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World Bank likes Australia’s Emissions Trading Scheme — the “secret” ETS
According
to the World Bank, Australia has implemented an ETS It’s charades all
round. Carbon markets are so dismal that the World Bank marks up the
Australian ETS (which most Australians have never heard of) as
“implemented”. Which makes it so much better than Canada’s which is
“under consideration”. In fact the World Bank says Australia’s ETS
covers half our emissions and 381 Megatons of CO2 or
60% of Australians are OK with dumping Paris if they can cut their Electricity Bill
Nearly half of Australians are already paying more than they want to
for the Paris Agreement. Sixty percent of Australians wouldn’t mind us
dumping it if it meant getting cheaper electricity. That fits with most
other surveys for the last four years. It’s a stable slab of the
population — despite the ABC and Fairfax running prime-time adverts for
renewables constantly pushing the line that renewa
Germans get paid to use junk electricity: Wind power generates when people DONT want it
Welcome to the world of baby-economics where people think a “negative”
price is a sign of success. In Simpletown people are cheering. But in
the real world a price signal that’s negative tells us that someone is
selling something so awful they have to pay someone to take it away.
It’s a burden that must be got rid of, like trash. Germany set to pay
customers for electricity usage as renewable ene
Yesterday
Some days one thousand MW of solar vanishes in Australia
The Australian national grid stretches from the tropics to the cold
temperate zone from 16S to 43S. You might think that along those 40,000
kilometers of transmission lines there is always somewhere somewhere
sunny at midday, but some days you’d be wrong. James Luffman at
WattClarity, noticed this extensive cloud arrangement affecting solar on
Friday May 19th. On that day, a one thousand MW gener
Oct 30
Britain can have electric cars or turn Scotland into a wind farm, which will it be then?
Who wants to wait for charging? Instead, just dump the flat batteries,
pick up a new set. (See the youtube below). Having a nation full of
electric cars is fine as long as you don’t want to drive them. Wind
Farms would need to “cover whole of Scotland” to power Britain’s
electric vehicles By Paula Murray Jack Ponton, emeritus professor of
engineering at Edinburgh University, said another 16,000 t
Oct 28
Weekend Unthreaded
… Saw this extraordinary rock in the sky five minutes ago. Had to take a
photo sitting on the lawn in the dark of something, apparently, 400,000
kilometers away. I do like the way the sun illuminates the weathered
texture on the edge of the light. Last week Jaxa announced they found a
lava tube cave 50m wide and 50km long, with handy walls that may contain
water in rock form. (Chilled, ready for
Oct 26
Wow. The colorblind see color
It’s not often that a technology provides so much instant enjoyment,
astonishment, shaking, even tears. Tim Blair found a movie of a
colorblind man seeing color for the first time. And there are lots of
videos out there. See one artist reduced to tears. Watch this young boy
react. (The next man seems very happy but says “your world is so much
better than mine.”) Or this boy at 40 seconds. Know so
Only 10% of power allowed from solar in Broome WA to stop grid “fluctuations”
When
too much solar is more than enough The WA government-run electricity
provider (Horizon Energy) has called a halt to new solar installations
in Broome, a town in Northwest WA that is not connected to the national
grid, or even the main WA grid. (It’s 2,000km north of Perth). About 10%
of the town’s power comes from solar* but apparently the little grid
can’t handle the fluctuations, so the ear
Oct 25
Perth Event Friday night: “Understanding Cultural Marxism”, Bill Muehlenberg
Invitation to a public event sent to me: Bill Muehlenberg:
Understanding Cultural Marxism Classic Nights An Adult Education
initiative from St Augustine’s, Friday 27th October, Perth, Western
Australia From his renowned Culture Watch website: ‘We live in an age
where we see evidence of cultural decline, the erosion of values, the
decline of civility, the denial of truth and the elevation of unrea
The rise of fake skeptics who “change their minds” about climate change
Poor Nick Kilvert at the ABC again, finds climate yeti’s everywhere —
that imaginary creature, the converted skeptic. This is an important
missing link in the fictional narrative — obviously if The Evidence Is
Over-bloody-Whelming, there will be a stream of people gradually
awakening. Alas, Kilvert doesn’t realize the traffic is all the other
way, an exodus, and there is no single outspoken skept
Oct 24
Aussies eating junk to get better weather, old coal plant increases 73,000% in value in two years
Funny things happening today in Australia: Australians are cutting back
on Fruit and Veges to pay electricity bills: Since eating raw fruit and
vege is associated with lower mortality, efforts to stop people dying
of climate change in 2100 may be killing people today: Australians are
cutting back on basic things like fresh fruit and vegies in order to
keep the lights on with the National Debt Hel
Oct 23
Rudd’s last minute gift to renewables -industry $7 billion extension til 2030
Apologies
to foreign readers as we rake over the Stupidest Energy Policy on
Earth. This really takes the cake. Back in 2010 Rudd signed off on an
extension of subsidies to renewables generators that would apply from
2020-2030, long after he would be gone. Effectively this decision will
take up t0 $300 per Australian over that decade – in the order of $1000
per family – and gift to the renewables i
Oct 22
Australian cars fail outdoor emission tests too. To reduce pollution we must only drive in laboratories…
Australian
cars just as bad — one hybrid car puts out 400% more CO2 than
“advertised” The AAA tested 30 cars under Australian real on-road
conditions and found that like VW and so many others, the cars pass
pollution tests in the lab, but fail in the real world: – Sydney Morning
Herald The report by the Australian Automobile Association, members of
which include the NRMA and RACV and RACQ, says re
Oct 21
Unthreaded Weekend
Shots from Geographe Bay, SW WA. I won’t be winning an award for these,
but it was kinda cool. … They were having fun. …. Showing off: ….
