Hope foreign readers are enjoying the spectacle of a first world nation destroying its competitive advantage with renewables. Hope that helps you avoid the same fate.
Praise the lord, states without coal don’t have to load-shed-industry (because they don’t have much left):
The South Australian Treasurer is bragging that SA didn’t have to shed any industry load on Friday, but the coal state of Victoria did. Pull the other one:
“In terms of supply we should be okay,” he [the SA Treasurer] said.
“Victoria I understand is about to load shed industry. So they’re not coping with the power supply.
“They are a coal-dependent state and they are having to take industry offline to support their households. In South Australia we’re not having to do that today.” — h/t A H
The Treasurer didn’t mention that SA shed the load already over the last two years by driving heavy manufacturers out of business, and out of the state. Let’s name some:
Gone from the SA power load: Mitsubishi, GMH, Plastics Granulating Services (Recyclers), Caroma (76 jobs) after 79 years in business, Penrice, Arnotts biscuits (120 jobs), Aldinga Turkeys (79), ACI Glass (60 following previous 50 jobs), Arrium (600), BHP (90), SANTOS (~200), Alinta Energy (Pt. Augusta power stations and Leigh Creek mines) (438), Unibooks (100), United Dairies (>100). Plus many more…
— The list thanks to yarpos and Graeme No.3
Nor did he mention that when peak times hit, SA couldn’t generate enough electricity for itself, even at $14,200/MWh and was drawing around 350MW from Victoria (which was mostly coal fired).
ABC rent-seekers do free PR for Labor-Green-renewables:
The ABC political reporter Nick Harmsen, above, swallowed this one-sided Labor party fantasy, and didn’t bother to interview anyone (skeptic or industry) who knows what rot the Treasurer was speaking. Harmsen probably votes Labor (or Green), has been trained not to “seek balance” lest the public vote out the innumerate, expensive vanity-signalers (who also pump up the ABC budget) at the up and coming SA election.
I’m sure no one ordered him to toss his journalistic standards, but if he ever showed any talent for asking real questions it would have been quashed in the tea rooms, or, was pre-quashed at university, where everyone is trained to think the exact same way.
In masterful form, Harmsen described the Lack of Reserve level 2 (LOR2) notice as meaning “there is a small buffer of surplus left”. Nice spin-winner-way to put an emergency notice that is there to let the market know the buffer is frighteningly small, and far below recommended.
At LOR2 level, things are so bad, the AEMO is throwing our money at the electrical grid to keep it from crashing.
If only he had the internet or a phone he could have used the actual AEMO terms. At least he wouldn’t look like a PR hack instead of a journalist.
Orwellian? Yes! Plus a fair bit of Lewis Carrol’s surrealism. Truth be known by another name.
230
Looking at the ameo dashboard yesterday , SA had a generating capacity if about 1100 MW but consuming 1800 MW.
How unless some weird non mathematical concept, does importing power equate to an excess of capacity?
There is the Emporers New Clothes, and then there is SA…..
420
You said capacity. I assume that wasn’t the actual output.
40
We have now entered the new dark ages.
180
… where lights off is the new normal.
20
But some hope….common sense defeats the economy killing globalists….
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/barnaby-joyce-rejects-petrol-car-ban-amid-coalition-split-on-electric-vehicles-20180123-h0musg.html
“Transport Minister Barnaby Joyce has quashed the prospect of Australia replicating overseas bans on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, as the Turnbull government debates whether to encourage the electric vehicle industry.
Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg this week strongly backed the prospects of electric vehicles in Australia against opposition from conservative backbenchers. He told Sky News on Tuesday that critics who ridiculed the technology would “probably be the ones buying them in a decade’s time”.
In an opinion piece for Fairfax Media this month, Mr Frydenberg said Australia should prepare for the electric car revolution that has already swept Europe and will soon hit China. He said France and Britain would end the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040, and Norway and the Netherlands aimed to do so by 2025.
Asked whether Australia would follow suit, a spokeswoman for Infrastructure and Transport Minister Barnaby Joyce on Tuesday said his government had “no plan to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars … Australia’s transport policies are modelled on Australia’s needs.” His office declined to elaborate.
Two Liberal backbenchers – Craig Kelly and Tim Wilson – have signalled they will oppose any government subsidies to the electric car industry.”
30
ROFLMAO.
SA have just told Victoria that they DON’T NEED to use the interconnect any more.
I hope Victoria understand the message and acts accordingly. 🙂
521
No Andy such a decision would require a leader and that would mean accountability, when the voters see their elected leaders not beheld to the same laws that govern them and the law courts giving the softest sentences for the worst crimes that directly effect their lives and safety something must eventually give.
130
Do the even have that level of control anymore? who actually owns the interstate network, if the AEMO operates it?
20
True or false?
If true, that would be taking lying to a new level.
10
Victorian government should turn off the interconnector after those comments
380
Is it rude to compare Victoriastan with Zimbabwe? 🙂
The similarities are striking…collapsing economy, power shortages, a controlled economy, catastrophic govt interference in the economy…have I missed anything?
351
Psychotic leadership with delusions of competence???
330
No, just bookworm Marxism!
10
Only if you want to be rude about Zimbabwe.
150
I would have phrased it thusly: Only if you want to p$ss the Zimbabweans off.
50
That is because you have no couth.
30
OriginalSteve. Maybe Venezuela is a better comparison. Once a rich member of OPEC and a huge income from oil exports.
Then voters elected Hugo Chavez (a Communist) and when Chavez died his less competent successor took over (no honest voting)and finished the job of wrecking Venezuela. People fight over the garbage dumps and some retrieve food scraps from the dump and re-sell them. The hungry people have raided the zoo and butchered and eaten many animals, have tracked down farmer’s cow in field and killed it with rocks and then butchered it on the spot. Many of the weakest (babies, children, the elderly are facing starvation).
Questions: 1) Why did a rich and prosperous country vote in a Communist/Socialist? Lies of something for nothing? Get even with the government and the rich? 2) When food shortages appeared the grocery stores were forced to lower prices below costs to the stores–as a result most stores forced to close. 3) Government blames other countries, including the US, for their problems, resulting in no reforms. 4) Infrastructure collapses including the ability to pump and transport oil. As a result government (except the elite rulers) go broke. 5) Mass demonstrations eventually fail through government repression and the need for the people to scrounge for food. 6) Government does not ask for international aid because of propaganda that all is well within the country.
SA and Victoria voters still have the power to throw out the Socialist governments. The question is why don’t they form a conservative party(in US terms center-right)and throw the crooks and incompetents out?
200
In Victoris we have an excess of idiots. Same as SA, but they’re gerrymandered too.
120
In SA and Vic you have to be a fair dinkum idiot to become Premier of your state.
20
In the eloquent language of the US President “shithole” comes to mind!!! 🙂
90
Murder and mayhem?
30
car jackings, home invasions and rampaging mobs maybe?
10
None of these issues have come to the attention of John Setka – the Premier of Victoria.
John is a very busy man – co-orditing bikies and African gangsters.
10
I have never read any of the history of the second world war, nor watched much of the movie output that wanted to rehash it.
My father came home from New Guinea and the islands in a mess and our family started from there. It wasn’t easy.
The community I grew up in post WWII was one of relief and thankfulness that it was over and we could begin to build.
Discipline in the community was high, the common good was to the fore and we made progress steadily and logically.
We thanked our parents for their sacrifices.
Fast forward 60 years and our society has lost the plot.
According to the media, the world’s problems have been caused by “old white men” or old people and the expanded media presence pushes opinion rather than fact in a fashion that Herr Goebbels would instantly relate to.
In such a society as we have now where the basis of control of our lives is the need to pay homage to the meme of human origin CO2 induced Global Warming we could be forgiven for believing that the world has gone nuts.
KK
440
The important point I was going to make was in relation to Hitler and one of his statements.
A couple of months ago on this blog someone quoted Hitler as saying that “if you are going to tell a lie, tell a big one”.
What I read into this comment was that very few people have either the wit or inner strength to openly challenge someone speaking with authority and that they are even less likely to risk being wrong when the statement is totally outrageous.
Today we have people making absolutely outrageous statements about electricity and CO2 and very few have the self confidence to challenge them.
KK
360
“A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth.”
~ G. Goebbels (Joseph Goebbels), Propaganda officer for Adolf Hitler
30
Surely the same applies with interest for the truth. Trouble is, the liars have nothing else to do, while those on the truth are too busy doing something useful to fully engage the liars.
10
Unless you have had to competitively fight for something, you have no real appreciation of what it is worth.
The “baby boomers” – kids born and raised in the years following the war in Europe – found it hard to get places in decent schools. Decent schools had trouble finding good teachers, because so many teachers did not return from the war. At the age of five, every kid had to prove that I was better than all the other kids vying for a place in “a good primary school”. At the age of eleven, they had to do the same thing, with the “Eleven-Plus” examinations, for a place in good secondary school. The same situation applied for admission to University – there was competition for a fixed number of places. Students got an allowance, but only if they passed term exams in the subjects they had enrolled for. There was no free lunch.
