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Midweek Unthreaded
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8.5 out of 10 based on 13 ratings
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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 nerds have the numbers on precious metals investments on the ASX
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This also must pass: http://balance10.blogspot.com/2018/08/chinas-mass-internment-camps.html
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China’s war on religion, academia: President Xi Jinping moves to reassert Communist Party dominance
CHINA IS AUSTRALIA’S ENEMY !
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/chinas-war-on-religion-academia-president-xi-jinping-moves-to-reassert-communist-party-dominance/news-story/5b6a71c240c3d6c094dbe8dbbfeb2521
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China Installs Surveillance Cameras in Churches to Spy on Christians
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/04/04/china-installs-surveillance-cameras-in-churches-to-spy-on-christians/
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China Forces All Religious Buildings to Fly Communist Flag | Breitbart
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/08/02/china-forces-all-religious-buildings-to-fly-communist-flag/
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Brain Surveillance Technology: It’s Real And It’s Being Used In Chinese Workplaces
https://www.inquisitr.com/4883977/brain-surveillance-technology-its-real-and-its-being-used-in-chinese-workplaces/
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‘High-speed train drivers also wear surveillance hats that monitor for signs of tiredness and loss of attention.’
Better to replace them with a robot.
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UPDATE http://balance10.blogspot.com/2018/08/uighurs-imprisoned-for-so-called-913.html
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BBC touts new climate model, saying next few years ‘may be exceptionally warm’
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/14/bbc-touts-new-climate-model-saying-next-few-years-may-be-exceptionally-warm/
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So we don’t have much time to prevent it! We can shut down the whole world or go one step more and kill off every human person on the planet and it will make no difference to the climate to stop the the alleged “exceptional warming” in the next few years. It makes the NEG totally worthless and a waste of time and money, which has only one real purpose – inflation of Turnbull’s ego.
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NEG ==== No Energy Garbage
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NEG?
Never Elected (a)Gain ?
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Try National Energy Graveyard.
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NEG – National Extermination of Grannies.
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Well done… you managed to hijack someones thread about climate models with parochial politics.
Oh I forgot this is midweek Turnbull and RicDre was off topic
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Oh, I dunno. I can loathe the BBC and our green bankster government at the same time. Walk…chew gum…
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This is a different level. This is a mania. When absolutely everything in the world or anything anyone says has to be reframed to include the names of a few, globally insignificant, politicians, it is time to seek help. The mods could help him by asking him to stop and this has the added benefit of respecting the person he responds to who was trying to raise or discuss something completely unrelated to his response.
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Ah, but the situation is urgent, Gee Aye. We have to sack these green banksters right away. And remember, green banksters feed off the tripe published by slave media like the BBC. Then, having digested the tripe, they feed it to the public as…
Moving right along, the names of the leaders who must depart so urgently are Turnbull, Frydenberg and Bishop. Globally insignificant, no doubt. Parochial even. But so is a shell-back tick.
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It is a hard habit to kick aye? Seriously… this is purely a moan about Australian politicians blog whether it is unthreaded or about human evolution.
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It was nevah about the ‘science’ of climate change.
Brief of IPCC tasks them to find man-made global warming. From
the text: ‘The ultimate object of this Convention…is to achieve …stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the
atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropological interference with the climate system.’
Christine Figueres admits the politics of the task.
http://www.efn-usa.org/environment/item/1268-admits-cagw-agenda-about-destroying-capitalism-christiana-figueres
P.S. In her book, ‘This Changes Everything, Leftist activist Naomi
Klein also admits it’s not about carbon, it’s about capitalism,
using an existential crisis to build something radically better.
Remember Mencken re hobgoblins to keep the populace alarmed?
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Now why would a respeckful serf be in moderation?
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We’ll find out sometime I expect!
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If you read it carefully, it seems that the “warmer than usual” is based on the average daily temperatures and that they are forecasting only that the minimum temperatures will not be so low as usual, thus the average daily temperatures will be higher, not the maximum temperatures. Tricky!
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I was waiting for Gee Aye to make that point PP.
Why did he not?
Did he not read it?
Did he not comprehend it?
Or was he more interested in deflecting attention away from it? Hence his gratuitous comment?
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Wait all you like but I replied directly under a post about an Australian policy issue. Should i have ignored that post in favour of the post it was responding to?
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Well done Gee Aye…. you sought to deflect attention from the weakness in the new “climate model” with your accusation of “parochial politics”. Any commentary with integrity would have drawn attention back to the intent of the initial post.
And, of course, with your “superior insights”, you would have pipped Peter Petrum at the post by pointing to the weakness of the forecasts. However, you chose not to share them here with us. You ignore them and prefer to run the ideological green-left line.
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Take it up with the person who did the deflecting. I merely responded to them
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There’s that certainty again……………..”may”
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Oh well , there is another model doing the rounds that says its all over by 2040. We may as well be warm I guess. Also I will have less time to blow the kids inheritance.
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Just add 1 more to the IPCC’s 102 that have failed do far. That equals 103.
All failures. Not science. No integrity. No replication.
https://curryja.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/christy_dec8.jpg
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Wouldn’t 103 failures be a fair sort of replication?
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Yep. Good point.
Make that: Null hypothesis replicated 102 times with the 103rd trial currently underway.
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‘The PM’s authority is directly challenged by 10 Coalition MPs reserving right to cross the floor to vote against his energy policy.’ Oz
All is not lost.
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‘Turnbull’s leadership is under increasing pressure, with conservative colleagues claiming his Labor-lite energy policy has cruelled his chance of winning the next election.’ Daily Tele
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All is lost unless Turnbull (the elephant in the room) is replaced with a good leader who can win the next election. Otherwise, it’s all over regardless of whether it’s a Turnbull or Shorten lead government – it will make very little difference.
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Agreed, our children and grandchildren have no future.
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There is a rather solid nail being driven into the coffin of renewable energy around the world.
It seems that there is a growing shortage of investrors and investment money prepared to finance renewable energy in almost all of the nations that were the greatest promoters of renewable energy only a couple of years ago.
Euan Mearn’s & Roger Andrews blog Energy Matters[ Have investors lost interest in “clean energy”? ] has just done an analysis on the investment levels into renewable energy from data provided by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
Only half of the yearly increase in global electrical power production [2016 >2017 ] of 621 TWh ie 2.5% increase in global power generation is being catered for by investment in more renewable energy.
Which leaves the replacement of fossil fuel generated power by Renewable energy as a very definite non event as only enough Renewable energy is being installed to cover half of the yearly increase in the global requirements for ever more power.
Germany’s investments in Renewable energy are flat and becoming non existent and as Roger Andrews puts it, Merkel’s fabled “Energiewende” the transition to renewable power, is” dead in the water” with Germany now slated to begin removing at least 2000 old [ 20 years! ] turbines out of its 29,000 land based turbines in around 2020.
The whole “Energy Matters” article along with the graphs on investement in Renewable energy in each major nation is an almost mandatory read to see just where renewable energy is actually going,
In this case as is so often quoted when one wants to know the future direction of some enterprise, it is another case of just “Follow the Money”.
“Following the money” says that it is almost over and done with as far as Renewable Energy investment around the world is concerned.
The really sad part being that apparently Turnbull and Shorten and the greens are quite literally illiterate when it comes to finding out just what is happening around the world to Renewable energy and the present investment in Renewable energy and the why-nots of the situation.
Turnbull, reputedly being a banker by repute [ ever heard of a real
wankerbanker giving away $444 million dollars of his OWN money ]it is even more surprising that he doesn’t;’t seem to have taken any recognition of or even knows about the rapid fall off in Renewable energy investment and the reasons why all of which has occurred and is occurring right now and has been for the last year or so within a very recent time frame.Just reading the “Energy Matters” blog and its data on Renewable energy investment around the world could likely save the coalition enormous heart ache and pain in the period ahead as they would come to realise that the whole Renewable Energy industry is a dead end industry totally reliant for its existence upon government mandated very high prices for electricity and / or very large government / taxpayer subsidies / transfers of very large tax payers funds over into the the renewable energy shonks brown paper enevelopes..
Shorten on the other hand as with Daniels in Victoristan seem inherently incapable of learning anything new or making sensible rational decisions on Energy supply matters and its costs and most other things that might just possibly be of considerable benefit the voters both immediately and into the future.
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I was wondering what would happen if these 10 crossed the floor and labor voted against the bill and it was defeated. An honourable Turnbull would accept that as a rejection and resign as leader, but he ain’t honourable.
Do you think Shorten would propose a no confidence motion? Would the ginger group support it? Would there be a party room spill anyway? Would the bill pass with labor support knowing they could easily dial it up later?
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Dunno, I’ll need time to ponder.
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I was thinking about a no confidence vote yesterday. I think that’s a viable option for the ginger group to trigger and stop the Turnbull disaster. He is bulldozing the whole nation into the abyss and it must be stopped.
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How likely is it for Bill to call ‘no confidence’ and go to the GG?
A quick election would be fought on energy and immigration, not sure if the Opposition has its act together.
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If a no confidence vote succeeded another election would not be automatic. The GG would ask the liberals if they could form a government under another leader and if that failed he would ask Shorten. Only when both parties said they could not form a government would the GG issue the writs. Remember how long Gillard was given to cobble together her minority government.
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long Gillard was given
That probably reflects more on the negotiation skills of Gillard than the difficulty of the problem.
The Greens were NEVER going to formally make a deal with the Liberals. The only cards they held during those discussions were the 2 of clubs and that blank one that is intended as a replacement. Labor could have demanded strip mining of Tasmania in order to build a toxic waste dump in the Barrier Reef and the Greens would still have agreed to that rather than cut a deal with Abbott.
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The Opposition may not have its act together, but do not underestimate the power of Abbott Derangement Syndrome, and, failing that “Conservative” derangement syndrome. There are a large number of people with a truly Pavlovian response to the mention of the LNP, Abbott, Coal, or Christians.
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Unless Turnbull could convince the Governor General that he can pass most legislation, a no confidence vote lost in the House of Representatives could be the end of the government and an immediate new election but it is much more likely the bill is just dropped.
That is where the Nationals seem to weasel out of every confrontation. They could have and should have stopped all this, especially Barnaby Joyce. Don’t they know Turnbull is on the record as saying the Nationals are useless? Even yesterday Joyce’s only contribution was to fiddle the bill to talk about an amendment to address lowering prices. Barnaby on his own could bring down this government. Anyone could. Pigs might fly. Still he Barnaby listed as someone who is prepared to cross the floor. I doubt it. Turnbull has a hold on bff Barnaby, as before. Who knows what it is? We know what it was.
One good result is that we, the public, will soon see the text of this secret bill which we, the employers, have not been allowed to read. Even the journalists. As Abbott says, 2 pages of meeting energy needs and reducing prices and 40 pages of impenetrable rules about Emissions.
We will be the first country in the world to turn the Paris Accord with optional compliance into law. Turnbull would be a hero at the UN/EU. Like Helen Clark and Gillard and Rudd with their Carbon Taxes. Too bad about the people of Australia. They just pay for everything. Mugs.
As asked before, what is Turnbull up to? This bill has no hope of passing in the next two months and besides, what is the hurry? Why would the states agree, especially with a November election in Victoria. This is a piece of the Turnbull puzzle we do not have, unless he has struck another secret deal with the Greens for the Senate but they only have one seat in the House. A great puzzle and the only certainty is that Australia cannot trust the PM to act in our best interests.
Or is this simply Turnbull’s passion for an ETS or bust scenario? Rich only child petulance?
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‘Who knows what it is? We know what it was.’
