A shortage of bottled pollution means Brits face beer, coke, bacon shortage

This is serious. The World Cup cometh, and the United Kingdom is running out of beer.

The UK emits over one million tons of CO2 each day but bottles of flood-drought-n-coral-killing CO2 are in short supply.

Trade journal Gas World, which first revealed there was a problem last week, said it was the “worst supply situation to hit the European carbon dioxide business in decades”.

Carbon capture is the way of the future, which is a shame. If it worked now, people wouldn’t be running out of beer, bacon, coke and even crumpets.

We spend billions to take pollution out of the sky and stuff it into deep holes.  Then we pay people to generate the same pollution and put it in our food. Someone, join the dots. Cut out the middle man and move Heineken next to Drax!

Bottles of pollution are used to make beer and fizzy drinks, they’re used in abattoirs, and they’re used to make dry ice, to keep food fresh.

Tesco-owned Booker, a big supplier to restaurants and bars, has started rationing customers to ten cases of beer. And Ei Group, Britain’s biggest pub operator, said some beer brands were in short supply or not available.

Scotland’s biggest abattoir – which handles 6,000 pigs a week – has temporarily closed, with animals being sent to England for slaughter. But that is only a temporary solution, as these abattoirs, too, are also low on carbon dioxide.

Why the shortage?

At least five CO2 producers in northern Europe are offline for maintenance, according to the publication Gasworld.

Seasonal maintenance shutdowns have left the UK with only one big CO2 producer in action.

BMPA deputy-director Fiona Steiger said: “Supply is running out and it’s pretty tight for some people.

“We don’t know when supplies will be back up. We’ve been told it could be about a month.”

 I’m sure Australia can air freight some Carlton Draught in this time of need. Otherwise people will just have to drink ale, cider and wine.

9.6 out of 10 based on 66 ratings

140 comments to A shortage of bottled pollution means Brits face beer, coke, bacon shortage

  • #
    Yonniestone

    And the anti-science own goals continue LOL

    CO2 is also used in some welding procedures, Fundamentals of MAG Welding (CO2 Arc Welding)

    Also some of the processes used to sequester CO2 for industry Carbon capture and storage

    Very difficult to Google this subject without getting all anti-CO2/climate change results, the stupid it burns.

    221

    • #
      ColA

      I think we should be bear the reasonability for sequestering as much poisonous CO2 as we can to save the planet.

      =

      DRINK MORE BEER!! 😉 😉 😉

      Greeny/watermellons of course will Late us down!!

      41

    • #
      Geoff

      There will be lots of EU “scientists” buying the stuff for sequestration experiments. Linde or Air Liquide probably have GW policies. How can they sell this product and remain listed on any EU exchange?

      50

      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Speaking of buying stuff….recycling is OK, excpet when it actually costs the govt something…sound familiar?

        http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-29/south-australias-seinfeld-container-deposit-plot-foiled/9924002

        “In a startling similarity to a classic Seinfeld plot, a New South Wales man has been convicted and fined with attempting to bring drink cans into South Australia to reap the financial rewards of the state’s container deposit scheme.

        A 36-year-old man from Broken Hill has been fined $4,800 — ordered to pay $960 in court costs and to the victims of crime levy — after pleading guilty to the scam.

        He was also ordered to forfeit 45,000 of his drink containers to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA).

        For Seinfeld’s Kramer and Newman, it seemed like the perfect plan — collect tens of thousands of drink containers and drive from New York to Michigan to reap the financial rewards of their paid container deposit scheme.

        But in the 1996 episode, the cans never make it to the depot, leaving the two men stranded deep in midwestern America dodging bullets from an angry farmer.
        Carefully laid plan included newspaper ads

        On June 4, 2016, the man arrived at AAA Recycling in Burton with 37 bales, four clear plastic bags, one garbage bag and two chaff bags filled with cans for recycling.

        When he returned the next day for the refund to be assessed, he admitted he had bought some of the cans on a per kilogram basis from the Wilcannia Pub in New South Wales, but said that he was entitled to $7,000 for the cans from the recycling depot.

        The cans were confiscated by the EPA, who initiated court action.”

        20

        • #
          Annie

          Strange. Did they want to recycle the cans or didn’t they? Did it matter where they originated?

          00

          • #
            OriginalSteve

            The gummint got played at their own game and they took their bat and ball and hit the bloke over the head with it…..

            00

            • #
              Ceetee

              Get rid of Turnbull.. In fact I bet Aus Labour are delighted with him. Either way with him they win. The man is a sphincter and his opponents love him so much they are silent.

              11

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      My favorite rye bread comes with little and sometimes not so little holes in it where, heaven forbid, there were trapped carbon dioxide bubbles. And so do most baked goods. Otherwise they would be so dense and hard to eat that no one would want them.

      I wonder what kind of bread Al Gore eats. And then there’s swiss cheese and…a long list… Al, you’re defeating your campaign for a zero carbon footprint world just by eating.

      Shame on you, you hypocrite.

      00

  • #

    What??? They have factories making CO2! Shut-Them-Down! Immediately!

    Where are the protestors? Why are they not activating themselves? I blame Trump for leaving the Paris Accord!

    110

    • #
      • #
        GD

        That article at the Age now says ‘comments closed’.

        There is only one comment:

        “Watch out folks, this is global warming!”

        I guess they didn’t like that one, so closed up shop.

        00

    • #
      sophocles

      What??? They have factories making CO2! Shut-Them-Down! Immediately!

      No, no, no! The plants need all they can get. They’re still suffering from a CO2 shortage. Atmospheric CO2 has finally reached 400ppmv which makes life more comfortable for them but, considering the modern plants mostly evolved with an atmospheric content of somewhere between 800 – 1200 ppmv, then there is definitely room for further improvement, even now.

      But the up side is: the Greenies now know their favourite drinks release CO2 to the atmosphere. Think of it this way: all the Greenies and their children will now have to avoid carbonated drinks completely, beer, and soft drinks, because they will be polluting the atmosphere by adding CO2 to it! Nothing with fizz. Fizz is bad!
      (Gives us `deniers’ another weapon to beat them about the head with {Evil Grin} ROTFL.)

      As Jo points out, the shortage of bottled CO2 for the breweries is especially ironic. One form of CO2 collection is from the fermenting process (yeast + sugars/carbohydrate -> CH3CH2OH + CO2 (ethyl alcohol + CO2)) at the brewery, where CO2 is collected, stored under pressure) and added back to the beer at the final bottling stage. Another is burning coal, extracting the CO2, purifying and then bottling it, using the same process of making liquid air. Water is first out, then CO2, then, as the compression and expansion continues to chill the air, other gases liquify and can be collected.

      Carbohydrate can be considered as CO2 that has been captured and sequestered for a while so I think it’s nice to return it back to the air.

      I’ve been waiting for carbonated drinks to hit the rotating blades in front of the Green’s eyes for quite a few years but I have to admit that I never expected it to be caused by a shortage of bottled CO2. It’s so wonderfully ironic. And amazing when it’s their favourite beverage(s) which must suffer! Now that’s Justice.

