Blackouts will last for days says Austrian Defence Minister — stock up now

By Jo Nova

It’s one big backside-covering Psy-Op trying to bury the bad news

Minister Klaudia Tanner

Minister Klaudia Tanner, back in 2020 when she looked decidedly more chirpy.

Klaudia Tanner, the Austrian Defence Minister, dropped the extraordinary bombshell that a long blackout is coming. She hopes you don’t notice that is a dramatically bad and new threat. It’s all Vladimir Putin’s fault, she says (not the government that burned energy security on a Green bonfire in a fantasy quest for nicer weather). And when it happens, if you suffer and run out of supplies, or die in the cold, that’s your fault.

Who knew it was your job to maintain wood, oil or gas and food and water to tide you over a week long total blackout? Well, now you do.

So the announcement of the shocking state of the Austrian grid is buried under the excuses:

Austrian Defense Minister Warns Europeans Are Unprepared For Days-Long Blackouts

Paul Joseph Watson, Summit News

“The question is not whether it (the blackout) will come, but when it will come,” said Tanner, blaming the war in Ukraine.

“For Putin, hacking attacks on Western power supplies are a tool of hybrid warfare. We must not pretend that this is just a theory. We must be prepared for blackouts in Austria and Europe,” she added.

Who, exactly, is responsible for Austrian energy security: Is his name Vladimir?

Every citizen suddenly needs to plan for a long blackout:

Tanner spoke to how unprepared Europeans were for crippling elongated blackouts by warning, “one-third of citizens would not be able to supply themselves on the fourth day of a blackout at the latest.”

So if the blackout doesn’t happen, or only lasts a day or two, the government can rave about their success in preventing a longer one. And if the Big Bad One does happen, they have laid out the excuses already.

Imagine a more honest interview: Minister says the unthinkable — a long unprecedented loss of power in the depths of winter is likely. Assume your government won’t be there when you need them. It’s so bad you need to stock up on food, fuel and water. 

Imagine a real opposition: The incompetent government could have built nuclear power plants, kept coal plants running, and none of this would be happening.

Photo: Bundesministerium für Finanzen

10 out of 10 based on 105 ratings

85 comments to Blackouts will last for days says Austrian Defence Minister — stock up now

  • #
    Mikky

    Hydro is their main method of generation, but it has been hit by a recent drought: (no doubt the worst drought on record, caused by you-know-what)

    https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2022-09-04/Austria-s-hydropower-output-hit-by-third-due-to-European-wide-drought-1d2FSpHqnBK/index.html

    They are so rabidly anti-nuclear that they even launch law suits against nuclear power stations in the UK. They must have special interconnectors that block nuclear electrons from Germany.

    500

    • #
      James

      I wish we could block the coal ones as well for those that pay for green energy!

      530

      • #
        wal1957

        Indeed James.
        I tried to explain to a neighbour recently that although he was on a “green” energy plan he was mainly being supplied electricity from fossil fueled plants.
        He couldn’t accept that was the case.
        All his electrons were green ones according to him!
        It was like talking to a brick wall.

        440

  • #
    Sean

    The government wants you to believe it’s not their fault they can’t keep the lights on like they could 30 years ago but they will be able to control the weather 75 years from now.

    820

    • #
      Ronin

      “The government wants you to believe it’s not their fault they can’t keep the lights on like they could 30 years ago but they will be able to control the weather 75 years from now.”

      Exactly. ! !

      200

    • #
      Hivemind

      If the electricity supply for any modern country was in the terrible state we have now, there would have been high-level sackings until the problem was fixed. The fact that incompetents aren’t losing their jobs is a sure indicator that this is the intent.

      110

      • #

        Or, we have people at the helm who are simply grossly out of their depth. Too many reality TV shows been watched. In their tiny minds they cannot actually understand the huge issues that even a couple of days blackout can bring. And probably naively think that more govt handouts or messages of solidarity will stop the problem.

