so much of it guaranteeing Victoria’s power needs for the next three hundred years! Yes Victoria, there really is that much brown coal in the Latrobe valley.

      The green blob…I particularly like the quote “They understand how to turn a switch on and off gives them the knowledge to make decisions over major power utilities”…do not have a clue. EA as below do not appear to have the same conviction of the technological knowledge as I was learning in the early eighties. Essentially, the standards are the word of God writ in language just for engineers. They have strayed from the book and must be cast out!

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      • #
        Nighthawk the Elder

        Not quite right Mark. You’re partially quoting the retail price, not the wholesale price as those power station generators in the Latrobe Valley are paid. At the time of privatisation in 1995/96, the wholesale price was around 2c per kwhr. (Retail price was around 12c per kw/hr) In 2016 it’s around 4.5c kwhr. Yet retail, as noted elsewhere, is over 30c kwhr. So who is getting the rest of the money?

        Transmission get some (about 6c), distribution (also about 6c), retail around 3 to 4c. The rest is all those green subsidies you keep hearing about. That money is not from taxpayers, it’s from regular electricity customers like you and I.

        And one more word on privatisation of the power industry as I’ve seen both the public and private side of the industry over many years. What is never mentioned are the huge savings (up to 40%) that were made simply by reducing the grotesque levels of rorting, theft, kickbacks, “favours” for mates and other inefficiencies in the dying days of the SECV. Speak to locals in the Latrobe Valley. What used to get ripped off from good old uncle SEC is the stuff of legends.

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        • #
          GrahamP

          It wasn’t called Slow Easy and Comfortable for nothing and the unions held the State to ransom whenever they could get maximum outcome, to hell with the citizens.

          My brother in law was a unit controller and used to relate hair raising tales of rorts. On one occasion something needed to be checked out so he went to the mess room to get some workers on to it. They told him they would do it when the movie they were watching finished.

          Best thing that ever happened was privatization, but you won’t hear that from the “lefties”

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      • #
        mark

        I was going to have a bitch about the owners of Hazelwood quite literally running their asset into the ground until seriously reading up on Loy Yang. Reading between the lines, I would believe the money will go into this generator to both upgrade and increase capacity. Currently 17% of Victorian output, I would imagine a doubling of output plus another station on this seam of coal could see a longer future than Hazelwood. Time will tell.

        Considering information on wholesale price presented, my interest should have been directed closer to the consumer. Fair enough, I stand corrected.

        01

  • #
    Rod Stuart

    (Does Australia have an OSPE equivalent, wonders Jo?)

    Of course. Engineers Australia is the professional organisation. More than likely David is a member.
    In Canada it is lightly different.
    Each province has a professional association that manages accreditation. There is an umbrella organisation called the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers.
    It is illegal to call a business “Joe’s Engineering” unless Joe has one or more licenced Engineers on staff.
    Each member has a stamp, and Engineering drawings must be stamped in order to have credibility.
    The sub nominal is P.Eng (Professional Engineer), which is equivalent to CPE (Chartered Professional Engineer) in Australia and New Zealand.
    A program of continuing education is essential to remain a P.Eng, as it is with CPE.
    The qualification IntPE (International Professional Engineer) requires jumping through a few more hoops and is recognised in Canada, USA, NZ, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc.

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    • #

      Thanks Rod, alas I don’t find active warnings there though they were at least aware of the problems.
      eg
      https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/news/engineering-renewable-energy-future

      The integration of renewable energy sources into the traditional power grid brings with it many technical issues. At the distribution level, the effect that residential solar PV has on power quality within low voltage networks has been well publicised. Technical solutions such as static synchronous compensators (STATCOMs) and smart inverters with the capacity to improve power factor and support voltage have been developed to reduce network impacts and risks.
      The broader grid-wide impacts of increasing renewable energy penetration have recently been highlighted in South Australia which currently has the highest wind and solar PV penetration of any region in the National Electricity Market. Synchronous fossil fuel based generation is being retired. A recent report by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and Electranet identified that under certain contingency conditions it is difficult to hold the system frequency of 50Hz required to maintain power system security. AEMO highlighted that a 10-year outlook is required when considering technical solutions, not only the short to near term.

      As more renewable generation and new technologies such as energy storage systems are rolled out, it is essential technical analysis and studies are undertaken now to address the impacts and allow benefits to be fully realised. This applies across the whole spectrum from provider to customer to the performance of the whole system.

      Sustainability outcomes and economic impacts are important considerations on the road to a lower carbon future but the direction of renewable energy will be influenced by engineering and technical issues. Investigations driven by engineering professionals are crucial to ensure our future energy supply systems are reliable and sustainable. All members of the engineering team have the skills and abilities to develop this future and need to play an active role.

      Engineers Australia welcomes feedback from members on this important topic. Contact us today at the Queensland office. qld AT engineersaustralia.org.au

      Other links are more blah blah renewables:https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/event/maximising-benefits-renewable-energy-true-integration-power-networks-0
      https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/event/towards-sas-renewable-energy-future-hornsdale-windfarm
      https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/search/index/google?search=renewable

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      • #
        Rod Stuart

        Joanne
        In my humble opinion, Engineers Australia, formerly IE Aust is one of those institutions infiltrated to some extent by the long march.
        It is understandable to some extent, as all of the membership has been indoctrinated in a university environment.
        It is also one of those institutions in which the executives seems to have a different outlook than the membership as a whole. In my working career in Australia I have rubbed shoulders with very few Engineering professionals who have a bar for the green nonsense.
        That is the biggest reason I never joined. I was IntPE anyhow, so could work here quite readily.
        I am no longer on the International register now, as I am retired. It is quite conceivable that the institution is evolving to better reflect the position of the membership.

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        • #
          ianl8888

          It is also one of those institutions in which the executives seems to have a different outlook than the membership as a whole

          Almost all of the professional institutions have that issue.

          Only the academic activists have the time and desire to stand for executive office, it seems. Once there, of course, public statements are issued that sweepingly imply the bulk of the membership agrees with whatever the executive is promulgating.

          Actually testing that, perhaps by polling the membership, is very determinedly resisted.

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          • #
            Rod Stuart

            It apparently deserved a red thumb from someone!

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          • #
            Rod Stuart

            “The Moving red thumb sh*ts; and, having sh*t,
            Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
            Shall lure it back to cancel half of it,
            Nor all thy Tears wash out the smell of it.”

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    • #
      Len

      I heard that the office bearers are Environmental Engineers who have been indoctinated and indoctrinate the green lies.

      31

  • #
    John Bennett

    I live in Ontario, and pay these outrageous power bills, for both my home and my small business office.

    To be clear, the “Average Consumer price for Electricity” is not 11 cents — nowhere near. I’m not sure how that figure was arrived at, but I’m guessing it’s a blend of the various “Time of Use” prices that Ontario has implemented. But even then, it’s disingenuous, to say the lest.

    Since the introduction of the “Smart Meter” program, our electricity is billed based on time of use: The cheapest is overnight/off-peak (7 PM to 7 AM) at 8.7 c/kw h, but when you actually want to use electricity (mornings after 7 AM, afternoons after arriving home from work), the price is 18 c/kw h. Because the time of electricity consumption varies considerably over the year (winter vs. summer), the punitive “on-peak” rates shift around to match the highest consumption period.

    See http://www.hydroone.com/TOU/Pages/Default.aspx

    But wait, there’s more: These prices are for the “electricity cost” only. An equivalent, or even larger amount, is charged for transmission from the power plant to your home. It’s a separate line item, “Delivery”, that appears after the detailed consumption figures. In addition, there are “Regulatory charges” and to cap it off, 13% HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) added. To give a concrete example, here are the details from my latest bill:

    Electricity: On-Peak: 107.2632 kWh @ 18.0000 ¢ $19.31
    Electricity: Mid-Peak: 93.6606 kWh @ 13.2000 ¢ $12.36
    Electricity: Off-Peak: 294.2736 kWh @ 8.7000 ¢ $25.60
    Delivery $56.96
    Regulatory Charges $3.45
    HST $15.30
    Total of your electricity charges $132.98

    So, a total of 495 kw h of consumption (low, I know, but we’ve spent enormous sums on LED lights, and shifted our consumption later as good little citizens should), for $133. Which comes out to 26.8 c/kw h.

    Anyway, don’t feel too bad Australia: Our power rates are much closer to yours.

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    • #
      Steve Keppel-Jones

      And don’t forget, John, that, as published on the IESO website, of that 8.7/13.2/18 cents for the electricity portion, only 3 cents is what it costs to produce it (and sell it at a profit). All of the rest is “green” taxes from the Liberals.

