Irish Greens try to inspire mass Yellow Vest protests

Greens et al want to add €12 or $20 AUD to the cost of filling a car in order to stop jellyfish plagues, sharks and droughts in Ireland in 2100. Hello, Yellow Vests….

Ireland’s main political parties show no sign of agreement over 2030 climate change targets

Stephen O’Brien, The Times, UK.

TDs and senators are split over plans for a fourfold increase in carbon tax …

Fine Gael and Green Party members of the Oireachtas climate action committee want a report next month to recommend a carbon tax of at least €80 a ton over the next decade, which would add €12 to the cost of filling a car with diesel or petrol and €7.20 to a bag of coal.

Sinn Fein is opposing increases in carbon tax until there is better public transport, grant aid for retrofitting houses, and lower costs for electric vehicles. Fianna Fail is also against recommending a carbon tax rise in the climate action report.

The Greens want the tax to be doubled to €40 next year, with annual increases of €5 over the next decade until it reaches €90.

 As usual, the theft is disguised as a gift. Will the people fall for the “free lunch” yet again?

Eamon Ryan, the Green Party leader, said the money raised should be paid back to households as a carbon dividend.

The rebate would begin at about €200 per household — based on the Greens’ proposed €20 carbon tax increase in next year’s budget — rising to €600 by 2030 if the tax reaches at least €80 per ton.

Someone needs to tell the poor that “the money” doesn’t come back when someone adds a stupid burden to the economy. The only people who benefit are the bureaucrats, lawyers and accountants (and bank shareholders) who manage the pointless merry-go-round of money.

h/t GWPF

 

 

9.6 out of 10 based on 83 ratings

296 comments to Irish Greens try to inspire mass Yellow Vest protests

  • #
    Antoine D'Arche

    The Greens…carefully steering themselves over a cliff

    290

    • #
      sophocles

      No, they’re carefully steering us over the cliff. Their objective is, and make no mistake about it, to destroy the Western Nations. This video is Chris Monkton’s take on it. Enjoy and learn.

      270

      • #
        Serp

        Thanks for that Sophocles. Now I’m off for a look into the Analects of Confucius.

        10

        • #
          sophocles

          Enjoy them, Serp. I have a book which I’ve been meaning to re-read for a couple of decades now … must get a round tu-it 🙂

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    • #
      Mal

      The greens are scientific and economic morons.

      230

      • #
        OriginalSteve

        No…they are watermelons….green on the outside, Communist red on the inside.

        Communism aims to destroy the middle class ( economic sabotage via climate change seems to be tool of choice ), confiscate amd make illegal ownership of all private propety ( green taxes and UN programs ), make the State your god, and promote moral depravity. The last 2 are most subtle but still there.

        At the heart of all this is a religious war – the pagan New Age globalists driving human-hating greenism that promotes thier “Gaia” religion vs the rest of humanity.

        200

        • #
          OriginalSteve

          And if you wonder how all this could happen – its all joined up.

          Big biz, govt, UN-linked NGOs…all fawn over the UN…..the UN needs to be defunded to let it whither and die, and the problem will stop. But govts keep funding it, ergo….

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          • #
            Greg Cavanagh

            Clearly too many vested interests in the UN. Too much money getting laundered through the UN for them to destroy their pet cash cow and retirement job.

            130

        • #
          theRealUniverse

          No…they are watermelons….green on the outside, Communist Fascist red (as in RED with black swastika) on the inside.

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        • #
          el gordo

          ‘Communism aims to destroy the middle class ….’

          China is a prime example of a communist dictatorship, yet they have four distinct classes, which is why I call it a fascist state.

          The situation in Australia is vastly different, in that we have democracy and four classes, its a mixed economy.

          The people will cheer when Morrison intervenes in the energy market, do you know why?

          40

          • #
            OriginalSteve

            Reducing price volatility?

            20

            • #
              el gordo

              Morrison is planning to interfere with the free market, the providers may take the matter to the High Court because what he is proposing is unconstitutional.

              The multinationals want their pound of flesh and ….

              10

              • #
                Serp

                I don’t know el gordo, the shot clock is running down for Scott Morrison and yours is the only voice I hear mentioning three HELE coal plants in the offing and now this latest suggestion of electricity market intervention.

                In a rare departure from my usual routine I caught part of AM this morning and was impressed by the manner in which a chap being harassed by Sabra Lane refused to buckle under the hectoring and even gave a bit back so that I was actually cheering this anonymous character on and then it turned out to be the Prime Minister. So that’s what he’s like I thought, quite impressive. This obliviousness of mine has arisen because our household has had no free to air television service for over five years and in consequence I’ve developed some blind spots. But I digress…

                At least the election will soon be upon us and I shall not be able to share what I suspect may be wishful thinking on your part for too long. Make him take his shot!

                40

              • #
                GD

                Morrison is planning to interfere with the free market

                ScoMo must interfere with the ‘so-called’ free market. He has to override Commissar Daniel Andrews and restart the Hazelwood power station ASAP. The loss of power to 200,000 homes in Melbourne on a 40C summers’ day was because Andrews forced the closure of Hazelwood. Prior to the closure of Hazelwood, the system coped with 40C heat.

                Will ScoMo act? I doubt it. Will he announce the building of a HELE power plant? Unlikely.

                What did we do to deserve this?

                We are fighting a determined a strong, pro-renewables left-wing agenda with a wimpy, milquetoast federal Liberal government.

                I don’t like our chances. I hope there are more days this coming month where the system once again breaks down. That’s the only way that the average punter will get the message that renewables aren’t the solution.

                Unfortunately, the Labor Andrews government is in power for four more years, which is why ScoMo needs to act now

                30

              • #
                OrignalSteve

                If the market isnt working, then govt has to interfere…..

                If the countries infrastrcture is under threat, govt has to act…

                20

    • #
      Graham Richards

      I am currently in Belfast, N Ireland & would really appreciate a spot of drought & good dose of global warming. This climate BS has got to be stopped. When we left Brisbane on 23rd Jan the temp was 33C which is about standard fare for a Queensland summer day & yet fellow travellers fro all parts of the globe are asking about our high temperatures??? The BS out there is astounding as this article proves.

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      • #
        sophocles

        Our television weather-forecaster has spent the last week and now this last weekend warning us about an impending heatwave predicting temperatures around NZ of 28° – 35° C. We reached those temperatures this last weekend — and all the cicadas started up.

        1. Those temperatures are normal summer temperatures for NZ.
        2. The cicadas come out when the temps reach the high 20s 27° +
        3. The cicadas usually start their chorus one to two weeks before Christmas —seldom afterwards.
        4. So they are six weeks late

        and we have a stupid prat telling us that it’s going to be a heat wave!
        A patsy. I don’t know where he came from but I would like to stamp him and send him back!

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  • #
    TdeF

    It shows how well the RET theft is working. The legal obligation to buy and sell worthless ‘Certificates’, a multi billion dollar annual cost which is doubled and buried in your electricity bill. The cash goes to the middle classes to install solar panels and to owners of windmills. This is a gift, an eternal gift for producing ‘green’ electrons.

    The UK has copied this ripoff with their own ‘Certificates’.

    Again it is working so well, people are so ignorant of the real reason electricity prices are skyrocketing that they can be fooled into pay an ‘carbon tax’ as well!

    As Dr. Tom Quirk calculated, the RET Carbon tax is $200 a ton for coal and $400 a ton for gas (which has lower CO2 output per kwhr). No one knows it. Even in the UK! Unbelievable.

    400

  • #

    What will end this silliness? If only it didn’t affect the real world, and real people’s lives. I wondered the other day watching those crazy prices/MW on AEMO dashboard, and that $14,500/MW being a cap applied to the market or it would have gone higher, if the real danger is apparent to any authority in Australia. Combined with the alarmist hatred of diesel (al la yellow vest Macron..)we are not far from a scary possibility of city wide social breakdown in a matter of weeks. If we hit the 47Hz system black level which we have teetered close to recently, bearing in mind we have something like 15 days average national diesel consumption in storage, we could see a situation where after a few days system black, food in supermarket outlets and freight distribution centres perishes, and there is no diesel for trucks for new supplies, where the good citizens of our three eastern state capitals are fighting for food. It seems outrageous, and it is unlikely, but for the first time since the first fleet landed, it is possible..

    340

    • #
      TdeF

      The power stations and the telephone systems were sold off in the 1990s. Since then the Labor government and their Union bosses have schemed to get them back. Now we have National Grid. Who needed it? Canberra. We even have a national phone system (NBN) created by Stepen Conroy on the back of a beer coaster. Who needed it? Canberra.

      Since then they have been forcing the private power stations to close. Power is being handed to multi nationals and the rich investors, overseas. They own our windmills, our power stations. We increasingly own nothing much, even power stations built with public money like Hazelwood and Liddell. We are told they are ‘old’, even though they only need maintenance. We are told wind and solar are ‘free’, but so is coal.

      In other words, we are being ripped off by our own govenements, particularly Labor. And all this, including the NBN and RET are off the budget, so parliament is not even accountable for the tens of billions wasted. They have legislated theft from the electorate.

      It will not end until the electorate wakes up. We never needed a National Grid. We never needed all these Green organizations running our lives, the Clean Energy Quangoes. Our money is flowing like a river overseas for desalination plants never used, windmills owned by others, profits earned with our own utilities.

      People trust the government will not legislate to enrich third parties. It is totally against the agreement of Magna Carta. Tony Abbott said he had not thought of that.

      We are being robbed. Green communists in league with greedy capitalists and fully supported by a left leaning media and Climate Change is a Socialist policy.

      When will it end? When our parliament removes the Renewable Energy(Electricity) Act 2000. Plus the equivalent act in the UK. The moneyed classes are fighting to stop BREXIT because there too, our Sovereignty and that of the UK has been sold overseas. For cash. Rivers of cash. All to stop Climate Change and open our borders.

      461

      • #
        PeterS

        The Green “communists” are not in league with the greedy capitalists. The two are hostile to each other and are being played for fools like puppets on a string by the globalist elite. The elite have no real preference for either side to win. If anything they desire to see both destroy each other and replace them with their own version and style of totalitarian regime. Most likely it will have the worst of both socialism and capitalism.

        262

        • #
          Yonniestone

          A world covered with Apple Stores…….the horror.

          112

          • #
            Greg Cavanagh

            Apple would cost triple what everything else does, but at least apple is a good reliable product. It’s just 100% incompatible with everything else.

            60

            • #
              MudCrab

              Apple produce what is perceived to be good and reliable (your brand loyalty may vary) because we have the free market to offer up competitive options. We know the latest Apple product is good (or bad – again brand loyalty may vary) because we can hold a superior Samsung product (brand loyalty worn shamelessly on sleeve) and see that both products are at least in the same general league as each other.

              With a free market then we are the blind ruled by the One Eyed King and the only way we would know if we are holding a cutting edge product would be to take their word for it.

              Free markets, for all their flaws, DO drive progress. Without a free market we would not even have mobile phones. The Government has installed public phone boxes everywhere for your convenience. Why would you need to carry or even own your own phone?

              70

              • #
                Another Ian

                There is the Microsoft way and the Apple way but maybe they’d better be watching the “Pi-way”

                “New RPi in four flavors:

                Today we bring you the latest iteration of the Raspberry Pi Compute Module series: Compute Module 3+ (CM3+). This newest version of our flexible board for industrial applications offers over ten times the ARM performance, twice the RAM capacity, and up to eight times the Flash capacity of the original Compute Module.

                https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/compute-module-3-on-sale-now-from-25/

                I wonder when we’ll see RPi M4xxx”

                https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2019/01/27/w-o-o-d-26-january-2019/#comment-106958

                10

              • #
                OrignalSteve

                The Pi is useful, although it needs an 8 core CPU option ( currently only 4 core ) for the image recognition work I’m doing with them. Even with Raspberian / ubuntu linx flavours running on it, its still slow for OCR work.

                I’m running up an 8 way Ubuntu VM at home on my VMWare set up to benchmark speed.

                One project I’d like to do is an “IoT device hunter” to find IoT “cockroaches” that talk to stuff outside my home without my permission. Once 5G starts, IoT leaking your personal data in a multitude of ways is going to become a real problem, we just havent worked that out yet….I’d rather not have to build a 4G/5G/wifi jammer.

                00

      • #
        Yonniestone

        As stated here from years ago many times over “It was always about the money”, reflect on the historic outcomes of ANY Marxist based left wing political movement and overriding any social changes or well given speeches and promises the true instigators of the party ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS end up fleecing and looting the country dry of its wealth and resources, sometimes they don’t make it out but this behaviour always plays out.

        242

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Great outline

        of a horrible situation

        created by the Elite Despicables.

