JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Statistics
Well, here I am looking like the number one spot again. One has to wonder whether it’s just serendipitous good luck or that mystical thing called Karma. Then again maybe it’s something sinister trying to tempt me into making more humor out of the mess the world is in.
Seriously, the problems are staggering and the problem solvers are staggering too under the load of flying nonsense that passes for straight thinking. If just one government official managed to look like he actually took a good look at something he did in the past, something he foisted off on the voters and ask is it working, I would die of shock. And if he managed to figure out that it isn’t working the whole country would be rocked by an earthquake.
Well, I think we’re safe from anyone actually looking to see if even one thing they passed into law was doing any good. All the useful laws were passed many years ago,like thou shalt not steal, etc. Nothings left, seemingly, but to screw things up.
120
But I’ll bet than nowhere in the world is there one politician as bad off in the thinking department as Los Angeles Representative Maxine Waters. So rejoice, you do not have the bottom of the barrel quite yet. That honor still belongs to good old Calaiforn-i-a.
Waters takes the cake. She doesn’t even leave any for desert.
130
Roy,
If you want to consider our current Leader, President Trumble, I’m sure he could challenge her.
There is a blatant cynicism on display if you know how to look at the situation.
The NEG is put up as a “good solution” to a nonexistent problem while enabling currents of cash to flow from our electricity bills off to places unknown to all but our President.
The great promise and optimism I felt in the post WW11 period is now only a faded memory.
It’s heartening though to see two countries making a stand and beginning to fight back and express their disgust at the situation you describe through the Brexit and Trumpit votes.
The dark forces are still there but at least now there is hope.
KK
161
She screeches IMPEACH 45 like a demented parrot.
Fortunately we don’t have anyone like her here. But you have some real doozies in the us, McCain is so awful words fail me. I believe he started the fire on the USS Forrestal, was a songbird while in captivity, deliberately torpedoed talks with NV to repatriate MIAs, some of whom were believed still alive and is 100% anti his President and country. Elijah Cummings is ugly in body and soul. Schiff takes toilet breaks from confidential meetings to leak the proceeds. The whole democrat party are the real deplorables. BTW I’m Aussie so have no party affiliations, disliked both during the Bush presidencies.
91
Amen!
40
If waters doesn’t get done for incitement to riot, something is very wrong….
Why don’t the US Democrats just put a statue of Marx and Lenin outside their headquarters and be honest about their intentions….
I personally think we need another Sen Joe McCarthy. The Reds arent under the beds, they are all in the Democrat party….and Hollywood…and the media…..
40
Roy said:
Yep, sure are: the Brits are facing a beer shortage … because of a shortage of CO2.
Let the world rejoice!
Paris is working!
Right in time for the Football World Cup 🙂
(And will British football ever be the same again?)
70
Well then, rejoice because less CO2 is exactly the prescription for the horrible climate change we’ve been having — somewhere, although no one can tell me where — so maybe we’re saved from this otherwise terrifying catastrophe, our climate changing.
So let the Brits suck it up, stiff upper lip and all that and be happy that there’s less of that horrible carbon to leave its menacing footprints all over the world. We may yet triumph over climate change.
Gosh, and it happened in spite of my failure to find a single carbon to shoot, though I’ve been out looking every night this last week.
Oh, joy, we’re saved by the most unlikely savior, the Brits running out of CO2 in their beer.
And wait a minute. Don’t they drink it warm over there? That would make sure it couldn’t hold as much evil carbon in the first place. The beer’s probably flat with no taste so why is anyone even complaining? Who would drink flat tasting beer? Why, I think it’s a case of this pub, yep no problem with CO2 there.
See! Thinking it through always wins the day. No problem and we can all go home.
60
And you down under have the best country music tradition I’ve ever seen. Not even Hank Williams came up with a pub with no beer.
30
Here’s “A Pub With No Beer” sung by Slim Dusty.
https://youtu.be/8E0aZ387M_I
30
Slim Dusty was a treasure for sure. When I was looking for more of his music I ran across the video of the state funeral the government of Australia threw for him and my jaw dropped open. He was not just a famous country singer, he was and still is an icon for Australia. They don’t just give away state funerals.
An amazing career would be an understatement. I notice that the performance of Pub With No Beer is outdoors at what must be a truck stop along one of those long highways linking cities but from what I could see it may be little more than a camping spot along the road. Can’t tell. Someone enlighten me. In the states the truck stops are all places with diesel fuel available and at least a good restaurant or coffee shop, sometimes a motel.
And we don’t run those 3 and 4 trailer road trains ether, thankfully. But then we don’t have the huge separation between major population centers that you have. Anyone who can enlighten me please help, I’m really out of my reckoning.
40
The “highway” west of Townsville to Mt Isa is single carriageway and you regularly meet those road trains, they are double decker cattle crates. I used to drive a 2 L Mitsi van and you sure learn how to overtake. One day I was up alongside one when I got a fuel starvation [clogged filter], scary!
If I had to guess I’d say that Slim Dusty clip was done in the Northern Territory or north of WA, taking cattle to Darwin. It’s pretty desolate, even for Australia.
30
Roy
And we don’t have the likes of I70 in Colorado either
“Brakes the main thing eh Alf”? (from a story I’m not telling here)
20
Sharing the roads with Road Trains is not a problem if common sense is applied, vehicles have UHF CB Radio to enable drivers to communicate, eg when wanting to overtake a Road Train or one of them has caught up and needs to pass.
And remembering that they need far more road room than light vehicles including vehicles towing smaller trailers.
I regularly drive in The Outback areas of Australia and have encountered few serious situations. The Road Train drivers are professionals and most are courteous and responsible drivers.
60
Here are some road trains:
https://youtu.be/QjQsBHSc8wo
https://youtu.be/0iFkKRh5kcM
https://youtu.be/8B0BXNTrAFw
And here is some fun on an Outback highway:
https://youtu.be/M68VE61mTyY
https://youtu.be/yMKkpIVN5nk
10
Dennis, I made no comment about the drivers, I have found them far better than some tourists and grey nomads. The roads may have improved but there were times when the bitumen was too narrow to have a centre line and the shoulders were rough. Excuse me but the big rigs didn’t move over, get used to it. besides the shoulders are wide and you are just as well off abandoning the bitumen altogether, just do it at a sensible speed.
I have met one driver who must have been high as a kite with his speed limiter disabled. He genuinely tried to kill me because I slowed down in front of him for little towns. On the open road I couldn’t get away from him and he would try suicide passes. Eventually he got beside me and I braked hard. He swung violently left intending to spear me off into the scenery but I had slowed enough. And I’m not a slow driver but there are limits in a 2L van.
20
David Maddison,
I saw one in that mix that looked like 5 trailers. Awesome stuff. Is there some legal limit as to how long these can be?
And it amazes me that you do it all while driving on the wrong side of the road. How do you get sway with that? 😉
20
Road Trains must stick as close to the centre of the road as possible and experienced drivers of smaller vehicles respect this and give way to the trucks.
Read road travelling advice issued by government and motorist organisations for areas where Road Trains are permitted and the above is clearly outlined.
00
By the way, a very minor correction by Road Train driver in the prime mover results in a metre or more of sway at the last trailer depending on road condition or surface. Another reason why those trucks try to stick as close to the centre as possible and why smaller vehicles give way by moving to the left as far as possible and slowing down.
Fuel tankers, two to four trailer tanks, can destabilise depending on fuel load if forced to swerve too far left. And noting that road transport is essential service for pastoralists, mines, roadhouses and other businesses.
00
Another Ian,
I’ve driven only a little of Colorado. We flew to Denver for a square dance convention so don’t know roads except between Denver and Golden where my wife’s brother lives. I expect you may be referring to Wolf Creek Pass but that’s only a guess, maybe not a very good one.
00
Hi Roy,
Relevant regulations for road trains are outlined here:
https://www.nhvr.gov.au/files/t123-sa-information-guide-for-road-trains.pdf
00
Quadruple Road Trains were approved in South Australia in 2015 and are used now in WA, NT, QLD and other remote areas.
00
David Maddison,
Thanks.
