“Insanity”. Feel the angst — should the Emissions Reductions Fund pay money to coal?

Let’s set national policy by “Embarrassment”? Great way to run the country (into the ground).

Skeptics: send in your submissions  before July 12.

A coal generator has asked the Emissions Reductions Fund to pay for carbon credits if it upgrades its turbines and makes less CO2. “The Specialist Reporting Team’s” Penny Timms, of the ABC, quotes two activists, asks no skeptics, no engineers, no electricity consumers, and no hard questions. They call the owner of the generator a “coal baron”. Where are the “wind and solar barons”?

Here’s the ABC standing up for their own ideology:

The chief of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Kelly O’Shanassy, said “it would be a mistake.”

“We would be the only country in the world to be using a climate fund to fund coal-fired power, and that would just be a global embarrassment,” she said.

So a know-nothing activist sayth it would be embarrassing. Who cares? Does it reduce CO2 or doesn’t it? Japan the World Bank and the UN green fundshave funded coal power.

Hypocrisy unbounded — does CO2 matter or not?

If CO2 is reduced by upgrading a coal station is it really a CO2 reduction or it is an unthinkable Sin? Apparently we cant fund a reduction in CO2 if it involves the coal word. Lordy, it might keep old clean reliable assets alive at the expense of welfare dependent uneconomic renewables? Once again, the evidence supports the Jo Nova test of green behaviour — when faced with a choice to reduce CO2 or fund a fellow freeloader on taxpayer dollars, the Green activists always choose to fund a friend. CO2 is just a scare-means-to-an-end. The Ends is power and money, the environment is just the excuse.

The hypocritical Green angst proves once again that this is a religious hate campaign against coal and nothing to do with CO2 reduction. If CO2 mattered, the choices of where the money went would be limited too: 1/ Does it reduce CO2, and 2/ is it cost effective?

Which expert has a religious objection to coal?

Tim Baxter, photo

Tim Baxter. Seriously, his profile pic at Melbourne Uni

According to the ABC, an expert said this is “insane”, which gets repeated three times in the article but Penny Timms does not ask one hard question of the said expert to expose his  hypocrisy.

A man with a conflict of interest perhaps?

ERF expert Tim Baxter, a fellow of Melbourne Law School and associate of the Climate and Energy College, said the potential inclusion of coal-fired power stations was worrying.

“We’re asking whether a scheme, designed purportedly to reduce Australia’s emissions, should be funding some of the most polluting sources of electricity generation in the country,” he said.

“This is an insane question to ask.”

You are not even allowed to ask (because Baxter has no answer, so he has to effectively say “shut up and go away”).

Mr Baxter is not convinced the committee will end up recommending the changes being considered.

“I don’t think that there’s a principled reason for this method to exist at all, and if there is a reason for it, I don’t think there’s a principled reason to expand its availability,” he said.

How about the principle of reducing CO2 in a cost effective manner? Skeptics think that’s a waste of money, but judging the way climate activists act, they do too. His target is the coal industry, not CO2.

The Climate and Energy College is a safe space at Melbourne Uni that is entirely dependent on a belief that CO2 is bad, bad, bad, and obviously has a religious hatred of coal power.

Submissions

The ERAC is The independent Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee, which of course is not independent. They have three calls out for consultation:

Consultation Comments close
 Consultation on the National Environmental Science Program Sunday, June 30, 2019
 Review of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative—Facilities) Methodology Determination 2015 Friday, July 12, 2019
 Proposed variation to the National Environment Protection (Ambient Air Quality) Measure standards for ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide Wednesday, August 07, 2019

$3.5 billion dollars to Fund a green Friend?

The ERF is Tony Abbotts Direct Action plan rebadged. It’s still the cheapest form of carbon reduction at $13/t:

In a statement, Mr Taylor said the “Government’s Climate Solutions Package (CSP) was a $3.5 billion investment which maps out how we will achieve 328 million tonnes of abatement needed to meet our 2030 target”.

“Building on existing measures, the CSP includes a further $2 billion for the ERF, which has already contracted around 193 million tonnes of abatement at an average price of around $13 per tonne.

Angus Taylor will decide if he should follow the advice of the ERF committee. So send submission to both him and the committee.

When will the ABC serve the other half of the country — the ones who pay the taxes that fund the ABC?

That coal-power could cut CO2,
For alarmists can never be true,
As their ultimate goal,
Is to starve man of coal,
To coerce, control and subdue.

–Ruairi

h/t David B and Pat

9.6 out of 10 based on 69 ratings

126 comments to “Insanity”. Feel the angst — should the Emissions Reductions Fund pay money to coal?

  • #
    Hanrahan

    As I was reading that I thought Tony Abbot would approve under his DAP.

    70

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      First we know that the ABC only employees
      Suitably indoctrinated village idiots.
      So this article’ is hardly a surprise.
      And of course the ABC’s village idiots will only consult
      With other village idiots
      For advice about this proposal.
      All in all, I suspect the “Monty Python gang”
      Would be pleased to run this as one of their skits.
      But of course that would be a breach of ABC copyright.

      271

  • #
    OriginalSteve

    Well…this is timely…..here is what a failed state looks like …now add in no cheap power and it would just collapse like any tin pot dictatorship would….

    This is what happens when unbridled liberalism ( Leftism ) is let run loose.

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/47888/bubonic-plague-likely-already-present-los-angeles-joseph-curl

    “Bubonic Plague ‘Likely’ Already Present In Los Angeles, Dr. Drew Says

    “The city, with a population topping four million and a broader metropolitan area with many millions more, is awash in massive problems — overcrowding, lack of housing, and high demand for free services among them. But other far more serious problems are lurking, Dr. Drew Pinksy said on Thursday.

    ““We have a complete breakdown of the basic needs of civilization in Los Angeles right now,” Pinsky told Fox New host Laura Ingraham. “We have the three prongs of airborne disease, tuberculosis is exploding, rodent-borne. We are one of the only cities in the country that doesn’t have a rodent control program, and sanitation has broken down.”

    “Pinsky said bubonic plague — also known as the “Black Death,” a pandemic that killed off millions in the 14th century — is “likely” already present in Los Angeles. The plague is spread by infected fleas and exposure to bodily fluids from a dead plague-infected animal, with the bacteria entering through the skin and traveling to lymph nodes.

    “Typhus, which broke out in the city last year, will likely return, Pinsky said. Already, a Los Angeles police officer has contracted typhoid fever, which infects fewer than 350 Americans each year. The various types of typhus are caused by a bacterial infection and spread by body lice, chiggers or fleas. In the 1600s, the disease decimated Germany.

    221

    • #
      KinkyKeith

      This may be a Trigger to reassess the slothfullness that has infected government.

      It’s not a difficult question.

      Is it better to focus on Globull Warming or on the “basics” that we’ve been aware of for the last 500 years.

      KK

      151

    • #
      sophocles

      Thank you OS.
      I did wonder about those when I saw something of LA in a video about something else. You’ve given my musings some confirmation. It can take years before a situation like that has/is turning into has its fuse triggered. The trigger could strike any time now. But once triggered …

      100

      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Actually, lets go one ligical step along a possible scenario which use LA as the blue print for a broader ” plan” for more american cities ( and for the record, I hope sicerely it never occurs ).

        Lets assume we have more cities run down, disease and infrastructure are under severe strain. The US army has been niw trained through its time in Iraq, to be very goid at managing urban unrest and decaying urban centres with stressed out populations. The USA already has a trained force to handle what might be coming. Now imagine a few cities being hit with a dirty bomb ( or worse ). Are we being set up for signifucant urban breakdown? I hope not, however if power systems vontinue to be put under pressure and the powers that be resemble more of a Nero mindset, anything may become possible.

        Yep its not a nice scenario, but the NWO mib always do stuff on a small scale ( like SA power debacle ) then roll it out across a larger theatre of engagement ( rest of Oz).

        50

    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      The interesting thing about that article Original Steve. is that there was no mention of “Climate Change” or “Global Warming”.

      However, the LA Times wasn’t going to let a good excuse for their socialist green politicians go to waste.

      Nope. Climate change is the reason for the increase in rats and rats and their flees are the root cause of Plague:

      https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-randall-plague-climate-change-rats-20190516-story.html

      The Californian black rat population is growing in direct proportion to the increase in green socialists.

      Therefore the best way to get rid of the black rat population is to get rid of the green socialists.

