Midweek Unthreaded

Tips and homeless ideas…

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160 comments to Midweek Unthreaded

  • #
    Another Ian

    Re German electricity

    “German utility company Tennet TSO spent almost a billion euros last year on emergency interventions to stabilize the grid.”

    More at

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2018/01/we-dont-need-no-672.html

    And link

    (This was originally posted O/T at the end of previous thread)

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  • #
    Aussieute

    BOM releases its Annual Climate Statement …. 2017 was Australia’s third-warmest year on record
    Lies, damn lies, statistics and BOM data
    http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/annual/aus/

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  • #
    Jim Barker

    For those seeking actual news on what is happening in the ongoing saga around President Trump see the excellent website:

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/

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    • #

      Sundance is very good but quickly bans any difference in opinion! This results in posters mostly ‘Praying to the Load’ rather than the needed vocal reloading like mad and letting the Soros banksters know it! Being clever and subtle goes only so far! High time to inform banksters they shall have no children, one way or another
      All the best! -will-

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  • #
    Bulldust

    So apparently our eminent weather bureau has released their annual climate narrative, I mean report, which The West says included such gems as:

    Perth’s 2016-17 summer was the city’s wettest on record, but rainfall fell short of the average for the rest of the year.
    Link: https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/was-year-of-flooding-rains-ng-b88707014z

    Having lived in Perth most of the year (I do take holidays away) it certainly seemed like a wettish one to me, but what do I know? So instead I look at the official record from Watercorp (easily accessible by Googling “rainfall Perth”), and lo and behold:

    https://www.watercorporation.com.au/water-supply/rainfall-and-dams/rainfall

    Not only was rainfall above the monthly average for six of the months, but it was also above the very long term average that Watercorp uses (goes back about 100 years if I recall correctly). Sure you could subtract that one crazy dump in February to bring it below average, but that’s not how statistics work… at least not if you’re being honest. How many of those years that constitute the average rainfall contained one or two crazy storms with 100mm dumps? You get the picture.

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  • #
    Graeme No.3

    I was reading The Australian this morning when I glanced at Graham Richardson’s column where he was chiding Chrostopher Pyne about his smirk. Suddenly I realised that the tentative plans I had were obsolete – I was going to release a Board Game about the Liberal Party – tentatively called The Game of Clones – with the three factions known as The Iron Guard, the Confusionists and the Hunts. In a flash I realised that the left wing of the Liberals would be far better named as The Smurks.
    One cannot take a trick these days.

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  • #

    I would like to start a thread on proper care and feeding of Li-ion, LiFePo cells\batteries. Such electrical power storage above 10 Whr (single 18650 cell), 36,000 Joules can be safe, just like a 30-06 cartridge can be safe if not thrown into fireplace.
    What say you?

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    • #
      Chad

      I would check what is already posted before youstart another thread.
      Sites such as Battery University, and Endless Sphere , and others, have plenty of info on the subject
      ….and much better thread/index structure to work in!.

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      • #

        Chad January 10, 2018

        I would check what is already posted before youstart another thread. Sites such as Battery University, and Endless Sphere , and others, have plenty of info on the subject

        I disagree A cheep china 18650 cell has less power storage than an alkaline AA cell. A Samsung\Panasonic cell does indeed store more power than my measured .375 H&H magnum rounds. The hazard is in (batteries) series connected cells that are not properly charged
        \discharged\balanced. I would appreciate your thoughtful consideration.

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        • #
          Chad

          Sure,..a cheap chinese 18650 cell may have zero energy content….there are many fake cells being offered,
          But genuine branded cells are easy to source and if you know what you are doing, that are safe to handle and use. Selection of the correct Cell chemistry is important for specific applications
          There is much already online regarding selecting, testing, installing , building series parallel packs, charging, BMS use, monitoring, etc etc.
          RC forums , Vaping sites, flashlight forums, etc ..all have years of testing and experience with Lithium cells.
          Most lithium battery “accidents”. are the result of human error.

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          • #

            Most lithium battery “accidents”. are the result of human error.

            Thank you Chad. I agree and the reason for a nice thread discussion here at JoNova! Most “weapon accidents” are shooting your kneecap off when dronk! Be careful! 🙂

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      • #

        But genuine branded cells are easy to source and if you know what you are doing, that are safe to handle and use.

        Again I agree! A good Li-ion cells can discharge at electrical current rates similar to a Pb Auto battery starting that cold engine. Not something most folk would put in their pocket along with the same sized 50 caliber machine gun rounds. Safety can be obtained but not via brainwashed ignorance!
        All the best!-will-

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  • #
    Sambar

    Just heared on the local radio station that a/ 2017 third hottest year on record and b/ Great Barrier reef has experienced UNPRECENDTED second year in a row of coral bleaching. This unprecended bleaching could not even be found ” In the tradional owners records”. Wow, I just used to think that the numerous tribal groups along the GBR only had oral histories, didn’t realize that they kept notes of bleaching events, sea levels, tropical cyclones etc. though it was more like Joe married Flo. Uncle Horace was a great warrior.
    Re 2017 being ” third hottest” where I live, in a low part of the Victorian high country, last winter was COLD, lots of wood heaters in my area. Many, many people ran out of wood before winters end

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    • #
      scaper...

      I saw bleaching in the sixties when I was a child. Played on a tennis court made of crushed dead coral. Nothing new.

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    • #

      Sambar

      “on record” means nothing is known about 99.999% of Earth’s climate history

      the record is very short with haphazard measurements too !

      Starting with few measurements in the 1800s
      with 1800s thermometers that tend to read low vs. modern thermometers,
      with few Southern Hemisphere measurements before 1940,
      it is slightly warmer than in 1880.

      So what?

      That’s good news !

      The average temperature of our planet is ALWAYS changing.

      It was too cool in The Little Ice Age centuries

      A little warming since 1880, mainly at night
      in higher latitudes, is welcome and wonderful
      in a mild uptrend or downtrend

      And even better the Earth is greening again !

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  • #
    Another Ian

    “THE VOODOO SCIENCES”

    https://www.jerrypournelle.com/science/voodoo.html

    Note the dates

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    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      Ah yes. Economics.

      The Economics Faculty at the University of New South Wales sets the same questions every year in its final examination.

      The only thing that changes is the answers.

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  • #
    Bright Red

    With the BOMs 1second recording I was wondering if anybody knows what Electromagnetic Immunity (EMI) standards the equipment has been tested too? Of particular interest would be the susceptibility to radiation from digitally modulated devices like mobile phones and other communications devices. Perhaps just taking a call or using a tablet near the equipment could cause errors in the readings. At some energy level the temperature measuring equipment will be interfered with causing erroneous readings so how close can a mobile phone or two way radio be allowed to come. Then there is also power supply issues like Electric fast transients and surge that could be a real problem. I would be surprised if the BOM have done their due diligence to ensure correct readings even under the most extreme electromagnetic environment that exists in todays connected hi tec world.

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  • #
    pat

    behind paywall, but would love if someone could access and excerpt how the Times gets their “tens of thousands” figure:

    9 Jan: UK Times: Thousands stranded in Alps by huge snowfall
    by Ben Clatworthy
    Tens of thousands of tourists and locals were stranded across the Alps today after “once-in-a-generation” weather that dumped almost 7 feet of snow on some ski resorts in less than 48 hours.
    More than 13,000 people were trapped without electricity in the upmarket Swiss town of Zermatt after more than 5ft of snow fell in two days…
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/thousands-stranded-in-alps-by-huge-snowfall-lcrgvdwnn

    MSM coverage has limited the bigger story above, by only mentioning 13,000 tourists in Zermatt (forget the 5,500 local population and those trapped elsewhere), concentrating on avalanches rather than snowfall, etc:

    EuroNews: The population of the municipality amounts to about 5,500 inhabitants…
    In the French Alps, high avalanche alerts were lifted as heavy snowfalls eased up on Tuesday afternoon. However, the threat of rare but large avalanches remained, according to forecasters Météo-France…

    TheLocalSwitzerland: Several villages in southern Switzerland, including the ski resort of Zermatt, were cut off from the outside world on Tuesday after extreme weather conditions raised the avalanche risk to the maximum level…
    By Tuesday morning Swiss media said the village was now suffering electricity black-outs, and that some 13,000 tourists were stranded in the ski resort, unable to leave…
    In recent days a foehn wind has brought mild temperatures and rain to the Swiss lowlands, however it’s an entirely different story above 1,200m-1,600m altitude in the southern canton of Valais, where up to a metre of snow has fallen in the last few days. More is expected throughout Tuesday, according to MeteoNews…

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    • #
      Andrew

      Tens of thousands of tourists and locals were stranded across the Alps today after “once-in-a-generation” weather that dumped almost 7 feet of snow on some ski resorts in less than 48 hours.

      More than 13,000 people were trapped without electricity in the upmarket Swiss town of Zermatt after more than 5ft of snow fell in two days.

      The mountain road to the town was closed early yesterday, for the first time in ten years, as the avalanche risk reached its highest level and all trains were then cancelled.

      “The situation is being monitored every half hour and if things change we will take the necessary measures,” said Romy Biner-Hauser, the president of the local council.

      Hundreds more roads across the Alps in France, Italy and Switzerland were closed because of the “extreme” avalanche risks, cutting off resorts and villages. The risk level was set at level five, the maximum.

      An estimated 10,000 tourists were stranded in Italy, including 5,000 in Cervinia, a popular ski resort. It was cut-off for 24 hours last week by Storm Eleanor. Skiing was cancelled in many resorts, because of the avalanche risk and bad weather.

      Météo France, the weather forecaster, said that similar conditions had occurred only once in 30 years.

      Cogne, a small ski town in the Aosta Valley, is cut off after an avalanche swept across the access road, creating a 20-foot high wall of snow.

      In resorts across the Alps blasting using powerful explosives has done little to lower the avalanche threat as snow kept falling. In the French town of Tignes where a British man is missing, more than five feet of snow has fallen in the last 48 hours.

      John Bromell, 39, was skiing with friends when he disappeared. It is understood that he decided to ski “one last run” on his own and never returned.

      He was last seen boarding the Pacquis ski lift at about 4.30pm in the Tovière sector of the resort. Visibility was poor and heavy snow falling, prompting fears he may have become disorientated and skied off-piste.

