Midweek Unthreaded

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136 comments to Midweek Unthreaded

  • #
    Ava

    What a time to get tongue tied.

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      el gordo

      Take a few deep breaths and a tall glass of cold water, I’ll fill the gap while you’re thinking.

      Umm … I mentioned this in the previous thread, the SMH is a propaganda rag of the Klimatariat.

      “Water temperatures have gone up by about 1.5 degrees in the south-east [of Australia] over the last 40 years,” said Graham Edgar, a professor at the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and lead author of the paper.

      “Many native species only found in that region now have nowhere further south to retreat to,” Professor Edgar said.

      “That points to high losses going forward in endemic biodiversity for our children,” he said, noting that as much as 80 per cent of southern species were found only in Australian waters.

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    • #
      el gordo

      The SMH article only mentioned over fishing and warmer waters for the depletion of fish stock, two blatant lies.

      In reality the fish are leaving because the water is freshening and its a cyclic phenomenon.

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      • #

        are you saying that fish are not affected by over fishing???

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        • #
          el gordo

          I’m saying the depletion of fish stocks is not due to over fishing in the East Australian Current, nor is it because of the supposed warmer water.

          Its the ‘freshening’ caused by runoff which is encouraging the fish to clear out.

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          • #

            Thanks I see now you are referring to the specific region when you referred to the “lies” (or as scientists and those who don’t wish to be the subject of litigation might say, “a difference of interpretation of the data”)

            In the case of the region in question there are clear and admitted links in some stocks to over fishing, but that aside, if the pressures you speak of are affecting stocks directly then an assessment needs to be made of the added impact of fishing. Stock assessments are meant to be ongoing and dynamic and respond to changes whatever the cause, so if fishing continues without consideration of such direct pressures fishing will indeed be a major cause of stock stress.

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              el gordo

              Not sure if the sin of omission is counted as a lie, but here is the paper on the freshening.

              https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2015GL066050

              ‘ongoing and dynamic’

              Natural climate cycles determine where the fish will go.

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              • #

                but you also omitted. As you and your fellow sceptics have discussed many times over with regards to other environmental factors, there is no simple explanation and rarely 1. Changes in temperature and fishing are contributors just like salinity.

                Further, coral have been around for millions of years and have endured hotter water than this and are still with us… ever heard of adaptation?

                Substitute fish for coral, lower salinity for hotter water

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              • #

                could you give a reference that provides evidence linking the freshening with fish viability, thanks.

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              • #

                OK El G. Come clean, did you read neither the media report or the article you referenced? For a start they each discuss different realms of the eastern waters. Second the published paper makes no reference to fisheries nor is referenced in subsequent fisheries studies. In fact this is their speculation in the conclusions –

                The freshening of shallow waters in the western Tasman Sea could have significant biological implications. As Baird et al. [2011] discuss, the fresh water at the surface of the anticyclones corresponds to higher concentrations of chlorophyll a in the euphotic zone. Freshening of the Tasman Sea may therefore lead to higher productivity in the region.

                That is their only comment on biology. Of course higher productivity can lead to poorer outcomes for some species (for example CO2 can lead to higher plant growth due but also make some plants susceptible to certain diseases) though you’d need to do a study to examine what the implications are of more productivity.

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              • #

                https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aqc.2934#aqc2934-fig-0001

                the authors compare exploited and unexploited species inside researves and in fished zones. how is salinity negatively affecting exploited species only in fishing zones and not affecting unexploited species anywhere?

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              • #
                el gordo

                The Tasman Sea has been warm of late, according to BoM and it can’t be refuted, but now the situation should change. The eddies are fascinating.

                https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/ocean/surface/currents/overlay=sea_surface_temp_anomaly/orthographic=151.32,-34.66,2123/loc=153.839,-35.366

                ‘…ever heard of adaptation?’

                Polyps leave home when sea level momentarily falls.

                I’ll get back to you on the freshening, homework.

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              • #
                el gordo

                From that paper by Edgar 2018.

                ‘Most fish populations, both exploited and unexploited, declined around Australia through the period 2005–15, probably largely as a negative consequence of recent warming and heatwaves experienced in south‐eastern and south‐western Australia (Day, Stuart‐Smith, Edgar, & Bates, 2018; Last et al., 2011; Wernberg et al., 2013).

                ‘Fishing apparently exacerbated the declines in population numbers amongst the exploited species, with a mean overall downward trend of 33%, compared with 16% and 11% for unexploited species outside and inside marine reserves, respectively.’

                ———

                A marine heatwave ‘probably’ sent the fish packing and those that remained were ‘apparently’ over fished.

                On the question of ‘freshening’ there was apparently no grants for that research, even though its probably the main cause of depleted numbers.

                Some fish are more sensitive to freshening, so I have a bit of sleuthing to do.

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              • #
                el gordo

                Plankton moving south in search of cooler waters, global warming caused by humans or natural cycle?

                https://blogs.csiro.au/ecos/following-plankton-drift/

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              • #
                el gordo

                “Many native species only found in that region now have nowhere further south to retreat to,” Professor Edgar said.

                The fish have gone south with the plankton and presumably warmer waters.

                I thank Gee Aye for his assistance.

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  • #
    Mark M

    When your green virtue signalling is swamped by reality …

    Australian Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg on Tuesday said he was delighted that Australia’s largest supermarkets were taking robust action to phase out single-use plastic bags.
    https://thewest.com.au/business/retail/supermarkets-woolworths-and-coles-bow-to-public-pressure-in-war-the-end-plastic-waste-ng-b88856922z

    Plastic, iron and rubbish from fallen shipping containers seen littering NSW beaches

    https://www.9news.com.au/national/2018/06/04/12/38/nsw-beaches-debris-shipping-containers-fell-into-ocean

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    • #
      PeterS

      Australian Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg? You mean the Ministry of Truth? It’s not by accident the more time passes the more alike our government ministries are to George Orwell’s depictions in his book 1984.

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      • #
        el gordo

        Ah yes, ignorance is strength, Josh knows global warming is a beat up but he is building a career.

        “If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”
        ― George Orwell, 1984

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      sophocles

      …if you think Aus has a problem then don’t look, nor even sneak a peek, at the rubbish in the Mekong, Indus, Ganges, Perl, Yangtse, Yellow and most of the Indonesian and Thai rivers. You can almost walk across the rivers without getting your feet wet on the discarded rubbish, most of it plastic.

      NZ has set out to save the world from plastic with paper bags replacing plastic. We replaced paper bags with plastic bags because they keep things like food fresher for longer, and are water proof.

      Of course, the Save The Worlders will become more and more strident as time passes and the plastic builds up. Maybe every country bordering the Pacific could contribute to dredging the two gyres, with those contributing the most rubbish contributing the most to the cost of picking it up … Yeah, I know, I’m dreaming.

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      David Maddison

      Everyone I know reuses their supermarket plastic bags for other things like garbage bin liners or to pick up after their dog. There was never a demonstrated problem with plastic bags that needed solving. It is hugely inconvenient to take your own bags to the supermarket or spend 15c buying them. And what type of business removes customer conveniences? I have also watched bagless supermarkets in action and it takes much longer for the checkout operators to pack numerous disparate bags as supplied by the customer.

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      • #
        sophocles

        Some supermarkets (1 chain, actually) charges its customers 10c per plastic bag … it’s still in business.

