JoNova

Time 2020-10-14 12:04:03

Web Name: JoNova

WebSite: http://joannenova.com.au

ID:81793

Keywords:

JoNova,

Description:

JoNovaA perfectly good civilization is going to waste JoNova A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).Archives October 2020(21) September 2020(42) August 2020(43) July 2020(42) June 2020(39) May 2020(44) April 2020(45) March 2020(56) February 2020(50) January 2020(46) December 2019(42) November 2019(44) October 2019(39) September 2019(38) August 2019(38) July 2019(33) June 2019(44) May 2019(39) April 2019(38) March 2019(37) February 2019(31) January 2019(33) December 2018(30) November 2018(30) October 2018(37) September 2018(39) August 2018(33) July 2018(39) June 2018(29) May 2018(33) April 2018(27) March 2018(33) February 2018(37) January 2018(38) December 2017(36) November 2017(29) October 2017(35) September 2017(38) August 2017(30) July 2017(29) June 2017(27) May 2017(24) April 2017(24) March 2017(32) February 2017(32) January 2017(32) December 2016(31) November 2016(33) October 2016(33) September 2016(30) August 2016(32) July 2016(38) June 2016(35) May 2016(32) April 2016(31) March 2016(27) February 2016(24) January 2016(24) December 2015(31) November 2015(33) October 2015(40) September 2015(38) August 2015(28) July 2015(36) June 2015(31) May 2015(31) April 2015(34) March 2015(36) February 2015(32) January 2015(37) December 2014(31) November 2014(33) October 2014(37) September 2014(37) August 2014(33) July 2014(36) June 2014(39) May 2014(34) April 2014(33) March 2014(31) February 2014(30) January 2014(34) December 2013(24) November 2013(27) October 2013(32) September 2013(32) August 2013(29) July 2013(28) June 2013(24) May 2013(21) April 2013(18) March 2013(28) February 2013(28) January 2013(30) December 2012(27) November 2012(25) October 2012(24) September 2012(23) August 2012(30) July 2012(32) June 2012(30) May 2012(21) April 2012(22) March 2012(25) February 2012(26) January 2012(21) December 2011(24) November 2011(22) October 2011(22) September 2011(26) August 2011(26) July 2011(32) June 2011(28) May 2011(25) April 2011(23) March 2011(23) February 2011(21) January 2011(23) December 2010(23) November 2010(24) October 2010(30) September 2010(29) August 2010(21) July 2010(22) June 2010(24) May 2010(20) April 2010(18) March 2010(23) February 2010(22) January 2010(28) December 2009(31) November 2009(25) October 2009(11) September 2009(5) August 2009(4) July 2009(11) June 2009(5) May 2009(4) April 2009(2) March 2009(2) February 2009(5) January 2009(3) November 2008(1) October 2008(5) September 2008(1)Books Covid Brain Fog: the survivors who forget whole holidays, can t recognise their own car Normal CT ScanWe really need to know how many .The NY Times tells the story of some Covid survivors who are forgetting entire holidays that were taken weeks before they got ill. They stare at photos and recall nothing   One 31 year old woman suffers from white static moments where she is so disoriented she washed the TV Remote, couldn t remember who she was, or where she was.This happens in other viral diseases too, as sufferers with chronic fatigue, ME, and ongoing inflammation will tell you. But the scale of it appears to be something unique. Months later some of these people are have given up their jobs.‘I Feel Like I Have Dementia’: Brain Fog Plagues Covid SurvivorsPam Belluck, New York TimesAfter contracting the coronavirus in March, Michael Reagan lost all memory of his 12-day vacation in Paris, even though the trip was just a few weeks earlier.Several weeks after Erica Taylor recovered from her Covid-19 symptoms of nausea and cough, she became confused and forgetful, failing to even recognize her own car, the only Toyota Prius in her apartment complex’s parking lot.https://www.scientificanimations.comLisa Mizelle, a veteran nurse practitioner at an urgent care clinic who fell ill with the virus in July, finds herself forgetting routine treatments and lab tests, and has to ask colleagues about terminology she used to know automatically.Dr. Murphey, scientific director for a brain-wave technology company, who couldn’t summon the word “work” in a recent meeting, said research is crucial so symptoms are taken seriously.This summer, Mr. Reagan [50], the vascular medicine specialist, turned the stove on to cook eggs and then absent-mindedly left to walk the dog, Wolff-Parkinson-White, named after a cardiac arrhythmia. Returning to discover a dangerously hot empty pan, he panicked and hasn’t cooked since. finger tremors and seizures, neurological symptoms that sometimes accompany brain fog, meant “there is no way I’m going to go into surgery and teach a doctor how to suture an artery,” he said.Read the whole thing So far, MRI scans haven’t indicated damaged brain areas, neurologists say.So that s something.As many as one third of hospitalized Covid patients have some memory loss 4 months laterThere have been 8 million known cases of Covid in the US and a lot of unknown ones, so we d expect some stories like this. We hope this is a small percentage, but other studies albeit small, suggest as many as a third of hospitalized patients have memory loss nearly 4 months later. Many of those will be mild memory dropouts, but the rate of hospitalization for influenza is about 1.6%. It is much higher in Covid, more in the order of 10%.Confusion, delirium and other types of altered mental function, called encephalopathy, have occurred during hospitalization for Covid-19 respiratory problems, and a study found such patients needed longer hospitalizations, had higher mortality rates and often couldn’t manage daily activities right after hospitalization.But research on long-lasting brain fog is just beginning. A French report in August on 120 patients who had been hospitalized found that 34 percent had memory loss and 27 percent had concentration problems months later. The French Study by Garrigues et al asked 120 former hospital patients about their recovery 110 days later. They find that most survivors have still have ongoing symptoms over 3 months later:We included 120 patients after a mean (±SD) of 110.9 (±11.1) days following admission. The most frequently reported persistent symptoms were fatigue (55%), dyspnoea (42%), loss of memory (34%), concentration and sleep disorders (28% and 30.8%, respectively). Comparisons between ward- and ICU patients led to no statistically significant differences regarding those symptoms. In both group, EQ-5D (mobility, self-care, pain, anxiety or depression, usual activity) was altered with a slight difference in pain in the ICU group.About half were active workers before hand, and 70% had returned to work. Though that means 30% still had not. One quarter still had diarrhea, one in five suffered hair loss.  