Lethal Heating: 02/12/17

12/02/2017

Hard Facts Unmask The Fiction Behind Coalition's 'Coal Comeback'

The Guardian - Lenore Taylor

There’s a long list of blame and shame for Australia’s threadbare climate and energy policy, but Turnbull’s party takes the cake

Scott Morrison indulges in some parliamentary antics with a lump of coal during question time on Thursday

Watching politics builds a high tolerance for hypocrisy and humbug, but even I am aghast at the Coalition’s antics this week – fondling a lump of coal in parliament while accusing the opposition of an “ideological approach to energy” and negligence in policy planning.
Seriously. There’s a long list of blame and shame for Australia’s threadbare climate and energy policy, and the failure to plan for an energy market crisis that experts have warned about for years. But Malcolm Turnbull’s Coalition takes out first place.
Arguably all sides of politics have made mistakes or miscalculations to get us to this point of omni-failure – high prices, blackouts and an inability to reduce electricity sector emissions – and yes, ideology has played a part: mostly the climate-change denying, renewables-are-a-socialist-plot ideology espoused by sections of the Liberal and National parties that once upon a time, a long time ago, Turnbull also railed against.
Before we untether from reality entirely and drift off into a Trump-like universe where truth belongs to whoever delivers the best poll-driven lines or brings the dumbest prop to question time, let’s hammer down a few facts. Because we aren’t reviewing bad theatre here and when some commentators opine about whether Turnbull’s lines will “work”, or how funny the whole thing was, what they are really assessing is whether the prime minister can successfully, and in broad daylight, shift the blame for a monumental stuff-up, while apparently proposing solutions that will make it substantially worse in every regard.
Since it’s our job to point out things like that, here are a few facts that undermine the “coal comeback” PR strategy that started rolling out sometime last year:

Renewable energy is not “causing” blackouts. They’re primarily due to the (incredibly complicated) energy market that wasn’t designed or isn’t being run to cope with a higher proportion of renewables, and is throwing up perverse incentives that mean South Australia can have a blackout while generators are sitting idle. It would seem obvious that the answer to this problem is not to abandon all incentives for renewable energy but rather to fix the market and the rules. Cars probably got bogged when they started driving on roads designed for horses and buggies too, but it wouldn’t have been wise to respond by trying to stop the roll-out of automobiles. And New South Wales – a state that gets a very small proportion of its energy from renewables, was also facing the prospect of blackouts on Friday, which sometimes happen during peak demand but also undermine the Coalition’s simplistic arguments.

Renewables cannot take the blame for the recent rise in prices. Queensland, which also has a tiny proportion of renewable energy, has had price spikes that added an astounding $1bn to wholesale power prices just since the beginning of this year. South Australia, cited by the federal Coalition as the terrible case study of what Labor’s renewable energy policies might do, has had just a few. The Queensland price spikes are also vastly higher than those felt in South Australia last July, which were described as an emergency, according to an analysis by Dylan McConnell from Melbourne University. Weirdly, no federal ministers have been berating the Queensland government over its (fossil fuel) choice of energy source.

New coal-fired power stations are not going to be built. You don’t have to go to greenies for that assessment – it is also coming from the AI Group, which represents Australia’s manufacturers, and from the Australian Energy Council, which represents the big electricity and gas businesses that generate and supply most of our energy, as well as from the head of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation – who has expert knowledge of lending to the energy sector. Business knows climate change is a thing, and that locking in emissions from a new coal-fired power station for 50 years, no matter how efficient it is and how lovingly the current ministry can carry around lumps of coal, is incompatible with our long-term climate commitment and therefore an unacceptable investment risk. When really pressed, the only way experts can imagine the construction of a new coal-fired power station is if the government pays for it, or signs a contract indemnifying the company paying for it from the impact of future climate policy. And no sane government would do that. You’d only do that if you suspected the world was about to decide climate change was a hoax or at least not so much a problem, which might explain where some of the Coalition’s coal boosters are coming from.

Even if they were built, power from new highly-efficient coal-fired power stations would not be cheaper. In fact, Bloomberg New Energy Finance has calculated that they would be the most expensive, and dirtiest, form of power available, costing more than solar, wind and gas-fired power.

Governments could always reduce the strain on the system and help avoid blackouts by reducing energy demand but schemes to reduce demand at times of peak power usage (such as, say, heatwaves) were shelved after the Abbott government was elected, while programs for minimum energy performance standards seem to have been burned in Tony Abbott’s bonfire of red tape.