I looked over those road train specs. Seems like they run them long and heavy. When the distances are long and a lot of stuff has to be moved I’m a bit surprised that railroads were not built to cover what must have been long standing permanent routes. This country was crisscrossed with railroads long and short long before the diesel engine came into common use for trucks. But here again I’m not familiar with Australian history.
10
I found this in the page where that Pub With No Beer video is.
I was so busy enjoying the music that I didn’t look at the fine print. But with that name I found it easily on the map and along with it numerous pictures which make it look a lot like our southwest United States desert locations. It all probably wouldn’t seem that much like home if I was there because the flora and fauna would be different. But it looks pretty much as Hanrahan said, pretty desolate even though nowhere near Darwin.
00
Yes, beer and soft drink shortage due to lack of CO2 (!) and, unfortunately, fires on Saddleworth Moor near Manchester. My OH remembers fires on Bellerby Moor (years ago in the mid-60s). Not nice. The checkerboard burning of areas of heather is probably a help in containing fires in the Yorkshire Dales when there is a hot dry spell. 1976 was one very dry (but cool) year.
31
Deliciously funny.
10
Surely the solution is simple, just pipe the naughty CO2 emissions from the power stations to the breweries. Problem solved.
10
Energy and the AGW scam are now big news in The Australian, with articles in prominent locations every day, garnering hundreds of comments. So the news is getting out there – keep plugging away with facts folks, particularly on how little solar and wind contribute to our energy. It’s this info that’s attracting a lot of attention.
150
Is Patricia still carpet bombing the comments? At times I felt I wanted to strangle her. Quoted “facts” but never supported them.
30
Among others. The Gullibles have mobilised to try and appear numerous so Patricia, Stan, Sillyfilly, one Peter (who also makes up his own ‘facts’ ep. about costs) and another (Matt?). They all make multiple comments then refuse to supply verifiable facts, but they face heavy opposition.
20
Question: What would happen if all 1,800 windmills connected to the national grid were switched off tomorrow? (Nameplate capacity 5,220 MW, delivering on average about 1,500 MW of the average total demand of 24,000 MW).
Answer: Nothing. The grid yesterday afternoon coped with just 50 MW delivered from those windmills. AEMO must always have coal and gas stations idling and standing ready to meet total demand. This morning those windmills are delivering about 310 MW in NSW and a total of only 30 MW in Qld/SA/Tas/Vic. About $10 billion has been invested in all those windmills, adding to our electricity bills because of their priority treatment under the RET and the extra $80/MWhr they receive. All that intermittent windmills do is reduce the utilisation factors for coal/gas generators and therefore add to their unit costs of generating electricity, so there are no savings, only increased costs across the entire grid that businesses and consumers pay for.
Discussion: Please explain how these wacky wind “weckenomics” could have contributed to the doubling of electricity prices over the last few years. If we weren’t required to provide an ROI on that $10 billion, wouldn’t electricity prices drop? Now consider the implications if wind capacity doubles to meet the 2020 RET of 33,000 GWhr. Minister Frydenberg assures us electricity prices will fall, but provides no evidence.
310
Thanks for that outline Robber.
It puts the situation very well.
With 10 billion “invested” in those Wind Turbines the annual interest bill to be covered is 500 million, all of which is an extra surcharge on our power bills: that’s 25 dollars per man, woman and child annually.
Nevertheless someone benefits.
Just imagine you are head of an international Bank looking to place $10,000,000,000 and had two offers to borrow it.
I’m sure you would choose to invest in Australia rather than Zimbabwe.
Looking at this deal from the point of view of a cynic you might ask, as they did in the old add, “which Bank?”
Well, if you were our President you might have little trouble deciding.
We are being taxed by stealth and one of the cornerstones of our society is that there should be No Taxation Without Representation. Wake up Australia.
All we see and hear on the media is how wonderful renewables are.
Deceit and treason don’t seem to get a rest.
KK
141
The electricity charge is not a tax. It is a transfer payment from electricity consumers to proponents of ambient energy generation and their backers. Recipients include households that have installed rooftop solar.
50
Excellent comments Robber.
61
Please keep posting these types of comments to The Australian, if you have an online subscription. It’s these types of info that I believe is finally making an impression.
111
In the wake of the GFC our government wasted money on school halls and pink bats, but elsewhere they built ghost cities.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-27/china-ghost-cities-show-growth-driven-by-debt/9912186
All of this came about because of the US subprime fiasco, old world capitalism with an ugly face.
30
Would someone care to comment about the state of the unreliables industry in the US under President Trump. To what extent are his policies causing it to retract?
30
Well has has proposed they cover “The Wall” for the Mexican border with solar panels…
I really don’t know whether the guy is a nutter or a crafty genius but then considering the alternative, there was no other sane choice.
40
My best reading of Donald Trump is that he doesn’t understand the science/engineering reasons why renewable energy is a bad deal. He is, however, a masterful poker player who is out playing the Democrats and the rest of the world while slowly getting what he wants by using that good old Yankee personality trait called perseverance.
The wall will be built simply because when Trump wants something he doesn’t give up.
If I’m wrong then I’ll have to eat my hat. But that’s how I see it at the moment.
20
A couple of things:
1. Trump sees that the Paris agreement and a lot of other agreements are a bad deal for the U.S. and he wants out or to renegotiate for a more equitable deal. I think the question in his mind must be along this line…”Why should an American seller of X [whatever X is] be at a disadvantage over a foreign seller of X?” If that happens the American seller simply moves to China where he’s welcomed with open arms…and oh yeah, you have to give all your technology away to the Chinese government as the price of doing business here. The jobs leave the country and we’re being fleeced like sheep. Trump wants it stopped.
2. The renewables industry is still going strong. In the last week I’ve had 3 calls from solar installers. I hung up on all of them. The stuff is being pushed with no opportunity to ask questions and get answers. They want to make their presentation and then get your signature on the contract. I tried talking to the first one who contacted me and when I saw how it was going I hung up on him, just as I have on every one since.
10
I have a Blu-ray player made in Cupertino California by OPPO Consumer Electronics. It’s the most capable box full of electronics I’ve ever seen. Among other things, if I play a slide show it can increase the size of a smaller image to get the best fit to the screen and there are none of the artifacts you get by any method I know anything about when you’re stuck with simply turning one pixel into multiple pixels with shading to make a bad image look presentable. It can zoom in on an image 2, 3 or 4 times the displayed size with similar good looking results I have no idea how they do it. None at all. ***
OPPO Consumer Electronics is owned by a Chinese company called OPPO something or other so you can be sure that wherever that image processing technology came from the Chinese have possession of it. That’s how they do business.
I’m not parochial in that I’ll buy the best I can find regardless of where it’s made. Toyotas, electronics made in China, Korea, Taiwan, etc. I have no objection to others having their as equal as possible place as good neighbors in this world. But I am tired of America being screwed.
20
The player will show me the credits for the third party stuff OPPO used and it’s quite a list of open source and proprietary software. So even the Chinese don’t reinvent the wheel when someone is giving away or selling a perfectly good wheel they can simply pick up off the shelf and use.
Where I worked we did the same. I paid for software we needed instead of reinventing it. That included the FFT done in native assembly code for the exact processor we were running it on and it did a superb job. With the right window functions we were able to fake bandwidths of 10 Hz and 100 Hz so that you couldn’t tell it was an FFT instead of hardware.
00
Roy H:
Thanks for that, I saw one in use last week at a public talk and wondered what it was, but it was packed away and the presenter disappeared quickly.
10
Climate Wars On Again
‘Labor has warned the government that new subsidies for coal as part of any internal settlement on the national energy guarantee will scuttle the chances of securing peace after 10 years of warring over climate and energy policy.’
Guardian
50
The Left keep telling us that coal is subsidised and unreliables are not and cheaper than coal.
They treat the novel “1984” as though it were an operations manual.
152
Not to mention that unreliables are also economically, non-renewables.
Just looking at the mid-winter WX, for the next 10 days, which is mostly overcast on the south plus eastern half of the country during the next week. Australia should go off-grid solar! No probs at all.
https://www.windy.com/?clouds,-39.977,126.914,3,i:pressure
60
It’s a strange world where paying royalties on coal burnt and not paying road tax on diesel is called a subsidy.