        KK

        152

  • #
    Greg in NZ

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/381100/council-critics-of-iwi-carbon-credit-deal-labelled-racist

    “Kahutia managing director, former All Black Captain-turned-carbon-trader Taine Randell, approached the council with the idea last year after it signed an agreement with Ngāti Kahungunu to plant millions of trees throughout the region.”

    “The council voted last month to lend the carbon credits to iwi subsidiary Kahutia Limited Partnership. The credits were worth around $2.5 million.”

    “This is a ground breaking commercial arrangement.”

    “This has nothing to do with racism. It’s about the leasing of 100,000 carbon units.”

    Meanwhile in other silly news, NZ’s gang-green media goes gangbusters over lovely 30+˚C summer weather as if it’s never happened before. The term ‘green’ also means: (of a person) inexperienced, naive, or gullible – a green recruit fresh from college.

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/381088/updates-heatwave-breaks-157-year-record

    So it was just as warm back in 1862? Rightio, as you were, carry on.

    250

    • #
      TdeF

      After 30 years of dire, end of the world predictions, does anyone know a single Climate Disaster prediction which has come true?

      I read that some cities were drowning, for example, but Djakarta, Dhakka were always in the water. The only high spot in New Orleans was in the old quarter and they had a sudden 1 meter subsidence, the largest in the world that year. The suburbs which drowned were under water level anyway, protected by an unbreachable wall? Still, Climate Change.

      So how can anyone believe anything? I read one article where a stinking hot day in Australia is now an end of world portend? No, it’s just a stinking hot day. The sort we had before airconditioning in the 1960s before which public servants were given only six months tenure in PNG because of the heat and humidity.

      Now we have a world run on electricity. A world where it is 45C every day in summer in Dubai, but even the open train station platforms are airconditioned, there are airconditioned walkways to shopping centres, shopping centres have ice skating rinks and real downhill ski slope and the car airconditioner is more important than the engine.

      All I read is that we have to stop everything. Turn off the airconditioners. Go back to eating weeds. And even leave the country because apparently it belongs to someone else who was here first?

      Plus open the borders so everyone can live here, for nothing.

      At what point did our politicians go completely mad? Or is that a qualification?

      401

      • #
        TdeF

        I can make a prediction, based on real science, that in 2030 the world will be at least 0.5C cooler. That is based on a real fit to the last 2500 years of temperature records. There still is nothing to worry about. This from just the well known 250 years De Vries cycle and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. No, the seas will not drop suddenly leaving the Queen Mary on its side. No, malaria will not conquer the known world. In 30 years Tim Flannery will be 93, maybe.

        383

        • #
          Peter Fitzroy

          I’ll take the other side to that bet that in 2030 the world will be at least 0.5C hotter based on the IPCC projections starting with the first in the 90’s. It’s only 11 years away

          930

          • #
            peter

            How much are you willing to bet on that Fitzy? Put your money where your mouth is?

            That “0.5C hotter” from IPCC is a prediction (wild guess) NOT a projection. There is no science or observational data to support such a hysterical claim. If you think not, explain why the last 12 years of this century, with rapidly increased CO2 emissions (China), produced almost no global change in temperature but the next 12 years will heat up 0.5C?

            193

            • #
              Peter Fitzroy

              Well I’m happy to put up $100.00. But first we’ll have to agree on which data set is to used. Also since we are saying “at least” any value between -0.5 and +0.5 will result in the bets being refunded, or given to a charity?

              819

              • #
                peter

                Fitzy, no explanation of how the magical 0.5C increase will happen?

                122

              • #
                AndyG55

                “But first we’ll have to agree on which data set is to used”

                Not GISS or any related fabrications.

                Cooling always turns to warming in that corruption of data.

                UAH.

                195

              • #
                Peter Fitzroy

                peter – greenhouse gas increase (mostly water vapour)

                AndyG55 UAH only seems to do troposphere, and I was thinking surface.

                This link http://berkeleyearth.org/ should a set we can all agree on

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              • #
                AndyG55

                Berkley roflmao.

                All the junk data, so they can more easily create junk.

                Regional expectations and all. !!

                If ever there was a case of biased GIGO, its Berkley.

                Are you telling us the lapse rate has changed, and that the surface is warming when the troposphere is trending flat.. WOW !!!

                Stop trolling for attention with idiotic suggestions.

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              • #
                Peter Fitzroy

                you don’t have a surface temp site?

                711

              • #
                AndyG55

                It is you that doesn’t have a trustworthy surface temperature site.

                All surface fabrications are totally comprised by UHI, airports, data corruption and biased “adjustment” by the AGW brethren.

                135

              • #
                AndyG55

                Why are you scared to use IAH, pfutz…

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              • #
                AndyG55

                IAH –> UAH

                72

              • #
                peter

                Fitzy,
                “greenhouse gas increase (mostly water vapour)”? Wow! We have had continuous CO2 increase over the 21st century without temp response. The massive feed-back from water vapour has never been shown to occur and all the best evidence indicates it would have a negative feed-back, shock absorber effect decreasing atmospheric temp. There is also no evidence of significant increase in atmospheric water vapour. That’s before we get into the claim by some of your friends that the half-life of water vapour in the atmosphere is 9 days. So preventing any runaway water vapour global warming.

                131

              • #
                sophocles

                PFutz said:

                Well I’m happy to put up $100.00.

                ` A fool and his money are soon parted! — Ancient but very accurate saying.

                I can safely predict: You will lose it.

                Do you know why I can say that so confidently?
                Because The Science says so.

                You don’t know that because you haven’t kept up, because you’re a Science Denier.
                You see, the Solar scientists and the Astrophysicists are in 97% agreement 😉 that the sun is going to sleep and it’s going to be a deep sleep. Lee Wheelbarger sums it up: even if the IPCC’s worst case scenarios are seen, that’s only a 1.5 watts per square meter increase. Zharkova’s analysis shows a(n) 8 watts per square meter decrease in TSI to the planet. Make sure your winter woollies are up to date…

                Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NI1bQe8I4A

                Pdf: interesting article (Not a scientific paper but close).

                Now, the IPCC and their klimetariat have been making forecasts predictions projections since 1995 and not a single one has come to pass. That’s a perfect record, a highly suspicious perfect record. If there is no science at all in it, then that is explained. It clearly demonstrates that propaganda is not a good base to project/predict from. It’s a terrible base to make policy from. There should have been something positive just from pure chance, but it seems the IPCC have even squeezed chance out of their pseudo-science.

                Guess what? The cooling is going to make itself felt sometime soon. Like maybe around the end of this year.
                And it’s steadily going to get worse. Enjoy this present heatwave, there’s a possibility that it could be the last one you see in your lifetime …

                122

              • #
                Kinky Keith

                Andy, you mention Berkeley.

                Isn’t that near where they discovered weed back in the sixties?

                41

            • #
              R2Dtoo

              Don’t make any bets. It is not who measures the temperature, but who records the measurement.

              151

              • #
                Greg Cavanagh

                It’s worse than that, historical temperatures continually decrease over time. The past keeps getting colder while the present keeps getting warmer. Some temperature record huh?

                111

              • #
                sophocles

                “The sun will decide very soon” who is right and who is not. [Dr Valentina Zharkova]

                70

          • #
            Serp

            Once you agree a figure to wager then I would be gratified should you entrust the funds to my escrow facility in the humble Bank of Serp.

            132

            • #
              OriginalSteve

              As Stalin would say:

              “He who votes counts for nothing. He who counts the votes counts for everything”

              130

            • #
              sophocles

              Serp:
              Just put your passport(s) up as guarantee/security 🙂

              (PS: I’ve heard of a nice place in China. It was last used by Maurice Strong …)

              80

          • #
            TdeF

            A bet? On rational science? Is that how much confidence you have? No, there is no warming, not for the last 20 years. Checkout Prof Weiss’ presentation. Real science based on real data and a very simple explanation. We are just going over the peak and then it’s all downhill. Believe any nonsense you like. There is no Climate Science. It is a religion.

            183

          • #
            theRealUniverse

            PF, thats utterly absurd and YOU know it!

            00

        • #

          I’d just like to put in two points I’ve made before.

          A world temperature doesn’t mean much, for all kinds of reasons. But above all, because cloud. A cloudy night and clear night can have the same minimum for completely different reasons. One is an apple, the other an orange. Days which don’t top out high are not necessarily cooler. Cloud can give a low max to a hot day and absence of cloud can give a high max to a medium day. Happens all the time.

          Can we be sure that, if we could know the numbers, the warmest part of our epoch some seven and half thousand years back would register higher maxima than the coldest part of our epoch, a bit over three hundred years ago. Well? Lots of clear skies from cooling versus lots of cloudy skies from warming might give an unlikely result, at least as far as maxima go.

          And if you measure the troposphere, you’ve measured…the troposphere! Might tell you something, I guess.

          But the real objection is that global warming and cooling are completely trivial matters anyway. Temps have to go up and down in various lines and cycles. They can’t tap dance or play euchre. Really, they’re very limited. Up. Down. That’s it.

          But wake me when someone can paddle a canoe into Ephesus or land a fleet where Xerxes did. I’d maybe get out of bed for that.

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    • #
      Bushkid

      “Leasing” carbon credits??

      30

      • #
        Greg in NZ

        In summation of my initial post at #4 and the resultant comments thereafter – hoot! – every day I learn so much more (thanks to Jo & Co.) and/or is it that I’m re-membering what I instinctively knew as a child: cycles, circles, waves, up/down, in/out, hot/cold, on/off, ad infinitum/etc. Now for a laugh –

        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12198116

        “A 90-year-old temperature record has been broken in Wellington today as New Zealand continues to swelter through a heatwave. For about 10 minutes this afternoon, the temperature in the Wellington suburb of Kelburn rose to 30.3C… The hottest spot in New Zealand today was Kawerau in the Bay of Plenty, which reached 34.3C… New Zealand is now on day two of a heatwave – which is defined as a five-day period in which temperatures are 5C above the monthly average.” Bigly emboldening mine, as it’s hilarious/hysterical self-defeating/gibberish churnalism/scientism which sadly, too many people will repeat tomorrow as gospel – forgetting the 2/5ths of a heatwave minor slip-up.

        40

        • #
          sophocles

          It’s not much of a “heat wave!. When the cicadas start, we will know temperatures have reached the New Zealand summer normal. I heard them start up during this last weekend ( T = 28 °C ). They usually start sometime between 1 – 2 weeks before Christmas, So they’re 6 weeks late!

          20

    • #
      theRealUniverse

      Kiwis at home and Greg did you see this!
      https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/110223334/west-coast-regional-council-wants-proof-of-humancaused-climate-change-before-supporting-zero-carbon-bill?rm=a
      “The West Coast Regional Council has been called “idiotic” after saying it will not support the Zero Carbon Bill until the science behind human-caused climate change is proven.” EXCELLENT WESTLAND go for it!!!
      Good on Westland, best scenic place in the country. Best rainfall! )
      https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/110224107/by-asking-for-evidence-of-climate-change-a-council-is-neglecting-its-duty
      Looks like Jacinda … dont like this..

      40

      • #
        Serp

        Good to see the CAGW bluff called.

        Probably the only municipal authority in the world which has done it thus rendering us a genuine instance of the alarmists’ favourite word “unprecedented”.

        Brilliant!

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      • #
        Greg in NZ

        Cheers tRU, heard it on RNZ radio this morning, where the Scottish redhead bulldog believer lass interviewing the West Coaster had all her fangs out (including name-calling with the “D” word) while he very restrainedly and clearly explained his/their decision… a great way to start the working day! The totally stuff’d article you linked to had a little more info (except for the usual missing commas and quotation marks but hey, who cares about grammar when there’s only 12 years left to save the planet! and those dang Coasties have got their heads in the sand). To quote:

        “The West Coast was vulnerable to climate change and communities like Punakaiki, Carter’s Beach, Neils Beach and Granity were already seeing the effects.” Every day anyone can see the ‘effects’ – it’s the **** wet coast of Aotearoa NZ, part of and attached to the Australian plate, grinding/jumping sideways against the dry coast (eastern South Island on the Pacific Plate) with buckets of rain and sunshine and rivers and earthquakes and rocks… lots of rocks… big rocks and round rocks. The ‘beach’ at Granity has grains of sand the size of rocks, smooth river-worn rocks; behind that is a narrow, swampy strip of ‘land’ then it’s UP! Mountains! Bush! Gorges! Snowy tops and coal seams. Oops – I said the dirty word…

        “Of the all-male council, Neal Clementson and Allan Birchfield are miners and Peter Ewen is a mining historian… Chairman Andrew Robb and Peter McDonnell are farmers”. However, “Councillor Stuart Challenger, a civil engineer, said he along with two other regional councillors, agreed climate change was happening… Challenger was opposed to the submission and worried Coasters would be ‘seen as rednecks'”. “Birchfield, whose family owns several coal and gold mines and who wears a Make America Great Again hat, said the claims around climate change were ‘a gigantic fraud'”. Meanwhile, over ‘the hill’ and down in Central Otago –

        https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/in-depth/380824/ice-ice-naseby-curling-qualifiers-put-summer-on-ice

        24 January: As Central Otago temperatures approached 30°C this week, Naseby forgot summer and focused on ice, as the World Curling Championships qualifiers transfixed the town. “Naseby is home to 102 people and – so says a sign on the edge of town – sits 2000 feet above worry level. It also happens to have New Zealand’s only Olympic-standard indoor curling rink… The buffet dinner was local lamb and venison. ‘If you’re a meat-eater, you’ll have a picnic,’ the crowd was told. ‘If you’re vegetarian – well, I’m sure you’ll find something’… Outside, the rain cleared to reveal the high country and this time, the tussock was dusted with snow.” Late January eh – high summer – in between ™heatwaves™ huh, and it was snowing. [My great-grandfather was a hotelier and stage-coach driver in Naseby in the 1880s (after scratching some colour from the ground in the gold fields of Victoria) and my grandfather was born there in 1888; today it’s an enchanting little forgotten ghost town where kids swim in the holding pond (summer) which freezes into solid ice (winter) and mountain-bikers train on the forest tracks (summer) and cross-country skiers get lost (winter). And to think, back in the Eemian period, this area used to be a tropical swamp with crocs and turtles and palm trees and was a whole lot warmer than what it is today.

