UK: Lights out for winter? Warning 12m people will be in energy poverty

All hail the clean green energy reset — where people are being warned to get ready to live in colder, darker houses, and big energy users will be offered money to stop work. Make plans to turn that factory off! Buy candles!

The UK sits on a giant gas storage site they could have tapped 10 years ago. Instead costs are up so much Ofgem has warned this could push around 12 million people into fuel poverty which is one in six people in Great Britain. The energy price cap is projected to hit around £3,200 (maximum annual tariff).

Apparently even newspapers are getting thinner. High energy costs make everything expensive.

Back to the dark ages? Now millions of Britons could be told to switch off the lights and turn down the thermostat to avoid blackouts this winter under emergency plans

Daily Mail, 24 July 2022

Households might have to turn down their thermostats and switch off lights to avoid blockouts under emergency plans.

To avoid rolling blackouts in the UK, the National Grid could also pay some large energy users to use less power to ease the pressure on the grid.

Britain’s next PM urge to target long-term plan after major ‘wake-up’ call

Express.UK

…with the energy price cap tipped to soar to around £3,200 (maximum annual tariff) in October, industry regulator Ofgem has warned this could push around 12 million people into fuel poverty.

Those that frack, get cheap gas

Benny Peiser from NetZeroWatch said natural gas prices in Europe are ten times higher than in the US because Europe is not using its shale resources.  Which leads me to this rather blistering graph by Wikideas1.

Natural gas prices Europe and US

Wikideas1  |   Trading Economics: EU Dutch Gas TTF | Natural Gas (USD)

But the UK Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, says it won’t help if the UK develops some more gas wells. The UK  has “no supply issues”  —  he declared in magical-economics — the energy crisis is just a “price issue”. Who needs to frack when you can have a focus group?

Meanwhile Greenpeace are doing everything they can to help Russia:

Greenpeace accused of siding with Putin and putting British security at risk
The Daily Telegraph, 26 July 2022

The eco campaign group claims Shell was wrongly granted a development licence for the Jackdaw field without proper environment checks last month, in defiance of the UK’s climate commitments. It has brought a legal challenge against the Government and is vowing to frustrate other schemes brought forward in the North Sea as well.

Director of Global Warming Policy Foundation Benny Peiser says Russian President Vladimir Putin has “colluded” with green movements to tighten energy markets in Europe.

The EU gas situation:

Gas supply from Russia is “near zero”, storage is medium, and prices for gas and coal are wildly high.

Graphs by @Ole_S_Hansen

The current #gas market situation in Europe

The current #gas market situation in Europe:  @Ole_S_Hansen  Click to enlarge.

Things are so bad, Poland is even offering to hire the old nuclear power plants that Germany has vowed to shut down.

A group of Polish lawmakers have presented Germany with a proposal to lease the country’s three remaining nuclear power plants, which, despite the energy crisis in Europe, the German government has maintained its commitment to shut down. “If the Germans do not want to use their nuclear energy themselves, they should lease it,” argued Polish MP Paulina Matysiak of the Lewica Razem (Left Together) party. — Kurt Zindulka, Breitbart

Poland wants to build its own nuclear plant but it won’t be finished til 2033.

The $64 billion question is why Germany wants to get to Net Zero the hard way?

10 out of 10 based on 83 ratings

146 comments to UK: Lights out for winter? Warning 12m people will be in energy poverty

  • #
    David Maddison

    Do today’s people of Once Great Britain know anything of their industrial heritage such as the invention of the steam engine and the use of coal?

    If they knew that, and how it once made the UK the world’s leading industrial.power and the former most powerful nation on earth (18th, 19th and first part of the 20th century), they might be less willing to accept the energy starvation policies of their government.

    And President Trump warned Europe about dependence on Russian gas and they all laughed at him.

    No nation will remain great and powerful without access to inexpensive, reliable energy.

    651

    • #
      PeterPetrum

      And President Trump warned Europe about dependence on Russian gas and they all laughed at him

      The German delegation in the EU Parliament, about six of them if I remember rightly, actually broke out loudly laughing while Trump was warning them not to rely on Russian gas.

      Like in so many other areas, Trump was spot on. Shame!

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  • #
    Erasmus

    That would be “all hail …”

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    • #
      John Connor II

      Hail” and “hale” are easy to confuse because they sound identical (i.e., they are perfect homonyms). However, their meanings are very different. Of note, “hale” is a rare word, but “hail” is a common word.
      “Hale” describes an elderly person who is free from defect, disease, or infirmity.
      For everything else, use “hail.”

      ..and there aren’t many “hales” left…😉

      60

  • #
    David Maddison

    There is no engineering problem of producing vast amounts of inexpensive, reliable, clean coal, gas, nuclear and real hydro (not SH2) energy.

    There is no problem of anthropogenic emission of CO2 into the atmosphere.

    China, an advanced space and nuclear power, is by far the world’s leading emitter of anthropogenic CO2 and can and is developing coal, gas, nuclear and hydro generation without any legal restraints whatsoever, a fact that the Left remain silent about.

    Now ask yourself why is the West being subject to these energy starvation policies.

    660

    • #
      Graham Richards

      The only & the biggest problem is the apparent plan by the Socialists, including the media,
      To cripple the western economies completely.

      Time for the people to wake up & revolt. Everything it takes, even [SNIP!] which believe me will be preferable to what the Socialists have in mind!

      Australia included.

      [On Jo’s blog it is never appropriate to suggest violence! Graham you should know better.] ED

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      • #
        Lawrie

        No violence but boy oh boy I do understand his frustration with the morons in charge. One would expect the overpaid and under performing PS to give their frank and fearless advice but obviously they prefer their job and perks to their nation.

        120

    • #
      Dennis

      And in particular why Australia?

      * One of the leading renewable energy installation countries
      * Signed the IPCC Kyoto Agreement in 1997 and not only achieved the emissions target, well exceeded the target and one of few nations that even achieved the target.
      * Signed the IPCC Paris Agreement and is on track to achieve the target by 2030*

      * So why does Albanese Labor want to increase the target now in 2022? The IPCC wanted the Morrison Government to do that at CP26 and our PM refused and pointed out Australia’s performance on lowering emissions to date. The IPCC also wanted Australia to stop coal mining and that was also rejected by our PM. The net zero emissions by 2050 demand was also rejected but for political purposes the PM said Australia has “an aspirational goal” based on new technology being developed and with no damage to the economy.

      Australia’s emissions are slightly above one per cent of global emissions, China increases emissions every year by more than Australia’s total emissions a year.

      100

  • #
    Lawrie

    While I pity those who will really suffer unfortunately the culprits in this calamity will escape scot free and manage to blame others for their failures. The clown who says the shortage of gas is not a shortage but an economical issue is supposedly one of the brightest people in government. If he is then the UK is doomed. Maybe it is time ministers both there and here are appointed from the public rather than the politicians who appear not up to the task. Bureaucrats need not apply. Although when we look at the bunch of misfits that were appointed by Obiden it would depend on the quality of the leader which throws up more dangers. Just pray. Oh Thats right the woke reckon there is no God so we are screwed.

