Viv Forbes

PM Morrison should take some Aussie Coal to Chilly Glasgow

The Saltbush Club, Australia's defenders of coal, cattle and cars, says that PM Morrison should not attend COP26 unless he also takes some high-energy Australian black coal to show the energy-starved Europeans the best source of stored solar energy. (In 2017, Scott Morrison took a lump of black coal into the Australian Parliament to show those members wearing green goggles what a real solar energy storage battery looked like.)

Time for Truth-Telling in Glasgow

For 26 long years the UN and their tame media have promoted their expensive annual climate carnivals. This month they will flock to Glasgow for COP 26 but they will not arrive on Shetland ponies, penny farthings or sailing boats--hydro-carbon energy will get most of them there and keep them warm and well fed. These jamborees are designed to spread climate lies and green energy propaganda.

Weather, Climate and Model Madness

Weather or climate? It pays to know the difference before we slaughter our economy on the climate alarm altar. “Weather” describes atmospheric conditions at any location – temperature, humidity, clouds precipitation and winds. Every place has its own weather which depends on the time of day, the season, the latitude, local topography and the surface temperature of the nearest ocean.

All Trees, Grass and Cows are Green

Growing trees need three essentials – radiant energy from the sun, CO2 and rain from the atmosphere, including nutrients and minerals from the soil. Climate alarmists correctly claim that burning forest products in thermal power stations is "net-zero emissions" because burning the wood just puts the same CO2 back into the atmosphere.  Identical reasoning applies to grazing cattle. 

Real Meat is Green - it Eats Grass

The Green Wreckers who destroyed Australia's cheap reliable electricity are now targeting our cattle industry. They use fake science and false advertising to threaten our right to produce and consume real meat. This stupidity relies on a totally false argument that grazing animals cause global warming by releasing carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere.

Forests need Foresters

Green extremists plan to convert Australia into “tree heaven”. They will bully this through, no matter what the cost. Huge areas of forest are already converted to “locked-up-land” – national parks, world heritage areas, Kyoto protected trees, remnant vegetation, aboriginal reserves, wildlife habitat and corridors etc. Many lock-ups are so large and so poorly managed that they have become extreme bushfire hazards and a refuge for wild dogs, cats, goats, camels, pigs, lantana, groundsel and other weeds and pests. Now Australia faces a shortage of timber for farms, industry, homes and furniture. While our vast forests lie idle or burnt, we import timber.

Hydrogen Hype and Hurdles

Green Hydrogen is the latest “energy” fad from the global warming warriors. It is mainly hot air. Hydrogen will NEVER be a source of energy. Unlike coal, oil or natural gas, hydrogen rarely occurs naturally – it must be manufactured, and that process consumes far more energy than the hydrogen “fuel” can recover. And the heat content of natural gas is over three times that of hydrogen.

The Blackout Agenda

Solar power fails every day from sunset to sunrise as well as during rain, hail, snow or dust storms. No matter how much land we smother in subsidised solar panels, they will still fail. Wind power fails often and unpredictably, sometimes for days, especially in quiet cold winter weather. It also shuts down during cyclones, heavy winds or icy conditions. No matter how many hills we uglify with their subsidised roads, transmission lines and bird-slicers, they will still fail.

The Green Virus is Spreading - Lock it Down

The Biden-Boris green virus which infects most of the west has become a danger to Australia. PM Scott Morrison has promised one billion dollars for “hydrogen, CCUS (carbon capture usage or storage), batteries and critical minerals-- all to achieve “net zero”. NOT ONE of these green dreams will produce one light-bulb of new energy – all will consume massive amounts of energy and money.

Flood Plains are for Floods

Natural flood plains form where floods spread silt and mud in river valleys. Being flat, fertile, picturesque and usually supplied with surface and underground water, they attract farms, orchards and gardens. These are inevitably followed by roads, houses and businesses. Despite all the planners with their rules, the pressure of people plus a bit of corruption has always resulted in population clustering on fertile flood plains and deltas beside scenic rivers. There is no point trying to stop or reverse this tide of history but those who choose to build on flood plains must bear the costs of the occasional flood.

