JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Statistics
The first atmospheric diving suit (ADS) was invented in 1882 and was a masterpiece of engineering for the time then or even now.
You can see a picture at:
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scaphandre_Carmagnolle_MnM_Paris.jpg
Incredible steam punk appearance!
101
I don’t imagine that the dive suits were very popular.
Let’s say that the suit contains the occupant plus 50 litres of air, the helmet having 10 litres, (plus your head of course). To breathe you need a supply of air from the surface, through a hose. If they were smart, that hose would NOT be on top of your helmet, instead, it would be BELOW your mouth, I’ll explain in a minute.
In a fault condition, with a diver at say 50m. The suit lets in pressurised water at 5 Bar, this would then cause the air inside the suit to be expelled through the return line, (to the surface). Remember, the air blown down to the diver, (at surface pressures), has to be vented, so it MUST be vented to the surface else it would need to be at 5 Bar). That vent line would be the exhaust path for the air in your suit.
As I noted above, if the air supply/vent lines were on the top of your suit, that would be end of you.
If the hose connections were below your neck, then the air would escape till the water made that level, then the remaining air would be compressed to the same pressure as the water surrounding the diver. If the air in the suit was capped at say 50 litres, (above the hoses), then the resulting volume would be 10 litres around your head. Enough to fill the helmet. Time to rise. Of course, if the diver was deeper or the volume above the hoses were less than 50 litres, then drowning would be assured.
Anyone want to take a dive after learning that? Give me SCUBA any day, at least you have the air in your lungs at the same pressure as the world around you.
60
The first diving suit actually goes back to 1710, and the first to be supplied with surface air in 1797.
The designs, while not steampunk, as equally as strange.
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vintage-diving-suits/
(Rarehistoricalphotos – JC2 bookmark #10 while we’re at it. 😁 )
You might also want to look into early submarine design, equally as interesting.
Did you know that the first submarine was built in 1864 (yes, the time of the American civil war) and actually sunk a navy ship?
30
David was talking about atmospheric diving suits, where the pressure of the air being breathed was the same as the pressure at the surface. These needed a rigid torso section to avoid the water pressure driving the low pressure air from your lungs. And seals, really good seals.
Diving bells were even earlier. And clearly not at atmospheric pressure.
20
Talking about the self-inflicted destruction of the West (except USA) by stupid woke Leftist people, conservative author Prof. Gad Saad wrote:
Prof. Saad himself is a political refugee who has recently moved from woke Canada to reason-based USA (under TRUMP).
281
The old adage -‘you can vote yourself into communism, but you need to shoot your way out’. Becoming frighteningly prophetic……..
10
Just as I predicted, death taxes and more. We are being softened up in preparation for these by suggestions from supposed “experts”. When the Government introduces the taxes it will claim they had no choice and will say they were following “independent advice” just like they do with the climate scam.
How about some accountability with the money they are already collecting, borrowing and overspending?
If Australia had a major opposition party and wasn’t a One Party State, they would be asking questions.
330
If these fiscal idiots do bring in a death tax, I’m sure a lot of people will make sure they depart this Earth with a total worth of about $1.
230
But even spending it will help the pollies, by stimulating the economy, in the course of which we pay even more consumption taxes.
90
You spend it on ‘gambling’ and other vices. No tax trace for that.
In reality you invest in gold and other precious items that can be readily converted to cash. Obviously, these are going to have to be bought in small volumes to avoid the mandatory reporting.
Even better, buy gold nuggets, anyone in the future, (think your children), can sell them as it they found them. No tax and no need to declare, etc, etc.
Just one example of many….
https://www.kjc-gold-silver-bullion.com.au/CT/natural-gold-nuggets/73/1
40
Unfortunately Ian, the rules can be changed at any time. Just watch as they become more desperate for our hard-earnt.
80
Now you know why they took our guns away.
Unfortunately, 97% of Australians haven’t got a clue.
And they’ll defend that stance.
Unfortunately for us other 3%.
210
They didn’t take our guns away!! “They” just made it harder to own one. Australia still has plenty of guns- just ask the crims.
141
Yeah! I was sorta wonderin’ about that myself.
Crim (to self, when learning of this, umm, initiative, handing guns in for public safety reasons) “Yeah, fair point!”
I’m reminded of this meme – Soft Target
Tony.
90
Many gun shops remain, shooting ranges and gun clubs
10
I regained my shooters licence about two years ago, after letting it lapse about 20 years ago. I now shoot target rifle every weekend…I can highly recommend it as an enjoyable pastime, and you rarely meet a Lefty on a rifle range.
30
Along with your death taxes will be the push to get us out of our homes and into some tiny ‘older-care’ unit!
“experts say if more older households moved, too, it could help alleviate the housing affordability challenge. …“There’s some suburbs where there’s old average ages, no kids in the bedrooms. There’s probably a reworking we could work towards, where we get more of the family homes into the [hands of] younger people, who are having kids, and help the Boomer generation downsize from the big house into the townhouse…A new tax on the size of the property could be introduced to encourage downsizing, ”
https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/we-re-building-1-2m-new-homes-but-we-re-not-using-the-homes-we-have-20250819-p5mo05.html
83
It would be very easy for a government to declare a bedroom tax. 4 bedroom house, 2 people living there, as a couple means that 3 bedrooms are otherwise under utilised, and then the tax bill arrives.
If you thought the window tax was bad BUT avoidable, watch the people knock out the internal walls of houses to make ONE large bedroom.
It won’t be long before we are deemed non productive and taken out anyway. It started with the legalisation of “kids in Asia”, (typo).