Just under half reported ongoing shortness of breath. This is nearly four months later. It is not the flu.From Comments at the NYT   one Harvard Doctor  has lost three months of memory .Clair BeardBoston, MAI had CoVID in March will full-blown encephalopathy. I was in bed at home for weeks, wondering how low my oxygen level had to be to make my lips that blue, believing that I was dying of heart disease, and unable to move in bed. I should add that I am a Harvard-trained physician with a full-time Harvard appointment and thirty years of work experience at two Longwood hospitals. I remember nothing until July and very little since then. My primary care tells me that I dodged a bullet. I cannot describe the frustration and depression that comes with losing one s intellect. I cannot imagine that cognitive therapy will help me, but I will give it a go if I can find a program. In a way, I am fortunate. I am resourced, have insurance, a good husband, and a home. Many, many people lack these resources. My best to those suffering from CoVID and more to those suffering the death of a loved one. Our lives could have been different with proper strategies and better management early on in the contagion.Obviously people making policy decisions about the costs of lockdowns, or the value of stopping the virus need good data on these long haulers.Is Covid the Goldilock s Bioweapon?As we mentioned last week, sometimes in war it s better to main and impair rather than kill outright. It s almost as if SARS-2 has the right mix to divide the democracies of The West. Not too deadly, not too nice. It s scary enough to have to do something, but not scary enough to get unity. If it was infectious ebola, it d be gone.Meanwhile, whatever the CCP know about this virus, they appear to be as determined as ever not to let the virus roam. They are testing nine million people to contain the first outbreak in two months.Otherwise the Chinese economy is recovering very well.The list of potential long term problems grows. Heart, lungs, head: Keep reading VN:F [1.9.22_1171]please wait...Rating: 9.4/10 (35 votes cast) October 14th, 2020 | Tags: Coronavirus | Category: Global Warming | Print This Post | Email This Post | Comments (54) Peak Climate Religion: UN says Earth to become Uninhabitable Hell Giving up on science, the UN is competing openly now to be The Big Religion. The Rapture is next?Earth to become ‘an uninhabitable hell’ as climate crisis heightens says UN“The future of mankind looks very bleak” says the Earth s Medicine Man. We can save you. Give us your money, your children, and your frequent flyer miles.  Follow their plan, they can stop Fire! Flood! Earthquake! Storm! Tsunami! Your car causes tsunami s. Who knew?The UN claims there s been a staggering rise in extreme events in the last 20 years. Instead, the only staggering rise are the brazen errors in UN reports. As Roger Pielke and the GWPF say: The UN have a graph in their own report, Figure 5 page 10, showing that climate related disasters have declined by 15% in the last 20 years. As CO2 increases the world becomes a safer place. :- ) Obviously the UN couldn t use that to generate apocalyptic headlines. Better to compare it to the 20 years before. Inflation is your friend!Global Disaster Trend, Graph. Climate related, Source UN 2020Benny Pieser says: It’s a shambles; a catalogue of errors”. “The UN should withdraw the report immediately and apologise for misleading the public in this way”. He is far too kind. The UN should be disbanded. There is no saving it. As Pielke reminds us: The UN uses EMDAT which is not data about the climate but about human impacts. EMDAT addresses human impacts. Therefore you cannot claim trends in numbers of floods using EMDAT. @NimaYaghamaieFrozen out of International Headlines by a Chinese virus, the UN has gone full pagan witchery   to try to steal ten seconds of airtime in the lead up to the US election. Keep reading VN:F [1.9.22_1171]please wait...Rating: 10.0/10 (36 votes cast) October 14th, 2020 | Tags: Pielke Jnr (Roger) | Category: Global Warming | Print This Post | Email This Post | Comments (17) Tweets and Free Speech, also Far right extremists turn out to be BLM, Antifa fans The biggest problem science and civilization face is free speech.Tonight the ABC tells us (with a straight face) that the leader of the free world s words were too dangerous for the public to read. The Gods at Twitter have determined what The Truth is. Funnily enough, the ABC gave us his message then used the Twitter censorship as a way of proving Trump lies, or is still infectious. The ABC weren t bothered (10 mins) with the Twitter totalitarianism, they obviously didn t think the public would be harmed either, because they read the message out. Instead this was Proof by censorship .The fact that Twitter objected was all the proof the ABC needed. Dr Twitter said so. That Tweet really is gone.Given that there are scores of papers saying that Covid survivors have antibodies that last for a few months, it s quite believeable that DJT was right. Who is running