      If beer is brewed properly, then the shortage shouldn’t matter. Pasturizing to kill the yeast flattens the brew and requires extra CO2 to be added under pressure when bottled. I bottled my home brew early to allow fermentation to continue in the bottles. That made them ‘give a good head’ because the CO2 couldn’t escape. That final brewing in the bottle made for a delicious and tasty brew and rather a strong one! <hic>

      If I left it to stand a bit too long, I could lose a bottle or two. Refrigerating it stopped the fermentation and that way I didn’t lose a bottle of contents, when I opened the bottle, to a fountain of froth (it could literally hit the ceiling. Sigh: another one down,…). Timing is everything as are carefully measured ingredients and temperature regulation during the fermenting process. I switched from using beer bottles to soft drink bottles because beer bottles were too thin and couldn’t take the increasing internal pressure. Soft drink bottles lasted for many brews 🙂

      The human body doesn’t like captured CO2 later in life and develops insulin resistance as Diabetes 2. Sad. I used to like my home brew. So did my friends. I now have to avoid carbohydrates … and their products … sigh.

      131

      • #
        Another Ian

        Soft drink bottles are bigger too – so you can stick to your “one bottle consumption limit”

        40

        • #
          Sceptical Sam

          The Darwin Stubby is dead though.

          http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-29/darwin-stubby-wake-held-as-carlton-united-stops-production/6508116

          And it’s only a matter of time before the sanctimonious vegan fascists put a stop to Norman too.

          20

        • #
          sophocles

          They were both 750 ml when I first started but the beer bottles changed from `long-necked’ to short necked some years later. That was when they went from 750ml to 700ml and were thinner. This is NZ, remember. 🙂

          The beer still comes in bottles but they’re 300ml or 350ml now. I have no idea how strong they are, but they suit my drinking habits much better. I don’t know how strong they are and I have no intention of finding out.

          The softdrink comes in 1 litre (1000ml) plastic bottles as well as dinky smaller ones. The polycarb bottles would still make good containers, they’re really strong. Those screw-on lids, once on, really stay on! Sterilizing them for reuse, though, would be a pain. Cleanliness is essential for a tasty brew.

          But I can’t be bothered brewing my own any more. There are now quite a few boutique breweries who make highly tasty and therefore acceptable brews, so I don’t see any point. Get bored with one, move to another. I’ve always been a very moderate drinker as seen by the eighteen seventeen bottles left in my fridge from a purchase at the start of last summer. I don’t mind: a good quality beer actually ages rather nicely in the fridge and some of the more recent brews (all from the boutique breweries) do mature beautifully in the fridge. I haven’t let any go past two years, yet, and at the rate I consume them, they probably won’t quite make it. :-).

          40

          • #
            Another Ian

            I refused to bottle stubbies – twice as many bottles to wash

            20

            • #
              sophocles

              twice as many bottles to wash

              … which is one reason I can no longer be bothered. I found one brew which nicely matched my one. It was called Bean Rock (after a famous/notorious reef in Auckland’s harbour, which had a distinctive eight sided light house built on it. It was a certain favourite of mine, and came in stubbies. It was a retirement hobby of its owner but went out of production after a fire at the brewery and nobody else would brew it on a contract while he rebuilt the brewery. So it’s been gone for some years now.

              I haven’t yet found another one which meets my tastes but I’m optimistic.

              00

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Greenies drinking bottled CO2.

        Can you picture the indecision, the unbelievably hard decision, to drink or not to drink. Fun to contemplate, but I’m waiting for the collapse of the biggest nonsense / scam of them all, CVS.

        Can’t wait for the musical:

        “Carbon Capture and Storage, the musical based on a true story of lust, greed and political manipulation of the masses. Starring the Algorithm as Kaptain Karbon and Hillari Klinton as the scientists who supervises the pumping of cooled CO2 into the sub surface cavity. Her sinister plan to use the same underground storage space in perpetuity is uncovered by local farmers who notice abnormal plant growth surrounding fissures in the ground and call the EPA Who immediately question the wisdom of storing cooled CO2 in a subsurface cavity at a temperature of 45°C. This is a rare scientific coup from the EPA who normally do political science type work. Just what does the Algorithm say to the imminent plant closure ,,,,,,
        To be continued.

        KK

        60

      • #
        Allen Ford

        No, no, no! The plants need all they can get.

        This is dangerous talk, Sophie. What happens if we get another genesis of triffids?

        The mind boggles!

        00

      • #
        Horace Jason Oxboggle

        Do hops and barley thrive in higher levels of CO2?

        20

  • #
    TedM

    Jo is at her satirical best. Very clever satirical journalism while so clearly pointing out the bleedingly obvious that seems to escape the Silly Filly’s and confirmed CAGW adherents et al of this world.

    120

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      TedM:

      I see a market opening; sell NATURALLY GASSED drinks to the Greenies. Claim that the CO2 from the fermentation has been CAPTURED and STORED in the product and all that nasty BLACK CARBON they worry about in the atmosphere has been eliminated.
      I foresee only 2 problems:
      The first is that most of them fit in the Bollinger Socialist class and won’t drink what the plebs do:
      The second is that their numbers are declining so quickly that the market might evaporate soon.

      I will have to fall back on selling them STILL bottled WATER at 15 times the price that it came out of the tap at. (Those SAVE the POLAR BEARS labels work great with the gullibles).

      80

  • #
    TdeF

    Seize the day!

    Ban beer, coke, bacon plus bread, cheese, champagne, soda water, cartridges for soda water and racing bikes.

    Even Ban all commercial CO2 production and use. Even prohibit the bottling and sale of CO2. Force BOC to bottle CO2 but bury the bottles for later generations so they can deal with the imminent CO2 shortage from the sequestration of all CO2 in a low CO2 world caused by millions of giant windmills.

    We have to make sacrifices today so that later generations can enjoy the lack of devastating +1C in an average day, in an average season, in an average country at an average latitude. The Polar bears will thank you.

    There is no ecological problem which cannot be solved with legislation and taxes. King Knut was wrong.

    91

  • #
    Another Ian

    From my home brewing experience You bubble off the CO2 from about a kg of sugar which brew makes about 30 tallies – so about 30 gm of sugar per bottle. Then you gas the bottle with about a teaspoon full which is about 4 gm.

    Sounds like commercial beer might be continuing on the road described by I.G. Simmons in “The Ecology of Natural Resources”

    “Even a gallon of beer uses 350 gallons of water – much of which seems to remain in the product”

    60

    • #
      glen Michel

      That’s so 20th Century Ian. We use all grain malt.No sugar! Yep, the days of yer beer tasting like cider due to using white sugar are over.On a down note, it seems that all the new craft brewers are Lefty types. Beards are the go also.

      20

    • #

      Likewise there are DIY instructions out there for people to generate CO2 for their fishtanks (which helps underwater plants grow too). It involves sugar and yeast and old plastic bottles…

      40

    • #
      neil

      I don’t get how a shortage of bottled CO2 effects beer production. Beer is usually produced in closed vessels and produces it’s own CO2. Wine is produced in vented vessels and has to be treated in various ways during fermentation and it is advantagous to use bottled CO2 to replace the sealing layer, so that makes sense.

      I buy Lite N Easy and they use about 250g of dry ice to keep deliveries frozen throughout the day, I put it in my freezer to use up the energy that they paid for to make it.

      00

  • #
    Greg Cavanagh

    It’s like some parallel universe intersecting with out own. To say that it’s “A strange, strange world”, is an understatement. It’s God Damn bonkers.

