Bad Day: Stephen Harper is not alone

Seriously not happy

As Canada celebrates the ascension of its new Liberal led government and congratulates their new Prime-minister, Justin Trudeau, son of Pierre, yes that one - not everyone is celebrating.

Former Primeminister of 10 years, Stephen Harper, now scourers the situations vacant pages, It seems, his backup career as a rock musician has fallen through.

As for Justin, he has wasted no time and has already presented a plan to protect the oceans off Canada's coastline which is considerably longer than it was the last time the Liberal Party was in power, due in large part to the activities of Shell, Exxon, Mobil, Trans-Canada and others all at the behest of Cthulhu and facilitated by loyal minion Stephen Harper.

Needless to say, the mood in the caverns of the great deep are particularly hostile today, It is reported through back channels that several minions accidentally exploded as Cthulhu's mind-bending powers overloaded their brains during interrogations as part of the investigation into the causes of the loss of positioning of Canada's top minion. Janitor minions have been kept busy for most of the morning.

The cephalopod administration had believed Canada was "well in hand". Native communities were "well marginalized", Tar sands extraction operations were toxifying water resources and arable land very successfully, "we were having a good, run, we even gagged the scientists that tried to point out how we were succeeding."

"But at least we still have California, it is in severe drought, and Nestle is doing a marvellous job of stealing water through their bottled water operations. Though Governor Brown is a real concern, with his intention to make California's energy system run entirely on renewable sources.  Things were better when people got concussion walking into the California smog, we'd rather return to that, but we are having trouble finding a replacement for Ronald Reagan - former actors with Alzheimer's and a desire to distract from real political power are really thin on the ground."

Having failed Cthulhu, Stephen has chosen to leave the ranks of minions, Is it out of fear of the great old one's oncoming piqued ire, we cannot be sure without a clear statement, and former minions are notoriously tight lipped about their motivations, it is part of the fabric that makes them effective in cosmocidal enterprises.

We invited Captain Jack Noodle to comment. "Let's be havin' ya, I'm here for the spaghetti, It time to party, we can rebuild Canada for pirates of all kinds to live happy and free in a huge crew dedicate to fare sailing spaceship  Earth to home port by the beer volcano. We may not send minions to the brig, but it sure good to get them out of the wheel house. Arrgh, yee."

Clearly their is a celebratory mood in Canada, and high hopes for minionless or at least minion-reduced governance. Clearly mood is changing in territories held by minions for the glory of Cthulhu, surely Cthulhu must be concerned by what they may be doing wrong, and why large populations don't see or accept his vision of dead universe, or even just obey his will to avoid pissing him off.

See more
   The Guardian - How Science helped swing the Canadian Election.

Japanese Whalers must stop suggests FSM

Today the Flying Spaghetti Monster has announced a new suggestion that "Perhaps Japan's whaling fleet would do better by refraining from ramming vessels engaged in non-violent direct action because it just gives piracy a bad name, especially while the fleet has exceeded its permits for 'scientific whaling'." Commenting on today's International court of just ruling his noodliness said "I think it is a good move, it'll be great to see the whalers take action and stay at home. I did take quite a bit of care to make sure whales evolved, it would nice to not have them driven into extinction by an industry that is it self headed for extinction."

The FSM also noted an incident in the southern ocean. "The most disturbing thing I spotted recently was when a 8000t Nisshin Maru and a 5000t fuelling vessel put literally put a squeeze on the 500t Bob Barker, that's not what real piracy is all about, it's a black mark on the tradition of the pirate traders of colonial America who dedicated themselves to supplying colonists with affordable tea and coffee and breaking the evil empire of the East India Company."



At least the Somalis have a genuine desperation to support their case for the most part, but Japan's whaling fleet is producing a product that no one really wants, and even ends up being dumped, after storage in industrial deep freeze storage. Piracy as busy work is just plain silly, and when associated with destructive and pointless activity, barking mad. If i Didn't know better, I could swear they were working for Cthulhu the destroyer.

Many might be wondering how the industry survives with no market, Americans call it corporate socialism. Members of Japan's political system who have perhaps too much in common with Strom Thurman, Louie Gohmert, Mitch McConnell, who would supported by people who have much in common with Fox New's audience all have fond memories whale meat on their plates which was introduced to ensure an adequate level of protein in the Japanese diet after World War II when Japan was a mess, and would have mass had starvation with out it. Nowadays, there are better options with less mercury. And then there is the cultural thing, a few coastal villages did take advantage of whale strandings, and harvest whale meat that way but whale hunting was never really a thing until American advisers showed them how. Most other villages exalted whales in a religious way, so for them and those of their tradition whaling is a sacrilege.

The MV Bob Barker, is currently docked in Port Of Wellington, and today was the last day in which they were having free public tours. Well worth the 30-40 mins. The ship itself has a very interesting history, she may not look it but she is 60years old. The working life of most vessels is 30years. They don't make the quality high carbon steel she's made from any more. She is basically a floating fuel tank, this gives her the capacity to stay in antarctic waters for the full season.  And it does help that the whaling fleet is as welcome as a fart in a elevator car, the first task is finding the fleet, a task made easier when other vessels like tourist ships are willing to give away the fleets location. And this has happened on a number of occasions.

