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Empathy isn’t universal. I care less about poor people in poor countries in far away lands, and far away times, than I do my fellow citizens in my relatively w
by TheSpiceIsLife 8mo ago
Empathy isn’t universal.
I care less about poor people in poor countries in far away lands, and far away times, than I do my fellow citizens in my relatively wealthy country.
And my fellow citizens, especially the low income folk, are affected everyday by high energy costs. High energy costs result in higher costs of everything.
Whereas the effects of climate change, to the extent that they’re distinguishable from extreme weather events at all, are largely tolerated by even the poorest here in Australia.
High energy costs makes extreme weather events less tolerable.
- adrianN 8mo agoIt is good then that renewable energy is cheap. There are a million things countries can do to help poor people. Burning fossil fuels is very far down the list.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8mo ago> that renewable energy is cheap Where is this the case? There is what? Approximately nowhere with high renewables penetration and cheap retail energy prices. Australia has so much coal and gas we could have electricity plans similar to data plans: all you can reasonably consume for $80 a month, and it would still make approximately zero difference to global anthropogenic carbon emissions. We’re plenty happy for everyone else to burn our LNG and coal. Our LNG is cheap the Japanese even resell it a profit.[1] Instead, we have high renewables penetration and electricity prices that have increased at a rate three times higher than general inflation. 1. https://ieefa.org/resources/how-japan-cashes-resales-australian-lng-expense-australian-gas-users https://ieefa.org/resources/how-japan-cashes-resales-austral...
- adrianN 8mo agoYou’re replying in a thread about energy prices dropping because of renewable energy.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8mo agoDo you accept that wholesale electricity prices in Australia can be wildly disconnected from residential retail prices? Do you accept I am an Australian resident retail customer telling you I am not seeing any change in my $/kWh price, nor any offers from my any providers offering lower prices and higher solar input price than the plan I’m on now. It doesn’t matter if wholesale prices are zero unless energy retailers are willing to compete to drive prices lower. And they’re not. It’s a regulated market here in Australia.
- adrianN 8mo agoIf somebody comes up with a way to produce wheat cheaply, do you blame them for high bread prices?
- nandomrumber 8mo agoEnergy retailers in Australia are literally just a billing interface and a poor excuse for a call centre. They’re not really adding value in the same way a farm & associated agribusiness > harvest > global storage and distribution > mill > commercial scale bakery > distribution > retail outlet does. This reminds me of an amusing comment I read or heard the other day: eggs are now more expensive than chickens. Somethings not right there. And it’s mostly higher costs of energy, and extremely stupid egg production regulations.
- adrianN 8mo agoI fail to see how the blame is on renewable energy and how burning more fossil fuels would help in that situation.
- nandomrumber 8mo agoThe cost of coal and gas to the Australian market could effectively be covered by royalties collected from exporters of same. Australia could be a manufacturing powerhouse off the back of very steeply subsidised energy. China does it. But instead we seem to be bent on whatever the fuck this is supped to be? Energy so expensive ya can’t use it.