        When I hear believers say we need to ‘take action’, I say, ‘Nah, leave action alone, they didn’t do it.’

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        • #
          theRealUniverse

          Good, interesting to note the Westies on the coast council have a mining background (or common sense).
          And, the temp in Central (well know Alex is the hottest and coldest place in NZ) and temps in the SI valleys OFTEN gets to over 30, Ive been in upper Rakia and measured 35! (30+years ago)

          10

  • #
    George

    Ireland should know about the importance of keeping the burden of tax low.
    They reduced their corporate tax to 12.5% and their economy has boomed.
    Once an irish youth usually expected to be a farm laborer, now they are more likely to be something like an IT specialist.

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  • #
    Yonniestone

    The Irish Greens might want to reread their recent history and tread carefully, the last time a foreign power wore out their welcome with Irish Nationalists….

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  • #
    Bill In Oz

    It’s awhile since I visited Ireland.

    But petrol & diesel were already expensive then.

    Adinga carbon tax will make it very hard to drive anywhere and hard to stay warm as well in Winter..

    And Irish Winters can be bloody cold.

    I think the dopey Irish Greenists are signing their own death warrants.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Back in 2013 the price of petrol/diesel in the Republic was quite a bit lower than in the North. The result was that anyone living near the border would fill up in Ireland, and the petrol stations in the North went out of business.
      I wonder if there are any cheap, unused petrol stations in Northern Ireland, close to the border?

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      • #
        Bill In Oz

        I did not get to Northern Ireland when I was there in 2009.

        But the Republic of Ireland petrol prices were effectively around $2.20 a liter wheile here they were around $1.20-30. The UK was also expensive then as well.

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    • #
      theRealUniverse

      Does that mean they (the Irish) will start a ‘green vest’ protest?

      20

  • #
    robert rosicka

    Unbelievable and doomed to end in protests and violence, the Greens and Labor here must be licking their lips with anticipation when they get the keys this year .

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  • #
    Sean

    This is where California regulatory sophistry helps. Don’t create a carbon tax, create an aspirational low carbon fuel standard based on technology that doesn’t exist on a commercial scale (cellulose to ethanol) and charge a hefty fee if the vintage of the alcohol in your fuel doesn’t meet government standards. Then blame oil companies for the high prices.

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  • #
    Bill In Oz

    Maybe our own Australian Yellow Vest movement will emerge !

    90

    • #
      toorightmate

      We have a yellow spineless movement.
      It is headed up by Malcolm Turnbull.

      90

    • #
      Environment Skeptic

      Vests are better than flags.
      More versatile, practical, robust.
      Whatever the colour, a Carbon black vest
      Or a carbon green, (a sooty green colour)
      Or yellow even green (?). Hmm decisions, planning, logisitics,
      Was just thinking about your average Joe/Jane household.
      It would be vital to have colour fast colours. Members of the family most likely belong to a diverse range of colourful vested interests.
      Are there any studies on how accurate vest colours are after a few years of use?
      For example i had a bright green vest that gradually became yellow.
      UV may have caused it?

      30

      • #
        Environment Skeptic

        …the media does not give much away about the diverse reasons for the protest. Copius use of the work vest/vests.

        40

        • #
          Environment Skeptic

          *word, “vests”..(not ‘work’..oops typo)

          20

          • #
            Environment Skeptic

            My personal favourite remains the banner.
            Not really a vest person other than its good OHS (Occupational health safety.)
            Personal individual placarded messages have always big plus. although detailed pamphlets are better still..IMO (In my opinion)

            20

            • #
              Environment Skeptic

              Banners also help shield like minded concerned groups of people better than vests do from projectiles and so on, so they are really dual purpose.

              20

      • #
        sophocles

        I use the yellow/green coloured vests as high-vis reflective gear on my motorcycle. They fade over time: sunlight and especially laundering them, helped with the fade. I renew every five years and there’s significant difference developed over that time.

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  • #
    Alfred (Cairns)

    In France, the Yellow Vests don’t believe in raising taxes to “save the world”. Trust the Greens to try and hijack a bottoms-up movement that has nothing to so with them.

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  • #

    Just a reminder that the Yellow Vests in France are not going quiet. The media (the Common Enemy of Mankind, as I always like to add) are going quiet on the Yellow Vests. There even seems to be a strategy of showing lots of yellow vests but in another context. Emergency workers are now the stars of festivals-gone-wrong. It’s the vests, you see. You can’t miss ’em.

    I’m no admirer of mobs. The Yellow Vests are no doubt already infiltrated with the usual paid extremists, disinfo agents, Open Society shills and government spooks. But there remain many thousands of fair dinkum protestors who will not go away. This is not like the elite-managed Revolution of 1789. The elites do not want this at this time. Macron and Merkel, knowing their time in government is limited, are set to sign a bizarre treaty (EU dregs not invited) that amounts to haute trahison on the part of Macron. They’re even signing at Aachen, like the ghost of Charlemagne is going to be nodding assent. Oh no, we don’t want Yellow Vests in the headlines. Grapeshot no longer allowed, but tear gas is abundant and effective.

    The climate racket is the pointy end of the variant of bolshevism called globalism. It is funded by much the same scoundrels who funded bolshevism from London and Wall Street. It all has to fail in the end, like bolshevism failed, because it is based on outrageous assumptions about physical nature and complete ignorance of human nature. Do or say something today to make it fail sooner.

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    • #

      Correction. Little Jupiter has already signed the treaty. (We don’t know if he gave Angela a big kiss. She’s a little young for his tastes.)

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      William

      Moso: I think you are misreading history.
      Socialism will never “fail”; as history has repeatedly demonstrated.
      Individual countries may go down the gurgler due to socialism, but the root causes have more lives than Dracula.
      These are two factors: basic human stupidity, and basic human greed.
      The stupidity allows people to rationalize anything, no matter how horrendous that may be. So with socialism, it is always “that wasn’t socialism” and “it hasn’t been tried yet”. When the promise is free stuff, greed will always win, and socialism is the big magic pudding.
      So much as I hate to say so, socialism will always find a home.

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      William

      Moso: I think you are misreading history.
      Socialism will never “fail”; as history has repeatedly demonstrated.
      Individual countries may go down the gurgler due to socialism, but the root causes have more lives than Dracula.
      These are two factors: basic human stupidity, and basic human greed.
      The stupidity allows people to rationalize anything, no matter how horrendous that may be. So with socialism, it is always “that wasn’t socialism” and “it hasn’t been tried yet”. When the promise is free stuff, greed will always win, and socialism is the big magic pudding.
      So much as I hate to say so, socialism will always find a home.

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  • #
    John of Cloverdale, WA, Australia

    Will Alberta secede?

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  • #
    pat

    27 Jan: Chicago Tribune: Chicago’s record for coldest temperature ever could fall as polar vortex has city ‘in the crosshairs’
    by Tony Briscoe; Chicago Tribune’s Elyssa Cherney contributed
    One of the coldest air masses in years will envelop the Midwest and the Northeast this week bringing potentially life-threatening low temperatures to the Chicago area that will feel even harsher in tandem with strong winds…
    By Tuesday night, temperatures are expected to take another plunge, to 23 below zero, flirting with Chicago’s coldest temperature ever: minus 27 on Jan. 20, 1985…

    For younger Chicagoans, the burst of Arctic air set to overtake the city this week could be one of the coldest days of their lives. For Generation Z, this week’s predicted low temperatures have only two rivals: minus 16 on Jan. 6, 2014, and minus 19 on Feb. 3, 1996.
    The lows Tuesday and Wednesday could break records set in 1966. They’ll also feel much worse with wind gusts up to 30 mph, which will make it feel as low as negative 50 degrees, according to the weather service…

    When temperatures rise in the Arctic, the polar jet stream — the torrent of westerly winds that hold the polar vortex in place — can weaken and dip into parts of North America…
    “Occasionally this ring of winds deforms or even splits, which allows the cold air to spill southward over mid latitudes — this is exactly what’s happening now,” said Jennifer Francis, a senior research scientist with Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts, in an email…
    As the cold front bore down on northern Minnesota Sunday morning, the border city of International Falls set a record low of minus 44 degrees, shattering the previous record by 8 degrees…
    This is the same weather phenomena that made the winters of 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 remarkably cold.

    ***And scientists say winters like these could become more common in the future due to climate change…

    The winter of 2013-2014, which ranked as the third coldest on record, had 23 days with subzero lows. The average temperature was 18.8 degrees. It was this winter when the term polar vortex rose to prominence and local weather service meteorologist Ricky Castro coined the term “Chiberia.”
    The coldest day was Jan. 6, 2014, when the low was minus 16 with a wind chill of negative 42. The high that day was minus 2…
    February 2015 tied for the coldest February on record and ranked as the 10th-coldest month, with eight days with temperatures below zero…
    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-chicago-cold-weather-20190127-story.html

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    • #
      TdeF

      So record cold is due to Global Warming? Again?

      It’s amazing how the defenders of Global Warming segue to Climate Change when necessary. Somehow Global Warming produces Global Cooling as well. Watch out for flying pigs!

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      • #
        wal1957

        That is why I tend to refer to it as gerbil warming.

        Global warming wasn’t/isn’t happening as they predicted, so they changed the name to climate change. That way they can blame any weather event on climate change and the plebs are none the wiser.

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        • #
          TdeF

          “And scientists say winters like these could become more common in the future due to climate change”

          It is just breathtaking how the proponents of Global Warming attribute every weather event to Climate Change and therefore to an increase in average temperatures, even record cold.
          One day we might be privileged to hear directly from “scientists say”. I’ll bet there’s one in every press room who is scientist for the day.

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          • #
            TdeF

            I would like to point out a golden rule

            If it is very hot, that is absolute proof of Global Warming.

            If it is record cold, that is absolute proof of Climate Change. If only because Global warming would be ridiculous.

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    • #
      Phil R

      I remember the great polar vortex of 2014. I live in SE Virginia, and between January 6 & 7, 2014 the temperature dropped almost 53F° (~29C°) in less than 24 hours. Our low here was 14°F early in the morning of the 7th.

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      • #
        Environment Skeptic

        ….try telling the young generation about the great polar vortex of 2014 and watch the eyes glaze over. They will never know the planet used to be much warmer….grown men who still had arms were biting their own arms off it was so cold in the great polar vortex of 2014

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  • #
    Drapetomania

    When will it end? When our parliament removes the Renewable Energy(Electricity) Act 2000.

    It will never end…until the whole thing collapses on itself.
    No matter who is in power..the senate will always vote against the wishes of the people..for asinine green bumper sticker memes that are cool.
    Enjoy the decline..

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  • #
    Another Ian

    O/T but I’ll risk it

    “Quick, what’s the difference between BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post, and Pizza Hut?

    Pizza Hut is still hiring journalists with Gender Studies degrees!”

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/index.php/2019/01/27/learntocode/#comment-1177684

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    • #
      MudCrab

      (from Another Ian’s link)

      “Uses Harry Potter books for life metaphors”

      HAHAHAHAHAHA.

      And remember kids, it is not really abuse to be locked under the stairs provided you have a magical place to go to that no one else believes in or knows about. Honest.

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    Phoenix 44

    Carbon taxes make economic sense (if we need to do something) and are a far better way of moving away from fossil fuels than government dictated stuff, but then giving the money back is totally bonkers! The tax is supposed to make the price “correct” not to act as a tax that raises money. In technical terms it is a Pigovian Tax.