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      • #
        yarpos

        hugely inconvenient? really? we do it every Monday, it isnt that tough

        the bags tend to be the woven jobs sold by the stores or the durable plastic king as per Aldi.

        We first cam across this back in 2001 in Europe. Where we lived that had heavy grade paper bags with handles. They see to work well and got used for all kinds of carrying.

        Agree it will be a shame that we cant reuse shopping bags and will have to buy bags for general use. Nett, our bag use isnt going to change at all.

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    Mark M

    Okay, but it will be hard to keep Hawaii supplied via fossil-fuel-free gliders and sailboats …

    Hawaii signs law to become carbon neutral by 2045

    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/06/04/hawaii-signs-law-become-carbon-neutral-2045/

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    • #
      PeterS

      So how are they proposing to stop the volcanoes? Throw babies into them as sacrifices to Gaia?

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      • #
        Bill M

        Has anyone compared the pollution being emitted by the volcanoes in Hawaii and Quatemala compared with man made pollution

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    • #
      Kinky Keith

      When will this nonsense end?

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      • #
        PeterS

        Not soon enough that’s for sure. If the majority of scientists in the world weren’t so ignorant, cowards and/or selfish it would have been stopped already.

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        • #
          Mal

          Most Climate scientists today aren’t real scientists. They have no high level skills in maths, physics or other “hard” sciences. They do not even understand the scientific method. The term climate scientist is an oxymoron. I

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          • #
            PeterS

            I agree. I was referring to their colleagues in many other fields of research that are supposed to be more about real science. They are all a disgrace to their profession for keeping quiet about the whole scam. There has to be enough of them who know the real truth about all this nonsense. By keeping quiet they are just as guilty as the so called climate scientists who deliberately perpetrate their fake agenda.

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          • #
            Kinky Keith

            Not sure about the “oxy” part Mal.

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    • #
      beowulf

      It’s OK, don’t forget Solar Impulse has got it covered all you cynics out there in D*ni*r Land. Scoff away.

      Around the world in 80 120 200 365 473 days. Just 16 months. That’s half the time it took Magellan’s fellas in 1522. WOW.

      It can remain in the air “perpetually” or for 36 hours — whichever comes first — and required only 16 stops during its perpetual flight. Better yet, it can cruise at 30mph, even faster on a sunny day. Cloudy days . . . um, well. Windy days . . . err.

      Payload: 1 x passenger (skinny) + 17,000 solar cells and 0.92 tonnes of batteries.

      Backup crew: 1 x 747 (powered by fairy dust) + umpteen technicians, meteorologists and sundry hangers-on, and lots of spare parts.

      Cost: we don’t know, but it required a top-up of €20m at the half way mark in Hawaii after it fried its batteries on the way over from Japan.

      But it didn’t burn a single ounce of fossil fuel to get from Abu Dhabi to Abu Dhabi. Sounds like a goer to me.

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      • #
        sophocles

        Yeah, but Beowulf: Magellan’s lads used wind power and we all know the wind doesn’t blow all the time. And they had to get their boat through four sets of doldrums on their way round.

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      • #
        beowulf

        Should have added: while the solar white elephant was taking 473 days to circumnavigate the Earth, Russian Fedor Konyukhov did it in 11 days in a balloon. Might be a lesson in there somewhere.

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      • #
        Latus Dextro

        Some corporate virtue signalling from Omega, who produced an edition based on their earlier ‘Mars’ watch, certified by the European Space Agency.
        THE SPEEDMASTER SKYWALKER X-33 SOLAR IMPULSE LIMITED EDITION

        Easy to understand why it is a imited edition‘.

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    • #
      Annie

      MarkM. How do you build those ‘fossil-free’ boats and gliders without ‘carbon’? It’s there, even ignoring what’s breathed out by the people making them! Hawaii sounds like hippy dippy land if they really believe they can be zero ‘carbon’.

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      • #
        yarpos

        Not zero carbon, but carbon neutral , there is a very big difference.

        Lets assume they really mean CO2 , so the can play all kinds of games with offsets and “markets” without ever really dealing with the real world.

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        • #
          Annie

          I wondered who would be the first to pick me up on that! I realised what I’d said as soon as I posted it. Rats!

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    • #
      Another Ian

      Mark

      Don’t forget there are carbon points in those gliders – so long as they’re made of wood

      IIRC “The service life of wooden gliders designed to BSS (I forget the spec number) Section E – Cloud Flying Gliders is around 50 years or for all practical purposes indefinite”

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      David Maddison

      They’ll have to plug the volcano first.

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  • #
    john

    Reposting this: This is developing. More to come…

    Important legal case Re: Sun Edison Bankruptcy that may affect projects in Australia and elsewhere that pertains to racketeering etc.. by the bankruptcy trustee re: the acquisition of SUNE assets. This involves many companies including UPC First Wind, Longroad Energy Partners, NRG et.al..

    http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/AlixComplaint.pdf

    Mckinsey (defendant) in above case was involved with Enron. Most of those companies I mention above are former Enron employees/ execs…
    Mckinsey Enron…
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/mckinsey-how-does-it-always-get-away-with-it-9113484.html

    McKinsey’s fingerprints can be found at the scene of some of the most spectacular corporate and financial debacles of recent decades. The energy-trading firm Enron was the creation of Jeff Skilling, a proud McKinsey consultant of 21 years. But this wasn’t guilt by association. Enron, under Mr Skilling, was paying McKinsey $10m (£6m) a year for advice. McKinsey fully endorsed the dubious accounting methods that caused the company to implode in 2001.

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      • #
        john

        Excerpt:

        24 MAY 2018 2 MIN READ
        Eskom’s R595m paid to Trillian ‘can’t be found’

        in News / South Africa by Karyn Maughan

        The money Eskom paid to Trillian cannot be traced.
        The money Eskom paid to Trillian cannot be traced.
        Image: FILE PHOTO
        The R595-million that Eskom paid Gupta-linked Trillian Capital – as part of an allegedly criminal deal – has “disappeared”‚ making it currently impossible for the Asset Forfeiture Unit to recover that cash.

        But the state is still going after the R1-billion that the state power utility paid to international consultancy firm McKinsey‚ after negotiations over the return of that money broke down.

        Eskom CEO Phakamani Hadebe has stated that the dealings that senior Eskom officials had with Trillian – including “sending confidential information to Trillian representatives‚ conducting private meetings and accepting holidays in Dubai” – “have all the hallmarks of corruption”.

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  • #
    yarpos

    News this morning from our CSIRO , a great innovation, powdered broccoli. One suggestion to help busy millenials get their recommended fruit and veg intake – “In coffee, broccoli powder is added to the pulled espresso shot, before the steamed milk is added, with more powder sprinkled on top.”

    Hot tip: If you want to increase your fruit and veg intake, how about eating more frigging fruit and vegetables? rather than dessicating stuff and putting it in your coffee.

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    • #
      PeterS

      Indeed. However I do sprinkle grounded cinnamon onto my black tea.

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      • #
        sophocles

        Nice, isn’t it? 🙂
        I enjoyed chewing cinnamon bark. It was much nicer than chewing gum.

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    • #
      el gordo

      They might call it broccoli now, but its a precursor to soylent green.

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        Graeme No.3

        No, it’s a precursor to compulsory broccoli consumption. Broccoli is GOOD FOR YOU, it’s just that most people hate the taste and refuse to eat it, so the Greenies (to coin a label) will demonstrate their power by forcing it down your throats.

