Category Archives: Global warming and climate change policy

Windpower advocates lying with statistics

Posted on 7:48 am, April 9, 2020 by Rafe Champion

Windpower Roundup reports. Roughly 176GW of new renewable energy capacity was added last year, accounting for 72% of global power growth.  Wind (58.8GW) and solar (97.7GW) accounted for about 90% of the new renewable energy capacity added in 2019, according … Continue reading →

Posted in Global warming and climate change policy, Rafe | 6 Comments

Life goes on in the country. Meet Ted Trainer

Posted on 10:13 am, April 8, 2020 by Rafe Champion

Ted Trainer came under attack  from a major academic promoter of zero emissions. Years ago Ted wrote a paper that pointed to problem with getting to 100% RE, including the choke point factor. Chasing up the Trainer reference I realised … Continue reading →

Posted in Global warming and climate change policy, Rafe | 9 Comments

When will Audrey Zibelman and the AEMO come clean with the public?

Posted on 8:23 pm, April 5, 2020 by Rafe Champion

We will not get out of the various holes that are falling into, debt, civil liberties, energy policy, without a move towards bipartisan politics. That will not happen until the general public have a half decent grasp on the real … Continue reading →

Posted in Global warming and climate change policy, Politics, Rafe | 21 Comments

Can we do it in a canter?

Posted on 10:31 am, April 5, 2020 by Rafe Champion

The canter and gallop are variations on the fastest gait that can be performed by a horse or other equine. The canter is a controlled, three-beat gait, while the gallop is a faster, four-beat variation of the same gait. It is a natural gait possessed by all … Continue reading →

Posted in Global warming and climate change policy, Rafe | 7 Comments

Towards zero emissions

Posted on 9:06 pm, April 3, 2020 by Rafe Champion

Not a great time to talk about that perhaps . And more work required. Where is the plan?  We could certainly use the cheaper power that the RE enthusiasts rave about. They didn’t think much of this paper. That was … Continue reading →

Posted in Global warming and climate change policy, Rafe | 19 Comments

Paying twice the price to get 3% of the electricity

Posted on 6:04 pm, April 2, 2020 by Rafe Champion

Approaching 10pm.  South Australia is importing power this evening after exporting a trickle for most of the day. 2% SA power from wind at present and across the NEM it is exactly 3%. As we approach sunset and the peak … Continue reading →

Posted in Global warming and climate change policy, Rafe | 12 Comments

SA flattening the RE curve

Posted on 7:41 am, April 2, 2020 by Rafe Champion

At 7 the wind in SA contributed 19 MW to the demand of 1.3GW (1.4%)  blowing at 0.8% of capacity. Most of the supply came from local gas with 280MW from coal burners in Qld (via NSW) and hydro in … Continue reading →

Posted in Global warming and climate change policy, Rafe | 10 Comments

RE will kill us if Covid-19 doesn’t!

Posted on 6:21 am, April 1, 2020 by Rafe Champion

4pm update. The wind supply has slid down to next to nothing since breakfast time.  Wind is providing 2% of demand and RE in total 6GW of 25GW demand. Over 6GW of coal capacity in reserve. I appreciate that wind … Continue reading →

Posted in Global warming and climate change policy, Rafe | 7 Comments

After Covid-19. The Renewable Energy virus

Posted on 12:28 pm, March 29, 2020 by Rafe Champion

We are infected with the RE virus already but the symptoms up to date have been relatively mild unless you regard doubling power prices as a serious matter, and blackouts in out of the way  places like South Australia and … Continue reading →

Posted in Australian Story, COVID-19, Global warming and climate change policy, Rafe | 4 Comments

Cheer up, things could be worse!

Posted on 2:34 pm, March 22, 2020 by Rafe Champion

Cheer up TAFKAS! Yes I know the punchline – “So we cheered up and sure enough things did get worse.” The cheering news is that we are going to get more emissions because the developing world (absurdly including China for … Continue reading →

Posted in Global warming and climate change policy, Rafe | 7 Comments