Antinuclear

The frightening ignorance of Australia’s Liberal/National Party about the science of climate change

It would be tempting to think that this was just Barnaby Joyce, and attacking renewables with his incoherent gusto would have been laughable – were it not for the fact that he will be a senior minister in an Abbott government, and that his views are shared by the likes of Abbott, finance spokesman Andrew Robb, treasurer in waiting Joe Hockey, and the energy spokesman Ian Macfarlane – and dozens of others.

 the Coalition continues to speak from a position of ignorance – or possible from regulatory capture from the industry incumbents.

Barnaby Joyce’s renewables target: 100% ignorance REneweconomy, By Giles Parkinson   7 February 2013 We are barely a week into this seven-and-a-half month election campaign, and it is already clear that the “alternative” government of Tony Abbott is out on a seek and destroy mission on any policy that might serve to promote the development of renewable energy, in particular those emerging renewables that will seal the fate of the incumbent coal generators.

First it was the promise to repeal the carbon price, then the ambiguity over the renewable energy target, and then the attempt to neuter the Clean Energy Finance Corporation even before it was up and running. Then they unleashed Barnaby Joyce in The Senate.

“What is this insane lemming-like desire to go to renewables going to do to our economy?” Joyce told the Senate, before veering off into a rant about wind farms in every back garden, how they were expensive, didn’t work half the time, and will never replace coal, gas, hydro or nuclear.

Again, he betrayed the reason for his antipathy to renewables – the climate, he said, had barely changed despite the introduction of the carbon price six months ago – repeating the idiotic statement made by Tony Abbott in his first address of the year.

It would be tempting to think that this was just Barnaby Joyce, and attacking renewables with his incoherent gusto would have been laughable – were it not for the fact that he will be a senior minister in an Abbott government, and that his views are shared by the likes of Abbott, finance spokesman Andrew Robb, treasurer in waiting Joe Hockey, and the energy spokesman Ian Macfarlane – and dozens of others.

the Coalition continues to speak from a position of ignorance – or possible from regulatory capture from the industry incumbents. If you piece together Abbott’s position on the carbon price, the CEFC and more lately, support for a hydro scheme from PNG, it begins to look a lot like an amalgam of the wish list from the major fossil fuel generators.

All this comes at a time when China is committing to building 3,000MW of solar thermal and 35,000MW of solar PV by 2015, along with another 100,000MW of wind, US Energy Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu says big solar will be cheaper than coal and gas in the US quicker than anyone expects – in fact it may already be there – and the conservative Prime Minister David Cameron this week was banging on about making the UK a “global showcase for green innovation and energy efficiency”, because it was “the right thing for our planet and, just as important, do the right thing for our economy too.”….. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/barnaby-joyces-renewables-target-100-ignorance-96527

February 8, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, energy, politics