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    • #
      wal1957

      Yeah, Right!
      Hit the sheeple in the hip pocket.
      How does that achieve anything apart from robbing the consumer blind?

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      • #
        R2Dtoo

        The carbon (CO2) tax has nothing to do with, and will not affect climate. The Canadian proposal charges everything fossil fuel, with some notable exceptions. Money back to the plebs is one point for one adult, 1/2 pt. for a second adult and some allotment for children. So a household on welfare with two adults and 4 kids will get money back. I haven’t seen anything that requires they even own/use a vehicle. The rural working stiff with no kid (an oink-one income no kids) or a couple with no kids and two vehicles (dinks-double income with no kids) will get very little back. So this really is just wealth redistribution. This allows government to augment welfare or low income, increase use and cut costs on public transit and provide other goodies through a carbon tax. I’m not sure what ended up approved, but the biggest fuel users on the prairies are farmers, and they were scheduled to be exempt. So the middle class urban/suburban folks get dinged. All for nothing. No one should pay.

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    • #
      Greg Cavanagh

      Forcibly taking money from people for no particular reason is called theft. It is theft if the government do it too, makes no difference. It is theft for the sake of their own greed and ego. It does not help the people you steal from.

      Look up “Broken Window Fallacy” on wiki and understand why it is a fallacy.

      If you provide a service that people want, they’ll give you money. If you take their money at the point of a gun or threat of imprisonment. It is nothing but a form of socialism, and it is theft of value from people. The End.

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  • #
    pat

    27 Jan: France24: Yellow Vest leader hit in eye during protest ‘handicapped for life’, says lawyer
    PIC: Jerome Rodrigues, one of the leaders of the Yellow Vest movement, gives a press conference, on January 27, 2019 at the Cochin hospital in Paris, one day after getting wounded in the eye during an anti-government demonstration.

    A prominent French anti-government Yellow Vest activist, badly injured in the eye at a protest, was struck with one of the controversial rubber bullets used by police, his lawyer said Sunday.
    Jerome Rodrigues’ lawyer fears he will be “handicapped for life” after he was injured in clashes with police in Paris on Saturday during an 11th straight weekend of protests against President Emmanuel Macron.

    Rodrigues, a 40-year-old construction worker, was placed in an artificial coma overnight after the incident at the Bastille monument in central Paris.
    “He is in shock. He will be handicapped for life. It is a tragedy for him and his family,” lawyer Philippe de Veulle told BFM television, adding that he was lodging a complaint against police.

    The bearded Rodrigues, who has become a well-known figure in the “yellow vest” movement with 50,000 followers on Facebook, was live-streaming the protest on the website when he was hit.
    De Veulle said Rodrigues was struck with a “flashball”, referring to the 40-mm (1.6-inch) rubber projectiles used by French riot police.
    The devices — which are not used in most European countries — have become deeply controversial in France since the protests began in November, blamed for dozens of serious injuries.
    On Saturday, police using the bullets were for the first time deployed wearing body cams in a bid to increase transparency.

    Rodrigues, speaking to LCI television from hospital, said he was also hit by a stingball grenade, another controversial riot control device.
    “Everything happened very quickly. They threw a grenade at me and I took a (rubber) bullet. I was attacked twice — a grenade to the foot, and the bullet,” Rodrigues said.
    Rodrigues’ lawyer insisted he was not one of the “hooligans” who have been joining the weekly protests to cause trouble for police.

    In the video, Rodrigues can be heard several times warning protesters to leave the Bastille area because hard-left “black bloc” agitators were coming to attack the police.
    Witnesses picked up the projectile that struck Rodrigues and police are set to investigate the circumstances of the incident…

    The interior ministry estimated that 69,000 turned out across France on Saturday, compared with 84,000 a week earlier…
    https://www.france24.com/en/20190127-yellow-vest-leader-hit-eye-rodrigues-protest-handicapped-gilets-jaunes

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  • #
    pat

    25 Jan: CarbonPulse: Greece again postpones sale of lignite stake amid appeals to call off process
    Greece has postponed the EU-mandated sale of lignite power assets while green groups urge Brussels to halt the process they say would pile costs on citizens and delay climate action…

    26 Jan: WWF: EU Commission pushes Greece for new coal
    WWF & Greenpeace address EU Commissioners on the opening of Greece’s lignite market
    The big lignite sale now happening in Greece, under supervision and pressure by the European Commission, prolongs the country’s dependence on dirty coal and negates the EU’s policies for coal phase-out.

    Under the umbrella of antitrust EU rules, the European Commission has been pushing Greece to regulate the sale of PPC coal plants and mines, a process now in its final stages, instead of allowing other viable options leading to rapid coal phase-out. In reality, the Commission’s position leads to new dirty coal, according to terms especially attractive to investors: license for a new 450MW lignite power plant (Meliti II), favourable licensing conditions for operating plants (Megalopoli, supplied by the lowest thermal quality lignite deposits in the EU, and Meliti I).

    Through its catalytic role in the big coal sale, the Commission essentially pushes for the revival of an economically dying market, which is also subject to specific environmental regulations as heavily polluting and climate catastrophic. In particular, new investments in coal will seriously undermine Greece’s prospects of meeting its climate obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement…READ ON FOR WWF/GREENPEACE ETC DEMANDS
    https://www.wwf.gr/en/news/2207-eu-commission-pushes-greece-for-new-coal

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  • #
    pat

    27 Jan: SMH: Greens’ push to ban funding for coal-fired power threatens government control
    By Fergus Hunter
    The Coalition would be exposed to a damaging parliamentary defeat if a Greens push to ban taxpayer support for coal-fired power is successful, with the minor party “hopeful” of securing the required numbers in the House of Representatives to defy the minority government.

    Greens MP Adam Bandt has revealed an amendment to the government’s “big stick” energy legislation that would prohibit public funds from being used to underwrite investment in coal-fired power projects – a step that would be enabled by the bill in its current form.
    If the Greens secure the support of Labor and all but one of the crossbenchers, they could successfully amend the legislation. The government’s bill itself is set to pass the lower house with enough support from the crossbench.

    “As Australia swelters and burns, we shouldn’t be using public money to make global warming worse,” Mr Bandt said.
    “If the government won’t voluntarily rule out giving public money to fossil fuels, then parliament must stop them.”…

    It is understood the Greens have received positive signals from independents Andrew Wilkie and Kerryn Phelps. Julia Banks, Rebekha Sharkie and Cathy McGowan are said to be considering the amendment. Bob Katter will not support it…

    Asked about its position on the Greens’ amendment, Labor climate and energy spokesman Mark Butler made clear the party was opposed to new coal projects.
    “Labor has also been clear we do not support any taxpayer money being spent to underwrite expensive, polluting and unnecessary new coal-fired power stations,” Mr Butler said…
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/greens-push-to-ban-funding-for-coal-fired-power-threatens-government-control-20190127-p50tyx.html

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    • #
      Serp

      This isn’t leftist politics as I knew it to be; a term such as Anomic Left is more appropriate to cover Greens employing these ad hoc stratagems in their increasingly irrational and pathologically frenzied drive to criminalize any activity involving coal.

      It will be very interesting to see just how chaotic and unworkable an Australian parliament the voters return and how quickly it collapses and they’re voting again.

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  • #
    pat

    28 Jan: AFR: India’s 2018 coal imports grew at fastest pace in four years: sources
    By Sudarshan Varadhan, Reuters
    New Delhi: India’s thermal coal imports for 2018 rose at the fastest pace in four years, according to two industry sources, despite moves by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to cut imports to reduce the country’s trade deficit…

    Thermal coal imports jumped 19 percent to 171.85 million tonnes last year, the highest since 2014, according to data from American Fuels & Natural Resources, a Dubai-based trader of United States-origin coal. Thermal coal is mainly used to produce electricity.
    Imports of coking coal, mainly used in steel manufacture, rose the fastest since 2015, according to consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie and American Fuels & Natural Resources.
    India imported 52.26 million tonnes of coking coal last year, up 14 percent from 45.93 million tonnes in 2017, the data showed.

    The value of all coal 2018 imports was 28.7 per cent higher at 1.72 trillion Indian rupees ($33.7 billion) than a year earlier, according to India’s coal and trade ministries.
    Traders say coal imports rose largely because of restrictions on consumption of petroleum coke, a dirtier alternative, in some parts of the country…

    “2018 was a booming year for coal imports in India, mostly on the back of demand from cement and small- and medium-scale industries in India,” said Puneet Gupta, founder of online coal and petroleum coke marketplace Coalshastra…

    Higher coal imports are a boon for international miners such as Australia’s Whitehaven Coal, Indonesia’s Adaro Energy and US’s Peabody Energy Corp, and global commodity merchants such as Glencore.
    In 2017, Australian miners exported 48 million tonnes of high-quality steelmaking coal to Indian mills.
    Last year Indonesia supplied more than 61 per cent of India’s thermal coal imports. South Africa accounted for 22 per cent and the US more than 7 per cent. Imports of US thermal coal, which burns better compared with Indonesian coal, almost doubled to 12.46 million tonnes last year, according to American Fuels.
    https://www.afr.com/business/mining/coal/indias-2018-coal-imports-grew-at-fastest-pace-in-four-years-sources-20190128-h1akch

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  • #
    RAH

    Meanwhile the climate Zombies in Europe come out in force: https://www.breitbart.com/news/tens-of-thousands-protest-in-france-belgium-over-climate-crisis/
    Is it unchristian of me to hope they get hit with the worst cold snap of their lifetimes?

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  • #
    RAH

    I imagine most of you are familiar with Tony Heller and his blog: https://realclimatescience.com/
    Tony does a lot of hard work digging into the past. He compares past temperature records with present ones highlighting the adjustments. He compares actual data, or the lack of it, with the interpolations that government agencies publish as scientific fact about temperature and climate. He digs through the archives of newspapers and magazines finding articles that show what the weather was like in the past and articles on the ice age scare of the 70’s. I have frequented Tony’s blog for over a decade now and today he has a post that is a real keeper. The greatest number of articles from the past in a single post that I can recall him posting. Here is the link. https://realclimatescience.com/2019/01/overwhelming-evidence-of-collusion/
    I’ve saved it for future use and some of you may find it to be worth your time to do so also.

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    • #
      Annie

      I’ve bookmarked it for reading later. It’s difficult to concentrate atm as the cockies are right into the apple trees and I have been hurtling in and out trying to shoo the brutes off. We would like a few for ourselves! My carefully laid out mini orchard was supposed to supply from early to late crops but the cockies vandalise the lot without regard to ripeness…little, no, big thugs.

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      • #
        yarpos

        Most people only see them from afar, a healthy wild cockatoo is quite a large bird

        30

        • #
          Annie

          They are very big Yarpos! I wouldn’t care to get too close to one. I reckon some stand a couple of feet high and they waddle in a very ‘flat-footed’ ungainly manner but they are adept at flying between obstacles. I keep trying to tell them ‘ Have patience; I’ll give you the cores if you leave the flesh for us’!
          When they turn up in their hundreds, sqwarking their heads off, it is very disconcerting.

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  • #
    Ruairi

    In Ireland, a Green demagogue,
    Is a tail that can wag the state dog,
    Demanding huge carbon tax,
    On all fuels to the max.,
    To end coal and close down every bog.

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  • #
    pat

    tons of MSM coverage:

    28 Jan: Metro UK: Activists want to carve Trump’s face into glacier to show climate change is real
    by Jimmy Nsubuga
    Donald Trump could be getting a 115 feet high sculpture but he probably won’t like it.
    An environmental group plan to carve his image into a glacier in the Arctic Ocean as a protest against his attitude towards climate change.
    Finland’s Melting Ice organisation has been trying to raise money for the project for the past two years but are now intending to launch a crowdfunder to pay for the €400,000 (£345,000) costs…
    https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/28/activists-want-carve-trumps-face-glacier-show-climate-change-real-8401729/

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  • #
    pat

    more juice? no juice?

    28 Jan: Bloomberg: Hedge Funds See More Juice in Carbon Market’s Two-Year Rally
    Reforms that soaked up a supply glut for pollution allowances have yet to run their course, prompting investors to pile in.
    By Mathew Carr and Vanessa Dezem
    The speculative fervor that made European carbon allowances the hottest commodity of 2018 shows little sign of abating with more hedge funds seen doubling down on expectations for higher prices.

