Serious question, no intention of being flippant or antagonistic: what are your climate science credentials? What is your background of the subject, and so on?
Read this â â â â â â â â
And when you understand it we can talk more
Me or sorfed?
Me, I donât have anything formal but my wife is the countryâs leading scientist of climate change impact on agronomy. So itâs fair today there has been a bit of high level dinner table discussion on the topic.
Her credentials are 2phds on climate physiology and agronomy. Valadictorian from Melbourne Uni
So although you have nothing formal, itâs still fair to say you are well suited to talk on the subject??
Must say, ⌠with all the ignorance displayed here, I would have thought youâd be meg attired of doing so by now âŚ
Iâd like to think so, 90% of our social circle are scientists
And yeah it does, but then someone post something inexplicably stupid and I canât help myself.
And itâs not like we are debating arbitrarily policyâs here like a new road or funding for something minor. This is the world we live in.
I canât fathom how people are wilfully obtuse about it
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Tentative plans for an offshore wind farm near Gippsland. Could provide a much needed jobs boost for the area, interesting concept but still in the early stages.
Plans for an Australian-first offshore wind farm off Victoriaâs south-east coast, which could provide almost a fifth of the stateâs energy, have won cautious government support.
Key points:
â˘Wind farm could provide 18 per cent of Victoriaâs energy and power 1.2 million homes
â˘Project still needs government approval
â˘Federal, state ministers have given early support
Offshore Energy has been working with the Federal Government on a feasibility study for the 250-turbine proposal, and will present details of the plan to a Victorian Government-led energy roundtable in Churchill today.
The wind farm â which would be built 10â25 kilometres offshore in waters near Port Albert â would spread over 570 square kilometres in Commonwealth waters, and could provide 18 per cent of the stateâs energy.
Offshore Energyâs managing director Andy Evans said the $8 billion project could reduce carbon emissions by about 10.5 million tonnes per year.
âThe benefits of offshore wind, particularly off the coast of Gippsland, is itâs a much more consistent and constant wind resource,â he said.
âYou donât have as many of the restrictions as you would have with other land-based wind resources.â
Mr Evans said the wind farm would connect to the existing network and could supply power to 1.2 million homes.
He said the feasibility testing phase would take three years.
âOffshore wind projects have been developing rapidly, particularly in Europe, but also in the northern hemisphere,â Mr Evans said.
âThere are a number of offshore developers and certainly large infrastructure investors, particularly here and overseas, that are progressing these projects.â
Hope for thousands of jobs
Preliminary planning and environmental studies show the plant could generate direct about 12,000 direct and indirect jobs, in a region that has been plagued by job losses since the Hazelwood power station shutdown.
Energy crisis looms
The powers that be are stumbling in the dark to prevent a looming energy crisis, as the grid seeks to balance competing demands.
Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Darren Chester, who is the MP for Gippsland, has given early support, pending an environmental study.
âWe have great natural resources in Gippsland â wind off the coast, coal timber. If there are ways to capture that and turn into energy that powers manufacturing sector, I am all for that,â he said.
âBut itâs important the proponents work with the local community.â
Victoriaâs Energy Minister Lily DâAmbrosio said the company would first need to get the go-ahead from the Federal Government, before seeking Victorian planning and environmental approvals.
âThis is a massive project. Itâs an exciting project, it is unprecedented and one that our Government supports and weâll continue to work alongside Offshore Energy to work through all of the planning requirements,â she said.
âWe will work together with the Commonwealth to ensure that all of the necessary approvals are dealt with so in the end Offshore Energy can go ahead.â
The company said it had not discussed federal funding options.
Cautious optimism from green, development groups
Richard Elkington from Regional Development Victoria warned the feasibility study was expensive and could lead to disappointment.
âItâs a good idea for all sorts of reasons â itâs not coal,â he told ABC Gippsland.
"We shouldnât be carried away with the job numbers though. Weâve been hearing about potential coal projects for the last 20 years.