        Mind you, I think they’d do better to take up the chinese idea of broccolini with oyster sauce, though how that would go with coffee makes me want to………. Sorry, toilet break.

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      Kinky Keith

      Just imagine the CO2 created by the dessication process and shipping of those extra ingredients.

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        Another Ian

        Just imagine what all that does to the nutrient content

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          beowulf

          Never mind the nutrients, what about the flavour and the appearance. Just what you’d want – a hide tide mark of green scum around your coffee. I hope they don’t find a way to powder brussel sprouts or turnips.

          Personally I’m waiting for Tooheys Extra New with Broccoli, and my fave Bundy and Broc.

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            sophocles

            I think I could watch other people drinking it as long as it didn’t try to climb out if its container…

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            Sceptical Sam

            Yep. But you forget: we already have a “a hide tide mark of green scum”. And it’s not in your coffee.

            It’s in your Parliament.

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    • #
      TedM

      Just a bit too obvious for our scientists at the CSIRO.

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  • #
    Mark M

    Guess that carbon (sic) tax stopped the global warming …

    CSIRO: Giving high power bills the cold shoulder

    https://blog.csiro.au/giving-high-power-bills-cold-shoulder/

    Carbon tax hit small: CSIRO

    http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/carbon-tax-hit-small-csiro-20111112-1ncvq.html

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    • #
      Kinky Keith

      The second article from 2011, shows a happy couple willing to sacrifice all for the environment.

      It would be interesting to check back with them to see if they still have jobs now after the electricity prices have gone sky high and sent a great many jobs overseas to places with realistic governments.

      Sorry, of course they have jobs.. Didn’t our President substantially increase the public service in Canberra.

      KK

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  • #
    el gordo

    Where ‘ere you be, let your wind blow free, for it is the wind that killeth thee.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-05/wind-disappears-in-britain-leaving-turbines-at-a-standstill

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  • #
    David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

    Morning all,
    BASLink appears to be operational again.

    https://www.aemo.com.au/Electricity/National-Electricity-Market-NEM/Data-dashboard#nem-dispatch-overview

    Cheers,
    Dave B

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  • #
    pat

    VIDEO: 1min27secs: 5 Jun: NTK Network: Energy Expert: Solar, Wind Don’t Have Capacity to Power America
    Richard Rhodes, who literally wrote the book on energy in America, told MSNBC that renewable sources like solar and wind can’t store sufficient energy to power America.
    In an appearance on MSNBC on Tuesday, energy expert and author Richard Rhodes told the network’s Ali Velshi that we did not have the technology to support an electric grid powered by renewable sources like solar and wind.
    “You can run [coal and natural gas] day and night, and the problem with renewables, desirable as they are in many ways, is that the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine,” he said.

    Even if the United States wanted to move to solar and wind, Rhodes added, we would have to use power sources like coal or natural gas as a critical backup.
    “Electricity isn’t stored,” the author explained. “It’s manufactured, and it’s instantly at the wall plug.”

    Velshi told Rhodes that a lot of people claim that the energy grid can store electricity until it is needed. “We don’t have enough ability to store that energy in a way to make the grid reliable,” he said, adding he is “a big fan” of renewables.
    Rhodes confirmed Velshi’s statement, saying that the batteries aren’t even close to holding the requisite amount of energy.
    Rhodes is the author of “Energy: A Human History.”
    https://ntknetwork.com/energy-expert-solar-wind-dont-have-capacity-to-power-america/

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      sophocles

      Electricity isn’t stored,” the author explained. “It’s manufactured, and it’s instantly at the wall plug.”

      Sigh, Another cretin. It’s not manufactured, it’s generated.

      There’s a big difference. You can’t pick electricity up and walk away with it; it can only be used in a circuit between the generator and the “load“—it all ends up going back to the generator.

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    pat

    this is getting some media coverage!

    Peter Ridd’s case also mentioned:

    6 Jun: 2GB: Alan Jones Show: Former Prime Minister phones the open line over ‘extraordinary double standard’
    Former Labor leader Mark Latham says a university’s acceptance of millions of dollars to fund an Arab and Islamic Centre, while pulling support for a course on Western civilization, is a crisis.
    ANU has accepted up to $2 million each from the governments of Dubai, Iran and Turkey to fund its Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies.
    However, the university has withdrawn plans to establish a course in Western civilization with the Ramsey Centre, claiming “academic autonomy.”…
    Latham wants the Federal government to de-fund universities that don’t support freedom of speech and Western society…

    AUDIO: 10mins03secs: Mark Latham…

    After hearing Mark Latham’s chat with Alan, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott called in…

    AUDIO: 2min25secs: Tony Abbott calls in
    https://www.2gb.com/former-pm-phones-the-open-line-over-extraordinary-double-standard/

    however, this is even crazier, and more dangerous. (second interview with attorney/ex air traffic controller, Michael Pearson):

    VIDEO: 6mins03secs: 4 Jun: RealClearPolitics: Tucker Carlson: Obama Administration Put Diversity Over Safety in Hiring Air Traffic Controllers
    by Ian Schwartz
    (TRANSCRIPT EXCERPTS)
    TUCKER CARLSON: Starting in 2014 the FAA added a biographical questionnaire to the application process. Applicants with a lower aptitude in science got preference over applicants who had scored excellent in science. Applicants who had been unemployed for the previous three years got more points than licensed pilots got. In other words, the FAA actively searched for unqualified air traffic controllers. That is insane and they knew it was insane when they did it but they did it anyway.

    Today we obtained new information, it is an internal email written by an executive at the firm that devised the FAA’s biographical questionnaire. In that email, the executive admits that the test he devised has nothing to do with finding the best air traffic controllers. If you want good air traffic controllers, find peoplpeople with experience, that was his advice. The FAA ignored this and used the biographical screen anyway. They didn’t care about finding the best air traffic controllers. Compared to diversity, your safety meant nothing to them…
    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/06/04/tucker_carlson_obama_administration_put_diversity_over_safety_in_hiring_air_traffic_controllers.html

    Tucker’s first interview with Pearson:

    VIDEO: 8min14secs: 2 Jun: Fox News: Amy Lieu: Obama-era FAA hiring rules place diversity ahead of airline safety, attorney (Michael Pearson) tells Tucker Carlson
    The safety of America’s airline passengers is being compromised for the sake of diversity in hiring air traffic controllers, an attorney suing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told “Tucker Carlson Tonight” host Tucker Carlson on Friday…

    Pearson, who said he was an air traffic controller in four of the nation’s busiest facilities for nearly 27 years, asserted that much of the problem lies with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the union that controls a large political action committee.
    “They fund a lot of politicians,” Pearson told Carlson…
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/06/02/obama-era-faa-hiring-rules-place-diversity-ahead-airline-safety-attorney-tells-tucker-carlson.html

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      Hanrahan

      Dick Smith was talking to Alan Jones, lamenting the number of flying schools going broke/being bought by China. He blamed CASA saying that cost was not part of their charter so they have a “safety at ALL cost” attitude. That’s OK to a point bet you rapidly get to the point of diminished returns or simply where new regs are counter-productive. Losing flying schools certainly is so.