    Some 15 to 20 funds have begun or are considering multi-month or multi-year bets in Europe’s market for emission rights, according to Louis Redshaw, the former head of emissions at Barclays Plc who now advises investors including funds on the market. Buyers as far afield as the U.S. and India are getting into carbon…

    Carbon market participants this year are expecting further gains this year, albeit not as strong as in 2018.
    “There’s a lot of speculative buying going on,” said Bostjan Kovacevic, a trader at carbon brokerage Belektron who has noticed more outsiders and fewer emitters in the market at the moment…

    The value of outstanding carbon contracts has swelled to more than 30 billion euros ($34 billion) on ICE Futures Europe, a five-fold jump in two years. After climbing to a decade-high 25.79 euros a ton in September, carbon futures may surge to near 29 euros a ton or more this year, according to a Bloomberg survey last month. Prices are little changed so far in 2019.

    Carbon’s gain helped Lansdowne’s Energy Dynamics fund return 6 percent net of fees last year as the MSCI World Energy Sector Index fell 18 percent. Northlander benefited from a bet in the carbon markets, returning 53 percent in 2018 net of fees, according to a note to investors seen by Bloomberg…

    “Some hedge funds might be licking their wounds a bit” and may remove money from the carbon market, said Redshaw, founder of Redshaw Advisors Ltd. Even so, he’s not expecting a “mass exodus.”
    There’s still a lengthy list of hazards to carbon’s continued rally…

    The outlook is also muddied by the impact of Brexit as well as Germany’s plans to exit coal-fired power, which could stifle demand for permits. Another consideration is the artificial nature of the market; the supply of the pollution rights is controlled by governments and regulators that can make surprising changes to the rules…

    The market has always enjoyed some interest from financial firms. About half the companies buying allowances in auctions weren’t factories, power stations or airlines in 2016, the last year the European Union published data on the types of auction bidders.
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-28/hedge-funds-boost-bets-on-europe-s-carbon-market-after-rally

    50

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      I wonder if, perhaps, maybe, surely not, could Hedge funds be manipulating perception of the Weather in order to snow people and skim money from them?

      KK

      32

  • #
    pat

    Plunging temperatures, snow and flash freeze possible Tuesday …
    Washington Post-20 hours ago
    A powerful arctic cold front is set to blast through the Washington region Tuesday evening. It could have disruptive effects, with rain quickly changing to snow…

    28 Jan: Daily Mail: The winds of winter: Terrifying video shows planes struggling to take off in 50mph gusts amid warnings heavy snow could bring chaos across the UK with villages cut off and travel delays as up to four inches is set to fall tomorrow night
    •Sub-zero temperatures and gale-force winds could combine with snow in South East of England
    •Forecasters warn of travel chaos, power cuts and cut off villages as bone-chilling Arctic air hits
    •Severe weather warning for snow has been issued between 9pm tomorrow and noon on Wednesday
    •Rain moving eastwards across country is expected to turn to snow as temperatures fall to -10C (14F)
    By Mark Duell, Mary O’connor, Annie Butterworth and Paul Drury
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6639463/Warnings-heavy-snow-bring-chaos-London-South-East.html

    Another winter storm to bring widespread rain, snow to western Europe
    AccuWeather.com-19 hours ago
    Another winter storm moving across western Europe into the middle of the week will bring widespread rain and snow across France, Germany and the UK…

    70

    • #
      RAH

      Yep, Old man winter has brought the Arctic air and is piling up his throne of snow and ice to stay awhile. Though some forecasts have shown Chicago to hit -30 F Wed., I doubt it will get much below -20 F. Looks like we here in Indiana get some of that cold but though some daily low records may be broken the all time state low of -36 F set 1/19/94 in New Whiteland, IN appears to be safe for now.

      90

      • #
        Dave in the States

        Last week I had to shovel snow off my unheated garage. I looked at it during the night to see how much snow had fallen and thought it must be an optical illusion. It looked like it was three feet thick. It was. I probably got it just in time, as we got hit again two days later.

        It has been piling up like Greenland because we had 65 straight days when the temps remained below freezing. My brother told me where he works they have only had four days in the last 75 when the temps have been above 0 degrees F. It’s like the 1970’s. He did say he has seen it colder, but those -40 degrees temps are forecast for this coming week.

        80

        • #
          RAH

          Well big surprise. NOT! I would have bet something like this was coming. This on call truck driver was just informed that I leave at 16:00 today (Monday) for a multistep run that starts in Clinton, IA and has two stops in N. Illinois. I go up and take a 10 hour break at a truck stop and start the run tomorrow morning at 09:00 and return to the terminal in Anderson, IN tomorrow night if the weather doesn’t delay me. Low tomorrow in Clinton is forecast to be -26 F. Low here Tuesday night forecast to be -13 F. Guess the dedicated driver that does this load doesn’t like the cold. When I get back Tuesday night I will fill of the truck and when I park it leave it idle. Would not be surprised at all if on Wednesday after 10 hours they send up to the Chicago area because some other lightweight wimped out on his his/her regular run up there.

          100

  • #
    Dave in the States

    The politicians want that tax money!

    50

  • #
    observa

    Sinn Fein is opposing increases in carbon tax until there is better public transport, grant aid for retrofitting houses, and lower costs for electric vehicles.

    And world peace too with the cost of electric cars?

    80

    • #
      Another Ian

      Sounds a long handled way of saying “never”

      40

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        They don’t need global warming there, they run the place so why have a scam that only gets you 50% of turnover.

        It’s like Ireland has its own Independent branch of the U.N.

        SFUN.

        KK

        21

  • #
    observa

    You need to understand with 2170 cell Gigafactories churning out 4416 cells for a Tesla Model3 as well as all those Big Batteries like Hornsdale to make unreliables dispatchable we’re going to require Gigadisposal- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWjG3REOF-M

    All going to landfill ultimately now that China has stopped taking Green rubbish.

    121

    • #
      PeterS

      These days getting rid of large amounts of waste, such as going to the tip costs money. So battery owners should be charged appropriately for disposing them. I would also add the cost of building suitable waste disposal pits to prevent the environment from being polluted. This is all beginning to look like disposing radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. The only differences are that the batteries won’t be as severe but the volume will be much greater. In the end it could be as bad as a radioactive dump. So why arne’t the Greenies jumping up and down about this? Hypocrisy and pure insanity of course.

      92

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Well said Peter.

        63

      • #
        robert rosicka

        Put an extra cost on the batteries like a deposit ,so each battery is worth say $100 or even more when handed in at a recycling depot .

        30

        • #
          OriginalSteve

          Reminds me of a scene from one of the Terminator movies…..the terminator had an unstable hydrogen fuel cell, so he casually pulls it out and lobs it out the car window … camera pans back to see a mini nuke-shaped cloud behind them….

          Same kinda problem methinks

          20

      • #
        beowulf

        The disposal cost of batteries should be up-front, included in the purchase price or else the general community ends up subsidising that as well. Ditto for windmills. At one stage there was a proposal to apply a remediation bond of $8 to $10 thousand per turbine — utterly inadequate. Remediation figures I have seen range up to $500,000 per turbine to remove the mast and the concrete base, the base being the biggest factor.

        This principle is no different to mining companies setting aside cash for mine remediation after a mine closes, or in the case of open cuts, constantly doing remediation works behind the draglines as a cut progresses. It would certainly make some folks sit up and realise the true cost of their beloved renewables.

        50

        • #
          Kinky Keith

          A critical point.

          The base of the token windmill that used to be on Ash island is still there.

          52

          • #
            beowulf

            Ash or Kooragang? I didn’t even realise they had pulled it down. I used to pass it fairly regularly but I haven’t been over that way for quite a while. I do remember when it was declared uneconomic to continue running and some genius came up with the idea of donating it to a charity rather than scrapping it . . . to help the charity financially. Obviously a True Believer and financial whiz.

            50

      • #
        yarpos

        Just take them to Aldi and put them in the battery box. Its only small so a bit at time , might take a hundred years or so

        40

    • #
      RickWill

      Hornsdale uses Samsung cells.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornsdale_Wind_Farm
      Samsung was chosen for the cells because they could meet the tight delivery schedule.

      Tesla have agreed to remove the battery to the USA when it is decommissioned:

      Tesla will safely remove all batteries from the site when the facility is decommissioned. Tesla will recycle all returned battery packs and modules at its Gigafactory in Nevada, United States, where over 60% of the materials, especially critical minerals, will be recovered for reuse.

      https://hornsdalepowerreserve.com.au/faqs/

      Of course that depends on Tesla being around in 10 to 15 years. At that time it will probably be economic to upgrade the cell modules rather than replace the whole battery.

      91

  • #
    yarpos

    I wonder if they are still allowed to burn peat, or that has been banned as well.

    60

  • #
    Robber

    What could go wrong with a carbon tax? You give me $100 for every Gigajoule of fossil energy you use, and at the end of every year I give it back (less my expenses) to those who supported me.

    40

    • #
      sophocles

      You give me $100 for every Gigajoule of fossil energy you use,…

      I don’t burn coal (fossilised dead trees) so I won’t be giving you much. Oil and Natural gas is not fossil fuel so I won’t be paying anything for using those.

      10

  • #

    Sinn Fein should oppose increases in any sort of carbon tax until there is better proof that there is any sort of ‘Climate Crisis’ or reason to do otherwise than increase CO2 emissions in the interests of plants around the World. Fianna Fail is working in the interests of Eire and all humanity in recommending against a rise in ‘carbon’ tax rise in the ‘climate action’ report. The Green movement has developed from a beneficial idea into a rancid and toxic cocktail of falsehoods and lies about Climate for crooked financial gain.

    90

  • #
    Robber

    Another 30C+ summer day, and again AEMO forecast prices in NSW/Vic/SA are above $300/MWhr this afternoon, with peaks up to $14,500/MWhr. Why are generators allowed to profiteer at our expense?
    In Vic alone, this afternoon over about 4 hours they will receive an additional $280 million, about $50 per person in Vic. Where is the minister for getting lower prices? Yet all we are being offered in Vic are more subsidised solar and wind farms, that do nothing to stop this pricing bonanza.
    Why isn’t there a price cap way lower than $14,000/MWhr? There is some mumbojumbo that AEMO adopts when “the previous 336 trading intervals (7 days times 30 minute intervals) has exceeded the cumulative price threshold (CPT) of $216,900.00 (equivalent to an average spot price of $645.54/MWh over the previous seven days). An administered price cap (APC) of 300 $/MWh will apply to all trading intervals during this administered price period.” So all generators still get 3 times the average price. Why doesn’t AEMO create longer term supply contracts?
    Bring on the yellow vests.

    120

  • #
    Neville

    BTW Ireland emits just 0.13% of human co2 emissions. OH and they are about 28th in the world per person. What a disgraceful mob they are to be sure, to be sure. SARC.
    Can you believe these Green idiots? Definitely all pain for ZERO gain and ZERO IQs to match.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_greenhouse_gas_emissions

    70

    • #
      Another Ian

      Neville

      I think this came via Flanders and Swan

      “The Irishman doesn’t know what he wants and will fight anyone to get it”

      60

  • #
    robert rosicka

    Not that a lot of pensioners can afford to run their air conditioning anyway but AGL are here to help you reduce power consumption to the grid in times of peak demand .
    More power stations are not the answer and are not needed , so here is a clever Baldrick cunning plan .

    https://thehub.agl.com.au/articles/2018/10/rewarding-and-harnessing-the-collective-power-of-customers?utm_source=Direct

    20

  • #
    Kinky Keith

    All of the above argument is futile and redundant when the core issue is examined properly.

    On any given day there is a significant parcel of Solar Energy impacting the atmosphere, oceans and Earth surface.

    What’s left of that energy after it has been absorbed and used by plants and other organic life is extremely degraded in absolute energy potential and so, in looking for a new home, it heads for the only place that has a lower energy potential than itself:

    Deep Space.

    Now the CAGW fairy story is that somehow this very degraded energy can hang about in the atmosphere and when we are all asleep zip back down to earth and “overheat” “The Planet”.

    Even IF the amazing mechanism of heat return was true, there is one overwhelming issue, namely, that the amount of Human Origin CO2 in the atmosphere makes the proposition Quantitatively Irrelevant.

    Scam.

    KK

    70

  • #
    Mark M

    ‘oogled “watermelon in a hi-vis vest” …

    It returned a photo of Adam Bandt in a hi-vis vest …

    https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/why-is-greens-mp-adam-bandt-scrubbing-the-floor-20171214-h04s6g.html

    60

  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:

    Breezily dismissive response to power cuts isn’t cool – Judith Sloan
    The Australian – 11h ago
    Surely Richard Di Natale was joking but someone really needs to tell Victoria’s Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio she’s dreamin’ as she sits in her air-conditioned office…

    60

    • #
      PeterS

      The left, including some in the LNP live in a bubble. I just wish we had someone with the power to prick that bubble and bring an end to the insanity.

      70

      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Well, if the public just says “no” to the carbon tax and doesnt pay it……

        20

        • #
          PeterS

          I doubt it will be possible if the government enacts such a tax. The only way to minimise the prospect of getting such a tax is not to vote the ALP+Greens into power. Let the people have their say at the next election and then we will see if this nation is as stupid as it appears to be.