    90

  • #
    Jonesy

    What is wasted on the tooth gnashers and birch flagulators is…for all the huge amount of evil carbon dioxide spewing into our atmosphere…it is still uneconomical to mine the atmosphere to recover CO2. Fugitive emmissions, offtake from chemical processes and directly from well heads is still the most economic way of recovering CO2. 410ppm, there is a reason why it is called a trace gas.

    120

    • #
      Ian Hill

      Crackpot idea to celebrate the end of the financial year: pump massive amounts of helium into the atmosphere so that the ppm of CO2 will start to fall. Just start filling up imaginary balloons!

      10

  • #
    Graham Richards

    Wait for it!! The explanation will be along any minute now. Eureka this CO2 is harmless! ITS FOOD GRADE! Like the bullshit hey feed the masses on, it’s also food grade & the stupid public love it!

    50

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      Love it.

      Food grade.

      But then humans need it too.

      Reproductive grade CO2?

      KK

      20

    • #
      Annie

      I’d noticed the emphasis on ‘food grade’ and wondered if that was a bit of ‘subtle’ indoctrination? Maybe that refers to the containers used?

      40

  • #
    PeterS

    If anything is proof that the left (LNP included) are hypocrites and hate Capitalism and prefer Socialism it’s the fake idea that CO2 is a pollution and the means by which they are continuously pushing that propaganda that we must reduce it. If CO2 is a pollutant then how come soft drinks are being allowed to be sold at the shops? Of course CO2 is not a pollutant. Without it all life would die.

    120

  • #
    PeterS

    Tony Abbott states clearly on 2GB today that the only way to provide affordable, reliable and sustainable power in our environment is to use coal otherwise our economy will be at serious risk. So unless Turnbull and Frydenberg change tune they must be replaced very soon for the sake of this nation. It’s time to act, not in the years ahead but VERY SOON, preferably NOW.

    241

    • #
      el gordo

      The zealots say too much CO2 is bad, that it will make the world a warmer place, but that has failed to materialise.

      More to the point, a leading architect of global warming hysteria, James Hansen, now acknowledges renewables are a disaster.

      ‘The notion that renewable energies and batteries alone will provide all needed energy is fantastical. It is also a grotesque idea, because of the staggering environmental pollution from mining and material disposal, if all energy was derived from renewables and batteries. Worse, tricking the public to accept the fantasy of 100 percent renewables means that, in reality, fossil fuels reign and climate change grows.’

      Boston Globe

      92

    • #
      • #
        Mark M

        Abbott on 2gb:

        “It’s very serious Alan because the decisions we make now on energy policy will determine the shape of our economy for decades to come.”

        It was the decisions Abbott made as PM, trying to appease the climate grifters that have made him a footnote in history now, not a leader.

        Abbott could have stood up as PM and said it was crap and shaped Australia’s economy for decades with cheap coal fire powered energy.

        Instead, even now Abbott still thinks Australia needs an emissions target, just not as high as LaboUr.

        The LNP are firmly in the Clinton/elite camp.

        They hate deplorables.

        60

        • #
          Phil C

          Mark M,

          In defence of Tony Abbott I believe he does not think that man-made global warming is an issue and would more than likely had a HELE coal powered generator built. His problem is and still is the Senate and the bunch of backward thinking grass castle building brain dead morons currently sitting in the supposed house of review. That place is a protected workshop for the unhinged and the mentally deficient.

          72

          • #
            el gordo

            I don’t think Tony has given the science too much thought, like the rest of the population, so at some point in the near future I expect he will have a revelation.

            Crossing the floor on the NEG is a defining moment and if half of the Nats went with Abbott and Kelly, its as good as throwing down the gauntlet to Turnbull.

            As it stands half of the Coalition back bench support the ginger group.

            10

        • #
          el gordo

          The deep state bureaucracy ran rings around him, think of Yes Minister.

          ‘Tony Abbott has claimed he was misled by bureaucrats before he signed Australia up to the Paris international climate agreement in 2015 during another sortie by government conservatives against the national energy guarantee.’

          Guardian
          ——-

          Reading his GWPF speech of late last year, he is a lukewarmer with a tendency toward total denial.

          30

        • #
          OriginalSteve

          We are in affect a One-Party state, no different to China….we get the same green agenda moving forward no matter which of the 3 CAGW-loving parties are in power….

          50

        • #
          PeterS

          Yes Abbott stated on 2GB he still thinks we should reduce our emissions. In that case why didn’t he support the nuclear option? Goes to show no politician has the backbone to stand up to the deceptions of CAGW and CO2 emissions except for Cory. Too bad he is not taken seriously.

          30

          • #
            el gordo

            Cory’s big mistake is not focussing on energy and the science behind AGW, whereas Abbott and Ridd are at least talking.

            Here is Tony’s speech from last year and he sounds like a closet member of the Denialati.

            https://www.thegwpf.org/tony-abbott-daring-to-doubt/

            21

          • #
            PeterS

            I think you are confused. Abbott is not in agreement with Cory’s views that we should follow Trump and withdraw from the Paris Accord and dump the mad idea we should continue to reduce our emissions. If only Abbott changed his views and agreed with Cory we might actually make a difference.

            30

            • #
              el gordo

              Craig Kelly reckons the Paris Agreement is ‘cactus’ and I assume that is the view of the ginger group, but Abbott cannot say more until he is convinced CO2 doesn’t cause global warming. He’s a lukewarmer after all.

              Going back to his speech in London, when he likened climate scientists to “thought police” and the research they are doing as “absolute crap”.

              “At least so far, it’s climate change policy that’s doing harm; climate change itself is probably doing good; or at least, more good than harm.”

              What? Global warming is good for us? Outrageous.

              32

        • #
          Bobl

          He said clearly in the interview that he is against any policy that damages the economy, he will sop to the bed wetter only when there is a net benefit to the country and he would do it anyway. This is the old L/NP no regrets policy that got abandoned somewhere along the way.

          Even I agree with that,eg: let’s build some nuke plants, saves Co2 but is worth building even if it didn’t. Plant trees to fix salinity problems saves Co2 but there is enough benefit to do it even if Co2 were unaffected. Extending the ord river scheme should sink loads of Co2 but worth doing for the economic and food security value alone especially if the quiet sun does precipitate a mini ice age.

          50

          • #
            PeterS

            He also said cutting emissions is a good idea, which is why he won’t take Cory’s stance to withdraw from he Paris Accord. Abbott is playing both sides and that makes him a hypocrite. He should go all the way and say cutting our emissions is a waste of time for a number of reasons as we all know, hence withdraw from the Paris Accord.

            31

            • #
              el gordo

              I agree, Abbott has to say CO2 doesn’t cause warming. Let’s hope Ridd can knock some sense into him.

              40

          • #
            el gordo

            May I recommend the AP1000 nuclear plant, which is state of the art, apparently.

            Extending the Ord to the Murray Darling Basin would end the wrangling over water rights and what a boon for agriculture.

            The jury is still out on a quiet sun, but in a worse case scenario we should expect some dislocation. My focus is on life as we came down from the MWP and ran into a Wolf Minimum. And don’t believe the guff you may hear that large volcanic eruptions caused the start of the LIA

            20

          • #
            el gordo

            The South to North Water Diversion Project in China is the biggest in the world, but for our needs underground piping would be sufficient, which avoids unnecessary evaporation.

