But it’s good for the renewables religion: Electricity doubles, cold deaths up one third

Progress? Australia has more fashionable energy but less ability to protect elders from the cold

Elderly man, Photo, StockSnap, PixabayDeaths in elderly folk from hypothermia or cold related conditions are up 34% in last ten years. These are people who can’t afford heating.

Power prices were up 117% in the same period, undoubtedly due to policies that put weather control 100-years-from-now, above the present day quality of life.

Watch SkyNews

This doesn’t appear to be the additional deaths from flu or cardiac causes which also rise as indoor room temperature falls. The real total will be much higher. Despite “global warming”, six times as many people die of cold in Australia not heat. That tally of excess winter deaths is around 2,400 per year. Cold kills more people than heat in every Australian capital.

 Startsat60

The rising cost of electricity has become a major concern for the elderly in particular with new data revealing more than 130 people were admitted to NSW emergency departments last winter with cold-related problems such as hypothermia.

This is a shock increase of 34 per cent from 10 years ago. Alarmingly, the health statistics correlate with an increase of power prices by a whopping 117 per cent,The Daily Telegraph reports.

Daily Mail UK: The tragic toll of Australia’s power crisis: Elderly people are freezing to DEATH in their homes because they can’t afford to turn their heaters on

A study conducted by Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah from the Monash University in Victoria found those who were diagnosed with hypotheria lived alone and did not have much social support.

She concurred with Mr Fulde and said the elderly are the most at risk due to their inability to ‘afford adequate heating’.

The billion dollar ABC Australia coverage:

………………………………..

A search for “ABC Cold Death Warning”still turns up a story of a dead cook in a freezer. A search on their ABC site turns up: Fact check: Do more people die in Australia than Sweden due to poorly heated homes?” The verdict, by the way, is that “Mr Kelly’s claim is overstated.”  The evidence supports the claim that more Australians than Swedes die in cold temperatures, and these deaths relate to moderate – rather than extreme – cold.”   “But it is a stretch to say deaths are “simply” the result of inadequate heating. Our habits also play a part in keeping warm.”

Blame the elderly for not wearing more blankets?

So it’s a “Fact” that the ABC will go to pedantic extremes to avoid saying “Craig Kelly was right”.

h/t George

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

9.8 out of 10 based on 94 ratings

162 comments to But it’s good for the renewables religion: Electricity doubles, cold deaths up one third

  • #

    Cold has always been the biggest killer, bronchial disease and famine. Next guvuhmint, alack.

    210

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      Eco eugenics at work….

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      • #
        Latus Dextro

        Excess winter deaths in the UK run at 40,000. Doesn’t stop the Green Death Cult. In fact, it encourages them. It has the Left and their favourite philosophy, the doctrine of double effect, also referred to as the ‘double benefit’ in an ecstasy of glee. Cull the population, reduce consumption, all perfectly in line with the UN “transformational” Agenda 2030.
        Australia, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

        90

    • #

      But what isn’t being costed is general illnesses caused by the cold and its impact on the health system, work etc. The health ‘experts’ always cite the total cost of alcohol, cigarettes, sugar fat etc on our health system, work etc, so why not this as well? This too is avoidable, but a government imposed health impact.

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    • #
      Geoff

      Government has ALWAYS been the biggest killer. Far worse than cold.

      100

  • #
    el gordo

    The multinational wholesalers are gouging, where is my big stick?

    132

  • #
    el gordo

    South Australians are most at risk because of their government’s abysmal track record.

    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140212093136.htm

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    • #
      Graeme#4

      Brisbane is the highest capital city, with over 11% of deaths attributed to cold. Sydney is next with around 10%, then Melbourne with around 8%. Then Adelaide and finally Perth. Not sure where Hobart went. The average for the whole of Australia is around 8%.

      130

  • #
    a happy little debunker

    Last week – my Tassie house (just 50 yards from the coast) experienced a maximum internal temp of 12 degrees over 2 days, whilst outside the ice that formed on my driveway did not melt – on either day.

    Worst frosts in a decade.

    My (more age advanced) neighbour(with an in built fireplace) tells me that he spent 2 straight days in bed – rather than face this cold.

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  • #
    cedarhill

    Can’t say it’s unexpected, given the Death Cult’s focus on pre-birth abortion, post-birth abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, etc., along with their perversion to force humans to be ruminants to insure and eat only grass but only if not smoking it thus consigning us to obesity, type 2 diabetes, dementia, CAD, and the litany of “modern epidemics”.

    It will be a bit longer before we return to the era of max live of 30 years or so (ref. Carousel of Logan’s Run). And they’re likely smugly celebrating the trends in deaths and energy prices and clamoring for more.

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  • #
    Graeme#4

    It’s interesting that the state with the highest percentage of cold-related deaths is Queensland.
    Here in WA, our hospitals in Perth are being overloaded with flu-related emergencies. Tonight one hospital’s emergency centre, capable of handling 50 emergencies, has 100 people there waiting for treatment.

    160

    • #
      William

      Most queensland houses, other than those in the few colder climate areas, are designed for hot weather with they traditional queenslander house on stumps to allow greater air circulation under the house and with wide verandahs with roofs shading the windows.

      These houses are simply not designed to be easily heated and consequently, cost a lot to keep warm in winter. With electricity becoming a luxury, these houses can literally become a fridge when there is a cold snap.

      120

  • #
    TdeF

    200 people have died in Australia from the flu. It persists in the cold wet air. Cold does not kill viruses wrapped in moisture, but heat does.

    So heat is deadly? Not as deadly as cold. As if people have to be told that. You can cool off easily. Clothes minimal.
    How do you get warm?

    Then cold takes real energy for survival and requires lots of heat and lots of CO2. Warmer weather means less CO2, less ‘pollution’.

    So we should have more CO2 so we can have less.

    (of course assuming the ants are in charge of the golf course)

    230

    • #
      MudCrab

      How do you get warm?

      Simple. Just fill your room with CO2 (only need about 500ppm, so no big deal) and this magical gas will absorb the heat radiating up from your body and reflect it back. You will then get warmer, radiate more heat which will also be absorbed and soon the entire room will soon by rosy and warm.

      Simple really.

      Of course the other take away point from your post is that flu is deadly, but cold deaths are deadlier. So considering all the flu jabs and education our elites like to spend our taxes on, I can only assume that an even bigger effort will be rolling out any day now to help educate and prevent this deadly culling of our fellow Australians.

      40

    • #
      greggg

      That should be ‘200 people with an average age of eighty something have died in Australia from pneumonia and pre-existing compromised health’.

      10

    • #
      Graeme#4

      15,000 now affected by flu in WA.

      00

  • #
    robert rosicka

    Not too bad here in Meekatharra and the Kimberly is looking good but seriously enough is enough , forget the green unreliable and expensive rubbish and for now stick to coal .

    260

  • #
    Vladimir

    When 6 months ago we switched the electricity supplier in their welcoming letter they stated 1 kWh at 30.921 cent.
    As of 1 May it become 42 cents.

    251

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Coincidentally I got a letter today from my supplier increasing the cost by 5.1% to 43.9 ¢ per kWh (here in SA).
      More importantly their service charge went up 18.5% to $1.064 per day or $388.5 per annum..

      180

      • #
        Bill in Oz

        Which retailer Graeme ?

        I wonder if I am getting one in the mail as well.

        80

      • #
        yarpos

        Thats a lot of cents per kWh. The daily charge sounds in the range we get in VIC. Given our leaders desire to emulate Weatherills disaster i expect we will catch up on the kWh rate real soon.

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        • #
          Annie

          The largest part of our bill is the standing charge. No figures to hand as I idly leave the bills to my very own ‘chancellor of the exchequer’.

          40

      • #
        Latus Dextro

        Holy krap! That’s hideously unaffordable.
        Still, depopulation, deindustrialisation, destitution and despair, are the goals of the Green Death, so they’re right on target aren’t they.

        90

  • #
    Serge Wright

    Not only is it a sad irony that the global warming alarmists are causing a big increase in cold related deaths. The even sadder part is that they don’t care. As more people die or become impoverished, the more they protest for even more pain to be inflicted.

    In my opinion, global warming policy should be made by the individual, rather than the government. Alarmists can choose to live in the dark, ride a bicycle, wear sandals and live off insects in their tiny houses. The rest of society should have the opportunity to work in a real job that supports their family, community and country.

    240

    • #
      Lionell Griffith

      Revenge comes in the form of the alarmists will get old some day. Then they can experience what they think nothing of forcing upon the rest of us. Better still, they will not get older and then not be able to force us to do anything.

      It’s rather like the hippies 1960’s claim that one should not trust anyone over 30. Ironically, the one’s who did not off themselves by over dosing on their drug of choice, did get older than 30.

