Multitasking, I was writing something, not this, on Tuesday night, drinking red wine, and intermittently watching TV. Out went the power in my local area. It is a shock for us city slickers. My desktop computer (incidentally the hard drive of which I later found had been ruined by the incident) sits in my enclosed balcony, the floor of which is raised above the main floor. This forms a handy resting place for my wine while watching TV on my couch.
I inched forward in the darkness and felt my foot hit the glass of wine. It turned out that I had wedged the glass still upright against the side of the couch. Wine intact and no mess to clean up. And they say miracles don’t happen.
I gradually felt my way to my bedroom where I keep a torch. Then, where are the candles? Eventually found them in a kitchen cupboard and ‘cleverly’ fitted three of them inside assorted glass bottles. Memo to me: must buy candlestick holders and perhaps some lanterns of some description, for they will surely be needed.
I had my phone which of course still worked, but that provides me with little entertainment, not being a social media junkie. I thought I would continue working by candlelight on the blog I was writing. Alas, laptop computer says no. My Microsoft Word program is now in the sky and only works when connected to the internet, which of course is as dependent on power, as with all modern conveniences. Without power we are as neophyte cave dwellers. Most of us would die out in a short space of time.
An Ausgrid text informed me that the problem was complex and would take some hours to fix. It was now about 11 pm. I simply went to bed.
We have all experienced blackouts and know how disconcerting they are. I mention my recent experience simply drive home the point that we will need to get used to them and prepare for them.
Windmills and solar panels work only intermittently, power is required continuously. Never the twain shall meet. Chis Bowen will deliver soaring prices and blackouts; not to mention deindustrialisation. Nothing is more certain. Dutton and his merry band of Liberal wets offer some reprieve, if they were to miraculously get over the line, but not nearly enough. They seem determined to be stuck at net zero.
Windmills and solar panels are being installed as we speak. The more they permeate the system the less reliable it becomes. Coal and gas can fill the breach when renewables are relatively minor in the scheme of things, but as they metastasise and drive out coal and gas, particularly coal, their intermittency is fatal. Imagine the effect of a wind drought when wind generation makes up on average only 10 percent of the system. Now imagine what happens when it makes up 50 percent.
Australia’s rich estate is being run down. Unreliable and expensive power is driving out industry, while ever more borrowed money goes to climate-scam boondoggles and to social welfare programs, and so little to national defence. Don’t want to be a doomster, but I don’t think that this will necessarily end well. Will it?
No, it won’t end well Peter, no matter which cheek of the Uniparty @rse ‘wins’ in May. They simply do not want to hear the truth, for whatever reason.
From a fellow Doomster.
Peter, somehow I am going to get my husband to read your warning.
At the farm we have a 10kw solar system, but no battery. I don’t want to be reliant on the grid since I anticipate future blackouts relatively soon. Husband refuses to get battery, citing our backup of a petrol generator. I argue that, probably consistent with our blackouts, China will at some time blockade our petrol supplies.
In our city abode (where admittedly, we spend a lot less time) I have lots of candles in a handy place!
So – in respect to your query whether we should expect doom? Yes, we damn well should! Our miserable pollies (of both sides of politics) have allowed us to deteriorate into a pathetic country which exports most of its sources of energy, and is on a path to actually ban the use of what we have!
As if that is not enough, we have de-industrialised over the past few decades. It is just ASTONISHING that almost no one (except on blogs like this one) seems to have noticed.
As if that is not enough, we have de-industrialised over the past few decades.
Thank the Lima Agreement, which Australia signed in the mid-1970s and all the idiot governments that adhered to it in the following decades.
Like it or not (pretending otherwise doesn’t change the reality), truth now resides in the individual or entity, rather than the information they are communicating; the messenger rather than the message.
If the messenger is from the approved ‘tribe’ and has status within it, whatever she/he/it says automatically assumes a validity, regardless of the content of the message.