50
More people are moving in with housemates and family to save money in the cost-of-living crisis, and experts say if more older households moved, too, it could help alleviate the housing affordability challenge.
The average number of people per household has edged above 2.5 and stayed there for most of the past year, after falling below that level for much of 2022 and 2023 when remote or hybrid workers could afford to live alone.
Although the number of people per household edged up, it remains well below the 2.8 to 2.9 range common in the 1980s.
Reserve Bank assistant governor Sarah Hunter last year told a real estate conference: “This may sound like a small change, but if for some reason average household size rose back to 2.8, we would need 1.2 million fewer dwellings to house our current population – no small difference.”
OK we are bumping up the average we are 7 People – 3 Generations under one Roof!
10
Perhaps if the drongos stopped importing 500,000 Liebor voters a year, the lack of housing might work itself out??
30
Australia is Screwed!
Two-thirds of voters want the right to work from home protected
About two-thirds of voters support proposals for a new right to work from home and a four-day work week, including most Coalition supporters, proving the political upside for Labor governments and unions advancing the ideas of contested economic benefit.
Union leaders put up the idea of a four-day work week before Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ economic reform summit this week, and Victorian Labor Premier Jacinta Allan rekindled debate by pledging to give workers the guaranteed ability to work two days a week from home.
On the eve of the roundtable, Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood dismissed the need for government intervention in flexible work, suggesting bosses and workers were finding a “sweet spot” on hybrid work.
But the Resolve Political Monitor showed widespread support for both ideas.
Sixty-four per cent said they backed the idea of using legislation to lock in flexible work arrangements. Nineteen per cent were unsure when asked about the proposal, while 17 per cent were opposed.
Of Labor voters, 74 per cent backed the idea, as did 51 per cent of Coalition voters, a reminder of why former opposition leader Peter Dutton was forced to ditch his pre-election push to force public servants back into the office.
50
Electric-car tax breaks projected to cost Australia $23 billion by 2036 – modelling
Popular incentives for purchasing electric cars are expected to cost taxpayers an 11-figure sum over the next 11 years, according to modelling out of Canberra.
Tax benefits on electric cars in Australia – including an exemption from Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) for novated leases – are projected to cost Australian taxpayers $23.4 billion by the middle of next decade.
They are estimated to cost $285 million this financial year alone – rising to $4.25 billion in financial year 2035-36 – according to Federal Government modelling released in June, reported by the Australian Financial Review this week.
The majority of the cost is linked to the exemption from Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) for electric cars priced below the Luxury Car Tax (LCT) threshold of $91,387 that are purchased through a novated lease, where the vehicle is paid for from an employee’s pre-tax salary.
It allows motorists to purchase an electric car for the same price as a petrol or diesel vehicle with a retail price as much as one-third lower, saving them thousands of dollars.
The FBT exemption – which also applied to plug-in hybrids from July 1, 2022 to March 31, 2025 – has been significantly more popular than forecast, earning Treasury an estimated $220 million in revenue last financial year, compared to an initial prediction of $55 million.
About 100,000 Australians took out a novated lease between July 2022 and February 2025, according to the National Automotive Leasing and Salary Packaging Association.
The rest of the projected $23.4 billion cost forecast for July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2036 – including $3.17 billion by July 2029 – is tied to an exemption from import tariffs for EVs priced below the LCT threshold.
It also factors in the loss of tax revenue from retaining the $91,387 LCT threshold for ‘fuel-efficient’ vehicles – those with claimed fuel use of less than 7.0L/100km – rather than classifying all cars under the main $80,567 cap.
50
When will the current controlling political party suggest that the building (or the mining) industry work 4 days / week from home?
50
Won’t hurt the middle class? Ya gotta be kiddin! The middle class is every gov’s goto for tax, those with nothing have nothing to take.
The idea of making notional rent payable by home owners is being floated. There is so much wrong with that I won’t even try to say what.
40
The idea of making notional rent payable by home owners is being floated
We already have it – it is called Local Council Rates based on Land Value.
100
You don’t have $500/w added to your taxable income though.
The council needs an income stream, what do you suggest?
00
I suggest we rid ourselves of all the politicians….permanently ASAP!
Unless of course mental illness becomes totally cureable!
20
You are also suggesting that you will dump your own rubbish, fix your own roads, gather your own water, dump your own “night soil”.
00
That might actually be cheaper!
00
What’s the point of having dollars if you don’t have sanitation?
10
Sanitation?
Actually the need for all those council services is the result of higher population density resulting from smaller lot sizes.
Septic systems work reasonably well though reticulated potable water is probably a good idea with quarter acre blocks.
Yes I am responsible for my 800m lane
I take my wheelie bin to the shire tip (and townies are now permitted to as well)
And my septic system is “over engineered and over built”
10
The council needs an income stream, what do you suggest?
Fixing Potholes, rather than Overpaid Executives and Working From Home Council Workers
Northern Beaches Council Executives Earn Over $25M
Northern Beaches Council’s executive team, including its CEO and other senior managers, has a combined annual salary cost exceeding $25 million, a figure that has been a point of contention and scrutiny.
This expenditure is part of the council’s broader budget, with the CEO alone earning a significant salary, and the total cost of the executive team being a key factor in recent rate increases approved by the council.
The council’s executive team, comprising 111 executives, directors, and managers, costs over $25 million annually.
This figure includes $3.3 million spent annually on vehicles for the executive team.
The CEO, Scott Phillips, earned $544,875 in 2024, with the council’s four senior staff members (excluding the CEO) earning a combined $2,846,877.