      His friends raised the alarm later that evening, having been unable to contact him, but search operations have been hampered by heavy snowfall and the severe avalanche risk in the area. Police at the resort issued missing posters yesterday afternoon.

      More than half a metre of snow fell overnight on Sunday. The resort was closed yesterday because of the avalanche risk and remained closed this morning. Latest estimates suggest between 150cm and 180cm of snow has fallen in the last 36 hours.

      Last night, Météo-France, the national weather agency, issued a red avalanche warning for the Savoie region, which includes Tignes. The alert, which is the highest warning level, is said to be a once-in-30 years occurrence, with the avalanche danger described as being of “exceptional intensity”. Helicopter searches for Mr Bromell have been impossible because of the intense snowfall.

      A spokesman for the Tignes gendarmerie said: “The lost man had been skiing all of Sunday with his friends and had set off for one last run alone. Everything is being done to try and find him.”

      On Friday a young British man was found dead in the snow in the small French resort of Risoul. Owen Lewis, 22, was last seen drinking in a bar in the early hours of January 2. His body was spotted by a police helicopter on Friday. Heavy snow and poor visibility had made earlier searches impossible.

      In Sestriere, in Italy, an avalanche engulfed two floors of a hotel overnight, smashing windows and filling corridors with snowy rubble. In total 69 people were evacuated, but no one was injured, according to the Red Cross.

      “In the first two floors of the building the snow has completely invaded the corridors, smashing glass, doors and windows,” said Michele Belmondo, one of the Red Cross rescuers. “The damage is huge”.

      According to Mr Belmondo, rescuers feared “another Rigopiano”, referring to the avalanche that engulfed the Hotel Rigopiano in the Abruzzo region last year, killing 29 people.

      Devastation was narrowly avoided this morning in France when a huge avalanche swept down a mountainside near Les Houches striking 40 buildings, although barriers took the brunt of the impact.

      The Alps, which were hit by the Eleanor last week, have since been battered by a phenomenon known as the Retour d’Est, the return from the east which brings huge snowfall and is caused by cold air meeting humid air above the Mediterranean, which then funnels precipitation back over the western Italian Alps and into France.

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  • #
    pat

    this would explain some of the UK Times’ claim:

    9 Jan: EuroNews: Alps hit by ‘once-in-a-generation’ snow storms
    By Katy Dartford
    Hundreds of roads across the Alps in France, Italy and Switzerland were closed, cutting off resorts and villages, after the kind of snowfall that only comes once every 30 years.
    Tens of thousands of people have been stranded across the Alps after ‘once-in-a-generation’ weather dumped almost 2 meters of snow on some ski resorts in less than 48 hours.

    Schools and nurseries in have been closed and roads cut off after the Savoie department in France was placed on red alert – the highest warning for avalanches.
    Tignes and Val d’Isere have been in lockdown with tourists and residents confined to the area…
    Météo France, the weather forecaster, said that similar conditions had occurred only once in 30 years…
    “We really recommend that people stay at home, the avalanche risk is high, these are conditions that we’ve not seen since 1978.” said Captain Hélène Delas, a fire fighter in Savoie Department…
    Devastation was narrowly avoided this morning in Chamonix when a huge avalanche swept down a mountainside near Les Houches hitting 40 chalets, although barriers took the brunt of the impact…

    In resorts across the Alps blasting using powerful explosives has done little to lower the avalanche threat as snow keeps falling.
    An estimated 10,000 tourists were stranded in Italy. The road to the famed Aosta ski resort of Cervinia was closed due to avalanche risk, making the road from Valtournenche to Cervinia the only way to get to the famed resort.
    Gressoney, also in the Aosta Valley is isolated due to unceasing snowfalls and the small ski town of Cogne was cut off after an avalanche swept across the access road.

    In Sestriere an avalanche engulfed two floors of a hotel overnight, smashing windows and filling corridors with snowy rubble.
    69 people were evacuated, but no one was injured.
    In Switzerland, the first men’s World Cup downhill training run in Wengen was also cancelled.
    Snow and winds of up to 200kph meant there was significant damage to the course.
    http://www.euronews.com/2018/01/09/alps-hit-by-once-in-a-generation-snow-storms

    short on details, but wonderful pics, as usual:

    Daily Mail: Tignes, another ski resort, in the French Alps saw more than 62 inches of snow in the past 48 hours, while Sestriere in Italy – a few miles from the French borders – saw more than 30 inches fall.
    Beyond Valais, the first men’s World Cup downhill training run in Wengen, in the canton of Bern, was cancelled Tuesday due to snow and high winds, organisers said…
    Weather chaos across the region strikes the Alps
    Roughly 100 people were evacuated from the Olympic Village built for the 2006 Winter games. Authorities have issued a high avalanche alert due to heavy snowfalls in northern Italy…
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5250315/13-000-tourists-TRAPPED-Swiss-ski-resort.html

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  • #
    John of Cloverdale WA

    Has anyone noticed this claim that warming is causing 99% of new turtles to be born female?
    My question is: how did green turtles reproduce when seas were warmer during the Holocene Climatic Optimum?

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    • #
      toorightmate

      The males must be ecstatic.

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      • #
        el gordo

        Exhausted more likely.

        My guess its the cool south east winds causing the problem.

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        • #
          Extreme Hiatus

          Decided to look into this after all. I mean, who can resist this kind of titillation?

          “During this time, breeding females and males both return to the beaches where they hatched — females know it’s a suitable nesting location, while males know they’ll find females there, Hays said. Males generally arrive much earlier than females, because sea turtle mating runs on a first-come-first-serve basis.

          As is the case with most other species, males will mate with any female they can. But female sea turtles aren’t very choosy either, in that they don’t seem to actively seek out the best, fittest males.

          A rough act

          To mate, a male will climb onto a female’s back while she is swimming horizontally in the water. On their front flippers, males have long claws, which they use to hook on to the leading edge of the female’s shell — these claws are quite sharp and will often cut into the female’s soft flesh near her shell.

          Male and female sea turtles have cloaca — waste and reproductive orifices — at the base of their tails, and the male’s cloaca houses his penis. During mating, the male will reach his tail underneath the back end of the female’s shell. His long penis, which can be almost half the length of his shell, will emerge from his cloaca to penetrate and inseminate the female’s cloaca.

          “The male hangs on for dear life for up to 24 hours,” said Dave Owens, a marine biologist at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. By remaining attached to the female, the male can prevent other males from mating with her. But his competition doesn’t take this injustice lightly — they bite his tail and flippers (hard enough to draw blood and tear flesh) repeatedly to try to get him to let go.
          After the pair separates, they go on to mate with other sea turtles. The female stops mating once she has enough sperm to fertilize all of her clutches for the season. “If a male approaches, she’ll rip into him,” Owens said.”

          https://www.livescience.com/45354-animal-sex-sea-turtles.html

          This article also explains that male and female sea turtles have different life strategies and movements – as one would expect – which may account for the skewed samples captured in that bogus Climate Change study. As in:

          “When the next breeding season rolls around, the male sea turtles return to the nesting site and begin the love game with new females; females from the previous season, on the other hand, don’t come back for another few years, likely due to the energy required to produce those hundreds of eggs.”

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          • #
            John of Cloverdale, WA, Australia

            Thanks for the research.

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          • #
            scaper...

            Would make a great movie…lol. My new girlfriend bought her dog over to meet mine. Hers was on heat. They wouldn’t do it in the house.

            I decided to take them downstairs to the backyard. And surely…they just wanted to do it like they do on the Discovery Channel. Isn’t nature grand!

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    • #
      Extreme Hiatus

      John, you beat me to it, and your question is dead on.

      Climate change is turning some sea turtle populations 99% female
      Eggs incubated at warmer temperatures produce females and those at cooler temperatures produce males

      http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/sea-turtles-climate-change-1.4479547

      From that link:

      “They made the discovery after they caught and examined 400 green sea turtles of various ages feeding off the Howick Group of Islands in the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland in Australia, studying which were male and which were female. They then used genetic analysis to trace each turtle to the beach where it originally hatched, as the turtles almost always return to lay eggs at the beach where they were born. That means their birthplace can be determined using DNA from their maternal lineage.

      Among turtles from the southern Great Barrier Reef, about 65 to 69 per cent of turtles were female.

      But among those from the northern Great Barrier Reef, 99.1 of juvenile, 99.8 per cent of subadult and 86.8 per cent of adult turtles were female.”

      This is what you call JUNK SCIENCE in search of a predetermined answer. There are many reasons why their SMALL sample, captured far from their nesting sites, could be skewed like this. One that comes to mind is simply this: maybe male turtles have different post-hatching movements and ranges than females? Maybe females were more likely to be caught due to their behavior?

      I don’t know nor do I care enough to investigate this BS. Why? Because it is based on warming that is not happening… or are we expected to believe that such a small amount of warming that may have occurred could produce this impact?

      Alternatively, this study may have been done by overheated bearded lizards.

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    • #
      TdeF

      There must be some survival aspect of this for the turtles. Whether humans caused the warm seas around the Reef or not (and there is no explanation for how it was done), they did not invent turtles.

      In fact consider that it is quite the reverse. Like warming is caused by CO2 instead of warming producing more aerial CO2, which does in fact fit with basic chemistry and Henry’s law.

      So more favorable conditions, more children needed, more females needed, not males. Forget natural selection, breed like crazy. Only a leftist zoologist would suggest that having a surplus of women will wipe out the species.

      Sounds like party time in the warmer water! Forget survival of the fittest for now, it’s all about rapid reproduction.

      In science reporting, every discovery of some natural phenomenon is loaded with implications that for example, even the turtles are refusing to reproduce in the warmer water and it is all our fault? Neither are true.

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      • #
        TdeF

        Unless mating is fatal for male green sea turtles?

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        • #
          Extreme Hiatus

          “Unless mating is fatal for male green sea turtles?”

          Based on that article I posted above, the only dangerous things for the males involved are attacks by other males while he is clamped on to a female mating – which would be less of a problem with fewer competing males – and approaching a fully impregnated female which will “rip into him.”

          I think you are probably on to something here: “So more favorable conditions, more children needed, more females needed, not males.”

          Anyhow, this site is always enlightening. Learn something every day, including a lot of things I never expected to learn about!