the country? DJT or an unnamed Twitter list?In deleting it, Twitter have probably promoted it far beyond anything they could have arranged deliberately.The Media IS the problemThe media memory-hole becomes the decision making process. The most important message to share right now is not the intriciate political details but the message that it s all propaganda.Far right extremists turn out to be BLM, Antifa fansAustralians watching Their ABC heard how the FBI arrested six far right extremists who planned to kidnap the Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. She blames Trumps hateful rhetoric . But according to PJ Media, at least three of the six are BLM, Antifa, anti-Trump radicals. Yet another one of the conspirators indicted in the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has turned out to be an anarchist and this time is an identified Black Lives Matter, Inc.™ supporter.If you’re keeping book, that now means at least three of the six men indicted by the federal government for the frightening conspiracy to kidnap the governor from her vacation home are avowed anti-Donald Trump anarchists and at least one is a BLM protester.The ABC didn t mention that tonight. Keep reading VN:F [1.9.22_1171]please wait...Rating: 9.4/10 (77 votes cast) October 13th, 2020 | Category: Global Warming | Print This Post | Email This Post | Comments (58) Covid tricks spikes block pain pathway hiding the infection  Another day in the strange world of CovidA new finding suggests Covid-19 doesn t just bind to the ACE2 receptor, it also binds to a key pain receptor called neuropilin-1 receptor (NRP-1). This could explain why some people with a high viral load are asymptomatic  and infectious but unaware they are unwell. It s like the virus is arriving with it s own morphine. In theory this might be a successful adaption from the virus s point of view as it may increase the spread of the disease if infected people wander around able to shed virus for longer.Despite being fed up with the WuFlu, the efficient perfidy is something to behold (at  least to a microbiologist). It s like a pocketknife.On the down side,  the virus may still be damaging tissues in this painless state, which might explain some of those findings of lung and heart damage even in mild or asymptomatic cases.There is at least one potentially very nice payoff. The finding from the University of Arizona, may lead to the design of whole new painkillers based on the coronavirus spike that is better than opioids .  The lead author says he has been contacted by people who had chronic pain, but noticed it disappeared while they were infected. The pain returned later as they recovered.Perhaps we can dose people up on little parts of Covid spikes and stop a whole lot of pain and suffering in other diseases. We will get the better of this box of malware.COVID-19 causing virus blocks the pain receptorsNeuropilins (both NRP1 and NRP2) are also associated with one of the pain pathways of the body.According to the study published in Pain, the journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain, on 1 October 2020, the spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 also bind to the neuropilin receptors exactly at the same spot as VEGF-A, thus interfering with the pain pathway.To confirm their finding, scientists conducted a series of experiments on rodent models in the labs, where they used VEGF-A as a trigger to provoke the excitability of the nerve cells, thus creating pain. Following that the scientists injected the rodents with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.The scientists concluded that by designing small molecules against neuropilin receptors, they would be able to form a pain-relieving medication better than opioids. Keep reading VN:F [1.9.22_1171]please wait...Rating: 9.0/10 (57 votes cast) October 11th, 2020 | Tags: Coronavirus | Category: Global Warming | Print This Post | Email This Post | Comments (61) Extension cord to rescue renewable South Australia will now cost $2.4 billion It s another hidden subsidy for Green Power .Big-Bandaid: Unreliable generators need thousands of kilometers of extra transmission lines.The totally non-essential new interconnector between NSW and SA will now cost nearly a billion more than was expected. It will add no new baseload generation but allow the random energy surges from South Australia to interfere with New South Wales supply. Surges of subsidized energy will break the balance sheets of cheap baseload infrastructure in NSW, making them less profitable, and driving them out of business unless they charge more for the fewer hours they operate. Both states will spend more on electricity but be less self sufficient, and more dependent on other states.Why aren t NSW generators complaining? Because they know prices will rise, not fall. Ask AGL the more coal plants it can close, the more profits it can make from the gas and unreliable generators.The extra interconnector won t solve the real issues it probably won t change the massive high pressure weather systems that stop wind towers working in both states simultaneously. The magical transmission lines probably won t stop the sun setting in Adelaide one hour after it sets in Sydney either. But it will make some property developers rich.The $2,400 million dollars won t fix the real problem which is that low density energy sources are inefficient and intermittent, and productivity gains from the generation of green electrons are zero, or less. It s just physics.But that kind of money would pay for a lot of HELE Coal power. A gift for generations to come.Project EnergyConnect SA-NSW interconnector to cut $100 off power prices, says ElectraNetChris Russell, The AdvertiserOpposition Energy spokesman Tom Koutsantonis said the increase in costs was “staggering”.He was concerned the interconnector would force SA’s gas-fired generators to close, losing the