Councillor Vincent De Luca has consistently highlighted the high cost of the council’s executive team, calling for reforms and state intervention due to concerns over the financial burden on ratepayers.
The council defends these costs, stating that the high salaries are necessary to attract competent executives in a competitive market for public sector roles.
https://files-preprod-d9.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/nbc-prod-files/media/files/2024-12/Councillor%20Expenses%20and%20Facilities%20Policy%20NB-P-04.pdf?1755665539
10
Sack your council, turn off the pumps and go to the well and collect water with a bucket.
I worked hard but ended up with some pennies in the bank. You now want me to live like a low caste Indian because you don’t like your council? Why don’t YOU go live in rural India and leave me my decadent Ist world lifestyle?
00
“The council defends these costs, stating that the high salaries are necessary to attract competent executives ”
Well, no sign of that working, is there?
30
Australian total government debt, federal, state and local government:
$2.141 trillion.
http://australiandebtclock.com.au/
Enjoy!
110
While Australia is obsessed with catching speeding drivers, even if by a few kms per hour, primarily by automated means for revenue raising, actual studies show slower driving is more dangerous.
Note, I couldn’t find the original article at the Institute of Transportation Engineers as you have to be a member to log in.
160
” the flow of traffic”
Sometimes “the flow” is faster than I want to go. I “drive defensively” by getting out of the flow. I might tuck in behind a big truck – not real close – while the speeders get on down the road. I’ve discovered that most drivers do see the big truck!
153
My preferred ‘style’ is maintaining distance all around me and steering well clear of the abundant idiots filling our roads – from drug drivers to mothers who should have collected the kids from school twenty minutes ago.
In much the same way as we are taught in self defence, “Keep your head on a swivel.” Seeing trouble coming, and avoiding it, is the best defence of all.
I feel safer on a racetrack these days.
120
Huh! Try driving on the M1 between The Gold Coast and Brisbane. (even just Beenleigh to Brisbane, or south to Southport)
Craziness on steroids!
Basically just a three/four/five lane moving car park both ways, any time of day or night as well.
150,000 vehicles a day, and more than 10,000 of them rigs.
Tony.
100
Spot on Tony. I drive the southern end down and back every day. New section almost complete…..only couple of years past the completion date and probably a couple of $$$$$ over Budget……. noticing it is full already both ways…….not good !!!
10
That is an exciting stretch of road. QLDers have an interesting relationship with multilane roads. It seemed more chaotic than much bigger roads in Melbourne. Probably all the VIC tourists in holiday mode maybe?
00
I find the Logan motorway easily the most dangerous around here. It seems like half the drivers on it are off their heads.
00
Driving slowly is stupefactive, hypnagogic, and somnorific.
I’ve been driving 7 hour stretches in FNQ the last few days and have found trying to maintain a speed under the speed limit was making me drowsy and likely to lose concentration and run off the road or fail to see a hazard or a slow moving vehicle.
On the other hand, driving responsive to the road and road conditions kept me alert and involved, and in that way, although generally faster, I felt much safer.
151
Check that the “circulating air” button is switched to “fresh air” mode, because CO2 levels can build up and cause drowsiness in the occupants on a long trip.
50
Driving in the UK, Europe, USA and Canada, I have noticed that their drivers tend to “move along” much more efficiently, with far better traffic flows. And this tends to occur at speeds over the speed limit.
60
Notice how the “Mr. Important” types ALWAYS get into the overtaking lane and sit there?
Maybe getting into the left lane 20km later to take the offramp…
Long overdue for fines and demerit points for that. They’d make more than speeding fines. Doing 51 in a 50 zone? You social monster, you!!
Yes, police should be concentrating on REAL crime. Look at Vic and Qld…
DYK – your speedo actually reads about 3km/h above your true speed.
Now that I no longer need to engage in the morning commute-crawl, I have escaped the monotonously regular accidents that occur when rightlane sitters need to change lanes at the last minute, or who are too close to the car ahead of them and rear-end them when the car ahead hits the brakes, or who look at the passenger to talk to them, or who are playing with their phone.
Basic driving skills 101.
I recall a study years ago out of the USA that said most accidents happen at low speeds, like in a city rather than out on the open road.
https://ubicar.com.au/blog/seven-surprising-facts-about-severe-car-accidents-in-australia/
40
I recall living in Perth for a few years and always wondering why the people turning off, (right hand lane), at Bunbury sit themselves in the right lane all the way from the city.
For those overseas, in Oz, we drive on what’s left of the road.
40
That’s typical of WA drivers – they also sit in the RH lane all the way down the freeway, holding up traffic. I believe they are the worst in Australia.
10
Well in the towns if you need to make a right turn in the next kilometer, you stay in the right lane because the traffic won’t let you in.
On freeways with only left exit ramps, you have an argument, but what Perth call freeways would be laughed at in the USA and Europe.
10
There are already fines and demerit points for not keeping left. Has been for a long time (in VIC at least). As usual though you have to be caught by someone with the time and motivation to do the paperwork.
00
DM – I don’t use farcebook and general search shows the ITE are Washington based so are the findings USA-centric or do they include global experience?
Back in July I mentioned my (ongoing) observations regarding the increasing road toll on Australian roads and the fact that the latest reports showed low speed zones were indeed more dangerous than high speed zones here in Hostralia. The other biggy for me is the increase in single vehicle accident fatalities so the “other” message seems to be if you are driving in a low-speed zone ensure you are not driving alone – lol.