So, you are right, Keith. I reckon that society has lost the plot. Nature is tough, and it weeds out the weak. Kids need to compete with each other. It makes them stronger intellectually, and physically, and morally. If you eschew competition, you are doing the entire human race a disservice.
360
What you mean the handing out of participation trophy’s was a bad idea?
110
Yes.
But just remind us, which was the first generation to start handing out participation trophies to the kids?
10
God and the Soldier, we adore,
In time of danger, not before.
The danger passed and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the Soldier slighted
Rudyard Kipling
300
And “Tommy”
40
Very true I’m afraid.
20
(verse actually by author Francis Quarles circa 1640 and paraphrased by JFK)
20
Keith, I wrote somewhere lately, maybe here, but I’ll say it again.
I grew up in a marvellous society, where people set a very high value on personal freedom. Just twenty years later I began to see the rise of a dominating concern, not that I be free, but that nobody else be more free than I am or want to be. This is what we have now come to.
Jealousy and a degree of sloth are the rulers.
30
Well put Ted.
00
It seems to me, to be driven by the beliefs and attitudes and desires of the lowest common denominator.
Anything that deviates from that, must be suppressed as being “regressive”.
Note: beliefs, attitudes, and desires are part of the fact-free zone, that has nothing, whatsoever, to do with reality.
10
Interesting choice of words by the AEMO:
Demand response is apparently seen as something that can be drawn from. As per oxford dictionaries:
In a strict sense this is true, but it goes to the state of mind of the people who manage these systems.
150
Don’t forget AEMO is now in the iron grip of Big Mal’s 1st Lady of Power — Audrey Zibelman, the same A.Z. under whose deft hand New York power prices rose by 55% from 2013 to 2016, before she was handed AEMO to wreck.
Here’s dear Audrey tweeting on Hazelwood before it shut: “Retaining it in the market is inefficient. Would rather double the market price by closing it!!”
Hey, that’s what we like to hear from our market regulator.
Here’s a snippet I gleaned from an interview Audrey did for a US womens magazine: Audrey is REAL BIG on “managing demand” with the “right price signals” and “the right regulatory framework” to “make energy more efficient” so that it will “help on price, resiliency and climate change. So if the wind blows best at night, let’s consume energy by using distributed resources, storage — things like that — during the day so that we’re matching wind generation when it’s available. That’s how it creates environmental value.” She speaks of “democratising energy”.
I can’t begin to tell you how I’ve longed for democratised power via distributed resources, whatever the hell they are.
I suggest we stick Audrey in a lift halfway between 2 floors at 9 in the morning, turn the power off and leave her in that lift until the windmills start to spin at about 11 that night and only then let the lift doors open. Give her a mop and make her clean up any little accidents she’s had during the day and see if she still likes the idea of democritised power that matches wind generation.
640
I love it.
Having been caught in a lift for half an hour because of power shedding I can thoroughly appreciate that this would be a good experience for those into alternative energy.
KK
220
I always dread that experience KK, especially with a full bladder.
90
Exactly.
But there was also an unexpected experience of claustrophobia. Not pleasant at all.
70
A lift has 4 corners. !!
50
That must have been it.
20
Eight corners, actually. But let’s not go there in the context of this conversation.
40
That claustrophobia doesn’t have to be yours, either, to be a problem when stuck in a lift.
00
As with holes, there is a 1st Rule, namely stop digging.
With elevators, Never get on one with a full bladder.
70
I suspect she’d get stuck on an escalator during a blackout. 😉
70
“Retaining it in the market is inefficient. Would rather double the market price by closing it!!”
If ever there was an oxymoron!!!!!!!!!!
40
Again I ask, is this fact or fiction? Did she really say that?
10
Ted
Yes, she said that. The bit about doubling the market price was probably half in jest … but only half.
You need to understand the depths of her zealotry and her supreme confidence in her own opinions and abilities. She is an eco-activist lawyer who has somehow re-badged herself as a power grid expert. She believes in “deep de-carbonisation”, smart grids, “the rapid democratisation of energy”, “citizen-utilities” and demand management. She believes she has all the answers. Unsurprisingly, she’s a fan of Finkel.
From the Australian Financial Review: “… she warned objections cannot be allowed to derail grid modernisation.” By “modernisation” she means her technically deficient, piecemeal version of what a grid should look like. She puts it bluntly: “The present model is inefficient, too costly, and unsustainable in light of climate change and the cost of maintaining ageing and inefficient power systems.”
She is definitely NOT a fan of coal power stations like Hazelwood. She waffles about lowering power costs but has zero idea of actual costs involved, other than “wind and solar power are getting cheaper” and have zero marginal cost. Maths is not her strong suit.
“… demand, rather than generation, can become the state’s primary energy resource,” Ms Zibelman wrote in IEEE Power & Energy’s May/June 2016 issue. Not sure how that works, but it seems to revolve around subsidies for reducing demand rather than actually producing any useful power.
Most of the articles about her are either carefully crafted press releases or sycophantic pieces by ignorant financial writers or green activists. It is hard to get her true measure; the real woman only comes through when she speaks off the cuff as in tweets and the informal interview she gave to the women’s magazine I referred to originally.
In my opinion this woman’s aims are dangerous and she needs watching carefully, or better still, to be sent packing before she can achieve too much damage with her single-minded zealotry. She is the very last person we should have in charge of a grid that is already teetering on the brink.
20
Bizarre; shows how little responsible oversight is deployed in the Turnbull administration.
10
Is this person a registered Electrical Engineer? Does this person hold an Electrical Engineering Degree, or perhaps a degree in Physics?
If the answer to those questions are all, “No”, then the question becomes, would she let a layperson extract one, or more, of her teeth?
20
Maybe he’s bin smokin’ a bit too much of the wacky t’baccy!
Judging by the states demand compared to what the state actually produced, it would seem to me that they had a rather large shortfall.
I wonder if Swanny used this idiots method of accounting to produce his budget ‘surpluses’?
I wonder how he would feel if the umbilical cord between Vic-SA was cut? How arrogant would the twit be then?
200
wal1957:
You obviously don’t know the SA Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis (a.k.a. Silly Koot and a few other epithets which would get me censored). He is the renewables of a politician, a silly idea, unreliable and heavily subsidised. And he is highly gullible about Green ideas, even more so (just) than Josh Frydenberg.**
** The Federal Minister wrecking our electricity generation and then claiming we need electric cars which use…????
150
http://www.aemo.com.au/Electricity/National-Electricity-Market-NEM/Data-dashboard#nem-dispatch-overview
At 1:46pm I see this :
SA demand 1258 MW
SA generation 900 MW
Sa wind and solar 85 MW
This leaves a 270 MW shortfall which they are pulling via 2 interconnectors from coal powered states.
80
I REALLY want to see the connector drop out for a while 🙂
Would be well worth the cost of the popcorn ! 🙂
90
So wind and solar only generating 9.5%.
10
I think that people to easily blame the journalist. It is the politicians who are to blame for the deceit. Not just labor but the pathetic Liberals. The points you have made in your last two posts need to be part of a marketing campaign by the Liberals. They are too gutless to highlight the lies because they are infiltrated by wannabe lefties. It’s ridiculous that the SA government boasts about keeping the lights on when their green idiocincracies have bought about bringing into question something that Australian have been able to take for granted for almost 100 years. This dismantling of our reliable energy that should lead to politicians being jailed for endangering the lives and livelihoods of its constituents. Unless the Liberal party takes a properly critical approach to energy policy which shows what is really happening cause of renewables we are doomed to years of incompetent and reckless governing destroying our economic future.
Global warming alarmism is one of the greatest moral issues of our time.
240
no problem blaming journos, investative skills and critical thinking are supposed to be their core skills. We dont see much of that from the “profession”
30
Global warming alarmism is one of the greatest crimes of our time.
20
Even without the major industry that have left, SA would black out without the interconnector the first hot windless day .
180
Was wondering what was the output of all diesel generators and whether this exceeds 500MW.
10
OK, so the generators only provide 276 MW. Not enough.
10
Face it. They’ll still be claiming human caused global warming and CO2 as evil even when they’re buried under a mile of ice during the next glaciation.
200
this matches Weatherill on 5AA, saying SA saved Victoria last week.
Weatherill actually says ***should be fine…twice:
AUDIO: 22 Jan: 5AA Radio Adelaide: Jay Weatherill Says Power Grid ***Will Be “Fine” During Coming Heatwave
Premier Jay Weatherill has reassured South Aussies their power supply will hold up during the extreme heat set to the state later this week.
“Our advice from the Australian Energy Market Operator is that we’ll be fine,” Mr Weatherill told FIVEaa on Monday. “The reason we’ll be fine is because our energy plan has brought on extra supply…”
“Pelican Point is now operating, we’ve got the battery there and of course we’ve got the backup state-owned generators. Leaving aside some catastrophe we ***should be fine.”
