Phasing-out-fossil-fuels

Scott Morrison has failed to develop a plan for phasing out thermal coal exports and for phasing out vehicles running on fossil fuels.

Simply claiming "you can't shut these down overnight" is a nonsense answer.

IEA - World Energy Outlook, 2019 - Thermal Coal Demise

A plan for phasing out both thermal coal exports and vehicles running on fossil fuels is straightforward.

Australia has seen how such plans work. It implemented one in phasing out vehicles that ran on leaded petrol.

1. Announce a date for the ban on new vehicles that use leaded petrol. 
2. Announce a date for the ban of the supply of leaded petrol. 

The period to the date of the first ban sees a burst of investment for the supply of fuel and of vehicles to use the new energy source.

The period to the date of the second ban allows for the gradual retirement of all vehicles using the fuel being replaced, and for winding down the supply chain for that fuel.
 
From a paper by Troy Whitford, Fuel Mandates have a History of Success and a Lesson for Bio Fuels Implementation. Australian Policy and History, April 2010.
URL: http://aph.org.au/fuel-mandates-have-a-history-of-success-and-a-lesson-for-bio-fuels-implementation/

"In 1981, Australian state and federal transport ministers met to address pollution problems. Driving the shift towards unleaded petrol were vast environmental and health concerns.

During the 1980s, automobile associations were critical of the introduction of unleaded fuel. The RACV opposed the implementation believing it was too costly. The oil industry was cynical, too, arguing the introduction of unleaded fuel did not follow from a technological breakthrough but rather a decision by ministers. Without doubt, the position taken by oil companies, automobile associations and other stakeholders regarding unleaded fuel changed over time.

Despite opposition to unleaded fuel, the Transportation Council adopted a program to mandate unleaded petrol by 1985. The implementation policy for unleaded fuel was undertaken in stages. Initially, regulations were made calling for all new motor vehicles made after January 1986 (manufactured within Australia or imported) to meet the new fuel requirements. The policy then called for a complete phase out of leaded fuel by 2002. Prior to the national mandate, states had led the way on unleaded fuel of which NSW took the lead. The decision to mandate was essential for implementing unleaded fuel. It forced car manufacturers, oil producers and consumers to make the transition."

archive-theland-article-deleted

AWB boss 'feared sanctions-busting'

By Adam CooperOct. 15, 2015, 8:58 a.m.

Peter Geary. File photo.

Aa

A FORMER executive of the Australian Wheat Board knew the exporter had contracts that delivered millions of dollars to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, despite concerns he would be branded a "sanctions buster" within the United Nations, a trial has heard.

Peter Geary, the exporter's former general manager for trading, knew AWB was making secret payments between 1999 and 2003 under the guise of trucking and service fees paid to a Jordanian transport company that was a front for the Iraqi government, the Supreme Court has heard.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has brought a civil case against Mr Geary and former AWB chairman Trevor Flugge over the $300 million cash in sham payments.

The commission alleges both men breached their duties.

Mr Geary faces 13 allegations of breaches and Mr Flugge four allegations.

Each breach carries a maximum fine of $200,000.

Continuing his opening on Tuesday, Norman O'Bryan, SC, for ASIC, told the court Mr Geary was the manager of AWB's New York office between 1995 and 1998 and had a good knowledge of the UN's rules regarding trade contracts with Iraq.

Mr O'Bryan said Mr Geary knew of the risks of going down the "limited information route" when dealing with the UN and feared being cast as a "sanctions buster". Despite this, he and Mr Flugge knew contracts AWB signed with the Iraqi Grain Board breached UN rules, Mr O'Bryan said, but neither man raised the alarm.

"It's not difficult to draw the inference they knew of the risks they were taking when they decided to breach those sanctions," Mr O'Bryan said.

AWB's contracts received an immediate "haircut" to return them to fair value once a coalition of countries, including Australia, invaded Iraq in 2003 and took control of the country's books.

The court was told of email correspondence among AWB executives that discussed the payments to the transport company, Alia.

One email centred on variations in the trucking fees, another addressed a new method of paying the trucking company and in another, an executive advised a colleague to consider dragging a "very large suitcase" into Iraq, which Mr O'Bryan described as an "explicit or semi-humorous" instruction.

