TheRightAreLunatics

Climate about me & my money Monica O'Shea Politicom -The Epoch Times 19th July 2024 Former Liberal PM Malcolm Turnbull has opposed nuclear energy; instead promoting solar, wind and hydro – in which he has pecuniary interests. Mr Turnbull, who served as prime minister from 2015 to 2018, said even if nuclear plants were not “hugely expensive” and take “decades to build,” they were “not the right fit for Australia’s energy mix”. “Regarding nuclear: our big advantage is solar and wind. Especially solar, which is cheap and getting cheaper and easier to install,” he said on social media. “However, that means we need to store excess electricity when it is in abundance and use it when it is not – hence batteries and pumped hydro.” Mr Turnbull said flexible and dispatchable generation was needed to complement renewables, which you can turn on and off. “Nuclear plants do none of that. They run continuously. Cannot be turned on and off at the flick of a switch,” he said. The former PM also criticised the Coalition’s reference to nuclear-powered subs to justify the move to nuclear energy. “The reference to nuclear-powered subs is fatuous,” he said, “The submarines to be acquired under AUKUS will use weapons-grade uranium in sealed reactors which deliberately cannot be maintained in Australia.” Mr Turnbull supports Anthony Albanese’s opposition to nuclear, who aims to achieve net-zero with 100 per cent renewable energy supported by gas. In contrast, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has proposed building seven nuclear reactors in Australia if he wins the next federal election. Speaking at the Liberal National Party State Convention in Brisbane this month, Mr Dutton said Australia would join the other top 19 economies in using zero-emission nuclear technology. “It’s a choice between Labor’s recklessness that will see energy bills soar even more, or the Coalition’s plan for cheaper, cleaner and consistent energy – which includes Australia becoming a nuclear-powered nation,” he said. “This is visionary policy unlike any put forward by a political Party this century.” The Coalition has said that no country in the world relies entirely on solar and wind, but 32 operate zero-emissions nuclear plants and 50 are considering it. Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen, however, has reiterated that nuclear power does not “stack up” and that it’s not a path he supports. “Australia with our renewable resources would be crazy to go down—it would be a massive act of economic self-harm to go down the path of instituting the most expensive form of energy when we can capture the cheapest form of energy with our world-class, world-beating renewable resources,” Mr Bowen said. The Labor Party aims for net-zero by 2050 and to reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. The Coalition argues that the 2030 target is unachievable but supports the goal of net-zero by 2050. In February, Mr Turnbull’s renewable energy company, Upper Hunter Hydro, won a competitive tender to explore hydrogen power storage in NSW. Hydropower uses the energy of moving water to generate electricity. A pumped hydro scheme pumps water from a lower reservoir to a higher one to store energy when plenty of power is available and then pumps it back down when needed. The company was founded by Mr Turnbull and hydro engineer Roger Gill. Mr Turnbull, his wife Lucy, and Mr Gill are among the company’s directors. Mr Turnbull said he started Upper Hunter Hydro to deliver the “deep energy storage essential for a net-zero carbon world”. “Wind and solar are both intermittent sources of generation and once coal-fired generation is phased out, we will be left with abundant, and much cheaper, variable generation but no continuous, baseload generation. “That’s why long-duration energy storage in the form of pumped hydro is critical to ensuring energy is affordable and reliable,” he said earlier this year. 1/ Malcom Turnbull. (courtesy The Australian) politicom.com.au/turnbull-clima…

@evcricket @simonahac @GGeoffwitha You clicked on one article. My god. They are building 2 with the help of the South Koreans who are able to produce them on a production line. We can leverage the success of others in the same way. Even Norway built their first in 7 years, the rest much quicker.

@Peter_Fitz Peter, Australians really want cheaper and reliable power. Your renewables fantasy doesnt provide that. Not everybody earns a squillion $$$$ to pay the exorbitant price to turn a light on...let alone turn a heater on.

WATCH: "It is the death of shame in American politics" The #ABCInsiders panel discusses the nomination of Donald Trump and JD Vance to Republican presidential ticket. #auspol