I must be missing something!
Regardless of where emissions originate, virtually everyone on the planet will eventually be exposed to them via the elements.
China produces more of the emissions that are said to contribute to climate change than any other country. India and the USA are also significant emitters (the USA has committed to reducing theirs). Coal generated electricity provides a cheap source of reliable power for industry and for heating, cooling and cooking . It has allowed China and India to elevate their peoples out of poverty, to enjoy an improving lifestyle.
Despite China and India having a nuclear industry, a space programme and massive manufacturing capability the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has classified them as “developing” countries and has given them another decade or so to BEGIN to reduce their emissions. In the meantime they continue to build (technologically improved) coal-fired power stations with an operating life of some 50 or 60 years, meaning that those they finish in 2032 could still be operating in 2092. They realise that cheap coal generated power will give them a significant cost advantage in respect to the products they produce. Other countries such as Turkey, Japan, South Africa, the Philippines and South Korea are also building more coal fired power plants for similar reasons.
People tell me that the push for renewables is so that our children and grand- children don’t die from the additional 1.5 degrees centigrade temperature increase (predicted by computer models with GI-GO) if we don’t change. Chinese people love their children just as much as parents in Western countries (perhaps more considering restrictions on the size of families until recently) yet they seem unconcerned about increasing emissions, preferring to keep warm. Remember it was “Global Warming” until measurements concluded it was actually “Global Cooling”.
With a similar lack of logic the IPCC has declared wood to be “renewable” (which it is, if you can wait 30 or 40 years) and despite the fact that burning wood causes more emissions than burning coal some power stations in the UK have converted to burning wood that is harvested and processed in a wasteful energy- intensive process in the USA before being shipped to the UK.
Meanwhile, bed-wetter's in Australia are demanding that we close down our coal and gas fired power stations by 2030 (or sooner) and stop exporting coal and gas (two of our largest income earners) whilst simultaneously telling us that if we do this our power will be cheaper. !! I don’t see any evidence of the latter. I have solar panels but as soon as they started to reduce my power bill the State Government reduced the feed-in tariff.
We have only just started a transition to renewables (demanded by Greens and Teals) and already Snowy 2 is in trouble, the Eastern States don’t have enough gas because they banned fracking and allowed all the gas extracted to be exported and the cost of power in the Eastern States has sky rocketed causing the Energy Regulator to have to step in. We seem to be heading down the path of destroying our economy without tackling the real “elephant in the room” if indeed this is a real problem. Unless we can get the major emitters to reduce their emissions, Australia closing down its coal fired power stations will do nothing except give us an expensive warm fuzzy feeling, until it turns to a cold fuzzy feeling!!
Seems to methat this is a gigantic “scientific” fraud designed to drag down the Westerncountries so that we are “all equal” or at least “more equal”.
Whetheryou believe in climate change or not - have a gander at this lot – from TheRichardson Post