Lawyers for Mr Flugge and Mr Geary are yet to respond.

The trial continues before Justice Ross Robson.

with AAP

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JUNE 9 2014 - 12:00AM

CO safety threshold 'altered'

• REBECCA SYMONS

A firefighter who patrolled Morwell's streets testing for carbon monoxide during the Hazelwood mine fire has revealed the 'safe' CO threshold was altered by authorities during the event.

A report from 'Firefighter L', a leading firefighter in the Metropolitan Fire Brigade of 12 years, outlined instructions given to his team in what they could and could not say to residents during the fire.

Initially, the firefighter and his team worked with the time weighted average of 30 parts per million as a trigger point for alerting the community that carbon monoxide levels were dangerous and protective equipment must be used to stay in the environment.

Soon after, the firefighter was informed that 70ppm would be the new trigger point for warning the community.

The Department of Health officials had called for the change, according to the firefighter's statement.

"Concern had been expressed about this new figure as it exceeded levels in which firefighters were required to wear breathing apparatus and yet the health department were allowing the public to be exposed to those levels," the statement read.

In addition to this change, the firefighter also reported he and his team were told on 25 February not to give any recommendations to residents, including whether or not they should relocate.

"We were told to say that 'we were Hazmat technicians doing air monitoring in the township', that is all," the statement read.

Firefighter L stated the team chose to loosely advise the public based on their readings to fulfil their duty to protect life and property.

"So when the levels got dangerous we advised the public that perhaps it was not the best environment for them to be in and suggested that if possible they should try and remove themselves from the environment," the statement read.

United Firefighters Union president Peter Marshall has called on the Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry board to promise protection for career firefighters, who he said had been threatened with punitive action if they spoke up.

"We want the Premier to guarantee the firefighters are able to speak out on public safety issues without the threat of dismissal or other punitive action," Mr Marshall said.

"They were gagged down in Morwell from telling the community anything and they've also been gagged from submitting to the inquiry."

Mr Marshall said beyond 50ppm, firefighters were required to wear breathing apparatus and if levels reached 75ppm, they were evacuated.

"There was no information provided to the community on these figures, there's no rationale from raising it from 30 to 70," he said.

"Serious questions need to be asked and answered as to why the firefighters' concerns were not acted upon and why they were silenced from informing the community."

Following the statement's release, Voices of the Valley president Wendy Farmer called for the resignation of Chief Health Officer Rosemary Lester and Health Minister David Davis.

"We're angry, annoyed and frustrated; our community should not have been treated like this," Ms Farmer said.

The Express contacted MFB but received no response at the time of print, while the CFA issued a statement saying "the appropriate forum for these allegations to be put and tested is the Commission of Inquiry".

The Victorian Department of Health was also contacted and issued a statement saying "these are matters that should be put before the board of inquiry, that's the appropriate place for it to be further examined".

Stockpiling 96 million tonnes of coal

A mysterious change has been made in the Australian Government's forecasts of thermal coal production.

In March each year the "Resources and Energy Quarterly" includes 6 year forecasts of thermal coal production and thermal coal exports. The difference between these two numbers might represent domestic consumption - which is likely to mean thermal coal burned in Australia's coal-fired power stations.

BUT... In the March 2019 edition, the amount of thermal coal produced but not exported suddenly jumped 33% above what has been shown in previous years.

This is a very large increase: up by 16 million tonnes a year from 48 million tonnes to 64 million tonnes a year.

• Where is all this extra thermal coal to go - 96 million tonnes in total over 6 years? 
• Is it to be stockpiled to avoid mines being moth-balled because production is far greater than what customers are ordering? 
• Is this a ruse being played out while the coal industry and Australian Government struggles to get the Adani coal mine out of the starting blocks?

Resources and Energy Quarterly March 2019 released today.
Thermal coal stockpiles are forecast to soar.
The excess of production over exports grows by 33%.
Up by 16 million tonnes a year from 48 million tonnes to 64 million tonnes. #mining #auspol pic.twitter.com/PhrNXkni6A

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) March 29, 2019

Consumer right to repair vs unrepairable by design

A panel-mounted fuse holder on the rear of a microwave oven would make a "right to repair" a useful thing for consumers to have. 