      Like Sloan, I know a rat when I smell one:

      https://www.history.com/news/can-we-stop-blaming-rats-for-the-black-death

      130

      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Id be starting to compare LA to a stinking 3rd world backwater….or Venezuela…actually….now that I think about it…nahhhh….surely not.

        70

  • #
    KinkyKeith

    “The Climate and Energy College is a safe space at Melbourne Uni that is entirely dependent on a belief that CO2 is bad, bad, bad, and obviously has a religious hatred of coal power.”

    Love the use of that term, “safe space” which so unsubtly contrasts the place from which the Elites operate with the real life productive taxpayers in industry, mining, essential services, productive employment, farming and small business.

    Honestly, we could lose Kanberra and most echelons of state and local governments and be far better off.

    Our schools are violent unproductive nightmares, our Universities are full of people encouraged to go there by politicians intent on keeping unemployment figures down and our parliaments have only one plan: to hang on long enough to get the huge superannuation score, or a job in the U.N. If you can transfer the required funds to the Klinton Foundation.

    KK

    210

  • #
    KinkyKeith

    Coal fired power has science on its side.

    There is more CO2 produced per kWh with Renewables than with the oldest of coal plants.

    Get with the science guys.

    KK

    281

    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      Green extremists don’t do science, Kinky. They can’t handle the truth (or the maths).

      For them, it’s about bringing down the democratic, capitalist, free market economies of the world (or those that at least make an effort in that regard).

      Essentially, they’re totalitarians. Socialist totalitarians. Communist totalitarians. Their ends justify their means.

      The inefficiency of renewables is part of their strategy to achieve their Communist masters’ aims. Why else is the Communist totalitarian state of mainland China building coal powered generators at a far greater rate than solar or wind?

      211

    • #
      FarmerDoug2

      Kinky
      I need a reasonably simple page with numbers and some references I can hand to debating opponents. It will need to be friendly.
      Page, leaflet, needs to be clear print with very basic maths budget for costs in money and CO2. Hazards and reliability will be the next step. First I have to get them listening, looking, interested. Show that I am serious and this is real.
      It is hard to show the difference between Kwt and Mwt hours when they are using “billions” for effect. Something real to look at might calm the debate.

      20

      • #

        FarmerDoug2.

        Nothing about the numbers, the maths or the money is in any way simple.

        However, having said that, there perhaps is a way to ….. ‘show’ those green acolytes how little their favoured renewables deliver.

        It’s a pity you can’t find a way to hook up a computer to a large screen, and show this following sequence, but perhaps you can take screen shots of the images, or have a small number of them gather around you while you show them this sequence on a laptop.

        Open up the page at this link.

        When it opens you can play around with it to show (yourself at first) that it is interactive. Familiarise yourself with the titles of the boxes, and they are self explanatory, but you need to know which is which.

        First, see the ticked boxes under the image, and how they are all ticked except for one titled ….. Total.

        Tick that Total box. (you’ll see a black line appear across the top of all the colours.)

        Now, in this sequence, and leaving the black line total ticked, UNTICK all the other boxes, so now you have just the black line total showing.

        Now, tick the boxes titled Solar (the colour is Red, so first, so you see how little it delivers, and these are just the solar power plants) Rooftop Solar, (colour Yellow) and then Wind. (colour Green)

        This is a visual representation of how much those three sources deliver when compared to the overall total generated power from every source, that black line at the top.

        I have purposely selected this day, not to cherry pick, but because this is one that shows wind power at the current yearly average for power generation. I could have selected a day when wind power was really low, and they usually run at about 50/50 Low/High.

        What you see there is around average power delivery for these three sources, and that’s around 9.5% of that overall total.

        For further effect, untick all the boxes (except total) and then tick just black coal, brown coal, and natural gas, and that’s 77.5% of the total.

        The remainder is Hydro at 10.5% and those smaller sources (all the other boxes combined) around 2.5%.

        I don’t know if this is of any help, but it is a fairly simple representation.

        Don’t know how you might make it work for any debate though.

        Tony.

        60

        • #
          FarmerDoug2

          Thanks Tony. On several occasions now I’ve found myself debating one “more vocal” opponent at some gathering. When they get excited exaggeration makes sensible discussion difficult. A printed list might bring a bit of sence.
          At more formal meetings I find, when chalenged, most warmists just shut up. I’m generally encouraged by the percentage of “quiet Australians” just waiting on someone to chalenge the group think.
          Doug

          40

  • #
    Robber

    Yet another bumbling bungling bureaucracy at work paid for by our taxes.

    130

    • #
      KinkyKeith

      And that’s the issue, why should our taxes be paying for fantasy rubbish.

      130

      • #
        Bill in Oz

        Creating this rubbish is their vocation Keith
        Surely you don’t want these poor village idiots to be unemployed ?
        How ‘un-compassionate’ of you !
        Tsk Tsk !
        They will start crying soon
        Where are their teddy bears ?
        Have you hidden them Keith ?

        🙂

        90

  • #
    Geoffrey Williams

    We have to remember one thing here guys and that is that renewable energy is all about creating wealth for it’s owners. It is nothing to do with the saving the climate. The climate is jud8t an excuse. The rush to build an electric car economy is exactly the same; nothing to do with the climate, all about building a new auto industry for whoever.
    GeoffW

    171

  • #
    TdeF

    The Chinese, the biggest generators of CO2 in the world are given cash. Their argument is that they are building hydro instead of coal but they are building coal as well, so it is a moot point. They also argue they are Climate Victims as all the CO2 already in the air is someone else’s fault.

    So what would Mr Baxter think about giving carbon cash to China? Their CO2 output increase each year exceeds our entire output, so what is his point?
    Our obligation is to reduce ours, by any means. That is the objective, not to eliminate coal. If coal vanished tomorrow, Australia would have to close.

    Typical thoughtless academic. And of course all based on the idea that CO2 is heating the planet, which is obviously not true, making the seas rise rapidly which is obviously not true and the increase is man made when in fact the oceans determine CO2 levels and there is nothing we can do to affect it. Also obvious given 350,000 windmills have done nothing.

    Besides, it’s all someone else’s money, isn’t it.

    250

    • #
      Latus Dextro

      The Chinese play the neo-Marxist globalist corporatist climatism game to perfection.
      It’s merely a simply matter of watching the West walk the Green Death gang plank to de-industrialisation, de-population , destitution and despair.
      The time for civil war draws nearer.

      170

      • #
        el gordo

        Steady on, they may call themselves ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ but Beijing is closer to Fascism.

        Putting that aside, they are neo-capitalists. At the begining of the year they told the renewable industry they were now competing with coal and due diligence will apply, no further subsidies, let the free market decide.

        110

        • #
          Sceptical Sam

          they told the renewable industry they were now competing with coal and due diligence will apply, no further subsidies, let the free market decide.

          Oh, for goodness sake!

          The Chinese Communist Party government of mainland China is a master of propaganda.

          You can believe nothing they say.

          These are the same people who crushed and pulped their citizens in Tiananmen Square.

          These are the people who survived the Mao purges at the time of the “Little Red Book” by selling out their brothers, sisters, parents, friends and acquaintances to ensure their own survival.

          This is a Communist government that cheats, lies and steals while professing to act honourably under the rules of the WTO. This is a government which steals the intellectual property and business know-how from those who have invested time and money in its development; a Communist government that manipulates its exchange rate to obtain competitive advantage in spite of its obligations under the rules of the WTO. A government that erects tariff and non-tariff barriers to ensure that its hugely subsidized industries can compete.

          Believe a Communist at your peril.

          160

          • #
            TdeF

            They also make most of the world solar panels.

            “Currently the top 3 solar manufacturers in the world are JinkoSolar, JA Solar, and Trina Solar”

            Jinko Solar is currently the world’s largest solar panel manufacturer, shipping 11.4 GW of modules in 2018. Headquartered in Shanghai,
            JA Solar Holdings is a solar development company based in Yangpu district, Shanghai.
            Trina Solar Limited is a Chinese company located in the province of Jiangsu

            Most windmills are made in Germany or in China, generally under licence with Germany.

            So you know who gets our cash, our $6Bn a year which does not just go into the pockets of people with no debts for the simple fact of generating Green electrons, not for the electricity which may or may not be sold.

            However I do not blame China for the scam. They are simply profiteering from the insanity of the West.

            200

            • #
              el gordo

              Think of the balance of trade, Australia will stop subsidies next year and the renewable industry will virtually collapse.

