By Dr. John Happs

The 1997 climate treaty known as the Kyoto Protocol allows wealthy countries to count carbon storage in forests towards their targets for limiting greenhouse-gas emissions.

https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement

We often hear about various environmental groups that are intent on planting as many trees as possible, supposedly to offset anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. The Australian Government has described carbon offsetting as:

“An activity, process, organisation, event, building or precinct is carbon neutral when its net greenhouse gas emissions (emissions) are equal to zero. To become carbon neutral, entities must calculate their emissions, reduce these emissions as much as possible, and then purchase and cancel carbon offsets or carbon credits equivalent to the remaining emissions. This process results in emissions being offset and leads to net zero emissions or being carbon neutral.”

https://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/government/carbon-neutral/ncos-eligible-offsets

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By Dr. John Happs

Dr. Michael Mann will be in Australia for 6 months during 2020 as Visiting Professor at the Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC) at the University of New South Wales.

Bing.com: Dr. Michael Mann

This is the same university that awarded an honorary doctorate to the late Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, former chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Investigative journalist Donna Laframboise, in her book: Into the Dustbin: Rajendra Pachauri, the Climate Report and the Nobel Peace Prize, described Rajendra Pachauri, the former chairman of the IPCC, as an environmental activist, habitual liar on climate matters and a “non-stop train wreck.” (more…)

By Dr. John Happs

“Searching for truth at the United Nations is like looking for kernels of wheat in a mountain of horse dung.”

Attributed to: “A playground for the vile and dangerous.” By Piers Akerman, Daily Telegraph, September 30, 2009)

https://www.icjs-online.org/indarch.php?article=2073

Perhaps Piers Akerman was a little harsh over his criticism of the United Nations (UN) although there is no doubt that current climate hysteria had its origins within that organisation. (more…)

By Dr. John Happs

If you want to witness cases of scientific illiteracy, selfishness and hypocrisy, look no further than the attitudes, actions and comments from a number of banking personnel. When it comes to uninformed opinions about climate change and the lack of concern about delivering affordable energy to the poor in developing countries, some of them appear to have no equal.

Judge for yourself. (more…)

What Produces Warmth?

I live in SE Queensland. Yesterday the surface air temperature rose from a frosty 2ºC at sunrise to a balmy 22ºC in mid-afternoon. The enormous heat needed to achieve this 20ºC of warming came via radiation from the sun. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere plays no significant part in this daily heating event – in fact it may intercept a tiny proportion of the incoming solar radiation and re-radiate it in all directions, thus keeping the daytime surface temperature a tiny bit cooler than it would have been otherwise.

At the deep Mount Isa Mine in NW Queensland, the surface temperature may average about 25ºC but it increases by about 1ºC every 50 metres of depth – rock walls are red hot in places. The enormous heat causing this comes via conduction from Earth’s internal geothermal heat plus some oxidation and heating of the sulphide ores as they come in contact with natural air containing oxygen. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere plays no part in this heating.

There are volcanic windows open right now in Hawaii, Japan and the Galapagos revealing the vast resources of volcanic geothermal heat which is always migrating towards the cooler surface, sometimes violently.

Image acknowledgement: www.pixabay.com

Temperatures vary greatly over Earth’s surface, making a mockery of attempts to calculate an “average” for the globe. Air surface temperature may be minus 30ºC at the South Pole, while at the same time it can be plus 30ºC at the Equator. This enormous difference is caused by the varying intensity of solar radiation striking the surface – carbon dioxide in the atmosphere plays no significant part in creating this variance.

Surface air temperatures in big cities can be 5-10ºC hotter than surrounding rural land partly because bitumen roads, roofs, solar panels and runways heat up more than grassy or forested countryside. Mega-cities are also full of heat-producing humans, engines, trains, vehicles, air conditioners, heaters, stoves, fridges, pumps and mowers.
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The Carbon Sense Coalition calls on the Australian government to stop forcing the community to waste valuable savings and resources on building useless solar energy plants.

The Chairman of Carbon Sense, Mr Viv Forbes, said solar energy was expensive, unreliable and unnecessary.

“Nowhere in the world has solar energy proved a sensible investment of tax payer funds. Green dreamers and speculators should be free to build the own monuments to the sun god, but ordinary mortals should not be forced to pay for their fetish.

“Examples of solar stupidity abound.

“Generating electricity from solar panels in cold, cloudy Northern Europe is like growing paw-paws in Iceland – it can be done, but who would be so silly as to try?