      By the late 1970’s, there was hardly any mention of of not trusting anyone over 30. They had moved on to bigger and better things: climate alarmism and shaking down governments for a living. They too will likely fade from the scene eventually. The sooner the better. Sadly, not without doing a lot of damage on their way out.

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Bring on Climate Nuremberg Trials….

        “I was only following orders…..”

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      • #
        yarpos

        I hope you are right, however this is far more pervasive than hippiedom. Nobody indoctrinated the kids or ran the media and government as propaganda machines. It was individual choice.

        60

        • #
          joseph

          I think maybe you’re not giving “them” enough credit. According to material I’ve come across it was masterfully orchestrated.

          60

        • #
          Lionell Griffith

          I see only two alternatives. Either they fade from the scene and go away or we have a collapse of technological civilization with all of its dark consequences. A middle ground is unsustainable.

          A middle ground continues as long as there are willing victims to be sacrifice. When the victims stop being willing, the end soon follows. Ultimately the choice is liberty or death.

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          • #
            OriginalSteve

            I guess it deoends on whether they want to go down with thier ship. If they are wise, they will quietly fade away….

            00

  • #
    Vladimir

    Off the topic – apologies.
    Can anyone please direct me to a record(s) of underground temperature measurements.
    The BOM website has a single mention of the subject and it is about a model not actual !
    “ACCESS-S1 APS2 realtime seasonal climate prediction dataset, data not externally available”
    I blame my searching inexperience but maybe it is a state secret ?

    60

    • #
      KinkyKeith

      Vladimir, from what I remember from 50 years ago the sub surface ground temperature will be influenced by several factors. There’ll be variations in the energy transmission through different types of strata, proximity to igneous material/intrusions, rate of removal of energy from the surface.
      Guess I’m stating the obvious but it will be extremely variable.
      Also consider at looking at temperatures down mines, but I think that’s mainly associated with PV=nRT.

      KK

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      • #
        Vladimir

        Thanks, KK.
        I am honestly surprised that after 10-15 years of “absolute climate emergency”, thousands of “scientists”involved and billions poured into research – no one actually measured how underground temperature changed. Can’t be!

        60

        • #
          Kinky Keith

          Hi Vlad,

          I think that the only real value in knowing subsurface temperature would be at a very localised level, for farming etc.

          Like surface temperature there are too many factors to make world sub surface stuff comparable from place to place.

          70

        • #
          graham dunton

          it is a pdf

          ALMA Memo No. 480 Thermal Properties of subsurface layer at …
          [Search domain library.nrao.edu/public/memos/alma/main/memo480.pdf] https://library.nrao.edu/public/memos/alma/main/memo480.pdf
          Properties of subsurface layer are basic parameters for civil engineering. Among them, apparent thermal diffusivity is a key parameter to the design of the trenches for high-stability optical fibers so that their temperature change between calibration intervals could be negligible. The

          70

          • #
            Vladimir

            Graham, many thanks, that was great article.
            The page 10 graph is what I was about.
            Now, much effect of all those variables (probably) disappear at the notorious depth of 10 feet.
            I do not say it would be a straight line but there would be no short peaks (or deeps), to be claimed as a new record.

            20

      • #
        toorightmate

        It is not unusual to have chillers for ventilation air for deep underground mines.

        90

        • #
          Vladimir

          Ideally that should be not underground air but some massive solid body temperature at 3-5 metres depth.
          Even some longish (many years) water temperature record from a specific Artesian Well might indicate the trend.
          I appreciate that it would be affected by some aboveground parameters, still – as long as it is an honest measurement.., that is what we are after, do not we?

          20

          • #
            toorightmate

            Some underground rock at Mt Isa is almost too hot to touch.
            The artesian water which supplies Olympic Dam operations is very warm.
            Both of those are very honest measurements – your bloody hand tells you so!!!

            40

    • #
      Cementafriend

      The lapse rate applies also in an underground mine. The environmental lapse rate is 6.5K/1000m. This is an average. With very dry air it is higher. In very deep mines it can be very hot. I have been down a mine at Mt Isa where air conditioning was used to give workable conditions as surface temperature can get to 40C then add say 10C for 1500m depth. In deep diamond mines in South Africa workers can only last about 30mins because of temperatures over 50C.

      10

  • #
    pat

    Snowy Hydro wants to come to the rescue, for Victoria, at least. pity this is behind a paywall:

    Snowy seeks to ramp up the grid
    The Australian-22 hours ago
    Snowy Hydro has lobbed a proposal to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to urgently address the state’s fragile power grid, requesting his for a major…

    80

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      Does this mean letting lots of stored water flow down steam to the sea in SA in Winter ?
      When irrigation farmers have hardly any need of it ?
      And even hight flows pushing through the “Choke” in the river Murray at Barmah – further eroding the swamp lands there and flooding growing red gums which need a break from being flooded ?

      120

  • #
    Bill in Oz

    Jo, this is an excellent post..Thanks for putting it up !

    I distinctly remember back in Winter 2016 & 2017 that the ABC here in SA ran stories about lots of elderly folk getting ill because they were not keeping warm at home because of the high power bills !

    But if you cannot find them, they have probably been suppressed by the Greenists in the ABC. It’s search system doe snot work well at the best of times.

    It is relevant because a younger brother was staying bed at home in his flat because he was trying to keep the power bill down. The bizarre thing ( was & ) is that he wants more expensive solar & wind power. He is a convinced, cold & sick Greenist . The last time we met was 6 months ago – due to severe disagreement on this issue & global warming.

    130

  • #
    pat

    why would theirABC report on hypothermia in Australia when they have more exciting news to cover:

    VIDEO: 1min13sec: 1 Jul: ABC: AFP: Mexico’s Guadalajara hit by freak summer hailstorm which buries cars, blankets streets
    A freak hailstorm has struck Guadalajara, one of Mexico’s most populous cities, shocking residents and trapping vehicles in a deluge of ice pellets up to two metres deep.
    PICS

    “I’ve never seen such scenes in Guadalajara,” state governor Enrique Alfaro said.
    ***”Then we ask ourselves if climate change is real. These are never-before-seen natural phenomena. It’s incredible.”…

    While no casualties were reported, two people showed “early signs of hypothermia,” the state Civil Protection office said.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-01/freak-hailstorm-buries-cars-and-blankets-streets-in-mexico/11268370

    all the MSM has the story:

    1 Jul: BBC: Mexico hail: Ice 1.5m thick carpets Guadalajara
    The storm hit very quickly, between about 01:50 (06:50 GMT) and 02:10 local time, when the air temperature dropped suddenly from 22C to 14C.
    The city had been basking in temperatures of more than 30C…
    In warmer parts of the year, such as in Guadalajara which has maximum temperatures of around 31-32C in June, more moisture is available, contributing to the formation of hailstorms.
    Temperatures this month have been higher than normal with Torreon, to the north of Guadalajara, reaching highs of 37C…

    State governor Enrique Alfaro described it as incredible, according to AFP news agency.
    “Then we ask ourselves if climate change is real. These are never-before-seen natural phenomena,” he said…
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-48821306

    40

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      pat:

      Must have been caused by Man Made Global Warming.

      40

    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Jerry McMoonbeam says it’s caused by “carbon induced change” and he should know coz Mexico is next-door to Carleefornya.

      https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018702246/california-governor-jerry-brown-on-climate-action

      “Former California Governor Jerry Brown talks to Kathryn about becoming an international leader on climate action. He has helped to foster global cooperation despite the Trump administration pulling the United States out of the Paris accord”. Nothing like a little self-aggrandisement and egotistical PR spin on the world stage.

      40

      • #
        MudCrab

        Jerry Brown?

        Sing along if you know the tune;

        I am Governor Jerry Brown
        My aura smiles and never frowns
        Soon I will be president…

        Carter Power will soon go away
        I will be Führer one day
        I will command all of you
        Your kids will meditate in school
        Your kids will meditate in school!

        California. Uber Alles. California Uber Alles.