I don’t, anyway Barnaby will cross the floor and Andrew Gee should join him, otherwise I’ll be voting Informal.
You were on the ground at the Carter Memorial, did Abbott talk to Ridd?
What were your exact words to Abbott and how did he reply?
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Two points really
1. real science, radio carbon dating says there is no fossil fuel CO2 in the air at all.
This was known in 1956, half way through the 20th century.
2. repeal the RET and Hazelwood would open. It is the entire problem.
The first point he did not know. Otherwise he didn’t reply. He listened. He is a studious listener.
Dr. Tom Quick had his graphs ready, as in a guest post here. They showed that agricultural outputs are large and that we cannot achieve the Paris targets without a real hit to agriculture. That’s ok. We can pay for food with coal and iron ore profits.
Tony has his speech ready and it was very carefully worded and identical nearly to the lead article in the Spectator magazine, by Rowan Dean. He added bits about the useless diesel powered submarines and the $12Billion Snowy II and wanted to know why if the PM could do this, he could not build coal power stations or fix Liddell.
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Tony did have a word to Peter Ridd, but privately and half an hour before the speech. He was there half an hour early and happy to listen to anyone, even me. After the speech, he was off with Craig Kelly, onto the next venue or dinner.
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Thanks, a scientific blue team needs to talk with the ginger group, I nominate Peter Ridd and Jennifer Marohasy.
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Hanrahan, there is absolutely no way that Turnbull will resign. He has resolved to get his emissions target through by hook or by crook. He knows he will lose the next election but he does not care – it will be “mission accomplished” as he heads off to the UN or back to one of his banking buddies for a $1m/annum post. All he cares about is his “legacy” without realising that his legacy will be but an oily smear on history books.
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I don’t want Turnbull to resign. I want Turnbull to stay so the LNP can be slaughtered at the next election to learn a much needed lesson they clearly don’t yet understand. Of course if they wake up before the next election and get rid of Turnbull then that’s fine. At least they would have got the message and took off their blinkers. Until that happens they deserve to face the music and be demolished and embarrassed as much as possible for backing what will go in history as the most treacherous leader of the Liberal party of all time.
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el gordo
I haven’t seen any mention of this downstream so will add it here.
Allan Jones today has mail that Turnbull’s rosy glow from the LNP’s NEG meeting is codswallop and that NO-ONE (it was backbenchers only speaking, no ministers) actually spoke in support of it.
So the feather duster is possible.
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Who are the 10?
Tony Abbott, George Christensen, Eric Abetz,
Can anyone name the others?
I have not seen any public statements except perhaps Barnaby Joyce, who wants a plan B.
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Andrew Hastie, Craig Kelly, Andrew Gee, Barnaby Joyce, Kevin Andrews, Barry O’Sullivan and Tony Pasin.
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Tony Abbott MP media release on NEG;
http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2018/08/tony-abbott-on-turnbulls-neg-merchant-banker-gobbledygook.html
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Both Tony Abbott and Barnaby Joyce have now made a personal attack on Malcolm Turnbull in the last couple of days. Desperate stuff!
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Timely.
Second thought, overdue.
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It’s not as if the Former Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have not lost their jobs because of the deceit of Turnbull. Madder than a cut snake. Turnbull then demands total loyalty. Amazing ego.
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There are 2 updates to my website this week.
1) Regional Warming.
Each region (1/8 of the earth), now has a line graph, as well as a global warming contour map.
The line graph also shows how variable the temperature anomaly is, over time. Compare the 2 most northern regions, and the most southern region, with the other regions.
https://agree-to-disagree.com/new-regional-warming
2) A new web page on Seasonal Warming.
You may have read the lastest headlines, “Powerful evidence that climate change is altering seasonal temperatures”.
They used satellite data. I have used weather balloon data to look at seaonal changes in the northern and southern hemispheres. You can compare contour maps, which are based on 3 month seasons (DJF, MAM, JJA, SON). Remember, when it is winter in the northern hemisphere, it is summer in the southern hemisphere.
There are line graphs for every contour map. I may re-plot these. I adjusted each seasonal temperature series so that it started at zero. This was meant to make comparison easy. But looking at the line graphs, I think that I should have adjusted the LOESS smooth for each season, to start at zero. This would stop extreme values at the start of a seasonal temperature series, affecting the whole graph. See what you think.
https://agree-to-disagree.com/seasonal-warming
Here are 2 contour maps, showing warming rates in [Jun, Jul, Aug], for the northern and southern hemispheres. Don’t tell warmists about the green pause from 1990 to 2005 in the southern hemisphere.
https://agree-to-disagree.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Graph-9-and-11.png
I have spent a lot of time making my website look good on tablets, and mobiles, as well as desktops. Try it out, and let me know what you think.
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Interesting as it certainly shows that global warming hasn’t been global, but I think that the general public just won’t see that. I like the blues for negative temperatures rises.
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What’s wrong with this logic?
Labor wants a 40% “renewables” target (with a couple of states wanting 50%).
If 50/50 wind/solar mix, with respective capacity factors of 30% and 20%, so average 25%, that requires a nameplate capacity of 160% of demand. In the middle of the day with max sun and wind, that means there is 60% surplus production. Store or curtail?
But at 7pm with no sun and no wind, there must be available coal/gas capacity of at least 120% of peak demand.
So to operate the 40% scenario requires a total nameplate capacity of 280% of demand. How can that be economic?
Yet we keep getting “told” that wind/solar are cheap.
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Well said Robber.
Our President Trumble is trying to minimise the issue and make it so difficult to work out the real cost of using renewables that people just give up.
The con worked for small amounts of renewables but comes undone at higher volumes.
KK
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Using Turnbull’s own argument that more renewables will give us cheaper power prices then we might as well all vote for ALP to get the lowest power price possible. Turnbull has given the means for Shorten to be our next PM. Not sure if it’s an “own goal” or whether he’s some sort of ALP mole. It matters not which since he is leading the LNP over the cliff. I wish I could be there to break out the champagne.
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Lily D’Ambrosio said renewable will put downward pressure on prices. Thats good enough for me.
I also believe politcians do not rort allowances or are in any way self serving, African gangs are just a myth, Universities are places of learning and in tooth fairy.
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Downward pressure means the price goes up to a value that is slightly less than it would otherwise go up to. Downward pressure does not mean cheaper. This is complete bullocks. Renewable Energy is unsustainable.
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You omitted flying pigs.
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And the ABC and SBS are staffed by impartial journalists and editors who always strive to present the complete picture with balanced analysis and equal weighting for all viewpoints.
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Ah, electricity prices. Just recieved our latest bill, and as we are a couple of really frugal old coots, we put in a big effort over winter to reduce our consumption. You the old trick, use less. So with only one light at night, one fridge, one telly and turn the hot water off till it goes cold ( 2 days ) we though this latest bill might not be to large.
Turns out that our daily electricty cost is $1.22 per day ( with pay on time discount and concession ) and our daily supply charge is $1.34 per day. Even if we consume zero electricity our annual bill to have a wire running to the house will be $489.00. This on hundred year old infrastructure. So electricty MAY come down in price, but that supply charge only ever goes up. End result we still struggle with the damn bill !
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In what other marketplace are you required to pay just for the “privilege” of having supply available but not necessarily consuming anything? How does it work in other places?
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It’s worse than that. You pay for how much they produce and do not use. If you actually want to buy the Green electrons, they are extra and twice the price of coal electrons.
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If only they had a NEG-carbon (sic) tax …
Animal fat on ancient pottery reveals a nearly catastrophic period of human prehistory
A bit more than 8000 years ago, the world suddenly cooled, leading to much drier summers for much of the Northern Hemisphere.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/08/animal-fat-ancient-pottery-shards-reveals-nearly-catastrophic-period-human-prehistory?utm_campaign=news_daily_2018-08-13&et_rid=383837843&et_cid=2254918
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Mark
More on that here and a few “yes, but’s”
“B.C. Pots, Milk, Climate Change & Red Heads”
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2018/08/14/b-c-pots-milk-climate-change-red-heads/
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Remember the scene at the end of Animal Farm, where were can’t tel the difference between the farmers and the pigs?
I’m having the same feelings about the ‘Diversity’ folks.
Quotas, arbitrary test “adjustments”, permission to trash on social media, job favoritism, statements like “I woudln’t want my daughter to marry one” or “they aren’t fit for polite company”……
all based on race or ethnicity.
Used to be, 150 years ago, you could find preachers telling us that the then current system was the will of God. Now it’s the NYT editorial board pontificating about the natural order of things and the arguments sound exactly the same.
Funny, isn’t it.
Solons who can spot racism a mile away in mortgages or car loans based on disproportionite outcomes, or even the names on applications, then insist on disproportionite outcomes in university admissions, hiring, immigration and all manner of lifes distributive processes.
Your discrimination makes things bad, my discrimination makes thing good.
FOur legs good, two legs better.
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And on the energy front, all of the Democrats running in New York are dead set against both fracking and pipelines.
I guess its OK if they want to impoverish outstate NYT as opposed to the lucrative Natural gas fracking enriching Pennsylvania.
But when will the rest of New England sue because of high energy prices due the lack of pipelines across NY, necessitating more expensive and more dangerous forms of energy transit. Here’s something NY has in common with SA, policies that not only foul their own nest, but damage their neighbors as well.
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Richard Ilfeld:
Build the pipelines but call them Interconnectors delivering energy to New England, or even better say they are to carry electricity from the wind farms in Vermont south.
South Australians mostly believe that their interconnectors are for carrying cheap wind power interstate, whereas they carry coal fired electricity into the State most of the time. They even want to build another interconnector to NSW to carry excess wind energy away, despite the major electricity users being hundreds of miles away. They think they are leading the World in “emissions free” electricity whereas the State is dependent on (high emissions) brown coal fired. So the Dimocrats are unlikely to be able to tell the difference between pipelines and powerlines.
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Not every one knows … (especially yr guvuhmint decission-makers)
regarding wind power, that the grid must plan for the likely low
point of these inter-mittent wind turbines so back-up’s required
to be going twenty-four/seven.
On top of this, not a lot of people know,(especially yr above
guvuhmint decission makers)that the turbines use a great deal of
electricity themselves -most can’t run without imput from the grid
– to keep the generator magnetized, to keep the blades and the
generator-assembly facing the wind, to heat the blades in icy
conditions, to start the blades turning when the wind is blowing
fast enough to keep them going , to keep the blades pitched at a
regular rate … need I go on?
H/t http://www.aweo.org/windbackup.html
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Elections can be very frustrating times. And some of you will relate to this.
I’m building a plane. I spent several hours today making a part. It was the mirror image
of what it needs to be. Damn. I’ll redo it tomorrow. But I’m PO’d at everything tonight.
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Balsa?
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Nope. Metal throttle console. Osprey II, small 2-place Amphibian.
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That’s a big project. There might have been something like that at the Rathmines open day.
KK
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Nice. Take your time. Patience is key in such projects. Enjoy.
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Ha ha you did the old “opposite hand” trick didn’t you? 🙂
Used to do that when fabricating a “pair” of something and it can be a hard habit to change.
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For warmists, CO2 is their great foe,
That causes droughts, heatwaves hail, rain and snow.
Electricity would be cheaper for the nation,
If Australia fixed an old coal-powered station.
Old power stations would be cheap to run,
On coal,which those who make huge profits shun.
One thousandth of one tenth of one degree,
Costs billions, when by right it should be free.
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My follow-up e-mail to Andrew Wallace, my sitting member…
Well Andrew,
I see that your photo was not amongst the eight that opposed the NEG.