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    • #
      FarmerDoug2

      There is a God even if the woke won’t recognise it so we can pray, though we may need a little more than “just pray”.
      Doug

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  • #
    MrGrimNasty

    The 2 Tory prime minister candidates just both said fracking would go ahead if local communities support it.
    Of course it only takes a handful of useful idiots and well funded green groups using lawfare ‘on behalf of’ to make it impossible, so inconvenient and expensive, that any company that tries to open new resources will give up eventually.
    It’s similar to the way that the gov. say that they want to stop illegal immigration, but all the laws they created and the treaties they signed do the opposite – but make it look like the lefty lawyers and activists are to blame.
    It’s almost as if it were deliberate.

    451

    • #
      Eng_Ian

      How many of these useful schemes, (fracking for example), have been halted by weak CEO’s listening to the twitter bots instead of the real people and the shareholders?

      340

      • #
        David Maddison

        The business of many “energy” companies today is not the production of cheap reliable energy.

        The core business of most so-called energy companies is harvesting taxpayer-funded subsidies.

        380

        • #
          Dennis

          And as self-made multi-billionaire Warren Buffett has commented, renewables would not be a good investment without subsidies.

          Noting that Australians pay around seven (7) billion dollars a year in direct incentive subsidies for wind and solar installations.

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    • #
      Hasbeen

      “It’s almost as if it were deliberate”.

      Could it be anything but deliberate?

      100

    • #
      Lawrie

      There must be a time though, Grim, when governments need to over rule environmental laws to preserve the common good. There are many laws and regulations that were instituted when we were rich and complacent that stifle any ability to react to real threats. For example if we were to be threatened with an attack then a National Park might have to give way to a missile site despite what a few greens might say. If the people are freezing, and that seems likely, then common sense says all bets are off until the crisis passes.

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      • #
        MrGrimNasty

        You’d think so, although these days orchestrated disaster seems to be a standard method of governance. Distraction, control…. the list of benefits is endless.

        50

      • #

        Lawrie,
        I note that you use the phrase ‘common sense’.
        That is very patriarchal Euro-centric old-think, I’m told.
        You – and I – need to get with the wokerati, concentrate on feelings – ‘Feel warm; ignore the ice inside the windows’ . . . .

        Some parts of the West – quite possibly including the UK – will have a nasty wake-up call soon.
        Very possibly this will come this winter; nothing is being done to insulate residences with urgency.
        No action is being taken to increase domestic energy supplies [oil, gas, coal] – except a few more solar panels – at 50N or more . . . .
        I hope the crisis doesn’t accelerate many deaths – but I fear it will, with power prices projected at £3,500 per family per year [or more, and £500 for January alone], and fully half the population expecting the Government to bail them out with taxpayers’ money.
        Their own money.
        Leeched off our own children and grandchildren.

        Common sense should run through Government deliberations and decisions.
        It doesn’t, and hasn’t for a decade or more …..

        Auto

        10

  • #
    Mike Jonas

    There is a way out of this for the UK. If the members of the Conservative party simply rejected both the candidates chosen for them by their wet MPs, and made Kemi Badenoch prime minister …….

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    • #
      Mike Jonas

      Jo – Nice to know that Liz Truss reads your blog (who else could possibly have given a red thumb).

      50

    • #
      Lawrie

      Is that even possible? it seems the game is firmly decided before the players take the field.

      40

      • #
        Mike Jonas

        I believe I am right in saying that there was a change of process between Boris’ election by the party and today’s election. Boris was elected by Tory MPs only. There has since been a demand that party members have a say, so the party elite came up with this new bizarre system whereby the MPs select two candidates and then the members vote between just those two. Clearly the MPs consider themselves above the party and unwilling to let the members have any real voice. I would be absolutely thrilled if the members showed enough organisation and spine to tell the MPs just where they can shove their selections and that Kemi Badenoch is the next leader. IMHO Britain would surge ahead with Kemi Badenoch as prime minister. She has the clear thinking that most of the others (including Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss) lack, and the spine to see it through. Would she let the EU walk all over her like they did to the already supine Theresa May or the confused Boris/Carrie Johnson? No chance. Would she let the Woke brigade walk all over her? I would just love to see them try it on, and I would love to see the explosion of support for common sense that would be unleashed from the long-suffering ignored British people.

        If only.

        30

  • #
    Neville

    That swine Putin certainly knows how to use and abuse the clueless EU etc with the help of our treasonous, useful idiots.
    But don’t worry our Albo loony announced this morning that Aussies were “no longer in the naughty corner”, via our declaration of 43% reduction of co2 by 2030.
    Just unbelievable but true. DUH?

    360

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      I see that Poland wants to lease those 3 nuclear stations that the current (and former) German government wants to shut down ASAP. I also note that Poland’s gas storage is at 95%+ of capacity and they are (and have been) expanding their coal-fired generation.
      It seems that at least one country hasn’t stopped thinking.

      440

      • #
        Clem Cadiddlehopper

        “It seems that at least one country hasn’t stopped thinking.” After 40 odd years under the Soviet failures they can see clearly through all of the backward Leftist dogma that western countries have been brainwashed with.

        260

  • #
    Kalm Keith

    Yes to #1 and a very clear statement of reality from David next.

    Yesterday in the car I listened to Cindi expounding in some Lowey forum.

    She went on and on with buckets of Verbalism that said nothing but invited the listener to follow her up the garden path to serfdom.

    She spoke fluently about freedom, gender equality, Climate Change and other poorly defined woke points that must be covered by those speaking on behalf of Klaus and that pestilent swarm of Davos Elitists.

    Nothing about her country’s current damaged situation following the CV19 Lockup but she did finish with a wokeish goodbye in a foreign language which I took to be the language of the original inhabitants over there. I wonder if they could understand her.

    The guy who introduced her spoke glowingly of her handling of the aftermath of the Recent Mass Shooting and other world stage feats of acting.

    All in all a complete farce in terms of her job which is to manage New Zealand properly for the benefit and safety of all.

    Poor fella New Zealand.

    Sadly our own dynamic duo of bent & elbo managed to grab the headlines from her by promising to cap something at 43% and so prevent dangerous globular warming, especially around Canberra.

    What hope have we got when these Muppets ignore and repudiate all reality and go for woke.

    Change is urgently needed.

    340

  • #
    Geoffrey Williams

    It’s a sorry state of affairs in UK and we have known this for some time. But the elected politicians and the ruling class live in a different world to the majority of working brits and so price increases for goods and services mean nothing to them. And so they will all ‘muddle on’ and put on an extra jumper and a stiff upper lip. Governments will change but nothing will change. Believe me I know these people . .