              ‘Australia’s biggest exports are iron ore and coal, worth $120b (or 30pc of goods sold overseas) The nation’s largest export markets are China (31pc).’ ABC

              So we’ll have to buy bullet trains, build satellite cities and drought proof the MDB and western Queensland.

              120

              • #
                Dennis

                And that is, of course, the reason so many merchant bankers and others with financial interests in the “renewable industry” worked so hard to try and get Labor elected to government.

                50

              • #
                el gordo

                Its a form of indirect corruption and all based on a falsehood, that CO2 causes global warming.

                70

              • #
                TdeF

                And a primary falsehood, that the 50% increase in CO2 since the industrial revolution is man made.

                And perhaps another, that the CO2 in the air is not set by ocean temperature. In other words, warming produces CO2. There is no evidence that CO2 produces warming. It is outrageous naive or deceitful conjecture, not science.

                80

          • #
            el gordo

            During the Cultural Revolution many good people were liquidated, imprisoned or sent as slaves to the countryside. That was the fate of Xi Jinping and he survived, so things are different now. We have just witnessed the greatest economic revolution the world has seen, China is a communist state in name only.

            Here is the latest from Reuters on subsidies.

            https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-windpower/china-to-end-subsidies-for-onshore-wind-power-by-2021-idUSKCN1SU0M1

            ‘Believe a Communist at your peril.’

            You might be right, Julia Gillard and Malcolm Turnbull were an integral part of the pseudo Marxist consortium.

            80

        • #
          TdeF

          Socialism, Fascism and Communism are all the same. Look at Venezuela. No elections. Maduro controls the military and the gangs and they control the people. You cannot have a democratically elected socialist government. As with Hitler who won 28% of the vote and Lenin who won 25% of the vote, once they get power there is no vote. 75% of the world’s governments are military dictatorships posing as socialist. Except for the Middle East and North Korea where they are Kingdoms.

          130

          • #
            el gordo

            ‘As with Hitler who won 28% …’

            In the early 1920s the Party grew but gradually waned in popularity as the economy improved, at that point Hitler was getting less than 3% of the popular vote. Then came the Great Depression and the rest is history.

            30

        • #
          Latus Dextro

          #7.1.1. Steady on, they may call themselves ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ but Beijing is closer to Fascism.
          Putting that aside, they are neo-capitalists.

          Make your mind up el gordo and pick a sino-ideological identity. But whatever you pick, it won’t involve small governance for the people, by the people, seeking liberty, prosperity and happiness for all.
          The Left (in this instance the Communist (fascist) party) are indisputable totalitarian master of all they survey. They should be; 80 million slaughtered in the “cultural revolution” got them off to a sizzling start. They now lead the world in CCTV implementation, and they lead the world with the help of the the Googleverse in a social credit system rating one’s “human societal value”, while they ruthlessly sanction those that disagree with with them (Hong Kong, Republic of China (Taiwan).
          They incarcerate the impoverished with debt (Africa), they promote a hegemony through their Belt and Road Initiative, in a kraptitudinous new-age economic colonisation, they lie, cheat distort and obfuscate, they steal intellectual capital, ignore patents and flood the market with worthless, contaminated unwanted junk, which the dependent sheeple in the West hoover up like demonically possessed, spiritually bereft, vacuum cleaners.
          The communist party allows around 50% of the economy to run as a faux-free market economy. That isn’t working out well. For example, the 64.6 million empty homes, apartments & condos exist in the biggest property bubble ever constructed by edict.
          No el gordo, “free” is not a word that exists in the dictionary of the brutal, murderous Communist revolutionary world of China.

          110

          • #
            el gordo

            Their social credit system is a bit too invasive, but with over a billion people to control it looks like a proactive approach to law and order.

            The ghost cities are embarrassing and a constant reminder of human folly, in a similar way that our wind farms, solar farms and desalination plants will appear to future generations.

            We could talk about the Belt and Road, and their version of the free market, but perhaps we should wait for the open thread.

            30

            • #
              Sceptical Sam

              …..but with over a billion people to control

              Control.

              Exactly.

              No rule of law. No democracy.

              A billion slaves. Slaughter awaits any who have the courage to try and think for themselves.

              Such a society will not survive. Eventually the people will revolt. It took the Russians 70 years to overthrow their Communist totalitarian slave-masters China is not too far away from replicating that outcome.

              That’s why the smart ones are already getting their money out; buying property in the west; repatriating only part of their overseas earnings; carrying cash and depositing it in western bank accounts each time they travel; buying gold. The signs are starting to appear.

              20

          • #
            KinkyKeith

            Hi LD,
            An interesting read.
            I suspect that like most of us you have concerns about western governments but it seems that there’s no uncertainty about your impressions regarding China.

            They know where they’re going.

            Everywhere!

            KK

            10

  • #
    Robber

    Report out today by AEMC on 2019 Retail Energy Competition Review.
    In summary, the report has found that:
    – the market continues to become more competitive, with new retailers entering the market, elevated switching levels and decreases in market concentration.
    – consumer satisfaction and confidence in the energy market improved from the low levels reported in the 2018 Review .
    – prices generally fell by small amounts over the past year, and there was an increase in simple and stable pricing structures.

    60

    • #
      ivan

      Methinks that report is very tongue in cheek – it sounds to be more like what they hope rather than reality.

      70

    • #
      TdeF

      How can it be competive when 75% of what you pay for is theft. We are buying the same coal electrons from the same people for at least 3x as much as 5 years ago. Why? Answer that and you understand the ‘competitive’ industry. There is no market, there is only theft, government legislated. Why else would the City of Canberra collect $35million in cash simply for owning windmills? That’s not for the power and we paid for the windmills. It’s also ongoing as the river of our cash goes into pockets here and around the world, even public servants.

      140

      • #
        Just Thinkin'

        The NEM and AEMO is a Ponzi scheme.
        Pure and simple.
        Shut down ALL the interconnectors.
        Lock the Circuit Breakers in the OPEN position with SIX locks.

        With a sign, “Only to be closed under dire circumstances
        as determined by the people with the keys for the locks.
        ALL must agree”.

        100

        • #
          TdeF

          The NEMO is as unnecessary and costly as it is pernicious, a blatant attempt to take over electricity by the Left of politics. It’s the means of production. Having lost the Post Office and Telstra, the Unions and Conroy in particular wanted more power. So the NBN was born and the NEM, AEMO are part of the same concentration of power in Canberra. The grid however is all cost, no benefit. Victoria and NSW were joint owners of the Snowy anyway. In the early days, it was each state for themselves as it was all dependent on natural mining resources, which are the exclusive right of the states.

          So now we have a total mess, but it’s a Canberra driven mess where the public servants have bought themselves windmills at our expense and get direct RET payments as owners. If there is any embarassment in ripping off the rest of Australia, Canberra’s Greens do not show it. Like all real communists, once you have the power, you get the cash. Sure beats working.

          90

  • #
    Zane

    Another total fool who hides behind his beard.

    90

    • #
      sophocles

      another Gullible.

      70

    • #
      sophocles

      Lawyers are like Econmists: they both think they know everything. They both do seem to know everything about nothing.

      Baxter is just another X-Spurt. (where X is the unknown quantity and a Spurt is a drip under pressure.)

      30

  • #
    Dave

    The article by Tony in 2013 was correct. Probably even more CO2 savings now!

    Upgrade coal power and cut 15% of emissions. Where is the Green applause?

    But the GREENIES and the UN don’t want coal full stop!

    180

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Dave:

      I think that figure is rather pessimistic, and could well be 22-23% of CO2 emissions from electricity generation in Australia. That’s about 0.0007% of world CO2 emissions.
      The question no-one asks (esp. the Greenies) is what reduction can you get with renewables (and big subsidies).
      Germany has installed 29,900 wind turbines (and lots of solar PV) and their overall CO2 emissions haven’t reduced in the last 10 years. With their economic slowdown (partly a result of higher electricity prices) they MIGHT reduce CO2 emissions this year. They have cut subsidies and renewables projects affected have almost disapeared. They have certainly missed their 2020 target.

      150

    • #
      Latus Dextro

      Coal is simply too cheap and plentiful. It is the key to completely and quickly undermining the Green Death. They fear it as they should.

      80

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    The Climate and Energy College – brought to you by fossil fuels.

    71

  • #
    PeterS

    It’s not about CO2. It’s about the destruction of the “free world” that was and to a limited albeit declining extent still is based on Christian values.