        Maybe when people break down their door and steal all their food and beverages they may understand the catastrophic stupidity they have displayed…

        70

  • #
    John Hultquist

    Austria closed its last coal facility in 2020.
    This past June that plant, like Lazarus, was raised.
    I guess they didn’t blow it up. Miracles are nice.
    https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/06/28/austria-to-reopen-closed-coal-fired-power-station-despite-climate-goals

    390

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Also, the previously rabid anti-nuclear Italians have decided that they want a nuclear plant of their own (rather than importing nuclear from France).
      See what a change in Government will do, but how many changes of government before that plant is built?

      430

  • #
    red edwards

    Out of the green, and into the black. . .

    410

  • #
    R.B.

    She is member of a party that thinks Australia’s problems would vanish if only the Constitution were written by Emily Dickinson.

    200

  • #
    Harry Passfield

    “…not the government that burned energy security on a Green bonfire in a fantasy quest for nicer weather”

    Brilliant line and one I will unashamedly use.

    With all my very best wishes to you in Oz for a great New Year (even when you start without us (UK – actually))!

    380

  • #
    TdeF

    “the Austrian Defence Minister”

    Why did the Austrian government send out their Defence minister?

    Perhaps to blame Putin, the man behind Hunter Biden’s fake laptop. No one mentions the Chinese Bat Flu made in a French laboratory for the Chinese army and funded in part by the US under Dr. Fauci for dangerous research illegal in the United States but fine with your worst enemy. Millions died for nothing and world economies were shuttered, but we can’t mention that. We have to teach Putin a lesson by suffering and funding the war in Ukraine.

    The whole fake science of significant man made carbon dioxide is reaching its conclusion, crippling all Western democracies and supporting the jobs of the 80,000 unelected people who run the EU and UN and who are asking for hundreds of billions of dollars to control the world’s climates. Except China and Russia do not belief a word of it. Heretics! In fact no one does except Western journalists and their followers.

    So it’s a new holy crusade against not the m*slim unbelievers but the Communist unbelievers and Russian Climate heretics. And makes as much sense scientifically and economically. These are the same people who laughed openly at the UN at President Trump who warned them. And that includes Pierre Trudeau, the Canadian dictator.

    The official EU government hatred of carbon dioxide and compulsory taxes of carbon dioxide indulgences to fund the climate wars is warping the minds of people as intended. This time not to promote a medieval Papacy or a Holy Catholic Emperor but the overriding financial interests of the WEF and the world ‘governments in waiting’ of the EU and UN and China.

    Simultaneously destruction of all national borders by mass migration is part of exactly the same push for a supra national government. And Joe Biden is right up there with every government in Europe, except Italy and Hungary. It’s elites vs the people. Facts are irrelevant. You are all suffering for a great cause, control of the planet’s temperature by a benign world government. Hitler had the same basic idea. It’s all for your own good.

    The Carbon Crusade is crippling Europe as planned for three decades, just like the last religious Crusade. From time immemorial political strategists have known that if you don’t have an enemy, you have to create one. It’s all Putin’s fault. Send cash and weapons. And stock up on food.

    643

    • #
      Ted1.

      A good time to note all of that. Thanks.

      220

    • #
      David Maddison

      Why did the Austrian government send out their Defence minister?

      I agree TdeF.

      They want to reconstruct this as a military issue, not a failure of Green/Left policies.

      401

      • #
        TdeF

        Yes, it is a way of presenting the problem as an unavoidable National Defence issue, not a total stuff up.

        311

        • #

          “Not our fault…

          Will never be our fault!”

          170

          • #

            Why did the Austrian government send out their Defence minister?

            Excellent question TdeF. No one would be asking her questions about the grid. Convenient eh?

            BTW the story pointed out the defense force was still two years away from being ready itself.

            “Austrian armed forces are set to establish 100 self-sufficient barracks by 2025 that are capable of sustaining themselves for a minimum of two weeks if energy supplies are seriously disrupted.

