Is climate change directly related to the discovery of volcanoes as humans populated the globe? That’s a new one.
It can all be stopped, even reversed.
We should be cooling, not warming.
Both utter rubbish pedaled by scientists with a fear driven eternally funded budget stream. Paid science jobs for life. The hard days for the climatologist is over. Get on the bus!
Turnbull would have seen the far right of his party making throat slitting gestures over his shoulder in the background while attending this.
Dark future ahead for coal-fired power in Australia
AUSTRALIA’S Chief Scientist has predicted a dark future ahead for coal-fired power in coming years and says the country’s not prepared.
AAP
June 9, 20174:39pm
AUSTRALIA’S reliance on coal to generate electricity will diminish as conventional power plants reach their use-by date, the country’s chief scientist says.
But the existing market is not equipped to deal with the transition and, if not addressed soon, could impact reliability and security.
Chief Scientist Alan Finkel briefed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and state premiers in Hobart on Friday on his 212-page report into Australia’s electricity market.
He said Australia’s coal fleet is old and coming towards the end of its design life. He predicts generation will decline over the next 30 years.
More than three-quarters (76 per cent) of electricity produced in 2015/2016 came from coal-fired generators.
But by 2035, about 68 per cent of existing coal generating plants will have reached 50 years of age, and investors have signalled they’re unlikely to invest in new coal-fired generation.
“The existing conventional coal-fired generators are unlikely to be replaced with like-for-like generation assets,” he wrote.
Large generators are likely to be replaced by a number of smaller plants, as the cost of wind, large-scale solar, and new gas-fired generators rapidly declines. However, the existing framework “is not well suited to co-ordinating the transition ahead”.
Dr Finkel’s report found pressure could be taken off power prices and reliability of electricity improved if governments can agree on a new national energy policy.
A new policy — centred on a technologically-neutral “clean energy target” and better planning — would allow for the orderly rollout of new generation into the market to improve reliability following a series of blackouts across eastern and southern Australia.
The days of coal-fired power in Australia are numbered. Picture: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
The days of coal-fired power in Australia are numbered. Picture: Dan Himbrechts/AAPSource:AAP
“Participation is based on low emissions, not technology type,” Dr Finkel said in the report.
“There are no prohibitions, just incentives. It puts downward pressure on prices by bringing that new electricity generation into the market at lowest cost without prematurely displacing existing low-cost generators.”
Reliability could also be improved, and power bills pushed down, by rewarding consumers for playing their part in reducing demand and putting in place their own technologies such as battery storage and rooftop solar, he said.
It is estimated there are more than 1.44 million rooftop solar photovoltaic systems across Australia, with generation expected to rise by 350 per cent over the next 20 years.
Battery storage is expected to take off in popularity, with around 100,000 systems set to be installed nationwide by 2020.
Consumers should be rewarded for installing solar panels and batteries, Dr Finkel has suggested.
Consumers should be rewarded for installing solar panels and batteries, Dr Finkel has suggested.Source:News Corp Australia
Dr Finkel said the overwhelming message he had received while undertaking the review was a call for a “single, nationally agreed plan to manage the transition to a lower emissions economy”.
“Stakeholders argued that business as usual is not an option. Policy reversals and piecemeal government interventions undermine investor confidence,” he wrote.
Mr Turnbull has said state and federal governments will report back in August as to how Dr Finkel’s findings can be implemented.
THREE YEARS NOTICE OF CLOSURE
Dr Finkel believes power plants should give three years notice if they want to close.
He found generators were being retired with much shorter notice to the market than the time it takes for new capacity to be planned, financed and built.
“This will be problematic in the future where the retirement of large coal-fired generators could have implications for system security and reliability,” Dr Finkel said.
“The security and reliability services that these generators provide can and will be met by other means, but the transition will need to be more closely monitored and managed.”
Key to that will be obliging large generators to provide both the market operator and wider community with more notice of their intention to close. The report recommends a three-year notification period.
“This will provide time for replacement capacity to be built and for affected communities to plan for change.”
SOLAR, WIND TO GUARANTEE POWER
New sources of electricity such as wind and power would also have to guarantee a certain amount of power.
Dr Finkel believes new generators should have to guarantee they can supply electricity when needed for the duration and capacity determined for each region of the market through a new “generator reliability obligation”.
He recommends a new Energy Security Board should take control of a blueprint to ensure clean energy is rolled out in the most efficient way across the grid.