        (who said punk music wasn’t educational? 😀 )

        20

  • #
    pat

    strange how 2GB’s Steve Price lets Labor’s Conroy frame the problem as requiring energy “policy certainty” in Canberra. multipe audios:

    1 Jul: 2GB: Steve Price: ‘I’m freezing!’: The heartbreaking call that personifies Australia’s energy crisis
    Steve Price has received a heartbreaking call after a report about older Australians who can’t afford to turn their heaters on this winter…

    Australian Energy Market Operator numbers show wholesale power prices have skyrocketed by more than 150 per cent in the last four years…
    When Steve Price questioned if elderly Australians were really being hospitalised due to the cold, the openline was swamped with heartbreaking calls.
    None more so than Margaret though.
    The 89-year-old tells Steve she just can’t afford to keep herself warm.
    “I’m in bed, I can’t get up to turn the heater on and if I could, I couldn’t pay the bill.
    “I’m under two doonas, a dressing gown and I’m freezing.
    “And in summer she uses a wet flannel rather than air conditioning.”
    AUDIO: 3min38sec

    Federal Shadow Energy Assistant Minister Pat Conroy tells Steve Price Australians can’t rely on the Coalition’s election promise to lower electricity prices.
    “There’s a fundamental misshape in the energy market which means that the power prices will only go up and up and up unless we get some policy certainty in Canberra.
    “The main issue is that most customers won’t benefit from this policy announcement and it doesn’t help the real driver of power prices going up, and that’s the cost of actually generating the electricity.”
    AUDIO: 4min16sec

    Emergency Department Specialist Professor Gordian Fulde tells Natalie Peters and Erin Molan the elderly need to be taken care of.
    AUDIO: 4min40sec
    https://www.2gb.com/im-freezing-the-heartbreaking-call-that-personifies-australias-energy-crisis/

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    • #
      AndyG55

      “There’s a fundamental misshape in the energy market”

      Sure is. RET and all “unreliables” subsidies and feed-in mandates etc HAVE to go !!

      No “carbon” pricing of any sort.

      Couple of new HELE coal or gas power stations so that the supply isn’t so sporadic and open to being gamed..

      100

    • #
      yarpos

      What total BS the “policy certainty” argument is. What other industries get policy certainty? Did the miners get it when pollies play with royalties? Does the Super industry get it when pollies want to tinker evry couple of years? Did real generators get it by being slapped with the RET?

      How is a policy ever certain anyway? Its not set in stone, its the whim du jour. Just a BS way of saying tilt the playing field my way again.

      110

      • #
        Rupert Ashford

        They want/need “policy certainty” as any of the sources they spruik are uncompetitive and expensive as heck, and they know if they don’t get a “subsidy guarantee” (or better described as a guarantee to be propped up with tax payer $$$) they will never survive. And the biggest travesty is that about 50% of the people keep on voting for this baloney.

        10

  • #
    toorightmate

    This is becoming a disgusting reflection on a left wing/Google/Facebook influenced society which does not wish to even discuss the fateful folly associated with a CO2 hoax.
    The CO2 horsesh*t has to stop.

    240

  • #
    pat

    re the out-of-season rush of flu cases in Australia. why is it happening? I find it hard to understand, weather-wise, given FT’s account as follows (behind paywall):

    The perilous politics of climate change
    Financial Times – 2 hours ago
    The summer of 2018-19 was the hottest in Australian history and was accompanied by droughts, wildfires, floods and catastrophic natural…

    19 Jun: Medscape: Flu Season ‘Early Spike’ in Southern Hemisphere
    by Peter Russell
    Media reports from areas of Australia in the past week have described a surge in demand for hospital beds, and emergency departments “flooded” with people presenting with flu-like symptoms…
    New Zealand’s Ministry of Health said this week that some practices had run out of the flu vaccine.
    Experts agree that the flu season started early, and that careful monitoring is needed to see if it has implications for our 2019-20 flu season in the northern hemisphere…

    The thing that seems striking at the moment is that the upward curve this year has started quite considerably earlier than in previous years.
    What that means isn’t quite so clear.
    It could mean that it’s started earlier and it will still peak at the same time, so it will just be a broader spread, maybe no greater numbers.

    Or alternatively, it could be that the whole seasonal outbreak is going to occur and peak earlier than it has done previously; so, it could start earlier and peak earlier than it has done previously. That would be quite a major change from the pattern that we have seen because one of the reassuring things about looking at respiratory viruses in seasons is that they tend to be remarkably consistent – a little bit of drift here and there from start to finish – but pretty much they tend to be consistent.
    So, at this stage we don’t know the answer but that’s something that we’ll have to look at very carefully to see if the whole seasonal outbreak has moved forward in the calendar year. That would be extremely unusual…
    But we do know in Australia as a whole that flu activity has so far been higher for this time of year than in previous years…
    https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/914586

    50

    • #
      pat

      29 March: news.com.au: Record flu numbers sweep Australia in unexpected season
      by Stephanie Bedo; with AAP
      National notifications in the past quarter to March 1 are 2.9 times the quarterly rolling five year mean…
      Queensland and NSW have been worst hit followed by Victoria and South Australia…
      Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk blamed the federal government, summer weather and the flu for the patient spike…

      In the four week period to March 3 there were 2244 confirmed influenza notifications, “markedly higher” than the 1144 reported for February 2018, and higher than the number of notifications reported for January 2019 (2065 in a five week period)…
      There were 13 influenza outbreaks reported in February — by far the highest number of influenza outbreaks reported for this time of year in the past eight years…
      In the past few years NSW has had increasing flu case in January and February thought to be from travellers returning from northern hemisphere with the illness…

      Queensland’s flu spike started in summer when numbers were the highest they have been in the last five years.
      Confirmed cases in November and December were “unusually high”…
      https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/record-flu-numbers-sweep-australia-in-unexpected-season/news-story/72417aa44b77194a92966515b01998af

      25 May: ABC: Flu is surging, and it’s up to GPs and microbiologists to stay on top of the virus’ changing nature
      ABC Central West By Donal Sheil
      From April 22 to May 5, people presenting with flu-like symptoms have been twice the five-year average, according to the Department of Health.
      Western NSW Local Health District public health manager Priscilla Stanley said a surge in sickness over the summer months has given the flu season momentum out of the gate.
      “This year, over the 2018-19 summer in Australia, we saw some very high numbers, unprecedented numbers of influenza,” she said…

      There has already been a total of 51,523 laboratory confirmed notifications of flu in 2019 at the start of May 20…
      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-25/why-do-i-need-another-flu-shot-this-year/11142380

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Illness IMHO is predicted by stress levels in people.

        If people are always worried about stuff in life, a depressed immune system from stress will likely make them vulnerable to illness.

        100

      • #
        yarpos

        There is a weird naivety afoot in the world today. People seem to beleive:

        Something like the flu virus operates with clockwork regularity
        Pre industrual temperature is the right temperature
        There is a giant CO2 knob that controls the world temperature
        The world is being swamped by sea level rise
        If you stop people having different views publically they will accept your view
        More laws and regulations make things better

        None of these things has any basis in fact, common sense or observation. Yet they are widely accepted

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        • #
          yarpos

          I forgot my favourite:

          “The transition to renewable energy”

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          • #
            Greg in NZ

            My favourite pet hate is ‘transparency’ – it’s so ephemeral / invisible / non-existent you can see right through it.

            40

  • #
    pat

    reminds me of the moves made to stymie Trump on the Paris climate front before he became President. one wonders if May has a nice CAGW job lined up:

    30 Jun: UK Independent: Theresa May defends committing government to spending billions during final weeks in office
    Philip Hammond asserts he will resign if PM threatens his prudent economic record with ‘vanity projects’
    by Andrew Woodcock Osaka, Japan
    The weeks since Ms May announced she would stand down have been marked by a flurry of initiatives on issues ranging from climate change to mental health and housebuilding, as the prime minister seeks to forge a legacy that goes beyond her failure to deliver Brexit.

    The spending spree has met fierce resistance from the Treasury, where Philip Hammond has let it be known that he is ready to resign if prime ministerial “vanity projects” threaten his record of prudence on the economy…
    Some at Westminster accuse the PM of seeking to tie the hands of her successor by launching projects which will have to be implemented long after she is gone…

    Some are relatively inexpensive…
    But Mr Hammond is understood to have warned that the long-term cost of the target to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 could reach £1 trillion…
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-spending-climate-change-mental-health-housing-brexit-philip-hammond-a8980706.html

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    • #
      tom0mason

      An expensive vanity project from a failed PM which the rest of the UK will have to pay for. No Theresa May, who ever is the next PM must cancel it immediately and re-energize the UK economy with Australian coal fired power generation.

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      • #
        Annie

        There is homegrown coal, as at Drax. Thanks to the EUSSR it isn’t being used and American forests are being felled instead. Disgraceful.

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        • #
          Graeme No.3

          Annie:

          And since they closed down the coal mines in the UK they have found lots more.
          Scientists have discovered vast deposits of coal lying under the North Sea, which could provide enough energy to power Britain for centuries.
          Experts believe there is between 3 and 23 trillion tonnes of coal buried in the seabed starting from the northeast coast and stretching far out under the sea.

          https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2015/04/07/fracking-is-for-amateurs/

          The UK has identified hard coal resources of 3 560 million tonnes, although total resources could be as large as 187 billion tonnes.  About 80 million tonnes of the economically recoverable reserves are available in shallow deposits capable of being extracted by surface mining.  There are also about 1 000 million tonnes of lignite resources, mainly in Northern Ireland, although no lignite is mined at present.

          https://euracoal.eu/info/country-profiles/united-kingdom/

          Quick, build more turbines before it runs out. Current coal consumption (all imported) is less than 30 million tonnes per annum.
          I should add that a new coal mine has been approved in Cumbria.
          Perhaps Bob Brown could get a group of Greenies in a convoy to drive there and protest.