    130

    • #
      el gordo

      Its about CO2, our grandchildren will roast in a man made hell.

      And a reminder, our western Christian values have inadvertently created the problem, which is why I am banned at wuwt for writing the words Revelations and Millenarianism in the one sentence.

      50

      • #
        Bill in Oz

        Ahhh well EG, WUWT is a Science focussed site..
        That gives it a big scope to operate in.
        So it does not want to get into politics or religion
        Though the Global Warming Cult is an exception.

        51

        • #
          el gordo

          There are too many religious fundamentalists in Iran and the USA, which has a tendency to warp perspective.

          30

        • #
          el gordo

          ‘WUWT is a Science focussed site..’

          I was making the point that AGW is a cultural meme, with high priests and catastrophism.

          50

  • #

    It should be illegal NOT to upgrade critical infrastructure for purposes of thrift, efficiency and safety. Know any Australian bridges or highway overpasses held up with chewy and sticky tape? (I know, I know…give the globos time…)

    130

  • #
    Latus Dextro

    While watching the 1971 version of the “Omega Man” recently, I was struck by the dialogue, how apt and prescient it seemed today, almost as if written by Ayn Rand herself, but not quite:

    Mathias: “You see him as we were before the punishment, before we gained grace, you see lying there the last of the scientists, the bankers, the last of the business men, the users of the wheel. Do we use the tools of the wheel as he does?”

    Crowd: “No.”

    Mathias: “Is he of the family?”

    Crowd: “No.”

    Mathias: “Is he of the sacred society?”

    Crowd: “No.”

    Mathias: “Then what is he?”

    Crowd: “Evil.”

    Mathias: “He is part of the dead. He has no place here. He has the stink of oil, of electrical circuitry about him. He is obsolete. You are discarded, you are the refuse of the last.”

    Omega Man: “You’re full of crap.”

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      Lionell Griffith

      They are totally empty and without socially redeemable value. To be full of crap is to be almost worthy of opposition. The empty only need the final blow of extinction. The only question is will they go quietly into that well deserved cold dark night or will it take a more forceful means?

      Soon there will be no good and peaceful options. It is going to get ugly. No matter what, technological civilization will be severely injured.

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    It makes you wonder eh!

    China started its USC (UltraSuperCritical) coal fired plant (now referred to as HELE) construction in the early 2000s. As each large new plant came on line, those older tiny little coal fired plants, (10MW to 100MW) all of them old tech, all high emitters of CO2 were closed down, and each year more of them came on line, more of those tiny ones were closed, now many thousands of them, probably even much more than that even.

    The earliest I started looking at that China data was in 2008, and the average amount of coal burnt per KWH of generated power by coal fired power plants in China was 355 grams per KWH, and that includes all the new USC plants, so it was already coming down.

    Each year since then, as more of those large scale USC plants came on line, and more of those older ones were closed, that level of coal burned per KWH has come down, to the point where now, that amount of coal burned per KWH of generated power stands at 291 grams per KWH. (and just in that last year 2018, it came down from 294, so it’s now stabilising, but still falling)

    Bayswater power station here in Australia is SubCritical, so there are three levels of tech higher than that now, Critical, SuperCritical, and USC. Bayswater burns around 450grams per KWH of generated power.

    You be the judge of how newer tech coal fired power lowers emissions of CO2.

    Tony.

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    • #

      So, 291 grams versus 450 grams…

      Surely a Climate and Energy College would have noticed something so obvious? Or maybe that’s why they’re just a College and not a Centre of Excellence.

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  • #
    Another Ian

    “Coal Subsidies and Jake Tapper’s Climate Emergency Meltdown… Lions and Tigers and Bears!!!”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/06/27/coal-subsidies-and-climate-emergencies-lions-and-tigers-and-bears/

    40

  • #
    AndyG55

    The fact is, that if all the major coal fired power stations were to be converted to the newest HELE multi-process technology, it would delivery FAR GREATER CO2 EMISSION REDUCTIONS than wind and solar are EVER capable of doing.

    220

  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    Thanks Jo, I’ve made my contributions on the 3 questions

    51

    • #
      Peter C

      Peter Fitz,

      Could you share your contributions here?

      80

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      Well I missed them Peter.
      Are you taking your bat & ball
      And going home now ?

      50

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      Well I missed them Peter.
      Are you taking your bat & ball
      And going home now ?

      50

    • #
      AndyG55

      Yawn, and yet another POINTLESS pft non-comment.

      40

    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      I commented directly on those questions

      31

      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        And, I’m no longer in moderation! Thanks to whoever fixed that little bug.

        31

        • #
          Bill in Oz

          Peter I discovered I was in moderation whenever I mentioned your name.

          So I stopped.

          And now no moderation ! ( Maybe ? )

          Something about your name I suspect !

          Stop being you is my suggestion.

          🙂

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        • #
          Graeme No.3

          We will live with that.

          Now, are you in favour of a definite reduction in CO2 emissions?

          20

        • #
          AndyG55

          So, no more victim status, hey, PF,


          “I commented directly on those questions”

          Where?

          Show us your answers, or just continuing to be a FWOT with your empty comments.

          20

      • #
        AndyG55

        Q1.. “should the Emissions Reductions Fund pay money to coal?”

        IF the aim of the funding is to pointlessly reduce CO2 emissions…

        …then obviously the answer is that the funding SHOULD be available for reducing CO2 emissions.

        In fact, funding for HELE type coal power should be of the utmost priority, because they are the one thing that would actually reduce CO2 emissions.

        Wouldn’t you agree, PF !!

        Also, since neither wind or solar actually reduce any CO2 emission, being that they are never likely to catch up with their manufacturing and installation release of CO2 (and many other real toxins) then it is also obvious that wind and solar SHOULD NOT have access to these funds.

        Wouldn’t you agree, PF. !!

        30

  • #

    And thank you for the pic of a concerned Tim.

    Our ERF expert’s weary head tilt must be the envy of all Guardian readers and posh lefties. Takes decades of patronizing to get a tilt that perfect.

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    Zane

    A ” climate fund “. More taxpayer money wasted on ” experts ” and Mickey Mouse policies.

    50

  • #
    TdeF

    Off topic but you have to love Boris Johnson. It seems he has called the French turds. Oh, dear.
    Of course he means the rich elites like Macron who have always run the place to their advantage, like the rich British in London. It’s one way to negotiate.

    Meanwhile mendicant malingering May refused to leave in June, a typical British headline and she is warning Boris not to prorogue parliament. Boris will of course prorogue parliament.

    Then we will see what happens with the Paris Accord and the rule of Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg by unelected rich elites, 10,000 of whom earn more than Boris does. He can always invite Macron over to share a cold pork pie with warm beer, or some Roast Beef. Everyone has had enough of May, Macron and Merkel.

    The Paris accord will be last on his agenda, but he will get to it despite his ultra Green current girlfriend. Britain has been freezing up to now. Three people have already been reported killed by heat stress. Of course. Sudden Global Warming. A killer and a bit late this year. Maybe its Climate Change?

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    • #
      Annie

      Three people not killed by the heatwave but by stupidity in water. One 12 year-old girl in a river near Manchester and two young men ‘tombstoning’. Headline said ‘killed by the heatwave’. You despair about the lack of commonsense.

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    • #
      Peter C

      Despite his UltraGreen current girl friend

      The relationship might be over already, given that they had a major domestic a few days ago. The police were called.
      We’re they really arguing about who used the laptop?

      40

  • #
    TdeF

    Back onto China though. China is doing nothing until 2030, then CO2 output should peak anyway.

    The sheer size of the place is astounding.

    The list of the top 50 cities is here
    It is an underestimate, as Shanghai is 37 million, bigger than all of Australia, not 20 million but even so, the top ten are over 6 million people.
    Even when you get to city #51, is it 1.5Million people. In fact there are 200 Adelaides.

    And perhaps 1 Billion people live in smaller villages.

    and they live on coal fired electricity but we are being asked to move to German wind power or Chinese solar panels. No one is lecturing China.
    Mr Baxter lives in a different world, a world of very narrow morality and legality and the anti coal religion and he is personally moving to hand cranked generators.

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    • #
      el gordo

      TdeF its all unraveling, China has stopped subsidies and we’ll do the same next year. More importantly, its time to consider our future.

      ‘Half of Australians (50%) believe ‘the Australian government should put a higher priority on maintaining strong relations with the United States, even if this might harm our relations with China’. A sizeable minority (44%) say Australia ‘should put a higher priority on building stronger relations with China, even if this might harm our relations with the United States’.