            20

      • #
        Another Ian

        el gordo

        “What was worse was that the current crop of politicians around the world had the political smarts of middle management filing clerks, no real bollocks and the last thing they could ever be trusted to do was create a successful economy. In short, they were dumb, dire and totally out of ideas.”

        More at

        https://thepointman.wordpress.com/2018/06/29/on-willie-sutton-liberty-valance-and-donald-trump/

        20

  • #
    Mark M

    Not only are they short of bacon, they are also a few bob short of a quid.

    50

    • #
      Ken Stewart

      as well as a few sangers short of a picnic.

      50

    • #
      yarpos

      no beer and bacon butties? they will have to cancel summer

      oh well, it usually only lasts a few days anyway

      20

      • #
        Bobl

        A mate of mine used to say that in the UK you could go in for a haircut and miss summer…

        30

        • #
          Annie

          Like Flanders and Swann….’Summer? I missed it, I was in the bathroom.’ ( Or words to that effect anyway). This year they are actually having some summer, like we did in 2003.

          10

          • #
            yarpos

            My wife likes the Monty Don gardening shows (more about Monty I think, but she cloaks it with the gardening)

            Even he, ever loyal Brit that he is , said on one of his shows “…..it’s perfect for the English summer, thats 4 days sometime in July”

            10

            • #
              Annie

              Um…more often during the youngsters’ exam time, if I remember aright. We often baked in the exam room!

              00

          • #
            Another Ian

            A local was visiting relatives in Victoria during WW2 and, when complaining about the weather, was told

            “Wait till spring gets here”.

            Punchline of the story was

            “And I went to sleep one afternoon and when I woke up they told me that I’d missed it”

            20

  • #
    David Maddison

    From Wikipedia this explains how CO2 is produced industrially.

    Carbon dioxide is a byproduct of the industrial production of hydrogen by steam reforming and the water gas shift reaction in ammonia production. These processes begin with the reaction of water and natural gas (mainly methane).[29] This is a major source of food-grade carbon dioxide for use in carbonation of beer and soft drinks, and is also used for stunning animals such as poultry.

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  • #
    PeterS

    Beer production is now facing another more serious problem – declines in grains production over the past few years due to a continuation of colder weather patterns around the world, which soon will have to be recognised as GLOBAL COOLING due to what has been and will continue to happen with the solar cycle. I suspect we are going to face world wide food shortages over the coming decade leading to millions of people starving to death. So much for fools wasting billions on reducing our CO2 emissions in the useless effort to reduce global temperatures, which by the way it’s impossible to achieve in any case even if we shut down all our coal fired power stations right now and buried the whole population of Australia in mass graves. Instead of this insane and evil cult of CAGW being perpetrated by both major parties we should be focusing our energies on agriculture to prepare ourselves for the coming food crisis. Time to act Abbott and co if you have the spine. It might even be too late already but at least we can try to make a good difference instead of letting people like Turnbull and Frydenberg continue with their evil plans to destroy Australia’s economy.

    100

    • #
      el gordo

      ‘I suspect we are going to face world wide food shortages over the coming decade leading to millions of people starving to death.’

      Highly unlikely in the modern era, except when war intervenes to cut off supply.

      And a reminder for the lurkers, agriculture is Australia’s biggest export earner and we have great potential to expand. So its pretty upsetting seeing sugar cane farmers leasing out good agricultural land to solar farmers.

      42

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      PeterS:

      When the solar induced cooling gets serious will we see europeans trying to enter Africa illegally?

      Don’t forget that the great rush to gain colonies in Africa, America and Asia (and Australia) occurred during the Little Ice Age.
      When I was in Shetland in 1977 the Council was sending elderly people to the south of Spain in winter for at least a month. They got cheap hotel rates (Spain not being in the EU then) and it was cheaper to have them somewhere warmer than having them in hospital. The relatives also stayed alive longer.
      It is the sort of thinking up there that is different to the rest of the UK; e.g. the sole wind farm isn’t connected to the island grid, it heats water in large tanks, which are used to warm houses etc. The Council wants a big connector to Scotland so they can get off-shore wind farms built by subsidy farmers and export to Scotland.
      But to spoil a good story, the place is supported by royalties from the North Sea oil.

      60

      • #
        PeterS

        When the food crisis hits big time as a result of global cooling Africa might be a good place to grow large areas of grains and other products. The same can be said about Australia but thanks to both major parties and the Greens we are ruining our farmers. The Greens in particular hate farmers and consider them to be vermin. It would require a major change in voting patterns to reverse that attack on our farmers and instead give them all the support they need to make them prosper to the full.

        30

        • #
          yarpos

          I cant conjure up many scenarios where Africa is a good place. I seems to be a massive basket case that houses backwardness and many of the ills of the world, and then exports them.

          30

    • #
      sophocles

      PeterS:

      Bow Lookout: “Reefs dead ahead!”
      PM : “Helm: steady as you go. Engine room, full power.”

      I don’t think the food crises will be a disaster. There could be some problems at first but maybe not so bad. There are GM grains which meet the coming shorter growing seasons, and, to a certain extent, can cope with colder times. Winter crops, though, are something else: they all still need sunshine to grow.

      10

  • #
    Jeff

    Nurserymen use bottled CO2 in greenhouses to improve plant growth.
    So they are probably facing shortages too.

    20

  • #
    pat

    28 Jun: The Hill: Trump, Kushner buildings rank among top polluters in New York
    By Morgan Gstalter
    New York luxury towers owned by President Trump and his senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are reportedly part of the 2 percent of buildings that produce half of the city’s carbon dioxide pollution.
    HuffPost, citing a study by environmental nonprofits, reported Thursday that Trump International Hotel and Tower, Trump Tower and the Kushner family’s 666 Fifth Avenue buildings are some of the biggest contributors to pollution.

    New York Communities for Change, the People’s Climate Movement NY and other environmental groups compared public data on the buildings’ electrical use and how much fossil fuel was burned at each site based on 30-year average temperatures.
    The median energy use for office buildings in New York used 186 kBtu — kilo British thermal units.
    However, Trump International Hotel and Tower reached 267 kBtu and Trump Tower hit 208 kBtu.
    The Kushner family property soared to 285 kBtu, according to the data.
    The Baccarat luxury hotel in Manhattan topped the list at 386 kBtu…

    Other ritzy buildings that made the list include 15 Central Park West, were Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein lives, and 157 West 57th Street, according to HuffPost.
    The environmental groups are calling on city lawmakers to order an 80 percent emissions and energy cut by 2050.
    The luxury buildings need to be outfitted with updated boilers, water heaters, roofs and windows to help conserve energy, they added.
    Seventy percent of the city’s CO2 emissions come from buildings, according to the city.
    http://thehill.com/homenews/news/394578-trump-kushner-buildings-rank-among-top-polluters-in-nyc

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  • #

    To get an idea of what’s going on in the UK I now use these uncharismatic guys:
    https://www.ukcolumn.org/ukcolumn-news/uk-column-news-28th-june-2018

    It’s not that I share all their views and perspectives (I don’t), but at least they are not slaves with good orthodontists like the rest of televised media. (They are, however, quite funny behind the drab manner.)