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          • #
            TdeF

            Exactly. Few species have such a mechanism, so you have to think like Darwin. What is the advantage? You cannot increase the number of eggs or their survival rate, but you can immediately increase the number of females. I cannot believe a real zoologist would interpret this mechanism as mass suicide by turtles, as is implied. So a last generation entirely of females so they can have a final big party with no men around? Rubbish.

            Global Warming is full of this misinterpretation of natural events, even to the point where record cold is a result of warming. This is wilful misreporting, leaving out the obvious explanation of changing proportions of females so that people feel sorry for turtles? In fact there will be record numbers in the next generation. Then perhaps the proportion of females will drop without anyone reporting it.

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          • #
            TdeF

            Also, it’s not as if the turtle eggs check with each other. They may have overdone it with 99.8% but that is ultimately self correcting.

            Or perhaps they just changed religion and created harems?

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              scaper...

              Maybe the turtles are progressive…gender fluid?

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            • #
              Sceptical Sam

              That 99.8% figure is an outlier.

              The corrected number after adjustment, homogenization and peer review is, in fact, 97%.

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              • #
                TdeF

                Consider that in human society, it is about 55:45.
                In lion prides, usually 2 males to about 10 females, 10/12 or 85% female. The other males become irrelevant.
                This press release seems to be about applying human experience to turtles, something which is nonsensical, utterly wrong scientifically but also perhaps intentionally sensationalist and misleading.

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      John F. Hultquist

      Temperature and offspring gender is not new.
      Nature will show a way to adjust. Researchers just need to continue their work (more grants) and the explanation will be found.

      The sex of alligators, and some lizards and turtles is determined in the same manner.

      A search will quickly find such information:
      according to Dr. Paul Cardeilhac, a professor of veterinary medicine

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  • #
    el gordo

    “Interestingly, every 11.07 years, the Sun and the planets Venus, the Earth and Jupiter are aligned. We asked ourselves: Is it a coincidence that the solar cycle corresponds with the cycle of the conjunction or the opposition of the three planets?”

    Frank Stefani.

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  • #

    Sorry Joanne: Mods beware! Because of her public disclosure of secret congressional testimony; can now senator stinkey c**t D. Feinstein now be legally charged with obstruction of justice, deliberate violation of US law, and deliberate violation of oath of office? The US used to have law! Perhaps next week! 🙂

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    • #

      Does anyone have a link to the so called “congressional transcript” of the testimony of Glenn Simpson? Not option, not interpretation, the recorded transcript of all words spoken by each side! Just what did ex-senator Feinstein do, or not do?
      All the best!-will-

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    • #

      Just what did ex-senator Feinstein do, or not do?

      The congressional transcript seems to remain classified. Just what nonsense has been promoted by the guilty, for consumption by the gullible?

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  • #

    Ho hum!

    Total Power consumption in the Australian AEMO coverage area (all States except WA) at 11.30AM (Qld time) is 23000MW

    Coal fired power is delivering 83% of that with only two Units off line of 49 Units.

    Wind Power is delivering 3% of that power.

    Yep! Coal fired power is definitely on the way out?????

    Tony.

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    • #
      TdeF

      Plus wind is cheaper, only if you compare nameplate with nameplate. The fact is wind is 5x as expensive and add another factor of 2 for random generation.

      So wind is 3%. Coal 83%. I would guess gas is the missing 14%?

      Which means natural and free fossil fuels are 97%? For the tens of billions extracted from our electricity bills under the RET, we have only built 3% of what we need?

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        Dennis

        Fantastic ratio for crony capitalism.

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        TdeF

        at that time (11.30AM Qld) Hydro was supplying 6%, and the remainder, all of it gas fired was supplying 8%, and that gas fired component was 1850MW, of which, 1000MW was in South Australia.

        So, the CO2 emitting component for all consumed power was 91% of all power being delivered to the grid.

        Tony.

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          TdeF

          Plus the hydro was not built by any current government but like the coal power stations, built by a generation who actually cared about having cheap, adequate and reliable power. It’s a wonder they have not been dynamited to save the water.

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        • #

          Ol’King Coal
          you are a
          merry ol’ sole,
          delivering energy,
          more than 80 per cent,
          when those ol’
          renewables are
          largely absent,
          missing – gone AWOL,
          except for 3 percent.

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    • #
      John of Cloverdale WA

      Thanks Tony, a reality check.

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    • #
      Graeme#4

      I note that the website euanmearns.com was able to obtain August 2017 for all states, including WA. Where did the WA data come from?

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  • #
    Another Ian

    Consistency? What consistency?

    ” Neo
    January 9, 2018 at 3:28 pm

    The more direct way is that these California cities are lying in one of these legal matters—the lawsuit claim or their bond disclosures. The courts should not take kindly to this kind of behavior.
    http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/01/climate-change-california-hypocrisy-turned-up-to-11.php

    Apparently some cities in California have been claiming eminent danger of sea level rise in their Climate Change lawsuits but claiming the opposite in their prospectus for their bonds.”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/01/09/its-about-time-exxon-launches-counterattack-against-california-based-climate-conspiracy-lawsuits/comment-page-1/#comment-2713223

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    DaveR

    Scandalous lack of scientific rigor from the BOM, and the activists running its operations. When will the federal government commence an investigation of the activities of this rotten institution?

    And today the BOM is pushing 2017 as the 3rd hottest year on the (instrumental) record.

    Based on their recent performance including the Sydney temperature fiasco, I have little confidence that is scientifically accurate. Is that claim based on the homogenised (adjusted) temperature record?

    I imagine this could be accurately checked quite easily.

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      TdeF

      It is frustrating the the Federal Bureau of Meteorology as custodian of the equally good state records up to 1909 have totally ignore them. Surely there is time in their huge budget and wages bill to incorporate the historical data? Surely a temperature in 1899 read at the same place with the same instruments in the Federation Drought is as valid as one read in 1909? Every other country has this continuity. Why not us? Are they too busy reading thermometers?

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        TdeF

        Or have they looked and decided this might actually reduce their funding if Global Warming was not true?

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          el gordo

          Sadly you are correct, here we see in the Climate Reports for 2017.

          ‘A positive Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and strong sub-tropical ridge also contributed to Australia’s below average winter rainfall and cool winter nights, particularly across southern Australia during June.’

          That is true up until late July when SAM went negative, BoM missed climate changing.

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        DaveR

        TdeF,

        over the last 5 years the BOM have argued they cannot incorporate the often lengthy Australian temperature records before ca1909 because of 1/ quality control problems, 2/introduction of Stevenson screen enclosures and 3/numerous other reasons.

        However, the real reason might be the temperatures experienced across the continent during the Federation Drought (1897-1902)might be an embarrassment for the current BOM party line – 20th century global warming.

        The Federation drought temperatures would present two problems for the BOM: 1/ hotter temperatures than todays “records”, and 2/ temperatures that clearly prove that the early 1900s downward “homogenised” temperatures of the BOM’s current series cannot be correct, and have been over-corrected.

        Again, a federal level inquiry into the BOM and its lack of scientific accountability is urgently required.

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          TdeF

          Except that they did have Stevenson screens in the Federation Drought. Check this one from 1879.

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            Another Ian

            A few years ago our local recorder for the BOM gave me a loan of the book BOM put out in honour of their doing something. Might have been passing 100 years.

            I can’t remember the title but could borrow the book again and find out.

            In it was a fair bit on early met in Australia including the introduction of Stevenson screens.

            The bloke in charge of met in South Australia was particularly active. Which (imo) casts doubts on Darwin not having one from early times as SA was in charge of things like that.

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          DaveR

          yes TdeF,

          the Stevenson Screen arrays were introduced over an approx 20 year period, with plenty of comparable measurements with the old and new systems side by side to allow calibration/adjustment.

          But that hasnt stopped the BOM refusing to incorporate any old records at all, claiming all the usual issues, but probably for the reasons stated above.

          Jen Marohasy has done some good work looking at some selected old records and their validity – and the answer so far is – huge embarrassment for the BOM.

          The only way to deal with this fiasco is that a Federal inquiry is needed, including prosecution of public servants (including department heads) who have deliberately fabricated data, and who have destroyed original raw data.

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    pat

    9 Jan: Washington Examiner: Success: EPA set to reduce staff 50% in Trump’s first term
    by Paul Bedard
    The Environmental Protection Agency, seen by President Trump as a bloated bureaucratic whale, is on schedule to fulfill his promise to reduce its staff nearly in half by the end of his first term mostly through retirements, not cuts, according to officials.
    The EPA Tuesday provided to Secrets its first year staff results which show that the agency is below levels not seen since former President Reagan’s administration.

    And if just those slated to retire by early 2021 leave, Administrator Scott Pruitt and his team will have reduced a staff of nearly 15,000, to below 8,000, or a reduction of 47 percent.
    “We’re proud to report that we’re reducing the size of government, protecting taxpayer dollars and staying true to our core mission of protecting the environment,” Pruitt said in a statement to Secrets.
    Several agencies have succeeded in making some cuts, but EPA is taking a lead…

    Under Pruitt, the agency has gone the “back to basics” of protecting the environment while shucking former President Obama’s political agenda focused heavily on climate change.
    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/success-epa-set-to-cut-nearly-50-of-staff-in-trumps-first-term/article/2645362

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    Fox from Melbourne

    Found this couldn’t stop laughing Jo. Hope it has the same effect on you Jo. Apparently the Sea isn’t raising the oceans sinking.
    https://www.sciencealert.com/bottom-ocean-literally-sinking-under-weight-melting-glaciers-climate-change

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    • #
      yarpos

      It was only a matter of time before something got trotted out. NYC and Vanuatu are staying stubbornly above sea level, they need something to bolster past hysteria for a few years more.

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      DaveR

      The base stupidity of this article is that it is well known in the discipline of Isostasy that the weight of accumulated ice depresses the Earth’s crust, not the water released from its melting.

      The crust of North America is still rebounding upwards from the Laurentide ice sheets of 18,000 years ago which were up to 300m thick in the Great Lakes area, and over 3km thick further north.

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    Ruairi

    The warmist cult may wish a long deep freeze,
    To leave Australians crawling on their knees.

    The Chinese must dig deep to find their coal,
    Which could become their economic hole.

    So much of news is fake and spread like pox,
    That those who poisoned by it need detox.