      And most of our electricity is already from nuclear and hydro plants, which weren’t emitting any CO2 to begin with, even if that were a real problem, which of course it isn’t.

      “Boondoggle” doesn’t begin to describe it. I suspect evil supernatural forces. Not even garden-variety stupidity could make this much of a mess.

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    • #

      John, we fantasize about electricity off peak at 8.7c.

      But you raise a good point. It’s a PhD project to compare costs and taxes and transmission charges and then subtract concessions, schemes, solar tarrifs.
      This study reckoned we were the most expensive
      http://cmeaustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/160708-FINAL-REPORT-OBS-INTERNATIONAL-PRICE-COMPARISON.pdf

      Australia’s “official” price (the price recorded in the IEA’s database) is exceeded
      only by prices paid in Ireland, Portugal, Japan and Italy. This official price is
      lower than the AEMC’s estimates of the representative standing and market
      offers for most customers.

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    • #
      Horace Jason Oxboggle

      It’s interesting that the delivery charge is only marginally less than the electricity cost itself. Also, I assume that the HST is applied to both. So each time the per kWh charge rises, bingo! Higher delivery charges (how so?) and more HST rip-off!

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      • #

        Reasons for delivery charges being so high in relation to production, would be, in my opinion:

        1 — Larger transmission distances in Australia for a lower population density (somewhat unavoidable).
        2 — Remote locations of Wind and Hydro, needing larger transmission grids (avoidable).
        3 — Invariable transmission capacity of Wind requires waaay overbuilt transmission hardware for less overall power transmission over time (totally avoidable).
        4 — Because of the highly variable transmission from Wind, the necessary interstate-connectors such as the SA-Vic ones, have to be built and maintained even when not in full use, adding a massive cost to the overall distribution network which would not be necessary if for instance South Australia simply built clean coal plants of its own next to the population centers instead of importing ‘dirty coal’ electrons from the Latrobe Valley (utterly insane).

        AND, did the private – and government subsidized – wind farm operators whose businesses necessitated the NEED for greater interstate-connections have to raise capital and absorb costs for these interconnectors??? Of course not, because they are effectively additional subsidies provided to the windfarm business models at government/taxpayer/electricity consumer expense.

        Now, I see today in the lame-stream-media, that the left-wing nutjobs are all declaring a need for MORE interstate-connectors to be built and operated at the expense of others, to ensure that such a power failure doesn’t happen again, other than laying the blame at the nut-job ‘green’ disease making rich select investors, many from overseas and in ‘dirty coal’ China.

        The same thing is happening in Tasmania where I live. After the single BassLink cable linking Tassie with Victoria (Latrobe region capacity mainly, though we also export power) ‘broke’ within the last year, the calls on the left-wing (and on the right to be fair), for a SECOND SUBMARINE INTERSTATE CONNECTOR, which would cost BILLION$, just happens to coincide with a big American bid to basically turn King Island into one big wind farm importing into Victoria through a cable which the Tassie and Victorian Government will no doubt be paying for.

        Did the BassLink cable get ‘conveniently’ cut somehow to coincide with a political push to link up the other side of Bass Strait to line the pockets of more kleptocrats? Here in Tassie, if we are exporting more of our Hydro power – though it would lower our budget deficit because HydroTasmania is State owned – it would mean higher power prices in Tassie due to Victoria’s own suicidal energy policy to shut down its coal, necessitating a more one-way flow across Bass Strait towards the mainland … and elderly Tassie people will freeze in the winters because they won’t be able to afford the power bills, and Tassie businesses will close because our geography as an island isn’t exactly great for dovetailing ourselves with the mainland or the rest of the world in the first place.

        Now, in Tassie, once again a private (American) consortium will be made more profitable because a billion dollar piece of submarine cable infrastructure is being built on the dime of the tax payers … and what do we get out of this great public-private deal??? Even more expensive electrons!!! Even if the Tas/Vic State governments pay off such an investment over time by added distribution fees, this cost will still be absorbed by Tas/Vic electricity customers, rather than the windfarm operators who are already protected by massive subsidies and suicidal State/Federal Energy Policy mandates.

        Sounds like a great deal huh? Why rape the taxpaying customer once if you can rape them twice or more over?

        I want to know: Which politicians are lining their pockets with this boondoggle, and how can we have them investigated, severely punished, and prosecuted? It seems as if anything ‘green’, no matter how much of a scam, is immune from prosecution in the media and within the justice system. I also want to see the ABC totally abolished or sold for failing to live up to its original purpose of informing the public. We need a Royal Commission into the ABC, headed and stacked by leaders of the business council from ONLY small business sectors, and we need it quickly!

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        • #
          OriginalSteve

          Because anything green is a cover for establishing communism in the West….and they are all in on it,…

          There is your answer.

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    Rod Stuart

    In your post Corcoran says “The only “success” for the extra wind and solar power that’s locked into the grid is that it has “saved” some meaningless CO2 emissions”.

    In fact this OSPE presentation illustrates that Ontario has doubled its CO2 emissions due to windmills.

    Ontario Premier Wynne has a lot to answer for.

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    pat

    Leo DiCaprio-connected Malaysian scandal story just broke out big-time! get out the popcorn:

    13 Oct: WSJ: Malaysian Fund 1MDB Linked to White House Visit
    Investigators look into whether money embezzled from the fund paid for lobbying seeking closer U.S.-Malaysian relations
    By Bradley Hope and Colleen McCain Nelson
    Malaysia’s government-fund scandal, one of the world’s biggest alleged white-collar crimes, has been connected to a Hollywood studio, high-end U.S. real estate—and now, a visit to the White House…
    The businessman is Frank White Jr., an entrepreneur who helped start an investment firm called DuSable Capital Management LLC, along with partners including a rap star. Mr. White has also raised funds for President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
    Investigators believe about $10 million allegedly embezzled from 1Malaysia Development Bhd., known as 1MDB, flowed indirectly to Mr. White in a business deal, said people familiar with the probe.

    ***Additionally, 1MDB paid $69 million to buy a DuSable unit out of a deal they had agreed on to build solar-power plants, the firms said last year…

    Mr. White is listed on Mrs. Clinton’s website as a “Hillblazer” who contributed or raised at least $100,000. He has donated between $1 million and $5 million to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, its website says…
    http://www.wsj.com/articles/suspect-malaysian-fund-tied-to-lobbying-of-white-house-1476403764#livefyre-comment

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    pat

    blast from the past:

    Oct 2013: Bloomberg: Miles Weiss: Obama Fundraiser Said to Seek $1 Billion for Private Fund
    PHOTO CAPTION: Two-time Grammy Award-winning rapper Prakazrel Michel
    Barack Obama’s top individual fundraiser, a former technology executive who collected millions of dollars for the president, is seeking as much as $1 billion for a private-equity fund that will invest in infrastructure and ***renewable energy, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
    Frank White Jr. has teamed up with two other Obama backers, Shomik Dutta and two-time Grammy Award-winning rapper Prakazrel Michel, to establish a Washington-based money-management firm called DuSable Capital Management LLC, according to a regulatory filing. DuSable plans to raise $500 million to $1 billion, said the person, who requested anonymity because the details are private.
    White’s new firm joins a small group of money managers founded by former political figures and public officials, who have sought to parlay their connections ***to invest in industries that rely on direct or indirect government support. The biggest among them is Carlyle Group LP, the buyout firm that got its start buying defense companies after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Monument Capital Group LLC and Darby Overseas Partners Ltd., both based in Washington, were also founded by former high-ranking officials…

    Dutta, a co-founder at DuSable, is a former Morgan Stanley investment banker who also worked as national-finance consultant to the president’s re-election campaign and as a special assistant in the White House. Michel, one of DuSable’s owners, is best known as Pras, a founding member of the hip hop group called the Fugees…
    On the renewable energy side, DuSable will focus on deploying technologies ***in emerging markets that face high unsubsidized electricity costs, the person said.
    Renewable energy remains a priority for Obama…
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-10-10/obama-fundraiser-said-to-seek-1-billion-for-private-fund

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  • #

    Marching bands, monorails, cycleways, renewables…You know you want some. Terms can be arranged.

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    pat

    will Kevin be jealous?