The JCII (Thanks) comment 5.4 link to 7-surprising facts about severe car accidents alludes to the increase in single vehicle accidents but in a strangely obtuse way: “…Single vehicle accidents (cars going off the road and rolling or hitting stationary objects) are responsible for more non-pedestrian road deaths than any other accident type.” Que? Going off road makes you a pedestrian unless you are in a car and then you are a non-pedestrian – ummm yeah!!
As I noted in July single vehicle accidents involving 75yrs+ (14.3% increase) and/or the 40-64yr (11.7% increase) driving alone in low-speed metro zones now seem to be the roadkill groups of concern. As I also noted I wonder what medical checks are undertaken on the deceased apart from checking if alcohol was a factor i.e. blackout due to stress or other medical condition such as a stroke… Given the Australian stats cover the last 5-years what can we do to make driving in Australia safe and effective again???
10
Short video, British people have been pushed to their limits. In this case a frustrated train rider confronts someone trying to ride free.
https://youtube.com/shorts/ntFbi0x6RPQ
110
It’s rife, they make whole series of programs from it ‘Fare Dodgers at war with the law.’
It’s just part of the general lawlessness, shoplifting, pavement cycling, illegal e-vehicles. The police abandoned the streets, and just don’t deal with the small stuff, dare say anything and its an instant tirade of abuse and threats of violence, so there’s no social enforcement either. Goes back to parenting and schools with no effective discipline and no consequences.
150
The woke/Left war on education, science and reason continues…
Sangoma witchcraft now taught at South African “universities”.
According to Goolag AI the “Science must fall” movement at UCT is as follows:
You can see the same sort of sentiments arising in Australia.
170
How about giving them a taste of real ‘decolonisation’ and shutting the looniversity? They wouldn’t have one without the European influence.
They can go back to real, traditional knowledge, you know, entrails and all that.
120
The present mismanagement of Australia is just about exactly what would be done if the plan was to destroy the nation.
Never has Australia been so badly mismanaged, not even by other Labor governments.
Even worse, the Government is strategically aligning Australia away from the US and its representation of traditional Western pro-freedom values and towards China and its totalitarian values.
Of course, none of this is surprising given that Albanese is an actual life-long communist, as documented in Trevor Loudon’s book, Comrade Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s 40-Year Alliance with Australian Communism. Something that the fake conservative Liberal Party forgot to mention at the last election.
And with no meaningful opposition political party in Australia, it is effectively a One Party State and the Left are doing whatever they please, without any restraint, scrutiny or oversight whatsoever. The damage being done is so severe that it is likely to be permanent and not recoverable without a TRUMP-like leader which we have little prospect of obtaining any time soon, if ever.
300
Yes, however what can we as individuals effectively do about it?
Just looking at the productivity of the country and listening to the BS is about fast tracking renewables as one solution to declining “productivity” is enough to cause severe mental depression!
180
The liberal party has never identified itself as “conservatives”. How did the candidate you voted for do?
00
The damage being done is so severe that it is likely to be permanent and not recoverable without a TRUMP-like leader which we have little prospect of obtaining any time soon, if ever.
There will never be a carbon copy of the Donald. But we do have a committed conservative politician who stands for the values this country once stood for. That politician is Matt Canavan. Yes, he is of the National Party and he is a Senator. But these are desperate times and we need a leader of his courage and values. We particularly need a leader who will call out the insanity of Net Zero, as Canavan does constantly.
The National Party needs to seriously consider the pathway that Nigel Farage took in forming the Reform UK Party. The Australian Liberal Party is mired in the past with a leader who does not seem to comprehend what must be done to recover the support of the electorate. The key is not just to recover the “women’s vote”. The key is to persuade the electorate that imminent dangers in Australia’s part of the world, together with serious decline in our economic outlook, need to be addressed. And quickly!
110
The LNP in Oz need a Maggie Thatcher, instead they have installed a Noni from Playschool……
10
Copied from X. And a typical attitude of most non-Leftist Aussies:
300
So true. The suicidal net zero campaign is at the root of many problems, most obviously the cost of power which is wrecking household budgets and economy.
And then there is the catastrophic waste of money, countless billions spent to wreck the farmlands and forests of the nation to get more expensive and less reliable power.
As for the housing crisis, look at the building materials channelled into facilities to generate unreliable energy, imagine if all the concrete and steel which is buried in the ground under windmills could be put to other useful purposes.
Call it conspicuous destruction rather than conspicuous consumption!
240
The watermelons are in a quandary now, as they cannot reconcile wholesale destruction of the environment they once claimed to be so concerned about and protective of, with their insane and irrational push for part time power sources which benefit nobody except those greedy enough to accept taxpayer subsidies to enable their construction. So they appear to have picked a side and ignored the havoc being wreaked on our countryside.
100
On Sky News drone views of the areas already covered with wind turbines or solar panels installed, plus transmission lines from every installation to the main transmission lines, access roads and transmission line corridors, highlights the environmental vandalism taking place but no protests from the Greens and other claimed to be environmental protection groups?
The ratio of wind turbines or solar panels required based only on Installed Capacity so ignoring Capacity Factors for what on average is supplied, compared to just one power station and generators in itself reveals the farce.
40
Look at the sales and marketing material used to promote “renewables” here, how many homes could be serviced with electricity, but never any acknowledgement that domestic and light commercial are only part of the demand segments and industrial one of the largest areas.
Never mentioned the differences between AC and DC and transmission etc.
Sometimes mentioned is “when the wind blows” but most people do not really understand that problem.
20
INTERNATIONAL GRIDWATCH
Be a grid-watcher and become wind-literate.