    160

  • #
    David Maddison

    After UK exited from the EU I was hopeful it would return to some measure of sanity.

    It appears not to have made any practical difference at all.

    310

    • #
      Rupert Ashford

      Boris was managed by that old thing that controls most straight men into being more green than a Greens politician. And the 2 alternatives don’t really suggest any change of tack do they? No wonder the Brits are starting to see through this farce and some are actually asking for him to stay on now.

      30

    • #
      Honk R Smith

      My comment was moded … by voting for Brexit the UK voted against ‘energy poverty’,
      They get energy poverty anyway.
      Perhaps the impoverishers don’t care or worry about ‘votes’.

      40

  • #
    Zane

    It looks like the Kremlin and Qatar have completely bought off every European and UK politician.

    90

    • #
      David Maddison

      Every single one except President Trump, the only one who couldn’t be bought, but the only one they accused of being bought. It was a projection of the guilty ones.

      190

  • #
    David Maddison

    In Australia one means for energy starvation that has been quietly implemented over a number of years is DRED.

    The appropriately-named DRED (Demand Response Enable Device) is fitted to appliances such as most air conditioning/heating systems. You will see a label indicating compatibility when you buy such a system.

    It means that the grid operator or Big Brother can remotely control the set temperature of the appliance. So if the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining the temperature of your home will be remotely made hotter or colder or the system will be turned off altogether to reflect the lack of availability of power.

    Connection is optional now (the electricity supplier will give a discount rate) but as Australia’s power grid is shut down I expect it will be made compulsory.

    After all, wanting to be warm or cool is now deemed “selfish” in Green Left Australia, despite the fact that we are one of the most energy rich countries in the world.

    I wrote an article about DRED in Silicon Chip magazine April 2017.

    https://www.siliconchip.com.au/Issue/2017/April/DRED%3A+they+can+turn+your+aircon+off%21

    200

    • #
      NuThink

      David,
      I remember well the Ripple Relay Load control of the hot water system in the late 50’s and early 60’s.
      In our house we could hear the tone coming from the Receiver in the fuse box which was located in our laundry.

      https://www.eeca.govt.nz/assets/EECA-Resources/Research-papers-guides/Ripple-Control-of-Hot-Water-in-New-Zealand.pdf

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load_management

      Modern utility load management began about 1938, using ripple control. By 1948 ripple control was a practical system in wide use.[4]

      The Czechs first used ripple control in the 1950s. Early transmitters were low power, compared to modern systems, only 50 kilovolt-amps. They were rotating generators that fed a 1050 Hz signal into transformers attached to power distribution networks. Early receivers were electromechanical relays. Later, in the 1970s, transmitters with high-power semiconductors were used. These are more reliable because they have no moving parts. Modern Czech systems send a digital “telegram.” Each telegram takes about thirty seconds to send. It has pulses about one second long. There are several formats, used
      in different districts.[5]

      51

      • #
        David Maddison

        NuThink, thanks. I mentioned that in the article and also how randomness was built into the switching system because you didn’t want a few million hot water heaters all switching on at precisely the same time.

        40

  • #
    Neville

    Does anyone understand the numbers that prompted the Biden donkey to declare that we now have an EXISTENTIAL threat?
    He even claims we can “feel the threat in our bones”, whatever that means?
    Just watch this infantile nonsense and fear for our future and ask yourself how or why we’ve fallen for this lunacy?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wXe-GanTh0

    151

  • #
    David Maddison

    Rational thinkers should use the term “energy starvation” rather than “energy poverty” because that correctly suggests that the practice of restricting access to energy is a deliberate act.

    It is rather akin to the bad guy in the Schwarzenegger movie “Total Recall” starving the inhabitants of a Mars colony of access to oxygen.

    https://youtu.be/X8lT-Sn-HqE

    100

  • #
    Ross

    Imagine having 3 nuclear power plants just sitting there in mothballs? What a luxury!! I can only suppose the costs and maybe disposal of radioactive tainted materials prevented the Germans completing demolition quickly. The technical exercise of restarting a nuclear power plant must be very complicated.

    160

  • #
    Neville

    Another top article from Matt Ridley about the Eco- extremism that brought Sri Lanka to its knees.

    https://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/eco-extremism-in-sri-lanka/

    “My article for The Telegraph”:

    “Sri Lanka’s collapse, from one of the fastest growing Asian economies to a political, economic and humanitarian horror show, seems to have taken everybody by surprise.

    Five years ago, the World Bank was extolling “how Sri Lanka intends to transition to a more competitive and inclusive upper-middle income country”. Right up to the middle of last year, despite the impact of the pandemic, the country’s misery index (inflation plus unemployment) was low and falling. Then the misery index took off like a rocket, quintupling in a year.

    What happened? There is a simple explanation, one that the BBC seems determined to downplay. In April 2021, president Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced that Sri Lanka was banning most pesticides and all synthetic fertiliser to go fully organic. Within months, the volume of tea exports had halved, cutting foreign exchange earnings. Rice yields plummeted leading to an unprecedented requirement to import rice. With the government unable to service its debt, the currency collapsed.

    Speciality crop yields like cinnamon and cardamom tanked. Staple foods became infested with pests leading to widespread hunger. As Ted Nordhaus of the Breakthrough Institute put it in March: “The farrago of magical thinking, technocratic hubris, ideological delusion, self-dealing and sheer shortsightedness that produced the crisis in Sri Lanka implicates both the country’s political leadership and advocates of so-called sustainable agriculture.”
    … [SNIP]

    30

  • #
    Zane

    Uh oh. Reading a 2021 tweet by the WEF-installed German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, it appears that the Germans have invented a new word: Klimaschutz – which means ” climate protection ” in English. Schutzing was also the prerogative of the feared Schutzstaffel perhaps better known as the SS. Maybe climate refuseniks and carbon deniers will ultimately be sent to camps, along with Covid refuseniks who decline to wear masks and take poison jabs.

    Who pressed the repeat button on history?

    Achtung Klima!

    Das Klimaschutz! Javoll! Vee haff ways of protecting the klimate, Herr Hogan… You vill see.

    80

  • #
    exsteelworker

    Coming to a town near you Australia. With Albos government in power now, with no plans for any kind of baseload 24/7 power stations anywhere in the country, what do think is going to happen when the old power stations start closing. All it will take for us to be sitting in the dark is one power station to shut up shop.Welcome to your clean energy future poverty.

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    • #
      David Maddison

      They will shutdown what little industry that remains, such as the aluminium smelters, which will probably close soon of their own accord anyway.

      That will liberate a bit of power.

      Then we will have power rationing to households. I suppose they will set a net kWh allowance per day, or more simply, do as they do in other Third World countries like South Africa, have set hours when the power is available.