Gas would play an essential role in providing secure and reliable electricity, but this would need better oversight by the Australian Energy Market Operator as well more development of gas with proper compensation for landholders and community consultation.
Wind turbines at Snowtown in South Australia’s mid north. Picture: Kelly Barnes/The Australian
Wind turbines at Snowtown in South Australia’s mid north. Picture: Kelly Barnes/The AustralianSource:News Corp Australia
NEW ENERGY TARGET
The new clean energy target — which would provide incentives to low emission generators to enter the market — would replace the existing renewable energy target from 2020, and the federal, state and territory governments would agree to a national emissions reduction trajectory.
Dr Finkel said investors in coal with carbon capture and storage technology could receive incentives under the CET.
But he expected coal-fired generation would decline over the coming three decades and new investment in it was unlikely to be made.
KEY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
• All governments need to agree on an emissions reduction trajectory and implement a mechanism to drive clean energy investment
• The recommended mechanism is a Clean Energy Target, the most effective way to cut emissions and support energy security/reliability
• Low emission generation like wind and gas will be incentivised but no penalties for high emission generation
• New generators obliged to ensure adequate capacity to meet consumer demand
• Big electricity generators required to give three years’ notice of closure to allow investor/community planning
• A new integrated grid plan to inform investment and ensure energy security with significant investment decisions between states or regions to be made from a system-wide perspective
• A new Energy Security Board to deliver the plan and provide oversight, reporting on performance annually
• Financial rewards for consumers for reducing demand and sharing their resources, eg rooftop solar panels.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR FINKEL PLAN?
July 2017: Next meeting of COAG Energy Council expected to agree to new Energy Security Board.
September 2017: Australian Energy Market Operator to publish a review of its summer forecast and how it is preparing for the seasonal spike in demand. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to publish a preliminary report into electricity supply and prices.
Mid-2018: Energy market regulation reviews completed and new reliability guarantee adopted. Australian Energy Market Operator given a last resort power to have gas-fired generators available in emergency situations. ACCC to publish final report on prices and supply.
Mid-2019: Report on workforce needs for the energy sector.
By 2020: All governments agree to a national emissions reduction strategy, taking Australia to 2050.
Mid-2020: Complexities removed to enable consumers to share their energy data and play a more informed role in energy grid.
Is it possible that reality has finally dawned on these Rightard idiots?
Is it?
I think the cost argument is starting to dawn on the hoodwinked out there. They’ve already picked their side on AGW and most won’t change their minds on it. At best they’ll just chose not to get involved in it.
The hard core fossils will fade away with their influence over time.
I doubt it.
But it has dawned on big business.
Well all bar miners and coal power generator owners. (and even some of them)
So eventually they will be forced to change.
Mineral council/IPA: “Make sure policy favors our profits”
The rest of the business community: “Yeah, we need some direction on energy and climate policy. Can you, like, do something. Anything?”
LNP: “Um, I think I left something in my car…”
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Nope
That photo is going to live on years after Scotty is out of office, as a visual representation of pure stupidity
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Caption: “I have more or less the same intellect as this lump of Coal”
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“Are you my friend?”
Lol. The tomato head in the background, who’s supposed to represent the interests of farming communities wants coal seam gas drilling to happen anywhere the miners like. The same miners who would rather flog it all off overseas and pay zero tax.
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And this is an official document from the State of California, the most rabid unhinged greenies on the planet.
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/00-077.htm#suppl
The good professor is correct about one thing.
The dark future, but not quite they way he means
Battery storage is expected to take off in popularity, with around 100,000 systems set to be installed nationwide by 2020.
And I am one of them. Are you?
Three years notice to close down a plant, I could close down any union run plant in the country in 10 minutes.
Ok, so you would never have found that by yourself - which den of antiscientific lunacy is peddling that as its talking point this week?
So tell me, how much do they irrigate the plants in the greenhouse? Jeez, high CO2 and increased heat is ABSOLUTELY FINE when you conveniently ignore the droughts they cause, isn’t it? It’s almost like things are … take a deep breath here … different in a controlled environment where evaporation is artificially retarded and artificial irrigation is performed than it is in the wild. Whoah, who would ever have thought it?
The fact that you’re posting this as an argument against AGW just exposes the fact that you’re utterly unqualified to participate in the conversation. I would recommend you go and try to obtain some basic science education, but you’ve demonstrated many times you have no interest in science unless can be cherrypicked and removed from all context to suit your predetermined argument. You wouldn’t know scientific integrity or honesty if it beat you with a shovel.