Now, I do not know if you spoke against it.
But, I certainly hope you did.
If this gets through and is used during the next election,
my previous comment stands, “I hope you enjoy your
last stint in federal parliament.”
Have a nice day,
Signed me.
PS the same conditions apply as for my last e-mail.
PPS I certainly hope you have checked out the AEMO site.
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Turnbull was full of bluster at his press conference. His emphasis was that the NEG would save the consumer money…lots of money.
My question for Turnbull and his lemming followers is this…
Name the month and year that this windfall of dollars is going to rain down upon us mere mortals o’ Great One!
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Make turncoat explain exactly how electricity will be cheaper when his policy will force more expensive unreliable wind/solar to be used !
TURNCOAT IS A LYING TREASONOUS PRICK!
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Prick is a bit harsh.
30
Yesterday the penny dropped, maybe.
A couple of weeks ago there were comments from so called Industry Leaders that they were supporting President Trumble on his new NEG initiative.
I couldn’t figure out what was going on because these industries were known to be in serious trouble with reliability issues.
Aluminium smelting and metallurgical steel processing both rely on constant uninterrupted electricity for two reasons:
First, if power is cut, then production stops, no big deal.
Second, if power is unavailable, the processing vessels cool and eventually freeze and leave millions of dollars worth of equipment permanently unworkable.
Yesterday, again, the leaders of these businesses were backing the NEG. This seemed incredible that they would support a dud system for their industrial processes.
Then it dawned, that maybe, just maybe they were supporting the NEG for Us to use, Not them.
Some time back there was a story about a bitcoin operation which was allowed to use electricity from its own power plants.
I suspect that these Industry Leaders, intent on survival, have done a deal with the devil that allows them to own large scale production facilities to get electricity at Cost Price, no middle man.
This might explain the paradox and perhaps the talk of HELE.
Our President only wants to shaft the plebs.
KK
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Got it! But even a short interruption is a big deal.
EITE is your acronym. Energy Intensive Trade Exposed industries.
And they have done a deal with the devil.
I doubt our President wants to shaft us. He just got on the wrong bus and can’t get off it.
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Ted,
“I doubt our President wants to shaft us.”
I gather you are talking about chairman mal.
Wrong….he definitely wants to shaft us.
And EVERYTHING he and Julie have been doing
points in that direction.
Long past time that Australia got out of the UN.
To think that in 1958, 13 years after the UN was formed,
there was a call for the USA to get out of the UN
and then to get the UN out of the USA..
Nothing has happened…..yet….
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Ted, it seems to be the only logical explanation for the sudden turn around.
They are going to have their own private power station:
No government tariffs.
No Carbon Dioxide Taxes.
No middle man profit.
Just make it and use it.
KK
40
In that case can’t a Chinese company do the same? How ironic it would be that Chinese companies come here to use our coal to save them shipping it to their homeland to power their coal fired power stations and instead set up their manufacturing plants here. All they need is to use their own cheap labour to avoid the pesky unions and they will beat the Americans at their own game. Of course that will all probably happen some time in the future when we beg for China to bail us out.
40
The one thing the whole NEG discussion has done, hopefully, is to raise in the publics mind the awareness that renewables only provide intermittent power and are not the answer to a maidens prayer when it comes to power supply. If nothing else that is a little step in the right direction. This of course assumes that anyone is actually paying attention.
40
It seems that no journalists are prepared to do any analysis, or ask the tough questions. And if they do, they are simply brushed aside with generalities – “our policies will deliver downward pressure on prices.”
40
How they can say that about “downward pressure” while keeping a straight face is beyond me. Mind you, with weasel-words like that, it could be claimed that they never said prices would actually go down… I exert downward pressure on the floor, but I am yet to fall through it.
40
Not entirely the case.
There are some. Off the top of my head I can get at least seven:
Graham Lloyd The Australian
Grace Collier The Australian
Judith Sloan The Australian
Terry McCrann The Australian
Janet Albrechtsen The Australian
Maurice Newman The Australian
Andrew Bolt Herald Sun
And there are a number of others who elude me at the moment.
50
Add Henry Ergas to your journo list?
20
And perhaps Robert Gottliebson? Robert and Henry are both from The Australian.
20
not sure theirABC meant to replay the following at this time!
AUDIO: 27mins48secs: 14 Aug: ABC Big Ideas: Paul Barclay: Building the resilience of the reef
A survey this year from the Australian Institute of Marine Science reported huge areas of bleached coral on the reef.
Corals can regenerate but the frequency of climate events is severely testing their ability to bounce back.
So reef scientists are searching for new ways to build resilience.
Recorded 8 May 2018 Climate Adaptation Conference.
Speaker
David Wachenfeld Chief Scientist Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/building-the-resilience-of-the-reef/10098660
rough paraphrasing:
Wachenfeld mentions a separate $100 million in first excerpt.
18mins10secs Reef Restoration & Adaptation program: just a week or two ago, the Govt invested another $100 million for making this programme operational.
22mins08secs: underpinning everything is funding. about a week ago, the Govt invested A FURTHER $500 million to protect the resilience of the reef. it’s a very bold, new funding mechanism. they’re putting $440 million of that $500m into the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, which is a funding body that funds science and conservation but, critically, is well connected to philanthropy and private enterprise. and the notion is to develop a public/private partnership where the govt’s investment will leverage further investment from the private sector to deliver overall a bigger bucket for resilience management of the reef.
Q&A: first question, what people want to know is will the funding be enough?
Wachenfeld: difficult to answer…it’s an enormous step forward. goes across most of the major threats to the reef other than climate change itself. very important package etc. that funding is for the next 6 years. i guess there are some big uncertainties, which is why answering that question is hard. the intent with the funding is about leveraging private investment. we don’t know how much private investment it’s going to leverage, so that’s the key to whether or not it will be enough. the other thing as Hugh? said, the impacts of climate change are already coming faster and harder than we were anticipating; in 1998 I never thought it would happen in my career blah blah blah…
we may need more in four or ten years’ time.
Q: we only have that half degree of head-room – are we going to make it? do you lie awake at night thinking is there any point in what I’m doing?
Wachenfeld: knows there is a point. coral reefs support hundreds of millions of people worlwide, most of those people the poorest people of the world. i see great barrier reef as the poster child for the reefs of the world.
does worry about CAGW. brings up possibility of geoengineering.
20
There’s that bs marxist word again “resilience”……………
21
the ***”Hugh” mentioned by Wachenfeld (Cambridge University according to the program):
NCCARF: Climate Adaptation 2018
Refreezing the Arctic: a case for geoengineering?
***Hugh Hunt
https://www.nccarf.edu.au/content/climate-adaptation-2018
no surprise – the person asking “is the funding enough?” and “do you lie awake at night?” is apparently the ABC’s Sarah Boulter, who was “Chair”, according to the program.
29 Apr: ABC: Great Barrier Reef to get $500m to tackle pollution and breed more resilient coral
By Louisa Rebgetz and Laura Gartry
The investment comprises a new $444 million partnership with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and $56 million for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Department of the Environment and Energy…
Frydenberg: “We are looking at a whole range of new initiatives, taking best advice of the experts, working closely with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to ensure that the reef has its best chance into the future.”
Chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation Dr John Schubert said the investment brought real solutions within reach…
Mr Schubert said the reef was under enormous threat from climate change and “we must all work together to do everything possible to achieve the Paris Agreement”.
“But while the world works to tackle climate change on a global scale, there are many things we can and must do to build the resilience of the Great Barrier Reef right now,” he said…
Chair of the ***Reef 2050 Advisory Committee and former governor of Queensland Penny Wensley said global warming and cyclones had contributed to the reef’s ill health…
Ms Wensley said “the world is watching what we do on the reef”…
She said the funding was more than the committee had hoped for but still would not be enough…
Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek welcomed the extra funding for the Great Barrier Reef but said the Government needed to focus on climate change…
Former Australian Conservation Foundation president Geoff Cousins said while any help for the reef was welcome news, it was unfortunate that the package does not address the “real issue … global warming and climate change”.
“We don’t protect the reef at all,” he told the ABC’s National Wrap program…
The former Howard government advisor noted the investment comes ahead of the 42nd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, scheduled for June 24 to July 4…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-29/great-barrier-reef-$500m-package-to-preserve-area/9708230
***Dept of Environment & Energy: Advisory bodies
Working together with community, industry, science and Traditional Owners is critical to the success of the Reef 2050 Plan to protect and improve the Reef.
An Independent Expert Panel and a Reef 2050 Advisory Committee have been established to advise the Australian and Queensland governments on implementation and review of the Reef 2050 Plan.
Independent Expert Panel (CHECK OUT THE PANEL MEMBERS)…
Reef 2050 Advisory Committee
The inaugural Chairman is the Honourable Penelope Wensley. Membership will include senior representatives nominated from the following organisations:
•Traditional owner groups in the Great Barrier Reef
•AgForce
•Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators (AMPTO)
•Australian Committee of IUCN (ACIUCN)
•Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)/li>
•CareFish
•CSIRO
•Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF)
•Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA)
•Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Local Marine Advisory Committees
•Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ)
•Queensland Conservation Council (QCC)
•Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF)
•Queensland Ports Association
•Queensland Resources Council (QRC)
•Queensland Seafood Industry Association (QSIA)
•Regional Natural Resource Management Groups Collective
•World Wildlife Fund (WWF-Australia
http://www.environment.gov.au/marine/gbr/reef2050/advisory-bodies
20
…and breed more resilient coral
So? Genetically Modified ‘Franken’ Coral?
Okay, I am amused 😀
40
Far more acceptable than living with the natural cycles of the reef. Science will have the answer (with more funding of course). I mean, after Thalidomide and cane toads what could possibly go wrong?
00
TIME’S RUNNING OUT FOR TURBINES AND TURNBULL
http://pickeringpost.com/story/time-s-running-out-for-turbines-and-turnbull/8456
GO TURNCOAT, JUST GO !
70
Larry, quoting somebody else, tells us: “The horrifying truth is that not a single wind turbine will have paid for itself (between $US2 million and $US5 million each) in its 15 years of unreliable service.
Not one can be economically renovated,”
True or false? Just what are the numbers there. It wouldn’t surprise me if this was true.
A small private wind generator was installed in the early days of the big subsidies on a hill near our farm. I think it broke down before it ever got producing. Don’t know the full story, but it still stands there.
30
And it probably will continue to stand there until some future government provides a taxpayer funded subsidy to pull the dreadful thing down.
20
DEAR LIBERAL MPS: WHY INFLICT ALL THIS PAIN FOR NO GAIN
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/dear-liberal-mps-why-inflict-all-this-pain-for-no-gain/news-story/6748df871fdc079219f508f753ddda88
60
A comment posted there (not mine) says all:
Likewise…
I would add:
Goodbye LNP, you lot have not only lost my vote for good you have turned into an even worse party that the ALP. At least the ALP have integrity and honesty for standing up and being open with what they believe. I won’t be voting for either party though. They are both the same in so many aspects they might as well merge. We might as well have a dictatorship. LNP MPs you are all spineless cowards and traitors to the old Liberal cause for refusing to set yourselves apart from the ALP and Greens.
90
SPEAK NOW, LIBS, OR FORGET HOPES OF BEING TOMORROW’S LEADERS
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/speak-now-libs-or-forget-hopes-of-being-tomorrows-leaders/news-story/c59bcc72bb2263bd7eb2dc392924c46f
I want to see a list of the traitors who voted for this NEG !
50
Apparently it was all the Liberal and National parties’ parliamentarians, minus the Heroic Ten.