    13 Oct: ClimateChangeNews: Karl Mathiesen: Australian selected as head of the Green Climate Fund
    Howard Bamsey, a former climate envoy, will take on one of the most important and difficult jobs in the climate world
    Howard Bamsey was selected to be executive director of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) by its board on Thursday after a full day of deliberation in Songdo, Korea.
    Bamsey has spent a career developing climate policy in Australia and around the world. He co-chaired the United Nations “Dialogue on Long-term Cooperative Action on Climate Change” and served as Australia’s special envoy for climate change during the country’s brief climate hawk period under the leadership of Kevin Rudd…
    “The fund must succeed and be seen to succeed to keep developing nations in the game. Otherwise the future of international cooperation on climate change will be in jeopardy,” Bamsey wrote in the Conversation…

    The fund has already been provided with US$10bn in donations…
    Contrast this with the pledge rich countries have made to release $100bn in climate finance a year by 2020. (This number seems huge until you compare it with global military spending, for example, which is more than 16 times higher…
    The director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development Saleemul Huq said the newly appointed director would have to win back an increasingly sceptical constituency of countries who have seen their proposals gathering dust…
    The top of the GCF now has a distinctly antipodean flavour. Bamsey joins another Australian, Ewen McDonald, who is co-chair of the board…
    To replace her, a search firm assisted the fund to identify 421 potential candidates. On Wednesday, it was reported to the board that this long list was 70% male and 30% female.
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/10/13/australian-green-climate-fund/

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  • #
    Mike Williams

    What makes this worse is 80% of our (Ontario’s) power was already GHG-free (nuclear + hydro) and they could have filled the gap by buying hydro powered electricity from our 2 neighboring provinces (Quebec and Manitoba) at very low cost.

    These prices don’t fully reflect the coming on stream of new large solar farms with their even higher subsidies. And if you thought wind was useless in Ontario take a look at a map as the entire province is at too high a latitude for sufficient solar insolation to make any economic sense. We’ve sacrificed 10,000’s of acres of farmland and ruined the vistas along the shores of the Great Lakes so our idiot politicians can virtue signal. We’ve also lost 300-500,000 manufacturing jobs over this time period thanks in part to the high electricity prices (even though the big users get to buy wholesale) ruining the economic base we built up when Ontario had the cheapest power prices in the developed world.

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    pat

    lol.

    14 Oct: ClimateChangeNews: Karl Mathiesen: Saudi Arabia blasts Korean bank for “playing” with UN climate fund
    “Either you are serious, or you are not,” says Saudi Green Climate Fund representative after Korea Exim pulled its application to the fund at the last moment
    The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Exim) has drawn sharp criticism for withdrawing its application to be a conduit for climate funding, days after protests attacked its history of financing coal.
    The board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) was set to decide on Friday whether to accredit the bank…
    But on Friday morning, the board of the GCF was told that Korea Exim had asked the board to suspend consideration of the application “for the time being”. The bank did not give a reason for the decision.
    The move drew a furious response from the Saudi Arabian representative Ayman Shasly, who felt the organisation’s limited resources had been treated with disdain by the bank.
    “I’m very upset, very unhappy. We have spent time and effort at the last board meeting discussing this case and now for no obvious reason I can see the applicant has withdrawn,” he said. “You cannot just play with us, come in and out whenever you want… Either you are serious, you really want to be accredited, or you are not.”…
    The GCF has US$9.9 billion in funding from rich countries and a growing list of countries clamouring for the cash. But it requires accredited partner to manage the projects…
    Several board members, particularly Sweden’s Anders Wallberg, have expressed concern that the parochial motivations of these agencies, which primarily exist to help domestic businesses win overseas contracts, were incompatible with the fund’s ***supranational vision…

    Korea Exim helped to finance a Korean-operated coal power station in the Philippines city of Naga. During the period 2007-2014, the bank was one of the world’s largest public financiers of coal power…
    “The bank is making a mockery of countries like the Philippines that are already suffering from severe climate impacts and could really use the Green Climate Fund for low carbon development as well as to better protect their people,” said Chuck Baclagon, campaigner for 350.org East Asia. “People from the Philippines have shown that it is possible to stop the world’s biggest bankrollers of climate change.”
    The withdrawal of the application leaves a question mark hanging over the Green Climate Fund. …
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/10/14/korean-export-bank-withdraws-climate-finance-bid/

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    pat

    14 Oct: UK Times: Ben Webster: Solar panels highly productive ‘only nine days a year’
    Millions of solar panels installed with a public subsidy produce no power most of the time and have to be backed up by conventional power stations to prevent blackouts, a report says.
    Solar power produced more electricity than coal in the past six months after a rapid rise in the number of solar farms but over the year they still account for less than 2.5 per cent of power generation, according to the report by the Adam Smith Institute, the free-market think tank and the Scientific Alliance…
    http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/solar-panels-only-work-properly-on-nine-days-a-year-kr53d6fh9

    PDF: 121 pages: Scientific Alliance Scotland: Solar Power in Britain: The impossible dream
    The Adam Smith Institute has an open access policy.
    http://www.scientific-alliance.org/sites/default/files/Solar%20power%20assessment%202016.pdf

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    Caligula Jones

    The Auditor General in Ontario showed that Ontarians paid $37 billion extra for electricity from 2006-14.

    A government minister attacked her as not being smart enough to know what she is talking about. She is actually a former executive in another province’s hydro company. He is an ex-mayor of a medium sized city. Hmm….

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  • #
    Oliver K. Manuel

    There is absolutely no doubt the Mainstream Media (MSM) and National Academies of Sciences (NAS) worldwide have allied with the tyrannical one world government (UN) that used science to build a worldwide matrix of deceit to enslave mankind.

    Unpleasant to discover, unpleasant to report, but truth is our only hope for escape to reality!

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    Ruairi

    Wind turbines will always impress,
    The Greens, claiming them a success,
    So the plan thousands more,
    Which will fail as before,
    Leaving us to pay for their mess.

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    Greg

    Costs have gone from 5.5c a KWh in 2006 to 11c KWh in 2016.

    Jo, at least try to get the units right. It at least gives the impression you know what you are talking about.

    hint kWh or kilowatt.hour ( no caps )

    $250 per ton.

    Where does that claim come from? I have no idea what it means or who says it so it’s of no use. I will not be regurgitating unfounded figures I read on a web site. Back it up and I will take note. Sounds terrible.

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    • #
      David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

      Greg,
      The things you object to are in the original article, which Jo has accurately reproduced here.
      Cheers,
      Dave B

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      • #
        Peter C

        Well done Dave!
        You are right, Jo used the correct abbreviation even though she writes these pieces at about 2am.

        I do not understand why you got a red thumb. Who could possibly object? Also surprised by Greg’s 3 greens thumbs.

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    Greg

    I never understand why, in americain English, people on the political right call the left “progressive”.

    That the left wish to present themselves are “progressive” is understandable even if one may ask where that kind of ‘progress’ is leading. But why do the right accept the spin by repeating it ?

    It’s like “politically correct”. Correct according whose values?

    There is no reason why some people’s politics is more “correct” but the term is allowed to stay.

    Most of what the broccoli flavoured end of the political spectrum are proposing is decidedly REGRESSIVE.

    They are not against waste and for more making things last, they are for less efficiency, more waste and dumping perfectly good appliances in favour of “greener” replacements.

    scrapping a perfectly good car with years of life left in it is not “sustainable” it is wasteful. “Green” consumerism is still consumerism but even more wasteful: built-in obsolescence with a sunflower logo.

    The turning point seems to have been Lord Stern’s report , when financiers finally realised that “there’s gold in them thar sunflowers”.

    The hippies have smoked so much weed that they have not even realised they have been flipped on their backs. They are still going “hey man, look at that beautiful blue sky, man”.

    Hey man , who put Cheeck and Chong in charge of running the power grid?

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    • #
      Annie

      I agree with most of this comment Greg. However, I can be ‘picky’ too. You wrote ‘americain English’. Do you not mean ‘American English’?!

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      • #
        Not that Bob

        Perhaps a subtle reference to the biblical Cain?

        Dis-Able-ing our ability to comprehend their English?

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  • #
    TdeF

    All this pain, risk and expense because increased CO2 is heating the planet? Except it isn’t. The alleged increase is from a fantasy world temperature in 1900 and an instrumental change after 1985 of 0.5C. Now we have satellites we know accurately that there has been no temperature change at all in 20 years, but the crisis spending continues. If CO2 goes up and temperature does not, they are not connected.

    Windmills do not reduce CO2. Even if you believe that man can actually change CO2 levels, the best Ontario could hope for is that they might very very slightly reduce the rate at which it is climbing, presumably thanks to India and China. So what’s the gain?

    You can only conclude that people think they can reduce their local CO2. We get that in Australian states where the government of South Australia want their CO2 moved to Victoria. The government of Victoria wants it moved to NSW. The fact is that it all blows to New Zealand. This world control of CO2 and even local CO2 is science fantasy. Forcing everyone to pay higher rates to perpetuate and subsidize the fantasy of a few ignorant people is utterly irresponsible damage by leftist governments, but that’s the idea isn’t it?

