Blowing Away Money: Wind Energy – fables, fallacies and failures
by Mark Lawson

There is some evidence from power grids overseas about the use of wind and alternative power on a large scale and, as far as alternative energy advocates are concerned, none of it is good.

Wind advocates can point to a number of studies saying that 20 per cent penetration of wind energy will increase wholesale electricity costs by 10 per cent. This implies that wind energy is 50 per cent more expensive than conventional, but a closer look shows that the studies are theoretical and don’t say anything about how much carbon would be saved. It is a safe bet that 20 per cent penetration will not result in 20 per cent savings, and some reason for thinking that it might not result in any saving at all.

Read the full document: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/wind-energy-fallacies.pdf
[PDF, 18KB]

Hon Dr Nick Smith

New Zealand Minister for the Environment and Minister for Climate Change Issues

The Carbon Sense Coalition today called for Sunset Clauses to be inserted in all past and future Global Warming legislation.

The Chairman of “Carbon Sense”, Mr Viv Forbes, said that even though the Ration-N-Tax Scheme is on ice, Governments are still wasting billions of dollars to create an artificial global warming industry.

“As an example, the Australian government is spending $800 million per year on climate change research and probably more on carbon geo-sequestration. And every state has its own bloated climate change and energy bureaucracies.

“Next we are promised the “Mother of all Renewable Energy Schemes” to cost untold billions.

“There is no doubt that some enlightened or distressed future government will have the distasteful job of taking the well chewed subsidy bones off these greedy and unstainable industry dogs.

“There is no evidence that man is causing global warming, no evidence that the natural warming we have experienced is dangerous or even unusual, and no chance that politicians can control the climate.

“It is thus essential that every piece of global warming legislation is subjected to an annual cost-benefit analysis and a sunset clause which triggers repeal within five years, or sooner once it becomes obvious to all that man-made global warming is not a problem.

“Such a cautionary clause is needed to warn investors and promoters relying on subsidies, market mandates, tax benefits, ethanol subsidies, carbon credits, renewable energy targets or research grants that unsustainable industries are high risk and can only create sub-prime assets.

“As we have seen with the government roof insulation disaster, it is easier to inflate an artificial industry balloon than it is to let it down gradually.”

Viv Forbes
Chairman, The Carbon Sense Coalition

http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/sunset-global-warming.pdf [PDF, 8KB]

1. Gambling our Future on Sunbeams and Sea Breezes
2. The Great Kyoto Land Grab
3. The Iceland Volcano and Climate Change
4. Oceans, Volcanic Heat and Ice
5. Emissions from Nature
6. No Time for Resting

The full newsletter: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/sunbeams-and-seabreezes.pdf [PDF, 111KB]

“We think that, by 2020, the cost of electricity will be threefold what it is today, given the current policy of large amounts of renewables being forced into the system, un-costed charges for those renewables given the current policy settings and a substantial increase in transmission and distribution costs.”

Grant King, CEO Origin Energy

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/energy-prices-to-triple-says-origin-chief/story-e6frg8zx-1225853385647

Adapted slightly from the Introductory Presentation by Viv Forbes of the Carbon Sense Coalition to the Senate Enquiry into Native Vegetation Laws, and Greenhouse Gas and Climate Change Measures, Rockhampton 9 April 2010.

“We oppose pollution, we oppose the waste of resources but we promote the rational and sustainable use of carbon energy and carbon food. We maintain that carbon dioxide is NOT a pollutant and there is no evidence that it controls global climate. Our submission addresses the issue of using legislation to control vegetation, greenhouse gases and climate. We do not believe there are any benefits in such proposals, and considerable costs and undesirable consequences. We oppose the seizure of land rights to satisfy Kyoto carbon credit promises. This is a huge subject and we have no chance of covering it all today, so I will just summarise very briefly the likely effect of legislation in five areas – climate, the environment, food production, property rights and values, and Constitutional matters.”

Read the full presentation: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/great-kyoto-land-grab.pd [PDF, 49 KB]

The Carbon Sense Coalition has produced a submission to the Australian Government Enquiry into “The Enhanced Renewable Energy Target Scheme”, April 2010.

From the submission:

“The total justification for this massive upheaval of Australia’s industry and economy is the contention that man’s production of the colourless harmless gas, carbon dioxide, is likely to cause dangerous global warming. But never has the government conducted an open public enquiry to test the truth of this statement. Instead they have relied on an increasingly discredited political body, the UN’s IPCC, or on their own paid employees (who have learned the dangers of contradicting the message of powerful politicians.)”

Read the full submission: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/renewable-energy-targets.pdf [PDF, 83KB]

Here is a time lapse video showing the effect of increased carbon dioxide on plant growth.

The current level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is about 386 ppm. In this experiment, one plant-growing chamber had 450 ppm carbon dioxide, the level at which we are told will cause the world to tip into runaway global warming. The other chamber had carbon dioxide at 1270 ppm, a level most nurseries would prefer to have, and the level at which much life on earth evolved it.

See for yourself the dramatic increase in plant growth we could expect from a carbon-rich atmosphere. The well fed plant weighed 44% more than the starved one, with greater height, more leaves and far more roots. This plant not only grew faster and better, its better root system would make it more drought and heat tolerant.

Yet Penny Wong and the alarmists want us to believe carbon dioxide is a pollutant, and more of it would be a disaster!

Why are CSIRO and our many Departments of Agriculture so silent on this fundamental issue?

Are they all cowed, or are their well paid jobs more important than revealing the truth?

Watch the video for yourself and decide:

Source: http://www.co2science.org/education/truthalerts/v13/cowpea.php

We are back from a visit to Melbourne for the Grand Prix. It is not carbon neutral.

After the race we spent 4 days driving along the coast to Adelaide. The weather was excellent with light sea breezes. There are many wind turbines on the nearby hills but alas the wind wasn’t reaching them and most days they were not turning. They look better than they work.

Bob Greenelsh
Brisbane Qld Australia

“I’ve gotten 90,000 emails and faxes on this bill and over 85,000 of them are against it. After all the debate we’ve had, I can’t believe so many people still don’t get it!”

US Senator Diane Feinstein, March 2010. She was speaking on the Health Care Bill, but it could have been Penny Wong on her Ration-N-Tax Scheme.