state’s capability to power itself.The death of the entire Australian Aluminium Smelting industry is a mere sideline in the modeling:Revised modelling has taken into account lower projected energy demand, including assumed closures of the Tomago, Boyne Island and Portland smelters.The economic comprehension of electricity markets is childlike:Increased generation from more renewable energy projects would lift supply. Less demand and more supply would lead to lower wholesale prices.If only electrons were bananas, it might be true. But the last decade in Australia shows that electrons are not priced like tropical fruit. In the last ten years Australian demand for electricity has declined while renewable generation has been added like fairy floss, but prices went wildly up, not down.The modelling suggests SA households would pay $10/year to fund the interconnector but receive $110/year cheaper power – delivering a net $100/year benefit.The modeling will deliver whatever the modeler wants.As usual, the Labor Party gets it exactly backwards.In a Budget reply speech on Thursday night, Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said if the ALP was elected it would invest $20bn on creating a Rewiring the Nation Corporation which would build national transmission lines.“As more renewable energy gets built, we need the transmission network to support it,” Mr Butler said.To which, Jo Nova says: We don t need the transmission lines at all. The renewables industry needs them.When will the Labor Party start acting like they serve the people instead of the Renewables Industry? When will the ABC?When will the Liberal Party grow a backbone and say the obvious?Photo: Interconnector, La Trobe Valley, Victoria, Australia, Photo by Jo NovaVN:F [1.9.22_1171]please wait...Rating: 9.8/10 (74 votes cast) October 10th, 2020 | Tags: Electricity Grids | Category: Cost, Electricity, Global Warming, Grids, Renewable | Print This Post | Email This Post | Comments (43) Media Criticizes Trump For Downplaying Virus Threat By Not Dying Close to the bone:The Babylon BeeWASHINGTON, D.C—President Donald Trump is once again under fire from the media for recklessly downplaying the danger of COVID by refusing to die. As the president begins to show signs of recovery, many worry that this sends the wrong message about the seriousness of the global pandemic.“His defiance is going to get people killed. Dying like he’s supposed to would be the most patriotic thing he could do,” complained CNN correspondent Adam Pelot. “If he lives, how will the people be able to trust science? Tagged: satire and parodyThe disappointment this week in news rooms was palpable.In other news, Biden may be far ahead in the polls, but  Gallup Polling shows 56% think Trump will win, and only 40% think Biden will win.According to David Catron, this is a more useful indicator than asking people who they ll vote for :July 17th 2020: The American SpectatorLately, pollsters and pundits have been nervously pondering the following question: “If Trump is behind in the polls, why do most voters say, in the same surveys, that he will win the upcoming election?” As Harry Enten recently noted at CNN, “An average of recent polls finds that a majority of voters (about 55%) believe that Trump will defeat Biden in the election. Trump’s edge on this question has remained fairly consistent over time.” This is far more than mere statistical curiosity by number nerds. Several peer-reviewed studies have shown that surveys of voter expectations are far more predictive of election outcomes than polls of voter intentions. h/t David EVN:F [1.9.22_1171]please wait...Rating: 9.5/10 (63 votes cast) October 10th, 2020 | Tags: US Politics | Category: Global Warming, Satire Parody | Print This Post | Email This Post | Comments (59) Worlds Largest Shadow Bank wants Australia to shut coal plants faster  Because Big Bankers really want to save the Earth, right?BlackRock, the 10 trillion dollar global investment fund is urging the Australian company AGL to shut Bayswater and Loy B Yang Coal Plants much sooner than planned. BlackRock is a NY based  and as wikipedia says Due to its power, and the sheer size and scope of its financial assets and activities, BlackRock has been called the world s largest shadow bank. The move only got 20% support from investors. Australian investors largely said no thanks . Where are The Greens in exposing multinational powers that want to influence Australia they re part of the Big Banker Promotion Team.BlackRock turns up the heat on AGL s coal exit plansNick Toscano, Sydney Morning HeraldAGL faced an investor revolt on Wednesday, as more than 20 per cent of the company s shareholders backed a resolution for the board to align the retirement of the Loy Yang A power plant in Victoria and its Bayswater station in New South Wales with a strategy to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.This would mean shutting Loy Yang A, the largest brown coal fired power plant in Victoria, at least 12 years before AGL s planned 2048 closure.While prominent local superannuation funds including Aware Super declined to support the motion, the $10 trillion BlackRock, which ranks as one of AGL s top shareholders, voted in favour of it. AGL is responsible for 8% of Australia s emissions (an extraordinary thing in itself why was one company allowed to own so many generation assets that it could become a predatory capitalist at the expense of Australian electricity consumers?).It s all about embarrassing people into following the Paris 1.5C accord. The resolution was lodged by a group called Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR). That in turn gets about a million dollars a year from a bunch of foundations and community groups (which in turn get various millions and also promote climate action ). There is obviously plenty of money for people to work in full time paid jobs to embarrass boards