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      Horace Jason Oxboggle

      But surely the Great Wall of China will contain the emissions of all those new Chinese coal-fired power-plants that are planned between now and 2030, when China begins to follow the Obama agreement?

      Perhaps Australia’s planned submarine fleet can be used to transport local CO2 to the depths of distant oceans?

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      • #
        TdeF

        It might be the only possible use for our non existent submarines!

        Besides, the oceans are already stuffed with compressed liquid CO2 at depths, 50x as much as in the atmosphere. At an average of 3.4km deep, the bottom of the ocean has a pressure of 340 atmospheres and CO2 is very soluble and easily compressed. This is the key to understanding CO2 levels and why the sun and the oceans dominate our planet.

        It is amazing that people are actually researching putting what tiny CO2 we have in the oceans? Have they no understanding of physical chemistry and dissolved gases?

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        • #
          Graeme No.3

          “Have they no understanding of physical chemistry and dissolved gases?”

          No.

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          • #
            Graeme No.3

            Or going back nearly 100 years (about where the less ambitious greens want us to regress to)

            Yes, we are completely bananas,
            No, we want all sorts of impossible things,
            So never answer NO,
            as we take all your dough,
            for we are completely bananas,
            completely bananas today.

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  • #
    jpm

    Jo
    I believe that the 11c / kwh that you quote is the wholesale price for the electricity generated. In NSW our price charged is the accumulation of retail price, wholesale generating cost (about 3c per kwh), transmission infrastructure costs (about 50% of the total), climate change fund (subsidies for solar water heating etc.), subsidies for large and small scale renewables, etc. Possibly that applies to the Ontario costs and you are just seeing the wholesale portion of the charge ? 11c seems way to low considering the huge amount of money going to renewables.
    Maybe, someone from Ontario could check his or her electricity bill and clear this up. It has been a long time since I lived in Ontario and a lot has changed.
    John

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  • #
    Rod Stuart

    Warwick Hughes claims that AEMO is fudging electricity prices, just like the temperature.

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  • #
    pat

    hear, hear…

    14 Oct: Hollywood Reporter: Alex Ritman: Leonardo DiCaprio Urged to Step Down From UN Climate Change Role
    A rainforest charity calls on the star to either denounce his connection to individuals involved in a Malaysian corruption scandal and return laundered money he allegedly received or give up his role.
    In perhaps the biggest attack on Leonardo DiCaprio’s environmental credibility, a rainforest charity on Friday called on the actor to give up his title as UN Messenger of Peace with a special focus on climate change.
    At a press conference in London, the Bruno Manser Funds offered DiCaprio an ultimatum: either he renounce his connections to the “politically exposed persons” at the center of the multi-billion dollar 1MDB Malaysian corruption scandal now being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department and return corrupt money he allegedly received or resign from the position he was given by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon in 2014.
    “If DiCaprio is unwilling to come clean, we ask him to step down as UN Messenger for Peace for climate change, because he simply lacks the credibility for such an important role,” said Lukas Straumann, director of the Switzerland-based charity, which has a particular focus on deforestation in Malaysia…
    The press conference took place the morning DiCaprio was confirmed as attending the BFI London Film Festival for Saturday’s European premiere of his environmental documentary Before the Flood…
    http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/leonardo-dicaprio-urged-step-down-938314

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  • #
    el gordo

    ‘At the close of a week that began with him trailing by seven points, Donald Trump still holds a slight lead over Hillary Clinton in today’s White House Watch survey despite a flurry of news reports alleging a history of sexual harassment on his part.’

    Rasmussen Reports

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    • #
      bobl

      People generally don’t like pile-ons. too much like bullying for most people. With the democrats doing the bullying there is a good chance that Trump will actually pick up minorities that identify with being bullied by the government.

      I think Trump should let the dems explode with hate and focus on the policy points though. He could use the words “they are trying to bully me just like the dems bully you”. This is a really good time to draw a association between himself as the underdog and disadvantaged groups. Is this how you will be treated by a Clinton Whitehouse?

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    • #
      Lord Jim

      I trust you have been reading the Wikileak drop on Podesta’s email.
      Hillary’s 33,000 coming soon.

      BREAKING WIKILEAKS 6 EMAILS: Confirms Hillary Clinton Deserves Espionage Act Indictment For Emails
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHK_enwTSlQ&feature=youtu.be

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  • #
    el gordo

    ‘Contracts worth £122m to keep coal and gas-fired power stations on standby will help Britain avoid electricity blackouts this winter, National Grid has forecast, highlighting the difficulties facing the UK as it attempts to wean its power sector off fossil fuels.’

    Financial Times

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  • #
    • #
      David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

      Thanks for that.
      I find there two paragraphs compelling:

      electricity prices for Ontarians started taking off in 2009 when the province embarked on its Green Energy Act (GEA), which subsidizes renewable electricity (wind, solar, etc.) by providing producers long-term prices at above-market rates.

      In addition to the large growth in electricity prices, the GEA has forced Ontario to export power at a loss and pay approximately double for wind power and more than triple for solar power than is typical in the United States. To make matters worse, the high energy costs burdening Ontario households came with limited environmental benefits, which could have been achieved in a much more cost-effective manner.
      Cheers,
      Dave B

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    Graham

    Jo, a slightly off topic question, is there any published research on exactly how much fossil fuel has really been save with the addition of all the renewables. I realise there are many statements on how much fossil fuel generated electricity has been replaced by renewable generated electricity however in the real world the fossil fuel generators generally keep running and hence continue to use fuel even when the wind is blowing.
    So I guess my question is, what is the real reduction in CO2 output as opposed to the theoretical reduction, or is this something no one wants to talk about.

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    • #

      It’s a really difficult question. There are some estimates, but people disagree on Lifetime Emissions of renewables because it should include the manufacture as well as disposal at end of life. Same with solar, but even knowing how long these things will operate for is subject to dispute.

      As more renewables are tossed in to the Grid their is less and less reduction of CO2 because the inefficiencies of the backups increase.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Graham,
      it is always ASSUMED that %renewables = % emission reduction, which is nonsense as you point out.
      At low levels of renewables (<3%) the flexibility of the typical conventional grid would mean this was the case, but as the percentage renewables goes up, the 'savings' are less and less. Germany has rushed into renewables even more than South Australia but its emissions were the same in 2015 as in 2009. Germany has the advantage of multiple interconnectors and access to much hydro (Norway, Sweden, Austria, France and their own hydro capacity) so if there was any benefit in high levels of renewables it doesn't show. What a high level does do is change the composition of conventional generation e.g. wind swamping the grid has forced CCGT plants in Germany out of business so at least 2 nearly new ones are being dismantled and relocated to other countries. So lower emission but higher cost methods are displaced by higher emission but cheaper coal fired.
      Also, as in SA the interconnectors allow some emissions to take place elsewhere. So the main effect of renewables is to force up the cost of electricity.

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  • #
    TdeF

    There are issues which dominate the political domain and of no concern for the majority of people living in free societies with lots of electrical power? These include gay marriage and global warming now Climate change. So why the push?

    These are both attacks on what would be seen as conservative society. Global Warming one has no basis in fact as the world is not warming at all but Left governments around the world are pushing it and pushing up electricity prices. Why? How?

    Fundamentally it is about control. The successful Western philosophy so hated by the avowed communists of Greenpeace is that the market should determine prices, not politicians. Prices are power, taxes, control.

    So who controls the means of production in our modern world? Electricity companies. However taxing them directly and pushing up prices would be unacceptable, so Left governments around the world have a cunning and effective legal device.

    They legislate a minimum price to be paid by private companies which must buy wind power. They also legislate a minimum quantity, a ‘renewables target’, say 20%, 30% or even now as Labor Party policy in Australia, 50% must come from wind!

    What this means is that from Ontario to South Australia, the Labor Party,a political party sets electricity prices, a huge invisible tax which does nothing except pay for unreliable, unmaintainable, unsustainable wind power and shuts reliable, long term and low maintenance and far cheaper coal stations.

    Why? Now politicians effectively set electricity prices and availability in the name of sustainability, climate change. As if they care! They are the pretend good guys, even when the whole thing comes crashing down as it will. In fact they are killing manufacturing, punishing private owners, shutting down society and taking all control and power to themselves and the unions, shut out of power control in the privatization of the 1990s. In the 1990s we had many blackouts through Union strikes. Now it is done at a government level.