            230

            • #
              Steve of Cornubia

              So much of what governments say is about what they’re PROPOSING to do, less about what they actually did. So much of what the ‘experts’ say is what MIGHT happen, less about what is ACTUALLY happening.

              40

    • #
      Steve of Cornubia

      Follow the scientists, they said. Well I followed the scientists and they led me to nothing. So I followed the money and it led me to the scientists.

      Anon.

      330

      • #
        robert rosicka

        Follow the evidence the politicians said so I followed the evidence but found nothing , I then followed the money and found the scientists .

        100

    • #
      Annie

      I meant a green TdeF; can’t steer straight!

      30

  • #
    David Maddison

    Claudia Tanner is from the People’s Party which has a centre-right orientation.

    You’d therefore think that, at least in principle, she’d be capable of rational thought.

    But here, she is only warning what is going to happen, and that is just a statement if fact, not an irrational thought.

    Austria’s Government however is a bizarre coalition of Greens and People’s Party secured with a 300 page coalition contract document.

    So I guess the anti-energy policies of the Greens are what Austria’s predicament can be blamed upon.

    But I think the Austrian people themselves also suffer “mass formation psychosis”, a term introduced by Robert Malone on the Joe Rogan podcast. This term, incidentally, Goolag is known to be manipulating search results for. It is not something the Left want you to know about.

    281

    • #
      Muzza

      She might be from a centre right party, but, like Australia, the supposedly centre right party has refashioned themselves as Labor Lite, chasing votes from demographics that will never vote for them……

      150

  • #
    Robber

    Worldometer reports Austrian electricity supply from 2016: Hydro 61%, wind 8%, solar 2%, biomass 9%, fossil fuel 21%.
    In 2021 from another source showing trends, hydro 60%, wind 10%, solar 2%, biomass 6%, gas 16%, oil 5%, coal 0.4%.
    It reports coal in 2016 was 3%.

    151

    • #
      Petros

      Isn’t most of the biomass just imported American wood?

      170

    • #

      Just melt the snow and ice and have more Hydro…………….

      130

    • #
      TdeF

      hydro 60%, wind 10%, solar 2%, biomass 6%, gas 16%, oil 5%, coal 0.4%.

      So a total loss of 16% gas would drop the grid by to 84% of maximum and they are warning of a catastrophic loss of the entire grid for days? Really? That’s amazing.

      Consider that losing all wind and solar for days at a time is normal. So someone is telling or has told porkies or they have been sailing very close to the wind (Joke) for a long time. Where is the reserve?

      Reducing oil and coal to 5.4% is a core problem and that is not going to be fixed overnight.

      I can only presume they have been importing energy for a long time and have just received notice that it may be withheld, maintenance perhaps. A bit like 14% of the British grid being dependent on wood pellets from America to avoid using their own plentiful coal. A supply chain problem no country needs when they have plentiful supplies at home.

      It also means all other EU countries are lying. . And praying.

      The whole grid has likely been very dependent on Russian gas and French nuclear much more than they have said.
      So instead of giving excess capacity, the European power grid has opened the entire EU to the prospect of a imminent winter catastrophe.

      And they are still talking of a short winter, but a week of really cold winter will bring the whole lot crashing down.
      Only the Austrians would present political idi*cy as a matter of National Security.

      201

  • #
    Petros

    As they say in Austria, Selber schuld, kein Mitleid. Own fault, no pity.

    190

  • #
    Konrad

    Clearly the Austrian defence minister was having a big shoes/red noses day.

    Imagine pre-blaiming “Russian hacking attacks” when the Pachyderm in the Parlour is crushing you against the sideboard? Russia didn’t blow up the Nordstream pipeline!

    170

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Don’t dismiss some form of sabotage. The US has had over 100 physical attacks on their network and over the Christmas weekend Duke Energy suffered a 30% power drop both days. Neighbouring networks had no spare capacity to make up the shortfall.

      70

  • #
    el+gordo

    They are encouraging citizens to take showers instead of a bath.

