Menzies House

Tornado strikes, vultures gather

Andrew Bolt talks about the Oklahoma Tornado and Global Warming in today's blog.

Read More: Tornado Strikes, Vultures Gather

 

THE IPCC SHOULD BE ABOLISHED

An interesting piece that articulates the view that the IPCC should be abolished. 

Read More: http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/the-ipcc-should-be-abolished.html

Kevin Rudd Wins the Golden Fleece Award

The Carbon Sense Coalition has awarded its Inaugural Golden Fleece Award to Kevin Rudd and coal industry leaders for “flagrant fleecing of community savings" writes Viv Forbes

Its appropriate that the Golden Fleece award would recognise futile ‘research’ on Carbon Capture & Sequestration. A costly and complex process designed to capture and bury carbon dioxide gas produced by burning carbon fuels such as 'coal, oil and gas'.

It is obviously possible, in an engineering sense, to collect, separate, compress, pump and pipe gases, so new “research” is largely a waste of money. Engineers know how to do these things, and their likely costs. But only foolish green zealots would think of spending billions to bury a harmless, invisible, life-supporting gas in hopes of cooling the climate some time in the century ahead.

Attempts to cut CO2 are futile – and expensive

An Interesting article regarding the Carbon boogey man. Watch for the reference to Australia. 

Read More: Attempts to Cut Co2

Ram Rudd not sheepish

The Inaugural Golden Fleece Award – for Flagrant Fleecing of Community Resources

The Carbon Sense Coalition has awarded its Inaugural Golden Fleece Award to Kevin Rudd and coal industry leaders for “flagrant fleecing of community savings in futile ‘research’ on Carbon Capture & Sequestration – a costly and complex process designed to capture and bury carbon dioxide gas produced by burning carbon fuels such as coal, oil and gas”.

It is obviously possible, in an engineering sense, to collect, separate, compress, pump and pipe gases, so new “research” is largely a waste of money. Engineers know how to do these things, and their likely costs. But only foolish green zealots would think of spending billions to bury a harmless, invisible, life-supporting gas in hopes of cooling the climate some time in the century ahead.

About 2.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide are produced for every tonne of coal burnt in a power station. To capture, compress and bury it could take at least 30% of the electricity produced, greatly increasing the cost of the limited amount of electricity left for sale - more coal used, increased electricity costs, for ZERO measurable benefits.

We have come to expect stupidity from politicians, but coal industry leaders who agreed to waste money on this should be sued by shareholders for negligence. Maybe they were just drooling at all the extra coal they would sell in order to produce the same electricity?

Warm and well fed, or hungry in the dark?

Vic Forbes asks, which is worse - gradual man-made global warming or sudden electricity blackout?

Alarmists try to scare us by claiming that man’s activities are causing global warming. Whether and when we may see new man-made warming is disputed and uncertain. If it does appear, the world will be slightly warmer, with more evaporation and rainfall; plants will grow better and colonise some areas currently too cold or too dry; fewer old people will die in winter and sea levels may continue the gradual rise we have seen since the end of the last ice age.

Foggy Thinking on Smog

Viv explains the source of smog in Asia. It seems the safest, smog-free place to live is beside a modern coal-fired power station. Perhaps I'll forget about cremation and go for a burial instead. GC.Ed.

Coal gets blamed for all the bad things, even the Asian Smog.

What causes this smog?

Dust is a significant component. Winds whip up dust from dry land, roads, construction sites and the huge Gobi Desert, or an up-wind volcano explodes. No dust comes from a modern well-designed coal-fired power station.

Smogs may also contain soot and ash. These come from open-air fires all over Asia burning wood, cow dung, paper, cardboard, plastic, rubber tyres and other rubbish; from stoves and heaters using unwashed high sulphur coal or high-ash briquettes; from forest fires in Indonesia, cremations in India and yeontans in Korea. Some comes from ancient combustion engines, coal boilers and furnaces. None comes from a modern coal-fired power station.

Some smog contains compounds of sulphur, nitrogen or other chemical pollutants. These fumes are produced by open fires and vehicle exhausts, especially from badly-maintained vehicles and phut-phuts. They are not released by modern power stations.

Those blaming coal power for smog need to read the history of last century’s deadly smogs in London and Pittsburgh. These were cleared by bans on open-fire heaters and cookers and the provision of “clean-coal-by-wire” – electricity produced in modern power stations with good emissions controls and burning washed high-quality coals.

Replacing dirty open fires with clean electricity will also work wonders in clearing up the Asian Smog.

Viv Forbes, 

Rosewood    Qld   Australia

forbes@carbon-sense.com

 

Do you recycle plastic bags?

In the interests of keeping the planet clean, I like so many, reuse plastic shopping bags. However, after reading Jim's sobering account of the life of a plastic bag, perhaps a rethink is in order. GC.Ed.

Many laws, well intentioned, have unintended consequences. They can snap like a crocodile at the arse in ways the unwary did not want – like setting high wages for apprentices which meant that apprenticeships almost vanished because tradies couldn’t pay.

Prohibiting plastic bags demonstrate that such unintended consequences can be, among other things, a bit stomach churning. For humans that is, maggots don’t mind so much.

San Franfreakshow, the wackiest town in the world, giggling on the way to bankruptcy, has been ‘discouraging’ plastic bags for six years. The reason given is that dear little sea critters choke on them and they litter the landscape. Seattle, Los Angeles, Washington DC ban them too, as do many green dominated and faddy little towns through the world.

THE BAD NEWS. Most alarmingly, news reports are growing linking reusable shopping bags to the spread of disease. Like this one, “A reusable grocery bag left in a hotel bathroom caused an outbreak of norovirus-induced diarrhea and nausea that struck nine of 13 members of a girls’ soccer team in October, Oregon researchers reported.” – LA Times. That would be a Seattle green bag.

There’s more than anecdote behind this. In a 2011 study reusable (green) bags in California and Arizona were examined and it was found that 51 percent of them contained coliform bacteria. The problem appears to be the habits of the reusers. Seventy-five percent said they keep meat and vegetables in the same bag.