          70

  • #
    pat

    VIDEO: 49secs: 28 Jun: BBC: European heatwave ‘consistent with climate change’, experts say
    A deadly heatwave that has seen temperature records broken throughout Europe in recent days is “absolutely consistent” with climate change, experts say.
    Clare Nullis, a spokeswoman for the World Meteorological Organization, said that while the current hot weather cannot be directly linked to the warming of the atmosphere, it was consistent with the group’s expectations of climate change.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-48805595/european-heatwave-consistent-with-climate-change-experts-say

    BBC is full of it, yet I can’t recall anything remotely similar ro the following when it comes to cold weather:

    28 Jun: BBC: Europe heatwave: Why are temperatures on the continent soaring?
    By Mal Siret
    As the mercury continues to rise, experts tell the BBC what is behind the heatwave…
    A climate specialist at the UK’s Meteorological Office, Grahame Madge, told the BBC that, while weather variations occur naturally, the world was around one degree warmer than pre-industrial levels and, as a result, extreme weather was becoming more likely.
    “Now when we get a heatwave, it is likely to be a degree or so more,” he said. “They are still extreme events, but they are also becoming more frequent.”…

    The highest recorded temperature in Europe – 48C (118.4F) – was measured in Athens in July 1977, but on average the 20 warmest years since records began have all been within the past 22 years. The years 2015-2018 make up the top four, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)…
    A scientific study into last year’s Europe-wide heatwave by the World Weather Attribution group concluded that high temperatures in the region were made more likely by human activities that contributed to climate change.
    If the current trend were to continue, heatwaves across Europe could occur as often as every other year by the 2040s, with the possibility that temperatures may rise by 3-5C by 2100, the report said…

    Why are heatwaves dangerous?…ETC ETC

    Nations with hotter climates, such as Australia and countries in North Africa and across the Middle East – where summer temperatures can often reach 50C – can still struggle with extreme weather…READ ON
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48756480

    51

  • #
    pat

    Maharastra – population of approx 122 Million ; nine deaths this year; 64 deaths in last 8 years:

    1 Jul: The Hindu: Nine dead, 564 hospitalised in this year’s heatwave in Maharashtra, says DHS data
    by Jyoti Shelar
    The heatwave in Maharashtra killed nine people and affected 564 leading to their hospitalisations this year. While monsoon has brought some respite in the last few days, ***activists said preparatory measures should start now to brave the next summer in a better way…

    Data collected by the Directorate of Health Services shows that nearly 2,300 cases and 64 deaths due to heat-related illnesses have been reported in the State since 2011. But these numbers could be under-reported as the statistics have been taken only from the government-run medical facilities…READ ON
    https://www.thehindu.com/news/states/nine-dead-564-hospitalised-in-this-years-heatwave-in-maharashtra-says-dhs-data/article28237129.ece

    India population approx 1.37 billion:

    At least 36 people dead in one of India’s longest heatwaves
    CNN – 14 Jun 2019
    New Delhi (CNN) At least 36 people have died this summer in one of India’s longest heat waves in recent history…

    India heatwave deaths rise to 36, poorest workers worst hit
    Reuters – 12 Jun 2019

    30

  • #
    Drapetomania

    The even sadder part is that they don’t care.

    Yup
    All the animals that die from wind turbines–dont care
    All the pollution caused by creating solar panels in foreign countries-dont care
    All the $ that has vanished over the years into the $CAGW$ cult-dont care
    All the $ in subsidies to companies for expensive energy-dont care
    All the fake $CAGW$ news stories they repeat without checking-dont care
    The ability to pay for green electrons at a higher rate if you have no solar-dont care
    Holocene warming-dont care
    What geological period are we in-dont care
    Did you know we are in between ice ages-dont care
    Did you know we have increased crops now-dont care
    Its all about pretending you care with cool slogans and placards.
    The dont care gang have blood on their hands…..
    Sadly half the population have been trance induced into repeating stuff they are 100% clueless on..the repetition of fake stories and fake facts and the endless cycle of “we are all doomed”..has worked perfectly.

    110

  • #
    pattoh

    It is enlightening to look into who has been supporting eugenics philosophies over the last century.

    I guess if you are over 65, you have to be very wealthy to not be classed as a useless eater.

    In the US, the Eugenics Society rebadged itself as Planned Parenthood

    https://gmwatch.org/en/news/latest-news/18319-philanthrocapitalism-the-gates-foundation-s-african-programmes-are-not-charity

    https://www.facebook.com/MovingTheShineInDarkPlaces/posts/bill-gates-father-william-h-gates-sr-has-long-been-involved-with-the-eugenics-gr/470239859690393/

    80

    • #
      Graeme#4

      Arrhenius was a supporter of Eugenics. And a well-known German political party in the 1930s.

      10

  • #
    Dennis

    And now the Victoria Government is considering monitoring mobile phone data to monitor people’s movements.

    So The Australian reports today.

    90

    • #
      el gordo

      Its the Beijing model.

      60

    • #
      yarpos

      Its OK. They are from the government and they are here to help us.

      80

      • #
        Annie

        There were times in the UK when I turned my ‘phone off; didn’t like Tesco/Waitrose tracking me! I’ll maybe start doing that again and be incognito…

        40

      • #
        Annie

        I’m incognito now! In moderation?!

        40

      • #
        yarpos

        Keep making those edgy comments Annie and the PC police will be rapeling from black helicopters at your place!!

        60

        • #
          Annie

          🙂 My disappeared comment merely said that I used to turn off my ‘phone at times in the UK to remain incognito, especially while shopping in Tesco and Waitrose, so that they couldn’t track my shopping habits! I might start turning off now if Dictator Dan starts his tricks. I didn’t mention Dan originally.
          We’ve had a few helicopters buzzing around lately?!
          Back in the 1980’s the SOG searched our roof for that Mad Max character (we were away at the time and missed all the fun!).
          Let’s see if I get moderation now and remain incognito 😉

          30

  • #
    David Wojick

    Have one of mine:
    https://www.cfact.org/2019/06/30/debate-climate-freakout/

    How large, or small, the climate issue becomes in the U.S. presidential campaign may be the biggest climate policy issue on the present world’s table. So far it is looking pretty small, but these are early days.

    80

    • #
      Dennis

      Claimed creation of green jobs never mention the related loss of jobs in other sectors.

      60

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    O/T:

    Overview

    The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is calling for community and industry input on how it should consider greenhouse gas emissions when assessing significant proposals in Western Australia.

    Public consultation on the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Emission Guidance is open – and will close on Monday September 2, 2019. Submissions can be made here –

    https://consultation.epa.wa.gov.au/policy-and-guideline-development-and-review/epa-greenhouse-gas-emissions-assessment-guidance/

    01

    • #
      Graeme#4

      After being soundly rejected by the WA govt when they tried to force the major mining and gas industries to pay for their emissions, the WA EPA are now trying a back-door approach to achieve the same aims.

      00

  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    Badly insulated housing stock, government’s energy pricing policy, and we blame renewables? Why?

    113

    • #
      Dennis

      Because without the government support for wind and solar farms no sane investor would risk their money.

      And because there is not enough suitable land in the interconnected electricity grid coverage area to locate enough wind turbines and solar panels to replace power stations, and even if the renewables (silly description) were able to be accommodated the intermittent operation could not provide even essential baseload energy.

      Furthermore the total cost of all of those wind and solar farms, plus “firming” back up costs and feeder transmission lines, would far exceed the cost of replacement HELE power stations.

      It would be like deciding to replace heavy goods transport vehicles (diesel powered) with 1-tonne capacity electric trucks, an ultra-expensive exercise in futility.

      110

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        Dennis:

        Moderate your approach. PF has a degree in Futility, with Honours in Renewables.

        90

      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        No – you missed my point, we elect a government, which for a long time has been against renewables, as well as the ‘myth’ of global warming. Why have they sat on their hands?

        15

        • #
          AndyG55

          Your comment had NO POINT, PF.

          Glad you now ADMIT that global warming is a “myth”

          Maybe your brain is starting to function. !

          We all know the government should be pushing the power companies to fix the system by installing new coal fired power,

          But successive governments have put in these idiotic RET and renewable subsidy schemes that have pushed up prices and are difficult to get rid of because there is still this totally unscientific “climate change” agenda idiocy behind everything.

          The sooner people wake up to the massive CON that has been perpetrated, and start getting back to solid logical engineering, RELIABLITY and cost driven rather than superstition driven infrastructure, the better for all of society.

          60

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            This gov has had 6 years, and the’ve done nothing. What conclusion can you draw from that?

            15

            • #
              AndyG55

              It was a leftist Turnbull government.

              You KNOW that, so why the stupid comment ???

              Turnbull and family made a motza out of renewables.