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    Graeme No.3

    Any news about Rereke Whakaaro?
    Is he well?
    Had a brain fade with the babbling of their new PM?
    Gone on a long holiday in a windjammer and is becalmed somewhere in the South Seas?
    suffering frost-bite due to all this Global Warming?

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    Okay, let me show you how well the electrical power grid can cope with ‘big’ problems.

    Now, here, keep in mind the failure in South Australia, and how the loss of just some of their wind plants led to a widespread outage. (shown at this image link) This is in a Small State with a reliance on wind power, and front of mind, is only 5.5% to 6% of Australia’s total power consumption, so that’s what I mean here where I say ‘small’ State, and that South Australia is at the far end of this grid, with only Victoria to call upon via the Interconnector.

    What happened yesterday is something I have not seen before. I have been looking at the data and graphs for all power generation for a long time now, many years, and in depth for the last year especially with regard to my Base Load Series, and in all that time, I have not seen anything like this.

    Okay, some background first. In NSW, there are currently 3 coal fired Units off line, Bayswater 1, and Liddell 1 and 3, and that has removed 1500MW from the grid. In Queensland, there are 3 Units off line, Gladstone 3 and 4 and Tarong North, and that takes 960MW from the grid. So, there’s 2500MW already down. Victoria had Yallourn 1 down for a while, but in the last couple of days, it’s come back up, so all ten Units in Victoria are now back on line.

    Now look at the image at this link.

    This shows what happened yesterday, Tuesday 5th June 2018.

    First, look across to the right and you’ll see that yellow line coming back on line. That’s Eraring Unit One slowly coming back up after a long period off line for upgrade and maintenance.

    So, from the top of the image there.

    The darker blue line shows Kogan Creek in Queensland, a 744MW single Unit, and that went down, suddenly, (quick, turn it off) just after Midday.

    Below that, the lighter blue line is Mount Piper Unit One and that went down at around the same time, after an earlier wavering, a slower fall spread over three hours.

    Under that is Bayswater Unit Four. That’s only been operating at that level of 400MW for a while now, since it came back up after its Upgrade. (I think, Upgrade) That’s a slight problem they have been working on would be my guess. They then tried to raise it in the usual staged way they do, but it looks like that was a problem, so they slowly brought it back to zero as well, to further work on it, slowly reducing to zero over six hours.

    So, here we have a loss of a further (almost) 2000MW. Some of that will come back relatively quickly as Eraring One spins back up, but we now have 4500MW removed from the grid.

    The point here is that this has happened across a coverage area where there is 90% of grid total power assets. (Three big States, NSW, Qld, and Vic) They have access to many more Natural gas fired plants and the larger concentration of Hydro, and NSW has access to both Victoria and Qld as well, via those Intercconnectors.

    Those other sources covered for these drops, and keep in mind here that this 4500MW of power now off line is around three times the total power requirements for South Australia.

    It’s easy to ‘cover’ when you have such a large and diversified grid over this vast area. A loss of 300MW to 400MW leads to a catastrophe in SouthAus, while this loss of 4500MW in the three big States is something no one even noticed, let alone reported on.

    As I said, I’ve never seen something like this before, and it proves to me that we need large scale power plants, and of most importance, we need new large scale coal fired plants to replace aging ones.

    This is the wake up call that will just slide right past without anyone even noticing.

    Incidentally, at the same time these Units all went down, wind and solar power combined were generating 600MW, which at that time was 2.6% of total power consumption.

    It emphasises just how well the grid really does work.

    Tony.

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      TedM

      “As I said, I’ve never seen something like this before, and it proves to me that we need large scale power plants, and of most importance, we need new large scale coal fired plants to replace aging ones.”

      Spot on Tony. Unfortunately the impending advent of the ridiculously expensive Snowy Hydro 2.0 will prevent this from happening, with the possible exception of WA and Qld. I see Snowy hydro 2.0 as a sinister plot to lock in the bird and bat blenders. If it comes into being, then the argument will be that all we need is more wind turbines and the hydro will supply on the days that wind is not producing. If I am correct that would require wind turbines with a total nameplate capacity four times that of an equivalent coal fired power station. I shudder at the thought.

      So the aim is to take expensive power, use about 20% of it to store the other 80%, simply because the original expensive power source is so unreliable.

      Add to that the sprawling network of transmission lines, and possibly the collective losses and the green dream materialises into a realistic nightmare.

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      PeterS

      Nice work Tony, as usual. Too bad no one is listening or interested, including the vast majority of the public. We simply have to suffer several major outages across large areas to wake people up. The politicians will then have to react accordingly unless they really are conducting a deliberate campaign to destroy Australia economically, which is not totally out of the question but I feel unlikely. More likely is they are just plain stupid and the voters keep voting for them. We are simply a whole nation of sheep heading over the cliff.

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      • #

        As I mentioned in the main text of my comment, this was a pretty major removal of power from the grid, and no one even noticed, proving the resiliency of the major (90%) part of the grid.

        If there was going to be a problem, this would have come close.

        I would think now, going on this, that if the grid can handle the loss of what was 4500MW, (a pretty huge amount) then for it to ‘fail’ catastrophically, it would take half of the coal fired plants in NSW and Qld to go down ….. at the same time.

        That will never happen, unless it is intentionally done that way, so it’ll never happen.

        They could effectively get away with it really.

        Trust me, this was major, and if the Greenies do latch onto what did happen yesterday, and I doubt that will happen they’ll be shooting themselves in the foot, because the grid and the AEMO handled this with aplomb, and they can’t see that wind and solar helped, because those were both only delivering only 2% of the power at the time.

        Tony.

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          Yes Tony, hats off to AEMO and the grid. I’d like to hear how they actually managed this massive power loss in the time frame.
          How would Snowy 2 have contributed?

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            Graeme No.3

            Terence M:

            Reduced demand at this time of the year helps a lot. At peak demand (very hot days in summer with little wind) or cold overcast days in winter then it would be different. But the Greenies are ahead of use because so many make or buy wax candles.

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          PeterS

          I understand what you are saying. So we have many years of “fat” to go through before we reach the really serious stage. No wonder they are not in a hurry to bolster our existing coal fired power stations. Perhaps we are in a better position than most countries because we have looked after ours better than most. I understand that some of the nuclear power plants in the US are in a bad state due to their age and the high cost of maintaining them. It’s no wonder Trump announced a plan to bolster them. Of course there’s still the problem of the ever increasing cost to the consumer and to business.

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      Kinky Keith

      Thanks Tony
      Great outline.
      The message you’re giving is that there is safety in diversity but that we are near the limit with old equipment that badly needs replacement with large scale coal fired generators.

      We need to take the politics out of electricity production and copy what the rest of the world is doing, because our politicians have made a mess, not only of the production, but the grid via rooftop and the “market”.

      How can a professional working in the electricity industry do their job when confronted by an insane politicised “market” coupled with a veto on using the best generation equipment available and with also having to integrate renewables into the system.
      The only thing Australia has going for it here is the continued transfer of industry overseas which reduces the load on the system as it progressively fails.

      God help Australia because our President won’t.

      KK

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    David Maddison

    There is now a push to introduce wind powered cargo ships to save the planet from natural climate cycles.

    There is a very good reason the industry dropped sails the moment steam and other engines were developed.

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      PeterS

      In a world of competition any business that decides to do that surely will go bankrupt very quickly. The only way it would happen is if it is enforced under some kind of one world government, which is on the cards, but even then I doubt they would even bother.