“Germany was silly enough to try. Germany gets about an hour of useful sunshine per day in winter – solar power is weakest just when they need it most. But they have installed about half of the world’s solar panels. Germany’s Q-Cells, once the world’s biggest manufacturer of solar panels, just went broke. So did four other German solar companies.

“Sunny California also tried, but despite a half billion dollar loan from US tax payers, solar panel manufacturer Solyndra went broke. Solar Trust of America, recently offered $2 billion in loan guarantees by US tax payers, has also filed for bankruptcy.

“All the European PIIGS have tried – and the waste of taxpayer funds on failing green energy schemes is a major reason for their parlous financial state.

“The only sensible participant in the solar industry is China – they make panels very cheaply using coal or nuclear power and sell them to green dreamers.

“The reason green energy creates so much red ink is pretty obvious – it just needs one day’s observation of the sun.

“Full strength solar energy is available around midday for maybe 8 hours each day, providing the skies are clear, and there is no dust on the panels, and you are in a tropical zone. For the other 16 hours of the day, most electricity must come from reliable energy sources like gas, hydro, coal or nuclear. This about doubles capital and operating costs for no increase in output.

“With all this compelling evidence of the failures of solar electricity, why is the Australian government frittering $1.5 billion on green toys like the Moree and Chinchilla Solar farms?

“Green gambling is for private speculators not for captive tax payers or electricity consumers.”

[PIIGS = Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain.]

Authorised by Viv Forbes

Viv Forbes is Chairman of the Carbon Sense Coalition which opposes waste of resources, opposes pollution, and promotes the rational and sustainable use of carbon energy and carbon food. www.carbon-sense.com

For those who wish to read more:

EU Climate Policy in Free Fall:
http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=c920274f2a364603849bbb505&id=7aa4eeb1b3&e=e1638e04a2

Solar Power Realities:
http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/solar-realities.pdf

Germany’s Q-Cells files for bankruptcy:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17587830

German Solar on the Ropes:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,825490,00.html

German solar industry horrified as subsidies are questioned:
http://www.thegwpf.org/subject-index/economics/859-revolt-of-the-sun-kings.html

Solar Doomed: Every Solar Job in Germany Costs €250,000 to electricity consumers:
http://thegwpf.org/international-news/4711-doomed-every-solar-job-in-germany-costs-250000.html

Solyndra Scandal:
http://reason.com/blog/2012/03/29/solyndra-scandal-pronounced-dead-again

Solar Trust files for bankruptcy in California:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/04/a-narrow-escape-for-taxpayers.php

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/worlds-largest-solar-plant-21-billion-energy-department-loan-guarantee-files-bankruptcy

Austerity in Portugal threatens solar subsidies:
http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2012/february/portugal-s-austerity-plans-break-energy-commitments-/73643.aspx

Near Bankrupt Italy faces huge solar subsidies bill:
http://www.power-eng.com/news/2012/04/03/italy-to-cut-renewable-energy-subsidies.html

Irish solar feed-in tariffs unsustainable:
http://news.uk.msn.com/politics/solar-power-subsidies-face-reform-2

Bankrupt Greece cuts Solar Subsidies:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/01/greece-solar-idUSL5E8D11XY20120201

Spain cuts Green Subsidies to help curb budget deficit:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-27/spain-suspends-subsidies-for-new-renewable-energy-plants.html

Spain fails to control green subsidies:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-18/spanish-solar-projects-on-brink-of-bankruptcy-as-subsidy-policies-founder.html

Britain’s Solar Subsidies Fiasco:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9050088/Solar-panels-subsidy-was-one-of-the-most-ridiculous-schemes-ever-dreamed-up-Lord-Marland-says.html

Australian Government backs plans for world’s largest solar plants:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/worlds-largest-solar-plants-for-nsw-qld-20110618-1g8my.html

Greens boast of their role in gambling $1.5 billion of tax payer funds on solar toys:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/solar-stations-down-to-us-greens-say/story-e6frf7jx-1226077940496

Australian Flagship Solar Plants Stagnate:
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3465055.htm

Queensland Government ceases support for Chinchilla Solar Farm:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/elections/campbell-newman-orders-anna-blighs-husband-greg-withers-to-kill-green-schemes/story-fnbsqt8f-1226311864712

Delhi’s rooftop solar power policy a non-starter “not viable” and “not cost effective”:
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-12-30/developmental-issues/30572236_1_solar-power-solar-panels-powerscenario

Premier Wen Jiabao says China will put an end to blind expansion of solar and wind power:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/04/07/an-about-face-by-china-on-solar-power

http://www.elp.com/index/from-the-wires/wire_news_display/1621584677.html

The Long War on Famine
by Viv Forbes, 8^th June 2018

Famine has haunted humans for most of their history.