              So glad that you agree that the current government MUST get rid of all the subsidy and mandated support structure that renewables must have to survive.

              Have you approached or written to your local Greenie member to say so?

              Maybe you are starting to think rationally, (as if)

              Your future posts will show us if you are capable of that.

              10

            • #
              el gordo

              Andy is correct, the pseudo Marxist virtue signallers seized the government.

              Next year subsidies come to an end and the renewable industry will have to survive in a free market. Expensive renewable intermittency sits behind nuclear power, but nothing more economical and reliable than coal fired power stations.

              10

        • #

          Peter Fitzroy,

          sometimes I become a little exasperated when people think that it’s just political ideology which is holding back renewables, as you intimated in your Comment at 26.1.2.

          The Labor left, along with their Greens fellow travellers think that if they suddenly get into power, then it’s just THEY who can implement this renewables targets, and here, note that nearly all of them have a 50% plan in place to DELIVER that by 2030.

          They have absolutely no concept of what is required, and worst of all, they don’t even seek out the correct advice on the subject, just spraying out that meme as if they are the only ones who can make it happen.

          The current average power consumption sits at 23600MWH each and every hour across the full year.

          So, 50% of that is 11800MW. To reach their 50% renewables target then that 11800MWH is the Baseline, the minimum, the 50% mark.

          The total for ALL renewables, hydro, wind, solar power plants, and rooftop solar currently sits at 4650MWH average. Three of those vary up and down, but the straight line average is that figure of 4650MWH.

          To get that up to he Baseline of 50%, 11800MWH, then you need to multiply EVERY existing renewable power source by 2.5. Keep in mind here that Snowy2 is not NEW power, as it is a net consumer, so the probability of multiplying all existing hydro by 2.5 is virtually nil. Rooftop solar will likewise not make an increase of 2.5, so it has to come from wind and solar plants, so now we look at wind (existing Nameplate 6702MW from 55 Plants) and solar plants (existing Nameplate 3075MW from 41 plants) multiplied by anything as high as four or even five.

          That just will NOT happen, and more importantly, will not happen before 2030, probably not even before 2040.

          It’s not political will that won’t see this implemented. It’s an impossibility.

          Virtually ALL of that increase would need to be in place, or in planning at least, by now, because of the lead time associated with plants of this nature, well, with power plants of ANY nature really.

          The Labor and Greens can say whatever they like, but most of them will have retired before their due date for 50% renewables arrives without even getting close to that target.

          60

    • #
      yarpos

      Because as it has been amply demonstrated everywhere , renewables drive up prices.

      100

      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        And the government has had ample time to sort it out. Renewables are surging because of government policy, and yet they do nothing. The price is a symptom of a broken system, and renewables are not the cause. Just ask any super fund why they are buying energy stocks. hint: energy returns are high, and are basically guaranteed.

        23

        • #
          el gordo

          ‘The price is a symptom of a broken system, and renewables are not the cause.’

          Strongly disagree, the price is a symptom of the belief that CO2 causes global warming. Wind farms, solar farms and desalination plants would never have been built except for the power of mass delusion.

          Strongly advise you to buy Cool Futures.

          10

        • #
          Dave

          Peter,

          “Renewables are surging because of government policy, and yet they do nothing”

          I totally agree!

          Renewables have done nothing, do nothing and will continue to do nothing!

          40

      • #
        AndyG55

        “And the government has had ample time to sort it out”

        RUBBISH.

        They had that idiot leftist Turnbull in who’s son was deeply immersed in the renewables scam.

        Made heaps from Infergen iirc

        And they STILL have a load of backward thinking Greens and Labor “gullibles” to get removal of junk wind and solar legislation past.

        The problem is very much the policies towards subsiding and mandating useless unreliable power sources, instead of focussing on reliable and cheap dispatchable power supplies.

        Again.. you seem to have zero comprehension of the real situation.

        10

    • #
      Travis T. Jones

      “Badly insulated housing stock, government’s energy pricing policy, and we blame renewables? Why?”

      No offence, Mr F, but … Short memory, must have a …

      Home insulation inquiry: Peter Garrett takes ‘ultimate responsibility’

      https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/home-insulation-inquiry-peter-garrett-takes-ultimate-responsibility-20140513-zrbnw.html

      Home insulation royal commission: Peter Garrett ‘gutted’ after installer’s death

      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-14/peter-garrett-kevin-rudd-at-home-insulation-royal-commission-qld/5452006

      100

      • #
        Greg in NZ

        Peter Garrett ‘gutted’ . . . so the tall bald one finally committed hara-kiri?

        70

      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        So you are saying insulation is unecessary?

        07

        • #
          AndyG55

          Gees you are DUMB, PF.

          that is not what he said.. and you know it.

          50

        • #
          toorightmate

          PF,
          I don’t know if you are pink, but you sure are batts.

          30

        • #
          Tel

          Given the cost of Rudd’s silly insulation installation scheme, it would have been much more useful to spend that money on something else … or even more useful to not spend the money at all and avoid being so deep in debt. You know, leave something to our children instead of a future of tax servitude.

          However, if we ignore the wastage, there might be cases where people want to buy insulation from a quality provider at a competitive market price, and if they do then obviously they find it useful. It’s not a substitute for heating and cooling though, because you can’t live sealed up in a tiny box all your life.

          00

    • #
      AndyG55

      You obviously haven’t been paying ANY attention.

      Despite a mountain of evidence you still absolutely REFUSE to accept that the prices have risen because of the “unreliables” junk that has been forced onto the market.

      You continue to wilfully live in a brain-washed miasma of your own ignorance.

      80

    • #
      Graeme#4

      Looks like I’m late to the party. Actually PF, most houses in Perth are well insulated, being built of double brick walls with additional cavity insulation, plus insulation in the roof space.

      00

    • #
      Tel

      The electricity prices have been driven up because of RET (Renewable Energy Target) which forces the big power plants (mostly coal) to pay subsidies to renewable power suppliers.

      The gas prices have partly been driven up by the rush to build new gas turbines, which are required as backup for unreliable wind and solar, and partly because Australia has now joined the international gas commodity market thus creating large export demand. Because of sanctions on Russian gas, the world market price has been driven up, and our price gets dragged along with that.

      00

  • #
    dp

    It would appear to afflict countries that have primitive religion-based climate policies that lead to choosing between dying of starvation for dying from lack of heat. Fuel-poor households is frequently mentioned. Cold snaps in warmer regions (Portugal, eg) seem to trigger excess mortality. The possible causes are many but not preparing properly for winter freezes is likely. The same lack of preparedness for earthquakes is a similar example of out of sight, out of mind.

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/30/excess-winter-deaths-in-england-and-wales-highest-since-1976
    https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/article/38/4/806/2966950

    40

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    Please, PLEASE make this happen …

    “The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is reportedly set to vote in August on whether or not to hold a debate centering on [doomsday global warming] — a victory for the young protesters who have spent months lobbying for one.”

    https://thinkprogress.org/dnc-set-to-vote-on-climate-debate-victory-for-youth-protesters-sunrise-movement-bfa98af30dc1/

    >> It would be like watching a debate amongst socially intelligent sea sponges …

    AOC: Like the “world ending in 12 years” thing, you’d have to have the social intelligence of a sea sponge to think it’s literal.”

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/47098/ocasio-cortez-i-was-joking-about-world-ending-12-amanda-prestigiacomo

    It would be a festival of the apocalypse, with claims that my vision of the apocalypse that is here , now, or in the future, or was … or something … is worse than yours, and here’s why …

    Prepare the popcorn … it’s the worst apocalypse. Ever. Primetime.

    40

  • #
    pat

    as with the news reports on theirABC this morning, this piece soon changes to CAGW destroying the reef:

    2 Jul: ABC: ‘Teeming with life’: New hope for the Great Barrier Reef as island shows remarkable coral growth
    ABC Coffs Coast By Melissa Martin and Erin Semmler
    At a time when portions of the Great Barrier Reef are being devastated by coral decline, Southern Cross University doctoral researcher Kay Davis has found an island near Gladstone has experienced remarkable coral growth.
    One Tree Island was lashed by Cyclone Hamish in 2009, destroying much of the island’s coral.
    In the five years following the cyclone, no metabolic recovery was detected on the reef and by 2014 calcification of the coral had declined by 75 per cent.

    But things changed dramatically between 2014 and 2017, when Ms Davis and her team at the National Marine Science Centre found the coral system calcification increased four-fold.
    “We found that the coral ecosystem has completely recovered from this cyclone event after eight years,” Ms Davis said.
    “It wasn’t what we were expecting at all.”