The Heroic Ten are:
Tony Abbott
Andrew Hastie
Kevin Andrews
Barnaby Joyce
Andrew Gee
Tony Pasin
George Christensen
Craig Kelly
Barry O’Sullivan
Eric Abetz.
The Heroic Ten are on the right side of history. They deserve to be honoured by all tax-paying Australians.
41
Turnbull and his NEG: Just give the country to the greens.
Five years should be enough for them to stuff the economy completely.
Maybe then people will see sense and vote likewise.
Meantime I’m not gonna worry myself.
GeoffW
30
That’s how I see it. So we’ll have to bear Shorten as PM for a while and see how things go. I’ve resigned to that outcome, unless of course the LNP grows a spine and not only replace Turnbull but also throw him out of the party. Of course that will not happen because most of the LNP are spineless and clueless. The LNP is toast. I actually would be happy to see it destroyed so that a new party can come out of the ashes. It’s riddled with cancer.
10
Three years of it and we’ll be starving.
30
The ABC News site climate dart has today landed on extreme heat killing more people in Adelaide and Melbourne.
I suggest these clowns at the ABC do a bit of basic research on how hot it has been 40 years ago for the Rio Tennis Championship at Memorial Drive in Adelaide and the Australian Open Championships at Kooyong.
Then they might detract from prattling on about todays weather being so “””hot”””.
80
The records are likely to be “adjusted” as per Rutherglen to fit the narrative.
00
The have beaten the drought to death and need to somehow downplay the fact that its lush, green and wet down south this season. What better to talk about extreme heat at some other imaginary time.
00
Donald Trump Explains Why He Hates Windmills
https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/08/13/donald-trump-explains-why-he-hates-windmills/
Australia needs a Donald Trump !!
60
Yes we need a Trump but the vast majority of the public would reject him outright. Most voters are still clueless and asleep. Not enough pain yet. Perhaps when the pain is strong enough their attitude will change.
40
Pain in the hip-pocket nerve is what does the trick.
40
“The planet is experiencing an unexplained major cooling and scientists are ignoring it.”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/14/the-planet-is-experiencing-an-unexplained-major-cooling-and-scientists-are-ignoring-it/
50
“Farming Deserts In China – Sand For Rice & Soil Via Licorice”
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2018/08/14/farming-deserts-in-china-sand-for-rice-soil-via-licorice/
40
The Caspian nations have come to an agreement on the use of their sea. It seems to mean that while all will keep their drilling rights there will be surface and pipeline freedom. What does this mean? Russia will have full access for patrolling; Iran will be able to buy energy from others for its Caspian region needs while exporting more from its other regions (like Oz exports from NW Shelf and buys foreign); and Turkmenistan can at last join its gas with the oil of Azerbaijan, both sending product west to Turkey as a combine, making them something of a new energy super-power. The Turks and Azeris have been NATO-oriented…but now? Some sort of regime change or colour revolution in debt-wreck Turkey might tilt the balance back to NATO but it’s all a coin toss. And don’t forget that Egypt and Cyprus now have gas they will want to raffle to the Mediterranean market.
You see, while the dismantling of Syria has failed and Qatar looks more to the east for its pipeline prospects, and while the US is trying to block Russian exports west by lugging its fracked gas into Eastern Europe, more practical plans have emerged. Meanwhile, China is by-passing traditional transport routes by planning ways across Burma and through the skinny skinny bit of Thailand. (Things won’t go easy on ethnic minorities in China and Burma who stand in the way, because it’s not just the West which plays rough over oil and gas.) Meanwhile, the US is squatting in Great Game country, hoping to control the flow of energy from the Caspian to the sub-continent and lots of other things as well. Now Imran Khan has taken the new ball.
What does this mean for Oz? It means we would be even more nuts to increase our oil and gas dependence (aka “renewables dependence”) while we have piles of our own coal and uranium resources. Centuries of supply. We would have to be nuts.
So why would we ditch our own coal, especially while still raffling it off madly to Asia? That is a question which goes with another vital question: what on earth are we doing with a green bankster leadership which allows this absurdity, nay, encourages it, especially when the green banksters are electoral cyanide and will make way for a bunch of uber-green Labor shonks who think $444 million bucks to green cronies are just green chicken feed. Their turn next! What about a Gillard Foundation for directing the odd lazy million?
How is it possible that Turnbull, Frydenberg and Bishop are still there? What are the Libs and Nats thinking? What are they hoping for?
80
Media view of media and Trump
“Headline Of The Day
Trump’s honeymoon with media almost over”
And the comments
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/index.php/2018/08/14/headline-of-the-day/#comments
30
Anyone find the media silence on Sweden deafening? 80 or so cars torched in apparent coordinated riots around the country and not a peep in the media in Oz. Front pages here are probably about the latest Trump tweet…
160
One reason to dread Labor (and yet another reason to remove Turnbull, Frydenberg and Bishop well ahead of any election) is the immediate effect of the new Socialist government in Spain.
Rajoy might not have been much chop, but in the two months since his resignation 40,000 Africans have arrived. Unemployment in Spain has improved from the disaster levels of 2013, but not nearly enough, and these new arrivals have come to places where unemployment is still through the roof. And now, to fix debt and unemployment, there’s a Socialist government – with a posh unelected PM, needless to say!
What Turnbull would like to do with immigration is what Labor certainly will do. Which is why we all need to keep a parochial (thanks for that word, Gee Aye) focus on removing our appalling green bankster leadership with the utmost urgency. Given enough coal power and prosperity we can hope to desperate Africans where they live…which is Africa.
90
The m u s l i m s again…………
22
I was reading the latest “offerings” of fake news etc on “our” Australia Bolshevik Collective web site , and it struck me they arent even trying to provide any sort of balance, rather it now reads like a very amateur student left-wing green university newspaper ( …and you know its true….. 🙂 )
30
shhhhhhhhhhh! you arent supposed to notice, let alone talk about it
00
***have noticed a pattern where Turnbull scoops seem to land in Guardian’s Katharine Murphy’s lap! friends? note “climate change” on the headline, which we are informed later is not part of the $500m grant:
28 Apr: Guardian: Budget earmarks $500m to mitigate Great Barrier Reef climate change
The money will help try to save the reef from crown-of-thorns starfish and reduce pollution, Malcolm Turnbull to announce
by ***Katharine Murphy
The funding, to be unveiled on Sunday and confirmed in the May budget, follows a recent study finding that 30% of the reef’s corals died in a catastrophic nine-month marine heatwave in 2016.
The government will partner with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation in a $444m agreement to tackle crown-of-thorns starfish, reduce pollution and mitigate the impacts of climate change.
The government will increase funding for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Department of the Environment and Energy by $56m to expand environmental management and compliance operations…
Both of the major parties are currently focused on winning hearts and minds in Queensland, with the state’s marginal seats likely to determine the outcome of the next federal election…
In January Guardian Australia revealed (LINK) that millions of dollars of commonwealth money was being handed to tourism-linked groups for reef protection, despite official advice recommending against the projects, or repeatedly finding them to be failing.
Earlier this year, the head of the United Nations environment program warned the battle to save the world’s coral reefs was at “make-or-break point”. Erik Solheim said governments needed to intensify concrete actions including limiting greenhouse gas emissions, plastic pollution and impacts from agriculture…
“Like reefs all over the world, the Great Barrier Reef is under pressure,” Turnbull said. “A big challenge demands a big investment – and this investment gives our reef the best chance.”…
“As a highly respected philanthropic organisation, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation has a strong fundraising track record, and will seek corporate contributions to further enhance this work,” the prime minister said…
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/29/budget-earmarks-500m-to-mitigate-great-barrier-reef-climate-change
Guardian links to the following ridiculous outrage over a few million or so. no other money is identified as per the headline; only the piddly $2.2m:
29 Jan: Guardian: Millions spent on Great Barrier Reef projects against expert advice
One $2.2m experiment involves giant fans to cool water down, despite government’s own advisers highlighting risks
by Michael Slezak
Funds continued to be spent on these projects – counter to expert advice – despite an investigation by the federal auditor general in 2016, which found the environment department was not able to provide any evidence for how some projects “represented a proper use of public resource”…
Since the ($2.2m) project was part of the government’s Reef 2050 Plan, and funded through the associated Reef Trust, the proposal was sent to the Reef 2050 independent expert panel for review.
Documents obtained by the Guardian show that review explicitly recommended against the project going ahead. “The IEP does not endorse this proposal,” said a document dated 20 November 2017, which summarised the view of the panel…
The project was reviewed by reef scientist Ove Hoegh-Guldberg and sent to two external reviewers.
Hoegh-Guldberg described the external reviewers’ views, as well as his own, and concluded he was not supportive of the project.
He declined to speak to the Guardian about the documents, the release of which he said breached the panel’s required confidentiality…
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/21/millions-spent-on-great-barrier-reef-projects-against-expert-advice?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
the CAGW mob know who they should leak to.
10
There appears to be a concerted effort to saturate the ‘marketplace’ – today’s media in all its facets – with the Gospel of Gaga according to Gaia Green (is this where I insert “I’m truly shocked!”?). An early morning radio news(speak) item began with: climate scientists say “Natural changes in the earth’s temperature means the world is more likely to see extreme temperatures until 2022.” Natural changes? Extreme? “That’s according to a new climate modelling study from…” Aha, this year’s NEW model!
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/364121/extreme-temps-likely-to-continue-until-2022-study
After a few coffees and a perusal of various weather maps, time to find that article. “We’ve had quite a long period of what we called a hiatus where temperatures were a little bit cooler than you’d be expecting from the underlying climate change trend.” Say what!? Hiatus? Cooler? Not what the models predicted? Was NZ’s NIWA chief scientist of gaga-gugu finally admitting the settled science had got it wrong… and the rest of us were correct? But wait – Victoria University Professor James Renwick to the rescue! New Zealand “will see quite an increase in forest fires and high temperature extremes and droughts, as well as floods… if action was not taken to reduce greenhouse emissions.” So there, see? It’s hot and everything is still all our fault.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018658154/seasonal-extremes-to-continue-eu-climate-science-forecast
Found the audio of the interview, however, the part where the high-priest professor tongue-tied himself into a corner – admitting El Niño was the only heat aberration and its effect was merely fractions of a degree – was gone, edited, 86d, woosh! The slow drip-feed of covering their sorry a**es has begun…
50
theirABC’s second half-hour last nite on “Big (almost always CAGW)Ideas”:
AUDIO: 24mins36secs: 14 Aug: ABC Big Ideas: Paul Barclay: Glaciers disappear as the globe heats up
As negotiators sat down to hammer out a deal at the Paris Climate Talks, they watched live images of melting glaciers.
Those images came from Tim Jarvis and his team who were on the top of mountain peaks at the equator.
These mountains have glaciers which will disappear within twenty-five years unless we slow down climate change.
25Zero The Bettison and James Oration recorded 15 July 2018 Adelaide Festival of Ideas
Speaker
Tim Jarvis environmental scientist and explorer
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/glaciers-disappear-as-the-globe-heats-up/10094546
00
I try to tell folks that most of the glaciers outside Antartica are fairly new, between 2000 to 7000 years old. What they don’t get from this is that before these times, it HAD to be a LOT warmer to melt ALL these glaciers. Last year a tour guide in Norway told us that a glacier we were looking at was 10,000 years old. BS.