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    yarpos

    Just finished reading a breathless fan boy article about a new venture by Weatherdill and Co. Apparently they plan to build a solar thermal farm (worlds biggest?). 150MW nameplate for a mere 650 mill. It will even have 8 hours of storage at that rate! yes 8 hours! its incredible isnt it? I mean it will be a whole one cloudy day until it produces nothing and/or becomes a load keeping its thermal parts thermalling. SA! yay! leading the way again!

    Maybe just election year stuff but I wouldnt under estimate the stupidity, it runs deep.

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      toorightmate

      I reckon I could sell a lunar power scheme to Weatherdill.

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      Graeme No.3

      yarpos:
      It is the subject of a breathless (and thoughtless) Editorial in today’s Advertiser. There are a few highlights.
      Firstly the capacity has now become 250MW and it will supply base load 24 hours. Actual capacity possibly 150MW but derated to 135MW.
      Secondly It may not be built if it doesn’t get $100 million Federal funding, as promised by Turnbull in the last election, in addition to the $110 million from the State Government. [It would still be a bargain price as the original one cost around $A1300 million.
      Thirdly, to supply the claimed annual output (495GWh) would require the sun to be well above the horizon for 10 hours a day, every day of the year. Or in laymen’s terms at its designed maximum output (135MW) it would supply 418GWh annually in the 3100 sunlight hours.
      Fourthly, as Tony has pointed out, maximum generation only occurs for 5 (just maybr 5.5) hours when the sun is high in the sky during the height of summer. So if it generates 1100MWh a day (generous) it can only supply 45MW continuously.
      Fifthly these sorts of plants shut down for the 3 months of winter. So the average capacity (annual) would be 300GWh. I leave it to Tony to calculate how long that would take a real (coal fired) power station to supply.

      And I leave the best news to last. It will supply SA consumers with CHEAPER electricity. Since the cost would be around $A175 per MWh vs approx. $A100 even for Solar PV, I must refrain from saying what I think of that to avoid being savaged by the mods.

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      Andrew McRae

      Same story in The Silly yesterday
      http://www.smh.com.au/business/south-australia-aim-for-another-renewable-world-first-20180109-p4yyd7.html

      The Clean Energy Council executive general manager Natalie Collard told Fairfax Media, “the price that the government will pay for power is remarkably low, considering solar thermal is a very young technology in Australia.

      “South Australia is providing the rest of the country a glimpse of a renewable energy future.

      Indeed! Be careful what you wish for.

      Are wedgetailed eagles renewable too? Birds of pray-the-feds-don’t-approve-it. First time one of them gets fried in the beams, the Weatherdill will be nowhere to be seen.
      Tell the feathered clan to move out or check out. We’ve heard of climate change refugees which never eventuated. Will birds be the first Fighting Climate Change refugees of South Australia?

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    Extreme Hiatus

    Here’s another inconvenient story.

    It explains how the puppet politicians trying to sue Exxon for the impacts of ‘Climate Change’ on their jurisdictions were claiming that they ‘knew’ that rising sea levels were going to cause zillions of dollars in damages but were telling investors in their municipal bonds something very different! As Exxon just pointed out!

    http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/01/climate-change-california-hypocrisy-turned-up-to-11.php

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    PeterS

    AGW isn’t the only scam being perpetrated – Expiration Dates Don’t Mean What You Think

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    I’m again reading rude words like snow, ice, blizzard and freeze on this site. The polite terms are winter precipitation, potential flood water, lake effect, cyclone bomb, polar vortex and, in the case of Christian Turney, rotten luck. You can also just say the volcano ate your homework. But please avoid terms like those I mentioned in the first sentence (and which I will not repeat).

    Manners, please.

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    • #
      pat

      mosomoso –

      cold records only get published locally, while Penrith/Sydney/Australia hottest ever/heatwave go global and get added to almost every cold MSM story.

      White Plains: Freezing temperatures break city’s 30-year record
      The Journal News 6 Jan. 2018

      Baltimore marks longest streak of sub-freezing temperatures in 28 years
      Baltimore Sun (blog)-8 Jan. 2018

      9 Jan: Cary Citizen: Winter Weather Broke Cary Temperature Records
      Cary, NC – If you thought last week’s cold spell felt too long, it wasn’t just your opinion. Cary, and the Triangle at large, broke temperature records with the longest period below freezing in recorded history.
      Temperatures in Cary dropped to freezing levels at 2 AM on New Year’s Eve 2017 and stayed that way until the following Sunday, January 7, 2018. Weather records at WRAL and WTVD differ on whether the past record is 157 or 159 hours, set in January 1982. However, both records have been broken as above freezing temperatures were recorded mid-day on Sunday.

      The exact record is still being determined by local weather agencies but temperatures did not go above freezing by Saturday, January 6, 2018 at 5 PM, exceeding 180 hours of consistent freezing temperature.

      While the freezing record has been broken, Cary is not free from cold weather…
      While the Triangle has broken the official record set in 1982, there were two eight-day stretches of consistent freezing temperature recorded in 1895 and 1917 according to WRAL’s records. However, those were not recorded with hour-to-hour specificity…
      http://carycitizen.com/2018/01/09/winter-weather-broke-cary-temperature-records/

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      The most polite F*C* you very much!! 🙂

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    Ian1946

    Where are the regulators and government energy ministers?

    Thousands of homes serviced by Ausgrid went without power for hours this weekend during the heat wave and the company came back saying that it would cost it too much to deliver power to “100% of customers 100% of the time”.

    Not a peep from anyone they must think this state of affairs is ok. Disgraceful

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    pat

    checked ABC RN Breakfast. today’s programme included:

    Labor condemns government inaction on rising emissions

    Look to China on renewables, report says

    Environmental fears as damaged Iranian tanker leaks oil into sea

    2017 was Australia’s third hottest year on record

    Turning blue jeans green
    Australian scientists are using recycled denim to create more environmentally friendly jeans.

    then checked all January and final week of Dec 2017 and didn’t find a single item on the US Big Freeze.

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    pat

    9 Jan: Daily Caller: Michael Bastasch: Washington Governor Claims ‘Just 59 Days’ To Save Children From Global Warming
    Washington state’s Democratic Governor Jay Inslee warned there was “just 59 days” to save future generations from “an endless cycle of crop-killing droughts one year, and rivers spilling their banks the next.”

    Inslee went on a lengthy Twitter rant in efforts to convince the state legislature to pass legislation to tax carbon dioxide emissions. Washington residents voted down Inslee’s last carbon tax plan by a wide margin in 2016…
    The state legislature’s session ends in 59 days, on March 8. Democrats have a slim majority in both state legislative chambers…

    Inslee’s plan would tax carbon dioxide emissions at $20 a ton in 2019, that would gradually rise at 3.5 percent above inflation each following year. Inslee’s office estimates it will raise $3.3 billion over the next four years.

    About $950 million would go toward education programs. The rest would go toward green energy programs and research, water infrastructure, wildfire mitigation. Some money would offset taxes or go to poor families.
    The plan could raise household electricity prices five percent, and gas prices by about 10 percent, according to official estimates…
    http://dailycaller.com/2018/01/09/washington-governor-claims-just-59-days-to-save-children-from-global-warming/

    those carbon taxes can be very useful:

    9 Jan: Reuters: Despite Brexit, EU eyes bigger budget
    by Jan Strupczewski, Philip Blenkinsop
    The EU executive called on Monday for an expanded budget to cover more spending on defence, security and controlling migration despite the upcoming departure of Britain, one of the bloc’s main paymasters…

    New sources of revenue, (EU Budget and Human Resources Commissioner Gunther Oettinger) added, could include money from the ***ETS carbon emissions trading system, which aims to curb global warming and ***which now goes into national coffers, or perhaps a special tax on the production of polluting plastics…

    (Mario Centeno from Portugal’s centre-left government) cited corporate taxation, value-added tax, energy and transport taxes as possible sources of new EU funding.
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-eu-budget-juncker/despite-brexit-eu-eyes-bigger-budget-idUKKBN1EX1MI

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  • #
    pat

    a surprisingly honest piece by DW’s Jens Thurau:

    9 Jan: Deutsche Welle: Opinion: German coalition hopefuls drop climate goals
    Preliminary grand coalition talks have just restarted, but already, the parties involved have given up the 2020 climate goals. It’s a disaster for climate protection policy but also an opportunity, says DW’s Jens Thurau.
    This time, the Christian Democrats (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) had vowed not to leak the contents of their preliminary coalition talks to anyone. That pledge didn’t last long, and accordingly politicians in Berlin are alarmed by reports of a cancellation of the climate goals for 2020 by a possible future new government. That would amount to deceiving voters, the opposition says, and rightfully so, pointing out that both Chancellor Angela Merkel and SPD leader Martin Schulz promised to somehow meet the emission reduction targets of 40 percent by 2020…

    Germany has managed about 30 percent already, but time is short and it seems more of an effort would have been required to meet the target by 2020. Germany would have had to shut down many older, dirtier coal-fueled power plants and taken more aggressive steps in the traffic and agriculture sectors. The potential new government doesn’t seem to trust itself to reach that goal. That is unfortunate.

    At least they’re honest
    The fact that the goals are barely reachable had already been whispered within the parties and ministries. As usual when a project fails, compliance is pushed to a future date…
    Giving up the climate goal is logical, and it fits the country’s climate policies over the past few years. Politicians in general seem to feel that after quitting nuclear energy and moving strongly toward wind and solar energy, they’ve done enough to save the world. The Chancellor’s plan to put one million electric cars on Germany’s streets by 2020 simply vanished because it is not doable. At the start of 2017, there were just over 30,000 electric cars in Germany. Way off the mark is a nice way of putting it…

    Try modesty
    Germany at this point should take a much more modest approach on climate issues on an international stage. Eastern European states, for instance Ukraine, no longer intend to put up with the country’s superior attitude on reducing greenhouse gases…

    The next UN climate conference takes place in December in the Polish city of Katowice, and Poland is unlikely to let the opportunity pass to point a finger at its unpopular neighbor Germany. Germany’s environment-friendly Greens party – which would have negotiated ambitious coal exit plans had last year’s exploratory “Jamaica” coalition talks not failed – sees the coalition hopefuls’ quick decision to abandon the climate goal as an economic stimulus plan.
    http://www.dw.com/en/opinion-german-coalition-hopefuls-drop-climate-goals/a-42084682

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      pat:
      If the next winter starts like this then it is unlikely we will hear any more of these targets.