Check your local grid at breakfast and dinnertime to see if there will be enough wind and solar power to give you a hot meal if the RE parasites drive more coal out of the system.
NO HOT COFEE THIS MORNING IN SE AUSTRALIA, AT 7 AM THE WIND IS CONTRIBUTING 17% OF DEMAND!
SIX TIMES AS MANY WINDMILLS REQUIRED.
Capacity factor is 34% somewhat above the average that went down from the long-term figure of 30% to 26% last year.
https://www.nem-watch.info/widgets/RenewEconomy/
WHAT ABOUT TEXAS?
https://www.gridstatus.io/live/ercot
4 PM WIND 7% (low again) SOLAR 21%
BRITAIN?
https://grid.iamkate.com/
10.15 PM WIND 42% SOLAR 0
See the imported power and the nuclear contribution. Australia has neither of those options.
140
Rafe, I have been a wind watcher for years now and there is no doubt the more you watch and take note the less you can believe.
I, like billions of souls, live in the tropics and wind is even worse than generally recognised in the here. I have never seen the Nth of Sth America [Brazil etc] with enough wind to be harvested [windy.com].
My point is that even in a perfect world the 40% of 8 billion world pop. that live in the tropics will always need conventional generation. But who cares about them?
00
Many of our problems are hostage to the costs of power and reducing the rate of increase is not enough, we need a real reduction and that can be done with coal.
BURN COAL OR DIE IN THE DARK!
https://open.substack.com/pub/rafechampion/p/burn-coal-in-australia-or-die-in
180
And here, I’ve found something about burning coal in the dark.
I’m revisiting my original Base Load Series from 2017/18, where I detailed the daily minimum for power consumption across the whole AEMO Coverage area, and I was using a figure of 18,000MW and that was at around 4AM every single day, you know, when nearly every Australian is tucked up tightly in bed. (umm, dreaming of perfect weather no doubt!)
I was picked up about using that figure, chided in fact for grossly overstating it, as there was just no way known it could be that high, in fact, almost two thirds of the (average) daily Maximum at around 6PM every day.
So, ever up for a challenge, I decided to actually record that data every single day and detail it at my home site.
The end result was that after 12 Months, a whole 365 days, the average for that Base Load, minimum power consumption across the whole of Australia was, umm, 18,034MW.
Okay, the reason I’m revisiting it is that I’m going to do an Update, so I’m doing it on the usual three Month Seasonal basis, and I’m starting out at September 1 2024, and it will end on August 31 2025, eleven days form now.
It’s taking me 27 minutes per Month to locate and record that figure, and as always, I’m using that wonderful Andrew Miskelly Aneroid site, where I can actually do something like this, and I’ve already completed the three Months of Spring 2024, supposedly the one of two low power consuming benign Seasons, when power consumption is lower than in Summer and Winter, those two benign Seasons (Spring and Autumn) when the coal fired power plants do their rolling maintenance on their individual Units. (Maintenance, you know when the anti coal brigade notice a coal fired Unit has closed down, hence their unreliability, eh!)
After recording the daily minimum, I then have to add them all, and average for the Month, then for the three Months to find the average for that low consuming Season.
Okay, so I found a hidden little surprise while I was doing it, and again thank you to that wonderful Aneroid site where you can isolate out individual power sources, and here note I use the word ….. sources and not the term ….. Generators.
I noticed the tiniest of anomalies on one of the days, and curious now, I then went and checked a few other days as well. I isolated out all the sources, until all that was left was ….. Batteries, and it showed up that the (now a gathering plethora of) batteries were using this time in the early AM to, you know, charge their batteries, and notice now why I use sources and not generators, as Batteries are not generators, but actual ….. CONSUMERS of electrical power. They are also using the midday peaks for solar to also do some charging, but it’s at that early morning when they do most of it, you know, when the cheapest and largest provider at that time, coal fired power is just humming along as always, the batteries using this immensely cheaper power source to charge them, and then selling that same power back at the Evening Peak when power costs are immeasurably higher, eh!
And gee, as Gomer might say, Surprise surprise, guess which power source is delivering most of ALL power at that 4AM time slot.
Umm, coal fired power!
Who would have thought eh!
Now, it looks like we actually need that coal fired power to charge the batteries, and as more batteries come on line, then their power they need to charge these batteries becomes, let’s say ….. a tad more critical.
So it actually is a case of, as Rafe wrote ….. burn coal.
Incidentally, after three Months during the benign low power consuming three Months of Spring last year, the average power consumption at 4AM, the lowest it gets down to every day was 18,489MW, almost 1500MW higher than Spring of 2017, when I did the original series.
Tony.
PostScript – Umm, here’s a little thing for you to do. Next time you’re with people, just ask them what that Minimum power consumption across all Australia is, the actual LOWEST it gets down to every day. I’m willing to bet very few if any actually get even remotely close.
150
Tony,
With regard to your question at the end, (and now everyone is popping back to read it), it would be more meaningful to ask what is the multiplier between the lOWEST demand and the PEAK demand?
I wonder how many would guess 3x or more. Clearly forgetting that industry has 24 hour needs, (ask a smelter).
40
Industry, mining, every hospital, emergency service, every shop in every town or city, street lighting, HVAC in EVERY high rise taller than two levels, etc etc etc, an almost endless list really. Look at any city skyline at night.
Tony.
50
the average for that Base Load, minimum power consumption across the whole of Australia was, umm, 18,034MW.
three Months of Spring last year, the average power consumption at 4AM, the lowest it gets down to every day was 18,489MW, almost 1500MW higher than Spring of 2017, when I did the original series.
????