00
without overstating the significance of the following being carried by YAHOO NEWS, it is nonetheless the first chink in the FakeNewsMSM, of which I am aware, and it is being noticed:
14 Aug: Yahoo: Russian Collusion Investigation: It Was Hillary Clinton All Along
from Investor’s Business Daily
Russia Investigation: It’s beginning to look as if claims of monstrous collusion between Russian officials and U.S. political operatives were true. But it wasn’t Donald Trump who was guilty of Russian collusion. It was Hillary Clinton and U.S. intelligence officials who worked with Russians and…
Continue reading (LINKS TO INVESTOR’S BUS DAILY EDITORIAL)…
https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/63f510d3-96af-34d4-aa7d-56be3548c597/ss_russian-collusion.html
TOP OF IDB ARTICLE PAGE:
Investors.com will be undergoing site maintenance tonight, starting at 7:00pm PT and ending on Aug 15th at 2:00am PT. Users accessing the site during this time frame may experience downtime.
READ ALL:
13 Aug: IBD Editorial: Russian Collusion: It Was Hillary Clinton All Along
It was Hillary Clinton and U.S. intelligence officials who worked with Russians and others to entrap Trump.
That’s the stunning conclusion of a RealClear Investigations report by Lee Smith…
Smith painstakingly weaves together the evidence that’s already out there (LINK) but has been largely ignored by the mainstream media, which have become so seized with Trump-hatred that their reporting even on routine matters can no longer be trusted.
But he adds in more evidence that the Justice Department only recently handed over to Congress (LINK). And It’s damning…
Steele’s dossier, for which Fusion reportedly received $1 million, was largely based on interviews with Russian officials. And who paid that $1 million? As we and others have reported, it was Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, then under Hillary’s control.
The media knew all this, of course, but largely ignored it.
The great irony here is that, after more than two years of investigating, the only real evidence of collusion with Russians at all points to Hillary Clinton. It was she who hired Steele to dig up dirt on Trump using Russian sources.
But now, it turns out, it goes even deeper than that…
Bruce Ohr, the No. 4-ranking official at the Justice Department, “coordinated before, during and after the election” with both Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson and with Steele, notes Smith.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that Ohr’s wife Nellie, a sometime employee of the CIA, was also working for Fusion GPS…
What’s next? It’s possible the collusion investigation soon will turn from Trump to Clinton. If so, it could lead to more resignations and possibly jail time for those involved. That includes perhaps even Hillary Clinton, who sits at the political epicenter of all this illegality.
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/russian-collusion-hillary-clinton/
80
Maybe then they could look at how Hillarys correspondence ended up on the laptop of Huma Abedin’s estranged husband Weiner when he was arrested for offences against minors. There was so much dirt on that laptop but also all of Hillary’s emails in plain English, some confidential as Secretary of State. Each one is a serious offence. No explanation is good enough.
91
14 Aug: Daily Caller: A Power Company Is Suing New York After The State Shut Down A Nearly $1 Billion Plant Without Warning
by Tim Pearce
Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) is suing New York after the state refused to renew an air permit for one of the company’s natural gas power plants, shutting down the plant four days before it was scheduled to open.
CPV filed the suit against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) challenging the state’s decision to not renew the $900 million plant’s air permit in an Aug. 1 letter, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API).
“Only in Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo’s New York would a state-of-the-art project that will reduce emissions, keep energy affordable, and deliver reliable electricity to New York consumers face countless, arbitrary delays,” API New York Executive director Karen Moreau said in a statement. “[CPV’s] natural gas plant is critical to ensuring that schools, businesses, hospitals and homes have access to affordable, reliable electricity especially during extreme weather conditions like the polar vortex that we all experienced this past winter.”
New York denied the renewal because the permit did not meet new regulatory standards for the size of the plant…
New York residents pay some of the highest energy prices in the U.S., largely due to environmental policies that restrict the supply of fossil fuels to the region. A May report by the Consumer Energy Alliance found that New Yorkers paid 44 percent more than the national average for energy in 2017, despite the state neighboring the natural gas-rich state of Pennsylvania.
New York also participates in a regional cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which affects all large carbon emitters in nine states in the eastern U.S.
http://dailycaller.com/2018/08/14/power-company-suing-new-york/
40
Media Releases
Second Turnbull Government-supported large-scale battery for South Australia
Published: Wednesday, 15 August 2018
SECOND TURNBULL GOVERNMENT-SUPPORTED LARGE-SCALE BATTERY FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
South Australia is set to benefit from a second Turnbull Government-supported large-scale battery that will further secure the state’s electricity grid.
The Turnbull Government, through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), is providing $5 million in funding for installation and operation of the battery.
http://www.joshfrydenberg.com.au/guest/mediaReleasesDetails.aspx?id=624
70
I wonder what it needs to be secured against? gee , what has changed in the last 10 years that we need to spend hundreds of millions to “secure”? I wonder how that will drive down the cost of power? Its a puzzle.
80
How did SA’s grid work in the olden days?
40
Trouble-free, stobie poles and all.
50
THE AUSTRALIAN TAX-PAYER THROUGH the Turnbull Government, through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), is providing $5 million in funding for installation and operation of the battery.
There. Fixed it for you Josh, you lying sod.
40
14 Aug: KIRO7: AP: Seattle Judge Dismisses Young Activists’ Climate Lawsuit
SEATTLE – A Washington state judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by young activists who argued the state is violating their rights by failing to protect them from climate change.
In his ruling Tuesday, King County Superior Court Judge Michael Scott says the issues in the case are political questions that must be addressed by the legislative and executive branches and cannot be resolved by a court.
The activists sued the state, Gov. Jay Inslee and state agencies in February asserting a constitutional right to a healthy environment and a stable climate system. But Scott wrote that there is not such specific right found within the state Constitution…
In dismissing their claims, Scott wrote he hoped the plaintiffs won’t be discouraged.
https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/seattle-judge-dismisses-young-activists-climate-lawsuit/813031501
50
14 Aug: ConservativeTreehouse: sundance: Stunning MAGAnomic Sentiment: Small Business Optimism Survey Second Highest Reading in History….
The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) is an assembly and survey of small business owners throughout the U.S. In the latest survey (full pdf here) overall optimism is the second highest ever recorded at 107.9 (the highest reading was 108 in 1983).
The full press release is available here. The full pdf of the survey is available here…
Again for emphasis: This is MAGAnomics in action. Main Street is benefiting. Blue and White collar Main Street is benefiting. The Middle-Class is the primary beneficiary…
For more than 30 years the Main Street economic engine has been intentionally stalled by U.S. economic policy that has favored Wall Street and pushed a service-driven-economy narrative on the U.S. workers. Using targeted MAGAnomic Main Street policy President Trump has reversed the trend.
Main Street, and the U.S. Middle Class, is growing again.
Enjoy this.
President Trump really is “a blue-collar billionaire“.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/08/14/stunning-maganomic-sentiment-small-business-optimism-survey-second-highest-reading-in-history/
14 Aug: Rasmussen: Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 50% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance…
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration/prez_track_aug14
14 Aug: TWEET: Rasmussen Reports
#ICYMI: Today’s @realDonaldTrump approval ratings among black voters: 31% This day last year: 18% http://bit.ly/preztrack @POTUS @realDonaldTrump
reply: Fredrik Wikholm: When was the last time a republican president hade those numbers? Anyone?
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration/prez_track_aug14
20
I have it on good authority that climate change has not impacted on the WA Coral Coast yet.
Must be travelling from east to west, so when will it arrive from QLD?
Supplementary question: If it does will there be a $444 million reward?
20
Sanjeev Gupta takes on Elon Musk with $1bn renewable plan in SA.
Billionaire industrialist Sanjeev Gupta has launched a $1 billion, one-gigawatt renewable energy plan based in South Australia’s mid-north that he says will lead Australian industry’s transition to more competitive power. In the first of a number of projects slated for the upper Spencer Gulf region, which will also include a lithium-ion battery bigger than Elon Musk’s, Mr Gupta’s energy company Simec Zen has released details of its Cultana Solar Farm.
The project will produce 280 megawatts of power and feature 780,000 solar panels, generating enough electricity for 96,000 homes.
Other projects in Mr Gupta’s energy blueprint include the lithium-ion battery, expanded solar farms, a co-generation scheme to power his Whyalla steelworks using waste gas and pumped hydro projects earmarked for the Middleback Ranges.
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G’day Robber,
I wonder how, even with a big battery, solar power supports a steel works?
Cheers,
Dave B
70
I wonder how you reduce iron ore with just electricity. You need coal for coke. This is all a game.
90
Sanjeev has recently acquired Glencore’s Tahmoor mine. I have no idea what a green chappie like Sanjeev would be doing with 2 million tonnes of Tahmoor coking coal a year. Maybe he just liked the price? Sometimes an alert type can pick up a coal mine or coal plant for a good price these days.
Sanjeev’s company has picked up quite a few bargains in the troubled aluminium and steel sectors. Maybe he just likes smelters for their look. Same with that South Australian iron ore mine his group acquired. God forbid that he should smelt anything. Not in our atmosphere!
I’m sure Sanjeev’s main interests are pumped hydro and lithium. The mines and smelters are just grisly museum pieces, no doubt.
50
Ha!
20
I challenged the “96,000 homes” statement in The Oz this morning, but my comment was not shown, perhaps because I called the gent another rent-seeker. I said that my calculations were that 280 MW nameplate solar could only power less then 10,000 homes. Would be interested in others’ comments.
20
14 Aug: ClimateChangeNews: Brazil: Bolsonaro threatens to quit Paris climate deal
De facto presidential frontrunner says he would follow Donald Trump out of the international pact, drawing criticism from the UN’s environment chief
By Megan Darby; Bruno Toledo contributed research to this article
Presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro is threatening to take Brazil out of the Paris Agreement if he wins the October election.
In an unpredictable race, the right-wing Bolsonaro is polling second behind Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the socialist former president. But “Lula” is in jail for corruption and likely to be disqualified by the courts, leaving a scattered field…
That stance drew ire from UN environment chief Erik Solheim. Action on climate change would create “healthier and wealthier” economies, he told Climate Home News.
“A rejection of the Paris Agreement is a rejection of science and fact,” Solheim said. “It’s also a false promise, because politicians who present climate action as a cost to society have got it all wrong.”…
The withdrawal of such an important developing country, home to the world’s largest rainforest, would deal a blow to international climate cooperation. While it has not been confirmed, Brazil was expected to host the 2019 UN climate summit.
But Brazilian experts downplayed the likelihood of Bolsonaro carrying out his threat…
Last August, Bolsonaro shared an interview with Ricardo Felicio, a geographer and prominent climate denier (LINK) who disputes the basic physics of the greenhouse effect…
The day after Trump announced his intention to quit the Paris deal, Bolsonoro shared an article defending the decision entitled “the greenhouse fables”…
Bolsonaro’s three eldest sons, all elected officials, have been more outspoken on the issue.
Eduardo, a federal representative from the state of São Paulo, posted a homemade video in January characterising the Paris deal as a globalist conspiracy. “It doesn’t make any sense,” he told viewers from a snowy part of the US.
A photograph, reportedly taken last week, shows Eduardo meeting former Trump adviser and far-right propagandist Steve Bannon in New York. Bannon was one of the strongest White House advocates for the US to withdraw from the deal.
Carlos, a city councillor in Rio de Janeiro, blamed the “leftist agenda” for climate change getting media coverage in a 2016 tweet. He asserted – against all evidence – that the world was cooling.