      Lowy Institute 2019

      50

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    Bill in Oz

    Very interesting ‘alternate’ versions of Britains political future, re Brexit in the Quadrant
    “Fragments of Future Histories ”
    https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2019/06/fragments-of-future-histories/
    I especially like the Lord Farage memoirs part. Highly likely scenario !

    50

    • #
      TdeF

      I suspect Boris is a man of action and he will not fail. If he does, it will be spectacular.

      He will certainly offer negotiations, but we know the results already after three years and he did just call the French turds. That’s a bit aggressive.

      Only the realistic threat of a no deal Brexit will bring the French and Germans to the bargaining table. Alternatively he may run an election before he does. May threw away her position with a totally unnecessary election, like our own genius Malcolm who demonstrated only that he was not Tony Abbott. May also had an ego based election and just scraped home. Boris will not muck around and he will not prevaricate. People like that. They have had enough of the death by a thousand cuts.

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      • #
        Bobl

        The EU need Britain more than Britain needs the EU the EU might impose tariffs on Britain but it can’t last long, London controls/funds far too much of Europe, the EU will have to deal with London post brexit, they will have no choice. Britain just needs to pop out a few taxes on international funding and it’s over.

        40

  • #
    pat

    read all:

    27 Jun: Reuters: Weaning U.S. power sector off fossil fuels would cost $4.7 trillion – study
    by Nichola Groom
    Eliminating fossil fuels from the U.S. power sector, a key goal of the “Green New Deal” backed by many Democratic presidential candidates, would cost $4.7 trillion (3.7 trillion pounds) and pose massive economic and social challenges, according to a report released on Thursday by energy research firm Wood Mackenzie.
    That would amount to $35,000 per household, or nearly $2,000 a year for a 20-year plan, according to the study, which called the price tag for such a project “staggering.”…

    A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Wednesday showed most Americans back “aggressive” climate change action like that proposed by Democrats, but that support falls off dramatically if they sense the initiatives would cost them…

    The report said the transition would require “a complete redesign of the power sector” to adapt to a system of mostly intermittent resources like wind and solar energy that rely on the wind blowing and sun shining to generate electricity…

    The study also said 900 GW of energy storage would be required to make sure wind and solar assets can work reliably even when the weather isn’t cooperating, 900 times more than is currently installed…
    Finally, adding 200,000 miles of high voltage transmission to get wind and solar energy from the plains or deserts to major metropolitan areas would add another $700 billion…

    The report warned that sharp increases in customer electricity rates to pay for such a transition could also result in a public backlash against aggressive climate policies and ultimately slow progress.
    “If you move too fast you run the risk of upending the entire initiative,” Dan Shreve, one of the report’s authors, said in an interview…
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-carbon-report/weaning-u-s-power-sector-off-fossil-fuels-would-cost-4-7-trillion-study-idUKKCN1TS0GJ?utm_campaign=Carbon%20Brief%20Daily%20Briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20newsletter

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    pat

    behind paywall – these are the only excerpts I’ve found:

    3500 homes disconnected as regional Queenslanders struggle to pay electricity bills
    The Cairns Post – 18 hours ago
    Ergon disconnections on the rise in regional Queensland…
    Skyrocketing energy costs are forcing regional Queenslanders to choose between paying electricity bills or making mortgage repayments.
    “Nearly 19,000 households in regional Queensland have had to commit to a … for a 30 per cent increase in the disconnection of electricity to small businesses … In 2007, there were 427 Ergon disconnections; in the first three …

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    • #
      pat

      AUDIO: 4min9sec: 28 Jun: ABC PM: Spike in electricity disconnection rates in QLD signifies worrying trend for economy
      By Rachel Mealey on PM
      Electricity disconnection rates are often used by economists and forecasters as a proxy for the economic health of a community.
      In Queensland in the first quarter of this year, figures indicate a spike in disconnections for homes and businesses, as well as people moving onto “payment plans” because of financial difficulty.
      Featured:
      Jennifer Brownie, Queensland electricity users network
      Nick Behrens, economist and the director of Queensland economic advocacy solutions
      Joe Vecchio, national secretary of the Australian Foundry Inst
      https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/pm/spike-in-electricity-disconnection-rates-in-qld/11263204

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  • #
    pat

    what!

    14 Jun: news.com.au: Switch on some savings with these unusual winter energy tips
    High energy costs are a constant challenge for households, so it’s worth thinking outside the box to reduce the size of your winter heating bill.
    by Anthony Keane
    1. ELECTRIFY A RUG
    Energy giant Origin’s senior external affairs manager for energy markets, Stuart Osbourne, said an electric heated throw blanket could deliver winter savings.
    “Opt for an electric throw instead of a portable heater,” he said.
    “Electric throws cost only 3c to 4c per hour to run, whereas running costs for portable heaters can be over 15 times more to operate.”

    2. PRETTY BUT NOT PRICEY
    “Plants can help regulate airflow and temperature in your home,” Mr Osbourne said.
    Candles could be good too, he said. “Lighting makes up around 6 per cent of an average Aussie home’s energy use — so candles are win-win.”…

    4. AN AUDIT — BUT NOT FOR TAX
    Suresh Manickam, CEO of the National Electrical and Communications Association, said an energy audit could switch on savings.
    “Without information about how you’re using power, it is very difficult to cut down on your usage,” he said.
    “Your local electrician will be able to give an energy audit or direct you to someone who can.”…READ ON FOR EVEN SILLIER SUGGESTIONS
    https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/switch-on-some-savings-with-these-unusual-winter-energy-tips/news-story/baa9a651cd9d325edf92e4faa1912cd9

    80

    • #
      TdeF

      And no CO2 output from a candle? So it’s come to this. We are being told to rug up and buy candles to save the planet and cope with skyrocketing electricity bills. What about briquettes?
      There was a time when the dream was cheap, reliable, adequate and utterly clean power. We achieved it. I suppose it was a white male privilege and woke people will wake up cold.

      150

    • #
      Maptram

      I remember the expression “save water, shower with a friend.” Perhaps the modern version is “save power, cuddle with a friend.”

      I also remember when we were told we had to use more energy efficient light bulbs that cost 10 times as much. So we replaced all the light bulbs at great expense and now we are told to use candles instead.

      70

      • #
        Bill in Oz

        Are these candles made from
        bees wax stolen from bee ?
        Or from other animals slaughtered
        Just for rendering down their fat into candles ?
        🙂
        I do love confronting our veganistic friends
        with the facts of life !

        30

  • #
    Ruairi

    That coal-power could cut CO2,
    For alarmists can never be true,
    As their ultimate goal,
    Is to starve man of coal,
    To coerce, control and subdue.

    150

  • #
    TdeF

    And on the profile photo of Tim Baxter, coal hater. He really does not seem woke at all. Half asleep more like it. Perhaps he should stop whitesplaining.

    80

    • #
      Yonniestone

      Tim Baxter considers a relevant CO2 question to his “expert” area of expertise an “insane question to ask” where they should have asked about real pollution that goes with say Solar,

      Toxic chemicals in solar panels.
      The toxic chemicals in solar panels include cadmium telluride, copper indium selenide, cadmium gallium (di)selenide, copper indium gallium (di)selenide, hexafluoroethane, lead, and polyvinyl fluoride. Additionally, silicon tetrachloride, a byproduct of producing crystalline silicon, is highly toxic.

      Oh and I bet Tim plays guitar in class and recites poetry he wrote from a book stained with the tofu drips from Naan.

      120

      • #
        TdeF

        Yes and exceptions to the laws had to be made to allow solar panels into the community.
        Plus all the serious mining and processing pollution remains in China where they are all made, but that’s far away and the Green view is that there are too many of them anyway.
        People are the problem. And his biggest fear is a lack of smashed avocado. Delivered from Queensland by bicycle of course.

        70

      • #
        yarpos

        He does follow the academics rule of bad haircuts it seems.

        The ABC always likes to consult an academic on whatever its pet topic of the day is. I expect they are more reachable than people actually doing real work in the field.

        Whenever you see on of these people check the haircut. Its about a 90%+ correlation between mouthy academics and bad hair. Why? I dont know, its just funny.

        60

  • #
    Bengt Abelsson

    Q: What did they use in Australia before candles and oil lamps?

    A: Electric bulbs.