    Through devious Green legislation, absurd Green targets, politicians now control the means of production and electricity prices and people thank them for it? It is a sham, a total deceit. Labor unions now control electricity prices and it has no other purpose.

    Then you have to gasp at deception with SA Premier Weatherill’s claim that it is the failure of the (private) electricity market was the problem and is forcing up prices and restricting supply while he is blowing up power stations. Closing Victoria’s Hazelwood which supplies SA, NSW and Tasmania will be the crowning glory for Union control of power, the means of production.

    This is not about saving the planet. It never was.

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    • #
      bobl

      Tdef,
      I think you are drawing a tenuous link. You are right about one thing, the CT was essentially an ENERGY TAX, it was applied to ALL electricity,not just wind and solar but it’s not about overt control of production, however it is about riding the coattails of an accidental traction to gain power/influence.

      Global warming came about by accident, it was a greens inflated balloon like whales, or GMO or Nukes or Ozone holes that accidentally got traction with the public, now all manner of entities hang on the coattails of this accidental boogeyman looking for advantage – The biggest beneficiary of the accident is the greens, that finally managed to get into parliament (power/influence) on the coattails of the CAGW boogeyman. CAGW is an existential threat for the greens, they know that if CAGW goes the way of the dodo and they are shown to be earthian nutcases (See senator Brown’s speech) then their parliamentary vote goes with it – therefore by all means possible it must be kept alive.

      Knowing this it’s a travesty that the Libs and even Labour governments haven’t removed this underpinning of the green “movement”. The blame goes mostly to the UN and Labour for appeasing the kooks (Cooks?)- giving them what they want (Power/Influence).

      Another major problem for society is that the public service tends to attract those who are do-gooders, people who have pet ideologies they want to impose to “Do good”. They have “High EQ minds” they tend to take emotional belief over hard facts and they have fixed ideas about how, for example the do-gooders want to UNINVENT nuclear weapons, but that’s childish, you can’t unknow something. Once Santa Claus is exposed you really can’t go back to the belief. The only way to get rid of Nuclear weapons is to invent weapons that are better than them or to invent a foolproof defence. For example if these weapons could be reliably detonated in the airspace of the launcher they would become obsolete. The do-gooders need to be able to think deeper, look at consequences, do cost-benefit properly (not by exaggerating the costs, and ignoring all the benefits).

      AGW is the same, sending civilisation back 300 years to windmill power is not going to be the solution, instead it has been shown that wealth, abundant cheap energy is the solution to overpopulation, deforestation, and preserving nature. The do-gooders through are so transfixed on the regressive solution (80% of earths human population must die) to see the progressive ones (Wealthy people don’t need many children to support them when they are old). Wealthy societies naturally have negative population/pollution growth and they don’t need to burn the trees to keep warm.

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        TdeF

        That is the nicest interpretation, that everyone means well. Populism. Do gooders. Sure, they exist, but in the Labor party?

        I do not think that applies in Australia to the Green senators who control this country or the Labor party now demanding 50% wind power Nationally by 2030. (Forget solar, hydro, wave, hot rocks). This is in the face of the obvious fact that, as Dr. Tom Quirk notes as self evident, anything over 20% is dangerous, unstable and a complete waste of money.

        This is not the work of do gooders or accidental or misunderstanding. This is official Labor Party policy. You would have to explain that first and why it like the NBN is so important to the Labor party. The incredible $100Bn NBN was control of all information. The 50% is political control of all power. We have 14 years to save our country, according to just announced Labor party policy. No, it is about control of information and the means of production.

        This is politician led policy. So what is their motivation for so much self harm, exemplified by Weatherill who has so deliberately damaged his state? What is the actual benefit to the 1.67million people of South Australia? None. Nothing. Zilch. Does he care?

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          Bobl

          Then,
          I think you are mistaking political opportunism for some grand plan. This is just an accident, they are looking into a widely held quasi religious belief system that suits their emotional need to appear virtuous. Unions are the same, they appear virtuous on the surface but really are just opportunists looking to dominate others, they don’t care about the issue, it’s just influence for influence sake. A case of the end justifies the means. Collectivism is like that, they don’t care what happens to individuals as long as they get to own the collective. To legitimize the corruption beneath. For example wwf, greenslime and oxfam sell climate indulgences, stamps you can put on products to say that are virtuous.

          High EQ people end up being the useful idiots to these totalitarians. Sad but true.

          Having said that even though I don’t think this is an intentional intervention to control the internet or production, I do agree that this has that social danger that the greenies may use it that way at some point.

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        OriginalSteve

        Unfortunately, I think TdeF is close to spot on with this – the general push is to establish communism, however the only way it can happen is if both “sides” of politicians are in on it. The pinkos worked out that the only way to bring the west down was from inside, undermining it. America is suffering this, we have a champers socialist, and Canada well….
        Energy is the weakest point, so the communist attack that. COmmunism hates the middle class, so push energy prices up, everything goes up, middle class gets choked off. You have then Politburo and serfs.

        The old paradigm is gone – forget “left” and “right” politics – all that is theatre to preserve the illusion of democracy. Both sides are now controlled by the globalists, and the globalists want communism and total crushing control of everything globally to hide their crimes.

        Which brings us to the UN – the UN is communist and anti-Christian , anti-Israel, anti-conservatism. And all govts of the world cant lick its boot fast enough – why? Coz they are all in on it. Simple.

        I’m sorry if this is a lot to get peoples heads around but your govts are now just controlled shells by the globalists.

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      So true,TdeF, seems like Gramsci’s long march through the
      institutions to gain control of the means of production via
      control and consensus by one social group over the rest of
      society is well underway. His insight of control by a group
      of intellectual progressives achieving dominion over other
      intellectuals and hegemony of private institutions, churches,
      trade unions etc, and public (coercive) institutions, state,
      bureaucracies and education is being realized. Gramsci saw his
      plan of creating ‘a society of solidarity maintained as long
      as ‘the professional class remains progressive.’

      https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/periodicals/theoretical-review/1982301.htm

      Your CAGW climate science, requiring expensive, inefficient energy
      and regulative dismantling of Capitalism’s Industrial Revolution,is
      a very convenient untruth disseminating in schools and medja,…
      kinda’ like Plato’s ‘noble, necessary lie’ of the metals in men,
      necessary, that is, to achieve his hierarchical and static ‘back-
      to-the-Golden-Age society.

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      Steve Richards

      I am sure that the real problem is that electrical distributors are legally obliged to buy wind electricity whenever available, at specified high costs.

      I suspect that 99% of all politicians, in all countries, do not have a clue about engineering, business or economics, they could not foresee that efficient and reliable production from conventional sources would be priced out of the market.

      Germany is an extreme current case of interest. There usual efficient nature can only have been overruled by an influx of green politicians who won the day.

      Luckily these things sort themselves out eventually. Lets hope that any of the suffering public are not injured too greatly.

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        TdeF

        “electrical distributors are legally obliged to buy wind electricity whenever available, at specified high costs.”

        Exactly.

        This effectively puts a Green/Left government in charge of electricity prices, but no one sees it. It is presented as a ‘subsidy’ paid by the consumer to save the planet. A massive tax on consumers which does not come from the Government budget. It goes into building and running windmills we do not want or need.

        For example in the Royal Commission in Australia into the Unions, it was revealed that Unions set the price of every concrete pour in Canberra. This is no less outrageous than Union controlled Labor directly setting the price of your electricity. That’s no market.

        At Union leader Shorten’s 50% ‘renewables’ it means complete control of electricity prices by stealth, forcing the closure of all privatized coal power stations as they lose their turnover and cannot charge these inflated prices. We lose forever our cheap, reliable energy and get Union energy at our own great cost and at prices decided by politicians, far higher than we have been paying or should be paying. All because of Global Warming? No. What does that matter to politicians?

        Why else blow up reliable steady cheap power stations which took decades to build? Why destroy working infrastructure? It’s all about power, political power and no one notices. It is in a good cause, except no one can explain how
        South Australians benefit at all from their massive disaster.

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          OriginalSteve

          Its called putting a wedge in the door to stop it closing in insane green energy prices, but it also establishes a floor.

          My hope is that people will realize they have been hijacked by the communist academics and govt shills, and steadfastly return to conservatism.

          That said, from my Conservative Biblical Christian perspective, this may be the actual mechanism that allows the prophesised Antichrist to rise and rule the globe with an iron fist.

          The first 3.5 years he is a smooth talking statesman able to solve intractable problems,
          the second 3.5 years he is his true genocidal madman self.
          Where does he rule from ? Probably the UN.