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    Another Ian

    A question for Tony in Oz

    https://www.aemo.com.au/Electricity/National-Electricity-Market-NEM/Data-dashboard#nem-dispatch-overview

    03:09 pm Qld is redline importing from NSW and

    Demand 7893

    Generating 7758

    Wind and other 10

    So only just meeting demand and looks like no reserve.

    Have some of the coal units gone out?

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  • #
    pat

    summarises some of the main points, so worth reading:

    9 Jan: CarbonBrief: Jocelyn Timperley: China leading on world’s clean energy investment, says report
    The report, released today by the US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), details the rising importance of China’s firms and investors for low-carbon projects outside the country.
    Factories in China now account for around 60% of global solar cell production. This includes companies headquartered elsewhere who base some or all of their manufacturing in China, such as Canadian Solar…ETC

    China remains a major funder of fossil fuel projects around the world. While it is showing signs of pulling back on domestic coal power expansion, numerous media reports have documented its support for the development of coal power overseas.
    Tallies released by German environmental group Urgewald in July 2017 indicated China’s energy firms would account for nearly half of the new coal generation expected to go online in the next decade around the world. New coal power stations in countries other than China make up around a fifth of these 700 new coal plants, Urgewald said, including some in countries that currently burn little or no coal. Eleven of the world’s 20 biggest coal plant developers are Chinese, Urgewald’s database showed…

    The Trump administration’s focus on coal over renewables will also allow China to further consolidate its leadership of the global clean energy transition, the report adds…

    However, China remaining cautious on financing of clean energy projects via multilateral climate funds. After the US pledged to withdraw its funding from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), China said it does not intend to fill the gap. The report says:
    “Instead of taking an overt leadership position on climate finance action as the US abdicates responsibility, it is adopting a more under-the-radar path that ***will attract praise for its effect on expanding new energy technology globally while perhaps drawing less criticism for its support of fossil-fuel projects than if it were to take a more high-profile leadership role.”
    https://www.carbonbrief.org/china-leading-worlds-clean-energy-investment-says-report

    ABC media darling, Tim Buckley & co:

    9 Jan: IEEFA: IEEFA Report: China Continues to Position Itself for Global Clean Energy Dominance During 2017
    As the U.S. Withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement and Moved to Support Coal, China Accelerated its Domestic Reorientation Away from Coal and Enhanced its New Energy Technology Capacity as a Prelude to a Global Roll-Out
    Tim Buckley, co-author of the report and IEEFA’s director of energy finance studies, said that the U.S.’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement along with an increased U.S. government emphasis on coal and away from renewables is at odds with the direction being taken by China.

    “The clean energy market is growing at a rapid pace and China is setting itself up as a global technology leader while the U.S. government looks the other way,” Buckley said. “Although China isn’t necessarily intending to fill the climate leadership void left by the U.S. withdrawal from Paris, it will certainly be very comfortable providing technology leadership and financial capacity so as to dominate fast-growing sectors such as solar energy, electric vehicles and batteries.”…

    “It has become clear that renewables will be the dominant energy technology of the following decades with even the cautious International Energy Agency (IEA) accepting that renewables will receive the majority of energy investment going forward,” Buckley said. “China is not going to buck this trend; although it is still investing in some coal projects around the world, China will embrace the direction energy markets are moving in and is setting itself up as a global technology leader.”

    India is now following China’s energy sector lead, adding its economic weight to further accelerate global renewable energy deployments at ever greater economies of scale, driving deflation…

    Full report here (LINK)…

    About IEEFA
    Tim Buckley, Director of Energy Finance Studies at IEEFA, based in Sydney, Australia, he has 30 years of financial markets experience, including 17 years with Citigroup culminating in his role as Managing Director, Head of Australasian Equity Research…

    Simon Nicholas, an energy research analyst with IEEFA in Sydney, Australia. Simon holds an honours degree from Imperial College, London and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and has 16 years’ experience working within the finance sector in both London and Sydney at ABN Amro, Macquarie Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

    Melissa Brown, an energy finance consultant with IEEFA in Hong Kong. Melissa is a former securities analyst at JP Morgan and Citigroup and has played a leading role in various Asian investment organizations focused on mainstream and sustainable investment strategies for public and private equity investors over the past 25 years.
    http://ieefa.org/ieefa-report-china-continues-position-global-clean-energy-dominance-2017/

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    pat

    10 Jan: Bloomberg: What Killed Trump’s Cockamamie Coal Plan
    What Killed Trump’s Cockamamie Coal Plan
    Rick Perry’s idea to prop up dirty and unsafe energy sources was reviled by just about everyone — even the president’s appointees.
    by Justin Fox
    President Donald Trump promised to bring back coal. In a ham-handed attempt to make his boss happy, Energy Secretary Rick Perry in September proposed forcing electrical utilities to heavily subsidize coal and nuclear plants in the name of ensuring a “reliable, resilient energy grid.”

    Thanks to a quirk of legislative history, though, the Department of Energy can’t just issue such a regulation on its own. When Congress established the department in 1977 in the wake of the first oil crisis, it ensured that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the successor to the Federal Power Commission it had created in 1920 and laden with new responsibilities several times since, would continue to set rules for electricity generation, among other things.

    This is how it came to pass that on Monday, the five members of the FERC — four of them appointed by Trump! — effectively told Perry to take his Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and shove it. The commission said it will “remain vigilant with respect to resilience challenges,” but that Perry’s approach wasn’t compatible with the competitive electricity markets that have evolved under FERC guidance over the past two decades…

    If you’re wondering where solar is, it’s gaining but still way behind hydroelectric and wind, generating 75.3 terawatt-hours of electricity in the U.S. over the 12 months ending in October…
    If you’re wondering why natural gas use dipped last year, it seems to be mainly because prices rose a bit after hitting lows not seen since the 1990s. As for nuclear, it hasn’t really lost ground so far, but high costs are endangering some existing plants and making it ever less likely that new ones will be built.

    As this shift in power sources has transpired, the way utilities work has changed.
    ***A system that was once built around “baseload” plants that ran all the time is reinventing itself.
    Wind and solar “are beginning to serve more of minimum load, albeit at variable or intermittent output levels,” while electrical-grid operators are putting “an increasing premium on flexible generation resources” — mainly natural-gas-fired plants that can rapidly increase or decrease electrical output…READ ALL
    https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-09/what-killed-trump-s-cockamamie-coal-plan

    9 Jan: The Hill: Coal mogul: Trump should fire energy officials for rejecting Perry plan
    By Timothy Cama
    The CEO of the nation’s largest privately held coal mining company says President Trump should fire four of the five commissioners who rejected Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s plan to help coal and nuclear power plants.
    Robert Murray, head of Murray Energy Corp., said the members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), an independent agency, “defaulted” on their duties by rebuffing the plan to stop coal and nuclear plants from closing. Supporters said the reliability of the electric grid was at stake.
    “I believe that the Trump administration, with the exception of Neil Chatterjee, picked three bad appointees for FERC. And they should all be fired,” Murray told The Hill on Tuesday…

    Murray said LaFleur and fellow Democrat Richard Glick opposed Perry’s proposal because they oppose coal, but Republicans Kevin McIntyre and Rob Powelson “did not follow what should have been done in this case.”…

    Chatterjee, a Kentucky native who used to work for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), has been outspoken as an advocate of taking some kind of action to save coal and nuclear plants from closing.
    Murray said Chatterjee “apparently was overwhelmed by the other four.”

    Since FERC is an independent agency, it is difficult for Trump to remove any commissioners, except in cases like malfeasance or neglect of duty.
    Murray predicted companies that run coal plants would start announcing closures in the coming days.

    “I believe that you’re going to see action from some utilities relative to decommissioning nuclear and coal-fired plants. We were trying to stave that off,” he said.
    Depending on what utilities do, Murray said he might push Perry to take other action on the matter, like issue emergency orders to keep certain coal plants running…

    In an interview with The Hill, Chatterjee declined to comment on Murray’s call to fire his colleagues. Staff for the other commissioners did not respond to requests for comment.
    Chatterjee said he was pleased with FERC’s conclusion, in which it is directing electric grid operators to provide a bevy of information on resilience issues within 90 days, at which point FERC might take more action…READ ALL
    http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/368202-coal-mogul-trump-should-fire-energy-officials-for-rejecting-perry

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    pat

    9 Jan: NaturalGasIntel: FERC Votes 5-0 to Dump DOE NOPR, But Chatterjee Still Seeking Interim Coal, Nuke Support
    by Charlie Passut
    While he voted with his colleagues, Chatterjee posted an opinion to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s website. “…I believe that the record compiled in this proceeding speaks to the prudence of considering, as soon as practicable, whether interim measures may be needed to avoid near-term bulk power system resilience challenges that could result from the rapid, unprecedented changes in our generation resource mix.”

    Chatterjee said he thought FERC should have taken the additional step of issuing an order for regional transmission organizations (RTO) and independent system operators (ISO) to either submit tariff revisions to compensate existing generation sources at risk of retirement during the interim period, or for the RTOs and ISOs to explain why such a move was unnecessary.
    “Such an approach would have struck an appropriate balance to remedy any potentially unjust and unreasonable compensation practices while minimizing the impact on consumers and markets as the Commission considered longer-term reforms,” Chatterjee said…

    Perry said he appreciated FERC for not only considering the proposal, but making a commitment to further study the reliability of the nation’s power grid.
    “As intended, my proposal initiated a national debate on the resiliency of our electric system,” Perry said. “What is not debatable is that a diverse fuel supply, especially with on-site fuel capability, plays an essential role in providing Americans with reliable, resilient and affordable electricity, particularly in times of weather-related stress like we are seeing now.”…

    Debate over the merits of the NOPR created strange bedfellows. While trade associations in support of coal and nuclear power supported the proposal, their counterparts backing the oil, natural gas, wind and solar energy industries were adamantly opposed…

    Proponents Disappointed
    National Mining Association CEO Hal Quinn called FERC’s decision “disappointing,” especially considering it came after last week’s cold snap.
    “With a surge in demand, coal was the leading electricity supplier in many of the markets subjected to the deep freeze, providing a critical measure of reliability and resiliency to the nation’s grid operators,” Quinn said. “That coal-powered electricity came from many plants that will no longer be available if retirements continue at the pace expected.”

