Solar has won (in Australia)

[Kulindahr]

I didn't know this was possible:

Last week, for the first time in memory, the wholesale price of electricity in Queensland fell into negative territory – in the middle of the day.

A price in the negative numbers? Not sure how that works.... but I guess it means that people trying to sell power instead find they can't even give it away.

So how did this happen? Easy: the Aussies are getting serious about solar, enough so that at times during the day in Queensland, over half the electricity used is coming from solar -- specifically, from rooftop solar! That means they will soon be free of plumes of crud belching into the atmosphere from coal-fired generators.

If they can do it...


Well, in the US corporations are trying to get the government to forbid people from being able to put their own power onto the grid, as a way to try to discourage solar -- they even want to charge people a monthly fee to be free of the grid (corporatism at its best). So there are hurdles, but the reward still beckons.

Where else could this be managed? Anywhere any JUBbers live? On the foggy, cloudy Oregon coast it doesn't seem workable, but just fifty miles east as the crow flies, it becomes a different matter, and another fifty miles it should be a slam-dunk!



Oh, the article:

http://www.theguardian.com/commenti...e-free-to-burn-power-stations-couldnt-compete


And one with a graph!

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/solar-sends-energy-prices-below-zero-in-middle-of-day-63767

 

[frankfrank]

I still insist that, if they had the mind to, the oil, natural gas, AND/OR COAL companies could invest heavily in solar, and thus assure PERPETUITY for their resources (assuming, of course, that humans survive attempts to poison/kill the planet...or each other).

And, as a bonus, it would promote better health for their descendants, by getting the poisonous gunk out of the atmosphere. (Not ALL of it, because using some fossil fuel for some things is most definitely unavoidable.)

But corporations don't give a shit about future consequences for anything, do they?

 

[Stardreamer]

What happens when the sun goes down?

 

[Alnitak]

Where else could this be managed? Anywhere any JUBbers live? On the foggy, cloudy Oregon coast it doesn't seem workable, but just fifty miles east as the crow flies, it becomes a different matter, and another fifty miles it should be a slam-dunk!

Germany produced over 50% of its power from solar for the first time last month.

Germany Now Produces Half Of Its Energy Using Solar

Germany is not a sunny place. Indeed more than 90% of the world's population lives in countries with substantially more sunlight.

 

[andysayshi]

While this story is great news, Australia's relatively new conservative Government are doing their utmost to quash it. In coming weeks they will repeal the country's carbon tax, despite that fact that it has resulted in the greatest reduction in Australian carbon emissions in 30 years. They are trying to shut down the body that funds renewable energy projects, despite the fact that it makes a profit. They are the first Government in 40 years to not have a Minister for Science. They have cut funding to the nations primary scientific research body.

It's a strange time in Australia. Protests against Government in my state are up by 300%.

 

[Special K]

While this story is great news, Australia's relatively new conservative Government are doing their utmost to quash it. In coming weeks they will repeal the country's carbon tax, despite that fact that it has resulted in the greatest reduction in Australian carbon emissions in 30 years. They are trying to shut down the body that funds renewable energy projects, despite the fact that it makes a profit. They are the first Government in 40 years to not have a Minister for Science. They have cut funding to the nations primary scientific research body.

It's a strange time in Australia. Protests against Government in my state are up by 300%.

And don't forget the fact that Australia's current Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, is a devoted climate change 'sceptic'. Evidently, ignorance is bliss for some people.

 

[Alnitak]

And don't forget the fact that Australia's current Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, is a devoted climate change 'sceptic'. Evidently, ignorance is bliss for some people.

It's bliss for those whom do not have to suffer the consequences.

 

[Kulindahr]

And don't forget the fact that Australia's current Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, is a devoted climate change 'sceptic'. Evidently, ignorance is bliss for some people.

Any more it's willful ignorance. Anyone who denies that humans are heating the planet are dangerously delusional.

 

[Special K]

Any more it's willful ignorance. Anyone who denies that humans are heating the planet are dangerously delusional.

I couldn't agree more. Mr Abbott and his ilk are absurdly ignorant, and to deny or downplay climate change in a country like Australia, which is literally on the front line of climate change, is even more ridiculous.

 

[Benvolio]

I still insist that, if they had the mind to, the oil, natural gas, AND/OR COAL companies could invest heavily in solar, and thus assure PERPETUITY for their resources (assuming, of course, that humans survive attempts to poison/kill the planet...or each other).

And, as a bonus, it would promote better health for their descendants, by getting the poisonous gunk out of the atmosphere. (Not ALL of it, because using some fossil fuel for some things is most definitely unavoidable.)

But corporations don't give a shit about future consequences for anything, do they?

You have inadvertently put your finger on part of the problem. The most ardent believers in human climate change are, like you, ardent opponents of corporations and economic freedom/capitalism. This has been true of the environmentalists from the beginning. Snail darters and owls become an ideology for confiscating private property.
The inevitable backlash has been that those who see that capitalism has been greatest benefactor of humans are skeptical about the claims of human-caused climate change. I have predicted that it will be the next totalitarian ideology. Just as race and/or class warfare have been used to justify total control of societies, so will the environment. Since everything effects the environment, if the government gets to control everything that effect the environment, the government gets to control everything.

 

[Kulindahr]

You have inadvertently put your finger on part of the problem. The most ardent believers in human climate change are, like you, ardent opponents of corporations and economic freedom/capitalism. This has been true of the environmentalists from the beginning. Snail darters and owls become an ideology for confiscating private property.
The inevitable backlash has been that those who see that capitalism has been greatest benefactor of humans are skeptical about the claims of human-caused climate change. I have predicted that it will be the next totalitarian ideology. Just as race and/or class warfare have been used to justify total control of societies, so will the environment. Since everything effects the environment, if the government gets to control everything that effect the environment, the government gets to control everything.

Those are two different things. I oppose giant corporations in pat because they are enemies of economic freedom; the same for capitalism.

Oh -- this is false: "capitalism has been greatest benefactor of humans". You keep confusing capitalism with free enterprise.