On another forum where there was a pretty even split between alarmists and sceptics I never got a satisfactory answer about those subsidies. They would reply with something from an international publication citing the US depletion tax rebate and petrol subsidies in Arab countries. Locally they could not give anything other than the diesel rebate and once someone mentioned a NSW coal lease with a condition being that they make coal available at a set price. Oh! They also said that coal generators not paying international price for coal was a “subsidy”. Strange.
70
wouldnt the ability to do that be a comparative advantage vs other countries in Economics terms? its a good thing, that we are destroying
20
More likely a left-over of the connotations of “democratic” as in the German Democratic Republic IMO
Though I guess that was 1984 in practice
10
‘Your’ ABC-LBBTIQF-24 continues to surge its mass-media social-engineering attack on values and the national fabric, whilst continuing with the more traditional anti-(actual)-science programs.
“Meet the ABC’s first-ever Top 5 humanities researchers”
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-27/abc-top-5-humanities-for-2018/9906082
(They managed to get a white ‘guy’ on the list, but it’s a ginger, so strictly-speaking, still a minority.)
52
Zero wind in SA at the moment so the diesels have been fired up.
130
They didn’t count on blocking highs becoming a permanent feature.
50
Have a look at the mid winter cloud cover:
https://www.windy.com/?clouds,-39.977,126.914,3,i:pressure
40
Now call in some extra Stokers so we can get the coal-fired jobbies making the electrons this winter.
60
What an excellent site. Good companion to
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-223.82,-13.21,395
10
Weren’t they using batteries?
20
And, haven’t on road diesels been banned in much of Europe?
Now they’re an essential part of SAs “fight against karbon pollution.
If the public could be led to see this for the hypocrisy that it is.
KK
61
They have substituted Noxious NO2 for environmentally essential CO2? What? Nitric acid. After all those years fighting against sulphur based petrols to prevent acid (Sulphuric) rain from SO2, we now have deadly NO2 from high compression diesel motors. These new ecologists who prefer diesel CO2 over coal CO2 are wrecking the place.
101
Exactly.
Chemical blasphemy.
Total Fail.
41
Yeah, ‘cos there were never lingering high pressure systems across The Bight prior to the late ’90s, right?
20
OMG! it’s the new normal!!
00
My hypothesis is that the high pressure is behaving badly, too far south and blocking, similar to the period from 1790 to 1830.
http://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDY65100.pdf
10
A win worth celebrating
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/06/judge-tosses-bogus-global-warming-lawsuits-against-big-oil/
I think I am right in saying this is the Judge who effectively “outsourced” expert views from anyone who who wanted to give it.
30
Apparently though the judgement stated that all concerned, both sides, acknowledged the man made global warming scenario as real. Not a big win at all.
See earlier comment.
KK
40
True. He still felt he had to make obeisance to the belief in AGW.
31
G’day KK,
I interpreted the judge’s position on that as being one of “no contest” as both litigants claimed support of the global warming
scareproposition.I remain hopeful that it can’t be treated as a definitive court ruling??
Cheers,
Dave B
30
He ruled about the stupidity and extent of their claims rather about warming.
40
Josh Frydenberg continues to spread his propaganda on 2GB today. He made the excuse that places like the US don’t rely so much on coal as we do (US is 30% coal) in an effort to placate us that we need to continue to cut our emissions. He neglects to note, and he must do so delicately since he must know the facts otherwise he should resign, that the US also uses 32% natural gas, 20% nuclear, 6.3% wind and 1.3% solar. The rest is hydro and other. So if a nation is serious about making a significant reduction in CO2 emissions without destroying the economy then the only solution is nuclear. Frydenberg the ball is now in your court, or are you and Turnbull such fools you both can’t see the obvious? Worse still are you both deliberately out to crash and burn our economy, and if so why?
180
Talk about a slow motion train wreck, we have a hopeless government and an even worse opposition. Neither party is willing to clean house because the first step would be to change leader and they are too craven to do so, to defy the common wisdom which says the electorate won’t cop it.
BS I say, Hawke stabbed Hayden just before an election. That worked.
80
In Question Time in the reps yesterday, Shorten directly asked Turnbull if he would “welcome a new coal-fired power station”, and all he would say was that coal may always be part of Australia’s “technology-agnostic” energy supply mix.
He wouldn’t even say an in-principle “yes” to Shorten’s idiotic coal-baiting hysteria.
130
That’s because for whatever reason Turnbull hates coal fired power stations. It’s really pointless to discuss what that reason could be. The fact is going back even when Rudd was PM, Turnbull openly supported renewables and some form of “carbon tax”. H ehas not moved from that position. So in effect we have the leaders of the two major parties in total agreement about renewables and coal fired power stations. The former power source has to increase and the latter decrease. Frydenberg in effect has given the same signal that he wants Australia to reduce our dependence on coal to match that of the US, namely 30%. The only way we can do that and at the same time prevent Australia’s economy from being destroyed outright and also keep using coal as our primary source as he admitted is to have a similar mix as that of the US. That would mandate us to start building nuclear power stations right now and let our coal fired power stations close down one by one over the next few decades. Any other solution would lead us directly to a crash and burn scenario. Of course the alternative is far better, namely to dump the Paris Accord, stop moving to renewables and bolster our existing and start building new coal fired power stations, which by the way is exactly what most other nations are now doing, in particular the major emitters of CO2.
In effect there are two paths we could take, one is nuclear and the other is the “world’s best practice” approach of using coal fired power. Both major parties have decided to reject both those two paths and instead take the renewables path, which is economic suicide. Yet the voters will support one or the other. I am not looking forward to living in this country any longer given the mass insanity.
120
Why does the Chairman prefer renewable wind and solar, so called?
https://stopthesethings.com/2017/03/13/born-lucky-stars-align-perfectly-for-pms-son-with-mammoth-bet-on-wind-power-outfit-infigen/
60
You got it.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
51
Turnbull’s hatred of coal plants is primarly due to populism. Malcolm bends to public opinion on just about everything so while the CAGW meme active and its proponents generate more public attention than the sceptics, he will pander to their bias.
91
That is true. The problem we now face is if either party decides to withdraw from the fight against climate change (so called as we all know it’s a scam) they know they will lose large slabs of votes and fail to win government. As was said by others above it’s also about the money (and power) as well as populism. The only thing that will now break the two-party renewables monster is some sort of shock to the nation not much unlike what the US experienced during the GFC, which in effect brought about the opportunity for Trump to enter the scene. The problem though with us is we sailed through the GFC as though nothing happened and so it will need to be a much bigger shock to wake up the public given the increased complacency. It’s sad to see so many who are blind to the truth but then again that’s the way it has been for all time. People in general learn mostly through much hardship.
30
He is of course a graduate Bachelor of Laws.
Engineering is not his thing.
70
Sadly we dont have many Engineers in Parliament. I guess they are too busy doing something useful.
60
And it shows 🙁
41
One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts is an engineer. Unfortunately, he got punted because of the dual-citizenship law.
He is now seeking to gain a Senate seat at the next election.
20
G’day PeterS,
My understanding is that the only way out is to do a Trump and withdraw from the Paris agreement, an international agreement designed specifically to make it difficult to withdraw from. Plus no party, or politician is brave enough to suggest it as the opinion polls (!) all show widespread support for Paris. Their validity has not been challenged in the major news outlets.
So we need someone knowledgeable, outspoken and brave, and in a position to implement the change. Any suggestions? Is Cory up to it?
Cheers,
Dave B
50
As I said many times, it won’t happen because they are too scared they will lose so many voter support that it will lead to a catastrophic landslide defeat at the next election. You can see that by the way Turnbull and Frydenberg dodge serious questions about how they are to reduce power prices and what they are going to do about Liddell closing down. They are trying their hardest like the worst kind of used car salesmen imaginable conning people to think it’s all under control even though they know the only way to solve the issue is to force the sale of Liddell to someone who is willing to keep it going, or as a last resort have the government buy it temporarily then sell it later. It’s very clear that is the only avenue to avoid Liddell from closing down but they dare not do anything about it because they fear they will lose too many voter support, and they probably will thanks to the lack of critical thinking by the public by and large.