Judging by their very long flippers, dorsal fins, and the time of year,
these were humpback whales which grow to 30 – 50 tonnes, and 15-18m long
(medium sized for a whale). They are heading south for the summer to
feed around Antarctica. They are apparently pre
Turnbull’s “game changer” — $2 a week savings next decade that most Australian don’t believe
Turnbull threw away the Lib’s best election strategy in the last
election and almost lost. He couldn’t run a carbon tax scare like Abbott
had (or Trump did even moreso). Now he can’t run a cheap electricity
campaign in a nation where wallets are bleeding from power bills. It
would be a gift campaign to mock the idea that wind and solar make
prices cheaper — that’s a bubble desperate to be popped.
Oct 20
Our BoM electronic thermometers are “purpose designed”. We’re not sure what purpose.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology collects one-second records and
can turn them into newspaper headlines. In contrast, the UK averages its
readings over one minute, and the US over five. Obviously longer
averaging could slow the latter down in the PR stakes (if that was their
aim). Hypothetically old glass thermometers just wouldn’t be as good at
generating headlines. They take a lot longer to
Oct 18
Politicians “shocked” at the power crisis waiting in the Australian electricity grid
Did some politicans just wake up? The news today is that our Energy
Minister may realize Australia is conducting a wild experiment with our
electricity grid, and may have managed to convince other Australian
federal politicians of the risk. Coalition MPs shocked by energy threat
The Australian: Robert Gottleibsen (even Gottleibsen gets it). When
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg walked into the Coa
Australia’s new NEG National Energy Plan hides a carbon tax, international carbon credits
Graham
Lloyd points out we are back where started — a national plan involving
international carbon credits: RepuTex analyst Hugh Grossman says the
NEG, in effect, will establish a de facto price on greenhouse gas
emissions from the power sector. The government already has indicated
that the electricity companies may be able to purchase international or
domestic carbon credits to cover any overrun
Oct 17
German wind industry “threatening to implode” as subsidies end wiping out half or more of new plants
In
Germany as 20 years of wind subsidies comes to an end in 2020, half to
three quarters of the industry may disappear. So many parallels with
Australia. The Germans have had wind subsidies for 20 years, but even
after two decades of support, the industry is still not profitable on a
stand-alone basis. In 2016, some 4600MW of new wind plants were
installed, but that may drop to one quarter as much
All the major nations are failing to meet their Paris targets says Nature paper
The Magnificent Paris deal was rubbery-theatre,
make-of-it-what-you-will, and with rare diligence here is Nature
publishing a paper where a team bothered to check progress. (If only
Nature held scientific research as accountable as political deals. MBH98
anyone — where Mann’s hockeystick was accepted by Nature, but not the
corrections?) Lo, Nature does a bit of conspiracy thinking: “It is easy
fo
Oct 16
Santa’s arrived! Australia drops new Renewables Targets, will meet “Paris”, stop blackouts, reduce costs
This
is good news but Turnbull still wants to have the Paris cake and power
the fridge with the crumbs Faced with national bill shock, dismal
Newspolls, and even leadership rumors, Turnbull is, at last, dropping
the deadweight Finkel Clean Energy Target. The biggest poisoned-band-aid
will not be plastered on, though mini bandaids will be. Too much
regulation is never enough and the energy market i
In Australia, even some people with jobs are struggling to pay bills and put food on the table
The
Foodbank press release: Financial stress pushing millions of
Australians into food insecurity One in six or, 15% of the Australian
population, apparently has experienced “uncertainty” around food in the
last 12 months. For some, that’s only one episode in a year but still,
in a first world country which is a major food exporter, it’s not a sign
of wealth and good times. If the survey is to be
Oct 14
Weekend Unthreaded
… Rainbow over Castle Rock, Oct 2017. We had a few days away last week
in Geographe Bay, SW WA thanks to the kindness of a supporter. Miles of
quiet beaches for those who don’t like crowds. Rating: 9.2/10 (45 votes
cast) Rating: 9.2/ 10 (45 votes cast)
Oct 13
Another meaningless survey shows 4 in 5 Australians want “clean energy” (if someone else pays)
Yet
again, it’s another mindless apple-pie-survey produced to fog the
debate Most Australians don’t want to pay anything more for renewable
power. “Four in five (78%) said Yes: the Australian government should
introduce a new Clean Energy Target to encourage the construction of new
clean energy sources in Australia.” — The Australia Institute If we ask
people if they’d like free/cheap/clean stuff,
Kiribati sinking “like Titanic” but 59 million times slower
Kiribati, with a natural resource base of almost nothing, makes 15% of
its nominal GDP, via donations from the Australian government.