          Interestingly, Isaiah 17:1-3 has just been fulfilled – Damascus is now a ruin.
          Damascus has been inhabited since biblical times.

          A prophecy against Damascus:
          “See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins.
          2
          The cities of Aroer will be deserted and left to flocks, which will lie down, with no one to make them afraid.
          3
          The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and royal power from Damascus;
          the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the Israelites,”
          declares the Lord Almighty.

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    pat

    14 Oct: Local, Germany: Renewables costing German households ever more cash
    Germans will be paying 8.3 percent more to subsidize the renewable energy industry in 2017, after grid operators announced that households will be paying 6.88 cents for every kilowatt hour of energy used to fund renewables.
    The previous subsidy was 6.35 cents per kilowatt hour, Bild reports (LINK)…
    In order to encourage companies to invest in green energy, the German government has guaranteed firms a stable income for 20 years after a green energy source is connected to the grid.
    But when the market price of electricity falls, households and companies make up the costs through a legal mechanism called the EEG levy.
    When this mechanism was first introduced in 2000, households were paying 0.19 cents a kilowatt hour, meaning a 36-fold increase between then and now…
    “The EGG levy is growing this year four times faster than the economy,” Ulrich Grillo, head of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) told Bild.
    “The current subsidy system is running out of control.”
    Michael Fuchs, deputy leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) faction in the Bundestag (German parliament), meanwhile lamented that the overall subsidies accounted for more than the entire budget of the federal Transport Ministry.
    “We need an independent agency which sets prices for the Energiewende,” he told Bild. “And we need an upper limit for subsidies.”
    https://www.thelocal.de/20161014/energiewende-costing-german-households-ever-more-cash

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    pat

    give it up, BBC:

    14 Oct: BBC: Google News launches fact check label
    Fact check will appear with other news organisations in Google News and will, Google says, “shine a light on its efforts to divide fact from fiction”.
    Richard Gingras, Google’s head of news, added it will “help readers find fact checking in large news stories”.
    He said sites which already have a fact checking service can apply to be included to appear in search results…
    Google will determine whether a fact check is needed for a news story using the claim review (LINK) technique…
    According to the the Duke University Reporter’s Lab (LINK), there are more than 100 fact checking sites online including the BBC’s own Reality Check (LINK)…
    However, not all fact check sites run by algorithm have been as fortunate when it comes to fulfilling their intended purpose.
    Facebook overhauled the Trending feature on its site (LINK) in August to make posts more automated after claims of left-wing bias.
    Google’s fact check comes in time for the final run-up to next month’s US presidential election. The New York Times also has a fact check site which is keeping tabs on the campaign for the Oval Office.
    http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37657524

    14 Oct: Washington Examiner: Paul Bedard: #RIPJournalism: Trust falls, Gallup 32%, Pew 18%, Facebook 12%, press group 6%
    Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s claim that the mainstream media can’t be trusted is bolstered by at least four polls showing that as few as 6 percent have full confidence in what the press is writing and showing on TV.
    Pew, Gallup, Facebook, Rasmussen, and the American Press Institute have all recorded new lows in media trust, dismal results that bolster Trump’s charges that TV and the press are throwing “outright lies” at him…
    “Let’s be clear on one thing, the corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism – they are a political special interest no different from a lobbyist,” Trump said Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. “Their agenda is to elect crooked Hillary Clinton at any cost, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy.”…
    ***Rasmussen said that voters distrust media fact-checkers. “Just 29 percent of all Likely U.S. Voters trust media fact-checking of candidates’ comments. Sixty-two percent believe instead that news organizations skew the facts to help candidates they support,” said the firm….
    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trust-in-media-gallup-32-pew-18-facebook-12-press-group-6/article/2604545

    14 Oct: WashingtonFreeBeacon: Podesta linked up Google’s Executive Chairman and Cheryl Mills, Robby Mook
    Google was accused of manipulating search results for Hillary
    by Joe Schoffstall
    Schmidt also quietly funds a data company that provides services to the Clinton campaign…
    Despite Schmidt’s publicly neutral stance on the election, he has provided funding to The Groundwork, a data startup that provides services to Clinton’s campaign.
    Michael Slaby, the former chief integration and innovation officer for Obama’s campaign, is the cofounder of Timshel, the company that developed The Groundwork. The Groundwork’s website does does not provide any information on its data services and only displays a logo.
    Hillary Clinton’s campaign has paid The Groundwork almost $600,000 for “technology services” since the campaign’s inception, filings show. Hillary for America appears to be the only committee that pays The Groundwork this election cycle…
    http://freebeacon.com/politics/podesta-linked-googles-executive-chairman-cheryl-mills-robby-mook/

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    el gordo

    Australia’s climate hasn’t changed much over a century, consecutive dry spells are becoming uncommon and extreme rainfall is a non-event.

    https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2016/10/14/extreme-rainfall-trends-in-australia/

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    clipe

    http://ieso.ca/

    0.86 ¢/kWh

    Current Hourly Price at 9:00 p.m. EST

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    Amber

    The Creepy Climate Clowns (CCC) hit Ontario and the Premier dropped all the tax payers candy and ran .

    Beware the CCC are on your doorstep Australia . Hopefully you have better luck than the dimwit politicians in Ontario .

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    Senex

    The unelected, unaccountable advisor Gerald Butts was the key architect of Ontario’s “green” energy policies behind this debacle. Butts has since moved on and is now a principal (still unelected and unaccountable) advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and is believed to be the “brains” behind the Federal Government’s renewed focus on “Climate Change” and imposing a national “price on carbon”.

    We’re stuffed.

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    • #
      OriginalSteve

      It would be interesting to see how / what / who he’s connected to….

      If hes connected to the Establishment, its a stitch up…better buy your red flags & little red books now….

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    Manfred

    How is it still so incredibly cheap ask Aussies?

    In NZ, Meridian is now charging 26c per KWhr domestic rate. Time to invest!
    Given that all domestic power in NZ is covered by renewables namely hydro-generation chiefly with some geo-thermal and a whiff of wind, the lions share of the generation is from dependable hydro, mostly built by the tax-payer but recently sold to private corps. While people nonsensically put rows of PV panels on their roofs at mind-bending cost and mind-inverting inefficiency, they could instead purchase power company shares and enjoy an annual dividend that would take care of their annual power bill.

    I’ve found it works rather well thus far.

    Then I read this: Vineyard harvests sun to power wine:

    Yealands Wine Group installed 918 solar panels at its Seaview Vineyard to bring its total to 1314. The vineyard is now capable of generating 411.12kW of solar power, the equivalent of powering 86 homes.

    My understanding was that this is a $1M installation and it is proposed to generate about 30% of the power needs of the company, who clearly consider this an economical and worthwhile endeavour.
    PowerSmart is the company that installed the PV panels and according to their website state:

    PowerSmart maintains ownership of the solar electricity system and has an exclusive 20-year agreement to sell the electricity generated to Yealands Wine Group. Because PowerSmart owns the system, we are responsible for all monitoring and maintenance.

    With PowerSmart GOLD a solar electricity system is installed on the roof of the commercial building and the business agrees to buy all power it produces at a fixed rate for up to 20 years. Because the business is only buying solar power and you DON’T OWN the solar electricity system there is no need to worry about any ongoing maintenance.

    The way the scheme works is hinted at here.
    I wonder what the agreed fixed unit cost per KWhr is?

    The grid is always present to take up the slack, be it declining PV efficiency or poor weather. There was little or no capital investment it seems. PowerSmart GOLD must therefore know that the cost of grid power will continue to rise year on year. How?
    There’s altogether too little information to extract the meat. So for the moment, I’ll stick to dividend yielding powershare investment.

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      Bobl

      I pointed out to my member how I could use a diesel generator a battery and solar panels and go off grid at current cost and come out better off.

      You use the input credits from the dollar to buy your diesel and only run the generator to charge batteries.

      I made the point that they have made electricity so expensive that they have undermined its economics. The business model is on the verge of collapse as people and businesses can now off grid at parity cost.

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      • #
        David Maddison

        I would be interested in some figures on that Bobl. What do you calculate the cost per kWh?

        Also, there are generators you can run off tour home natural gas supply so you don’t have to worry about refuelling like with diesel. One brand is Generac.

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        • #
          David Maddison

          That’s “your” not “tour”.

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        • #
          Bobl

          I did some analysis and break even was about 30c per kwh if you don’t earn input credits. If you have solar feed in at 50c then you can sell ALL of your solar generation. A 3kw system will earn you about $5 a day. $5 buys you about 6lt or 5kg of diesel, a diesel engine gets around 1kwh per 280g or around 3.5kwh per litre. So your solar energy sales fund around 18 kwh of electricity. This is enough to power my house on the better days. Even on the worst days (30kwh) we would only need to fork out for around 3lt of fuel, around $2.70 which puts cost at under 10c per kwh.