    80

  • #
    Neville

    Amazing FACT that it takes a few minutes online to check the UN data that proves the entire climate change scare is just BS and fraud.
    Against that BS and FRAUD these con merchants would rather OECD countries WASTE endless TRILLIONs of $ in decades past and even more TRILLIONs $ until 2050 and 2100.
    Of course ZERO change in temp and climate etc, but who cares?
    Just look up the DATA for yourselves.
    This is easily solved online in minutes, but the liars and con merchants insist we WASTE TRILLIONs $ for decades and for NOTHING.

    243

  • #
    PJB

    Here in Quebec, Canada, we had a major winter storm that knocked out our power for just over 4 days! With several feet of snow on the ground and temperature highs in the -5C range with overnight lows to -15C at night, conditions were quite rigorous. We have a wood-fired slow combustion fireplace with an electric blower and a gasoline electric generator for lights and the fireplace electric blower. Our government is spending billions on GHGs, va((ines that don’t work and getting rid of the monarchy, but they collect billions in electric company “profits” (a state-run monopoly) yet are unable to construct infrastructure to withstand our typical winter weather. After the 4 days with no power, the house was at 12 to 16C (depending on proximity to the slow-combustion fireplace), no hot water and a basement with water pipes getting close to freezing, we were not at our best. Some neighbours are still without power after 6 days but we are back on the grid. Good luck Austria et al. because no power is no joke…

    340

    • #
      Frederick Pegler

      After 2 generations of competent (ish) government. The people forgot just how bad an incompetent government can be.
      The west as a whole has been coasting on the achievements of pervious governments for at least 2 decades.
      A lesson is about to be learned, that will last about 2 generations. After which it will have to be repeated.
      The good news is that inspite of the need to relearn the basics every 2-3 generations, and the occasional hiccup. The overall trend has be for the betterment of humanity.
      It just remains to be seen how big this ‘hiccup’ will be.

      140

  • #

    Yes and a Very Happy New Year for 2023.

    For Austrian, please add a few more letters and get Australian. Once the NSW Liddell Coal Fired Power Station is taken off line in April 2023, around 1,680 megawatts will go west/east/north/south but not to your electricity socket. Will the ‘Ruinaballs’ be able to make up for this loss of power? No way. The Science (real Science) tells us so.

    So, Shoppers, stock up now with non perishable food and water along with candles, gas tanks, petrol cans (with petrol), coal, wood (hard wood is best for the fire), batteries, torches, infra red goggles and whatever else you think that you will need.

    Happy Daze………………..

    190

  • #
    Neville

    AGAIN can anyone find a CLIMATE EMERGENCY over the last 100 years or 50 years or 10 years that could/would be fixed by Humans reducing co2 emissions?
    Then please tell us your EMERGENCY and then how to fix it? This should be easy since Dr Hansen’s stupid 1988 speech in Washington?
    Here’s Willis’ attempt AGAIN to find that EMERGENCY and he found ZIP.
    I can easily find a similar recent article from Dr Christy if you like? Or perhaps a link AGAIN to the co2 Coalition’s quiz?

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/04/25/wheres-the-emergency/

    111

  • #
    exsteelworker

    Coming to a corner near you Australia. Albo and Bowen are going to destroy our reliable baseload power stock up, buy a generator, and those that voted for this enjoy.

    251

    • #
      Hanrahan

      and those that voted for this enjoy.

      I was almost a lone voice here saying NOT to abandon the coalition and vote for the mythical “freedom party”.

      I hate to say “I told you so” but ………..

      71

  • #
    David Maddison

    Even Neanderthals in Europe were known to use fire to cook and keep warm, something that Europeans are increasingly unable to do, whether fire is in the form of coal or gas, or traditional log fires.

    Europe, and the rest of the West, including Australia, really are reverting to the Stone Age.