    Nuclear Energy Institute CEO Maria Korsnick warned that more nuclear units would retire.
    “America’s nuclear fleet must remain a strategic asset contributing to energy security, resilience, reliability, economic growth and environmental protection,” Korsnick said. “The status quo, in which markets recognize only short-term price signals and ignore the essential role of nuclear generation, will lead to more premature shutdowns of well-run nuclear facilities. Once closed, these facilities are shuttered forever.”
    However, environmental groups, which often deride FERC as a rubber stamp of the oil and gas industry, praised the Commission’s decision. Some even hinted at support for natural gas…

    “FERC’s announcement is a return to reality after months of billionaire coal and nuclear executives pressuring DOE and FERC to illegally setup bailouts for their uneconomic plants,” said Sierra Club spokeswoman Mary Anne Hitt. “This entire NOPR process has been a comically orchestrated ploy by unscrupulous coal and nuclear executives to handicap their competition because they were foolish enough to think that American electricity customers wanted their dirty, expensive power plants when ***cheaper, cleaner alternatives are available.”

    Other environmentalists made no secret that they supported wind and solar power.
    “Tens of thousands of people wrote to FERC demanding the rejection of Secretary Perry’s ludicrous proposal to bailout failing nuclear and coal projects,” said Friends of the Earth spokesman Damon Moglen. “No matter how forceful industry lobbying, the market factors simply dictate that nuclear and coal power plants should be replaced by ***cheaper, cleaner, and safer solar and wind power.”
    http://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/113000-ferc-votes-5-0-to-dump-doe-nopr-but-chatterjee-still-seeking-interim-coal-nuke-support

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    pat

    8 Jan: Dallas Morning News: Nicole Cobler: Trump renominates Texas climate change skeptic for key environmental post
    President Donald Trump has renominated Kathleen Hartnett White, an ex-Texas regulator and climate change skeptic he had picked last year to lead the Council on Environmental Quality.

    Trump’s renomination of White for the post on Monday was expected, but Democratic lawmakers had hoped that their efforts to keep her nomination from rolling over into 2018 automatically would make Trump re-think his choice.
    If confirmed, White would head the council that coordinates federal environmental efforts and ensures that agencies meet their obligations under the National Environmental Act…

    But Democrats and environmental advocates say she’s unfit for the position because she is skeptical of global warming, particulate matter and the Renewable Fuel Standard Program.
    “It seems to me you don’t believe climate change is real,” Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said to White during the hearing. “You’re not a scientist, are you?”
    “No,” White replied. “But in my personal capacity, I have questions that remain unanswered,” adding that scientists need to have a more precise understanding of how much human activity affects climate change…
    https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2018/01/08/trump-renominates-texas-climate-change-skeptic-key-environmental-post

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    pat

    Carbon Brief completely ignores this:

    10 Jan: Dhaka Tribune: Cold wave misery continues across country
    The number of patients with cold-related complications is increasing in the hospitals
    A cold wave continued to sweep over most parts of the country’s northern and southwestern regions on Tuesday.
    Dhaka Tribune’s district correspondents have reported great sufferings of people, particularly those in the low income segment, from the regions hit by the bitter cold.
    The daily wage earners as well as those involved in farming found it difficult to work in the cold and windy weather.
    In Sunamganj, the transplantation of paddy seedlings had to be suspended because of the weather…

    Farmers in Habiganj district also noted that they could not find day labourers to work in the Boro fields in this adverse weather…
    Poor and distressed people in slum areas and open spaces were found to be suffering from the lack of warm clothes. They are still looking forward to getting winter clothes as aid, either from the government or from any other quarter.
    At Rajshahi Railway Station area, day laborer Yakub Ali was seen trying to battle the cold wearing just a T-shirt…

    At least five women have reportedly died in the last four days due to burn injuries they received while they were trying to warm themselves near a fire.
    About 50 more burn victims, all women and children, have been admitted in the burn unit of Rangpur Medical College with injuries received while sitting close toa fire.
    In Habiganj, one child reportedly died of cold-related disease.
    The number of patients with cold-related complications is increasing in the hospitals.
    https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2018/01/10/cold-wave-misery-continues-across-country/

    Carbon Brief, however, reports this:

    8 Jan: Dhaka Tribune: ‘Global warming pose risk of cholera outbreak in Bangladesh’
    by Afrose Jahan Chaity
    The temperature rise in Bangladesh will make possible the growth for various algae and bacteria, leading to more cholera cases in the country, said Dr Md Sirajul Islam, emeritus scientist of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) at an international conference in Dhaka yesterday…

    It was part of a session, titled “Health and Migration,” of the inaugural day of the 4th Annual Gobeshona Conference for Research on Climate Change in Bangladesh (Gobeshona 4), organised by the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD).
    The four-day conference is being held at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB)…

    Earlier, during the inaugural session, Executive Director of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) Dr Atiq Rahman emphasized taking up quality research on climate science for higher adaptability to the threats of global warming.

    “Ten years ago, nobody believed solar energy would be possible, but the solar industry in Bangladesh has since gone to become one of the biggest in the world. It’s necessary to connect climate science researchers to the policymakers and recognise that the private sector also plays an important role. But their focus is split between people, planet and profit,” Atiq observed…
    https://www.dhakatribune.com/climate-change/2018/01/08/global-warming-pose-risk-cholera-outbreak-bangladesh/

    the Al Gore curse strikes another CAGW conference!

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    pat

    the insanity of CAGW:

    10 Jan: Straits Times: Blowing hot and cold
    *Deep freeze *heatwave *flash floods: What on earth is going on with the weather?
    by David Fogarty; Additional reporting by Audrey Tan
    The new year has barely started and already extreme weather is making headlines.
    A record deep-freeze in the United States, severe flash floods here, a blistering heatwave in Sydney, record low temperatures in normally balmy Bangladesh, plus a severe cold snap across large parts of China…

    And scientists say climate change is increasingly to blame.
    That is because the planet’s atmosphere and oceans are heating up. Warmer air holds more moisture, bringing more rain and snow. Warmer oceans provide more fuel to power storms.
    In short, climate change is giving the weather an extra kick and affecting atmospheric circulation, such as high-altitude jet streams, in ways scientists do not fully understand.

    EVIDENCE
    There is strong evidence that climate change caused by burning fossil fuels and deforestation is increasing the intensity of heatwaves, droughts and coastal flooding.
    Extreme heat and longer droughts also mean more severe bushfires in places such as South-East Australia and California.
    Leading climate scientist Michael Mann, professor of atmospheric science at Penn State University in the US, explained the link simply last year during a presentation published by Climate Reality…
    A 2016 study by the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organisation noted strong links to climate change exacerbating a severe summer in Australia in 2013 and Britain’s extreme floods in 2014…

    CLIMATE LINK TO DEEP FREEZE?
    But what about the bitter cold snap in the eastern US?
    Some scientists say climate change and cold spells, which occur when cold Arctic air dips south, may be related…
    “There’s a lot of agreement that the Arctic plays a role, it’s just not known exactly how much,” the New York Times quoted Marlene Kretschmer, a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, as saying. “It’s a very complex system.”…

    China renews cold front alert as heavy snow wreaks havoc
    China has renewed its alert for a cold front as heavy snow continues to cause great damage in parts of the country, Xinhua news agency reported.
    The meteorological authority on Monday evening renewed a yellow alert for a cold snap across the country.
    China has a colour-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

    Temperatures in northern, north-eastern, central and southern China, including parts of Inner Mongolia and Yunnan, are expected to drop by 6 to 8 deg C today.
    The lowest temperatures in parts of Shaanxi, Henan, Hubei and Anhui could reach minus 10 to minus 15 deg C, or lower, breaking historical records, Xinhua reported.

    In those areas hit by heavy snow, icy roads have been closed, causing massive disruptions to traffic.
    Nineteen expressways in north-east China’s Liaoning province have been closed or controlled since snow started on Sunday night, according to the local transport authorities.

    In Xinyang City, central China’s Henan province, heavy snowfall from last Wednesday to Friday killed one person and injured three others. It was the worst since local records began in 1951, Xinhua said. Primary and secondary schools in the city have suspended classes since last Thursday.
    The disaster also flattened 26 houses and damaged more than 2,000ha of crops, causing total economic losses of 219 million yuan (S$45 million), Xinhua reported…

    In eastern China’s Anhui province, quilts and coats have been distributed for residents to shield themselves from the biting cold, following heavy snow since last Wednesday, the worst in Anhui since 2008.
    Across the country, the snow has so far affected 1.5 million people and damaged more than 160,000ha of crops. Total economic losses amounted to 3.5 billion yuan.
    http://www.straitstimes.com/world/blowing-hot-and-cold

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    RAH

    Well all of you down under should enjoy the warmth. I live in North Central Indiana. Already saw -15 F this winter and it’s looking like were going to see worse early next week.
    Some models project the worst will go east of us but Joe Bastardi at , https://www.weatherbell.com/ who’s correct most of the time, is saying he believes the worst will be in IL and IN. And it’s not just going to be a snow storm. A blast of very cold, very likely colder than any we’ve seen here in Indiana for quite some time, will come behind the storm. I quote Joe: “I would not be surprised if some the outlying areas of Illinois and Indiana that get hammered by this snow storm hit 20 or 25 deg, below zero one of those nights behind it. Because this is a real classic setup for that type of situation” At this time the storm is forecast to start Friday night and go on well into Saturday. Thus early next week we’re in for dangerous cold again. The good news is a big warm up will follow this storm and the following extreme cold. We may even see 60 deg. F a few days after the cold gets pushed out! an 80 to 85 Deg. F shift in a period of five days or so is possible. All due to global warming of course.

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    pat

    perhaps this would be of interest to David, Jo.