As one of our current politicians is prone to say —
Please explain
20
ozfred,
Man, explain even the most simple basic electrical theory to anyone, and watch the eyes glaze over.
It’s not easy, so here’s two I prepared earlier to hopefully simplify any explanation.
Summer Load Curve
Winter Load Curve
These are Load curves for power consumption in Australia, well, anywhere across the Planet really, town, city, state, whole of Country. In other words, actual power consumption (the black line) across the hours in every day. The slight difference is that in Winter, it falls away a little after breakfast, during the middle of the day. For these two curves, well, they are for the AEMO coverage area here in Australia, with the MW marked on that left vertical axis, and here, keep in mind that this is from 2017, so things have changed since then, but not the overall shapes of both graphs, which are similar in nature now as they were then.
You can see the lowest point on each curve is at around 4AM, and is 18000MW. That’s the lowest that Australian power consumption falls to across each and every day. So, at the lowest point of the day, the minimum power requirement to keep Australia, well, ‘running’ is 18000MW.
Draw a straight line across the page at that low point of 18000MW.
Everything below that line is the BASE ….. LOAD, (two distinct words) what is required ABSOLUTELY to keep the Country in electricity.
Hope this goes some of the way towards explaining it for you.
Tony.
40
18,489MW, almost 1500MW higher
18500 – 1500 = 17000 not 18000 ????
Or are there different time periods involved?
10
ozfred, sorry about this.
I mentioned that there are four Seasons. Two of those, Winter and Summer have much higher power consumption than Spring and Autumn, when benign weather conditions (not too cold or not too hot, hence the requirement for heating and cooling) mean less power consumption, and that applies at that 4AM minimum power consumption time as well.
Typically, in Winter and Summer, the average at that 4AM time is around 19000MW to 19500MW, whilst in the benign Seasons, that 4AM average is around that 17000MW mark. And even back in the (mid) Winter of 2018, I saw it as high as 22,500MW, and regularly above 20,000MW in late January.
Across the whole year, it averages out at that 18000MW mark or did in 2017/18.
I started this new data collection during Spring of 2024, and the average for the three Months was that (almost) 18500MW, higher than during the Spring of 2017.
I apologise for the confusion of not explaining it so fully.
Tony.
20
I once pointed out to a true believer that batteries actually benefitted coal by [slightly] evening out their load, which is good for them. He wouldn’t have a bar of it.
Facts? Who’s interested in facts.
20
Sadly once you start talking kilo, mega, giga much less adding watts to it , there is only a tiny % of the population who would know what you are talking about, much less make any kind of guess.
I would be intetested in the answer from our political class and their advisors, that would be telling. There are some interesting videos of those types being asked the % of CO2 in the atmosphere. They had NFI, bad their script told them it was bad and it was our fault and must be reduced.
50
Funny about issues discussions nowadays, they’re becoming easily predictable.
Very few governments (as in none) in the formerly advancing Western world are going to abandon the Nut Zero thing.
They’re going to ride their Climate Virtue horse into the ground, as in my US state.
Taking their peasants with them.
The know it will fail but they don’t care.
(Trump, God bless him, is a miraculous temporary drain stop. But generations of Woke Non-Binary Red Guards gather at the gates.)
The former industrialists and financiers are already packing up for the Mid East.
Mecca already has a Big Bend.
London will soon have more mihrabs than pubs.
Expect a mihrab in Notre Dame for inclusion.
In the US companies are buying their own moth balled nuke plants because the government that electrified the country is no longer capable electrifying anything.
Except misery.
They are like the priesthood of the Middle Ages in this way.
And expressing misery will soon be a crime in about half the US states as they will be following the lead of England and Canada, with Oz bringing up the rear.
Just as expressing doubt about the Divinity of the Pope once was.
As doubt about a prophet is now.
The traditional Western governments have devolved into social thought enforcers.
The ex-patriot industrialists and financiers luxuriating in Abu Dhabi will have plenty of electricity for their indoor ski slopes.
NYC is about to have a Communist mayor.
Where will Wall Street go?
Movies can’t be made in Hollywood anymore.
The only way OZ and Europe will ever burn coal again is if they switch geographic locations with China.
But it is possible a divine battery will arrive from on high, just as de-carbonization returns the planetary climate to pre-colonization paradise and the wind blows and sun shines just right.
[snip]
[Nothing wrong with mihrab and prophet. But ironically we don’t encourage second guessing about administrative rules. – Jo]
20
FWIW – “Nut Zero” gets a helping hand
“Backup home power supplies are looking better and better…”
“A new report from global research and consultancy group Wood Mackenzie highlights that U.S. efforts to upgrade power grids for AI-driven data centers will push transformer demand beyond supply by 30% this year, driving up costs and delaying projects. Analysts warn the shortage will only worsen and persist well into the decade’s end.”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/08/backup-home-power-supplies-are-looking.html
80
Sorry EG-
“The purges have also fuelled speculation that a factional power struggle is being waged against Xi by his enemies in the PLA.
The speculation reached fever pitch this year as rumours spread of Xi’s imminent downfall – mostly among CCP critics in diaspora communities and in the Falun Gong-backed publication The Epoch Times – before being picked up by some Western media outlets….
These rumours, rejected by many analysts, took a credibility blow when Xi resumed normal programming with a string of high-profile events in July – holding the Central Urban Work Conference, meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and hosting Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Beijing.
“He has been very much in the limelight [since the urban conference]. He was given pride of place on the front pages of the People’s Daily and even the PLA Daily,” said Dr Willy Lam, (at) the Jamestown Foundation.