          20

          • #
            Kinky Keith

            Good as far as it went Peter, but voting for the Libls is still a vote for MalEx444 and GoldenSacks and continued high eco electricity taxes.

            Where do we place our trust?

            KK

            31

            • #
              PeterS

              I place my trust in no man, not even in myself. Mine is in Christ Jesus.

              41

              • #
                el gordo

                Morrison wants to take a baseball bat to the energy multinationals because they are gouging and making life hell for the greater middle class and poor.

                The market reckons its the act of a socialist.

                10

              • #
                PeterS

                Really? So when is he going to scrap the RETs, RECs and all other parts of the renewables socialist scam and mandate that all existing coal fired power stations have to remain open for say another 20 years or at least until new ones are built to replace them?

                40

              • #
                el gordo

                We’ll have to wait to see his election platform.

                11

              • #
                OrignalSteve

                “Morrison wants to take a baseball bat to the energy multinationals because they are gouging and making life hell for the greater middle class and poor.”

                Morrison is being repsonsible, protecting vulnerable people from being monstered by the globalist vultures. The multinationals have had it thier own way for a long time….

                00

  • #
    Mark M

    Wait. What?

    So it wasn’t the carbon (sic), it wasn’t the heatwave … it was the cold … ?

    “A third fish kill has occurred near Menindee on the Darling River overnight after temperatures plummeted following days of hot weather.

    “I was advised the sudden drop in temperature makes it conducive, unfortunately, for the fish to be deprived of oxygen.”

    Berejiklian suggested the mass kill could not have been avoided, saying “we cannot control the weather”.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/28/menindee-fish-kill-another-mass-death-on-darling-river-worse-than-last-time

    40

  • #
    pat

    28 Jan: Phys.org: Science Says: Get used to polar vortex outbreaks
    by Seth Borenstein, Associated Press
    It might seem counterintuitive, but the dreaded polar vortex is bringing its icy grip to parts of the U.S. thanks to a sudden blast of warm air in the Arctic.
    Get used to it. The polar vortex has been wandering more often in recent years.
    It all started with misplaced Moroccan heat…
    https://phys.org/news/2019-01-science-polar-vortex-outbreaks.html

    28 Jan: CNN: Polar vortex: Your questions answered
    By Judson Jones, Brandon Miller and Alan Duke
    The coldest air in a generation is spilling out across the US thanks to a breakdown in the polar vortex.
    The icy blast it’s sending southward is the biggest visitor from the North Pole since Santa Claus. The gifts it brings, however, are chilling and generally unwelcome.

    Seventy-five percent of the continental US will dip below freezing at some point this week, leading to record low temperatures across the country. CNN meteorologists Brandon Miller and Judson Jones answer a few pressing questions about this phenomenon…
    https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/28/us/polar-vortex-explained-wxc/index.html

    50

  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    The ENSO projections mentioned by el gordo certainly would indicate an El Nino later this year. But I can not agree about the smashing of CAGW.

    I’m still happy with +0.5C in 2030 mediated by UAH

    25

    • #
      el gordo

      If we can show ENSO is a major player, influenced by the sun, moon and jovian planet, then it would be a game changer.

      51

      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        it certainly would, given both the energy in that system, and the amount of the world it covers

        35

        • #
          el gordo

          In that regard I direct you to the 1876-78 El Nino, as an indication of where I think we are.

          On that occasion 3% of the world’s population perished, so it will be interesting to see if natural history repeats.

          50

          • #
            PeterS

            It will. Next time though it could be much worse due to the risk of major wars breaking out as nations full of starving populations demand something be done.

            40

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            in this case, we only have 12 months to wait. If we had a politics which did not live in a bubble, we might be preparing, but I’m dreaming

            14

            • #
              AndyG55

              “If we had a politics which did not live in a bubble”

              We would have a reliable coal fired HELE dispatchable coal and gas electricity supply.

              Wind and solar… need not apply

              But politics lives in a 97% leftist bubble, cow-towing to the far-left media.

              … divorced from reality.

              … just like you are, pfutz..

              Even the once rational Liberal party is infested/infected with the leftist rot and decay.

              50

              • #
                PeterFitzroy

                I’m on record in support for hele

                34

              • #
                AndyG55

                So long as it doesn’t include the absolute WASTE and idiocy of CCS.

                Right pfutz ! 😉

                Thing is, that with decent HELE power, solar and wind are even more pointless.

                Wind and solar are a NOTHING , erratic, non-dispatchable electricity supply.

                How would you like it if your butcher said..

                … “sorry, no meat today, just some swordfish, you will have to wait for a windy day to get meat.”

                RELIABILITY. That is the key to modern electricity supply, and modern supply of basically anything

                Wind and solar.. CANNOT APPLY.

                40

            • #
              Graeme No.3

              Peter Fitzroy:

              Politicians looking ahead?????? You are joking.
              Take Australia for example; we are rushing into variable ‘renewables’ without the necessary storage. Snowy2 won’t be available until 2024 but in the meantime we have to put up with higher electricity bills and blackouts.
              As Bill Shorten heads for 50% renewables we can expect more blackouts, more hasty decisions leading to more CO2 emissions. Will we reach the lunacy of the EU and chop down our forests to supply (non CO2 emitting) fuel for power stations? Pity about the orang utans who haven’t evolved for oil palm plantations in Borneo.

              30

              • #
                robert rosicka

                No no stop Bill must get in I’ve just invested in a diesel generator supply business , I’ll throw you a few mil from the scraps.

                30

              • #
                Peter Fitzroy

                I was joking. I’m on the record as supporting energy security. At the present time that would involve HELE plants. A decision on which should have been made several years ago, for the following reasons. 1. It will take time (which we no longer have) to build and commission those plants. 2. They are significantly more efficient than the current plants.

                I would also like to see CCS – but not at the expense of energy security

                I hope that makes it clear

                24

              • #
                AndyG55

                “I would also like to see CCS “

                What a totally POINTLESS exercise.

                CO2 should be in the atmosphere, not buried underground.

                50

          • #
            robert rosicka

            I firmly believe you can look at the past to predict the future , nothing is unprecedented

            20

          • #
            sophocles

            To El Gordo @ #42.1.1.1

            Re likelihood of a fresh El Nino:

            ENSO is also volcanically influenced and seems strongest when all forcings combine additively …
            see:
            https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02101 Proxy evidence for an El Niño-like response to volcanic forcing
            http://www.trunity.net/sam2/view/article/51cbf4007896bb431f6aeb04/ Case Study: El Niño: A Link among Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Crustal Circulation? [Reprinted from Environmental Science 2016.]
            http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/el-nino El Nino?
            https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsta.2010.0044 The El Niño–Southern Oscillation and the seismicity of the East Pacific Rise

            There may be something of interest in Alan Robocks pubs:
            http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/robock/robock_volpapers.html
            —like #13 perhaps …

            20

  • #
    robert rosicka

    No low reserve conditions for 2018 – 2019 , this surely can’t mean what I think it does .

    Market Notice 66898
    The MTPASA result published on 29 January 2019 identifies no Low Reserve Conditions in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

    Please note that MTPASA informs the market of potential reliability issues to allow the market to respond in the first instance, potentially avoiding the need for any market intervention or direction from AEMO.

    For further information, please refer to:
    https://www.aemo.com.au/Electricity/National-Electricity-Market-NEM/Data/Market-Management-System-MMS/Projected-Assessment-of-System-Adequacy

    This notice supersedes Market Notice 66490 published on 22 January 2019.

    Background
    As part of a broader process of implementing the reliability standard, AEMO runs the Medium Term Projected Assessment of System Adequacy (MTPASA) process weekly to forecast expected unserved energy levels over a two year period. If the expected annual unserved energy exceeds the maximum level specified by the Reliability Standard, a Low Reserve Condition is identified.

    For more information about how AEMO implements the reliability standard, please view the Reliability Standard Implementation Guidelines (RSIG) available on AEMO’s website at
    http://www.aemo.com.au/-/media/Files/Stakeholder_Consultation/Consultations/Electricity_Consultations/2016/EAAP/Reliability-Standard-Implementation-Guidelines.pdf

    Forecasting
    AEMO

    20

    • #
      robert rosicka

      And then there’s this notice later in the day .

      Market Notice 66905
      AEMO ELECTRICITY MARKET NOTICE

      AEMO declares a Forecast LOR1 condition under clause 4.8.4(b) of the National Electricity Rules for the Vic region for the following periods:

      From 1600 hrs to 1700 hrs 30/01/2019.
      The forecast capacity reserve requirement is 1120 MW.
      The minimum capacity reserve available is 1043 MW.

      Manager NEM Real Time Operations

      20

      • #
        PeterS

        How come for NSW the price is scheduled to blow out to $14,000/MWh tomorrow way above that for SA and Vic?

        20

        • #
          robert rosicka

          NSW wasn’t lucky enough to be hit with a “surprise ” shortfall , but I’m guessing the Generators know that if they pull a hammy the price will mysteriously rise .

          30

        • #
          RickWill

          Both SA and VIC are heading for the price limit as well.

          The three states have similar weather with low winds and temperature in the 30s. Schools will be coming back as well.

          40

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      What a crazy system.

      30

  • #
    pat

    some interesting temps mentioned in some of the tweets on ABC’s Golembo’s Twitter page. scroll down:

    Twitter: Max Golembo, Senior Meteorologist/Weather Producer for ABC News and Good Morning America.
    TWEET: 5h ago: State of emergency for the Deep South due to upcoming snow and winter weather
    TWEET: Govt Kay Ivey…ETC
    https://twitter.com/Wx_Max

    20

  • #
    pat

    just found out Rowan Dean’s Outsiders on Sky is now limited to Sunday mornings at 9am. I never watch it on Sundays, but thoroughly enjoyed it during the week.

    what about Jo’s appearances?

    not happy with the change.

    21 Jan: B&T: Sky News Unveils 2019 Line-Up
    Outsiders – James Morrow and Rita Panahi join Rowan Dean from Sunday 27 January at 9:00am
    A revamped Outsiders returns to Sundays at 9:00am with Rowan Dean to be joined by James Morrow, The Daily Telegraph’s Opinion Editor, and Rita Panahi Sky News anchor and Herald Sun columnist each week as they look away from the mainstream news agenda.
    http://www.bandt.com.au/media/sky-news-unveils-2019-line

    20

    • #
      Annie

      That’s a useless time for me. I was looking forward to the return of Outsiders…I am really disappointed about that.

      21

  • #
    pat

    28 Jan: Oil Price: Trump Looks To Neutralize Pipeline Opponents
    By Irina Slav
    The White House is preparing measures that will reduce states’ powers over the approval or ban of new energy projects, notably oil and gas pipelines, Bloomberg reported last week, citing three unnamed sources in the know. The implications of such measures would be bad news for a state such as New York, which has already put the brakes on a natural gas pipeline, but they could be good news for consumers.

    Last week, FreightWaves.com reported that residents of the Northeastern states are being increasingly burdened by high electricity bills coupled with unreliable supplies, the root cause of which is the lack of enough natural gas pipeline capacity to bring in the fuel needed for power plants.

    The report followed an announcement by a regional utility, Con Edison, that it will stop taking on new customers in Westchester County on the grounds that “new demand for gas is reaching the limits of the current supplies to our service area.” In other words, the utility cannot supply electricity to all who need it because it cannot produce enough electricity to satisfy demand and the reason it cannot produce it is lack of sufficient gas supply.

    What’s more, New York is not the only state struggling with growing electricity demand and insufficient supply because of pipeline opposition on the political level, according to the FreightWaves.com report. All New England states are in the same position and even worse, author Henry Carmichael reports, citing a scientist from the Institute for Energy Research.

    “The New England states used to be dependent on coal, oil, nuclear and hydroelectricity. And they’ve shifted quickly to natural gas for generation, and they’ve shifted so fast that its caused huge draws of natural gas into the system [pipelines] without increasing infrastructure,” Dan Kish told Carmichael.

