Friday 29th of March 2024

lassitude...

lassitude

relative growth...

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debonairly negligent...

The Turnbull Government is negligently concealing its massive climate change policy failure, writes Peter Boyer. 

I'M SEEING RED this holiday season. It’s happened in other years, but as 2017 ended it’s deeper and darker than ever.

I don’t mean the red in shop windows or bus drivers in Santa hats – of which I thoroughly approved – nor the bright glow lighting up the dark of a northern winter as a huge wildfire ate into the outskirts of Los Angeles. (Whoever heard of such a thing?)

The red I’m seeing is caused by a malignant trend in public life: the willful, calculated, planned use of the festive season to disguise government failure to meet its obligations.

In this case, it’s about accounting for national carbon emissions as required under an international agreement to which we’re a party — and the principal culprits are Minister for the Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

I’d rather not keep coming back to this issue year after year, but it’s getting to me. Climate change is not just some trivial idea to be tossed aside at will. It’s real and it’s dangerous. And in failing to take their reporting obligations seriously, the Minister and his leader are seriously negligent.

This latest example of Turnbull Government misbehaviour also happened last year. By rights, the pair should be made publicly accountable; and applying their own party’s law-and-order mantra about repeat offenders they should, at the very least, lose their jobs. Fat chance, I know.

read more:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/turnbull-gove...

trumble is deliberately negligent...

In the week before Christmas the government yet again released its latest data on greenhouse gas emissions in the hope they would be missed amid other news and the nearing festivities. As we start the new year let us revisit the data and highlight just how terrible the government’s record on emission reduction has been.

The news that the temperature in Penrith reached 47.3C on Sunday naturally had people talking of climate change. And while noting that a very hot day is evidence of climate change is not as stupid as the very stable genius, Donald Trump, suggesting that the cold snap in the east of the USA meant climate change was fake, we should remember that weather – even if it is hot – is still not climate.

Fortunately we do have data that shows the average temperatures for the entire planet over a year, and not just for a day, in a particular part of Australia. Less fortunate however, the data shows that things are very bad.

2017 will be the second warmest year on record and easily the warmest ever for a year not affected by El Nino...

....

In the 12 months to September 2016, Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions rose to a record level of 550.2 Mt CO2-e if you include the rather dodgy emissions from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sectors.

The government’s report sought to paint a nice picture, noting that this was just 0.7% above the previous year and was “0.8% below emissions in 2000 and 9.1% below emissions in 2005”.

But we can all cherry pick dates. For example, while it might be below 2000 and 2005 levels the latest emissions are around 4% above where they were in June 2014.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2018/jan/09/australias-...

 

Trumble is negligent... And his revision of the Snowy Mountains Scheme won't change a thing, unless the power to pump the water back up comes from renewables. But then the private companies will have to charge the government for the electricity... What will be the cost? 7 cents per kilowatts as paid to private solar panels owners providing electricity to the grid? Most likely it would be more... How many kilowatts are used to pump 1000 litres up about 200 metres?

coal — not even in trump's america...

An independent energy agency on Monday rejected a Trump administration plan to bolster coal-fired and nuclear power plants with subsidies, dealing a blow to the president’s high-profile mission to revive the struggling coal industry.

The decision by the Republican-controlled Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was unexpected and comes amid repeated promises by Trump to rejuvenate coal as the nation’s top power source. The industry has been besieged by multiple bankruptcies and a steady loss of market share as natural gas and renewable energy have flourished.

Energy secretary Rick Perry last year proposed fresh government support for coal-fired and nuclear power plants in an effort to slow the rate at which these units are being phased out, stating the output is needed to avoid power outages “in times of supply stress such as recent natural disasters”.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/08/donald-trump-coal-in...

as frydenberg talks (or write) shit...

Australia’s renewable energy sector responds to the success of South Australia’s Tesla lithium ion battery. South Australia will build the world’s largest solar thermal plant, and a Queensland wind farm may be the site of a new record-breaking battery.

The Aurora solar plant in Port Augusta, SA, will begin construction this year, and is slated to provide 100% of the state’s electricity needs by 2020, the state’s acting energy minister, Chris Picton, announced on Wednesday. 

The $650m, 150-megawatt plant uses mirrors and solar power to heat molten salt and generate electricity, and was approved this week by the state government. It will be built by American company SolarReserve, and is expected to create 650 local jobs during construction.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/11/big-new-renewable-pr...

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Australians would pay more for electricity and have more volatile supply if the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydropower project is not built, Josh Frydenberg has said.

The energy and environment minister has strongly argued for the necessity of the scheme in an opinion piece for the Australian Financial Review, despite the feasibility study revealing that its estimated cost had blown out by more than $2bn to between $3.8bn and $4.5bn.

The Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro scheme would add 2,000 megawatts of capacity to the existing hydro plants and 350,000MW hours of storage.

Frydenberg said that the scheme was “a giant battery that makes renewables reliable”, filling what he called a “gaping hole in the National Electricity Market” – the lack of storage.

“With the capacity to store enough energy to run for seven consecutive days at its maximum output, Snowy 2.0 will be Australia’s biggest battery,” he said.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/09/higher-electricity-b...

The cost of this project is far more than the new renewable technology that would supposed to fill up the dam in down time... To this we need to add the cost of electricity to pump the water back up...

