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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?
Kevin Rudd wins this award for “a Flagrant Fleece of $400 million taken from tax payers to fund the fatuous Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute.” There is little to show for the millions already spent except a lot of receipts for high class salaries, consultants, travel, entertainment and “operational expenses”.
Pumping gases underground is sensible if it brings real benefits such as using waste gases to drive oil recovery from declining oil fields.
Normally, however, CCS will just produce more expensive electricity.
This result is not needed as politicians have already invented dozens of ways of doing just that.
Viv Forbes,
Chairman, The Carbon Sense Coalition
Rosewood Qld Australia
Some seem confused at the maths 2.5 tons CO2 per ton of coal. It is about right. Coal is not pure carbon as anyone who actually uses it knows. There is ash left behind. Lots of other rock are mixed in. Good anthracite coal is 85% carbon and a lot of coal is less – down to 30% for some lignite. 44 (mw of CO2)/12 (mw of C) = 3.67. 2.5/3.67 = 68% – middling coal.
Haven’t some really daft expensive notions come out solve this non-problem? Windmills. Electric cars. Carbon sequestering. To remove CO2 from atmosphere just plant more fast growing trees. But why worry anyway. CAGW is clearly not a real problem.
At State level, the last Queensland election gave us a Premier from the Right in Campbell Newman, to replace Anna Bligh, the beaten Premier from the Left. Soon after, the Press reported……
QUEENSLAND Premier Campbell Newman has ordered Anna Bligh’s husband to begin dismantling green energy programs he helped create, as the new LNP government moved to slash environmental spending to offset the federal carbon tax…
“We want him to unravel those programs ‘cause he’s the bloke who set them up,” Mr Newman said.
Mr Newman denied his government was trying to manage out Mr Withers, an assistant director-general who set up the Office of Climate Change when his wife became premier in 2007.
……………………………
I think that deserves an award.
With carbon capture – a recent lab experiment showed that CO2 under high temperature and pressure would combine with ground water to form carbonic acid. This acid was shown to eat through typical cap rock materials so would have a strong likelihood of reaching the surface. CO2 is a heavy gas which clings to the surface and kills any animal or human in the area.
When you think of how many billions has been spent on [usually failed] attempts at CCS without doing this simple research first, you realise how technologically challenged the proponents are. Proposed by idiots and implemented by buffoons.
http://www.theresilientearth.com/?q=content/co2-buried-destined-rise-again
“tango says:
April 19, 2013 at 4:03 am”
Aus is no longer the “lucky country”. September the 14th is a long long way away! Maybe Aussie will “get” the trend in “carbon trading”? I doubt Aussies are THAT smart to be honest…
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 gasfleece the taxpayer”.—————————————————————————
There…… Fixed it for you.
Job well done, Kevin.
cn
Patrick says:
April 19, 2013 at 7:21 am
“tango says:
April 19, 2013 at 4:03 am”
Aus is no longer the “lucky country”. September the 14th is a long long way away! Maybe Aussie will “get” the trend in “carbon trading”? I doubt Aussies are THAT smart to be honest…
————————
Watch yourselves downunder…….Progressives are sneaky.
Look what the US did last November.
We honestly thought Americans would vote for liberty.
OneBigAssMistakeAmerica
A repeat, no less!
cn
Here I always thought that the “Environmental Movement” (aka “Going Green”) was all about not doing anything that would have an impact on “Mother Nature”. So now the Greens are in favor of pumping part of the atmosphere, which “Ma Gaia” put above ground, underground?
Maybe they think insanity is natural?
If you want to capture carbon its goddam simple. Get corn husk.. forget about all the stupid idea of converting it into bio-fuels. just bury it and thats your carbon-dioxide and methane captured. Sure it take a million years to become coal but its carbon dioxide has been immediately removed from the system.
So when do i get my million dollar paycheck for digging holes and covering it back up.
That Golden Fleece ram was the trademark of an Australian oil company which was used from 1913 until the early 1980’s. http://www.flickr.com/groups/1942976@N20/pool/
The name was first used on kerosine imported from California but, interestingly, Australia began producing it’s own kerosine from shale in 1854. http://users.adam.com.au/gasmaps/austoilhist.htm
Ulick Stafford (@ustafford) says:
April 19, 2013 at 6:05 am
To remove CO2 from atmosphere just plant more fast growing trees.
####
Oh no! Can’t do that because it would be mean to the Earrrth to plant evil capitalistic frankentrees. Just think of all the environmental damage they will cause. Besides people might be able to make money. Everyone knows that its bad to make money exploiting nature.
“Chuck Nolan says:
April 19, 2013 at 7:39 am”
Yes, but voting is compulsory in Aus, unlike the US, and we can dictate the direction of Government. Oh, wait!
They should add Alison Redford, Premier of Alberta, Canada to the award… elected with the support of the Carbon Capture Storage lobby.
“There is little to show for the millions already spent except a lot of receipts for high class salaries, consultants, travel, entertainment and “operational expenses”.
Is that right? The money mostly on these items? Can you please prove this?
Or is it just made-up hyperbole, usually better known as lies?
TheInquirer:
re your silly post at April 19, 2013 at 9:47 am
The costs of the jobs, salaries and expenses are in public accounts.
It would be a criminal offence to have spent those monies on other things.
Your implication is that the money has been spent on other things.
Can you please prove this?
Or is it just made-up hyperbole, usually better known as lies?