    The situation is reminiscent of that in northern China last year, when the authorities were in a rush to switch from coal to gas in power plants but were not quick enough to construct the necessary distribution network, so several million households ended up without heating in the midst of winter…

    The situation looks like the latest in a long string of examples how climate change fighting measures result in problems for ordinary energy consumers in the short term. These problems need to be addressed in advance if the fight is to become a truly mainstream affair. Otherwise, an executive order by a very pro-fossil fuel industry President might become the bitter medicine for too-high electricity bills and gas shortages.
    https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Trump-Looks-To-Neutralize-Pipeline-Opponent-States.html

    20

  • #
    pat

    27 Jan: The Lancet: The Global Syndemic of Obesity, Undernutrition, and Climate Change: The Lancet Commission report
    from Executive Summary:
    This Commission following on from two Lancet Series on obesity looks at obesity in a much wider context of common underlying societal and political drivers for malnutrition in all its forms­ and climate change. The Commission urges a radical rethink of business models, food systems, civil society involvement, and national and international governance to address The Global Syndemic of Obesity, Undernutrition, and Climate Change.
    A holistic effort to reorient human systems to achieve better human and planetary health is our most important and urgent challenge…
    DOWNLOADS
    https://www.thelancet.com/commissions/global-syndemic

    10

  • #
    pat

    29 Jan: ABC: BuzzFeed slashes Australian workforce as boss makes Twitter gaffe
    By Oscar Coleman
    Staff were called to a meeting at the brand’s Sydney headquarters this morning where 25 staff were given redundancy letters.
    About 40 people work for the organisation Down Under.

    Founding editor Simon Crerar tweeted 25 roles would go, but then backtracked, saying the actual number was only 11.
    While 25 staff were given letters, the ABC understands 14 staff will be redeployed internally
    BuzzFeed Australia employees had known there would be cuts since last Thursday.
    “It’s been a long weekend of building dread and fear,” one told the ABC…

    The news comes amidst BuzzFeed staff cuts across the world with company CEO Jonah Peretti announcing last week that 15 per cent of employees would go.
    “We’ve built a strong brand, loyal audience, and growing business in Australia and BuzzFeed remains committed to building on that foundation for the long-term,” a BuzzFeed spokesperson said in a statement…
    Overnight it was announced BuzzFeed UK would cut 17 of 37 editorial roles, while the company’s Spanish bureau was closed last week…
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-29/buzzfeed-australia-slashes-workforce/10758024

    funny ABC didn’t include any of the following:

    23 Jan: Fox News: NBC raises eyebrows over $400 million relationship with BuzzFeed
    By Brian Flood
    NBCUniversal invested $400 million in BuzzFeed and the two companies have a “strategic partnership,” raising eyebrows about why the Peacock Network isn’t more transparent when covering the controversial website.
    NBC News and MSNBC fawned over BuzzFeed’s now-debunked report claiming President Trump directed his former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress before the office of the special counsel released its rare statement.

    A search of transcripts from both MSNBC and NBC News didn’t turn up any mention of the investment when the news organization covered BuzzFeed’s discredited bombshell. While transcripts aren’t always 100 percent accurate, it’s clear the relationship was not disclosed with any consistency…
    DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall told Fox News that it should be “standard operating procedure that a media organization explain its financial interests and connections” in such a situation…

    NBCUniversal initially invested $200 million in 2015. Shortly after the 2016 election, NBCUniversal and BuzzFeed announced “an additional $200M investment to expand the strategic partnership between the two companies and fund the growth of BuzzFeed’s industry leading news and entertainment network.”

    Reporter-turned-investment banker Porter Bibb told Fox news that NBCUniversal “controls” BuzzFeed.
    “Their $400 million investment is just the tip of the iceberg. They use BuzzFeed content throughout the NBC system and should have disclosed their ownership when reporting especially unconfirmed stories, especially highly contentious reports suggesting the president committed a criminal act,” Bibb said. “Another egregious failure on the part of NBC news chief Andy Lack.”
    https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/nbc-raises-eyebrows-over-400-million-relationship-with-buzzfeed

    taxpayer-funded, TDS-infected, Zoe Daniel in the US jumped on the Buzzfeed “story” & didn’t correct it on later AM programs:

    AUDIO: 4min 4sec: 19 Jan: ABC AM: Explosive claims Donald Trump told lawyer to lie
    By Zoe Daniel on AM
    Democrats in the United States are once again talking about impeachment and suggesting there may have been obstruction of justice.
    It comes after a media report alleging that President Donald Trump told his former lawyer to lie to Congress.
    https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/explosive-claims-donald-trump-told-lawyer-to-lie/10728798

    why does theirABC feel the need to jump on every anti-Trump story, without questioning the source? why not just ignore them?

    (note: Buzzfeed was the first to publish what should be called the phony Clinton Russian Dossier)

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      robert rosicka

      Problem is Trumps popularity is still good and none of his base believe anything the presstitutes say that’s negative , he will win a second term and they know it .

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    theRealUniverse

    icecap ..
    https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2019/01/22/latest-fake-claims-about-greenland-ice-loss/#comments
    LATEST FAKE CLAIMS ABOUT GREENALND ICE

    iceagenow – also more record cold in Nth America..
    and
    https://www.iceagenow.info/mis-education-of-an-entire-generation/
    “1) being so completely misinformed and ill-advised by the insidious International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (run by the United Nations, need I say more?) and, in turn, by governments and the media, all of which have huge vested interests in promoting the ‘CO2 Delusion’ that man can affect climate (e.g. UN quest for global governance; more laws; ever-increasing taxes; university research grants; researcher salaries; etc.);’

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  • #
    Crakar24

    The ABC must be up to something….radio interview one: the female host of the program was discussing asthma with a doctor when she asked if an increase in ozone was causing it, the doctor politely said no.

    Interview two: same female different doctor discus.sing skin cancer, interviewer asked if the ozone hole was causing the cancer once again the doctor politely said no.

    Watch this space

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    • #
      AndyG55

      Some forms of Asthma is actually alleviated by raised CO2. (Hence, breathing into a paper bag.)

      CO2 is a natural bronchial dilator. Without a certain level of atmospheric CO2 , none of us could breathe.

      Levels up to 5000 ppm have basically zero effect on humans because those are the levels humans developed from.

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      • #
        robert rosicka

        You missed the most important thing about Co2 Andy , no it’s not the medical research it’s much more important.
        Can’t guess ok it’s beer .

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        • #
          AndyG55

          And bread, and champagne.

          And PLANTS that feed the world.

          All the necessities of life on this vast CARBON BASED planet of ours.. 🙂

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          • #
            • #
              AndyG55

              may ? perhaps ?

              Your level of science, pfutz. and you call yourself a biologist.. ROFLMAO !!!

              Do you really DENY that all life on this world is CARBON BASED ?

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              • #
                Peter Fitzroy

                Andy I will happily let you sit in a chamber with 1% C02 for an hour, then we could have a grown up discussion about C02.

                You can have to much of a good thing you know

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              • #
                AndyG55

                roflmao.. You really are a fool, pfutz.

                Tell me where that level of atmospheric CO2 ever exists.

                Although , early life would have experienced that level, your mental equals, the amoebas.

                Do you really DENY that all life on this world is CARBON BASED ?

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              • #
                AndyG55

                Submariners often experience similar levels for many days.

                Ignore the fact, pfutz, its all you can do.

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              • #
                robert rosicka

                1% heh nice round figure plucked from god knows where , considering .04% is what Co2 is at right now but of that roughly 98% is natural .
                If humans share which is a fraction of a tiny fraction is doing anything other than feeding plants why are you driving , using electricity etc etc or even breathing the stuff out if it’s so bad .

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            • #
              el gordo

              At least Australia is practically free from this scourge.

              ‘The amount of sulfur dioxide in air is at acceptable low levels in most Australian towns and cities. While sulfur dioxide levels in air are not generally a problem in Australia, fuel standards have significantly reduced sulfur levels in fuels and reduced the levels in air even further.

              ‘The highest concentrations of sulfur dioxide in the air are found around petrol refineries, chemical manufacturing industries, mineral ore processing plants and power stations. Mt Isa and Kalgoorlie are the only areas where high amounts of sulfur dioxide in the air can occur and that happens only occasionally.’

              Dept Environment and Energy

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  • #
    Kinky Keith

    Hi Jo,

    We have experienced this “at Will” deliberate blog clogging for a number of weeks now and the intent of the person is obvious: to disrupt and attempt to make the blog look stupid.

    I haven’t seen a genuine question/response interaction yet.

    For a person who claims to have qualifications in Biology the recent challenge to sit ,,,,,,, etc suggests that the person is misrepresenting his qualifications on top of the other issues mentioned.

    ???

    KK

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    • #

      >95% of all posts on this blog are neither questions nor responses and this includes those posting in sub-threads. They are comments.

      An examination of where a blogger has made a comment at odds with the blog post, there is no evidence that post that are subordinate have any content that is actually a response or a coherent argument to the “blog cloggers” comment. There is no evidence that that the clogger is doing anything differently from the vast majority of commenters and so to take action would be singling out without cause. The clogger is also on topic more often than average (especially see next sentence for a comparison)

      You’d be saying goodbye to pat and andy on the basis.

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      • #
        Kinky Keith

        It’s a difficult point to respond to given that it involves more than 95% of posts.

        To agree with the comment may be doing a disservice to those who are genuinely in search of greater understanding of the issue at hand.

        On the other hand to agree may be going against reality but perhaps, for the moment, we can look at another point, namely that AG55 may have, and you notice the “may have”, also been as wilfully disruptive by his actions.

        I would counter that by saying that the bulk, 97%, of his responses to pf, please forgive the lower case, I was distracted, were in fact totally relevant.

        They either “marked” the clogging comment as such or gave a very detailed, coherent and useful explanation of the situation under comment.

        At no time have I seen similar detail and relevance in posts by team pf.

        In fact the last comment from him concerned a challenge to sit in a room at 1 pussent CO2 for one hour.

        I have commented on this elsewhere and could link it but I’ve run out of links.

        http://joannenova.com.au/2019/01/irish-greens-try-to-inspire-mass-yellow-vest-protests/#comment-2099019

        KK

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        • #
          the adorable Gee Ayeeee

          I used rhetoric to back up my response. You used rhetoric to make your original position

          and the intent of the person is obvious: to disrupt and attempt to make the blog look stupid.

          where’s your data. Is it “its obvious” or “I haven’t seen”?

          So, I stated the null hypothesis that there is nothing to see, your job is to come up with support for yours.

          See what I did there?

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      • #
        AndyG55

        geegee never posts a single bit of data or science. Just mindless air-brain incoherence.

        Many of my posts contain data, graphs facts, explanation .. as necessary.

        Just because you either can’t comprehend them, or just don’t like them, doesn’t mean they are not correct.

        Pfutz has only one intent.. to distract and cause pointless NOISE.

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    • #
      el gordo

      ‘…to disrupt and attempt to make the blog look stupid.’

      Fitz is like the new teacher confronted by an unruly class, give us a bit more time and we’ll knock him into shape.

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  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:

    29 Jan: UK Times: Our wind turbines hardly make a dent in global warming
    by Jack Ponton
    (Jack Ponton is professor of engineering at the University of Edinburgh)
    There are between 3,500 and 4,000 wind turbines in Scotland. Visitors coming up the A1 pass numerous wind farms on the Lammermuirs; those coming over Carter Bar are treated to a fine view of these and others in the central Borders.

    Why have we covered so much of our countryside with these machines? They do not give us cheaper electricity. Turbine builders receive a subsidy, guaranteed for 25 years, which doubles the cost of the power they produce. They do not provide reliable energy; windless days can occur at the coldest times of the year with all these turbines generating little power when it is needed most. No, these turbines are supposed to help “decarbonise” energy production, reducing our carbon dioxide emissions, and so “save the planet” from global warming. But can they really?

    The world’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2017 were 32,500 Mte (million tonnes). Britain‘s were 375 Mte and Scotland’s about 10 per cent of these. So Scotland contributes about 0.115 per cent of the global total. What is this likely to mean in terms of a contribution to increased global temperatures, and so how much could Scotland’s decarbonisation contribute to climate change amelioration?…
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/3f6eb0ec-2324-11e9-8d35-0e32f390087a

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    • #
      Kinky Keith

      Good But.

      As a professor of Engineering he attacks the economic aspect of the scam.

      Unfortunately the primary issue seems to be “accepted”..

      He rightfully sees it as an economic scam but leaves the driving issue untouched.

      Atmospheric CO2 levels do not drive or influence atmospheric temperature.

      KK

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  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:

    28 Jan: UK Times: Pressure on Merkel as Germany pledges to end coal power by 2038
    by Oliver Moody, Berlin
    Germany must find a way to replace more than half its electricity sources by 2038 as the government prepares to end a 200-year-old reliance on coal.
    The move is expected to cost as much as €78 billion and cause turmoil for the 60,000 people whose jobs are linked to the industry.

    It marks a momentous turning point for a country whose rise to prosperity was largely fuelled by coal, and follows a struggle between environmentalists and the business lobby. Although it is expected to help Germany to meet its stringent climate change goals, there are concerns that it could increase the country’s dependence on Russian gas or further drive up its energy prices, already the highest in Europe.

