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ENERGY TRANSITION PROGRESS REPORT
From Brisbane, Australia, May 16th 2023
Australia has enshrined in law its targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 43% from 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050.
In a group discussion today, these points were mentioned in our U3A discussion group, not in any order.
State centralised power stations from 1980 to 2010 met electricity demand with reliable low cost supplies.
Growth in peak demand was met by installation of gas turbine generators.
Natural gas supplies are limited.
Solar panels and wind energy cost more than base load fossil fuel energy.
Domestic solar panels relieved peak supply.
Solar panel farms have been built but are unable to meet 24 hour base load supply.
Batteries and pumped storage are expensive.
Shutting down of base load fossil fuel energy has increased the cost of electricity to consumers.
Restriction of coal production has reduced coal taxes, the mainstay of the Australian economy.
Increased payment for electricity takes a larger proportion of workers’ earnings than from middle and upper classes.
Cost of other products is also increased by rising electricity and petrol prices.
Effect of the energy transition is being borne predominantly by workers as a fall in their standard of living.
The energy transition is having a socially retrograde effect, penalising the have-nots.
The benefits of the transition are expected to be improving climates worldwide, which might result in better living conditions for some peoples.
Is the Australian government behaving responsibly?
My novel Animal Farm 2 is a sequel to Orwell’s totalitarian satire with the farm animals learning about climate change and electricity supply. Reviews: martinknox.com
ENERGY CONSUMPTION WARMS EARTH
Animal Farm 2 is a sequel and update on George Orwell’s novel Animal farm (1945).
The story is about totalitarianism, animal liberation and climate change.
The animals have difficulty imagining the amount of global temperature increase and the alternative causes possible. They have most evidence of global warming coming from all kinds of heat emission, including entropy increase from domestic and transport consumption of energy, amid balanced daily solar cycling. An enhanced greenhouse effect is an unnecessary complication, that promotes renewable energy. To reduce environment warming, it is logical to reduce consumption of energy of all kinds.
My book is available on Amazon. Reviews: martinknox.com
ANIMAL FARM 2 SEQUEL
George Orwell’s political satire Animal Farm (1945) has been extended and updated into modern times by Martin Knox.
Controlled by pigs, the other animals work Animal Farm until they discover coal there and mine it for supply to a power station. When the power station is ordered shut down, they are concerned about losing their jobs mining coal. Wanting liberation, they question climate change and the effects of combusting coal compared with using renewable energy, with surprising conclusions. The novel has a blend of superpower politics and climate science with a host of amusing animal characters.
Reviews: martinknox.com
RENEWABLE ENERGY MAY NOT COOL EARTH
Solar, wind and hydro technologies convert enthalpy into entropy and would cool the Earth, except that it is in dynamic radiative balance with the Sun, which has a relatively infinite energy supply and would restore the equilibrium. The enthalpy has to be restored from the Sun because the enthalpy cannot be replaced, except from higher temperatures by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, ultimately by the temperature of the Sun. There would be additional warming of the Earth to maintain its temperatures, causing global warming. Therefore renewable energy would not reduce global warming. The theory that reducing fossil fuel combustion would reduce warming by carbon dioxide could be tested, as I have described in my Proposal to Demonstrate Greenhouse Warming see martinknox.com and my book Animal Farm 2 available on Amazon.