    Thursday’s edition is about the very problem of media so heavily centralised and corporatised that it is no longer of any use. The solution, in the view of government and media, is to have more centralisation and corporatisation. Now why didn’t we think of that before!

    I don’t know for how long UK Column will last or for how long they will fly straight. (I used to hold out hope for Newsbud, but that hope didn’t last.) At least for now I have a source I can use which covers UK and sometimes beyond. The reason I’m posting the link is that silence and reserve aren’t helping. I don’t like promoting or being any kind of believer, but if we don’t boost a bit of independence and honesty when we find it then those qualities will go missing.

    The media are pernicious, simple as that. And, yes, they’re much more pernicious now than twenty years ago. When I turn on the box for a bit of sport and see the promotions I realise that millions are still under the spell and that I would be under the spell if I got lazy and left the TV on after the full-time whistle to hear the “news”. I’m not strong enough or smart enough. The OFF button is my strength.

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    pat

    27 Jun: Time Mag: Justice Kennedy’s Replacement Could Make It Harder to Fight Climate Change
    By Justin Worland
    The retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy could allow the nation’s highest court to change its mind on whether the Environmental Protection Agency has to fight climate change.
    As a crucial swing vote, the Reagan appointee joined liberals in a landmark 5-4 decision in 2007 that the EPA is required to address climate change if its own scientists found that it posed a risk to public health. Two years later the agency made exactly that determination, issuing a scientific document known as the endangerment finding.

    “We’re not going to get another Kennedy who’s going to play that moderating role,” says Deborah Sivas, a professor of environmental law at Stanford University. “Since it’s a matter of statutory interpretation instead of bedrock constitutional principles I could see folks try to set up a new challenge.”…

    The result of the EPA losing authority to address climate change would effectively leave the U.S. without any federal tool to address climate change. That’s probably not an issue for Trump or Pruitt, but it would make a future Democratic president’s attempts to bring the U.S. back in line with the rest of the world on the issue that much harder.
    http://time.com/5324154/anthony-kennedy-supreme-court-climate-change/

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      The Gullible Believers haven’t any idea about the climate and what will happen as we slide into the Solar Minimum**. A few cold winters and those few remaining believers (after the rest have frozen to death trying to paddle to the ice-free Nth. Pole) in the Climate Boogie Man will find themselves ignored and laughed at if they dare to seek publicity.

      ** There is a consensus that it should be named after ‘Jack’ Eddy who named the Maunder Minimum (and others) in his much cited 1975 paper.

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      yarpos

      It will make it harder to do all the “good” works the unbalanced US progressives want to do. Great news! the US survives another few years and doesnt turn into a mega Venezuela.

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    pat

    theirABC doesn’t let a crisis go to waste:

    28 Jun: ABC: Britain faces beer shortage in the middle of the World Cup and as a heatwave bears down
    by ABC/wires
    A shortage of carbon dioxide has hit Britain’s biggest brewers and soft drink makers, disrupting production just as drinkers’ thirst peaks due to a heatwave and a World Cup soccer tournament in which England is doing unusually well.
    Hot weather and a build-up of beer stocks ahead of the World Cup lifted CO2 demand from brewers just as the gas was in short supply due to production shutdowns at chemical factories that produce it as a by-product…

    And although drinks manufacturers increased orders to meet the rise of demand from the World Cup, they didn’t anticipate northern Europe’s heatwave, and have struggled to satisfy demand…
    PHOTO: Photo: A heatwave in England is driving many to the beach, and many in search of a cold drink…
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-28/britain-faces-beer-shortage-middle-of-world-cup-heatwave/9918416

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      pat

      SMH clarifies the Wires at ABC is CAGW-infested Reuters:

      28 Jun: SMH: Looming beer shortage could leave World Cup fans gasping
      By Martinne Geller & Anu Shukla, Reuters
      A shortage of carbon dioxide has hit some of Europe’s biggest brewers and soft drink makers, disrupting production just as drinkers’ thirst peaks due to a heatwave and the World Cup soccer tournament, in which England is doing exceptionally well…
      Hot weather and a build-up of beer stocks ahead of the World Cup lifted CO2 demand from brewers just as the gas was in short supply…

      Heatwave
      The CO2 supply squeeze comes as Britain has basked in unseasonably warm weather since late April.
      The UK Met Office said the average daily maximum temperature of 17 degrees Celsius had made May 2018 the warmest May since records began in 1910 and the sunniest since 1929.
      A heatwave is also forecast for the sports-packed days ahead…
      https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/looming-beer-shortage-risks-leaving-world-cup-fans-gasping-20180628-p4zo6b.html

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    pat

    dioxide or monoxide?

    28 Jun: WAAY ABC31: Construction worker overcome with carbon dioxide, collapses in Florence tunnel
    by Breken Terry
    A construction worker in Florence was rushed to Huntsville Hospital after Florence Fire said he was overcome with carbon dioxide while working in a tunnel on Thursday morning.
    It happened while the worker was in a tunnel under Veterans Drive and Cole Avenue.

    Firefighters said when they got to the worker in the tunnel he was unresponsive, but revived when taken into the fresh air.
    Officials said there was natural gas in the tunnel but believe some of the construction equipment failed to monitor the carbon dioxide levels…
    http://www.waaytv.com/content/news/Shoals-construction-worker-collapses-in-tunnel-486828671.html

    28 Jun: WTNH News8: Carbon dioxide leak at ALDI in Torrington prompts evacuation
    by Emily Navarro
    Crews with the Torrington Fire Department responded to a report of refrigerator leak Thursday at an ALDI store…
    The leak was located in the storeroom and determined to be carbon dioxide. Crews secured the area and started ventilation…
    No public health hazard was identified and a contactor is currently repairing the system…
    https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/litchfield/carbon-dioxide-leak-at-aldi-in-torrington-prompts-evacuation/1271340607

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    pat

    shut everything down:

    28 Jun: MIT Technology Review: We still have no idea how to eliminate more than a quarter of energy emissions
    Air travel, shipping, and manufacturing are huge sources of carbon that we lack good options for addressing.
    by James Temple
    But a new paper (LINK) in Science offers a stark reminder that there are still huge parts of the global energy system where we simply don’t have affordable ways of halting greenhouse-gas emissions.

    Air travel, long-distance transportation and shipping, steel and cement manufacturing, and remaining parts of the power sector account for 27 percent of global emissions from the energy and industrial sectors. And the authors say we need much more research, innovation, and strategic coordination to clean up these sources.

    “If we’re really ambitious about meeting our climate targets, we need to be tackling these hard sectors now,” says the paper’s lead author, Steven Davis, an earth system scientist at the University of California, Irvine. (***The more than 30 prominent coauthors include Sally Benson at Stanford, Ken Caldeira at the Carnegie Institution, Nathan Lewis of the California Institute of Technology, and Jessika Trancik and Yet-Ming Chiang at MIT.)…

    Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are providing a growing proportion of electricity, but the critical challenge has been that power generation plummets when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing…

    Among other challenges, the world also needs to figure out ways to significantly reduce the emissions produced from agriculture and land-use changes like deforestation. And, of course, we need to begin scaling up the technologies we do have available to clean up the electricity sector at a much faster rate…
    https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611498/we-still-have-no-idea-how-to-eliminate-more-than-a-quarter-of-energy-emissions/

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    crakar24

    There are several canisters of death near my desk at work i might steal them tonight on my way home and sell the contents on the black market for a tidy sum

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    TdeF

    Interesting government ban today on an international lottery. The logic is that gambling money is needed locally for sporting clubs and the like, government employees, the usual list of people. We cannot see all the silly money going overseas.