      90

    • #
      PeterPetrum

      I know I should not be surprised, honestly. But I just cannot believe that Blackout Bowen and Airport Albo really, genuinely believe that, not only can they achieve 43% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2030, but that if they do everything will keep working. I presume that someone in the back room somewhere is advising them, or maybe not. That they cannot see what is happening in Europe and the UK and see it’s relationship to OZ is mind blowing.

      70

      • #
        Mike Jonas

        CB and AA genuinely believe that the reason that the grid has gone so close to collapse is that AEMO has not required the wind and solar people to supply more power when it is needed. They know we have a lot of w&s, so it makes sense to crank them up when needed. Everything CH and AA have ever said about w&s supports this perception. They could not possibly have said all the things they said if they knew that w&s cannot provide power when it is needed. They need to talk seriously to AEMO. Now.

        30

      • #
        mundi

        You need to read the policy doc they are basing it on. It claims the investment will lead to 18% cheaper power which will create 300,000 jobs. I’m not even joking, that’s what they actually believe. They will 100% go all in on this, they believe it’s going to lead us to an economic boom.

        30

        • #
          Leigh

          By the way,

          Can anyone join together and present the <2 seconds of pre-election video telling us that we are going down the climate change pathway that would justify their mandate to make these changes?

          10

    • #
      Dennis

      On Sky News recently during a discussion on modular nuclear generators a guest commented that Australia’s power stations could be converted to nuclear using imported modular units to replace the coal fuel system, pre-fabricated modules supplied by Rolls Royce or another source.

      He pointed out that conversion would be much less expensive and take less time with jobs retained for most employees and new jobs in the reactor.

      30

      • #
        David Maddison

        He pointed out that conversion would be much less expensive and take less time with jobs retained for most employees and new jobs in the reactor.

        I very much doubt that is the case.

        Anyway, even though there are plenty of designs of SMRs there are no commercial Western models on the market.

        In any case, there is no way a nuclear reactor would ever be approved and built in Australia before 50 years.

        It took 50 years just to decide on the location of a second Sydney Airport!

        It’s just not possible to do large scale projects in Australia anymore unless they are “green” and involve the Elites harvesting a lot of taxpayer subsidies.

        40

        • #
          Mike Jonas

          SMRs are perfect for the larger remote aboriginal communities. If those communities start demanding SMRs, this could get interesting.

          20

      • #
        Ross

        Been hearing about those nuclear SMR’s now for ages. When the Poms have at least a dozen up and running for a couple of years, then yes, maybe worth trying. But not before, we dont need to be the test bunnies and waste a lot of money. Super critical or Ultra Super critical coal fired generators is all we need.

        30

        • #
          David Maddison

          Australia won’t get nuclear in the foreseeable future and not for at least 50 years if not longer.

          Under the current Governments, state and federal, it is almost certain that we won’t get any new coal or gas power stations either.

          Australia’s future will be with extremely expensive solar and wind power with Big Batteries and many domestic batteries to grab power during the brief times it’s produced.

          Australia is or soon will be a failed state, let’s not establish unrealistic expectations.

          40

        • #
          Chad

          Pilot SMRs are being tested in China and Indonesia i believe.

          00

  • #
    OldOzzie

    KPMG energy head says the world must reject IEA’s fossil fuel ban

    The world cannot afford to follow the International Energy Agency’s call for no new oil, gas or coal projects at a time when greater importance is being placed on energy security, according to KPMG’s global head of energy Regina Mayor.

    Speaking on a visit to Australia, Houston-based Ms Mayor predicted that oil prices would spend much of the next 18 months above $US100 per barrel as demand bounced back and challenged the industry’s ability to supply a world determined to wean itself off Russian commodities.

    Fossil fuel prices have rallied strongly over the past 18 months on the back of numerous disruptions to supply, most notably the blacklisting of Russian commodities in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    The IEA last year published a pathway to net zero emissions by 2050 which envisaged no further investment in new coal, oil or gas projects, but Ms Mayor said nations endowed with natural resources should develop them to provide energy security options for those left with few options after the Ukraine war.

    “I don’t believe the planet can cope with no new oil and gas and no new coal because we still have a society that demands energy and we haven’t managed our way through the energy transition yet,” she said.

    “I would encourage Australia to take more advantage of your strong natural resource position.

    “You have so much resource here and you are so much closer to key parts of the world that need that resource. I think it is a great bet to make.

    “The recessionary fears in particular from a commodity perspective are overstated and China will eventually become more mobile and re-enter the world’s global mobility and supply chain and so I think triple-digit oil prices are here to stay for the next 12 to 18 months.”

    120

    • #
      Dennis

      Quick, I can hear leftist politicians saying, let’s create many more National Parks and lock all of the natural resources away.

      30

  • #
    Neville

    Here Kip Hansen reviews Dr Hans Rosling’s best seller “Factfulness” and his 10 points are very interesting to try and understand.
    BTW the Al Gore con merchant is further exposed by Rosling and I’m very happy he refused to collaborate with him.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/11/14/factfulness-a-book-review/

    50

  • #
    Rupert Ashford

    And that 12 Million will most probably vote Labour in the next election. Humanity has no end to its stupidity.

    70

  • #
    Billy Bob Hall

    To paraphrase something from our Chinese friends. The best time to build more Nuclear electrical generation plants was 20 years ago. The next best time is today.

    110

  • #
  • #
    Bruce

    Green-piece”?

    The political activist group founded by the old soviet spook agencies, including the GRU, (military intelligence), to white-ant western will to go increasingly nuclear, way back in the 1950s?

    That Green Piece? There were a lot of “national” fronts established in those days, but Green-Peas was the big international winner, combining eco-fascism with unilateral disarmament; thoroughly laced with that most toxic brew; “concern”..

    100

  • #
    Penguinite

    As the (lack) of ENERGY takes effect it is just possible that this is the beginning of the end for the rush to carbon neutrality. The global warming, NWO/WEF dictates and wuflu scams may not be far behind!

    40

  • #
    TdeF

    Nett zero is not science. Not even a distant cousin. It is a crazy idea that if you leave no footprints, you can do no harm. There is no such thing as nett zero.

    For example if I plant a tree, I reduce CO2. No, you don’t. Because the CO2 supply is infinite. If you remove CO2 more CO2 comes out of the ocean.

    If I burn a tree I increase CO2. No, you don’t. Because excess CO2 goes quickly into the ocean.

    But CO2 is rising slowly and steadily no matter what I do? Yes, because the oceans are slightly warmer on the surface as the result of the major ocean currents, the PDO and AMO and solar activity at a peak. That can reverse quickly and then CO2 will go down, but either way we humans cannot change CO2. 98% of all CO2 is dissolved in the oceans, which says it all. Heat the oceans and make it 97% and atmospheric CO2 goes up 50%. It’s that simple.