A prime example (in reverse) is Elon Musk. Once a figure of worship, he was perceived as stepping outside of the tribe and embracing values which threatened the livelihood of status members of the tribe. He is branded an outlaw.
Conservatives and climate realists have long been branded outlaws; threats to the narrative and therefore dangerous to associate with in any manner. If you’re a policy maker and wish to keep your finger in ‘the pie’ you don’t want to risk the opprobrium that might arise if you express a willingness to talk to ‘the enemy.’
To cut a much longer explanation short: What is needed is an understanding of human psychology (how are people influenced?). It’s not that facts no longer matter – they do – but that before those facts are delivered, we need to make sure that the receiver of the message is willing to acknowledge it. If not, our efforts researching and constructing the message come to nought.
We don’t live in the 1950s anymore.
BTW in our valley a friend owns an old coal mine that functioned during WWII, but which was closed decades ago because of non profitability. We laugh that, when it is necessary, we can always raid it for some coal!
I grew up on a farm with a coal seam in the creek, not sure I could find it now. The old farm house was moved from a coal mine that closed down in 1918.
“We don’t live in the 1950s anymore.”
Like Vicki, I have candles and some small LED lights all over the house. Also we keep our bicycles in good nick. And have cash on hand, a generator, a decent pantry of dry goods. We could manage about 10 days before needing outside contact. By then I reckon a whole lot of other people will be in much worse state than we are.
I’m just sorry we haven’t had decent blackouts yet.
I’m an optimist and for some reason a good reader of “the wind”. On the bright side:
The likelihood of the whole climate change scam exploding/imploding within the next three years or less is getting very high.
Net zero was an agreement between govt parties on a target and many of the major parties to the agreement have subsequently got out of it or just ignore their commitments. It is now a meaningless tribute to the weather Gods and a source of grift for climate bureaucrats.
A large portion of the funding that was directed towards propagandizing the scam worldwide have been neutralized by Trump.
Renewable energy investment is starting to get the wobbles. Start-up money is disappearing and the big returns far less than promised.
The likelihood of major electricity failures in Australia is increasing as more and more wind and solar are installed without baseload back-up. The Government will not be able to finance both the rollout of the renewable transmission grid and the upgrade or introduction of new baseload.
The feasibility, logistics and financial cost of covering the country and seacoast in poles, wires, turbines, panels and more, was never properly planned. It won’t be finished because it can’t be done. It’s just a matter of who is game enough to pull the plug. A couple of big black-outs will tip the scales.
Post script
On second thoughts I don’t think either of the major parties has the courage to directly stop the scam. So it won’t be tackled head on. The decision will be made on the basis of economic alternatives which will go down well with the public and businesses suffering under the blight of of unsustainable price increases. And of course, at the end, no one will be responsible for the huge misdirection of taxpayer funds or the damage to our country.
Combine this with the discussion on how bad the education system is, and doom is inevitable. It’s not just energy we’re screwing up, though that’s critical. It’s everything.
BTW, Peter. Many thanks for continuing to contribute to this blog and, of course, to Quadrant.
In a similar, related vein, we received a letter the other day from the WA water provider.
Summarising, it said, “In our last letter, we alerted you to the fact you use too much water. Despite that, since then you have used 47 litres more per day. You are well above the average for households in your area. We would be pleased to teach you how to cut down.”
My immediate response was “Feck off! I pay for every fecking litre of the stuff! And secondly, I have a 1001 sq m block reticulated from the bloody mains … should I just let everything die??”
This is not going to end well. One more letter like that and I’m on the phone!
As for electricity, I desperately want a gen set, but the Leader of the Opposition is adamant that’s a “NO! You’ve been watching too many of those stupid survivalist movies”.
Friends who live about an hour north of Perth have one on their caravan. Twice in the last 3 months it has kept their fridge, freezer, lights and TV on in the house when they had blackouts. They estimate it saved them a good grand in spoilt food.
And, God forbid, should the ordure really hit the rotating cooling device in WA, I will no longer be able to protect my family or my property, because my government is taking away my means of self-defence and crushing them.