The adults are talking. Grow up, or shut up. You’re embarrassing yourself.
Oh, and if you had even the slightest ability to read and comprehend the links you mindlessly regurgitate, you’d have noticed that this was from Ontario, not California. CA the country, not CA the state. The fevered little american website you most likely sourced this from has made you look like an idiot, not that you needed much help on that. If this is the sort of analytical rigor you apply to all your research and decision making, then you’ll forgive us if we value your opinion around the same as that of a dung beetle.
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This is pure gold!
Climate deniers use Socrates to disprove global warming
AN ad published in a major newspaper is trying to prove climate change isn’t real using a hypothetical conversation with Socrates.
Liz Burke@lizeburke
news.com.au
June 9, 20176:08pm
The Climate Study Group says it researches ‘climate truths’.
A GROUP that claims to study “climate truths” is behind a bizarre newspaper ad that uses ancient philosopher Socrates to try and prove climate change isn’t real.
The paid advertisement ran in The Australian newspaper, published by NewsCorp, which also publishes news.com.au, on Friday has shocked both scientists and philosophers as it weirdly tries to link the two disciplines to prove CO2 and fossil fuels have nothing to do with global warming.
The quarter-page advertisement features a large image of Socrates and showcases a “hypothetical conversation” between the philosopher and a fictional “strong believer in climate change”, dubbed Mr Smith.
The conversation sees Socrates question Mr Smith’s unwavering belief about emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels which were formed before and during the carboniferous period.
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Great Barrier Reef in Crisis
In the imaginary exchange, Socrates questions whether there was evidence of global warming prior to this period, and makes some other “philosophical inquiries”, which are then claimed to “reveal the truth with compelling logic and facts which refute longheld belief”. Mr Smith is led to finally “understand the truth” and ultimately reject climate change.
Advertisement placed by The Climate Study Group.
Advertisement placed by The Climate Study Group.Source:Supplied
Social media users have slammed the add, and Reddit commentators have called it just plain weird.
Actual experts are outraged too.
Deakin University senior philosophy lecturer Patrick Stokes said aside from scientific conjecture, the philosophical side of the group’s argument was dangerously flawed.
“The reason that climate change denialists like Socrates is they are wedding to a brave individual exposing the corrupt elite,” he said. “The problem is of course that science doesn’t work the way Socratic questioning works. The idea that you come along and lob a couple of Socratic questions and explode it all just doesn’t hold water.”
Mr Stokes said there were “glaring fallacies” in the argument, and argued that Socrates would have been “quite affronted” by the ad.
He said on Twitter: “Whoever wrote this: Socrates would have kicked your ■■■■, and rightly so.”
Melbourne University climate scientist Andrew King said the advert put forward “a nonsensical ill-founded argument”.
“Essentially their argument is the CO2 was higher in the past and that the carbon is from a natural source,” Dr King said. “One obvious criticism is that the Carboniferous Period (being 300 million years ago) is a poor analog for the climate of today. It was warmer but lifeforms were also very different with nothing similar to humans.
“Human life is adapted to the climate we have today. If the climate was much warmer, as in the Carboniferous period, we’d be in a lot of trouble!
“They also talk about the lack of “dangerous global warming” in the Carboniferous period, but, in a large part, the problems that result from global warming are caused by the absolute temperature as opposed to the rate of change of temperature.”
Dr King also argued it was unfair to invoke Socrates. He said that having been dead for a long time he wasn’t around to give his own opinion.
News.com.au spoke to the convener of The Climate Study Group, who described the organisation as “a group that studies the climate truths”.
The man asked to remain anonymous for fear of hate mail, but has previously publicly identified himself as the leader of the organisation in government submissions and articles.
He said he did not wish to discuss the advertisement or the research behind it any further.
The same organisation came under fire for another unusual advertisement that took a similar format and was published in the same paper in August 2015.
In an advertorial entitled “Psychology and the new climate alarm”, the climate-denial collective sought to use psychological research to prove there was no evidence that CO2 had affected climate.
The Australian Psychology Society attacked the group, saying it was “disturbed to see psychology being used to mislead the public” and claimed the publisher had ignored a “huge body of scientific evidence”.
The same band of climate deniers has also been behind bizarre research papers and submissions to the Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister, and Minister for the Environment, using its own research to back up allegations that economists were being alarmist due to their psychological makeup and that an ice age is the most urgent environmental threat.
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Oh dear …
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What is it that dickheads with the internet that think google supplements a)their iq deficits, and b) years of study and practical application?
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