    Wouldn’t it be nice if that was applied to Climate Change with $3Billion a year under the RET, diesel generators on rent, diesel itself, even petrol which we used to make. All our money is going overseas by order of the government, to prevent Global Warming. As if.

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      TdeF

      Plus when the aluminium smelters, lead smelters and the last steel smelter in Whyalla closes, we can buy all our metals from overseas for many times the price we used to pay. All to prevent Global Warming. Supposedly.

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      • #
        Rob Leviston

        But, but, isn’t there a rich Indian dude, that’s gonna power Whyalla with solar panels?!??!!?

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        • #
          TdeF

          Yes. Mr Gupta and Liberty Steel, the old BHP/Tubemakers/Onesteel. I suspect he is going to generate his own electricity, perhaps using the same coal source used to make steel. Coking coal is essential for steel. The he takes Whyalla off the grid. It might work. Absurd though. The big users for fifty years have subsidised domestic distribution by using off peak. Now they are being forced to generate their own power.

          I certainly hope he succeeds. A small change in legislation to close the RET loophole though and he is gone. The people against Carbon Dioxide will not allow it. It’s a wonder breathing is only taxed and not banned outright.

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          • #
            toorightmate

            TdeF,
            Absurdity is the entrance ticket to SA. Premiers, batteries, undersize connectors, stobie poles, Olympic Dam being wind powered, etc.
            Yep, absurdity sure is the entrance ticket.

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      PeterS

      Actually the billions thrown at the CAGW myth should now be considered as the biggest scam of all time far surpassing the scam of say Bernard Madoff, the former stockbroker and investment advisor who received a sentence of 150 years in prison. By that assessment leading proponents of the CACGW scam ought to receive a sentence of at least several centuries.

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      • #
        sophocles

        PeterS said:

        By that assessment leading proponents of the CACGW scam ought to receive a sentence of at least several centuries.

        Can’t. Maurice Strong died over a year ago, so he’s beyond all real world justice.
        The world would have to go after his henchmen … Schnellnhuber, Rahmstorf and Schmidt, Hansen … et al.

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        • #
          PeterS

          Surely you jest. There are many leaders of the scam alive and well today making huge profits out of it.

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          • #
            el gordo

            Most of those are protected by the ‘precautionary principle’, so getting a conviction is around zero.

            Queen Elizabeth is hugely invested in offshore wind farms, noble cause corruption, should she be forced to stand trial?

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            • #
              PeterS

              Just investing in them is not the problem. Our supers probably have investments in some renewable technologies. I’m referring to leaders who go around proclaiming falsehoods about CAGW, CO2 emissions and the useless approaches to solving a non-existent problem. There are enough of them to fill a decent size prison. I would have thought it was obvious as to who some of them are.

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              • #
                el gordo

                The politicians will say the scientists deceived them and the scientists will reply that the media beat it up, so it’ll be a tough call, but we do know for a fact who was responsible for the desalination plants.

                All those white elephants just sitting there waiting for a catastrophe that won’t happen.

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      Another Ian

      Another example of the government hating competition

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    TdeF

    You have to think as we close down all our smelting, our manufacturing, our recycling, our coal power plants and our search for gas and already as the equal largest coal exporter in the world, we are now exporting vastly more CO2 than before we started saving the world.

    So clearly politicians and the Greens think it is fine to have all the CO2 overseas, as in South Australian. However as 98% of our CO2 is imported, why do we bother? It’s really about the cash leaving the country, isn’t it?

    Besides, we can get food from supermarkets, so we don’t need farmers. We can buy petrol and diesel overseas, so we don’t need refineries. We can buy potatoes from New Zealand, oranges from Brazil and all our electronics from the US, Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan. Cars from the US and Germany and the UK and China and Japan. All paid by our massive CO2 exports, exports which are saving the world from global warming, somehow. You know it makes sense. Australia, the Smart Country.

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    • #
      sophocles

      TdeF said:

      We can buy potatoes from New Zealand,

      You’ll have to be quick. We won’t have them much longer. Our Minister for Climate Change, James ‘Cat6’ Shaw, is champing at the bit to legislate NZ into “Carbon Free by 2050.

      What an absolutely clueless idiot.

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      • #
        Greg in NZ

        Bring out yer spuds… bring out yer spuds…

        James ‘The Green’ Shaw “said scientists were now able to say with SOME confidence that EVERY extreme weather event was affected by climate change in SOME way and strengthening cyclones were now challenging weather classifications.” Emphasis mine; stupidity and un-sciency gibberish all Jim-jam’s, he of a Master of Science in sustainability and business [mis]management (?) and an ex-consultant for the HSBC (bank with somewhat dodgy beginnings).

        https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/350991/climate-minister-new-cyclone-category-may-be-needed

        Methinks James ‘Cat6’ Shaw knows exactly what he’s doing – most useful idiots do.

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    • #
      Bodge it an scarpa

      Has anyone compiled list of businesses\ corporations that have moved their operations offshore, citing high electricity costs as the reason?

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  • #
    Greg in NZ

    Gives new meaning to the saying, ‘Taking the pi$$.’ Maybe the UK brewers could hike one of the many volcanoes on the Big Island of Hawai’i not erupting and ‘capture’ some of the 411 ppm carbon dioxide molecules that are catastrophically ‘polluting’ the tropical atmosphere there. A word of warning however: it warmed up to only 6˚C at the summit yesterday after a chilly -8˚C overnight. Aloha ha ha ha…

    http://mkwc.ifa.hawaii.edu/current/road-conditions/

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Here is back of the envelope calculation I just did.

    I saw a figure that it takes 440 tonnes of coal per hour to produce 600MW.

    Australia exports around 485 million tonnes of coal per year.

    Therefore Australia exports enough coal per year to maintain 75GW of electricity production in overseas coal power plants. (It will really be somewhat less because some of that coal is used for steel production, but this gives a general idea.)

    It demonstrates how ridiculous Australia’s refusal to build more badly needed coal plants is.

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  • #
    Robber

    Quote of the Week on WUWT: Dr. James Hansen, writing about his 1988 senate testimony 30 years ago in an op-ed in the Boston Globe, said some very strong things when it comes to the pie-in-the-sky renewables schemes. “The notion that renewable energies and batteries alone will provide all needed energy is fantastical. It is also a grotesque idea, because of the staggering environmental pollution from mining and material disposal, if all energy was derived from renewables and batteries. Worse, tricking the public to accept the fantasy of 100 percent renewables means that, in reality, fossil fuels reign and climate change grows”.

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    • #
      William

      I didn’t know he had said that Robber – the only sense from him that I am aware of. Sadly his minions only listened as far as catastrophic rampant warming and went into panic mode. Hansen at least thought it through to the inevitable consequences of renewables and batteries. Today’s alarmists still ardently believe that wind and solar generators appear on our ridges and rooftops without ever being touched by evil coal and once in place, they forever give us bountiful clean pure electricity.