LISTEN: AUDIO: AT 6mins30secs to 9mins10secs: Premier asked about heatwave, power with Tesla battery etc. should be fine, etc. SA saved Victoria last week. renewables the only way to bring prices down, etc.
at 10.35mins in. Caller says his power was out for 2 hours yesterday. Premier answers. It happens all around the world…It will happen again in the next few days.
https://www.fiveaa.com.au/shows/david-and-will/Jay-Weatherill-Says-Power-Grid-Will-Be-Fine-During-Coming-Heatwave
100
note the starting date: ***1 April…read all:
22 Jan: Guardian: Lloyd’s of London to divest from coal over climate change
Firm follows other big UK and European insurers by excluding coal companies from ***1 April
by Julia Kollewe
(Julia Kollewe writes about pharmaceuticals, property and insurance for the Guardian and the Observer, and often covers breaking City news as well. She previously worked at the Independent, Bloomberg News and Market News International)
The firm has long been vocal about the need to battle climate change, with insurance one of the worst affected industries by hurricanes, wildfires and flooding in recent years…
Lloyd’s has been slower to take action than others. Other big UK and European insurance companies, including Aviva, Allianz, Axa, Legal & General, SCOR, Swiss Re and Zurich, have been shifting away from coal and other fossil fuels due to concerns about climate risks. About £15bn has been divested by insurers in the past two years, according to a recent report from Unfriend Coal Network, a global coalition of NGOs and campaigners including 350.org and Greenpeace. It said 15 companies – almost all in Europe – have fully or partially cut financial ties by selling holdings in coal companies and refusing to insure their operations.
France’s Axa was one of the first financial firms to reduce investments in coal in May 2015 and is still leading the way…
Analysis by the ClimateWise (LINK) coalition of the world’s biggest insurers published in December 2016 found that more frequent extreme weather events were driving up uninsured losses and making some assets uninsurable…
(Inga Beale, Lloyd’s of London chief executive) told the Guardian that she would be discussing the group’s new investment strategy at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos this week.
Climate change and what investors can do will feature prominently at the meeting of political and business leaders. Beale said: “It goes beyond climate change. The broader issue is how we clean up the planet.”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jan/21/lloyds-of-london-to-divest-from-coal-over-climate-change?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco
Uni of East Anglia: History of the Climatic Research Unit
Perhaps, not surprisingly, the insurance and re-insurance industries have been a regular sponsor of research with early studies evaluating the risk of hurricane landfall on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the US, the impacts of severe storms in Europe and the characteristic of the typhoon risk over Japan.
Many other private, governmental and non-governmental bodies (ranging from the Central Electricity Generating Board and National Power to Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace) have turned to CRU for reliable scientific insight into climatic change, acid rain, wind energy, and surface ozone…
Acknowledgements
This list is not fully exhaustive, but we would like to acknowledge the support of the following funders (in alphabetical order):
British Council, British Petroleum, Broom’s Barn Sugar Beet Research Centre, Central Electricity Generating Board, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), Commercial Union, Commission of European Communities (CEC, often referred to now as EU), Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC), Department of Energy, Department of the Environment (DoE, 1970-1997), Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR, 1997-2001), Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA, 2001-present), Department of Energy and Climatic Change (DECC), Department of Health, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Earth and Life Sciences Alliance, Eastern Electricity, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, Greater London Authority, Greenpeace International, International Institute of Environmental Development (IIED), Irish Electricity Supply Board, KFA Germany, Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), Leverhulme Trust, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), National Assembly for Wales, National Power, National Rivers Authority, Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC), Norwich Union, Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, Overseas Development Administration (ODA), ***REINSURANCE UNDERWRITERS AND SYNDICATES, Royal Society, Scientific Consultants, Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC), Scottish and Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research, Shell, SQW Consulting, Stockholm Environment Agency, Sultanate of Oman, Tate and Lyle, Tyndall Centre, UK Met. Office, UK Nirex Ltd., UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR), United Nations Environment Plan (UNEP), United States Department of Energy, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Wolfson Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF).
http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/about-cru/history
50
In this case, 1st April is the first day of the 2018-2019 Financial Year. (2018-04-1 – 2019-03-31)
It also happens to be April Fools Day but that is not of any consequence, nor is it to be considered, in this context.
30
22 Jan: Reuters: UPDATE 1-Chinese power consumption climbed over 6 pct in 2017 – NEA
by Muyu Xu & Vincent Lee
(Adds Dec data, table)
BEIJING, Jan 22 (Reuters) – China’s power consumption rose
6.6 percent in 2017 from the year before to 6.31 trillion
kilowatt hours (kWh), according to data published on Monday by
the National Energy Administration (NEA).
The nation’s industrial power consumption climbed 5.5
percent to 4.36 trillion kWh in 2017, the NEA said.
China’s total installed generation capacity reached 1,777.03
gigawatts (GW) by the end of 2017.
The world’s No.2 economy consumed a total of 574.6 billion
kWh of electricity in December, up 7.4 percent from the year
before, according to Reuters calculations based on the NEA data.
Below is a table giving a breakdown of China’s power
consumption as well as other data for December and the 2017
full-year…
https://uk.reuters.com/article/china-economy-power/update-1-chinese-power-consumption-climbed-over-6-pct-in-2017-nea-idUKL4N1PH18V
50
The left are so delusional – but then again so are the voters who keep them in power.
180
THE CO2 HORSESH*T HAS TO STOP.
120
Thanks for hoping that others watch and learn, Jo, but unfortunately our UK politicians are incapable of learning so we are steadily following the same path. With every passing winter our chances of surviving a sustained cold spell, usually due to a static high pressure,without blackouts diminishes. Most people connect a cold winter with snow but a long period of frosty high pressure with no wind and maybe fog over the fields of solar panels is worse. A few years back we came close to running out of gas before it warmed up. Our gas storage is smaller now. More powerstations will be closing this year and nothing will replace that lost reliable capacity.
230
Throw enough borrowed money, imported diesel and business shut-downs at a problem and the problem goes away.
160
Until other people’s money runs out
80
Damn that flaw in socialism!
20
Vote Weatherill!
40
George:
That’s Weatherdill.
50
For Australia, it’s now come to this,
Staring into a third world abyss,
With their back to the wall,
Robbing Peter to pay Paul,
As they power their grid, hit and miss.
340
Meanwhile, over in cool climate Canada, the Load shedding meme catches on with a twist. The US Military has generously opted to “Load Shed” part of it’s Military Inventory in Canada until spring. Guess they must have bought into the consensus prediction of Ice free by 2015 and prepared accordingly.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/navy-ship-montreal-stuck-1.4497416
110
Does anyone in South Australia have his head out in the sunshine. What I’ve been reading here day after day is a recipe for economic suicide. They’ll soon be self sufficient on renewables but won’t be doing a useful thing — the left’s ideal of how we’ll live in the future… …eating air because that will be the only thing left. It will be CO2 free air of course, thus South Australia saves the world.
Oh! You say you can’t eat air. Well then, try eating government regulations. There should be plenty of those to eat for quite a while. Or maybe you run to Tahiti or Hawaii. But be sure to use outrigger canoes as you go. You wouldn’t want to anger the gods of climate change.
170
I’m beginning to believe insanity is contagious. It must spread verbally from reading or listening to garbage. 🙁
100
So quick, cover your ears and eyes lest you too become infected.
50
I wish I could believe that what I just wrote is a joke, sarcasm or perhaps satire. But that has become impossible.
40
Roy Australia has become infected by the same PC virus that thrived under Obama’s rule, unlike most viruses PC spreads when people keep their mouths shut.
161
Roy,
You need to understand that these people are working to a script. Once they have drunken from the Koolaid cup, there is no going back.
They think that power stations are bad, because they convert the corpses of dead trees, in the form of coal, back into a form where the energy of the sun, captured millennia ago, can be re-released, and used again. One must respect the dead, even if they are eons old, dead trees.
They think that solar energy is good, because they capture the suns rays. But when you look at the level of toxicity, of the material used to capture the suns rays, well I know of no landfill or treatment station that will take them for disposal. The best solution I have heard is to send the chemical mix into the sun, where it might be safe.
They think that wind turbines are good, because the air is free. But these people have never visited a wind farm, and seen the bat and bird carcasses lying on the ground. They also do not realise that when the wind is too light, then power must be supplied to a wind mill to keep it turning, so that the bearings do not become distorted. On the other hand, they also do not understand that when the wind is too fast, the windmill blades must be feathered, in order to reduce the risk of bearing damage from the wind stress. So the blade spins, but nothing comes out.
Engineers build these things, because they can. They try various configurations, to learn what works best and what fails the most. It is part of their professional development. But I have yet to meet an engineer, who does not smirk, when the government of the day calls for “more renewable power sources”.