Cory is certainly up to it because that’s one of his energy polices – withdraw from the Paris Accord. Unfortunately his support is woeful. He will be lucky to survive the next election by the way things are going. Let’s wait and see though as we might be pleasantly surprised but I doubt it. We haven’t suffered enough pain yet to wake people up to what’s actually happening. As I keep saying we probably have to suffer a crash and burn scenario before we learn the great lesson and clear the way for someone even remotely like Trump to come into the picture.
30
Cory is up for it, however he lacks a certain ‘cut-through’ with the media that lesser politicians like Pauline Hansen achieve just by being themselves. (Xenaphon was another, before he imploded.)
There are, however, some excellent media performers being sidelined in the Liberal Party who could give Cory’s Australian Conservatives a much-needed boost of conservative fire-branding.
Craig Kelly would certainly be a starter if he jumped ship. Andrew Hastie is another Liberal who espouses conservative values and has widespread media recognition. I’d like to suggest Tony Abbott, however, I fear he is a Liberal Party member for life.
Overall, it doesn’t look good at the moment for Cory’s Aus Conservatives. Hopefully time will prove otherwise.
00
I have faith in the ginger group.
‘Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly, chair of the government’s Environment Committee, took predictable aim at Australia’s international climate commitments, labelling the 2015 Paris Agreement “cactus”.’
The Conversation
31
Josh really needs to explain how Australian coal exports – truly massive in 2017 – are okay because coal only affects the atmosphere it’s burnt in. So the Chinese, Indian, Korean and Japanese atmospheres will warm but the Australian atmosphere will stay cool (favourable to lots of eco-tourism and green jobs!). Then there’s Gorgon and Barrow Island, sending all that gas to overheat Chinese, Indian, Korean and Japanese atmospheres. Don’t those silly Asians realise?
Unless, of course, this whole dog fight is not over CO2 but over the deliberate de-industrialising and neutering of Australia for reasons best known to creepy bankster globocrats like Josh and Mal. Crony capitalists always like to save your soul while they plunder you.
60
He knows the explanation but he won’t dare admit it in public because that would prove that his government is conning the public. It’s all about appeasing the public with diatribe after diatribe of what they intend to do to reduce power prices and guarantee security using their magical NEG, which is not even finalised yet because they haven’t figured out the details to avoid spilling the beans. Frydenberg and Turnbull are trying to maximise their chances of winning the next election, obviously. So somehow they need to get over the next few months to a year pretending they will help to improve matters using the NEG, which won’t come into effect until after the election is over by which time they hope the economy will be booming along with the US and everyone will be happy (until the bubble bursts of course then there will be lots of blood on the streets).
40
Against the odds, the ginger group has to contend with a hostile media and brainwashed populace. Its a big ask to expose the big lie, do they have what it takes?
‘Green Energy Markets director Tristan Edis said the huge momentum in renewables made a mockery of the threat by Mr Abbott and Mr Kelly to reject the NEG if it doesn’t “backend” emission reductions.
“Do they realise that will require Frydenberg and Turnbull to chain themselves to bulldozers and cranes on renewable energy construction sites? Or otherwise ban households and businesses from installing solar systems on their rooftops?” Mr Edis said.
Fin Review
10
That’s a Tristan, for sure.
Now I’m just wondering how those bulldozers and cranes operate on renewables. Maybe I should ask Tristan. Or Zoe. Or Niles. Or Sebastian. Or Lilith…
21
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/06/25/worse-than-they-thought-antarctica-actually-colder-than-scientists-once-believed/
Sacré bleu – scientists’ belief in ‘settled science’ shaken yet again by real world observation(s). So all those -96˚C and -92˚C recordings I’ve been noting in parts of Antarctica this year weren’t faulty recordings after all.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/360514/wintry-blast-cars-slip-on-icy-roads-as-chill-sets-in
Below-freezing temps, snow, ice, black ice, frost – a sure sign of the dangers of carbon pollution, or is it plastic pollution? Atmospheric cancer? Catastrophic gugu wawa? Meanwhile, the country’s ski areas are opening with one of the most epic (read: early, cold, deep snow base) seasons EVAH!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=12078020
Even in our so-called Winterless North, “Near-freezing temperatures are set to grip Northland later this week with a possibility of frosts in inland areas.” Yeah-yeah, I know, it’s only weather… freaking COLD weather. I want my warming now!
90
Wide-spread heavy frosts in Oz for the past weak or so too, relief is in sight though as Coles supernarket are banning plastic bags from the 1st of July.
Already, each time I go through the checkout, there is some total enviro-b#tthole with zero plastic bags for their individual loose fruit and veg(!), so that now we all have to wait for the checkout person to put each type of fruit and veg on the scale, then individually into some dippy floopy bag.
So add 10 to 15 mins to every shopping trip.
In reply, when I buy something like a pre-packaged bag of spuds, and the checkout person asks if I want them in a plastic carry bag I make a point of saying, “yes please, I’m not into saving dolphins”. And now I deliberately use at least three times as many bags for my fruit and veggies, just to piss-off any eco-whale-botherers who are waiting in the que.
Two can play that game.
123
🙂
11
You can buy supermarket style singlet bags for abt 3c ea by the box. I’m thinking of going that way.
10
Me too. I’ve been looking at ebay and there are a variety of sizes, typically small, medium and large. I think I’ll buy the large ones and see how they hold up.
00
The single use bags were very efficient, that’s why the shops gave them away free. Now the checkout chicks have to fiddle with our own bags the process will be slowed dramatically. The supermarkets may have to roster on 25% more operators so prices must reflect the higher costs.
41
I believe some folks are grabbing extra vege bags – the Woolies ones are about the same size as the single- use bags.
20
not sure what the big deal is, they have to weigh them anyway. Lot of angst over nothing.
12
WX…you would love Dubai, or not, as the case may be. In the hypermarkets there (Carrefour for example) you have to bag each lot of fruit or veg and take it to a weighing and pricing point where the majority of customers don’t believe in taking their proper turns. I buck the system just a little by telling them they can stick a label directly onto a single mango or avocado! I can’t now recollect whether or not we had to do the same in Carrefour in France? I’ve an idea we had to weigh them in bags for ourselves, no employees to do it for us.
I have many, many uses for the so-called single use bags, so long as the wretched things don’t disintegrate on first use.
21
Brave new world. I don’t like those feckin little plastic stickers on fruit either. Why don’t they ban those damned things, first? I bet those never get banned. Apparently it means my fruit met the standard specs … once upon a time … yeah, but not when I actually bought it.
10
I understood those tedious little stickers were to tell the checkout chicks what the items were! I came across one not long ago who didn’t know what a leek was; thought it was a spring onion! Most don’t seem to know apple varieties, even the most basic assortment of supermarket types.
I have frequently wondered what the worldwide weight of these horrid little nuisances added up to. I always have to fight to remove them as I want them neither in my animals’ innards or my compost heap.
20
What really gets to me is when there is a sticker on every single piece of fruit in an already labelled box of the things! Peaches and nectarines suffer this and it spoils the fruit when you try to pull the labels off.
20
Here are some questions about climate change.
How is this present interglacial remarkable as compared to those preceding such as the Eemian and Holsteinian?
How long did temps stay at an acceptable (for moderns) level in previous interglacials?
How long can we expect this present interglacial high to last, considering all we know of previous ones?
Since temperatures for several million years have usually been well below requirements for large and settled populations such as have only emerged in the last few millennia, why do we think we can keep getting lucky after ten thousand years of extreme luck?
When people fill Airbuses and Boeings and fly off to remote cities to make decisions on climate, why are they more inclined to discuss the quality of the lobster sandwiches at the buffet than the matters raise above?
40
Oooh a questionnaire…)
* It’s similar but coolin’ folks.
*Fer most of yr homo sapien’s three score years and ten
if’n yr lucky to last that long.