In the days of the Pharaohs, whenever the Nile River failed to flood, Egypt starved. Joseph was called in and he organised stockpiling of grain for famine relief.

Even mighty Rome suffered famines – in 436 BC thousands of starving people threw themselves into the Tiber.

The cold Middle Ages in Europe were haunted by famines. In the 11th and 12th century, famines averaged one in 14 years. Even in England there were 22 recorded famines in the 13th century. In 1235, 20,000 people died in London and people ate horse flesh, bark and grass. There were great famines in India, Bengal, France, China and Russia.

Victims of the Great Famine of 1876–78 in India (British Royal Photography Services)

In more recent times, man-made famines were more common in the Comrade Societies – some wit once remarked that “Soviet agriculture has just suffered its 23^rd consecutive year of unseasonal weather”.
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by David Mason-Jones

There is an old fake-science idea doing the rounds again at the moment. This is that cows are culprits in the global warming narrative. The problem, however, is that the scary image of cows destroying the planet with their carbon emissions doesn’t fit with how the planet actually works.

No cow alive today, nor any cow that has ever existed, nor any cow that will ever exist, can add single atom of carbon to the atmosphere that wasn’t already there in the first place.

At one point of the carbon cycle, it is true that cows emit carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) to the atmosphere, each of which contains one atom of carbon. This is a basic fact of biology – but what about some other basic facts to go with it?

It would seem the fact that ruminants emit carbon gases is regarded as the clincher argument by people like Rosemary Stanton and Kris Barnden, who recently published an article on the ABC News website damning cattle. The problem is they fail to put this isolated fact together with others to give it context and, in this way, create a misleading impression. They fail to describe how a cow exists within the carbon cycle. They fail to ask a fundamental question; ‘Is the carbon a cow emits new carbon to the atmosphere?’

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The Carbon Sense Coalition today called for an end to deceptive advertising regarding Global Warming Policies.

The Chairman of “Carbon Sense”, Mr Viv Forbes, said that those calling for a “Price on Carbon” should speak the truth and call it a “Tax on the Production of Carbon Dioxide”.

“Similarly the CPRS (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) had nothing to do with pollution but everything to do with imposing taxes and rationing on economic activity.”

Forbes explained:

“The new green mantra chants: “We need a price on carbon”.

“Carbon is the most useful substance on earth and there is already a price on every product containing carbon – coal and oil, bread and butter, beef and bacon, oil and ethanol, beer and whisky, coffee and tea, cotton and wool, diesel and fire wood, methane and carbon dioxide, petrol and rubber – all are carbon products with an established market price.

“Those who chatter about “a price on carbon” are hiding their real aim which is to reduce human activity by taxing the release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The Office of Fair Trading should be investigating this deceptive election advertising.

“If this tax attempted to cover all releases of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere it would indeed be “A Monster New Tax”.

“Every man and beast, every car and train, every ship and plane, every cement plant and blast furnace, every power station using coal, oil or gas, every wood stove and gas barbeque, every swamp and termite nest – all emit carbon dioxide and thus recycle carbon. Carbon feeds, powers and clothes our world. Any attempt to stop that is suicidal.

“Every producer of carbon products is already taxed – income tax and payroll tax, royalties and resource rent tax, excise and levies, permits and quotas.

“Another carbon tax would just add to the costs of everything, increase poverty, bloat the bureaucracy and send more jobs to China. The only people promoting more taxes on carbon are the anti-growth crowd and the vested interests in the alternate energy promoters.

“We didn’t want the deceitfully labelled Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, and we don’t want a new tax labelled “A Price on Carbon”.

Viv Forbes
Chairman, The Carbon Sense Coalition

For a brief report by Ray Evans on the unholy alliance of “Baptists and Bootleggers” supporting more taxes on carbon see: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/doomed-planet/2010/07/the-price-of-carbon

PDF version of this article: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/carbon-price-means-tax.pdf [PDF, 62 KB]

Canberra breeds many white elephants, but now they are breeding a gigantic new breed of pachyderm in Australia’s Snowy Mountains – a Green Elephant. Grandly named “Snowy 2.0 Hydro-Electric”, it has the compulsory green skin, but it is just another big white elephant under a thick layer of green paint.

Snowy 2.0 plans a hugely expensive complex of dams, tunnels, pumps, pipes, generators, roads and powerlines. Water will be pumped up-hill using grid power in times of low demand, and then released when needed to recover some of that energy. To call it “hydro-electric” is a fraud – it will not store one extra litre of water and will be a net consumer of electric power. It is a giant electric storage battery to be recharged using grid power.

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