And finally, as business and industry and environmentalists and pretty much everyone who looks at the evidence (including, a while back, Turnbull) have been saying for years, the very best thing governments could do to encourage investment and a sensible low-cost transition to cleaner generation is come up with a bipartisan policy, such as the energy-intensity carbon scheme that had bipartisan political support, the backing of industry and could have reduced power prices while also bringing emissions down. But the Turnbull government jettisoned any consideration of that in less than 24 hours, apparently fearing the response of right wingers such as Cory Bernardi. He’s now left the Coalition anyway, and it still has no climate policy.

We’ve been enduring this climate war nonsense for more than a decade and now we’re wearing the consequences – rising prices, unreliable power supply and increasing emissions. Responding with a parliamentary pantomime to try to shift the blame to a fictitious renewable industry bad guy is true ideological idiocy and also negligent, because it puts the shallowest, shortest-term and most opportunistic strategy for political survival ahead of households, investors and future generations.

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Adelaide-Made Low-Emission Buses Venture Looks To Fill Holden Jobs Gap

ABC News

The first new buses are about to go into operation across Adelaide. (Supplied: SA Government)

An agreement to manufacture more than 50 low-emission diesel buses in northern Adelaide is promising news for a region where Holden's imminent departure is hurting automotive suppliers, the South Australian Government says.

There are 29 Adelaide workers involved in the project across engineering and other roles, in a venture between two companies Precision Components and Bustech.
Precision Components director Mat Fitch hopes it will soften the impact of Holden's closure when it withdraws from manufacturing vehicles in Australia.

"It's creating a platform for diversification, for transition of jobs, retention of skills and capabilities," he said.

"We're fully aware of what the impact will be but obviously, with the State Government's support, by creating this platform we are reducing the effects of the closure of Holden and transitioning into new industries."
The first four environmentally efficient buses will be used in a trial as part of Adelaide's public transport network, and the Government said it would provide the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure with data on how electric and low-carbon emission buses might be used for the longer term across Adelaide.
The bus project has received a $2 million grant under the Northern Economic Plan, which the Government put into place after Holden announced its Australian future.

Interstate demand for low-emission buses
State Manufacturing and Innovation Minister Kyam Maher said dozens of buses would be manufactured for supply to other states.
"The agreement to manufacture an additional 50 low carbon emission diesel buses in northern Adelaide is great news for local automotive suppliers as it creates opportunities across other areas of advanced manufacturing," he said.
"The fact that the first-ever wholly-Australian designed, engineered and manufactured electric buses will roll off the production line later this month right here in northern Adelaide is further evidence of the state's advanced manufacturing expertise."

Dozens of workers are already involved in the new bus production venture. (Supplied: SA Government)

Mr Fitch said helping northern Adelaide job prospects was a priority.

"The alliance is committed to maximising the use of local materials and suppliers across the manufacturing process to provide the most benefit to the northern Adelaide community," he said.

The Government expressed hopes a further 50 jobs could be created as the new business grows, and says the venture already is working with about 20 local suppliers.

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Welcome To The Madhouse: Scientist Says Trump Could Destroy The World

NEWS.com.au - Emma Reynolds

The world-leading scientist has written a book on the threat of the current political climate. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

A WORLD-leading scientist has warned Donald Trump may signal the end of the world — and Australia could be first to face the catastrophic consequences.

Michael Mann claims Mr Trump’s relationship to “post-truth” politics and “alternative facts” is much more than just embarrassing for the US and has the potential to destroy civilisation.
Sitting in an office at the University of Sydney Business School ahead of his sold-out talk this week, the Penn State professor says one only has to look at the city’s record January temperatures for proof of how dangerous the President’s attitude is.
“He’s building a wall between himself and the evidence of climate change,” Professor Mann told news.com.au. “He waffles, it’s hard to pin down, he says one thing to one audience then another thing to another audience.