* Not long now, uh-oh…
* Short memory syndrome.
* Because they’re on holiday.
Say, is there a prize fer the perfect score, moso?
30
Serf’s loyalty is its own reward, serf’s well-performed drudgery its own prize. (Which means no.)
20
Might’ve known. (
20
In Victoriastan, nearly all plastic bags to be banned. Idiots. There is no significant problem that has been demonstrated. Most plastic pollution occurs in Third World countries where they dump rubbish into rivers etc.. It is a behavioural problem, not a problem with using bags.
https://amp.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victoria-set-to-ban-plastic-bags-by-next-year-20180627-p4znxv.html
A ban on lightweight plastic bags across Victoria will be rolled out by the end of 2019, almost two years after the idea was first flagged by the Andrews government.
Plastic bags used by retail stores, takeaway shops and small supermarkets will be targeted by legislation to be introduced by the state government next year, following on from major supermarkets ditching the single-use plastic bags at check-outs this month.
(See link for rest.)
21
There will, of course be an Equivalent increase in the sale of bin liners which is where my current plastic bags are used.
Guess who profits.
Who said it doesn’t pay to be green.
KK
71
Everyone I know has a secondary use for supermarket bags such as bin liners, bags to pick up after the dog etc..
71
Which is another reason the retailers don’t like offering for free the “single use” plastic bags. They were subsiding the animal owners and the retailers hate giving away things for free. Of course the solution is to buy the “single use” plastic bags from ebay very cheaply. One can also pay a little more (around 5c per bag) and get rolls of biodegradable pet waste pick-up bags. The odd thing is one can buy the same rolls from some pet stores for around 1-2 cents per bag. Goes to show that ebay is not always the cheapest.
31
I don’t think the supermarkets removed bags entirely voluntarily, after all, what sort of business would remove a valuable customer service? They did it under threat of government legislation.
32
And in three years we’re not doing nearly enough, fast enough, so this triggers a Plastic Tax campaign for the 2021 election.
20
People will just grab the fruit and veg bags, which are not getting banned, for doggie doo disposal
30
And they were bio-degradable, whereas the replacement bin liner bags may not be.
20
David
They’re the best utensil I’ve found in cookery when the recipe calls for “Dredge in the flour mix”.
20
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-27/new-coal-doesnt-stack-up-just-look-at-queensland/9913882
I would rather dispute these figures of PV being cheaper than coal …rubbery figures or outright propaganda?
“Virtually all new generation being constructed in Australia is solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind energy. New-build coal power is estimated to cost $70-90 per megawatt-hour, increasing to more than $140 per MWh with carbon capture and storage.
Bob Katter looks at a map while sitting in a small plane.
PHOTO: Bob Katter’s seat of Kennedy in north Queensland contains two large renewable energy projects. (ABC News: Dominque Schwartz)
Solar PV and wind are now cheaper than new-build coal power plants, even without carbon capture and storage.
Unsubsidised contracts for wind projects in Australia have recently been signed for less than $55 per MWh, and PV electricity is being produced from very large-scale plants at $30-50 per MWh around the world.
Worldwide, solar PV and wind generation now account for 60 per cent of global net new power capacity, far exceeding the net rate of fossil fuel installation.
As the graph below shows, medium to large (at least 100 kilowatts) renewable energy projects have been growing strongly in Australia since 2017. Before that, there was a slowdown due to the policy uncertainty around the Renewable Energy Target, but wind and large scale solar are now being installed at record rates and are expected to grow further.”
60
Outright propaganda plus rubbery figures.
And where do they get the figure for “unsubsidised” wind? There is no such thing.
71
David Maddison:
I find it useful to quote Dr. Finkel’s figures. You may, like me, have reservations about their accuracy but since he’s known to be a ‘true believer in AGW’ and was commissioned by Tunbull it is difficult for Greenies to deny them. For the record
Estimated cost in 2020 and in 2030.
HELE coal fired…..76…………… 75
WIND ………………..92…………….79
SOLAR PV………….91……………..61
+ storage…………138…………….87
Soar THERMAL…172………….109
OCGT (backup)…123………….135 (the rapid reaction gas turbines the Greenies babble about, ignoring the emissions as well).
So only solar PV MIGHT be cheaper than HELE coal fired by 2030 (using linear extrapolation!), and as we know useless without storage. Whether the figure will be right is doubtful, and that for HELE seems to have been made ‘more acceptable’. After all 60 nations looking to coal fired for cheap and reliable electricity makes one think that the advantage must be more clearcut that Finkel says.
The claim that solar PV now sells at $40-50 per MWh indicates that either
the solar PV are deliberately trying to become bankrupt or
they collect the $80-85 per MWh (bringing their take up to $125-130) under the RET.
And that subsidisation is planned to continue until 2030.
30
‘ … So only solar PV MIGHT be cheaper than HELE coal fired by 2030 (using linear extrapolation!), and as we know useless without storage. …
—
So why does he treat them as a separate energy system at all? Who buys a 30 kWhr battery array, without an off-grid electron source? No one. So his PV and Windy production economics are so much baloney, even in his best-case projection.
20
WXcycles:
Sorry, I left out his qualifier “large scale”. Personally I don’t believe that solar PV panels will get much cheaper after 2020, and his allowance for storage is less than the fee that Snowy 2 says they will charge. And if Snowy 2 isn’t the best and cheapest of storage why are we** building it?
** we aren’t actually building it as we have, and haven’t had, any say in the decision, but you can be certain that we are the ones who will pay for it.
00
Wind and solar proponants must think in averages: Capacity factor of them is 30%, so build X4 demand in nameplate and all’s well. Sorry, it isn’t. SA’s capacity factor for wind has varied from 0 to 10% in the last couple of weeks, Vic and NSW similar. It is IMPOSSIBLE to meet demand that way and load-shedding has enormous social costs once it gets worse than an odd hour or so. Once food starts to spoil and metal in refinery vats solidifies heads will roll.
70
SA has been zero, zilch, nought from wind all morning
60
the ABC item is a reprint of this https://theconversation.com/new-coal-doesnt-stack-up-just-look-at-queenslands-renewable-energy-numbers-98707
you can go fight the moderators to get your view across.
10
Fighting the moderators at The Conversation is futile as they are censors for contrary views.
30
Bit oxymoronic that they call it a conversation
10
It is deluded thinking. Using the LCOE numbers for comparison of ambient generators with on-demand generators displays an incomprehensible naivety.
It is quite clear to everyone that the sun does not shine every night and can shine very little on some days. Likewise the wind can be near to nothing for weeks at a time. So ambient sources need 100% back-up, or so-called buffering, from fast response on-demand generation, which could be diesel, gas, hydro and battery. Coal or nuclear cannot respond fast enough so are not suitable for buffering the intermittency.
The LCOE figures do not include the cost of buffering. Sometimes you will see figures that include buffering but they are much higher than $70/MWh.
However buffering is not the sole added cost. To get above 25% market share from ambient generators requires overbuild in capacity with diminishing returns as the market share increases. SA is already “curtailing” potential wind production because, at times, there is more generation than can be used. The only reason SA can get 40% market share from ambients is through using Victoria as a 600MW battery of infinite capacity. There are many periods when the SA wind generators rely on Victoria to take their excess power because the demand in SA is below their generation. It will get worse through the daylight periods as more rooftop capacity is installed in SA.
Just to put some numbers on what REAL capacity factors look like. My off-grid system operates at 99.9% reliability in terms energy availability. The optimum capacity factor for the solar collectors is 4% based on the current cost of lithium batteries. Could even be lower if I do not get the target 12 year life from the battery because the optimum would have more panels and smaller battery.
It is not complex if you understand how to cope with the time variability of ambient generators and any engineering study should be doing time based analysis of the generation from ambient sources rather than just using unconstrained capacity factors. For example, the NEM’s average demand is 26GW. If the sums are done on a capacity factor of 27% it would suggest that a total wind capacity of 96GW would be sufficient. However there will be times when the wind output exceeds the load by a huge margin. That excess energy needs to stored. That equates to an incomprehensibly large battery or equally incomprehensible pumped storage system. But when the cost of the storage is factored in the cost optimised system will have an installed wind capacity of 260 to 300GW. That is 60 times more wind capacity than now installed.
