Menzies House

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.

The World-Wide Renewable Energy Scam

Andy Semple blows the whistle on the renewable energy debacle. The Greens led hysteria is turning to dust as the truth about costs is being exposed. A newly formed Australian "Citizens' Jury' has recommended that 'nuclear power stations in NSW is an issue that ''should not be dismissed''.'

Andy says, "no, we’re not making this up [the graph]. Read here and here for the facts.

If anyone besides the Government was involved in such a scam, it would be called organised crime."

Graphic by Steve Hunter, a freelance cartoonist and illustrator living in Buderim Queensland.

See "Andy's Rant" in the Blogroll.

Eventually We’ll Be Going Nuclear

Australia will have to consider a nuclear-powered future by the end of the decade if advances in renewable energy fail to provide clear options for cost-effective base load power, according to a new blueprint on Australia's energy future.

Launching a draft energy white paper today, Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said nuclear power was “always there as an option” for Australia if renewable energy options could not be commercialised.

…An estimated $240 billion worth of investment will be needed to meet Australia's 2030 energy needs, according to the white paper.

I have always maintained the position that if we’re going to spend money fighting an imaginary problem (CAGW) then let’s at least spend it on something that really works unlike useless renewables.

France derives over 75% of its electricity from nuclear energy. This is due to a long-standing policy based on energy security.

Nuclear is the cheapest low-carbon source of electricity around, so it can keep bills down and the lights on - Charles Hendry, the (UK) Energy Minister

Days after Germany announced it was going nuclear-free, Charles Hendry, the Energy Minister, said the UK will build a new generation of power stations.

He said that the eight sites earmarked for new reactors will offer 5,000 jobs, as well as supplying a cheap form of low carbon electricity as coal-fired power stations close down.

"Nuclear is the cheapest low-carbon source of electricity around, so it can keep bills down and the lights on.”

 "The wider economic benefit cannot be over-emphasised - around 5,000 jobs could be on offer at each of the eight sites we listed as suitable for development, and as we develop a domestic supply chain, all parts of the country could gain from a nuclear resurgence."

"We are on the brink of the biggest nuclear renaissance since the 1950s.”

 "The 16 gigawatts of new nuclear generation planned by industry equates to investment of around £50 billion with the construction of each reactor delivering investment equivalent to that for the 2012 Olympics."

Yet Julia Gillard will sentence every Australian to a life term of unreliable renewable energy from Solar and Wind.

Instead of blowing $36 billion on the NBN, Gillard could have guaranteed all Australians cheap, reliable Carbon Dioxide free nuclear energy.

You know she isn’t serious in tackling so called “Dangerous Climate Change” when the obvious answer to replace “evil” coal fired power is nuclear.

 

Andy Semple

Follow him on twitter @Bulmkt

Nuclear power 'cheaper option than offshore wind farms'

The UK Telegraph reports that Nuclear power should be favoured over plans to build thousands of offshore wind turbines.

The (UK) Committee on Climate Change said nuclear would be the most cost–effective way of providing low–carbon electricity into the 2020s, and called for about 14 new plants by the end of the next decade.

It would mean extending plans to build 12 reactors on seven sites by 2025.

The (UK) Government expects more than 3,600 turbines to be installed in British waters by 2020, providing a capacity of 13 gigawatts.

It said 40 per cent of electricity should eventually come from renewables and 40 per cent from nuclear.

 

At least the POM’s are ok with over one third of their future power coming from the ONLY Carbon Dioxide neutral base load source – Nuclear Power.

Yet both sides of politics dodge the hard question here in Australia. It is fanciful to think renewables such as Solar and Wind will be our saviour.

The choice is rather simple. Blow tens of Billions on useless renewables or bite the bullet and future proof the Australian economy with state-of-the-art 4^th generation Nuclear Power plants (Fukushima was a 2^nd generation plant built in the 1950’s and was due to be decommissioned 2 weeks after the Tsunami hit).

Or better still, instead of giving away $310 million for Digital Set-top boxes for Pensioners, use the money as the seed investment as R&D into Thorium reactors.

Andy Semple

Speak without fear and Question with Boldness

Let's Rebuild Australia

Uranium Trade with India would generate the capital needed to help rebuild Australia, writes Mark Sharma.