    140

  • #
  • #
    pat

    this is excruciating. beginning with the language of all involved.
    theirABC is still living out the “climate change election”.
    worse, at the end, David Schlosberg of Sydney Uni is asked if he will come back for another show!

    AUDIO: 42min28sec: 9 Jun: ABC The Minefield: Is democracy an impediment to addressing climate change?
    Presented by Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens
    There are two competing trends that are becoming increasingly apparent in modern democracies. On the one hand, climate change is gaining real purchase as an electoral issue — as is evidenced by the strong performance of Green parties in recent European parliamentary elections and in the recent Australian federal election. Likewise, and the policy platform of ‘the Green Left’ of the Democratic Party in the US is growing popularity, influence and articulacy. On the other hand, far-right, nationalist, populist and otherwise carbon-committed parties did better in the EU elections, and were a seismic political force in rural NSW Wales and throughout Queensland in the Australian federal election…

    Given democracy’s tendency to prioritise the short-term and appeal to voter self-interest, and given its inherent anthropocentrism — that is, its inability to accommodate the non-human world, except as a resource for humans — and with disillusionment with democratic politics at historic levels, it’s no wonder so many are wondering whether the extent of our ecological crisis requires less democracy … or at least, warrants bypassing democratic procedures. But is the solution in the other direction: more, participative, everyday democracy?
    Guest:
    David Schlosberg is Professor of Environmental Politics in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. He’s the author (along with ***Luke Craven) of Sustainable Materialism: Environmental Movements and the Politics of Everyday Life.
    Further Information:
    (LINK) An ethic of ecological justice for the Anthropocene by David Schlosberg
    https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/theminefield/is-democracy-an-impediment-to-addressing-climate-change/11248040

    Schlosberg – wrong before the election and wrong now. perfect for theirABC:

    5 May: BBC: Why climate ‘paralysis’ looms over Australia’s election
    By Hywel Griffith, BBC News Australia correspondent
    Two years ago, Scott Morrison stood up to address the Australian parliament while brandishing a lump of coal in his right hand…

    In an ABC poll of more than 100,000 Australian voters, it’s clear the environment has become the number one issue for most respondents.
    Twenty-nine per cent rated it as their biggest concern, up from just 9% in the 2016 election.
    Long-term polling by the Lowy Institute also suggests there has been a shift in public attitudes, with more people seeing climate change as a serious, pressing problem.
    Internationally, Australians appear to care more than most about climate change, according to a new study published by Ipsos.

    ***Prof David Schlosberg of Sydney University says the trend is a result of people in Australia seeing the impact of environmental change first-hand, after a summer of record temperatures and drought.
    “It’s not only the visibility of increasing threats to environments – fish die-offs, reef bleaching, species extinctions, bushfires,” says Prof Schlosberg.
    “But [it’s also] the frustration with a political process and the inability to address real problems that people are experiencing.”…

    According to Prof Schlosberg, the main parties have found themselves far behind the curve on climate change.
    “Australia faces some very real impacts, and they are now – rather than only in the distant future,” he says. “Yet neither major party has a comprehensive plan for adaptation.”
    The challenge for the country’s politicians before 18 May is to convince voters they really do care as much about saving the planet as they do about winning office.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-48145505

    30

  • #

    In an Orwell essay he talks about democracy having “no men with guns telling you how to vote.” I’m pretty certain he wasn’t talking about Australia.

    50

  • #
    pat

    theirABC is ridiculous.

    Mehta knows all about Adani and their Carmichael mine. not good for us or for Indians:

    AUDIO: 15min38sec: 29 Jun: ABC Saturday Extra: Is immigration a form of reparation?
    Presenter: Hamish Macdonald
    In the contemporary war against migration those who come to wealthy countries are ‘not respecting borders’, ‘stealing our jobs’, ‘just trying to get rich’…but isn’t that just what those wealthy countries did previously?
    Guest:
    Suketu Mehta, author, associate professor of journalism, NYU
    Publications: This Land is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto
    https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/saturdayextra/is-immigration-a-form-of-reparation/11261034

    a taste of Mehta – and probably why ABC had him on this week:

    Immigration as reparation for colonialism, climate change and corporate greed
    Washington Post – 21 Jun 2019
    “This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto,” is a defiant rallying cry in favor of immigration…

    2 Jun: NPR: ‘This Land Is Our Land’ Argues For Migration
    NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with Suketu Mehta, author of This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto, which argues for more immigrants in America and elsewhere…
    MEHTA: You know, climate change is going to be the single biggest driver of migration, so you ain’t seen nothing yet in terms of migration. So, yes, there’s going to be more people on the move, and there’s going to be more resistance…
    GARCIA-NAVARRO: Suketu Mehta is an associate professor of journalism at NYU and the author of “This Land Is Our Land.”

    12 Sept 2017: Foreign Policy: This Land Is Their Land
    Immigration is inevitable. When will the West learn that it promises salvation — not destruction?
    By Suketu Mehta
    AUDIO: 29min18sec
    As climate change and political conflict drive ever greater numbers of people from the villages and war zones of the world, the displaced seek sanctuary anywhere they can find it. You think 5 million Syrian refugees are a problem now? What happens when Bangladesh gets flooded and 18 million Bangladeshis have to seek dry land?…
    The West is being destroyed, not by migrants but by the fear of migrants…
    It was fear of migrants that led British voters to vote for Brexit, the biggest own goal in the country’s history…
    https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/09/12/this-land-is-their-land-america-europe-fear-of-migrants-trump/

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  • #
    pat

    another U-turn?

    26 Jun: Guardian: It’s time to change the climate disaster script. People need hope that things can change
    The climate story must balance talk of urgency with hopeful and creative ideas if we are to inspire positive change
    by Nicky Hawkins
    (Nicky Hawkins is a communications strategist for the ***FrameWorks Institute)
    “Hell is coming,” one weather forecaster tweeted this week, warning not of further political turmoil but of the hottest heatwave in decades that’s advancing across continental Europe. Extreme weather events like this remind us that climate change is not a remote and distant threat – but a reality that is already taking an unacceptable human toll.

    In recent months, Extinction Rebellion and the school climate strike have turned up the heat on the climate debate. They’ve both done an astonishing job of getting the climate change back on the public and political agendas. Their warnings of impending apocalypse, disruptive tactics and robust demands that others “tell the truth” about climate change have made huge waves. Parliament has declared a climate emergency. The Guardian has updated its own editorial guidelines to use language that accurately reflects the threat that climate change poses…

    When Martin Luther King inspired a nation and the world he led with the dream, not the nightmare…
    This is not the story being told about climate change. Instead we’re stuck in a climate disaster movie – and it’s not even a very good one…
    To help us avoid the worst effects of climate change we need a steady stream of stories that bring to life our capacity to dream big and get things done…
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/26/climate-disaster-script-urgency-change

    Nicky/Frameworks is anti-Brexit too! lol:

    24 Jun: Guardian: We need a reality check: facts and figures alone won’t stop Brexit
    Stats and studies are not enough. Progressives must realise that voters are won over by narratives, not numbers
    Nicky Hawkins, Frameworks Institute

    ***FrameworksInstitute: Partners and Sponsors
    In less than 20 years, we have partnered with over 300 foundations, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, filmmakers, and coalitions to bring an empirical approach to communicating about important social, scientific, and policy issues. A cumulative list follows…(LENGTHY A-Z LIST includes Brookings Institution, Open Society Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Rockefeller Foundation, WWF, etc)
    http://frameworksinstitute.org/partners1.html

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  • #
    pat

    29 Jun: UK Independent: Saudi-led group of oil-producing countries gets major climate report scrubbed from UN negotiations
    The landmark IPCC report was blocked from formal UN climate talks at Bonn this week
    by Phoebe Weston
    The Saudis led a loose coalition of oil-producing nations, including the US, Russia and Iran, that objected to the science behind the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)…

    Ambassador Lois Young from Belize, who is the chair of Aosis, said: “Disregarding or qualifying the best available science is tantamount to climate denialism.
    “We must not permit even a whiff of denialism in the multilateral process. We must use the IPCC Special Report on 1.5C to operationalise the Paris Agreement.”…

    Other recent developments have hampered efforts to tackle climate breakdown, including the UN failing to agree a zero emission target and the release of a draft text from the G20 summit that looks to water down climate change targets.
    One attendee at Bonn told the BBC these decisions were the result of backlash from countries with huge investments in fossil fuels.
    https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/saudi-arabia-ipcc-climate-change-report-removed-un-bonn-a8979201.html

    28 Jun: AFP: US pressuring G20 allies on climate language: French official
    Washington is pressuring allies at the G20 to reject strong climate change language in the meeting’s final statement, despite furious opposition from EU countries, a French presidential source said Friday.
    “Three or four (countries) are under American pressure to water down the message,” a French presidency source told reporters in Osaka, where leaders of the Group of 20 are holding a two-day summit.
    The source declined to name the countries being targeted by Washington, though Brazil under its new President Jair Bolsonaro and oil-producing Saudi Arabia are both considered climate change sceptics.