There is a belief that adding power from a low cost generator is going to lower the overall cost of supply – BUT that belief is WRONG. The load is on-demand and the supply needs to be responsive to demand. Run-whenever generation adds huge costs to the supply.
When I have made these arguments with people who have the capacity to understand they counter with an argument for demand management. One suggested that there is no place in Australia for Aluminium smelters. He went on to say that everyone should have a swimming pool size hotter storage system; the fridges and freezers should have 10 times more insulation so they could go days without power and other very expensive demand management capability. Basically power should be viewed as non-essential and you take it when it is available.
60
We live in a funny world.
The Left Wing media thinks Bob Katter is an absolute dill. BUT when he says something about renewables, he is the Messiah.
Similarly with the Pope.
The media is at odds with almost anything to do with the Catholic (and Christian) religion. BUT, when the Pope utters something about global warming, he too becomes the Messiah.
20
“HuffPost Blames Populists And Russia For European Renewable Policy Failures”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/06/26/huffpost-blames-populists-and-russia-for-european-renewable-policy-failures/
First comment
“I guess it couldn’t simply be the failure of renewables.
This kind of relates to the perpetual victimhood progressives ‘aspire’ to. Nothing’s ever their fault, nothing’s ever fair (which of course, justifies ‘any means necessary), and they never question their basic presumptions – just rationalize them away.
Repeating patterns, circular logic.”
60
Anyone right of Stalin or believing in their nation’s borders today is “far right”, by definition. The left have taken over the narrative.
70
I think Russia likes renewables in someone else’s back yard. They are more than happy to supply gas to back up the windmills.
70
PeterS mentioned this in the comments. here’s all the audio:
AUDIO: 13mins04secs: 27 Jun: 2GB: Ray Hadley Show: ‘It will continue to play a vital role for decades to come’: Energy Minister backs coal but won’t build power station
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has signalled new coal could be brought into the system, as a result of the National Energy Guarantee (NEG).
Several government backbenchers are unsatisfied with the current policy and are demanding the construction of a new coal-fired power station.
Mr Frydenberg tells Ray Hadley private investors will be incentivised to build that infrastructure when the policy framework is put in place.
“We do have a lot of coal in our system today and a lot of coal into our future.
“We have already four of these high efficiency, low emissions coal-fired power stations but what we do need to get is the market to work again.
“I’m advised that we will need $250 billion of energy infrastructure in Australia out to 2050. No government can come on your show and promise you that they have deep enough pockets… to pay for that.
“The only way I can get the market working again is with a proper framework and that’s what the guarantee provides.
“We have 20 coal-fired power stations in Australia and they have an average life of 27 years. We need to keep them going for longer to ensure they provide that reliable base-load power into our system.”
AUDIO
***Following the interview, Ray received a call from an American listener, Richard, calling out some of Minister Frydenberg’s “misleading” ‘facts’ about global energy.
Mr Frydenberg tried to claim other countries are leaning far more towards renewables than Australia.
“Let me explain some numbers to you. 70% of our power comes from coal. By 2030, under the NEG, that number is still 60%.
“If you look in the US it’s 30%.”
Listener Richard says Mr Frydenberg is “very misleading the way he presents things to sell his ideology”.
“When he mentioned America, 30% coal is true, but he also neglects to mention is 20% nuclear and 31.7% natural gas.
“For him to sound like the US is demonising or doesn’t use coal… is ‘very misleading’.”
***AUDIO: 4mins31secs: Click PLAY below to hear Richard’s call in full
https://www.2gb.com/it-will-continue-to-play-a-vital-role-for-decades-to-come-energy-minister-backs-coal-but-wont-build-power-station/
50
The only question is:
When is a Guarantee not a Guarantee.
Answer:
When it’s a Notional Energy Guarantee.
KK
10
Having tried to read the recent document I concluded that the point was not energy (let alone consumers) but the Renewable Energy Target, and that according to the singularly vacuous notion of “international obligations”. Asked about the document itself, Sir Humphrey Appleby would express himself in a endless stream of superlatives: like Trident as the missile Harrods would sell. . . .
40
I’ve just listened to those two calls. Richard made the point that the US has three types of dispatchable power and it needed them all last winter.
When the temperature dropped and demand rose the nuclear generators were already fully committed, the gas plants could not get more gas because of the domestic demand for gas heating so it fell to coal to pick up the slack, they had the coal already stacked on the pad. The more options in business the better and electricity is just that – A business, and should be allowed to operate as such.
70
100$ renewables is a goodie for theirABC:
27 Jun: ABC: Does new coal stack up financially? Consider Queensland’s renewables numbers
The Conversation By Matthew Stocks and Andrew Blakers
(Matthew Stocks is a research fellow at ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science; Andrew Blakers is professor of Engineering at ANU)
Renewables and jobs
Virtually all new generation being constructed in Australia is solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind energy. New-build coal power is estimated to cost $70-90 per megawatt-hour, increasing to more than $140 per MWh with carbon capture and storage.
Solar PV and wind are now cheaper than new-build coal power plants, even without carbon capture and storage. Unsubsidised contracts for wind projects in Australia have recently been signed for less than $55 per MWh, and PV electricity is being produced from very large-scale plants at $30-50 per MWh around the world.
Worldwide, solar PV and wind generation now account for 60 per cent of global net new power capacity, far exceeding the net rate of fossil fuel installation…
It makes sense to build wind farms across a range of climate zones from far north Queensland to South Australia because — to put it simply — the wider the coverage, the more likely it is that it will be windy somewhere on the grid at any given time.
This principle is reflected in our work on 100 per cent renewable electricity for Australia (LINK)…
One political party with a strong regional focus, Katter’s Australia Party, understands this. Bob Katter’s seat of Kennedy contains two large renewable energy projects. In late 2017, he and the federal shadow infrastructure minister Anthony Albanese took a tour of renewables projects across Far North Queensland’s “triangle of power”.
Mr Katter, never one to hold back, asked “how could any government conceive of the stupidity like another baseload coal-fired power station in North Queensland?” Judging by the numbers, it’s a very good question.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-27/new-coal-doesnt-stack-up-just-look-at-queensland/9913882
27 Jun: ABC: Perth’s overnight rainfall makes it the wettest June in five years, but it’s still below average
The soaking pushed the total for the month to more than 111.6mm, the highest figure since June of 2013, when the metropolitan area saw 140.8mm of rain.
The totals for Tuesday are expected to be between 15mm and 30mm.
With more falls expected today, the Bureau of Meteorology has predicted the city could exceed the June average of 126.9mm for the first time since 2012…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-27/perth-weather-june-rain-figures/9914562
21
Now I’ve heard it all: Bob Katter being quoted as a font of wisdom. The man’s an idiot. He speaks passionately about his electorate, can promise anything because he will never be asked to deliver.
50
an odd sentence of dissent here and there:
27 Jun: ABC: Renewable energy set to supply one-third of market needs by 2020
By business reporter Stephen Letts and political reporter Lucy Barbour
Renewable energy will provide one third of the national electricity market’s needs within two years, according to new research from Green Energy Markets (GEM).
Key points:
•A record 18,917 rooftop solar PV systems were installed in May
•On current projections, renewable energy could supply 33pc of market needs by 2020 and 40pc by 2030
•The total pipeline of renewable projects if approved and built could supply 85pc on needs by 2030
The consultancy firm’s forecast uses the latest data from the Australian Energy Market Operator and is based on solar and wind farms already under construction or contracted plus rooftop solar maintaining stable installation levels.
“This represents almost a doubling in renewables share compared to 2015 when it met 17.3 per cent of annual electricity consumption,” GEM director Tristan Edis said…
“Even if contracting and construction commitments to solar farms and wind farms halted from today, ongoing installations of rooftop solar should see renewables share reaching 39 per cent by 2030,” he said…
Almost 19,000 rooftop PV systems were installed across Australia in May.
Mr Edis said new units in May alone would add up to bill savings of about $233 million over 10 years.