and write press releases promoting the same aims as The largest Shadow Bank in the world. Coincidence?Banks love to save the worldBanks are very very keen to get climate action :  Goldman Sachs pledged $750 billion on climate change. Bank of America spent $50 billion to save the world. Citigroup committed $100 billion to “climate change”. A Spanish Bank spent €100 b on Earth’s weather, cos they are nice people. Deutsche Bank write 50 page scientific reports on climate change. They don t do that to save whales. There s something different about climate action .Banks with carbon trading desks There are a few big profit making reasons Big Banks want carbon action . Many of their other investments in Renewables Corporations are completely dependent on Big Government artificial anti-market rules. Ultimately Big Bankers also want a Global Carbon Trading Scheme potentially the largest commodity market in the world which banker-brokers would cream instant profit from, if only anyone wanted to buy the product (worthless paper certificates) which they don t unless Big Government forces them to. Carbon credits are just another corrupt currency, but one that would, in theory, not be controlled by any democratic government. Once it starts, how would it ever by unwound?But there is another benefit here for Big Bankers, who depend on Big Government to protect their monopolies and existence. Coal mines and coal generators are in theory, highly competitive profit-making machines that have no need of Big Government protector or subsidy. As such, if they were independent voices in Australia they would have enormous power to speak up and criticize Big Government (coal is our largest export item, and coal fired power is our cheapest electricity generator). Renewables, on the other hand, are utterly dependent on Big Government to protect them and become part of the Big Government cheer squad.Hence, it s in the interest of Big Parasites to buy up, subsume and control the independent voices that don t benefit from Big Government. As Malcolm Roberts and Alan Moran showed, right now the parasites get about $1,300 per household in Australia thanks to Big Government rules that force consumers to buy a product which will never be delivered, and can t be measured. How many consumers would voluntarily spend $1,300 a year to get nice weather in 2100?BlackRock backs AGL coal closure bid, against Aus investors Sarah Simpkins, Investor DailyDan Gocher, director of climate and environment at the ACCR said BlackRock’s support “embarrasses Australian super funds and asset managers who voted against the resolution”.“It demonstrates an increasing trend that European and US investors are more prepared to take critical action to address climate risk,” Mr Gocher said. Keep reading VN:F [1.9.22_1171]please wait...Rating: 9.9/10 (55 votes cast) October 9th, 2020 | Tags: AGL, Bankers, Climate Money, Coal | Category: Global Warming | Print This Post | Email This Post | Comments (44) There’s no such thing as clean energy  All good environmentalists detest renewables and are appalled at the money wasted on the industrial renewables corporations.All the rest are unwitting marketing agents who provide free advertising for banks and multinational conglomerate profits. In the process they hurt the poor and scorch the Earth.In short: The world spent $3.6 trillion dollars over eight years, mostly trying to change the weather. Only a pitiful 5% of this was spent trying to adapt to the inevitable bad weather which is coming one way or another. Both solar and wind power are perversely useless at reducing CO2, which is their only reason for existing in large otherwise efficient grids. Wind farms raise the temperature of the local area around them which causes more CO2 to be released from the soil. Solar and wind farms waste 100 times the wilderness land area compared to fossil fuels, and need ten times as many minerals mined from the earth. Biomass razes forests, but protects underground coal deposits.The role of large wind and solar power in national grids is to produce redundant surges of electricity at random or low-need times. They are surplus infrastructure designed in a religious quest to generate nicer weather. They always make electricity more expensive because the minor fuel savings are vastly overrun by the extra costs of misusing and abusing perfectly good infrastructure, which has to be there to provide baseload and backup, and yet is forced to run on and off, sitting around consuming capital, investments, labor and maintenance. It is simply impossible to imagine a situation where unreliable generators have some productive purpose on major grids other than to generate profits for shareholders or their mostly Chinese manufacturers.Despite the extortionate, futile mountain-of-money paid to wind and solar parasites, they produced a pitiful 3% of all the energy needed on Earth, while fossil fuels produced 85%.Everyone who loves renewables should be asking themselves how much they hate the poor. Joh/t to Willie Soon.___________Surprising science – There’s no such thing as clean energyMeticulous Research Review Questions Environmental Impacts and Feasibility of “Green Energy” TransitionSpending on Climate Change, Graph. 