    Climate change is shaping up to be one of the most contentious issues at the gathering, with Europe fiercely opposed to any watering down of previous G20 statements on the subject…
    French President Emmanuel Macron has already said that removing a reference to the Paris deal would be a “red line” for Paris, threatening to refuse to sign the final communique.
    https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/us-pressuring-g20-allies-climate-language-french-official-doc-1hy0ef2

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  • #
    Reed Coray

    We would be the only country in the world to be using a climate fund to fund coal-fired power, and that would just be a global embarrassment, she said.

    Someone should tell Kelly O’Shanassy the global embarrassment horse has already left the barn.

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  • #
    Another Ian

    “Delusional, debt-addled governments risk implosion through impossibly expensive fossil-fuel reduction schemes that citizens fight refuse to pay for. Welcome to Green New Deal logic”

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/index.php/2019/06/28/delusional-debt-addled-governments-risk-implosion-through-impossibly-expensive-fossil-fuel-reduction-schemes-that-citizens-fight-refuse-to-pay-for-welcome-to-green-new-deal-logic/

    30

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    pat

    Climate change policy in ‘too hard’ basket
    The Australian-12 hours ago
    Formal discussion of a landmark scientific report on the dangers of 1.5C global warming has been scrubbed from climate talks forever…

    28 Jun: Washington Examiner: A CLOUD HANGS OVER G20 TALKS AFTER GREENS LOSE CLIMATE FIGHT IN BONN
    by John Siciliano & Josh Siegel
    The G20 meeting in Osaka, Japan, this weekend promises very little when it comes to climate change, say environmentalists, who are still licking their wounds from a major upset at Thursday’s United Nations meeting in Bonn, Germany…
    “While they may have succeeded in short-circuiting formal discussion of the report, the Saudis can’t prevent scientific fact from continuing to drive the heightened awareness amongst governments, the business community and the public of the need for an urgent response to the climate crisis,” said Alden Meyer, director of strategy for the Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental advocacy group in Washington that has been pushing back against the Trump administration’s policies.
    U.N. officials said they hope to resolve these issues before the COP25 climate summit in Chile in December.

    So what is expected from the G20?: The meeting of the 20 most industrialized nations is not expected to mean much for the climate discussions. In fact, groups are expecting Trump and other leaders to play up fossil fuel development.
    “Given that it is hosted by Japan, one of the world’s top financiers of coal and other fossil fuels, and is being attended by Trump, one of the world’s top climate criminals, we don’t have great expectations for the G20 Summit to seriously address the climate crisis,” said Karen Orenstein, deputy director of economic policy at the left-leaning Friends of the Earth environmental group…
    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/daily-on-energy-presented-by-freedomworks-a-cloud-hangs-over-g20-talks-after-greens-lose-climate-fight-in-bonn

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    pat

    27 Jun: KhaleejTimes: Here’s why it has been raining more frequently in UAE
    by Ismail Sebugwaawo
    “The increase in the amount of rainfall that the UAE received this year is an indication that our rain enhancement programmes, including cloud-seeding, are yielding positive results, and we are expecting more rains in the future,” Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, told Khaleej Times on the sidelines of a Press conference for the Abu Dhabi Climate Meeting next week.

    Over 1,000 political leaders, heads of state and climate change action experts will be gathering in Abu Dhabi to discuss how alarming environmental changes should be addressed.
    Set to be held on June 30 and July 1 at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, the high-level gathering aims to draft resolutions that shall be presented at the UN Climate Change Meeting in New York this September…
    UN Secretary-General António Guterres will be welcoming the world’s leading climate action advocates to the meeting, Among them are ministers from Europe, Asia, South America and Africa…
    https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/weather/heres-why-it-has-been-raining-more-frequently-in-uae-

    28 Jun: ClimateChangeNews: Countries must address this major Paris Agreement blind spot
    As countries meet in Abu Dhabi to discuss their climate pledges, they must draw up plans to end the production of fossil fuels, not just their consumption
    By Cleo Verkuijl and Natalie Jones
    (Cleo Verkuijl is a research fellow and Natalie Jones is a policy intern at the Stockholm Environment Institute)
    The international climate community is in Abu Dhabi this weekend to prepare for the landmark UN Climate Action Summit this September…
    Calls are growing for countries to take action to wind down fossil fuel production. Over 500 NGOs have signed the Lofoten Declaration (LINK), which calls for an end to fossil fuel development and a managed decline of existing production…
    https://climatechangenews.com/2019/06/28/countries-must-address-major-paris-agreement-blind-spot/

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    pat

    29 Jun: Happy FRY-day! Britain sizzles on the HOTTEST day of the year as temperatures hit 84F… but Saharan bubble is set to turn up the heat to 88F on Saturday
    •Parts of the UK sizzled on Friday with the mercury climbing to as high as 28.8C (84F) in Achnagart, Scotland
    •Three-day heatwave could see Britain’s hottest June day ever on Saturday, beating 1976 record of 96F (35.6C)
    •Met Office warns vulnerable people could die following 2003 heatwave when 2,000 people died in 10 days
    •Police have urged people not to swim in rivers, lakes and reservoirs after the death of a Somali refugee, 12
    •’Saharan Bubble’ of hot air from north Africa has already brought 113F (45C) heat to France, Italy and Spain
    •Having fun in the sun? Send us your weather pictures!
    By Terri-ann Williams
    Coastal areas in the north east of England and Scotland will be cheated out of the good weather, with easterly winds meaning they get highs of just 53F (12C) while the rest of the country boils…
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7191397/Saharan-Bubble-send-sunseekers-racing-beach-today-temperatures-hit-81F.html

    26 Jun: SunSentinelFlorida: African dust hovers over Florida, acting as hurricane shield
    by Joe mario Pedersen
    A huge amount of African dust is hovering over the sky of the Sunshine State, and that’s a good thing, according to an article by Florida Today (LINK)…
    The dry air suppresses hurricanes and thunderstorms by merging large quantities of dust with the Atlantic and creating a stable layer of dry, sinking air preventing pressure from building, NOAA said…
    The dust is expected to create a dry heat around the state and hazy skies, which should create some vibrant sunsets, Florida Today reported.
    http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/weather/hurricane/os-ne-saharan-dust-hurricane-shield-20190628-6yngkxw2b5ffxftmp3mhtrmfbe-story.html

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    pat

    28 Jun: BBC: Hot weather: Sunny scenes across England
    PIC: Sun worshippers were soaking up rays on Bournemouth beach on Friday

    OF COURSE, THERE’S NO HEATWAVE ACROSS THE UK, OR ANYWHERE IN THE UK…AT LEAST AS YET…BUT:

    27 Jun: news.com.au: Europe and the UK burn as temperatures soar in record-breaking heatwave
    AFP with The Sun
    A record-breaking heatwave has swept across Europe, “disintegrating” parts of Germany’s famous autobahn and causing chaos.
    Experts say such heatwaves early in the Northern Hemisphere summer are likely to be more frequent as the planet heats up — a phenomenon that scientists have shown to be driven by human use of fossil fuels…

    ***It comes as England was hit by torrential rain after enduring searing heat which weather forecasters described as a “danger to life”…
    The Met Office yellow weather warning for the East Midlands, West Midlands, North West England and Wales is due to last until noon — although poor weather is expected throughout the day in parts…

    ***Peak daily temperatures across much of England and Wales are predicted to be well above 20C all week…
    Scotland and Northern Ireland will be slightly cooler, although the mercury is expected to rise above 20C on Saturday.
    Met Office spokeswoman Nicola Maxey said: “The continent is seeing some very high temperatures, with record-breaking temperatures expected across France, Spain and Belgium.
    ***“We are not seeing temperatures as hot as Europe, but it will be warm for the UK.”
    She added: “By Saturday we could be looking at 30C in the south, with London looking at 30C but with isolated spots of 33C, 34C or 35C, maybe.”
    https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/europe-and-the-uk-burn-as-temperatures-soar-in-recordbreaking-heatwave/news-story/8099da99c41918378a68c8f36a6f33ae

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    pat

    27 Jun: BBC: Extinction Rebellion: Glastonbury march by climate protesters
    The event, a collaboration between Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace, began at the Park Stage and ended at the Stone Circle.
    At the end of the march, crowds formed a large human sculpture of an hourglass to symbolise extinction.
    Ruairi Brogan, a student from Belfast, said: “I think it will be remembered as the start of something, of change.”…

    PIC: Temperatures at the Somerset site reached 26C (78.8F) on Thursday afternoon.