It is the golden rule. He who has the gold (the government), makes the rules. But the rule does not have to actually achieve very much at all. It has only to manifest something happening that might, in some distant galaxy, far, far, away, be beneficial to mankind on this planet in the next few months.
20
And behind the scenes there’s
that non-green-production.Say,
what are wind-turbines made of,
what are wind-turbines made of?
…Lotsa’ steel produced by coal.
pesky cement, that’s made with coal,
rare earths …best don’t go there,
that’s what three-hundred-feet-tall
-life-expectancy-fifteen -years-
wind-turbines-producing-very-
little energy – are made of.
10
So that is why the cheap and cheerful restaurant in the city of Adelaide where I had lunch yesterday had the air conditioning tuned off.
110
I think he just plays to that chip on the shoulder, bogan “we’ve been ripped orf!” element that seems to pervade at least half of the SA electorate. They love to hear that stuff even with the State falling part in plain sight.
60
It’s much more the city greenies and trendy PC types.
10
Agree, but he doesnt have to convince them of anything its fashionable for them to just believe and regurgitate the key phrases. The bogans dont really care , but if he can make it sound like he is defending SA from the big bad other States and the Feds they are probably stupid enough to keep voting Labor.
00
Doesn’t it need to be three days in row to be classed as a heat wave?
30
Lets not quibble, the south east is experiencing a heatwave and no cold fronts within cooee.
The blocking high over NZ is to blame, leaving Australia vulnerable to a swarm of unstable low pressures from the north.
30
No heat wave in Newcastle
I doubt it reached 30C today
50
WeatherZone does say “Extreme heatwave conditions will affect parts of southern Australia during the second half of this week.”
Will be interesting to see how SA and Vic power copes. 🙂
50
30C would at least be sweltering to the Icelandic exchange students that apparently write the weather news at Fairfax
10
AndyG55,
According to BoM,30C is the hottest day EEEEVVVVAAAAHHHHH experienced in Newcastle.
11
Yes. There is more than one definition of “heatwave” in use, but the one previously advocated by Trenberth and the BOM requires at least three days.
For the lazy: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=WMO+definition+of+heatwave+three
10
Thing is, there are a lot of people over 10 years old who would have experienced a genuine heatwave.
They just say, or think to themselves, “what the **** are BOM going on about”
BOM is slicing its own throat with is alarmist nonsense.
Very few people take them seriously any more.
21
I thought it used to be five days over 38C. Now it seems to be three days of 35C, although you could be forgiven for thinking a recent heatwave consisted of a second or two’s spike reaching 32C!
31
In WA, IIRC, we used to regard at least a week, usually two, of high 30s every day as a heatwave.
10
US digging out from under global warming/climate change nonsense.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/01/20/pentagon-erases-climate-change-from-the-national-defense-threat-list/
120
Progress.
70
Trump just slapped a 30% tariff on imported photovoltaic panels. Almost makes a balance with the incumbent 30% federal tax credit he’s inherited.
60
Now that is what I call good news!
Some sanity at last …
00
The SA Treasurer bragging that SA didnt have to load shed while being powered via VIC, reminds me a lot of the Iraqi Information Minister bragging that the Americans had been stopped from entering Baghdad, while the US tanks rolled through the shot behind him. The stupidity and unawareness beggars belief.
160
The minister for propaganda.
81
Perhaps the SA Treasurer and the ABC “political” reporter would also like to comment on wholesale electricity prices.
For SA the average wholesale price over the past 7 days was $383/MWhr (that’s 38 cents/KWhr wholesale!!) with up to 700 MW being supplied from Vic.
In Vic the average price was $278/MWhr. Vale Hazelwood. I wonder how many businesses curtailed production?
In Tas, thanks to dams, their price was $118/MWhr as they profited from the cable to Vic.
Meanwhile, north of the border where they still rely on coal instead of wind and gas, the 7 day average was $76 in NSW and $68/MWhr in Qld.
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t”. William Shakespeare
“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity”. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“In politics stupidity is not a handicap”. Napoleon Bonaparte
120
And what percentage of SA’s load was provided by wind and solar?
50
Anywhere between 5-50%, and that variability is the problem.
10
Subsidies could help electric cars
This file photo taken on April 20, 2015 shows a Tesla Model S P85d car displayed at the 16th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai. Around 80 owners of a Tesla Model S P85D cars in Norway file a case against US carmaker for misleading advertising, the Norwegian newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv said on January 11, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE
TRAVIS WALLER
The technology provides adaptability, and can be as green as a society wants it to be.
40
COMMENT
Vehicle least suited to our roads
JUDITH SLOAN
What is Josh Frydenberg thinking? If there ever was a country less suited to electric vehicles, it’s Australia.
The Australian
140
Small electric cars ‘pollute less’
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg talks to the media in Melbourne, Sunday, December 10, 2017. (AAP Image/Mal Fairclough) NO ARCHIVING
BEN PACKHAM
Josh Frydenberg has rejected findings that electric vehicles have a bigger carbon footprint than conventional cars.
30
For the 12 months ending 30 June 2016:
The estimated number of motor vehicles registered in Australia was 18.2 million.
These vehicles travelled an estimated total of 249,512 million kilometres in Australia, with an average 13,716 kilometres per vehicle.
Total fuel consumption by all road registered vehicles was 32,732 megalitres.
Freight vehicles in Australia travelled an estimated 204,575 million tonne kilometres.
PASSENGER VEHICLES MADE UP THE MAJORITY OF THE FLEET
The total number of registered vehicles was made up of:
13,712,810 passenger vehicles (75.4%)
3,550,097 freight vehicles (19.5%) and
The remaining 5.1% (928,768) comprised of buses, motor cycles and non-freight carrying trucks.
Of the freight vehicles, 84.0% (2,983,034) were light commercial vehicles, 13.3% (470,849) were rigid trucks and 2.7% (96,214) were articulated trucks.
ABS
80
‘My critics will be driving electric cars’
Josh Frydenberg
11:22AMRACHEL BAXENDALE
Josh Frydenberg says electric vehicles will revolutionise transport in the same way the iPhone transformed communications.
40
Taxpayer funding to encourage leasing of Tesla EV …
https://www.motoring.com.au/government-announces-finance-incentive-for-evs-108826/
10
Actually i think autonomous vehicles will cause problems for parking towers and local govt parking inspectors ( and govt revenue…) ….imagine you could program your AV ( autonomous veeee-hickle ) to take itself off and park in a distant suburb, then whistle it up via your iphone to pick you up at 5pm…..even outside the pub….
Now imagine you could get it to hop from free 2 hour parking spot to spot, so youd never get a fine…..
Of course, if you were nasty and could program it to drive through a crowded mall for nefarious purposes, or worse deliver an ampho payload by itself to a precise location avec timer….
Presumably in this age of carefully crafted gummint paranoia and a cowering trained public, all AVs would need some form of remote shutdown capability by the Constabulary and on-board intetnal monitoring…for our safety of course…
And i guess if its all electric, we can charge it everywhere….assuming we have any power … of course it will be windy occasionally…and like a sailing ship we will be able to move when its windy…oh hang on, thus is the future isnt it?
/sarc
10
Do you mean ANFO instead of ampho? Ammonium nitrate/fuel oil is somewhat more hazardous than ammonium phosphate.
00
Dennis,
Electric vehicles might be Josh’s equivalent to Stupid-Bloody-Rudd’s-Hybrids (that we would all be driving by 2017).
00
Dont really agree with her about Australia being least suited. We have a benign climate generally, we have very large cities with urban sprawl. I think EVs have a place , they arent the answer to everything as though its a black/white choice, but for city people with off street parking/charging why not? especially if its not the only car.
We are regional so it makes zero sense for us just due to range. Hybrids would work for us but I dont see a compelling reason to buy one unless you are part of the AGW religion.
41
Australia will need to radically and rapidly increase the availability of electricity. Oh well! What other brilliant ideas do the Liberals have?
40
Unfortunately, the same brilliant ideas that Labor have under the present leadership and executive.
40
There is no difference between lib and lab…like deocrat and republican…but once you dig in…all is globalist….
30
not really, take up would happen over time. We can dramatise it but the reality is that a million cars wont arrive overnight. Personally I wish they would as it would crystallise a crisis and not just have the death of 1000 cuts and layers of BS rationalisations.
10
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/penrith-swelters-while-florida-freezes-climate-disruption-is-to-blame-20180107-h0ewb2.html
The target is on the most ve again
70
Its truly amazing that the weather on opposite sides of the planet, during opposite seasons, can be so different isnt it. Wow! so newsworthy.
70
Sh$t….move again
20
Gavin is sceptical:
22 Jan: ScientificAmerican: Cleaning Up Air Pollution May Strengthen Global Warming
New research is helping quantify just how big that effect might be
By Chelsea Harvey
That means efforts worldwide to clean up the air may cause an increase in warming, as well as other climate effects, as this pollution disappears…
A study published this month in the journal Geophysical Research Letters suggests that eliminating the human emission of aerosols—tiny, air-polluting particles often released by industrial activities—could result in additional global warming of anywhere from half a degree to 1 degree Celsius.
