Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Its refreshing to see a senior politician say something sensible about climate change. Australian Agriculture Minister David Littleproud is more worried about affordable, reliable electricity, so people can heat their homes or pump water to irrigate their fields, than whether mankind is causing climate change.
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TONY JONES
Alright, Meg, our questioner, has got her hand up. So jump up, Meg.MEG NIELSEN
Yeah. I do agree. What we do need is a strong National Energy Guarantee. Unfortunately, the terms that we’ve got at the moment just don’t do the trick. Unfortunately, they don’t. The emissions targets are too low. And so, therefore, we’re not able to encourage the use of renewables pretty much any further than they are currently this year. And, unfortunately, what it does is it encourages the use of coal and gas to continue in business as usual, and it’s…TONY JONES
Meg, can I just interrupt? From the beginning of your question, your original question, I took it that you’re essentially saying this drought is related to climate change, man-made climate change. Is that correct?MEG NIELSEN
Yes, I believe so. I… I think… I know that Australia has always had droughts. I know that, you know, the whole world has always had droughts, but we only have to look around the world to see the events that are happening now. The Arctic Circle, you know, wildfires. I mean, it’s very clear that all these effects of our weather are being affected by climate change.TONY JONES
Now, David… Thank you very much, Meg. David, do you accept that, first of all? That principle?DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Let me say that farmers have been dealing with the changing climate since we first put a till in the soil. It’s been changing since we first started agriculture and we’ve been adapting.TONY JONES
So, David, the fundamental question is whether man-made climate change is causing droughts like the one we’re seeing now? That’s what Meg is suggesting.DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Well, look, that’s a big call. I don’t… Look, the reality is… The reality is, I don’t really give a rat’s whether it’s man-made or not. If we want to go to renewables, if we move to renewables for a healthier environment, to breathe better air, that’s great, let’s do it, but let’s do it in a responsible way, a responsible way that we can all afford. And we can transition that. But we can’t do it at the moment. We’ve got to be able to turn the lights on, turn the pumps on, and be able to afford.
Because you know what the biggest thing is I get out there? I talk to pensioners, in my own electorate in Warwick, and it’s cold at the moment, bloody cold. They can’t afford to put the heater on. And you know what?(AUDIENCE MEMBER CALLS OUT INDISTINCTLY)
DAVID LITTLEPROUD
It’s got to be… It’s got to be reliable. It’s got to be reliable…TONY JONES
Hang on. Sorry. We’re going to have to let the Minister speak so you can hear what he’s got to say.DAVID LITTLEPROUD
Look, that’s a great aspiration. But at the moment, it’s got to be reliable, it’s got to be sustainable, and it’s got to be affordable. And we’ve got a responsibility to make sure that we do that in a responsible way. Now, we’re doing that through the NEG and working through that to make sure that we do have an energy policy that meets our international commitments but makes sure to each and every one of you, you can afford to turn on the lights – a fundamental right for each and every one of us in a developed country like this, that you shouldn’t feel afraid to turn on a heater or light at night.…
Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s4871154.htm
Video of the exchange:
I have visited towns in David’s electorate. Queensland is a warm state, but David’s electorate straddles the Great Dividing Range, and includes cool alpine regions which sometimes experience snowfall in winter, places where reliable, affordable home heating is an absolute necessity.
There is nothing reliable or affordable about renewables.
With fossil fuel backup, achieving a high percentage of grid electricity from renewables means paying for two sets of electricity infrastructure – the expensive renewable infrastructure, and the fossil fuel infrastructure which has to be kept operating at hot idle, ready to jump in when the renewable supply fails.
Renewable backed by batteries is an even more ridiculous proposition – no matter how much renewable capacity you build, there is always an unacceptable risk of a blackout. Periods of prolonged wind droughts or clouds blocking the sunlight will bring down your grid, unless have the option of importing most of your power for days or weeks on end from reliable sources.
“…achieving a high percentage of grid electricity from renewables means paying for two sets of electricity infrastructure.”
— You can bet that when you read about the cost to generate electricity from a windfarm that the cost of the backup system is not factored in. The datapoint presented may be of some interest but it is also largely useless. The useful metric has to consider the cost of the entire system.
“If we want to go to renewables, if we move to renewables for a healthier environment, to breathe better air, that’s great, let’s do it, but let’s do it in a responsible way, a responsible way that we can all afford. And we can transition that. But we can’t do it at the moment.”
Spoken like a true pander bear. I realize the guy is an improvement, and says things which are common sense, like energy needs to be affordable and reliable, but then he goes and says dumb, pandering things like the above.
If he’d said that he wanted to drop the expensive unreliables immediately, he’d be out of a job. It’s merely a way of not upsetting the zealots too much just now.
He’s a politician, of course he is going to pander if he wants to have any hopes of being elected/re-elected.
Reading between the lines, I paraphrased that as, “Go ahead and build all the windfarms you want, just don’t expect to raise the rates to pay for it.”
You know it’s bad when this level of Captain Obvious statement is newsworthy.
It is obvious that the Minister of Agriculture did not get the memo. Man must be sacrificed for the good of nature, and the climate.
Who does he think he is to mention inconveniences such as cost, or reliability?
Developed nation? The green wackos want to end all development and embrace 3rd world living conditions.
If the Greens in Oz were honest, they would demand the end to mining coal. After all, the atmosphere does not respect national boundaries. Instead, they just demand that Australians suffer while gaining nothing.
Perhaps the way to destroy them is to join them, and demand an end to their hypocrisy. Out green them. Point out that Australia selling coal to other nations to burn is no different than hospitals having cigarette machines on every floor, or the Vatican owning stock in companies selling birth control. Your moral outrage has no credibility if you are enabling that which outrages you.
Give politicians a choice between ‘saving the planet’ and saving their biggest single source of revenue, and you will quickly see just how green they are.
I agree with greens that renewables are important for the future especially since we need reliable energy when we run low on oil. However it will be a few years until it’s ready for wide spread use cheaply. Anyone wanting to rush into renewables is a fool.
Then the panic can be shelved for a couple of centuries.
At present “renewables” is only for fools and the charlatans who profit from their foolishness.