    241

  • #
    David Maddison

    Europe is finally achieving the dream of the National Socialists of “green” energy.

    http://en.friends-against-wind.org/realities/how-renewables-and-the-global-warming-industry-are-literally-hitler

    Have you ever wondered what kind of sadistic, totalitarian mentality you might need to want to carpet the countryside with bat-chomping, bird-slicing eco crucifixes in order to save the planet from an imaginary problem?

    Where have you heard the following before?

    Wind power, using the cost-free wind, can be built on a large scale. Improved technology will in the future make it no more expensive than thermal power. This is technically and economically possible and opens up a quite new life-important type of power generation. The future of wind is no longer small windmills, but very large real power plants. The wind towers must be at least 100 m [330 ft] high, the higher the better, ideally with rotors 100 m [330 ft] in diameter. This kind of high cage mast is already built in the shape of high radio masts.

    It was written by a National Socialist in the 1930’s.

    Also:

    In 1941, he published the first German-language article on global warming, the title of which translates as The Activity of Man as a Climate Factor.

    Also see book:

    Green Tyranny: Exposing the Totalitarian Roots of the Climate Industrial Complex by Rupert Darwall.

    180

    • #
      Philip

      Every year for the month approaching Christmas there is a streaming marathon of the NS and fringe NS internet identities, of which I always try to watch to keep up with their thinking, and this year the environmentalism was shining through quite a bit.

      It is amusing in they have recently adopted a trend to go off-grid, basically an exact replica of the hippy movement of the 60’s and 70s, with all the naive thinking that goes along with it.

      00

  • #
    Kim

    Have been bullet proofing for several years. Water is off the roof. Electricity is backed up with off grid solar and power stations. Have a larder \ pantry. And a push bike.

    90

  • #
    TdeF

    The Germans, like Victorians have plentiful supplies of lignite, brown coal. It is 66% water but otherwise identical to metamorphic black coal. Our Victorian briquettes were black and have the same heat capacity as black coal.

    I would love to see any scientific proof of

    1. man made CO2 levels. The fact is that this is 3% not 33%
    2. significant levels of infrared back radiation (over land and 72% of the planet is covered by cold water). One writer on this blog was an infrared astronomer who made 30 trips to Antarctica to infra red photograph the night sky and never saw this infrared back radiation.
    3. the significance of this back radiation in heating the air. (air does not hold heat with very low heat capacity. Without water can cool in one day by 40-80C and excess heat is lost)
    4. proof that CO2 in the air is not simply the vapour pressure of the 98% of CO2 dissolved in the ocean like soda water as associated with all dissolved gases.
    5. proof that CO2 in the water is not in very rapid equilibrium with the CO2 in the air, like O2 and all sea creatures breathe oxygen and output CO2.
    6. why the heat in the oceans (1400x that in the air) does not totally dominate our planet, apart from solar input, mainly into the ocean.
    7. how the IPCC claims the outrageous claim that the half life of CO2 in the air is 80 years (it is their standard figure without proof)
    8. proof that CO2 in the deep ocean cannot rise to the surface
    9. an explanation for the C14 age of CO2 in the bottom of the ocean at 350 years, which confirms nicely a half life of 5 years of rapid exchange between air and water. According to the IPCC, the water at the bottom of the ocean should be many thousands of years old. So they are completely wrong.
    10. An explanation as to why a temperature increase of 1.5C by the end of the century would be near catastrophic. The last 1.5C has had no effect on European winters. You would not pay for a heater which only raised the winter temperature 2C.
    11. And after 34 years there is no Global Warming. So why does this nonsense continue?

    And you can forget about the Polar Bears being in danger. That was a lie.

    So why are we still being told that the vast masses of ancient rotted leaves are not usable as fuel?

    Perhaps this is going to come to a head this winter in Europe. The Austrians are just the first to issue a warning.

    There is no science basis for the ban on fossil fuels.

    Climate Scientology has everything except General Zod and his Thetans in volcanoes landed in an intergalatic DC8.

    And still the Austrians believe. At least the Defence Minister hopes they do.

    110

    • #
      TdeF

      When I write of equilibrium, I mean that any deviation is rapidly removed. So if we burned all the fossil fuel today, in twenty years the CO2 level would be exactly what it is today.