The 131 megawatts (MW) of rooftop solar PV registered in May was also new monthly record…
“[It] will be interesting to see what happens once the drop in wholesale electricity prices starts flowing through to end consumers, he said.
“Although because solar module prices now look set to plummet in the second half of the year it might just overwhelm the effect of declining electricity prices.”
Renewable accounted for 19.9 per cent of the electricity generated in Australia’s main grids in May.
On GEM figures, renewable energy avoided 2.4 million tonnes of CO2 pollution over the month, or the equivalent of taking 9.2 million cars off the road…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-27/renewables-can-supply-one-third-of-market-needs-by-2020/9912342
20
AbC is advertising Tristan Edis AGAIN
He works for Green Energy Markets!
They will put up anyone and claim EXPERT in Renewable Economy!
SCAMMER me thinks!
40
A ‘new’ scam here but was encountered quite a few times while were back in England. My OH has just been rung on his mobile ‘phone by one ‘Jennifer’ to try to talk to him about ‘an accident he had recently’. We have not had one…it is a complete scam to suck in dishonest people to make a claim. He told her it must be a wrong number…before I reminded him that that was the exact technique used before.
01
The British government has finally rejected the proposed Swansea Bay lagoon. Supposedly the people of Wales are devastated as they wanted to be at the ‘hub’ of this new green energy revolution. The reality is that the majority of sensible people in Wales will be relieved that this project for intermittent and high cost electricity has been appropriately dumped. See (Walesonline) for the story.
GeoffW
50
Does anyone know where, in what text book the unit “KWs to power a home” is defined? It has an Alice feel to it.
20
Received a automated polling call last night. The initial question was what I thought was the most important issue. It was a classic case of setting up the poll by giving a narrow and slanted list of options. Seeing I was so far from their reality I hung up.
51
That’s just like a multi- choice type poll where none of the options fits your own feelings and gives you no opportunity to say what you really do feel. Infuriating.
31
Annie:
In the midst of a by-election the robo-calls come thick and fast and they ring back later if you hang up. Re the limited choices – the last call I ‘identified’ myself as unsure of my social orientation, that I voted for the Conservatives at the last election but would probably vote for the Greens in the up-coming by-election. And I claimed to be female. Let them make what they can of that.
10
I was streaming Bolt onto my puter and the almost zero wind generation today was the topic. Rita Panahe [sp] was the sane guest I think, the crazy one was from the Guardian. She was adamant that a day with no generation is irrelevant [it’s nearly a fortnight now] claiming that wind and solar are SOOO cheap that it is clearly coal and “poles and wires” that are causing a doubling of prices. Rita quoted her body corporate which has cut consumption by 30% but is still facing a 100% increase. “A trifle” claims our saviour from the Guardian. I had to switch off, Bolt couldn’t get a word in.
40
Is the US sliding into chaos? Sorry about names but I can’t cut’n’past them from video but Joe Crowley [just heard that in my headphones] a powerful democrat destined to be house speaker has just been primaried by an avowed Bernie socialist. Without any middle ground the split deepens.
00
What percentage of scientists say that consuming only renewable energy will stop the climate from changing??
Answer:- zero percent.
ZERO percent of scientists say that consuming only renewable energy will stop the climate from changing!!
If you disagree about the percentage, please post your estimate, and your evidence for that claim.
There is definitely no quantified overwhelming “consensus” about the cultish belief that ceasing to use fossil fuels will stop the climate from changing.
So why is Australia doing it??
Did anyone do a cost/benefit analysis of Australia consuming only renewable energy?
We can quantify the cost – expensive and un-reliable energy supplies, but did anyone even try to quantify the benefits?
I repeatedly ask environmentalists “What percentage of scientists say that we can stop the climate from changing?”
21
Its an emotional issue, the grandchildren and all that. Zero due diligence.
11
re Hanrahan’s comment #21 –
have noted some Trump voters believe they can beat this opponent, even tho it’s a Dem constituency. worth read all for the other failed attempts to introduce cap & trade etc:
27 Jun: HuffPo: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Will Be The Leading Democrat On Climate Change
The progressive newcomer and avowed Democratic Socialist is likely to win in November on the most ambitious climate platform of anyone in her party.
By Alexander C. Kaufman
Ocasio-Cortez outlined plans to transition the United States to a 100 percent renewable energy system by 2035. It’s a goal hailed by environmentalists as the last best hope of staving off the most catastrophic effects of human-caused planetary warming, and it’s one already adopted by a coalition of mayors representing 42 percent of U.S. electricity use and representing major cities such as Atlanta and St. Louis…
What sets Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal apart is her plan to meet the target by implementing what she called a “Green New Deal,” a federal plan to spur “the investment of trillions of dollars and the creation of millions of high-wage jobs.”…
“The Green New Deal we are proposing will be similar in scale to the mobilization efforts seen in World War II or the Marshall Plan,” she told HuffPost by email last week. “We must again invest in the development, manufacturing, deployment, and distribution of energy, but this time green energy.”…
The 28-year-old ― who has a degree in economics and seems likely to defeat Republican Anthony Pappas in November in the overwhelmingly Democratic district ― suggested that storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, still struggling to regain reliable electricity nearly a year after the deadliest hurricane in modern U.S. history, could be a testing ground for such a policy…
In an interview with In These Times, she called herself an “environmental hardliner” and suggested running on aggressive policies that take seriously scientists’ increasingly dire warnings on climate change can help win back working-class Americans who voted for President Donald Trump in 2016.
“It’s kind of ironic, because the areas of the district that are experiencing the worst of climate volatility right now are actually pockets of Democrats who voted for Trump,” she said….
It’s a bold policy prescription at a time when, even across the city, Democratic hopefuls who received support from the national party are ignoring the issue…
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) failed for a third time this month to pressure Republicans in the state Senate to hold a vote on the Climate and Community Protection Act, a bill that requires the state to use 100 percent renewable energy by 2050…ETC
On the federal level, even the most purportedly hawkish Democrats on climate change have proposed conservative policies..
On Tuesday, the Democratic Socialists of America cemented Ocasio-Cortez’s approach as the platform issue for its climate and environmental justice working group.
“Immigration justice is climate justice,” the organization said on Twitter, linking to its latest petition. “We are calling on all climate justice organizations to mobilize to #AbolishICE.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/ocasio-cortez-climate-change_us_5b3307a5e4b0b5e692f25e18
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It’s interesting that both the dems and GOP are split. I don’t believe in the Blue Wave and think Trump will be stronger after Nov and with Ryan and McCain gone [He is going, isn’t he?] the remaining RINOs will be less vocal.
The split in the dems, on the other hand, looks irreconcilable. The Bernie Bros, who didn’t turn out to vote for Hillary still think the DNC is their enemy. With creepy Joe Biden talking about running for the big job in 2020 it isn’t getting better.
How could a presidential candidate answer this commonly held opinion?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVW4x4uE6WI
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26 Jun: Reuters: France’s EDF, GE to co-build reactors for huge Indian nuclear plant
by Nidhi Verma
GE and French utility EDF have agreed to team to build six reactors for a nuclear power project in western India, which is due to be the world’s biggest when finished.
India is building nuclear power stations to meet the growing energy demands of its increasingly urban population ***and to shift away from environmentally-damaging coal-fired electricity…
The six European Pressurised Water reactors will be for a 9,900 mw nuclear power project at Jaitapur, south of Mumbai in the state of Maharashtra, GE and EDF said in a joint statement released on Tuesday.
India plans to have nuclear power generation capacity of 22,480 mw by 2031 through projects including Jaitapur, where construction has not yet started, junior minister for atomic energy Jitendra Singh told lawmakers in April…
https://in.reuters.com/article/us-india-nuclear-ge/frances-edf-ge-to-co-build-reactors-for-huge-indian-nuclear-plant-idINKBN1JM1J8
26 Jun: MiningWeekly: Ajoy K Das: India’s SCCL to get new coal blocks, foray into new business verticals
The Ministry of Coal has assured the southern India-headquartered mining company that the federal government will grant new coal blocks to the miner under the preferential allotment rule for government companies.