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    Ian1946

    A good article that suggested that climate change is just another SJW cause and relys on identity politics to keep it going.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/06/has-climate-change-advocacy-has-run-its-course-it-sure-seems-so/

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      PeterS

      IMHO the climate change scam will one day end up being in the history books as the biggest scam of all time. Consequently I hope to see lots of people behind bars for a long time if not for life. Many have received such punishment for committing far less significant financial crimes. Bernard Madoff is one of them.

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    NTgeo

    The CO2 emissions from our steam coal, coking coal and LNG exports dwarfs the emissions from our electricity sector. I looked into this out of interest and found some enlightening facts. We currently export 330 Mt of steam coal, 220 Mt of coking coal and 70 Mt of LNG. Each tonne of steam coal produces about 2.2 t of CO2. Each tonne of steel needs 0.8 t of coking coal and 1.9 t of CO2 is produced from the process. A tonne of LNG produces 1.2 t of CO2 when burnt. So our steam coal exports produce 725 t of CO2 when burnt. The coking coal produces 330 Mt of CO2 when used to make steel and our LNG when burnt produces 70 Mt of CO2. This makes a grand total of 1125 Mt of CO2 produced from these exports. Australia’s projected total emissions of CO2 for this year are 520 Mt of which about 200 Mt is from electricity production. Does this make sense?? Our exports when used overseas produce nearly 6 times the CO2 which we currently produce from our power stations but we can’t burn the coal in Australia!

    Here is an idea, why don’t we direct some of those coal exports to new coal-fired power stations in our country so we can benefit from cheaper electricity rather than overseas countries.

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      PeterS

      The last idea has been suggested too often. It has been falling on deaf ears for so long now. Wait until the crash and burn scenario plays out and either China or some other nation takes over. Then we will have all the new coal fired and nuclear power stations we need.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Ah, but those emissions happen overseas. We can’t discriminate against Chinese, Indians, Philippinos etc. just because they are smarter than the average Australian (and way smarter than the average Australian politician).

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      yarpos

      Its like the preening virtue signallers carefully ignoring how their solar panels are made and the toxic trail behind them, and the wind turbine materials and the 40tonnes of concrete and reo at the bottom of every single one of them.

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    OriginalSteve

    You just cant help some people…..

    https://cen.acs.org/policy/Scientists-hit-campaign-trail/96/i22?utm_source=NonMember&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=CEN

    “he day after U.S. President Donald J. Trump was inaugurated in 2017, millions of people in Washington, D.C., and across the country gathered for the Women’s March to advocate for social change. Additional marches and protests followed, responding to the president’s statements and policy proposals on immigration, race, gun control, and other issues.

    ………

    Prominent among these demonstrations was the March for Science. First held on April 22, 2017—Earth Day—scientists and science supporters united in their refusal to sit quietly as the Trump administration stanched public access to data, denied that humans are driving climate change, proposed cutting research funding, and left key science positions vacant. To those who participated in March for Science events in 2017 and 2018, Trump administration actions demonstrate cavalier disdain for evidence-based policy-making.

    Randy Wadkins, a University of Mississippi chemistry professor and cancer researcher running for Congress in Mississippi, is especially disturbed by the number of science-centered congressional and administrative posts held by people who are dismissive of climate change science and widely viewed as unqualified.

    For examples, Wadkins points to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who has chaired the House Committee on Science, Space & Technology since 2013 and is not seeking reelection this year, and Scott Pruitt, who leads EPA under Trump. Both men are attorneys without science backgrounds. “And look at Jim Bridenstine,” a former Navy pilot who took the helm at NASA in April, Wadkins says. “The beat goes on.”

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    Greg in NZ

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/104486057/Facial-injuries-after-crash-as-black-ice-and-snow-blanket-southern-roads

    From the Fairfax Media stable of pap: South Islanders are “waking to a bitterly cold and icy morning with snow settling on the ground”. Damn you Anthroprophetic Gugu Wawa (AGW) – methinks the missing warmth has finally ‘run away’, just like they’ve been prophesying for decades. Numerous alpine passes were “closed due to snow… heavy snow.” Yeehaah – epic! Parts of the country “could still get sleety snow showers to sea level before 10am and again late Wednesday evening through to early Thursday morning.” You mean there’s MORE on the way? Excellent news, everyone…

    “I’m sure the skifields got quite a nice dumping.” No kidding. “It’s shaping up to be a sensational start to the season”. But, but, but the experts said – oh, never mind.

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    pat

    if “The energy industry comprises more than half of the ($4 trillion) green economy” – as it states in this report – what are we getting in return, as compared with fossil fuels?

    5 Jun: ClimateChangeNews: Green economy now worth as much as fossil fuel sector
    FTSE Russell (wholly owned by the London Stock Exchange) reports 6% of global equity market, roughly $4 trillion, comes from clean energy and environmental service sector
    By Caitlin Tilley
    (Caitlin Tilley, Journalist currently studying English Literature at the University of Leeds)
    The green economy now holds roughly the same market share as the fossil fuel sector, according to market analysts FTSE Russell.

    In a report released last week (LINK), 6% of globally listed equity was derived from renewable and alternative energy, energy efficiency, water, waste and pollution services. This ‘green economy’ was now worth approximately $4 trillion, roughly the same as the fossil fuel sector…
    “No longer a loose concept the green economy is now a measurable and definable investment priority,” said the report…

    FTSE Russell found that if the sustainable economy maintained its current course, it could represent 7% of the global market capitalisation by 2030, even reaching 10% with ***$90 trillion in green investment – a target called for by UK economist Nicholas Stern in 2016…

    The energy industry comprises more than half of the green economy. Food and agriculture, water and transport are other important sectors.
    In terms of financial value, the US is the largest contributor to the green economy. But Japan and Europe were above average. Germany and France are significant European participants, with higher than average green exposure, each providing around 4% of the green sector.
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/06/05/green-economy-now-worth-much-fossil-fuel-sector/

    FTSE Russell press release: FTSE Russell launches 2018 STEP Change Initiative
    Stewardship, Transition and Engagement Program (STEP) for Change initiative issued today alongside new detailed analysis on the size and scale of the Green Economy
    STEP Change to help drive better global standards in sustainable investment…
    If green investment accelerates to c. $90 trillion then it could reach ten per cent of global market capitalisation, similar in size to global health care…

    Jack Ehnes, Chief Executive Officer of CalSTRS (California State Teachers’ Retirement System) and Chairman of the FTSE Environmental Markets Committee said:
    “The ability to track industrial, macroeconomic trends using quantifiable measures is crucial for institutional investors. FTSE Russell’s green revenues data model provides such a framework giving us the ability to measure and understand the transition to a green economy both at a company and at a portfolio level.

    Helen Wildsmith, Stewardship Director – Climate Change ***CCLA & Deputy Chair, FTSE Russell ESG Advisory Committee:
    “Environmental, Social and Governance factors are increasingly becoming a core component to investment strategies and corporate engagement undertaken by institutional investors such as ourselves. FTSE4Good and the ESG Ratings are helping to improve market standards, promoting greater disclosure and transparency, and catalysing better sustainability performance among global firms as the transition to a green and sustainable economy continues to gain momentum.”
    DOWNLOADS
    http://www.ftserussell.com/files/press-releases/ftse-russell-launches-2018-step-change-initiative

    ***Bloomberg: CCLA Investment Management Limited is a privately owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to the Church of England, charities, faith organizations, and local authorities in the United Kingdom. It manages mutual funds for its clients. The firm invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe.