âItâs always just around the corner and it holds out the prospect of hundreds or thousands of jobs and weâve got a great future in the Latrobe Valley, but none of those projects have been realised.â
Fishing boats tied to a jetty.
Photo: Commercial and recreational fishing is vital to Port Albertâs economy. (ABC Gippsland: Jenni Henderson)
Port Albert cafe owner Michael Hobson raised concerns about the environmental and economic impact on the coastal town, which has a population of about 250, and is a base for fishing fleets and boating.
Mr Hobson said the proposal was close to globally recognised wetlands, and could affect local wildlife.
âItâs internationally significant in regards to the birdlife and migratory birdlife that travel out of the area,â Mr Hobson said.
"Weâre looking at excluding our commercial fishing operators and our recreational fishers, which is a significant part of our local economy.
âSo of course, that comes with its own issues as well.â
Mark Wakeham from Environment Victoria said the offshore windfarm could be a huge opportunity, but there would be risks to manage.
âOn balance, weâre pretty excited about the potential for this project although weâll be looking very closely at the environmental impacts of it,â he said.
Well at least they wonât have to worry about any endangered spotted fork tail goannas or duck billed wombats.
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What about the flying ring tailed quoll fish you insensitive â â â â â â â !
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Iâm offended at your tone and I think you are not a nice person. I bet you eat onions raw.
That only happens if youâre stupid enough to mistake one for an Apple.
Like if youâre an iTone âŚ
Speaking of the onion thing, because it seems to upset some people, Tone is an alien robot, right? The thing where his batteries ran low and he couldnât respond to the media for 5 minutes. Then there was the onion thing where he understood it was food but misunderstood that you donât eat it like an apple.
It said 8.7 gigawatts (GW) had been generated at lunchtime, representing 24.3% of total generation across the UK.
The level tops the previous record of 8.48GW set on 10 May .Alongside the contribution from solar, 23% of power came from nuclear sources, 30% from natural gas and just 1.4% from coal
Pretty good for a country that doesnât get a lot of sunlight.
I think youâll find that you canât generate that much solar power because itâs too expensive and the sun doesnât shine at night time.
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What the fark is wrong with you ?
Most of us are concerned by climate change and the effect of carbon emissions. Most of us, donât give a fark if it is USA, Russia, India, China or whatever place. Most of us, know it has to stop.
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Itâs the classic âlook over there!â distract/obfuscate move. Not played all that well for reasons youâve just mentioned.
Just to clarify, who is âusâ? Is it just the leftist abusive people on this thread?
Last time I noted Labour lost the last election and a significant reason for this was a disgraceful deal and backflip with the greens on a carbon tax.
If you look at Trump, one of his election promises was to quit the ludicrous Paris agreement. Guess what? He got in. Was that the reason? I donât think so. However clearly it was either not a concern for people or they were happy with it.
So clarify who is âusâ? If itâs abusive leftists then Iâd agree. Clearly you are not the majority you think you are.
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Everyone on here aside from around 3 posters (including yourself) would qualify as âleftistâ to you.
As for it not being a concern for people there were people inside his own admin as well as nearly everyone outside of it asking him to stick with it.
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The only people not concerned by climate change are the willfully ignorant or the greedily self-interested. We all know which of these you are from your only âargumentâ -
âClimate change is a natural phenomenon so canât be affected by pumping out masses of CO2â. Or âpeople have been dying of natural causes forever, therefore this gun wonât blow my brains outâ. Mr Logic.
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Well Mr Fox, you continue to segregate by your nonsense Left vs Right mentality.
Deny climate change all you like, but you are in the minority, and as I said most of âusâ care about the planet and the future of our kids and grandkids. Most of âusâ do not care if it is USA, India, China etc who cause the pollution and the effect, and even less about their politics, we just want it fixed.
The Paris Agreement was not perfect but it was much more important than doing nothing.
And seriously if you think that Tony Abbott won an election and then Malcolm Turnbull won the next because of the carbon tax then you do have no farking idea.
However if you want to debate politics, letâs move to the politics post.
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Well the evidence suggests something different. Well done on holding off on the abuse for one post though.