This would virtually ensure that the planet will warm beyond the most stringent climate targets outlined in the Paris climate agreement…
“Since we’re trying to keep to a 1.5- or 2-degree target, then this is something we still need to keep in mind,” said Bjørn Samset, a climate scientist at Norway’s CICERO Center for International Climate Research and the study’s lead author…
Scientists have long known that some types of pollution can actually help cool the climate…
These results are in line with other studies that have investigated the cooling “mask” of aerosols…
Some scientists have already pushed for caution when interpreting the new study’s results.
“While aerosols are linked to many of the activities related to CO2 emissions (coal burning, deforestation), there is not a one-to-one correspondence,” noted climatologist Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, in a Twitter thread commenting on the new research. “You cannot assume that net zero CO2 emissions must also imply zero anthropogenic aerosol emissions.”
As a result, he added, it’s important to note that anthropogenic aerosols “will not suddenly disappear and make global warming much worse.”…
What remains clear, though, is that the full extent of human-caused global warming is still revealing itself — and the future may be more severe than the past would seem to suggest.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cleaning-up-air-pollution-may-strengthen-global-warming/
a momentary temp spike in Penrith and a 7Tennis claim about a courtside thermometer make world news, but mostly the following is ignored, except for local media:
22 Jan: LaPlagnetFrance: Stuart Hamilton: Record-breaking snow in La Plagne
It is a season of superlatives
Almost 4m of snow have accumulated at high altitudes breaking all historical records and keeping La Plagne as the 2nd snowiest resort in France right now.
The sun will shine again on Tuesday and Wednesday while more snow is forecast for Friday and Saturday…
VIDEOS: 22 Jan: InTheSnow: Patrick Thorne: Resorts in the Alps Head Towards Record Snowfall Stats
Resorts reported up to 3.3m (11 feet) of snow in the 7 days to Sunday and the number of resorts passing the 4m snow depth total on upper slopes has continued to grow with Andermatt, Flaine, Laax, La Rosiere, Les Arcs, Murren, Saas Fee, St Anton and Verbier all now having more than 4 metres of snow on their upper runs.
Engelberg now reports a 625cm (21 feet) base and Crans Montana a 6.5m (22 feet) base on their upper slopes, the deepest in the Alps for some years.
Courchevel says it has had 549cm of snowfall this season so far, the most since the 1979-80 season…
All the snow is not great news in the short term however as the avalanche danger is up to maximum level 5 again in some areas, and nearly max level at most others. This means that many ski areas have been entirely, or mostly closed…
https://www.inthesnow.com/resorts-alps-head-towards-record-snowfall-stats/
19 Jan: InTheSnow: Patrick Thorne: Austria Snow Report and Forecast to 26th January 2018
It’s turning in to a truly epic season in Austria with base depths constantly on the climb as the snow continues to dump down…
Snow depths on the Dachstein glacier have now increased to 5.3m, equalling the deepest in the world at present in Engelberg, Switzerland and bases at Austria’s other glacier ski areas have crept up towards the 4m mark too – the best for many years.
Even non-glacier resorts like St Anton have huge bases – now at 355cm (almost 12 feet) following another 45cm of snowfall in the past few days.
There’s no sign of any let up.
22 Jan: UK DailyRecord: Michael Reynolds: Desperate man cut off for seven days by snow in Dumfriesshire rescued after two hour search
After four hours walking through heavy snow in an attempt to reach the nearest village, the 64-year-old was forced to call for help…
The team, from Moffat, arrived after dark and after trying to drive towards the man had to abandon their vehicle and spend a further two hours on foot to track him down…
Moffat Mountain Rescue had been involved in helping drivers stranded on the M74 last week after sudden snow fall ground the motorway to a standstill…
70
Interesting. About time.
Darn, they didn’t claim more extreme weather such as heatwaves? That’s a departure from the official script.
Direct solar insolation warms the atmospheric gases, except the noble gases, to a limiting temperature, so someone is guessing.
20
VIDEO/PICS: 22 Jan: GlobalNewsCanada: BC ski hills forced to close due to record snowfall, high winds
By Amy Judd
Some of B.C.’s ski hills received so much snow this weekend, they were actually forced to close.
Snow fell all weekend and overnight Sunday, overwhelming some of the mountains and making conditions unsafe.
After more than 100 centimetres fell at Mount Washington Ski Resort over a 24 hour period, the resort was forced to close Sunday…
VIDEO: WATCH: Dozens of people forced to spend the night at Mount Washington resort
Dozens of people, including a scout troop, were stranded due to the conditions.
The snow also forced the closure of the road to the mountain in both directions.
https://globalnews.ca/news/3979478/bc-ski-hills-forced-close-record-snowfall-high-winds/
following, while not a major snow event, is a familiar tale!
22 Jan: PoconoRecord Pennsylvania: More snow than expected
By Kelly Monitz
Many meteorologists missed the snow totals that the Hazleton area received from a storm Tuesday into Wednesday, but a group of local weather enthusiasts had the numbers right.
Anthracite Region Accuvision Weather, which has a Facebook presence, predicted higher amounts from the start, while others were going with more conservative numbers…
Rich Lazar, one of the meteorology hobbyists for the page, measured just under 8 inches in his backyard in Harleigh, but had reports of anywhere from 7 to 9 inches in the area.
He credits studying the model guidance and real-time data, including looking at surface temperatures, winds and their direction, radar and discussions with people who have more knowledge for the call.
***The National Weather Service in Binghamton, New York, predicted lesser amounts for our area but upgraded the forecast for the Poconos. Other media outlets were also going with lower totals, likely because they were looking at more conservative weather models, said Pete Bard, another member of the group…
Receiving much different initial forecasts, area road crews weren’t expecting a prolonged storm but managed to keep up with plows out clearing roads.
“We’re doing good. We have everything open,” said Frank Vito, director of public works in Hazleton. “We’ve been battling this storm for 30 hours. It started at 7 a.m. (Tuesday).”…
http://www.poconorecord.com/news/20180121/more-snow-than-expected
60
the CAGW-infested Davos event is not going well!
behind paywall:
At Davos, 6 Feet of Snow Brings Luxury Shuttles to a Crawl
New York Times· 2h ago
Heavy Snow Humbles the Global Elite at Davos Summit
U.S. News & World Report· 42m ago
22 Jan: Bloomberg: Heavy Snowfall Disrupts Davos
By Jan Dahinten
Presentations by ABB and UBS hit as road traffic halted
Swiss resort faces high risk of avalanches, institute says
The World Economic Forum was disrupted as the heaviest snowfall in the annual meeting’s 48-year history delayed the arrival of executives at the Swiss resort…
Traffic on the road leading up to Europe’s highest town came to a standstill, forcing Swiss engineering group ABB Ltd. to cancel the appearance of its Chief Executive Officer Ulrich Spiesshofer at a media briefing about sustainable transport. The late arrival of equipment also caused Swiss bank UBS Group AG to delay a presentation, while the gathering’s official opening was half an hour behind schedule…
“We have a lot problems with the snow,” the town’s mayor Tarzisius Caviezel told reporters on Monday. “In the past 48 hours came more than 2 meters of snow and that’s a big problem because we have to transport the snow out of Davos.”
Caviezel said authorities had tried to trigger avalanches in the surrounding area earlier in the day by using helicopters to set off controlled explosions, but only two out of 10 attempts had been successful…
Snow depths in Davos reached 1.75 meters (5.7 feet) on Monday, the most for the Jan. 15 to Jan. 25 period since 1951 and the second-highest since records began in 1931, said Stephan Bader, a climatologist at the Federal Office for Meteorology and Climatology…
Local newspaper Suedostschweiz reported on its website that Davos’s local council rejected a bid by the Social Democrats and Young Socialists to hold an anti-Trump protest during the U.S. president’s planned visit on Thursday. Officials cited a lack of space due to the large amounts of snow on the town’s roads and squares, the newspaper said…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-22/davos-disrupted-as-executives-gather-amid-snowiest-ever-meeting
110
Ha ha ha! Love this:
“Traffic on the road leading up to Europe’s highest town came to a standstill, forcing Swiss engineering group ABB Ltd. to cancel the appearance of its Chief Executive Officer Ulrich Spiesshofer at a media briefing about sustainable transport.”
And they can’t even make the usual bogus claims about the worst evah… but, of course, it can still be used for the ‘extreme weather’ story.
Thanks for posting this pat.
100
All those attendees hoping to have some decent skiing before, during, and after the conference.