That’s all folks: Could the President’s policies destroy us? Picture: Jim Watson/AFP Source: AFP

Professor Michael Mann is in Sydney this week, warning that Australia may be first in the firing line if disaster strikes. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

“Some of his quotes firmly deny basic evidence, then there’s a ‘kinder, gentler’ form of denial — ‘there’s some warming, human activity has some role’ — that is still in denial of science. The science is far stronger than that.”
Mr Trump has sent mixed signals over what he may do about the issue, if anything. He called global warming a “hoax” and pledged to reverse Mr Obama’s efforts to curb coal-fired power plant emissions, but also recently met climate activists Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio. His daughter and close adviser, Ivanka Trump, has also shown interest in the cause.
Professor Mann says Mr Trump panders to his right-wing supporters and the Republican party’s conservative base, which is regularly lobbied by certain fossil fuel companies. But the 70-year-old’s engagement with the “fake debate” of whether climate change is real is delaying other important questions about nuclear fuel, pricing carbon and renewable energy opportunities, he warned.

Professor Mann is the creator of the famous ‘hockey stick graph’, illustrating the spike in global temperature. Picture: Klaus Bittermann/Wikipedia Commons Source: Supplied

The North and South Pacific have both seen one of their strongest cyclones in the past year and a half, with Vanuatu still recovering from Tropical Cyclone Pam. Australia’s ‘Angry Summer’ of 2013, which saw 123 weather records broken over a 90-day period, is yet another example of the impending risk for Prof Mann.
“The Antarctic ice sheet is close to home,” he said. “If we lose the West Antarctic ice sheet, and we are very close to the threshold, we set in motion the destruction of the ice shelf. The ice shelf is ready to collapse. Then we’re talking a 10- to 12-foot [3- to 4-metre] sea level rise, we don’t know how quick.
“We’re talking massive loss of coastal civilisation. That could be catastrophic for Australia and New Zealand.
“That’s a tipping point we’re very close to, if we haven’t already crossed it. Every bit of carbon makes a difference. What is it that will put us over the edge?”

US may pull out of Paris climate agreement

Mr Trump has made it clear he believes in “America First” but the professor of atmospheric science says the nationalism seen in global politics right now is dangerous.
“Trump is maybe signifying a larger nationalist, nativist political wave, like we see with Brexit, that poses a particular kind of threat to activities that require global co-operation,” he said.
“Trump is a threat to a larger global movement. The next election will be a critical decision — do we want global co-operation or a divided world?”
While the President has said he may pull out of the Paris accord on climate change, Prof Mann does believe the world is moving in the right direction and that the billionaire businessman may represent the “last hurrah” for climate change denial. But according to the scientist, that could be enough to push us over the point of no return into global disaster.
“The tide of history can’t be turned,” he said. “Ultimately, fossil fuels will be priced out because of economies of scale. But we’re delaying it a bit — at what cost?
“Even a temporary setback of four years could be enough to make it impossible to meet critical targets.”
Prof Mann, who created the famous ‘hockey stick’ graph showing the recent unprecedented spike in global temperatures, has tough words for Mr Obama too, saying he “made a mistake making healthcare his first fight” and “didn’t have enough political capital left” to turn the tide on signing up to ambitious climate targets.

A cartoon from Professor Mann’s book about the risks of Mr Trump’s ‘America First’ policies. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

While the former president ramped up production of renewable energy like solar, he did not go as far as imposing a carbon tax advocated by Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.
The Republican party remains officially opposed to such action to reduce emissions, but Prof Mann believes three-quarters would quietly accept the science, supported by the majority of experts. “The impact is becoming so real it’s increasingly difficult to deny,” he said.
A group of senior Republican statesmen are pushing for a tax on carbon, saying the evidence has become too compelling to ignore, but are meeting entrenched opposition from within the party.
Former Secretary of State Jim Baker went to the White House on Wednesday to gain Trump administration support for the plan, which would place a tax on oil, natural gas and coal and use the proceeds to pay dividends of an estimated $2000 each year to families.
Mr Baker conceded the group faces long odds for political success. “This makes such good sense from a conservative, limited government, free market, pro-competitive approach, that at the very least we hope they’ll take a look at it,” he said. “But we know we have an uphill slog to get the Republicans interested in this.”
Within hours of their announcement, influential conservative anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist took to Twitter to suggest any proposal that includes a carbon tax is dead on arrival at Capitol Hill.
“Now that the GOP can repeal all the anti-energy, anti-job regs — the Left offers to trade those regs for a carbon tax,” the president of the group Americans for Tax Reform tweeted. “Nice try. No.”
This may be progress, but it does look slow. And any change may come too late to save us.

Professor Mann is in Australia as a guest of the University of Sydney’s Sydney Environmental Institute and the University of Sydney Business School’s Balanced Enterprise Research Network (BERN).

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