These new coal blocks will be in coal-bearing provinces outside southern India, the traditional operational hinterland of SCCL, and enable the company to ramp up coal production to levels of 100-million tons a year over the next few years, government officials have said.
SCCL currently operates 47 mines – 16 opencast and 31 underground – with yearly production of 60-million tons, predominantly from coal blocks located in southern Indian around the Telengana province…
http://www.miningweekly.com/article/indias-sccl-to-get-new-coal-blocks-foray-into-new-business-verticals-2018-06-26/rep_id:3650
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news.com.au carries US non-profit/renewable energy advocates’ bizarre rankings:
27 Jun: news.com.au: Australia falls behind India and Indonesia in global energy efficiency ranking
IF YOU’RE worried about soaring energy costs, this latest global scorecard is a probably a big reason why.
by Nick Whigham
The latest data reveals Australia has gone backwards on energy efficiency, leaving it ranked the worst performing major developed country in the world.
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) 2018 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard was released today and ranks Australia 18th among the world’s 25 largest energy users, a fall from its 16th place position in the 2016 ranking.
According to the report, Australia lags behind developing nations such as India, Indonesia, and China in the category.
Luke Menzel, chief executive of Australia’s Energy Efficiency Council, said the poor standing reflects a lack of broad engagement on the topic and policy inertia at the government level…
He would like to see “clear guidance” from the government on efficiency measures that would lead to improvements such as a greater uptake of energy efficient appliances or the introduction of fuel efficiency standards for passenger vehicles — something which has been adopted by 80 per cent of the world but is not currently in place in Australia…
“Australia would definitely benefit from stronger energy efficiency policies that save money, create jobs, cut pollution, and reduce dependence on energy imports,” (lead author Shruti Vaidyanathan, senior advisor for research at ACEEE) said.
“Without stronger energy efficiency measures, it will also be impossible for countries, including Australia, to meet the commitments necessary to achieving the global climate goal of capping temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius.”
https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/conservation/australia-falls-behind-india-and-indonesia-in-global-energy-efficiency-ranking/news-story/ec938fac21008704f6cb5d8aef810e73
not political, of course!
26 Jun: Bloomberg: The U.S. Is Losing Ground in the Race for Energy Efficiency
America dropped to No. 10 in a new ranking of the largest energy-consuming countries.
By Riley Griffin
The United States fell, from 8th in 2016, to 10th in the new ranking of the 25 largest energy-consuming countries in the world. This shift comes as result of both recent policy changes, including the White House’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement, ***and amendments to the scorecard’s methodology, such as the scoring of residential and commercial building codes.
“The Trump administration’s actions could very well affect the U.S.’s future rankings,” said Shruti Vaidyanathan, the report’s author. “The European Union has recently recommitted to energy-efficiency targets. But we’re looking at the polar opposite here in the U.S.”…
Mexico was the most improved country, jumping from 19th to 12th, partly due to the country’s recently enacted mandates for energy audits and on-site energy managers in large industrial facilities…
Global demand for energy is projected to grow 30 percent by 2040, according to a 2017 report from the International Energy Agency…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-26/the-u-s-is-losing-ground-in-the-race-for-energy-efficiency
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plenty to learn about them on this Twitter page:
Twitter: ACEEEdc
https://twitter.com/ACEEEdc
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)- FINANCES
ACEEE is a 501(c)3, nonprofit, tax-exempt organization incorporated under the laws of the State of California in 1980.
For more information about our finances, a copy of ACEEE’s latest IRS Form 990 is available here or on the GuideStar website…
•Foundations
•Public agencies
•Utilities
•Corporations
•Nonprofit Organizations
http://aceee.org/sources-funding
lesson: never trust a tax-exempt NGO promoting CAGW policies.
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“leaked”? lol:
27 Jun: ClimateChangeNews: Leaked final government draft of UN 1.5C climate report – annotated
A draft summary of the most important climate science report of 2018, published here annotated with changes from the previous version
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/06/27/new-leaked-draft-of-un-1-5c-climate-report-in-full-and-annotated/
27 Jun: ClimateChangeNews: Warming of 2C ‘substantially’ more harmful than 1.5C – draft UN report
Latest version of major UN science report concludes the upper temperature goal of the Paris Agreement does not represent a climate safe zone
By Karl Mathiesen, Megan Darby and Soila Apparicio
A leaked draft of a major UN climate change report shows growing certainty that 2C, once shorthand for a ‘safe’ amount of planetary warming, would be a dangerous step for humanity.
The authors make clear the difference between warming of 1.5C and 2C would be “substantial” and damaging to communities, economies and ecosystems across the world…
The report summary, which Climate Home News published on Wednesday, is a draft and subject to change. The IPCC said it would not comment on leaked reports. An earlier draft from January was also published by CHN.
CHN has compared the January and June drafts. The new version builds a stronger case for governments to rapidly cut carbon pollution. It also strikes a marginally more optimistic tone on the attainability of the 1.5C target…
Renewables deployment needs to accelerate further for 1.5C to be possible, the draft says, with primary energy from coal falling two thirds by 2030. For comparison, the International Energy Agency forecasts coal use increasing slightly over the period, based on existing and signposted policies.
It calls for sustainable management of competing demands on the land. This includes “diet changes” – code for the rich eating less steak – and “sustainable intensification” of farming, which is viewed with suspicion by many environmentalists.
Radical emissions cuts are also needed in industry, transport and buildings, where it says technology exists but faces economic and social barriers…READ ON
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/06/27/warming-2c-substantially-harmful-1-5c-draft-un-report/
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with links:
27 Jun: Townhall: New Poll: Americans Oppose Electric Car Subsidies
by George Landrith
Elon Musk made headlines last week when he declared via Twitter that he is “a socialist.”
But hardworking ratepayers and taxpayers who must endure price hikes to subsidize the electric car industry have long been aware of Musk’s preference for wealth redistribution – not through Twitter but Tesla.
Electric vehicle manufacturers are the beneficiaries of zero-emissions credits – through which the multibillionaire’s corporation received $860 million throughout the last three years – as well as charging stations funded by ratepayers. Owners of luxury electric vehicles, meanwhile, can take advantage of a federal $7,500 tax credit and, as a POLITICO piece recently explained, “purchase rebates as large as $5,000, additional rebates for vehicle chargers, and free use of public charging stations… only ‘free’ because they’re subsidized by ratepayers and taxpayers.” It would therefore be more accurate to label utility-built charging stations, to which they are commonly referred, as ratepayer-built charging stations.
Take the $776.5 million electric vehicle project approved just last month by the California Public Utilities Commission, for example. The project includes giveaways such as “rebates for customers to install up to 60,000 charging stations in homes for electric vehicles.” As The San Diego Union-Tribune reports, “the money for the programs will come from ratepayers” – “spread across the millions of customers those utilities have.”…
A new American Energy Alliance poll reveals that an overwhelming 67 percent of voters “are resistant to the idea that they should pay for people to buy electric vehicles,” while “nearly in 7 in 10 respondents, or 69 percent, agreed that electricity customers should not be forced to pay for the cars’ recharging stations.” Meanwhile, even the liberal Daily Kos writes that “in reality [the current $7,500 tax break for electric cars] has benefited some folks who are a bit better off than others,” and a piece republished by
The Huffington Post notes that “in some states, officials say that letting the utility industry build more stations would force all electricity consumers to pay for a service that only a few, relatively affluent, people will use.”…READ ALL
https://townhall.com/columnists/georgelandrith/2018/06/27/new-poll-americans-oppose-electric-car-subsidies-n2494688
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If you’re a Melbourne local, Tony Abbott & Peter Ridd will give the 2018 Bob Carter Commemorative Lecture in Melbourne on July 3rd. Abbott will speak on “Climate Change and Restraining Greenhouse Gas Emissions”.
It may give a clue as to whether the Ginger Group is going to keep sitting on its hands or actually get up and do something useful to end the Turnbull/Frydenberg conspiracy.
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/tony-abbott-to-give-2018-bob-carter-commemorative-lecture-tickets-46461569806
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We’re planning to be there.
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I’ll be there.
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