          Of course there is the cloudy days where you don’t get the income, on those days it’s around 90/3 or 30c per kwh.

          Cost of diesel assumes the ex tax off road fuel rebate applies.

          This ignores capex, but that is pretty minimal because the battery system doesn’t need to be big since you can recharge many times a day.

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        I don’t know the kWh figures, but a multi large centre pivot lucerne grower I built an additional 250 Ml irrigation storage cell for has recently purchased a large V8 Perkins diesel generator, I think around 700 hp, maybe 400 kVa, because his line rental trip costs of $5,000/month were making him miss water available on his license.
        This came about if there was a pumpable fresh in the river, and he wanted to start pumping say on the 28th of a month, and finish on the 3rd of the next month, the dead $10,000 “line use” cost was prohibitive. If you use the grid for a whole month, the prior cheap cost of mains 3 phase was much cheaper than diesel, but for only a week out of 2 months, the line costs made it far more expensive.
        To his surprise, the diesel generator came out cheaper than the mains power. The fall in Diesel prices from around $1.30/l on farm to about $0.65/l obviously helped, and that has since corrected a bit though hopefully the oil sands projects continue to keep OPEC from reestablishing monopoly price control over oil. Also, he has had constant trouble with load balancing on his 3 phase pump motors, and they often trip and go off in the night, disrupting the irrigation and then the mowing/raking/baling cycle. This does not happen with his big generator running smoothly. Also line voltage fluctuations have reduced now that he is running most of his pumps on his own power. He is thinking seriously about buying another smaller generator, maybe 150 kVa, and just going off grid altogether. I’ll try and find out his estimate of his diesel costs and kWh produced. If he does proceed, its a sad day for our economy in rural NSW. It would still be cheaper for a regular heavy power user to stay on the grid, but intermittent users like irrigators are all having to asses the constant price rises, especially the ridiculous supply costs, and they will act if they are forced to. It might produce some independence from the lunacy of the state governments damaging the grid as they are.

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  • #
    pat

    15 Oct: Courier Mail: Des Houghton: Opinion: Labor’s renewable energy target will add billions to power bills
    DID anyone else notice that Energy Minister Mark Bailey became a fully-fledged green activist this week?
    It happened when he turned his back on the Queensland resources industry that has powered the state’s prosperity for more than a century.
    Bailey’s “credible pathways” renewable energy spiel may have sounded virtuous but it left little doubt that the ALP was willing to expose Queenslanders to blackouts and send power bills soaring to appease the obnoxious Greens.
    Despite commendable advances in solar and wind-generated electricity, renewables just don’t cut it and coal and gas-fired power will be around for decades.
    Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls was especially blunt:
    “The Renewable Energy Taskforce report seeks to ­justify Labor’s ideological ­obsession with green energy rather than tell the truth that it will add billions of dollars to Queenslanders’ power bills,” he said…
    And while Bailey was busy spruiking the green gospel, he completely missed the biggest energy triumph in Australian history. It was happening right under his nose.
    Origin Energy shipped the first cargo from its second production train from its $24.7 billion Australia Pacific LNG plant in Gladstone – the most expensive fully operational ­resource project in Australia to date…
    Bailey and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk should have been in Gladstone cheering…READ ALL
    http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/opinion-labors-renewable-energy-target-will-add-billions-to-power-bills/news-story/c777379454bab348d347aadb76212801

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    pat

    15 Oct: Australian: Gerard Henderson: Offended Left claims exclusive right to freedom of expression
    And so it has come to this. Ben ­Eltham, a Deakin University academic and national affairs editor for the left-wing newsletter New Matilda, has taken ABC political editor Chris Uhlmann to the ABC’s complaints department.
    On September 29, following Uhlmann’s article about the ­recent power blackout in South Australia, Eltham tweeted: “I’ve lodged a complaint with the ABC about this Chris Uhlmann article on the SA blackout. I argue it is ­inaccurate.”
    In a series of rants on Twitter, Eltham accused Uhlmann of “pushing an anti-­renewable line”.
    In fact, in his article on one of the biggest power failures in Australian history, Uhlmann did not oppose renewable energy. He simply pointed out that certain engineering problems can arise as power grids use less base power (coal and gas) and more renewables (wind and solar). The Australian Energy Market Operator has yet to finalise its report on South Australia’s “black system event”. So, at this stage, it would be unwise to make conclusions in this area.
    But not for Eltham. The academic and journalist has declared Uhl­­mann inaccurate and he has gone to the ABC’s audience and con­sumer affairs department for a ruling. It’s a bit like a student row being taken to the principal by one of the contending parties.
    Eltham’s action is but one manifestation of the growing ­intolerance within university ­social science departments and large sections of the media…READ ALL
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/gerard-henderson/offended-left-claims-exclusive-right-to-freedom-of-expression/news-story/905045dde37cd75e45ce35ed012917ed

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  • #
    pat

    there is still work to be done to get the politicians to develop guidelines for wind farms, etc, so read the rest for detail:

    14 Oct: LeinsterLeader Ireland: Kildare campaigners welcome wind farm decision
    “Victory for local community”
    by Niamh O’Donoghue
    Campaigners fighting against plans for Kildare’s first ever wind farm have welcomed An Bord Pleanála’s decision to refuse permission for the Maighne development.
    “I am delighted with today’s decision. Kildare Environmental Awareness Group (KEAG) is absolutely thrilled. We would like to thank all the people in the community who rowed in behind us. We would also like to thank the politicians, who supported us,” said spokesperson, Shelia O’Brien.
    “I feel this is a just and correct decision. However, if the developer puts in another planning application, which happened in North Meath, we will be more than ready for them.”
    Ms O’Brien said a public meeting would be organised next week to discuss the decision with members of the community.
    Element Power was today refused permission to build 47 turbines up to 169 metres high through West Kildare up towards the north of the county over the Meath border.
    The turbines would have been located in townlands near Rathangan, Ballyteague, up towards Allenwood, Donadea, Johnstownbridge and Enfield.
    Meanwhile, former Deputy Emmet Stagg welcomed the decision as a vindication of the rights of the citizens of North West Kildare and stated “An Bord Pleanala had prevented the destruction of the rural landscape of North West Kildare and protected the amenities of the residents of the area.”…READ ALL
    http://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/news/219811/kildare-campaigners-welcome-wind-farm-decision.html

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    pat

    not being political, of course!!! not to mention hypocritical…

    15 Oct: UK Daily Mail: AFP: DiCaprio issues climate action call in new documentary
    As the inter-governmental Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rises comes into force on November 4, the US actor calls on individuals to examine their own habits and use their vote wisely to tackle the issue…
    “We are quickly running out of time,” said DiCaprio, who also co-produced the film…

    DiCaprio, who has been named a United Nations “messenger of peace” on climate change, attacks giant corporations and politicians — especially Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump — for their stance on climate change.
    He targets those he says orchestrate campaigns of media disinformation and lobby hard to block reforms that would better look after the environment.
    From former US president Bill Clinton and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to Pope Francis, DiCaprio interviews powerful leaders on the chances of avoiding climate disaster.
    US President Barack Obama voices cautious optimism, calling action against climate change “a national security issue”…

    ***He urges people to stop consuming palm oil-based products, replace some of our reliance on beef and chicken with vegetables and “vote to tell that we know the truth about climate change”.
    On the political front, he defends the need for a carbon tax, hails the development of solar and wind power, and enthuses about the megafactory of South African visionary Elon Musk, producing electric car batteries…
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3839342/DiCaprio-issues-climate-action-call-new-documentary.html

    14 Oct: UK Daily Mail: Shyam Dodge: ‘He is part of the problem’: Leonardo DiCaprio is urged by rain forest charity to step down from UN role due to ‘connection with embezzlers’
    Rain forest charity Bruno Manser Funds urged Dicaprio to step down from UN role due to connection with allegedly corrupt investors
    Two Malaysian businessmen are accused of using money embezzled from their country’s sovereign wealth fund to fund DiCaprio’s projects
    Jho Low, 35, allegedly used the money to pay for champagne at a DiCaprio fundraiser, and to buy art from a charity auction he held
    Riza Aziz is accused of using the money to bankroll The Wolf of Wall Street
    Other charities are now urging DiCaprio to give back the ‘dirty money’
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3838775/Leonardo-DiCaprio-urged-rain-forest-charity-step-role-connection-embezzlers.html

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    pat

    there’s quite a lot of MSM coverage of the Bruno Manser Funds call for DiCaprio to step Down From UN Climate Change Role but, given the docu’s references to PALM OIL, it’s a shame none of it is drawing attention to that element of the story.

    also Bruno Manser Funds had already called out DiCaprio weeks ago apparently.

    btw The 1MDB fund is struggling to repay more than $11 billion in debt (WSJ, Reuters).