Setting a microwave oven light into a recess that is accessible without the need to remove the entire protective metal case would not pose any challenge to most industrial design students.

A replacement light bulb for a microwave oven costs about $3 to $5 on eBay.

To install one in most microwave ovens is hazardous to the intrepid "do-it-yourself" enthusiast and prohibitively expensive when done by an authorised repairer.

The replacement of the fast-blow fuse in a microwave poses a further financial question mark, that influences the "repair or throw away" choice that needs to be made.

Though the replacement part costs around $1.25, replacing it may reveal that some serious problem persists - which will only become apparent if the new fuse blows as soon as the microwave oven is turned on.

Paying an authorised repairer to replace the fuse with the possibility of then finding that some other fault makes it cheaper to simply buy a new microwave oven might shift the balance in favour of just throwing the appliance away and buying a new one...

Some minor changes to microwave oven construction could make the replacement of a fuse and light build a two-minute task that could accomplished by any consumer - and without the need to own a screw driver.

The right to repair a product isn't that much help when products are designed in a way that buying a new appliance is more economic that having them repaired.

A panel-mounted fuse holder on the rear of a microwave oven would make a "right to repair" a useful thing for consumers to have.

Panel mounted replaceable fuse holders

Setting a microwave oven light into a recess that is accessible without the need to remove the entire protective metal case would not pose any challenge to most industrial design students.

The issue of designing appliances to be "fixable" - in a way that is both financially and practically viable for consumers - needs to be considered.

Just the "right" to repair appliances alone won't help reduce waste ending up in land fill as much as can be achieved.

See 'Right to repair' laws for fixable electronics pushed forward after agreement at consumer affairs meeting by Tom Lowrey

Microbial corrosion of coal seam gas wells

In March 2019 EIN Presswire published an article on corrosion in Queensland's coal seam gas wells...

It had been at this link https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/480473562/xpand-able-patches-to-extend-the-life-of-corroded-csg-wells-in-queensland-australia

Microbiologically-influenced #corrosion seems to be systemic in the region (Queensland), and other operators might encounter similar issues in their #CSG wells.”— Charles Albouyhttps://t.co/nAuJINKGFu#AUSpol #Pilliga #NatGas #Fracking

— 💧GasBan #WaterIsLife (@OzGasBan) May 7, 2019

The now-deleted article included -

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Xpandable Patches to extend the life of corroded CSG wells in Queensland, Australia

Charles Albouy, EINPresswire.com

• Full-covered Xpandable Patches successfully isolated bacterial corrosion in coal seam gas wells;
• Microbiologically-influenced corrosion seems to be systemic in the region, and other operators might encounter similar issues in their CSG wells.

Saltel Industries was approached in 2016 by one of Australia’s leading natural gas producers, to tailor a solution for their unusual problem: in some of their CSG wells in Queensland, the 7in production casing must cope with severe and localized external corrosion, developing at shallow depth. These corrosion cases are suspected to be caused by bacteria growing under specific pressure and temperature environments. ...

The corrosion damage can occur at very shallow depths (e.g., as little as a few metres below the wellhead), and corrosion damage can leave less than 80% of the casing metal thickness. In this situation, traditional patch setting methods that require high-pulling or explosive alternatives are complicated and risky for the casing and involve serious HSE downhole hazards. ...

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Five degrees of watergate separation

If you do a Google search on a name involved in the Angus Taylor / Barnaby Joyce / Watergate mire you may stumble upon the fact the Australian Government recently deleted its lobbyists registrer entry for the lobbying firm "The Fifth Estate".

After following a few search paths from the deleted lobbyist registrer entry you come full circle - back to a firm "MHPremium Farms" owned and founded by Sir Michael Hintze AM, where Angus Taylor's brother Richard Taylor is a director, and where former "The Fifth Estate" consultant Tim Mort now works as an analyst.

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Why the Australian Government deleted the lobbyists register entry of "The Fifth Estate" quite recently - it was cached by Google's search entry on 14 May 2019 with content last updated on 21 January 2019 - is not known.

The NSW and Queensland Governments still have current entries for "The Fifth Estate" on their lobbyist registers.

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