The Brick Battery

The Australian Snowy 2 hydro scheme plans to use electricity to pump water up hill to get some of that energy back by running the water downhill again. All to make intermittent green energy look sensible. Some green-tinged Australian mining companies are planning a dry version of Snowy 2 - a huge brick-powered battery using the force of gravity to drive a generator when solar and wind energy are on strike. Each unit of this brick-powered battery would comprise a 30 storey tower enclosing a 35 tonne brick which is hauled up using surplus renewable energy (around noon on any clear windy day) and then released to turn generators when there is no renewable energy being produced (every still night or calm cloudy day).

Zero Emissions A Baite Hook

“Zero emissions” requires no diesel, petrol or gas-fuelled cars, trucks, tractors or dozers and no burning of coal or gas for electricity generation. But without nuclear power or a massive increase in hydro-electricity, green energy will not support metal refining or manufacturing, and domestic electricity usage will be rationed. “Zero emissions” will also force closure of most cement plants, mechanised farms and feed lots and will demand nuclear or wind-powered submarines, destroyers and bulk carriers. In the Zero Emissions world there can be no diesel buses, oil-powered cruise liners or jet aircraft (except fleets of climate comrades attending endless UNIPCC conferences). Moreover, 7.8 billion humans continuously emit a lot of carbon dioxide – maybe they plan to make the Covid masks air tight?

Why Worry about Warming? Cold is the Killer

Green alarmists are fanning a firestorm of fear about man-made global warming. Earth always cycles between warmth and cold. Every recent warm period (Medieval Warming, Roman Warming etc) was a time of plenty for all life on Earth, whilst cold periods like the Little Ice Age saw crop failures, famine, migrations, invasions, disease and death.

Nothing That Works

Green zealots infest all parties, the media, academia, education and the business vested interests. They consistently oppose what works and promote what won’t. Greens demand “Zero Emissions”. Nuclear and hydro power are the only practical “zero carbon” electricity options for Australia. Greens oppose both.

Energy Roadmap to Oblivion

The new Australian Government energy roadmap asks us to bet on “clean hydrogen, energy storage, green steel and aluminium, carbon capture and storage, and soil carbon”. Like the worst spec-stock spruiker they promise to streamline regulations and legislation to encourage these mal-investments. NOT ONE of these items will generate reliable low-cost 24/7 electricity. EVERY ONE will risk huge capital expenditure chasing green rainbows. NOT ONE will improve the climate. ALL obey foreign/UN agendas. If this is the best the LNP can offer we may as well vote Green/ALP to precipitate the inevitable energy crisis. When that real emergency comes, voters will punish this bi-partisan Parliament of Fools.

Green Energy is Not Green

Solar energy is very dilute, so solar collectors usually cover huge areas of flat arable land, stealing farmland, starving wild herbs and grasses of life-giving sunlight thus creating “Solar Deserts”.

The Green Road to Blackouts

California leads the way to electricity blackouts, closely followed by South Australia. They both created this problem by taxing, banning, delaying or demolishing reliable coal, nuclear, gas or hydro generators while subsidising and promoting unreliable electricity from the sickly green twins - solar and wind. All supposed to solve a global warming crisis that exists only in academic computer models.

Pure and Sterile

Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef is once again the excuse for extending Green control of all land and waters. Their current scare concerns the quality of water draining into the Coral Sea. Their hidden agenda is to eliminate coastal agriculture, mining and commercial fishing. They would surrender the land to kangaroos, cassowaries, lantana, cane toads, wild cats and feral pigs and the seas to marauding sharks, cruising whales and aboriginal fishermen.

Cold Comfort

Before sunrise yesterday, the grass temperature in Washpool, "Sunny Queensland" was minus 1.7 deg. There was no wind or sunshine. Wind turbines were becalmed and not even moonbeams energised our solar panels. In that still, frosty darkness, green energy failed again. Not a watt came from becalmed wind "farms" or from subsidized solar panels cluttering many roofs (including ours). But we didn't need our diesel in the shed - we were saved by trusty Old King Coal, with maybe a dash of gas or hydro. Reliable 24/7 generators provided pre-dawn power-by-wire for lights, heaters and coffee before we checked the frosty flats for new-born lambs.

More Useless Energy Policies

The Australian Minister for Promoting Useless Energy thinks that hydrogen fuel, carbon capture and storage, soil carbon and biofuels are priorities for energy policy and greenhouse gas reduction.