    But CO2 is an historic high? No, it isn’t. It’s just that ice cores are a very coarse measure of CO2 and rapid changes in ocean temperatures produce rapid changes in CO2 which are missed by the ice cores which measure over hundreds of thousands of years, not 100 years. The graph of CO2s another fake hockey stick, grafting instantaneous data onto long term measurement which of course averages away the noise. In real science bolting one type of measurement onto another like this is close to illegal and certainly improper. But that’s Climate Science.

    Clearly warming oceans causes increased CO2. Only a madman would reverse the logic to make a long story that man increase CO2 and that heats the air (over the land only, 1/4) and that heats the ocean (which somehow yet unexplained steals the heat)

    And consider that since 1990 the increase of 14% in CO2 is exactly matched by the increase in Green grasses, bushes and trees across the planet, an area the size of Australia has greened, a 14% increase. So does growing trees reduce CO2? Not at all! That is fact. 14% more CO2 and 14% more trees. Simple and the exact reverse of what you are told.

    Are warming oceans killing the Great Barrier Reef? No, heat does not kill coral. Corals are found all over the world in much hotter water. But being out of the water in the hot tropical sun kills coral which tries to live just under the water surface. And leaves it bleached. And while the sea is nominally flat oceans suffer tides from one side of the giant Pacific ocean to the other and enormous and changing coral structures trap water or stop inflows, causing drying which kills polyps. But when governments hand over little gifts like Malcolm Turnbull’s gift to Lucy’s friends of an unrequested $444million to fix the problem, who is going to say there is not problem. Certainly not James Cook University. For that sort of money, anyone will document problems if you want problems. And Dr Peter Ridd found out that they have more money than he has. Endless Government money to fund Climate disasters.

    So who made up this Nett Zero? It’s barely plausible fantasy from the communist Greens like Adam Bandt whose PhD was on communism and whose hero is that mass murdering Lenin. Whatever it takes. These Greens are anti trees, anti humans, anti animals and even anti termites. I would love to say they are anti ants, but we are not there yet. But that would be funny which the Greens are not.

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      TdeF

      You see if CO2 was a problem we would be concentrating on reducing world CO2. But it is not changing, so the Climatebaggers are talking ‘toxic’ emissions.

      Just take a look at the plot of CO2. It’s a dead straight line. Firstly where’s the Hockey stick we have been shown for 34 years?

      Then consider what is NOT there. Any human activity at all. So let’s talk ’emissions’ and ‘carbon taxes’ and ‘climate action’. Forget Co2, there’s nothing we can do about it.

      So how much effect has 500,000 windmills and perhaps 30 Trillion dollars had from 1988 to 2022 on actual CO2? Absolutely zero.

      And what are we going to do? Waste more money. Let’s measure ’emissions’ and show a graph going down. Down is good. That will fix everything. It’s called nett zero or self flagellation. Will it fix the problem? Firstly, what problem? Secondly, no, it will change nothing at all. Again, the actual graph of CO2 has no visible human effect at all. Our ’emissions’ mean nothing.

      So where is all the money going? Now you are getting it. Or more correctly, you are not.

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        TdeF

        And by the way, that graph of CO2 also does NOT show the growth of human population from 2.5 Billion to over 7 Billion in the same time.
        If man made CO2 was correct, you would see something.

        So ’emissions’ rocketing up. CO2 graph unchanging. But the planet is rapidly greening because more CO2 means more trees. So much for Nett Zero.

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        • #
          Kalm Keith

          Please stop it.
          Logic, truth and science have no place in modern society.

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            TdeF

            And I ask again, what happened to the $444 million gifted to Lucy Turnbull’s friends without asking?

            That’s my money and I would like to know.

            1963 Great Train Robbery 2.6 Million Pound. Say $260Million
            1983 Brinks robbery 26 Million pound say $200Million
            1986 Knightsbridge robbery 60 Million say $400 Million
            2004 Belfast Northern Bank Robbery 26.5Million. Say $50 Million
            2005, Banco Central burglary in Fortaleza, Brazil, $71.6Million
            2006 Securitas bank depot in Kent, Great Britain. 56 Million pound. Say $100Million

            but the best was

            2018 Great Barrier Reef robbery. 25 million witnesses. Culprits known. No one charged. Money not recovered. $444Million

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              Kalm Keith

              When you look at it that WAS one of the most daring, audacious, brazen, obvious, low life, despicable acts ever perpetrated on the Australian TaXpayers.

              Not one Coral Polyp was helped during this relocation of our tax dollars.

              How did they get away with it?

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            • #
              Kalm Keith

              Modded.

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      Mike Jonas

      China’s output of CO2 can grow from Monday to Tuesday by more than a whole year of Albo’s proposed 43% reduction.

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      PeterPetrum

      So who made up this Nett Zero?

      TdeF – I cannot find the link, but I read that it was group of women from some feminist climate group who held a weekend seminar in some cold, Scottish castle a year or so ago. They felt that terminology such as climate change, or disaster or emergency was not catchy enough to stimulate enough fear or appropriate action. But “Net Zero” provided a clear and easy target, based on no science or practicality, and thus the end of the Western World was initiated.

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      • #
        Ross

        I think also based on the success of Coke Zero etc, sounded really trendy.

        30

      • #
        TdeF

        Yes, it is a zero science invention from a think tank.

        Besides you cannot ask everyone on the planet to stop breathing or the animals to stop farting, but you can pay carbon indulgences and you can grow trees, even if you burn them immediately as is happening with wood chip.

        It is fake science for dummies and sounds good but is actually meaningless. And it is in denial of the major equilibrium systems which determine how much oxygen is in the air and how much carbon dioxide. And our tiny human contribution is completely negligible and vanishes quickly.

        In the great scheme of things human output is calculated at 41 billion tons per year.
        Free CO2 gas in the system is 38,000 billion tons. A thousand times bigger!

        So we humans really do not matter. And Australia is 2% of nothing.

        We are promising to reduce 2% of 0.01% by 43%? As John McEnroe would say “You can’t be serious!”

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        Chad

        PeterPetrum
        July 27, 2022 at 3:35 pm · Reply
        So who made up this Nett Zero?

        Do not overlook the use or intent of the word NET. in that phrase !

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    el+gordo

    Merkel was warned years ago that reliance on Russian gas was risky.

    ‘As Viktorija Starych-Samuolienė, co-founder of think-tank Council on Geostrategy, told MailOnline: ‘Germany is in for a rough winter due to its heavy reliance on Russian gas.

    ‘Despite repeated warnings about the risks of this reliance successive German governments have only deepened it, opening the country up to the risk of Russia doing exactly what it looks to be doing – using gas as a weapon.’ (UK Mail)

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    • #
      yarpos

      Oh please the Germans have bought it upon themselves, did they really expect Russia to do nothing in the face of their sanctions and rhetoric?

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    David Maddison

    I am still waiting for the resident Leftists to contribute to this post and explain how wonderful energy starvation is as a policy.