    The new research was published this month in Frontiers in Marine Science open-source journal (LINK) with Ms Davis as the lead author…READ ON
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-02/new-hope-for-great-barrier-reef-with-remarkable-coral-growth/11268014

    50

    • #
      pat

      it seems theirABC took about a week to pick up the story:

      26 Jun: Brisbane Times: ‘Remarkable’ coral recovery on southern Great Barrier Reef island
      By Stuart Layt
      But far from a cause for celebration, Ms Davis said the recovery highlighted the volatility in Great Barrier Reef waters.
      “It’s not unusual for reefs to recover, reefs have been recovering from stress events for many years, but as we see the effects of climate change we’re seeing that recovery is more difficult,” she said…

      “The northern end of the reef is definitely in a worse state than the southern regions, and the future of the Great Barrier Reef is really going to depend on how the effects of climate change play out.”…
      https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/remarkable-coral-recovery-on-southern-great-barrier-reef-island-20190626-p521kv.html

      20

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      Professor Peter Ridd went & blessed the waters
      And all that coral just grew like crazy !
      Time for JCU to give Ridd his job back
      With a promotion for getting the science right.

      80

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        Bill,
        they have claimed that he should have walked out to the reef.

        40

        • #
          Bill in Oz

          Ummm Graeme ?
          I was trying to be sarcastic…
          Rather than messianic.
          I’m sure that ever practical
          Peter Ridd took a boat out there .
          🙂

          30

  • #
    Penguinite

    Obviously it’s easier to terminate the elderly and infirm, thereby saving pension $$$, by increasing the cost of electricity. At least Victoria is being honest by enabling legal suicide.

    50

    • #
      pattoh

      Ironically, many of their peers died believing they were defending Australia’s sovereignty.

      Advance NWO Fair!………………….

      10

  • #
    pat

    listen to the second audio with Bruce Robertson first:

    2 Jul: 2GB: Steve Price (in for Alan Jones): Steve Price grills federal MP over energy price promise
    Scott Morrison won the election on the back of a guarantee that energy prices will come down.
    But listeners have been flooding the openline saying that’s just not happening, after a concerning report about older Australians who can’t afford to turn their heaters on this winter…

    Federal MP Craig Kelly trotted out the party line, saying people need to ring around and ask for a better deal.
    But Steve Price says that’s just not good enough.
    “So you’re not going to bring it down, you’re going to make all the consumers ring around to get their own discount,” says Steve.
    The Member for Hughes admits, “There’s a lot of work we [the government] need to do in this space.”
    “You are absolutely right Steve, this has to be the number one priority of this term of government.”…
    ***AUDIO: 4min01sec

    Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor told Macquarie Radio on Monday that prices are so high at the moment states are limiting gas exploration projects.
    But energy expert Bruce Robertson, from the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, says that’s a “lie”.
    “Australia has tripled its production on the east coast in recent years and we are swimming in gas.
    “This puts a lie to what the energy minister is saying.”
    He tells Steve Price Australians are paying 70 per cent more than we should be for gas.
    “Gas prices in Australia are way, way, way above international parity prices and this means that gas… is simply uneconomic in this country.
    “This is just price gouging, on a massive scale, by these gas cartels that control both the wholesale market and the retail market.”…
    ***AUDIO: 6min12sec
    https://www.2gb.com/steve-price-grills-federal-mp-over-energy-price-promise/

    60

    • #
      pat

      Bruce Robertson is a regular in SMH/Age, etc:

      The east coast gas market is dead, and the ACCC killed it
      By Bruce Robertson
      SMH – 7 Aug 2018
      Bruce Robertson is an investment analyst at the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis

      2 May: GreenLeft: Labor’s great gas con
      by Pip Hinman
      Labor leader Bill Shorten’s promise on April 23 to help boost gas companies’ bottom lines if elected to the top job is as much about currying political favor with corporate mates as it is perpetuating the fiction that more gas will reduce energy prices.
      Shorten is also guilty of perpetuating the dangerous myth — debunked now for years — that gas is “clean” energy.
      Labor owes the gas companies big time. Market Forces estimates that, over 2017–18, Woodside, Santos, Chevron Australia, Origin and Alinta Energy donated close to $500,000 to Labor…

      ***According to analysis by Bruce Robertson for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, Labor’s offer to subsidise the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry is a “poor decision”.
      The industry, he said, is already renowned for its price gouging and tax dodging.
      “Onshore gas will not result in lower prices for consumers,” Robertson said, pointing to the recent tripling of gas production on the east coast alongside a tripling of gas prices as evidence.

      Australia is now the world’s largest LNG exporter, having overtaken the United States and Qatar. Robertson explained that the surge in gas production has not put downward pressure on domestic prices — as politicians like to imply — because neoliberal market rules, also known as “deregulation”, allow companies to control the price and supply of gas.
      Despite the ongoing industry scare campaign about the east coast running out of gas, the reality is that it now produces three times more gas than it consumes…

      Renewable alternatives
      Labor’s pro-gas industry announcement comes as the global LNG market is already oversupplied and, for the first time ever, the renewable energy sector (hydro, biomass, wind, solar and geothermal) is projected to generate more electricity than coal-fired plants in the US.
      “Domestically, gas is no longer a competitive fuel for electricity production … and its usage is falling”, Robertson said.
      Further, he and many others have warned that the opening up of two major gas provinces “will ensure Australia fails to meet its Paris commitments”…
      https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/labors-great-gas-con

      while Robertson is not described in the article as a “climate expert”, the headline gives that impression:

      Climate experts call for WA fracking ban
      SBS – 17 Sep 2018
      The Institute for Financial and Energy Analysis’ Bruce Robertson says fracking in the state will drive up domestic gas prices…

      IEEFA: Bruce Robertson
      Investment Analyst Bruce Robertson has been a fund manager and professional investor for over 32 years. He has worked with Perpetual Trustees, UBS, Nippon Life Insurance and BT and is an active participant in the national debate on energy issues in Australia.
      http://ieefa.org/author/bruce-robertson/

      40

      • #
        pat

        can’t recall theirABC doing any analysis of foreign-ownership of our “renewables”:

        18 Apr 2017: ABC: Gas export plants one-third owned by foreign governments
        AM By Stephen Long
        An analysis by the ABC shows that overseas state-owned corporations have more than a 30 per cent stake in the liquefied natural gas developed in Queensland in recent years…
        China alone owns more than 17 per cent of Queensland’s gas output through CNOOC, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, and Sinopec, two of China’s largest oil companies.

        “They’ve shored up their supply, the Chinese Government, the Korean Government and even the Japanese Government, they’ve shored up their domestic supplies by investing in these plants,” said ***Bruce Robertson, a gas analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics…
        https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-18/gas-export-plants-one-third-owned-by-foreign-governments/8448800

        30

        • #
          pat

          at 3min08sec in the Steve Price interview with Bruce Robertson, Price asks why is gas consumption down, is it renewables?

          Robertson replies that the principal reason is “renewables” are becoming increasingly cheaper, before adding another reason.

          10

      • #
        AndyG55

        “will ensure Australia fails to meet its Paris commitments”…”

        SO WHAT.. nobody cares.. except the AGW hangers on

        Its a load of anti-science baloney anyway, in basically every way.

        30

  • #
    pat

    2 Jul: ABC: Severe frosts and plummeting temperatures hit NSW growers during drought
    NSW Country Hour By Michael Condon and Tim Fookes
    Freezing temperatures and heavy frosts across New South Wales this winter are impacting on farmers already facing a significant water shortage.

    Last month, parts of the state recorded their lowest June temperatures in decades.
    During several nights of sub-zero temperatures, Glen Innes in the state’s north dropped to -9 degrees Celsius, while Dubbo recorded -4.2C, the lowest temperature the city has recorded since 2002.
    Mudgee fell to -6.7C and Parkes -4.7C, their coldest June nights in 13 years and Burrinjuck Dam, near Canberra, fell to -3.8C, its lowest temperature recorded in June since 1965.

    The below-zero temperatures brought intense frosts, which have added pressure to growers already battling a shortage of water…
    The below-zero temperatures brought intense frosts, which have added pressure to growers already battling a shortage of water…READ ALL
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-07-02/severe-frosts-and-freezing-temperatures-hit-nsw-growers/11266356

    30

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      Winter weather Pat !
      Gets cold in the outback !
      And yes some places are still dry.
      But looks like a cold front
      Will push in next weekend and throw some rain at inland NSW..