Lam believes a factional struggle is afoot, but that Xi will maintain an unassailable grip on power in the lead-up to the party’s 21st National Congress in 2027, when many analysts expect he will seek a fourth term.”
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/not-usually-a-target-rumours-run-wild-as-xi-s-top-diplomats-vanish-20250814-p5mn07.html?js-chunk-not-found-refresh=true
50
FWIW
“Scientists Warn About Scientists’ Warnings”
“Only a journalist truly committed to the ancient art of panic-clickbait could squeeze all the world’s existential dread into a headline like, “A Giant, Destructive Volcanic Eruption Is Set to Shake the World in the Coming Months, Bringing About the End of Mankind, Scientists Warn.” They’ve accompanied it with the following graphic, in case you weren’t adequately terrified.”
“The dead giveaway? “Scientists Warn.” Whenever you see those two words sandwiched together above the fold, you know you’re about to step into a wonderland of wild extrapolation, qualified maybes, and models run so far into the future they boomerang back with “robots take over” as the y-axis.”
More at
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/08/19/scientists-warn-about-scientists-warnings/
60
I show the reason for Australia’s declining labour productivity on the linked charts:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K1xiXvOMBY2u1jwukC3qO086TRglOAJG/view?usp=sharing
On current trend, productivity declines once Australia gets to 75% weather dependent generation. Fortunately that will not occur for at least another 10 years derspite the current hopeful target.
On present trend, there will be no heavy industry. The NEM wholesale market will be half the present level while rooftops will supply 40% of the total demand.
I think Labour are too stupid to change course. There will need to be a complete ousting of the current innumerate bunch. Liberals would need to listen tio what their NP coalition are saying.
150
Let me know if the image displays or if you need to download to get it to display.
10
Displays fine on my Android phone.
40
Good graphs Rick. We are certainly on the way to Net Zero.
Net Zero productivity that is….
But in socialist economics, doesn’t “the Government” (i.e. taxpayer) just have to provide more subsidies or more national borrowings?
80
FWIW
“Democrats Must Be Panicking About This Post-Putin Summit Development”
“InteractivePolls
@IAPolls2022
President Trump Job Approval
🟢 Approve: 54% (+10)
🟤 Disapprove: 44% ”
https://x.com/IAPolls2022/status/1957277826198978661
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/08/19/democrats-must-be-panicking-about-this-post-putin-summit-development-n4942853
30
Search for news about “Climate Lockdown in Canada” … they are starting this all up again. And this time, no you won’t find any discussion of this on the ABC … despite it being relevant to Australia as well.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/08/canadians-are-pushing-back-against-this-summers-climate-lockdowns/
30
Women’s arteries show signs of faster aging after COVID
Women who recovered from COVID-19 showed stiffer arteries six months later, equivalent to roughly 5–10 extra years of vascular aging, depending on illness severity.
Men did not show statistically significant changes, but women with lingering symptoms (long COVID) had worse outcomes.
https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf430/8236450
30
A new ice cream flavour just for cry-baby liberals
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yme9FCARdRI
Someone just push the button.
20
How many “SAMs” per serving?
(SAM = standard American mouthful)
00
Comrade Albanese is a far worse PM than even Australia’s next worst PM, Whitlam.
131
As the Liberals leaned left and pulled by LINO Left (Liberals In Name Only) Labor was pulled further left by the Trotskyites (PM Albanese and comrades)
50
FWIW – long but – – –
“The Means of War”
It occurred to me sometime ago that we were in a long, sustained war since the beginning of the 20th century. It’s just that war has morphed and gone underground, by other means.
Look, part of this was America’s showing in WWII. Not that it was bad, but that it was very, very good and it showed the ideologies who would conquer the world that they couldn’t do it shoulder-to-shoulder, in serried ranks. I mean they kept threatening us with it, but in fact that time had already passed. (Sometime I need to do a post about how most of threats we’re terrified of are actually things that are no longer possible, or at least highly unlikely.)
So, the ideologies that would conquer the world: it was before Marxism existed, of course, that people became obsessed with idea of a rule “of the people” involving “if only everyone” and also that there was a permanent underclass who needed to rule so they wouldn’t be oppressed.”
More at
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2025/08/19/the-means-of-war/
00
Moscow vs London
https://x.com/RadioGenoa/status/1957119994430398976
I’ve made my choice!
/London has fallen. A good name for a film!
20
Yes, in which fascist dictatorship are you more likely to get raped, beaten up or knifed, London or Moscow. …or sent to jail for praying, ..or posting an opinion online… or saying the wrong thing??
50
Posted by the Hodgetwins on Farcebook:
80
What a Grade A tosspot. You would think someone who thought it was their dream job would respect the Park, but no its all about me.
50
EVs driven at 80 KMH or less on 100 KMH or 110 KMH highways are a danger to traffic.
40
Imagine a Karen or Granny in an EV with the power and torque of a super-car under their foot navigating a multi story parking station. It won’t always end well.
40
“Reformers urge an end to uranium enrichment as crisis grips Iran.”
Iranian reformers who back the country’s president have called on the government to suspend uranium enrichment in order to reach a deal with the US, as the country faces widespread power and water shortages.
If you run out of water and electricity, you are in deep trouble.
One should note that if Iran had a civilian nuclear power program–which it doesn’t–electricity wouldn’t be an issue.
“The aftermath of the recent 12-day war with Israel, coupled with runaway inflation, industrial stagnation, the collapse of the national currency and capital flight, has created a more acute risk of economic paralysis than ever before,” said the Reform Front, which comprises 27 activist groups.