Yes, “good” conditions all right … 🙂
20
The swiss have 100mm howitzers to shoot shells into snow ovethangs…this collapses dangerous snow drifts and removes avalanche risks…and MOABs for avalanche control….very cool…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalanche_control
“Among the newest methods, strategically placed remote controlled installations that generate an air blast by detonating a fuel-air explosive above the snow pack in an avalanche starting zone, offer fast and effective response to avalanche control decisions while minimizing the risk to avalanche control personnel; a feature especially important for avalanche control in transportation corridors.
For example, the Avalanche Towers (Sprengmast) installed in Switzerland, Austria, and Norway use solar powered launchers to deploy charges from a magazine containing 12 radio controlled charges.
The magazines can be transported, loaded, and removed from the towers by helicopter, without the need for a flight assistant, or on site personnel.”
10
most hilarious report so far:
22 Jan: IndiaToday: WEF meet opens with Popes message, heavy snow
by Barun Jha, PTI
WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab declared the summit open amid the ski-resort receiving record snowfall…
Schwab welcomed members from business, politics, academia and media as well as the first timers with a round of applause.
He also said all are here despite such weather as “we are all part of a community”.
“Participants are here because they are part of a multi- stakeholder community. No stakeholder alone can address the complex global agenda effectively,” Schwab said.
He also invoked the spirit of Davos and asked everyone to come not only with their brain but with their soul and heart.
The Pope passionately called upon participants to overcome fragmentation between states and institutions and work together to facilitate more inclusive approaches in an increasingly globalised world…
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, among others, were present.
The winners of WEFs Crystal awards — cine star Shah Rukh Khan, music icon Elton John and Hollywood actor Cate Blanchett — were also in attendance…
https://www.indiatoday.in/pti-feed/story/wef-meet-opens-with-popes-message-heavy-snow-1151908-2018-01-23
10
comment in moderation re:
most hilarious report so far:
22 Jan: IndiaToday: WEF meet opens with Popes message, heavy snow
40
22 Jan: WaPo: Lawrence H. Summers: Trump doesn’t deserve credit for all the economic good news
(Lawrence Henry Summers … is an American economist, former Vice President of Development Economics and Chief Economist of the World Bank … senior U.S. Treasury Department official throughout President Clinton’s administration …and former director of the National Economic Council for President Obama – Wikipedia)
President Trump will be attending the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. Inevitably, attention will focus on whether the president projects a commitment to internationalist values or reiterates his truculent nationalism in the name of making America “great again.” Attention will also focus on the durability of the current economic and market upswing that has buoyed the spirits of businesses and investors around the world.
While Trump will probably try to take credit for all the economic good news, it is ***unlikely that he deserves it…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-doesnt-deserve-credit-for-all-the-economic-good-news/2018/01/21/1e7b8ee4-fd43-11e7-8f66-2df0b94bb98a_story.html?utm_term=.8ab02e1838bd
Trump tax cuts lifting world economy: IMF
The Australian-8 hours ago
IMF Says Global Growth Picking Up as US Tax Cuts Take Hold
Bloomberg· 8h ago
IMF raises global growth forecast, sees Trump tax boost
Reuters· 5h ago
22 Jan: EuroNews: Davos 2018: What to expect this year
By Cristina Abellan Matamoros
Here’s what to expect from the 48th World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.
The forum’s organisers hope the attendees – including heads of state, business leaders, and ???celebrities -will look at ways of renewing their commitment to international cooperation in areas like technology, climate change, and the global economy, according to a press release…
The environment does matter
Another big area of discussion will be the environment and establishing how to meet the commitments set out by the Paris climate agreement to limit ***global warming…
Bad weather
The assembly could be hampered by severe weather on Thursday. The Swiss resort is currently blanketed by thick snow and the avalanche risk is high, ***but organisers say the weather should improve in time for the summit…
Donald Trump’s closing remarks
Another highly anticipated speech is US President Donald Trump’s closing remarks on Thursday (January 26).
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders has said Trump will use his attendance at the forum to “advance his America First agenda with world leaders”.
“At this year’s World Economic Forum, the president looks forward to promoting his policies to strengthen American businesses, American industries, and American workers,” said a statement…
http://www.euronews.com/2018/01/22/davos-2018-what-to-expect-this-year
if only our pollies – and others – would take care of business at home.
80
My first reaction to the news of all the snow in Davos…Al Gore must be around, or planning to be. My second is wondering how that snow will be spun to blame humanity again (all the air-miles elites excluded, of course /sarc).
100
Annie
Likely – I saw somewhere that he’s something in the hierarchy
20
Seeming more to me that renewables are the electricity industry’s “100 miles per gallon carburetor”
50
Ive got one of those on my old Morris. Just like renewables its about 30% efficient so really I only get 30mpg ish. But any day now, just around the corner, over the horizon, under development is the upgrade that will make it 100mpg. Just needs that fairy dust.
80
I was always impressed about how easy it was to run engines on metho fumes…efficient….
00
Reminds of the old days (and still today) how people claim that magnets on fuel line in cars are supposed to provide lower fuel consumption. It has been proven many times to be a con. Likewise real science has already been used to prove renewables are a con but not many people today bother to check the facts.
61
Peter
Remember the joke of the day about the bloke who fitted all of those things that were available?
He got stopped by a cop because his fuel tank was overflowing.
30
No but I do recall Peter Brock’s HDT Polariser, which used crystals and magnets. I thought he was smarter than that.
41
That old chorus
“My God how the money rolls in”.
Thought of just now – the ribald version of that likely could be re-worded to fit the CAGW theme
10
Another Ian,
I had to stop several times to siphon the fuel out of my tank to prevent it from overflowing.
00
I hope some of you are following the revelations pouring out on the political scandal in the USA. It shows how far the left in the USA were prepared to go. I think, in time, we will see similar breaking news about the activities behind the AGW scam ( or at least I hope we do).
This video is worth watching all the way through but if you don’t have time look at the few minutes starting at about 17 mins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa95jLxZfc4
For those wanting to following the on going story I recommend The Conservative Treehouse site. They have been forensically writing about it for months.
90
It’s much worse here for two main reasons. Both major parties are left wing, and most voters dislike conservatives. There is only one possible way for Australia to change direction – first go through a catastrophic economic collapse to flush out the leftists, and then perhaps most people will wake up to the fact that leftist socialism is deadly to a nation in many ways, not least of which economically and socially. I’m afraid that’s the only path we have given most voters are zombies when it comes to politics, economics and the fabric of society. History is full of examples.
50
Peter there won’t be an economic collapse, the FTA is a terrific platform.
SYDNEY (Reuters) – ‘Australia’s annual wine exports to China jumped 63 percent by value in 2017, industry figures showed on Tuesday, as high-end sales rose and a free trade agreement signed two years ago cut import duties.’
20
The new world order cannot afford to let us collapse, we are a quarry and have huge agribusiness potential.
The punters reckon Labor will win the next election with Bill at the helm, then they will join Beijing’s Belt and Road scheme.
It’ll be curtains for the right.
10
No, the new world order can’t happen until after the West has collapsed. The West in its current form would not allow it to rise. Once the collapse happens, most people will be begging for someone to take complete control just to get out of the chaos.
30
Just like the dire circumstances in 1930s Germany…what could possibly go wrong?
If you accept this whole mess is being deliberately set up ( hint…it seems to be… ) then its on a predetermined trajectory and will be ugly….
30
Not necessary to believe it’s deliberate. It’s human nature. Has been since the beginning. History is full of proof of that.
20
Um…you just mentioned the new world order….
00
That’s because the new world order is not a conspiracy – it’s a symptom of a greater problem that keeps repeating throughout history. Don’t you read history?
00
the Chines can operate heavy machinery and farm I believe
10
read all:
23 Jan: Bloomberg: Trump Taxes Solar Imports in Biggest Blow to Renewables Yet
By Brian Eckhouse, Ari Natter, and Chris Martin; With assistance by Jennifer A Dlouhy, Chris Martin, Joe Ryan, Derek Wallbank, and Sarah McGregor
President approves four years of tariffs starting at 30%
Tariffs set to gradually decline to 15 percent in fourth year
The U.S. will impose duties of as much as 30 percent on solar equipment made abroad, a move that threatens to handicap a $28 billion industry that relies on parts made abroad for 80 percent of its supply…
The tariffs are just the latest action Trump has taken that undermine the economics of renewable energy. The administration has already decided to pull the U.S. out of the international Paris climate agreement, rolled back Obama-era regulations on power plant-emissions and passed sweeping tax reforms that constrained financing for solar and wind. The import taxes, however, will prove to be the most targeted strike on the industry yet.