    Helen Wildsmith’s Twitter page is a revelation too. always good to watch closely as they plot to grab the money.

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      pat:

      Did anyone show how much electricity the Green Sector generated compared with the reliable, conventional (non-subsidised) sector?

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    pat

    more coal-shaming!

    5 Jun: ClimateChangeNews: Job of ending coal in Germany handed to 31-member committee
    Commission will set a phase-out timeline for coal, but greens warn it may be too weak and divided to salvage Germany’s reputation as a climate leader
    By Megan Darby
    Climate advocates have warned the commission’s remit has been weighted towards economic stability (LINK) over meeting international climate commitments. Its name, the Special Commission on Growth, Structural Economic Change and Employment, does not reference climate or coal.
    Unofficially, though, it is known as the Kohlekommission or coal commission…

    “At the moment, the climate is rather marginalised,” said Brigitte Knopf, head of the Mercator Research Institute. “I am not very optimistic that we will see a very powerful statement concerning the coal phaseout.”…

    Trust in the process is fragile and Germany’s failure to live up to its 2020 climate promises has left a question mark over its international credibility…
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/06/05/job-ending-coal-germany-handed-31-member-committee/

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    pat

    the German climate leader falls (like previous climate leaders US/French/Canadian & Chinese); the Spanish & Italian climate leaders rise…or not!

    5 Jun: ClimateChangeNews: Spain, Italy leadership changes raise hopes for EU climate ambition
    by Megan Darby; Caitlin Tilley contributed to this article
    Climate hawk Teresa Ribera gets a leading role in Pedro Sánchez’ government, while Giuseppe Conte promises to speed up Italy’s decarbonisation…

    Spain’s incoming centre-left prime minister Pedro Sánchez named climate hawk Teresa Ribera on Tuesday to lead a new super-ministry spanning energy and environment.
    Ribera previously served as secretary of state for climate change 2008-11. Since then, she became director of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (Iddri) in Paris and sat on the board of several climate-related organisations. She is known as an advocate for clean energy and international cooperation on climate change.

    Laurence Tubiana, a key French architect of the Paris Agreement, and former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark were among the first to congratulate her on the appointment…TWEETS…

    Sánchez does not have a majority in parliament, however, which may constrain his government’s ability to effect change…

    Meanwhile Giuseppe Conte, the law professor named to lead Italy’s populist coalition, promised in his inaugural speech on Tuesday to speed up the decarbonisation of the economy…
    It is short on specific policies to back up the rhetoric, however, noted E3G expert Luca Bergamaschi. “For now we can expect continuity with previous commitments and actions. Unless the new government develops a credible strategy and moves rapidly towards implementation, the government contract and the speech of the new PM will be just words.”…
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/06/05/spain-italy-leadership-changes-raise-hopes-eu-climate-ambition/

    the CAGW mob are grasping at(non-plastic) straws. as if Spain and Italy can afford the “green” dream.

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    pat

    5 Jun: CarbonPulse: California Gov. Brown appoints carbon market advisors, rounding out AB-398 panel
    California Governor Jerry Brown on Monday appointed three experts to sit on the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee (IEMAC) – a five-member panel created under AB-398 to monitor the environmental and economic performance of the state’s carbon market.

    4 Jun: EDF: Governor Brown Appoints EDF California Climate Director to Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee
    Quentin Foster will evaluate the performance of California’s cap-and-trade program for CalEPA…
    Quentin: “I am honored Governor Brown has appointed me to the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee. This is an opportunity to ensure that the environmental integrity in California’s landmark cap-and-trade program remains a priority.
    “California is a longtime leader on climate issues, in large part due to its cap-and-trade program that’s successfully limited climate pollution and is helping the state meet its ambitious climate goals. The revenues generated from cap and trade also allows California to drive investments into communities that are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This is important because, as a native of South Los Angeles with deep roots in the environmental justice community, I’ve seen first-hand the need to address our air quality and protect our environment…

    VIDEO: 2min36secs: 31 May: CBS Sacramento: New California Law Limits How Much Water People Can Use
    By Jennifer McGraw
    California is now the first state in the nation to enact tough new water-efficiency standards. The controversial rules limit how many gallons a person can use inside their home per day…
    “So that everyone in California is at least integrating efficiency into our preparations for climate change,” said Felicia Marcus, Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board.
    So, what are the new rules?…

    In 2022, the new indoor water standard will be 55 gallons per person, per day. by 2030, it will fall to 50 gallons.
    “With a child and every day having to wash clothes, that’s, just my opinion, not feasible. But I get it and I understand that we’re trying to preserve…but 55 gallons a day?” said Tanya Allen, who has a 4-year-old daughter…
    An 8-minute shower uses about 17 gallons of water, a load of laundry up to 40, and a bathtub can hold 80 to 100 gallons of water.
    “She likes to bathe three times a day and she does laundry all day,” said Rocka Mitchell from Texas…
    “I think the average new home is 35 gallons per person per day, so we are not talking emergency conservation here,” Marcus said…

    The ultimate goal is to make conservation a way of life in California. Outdoor water use is also covered by the new laws.
    Standards will be based on a region’s climate and other factors instead of just one standard for the whole state.
    http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2018/05/31/california-water-limits/#.WxXCC4Y10ko.twitter

    5 Jun: CarbonPulse: RINs crater to 5-year lows ahead of possible White House announcement on US RFS overhaul
    Prices for Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) sunk to levels not seen since 2013 on Monday, as the Trump administration was reportedly set to unveil sweeping programme changes to the US biofuels policy discussed last month.

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      pat

      for the record, the other two appointed by Jerry Brown were:

      5 Jun: STL News: California News: California Governor Brown Announces Appointments
      Dallas Burtraw, 62, of Takoma Park, Maryland, has been appointed to the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee. Burtraw has been Darius Gaskins senior fellow at Resources for the Future since 2010, where he has been a senior fellow since 1998 and was a fellow from 1989 to 1998. He was a program manager at SolarCal Local Government Commission on Conservation and Renewable Resources from 1981 to 1982. Burtraw is a member of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists and the American Economic Association…

      Meredith Fowlie, 43, of Piedmont, has been appointed to the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee. Fowlie has been an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Berkeley since 2012, where she was an assistant professor from 2009 to 2012. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Science degree in agricultural economics from Cornell University.
      https://www.stl.news/california-news-california-governor-brown-announces-appointments-3/131375/

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  • #
    Hanrahan

    BMW roll out inductive charging of their EVs and they boast it is 85% efficient. Fancy that, wilfully adding 15% to the demand for the scarce watts to charge these cars. The demo is a 5 series sedan which is a big car and would have enough problems charging o/night from a domestic GPO already, without a 15% handicap.

    Once EVs become ubiquitous there will be no cheap o/night off peak power so this penalty won’t be welcome, except by rich virtue signallers.