    8 Jan: Phys.org: Special star is a Rosetta Stone for understanding the sun’s variability and climate effect
    by Aarhus University
    Now, a large international team led by Christoffer Karoff from Aarhus University has found a star that can shed light on the physics underlying the solar dynamo. The star is located 120 light years away in the constellation of Cygnus, and on the surface, it looks just like the sun. It has the same mass, radius and age—but the chemical composition of the star is very different. It consists of around twice as many heavy elements as in the sun…

    Can help us understand how the sun affects our climate
    The new study can help us understand how the irradiance of the sun has changed over time, which is likely to have an effect on our climate. In general special attention is paid to the Maunder Minimum, which coincided with a period of relatively cold climate, especially in Northern Europe. The new measurements offer an important constraint on the models trying to explain the weak activity and possible reduced brightness of the sun during the Maunder minimum.
    LINKS
    https://phys.org/news/2018-01-special-star-rosetta-stone-sun.html#ms

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    yarpos

    Mind numblingly dumb coverage of the BOM flailing around trying to get attention without the hottest year EVAH! line no matter how they fudged the number. Below is a copy of a rant to SBS (futile I know but I felt better)

    This article closed with the emotive statement “droughts and floods , the new reality”

    Possibly the most ridiclous stament about the Australian climate ever. There is a poem written by Dorathea Mckellar back in the 1890’s, it was once taught in schools here. I Love a Sunburnt Country explicitly talks about droughts and flooding rains, it is not new news.

    The irony of once again leaping on the warming bandwagon while the northern hemisphere feezes and it snows in the Sahara (video on your own site) is very noticeable.

    Seems Journalism is dead and has been replaced by agendas, PC ness and hyperbole. Balance, analysis and critical thinking seem to have evaporated.

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        Sceptical Sam

        Your comment is awaiting moderation.

        Really.

        Have the Philistines finally taken over completely?

        It’s the poem: My Country by Dorothea Mackellar.

        The love of field and coppice,
        Of green and shaded lanes.
        Of ordered woods and gardens
        Is running in your veins,
        Strong love of grey-blue distance
        Brown streams and soft dim skies
        I know but cannot share it,
        My love is otherwise.

        I love a sunburnt country,
        A land of sweeping plains,
        Of ragged mountain ranges,
        Of droughts and flooding rains.
        I love her far horizons,
        I love her jewel-sea,
        Her beauty and her terror –
        The wide brown land for me!

        A stark white ring-barked forest
        All tragic to the moon,
        The sapphire-misted mountains,
        The hot gold hush of noon.
        Green tangle of the brushes,
        Where lithe lianas coil,
        And orchids deck the tree-tops
        And ferns the warm dark soil.

        Core of my heart, my country!
        Her pitiless blue sky,
        When sick at heart, around us,
        We see the cattle die –
        But then the grey clouds gather,
        And we can bless again
        The drumming of an army,
        The steady, soaking rain.

        Core of my heart, my country!
        Land of the Rainbow Gold,
        For flood and fire and famine,
        She pays us back threefold –
        Over the thirsty paddocks,
        Watch, after many days,
        The filmy veil of greenness
        That thickens as we gaze.

        An opal-hearted country,
        A wilful, lavish land –
        All you who have not loved her,
        You will not understand –
        Though earth holds many splendours,
        Wherever I may die,
        I know to what brown country
        My homing thoughts will fly.

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      Another Ian

      “SMH Suffers Through Their Stupidest Day On Earth”

      https://realclimatescience.com/2018/01/snh-suffers-through-their-stupidest-day-on-earth/

      Of course they could set a new record tomorrow. Same as SBS

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    robert rosicka

    Problem with that poem is it hasn’t been homogenised!

    Never seen the whole thing before and it’s truly amazing thank you Sam .

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    Andrew

    ‘GLOBAL WARMING’ IN SAHARA DESERT: ‘WE WOKE UP TO SEE SNOW!’
    Children made the most of it, sledding down the desert sand dunes and building snowmen
    http://bit.ly/2D175N5

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    David Maddison

    21700 cells seem set to replace 18650’s in Tesla card and other applications.

    https://youtu.be/4nZlCuITw1I

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      David Maddison

      Oops! Wrong link. That was for the world’s smelliest man who hasn’t bathed for!37 years. That may be of interest in any case.

      I meant to post https://youtu.be/mNk5l_3vGR8

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        Graeme#4

        (Last comment for this morning – have to go and help install a solar backup system – could be interesting.)
        The video doesn’t shed much light on why Tesla thinks that the new Panasonic 2170 cell is better. I believe the Jeff Dahn presentation provides much more interesting information on the structure of this battery. And of course the Tesla charging system closely controls the battery charging and discharging for normal everyday car use, thus prolonging the battery life. While this works for short-distance town driving, if you want extended range, then the battery is going to have to be fully charged and discharged, thus shortening its life.

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      Graeme#4

      Thought Tesla were already using 2170 cells in their latest car?

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        Graeme#4

        Yep, the Model 3 uses Panasonic 2170 cells, which are bigger and thus store more energy than the 1865 cells. Not sure how many cells are used, but previously the Model S 85 kWh battery pack used 7104 cells, arranged in 16 modules of 444 cells each, with each module containing 6 groups of 74 cells in a series/parallel configuration. This battery pack weighed 540kgs.
        The SA battery apparently uses Samsung 2170 cells, I believe in similar module configurations to the Tesla cars.

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          Chad

          “The Roadster uses 6831 cells” [11S 9S 69P, 18650 form, 53 kWh]
          “The Model S uses 5376 cells” [14S 6S 64P, 18650 form, 60 kWh]
          “The Model S uses 7104 cells” [16S 6S 74P, 18650 form, 85 kWh, 1520 maxA]
          “The Model S uses 8256 cells” [16S 6S 86P, 18650 form, 100 kWh, 1760 maxA]
          “The Model 3 uses 4416 cells” [8S 12S? 46P?, 2170[0] form, ~80‒90 kWh derated?]..

          The grid support ” Powerpack” system does use 21700 cells now (series 2 version) , but in a very different pack configuration to the M3 packs.
          One of the main advantages of the 21700 cell is the reduced quantity required (-30%) for any given kWh capacity pack.
          That means less cells to manufacture, less cells to handle, less cell connections, etc ..all contributing to higher production rates.and consequent reduced costs.

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            Graeme#4

            Thanks Chad. Saved your info for future ref.
            So they have to manufacture a different battery module for Powerwalls and Powerpacks?
            I believe sometimes the battery cells include a switch-out mechanism, fitted at the top of the cell, to disconnect the cell if it shorts. Is this correct?

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              Chad

              Tesla use a “fuseable connection” to the +ve cap on each cell…(it an ultrasonic welded Al fuse wire).. That will fail is certain current is exceeded such as an internal cell short or failure.
              Its a last resort “failsafe” to protect the pack module by isolating failed cells and cannot be reset.
              If one did fuse , Pack monitoring systems would detect the slight changes in charge/discharge rates etc and signal a problem error code.
              In the Powerpacks, the individule racks (Pods) of cells can be replaced to restore capacity.

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    pat

    this is a long tale, beginning with –

    all the Trump news you will never hear on ABC:

    21 Dec 2017: Washington Examiner: Year One List: 81 major Trump achievements, 11 Obama legacy items repealed
    by Paul Bedard
    Below are the 12 categories and 81 wins cited by the White House…
    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/year-one-list-81-major-trump-achievements-11-obama-legacy-items-repealed/article/2644159

    31 Dec 2017: WND’s Big List of 170 Trump Accomplishments in 340 days
    [Note: The following comprehensive list of Trump accomplishments has been compiled for WND’s Thank Trump Campaign, which provides a free way to send personalized messages of thanks directly to the White House at ThankTrump.us]
    https://barbwire.com/2017/12/31/wnds-big-list-of-170-trump-accomplishments-in-340-days/

    partisan lists, yes, but given the state of the FakeNewsMSM, how else would you get to know about it?

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      pat

      pt 2

      read all:

      8 Jan: FrontPage: Daniel Greenfield: Harvey Weinstein Pals in, Weinstein Accusers Banned from Golden Globes
      https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/268961/harvey-weinstein-pals-weinstein-accusers-banned-daniel-greenfield

      9 Jan: American Spectator: George Neumayr: Special Report: In the Wolff Trap
      His book is a window on the bastardization of news
      After a year of scoffing at the claim that Trump’s supporters take him seriously, not literally, journalists are adopting essentially the same standard in their defense of Michael Wolff’s book. Sure, the book is riddled with errors, they say, but it still contains a larger “truth” about this presidency.

      That’s not the standard journalists apply to Trump’s tweets. If he gets any detail wrong in one of them, that becomes an obsessive story, even if his underlying point is sound. How unpresidential, they gasp. No such gasps can be heard about Wolff’s book, which combines small errors with big ones — from misspelled names, wrong ages, and misidentifications to false quotes and embellished scenes.

      Wolff appeared on Morning Joe the other day and its hosts informed him that he had botched various stories regarding them. But they didn’t seem to mind. They shrugged it off quickly and the gibbering about Trump’s “recklessness” resumed. Wolff’s book was treated by one and all as a useful piece of anti-Trump propaganda.

      Wolff is nothing more than a breathless gossip, of mostly trivialities hyped up into grandiose claims. It tells you everything you need to know about the bastardization of news that a checkered gossip columnist can now present himself as an oracle on presidential “fitness.”

      Oh, how the media longs for a grave and sober presidency — so much so that journalists want Oprah to run for it…READ ON
      https://spectator.org/in-the-wolff-trap/

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        pat

        pt 3 –

        9 Jan: The Hill: Brandon Carter: Robert De Niro slams Trump as an ‘idiot’ and a ‘fool’ in awards gala speech
        De Niro was speaking at the National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala. According to The New York Times, he used the occasion to tear into Trump…
        “And again, just like in 1971, the press is distinguishing itself with brave, exacting journalism,” De Niro continued, referring to the media’s coverage of the Watergate scandal…
        The Academy Award winner endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

        from Oprah Winfrey’s Golden Globes speech: I want to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. We know the press is under siege these days. We also know it’s the insatiable dedication to uncovering the absolute truth that keeps us from turning a blind eye to corruption and to injustice…
        I want to say that I value the press more than ever before as we try to navigate these complicated times, which brings me to this: what I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have…

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          pat

          pt 4 –

          someone told me this afternoon about the following ABC interview last night, but you have to hear it to believe it. it features ABC’s New Year’s Eve host, Charlie “kill a police officer” Pickering, talking endlessly from NYC to ABC’s Declan Fay (standing in for the usual presenter).

