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Australia emits 1-1.5% of greenhouse gases. Tripling that would absolutely impact global concentrations, especially over human time scales. But agree, Australi

by vvbull 2mo ago

Australia emits 1-1.5% of greenhouse gases. Tripling that would absolutely impact global concentrations, especially over human time scales. But agree, Australia exporting fossil fuels should be reflected. If you counted their export of fuels it would be closer to 5% of global emissions. IMO, getting to zero would knock over a whole integer percent off the global goal, that's notable. And if you stopped exporting oil, we'd be 1/20th of the way to the goal already!

perpetuallunch 2mo ago
Your argument seems to boil down to: What we’re doing isn’t working, so let’s do more of it. There’s a cost of living crisis in this country effecting the majority of Australians. So let’s make energy more scares, more expensive. I’m with Gad Saad here, in that the one thing that astounds me the most about other people is their inability to change their opinions in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
- vvbull 2mo ago
  Ah, so you are taking the anti capitalist stance. Interesting to see that pop up here. Australia sells its fossil fuels on the global market rather than prioritizing its local market. So when disruptions (like the various wars around) drive up prices, Australia sells the gas at a higher rate. This, in turn, drives up prices locally. Combined with aging and failing coal infrastructure, which isn't producing as much or as reliably, you have a marginal rate that can get quite high. Meanwhile, Australia has retail electricity providers and not a single government owned utility. Those retailers must make a profit, and they've invested heavy capex into smart metering. So they charge customers as much as customers will tolerate. You might be right, it might be time to nationalize some of that fossil fuel usage, and remove the profit motive from energy retailing. That could drive down costs for end users. But I don't think solar is really a major input here beyond replacing baseload. Expensive marginal priced peaker plants are one of the key drivers of high energy costs. When the sun sets, those plants have to come online. Better battery storage would smooth that demand significantly, as in parts of Australia solar production is already producing negative energy prices.
  - perpetuallunch 2mo ago
    > Ah, so you are taking the anti capitalist stance. How did you get that from anything I’ve written here, or anything I’ve written anywhere ever?

by vvbull 2mo ago

perpetuallunch 2mo ago

Your argument seems to boil down to: What we’re doing isn’t working, so let’s do more of it. There’s a cost of living crisis in this country effecting the majority of Australians. So let’s make energy more scares, more expensive. I’m with Gad Saad here, in that the one thing that astounds me the most about other people is their inability to change their opinions in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

vvbull 2mo ago
Ah, so you are taking the anti capitalist stance. Interesting to see that pop up here. Australia sells its fossil fuels on the global market rather than prioritizing its local market. So when disruptions (like the various wars around) drive up prices, Australia sells the gas at a higher rate. This, in turn, drives up prices locally. Combined with aging and failing coal infrastructure, which isn't producing as much or as reliably, you have a marginal rate that can get quite high. Meanwhile, Australia has retail electricity providers and not a single government owned utility. Those retailers must make a profit, and they've invested heavy capex into smart metering. So they charge customers as much as customers will tolerate. You might be right, it might be time to nationalize some of that fossil fuel usage, and remove the profit motive from energy retailing. That could drive down costs for end users. But I don't think solar is really a major input here beyond replacing baseload. Expensive marginal priced peaker plants are one of the key drivers of high energy costs. When the sun sets, those plants have to come online. Better battery storage would smooth that demand significantly, as in parts of Australia solar production is already producing negative energy prices.
- perpetuallunch 2mo ago
  > Ah, so you are taking the anti capitalist stance. How did you get that from anything I’ve written here, or anything I’ve written anywhere ever?