Flavio, a federal representative in Rio, has called global warming a “fraud”…
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/08/14/brazils-bolsonaro-threatens-quit-paris-climate-deal/
10
comment in moderation re: ClimateChangeNews: Brazil: Bolsonaro threatens to quit Paris climate deal
20
behind paywall: Sanjeev Gupta is Executive Chairman and CEO of ***GFG Alliance – Australia; Gupta’s father Parduman K. Gupta, founded SIMEC.
Bloomberg: Mr. Anurudha Delgoda serves as the Chief Executive Officer of SIMEC Group Limited. Mr. Delgoda has considerable experience in the fields of commodities, shipping and renewable energy gained in the past 25 years over a number of industries. He was responsible for the establishment and operation of Liberty Commodities’ first Steel Desk from 1998 to 2003 from which it has grown to its current turnover of over a billion US dollars p.a. As a Founder Member of Sindicatum Carbon Capital, he was responsible for commercial operations in the PRC leading to the creation of the world’s first successful and only NZEM (Near Zero Emission Mining) Coal Project, capturing methane and generating renewable power whilst abating Greenhouse Gases under the Kyoto Protocol. He successfully won the tender for the Penfield Group for the establishment of a sugar project of 100,000MT p.a sugar refinery, cultivation of cane and the generation of over 40MW of renewable energy in Sri Lanka
14 Aug: UK Times: Simec Atlantis sets target to convert coal-fired site
by Greig Cameron, Scottish Business Editor
The Edinburgh-based company believes it will take about 18 months to transform the coal-fired site in Uskmouth, Wales, into a waste-to-energy plant with a capacity of 220 megawatts. The plant is expected to have an operational life of 20 years.
Simec Atlantis was formed this year when Simec, part of the Gupta family’s ***GFG Alliance, purchased a significant stake in Atlantis Resources, the tidal power developer. The company hopes that the Uskmouth project can act as a prototype for developments around the world and is in talks with power plant owners in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia…
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/simec-atlantis-sets-target-to-convert-coal-fired-site-lbxgqrsfh
13 Aug: BusinessGreen: SIMEC Atlantis Energy plans pellet fuel conversion for overseas coal power plants
by Madeleine Cuff
Firm is already in talks with coal plants in Europe, Australia, Asia, and the USA about switching sites to run on waste-based biomass pellets
SIMEC Atlantis Energy (SAE), the tidal power firm 50 per cent owned by the industrial player SIMEC, has revealed plans to convert more coal-fired power stations around the world to run on waste-based biofuel pellets.
SAE is currently converting the ageing Uskmouth coal power plant in South Wales to run on the Subcoal pellets, which are made from waste materials including waste plastic. The project is of “huge international interest”, according to head of conversion Ernie Rowe, particularly for governments and utilities committed to decommissioning coal-fired plants to cut carbon emissions.
In an update to the 18-month project released today, SAE said it is already in discussions with plant owners and operators in Europe, Australia, Asia, and the US to convert coal-fired power stations to run on the pellets.
According to SAE, the Uskmouth conversion and others like it will “extend the economic life of power generation facilities, maintaining employment, keeping baseload on the grid and addressing the issue of non-recyclable plastics whilst reducing landfill”…
Meanwhile, SAE continues to work on the development of new tidal power projects, following the success of its 6MW MeyGen project in Scotland which is now fully operational…
It also plans to bid for a government subsidy contract in upcoming auctions to expand the capacity of the MeyGen project, the company confirmed late last month…
https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3060980/simec-atlantis-energy-plans-pellet-fuel-conversion-for-overseas-coal-power-plants
20
Comments in The Australian mentioned company links to failed business ventures in South Africa.
10
Must read …
https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2018/08/tony-real-lemmings-smarter/
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First bit looks good.
20
Good article, but with only one comment so far, Quadrants readership must be quite small so sadly few will get to read it.
10
behind paywall:
Renewables are primed to enter the global energy race
Financial Times – 2 days ago
by Sam Arie research analyst at UBS
13 Aug: Inverse.com: Renewable Energy Could “Effectively Be Free” by 2030, Says UBS Analyst
By Josie Rhodes Cook
A research analyst at Swiss investment bank UBS believes the cost of energy renewables could be so near to zero by 2030 “it will effectively be free,” according to a projections published on Monday. If renewables could soon be cheaper than all the alternative energy sources, and that this “is great news for the planet, and probably also for the economy.”
The analysis, published in the Financial Times, explains that solar and wind farms are getting bigger, and that the potential of this sort of cheap, green energy is far-reaching and will only get cheaper. “In 2010, using solar power to boil your kettle would have cost you about £0.03,” the analyst writes in FT. “By 2020, according to estimates by our research team at UBS, the cost will have fallen to half a penny.” And just ten years later, the costs will be so minuscule, it will practically be free.
As renewables get cheaper, corporate action in the energy sector may increase, which is good for everyone. When it comes to renewables, the analyst argues: “Currently we count a dozen major European utilities (about half the names in the sector index) which have recently announced — or have been featured in the press — acquisitions, divestments or takeovers that could substantially reshape their business.”
In mid-July, two of the biggest economies in Europe, the United Kingdom and Germany, set new records for clean energy, Quartz reports. It makes sense that companies would want to get ahead of the changes. As one example, last week, the Danish wind energy company Orsted entered into an agreement to acquire Lincoln Clean Energy (LCE), a US firm that develops, owns, and operates wind farms, CNBC reports.
“The fundamental economics of the industry are indeed changing,” the Financial Times article explains. In the past, wind and solar have relied on subsidies. But recently, some wind and solar projects have appeared that don’t need a subsidy or tax break to be viable. That’s changed the energy game.
Now, renewable energy has a better chance of relying on innovation rather than subsidies, and companies are competing to secure the best sites for renewable projects. This race for the best, most cost-efficient energy projects is good for the industry, the economy, and the planet.
VIDEO: 46secs: Related video: A human-made island could soon supply clean energy for Europe.
https://www.inverse.com/article/48017-by-2030-renewable-energy-costs-will-be-effectively-zero-says-ubs-researcher
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pat:
The old “renewables will be so cheap” story. Heard it many times but don’t believe it. Wind and sun are diffuse energy and require big areas to make them comparable with conventional sources, and they are restricted in efficiency.
Linear extrapolation of wishful thinking.
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The LNP believes it’s true otherwise they would have rejected the NEG outright by now. I have a question for all the LNP MPs. If you all truly believe the NEG will reduce power prices by encouraging more renewables then how come you don’t adopt ALP’s suggestion to increase the RET to 50%? Of course we already know the true answer, renewables increase not decrease the cost of power to the consumer. I wish I could see you all at the cliff when your party goes over it. I like to be there sitting on a chair drinking champagne watching it happen. Instead I’ll be sitting at home watching the tally room figures as your seats go done one by one cheering. Your party really deserves to lose ALL your seats and cease to be a party.
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That’s pretty much what Turnbull wants too. He is not a conservative. He is Labor royalty but Labor rejected him.
People presume Turnbull will fight to save his job as PM? Why? He didn’t want it anyway. He just wanted to beat Tony Abbott. After he won, he was obviously disappointed and blamed everyone. He certainly does not need the money or the work. His campaigning will be from home, after breakfast and before a long lunch.
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The more I think about it the more I’m glad the party is keeping him on as leader. The party’s massive defeat at the next election will be a great show and wakeup call to the brain dead LNP members. I will have to stock up on my popcorn as soon as they announce the election.
20
I will not surrender, if Labor win then its the Belt and Road under Beijing without due diligence.
Try and be a little more positive, otherwise the lurkers here may get the impression that we have already thrown in the towel.
10
for the CAGW mob – it’s a win/win/win, whichever way the wind does or doesn’t blow:
14 Aug: Guardian: Blow for coal power as EU carbon emissions price hits 10-year high
But pollution payments may need to triple to trigger switch to renewables, say analysts
by Adam Vaughan
The price of carbon in the bloc’s emissions trading scheme reached €18 (£16) per tonne on Monday, triple the level a year ago.
About 12,000 factories and power stations have to pay for every tonne of carbon they emit under the scheme, but for years an oversupply of permits has meant the cost has languished at about €5 per tonne. That is too low to spur companies to lower emissions.
However, observers said the carbon price rises and further anticipated increases would begin to hurt coal operators’ profit margins and influence investment decisions.
Phil MacDonald, the head of communications at Sandbag, a group that monitors the carbon market, said: “It will already be cutting into coal profits … Renewables get a big win from this and so does nuclear.”
Mark Lewis, the head of research at the Carbon Tracker thinktank, said although coal plant owners were bearing the brunt of the higher carbon price, they would pass it straight through to consumers…
The price of carbon would need to go much higher, to as much as €30 (£27) per tonne, to trigger large-scale switches from coal to gas and renewables, he argued…
Sandrine Ferrand, a market analyst at Engie Global Markets, said the extra cost would be significant for coal, at about €11-12 extra per megawatt hour. But the incentive to switch fuels would be limited because gas prices had also increased, alongside oil prices…
The dramatic increase in the carbon price has been driven up partly by European commission reforms to cut the supply of carbon permits from January.
***The heatwave affecting large parts of Europe this summer is also seen as having a bullish effect.
The hot weather bolstered fossil fuel burning as people turned to fans and air conditioning to keep cool, while generation from hydro and windfarms has been down because of low river levels and wind speeds…
Continued growth in the carbon price would strengthen progressive members of Germany’s newly formed “coal exit commission”, which is due to issue a plan this year.
One wild card is Brexit and whether the UK quits the carbon market if and when it leaves the EU. Chris Piabiatek, a carbon trader at Vertis Environmental Finance, which expects a tonne of carbon to cost just under €19 next year, said a no-deal Brexit that involves the UK crashing out of the carbon market would be “super bearish” for carbon prices.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/aug/13/blow-for-coal-companies-eu-price-carbon-emissions-hits-ten-year-high
10
Surely the requirement for reduced “emissions” (which are harmless) and at the same time more reliability as required by the NEG are mutually exclusive? The only way to have cheap reliable power is fossil fuel (or nuclear but that’ll never happen in Australia).
41
14 Aug: UK Express: California fires update: San Pasqual fire is ARSON, say authorities – fires MAPPED
ANOTHER fire has broken out in California as the summer of wildfires continues to rage across the state. Authorities are calling the San Pasqual fire in Escondido arson – here is the latest.
By Kate Whitfield
Also being called the Cloverdale fire, the latest blaze broke out near San Pasqual Road on Monday.
Investigators with the local arson team are saying the fire was deliberately set, as the blaze sprung to 100 acres in minutes.
By last night, fire crews had managed to prevent the fire from getting too out of control as investigators continued to search for the perpetrator…
The fires are being attributed to ongoing drought, climate change, and building developments deep within forests where small fires can catch the dry brush.
A spokesman for CalFire, the authority monitoring the fight against the blazes, said: “A lot of this is determined based on the drought, Mother Nature, what kind of winds we get.
”With low humidity, high heat and low moisture, fire season just seems to be getting longer and longer.”
Six new fires began over the weekend, with more expected to break out due to lightning strikes on the bone-dry terrain….
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1003110/california-fires-update-san-pasqual-fire-arson-cloverdale-fire-map
10
I was just listening to the Agnus Dei by Samuel Barber on You Tube when on came an ad for AGL.
You see they want us to get behind them to save the planet.
‘Are you in?’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRL447oDId4
I wondered if this was not an ironic piece to choose.
For the heathens among us the lyrics are “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us’
Used in Platoon, a Vietnam film by Oliver Stone.
30
The Southern Annular Mode
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-14/southern-annular-mode-and-how-it-affects-our-weather/10106134
10
I call BS on this story, as they show the STR extending through WA’s SW, which should mean that the SW would also be dry. But it’s the opposite – the SW is cold and very wet this winter. Would appreciate your comments EG.