      In mechanical equilibrium, the more you deviate from the mean, the greater force to return. Like a pendulum, the mean of which is constant and the force to return scales exactly so that the period of a pendulum is quite independent of the size of the swing. Greater deviation, greater force. Same period, same time to the centre. The doubling of radioactive CO2 in 1965 has vanished entirely from the biosphere into the deep ocean and the old C14 level of the last 40,000 reestablished. There is only one obvious explanation, the deep ocean is fully involved in CO2 exchange, contradicting the fundamental and unlikely assumption of CO2 being limited to the ocean surface, the other essential assumption of the IPCC.

      We saw this ecological equilibrium in 1989 off the coast of Alaska with the Exxon Valdez oil tanker, the great eco catastrophe of last century. Billions of dollars and armies of people removed the oil from beaches. But by the time they finished, the adjacent beaches were just as clean.

      Mankind used to be terrified of the planet and its vicious lethal weather. Now we think we are responsible for the weather. It’s the transition from fear and worship to arrogance. The poor planet. We must take care of it. Like ants watching anxiously over the golf course.

      130

      • #
        TdeF

        I mean in contrast to the Australian Government idea of nett zero, that the entire planet is just lucky to have the CO2 it has and we must do nothing to disturb it. So if we release CO2, we must grow the identical volume in trees. Or bury CO2 somewhere. Or we could compress it and put it in the ocean (makes me laugh). Most importantly, we must have more windmills and solar panels which have a lifespan of 20 years of which half is spent in CO2 deficit. And Teslas running on fossil fuel, as most are, are actually generating more CO2 than conventional cars.

        On what is fundamentally a science blog, I cannot find any science in Nett Zero. Nett zero is a very childish idea, tiptoeing around because the CO2 level was just perfect when we were born and the world will explode if it changes even a little.

        And who told us this? The UN which wants trillions of dollars. The unelected EU which wants to run all the countries in Europe. And NASA which wants billions of dollars and doesn’t do a lot. And the CSIRO which wants more money to do world leading research on wood products but otherwise nothing much. And the Department of Defence which just wants more money for men and weapons and has declared Climate Change the greatest enemy in history.

        And does Nett Zero make sense? Of course not. 9 billion people on the planet now, 8 billion more than in 1900. Has CO2 gone up 10:1? No, perhaps 40% and even that is not fossil fuel CO2. Our total CO2 output from burning old leaves is so tiny the world has no idea we exist except as a minor skin infection.

        60

  • #
    Peter

    Why would a minister of defense make these announcements? Are they already preparing the army to stop people from looting on day 4?
    Or is the ministry of defense in charge of the electricity generation and supply? That would also explain a lot.

    80

  • #
    Ronin

    I like that line, the government who will control the weather 50 years from now but can’t keep the lights on next week. LOL

    110

    • #
      TdeF

      At least they have stopped Global Warming in its tracks, even if they have not stopped CO2 growth. It shows the incredible power of sending billions to the UN.

      40

  • #
    Ronin

    Green is the new black, as in no lights.

    120

  • #
    John Connor II

    Assume your government won’t be there when you need them

    Lucky them! 😆😆

    60

  • #
    John Connor II

    By way of contrast:

    Average price of electricity in Spain CRASHES to lowest in almost two years on Saturday, December 31

    On Saturday, December 31, the average price of electricity in Spain falls by an incredible 66.7 per cent, its lowest level since January 2021.
    The average price of electricity for regulated tariff customers linked to the wholesale market in Spain will plummet again by 66.7 per cent on Saturday, December 31, compared to today, Friday 30. Specifically, it will stand at €1.82/MWh. This represents the lowest level since January 31, 2021, when it stood at 1.42/MWh.