          THE AUDIO HAS A PIC OF OBAMA, THE PREVIOUS DAY’S AUDIO HAS A PIC OF PAUL KEATING. A SHORTER AUDIO FROM THE PREVIOUS DAY, WITH KEATING SPEECH-WRITER DON WATSON, HAS A PIC OF JFK – NOTHING PARTISAN ABOUT ABC.

          Pickering begins around 49mins in, but it’s mostly NYC weather & then a news break, so begin listening at 1hr 1min in.

          Pickering says no-one has come out to say what Wolff has written in his anti-Trump book is wrong (OH REALLY?). Trump “wholly unequipped” to be President. level of chaos is what you expect when the President is “borderline disinterested” in being President (SO WHY DID HE COLLUDE WITH RUSSIA TO WIN, CHARLIE?).

          says now there are questions about Trump’s mental fitness. demented, getting worse. Joe Scarborough/MSNBC, former Republican (lol) says it’s a trade secret in DC has he’s not mentally fit to be in office. if this person suffers from dementia, those people around him are not doing something about it, they are clearly not going to rock the boat, because they are getting to pass legislation. country could be in peril.

          ***Pickering: hopefully, American public might be more sceptical of people who come along with no track record. Trump is a flim-flam man.

          Declan Fay jumps to Oprah/Golden Globes: Oprah’s incredible speech, gave him tingle on the back of his neck. stunning. immediately, people called for her to be President.

          Pickering: pity Trump became President before Oprah. she is a capable, competent person. she would be great. she’s unencumbered by politics…except for endorsing Obama…listening to her speech…she’s such an extraordinary person. universally, she is just loved. there would be women who wouldn’t usually vote for a Democrat, but they would vote for Oprah.

          Declan: I spoke to Paul Keating’s speech-writer, Don Watson, last night. he mentioned Gillard’s mysogyny speech. like with the Oprah speech, you knew it was her truth. that was more of a great traditional speech than anything in the public discourse in many years.

          AUDIO: 1hr 1min in: 10 Jan: ABC Overnights: Declan Fay with Charlie Pickering
          http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/overnights/overnights/9302636

          where is ABC management/Board? who is in charge? who is accountable to all the taxpayers paying for this junk media?

          The End.

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    pat

    Updated 10 Jan: UK Express: Stephen Hawking: Earth will become unbearably boiling hot thanks to climate change
    STEPHEN Hawking has reiterated his claim that Earth will turn into a boiling hotpot if runaway greenhouse gasses are not stopped.
    by Sean Martin
    Professor Hawking said US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, has doomed Earth to one day become uninhabitable.
    And repeating his warning, the physicist said climate change deniers should look to Venus which is now a boiling planet
    In the second episode of his Emmy-winning web series Favourite Places, which sees the 76-year old traverse the universe in heavy CGI backdrops, Prof Hawking visits the planet Venus…

    Prof Hawking says in the show anyone who does not believe in global warming should do some research on Venus…
    The University of Cambridge alumni said: “Next time you meet a climate change denier, tell them to take a trip to Venus.
    “I will pay the fare.”…ETC
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/902350/Stephen-Hawking-climate-change-Donald-Trump-Global-warming-weather-venus

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      Wayne Job

      I thought Hawkings was meant to be smart, he has been sucked in by the AGW crowd. The atmosphere on Venus is huge compared to earth, but the lapse rate from surface to top of atmosphere is the same. It is hotter because it is denser and the CO2 makes no difference, being as the atmosphere is mainly CO2 it shoots the AGW stuff in the foot.

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    TdeF

    news.com.au.. “THE residents of western Sydney, who have just sweltered through their hottest day in eight decades, may find it surprising but globally — the world actually cooled down last year.

    According to the Bureau of Meteorology’s (BoM) 2017 annual climate statement, released on Wednesday, the world got slightly cooler last year compared to 2016.

    Amanda McKenzie, the CEO of the Climate Council which disseminates information on the effects of climate change, said it was more important to look at the overall change rather than one year in isolation.”

    So one year for the entire planet is not the climate, it’s just the weather?

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    Carbon500

    A fun question for the warmists.
    In front of you is a bottle full of ‘pop’ – i.e. a carbonated drink.
    CO2 causes warming, we’re told, and there’s lots of it in the bottle.
    So – will the temperature of the unopened bottle rise above ambient?

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    Ian Wilson

    You might want to look at this paper suggesting that solar activity has a direct impact on long term climate.
    It seems to relate periods of low solar activity to the behavior of blocking high pressure systems.

    http://principia-scientific.org/low-solar-activity-correlated-to-jet-stream-blocking-say-scientists/

    [Thanks Ian. Best to read the original of that post at http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/new-paper-finds-another-solar.html. — jo]

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    Ian Wilson

    Kohyama, T., and J. M. Wallace (2014), Lunar gravitational atmospheric tide, surface to 50 km in a global, gridded data set, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 8660–8665, doi:10.1002/2014GL060818.

    Lunar gravitational atmospheric tide,surface to 50km in a global,gridded dataset
    Tsubasa Kohyama and John M. Wallace

    Abstract: The lunar gravitational semidiurnal atmospheric tide L2 is detected in the geopotential field in the ERA-Interim reanalysis by regressing the data for each of the four daily analysis times on to periodic lunar half-synodic cycle time series and differencing the resulting regression maps. A robust pattern dominated by zonal wave number 2 emerges, which agrees with tidal theory and with previous observational studies based on station data interms of its amplitude ,phase ,and seasonality at the Earth’s surface.

    Above the 100 hPa level, the tidal signal amplifies with height and it is downward propagating; below that level it is almost barotropic. The L2 signal is resolvable even in data for individual months of individual years. Monthly time series of tidal amplitude and phase exhibit a well-defined pattern of seasonality year after year. Since the ERA forecast model has no L2 gravitational forcing, the source of its L2 signal must be in the observations.

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    Ian Wilson

    Rainfall variations induced by the lunar gravitational atmospheric tide and their implications for the relationship between tropical rainfall and humidity
    Tsubasa Kohyama and John M. Wallace
    Geophysical Research Letters
    28 January 2016
    DOI: 10.1002/2015GL067342

    http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015GL067342/full

    Abstract
    Classical tidal theory predicts that the lunar gravitational semidiurnal tide (L2) should induce perturbations in relative humidity (RH). Adiabatic expansion in divergent flow in advance of the L2 pressure minimum cools the air and reduces its saturation vapor pressure, thereby increasing the rate of condensation in saturated air parcels and causing the relative humidity (RH) of unsaturated parcels to rise. Here we detect a statistically significant L2 signature in precipitation rate (P) in a 15 year, eight times daily, global precipitation data set acquired in the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission. Consistent with tidal theory and with the notion that L2 modulates P mainly by perturbing RH, P varies out of phase with pressure, and it increases at a rate of about 10% per 1% increase in RH. These measurements thus provide a measure of the sensitivity of P to planetary-scale changes in RH. Analysis of solar semidiurnal (S2) tidal statistics yields similar results.

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    Ian Wilson

    The two papers cited above indicate the the Moon produces ~ 1 % variation in the amount of precipitation between 10 degrees North
    and 10 degrees South that tracks the lunar tide with a phase shift in time.

    The question is does the ~ 1 % variation in precipitation produce a ~ 1 % in cloud cover and, hence, the Earth’s albedo?

    Could this affect the Earth’s long term rate of heating and cooling?

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    toorightmate

    BoM, ABC and MSN are trying their hardest to turn the current low pressure system off Broome into a cyclone.
    Winds are now 70kph, which is the same wind strength as the last one they decided was a “cyclone”.
    Next thing, a willy willy blowing across the Nullabor Plain will be a cyclone.

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      Graeme#4

      Actually a few of the NW cyclones, after crossing the coast, end up as rain-bearing depressions that travel SW down to the Bight, thus crossing the Nullarbor. And a rain front on the Nullabor, pushing a huge dust cloud before it, is quite a terrifying sight as it tears across the plain. (Lived out there for a while.)

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        toorightmate

        I spoke too soon.
        It is now a cyclone!!!
        I wonder if the BoM snowflakes are getting kph and mph mixed up (and/or inches of Hg and mb)???

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    Extreme Hiatus

    I’m guessing that someone has already pointed out this great story, originally from Agence France-Presse, Sydney.

    Hundreds of ‘boiled’ bats fall from sky in Australian heat wave

    “Hundreds of bats have died in sweltering conditions in Australia, with many dropping from their perches as the scorching temperatures “fried their brains”, wildlife officials said Tuesday.

    A record-breaking heatwave saw the mercury rise to 45 Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in Sydney’s western suburb of Campbelltown on Sunday where hundreds, if not thousands, of the animals fell from trees after succumbing to the heat.

    “They basically boil,” Campbelltown flying fox colony manager Kate Ryan told the local Camden Advertiser.”

    http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/hundreds-of-boiled-bats-fall-from-sky-in-australian-heat-wave/story-s8hHRCv833EofHD9po9AhI.html

    More extreme ‘mental dimming.’ How did they ever survive so long? Thank goodness they have a “colony manager” to save them!

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    Another Ian

    And local knowledge from around here

    “They say that koalas don’t drink so it is funny that the dead ones are always beside a waterhole that has just dried up”

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    tom0mason

    Prediction for 2018…

    This is the start of the sheeple noticing the weather and it’s instability, it’s unpredictability, coming to the fore, as the solar minimum disrupts weather patterns before settling into a new regime over the next 3-5 years.
    Meteorologists are going to have lots of difficulty and fun (at the climate morons expense) as the weather patterns readjust.

    The cAGW religious type will go more crazy than ever, as their superstition is shown to be a nothing but a profitable mirage.

    How much the sheeple will realize they’ve been duped is anyone’s guess, I don’t think they will understand as politician issue their ready made deni@ls — “What were we to do? The scientists said it was so, etc, etc…”

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    el gordo

    Perceived cultural differences.

    ‘….the $200 million production, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, failed to take top slot on its first day at the Chinese box office from a low-budget domestic comedy released more than a week before, many critics saw it as a sign that the franchise created by George Lucas could be faced with a commercial flop despite its enduring popularity in North America.’

    China Daily

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    Another Ian

    Speaking of records there are a few here that aren’t of the one second variety

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_%28pilot%29

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