20
For more than a decade the STR had been intense, the high pressure belt kept the cold fronts away.
The Klimatariat at BoM reckoned its because of global warming, but this time last year the STR collapsed and blocking highs became the norm. So I’m saying global warming is over in the Southern Hemisphere.
The mechanism which brought about this physical manifestation may have something to do with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.
10
Roy Spencer has nailed it.
http://www.drroyspencer.com/global-warming-background-articles/the-pacific-decadal-oscillation/
10
Thanks EG. Have your summers in the east cooled? I thought that you having warmer summers over there. Certainly in the SW of WA our last two summers have been cooler, with a very noticeable shift from hot morning easterlies to cooler more humid air coming from the south. Last year our winter was generally warmer, but think this one has been cooler. Certainly it’s been very wet in Perth and the SW.
20
Hi Jo,
I was just looking at average Australian average rainfall deciles from the BOM for 2016 and 2017 which indicate that the idea that this is the worst drought for NSW is really a nonsense no doubt it is dry now but in 2016 the rainfall in NSW was mostly very much above average and in 2017 half the state was average.
31
14 Aug: Phys.org: Scientists find way to make mineral which can remove CO2 from
Scientists have found a rapid way of producing magnesite, a mineral which stores carbon dioxide. If this can be developed to an industrial scale, it opens the door to removing CO2 from the atmosphere for long-term storage, thus countering the global warming effect of atmospheric CO2. This work is presented at the Goldschmidt conference in Boston…
Project leader, Professor Ian Power (Trent University, Ontario, Canada) said:
“Our work shows two things. Firstly, we have explained how and how fast magnesite forms naturally. This is a process which takes hundreds to thousands of years in nature at Earth’s surface. The second thing we have done is to demonstrate a pathway which speeds this process up dramatically”
The researchers were able to show that by using polystyrene microspheres as a catalyst, magnesite would form within 72 days. The microspheres themselves are unchanged by the production process, so they can ideally be reused…
“For now, we recognise that this is an experimental process, and will need to be scaled up before we can be sure that magnesite can be used in carbon sequestration (taking CO2 from the atmosphere and permanently storing it as magnesite). This depends on several variables, including the price of carbon and the refinement of the sequestration technology, but we now know that the science makes it do-able”…LINK
https://phys.org/news/2018-08-scientists-mineral-co2-atmosphere.html
00
the monolithic FakeNewsMSM strikes again:
14 Aug: WUWT: BBC touts new climate model, saying next few years ‘may be exceptionally warm’
by Anthony Watts
UPDATE: Here’s the paper: (LINK)
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/14/bbc-touts-new-climate-model-saying-next-few-years-may-be-exceptionally-warm/
CarbonBrief: The next five years will be ‘anomalously warm,’ scientists predict
The last four years were the warmest ever recorded, and now, according to new research, 2018-2022 could also be “anomalously warm” – even beyond what the steady increase in global warming would produce on its own, the Washington Post reports…
Rather than using traditional climate simulation techniques, the scientists developed a new statistical method to “search through simulations of climatic conditions in the 20th and 21st Century and look for situations that are comparable to the present day”, BBC News reports. They then used these climatic “analogues” to deduce future possibilities.
Florian Sevellec, an associate professor in ocean physics at Southampton University, and the study’s lead author, told the Times that warm phase they predict in their study would be due to both global warming and ‘natural variability’: “On top of this long-term warming, we suggest that the natural variability puts us in a warm phase that superimposes a warm anomaly [about] twice as big as the effect of global warming on its own.”
The Guardian explains: “From 1998 to 2010, global temperatures were in a ‘hiatus’ as natural cooling (from ocean circulation and weather systems) offset anthropogenic global warming. But the planet has now entered almost the opposite phase, when natural trends are boosting man-made effects.” Prof Gabi Hegerl, of Edinburgh University, praised the paper but suggested that wider analysis was also needed: “The findings suggest it’s more likely we’ll get warmer years than expected in the next few years. But their method is purely statistical, so it’s important to see what climate models predict based on everything we know about the atmosphere and the oceans.”
The research was widely covered elsewhere, including in the Mirror, the Independent, the Daily Express, the Metro, the Daily Telegraph and the Mail Online.
00
14 Aug: ClimaeDepot: Princeton Physicist Dr. Will Happer rips NYT claim of hottest ‘years on record’: ‘Alleged record warmings are tenths of a degree or less, comparable to the statistical error’
Happer on NYT: The article ends with the silly claim that the “six warmest years on record occurred after 2010.” The alleged record warmings are tenths of a degree or less, comparable to the statistical error. Thermometers have only existed for a few centuries and there are still no reliable networks of thermometers to measure global surface temperatures, although satellite measurements do provide a pretty good global average for the lower atmosphere since the year 1979. There is excellent proxy evidence that Earth’s temperature was warmer than today on several occasions since the end of the last ice age, about 12,000 years ago…
http://www.climatedepot.com/2018/08/14/princeton-physicist-dr-will-happer-rips-nyt-claim-of-hottest-years-on-record-alleged-record-warmings-are-tenths-of-a-degree-or-less-comparable-to-the-statistical-error/
14 Aug: WUWT: Andy May: The planet is experiencing an unexplained major cooling and scientists are ignoring it.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/14/the-planet-is-experiencing-an-unexplained-major-cooling-and-scientists-are-ignoring-it/
14 Aug: ClimateDepot: Climatologist Dr. John Christy rebuts wildfire and heatwave claims: ‘Our most serious heatwaves were in the 1930’s. We have not matched those at all’
http://www.climatedepot.com/2018/08/14/climatologist-dr-john-christy-rebuts-wildfire-and-heataace-claims-our-most-serious-heatwaves-were-in-the-1930s-we-have-not-matched-those-at-all/
10
behind paywall. as limited as the excerpts are, what a load of tosh:
14 Aug: UK Times (Ireland): Courage can turn the tide of climate change
by Joseph Curtin
I learnt a new word this month while following the news from Greece. A pyrocumulus is a dense fluffy cloud that can be caused by raging wildfires. We all became conversant with the vocabulary of austerity in the past decade, from macroeconomic adjustments to subprime mortgages. Now we must acquire a new one in the years ahead: that of climate change.
Media outlets will eventually abandon their desire for “balanced” coverage and cease pandering to climate sceptics, in the same way that flat-Earthers are not invited to debate with astronomers. Some day soon, even our meteorologists at Met Éireann might dare to utter the seemingly taboo words of “climate change” in a weather forecast.
A more honest and urgent climate debate will engender new types…
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/courage-can-turn-the-tide-of-climate-change-6zz2mj2df
all u need to know about the writer above:
July 2017: Institute of International and European Affairs: IIEA Brexit Climate Report Launch
Brexit could have profoundly destabilising impact on global momentum to address climate change, according to a report published today by the IIEA, Dublin…
Apart from Remain, all scenarios come with negative consequences for climate protection. According to report author, Joseph Curtin, “One thing is clear: further to the damaging withdrawal of the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, the last thing global efforts to tackle climate change need is Brexit; and the harder the Brexit, the worse the climate impact.”…
The UK has historically been a leader in EU climate policy, aligning itself to the clean and green grouping of Member States, including Germany and the Nordic countries…
The report finds that under all three Brexit scenarios, there may be a requirement for the EU to resubmit a less ambitious pledge to the UN’s Paris Climate Agreement. This is because the UK contributes disproportionately to the overall EU pledge (a 40% reduction in emissions by 2030), and other Member States are unlikely to take up the slack post-Brexit…
no-one is interested in Curtin or the people he retweets:
Twitter: Joseph Curtin, climate policy @IIEA & @UCC & Irish Climate Change Advisory Council
TWEET: 1h ago: “Increasing the carbon tax by €10/t may allow our leaders to bask in a glow of saintliness….
….but it would make almost no impact on emissions”
My opinion piece in today’s @thetimesIE LINK Courage can turn the tide of climate change…
3h ago: Justin Curtin retweeted: Justin Adams (Managing Director Global Lands at The Nature Conservancy):
Inspiring read from @jmcurtin on winning the battle against #climate denial and news outlets insistence on “balanced debate” Sort it out @BBCNews @CNN it’s real and it’s happening faster than feared
https://twitter.com/jmcurtin?lang=en
10
If I read Mr Curtin correctly, meteorologists are climate change deniers. This is a common theme among promoters of man made Climate Change, that meteorologists know nothing about the climate. The scientific expertise of millions of meteorologists is presumably is limited to the weather. It take a non scientist to understand climate change and what causes it. Says it all really.
21
It would be great to read an opinion on man made climate change from someone who does not make their fame and fortune from promoting it.
“Over 15 years’ experience as a climate change policy advisor, writer, academic and analyst, working with governments, think tanks, universities, international organisations, foundations, corporate leaders, and communities. ”
Perfect.. a Political Scientist. Now why wasn’t that obvious? Climate Change is Political Science, which is some sort of science, apparently.
Education
London School of Economics and Political Science
MSc, Political Economy 2004 – 2005
Trinity College Dublin
BA, Economics/Politics 1994 – 1998
31
I would have thought Political Science was the understanding of Politics. Clearly there is more of a career in the Politics of Science. So who is selling flat earth concepts? Not real scientists like meteorologists but political science consultants.
Perhaps there should be more care with professional names like Scientist. In my opinion it should exclude people who have no training in the hard sciences of mathematics, physics and chemistry at a tertiary level. That would eliminate Tim Flannery at least. It would also stop people like Curtin passing themselves off as ‘scientists’ as if they have scientific skills rather than a general knowledge of a non science subject like Politics or Criminology. Though perhaps I repeat myself.
21
How do you get an MSc in Political Science? Surely that is very misleading?
11
14 Aug: Reuters: Exclusive: UK’s Quercus pulls plug on $570 million Iran solar plant as sanctions bite
by Lefteris Karagiannopoulos
British renewable energy investor Quercus said it will halt the construction of a 500 million euro ($570 million) solar power plant in Iran due to recently imposed U.S. sanctions on Tehran.
The solar plant in Iran would have been the first renewable energy investment outside Europe by Quercus and the world’s sixth largest, with a 600 megawatt (MW) capacity…
In June, before the U.S.-imposed sanctions, more than 250 companies had signed agreements to add and sell power from about 4 gigawatt of new renewables in the country, which has only 602 MW installed, Iranian energy ministry data showed…
Last year Quercus said it would set up a project company and sell shares via a private placement after attracting interest from private and institutional investors, including sovereign wealth funds.
Construction was expected to take three years, with each 100 MW standalone lot becoming operational and connecting to the grid every six months…
Another project, planned by Norway’s Saga Energy, which said last October it aimed to build 2 GW of new solar energy capacity in Iran and to start construction by the end of 2018, has also stalled…
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-sanctions-quercus-exclusive/exclusive-uks-quercus-pulls-plug-on-570-million-iran-solar-plant-as-sanctions-bite-idUSKBN1KZ0ZR?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews
00
14 Aug: Edie.net: Is renewable energy just a ‘passing trend’ for businesses?
Despite the strong progress that the business world has made in driving the renewables revolution in recent months, a new survey of 1,000 UK-based utility decision makers has revealed that more than a quarter (27%) believe that renewable energy is “just a passing trend”.
The research, carried out by business electricity supplier Haven Power, found that the most common barrier to adopting long-term renewables targets was the cost of procuring renewable power. In total, 37% of respondents cited immediate expenditure as a business barrier.