    Throughout the early morning of Saturday, specifically between 4am and 6am, the price will be zero euros. Actually, from 2am through to 5pm, at no time will the price exceed one euro. The day’s maximum price will be between 7pm and 8pm, when it stands at €20/MWh.

    https://euroweeklynews.com/2022/12/30/average-price-of-electricity-in-spain-crashes-to-lowest-in-almost-two-years-on-saturday-december-31/

    40

  • #

    More proof we are governed by Fools and Bandits.
    A semi intelligent Minister of defence would have declared that a week long black out was necessary because Putin was gonna gonna be able to locate their cities if they left the lights on.

    The Boogie Man of the East is the best excuse these idiots can come up with..
    Kinda insane..
    Questions for “Defence Minister”
    So you have been annoying the Russians?
    Yes?
    You have been basing your economy on oil and Gas bought from Russia?
    Yes?
    Are you stupid or are you on crack?

    120

  • #
    Maptram

    When blackouts are discussed, lack of lighting, heating and cooling is usually discussed.

    But lighting is only required at night, and each year, there are usually two periods when neither heating or cooling is required. These periods usually occur in autumn and spring, but this year the spring period seems to be extending well into summer.

    But refrigeration is not often mentioned, even though refrigeration is required 24/7. Without refrigeration, food spoils and becomes unusable, and ailments such as food poisoning can occur. It’s one thing if food wastage and poisoning occur due to lack of power caused by acts of nature such as floods, fire and strong wind, but who is responsible if power outages are caused by the the deliberate installation of more and more unreliable energy sources.

    110

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Part of my preparations for cyclone season is to reduce the meat in the freezer.

      41

      • #
        TdeF

        Here in Melbourne with the growth of CO2, we are expecting hurricanes any day now. That is the power of Climate Change.

        I mean if you want to change the climate, do what our ancestors did. Move.

        40

        • #
          TdeF

          I remember living in Colorado at -40C day and night (+40C in summer) and thinking that the freezer was at -16C which seemed a terrible waste of energy. There was plenty of waste in those days, but plenty of energy too. But I did laugh at the butter warmer.

          You do not need a freezer in winter in Colorado but that’s modern living. You wouldn’t want to wait too long for the meat to defrost. And you always have the cellar/storm shelter/storage area which is permanently at 12C. The first thing you do in Colorado to build a house is dig a huge hole. The second thing is to get a certificate for Radon levels from the hole. Or these days a radon mitigation system. Life!

          Now every Western Democracy is starved for power. And soon for food, like the poor starving souls in Sri Lanka who believed you could survive without fertilizers. The UN is borderline criminal in their quest to wipe out carbon. And still politicians say nothing because they want to do a Helen Clarke, bring in a Carbon Tax and then retire to New York on full pay, first class travel and parties forever.

          Now that Kevin Rudd is US ambassador, how long before Malcolm Turnbull ascends the throne as Climate Ambassador to the UN? Or somesuch. He needs people to listen to his genius. After all, he was the one who toppled the extremely popular Tony Abbott, his one achievement in politics.

          70

          • #
            TdeF

            And Tony Abbott was the one politician who called Climate Change Crap. He was right. Which is why both sides needed him gone. And Malcolm, like Julie before him, scraped in by one seat.

            And the current ‘leader’ Albanese actually has the lowest vote in history to make it to Prime Minister! Lower even than Bill Shorten’s failed attempt.

            We have no leaders, just UN acolytes, main chancers, career politicians calculating their exit strategy. Except perhaps Matthew Canavan in the Senate, the one politician in the Abbott mold who openly dismisses man made Climate Change as an utterly destructive hoax. As is the Great Barrier Reef hoax called out by the crucified Professor Peter Ridd. Why isn’t anyone apologizing to Peter Ridd? Or the wrongfully imprisoned Cardinal George Pell, jailed with no evidence at all of crimes he could not possibly have committed? A year in solitary for being Catholic?

            What is wrong with Australia? This is a science blog. And there is zero science in Nett Zero.

            70

            • #
              TdeF

              What can you say when the most senior US General Milley, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says Climate Change is the greatest military threat in the world today. And calls President Xi of China directly to let him know President Trump has no access to nuclear weapons on his watch.