Richard
Nice piece of symbolism, but all modern government qualifies for the scammer of the year award.
So many freeloaders so few contributors.
The type of person who desires to live an effortless life at the expense of others, gravitates to bureaucracy and then expands their ranks for power and camouflage.
Of course once they run out of producers and wealth that can be stolen, it all falls down.
I expect the public relations firms who have orchestrated these scams, to launch a full blown campaign to focus public anger on created scapegoats.
Ironically we have a wealth of resources, untapped human talent and worthy challenges before us, but have allowed ourselves, collectively, to become wasters and defeatists.
Eternal vigilance is the price of a free society, but civilization is too precious to leave in the hands of delusional do-gooders.
Look to our local governments, who holds office? Why does no one in their right mind seek these positions?
Have you noticed, that when practical people get angry enough to run for office, the media disses them as being too extreme?
Between 1975 and 1988, US Sen. William Proxmire Awarded 168 “Golden Fleece Awards” to public officials in the United States who, the judges felt, wasted public money. The Washington Post once referred to the award as “the most successful public relations device in politics today.”
I’m glad to see it has been reincarnated.
Madness is all embracing.
The PM John Howard (Liberals or conservatives) kicked this off before Rudd (Labor) was elected. Howard had allocated at least one billion dollars to this fanciful endeavour. He may not have believed in it; just his way of posturing especially for the Chinese, given we had not signed Kyoto.
But at least we were in Budget surplus and zero Fed borrowings when Howard proposed that, Only drunken sailors and Labor twits go on spending sprees like this when our budgets are in huge deficit (-$15billion+ pa) and net Fed debt jumps to $300 billion. (NB our GDP is about $1.5trillion – quite a lot smaller than the U.S :))
Lew Skannen says:
April 19, 2013 at 12:20 am
… Given his enthusiasm for burying CO2 perhaps Lake Nyos in Cameroon would be appropriate…
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
There went my ice tea all over the key board, ROTFLMAO. Perhaps we need to establish an enclave on the shores of Lake Nyos for all the others who deserve a Golden Fleece Award.
It seems a government has FINALLY listened to Delingpole and also given out a ‘ Golden Fleece Award’ to another scientist, this time in the UK. Scientist jailed for faking medicine test results The ‘Good Laboratory Practice Regulations’ was passed in 1999 and this was the first case tried. I wonder if that is why Phil Jones just about had a nervous breakdown when the Climategate-mails were released.
Ahhhh, The Golden Fleece Award! Glad to see it resurrected again! William Proxmire, Wisconsin Senator from 1957 – 1989, created the Golden Fleece Award in 1975, to highlight wasteful state and federal government spending.
Applying The Golden Fleece Award to AGW fraud seems entirely apropos!
MtK
Regarding, Mr. Rudd claim that 2.5 tons CO2 are produced per ton coal consumed.
While Mr. Rudd’s claim is high end it’s not completely out the ball park. The figure varies by coal type.
In the United States, a typical Illinois basin (ILB) coal would produce about 2.36 lb CO2/ lb coal where:
The CO2/Coal ratio for ILB = 11,500 Btu/lb coal * 205.2 lb CO2/MBtu / 10^6 Btu/MBtu
= 2.36 lb CO2/lb Coal
Whereas a typical Powder River Basin (PRB) coal would produce about 1.85 lb CO2/lb coal where:
The CO2/Coal ratio for PRB = 8,800 Btu/lb coal * 209.8 lb CO2/MBtu / 10^6 Btu/MBtu
= 1.85 lb CO2/lb Coal
Please Note: that PRB’s actual CO2 emission per Mwh of electricity produced would typically be higher than that for ILB… due to the higher moisture content and lower heat content of PRB.
Regards,
Kforestcat
Sort of like paying to dig a hole and fill it in. Keeps lot’s of folks employed and lots of money in circulation. Keynesian economics at its best.
Well, know you know why in Australia he is known as Krudd. And co2 sequestration was but one of his many inane, spendthrift policy ventures. He was so bad his party dumped him after a particularly densely packed series of blunders, many of them green inspired. If you want a good side-splitting laugh, his priministership is recommended reading.
The whole carbon Capture industry is a bottomless pit for money wastage, designed by the Greenie Left to specifically DESTROY western industrialised economies. Here is the simplest carbon capture scheme of all. 1)grow fast growing trees to capture the poisonous plant food, CO2,2)make paper money from said trees, with taxation value added. 3) Bury the money deep inside exhausted underground coal mines. 4) Have a party with all the Green pants-wetters ,feeling all warm and fuzzy(they will need this to stave off the cold) in some exotic location with the delegates flown in first class.5) Crow to the world how wonderful they are and that they, the ones who have saved the world from becoming a living hell should be given total power over us evil ones who created the problem in the first place 6) WHEN the collapse of the whole Green Utopia causes the inevitable rift from within humanity itself as people are starving and have lost all hope, remember who maintained “the science is settled” and “the debate is over.” 7) There is no step 7-the human race has all but become extinct.
As the recently departed Margaret Thatcher once observed,
“Socialism always fails because sooner or later they run out of other people’s money.”
Exactly what happened to Rudd, but now he has found new ways to “redistribute” other people’s
money. And yes, there will be plenty of big receipts to justify his travels – the Rudd style.
Take the coal industry’s name off. They were fighting for survival in a crazy political economy. They are loaded with engineers so they know it is a joke, but picture what would happen if they refused to go along.