Almost a quarter (24%) cited a lack of government support as a key challenge to renewables uptake. In recent years a plethora of cuts to subsidies and feed-in-tariffs (FITs), combined with the closure of Renewables Obligation (RO) applications, has dampened business appetite for purchasing renewables.
The third largest barrier, cited by 23% of respondents, was found to be uncertainty on how best to engage senior management in discussions about clean energy sourcing.
Haven Power’s chief operating officer Paul Sheffield said it was “concerning” to find that such a high proportion of utility decision makers still view renewable power as a “fad” in the face of climate challenges.
“It’s clear more needs to be done to demonstrate the wider opportunities and benefits of renewable energy for businesses,” Sheffield added. “Understanding of renewable energy and its benefits varies greatly from sector to sector. We believe that every industry needs to start taking positive steps to reduce carbon emissions and embrace cleaner energy.”…
https://www.edie.net/news/10/Is-renewable-energy-a-passing-trend-for-businesses-/
14 Aug: EastMidlandsBusinessLink: Quarter of UK businesses view renewables as a ‘fad’
By Dominic Cuthbert
On the other end of the scale, businesses in the hospitality and entertainment industry aren’t likely to make sustainable changes as they don’t believe it’s a priority to their customers.
“It’s surprising that an industry employing a large number of environmentally-conscious millennials, such as hospitality and entertainment, are seemingly ignoring the environmental agenda, when it is so important to both potential customers and employees,” added Mr Sheffield.
“Organisations must recognise that it’s more than just customers who deliver business success, and they may be impacting their ability to attract and retain the best talent.
Haven Power: 1 in 4 UK businesses consider renewable energy a ‘fad’
This perception is even higher in the Financial Services sector, at 40%…
13 Aug: EnergyLiveNews: EU bans halogen bulbs in favour of greener LEDs
LEDs are more expensive in the short-term but cheaper over an extended period
By Jonny Bairstow
The Energy Saving Trust suggests the typical halogen uses £11 of electricity a year while a replacement LED would use only £2 worth of power over the period.
Hundreds of millions of bulbs are expected to need replacing but it does not need to be done immediately – lights can be swapped over when the existing halogens fail.
Shops will also still be able to sell the remainder of their existing stock but will not be allowed to order in new halogen lights.
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8 Aug: Reuters: RPT-INSIGHT-Inside Tesla’s troubled New York solar factory
By Salvador Rodriguez and Nichola Groom; Additional reporting by Makiko Yamazaki and Ritsuko Ando in Tokyo
Tesla Inc’s production of solar roof tiles has been delayed by assembly-line problems at its new publicly subsidized factory and difficulties producing a product that satisfies the aesthetic demands of CEO Elon Musk, eight former and current employees of both companies told Reuters.
Repeated hold-ups since the Buffalo, New York plant opened last year have forced Tesla’s partner in the joint venture, Panasonic, to seek other buyers for the components it had built to sell to Tesla, according to a Panasonic employee, a former Panasonic employee and a former Tesla employee. The issues have also rattled the faith of state officials in Tesla’s ability to deliver on investment and employment promises it made in exchange for $750 million in state subsidies.
Tesla acquired the solar business in 2016 in a controversial $2.6 billion purchase of SolarCity – a sales and installation company founded by two of Musk’s cousins – but the business has been shrinking ever since…
In a call with Tesla investors last week, Musk said “hundreds” of homes already had solar roofs, but the company clarified the estimate in its statement to Reuters, saying it included systems that had been partially installed or were “being scheduled for install.”
In California, the nation’s leading solar market, there were twelve Tesla roof systems connected to the grid as of May 31, all in Northern California, according to records from the state’s three investor-owned utilities. The cost per watt for those systems was listed at nearly $6, according to the records. That’s about double the national average for solar systems.
Tesla began accepting $1,000 deposits from customers for the Solar Roofs in May 2017, seven months after it unveiled a prototype…
Panasonic has been selling some of the solar panels it produces in Buffalo under its own brand instead of selling them to Tesla, Panasonic said in a statement.
It has also been shipping a large volume of the photovoltaic cells it produces in Buffalo as samples to prospective buyers because of low demand from Tesla, according to the Panasonic employee and a former Tesla employee…
Some New York state lawmakers worry Tesla may fail to hold up its end of the bargain. The state provided $350 million to build the factory, along with $274.7 million for equipment and $125.3 million “for additional specified scope costs,” according to a Tesla filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The subsidy package requires Tesla to employ 1,460 people in Buffalo, including 500 at the plant, within two years of the facility’s completion, and to spend $5 billion in the state over a decade…
agency believes Tesla is currently meeting its obligations, said spokeswoman Pamm Lent, adding that the company would face penalties of $41.2 million a year if it falters.
Republican New York state Assemblyman Ray Walter, who represents a district near the factory, said it concerned him that only a small portion of the plant appeared functional when he toured it in March.
“After investing $750 million of taxpayer money, we want it to work out,” he said. “It just does not look like it’s heading down that path.”
Tesla said in its statement that the facility now employs about 600 people and is on track to meet all of its commitments…
None of the Tesla sources could provide a production figure for the solar roof, saying only that output was low and frequently interrupted…
Several of the sources at the plant said Musk had never visited the site; Tesla declined to comment…
One of the few customers that has taken delivery of the Solar Roof is Tri Huynh, 39, who works in business development in Silicon Valley. Huynh said he paid about $100,000 for the system, which included three Tesla Powerwall home batteries to store the power produced…
It took two weeks and a dozen workers to install, compared to a day for most traditional panel systems.
“It’s fantastic. I love it,” he said, adding he was saving hundreds of dollars a month in power costs. “I’m a tech guy, so I kind of wanted the latest technology.”
Warren Jason, a retired technology entrepreneur who is building an 11,000-square-foot house in the Hollywood Hills, is not so pleased.
He put down $1,000 to reserve a roof in early 2017 but it has not yet arrived, and he has been unable to get details to give to his architect and engineers.
“We’ve been begging Tesla for information,” he said. “It’s been extremely frustrating.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/tesla-solar/rpt-insight-inside-teslas-troubled-new-york-solar-factory-idUSL1N1UZ029
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poor Charlie Veron:
15 Aug: SMH: ‘Whole thing is a mystery’: Reef Foundation windfall hits private fund
By Peter Hannam
The Turnbull government’s claim its $444 million grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation would spur private donations has been disputed by a leading coral scientist who says funding for his own venture has dried up in the wake of the cash splash.
Charlie Veron, a marine biologist dubbed “the godfather of coral” for discovering more than one-fifth the world’s coral species, said US donors to his Corals of the World website dropped plans to donate $60,000 once they saw “the Australian government was going to pour a fortune” into reef projects
“My source of funding has completely stopped,” Dr Veron said.
Dr Veron said his website, a decade in the making, would be crucial for any future recovery work on the reef, such as the $100 million reef restoration and adaptation program that will now be under the foundation’s stewardship.
Dr Veron said he met last week the foundation head, Anna Marsden, who said she “didn’t have any money that could go” to his project despite it needing $200,000, or one-quarter of 1 per cent of the government’s largesse, to survive.
“The whole thing is just a mystery to me,” he said. “It’s a drop in the bucket if ever there was one.”…
A foundation spokeswoman said Dr Veron had been one of “a number of organisations [that] have expressed an interest” in seeking funds.
“At a recent meeting, we advised Dr Veron that a process was being established to consider proposals under the Reef Trust Partnership,” she said. “We will consider proposals for funding once the governance and advisory framework is established and a process for applications has been approved.”
Dr Veron said donors to his site had poured in $2.5 million to build the most complete record of corals that would be critical for efforts to restore reefs in the future. For instance, it has identified and made available information of eight coral species that appear to be able to resist bleaching.
His group has also approached the Australian Institute of Marine Science for support.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/sustainability/whole-thing-is-a-mystery-reef-foundation-windfall-hits-private-fund-20180815-p4zxov.html
meanwhile, Sky News discussing tomorrow’s papers. a female journo I don’t know says probably nothing wrong with the granting of the money, as everyone knows Malcolm Turnbull is a stickler for probity!
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As I wrote on the weekend
“There are 75 Coalition MPs in the lower house. 30 in the senate. 105 in total and 53 is a majority in the party room.
24 ministers including Turnbull. Plus 6 in the Outer Ministry and 12 Parliamentary secretaries.
42 of whom 9 are Nationals, so 33 voters of the required 53 have a stake in keeping Malcolm in place.”
So 42 of the 75 have high paying jobs a Ministers, Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries.
Now “Keith Pitt Assistant Minister to the deputy PM is considering resigning from the frontbench over his opposition to the NEG.” It only takes one to cross the floor. This may turn into a tide.
The only hope for Turnbull is that Bill Shorten helps him. Why should he?
40
So
Tony Abbott
Andrew Hastie
George Christensen
Craig Kelly
Andrew Gee
Kevin Andrews
Barnaby Joyce
Barry O’Sullivan
Eric Abetz
Tony Pasin
Keith Pitt.
How many others think backing Turnbull will actually keep them in their (high paying) job?
Once it becomes clear that Turnbull is a hapless incompetent and will likely be tossed out before Christmas, the flood will start and that will make it certain. Not only because they will lose their plum jobs soon, but it is obvious they will lose their seats in an election whitewash in 8 months with disinterested Malcolm looking for Labor to support alleged Conservative policy. That really gives the game away.
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Now Nikki Savva, Turnbull’s pet commentator whose husband was given a job by Turnbull, has been sent out on the attack. Abbott is a wrecker and Craig Kelly is merely a ‘faithful hound’. Others are conspiring to create Prime Minister Shorten with their disloyalty.
At no time would she consider that Abbott might be right, that the NEG is a crock. Judith Sloan says it has nothing about guarantees but about paying people to not use electricity and fines of $100Million for any shortfall. Meanwhile gentailers are making record profits in what used to be an essential industry of minimal profit. There is absolutely nothing to stop prices soaring to everyone’s delight. Worse, Sloane argues the so called economic modelling makes astrology look a science and she questions all the logic as being obviously wrong for 2030. Solar doubling, for example.
So Abbott is right. Not according to Savva. It seems you should be totally loyal to an elected Prime Minister despite the 38 failed Newspolls, five lost byelections, plummeting popularity and a wafer thin one seat majority. The hypocrisy is breathtaking. A feather would bring down this government.
Still Turnbull blunders on, determined to make Australia the first country to legislate man made Global Warming. Who needs science when you have merchant bankers and lawyers?
40
Recently on 2GB the Prime Minister made the side comment that we were warming.
As it was Alan Jones he did not push it, but it is clear he thinks warming is both bad and we have done it, so he ideologically wants to be seen to do something about this perceived problem.
His own personal electorate supports him.
However the application of the precautionary principal, which he is effectively using, changes with time, in the sense that we need not be so worried about climate, more so we should worry about wrecking our own economy and us people it supports.
No other growing or major power, other than some of the Eurozone and the UK are concerned.
The EU is now only 10% of the Global GDP.
Considering that it will be hard to have any deal put through the upper house, whoever runs the lower, the inevitable campaign will have to be in the senate.
As the Libs/Nats look at losing any forseeable election for lack of cut through appeal and leadership, not just management, the Senate is all that we can hope for.
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The planet is experiencing an unexplained major cooling and scientists are ignoring it.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/14/the-planet-is-experiencing-an-unexplained-major-cooling-and-scientists-are-ignoring-it/
Strange events: Earth’s upper atmosphere creating glowing clouds
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/15/strange-events-earths-upper-atmosphere-creating-glowing-clouds/
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