It is not exactly the kind of start that anyone would have expected for 2011. Bushfires in Western Australia and then Floods in Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales have all but put a dampener to the festivities of the New Year. The death and devastation that these tsunami type floods have caused has hurt every Australian. It has touched all our hearts and millions more around the world. But Australia, they say, is a tough nation. This is a self made country; a nation that can be knocked to the ground but can never be defeated. The “never give up” Aussie spirit will overcome even the greatest of challenge that Mother Nature can throw at us.

Already thousands have taken to streets in Brisbane and elsewhere to clean up the mess that these killer floods have unleashed. Not to forget the generosity of millions of Australians. Within hours of first floods, thousands of people pledged money to the Premier’s Relief Fund in Queensland. Schools, Offices, Tradies, restaurants, corporate groups, sporting teams and hundreds of other professional bodies got together and raised money for this worthy cause. At last count, close to $65 million has been raised and this is expected to go up.

It was heartening to see that even smaller nations like Sri Lanka, Tonga and East Timor wanted to help in Australia’s hour of crisis. The Federal and Queensland State opposition should also be commended on their show of solidarity with the government at this crucial juncture.  The cleanup bill is expected to run in Billions of dollars and the effects of this devastation would stay with us for months and possibly years.

People in Sydney and some other parts of NSW can consider themselves lucky that they were not directly affected by the water like our brothers and sisters north of the border. But this National Crisis will eventually hit all of us. Apart from the extra spending on repairing infrastructure, it will also hurt grocery and petrol bills of every Australian family.

The nation is already under a mountain of debt and taking more debt is only going to worsen the situation. It is expected that all the gains that our Aussie dollar enjoyed against the greenback will fall spectacularly.

To sum it up, Australia is staring down the barrel of another financial crisis. Nobody is talking about it just yet but eventually it will be the most important issue. Already there is speculation that Reserve Bank will put up another interest rate anytime between now and next 3-4 moths.

In short, we need to generate more money and we need it now. Many experts believe that it is our mining Industry that will once again rescue us from another disaster. Yes, the same industry that Kevin Rudd wanted to kill with RSPT. But Australia can’t just rely on normal exports. We need to rethink our strategies and look for newer avenues.

Only recently, Prime Minister Gillard announced a nuclear deal with Russia and called it a “job creator”. It is widely expected that Labor party will finally get rid of its colonial thinking and embrace new realities by starting talks with India for a similar deal. Indian PM Manmohan Singh is expected to visit Australia later this year and Uranium exports is tipped to be on top of the agenda. India desperately needs Uranium to feed the energy demands of its over 1 billion strong population. Imagine if you had to stay without electricity for hours in 45.C sweltering heat?

Over 800 million Indians experience this every year for which Australia has the solution. It is expected that a Uranium deal with India can fetch as much as $1 Billion in extra cash over three years.

Already USA, France and Russia have signed major nuclear deals with India. In Australia, Coalition has strongly supported Uranium Exports to India. This is the right time for Prime Minister Gillard to show some leadership and agree on another “job creating” nuclear deal. She needs to pick up the phone and call her counterpart in New Delhi with the good news. A nuclear deal with India would be the right thing for the people of Australia, India and the planet.

It would provide electricity to millions of Indians, financial strength to the Australian nation and a cleaner planet for rest of the world. Is there anyone listening in Canberra?

Mark Sharma is an Independent Conservative politician who stood as a candidate in the electorate of Watson in NSW. He writes regularly for various Indian-Australian Newspapers and on his blog Voice of Strathfield

Why not deploy the nukes?

Chris Browne addresses some of the key political concerns regarding nuclear energy.

The nuclear energy debate in Australia has stagnated. Leading politicians on both sides of the political equation have ruled out nuclear energy as "unpopular", "uneconomical" and "dangerous", amongst a myriad of other terms.

Well, I tend to disagree with them. Here's why.

Nukes for Defence

Nuclear submarines may solve our ongoing submarine woes, writes Ralph Buttigieg.

The Rudd Labor government has a complete ban on nuclear energy for Australia. However concerns over global warming have increased support for the nuclear option. After all, nuclear energy is the only emission free method of producing base load power. Tony Abbott believes it’s an option we need to seriously consider. Peter Cosgrove has come out in support and so has Labor Party stalwart Bob Carr. Yet there is another reason to support nuclear power – defence.