2020A meticulous new review published in the scientific journal, Energies, conducted by a team of Irish and US-based researchers including CERES researchers, raises surprising and unsettling questions about the feasibility and the environmental impacts of the transition to renewable energy sources. Concern for climate change has driven massive investment in new “green energy” policies intended to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other environmental impacts from the fossil fuel industry. The world spent US$3,660 billion on climate change projects over the eight-year period 2011–2018. A total of 55% of this sum was spent on solar and wind energy, while only 5% was spent on adapting to the impacts of extreme weather events.Surprising environmental impactsThe researchers discovered that renewable energy sources sometimes contribute to problems they were designed to solve. For example, a series of international studies have found that both wind and solar farms are themselves causing local climate change. Wind farms increase the temperature of the soil beneath them, and this warming causes soil microbes to release more carbon dioxide. So, ironically, while wind energy might be partially reducing human “carbon emissions”, it is also increasing the “carbon emissions” from natural sources.Wake Effect of Wind Turbines, photo.Photographs showing two different kinds of wake effect at off-shore wind farms off the shores of Denmark. (a) Photograph by Christian Steiness shows the wake effect of cold humid air passing over a warmer sea surface, adapted from Figure 2 of Hasager et al. (2013), reproduced under Creative Commons copyright license CC BY 3.0. (b) Photograph by Bel Air Aviation Denmark – Helicopter Services shows the wake effect of warm humid air passing over a cooler sea surface, adapted from Figure 2 of Hasager et al. (2017).  Reproduced under Creative Commons copyright license CC BY 4.0.Green energy technologies require a 10-fold increase in mineral extraction compared to fossil fuel electricity. Similarly, replacing just 50 million of the world’s estimated 1.3 billion cars with electric vehicles would require more than doubling the world’s annual production of cobalt, neodymium, and lithium, and using more than half the world’s current annual copper production.Solar and wind farms also need 100 times the land area of fossil fuel-generated electricity, and these resulting changes in land use can have a devastating effect on biodiversity. The effects of bioenergy on biodiversity are worse, and the increased use of crops such as palm oil for biofuels is already contributing to the destruction of rainforests and other natural habitats.Perplexing financial implicationsSurprisingly, more than half (55%) of all global climate expenditure in the years 2011‒2018 was spent on solar and wind energy ‒ a total of US$2,000 billion. Despite this, wind and solar energy still produced only 3% of world energy consumption in the year 2018, while the fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas) produced 85% between them. This raises pressing questions about what it would cost to make the transition to 100% renewable energies, as some researchers suggest.As lead author Coilín ÓhAiseadha says: “It cost the world $2 trillion to increase the share of energy generated by solar and wind from half a percent to three percent, and it took eight years to do it. What would it cost to increase that to 100%? And how long would it take?”World Energy Consumption, Oil, Coal, Gas, renewables, Graph, 2018World energy consumption by source, 2018. Data from BP (2019).Daunting engineering challengesEngineers have always known that large solar and wind farms are plagued by the so-called “intermittency problem”. Unlike conventional electricity generation sources which provide continuous and reliable energy 24/7 on demand, wind and solar farms only produce electricity when there is wind or sunlight.“The average household expects their fridges and freezers to run continuously and to be able to turn on and off the lights on demand. Wind and solar promoters need to start admitting that they are not capable of providing this type of continuous and on-demand electricity supply on a national scale that modern societies are used to,” says Dr Ronan Connolly, co-author of the new review.The problem is not easily solved by large-scale battery storage because it would require huge batteries covering many hectares of land. Tesla has built a large battery to stabilize the grid in South Australia. It has a capacity of 100 MW/129 MWh and covers a hectare of land. One of the papers reviewed in this new study estimated that, if the state of Alberta, Canada, were to switch from coal to renewable energy, using natural gas and battery storage as back-up, it would require 100 of these large batteries to meet peak demand.Some researchers have suggested that the variations in energy production can be evened out by building continental electricity transmission networks, e.g., a network connecting wind farms in north-west Europe with solar farms in the south-east, but this requires massive investment. It is likely to create bottlenecks where the capacity of inter-connections is insufficient, and does not do away with the underlying vulnerability to lulls in sun and wind that can last for days on end.Hurting the poorestA series of studies from Europe, the U.S. and China shows that carbon taxes tend to lay the greatest burden on the poorest households and rural-dwellers.Although the primary motivation for green energy policies is concern over climate change, only 5% of climate expenditure has been dedicated to climate adaptation. Climate adaptation includes helpingdeveloping countries to better respond to extreme weather events such as hurricanes. The need to build climate adaptation infrastructure and emergency response systems may conflict with the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, because fossil fuels are generally the most readily available source of cheap energy for development.With regards to indigenous peoples, the review highlights the fact that all energy technologies can have severe impacts on local communities, particularly if they are not properly consulted. Cobalt mining, required to make batteries for e-vehicles, has severe impacts on the health of women and children in mining communities, where the mining is often done in unregulated, small-scale, “artisanal” mines. Lithium extraction, also required for manufacturing batteries for e-vehicles, requires large quantities of water, and can cause pollution