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    • #

      Am I a leftist? Is the Tory party leftist?

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        Ross

        GA- you’re our resident leftist , we love you. How is Canberra today?

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        • #

          Sunny. I’m not sure what DM thinks a leftist is. Apparently they are trying to make him eat insects or some such.

          Meanwhile it might be useful to explain what leftists have to do with the issue at hand.

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          • #
            David Maddison

            The agenda of the Left is to destroy everything Western Civilisation has built and in particular, post Enlightenment values, such as freedom of speech, association, enterprise, ongoing progress, decisions based on reason, freedom of thought and action, etc..

            And yes, the long term agenda of the Left is to get non-Elites to eat insects as what they call “alternative protein”. You see more and more promotion and attempts to normalise it. Moreover, if you had been paying attention, you would have noticed a war against agriculture such as in the Netherlands and Sri Lanka and moving throughout the world. The ignoramuses of the Left are opposed to “nitrogen” (sic) from farming activity (presumably they mean various oxides of nitrogen, they similarly get confused between “carbon” and “carbon dioxide”). As well, the war against meat comes as a war against methane emissions from ruminants.

            As for your comment about the Tories being Leftist, they certainly have become that way, much like our Liberal Party or the RINO Republicans in the US. It’s Rudi Dutschke’s “long march through the institutions”.

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            • #

              Wow… you are really worried that there is an insect agenda by elites? And that there is a thing that you call the left that is destroying the west. You still failed to link these, some would call, fanciful ideas to the topic at hand. Just stating that there is a bogey man and then saying anything you don’t like is caused by it is insipid and meaningless.

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            David Maddison

            Plus GA, what’s your position on energy starvation? Do you support it or not? How would you rectify it, given we’ve only had it since John Howard, pretend conservative, made probably the worst engineering error ever made in Australia when he allowed non dispatchable generators to connect to the grid?

            He is a perfect example of why politicians shouldn’t be allowed to make engineering decisions.

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            • #

              Thanks for asking meaningless questions. I don’t know what you are referring to and even if I did, why would you want my amateur and uniformed response. I am not a DK victim like yourself.

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  • #
    Geoff Sherrington

    “Newspapers are getting thinner”.
    Because once they used to print both sides of the story?
    Geoff S

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    Ronin

    Turn off your lights, turn down your thermostat, have a cold shower, so some rich bastard can charge his/her Tesla.

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      TdeF

      When people start to realise this, there will a groundswell of resentment against the subsidization of rich bastards. And the governments will do what governments always do, tax the bastards.

      At present everything electric is subsidized by you even though they currently run 90% on coal and gas produced electricity and pay retail household prices for electricity where everyone else pays $1 a litre excise on petrol or 9 kwhr in energy content, that’s 10c a kwhr.

      I believe very soon the same rich bastards will find charging an 80kwhr car will cost an additional $10 in tax just to be equal and pay for the roads they use, signals, freeways, bridges. Then there are all the discounts like registration where they get $100 discount for being all electric.

      The handouts to rich bastards never stop. But they are saving the planet, at your cost. And vote for the people who hand them bonus for virtue signalling at your expense.

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        TdeF

        Actually I obtained that figure of 1 litre of petrol = 9kwhr from the internet. But is it right? After all engines are not 100% efficient, more like 20%.

        Petrol has 45 Megajoule/kg or 45 megajoule /litre.
        1kwhr =1kj/sec * 3600 seconds or 3.6Mjoule.
        So it looks like 12.5kwhr per litre and the 9kwhr is not too far off the mark.

        However petrol engines are inefficient like all heat engines at around 20%. Which means 2.5kwhr of realised power per litre.
        That means the real excise on petrol is $1 per 2.5kwhr, 40c per kwhr just to match what the ordinary worker is paying.

        Applied to an 80kwhr Tesla $32 equivalent excise to fill your car with electricity at home without virtue signalling privilege.

        Now that would be welcome to the real world for Tesla owners who are not paying their way. But they still should have to pay for their own charging stations. No one had to pay for gas service stations.

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        • #

          Petrol has less energy/L. Divide by ~0.7 for the specific gravity of petrol (ie it is lighter than water) – means that 1kg=1.4 litres. Or putting it another way, 31.5 MJ/L.

          *all this assumes the 45MJ/kg is correct.

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          • #
            RickWill

            The 45MJ/kg is the usual value for combustion in air. The density is given as 748kg/m^3.

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            TdeF

            Thanks.
            It means the 45 Megajoule/kg should be 0.7*45 or 31.5megajoule/litre.

            That yields 8.75kwhr per litre which is close to the 9.1 quoted in my source, so I will use that number.

            The $1 per litre people pay in Federal excise means $1 per 9.1Kwhr*.2 or 1.82kwhr or 55c per kwhr
            So the equivalent excise/tax to charge a Telsa should be now $44.
            Nothing more than everyone else is paying on their petrol. And it will happen, once the government realises the opportunity.
            This happened with LP gas and with diesel. It will happen with electricity.

            But do not expect the desk clerks of Canberra to start taxing themselves any time soon.
            However we are subsidizing every Tesla substantially, quite apart from all the other concessions.
            Well intentioned is starting to look like exploitation.

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              TdeF

              I did not think petrol was so much lighter than water. 0.7 is very low. So I asked Google. “The specific gravity (density compared to water) of petroleum is 0.8.” That makes it 36 megajoule/liter or 10kwhr/litre but the point is made.

              People who can afford Teslas can afford to pay like everyone else. I just found a second hand Tesla S, 2020 model, for a mere $183,000 with 45,000Km on the clock. Bargain!

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              • #
                Chad

                A TED talk suggesting EVs are not very environmentally friendly ..YET !
                https://youtu.be/S1E8SQde5rk
                Hybrids are the way to go ?
                Also, if one litre of petrol propels an ICE 15 km , (6 l/100km) …
                And 1 kWh propels an EV 5.0 km , (fact)
                Then 1 litre of petrol is equivalent to 3 kWh ..approx
                .. and please double check the excise tax on petrol !

                10

              • #
                TdeF

                I have no idea how much energy is required to push either an ICE or an electric car.

                It’s not a great measure of energy. At what speed? Are these identical cars with identical
                air resistance and identical tyres? On flat ground? My calculation was purely on the energy content after conversion to useful work by the combustion engine and assuming 100% conversion on the electric car, although there are losses in the motors. My impression of all electric cars is that they are designed to reduce resistance losses especially wind resistance much more than conventional cars because of the lack of power and I do not mean torque which can be much higher for instant acceleration. 1kwhr would not last 5km in ludicrous mode.

                If you tried the electric car at 110km/hr you would not get the same figure as 10km/hr. And all the state taxes were delegated to the Federal government so there is one Excise cost.. And excise was halved for six months in 2022, presumably as a COVID measure. But it does look like the official rate is 44c plus GST or ($0.48) a litre returning in October 2022.

