Recent Energy News
in Australia and the UK

2015 news snippets, Jan-July

Sanity is slowly returning to the energy debate. The appalling performance of wind farms is becoming well-known, and the continued closure of coal-fired power stations forced by the so-called 'Climate Change Act' is beginning to cause alarm in and out of government.

If you wish to see how energy is generated in France, here is the French 'gridwatch' link. Observe how France's energy policy compares with ours. Uk strategy on energy is not so much a policy as an utter shambles, masterminded by those who have no knowledge of how electricity generation actually works.

Australia is strongly opposing the so-called "climate change" policies of the U.N. Other countries are beginning to follow suit. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the reasons for 'decarbonization' have more to do with political control than with the temperature of the planet.

This website believes in true sustainability, sensible use of resources, recycling and re-using materials and goods, and designing things in such a way that they last. Having to replace a two-year-old low-energy freezer because a plastic door hinge breaks and is no longer obtainable (reported to me this week by my mother-in-law) is NOT my idea of sustainability.

So - three snippets from July:

AUSTRALIAN P.M. BACKS HIS COAL INDUSTRY
A $1.2bn (Australian dollars) open cast coal mining operation has been given the go-ahead by theAustralian Environment Minister, Greg Hunt. The mine is in the state of New South Wales and is the third approved by Mr Abbott during the last year.

He said last November that for the foreseeable future, coal is the foundation of prosperity. Coal is the foundation of the way we live because a modern lifestyle is impossible without energy.

“If we are serious about raising people’s living standards in less developed countries, if we are serious about maintaining and improving living standards in countries like Australia, we have to be serious about making the best use of coal.”

In May this year his chief business adviser Maurice Newman accused the United Nations of using debunked climate change science to lead a new world order. Christiana Figueres, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, had just completed a journey around Australia spreading anti-coal propaganda.

Mr Newman told her that the UN was using false models showing sustained temperature increases to end democracy and impose authoritarian rule.

“The real agenda is concentrated political authority,” Newman wrote in an opinion piece published in The Australian. “Global warming is the hook. It’s about a new world order under the control of the UN. It is opposed to capitalism and freedom and has made environmental catastrophism a household topic to achieve its objective.”

In 2013, Australia was the fifth largest coal producer in the world. Approximately three quarters of its coal production each year is exported.

19 Ju1 15

UK BLACKOUTS ONE STEP CLOSER
Last winter the safety margin (peak demand minus generating capacity) frell to 4.1%. However, because of continued power station closures, principally coal, the margin has fallen further and next winter will be at about 1.2%.

This does not look good. The options are: 1) Pay factories to switch off at peak times (this is happening already in some areas but not being publicised), 2) Use mothballed power plants to plug the gap. However most of the recently-closed big plants have been demolished.

18 Ju1 15

EXCESSIVE GREEN SUBSIDIES IN UK
The Policy Exchange has published a report which says ministers have been reckless and wasteful in spending consumers' money on green energy subsidies. The Exchange says that payments to households which install rooftop solar PV panels should be cut significantly.

The report also said that household energy bills have risen an extra £120 because of climate change policies which have not been thought through properly, and through the extra costs of running energy networks which use PV and wind energy.

16 Ju1 15

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