and shortages of fresh water for local communities.As lead author, Coilín ÓhAiseadha, points out: “There was worldwide coverage of the conflict between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Dakota Access Pipeline, but what about the impacts of cobalt mining on indigenous peoples in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and what about the impacts of lithium extraction on the peoples of the Atacama Desert? Remember the slogan they chanted at Standing Rock? Mni Wiconi! Water is life! Well, that applies whether you’re Standing Rock Sioux worried about an oil spill polluting the river, or you’re in the Atacama Desert worried about lithium mining polluting your groundwater.”Overview of the paperThe review, published in a Special Issue of the journal Energies on 16 September, covers 39 pages, with 14 full-color figures and two tables, detailing the breakdown of climate change expenditure and the pros and cons of all of the various options: wind, solar, hydro, nuclear, fossil fuels, bioenergy, tidal and geothermal. For the review, the researchers searched meticulously through hundreds of research papers published throughout the whole of the English-speaking world, in a wide range of fields, including engineering, environment, energy and climate policy. The final report includes references to 255 research papers covering all of these fields, and it concludes with a table summarizing the pros and cons of all of the various energy technologies. Research team members were based in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the United States.The review was published as an open-access peer-review paper and can be downloaded for free from the following URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/18/4839 .The full citation is as follows: ÓhAiseadha, C.; Quinn, G.; Connolly, R.; Connolly, M.; Soon, W. Energy and Climate Policy—An Evaluation of Global Climate Change Expenditure 2011–2018. Energies 2020, 13, 4839.Funding: C.Ó., G.Q., and M.C. received no external funding for works on this paper. R.C. and W.S. received financial support from the Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences (CERES), while carrying out the research for this paper. The aim of CERES is to promote open-minded and independent scientific inquiry. For this reason, donors to CERES are strictly required not to attempt to influence either the research directions or the findings of CERES. Readers interested in supporting CERES can find details at  Link.VN:F [1.9.22_1171]please wait...Rating: 10.0/10 (82 votes cast) October 8th, 2020 | Tags: Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Wind Power | Category: Cost, Energy, Fossil Fuels, Global Warming, Renewable | Print This Post | Email This Post | Comments (73) Magically correcting Australia s thermometers from 1,500 kilometers away The Australian Bureau of Meteorology uses surrounding thermometers to adjust for odd shifts in data (caused by things like long grass, cracked screens, or new equipment, some of which is not listed in the site information). The Bureau fishes among many possible sites to find those that happen to match up or , err correlate during a particular five year period. Sometimes these are not the nearest site, but ones further away. So the BOM will ignore the nearby stations, and use further ones to adjust the record.These correlations, like quantum entanglements, are mysterious and fleeting. A station can be used once in the last hundred years to “correct” another, but for all the other years it doesn’t correlate well which begs the question of why it had these special telediagnostic powers for a short while, but somehow lost them? Or why a thermometer 300km away might show more accurate trends than one 50km away.One of the most extreme examples was when Cobar in NSW was used to adjust the records at Alice Springs –almost 1500km away (h/t Bill Johnston). That adjustment was 0.6°C down in 1932 (due to a site move, we re told). This potentially matters to larger trends because Alice Springs is a long running remote station the BOM itself says that Alice Springs alone contributes about 7-10 % of the national climate signal.[1] Curiously Cobar itself was adjusted in 1923 by a suite of ten stations including Bendigo Prison which is another 560 km farther south in a climate zone pretty close to Melbourne. In 1923 Cobar official temperatures were adjusted down by a significant 1.3 °C. No reason is given for this large shift a shift larger than the entire (supposed) effect of CO2 in the last hundred years.Ken Stewart reminded me of these extreme records because he s been hunting this week, and found some even longer ones.  Mount Gambier, in South Australia, has been adjusted with the help of Lismore in northern New South Wales, 1,526km away.  (And it’s not as if there is a shortage of sites in this well populated part of South Australia.)But the gong, the gold medal, the record breaking achievement for the Bureau, goes to…….Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory, which has been adjusted using data from Collarenebri in New South Wales,  1,590 kilometres away.See below on the map, the smattering of sites used to correct four different records in Australia: Albany, Alice Springs, Adelaide, and Gabo Island.For foreign readers, bear in mind that it s 4,000 km (2,500 miles) from one side of Australia to another.Figure 5: A map of sites used to homogenize thermometer data in Albany (red), Alice Springs (purple), Adelaide (light blue), and Gabo Island (yellow). Obviously distances are very large and sometimes comparator sites are on the far side of mountain rangeTonyfromOZ points out that the scale is easier to understand in this sort of map:Australia and contiguous USA are roughly the same landmass. From truesize.comWhile Alice Springs involves the most ridiculous distances, there are plenty of freakishly odd entanglements like Hay, and Gabo Island. The latter thermometer is on an island in the Bass Strait, but the former, in Hay, is nearly 600km away, over the water, on the other side of the Great Diving Range, and far off, in a hot dry plain. Yet Hay in NSW was used to adjust the Gabo Island lighthouse data in 1920 and 1927 – but not in other years when the “teleconnection” between them apparently broke.  