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      PeterS

      To be honest I wouldn’t mind an electric car because it’s smooth, great acceleration and quiet. The downside though is they are expensive to buy, run and maintain, far too slow to charge, most are ugly an there is the harmful impact to the environment due to their manufacture (batteries and motors) plus their disposal. The charging time is the main issue in reality. Who wants to wait hours for a charge when it only takes a few minutes to fill up for a petrol car? It’s totally ridiculous and bordering on insanity. For long distant travellers I can imagine one day long queues at charging stations waiting for others to leave. Until they fix all those issues, which is probably many years if not decades to come they are a complete waste of time, except as you say for those rich virtue signallers who probably will have two or more of them with one or more on charge all the time. Let them virtue signal all they like. No one really cares.

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      • #
        Latus Dextro

        PeterS, electrick cars remain just that, an ideological trick to divest a larger part of the population of the independent private means of self-determined transportation. Instead, all journeys of the future will be accountable, trackable, reasoned, purposeful, directed, inclusive and at the same time, diverse. The sense of belonging will be overwhelming.
        But wait, there’s more. An electrick vehicle lugs of the order of 30% of its mass in dead weight battery (Tesla 3). It is a colossus of inefficiency and environmental threat.
        But who cares? Easy fix.
        There simply won’t be very many of them and they don’t ’emit’, so they satisfy the UNFCCC definition of zero “climate change” unlike their inconvenient human occupants, who’ll be affecting atmospheric composition with every excited breath.

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          PeterS

          Yes that’s the state now and the forseable future but I can realistically see technology improving down the road and eventually electric cars might actually be the way to go, not because it will have anything to do with climate change nonsense but simply because it’s what consumers will prefer. For now it’s a waste of time and I can’t see consumers going for electric cars en mass for the reasons I outlined.

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          • #
            Graeme No.3

            PeterS:

            Flywheels have almost reached the same power weight ratio as (less flammable) Lithium batteries. They offer rapid discharge without deteriation, rapid charging (better for regenerative braking), longer life etc. They are, of course, uneconomic unless someone can “improve” their performance roughly 3 times so they could compete with ICE.
            “Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
            Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
            Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
            Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,–
            For a battery of powerful trouble,
            Needs a hell-broth that boils and bubbles.”

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    pat

    this is getting max MSM coverage in UK:

    5 Jun: Daily Mail: Ministers are set to pump billions of pounds of public money into new nuclear power station in North Wales
    •Business Secretary Greg Clark has paved the way for public investment at Wylfa
    •Nuclear power plant project could provide 6 per cent of the UK’s energy needs
    •It would be the first time in decades that government has invested directly
    By James Tapsfield
    The move was welcomed by the nuclear industry and unions – but condemned by environmental groups…
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5805191/Direct-investment-new-nuclear-power-station-considered-Government.html

    4 Jun: BBC: Wylfa Newydd nuclear power plant negotiations start
    Environmental campaigners have also raised questions and concerns about the proposed plant.
    Kate Blagojevic, head of energy at Greenpeace UK, said: “The notion that new nuclear will be good value for money is farcical when it’s so much more expensive than cleaner, safer renewable alternatives that are faster to build.”
    Caroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green Party, said: “Taking a stake in this nuclear monstrosity would see taxpayers locked into the project, and paying out for a form of electricity generation that’s not fit for the future.”

    Ahead of the UK government’s announcement, there was speculation that it would no longer support plans for a tidal lagoon in Swansea – but no announcement was made by Mr Clark…
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-44360816

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      PeterS

      Looks like Trump’s actions to bolster their coal fired and nuclear power stations is spreading throughout the West. When is Turnbull going to announce a similar action for our coal fired power stations? Or is he really such a coward and a dill.

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        Dennis

        It is far more important to meet Paris Agreement emissions reduction targets to avoid penalties imposed by the UN.

        So Australians are being penalised to avoid UN penalties.

        Once upon a time sovereignty was valued highly and elected representatives guarded our sovereignty against foreigners.

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    pat

    5 Jun: BusinessGreen: Repowering our way through the wreckage
    by Alan Whitehead, MP
    (Alan Whitehead is Shadow Energy and Clean Growth Minister and Labour MP for Southampton Test)
    Britain’s oldest onshore wind turbines will soon be 20 years old – the government should ensure they are repowered rather than dismantled, argues Labour’s Alan Whitehead.
    This much we know… onshore wind in England is effectively banned.

    Onshore wind developers cannot access any forms of public support for it, such as Contracts for Difference (CfDs), and even if they could they would be defeated by the raft of planning obstacles put in their path in the wake of the then DECC decision to leave onshore in the breeze…

    Something like 60 onshore projects will be cutting their 20th birthday cakes over the next five years. And they will therefore be coming to the end of the life of the turbines they first erected. The question that then arises is should they be repowered – that is the old turbines and mountings removed and replaced in identical locations with new (and here’s the gain) far more powerful plant than was installed twenty years ago.

    A recent report on repowering of wind suggested that technical developments over the period would mean that something like 50 per cent more power could come from the already existing sites. The loss on the other hand would be a gradual run down of what there is if the present onshore capacity as plant is not repowered…
    Inaction on repowering probably means that the present onshore industry contracts over the next few years…
    https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/opinion/3033498/repowering-our-way-through-the-wreckage

    4 Jun: Edie.net: Sarah George: 10 things you probably didn’t know about a record-breaking year for renewables
    The latest REN21 Renewables Global Status report (LINK) was published on Sunday (June 3) and claims that renewable projects accounted for 70% of all new power additions last year, representing 178GW of increased capacity worldwide.
    Another encouraging finding was that investment in new renewable power capacity last year was more than double that of new fossil fuel and nuclear power capacity combined – a trend the report attributes to falling renewables prices.

    But, the report warned that while the transition to renewables is well under way in the power sector, the heating, cooling and transport sectors – which together account for 80% of final energy use – continued to lag. It claims that globally, only 10% of final energy use in the heating and cooling sector is met with modern renewables, while the figure stands at just 3% for transport…

    2) UK investment fell dramatically
    The UK – which was Europe’s largest national investor in renewable energy in 2016 – saw total investment fall 65% year-on-year to just $7.6bn.
    The report attributes the dramatic decline to the ongoing shift towards subsidy-free renewables…

    4) The renewables transition isn’t lowering emissions
    Despite a global boom in capacity additions and a slight overall increase in investment, energy-related CO2 emissions rose 1.4% in 2017, after three years of holding steady…

    5) Just three nations set new renewables policies
    Perhaps unsurprisingly, only three national governments were found to set new targets for renewable energy at either national, state or provincial level in 2017…(Switzerland, Denmark, Vietnam)…
    https://www.edie.net/news/10/Ten-surprising-statistics-from-a-record-year-for-renewables-/

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      yarpos

      I am really surprised at the Swiss. I thought they would have more sense. I suspect there is a trading angle in all this and they have found away to leverage hydro to their national advantage.

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    pat

    6 Jun: ABC: Asbestos riddled Morwell Power Station to be demolished despite heritage listing
    ABC Gippsland By Nicole Asher
    Heritage Victoria has granted permission for the derelict Morwell Power Station in the Latrobe Valley to be demolished, despite it being listed on the Victorian heritage register.
    The demolition permit applies to the coal-fired power station, but not the associated briquette factory, which is expected to be returned to use as an industrial site in the future.
    The Morwell Power Station opened in the 1950s but has fallen into disrepair since it closed in 2014…

    Lobbying by Latrobe Valley history groups led to its heritage listing in February…
    Moe resident, Cheryl Wragg, was behind the power station’s heritage nomination and said the decision to allow its demolition showed contempt for the region.
    Ms Wragg said archival recordings of the power station would not provide the same insights into the energy industry as being able to walk through the historic buildings.
    “It’s not good enough. There’s no replacement for the real thing,” she said…

    “It’s the oldest coal-fired power station in the state.
    “It’s the rarest in terms of engineering and it’s the only remnant of Victoria’s briquetting industry.
    “It demonstrates the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, which changed the course of Victoria’s history,” Ms Wragg said…
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-06/morwell-power-station-demolition-approved/9840046

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  • #
    David Maddison

    Tesla completely monitors and controls their cars and can even remotely disable them or reduce their functionality. They are constantly reporting back to base.