                My point is that electric cars pay no such tax. Electric car uses pay only domestic electricity rates and use existing infrastructure built for a different purpose. The whole Green scheme for wind and solar energy requires very great investment in distribution infrastructure which was not necessary with concentrated energy production from fossil fuel. None of this is being paid by people choosing electric cars and even demanding charging facilities. Plus they are not paying their way for the roads which are the explicit reason for the excise.

                In the UK, fuel duty is 53 pence per litre on unleaded petrol ($0.93).

                30

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                TdeF

                And 5km per kwhr is not a fact. It varies.
                From one Tesla site
                Energy consumption varies from “160 – 317 Wh/km”. Or in km per kwhr 6.25 to 3.1km. depending on “speed, style of driving, climate and route conditions. And much lower mileage up hills and higher down them.

                Also while the energy conversion rate is 9.1 kwhr per litre, that was without the very low 20-30% efficiency of the conversion of heat energy into motive force typical of combustion engines and I used the low end of 20%. That reduces the effective power to 1.8 to 3 kwhr per litre of petrol which is roughly the same for the application of excise to determine an appropriate road tax on car electricity.

                10

              • #

                Specific gravity depends on temperature and pressure. Google tells me it is usually closer to 0.7 but you’ve provided the numbers to bracket a range

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              • #
                Chad

                #
                TdeF
                July 28, 2022 at 12:16 am
                And 5km per kwhr is not a fact. It varies….

                Its a fact that it is a good average across a range of current EVs as tested on the standard City/Urban cycle.
                Of course it will vary dramatically with driving style, terrain, wind direction , etc etc..
                ..but at the end of the debate ,ON AVERAGE, a litre of petrol, will take you the same distance as 3 kWh. Of charge in an equivalent EV (eg,..Nissan Leaf, vs. Nissan Versa/Pulsar)
                I dont understand why some councils still think it is their responsibility to install charge points in Australia, Most of the world have realised they are a prime business oportunity (Tesla, VW, etc) with independent operators viewing them much as oil companies view petrol stations…..a cash grab business, rather than a “service” to the public.
                European charger operators recently increased prices to 2-3 times the prevailing domestic kWh rate, (as much as 0.80€/kWh ), and even Teslas own charger rates in the US can be $0.40/kWh,…so those EV users will be paying a hefty premium for their virtue signal.
                Eventually i suspect ALL road users will be taxed on a usage/distance basis, with gps data tagging every vehicle movement. Such that fuel tax, road tax, etc will become obsolete ?

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          Maptram

          “Now that would be welcome to the real world for Tesla owners who are not paying their way. But they still should have to pay for their own charging stations. No one had to pay for gas service stations.”

          Now we see Ampol advertising that they are including EV charging stations at their sites. So, will the users of the electric charging stations have to pay to charge their vehicles or will they be subsidised by all the other customers of the sites.

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          • #
            James

            How about parking in the street waiting for charge? Will they have to pay or be fined if they are in a no standing zone?

            00

  • #
    John Hultquist

    Buy candles!
    I think not.

    Go a different route, one promoted by Berry Obama:
    The Soccket, an energy-generating soccer ball that turns into a lamp

    https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/soccket-energy-generating-soccer-ball-video

    10

  • #
    John Connor II

    Thoughts:

    1. So just roll out more solar and wind power. That’ll fix it!

    2. Blame Putin and Russia. They did it!
    Everything’s their fault.

    3. Brits should be used to cold showers.
    Stops them from …”pleasuring themselves ” (Rik Mayall)

    Maggie Thatcher, back in the 70’s, is in essence the originator of the green movement in an effort to counter the constant strikes of miners. Blame her.

    Or just blame your politicians…

    I wonder how the millions of (in reality illegal) migrants from hot countries now in the EU will react to no heat.
    Take those bbq’s indoors. They work a treat!

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    • #
      Chad

      I find it amusing that the EU is in anguish over the Russian gas shortages from the Nordstream 1 pipeline…
      . after it was Biden who stopped completion of the 2nd Nordstream gas line which was almost ready to start working !

      20

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      James

      I heard last night that the compressors have been relocated to other pipelines, running to friendly countries.

      20

  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    UK land based gas reserves are unproven, and even if there was a sufficient quantity justify the cost of all the wells needed, and the construction of the system for distribution it would have been more expensive than importing US Gas and way more expensive than Russian Gas.

    This from the economist magazine in 2020.

    010

    • #
      David Maddison

      The UK is a small place and you are never too far from the nearest gas line. Anyway, let the marketplace decide. Either drill with or without fracking, or import from the US or Middle East, not Russia, a hostile country toward the West (regardless of the reasons it is hostile, it is).

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    Phillip Bratby

    The West (and the UK in particular) have for years been led by donkeys.

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    John Connor II

    State Of The US Consumer: McDonald’s Customers Trading Down, Buy Value Items As Combos Increasingly Unaffordable.

    Despite beating on sales due to price hikes and value menu items, McDonald’s said inflationary pressures would continue to impact margins for the remainder of the year due to the souring macroeconomic conditions.

    McDonald’s executive said wage inflation and higher energy costs are impacting margins. The executive said food and paper costs are up 12-14% for the year and warned that macro uncertainty has increased over the year’s first half.

    In April, the company said customers traded down for less expensive menu items. The executive repeated this and continued to say that lower-tier customers ditched combo meals for value offerings.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/mcdonalds-challenged-inflation-points-out-consumers-ditch-combos-value-items

    Of course McDonald’s is in reality in the real-estate business but..

    When the consumer has to go for bargain basement food now, what will they do when things really get tough?
    Look at Texas now. Almost panic selling of cattle. Meat prices will go ballistic.

    Meanwhile in Oz inflation hits 2 decade high. More idiotic rate rises coming…

    The EU will go down first but EVERYONE else will follow. Watch the EU and see your own future.

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      David Maddison

      Of course McDonald’s is in reality in the real-estate business but..

      People are surprised when you tell them how many McDonald’s Restaurants are in a particular city. It is always way fewer than expected. It’s because they have premium, high visibility, high traffic sites.

      I’m not sure the current city count but Australia has 981, NSW 312 and 253 in Vicdanistan.

      30

      • #
        TdeF

        I think he means that McDonalds as part of the deal holds the land title to the land under most franchises, except where that is impossible. So they passed the Catholic church years ago as the biggest single landholder on the planet. And we all know what has happened to land values in a booming, crowded world.

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        Ronin

        Catholics and oil companies used to own all the quality real estate, Catholics had the hilltops, and Shell, BP etc had all the corner lots.

        00

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      Philip

      Oh no I hope my big mac meal doesnt go up, I enjoy that junk food hit

      00

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  • #
    David Maddison

    All the woke “energy” companies of the world should replace the word energy with “subsidy harvesting” to more accurately reflect their business model.