      The environmental degradation caused by their manufacture, the destruction to the environment where they are installed and the deaths of birds and bats are inconsequential. That is all just sacrifice to the greater good of their imaginary clean energy. The ends to them justify the means, even when the end is destruction and harm.

      Well, that is the picture I get from the Fairfax blogs.

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    ZombieDawg

    About time we had one of those Hitler parodies eh? CO2 this time…

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    Grant (NZ)

    Curiously, I recently had the thought “how much CO2 is released through carbonated beverages?”. I think I was thinking about “champagne socialists” and wondering if their consciences bother them every time the pop a cork.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Grant:

      They don’t have consciences because the “know” that they are right.

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      • #
        Another Ian

        There isn’t an easy metric equivalent of “scruples”

        (Annie – Flanders and Swan sort of)

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    • #

      ‘Champagne socialists,’ yeah, that compartmentalized thinking
      that goes with upholders’ of Plato’s ‘Noble,’ because necessary,
      Lie, the ends justifying the means.

      Jokes aside, re the pub with no beer… there’s an ever
      escalating retreat to Dark Ages deprivation…it’s dismaying
      to serfs that yr platonist ‘Utopianists’ are macro-managing
      the take-over of a once-free-‘n-can-do-Oz, Great Southern Land,
      and oh-so-significantly, a once great Great Britain, birthplace,
      (after Athen’s brief experiment) of political liberty…Magna
      Carta Law, (even the King’s not above it,) leading to universal
      suffrage and an energy revolution freeing serfs from slavery
      and Western Civilization from cycles of famine. Once gone, like
      the Fall of Rome et al how do you get it back?

      Listen up Australian National University!

      Cheers!

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    William

    Along with Carlton Draft, there are a few other beers I am happy to export our full production to the UK! I must say I am a devotee of the micro-breweries and can highly recommend a Canberra beer – Bent Spoke’s Barley Griffin.

    As to home brewing – a mate and I decided to increase the alcoholic content in our stubbies by increasing the sugar. Not a good idea as most of the batch exploded. I had to give away home brewing as it was causing my girth to expand alarmingly.

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    Annie

    I almost never drink any kind of beer. My preference is for fizz, although we can usually only afford Aldi stuff ( or the cheaper lines in the local Foodworks!). When it is hot and humid (certainly not that atm!) I like a smidgeon of Crown Lager. We can tell what the summer is like by the amount drunk from our stocks. Lots in early 2014 and plenty left over in all subsequent years. 😉

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    Another Ian

    Well beer must be in this so it isn’t that far O/T

    “Friday Funny- Welcome to the Anthropocene Narcisscene”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/06/29/friday-funny-welcome-to-the-anthropocene-narcisscene/

    Josh in good form there

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    • #
      sophocles

      Umm, maybe that should be:

      The Narcissistic Anthropocene

      or
      The Anthropogenic Narcissistene? 🙂

      (just some guesses …)

      20

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    Another Ian

    I see on another site that crumpets have been added to the list of shortages due to lack of CO2.

    Now a leading anti-CO2 proponent gets a mention over at Micheal Smith News.

    Potential for a research grant?

    10

  • #
    John, UK

    Just to let you know I am managing to survive without coke, bacon and crumpets
    But….PLEASE SEND BEER!!!!!

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    pat

    28 Jun: BusinessGreen: CORSIA: Green groups left ‘extremely disappointed’ as aviation agency waters down offset deal rules
    by Madeleine Cuff
    For example, airlines burning kerosene could be rewarded with reduced obligations to buy carbon offsets if the refinery producing the oil was running on renewable electricity, or if the refinery was running enhanced oil recovery technology.
    The news emerged from a crunch meeting of ICAO yesterday in Montreal, where new standards for the global aviation sector’s climate deal (LINK), known as CORSIA, were agreed…

    But fears are mounting that the environmental credibility of the CORSIA scheme is crumbling. According to WWF’s transport specialist James Beard, the agreement that airlines could in principle claim credit for fossil fuels “was dropped like a grenade” into discussions a few months ago before then being pushed through in recent talks.
    The move “sends all the wrong signal” about decarbonisation and boosts the risk of offsets being double counted, Beard told BusinessGreen.
    The Environmental Defense Fund’s international counsel Annie Petsonk agreed…READ ON
    https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news-analysis/3035020/aviation-agency-seals-rules-for-offset-deal-leaving-green-groups-angry

    28 Jun: UK Independent: Shipping and airline travel must be eliminated in their current forms to stop climate change, scientists warn
    ‘Tough-nut’ sources of pollution will require a radical rethink if world is to achieve zero emissions in coming decades
    by John Gabbatiss
    The world has made significant progress in its efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions, but predictably some of the hardest industries to decarbonise have been left largely untouched, according to a new analysis.
    Many of these industries currently lack viable alternatives, and will therefore require major investments to get them off the ground and reach the target of zero emissions in the coming decades…

    “For better or worse, the long-lived infrastructure built today will shape the future,” said Dr Steve Davis, a University of California earth system scientist and lawyer who led the new study published in the journal Science (LINK).
    “These include products and services that are essential to modern society, so we need to figure out how to provide them without added carbon dioxide.”
    Taken together these sources account for over a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions, and demand for all of them is only set to rise…
    https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-shipping-air-travel-carbon-emissions-renewable-green-energy-university-california-a8421811.html

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    pat

    29 Jun: The Conversation: How climate change is increasing the risk of wildfires
    by Fabrizio Manco, Senior Lecturer in GIS and Ecology, Anglia Ruskin University
    The army has been called in to help firefighters deal with a huge wildfire on Saddleworth Moor, Greater Manchester, where residents have been forced to evacuate…ETC

    Warmer temperatures in the summer and associated drier conditions desiccate plant materials and create more vegetation litter, providing more fuel for these fires. Several studies have linked the increase of wildfires with climate change in various parts of the world, such as North America and Southern Europe…
    https://theconversation.com/how-climate-change-is-increasing-the-risk-of-wildfires-99056

    Saddleworth Moor is in the Peak District National Park:

    Peak District National Park: Preventing and fighting wild moorland fires
    Accidental summer fires are potentially the single biggest threat to the fragile ecosystem of the Peak District moors. Since 1976 there have been over 350 reported incidents of ‘wildfires’ ***of which the majority are commonly started by arson, discarded cigarettes, barbeques and campfires…
    The records show that a number of moorland fires occur every year, some of which have been serious and lasting for several days…

    Updated 29 Jun: UK Sun: ‘MOOR BLAZE WAS BIKERS’ Saddleworth Moor locals say destructive inferno was started by bikers – and they want revenge
    Vigilante residents have issued a warning to off-road bikers, who they blame for the destructive fire, saying: ‘The police had better get to you first’
    By Richard Moriarty
    Furious residents and workers in the moorland area ten miles east of Manchester have accused petrolheads of deliberately starting the fire after a series of running battles with landowners and game keepers.