“Developers may have to walk away from their projects,” said Hugh Bromley, a New York-based analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “Some rooftop solar companies may have to pull out” of some states…
U.S. panel maker First Solar Inc. jumped 9 percent to $75.20 in after-hours trading in New York. The Tempe, Arizona-based manufacturer stands to gain as costs for competing, foreign panels rise…
***The first 2.5 gigawatts of imported solar cells are exempt for each year, the president said in an emailed statement…
The duties are lower than the 35 percent rate the U.S. International Trade Commission recommended in October after finding that imported panels were harming American manufacturers. The idea behind the tariffs is to raise the costs of cheap imports, particularly from Asia, and level the playing field for those who manufacture the parts domestically…
American solar installers including SunPower Corp., Vivint Solar Inc. and Sunrun Inc. jumped in after-hours trading. “A 30 percent tariff in Year One is bad,” said Gordon Johnson, a New York-based analyst at the Vertical Group, but “it’s less than what the consensus was.”
Jigar Shah, co-founder of investor Generate Capital Inc. and an outspoken advocate for the solar industry, went as far as to describe the decision as “good news.” The tariffs are “exactly what the solar industry asked for behind closed doors” to prevent a negative impact on companies, he said…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-22/trump-taxes-solar-imports-in-biggest-blow-to-clean-energy-yet
20
Did Weatherill mention that South Australia is one of the loads that Victoria might shed?
140
…and dont forget to flush….
10
I’m so confused by all these numbers. How many Tasmanias worth of electricity are we talking about?
40
Extreme H,
To stop being confused by numbers – THE CO2 HORSESH*T HAS TO STOP.
10
Right now South Australia is relying on the interconnector again
70
Relying on? or just taking the cheapest supply?
There will be political points to score by not firing up local generators even if already paid for. Bit like the Libs in VIC not taking desal water, just on principal even though the money is sunk.
20
[…] forgot to mention they shed their load in advance. Gone from the SA power load: Mitsubishi, GMH, Plastics Granulating Services (Recyclers), Caroma […]
10
you MUST see the pic of the snipers…this just gets funnier and funnier:
23 Jan: Reuters: Heavy snow humbles the global elite at Davos summit
by Noah Barkin, Silvia Aloisi
The global economy and geopolitical tensions are taking a back seat to a more immediate problem at this year’s Davos summit of political and business leaders: heavy snow is burying the venue.
PHOTO CAPTION: Snipers hold their position on the roof of a hotel during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in the Swiss Alps resort of Davos, Switzerland January 22, 2018
High in the Swiss alps on Monday, on the eve of the opening sessions, many of the roughly 3,000 delegates struggled to reach the ski resort. Part of the main train line into Davos had been buried in snow over the weekend, forcing people onto buses, and helicopters were disrupted by poor visibility.
Some pre-summit meetings were canceled or delayed as the first waves of delegates waded through snow-blanketed streets with luggage, looking for their hotels, or had to wait for road crews to dig their limousines out of drifts.
Businessmen slipped over on icy patches as snow plows roamed the streets, with the snow returning as fast as the machines could clear it.
World Economic Forum communications chief Adrian Monck said it appeared to be the heaviest snowfall for the four-decades-old summit since 1999-2000, though he described it as more of an inconvenience than a real threat to attendance.
“We know the snow causes inconvenience and it puts a lot of pressure on the city of Davos as a host but so far we have not seen any drop-off in registrations,” Monck said.
With the weather forecast to clear on Tuesday, organizers are hoping transport will start to operate more smoothly and will be running without a hitch by the time U.S. President Donald Trump arrives on Friday to give the closing address…
“When Trump comes on Friday it is far from obvious whether he will be able to use a fleet of large helicopters to land in Davos,” said a source close to the organizing committee. “Large helicopters increase the risk of avalanches.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-davos-meeting-snow/heavy-snow-humbles-the-global-elite-at-davos-summit-idUSKBN1FB2XM
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Pity it isnt in Germany with the chance of a blackout, the picture of the delegates buried in snow, in the renewable dark, railing about global warming would be sweet.
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Yup…as the emergency lights flicker and go out….and in one fell swoop as the temperature plummets, potentially one large chunk of humanities problems will go with it….
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take a look. love the banners for CNBC, Fox Business being cleared:
VIDEO: 42secs: 22 Jan: SwissInfo: Davos in the snow
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/wef-weather_davos-in-the-snow/43841848
scroll down for the 3 consecutive pics, whose captions begin with the following descriptions. my favourite is the “people walk in the snow” one:
23 Jan: GlobalTimesChina: Swiss resorts of Davos, Zermatt and Andermatt under snow siege
PHOTO CAPTION: People walk in the snow in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2018.
PHOTO CAPTION: A worker removes snow from a way in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2018
PHOTO CAPTION: A vehicle is covered in snow in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2018
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1086111.shtml
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the revision was inevitable. note the 5.7 feet goes to 25 Jan, so maybe the snow will be deeper by then:
comment #32: Bloomberg 10 hrs ago: The World Economic Forum was disrupted as the heaviest snowfall in the annual meeting’s 48-year history delayed the arrival of executives at the Swiss resort…
Snow depths in Davos reached 1.75 meters (5.7 feet) on Monday, the most for the Jan. 15 to Jan. 25 period since 1951 and the second-highest since records began in 1931, said Stephan Bader, a climatologist at the Federal Office for Meteorology and Climatology…
23 Jan: ChinaNationalNews: Global leaders arrive in snowy Davos, Trump creates a stir
by Sheetal Sukhija
The forum was however started with disruptions as the heaviest snowfall in the annual meeting’s 48-year history delayed the arrival of executives at the Swiss resort…
According to authorities, some 4,000 police and troops have been dispatched to the snowy mountains to keep the world’s elite safe.
On Monday, Stephan Bader, a climatologist at the Federal Office for Meteorology and Climatology said in a statement, snow depths in Davos reached 5.7 feet, the most for the January 15 to January 25 period since 1951 and the second-highest since records began in 1931…
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now it’s only the heaviest in 20 years, looking at past six days:
Snow falling on leaders: ‘exceptional’ winter weather delays VIP arrivals to Davos
The Guardian · 2 hours ago
Heaviest snowfall for 20 years disrupts traffic, slips up business chiefs and threatens to block the landing of VIP helicopters…
“In the last six days, 159 centimetres (63 inches) of snow fell on Davos (…) a fall that we observe only every 20 years,” Switzerland’s Institute for the Study of Snow and Avalanches said in an evening bulletin…
down to 18 years here:
23 Jan – 1 hr ago: EconomicTimesIndia: PM Narendra Modi to share his vision for new India at Davos
By Arijit Barman
DAVOS: With premier heads of state, top global CEOs, thought leaders, celebrities and snow — the most in 18 years — all descending on the Swiss ski resort of Davos, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to emphasising his government’s vision of a New IndiaBSE 0.22 %, positioning himself and the country as a democracy willing to engage with all comers in a friendly, multi-dimensional manner.
That’s in contrast with the protectionist rhetoric spewing out of the White House and the expansionist policies of China…
Even if India is tipped to take the top slot as a competitive, dynamic, high-growth economy, China’s is five times larger and India’s red tape still frustrates many foreign investors…
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can’t find the longer history:
J2SKI: Davos Upper and Lower Slope Snow Depth History
This chart shows the snow depth changes in Davos through the current ski season, compared to the previous winter.
Davos – Deepest Snow by Season
Snow reported by Davos so far in 2017/2018 has hit 300cm (9.84252 feet) on Monday 22nd January 2018.
Snow reported by Davos in the 2016/2017 ski season reached 182cm on Thursday 9th March 2017.
https://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast/Switzerland/Davos_snow_history.html
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They should send all those children who wont know what snow looks like, to Davos.
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The MTPASA result published on 23 January 2018 shows Low Reserve Conditions (LRC) in South Australia and Victoria for summer 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. Please note that MTPASA informs the market of potential LRC’s to allow the market to respond in the first instance, potentially avoiding the need for any market intervention or direction from AEMO. As such, the MTPASA forecast does not incorporate many of the actions taken by AEMO to improve reliability this summer.
I can’t see the actual report as yet.
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In masterful form, Harmsen described the Lack of Reserve level 2 (LOR2) notice as meaning “there is a small buffer of surplus left”
My father was not musical. The only song he liked was Yes, We Have Non Bananas. I never asked him why. Maybe my father admired the way the fruit-seller of the song manages to turn a negative to a positive by mere word trickery.
The SA government might well be singing: “Yes, we have plenty of lack of electricity. No lack of lack today!”
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22 Jan: CNBC: At Davos, 6 feet of snow brings luxury shuttles to a crawl
by Keith Bradsher, New York Times
Fat, damp snowflakes have been tumbling down for the past six days, burying the town in six feet of snow, three feet of it in the last two days alone…
Head-high snow drifts quickly piled up along the roads, leaving no place for street plows to push more snow. Sidewalks completely disappeared. Pedestrians slipped and slid in traffic between huge trucks and luxury minivans on streets carpeted with compacted ice several inches thick…
Just two weeks ago, 13,000 tourists were stranded at the foot of the Matterhorn by heavy snow and rain. But the timing of the snowfall — on the eve of the World Economic Forum’s annual conference — has had an outsize impact.