 

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MEANWHILE:

When Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing from the Paris climate change agreement in 2017, experts predicted that American cities and states would go it alone and continue to introduce policies to deal with the Earth’s rising temperatures, without federal leadership. 

Six months later, New York City is doing just that, in a big way. 

The New York City government has announced its plans to sue the world’s five biggest fossil fuel companies over their contribution to climate change, and the city will be divesting $5 billion from the fossil fuel industry. 

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced overnight they had filed a federal court lawsuit against five oil giants: Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips.

“They are the central actors, they are the first ones responsible for this crisis, and they should not get away with it anymore,” Mr de Blasio said in the press conference announcing the lawsuit.

"We’re going after those who have profited. And what a horrible, disgusting way to profit, a way that’s put so many people’s lives in danger.”

New York City is seeking billions of dollars in damages that will be used to fortify the city against extreme weather, rising seas, and future major storms such as 2012’s devastating Hurricane Sandy.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/nyc-climate-change-lawsuit/9...

 

Read from top...

 

recalculating backwards...

Nearly 60 Australian industrial sites have been given the green light to increase greenhouse gas pollution, potentially cancelling out hundreds of millions of dollars of public spending on emissions cuts under the Coalition’s Direct Action climate policy.

The increases have been quietly approved under the “safeguard mechanism”, which was introduced as part of Direct Action to ensure cuts paid for using the main part of the policy – the emission reduction fund – were not undone by emissions increasing in other parts of the economy.

Under the safeguard mechanism, government agency the Clean Energy Regulator sets an emissions limit for each large industrial site based on its highest level of emissions over the previous five years. But companies can apply to have the limit recalculated.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/feb/19/emissions-increas...

increasing federal debt to salvage the NSW govt...

The Federal Government has announced it will spend $6 billion buying out New South Wales' and Victoria's shares in Snowy Hydro Limited.

The deal means the Commonwealth will wholly own the company and is a step closer to starting work on the Snowy Hydro 2.0 scheme.

It is buying New South Wales' 58 per cent stake in the project for $4.1 billion, while Victoria has agreed to relinquish its 29 per cent shareholding for $2 billion.

The purchase was flagged in last year's budget.

The Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said it is a good deal.

"This is fair value for this important asset," he said.

"It unlocks $6 billion for the people of New South Wales and Victoria to invest in the infrastructure they need."

The deal stipulates the states have to spend the money on "productive infrastructure" which could include projects like transport, schools or hospitals. 

Mr Frydenberg said the Federal Government will not have a say on which projects are funded.

"While we don't have a final say over their choice of projects, we would expect the states to invest the money consistent with that broad commitment," he said.

"They will have responsibility for using this money wisely."

 

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-02/government-buys-out-states-snowy-hydro-shares-for-$6b/9500908

 

This is back room accounting with plastic cash that the nation does not have. It is designed to make the NSW government pork barrel at the next election... "Use it wisely?" I already smell a bunch of gold plated dead rats. Adding the cost of this Snowy buy-out to Snowy 2.0 Trumble's baby, the cost of the Snowy scheme will end up adding another $12 billion to the national debt... and there is chance it won't work well at all...

I can't wait to have enough cash to buy solar panels and a battery system to go off-grid. May be I could ask for a donation of one gold plated dead rat from the now loaded NSW government?

 

Read from top...

a huge waste of money...

The promised Snowy Hydro 2.0 project will be an expensive white elephant according to a leading energy expert.

Key points:
  • The Snowy Hydro 2.0 scheme will be an expensive white elephant says leading energy expert Bruce Mountain
  • The project was initially forecast to cost $2 billion and be completed in four years
  • Mr Mountain says it will end up costing five times that amount and take twice as long to build

 

"Here is a project that is likely to cost five times more than the then prime minister [Malcolm Turnbull] said it would, and whose capability is nowhere near what has been claimed of it," the director of the Victorian Energy Policy Centre, Bruce Mountain, told 7.30.

"This is a project that we can confidently forecast will be a drain on the public purse and whose service in the transition to a cleaner energy future can be met far more cheaply from other sources.

"Snowy Hydro 2.0 was a political get-out-of-jail card, played at the public's expense."

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-14/snowy-hydro-2.0-expensive-and-won...

 

Read from top.

 

our own thaddeus kosciuszko...

The chaotic protests rocking Washington DC have caught the attention of Poland, after protesters targeted a statue of an Eastern European military hero and statesman.

The US capital fell victim to an orgy of destruction on Sunday, after thousands of demonstrators descended on the city, sparked by the police killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd.

Although many protesters were peaceful, fires broke out and stores were looted as law enforcement and military police attempted to enforce the city’s 11pm curfew.

One act of vandalism has gone largely overlooked – at least until now. Photographs show that a statue near the white house of Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a Polish military leader and statesman, was covered in graffiti by protesters. Messages spray-painted onto the monument included “BLM” (Black Lives Matter), as well as “F**k Trump.”

The vandalism prompted Polish Ambassador to the US Piotr Wilczek to issue a diplomatic protest of his own.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/490394-poland-statue-kosciuszko-dc-vandalized/

One could wonder what this article is doing about in a section reserved for the "Snowies", the "high" mountains of Australia. At a bit more than 2,228 metres the top of Australia in the Snowy Mountains is named Mount Kosciuszko...

 

I think it was Count Paul Edmund Strzelecki, the explorer who named the bloody thing...