              And left wing looney Phillip Adams calls the world’s greatest cricketer Donald Bradman a ‘right wing nut job’ for expressing popular conservative views.

              We are living in fact free world. I guess at least the Austrians can put their freezers out on the balcony. At those sub zero temperatures they should be fine.

              70

      • #
        Hivemind

        A couple of years ago, parts of Canberra were hit by storms and large numbers of houses lost power for many days. I lost the entire contents of my freezer and most of my fridge. In Austria, such a cold climate, surely they could simply put the freezer contents outside and they’d stay fresh until spring?

        50

  • #
    Philip

    Had me panicked there. Thought it said Australian for a moment.

    100

    • #
      b.nice

      “Thought it said Australian for a moment.”

      Just give it a few more year… !

      70

      • #
        Dennis

        It will never happen in Australia because the politicians have worked out the solution, more wind turbines and solar installations.

        sarc.

        50

        • #
          Hivemind

          It has already happened in Australia. The Black System event in South Australia in 2016, followed up by numerous ‘load shedding’ events in the following years.

          30

  • #
    Phil O'Sophical

    “in a fantasy quest for nicer weather.”

    Yes I know your tongue was firmly in your cheek, Jo, and it is a memorable sound bite. But it plays to the narrative. Nicer weather is the last thing they want. Warmth is mankind’s friend. Way more folk die of cold than heat, and with our other friend, fossil fuels, powering air conditioners when the need arises, any minimal additional warmth (if only) should be welcomed not vilified. And if Prof. Valentina Kharkova and her sunspot-magnetic flux projections are correct a new mini-ice age is already nibbling at our edges, and is not far off.

    I believe that is why the green industrial complex is now frantic to impose their agenda; before it becomes obvious even to the sheeple that warming and ‘climate emergency’ is not happening but, more importantly for them, so that when cooling does become irrefutable they can claim they were right all along and that their fake science has saved us from an even worse fate. Mind you, car-less and shivering and eating bugs we will have other things to worry about.

    20

  • #
    SimonB

    Where are the rank and file Europeans? I find it hard to believe that critical thinkers in Europe have just shrugged their shoulders and decided Putin was at fault as they saw the Schwab Fourth Reich demanding the end of fossil fuels for a decade? Schwab, Blood and Gore haven’t been hiding, they’ve had private jets flying around Europe training their leaders!
    This should be spelling the end of the EU and riots in the streets, saying we see your agenda and we will not have our families die for your unattainable climate utopia!
    Quite often it’s hard to see the forest for the trees, but we have activists -actual politicians in Parliament – in Australia and North America who looked at the return to the Dark Ages in Europe and said, Yep, us too please, my degree in gender fluidity uniquely qualifies me as a valued member of your Marxist utopia, Klaus.
    We’re nearly there Australia, in more ways than quickly reading Austria and fearing it has already happened!
    Where is OUR straight talking, fact driven opposition leader going to come from, who provides the country with the RESULTS of the current climate actions and showing the earth doing what it always has.
    We knew after the virus propaganda was successful, the Marxists would apply it to climate, yet here we are ‘hoping’ it won’t happen as every contradiction gets serious consideration as reducing a temperature gauge!
    Where is Australia’s deSantis, Noem, Yunken, Abbott?

    10

  • #
    Yonason

    “In order to receive the news in the proper frame of mind … everyone smile with me now. – There’s good news and there’s bad news. First, the bad news… there is no good news! The end.”

    ASIDE – Someone should tell her that her leash is showing.

    00

  • #
    Yonason

    I notice that a number of comments above reference “nett zero,” in a negative light. I propose a more relevant definition, IMO…

    If “Nett Zero” is viewed as the reduction of political buffoonery and replacing it with political competence, then I’m all for it. Unfortunately, that requires a level of personal integrity that appears to be in rapidly diminishing supply, especially in those who somehow end up in positions where it matters most.

    00