    Ashleigh Hodges, 28, from London, said she missed the protest in April because she was working.
    “I was gutted so when I heard it was happening here I wanted to come [to Glastonbury],” she said.
    “Everyone wants to save the world – it’s a really lovely thing.”

    Daryl Haines, 21, said going to a festival could make people realise they did not need plastic bottles or cutlery or to shower every day…
    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-48793814

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    Andrew McRae

    Surprised pat didn’t find this in its roundup.

    Renewable Power Exceeded Coal For The First Time in US History And None of Us Noticed
    28 JUN 2019
    https://www.sciencealert.com/renewables-exceeded-coal-for-first-time-in-us-history-with-no-noticeable-difference

    For the first time in United States history, clean energy sources shouldered more of the nation’s electricity needs than coal.
    A monthly report from the Energy Information Administration shows that renewables such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric dams provided 23 percent of the month’s electricity, while coal supplied only 20 percent.
    The difference boils down to roughly 8.5 million megawatt-hours less of fossil fuel-driven power. It’s also the least amount of coal the US has burned in over a decade.

    Even in the US, where President Donald Trump has promised to bring back coal, 50 such plants have closed since the last presidential election.

    It’s a coal climate tipping point! No, hang on, keep reading…

    Still, the month of April was marked by some unusual events which helped set the stage for this major milestone.

    During the month of April, Bloomberg reports that coal’s numbers were actually down in part because several coal plants were being serviced. What’s more, as The Guardian points out, this was a particularly good month for renewable energy, not only because electricity demand was generally low, but also because wind energy was relatively high.

    In all likelihood, coal is likely to return as the second biggest source of electricity in the US after natural gas

    Suckered by the clickbait headline!

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      pat

      Andrew McRae –

      saw it but was busy with Bonn/G20 & figured it was clickbait, as u say.

      love how all these references to a cool start to summer lead to another anti-coal rant:

      28 Jun: Canada.com: Reuters: U.S. natural gas prices hit by ***cool start to summer: Kemp
      Relatively (((cool temperatures at the start of summer across the most densely populated parts of the United States have sent natural gas prices tumbling to their lowest level for three years, piling on the misery for producers.
      But the biggest losers are set to be coal miners, because low gas prices are further undermining the already fragile economics of the remaining coal-fired power stations and will likely hasten more closures.
      Front-month futures prices for gas delivered to Henry Hub in Louisiana have averaged less than $2.34 per million British thermal units over the last 20 trading days, the lowest since 2016…

      The relatively ***cool start to the summer has compounded the problem by cutting air-conditioning demand and power producers’ consumption of natural gas…
      Gas is increasingly produced for export by pipeline to Mexico and tanker to a range of destinations in Europe and Asia (“United States has been a net exporter of natural gas for more than 12 months”, EIA, May 2).
      Even with increased exports, however, the domestic market has been in surplus owing to ***mild temperatures and moderate power burn…

      In the meantime, a ***mild start to summer and oversupply of gas is pushing the remaining coal-fired power plants nearer to closure.
      https://beta.canada.com/pmn/business-pmn/column-u-s-natural-gas-prices-hit-by-cool-start-to-summer-kemp/wcm/c339847e-cc6b-47cd-9b00-832561ae6d73/amp/

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        Andrew McRae

        I also did not realise your roundup was still in progress. I’ll check timestamps and hold my horses next time.

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      AndyG55

      Odd how they count hydro as a renewable in the US,

      … but add hydro into China’s renewable calculation, showing China has already reached its renewables target, and they get very upset. 🙂

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    pat

    open access – they want the non-subscribing millennials to read this one:

    27 Jun: UK Telegraph: Extinction Rebellion protesters plan to ‘wreak havoc’ at Wimbledon
    By Camilla Tominey, Associate Editor
    Extinction Rebellion, the climate change protesters who brought London to a standstill, are planning to ‘wreak havoc’ at the Wimbledon championships by demonstrating over single use plastics.

    The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) is understood to be stepping up security after discovering secret plans by environmentalists to disrupt the popular Grand Slam tennis tournament, which starts on Monday…
    A Wimbledon insider revealed: “Extinction Rebellion clearly didn’t expect us to find out what they were plotting but thankfully we have had advanced warning. They are planning to wreak havoc outside…

    Who are Extinction Rebellion?
    Extinction Rebellion has emerged as the premier protest movement for climate change activists.
    Since its first demonstration last year the group has dedicated itself to the environmental cause, capturing headlines, recruits and high-profile supporters.
    It has grown into an international movement backed by celebrities, academics and writers, calling for “radical change in order to minimise the risk of human extinction and ecological collapse”.
    What does the group want?
    Extinction Rebellion (XR) says direct action is needed to force governments to act urgently on climate change and wildlife declines and halt a “sixth mass extinction”.
    It is calling for an ecological emergency to be declared, greenhouse gases to be brought to net zero by 2025, and the creation of a citizens’ assembly to lead action on the environment…ETC

    “They won’t get in, and certainly won’t be able to get anywhere near Centre Court. Security will be extremely tight. The irony of it all is that the club has never done more to cut down plastic waste.”…
    Last month, Wimbledon signed up to the United Nations’ Sports for Climate Action Framework committing to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/06/27/extinction-rebellion-protesters-plan-wreak-havoc-wimbledon/

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    pat

    jo’s thread does begin with “INSANITY”:

    27 Jun: Guardian: Doctors call for nonviolent direct action over climate crisis
    Governments have abrogated responsibility with woefully inadequate policies, says letter
    by Matthew Taylor
    More than 1,000 doctors including 40 professors, several eminent public health figures and past presidents of royal colleges are calling for widespread nonviolent civil disobedience in the face of the environmental crisis.
    In a letter to the Guardian (LINK), the doctors say government policies are “woefully inadequate”, and call on politicians and the media to face the facts of the unfolding ecological emergency and take action.
    “As caring professionals we cannot countenance current policies which push the world’s most vulnerable towards progressive environmental catastrophe,” they write.
    “We are particularly alarmed by the effects of rising temperatures on health and heed predictions of societal collapse and consequent mass migration. Such collapse risks damage to physical and mental health on an unprecedented scale.”

    The doctors back the school strike movement, which was started by the Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg and is calling for a general climate strike in the autumn. They also back the Extinction Rebellion protests during which thousands of people blocked key sites in London for 10 days in April…
    The letter was organised by Bing Jones, a retired associate specialist haematologist from Sheffield, who said it had tapped into a growing concern in the medical profession about the climate crisis…READ ON
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/27/doctors-call-for-nonviolent-direct-action-over-climate-crisis

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    Zane

    Terry McCrann, bless him, does a wonderful polemic on the uselessness of globalists in his column in the Weekend Aust. today.

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    Zane

    The Guardian says ” the planet is heating up.” Well, they would, wouldn’t they!

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    pat

    28 Jun: TribuneIndia: Won’t bow to pressure on climate change: Javadekar
    The government today claimed it has been taking all possible steps to deal with impact of climate change and asserted it will not buckle under any international pressure, while ensuring that India’s own interest is addressed first…
    The minister blamed developed countries for not keeping up to their commitment of providing $100 billion and technology transfer collectively to developing countries like India for dealing with climate change.
    Noting that developed world was responsible for most of the climate change situation today, (Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar) said: “Over 70 per cent of the green house gas emission was due to developed countries, while India’s contribution is just three per cent. There was over consumption by the people in the developed counties.”

    The minister said: “There are over 800 cars for every 1,000 people in developed countries while in India this ratio is just 25 cars per 1,000 people. India’s per capita power consumption is over 1,000 units while it ranges from 10,000 units to 12,000 units in developed countries.”…
    https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/won-t-bow-to-pressure-on-climate-change-javadekar/793907.html

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