    50

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    Zane

    With Germany going all in on Klimaschutz – climate protection – can climate cops or carbon cops be far away? Klimaschutzstaffel or Climatestapo? Other countries will no doubt gleefully join the bandwagon. Dark green uniforms would be best, jackboots possibly optional. Persons will need to show climate ID and an app certifying their current carbon footprint on demand. Offenders will be fined or sent to reeducation camps. Like a naughty kid at school, you will be required to repeat the phrase ” Carbon dioxide causes climate change ” 500 times a day until the Carbon Commandante is satisfied with your level of climate contrition.

    Think I’m joking? Ha!

    50

    • #
      Vene

      Maybe we are going to see mass gatherings also. ‘Heil Klima!’ will echo from the walls of carbon neutral buildings.

      30

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        Zane

        A climate fuehrer may well emerge to lead humanity into the zero carbon future. In conjunction with the Covid Reich perhaps?

        30

        • #
          Vene

          Maybe alarmists were too eager in their game. I mean that we’ve already seen a girl with pigtails schooling world leaders. What kind of characters alarmists have left? A climate bambi?

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    Philip

    It is looking good for the brown stuff to hit the fan soon. And it’s a bit of a white pill for me. The sooner people feel the pain, the better, for it is one of our few chances to end the madness. Real pain too, not just a 3% increase in bills or something, not just a slap but a real punch to the face, it hurts and you cant ignore it. Sooner the better, we don’t want to get another 10 years down the road of this madness, get it over and done with. Have these fools shown their hand too early ?

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      David Maddison

      I am making preparations such as generator, battery, 12V fridge that will run off a solar panel, LPG cylinders, non-perishable food, etc..

      20

      • #
        John Connor II

        That’s the way.😏

        A proper tips and tricks thread would be good but it’s a bit outside the scope of this blog.

        A couple of JC2 tips:
        When choosing tinned food for long term (>5 years) storage go for those packed in water/springwater.
        The reason is that water will leach out over the years.
        I opened a can of baby carrots over 20 years old and they looked, felt and smelled perfect but the water was almost gone.
        I have a sizeable stack of sardines in sauce but their shelf life is more like 3 years.
        Same with things like beans.
        Dried foods like pasta, muesli etc store very well too. Expect around 5 years.
        Some “adaptation” on the personal preference front may well be needed…
        For refrigeration- motorhome style 240v/12v/gas is the best choice. 3 way rather than 2. Why limit your options?
        Make sure freezer capacity is adequate as a lot are meagre.
        Keep everything as cool as possible. ie coolest room in the house, basement etc.
        Solar – I use flexible 200w panels. Lightweight, deployable, easy to move & re-orient.
        Candles, Li-ion LED torches or panels for outages.
        The list goes on..

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      David Maddison

      The very fact that Australia’s premier scientific agency, CSIRO plus the Chief Scientist haven’t investigated whether claims of anthropogenic global warming are true is a disgrace. It means both offices are useless and should be disbanded.

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      • #
        Mike Jonas

        Agree. CSIRO did a good job once, and maybe the chief scientist did too. Both have been taken over by Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy. Although it would be tempting to think that a change of CEO would do the trick, I suspect that once PILB has taken over an organisation it’s too late. Yes, scrap them both.

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        Grogery

        They can’t, that would end their income source.

        10

    • #
      Honk R Smith

      Philip,
      I can’t see where the new political leadership cares about people’s pain, except where it can be used for political purpose.
      When did things move from …
      “let’s reduce ‘fossil’ fuel use where we can”, to “we’re stopping and we don’t care how bad the consequences”?
      We seem to have gone from environmental dieting to full blown Climatorexia.
      There seems an odd worldwide phenomena of Overton Window cancer.

      From environmentalism to anti-humanism.
      From free speech to hate speech.
      From equality to equity.
      From let’s monitor epidemics to a constant state of eternal ‘pandemic’.
      From expression of all political views is ‘democracy’ to ‘wrong’ political expression threatens ‘democracy’

      No doubt something I said will trigger mod.
      Which may support my point.

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  • #

    It’s not treason if you’re putting the health of the planet first!

    /sarc

    40

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      TdeF

      Having caught perhaps a thousand flights and many thousands of hours at about 35,000 feet/7miles high looking out the window, I wonder how anyone can believe we humans, even pulling together, control the world’s climates. It’s so outrageous as to only appeal to simpletons, Teals or Greens, but I repeat myself. The oceans are 3.5km deep. And the Pacific alone covers half the planet. Humans occupy almost no land at all, even if we build a lot of fences. And most people live next to water and less than a few meters above the ground, so their climate is a very small and thin part of a chaotic atmosphere. No one actually lives on the ocean or in the desert or in the great tropical forests or the vast boreal forests of Siberia. As Sir Alec Guiness said as King Faisal quoting Lawrence of Arabia, we are a small and silly people.

      But these days when most people now believe anything is possible, tell someone they control the planet and all the climates of the world and they believe you. Build windmills. Send cash. And we wondered why Egyptians built the pyramids. Likely they believed the same thing. Climate Science has become a cult. And if you suggest it is nonsense, you are a denier, a heretic, a skeptic, a real scientist.

      And the organization meant to prevent war after WW1 and WW2, the UN, is really cashing in with their IPCC deparment. Climate Change is a real winner. Who cares about Ukraine? But to be fair, they have 40,000 people to feed in real style, a huge organization which does absolutely nothing. And the UN WHO has declared a pandemic when there isn’t one and didn’t declare one when there was.

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    TdeF

    And a report in the UK is that 1 in 5 families have a negative disposable income. So much for cheap renewable energy! The sheer waste is ripping into the poor, as it is in Australia, Tesla drivers excepted. Governments all running vast deficits by printing money will find the inevitable, huge inflation and depression. It is already hitting in many countries. The days of being able to spend tens of billions on desalination plants instead of building cheap dams, windmills instead of free and simple and very cheap brown coal power and building vast distribution networks just for windmills is going to end soon. As will the free gas bonanza with rich inner city Greens insisting gas is kept in the ground.

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      Kalm Keith

      Great outline;

      and this has all been created from nothing via the World’s Most massive Advertising Campaign, Evah!

      Raw materials used included, but not limited to;

      rare earth metals mined in conditions that would make slave traders blush, sand for the glass receptacles on Solar Stupidity erections, mountains of coal for creation of glass and transport of finished panels to rich countries, more mountains of coal for the production of cement used in the bases of solar and wind installations, more sand for the fibre glass used in the turbine blades and let’s not forget the idiotic “Linkages” that connect this “back to the future” mess with a functional lifespan of Zero.

      And truly, that’s the meaning of Nett Zero: a massive infrastructure that creates less energy in it’s short lifespan than was used in its CONstruction.

      The real “Nett Zero”, and we fell for it.

      KK

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