      30

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      The ABC seems incapable of reporting
      What is obvious to those of us out in the weather a lot.
      This Winter has been very cold & very wet.
      Here in Mt Barker in South Australia
      We’ve had above average rainfall
      For the second month in a row.
      114 mm in June which is roughly 15% above average for June.
      And 111 mm in may which is roughly 24% above average for May.
      And all of this is hidden deep in the bowels of the BOM’s climate data website.
      Hidden from any ABC village Idiot reporters !

      http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/av?p_nccObsCode=136&p_display_type=dailyDataFile&p_startYear=&p_c=&p_stn_num=023733

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      • #
        Bill in Oz

        This post is about how COLD is it
        And the fact that lots of people are not staying warm
        Because they cannot afford the power bills to stay warm
        I’ve been looking at the BOM’s weather station for Mt Barker in June.
        The BOM minimum temperature record is very curious.
        I know we on the fringe of Mt Barker
        Had 8 continuous days of frosts in June.
        From the 19th to the 26th of June.
        The BOM’s station record shows just 4 days of below zero and they are NOT continuous…
        The weather station is 1.5 ks away from my home.
        But is in the middle of town.
        So here we have a factual indication
        Of the impact of the Urban Heat Island Effect.

        http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/av?p_nccObsCode=123&p_display_type=dailyDataFile&p_startYear=&p_c=&p_stn_num=023733

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        • #
          Bill in Oz

          Of course the other theory is that the BOM is adjusting the weather station records.
          In the interests of demonstrating global warming !

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    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Obviously it’s the ‘run away warming’ what done it! If only these NSW growers had adopted the un-approved trans-parent carbon-zero STP dogma (Agenda 21.2020/30/50) they wouldn’t have to suffer these catastrophic heatwaves sub-zero frosts in mid-winter.

      * STP = Save The Planet, or, Starve The Proles, or

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      • #
        Bill in Oz

        Greg, good sarcasm !
        But actual facts are also pretty good as well.
        Australia is a biggish place; a continent in fact !
        Not just a smallish bunch of islands like NZ !
        ( Sorry can’t help that minor dig. )
        And in a biggish continent there will always be somewhere
        That’s missed out on “IT’S share of rain or warmth or cold.
        Sooooo Bits of NSW being cold & dry is simply
        NORMAL !
        NORMAL !
        NORMAL !

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  • #
    pat

    no downside:

    2 Jul: ABC: Renewable energy is growing, but NSW and Queensland are still undershooting their targets
    By business reporter Stephen Letts
    An analysis of the patchwork of renewable energy targets across the National Electricity Market has found while some states are well on the way to meeting their commitments, others are struggling.
    Research from consultants Green Energy Markets (GEM) has found while Victoria and South Australia are in reach of their targets, New South Wales and Queensland are, on current trends, falling well short.

    GEM director Tristan Edis said the focus was now firmly on state governments given the Federal Government has declared it does not intend to implement additional policies to reduce emissions in the electricity sector…

    Mr Edis said Victoria was already close to achieving its target of 40 per cent of power generation coming from renewables by 2025 and within striking distance of its 2030 target for 50 per cent renewables.
    To bridge the gap in 2030, Victoria still needs another 2,000 megawatts of capacity from new projects, which could achieved by two more rounds of power contracts similar to the 928MW tender conducted last year.
    South Australia still has a sizeable gap to make up, but that is in large part due to loftier ambitions.
    Last year more than half of South Australia’s power came from renewable generation…

    Tasmania is already at 100pc
    While drought may lead to Tasmania occasionally slipping back under its target, Mr Edis said over time it would likely balance out at 100 per cent, or more…READ ON
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-02/renewable-energy-targets-may-not-be-met-by-all-states/11267824

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  • #
    Geoffrey Williams

    The power companies will charge whatever they can or are allowed to. And the markup can be whatever they want and profits will be and are huge. Deregulation means no control and the way the markets are set up it is difficult see to who is in control of what. Furthermore the idea that we have to ‘shop around’ to get the ‘right deal’ is a joke and of itself implies that the market is over charging. Of course the green revolution of renewables has finally muddied the waters and I don’t see a Liberal government getting to grips with all of this any time soon.
    Regards GeoffW

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    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      Hear hear, Geoffrey Williams, right beside on this.

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      • #
        AndyG55

        I expect PF will be contacting his local Greenie or Labor member to say that they MUST support the Government in the removal of all renewable subsidies and mandates, and start concentrating of RELIABLE, DISPATCHABLE power, so that the price can stabilise.

        In fact that his local member of parliament should bring it as a private members bill.

        You are going to do that, aren’t you PF ?

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        • #
          Peter Fitzroy

          Why? The Liberals are the government, and have been for 6 inactive years, the could have done it anytime but they didn’t.

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          • #
            AndyG55

            OMG. WAKE UP, and stop the dumb trolling.

            You could NOT be as dumb as you make yourself out to be.

            What is it that is so difficult for you to comprehend!

            It was Turnbull, a leftist climate tragic and con-man in charge for much of that time.

            Tony Abbott had already started trying to, against the far-left Senate.

            Getting rid of the “unreliables” junk and getting the country back onto a realistic RELIABLE, DISPATCHABLE electricity supply system will take the support of at least some of the Labor/Green AGW gullibles.

            To do that will require “pseudo-sensible” far-leftists like yourself to get in their ear.

            Why won’t you write that letter.

            You KNOW its your duty, PF. 😉

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    • #
      el gordo

      ‘ … itself implies that the market is over charging.’

      Its the ugly face of capitalism, the wholesalers have been gouging.

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  • #
    Zane

    Good Lord. The Guardian is at it again. Today it’s a ” precipitous ” fall in Antarctic sea ice! Zounds! Not CO2 the villain again, is it? This guy is a serial offender:).

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    • #
      AndyG55

      Antarctic sea ice pretty much tracking the same as the last 2 years.

      And so what anyway !!

      It affects no-one. !

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    • #
      AndyG55

      June 30 2019 13.88 Mkm²

      June 30 1980 13.91 Mkm²

      INSIGNIFICANT change in 39 years.

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      • #
        el gordo

        Its the inexplicable and abrupt nature which has them a little worried.

        “There was a period in the 1970s when the Antarctic also had a huge decrease in sea ice and then increased. So it could be this huge decrease over a few years [2014-2017] is going to reverse,” says Parkinson. There was a modest uptick between 2017 and 2018, but sea ice extent has since fallen again and today is at a near record low for this time of year.

        ‘The decline may just be natural variability, driven by shift in wind patterns which influence the extent of Antarctic sea ice, says Mark Serreze, director of the US National Snow and Ice Data Center. “To argue that this recent dip is evidence of the start of a longer term decline driven by greenhouse warming is premature.”

        New Scientist

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    • #
      Bill in Oz

      MEANWHILE…..
      An arctic fox cub fitted with
      An eletronic tracking collar ‘walked’
      From Svallbad in Norway
      To Arctic Canada
      in 2 months…
      This was reported by the Village idiots at the ABC.
      So it must be true !
      But it must have been a miracle
      As that fox must have walked on water all the way
      As the Arctic has melted
      According to the Greenist ideology.
      Don’t cha know !

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  • #
    pat

    Greenpeace are, presumably, the de facto global government!

    1 Jul: Bloomberg: Madrid City Center Reopens to Car Traffic, Sparking Protests
    By Thomas Gualtieri
    Almost 20 Greenpeace activists halted traffic in Alcala street, one of the main avenues crossing the city center, just a few meters away from the city hall, newspaper El Pais reported. Activists chained themselves and blocked the street for more than one hour, the newspaper said…

    1 Jul: TheLocalSpain: ‘I’m crying inside’: Madrileños react to reversal of city traffic restriction
    By Alice Huseyinoglu
    PIC: Protestors blocked traffic on Calle Alcala on Monday. Photo: Greenpeace Madrid
    The “Madrid Central” scheme was introduced by left-wing mayor Manuela Carmena last November as one of the measures that persuaded the European Commission not to take Spain to court over its bad air pollution in the capital.

    But Madrid’s new conservative mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida made ditching “Madrid Central” a priority during his campaign, saying it had done nothing to ease pollution and only caused a nuisance for locals.
    But the reversal is proving deeply unpopular.
    Brandishing signs declaring ‘Madrid Central Works’, activists from Greenpeace in association with la Platforma en la Defensa de Madrid Central staged a protest in front of Madrid’s City Hall this morning…
    https://www.thelocal.es/20190701/im-crying-inside-madrid-central

    As Cities Limit Traffic Pollution, Madrid Reverses a Driving Ban By Raphael Minder
    NYT – 1 Jul 2019
    Several prominent writers, artists and academics joined the march to voice support for the restrictions on vehicles in central Madrid and denounce the political maneuvering that led to the reversal.
    “Madrid Central should not depend upon political negotiations,” said Leonor Watling, an actress…
    Pepu Hernández, a Socialist politician who joined Saturday’s protest against the reversal of the vehicle ban, said the policy debate in Madrid was driven by deepening ideological fault lines and a hardening of the right…
    As the reversal came into effect on Monday, activists from Greenpeace briefly cut off one of the main entrance points…

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    • #
      pat

      on the other hand, in Paris, the Socialist mayor is a little concerned about the “yellow vests”!