    There is a YouTuber with a channel called Rich Rebuilds who discusses a lot of issues with regards to damaged Teslas he buys and tries to get working again. Lots of fun and games.

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfV0_wbjG8KJADuZT2ct4SA

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    pat

    ***$9 billion on the water grid, much of it wasted; now $20 billion on “renewables”:

    6 Jun: ABC: Massive wind farm approved in central Queensland
    By Megan Hendry and Jacquie Mackay
    A billion-dollar wind farm planned for central Queensland is set to be the biggest in the state and one of the largest in Australia.
    The 195-turbine Lacour Energy project at Clarke Creek, north-west of Rockhampton, has been granted State Government approval, with construction expected to begin next year.
    Company director Mark Rayner said the turbines would be positioned across eight cattle grazing properties, stretching 50 kilometres along the Broadsound Range and covering 76,000 hectares…

    We have the full support of the landowners on which the project will be built on,” he said.
    With the full feasibility study yet to be completed, Lacour Energy is continuing wind measurements at the site as well as detailed cost estimates for the project.
    “At this stage, we’re quietly confident that the project is going to proceed,” Mr Rayner said…

    Isaac Regional Council Deputy Mayor Kelly Vea Vea said the council was generally supportive of the project, but there had been some angst in the community over the potential impacts…
    Mr Rayner said the company would be required to pay for any damage it causes to the road network during the transportation of the massive turbines.

    Lacour Energy also plans to establish an annual $200,000 community benefit fund as a sweetener for the local community.
    The project also has a solar farm component, but Mr Rayner said that was not a requirement for it to proceed…

    The location will allow the wind farm to easily plug in to the State Government-owned Powerlink 275 kV transmission network, which runs adjacent to the site.
    The project is billed to create 350 jobs during construction and about 20 ongoing roles…
    At its peak, the wind farm is expected to generate 800 megawatts of power, making up 3 per cent of Queensland’s current electricity needs.

    Mr Dick said the approval had strict conditions attached to minimise noise impacts and disturbance to fauna and vegetation.
    “The turbines will have blade tips up to 220 metres above the base of the wind turbine tower,” he said.
    The Government said the project was part of the ***$20 billion worth of energy projects planned in Queensland, with about $4.5 billion worth already underway or financially committed.
    “We’re confident as this new technology rolls out we’ll continue to reduce the cost of renewable energy,” Mr Dick said…

    Council backs coal and renewables
    There are already 10 solar farms approved in the Isaac region with more under consideration.
    They sit alongside the region’s 26 operating coal mines and a further seven that are pending approval.
    “We really are a region that is feeding and powering and building communities all across the globe and we’re really proud of that,” Cr Vea Vea said.
    “You don’t have to be pro-coal or pro-renewables, we’re showing that on the ground, you can do both.”
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-06/billion-dollar-wind-farm-approved-in-central-queensland/9838026

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      pat

      some sources for the $9 billion water grid mention, all behind paywall:

      Beattie’s $9b grid proves to be a massive money pit – Courier Mail
      Courier Mail – 5 June 2013

      Palaszczuk Government: Queensland’s white elephant infrastructure
      Courier Mail-19 Aug. 2016
      WHITE elephant infrastructure worth billions of dollars is idle around … of the $9 billion water grid system fast-tracked as southeast Queensland …

      Residents told to start using more water or pay extra to meet …
      Courier Mail-31 May 2017
      The former Beattie government pressed ahead with the southeast Queensland water grid – which cost about $9 billion…

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      David Maddison

      They’re going to waste a billion dollars on that wind subsidy farm. So sad.

      And why do they always quote nameplate (800 MW) when it will on average only produce one third of that and at unpredictable randomly varying times? So they have a random generator with an average but useless coal backed output of 267 MW for a billion dollars and you could build a USC coal 1000MW plant for $2.2 billion according to the Australian Minerals Council. It would produce a genuine 1000 MW around the clock and need no subsidies.

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      Hanrahan

      At its peak, the wind farm is expected to generate 800 megawatts of power, making up 3 per cent of Queensland’s current electricity needs.

      $1 bill to contribute 3% to Qld’s generation at peak. How much will we have to spend to get 50% across the board? Madness takes it’s toll: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkplPbd2f60

      David Maddison suggests one third of that 800 MW real, I’ll suggest less. The prevailing winds in Qld are soueasters ie they blow parallel to the coast. You can’t power a wind farm with afternoon sea breezes similar to the Fremantle Doctor.

      Check the wind out at:
      https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-215.09,-32.93,927

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      Hanrahan

      Pat, in your post #24 there is a passage

      5 Jun: Daily Mail: Ministers are set to pump billions of pounds of public money into new nuclear power station in North Wales
      •Nuclear power plant project could provide 6 per cent of the UK’s energy needs

      A few billion pounds to provide 6% of UK’s needs, dispatchable, sounds much better value than this. Why are our decision makers wilfully blind?

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    Does anyone now what happened to Andrew Bolt’s Blog?

    Tony.

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    Another Ian

    I hope Turnbull isn’t aiming to out-strive this

    “Justin from Canada will prioritize gender equality and climate change at the G7 next week.
    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-trudeau-says-gender-equality-will-be-top-priority-at-g7-summit-despite/

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/index.php/2018/06/06/june-6-2018-reader-tips-2/#comment-1119305

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    David Maddison

    Beautiful, wondering coal. This natural coal seam fire in NSW, Australia has been burning for 6000 years.

    https://youtu.be/rm9UGkH1YQk

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    Jeff

    ABC 730 report just had a story on the Tasmanian proposal for pumped hydro.

    Also here

    Tasmanian pumped hydro sites identified for feasibility studies

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-06/tasmanian-pump-hydro-sites-identified/9839400

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    Jeff

    730 report video link

    New details on potential pumped hydro in Tasmania

    http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/new-details-on-potential-pumped-hydro-in-tasmania/9842754

    Posted Wed 6 Jun 2018, 9:12pm

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      Hanrahan

      Where, prey tell, does Tas get excess watts to pump water uphill? The other end of BassLink is Vic and they are flat out meeting their own demand and suppling SA. if you must do pumped hydro Snowy II is the best option, it is not relying on a single HV feeder.

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      Graeme#4

      And they want the other states to pay for a new Bass Interconnector, so they can charge the other states for their electricity. Can’t see that happening.

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    Hanrahan

    Has BassLink been fixed? Tas is importing again. Having to meet their own demand must have depleted their dams so they are in conservation mode. More drain on the North Is.

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    yarpos

    Anyone been watching the Fench Tennis Open? Mon Dieu! they really should have that event in the summer. Raining every day and people sitting around in jackets holding brollies. Damn global warming.

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