    At present 51 per cent of the country’s electricity is generated from atomic energy and coal…
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/b0420db2-2317-11e9-8d35-0e32f390087a

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    • #
      pat

      28 Jan: Reuters: German coal exit will have limited price impact – traders and analysts
      by Vera Eckert, Susanna Twidale in London and Bate Felix in Paris
      The price effect of Germany’s roadmap for an exit from coal mining and burning by 2038 is likely to be limited because the extent of coal plant closures was largely expected, traders and analysts said on Monday…

      While tighter coal power supply would be bullish, price effects will be offset by increased expansion of renewables such as solar and wind power, where production costs are falling, said the German arm of UK researchers Aurora…
      “Our analysis shows that the implementation of the decisions could result in a 3.5 to 4 euro (3.03 -3.47 pounds) higher power price per megawatt hour (MWh),” said Hanns Koenig, analyst at the Aurora’s Berlin office…
      ***“Barring uncertainties about prices of gas, hard coal and carbon, cost effects will be manageable.”…

      The enforced closures will add 2.50 euros to prices by 2022, 3 euros in 2030, and 3.50 euros by 2040, Enervis said.
      “However, there will be significant carbon (offsetting cost) savings arising from significantly lower coal-to-power generation,” said Enervis analyst Mirko Schlossarczyk…
      German utilities are among the biggest buyers of CO2 allowances in the European Emission Trading System.
      Under the plans, however, the coal commission recommended that the government cancel carbon credits linked to the phasing out of coal to offset lower demand for permits.

      “The announcement should have a limited effect on carbon,” said Refinitiv carbon analyst Hege Fjellheim.
      The benchmark European carbon contract was down about 4.4 percent at 22.88 euros a tonne, which traders attributed to high auction volumes.
      https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-power-germany-coalexit/german-coal-exit-will-have-limited-price-impact-traders-and-analysts-idUKKCN1PM15N

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      • #
        pat

        28 Jan: Axios: Germany takes a decisive, if sluggish, step toward phasing out coal
        by Justin Guay
        (Justin Guay directs global climate strategy at the Sunrise Project and advises the ClimateWorks Foundation)
        Why it matters:
        According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the developed world must phase out its coal fleet no later than 2030 for the world to avoid more severe consequences climate change…
        Given that Germany is considered the industrial powerhouse of Europe, this announcement could send a powerful signal to other countries about the urgency to transition to renewable energy. Germany is also symbolically important because the “Energiewende,” its plan to transition off nuclear power, has become a model that many nations around the world have followed, leading them to phase out nuclear first without addressing the more pressing problem of coal. The move will likely make an impression across Asia, which is currently undergoing the last bouts of coal expansion…

        Yes, but: Germany is nonetheless well behind the 2030 deadline set by the IPCC. Its timeline has also been criticized for being too slow; the U.K., the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, now regularly runs for days at a time without any coal power…

        What to watch: The commission’s successful negotiations are promising, but the findings ***must still be translated into law. This will require an act of parliament, setting up a crucial phase in the German energy transition that will play out in the months to come.
        https://www.axios.com/germany-takes-a-decisive-if-sluggish-step-toward-phasing-out-coal-cda3d81b-968b-426f-810a-b1eb37dc682b.html

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  • #
    pat

    29 Jan: Reuters: European companies secure record amounts of wind power
    by Stine Jacobsen
    As wind power becomes competitive on price with conventional energy in many countries, big companies have rushed to secure renewable energy to manage costs and reduce their carbon emissions, while boosting their image with customers.
    New wind deals through so-called corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs) were signed in Europe last year for 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, up from 1.3 GW in 2017, according to new data from industry body WindEurope.

    Some companies have turned their support for wind power into a marketing opportunity, with the world’s top brewer AB InBev running an advert during American Football’s Super Bowl to say its Budweiser beer is made by using 100 percent renewable energy – to a backing track of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in The Wind”.

    Wind power PPAs signed by companies in Europe have now reached a total capacity of 5 GW, almost the same as Denmark’s total wind energy capacity, WindEurope said.
    In 2018, the biggest buyers of wind power in Europe were aluminum producers Norsk Hydro and Alcoa, which both signed big deals to buy power from farms in Norway and Sweden.
    In July, Hydro signed the world’s longest corporate PPA – for 29 years – with Green Investment Group (GIG), a unit of Australian investment bank Macquarie…

    While companies are interested in buying renewable power to reduce their carbon emissions and manage volatile energy costs, wind firms are looking at new ways to secure income as the subsidies that have underpinned the industry taper off.
    In the United States, companies like Alphabet’s Google, Facebook and Walmart have already developed a mature market for corporate PPAs…
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-europe-windpower/european-companies-secure-record-amounts-of-wind-power-idUKKCN1PN0OB

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  • #
    pat

    28 Jan: SolarPowerPortal: European solar finance community gathers to plot PV’s post-subsidy course
    Representatives of some of solar PV’s leading European finance houses will meet in London this week as the continent’s solar industry inches ever closer to grid-parity.
    More than 200 attendees representing 150 companies and 25 different countries will meet at this year’s Solar Finance and Investment Conference, now in its sixth year, held at London’s Grange City Hotel this week.

    A full list of confirmed attendees at this year’s conference can be viewed here (LINK)…

    The two-day conference will see themes such as secondary market activity, refinancing deals, emerging PPA structures and, crucially, the advent of post-subsidy solar in European markets such as the UK, Italy and Spain…

    The full programme for the 2019 Solar Finance and Investment conference can be viewed here (LINK)…
    Speakers at the event include representatives from Next Energy Capital, Bluefield, Octopus Investments, Greencoat Capital, Foresight, Amerenco and Solarcentury…

    While tickets to Tuesday evening’s gala dinner have unfortunately sold out, an extremely limited number of conference tickets that had been reserved are now being released…
    https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/european_solar_finance_community_gathers_to_plot_pvs_post_subsidy_course

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    pat

    Investors should fire directors who fail to act on climate change
    Financial Times – 9h ago
    Investors should seek to fire directors who have become obstacles to building climate resilience. Shareholders should also vote against using …

    28 Jan: BBC: Fast food giants under fire on climate and water usage
    By Matt McGrath
    A coalition of investors is calling on McDonalds, KFC, and other fast food suppliers to take swift action on climate change.
    The group, with around $6.5 trillion under management, want the chains to cut carbon and water risks in their dairy and meat suppliers.

    Animal agriculture, they argue, is one of the highest emitting sectors without a low CO2 plan.
    They’re calling for public, time limited targets for reducing impacts.
    The investors group have targeted some of the largest companies in the global fast food sector that’s said to be worth $570bn…

    More than 80 investors have signed a letter to the fast food giants asking them to “enact meaningful policies and targets” to reduce the carbon footprint of their meat and dairy supply chains…
    “When it comes to evaluating market risk, rising global temperatures and intensifying competition for water access are increasingly material factors for investors,” said Eugenie Mathieu, from Aviva Investors, one of the signatories…

    Consumption of meat and dairy produce has been under renewed focus in recent weeks, after the EAT-Lancet commission report (LINK)…
    The companies behind the letter are calling for meaningful action by March.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47029485

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    pat

    step up, Tassie:

    28 Jan: Yale 360: Food Shocks Becoming More Frequent Due to Extreme Weather, Conflict
    “Food shocks” — sudden disruptions of food production — have become more frequent over the last half-century, driven by an increase in extreme weather events and geopolitical instability, according to a new study (LINK) published in the journal Nature Sustainability.

    Led by researchers at the University of Tasmania, the study examined 226 food production shocks across 134 countries between 1961 and 2013. The scientists considered major disruptions to crops, livestock, fisheries, and aquaculture caused by droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events, as well as by outbreaks of violent conflict.

    “In recent decades, we have become increasingly familiar with images in the media of disasters such as drought and famine around the world,” Richard Cottrell, a socioecologist who studies food security at the University of Tasmania and lead author of the new study, said in a statement. “Our study confirms that… shocks have become more frequent, posing a growing danger to global food production.

    Cottrell and his colleagues found that crops and livestock are more shock-prone than fisheries and aquaculture. They also identified shock hotspots for each sector: South Asia for crops, the Caribbean for livestock, Eastern Europe for fisheries, and South America for aquaculture…
    https://e360.yale.edu/digest/food-shocks-becoming-more-frequent-due-to-extreme-weather-conflict

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  • #
    pat

    29 Jan: The Conversation: The world’s shellfish are under threat as our oceans become more acidic
    by Susan Fitzer, Research fellow Environmental Management, Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling
    Disclosure: Susan Fitzer receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council.
    A global problem
    Recent studies (LINK) reported these implications for the Sydney rock oyster in New South Wales, Australia…
    But our recent study (LINK) suggests that coastal acidification in Australia is damaging oysters’ ability to grow properly as well…
    https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-shellfish-are-under-threat-as-our-oceans-become-more-acidic-103868

    behind paywall:

    28 Jan: UK Telegraph: Making obesity the new climate change is the last thing we need
    by Ross Clark
    Look around any developed country and it is obvious that there are a lot of people who eat too much. But there is another affliction of modern societies which too often gets overlooked: the greed for attention. If members of the Lancet Commission on Obesity had a taste for food as great as their appetite for hyperbole, their bellies would prevent them getting near a dining table…

    In a paper published this week, they claim that obesity, along with undernutrition (in the developing world) and climate change, are all pandemics which make up a “Global Syndemic” – which, they helpfully explain, is a “synergy” of pandemics.

    It is difficult to know where to begin with this vast tureen of academic gobbledygook,…
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/28/making-obesity-new-climate-change-last-thing-need/

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  • #
    pat

    29 Jan: Guardian: Elites’ response to climate change must be fair, says EU official
    Gilets jaunes’ anger shows that companies must do their bit, says Frans Timmermans
    by Daniel Boffey in Paris
    The rise of the gilets jaunes protest movement requires governments to prove that ordinary people and corporate elites are “in this together” in shouldering the costs of fighting climate change, a senior EU figure has said.
    Frans Timmermans, the European commission’s vice-president, said the movement, first triggered by a proposed rise in fuel tax in France, highlighted the need to share the burden.

    He was also critical of people and groups who condemned attempts by the EU and national governments to encourage changes such as dropping single-use plastics or driving cars with lower emissions.
    “This is the game of those who deny climate change or who deny the need for sustainability,” he said. “They say: ‘They are going to take everything away from us. They are going to take our cars away from us, they are going to take our steaks from us, they are going to take all the things that make life nice away from us. So let’s not go there.’

    “It is a false contradiction. If we put our policies in the right order, we have a sustainable society without lowering but even increasing our levels of wellbeing. Is wellbeing only economic growth? Only salaries? Or is wellbeing also being able to breathe clean air and drink clean water?”…
    “Politically speaking, one of the most important tasks will be to show that this is something we are doing together in an equitable way, a fair way.”…
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/29/elites-must-not-burden-gilets-jaunes-with-climate-change-says-eu-official

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    pat

    behind paywall:

    Polar Vortex to Grip Midwest With Most Extreme Cold in a Generation
    New York Times – 13h ago
    Dangerously cold weather is expected in much of the Midwest over several days, with … that could shatter records and plunge much of the region into its deepest freeze in decades. … If the forecast holds, that would be Chicago’s lowest high temperature for a single day since officials began keeping records…

    29 Jan: Accuweather: Polar vortex to bring prolonged, life-threatening cold outbreak to midwestern US this week
    By Kristina Pydynowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
    The coldest weather in years will put millions of people and animals throughout the midwestern United States at risk for hypothermia and frostbite to occur in minutes during the final days of January.

    The deep freeze continued across the Upper Midwest on Sunday with temperatures plummeting well below zero in the morning. The low of 45 below zero F in International Falls, Minnesota, shattered the day’s record of 36 below zero F from 1966.
    As harsh as Sunday morning was, the worst is yet to come as the polar vortex gets displaced from the Arctic Circle and dives into the Midwest in the wake of the disruptive snowstorm early this week.

    In addition to the risks of frostbite and hypothermia, residents will be faced with high heating costs and the potential for frozen and bursting water pipes, dead car batteries and school closures…
    https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/polar-vortex-to-bring-prolonged-life-threatening-cold-outbreak-to-midwestern-us-this-week/70007262

    ‘Staggering Moron’: Trump Slammed For Climate Change Tweet
    Huffington Post – 7h ago

    TWEET: Donald J. Trump: In the beautiful Midwest, windchill temperatures are reaching minus 60 degrees, the coldest ever recorded. In coming days, expected to get even colder. People can’t last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Waming? Please come back fast, we need you!
    28 Jan 2019

    lol.

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  • #
    GD

    This is slightly off-topic, but not really.

    Here’s a video featuring Anne Coulter, where she says it’s not Republicans vs Democrats, it’s both parties against the people. Donald Trump came along, without any party backing, and is now President. [3.45]

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxTtjGamJtI

    It’s the same in Australia, with both parties against the people. Just look at your electricity bills.

    We desperately need an Australian Trump.

    60