Pfft. Just like that.The climate can be really very different on either side of the Great Dividing Range, yet all these stations were used to correct Gabo Island.We ll be revisiting the joys of continental thermometer correction and the many permutations and combinations of statistical fun that can ensue. Because the BOM doesn t have good metadata and isn t starting with a full documentation search (like skeptics do) they don t know which sites are good sites, (or were good sites) and can use bad data to ruin good data.If you got a million dollars a day to study Australia s climate, and you cared about it, you might think that getting all the historical documents in order would be your first priority. Others however, prefer to use statistical analysis and search for teleconnections in the data.Many thanks to Bill Johnston who explained how homogenization works (inasmuch as anyone outside the BOM can know) and Ken Stewart, Siliggy, Chris Gillham, and the rest of the BoM unofficial auditors for their unpaid excellent help. And to Jennifer Marohasy who keeps doggedly asking about homogenization. €225,000 reasons mammals need a 1km exclusion zone from wind towers  Another cost of wind towersLaura David and Jack Kelleher had to leave their family farm at Gowlane North, Donoughmore, Cork, four years ago after a shuddering, flickery 10-turbine wind farm began operating a bit more than 700 metres from their home.They suffered from nosebleeds, ear aches, skin rashes, swollen and painful hands, loss of power in their limbs, sleep disturbance, and headaches. Naturally, they moved into a hotel, and then found a new home eight miles away, and took it to the High Court.Family in Cork win a €225k payout:by Ann O Loughlin, IrishTimesTwo brothers and a sister from the same family who claimed they suffered illness as a result of noise, vibrations and shadow flicker from a Cork windfarm have settled their High Court actions for a total of €225,000.The settlements which were without an admission of liability were approved by Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds and occurred after mediation.The defendants had denied all the claims they had been allegedly negligent resulting in the siblings becoming ill. They also denied that noise, shadow flicker and vibration from the windfarm had intruded onto the family s farm.The rest of the family have other claims still outstanding.If industrial infrasound has this effect on people what does it do to the endangered Red Deer, Squirrels, or Pine Martens of Ireland?We re waiting for the Green screams of protest outside wind farm developments in 3 2 1   or does no Greenie care because it s not about homeless furry critters, and never has been it s just about impressing their friends at dinner parties? And right now, apparently nothing impresses friends at dinner more than acting as a blind marketing agent for multinational renewable corporations.If wind turbine operators must pay out people within a 1km radius (or more), and if turbines aren t too good for the cows, sheep, deer, whales, or bats either, then these charges are just another hidden cost of wind power. Wind power consumes more land, and more legal funds.Since wind towers threaten electricity prices, all electricity grids should have a 1km exclusion zone to keep wind turbines out too.h/t Jim SimpsonVN:F [1.9.22_1171]please wait...Rating: 9.9/10 (78 votes cast) October 7th, 2020 | Tags: Wind Power | Category: Global Warming | Print This Post | Email This Post | Comments (49) Banned by ANU! So join Geologist Howard Brady s on Zoom Tuesday 2pm Sorry that this is very short notice! This is today at 2pm EST, Australia. All Welcome. Howard Brady in Antarctica c 1970sDr Howard Brady is a geologist who has done four expeditions to Antarctica. He won the Distinguished Scientist Alumnus of the Year Award for his contributions to Antarctic research. He has been published in journals like Nature and Science.  He was to do a seminar at ANU today, but it has been cancelled. This upset people in the department at ANU, who may have thought they could write freely. So now its going ahead as a Zoom ANU meeting:2 pm Tuesday 6 October 2020Venue: Online via Zoom (link)All welcome; no registration necessary.Dr Brady writes:ATTACK ON ACADEMIC FREEDOMProfessor Ross McCleod was ordered at the Australian National University (ANU) by higher authority Professor Paul Burke to withdraw my ACDE (Arnt-Corden) seminar for the Crawford School of Public Policy next Tuesday at 2pm as an official event.This upset many in that Department as an attack on academic freedom..it seems that some in the faculty are receiving funds with regard to carbon emissions and climate change etc. (including Professor Burke)!! The excuse was that the paper was not on economics!!  Farcical considering the billions of dollars being spent on climate change.Despite this it was decided to go ahead with my lecture anyway as a private ANU zoom meeting under Professor Ross McCleod.The actual paper is attached and I invite you to read it beforehand. I reduced the size of the file to under I megabyte, so it should be easy to upload. The paper is a detailed academic paper that was reviewed before submission.  The physics section was aided by world famous Professor Will Happer of Princeton who was on the Security Council of the USA last year and climate advisor to POTUS. Jo appreciates your support to help her keep doing what she does. This blog is funded by donations. Thanks!

TAGS:JoNova 

<<< Thank you for your visit >>>

Hot Websites