    A source told The Sun: “Everyone up here is blaming bikers for starting the fire. A gamekeeper had a row with them about going on private land before the fire started.
    “Tensions are running high and people are saying the police need to get to the bikers before the landowners and gamekeepers do.”
    Locals claim scrambler bikers riding the moorland on Sunday triggered the initial fire near to Buckton Hill, which lies above the area…

    Gtr Manchester Police also appeared to lay the blame for the blaze at the door of motorcyclists.
    A spokesman from the Saddleworth and Lees team said: “A large quarry is at this location and it is used extensively by riders on off road motorbikes.
    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/uknews/6652280/saddleworth-moor-fire-locals-blame-bikers/

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  • #
    pat

    29 Jun: Reuters: VW’s labor boss says EU C02 rules could ruin profits
    by Ilona Wissenbach
    Volkswagen’s labor chief Bernd Osterloh said the German carmaker needed to sell 1 million electric cars by 2025 to comply with proposed European Union anti-pollution rules, a step which may ruin profits.
    “Of course the auto industry has some homework to do – but if the infrastructure is not there, then it is difficult to convince a person to buy an electric car,” Osterloh told the Stuttgart Press club.

    Carmakers say governments need to help subsidize the roll out of essential infrastructure, such as charging points on streets and in homes, to help make the vehicles popular.

    Osterloh, who spoke on Wednesday, said the industry would struggle if electric cars did not gain traction with consumers given the investment companies were having to make to develop the new vehicles.
    He said without sufficient demand from consumers, carmakers faced a choice between paying fines for exceeding carbon dioxide limits or encouraging sales with knock-down prices too low to earn a profit. “Once prices are ruined, we will never get them back up,” Osterloh said.
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emissions-carbon/vws-labor-boss-says-eu-c02-rules-could-ruin-profits-idUKKBN1JO2IC

    28 Jun: BBC: BP buys UK’s largest car charging firm Chargemaster
    Oil giant BP is buying the UK’s largest electric charging network, Chargemaster, for £130m.
    BP runs 1,200 petrol forecourts, but said earlier this year it expected renewable energy to be the fastest-growing fuel source.
    It said the number of electric vehicles in the UK is set to grow from 135,000 at present to 12 million by 2040.
    The move echoes one made last year by rival Shell, which bought car charging company NewMotion.

    Volkswagen, the world’s biggest carmaker, has said it will offer an electric version of all its 300 models by 2030.
    Chargemaster, which will be rebranded BP Chargemaster, currently has 6,500 charging points and also sells electric vehicle charging points for home use.
    BP said the acquisition was an important move towards the company becoming the leading provider of energy to low carbon vehicles…

    Analysis, By Theo Leggett, business correspondent…
    David Nichols, a spokesman for BP, told the BBC: “We have no doubt that the electric vehicle market is growing and will become a significant part of the transport sector in future…
    It said one of its goals was to speed up charging capability to enable chargers capable of delivering 100 miles of range in within 10 minutes…
    https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44640647

    28 Jun: Guardian: Adam Vaughan: BP buys UK’s biggest electric car charger network for £130m
    The company said the rebadged BP Chargemaster would prioritise ultra-fast 150KW charging, which can add around 450-600 miles of range per hour of charging. That would mean a car such as Jaguar’s new I-Pace could add about 100 miles in 10 minutes…
    The £130m paid for Chargemaster is part of the $500m (£382m) the UK-based oil firm has pledged to spend on low-carbon activities and follows a recent return to solar power.
    However, it is still a small slice of the total $15-16bn that the company will spend this year…
    BNEF (Bloomberg New Energy Finance) expects more than half of UK cars to be electric by 2040…

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    Gerry, England

    Real British beer has no need of co2 as it produces its own while conditioning in the cask. Likewise, beer can condition in the bottle.

    40

    • #
      toorightmate

      I have been undertaking detailed studies of beer for many years, and intend to continue doing so.

      20

  • #
    ЯΞ√ΩLUT↑☼N

    Seasonal maintenance shutdowns have left the UK with only one big CO2 producer in action.

    The question surely should be asked: What in blazes did they do in all the other seasons? Why didn’t they have shortages then?

    Are they now sucking it out of the air and pumping it underground? Are they producing the beer, pumping the CO2 underground and then dumping the flat beer in the Thames? Are there too many fire extinguisher/dry ice in plastic bottle experiments going on?

    What’s wrong with these people?

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  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:

    28 Jun: The Economist: Trudeau and the Toronto troublemaker
    Doug Ford disrupts Canada’s climate policy
    Ontario’s new premier threatens a fragile national bargain
    Jason Kenney, the leader of the United Conservative Party, which is ahead in …

    27 Jun: The Economist: Can Ontario’s new leader wreck Canada’s climate-change plan?
    If Alberta supports him, he might do
    by M.D. Ottawa, The Economist explains

    CarbonBrief re the above: “Mr Ford’s decision will not wreck the plan in the first instance, but it may only be a matter of time,” the article says. It adds that polls indicate the United Conservative Party, which is promising to end Alberta’s climate-change plan, will replace the climate-friendly New Democratic government in Alberta next year. “Imposing a carbon tax on Canada’s largest province will be tough. Taking on Alberta at the same time could well prove impossible.”

    behind paywall:

    Carbon clash: Trudeau government’s plan for green economy meets political resistance
    The Globe and Mail · 15 hours ago
    Alberta’s United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney says he will …

    24 Jun: GlobalNewsCanada: Is a carbon tax Canada’s best option to help the environment?
    By Jane Gerster; With files from Allison Vuchnich and Veronica Tang
    The Conservative Party forced a filibuster last week to “get the truth” about carbon tax costs, while Ontario premier-designate Doug Ford announced plans to axe the province’s cap-and-trade agreement and challenge the federal carbon tax on the basis that it’s a money grab that won’t help the environment. In Alberta, Opposition United Conservatives leader Jason Kenney has promised to do away with the tax altogether if elected in 2019…

    But at what threshold does a carbon tax go from a financial inconvenience to actual incentive for change?

    ***VIDEO: WATCH: 72% of people in Ontario believe the carbon tax is a cash grab

    Even once the tax reaches $50 per tonne in 2022, (Danny Harvey, a professor in the University of Toronto’s geography department) says it’s unlikely to induce widespread change on its own. That tax level would only add between 10 and 12 cents per litre to the price of gas, he says. “To get a wholesale shift to more efficient vehicles and to get industry to shift, … it’s going to have to rise to $100 or ***$200 a tonne.” In other words, the cost to fill up has to jump substantially if people are going to trade in gas guzzlers.

    How hard hit families will be by the tax depends on their consumption habits, says Jennifer Winter, an economist with the University of Calgary who crunched the numbers on how carbon taxes might affect Canadian households. Albertans are relatively high energy users, according to the 2013 data Winter used, and that means they could pay the most.
    “If there’s no behavioural change on the part of those households, then yes, Alberta’s citizens would likely feel the highest impact,” she says. “On the other hand, because they feel the highest impact, they’re most likely to have a behavioural (change).”…
    A slow ramp-up is actually good, given how contentious the discussion is, says Sara Hughes, an assistant professor in political science at the University of Toronto…
    https://globalnews.ca/news/4291256/carbon-tax-do-they-work/

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  • #
    D.O.

    I seem to remember that all the CO2 in industrial cylinders in Australia supplied to pubs and engineering firms, etc, by BOC gases and the like was supplied from or came from a ground source, a gas well in Victoria. A remnant of Volcanic activity in the Vic region?

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  • #
    tom0mason

    CO2 huh?
    Can’t live without it!
    Can’t live without it!

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