These warnings are especially significant because they come from “an important pillar of support for the relatively moderate president Masoud Pezeshkian.
” Suspending enrichment and allowing the UN’s nuclear watchdog complete oversight of Iran’s activities would allow for “comprehensive, direct negotiations with the United States and normalisation of relations”, the coalition said.
Without a normalization of relations with the U.S., conditions in Iran are dire:
“The context [for the reformists’ statement] is that Iran feels an existential threat because of the number of crises that have been coalescing,” said Ali Fathollah-Nejad, a German-Iranian political scientist director of the Centre for Middle East and Global Order.
“There’s this deep economic crisis that’s been around for years leading to a socioeconomic crisis with the bulk of the Iranian population living in poverty, and more lately we have seen electricity and water shortages,”
The regime’s unpopularity has led to calls for other changes, as well:
The reformists’ called on the government to release dissidents and to relax rules on dress codes for women, which could curry favour with a population largely opposed to the repressive Islamist regime.
40
The US is widely considered as the world bully and many on this site would give that a “Here, Here” but if you don’t threaten them they leave you alone, even help occasionally. Iran should follow Trump’s lead and work on an Iran First agenda and stop wasting money and blood outside their borders.
03
Have you found any Koranic verses justifying that?
60
Reformers urge Iranian regime to suspend nuclear program
SAMER AL-ATRUSH
8 minutes ago
Iranian reformers who back the country’s president have called on the government to suspend uranium enrichment in order to reach a deal with the US, as the country faces widespread power and water shortages.
The Reform Front has made the appeal in the middle of an economic crisis that resulted from nuclear-related sanctions and has been exacerbated by water and electricity shortages, as well as an Israeli-US military offensive in June that heavily damaged Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The Reform Front, which comprises 27 activist groups, said: “The aftermath of the recent 12-day war with Israel, coupled with runaway inflation, industrial stagnation, the collapse of the national currency and capital flight, has created a more acute risk of economic paralysis than ever before.”
It was not the first time government critics had demanded an end to enrichment, which has isolated the country and brought crippling sanctions. But the Reform Front, viewed as a loyal opposition, is an important pillar of support for the moderate president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who was elected on a reformist platform last year.
Suspending enrichment and allowing the UN’s nuclear watchdog complete oversight of Iran’s activities would allow for “comprehensive, direct negotiations with the United States and normalisation of relations”, the coalition said.
20
FWIW
“‘Big Oil’ and Early Solar: Trying and Failing”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/08/19/big-oil-and-early-solar-trying-and-failing/
10
FWIW – for the covid record
“Film that gives a voice to the censored, vilified vaccine victims”
“FOLLOW the Silenced is an award-winning independent film, alive with evidence, which gives a much-needed voice to heavily censored covid vaccine victims.”
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/film-that-gives-a-voice-to-the-censored-vilified-vaccine-victims/
30
RePlanet Australia, Tea Törmänen
More about the woman who convinced Finnish Greens to support nuclear energy. I didn’t find info how she sees global warming. Something tells me she is lukewarmer. At least she appears to be pragmatic and understands that in order to further her cause it is better be worried about climate change.
21
Trim Centerlink payments by ten percent today. Then, do the same every six months. Watch unemployment drop, and productivity improve!
10
INTERNATIONAL GRIDWATCH
Encourage your friends and relations and other associates to be grid-watchers and become wind-literate.
Check the local grid at breakfast and dinnertime to see if there will be enough wind and solar power to give you a hot meal if the wind and solar parasites drive more coal out of the system.
https://www.nem-watch.info/widgets/RenewEconomy/
NO HOT DINNER IN SE AUSTRALIA, AT 6.30 THE WIND IS CONTRIBUTING 16% OF DEMAND!
SIX TIMES AS MANY WINDMILLS REQUIRED.
Capacity factor is 35% somewhat above the average.
https://www.nem-watch.info/widgets/RenewEconomy/
WHAT ABOUT TEXAS?
https://www.gridstatus.io/live/ercot
3.30 AM WIND 5% SOLAR 0
BRITAIN?
https://grid.iamkate.com/
9.30 AM WIND 30% SOLAR 10%
See the imported power and the nuclear contribution. Australia has neither of those options.
20
FWIW
“Dems Say Mail-In Ballot Ban Will Place Undue Hardship On Dead Voters https://buff.ly/ReQqcmR ”
https://x.com/TheBabylonBee/status/1957563767945826788
Via https://instapundit.com/739199/#disqus_thread
Instapundit lead-in “Well it is true”
20
FWIW – some ideas to think about here
“Democrats demand a new Constitution — maybe America should take them up on it”
https://nypost.com/2025/08/18/opinion/democrats-demand-a-new-constitution-lets-give-them-one/
Via https://nypost.com/2025/08/18/opinion/democrats-demand-a-new-constitution-lets-give-them-one/
00
NDIS eligibility for autistic kids had to change. Now it’s finally out in the open
For the first time the Albanese government has acknowledged the NDIS will change its rules to stop accepting kids with mild and moderate autism.
Must be like being a little bit pregnant
21
I don’t understand’: Logic of Bruce Lehrmann’s appeal bid questioned by judges
Bruce Lehrmann’s bid to overturn a finding that he raped his former colleague Brittany Higgins has not started smoothly, with Federal Court judges questioning the logic of his grounds of appeal.
Lehrmann is no angel but how can Justice be served with bias like this? “On the balance of probability is not Justice
20
Trim Centerlink payments by ten percent today. Then, do the same every six months. Watch unemployment drop, and productivity improve!
21