      1 Jul: France24: AFP: Paris clamps down on older diesel cars
      ***The government agreed to a two-year punishment-free “learning period” after resistance from some mayors who feared that the ban could rekindle the anger of the “yellow vest” protests, which erupted last year over fuel price hikes.
      “We don’t want to force the environment on people, but rather that it be accepted as the outcome of dialogue,” the head of the Grand Paris region, which is made up of Paris and its closest suburbs, Patrick Ollier, told reporters last week.
      ***Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, a Socialist, has been on a crusade to banish the veil of smog that periodically shrouds the French capital by giving more space to cyclists, pedestrians and public transport…

      1 Jul: Phys.org: Paris bans old diesels to tackle pollution
      by Clare Byrne
      Paris on Monday banned all diesel vehicles aged 13 years or over from the city centre, the latest move in a campaign to tackle pollution on the city’s streets.
      Diesel vehicles over 18 years old and petrol vehicles over 21 years old are already banned in Paris—a measure that was extended Monday to a new “low-emissions” belt surrounding the city…
      A ***Greenpeace report listed Paris as the worst western European capital for small particle air pollution in 2018, with levels higher than cities such as the Philippines capital Manila or the Colombian capital Bogota…

      ***Unlike in central Paris, however, offenders in the suburbs, where car dependency is greater, face no punishment for the first two years of the ban.
      The government agreed to a two-year punishment-free “learning period” after resistance from some mayors who feared that the ban could rekindle the “yellow vest” protests, which erupted late last year among motorists furious over fuel price hikes…

      Reflecting on the lessons learnt, a senior official for the greater Paris area, Patrick Ollier, told reporters last week: “We don’t want to force the environment on people, but rather that it be accepted as the outcome of dialogue.”…

      But whereas London, Stockholm and Milan have sought to dissuade motorists by driving into the city centre by hitting them with congestion taxes Madrid went further, banning many vehicles from accessing the centre altogether and fining them if they did…
      https://phys.org/news/2019-07-paris-clamps-older-diesel-cars.html

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      • #
        pat

        Bloomberg’s “almost 20” is “a dozen” at EuroWeekly:

        1 Jul: EuroWeekly: Madrid’s Greenpeace activists cut off vehicle access in Madrid Central
        By Alana Schuurman
        A ***dozen activists from Greenpeace gathered early this morning, sat on the road to Madrid Central on Calle Alcalá near Plaza de Cibeles, stopping vehicles accessing the streets…
        Alvaro Fernandez, spokesperson of Madrid’s Greenpeace, indicated that his intention would be to stay there until the Mayor would accept a meeting they requested last Monday…

        the mainstreaming of the far left by the MSM is extraordinary:

        1 Jul: TheLocalFrance: AFP: French police filmed teargassing climate change protesters
        The French police drew heavy criticism on Monday after officers were filmed spraying peaceful climate activists in the face with teargas during a sit-in on a bridge in Paris last week…
        Images of the standoff caused an outcry both at home and abroad with Sweden’s teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeting a link to the video with the words: “Watch this video and ask yourself; who is defending who?”…

        In a further sign of how climate activists are increasingly turning to direct action, ***Greenpeace activists have been blocking the unloading of a Brazilian soy shipment in the southern French port of Sete.
        On Monday, five of the activists — who blame soybean production for deforestation — were forcibly removed from the cranes to which they had chained themselves.
        Launched in Britain, the “Extinction Rebellion” group uses acts of civil disobedience to draw attention to climate warming…

        Several French politicians condemned the treatment of the protesters in Paris.
        Eric Coquerel, a lawmaker for the ***hard-left France Unbowed party, described the images as “shocking”…
        Socialist leader Olivier Faure in a tweet said that the activists should have been sprayed with “water bombs” and not teargas in a week when temperatures hit record highs in France.
        “That would not happen in a dictatorship and it’s happening in France,” he added.

        Environment Minister Francois de Rugy was accused of adding to the controversy by characterising the activists in a TV interview Sunday as “very radical” and justifying the use of the teargas “which aims to get people to leave” the area…
        https://www.thelocal.fr/20190701/french-police-filmed-teargassing-climate-change-protesters

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        • #
          pat

          1 Jul: Korea Herald: Eximbank under pressure to boycott coal finance
          By Shin Ji-hye
          South Korea’s official export credit agency Export-Import Bank of Korea is under pressure from international environmental activists to halt its financing of coal power plants, amid a growing global campaign to tackle climate change and air pollution.

          On Sunday, ***Greenpeace Korea shone a laser light on the headquarters building of the Export-Import Bank of Korea in Seoul, displaying messages that read, “Stop investing in coal-fired plants” and “President Moon Jae-in, when are you going to halt financing coal plants?”

          Greenpeace said Monday it had staged the surprise protest to call on the government and Eximbank to stop financing coal power.
          “Such investments cause environmental pollution and damage to human health in the areas where coal plants are built. The coal industry is also not free from chronic corruption problems,” said Chang Ma-ri, a Greenpeace campaigner.

          The nongovernmental environmental organization pointed to the Cirebon 2 coal-fired power plant in Cirebon, a port city in Indonesia.
          The project — for which Eximbank is slated to finance around 600 billion won ($517 million) — is also mired in a bribery scandal…ETC

          Korea is the world’s second-largest investor in the global coal-financing market following China. Over the last decade, the nation has invested a combined 11 trillion won in building coal plants in seven countries.
          Eximbank has itself spent 6.1 trillion won, accounting for 53 percent of the total investments. It is followed by Korea Trade Insurance Corp. and the Korea Development Bank.
          Most recently, the export credit agency expressed its intent to invest in the Jawa-9 and Jawa-10 coal-fired power plants in Indonesia…
          http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20190701000696

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  • #
    Zane

    When I was living and working in South London in the early ’90s, I would often see these old pensioner ladies bundled up in scarves and heavy coats and sitting on buses in winter. I don’t think they were actually going anywhere, it was just show the travelcard and spend most of the day riding around in a warm bus rather than sit about freezing at home.

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  • #
    Zane

    World Meteorological Association, The Met, Hadley Centre, IPCC in Geneva, etc these are all the climate gravy train riders who absolutely have to keep the cash and the funding and the grants coming in. They push the climate nonsense 24/7/52 weeks a year and the dumbed down media act as PR shills. The Big Lie that CO2 from manmade fossil fuel use drives warming/cooling/climate change would do Goebbels proud. NASA is in on it, NOAA is in on it, all these taxpayer funded types are prime beneficiaries of this sweet racket. Then there are the Green parties and the environmental groups, who in my opinion were initially started on their path by the Soviets as an active measures campaign against the West. They have gained their own momentum since then, and everyone from Enron to GE to Siemens to BP to Shell to Qatar to Chinese solar manufacturers is ganging up to kick coal. And our dumb politicians do little to stop it.

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  • #
    pat

    1 Jul: Willamette Week: Gov. Brown Prepared to Use Executive Powers to Push Carbon Cap Legislation
    by Elise Heron
    Brown said of House Bill 2020: “Let me be very, very clear: I am not backing down.”
    “Working on legislation is my preferred approach; collaborating across the aisle and around the state,” she said. “However, given the uncertainty that now permeates Oregon’s political system, I am also directing my staff and agencies to explore alternative paths in case these collaborative approaches do not lead to successful legislation. This includes the use of my executive powers and direction of state agencies.”

    Brown stressed that the cap-and-trade legislation is crucial for the state to meet its greenhouse-gas reduction goals. She cited wildfire threats, forest degradation due to insects and disease, decreased agricultural yields caused by warming temperatures, ocean acidification and declining snowpack as consequences of climate inaction.

    “I will continue to listen to any concerns brought by Oregonians. But make no mistake, doing nothing to reduce emissions is not an option,” she said. “Not for our economy, our communities, our environment and of course, particularly, our children. I am open to modifications, but I am not open to inaction.”…

    Tera Hurst, executive director of Renew Oregon, said the Governor “can define her legacy by leading Oregon to do our share to combat this global crisis, while growing our economy and cleaning our air here at home.”…
    https://www.wweek.com/news/2019/07/01/gov-kate-brown-says-she-is-prepared-to-use-executive-powers-to-push-carbon-cap-legislation/

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  • #
    Zane

    If the atmosphere didn’t trap some heat this planet would be a bare rock hurtling through space. Thankfully there are greenhouse gases keeping us alive, the main one being water vapour created by the hot sun shining on tropical oceans.

    Without an atmosphere the average temperature on earth would be -15 Centigrade or worse.

    And try breathing vacuum. Better yet, don’t.

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    • #
      AndyG55

      Its the Earth’s atmospheric mass (gravitationally maintained) that retains heat/energy.

      Greenhouse gases.. the only one with any significant effect is H2O.

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  • #
    Zane

    More silliness in the Guardian about the states going for renewables while the federal government supposedly is ” in denial “. Everyday the leftist media produces an unending stream of this BS. And the reader comments are just priceless.

    Priceless idiocy, that is.

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