    12 Sept: Hollywood Reporter: Alex Ritman: Human Rights Activist, Charity Demand Leonardo DiCaprio Return “Ill-Gotten” Donations
    Save Rivers, which is active in Malaysia, and Ambiga Sreenevasan, recipient of the U.S. International Women of Courage Award, are the latest to speak out about money linked to a corruption scandal.
    Leonardo DiCaprio dropped by the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday to present the world premiere of his latest environmental doc Before the Flood, directed by Fisher Stevens, to a packed audience at the Princess of Wales theater…
    But the very same day Before the Flood bowed at TIFF, another charity added its voice to a growing list of organizations and activists criticizing DiCaprio’s association with individuals connected to a major corruption scandal and called on him to return millions of dollars in donations made to his environmental charity…
    (Peter Kallang of Save Rivers) argues that the billion dollars of debt stemming from the 1MDB scandal — “not only a case of embezzlement but stealing from the poor” — will be borne by the Malaysian taxpayers. “The money could have been put into good use for bringing infrastructure to the neglected part of the country like the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.”

    Meanwhile, Ambiga Sreenevasan, a prominent Malaysian lawyer and human rights advocate who in 2009 was honored by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with the U.S. International Women of Courage Award, also spoke out.
    “Imagine our shock — and embarrassment — to learn that a man whom we admire and respect is connected with the heist of the decade that has undermined the [Malaysian] people in so many ways,” she wrote in an open letter to DiCaprio on Monday…”How then can you remain silent in the face of this travesty?”…
    Sreenevasan pointed to the economic fallout from the 1MDB scandal, including major budget cuts to essential services such as hospitals and educational establishments, the reduction in student scholarships, and a drop in the value of the local currency.
    “The 1MDB debt is so huge that our children and grandchildren will be stuck paying for it. How anyone could have used the people’s money in a manner that benefited themselves and burdened the people, is truly beyond me,” she wrote…

    ***The demands from Save Rivers and Sreenevasan come just weeks after the Bruno Manser Funds, a rainforest charity working in Sarawak, became the first to openly urge DiCaprio to return donations made to his foundation connected to 1MDB and also his Wolf of Wall Street earnings.
    ***In Before the Flood, DiCaprio visits the rainforests of Sumatra in Indonesia, left devastated after being burned down to make room for palm oil manufacturing.
    ***In Malaysia, the world’s second-biggest producer of palm oil, many have directly linked the 1MDB scandal with rainforest deforestation.
    “I urge you to come to Malaysia. We are close to Indonesia, where your foundation is doing some work. See for yourself if what I am saying is true,” added Sreenevasan. “Check out how massive corruption has destroyed so much in our country, including our precious rainforests. Get to know us so that you understand why keeping even one cent of money connected with 1MDB would be immoral and completely unacceptable.”…
    http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/human-rights-activist-charity-demand-927822

    DiCaprio is an A-list hypocrite.

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    pat

    NOTE: US$11 BILLION.

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    el gordo

    ‘Climate Prediction Center deputy director Mike Halpert forecasts a 70 percent chance that La Nina will arrive next month. Conditions — mostly cooling of the central Pacific — are almost there, but not quite.

    ‘Forecasters had long expected this La Nina, but last month conditions reversed and forecasters called their La Nina watch off. Now it’s back on.’

    New York Times

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    Nicola Timmerman

    Ontario is using less than half of electricity generating capacity of Niagara Falls while paying for energy it doesn’t need from wind and solar sources. It also failed to buy cheap and green hydro electricity from Quebec back when Ontario didn’t have a surplus of electricity.

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    John Watt

    As an old time Queensland power supply system employee I find the current renewables debate displays ignorance of the real world of energy supply on several fronts.
    Why interfere with a well- organised, secure ,reliable energy supply system? Do we have a cheaper ,more reliable alternative available? Clearly not. Why are our politicians are too lazy to get their heads around the reality of electricity supply system operation? What does it take to make them realise that random energy contributions from any source are a nightmare for a stable, secure electricity supply system? Would they agree to an ADF made up of random militia units?
    Why ignore introduction of latest fossil fuel technology? One of the excuses we are given for Queensland’s setting a high renewable contribution target is that the existing coal-fired plants are getting too old. This is a revelation that is obvious to only our political brains trust?

    Why do we need renewables? In the real world you simply keep a watching brief on the best solutions for particular situations. Renewables may have something to offer in some situations ( eg. small, remote loads) but like all new kids on the block they have to make their case. Renewables are just one of a number of available energy sources, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

    Why give preference to renewables? Have the “negatives” of fossil fuels been overestimated? Are our politicians too lazy to work through the basic arguments presented by Nicol , Evans and Svensmark? When will they become aware that the IPCC models and the righteous rantings of Flannery, Gore and Obama do not reflect the real world?

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    observa

    And here’s the quintessential problem for unreliables when they try to push the limits of electrochemical storage.
    Bearing in mind they only have pumping water uphill and storing energy in the form of calories historically.

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    Amber

    Nicola
    Quite right . Ontario politicians are some of the dumbest on the planet .
    Cancelling valid natural gas power projects so as to appear green and entering into
    bizarre “renewable ” contracts that produced less reliability and doubled the costs
    in a very short time .
    Ontario used to be the centre for manufacturing in Canada . Now any chief executive that
    wants to have their business survive has either left or has to consider it .
    Ontario is all about bigger and bigger government and has become a financial third world country
    basket case because of a series of stupid , naïve politicians .

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    Roy Hogue

    I’ve been alerted to a coming 14% increase in the price of electricity.

    No one is immune to this madness.

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    OriginalSteve

    I think were moving into the end game zone now – SA was a test – the Elite never do anything on a larger scale until they test it on a small scale first…..

    The green thing is a just a trojan horse for taking down the West via Communism.

    Why do you think also the Left love gun control? ( see twisted barrel status out from of Communist UN )
    Once no one can defend themselves, it will be like letting a bunch of wolves in amongst a pen of sheep…. be prepared….its coming.

    All the moving bits are being tested now. We have global tyrannical & punative anti-terror laws, internet filtering, control of newspapers, control of academia, control of business, control of govt, PC which controls free speech…….

    When will people get it?

    http://www.uhuh.com/nwo/communism/comgoals.htm

    Congressional Record–Appendix, pp. A34-A35

    January 10, 1963

    Current Communist Goals

    EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA

    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

    Thursday, January 10, 1963

    Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America.

    At Mrs. Nordman’s request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following “Current Communist Goals,” which she identifies as an excerpt from “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen:

    [From “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen]

    CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS

    1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

    2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

    3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

    4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

    5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

    6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

    7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

    8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev’s promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

    9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

    10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

    11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

    12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

    13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

    14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

    15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

    16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

    17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

    18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

    19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

    20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

    21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

    22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”

    23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”

    24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.

    25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

    26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”

    27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”

    28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”

    29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

    30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.”

    31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

    32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture–education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

    33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

    34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

    35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

    36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

    37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

    38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].

    39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

    40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

    41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

    42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use [“]united force[“] to solve economic, political or social problems.

    43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

    44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

    45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.

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    ScotsmaninUtah

    Our Politicians are just not using their brains

    A bunch of parasites fooled the Premier and they are getting rich by selling expensive electrons that are supposed to change the weather 50 years from now

    I did like the word “parasite” used here because I get the impression that we are all being fed on…

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    Amber

    More and more studies confirm the earth is greening at a massive rate. Satellite picture data is kind of hard to ignore .
    Could it get too green ? Is that why greenie groups want to stop the greening of the earth ?
    It will make them redundant and expose their true agenda . Now that would be scary . Mass population extermination ,
    Centralized Communist government , and the elimination of free speech .
    The greenies and the flim flam global warming creepy clowns picked the wrong fear to sell .
    Time to rebrand . Maybe a save the Panda campaign . Clearly they don’t mind the current Eagle massacre taking place .
    Global warming is good and as history shows it always has been while it lasts .

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      Rod Stuart

      A recent study from Japan, today on WUWT, maintains that greening in the past three decades have increased agricultural productivity by 14%, which is equivalent to adding twice the geographic size of the continental USA to the world’s food supply.

      00