By Sunday night, heavy snow had already blocked the rail line through the Alps from Zurich, and villages along the route were at the highest level of avalanche alert. Swiss Rail began unloading Davos-bound passengers from their express trains, taking them on a half-hour bus trip on back roads around the blockage and then loading them onto a crowded red commuter train that ran the rest of the way into Davos.
“What shall we do,” the mayor of Davos, Tarzisius Caviezel, said at a news conference on Monday, admitting he was at a loss for how to respond. “It’s impossible.”…
There was too much snow to find places to put in the narrow, steep-sloped valley, he explained, and no easy way to take it anywhere else. That throngs of uber-wealthy conference goers and their entourages were trying to push their way toward Davos did not help. A giant purple freight truck wound up in a snow bank on Monday morning across the street from the conference center, temporarily paralyzing the already slow-moving traffic.
“We can do nothing,” Mr. Caviezel said, except wait for better weather to arrive, perhaps some time on Tuesday, and gradually dig out…
The mayor had been expected to be joined at the news conference by Ulrich Spiesshofer, the chief executive of ABB, the Zurich-based multinational. ABB makes some of the world’s brawniest electrical power equipment for the world’s harshest and most remote locations. But Mr. Spiesshofer arrived late because his car was stuck in traffic.
In perhaps the most harrowing indignity for the plutocrats who have made the World Economic Forum their favorite winter meeting ground, even the town’s helicopter pad was closed because of the snowstorm. By early afternoon, a quarter-mile trip in one of the ubiquitous black luxury minivans with plush leather seats that shuttle participants around the town took nearly an hour.
***Linda P. Fried, the dean of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, allowed three hours at midday on Monday to travel from her hotel to the uncrowded registration center nearby and then a few blocks to the conference. But because of the gridlock, she was a half-hour late to give her speech. The topic had been the health risks that arise from climate change.
“I’ve been coming for eight years and this is the worst I’ve seen it,” she said. But she bristled when asked whether some — like perhaps President Trump — might question the incongruity of discussing global warming during a blizzard.
“It isn’t accurate, people just don’t understand, that’s not the metric,” she said…
***Climate scientists have long warned that rising emissions of greenhouse gases by humanity may cause weather extremes, and not just heat waves. But it is hard to link any single weather event to climate change.
Still, there were some who liked the snow: avid skiers.
“I skied here as a kid,” said Anthony Couse, the chief executive for Asia at Jones Lang LaSalle Property Consultants, “and there definitely was not this much snow.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/22/at-davos-6-feet-of-snow-brings-luxury-shuttles-to-a-crawl.html
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I shouldn’t worry. Christine Lagarde and the rest of the Undead can just turn on their tanning lamps. Zombies always travel with plenty. Gives ’em that almost-human look.
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22 Jan: InTheSnow: Patrick Thorne: Resorts in the Alps Head Towards Record Snowfall Stats
January snowfall totals are getting so big that resorts in the Alps are getting close to record snow depths and snowfall totals.
Resorts reported up to 3.3m (11 feet) of snow in the 7 days to Sunday and the number of resorts passing the 4m snow depth total on upper slopes has continued to grow with Andermatt, Flaine, Laax, La Rosiere, Les Arcs, Murren, Saas Fee, St Anton and Verbier all now having more than 4 metres of snow on their upper runs.
Engelberg now reports a 625cm (21 feet) base and Crans Montana a 6.5m (22 feet) base on their upper slopes, the deepest in the Alps for some years.
Courchevel says it has had 549cm of snowfall this season so far, the most since the 1979-80 season…
All the snow is not great news in the short term however as the avalanche danger is up to maximum level 5 again in some areas, and nearly max level at most others. This means that many ski areas have been entirely, or mostly closed…
Wengen, Andermatt and Saas Fee are also reported to be cut off…
https://www.inthesnow.com/resorts-alps-head-towards-record-snowfall-stats/
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AUDIO: 39mins: 22 Jan: Heartland: Climate Alarmists Make Absurd, Contradictory Claims on Cold and Snow
By Marc Morano, H. Sterling Burnett
Al Gore and Michael ‘Hockey Stick’ Mann’s most recent absurd claim states global warming caused the recent record cold spell. This claim is inconsistent with their previous claims and is empirically false.
Marc Morano, director of Climate Depot, discusses the most recent absurd claim made by Al Gore. Gore, citing work by Michael Mann, shows how the recent record setting cold spell and snowfall results from human induced climate change.
Morano examines previous statements by climate scientists stating how climate change spells the end of winter and snow. He shows how, in prediction after prediction, climate alarmists make diametrically opposed claims with little or no science to back them up.
Morano exposes how, no matter what weather event is taking place, climate alarmists always claim it’s a sign of human induced climate change.
https://www.heartland.org/multimedia/podcasts/marc-morano-climate-alarmists-make-absurd-contradictory-claims-on-cold-and-snow
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It’s a little off topic I know, but it is still related to power consumption and how it is (inexorably) rising.
Some of you may remember I mentioned on the weekend that power consumption would rise on the Monday, (yesterday) because the schools start up again, and there would be an excess power draw from the air conditioning in classrooms.
Well, as I expected that did indeed happen.
The comparison I did was last to use last Monday, a normal working day, with yesterday, again, a normal working day, only this time with school starting back up, so look at this, and all figures are for yesterday with comparison to the same time last Monday, and keep in mind this is just for Queensland.
Yesterday:
8AM – Plus 1100MW
9AM – Plus 1400MW
Midday – Plus 1700MW
3PM – Plus 2000MW
5PM – Plus 1500MW
I’m going to keep an eye on it, but today, the Tuesday, the day after, the figures were almost the same for all time slots again.
Now, why I mention this, is that something similar happens next week when schools start up in NSW, and then Victoria, and then to a somewhat lesser exrtent in SouthAus and Tasmania, only because they have considerably less power consumption.
I’m not sure, but I am sort of expecting NSW to be have a higher increase, but again, I’ll be watching and taking a screen print for both days to show the difference.
Now, add that extra consumption together, and you can see why February has always been problematic for higher power consumption days, and there could be the probability that we could see some days with 33000MW Plus in the way of power consumption for those five States.
Then we will see how far the grid gets stretched.
Can you also see why politicians and especially those green oriented ones and their followers are totally clueless when it comes to where the power comes from, and then where it goes to.
They say on the one hand that we need a suitable learning environment for our students so they do not have problems, and then they complain bitterly about air conditioning in private homes, when that specifically is not the problem it is thought to be.
Either way, I am taking the data and proof via those Load Curves for the relevant days. This is the first time I have done something like this, so it’s a nice thing (for me anyway) to seemingly make a bold prediction before the event, and then to see it proved.
Incidentally, only one coal fired Unit in each State is currently down, and for the last three working days now, the Base Load has been well up beyond 19000MW, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 20000MW day coming soon, and that actually is unheard of.
And notice that the only time you hear about coal fired power is when one Unit fails, and that was only for an hour and a half. You’ll NEVER hear that the vast bulk of them run constantly, day in day out, supplying the electrical power that those who complain cannot do without themselves.
When you have a Government going cap in hand to big Industry and asking them to shut down because they need the power, that is CRIMINAL.
Imagine the lawsuits if Coles and Woolies stores start to get shut down, and they have to throw out everything.
Lawsuits from them, lawsuits if tall buildings get shut down with people still in them, and voters in their homes having their power cut.
I have this hunch that this is the year when the truth starts to come out. Too many people are talking about it, and too many people are looking for the truth they are not being told.
Pity help the Government which has to ‘bite the buLLet’, and tell the people that we need NEW coal fired power.
Tony.
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We had a blackout around 3pm in northeastern Victoriastan.
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No no…you had a glorious power saving in the Victorian Soviet….
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consider yourself shed, after all if you are not in Melbourne you are just camping out really 🙂
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Robert r,
John Setka told me that you are hallucinating.
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I have just done some industrial archeology with respect to Australia’s energy respurces.
First well that showed signs of oil and gas.
https://www.facebook.com/david.maddison.758/posts/10157044274858082
Hazelwood and other power stations in Latrope Valley.
https://www.facebook.com/david.maddison.758/posts/10157041796048082
Site of Australia’s first and only attempt at a commercial nuclear power reactor which was cleared and leveled but then cancelled.
https://www.facebook.com/david.maddison.758/posts/10157048994488082
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Just in:-
Just did the Math, should be here in Hervey Bay between 8:30 and 10:30 AM EST tomorrow.
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Always remember there is an (illegal?) alternative to load shedding!
Keep a close eye on your frequency in SA – you might find it dipping well below the Ausgrid NS238 standard with unpredictable consequences…
Might just have happened before some time?
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SA does not need to shed load, it just sheds industry.
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“Hope foreign readers are enjoying the spectacle of a first world nation destroying its competitive advantage with renewables”
I live in Canberra, and I’m not enjoying it at all.
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