Periodically Mr Anote Tong, president of Kiribati,visits Australia to
remind us how much they need help money. Creatively, this year, Mr Tong
is comparing Kiribati’s future to the sinking of the Titanic. Give the
man points for theatrix: “We are the people who will
Oct 12
ABC: Let’s pretend base load power doesn’t exist, call it a dinosaur. Who’s in denial?
The
new phrase that must be neutered is “base load”. It’s like kryptonite
for renewables! Nick Kilvert at the ABC helpfully provides a
no-hard-questions mouthpiece and tells us Base load power is the
dinosaur in the energy debate. To serve the Australian taxpayer he
quotes a Professor Vassallo, Chair of Sustainable Energy Development
(USyd), and CSIRO Energy Director Dr Glenn Platt. Just in case t
Oct 11
Carbon pollution rises and the world gets less windy…
Wind
speeds have slowed since the sixties God is playing a joke on wind
investors: The stilling: global wind speeds slowing since 1960 Known as
‘stilling’, it has only been discovered in the last decade. And while it
may sound deceptively calm, it could be a vital, missing piece of the
climate change puzzle and a serious threat to our societies. While 0.5
kilometre per hour might barely seem enoug
Oct 10
Event in Brisbane Friday: Mark Latham, Malcolm Roberts, Ross Cameron “Cost-of-Living”
Click to enlarge What a fantastic line-up of speakers at the One
Nation, Cost of Living Summit on Friday 13th October, 9.30-4pm. Go see
Malcolm Roberts, Mark Latham, Ross Cameron, Graham Young, Tim Andrews,
Dr Alan Moran, Prof Tony Makin, and Dr Dan Mitchell (USA) and others
speak on Friday at the Queensland Parliament House, LC (red chamber):
Just $20. https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=3
Dangerous Abbott unleashed, speaks the truth, critics froth and flounder
Finally
the gloves are off The critics called him a climate denier anyway, even
when he toed the politically correct line, so there was nothing left to
call him. For former Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, there is
no point in pandering. Now after a great speech, the EcoWorriers are
left saying he is “loopy”. The new unleashed Abbott is so much stronger,
more compelling, and his message is
Oct 08
Australian govt may dump renewables subsidies, testing, 1,2,3…
Minister Josh Frydenberg has just implied Australia might drop ongoing
endless renewables subsidies (and thus dump the Finkel chief-”scientist”
plan). He didn’t say that in so many words, but hinted at it, and will
now wait to see how the idea goes down. Soak in this reasoning —
renewables are becoming so cost competitive they don’t need subsidies.
He’s calling their bluff. It’s like the announce
Oct 07
Weekend Unthreaded
… Rating: 9.1/10 (30 votes cast) Rating: 9.1/ 10 (30 votes cast)
Australian BoM forced to meet skeptics, answer questions, provide a tiny bit of data
The scandals do count. The Australian articles has got Minister
Frydenbergs attention. The extensive collection of blog posts and the
IPA Climate Change book show there is a deep well of material to fuel
more articles. We have barely begun. Congratulations to Jennifer
Marohasy. At least we will get a few more answers to questions we
shouldn’t even have to ask. The head of the Bureau of Meteorolog
Oct 05
High electricity prices in Australia blamed for sharp economic slowdown
Electricity prices jumped in July. Now, retail sales are falling as
wallets run out of money. When Greens, Labor, Conservatives said we need
insurance, only skeptics pointed out the price. Commonwealth Bank
economist, Gareth Aird, calls the fall a “shocker”. Shoppers stay away
as power costs bite –Adam Creighton, The Australian In a sign sluggish
wages and higher power prices are starting to bite
Oct 04
Greens, the baseload deniers, want $2.2b for bandaid batteries to keep junk renewables alive
The Greens are now asking for another $2.2billion to pay for the
battery bandaid to fix a problem they and the leeching renewables
industry created. Adam Bandt is out today with the big new plan,
apparently confused about what “load” means: We don’t have a baseload
problem, we have a peak load problem,” Mr Bandt said. No matter how you
look at this, it’s not a “load” problem. It’s an issue of sup
Oct 03
Matt Ridley: Never experienced anything like this — the climate debate “blackening”
Matt Ridley is about as gentlemanly, polite and sane a man as you’ve
ever likely to meet — which is exactly why the mob are so afraid of
letting him speak. Ridley even agrees that humans have caused most of
the warming in the last fifty years (I shall have to talk t
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