In February, a harpoon ship the Yushim Maru #3 pulled a sharp turn across the Bob Barkers bow causing a collision, while the whalers and their friends like to claim the Bob Barker rammed them, you can see by the video, that the Bob Barker does not turn with respect to the waves until it is struck. Ignore the wake, and keep in mind that since the camera is mounted on the Yushin Maru #3 and can create the false impression that the world including near by vessels are turning when the Yushin Maru #3 is turning, so the trick(clever thing - not doing climate gate again) is to see how the Bob Barker is moving in relation to the ocean. The evidence here is the Bob Barker is moving in a straight line, and the whalers are moving into straight lying.

See also
  3News: International Court of Justice - Japanese Whaling not scientific & must stop.
  Scoop: Yushin Maru No 3 hits Bob Barker
  Telegraph: Yushin Maru #3 cuts off Bob Barker[VIDEO]

America the post apocalyptic nightmare?

Perhaps not yet, but seems there are people trying really hard to make it happen.
A big story hit the media in the last 24 hours, North Dakota, the growing scandal of radioactive filter bags from the fracking industry being dumped anywhere but in a dump. It turns out dumps are prohibited from taking radioactive waste. and there is nowhere in North Dakota to properly dispose of these filter bags, just to sure, check down the back of sofa and comfy chairs, because these bags are being disposed at random by fly-by-night operators stashing them any where they can.

The first mention of this story I saw was of the abandoned gas station where some these bags have been dumped. The meters used measure upto 1000 pCi(pico curies) went off the scale with some bags. A reading of 5pCi is the maximum safe level.

Moving right along, the is the mess of Duke Energy poisoning 70miles of river, and the regulators well maybe we should look in to it.

West Virginia, Most rural residents used to get their water from aquifers,  the coal industry has progressively poisoned the aquifers, leaving the river the only clean natural water source in the state, until the Freedom Industries spill poisoned it too.

And the Koch brothers have a Jones for Keystone XL, that will produce giga tonnes of PET coke, the dirtiest coal substitute bought only by countries that can't afford coal.

Around 30 nuclear facilities  have basically the same design as Fukushima Daiichi, and are located downstream of Hydro dams in the vicinity of geological fault lines.

What could possibly go wrong?



See Also:
Nuclear Power Stations
Duke energy Coal Ash Spill, Let's inspect.
Cool, clear water - not in WV.

Greens turn to the Sun...

Yesterday, the Green Party of New Zealand announced it's solar energy policy, cheap loans attached to the property. The loans combined with solar energy production will see a $100 p.a. saving  on energy costs during the life of the loan, with much greater savings possible once the loan is fully recovered.

This policy is functionally equivilent to Germany's loan guarantee policy, allowing people to invest in roof top solar without the worry of being stuck with the loan if they move.

To date, the New Zealand roof top solar industry is worth about $41m. considering it has been the tiny Tim of energy generation in  this country for years. Previous high prices made such installation economically infeasible, since a typical install in c 2004 could cost $40k.  Now such an installation can be around $10k.  And prices continue to fall, as new technology brings cheaper more efficient cells in to the market.

Researches are busy looking for even cheaper options, graphene and Iron Pyrite are two lines of enquiry under active research at moment. Battery technology is coming along too.

Although solar offer more efficient delivery because it does not suffer the typical 30% transmission losses, the main issue with solar is that peek production, and peek consumption don't synchronize, so storage is needed. One option is to pump water below a hydro damn back into the hydo-lake, this is already being done overseas.

Roof top solar is typically generated close to where it is consumed, and reduces the draw on hydro electric sources. Pumps at the hydro dam can use the unused energy to return water to the hydro-lake in preparation for peek demand over the next 12 hours.

Increasingly, electricity will become a bigger part of transport in New Zealand's urban areas, more e-bikes, trolley  busses, light rail,  even the Tesla and its competitors. So the future of energy generation will demand more electricity, even if Te Whai Point goes belly up.

We could seriously shift our balance payments deficit, if we quit forking over NZ$8b every year to big carbon for fuel. As Russell Norman pointed out even halving this bill would seriously increase our ability to invest in development in New Zealand. To give you an idea how much money that is, even the Aussie banks are struggling to extract that amount of money from this country, and they mainline right into the cash system. It's better it seems to be a tape worm than a leach.

The policy is not without its critics, Minister for Mining and Resources, Climate Change Issues, Public Transport Tantrums, Simon Bridges has called the policy "magic money." An ad hominem that will surely play well in an audience that keeps slipping out of straight jackets, but is devoid of any substance.

Even though some point to panels having an energy conversion efficiency approaching 25% or 15% for older panels, and claim that's not efficient, keep in mind Germany's heavily industrialized powerhouse economy on some days gets more than half of it power from solar generation and has to export energy to it neighbours so as to not blow up their grid. Invercargil gets about same amount of sun as Germany, which makes a nonsense of claims by Wellingtonian residents that Wellington does not get enough sun to be effective. Previously the economics were in feasible but falling prices now mean grid parity is now here according to some companies.

Clearly there are misconceptions out there, which brings forth the question where did these misconceptions come from? Are they the random noise of an ill informed public, or has a special interest group been feeding them fact free propaganda in order to forestall the inevitable rise in competitive production technology?

See also
   Minister for Public Tantrums.
   Greens' Solar Homes policy launch.
   Pumped Storage Hydroelectricity

Did solar fail in Germany?

Over the last couple of years I've had a few people tell me online and to my face that the German government were back peddling on solar investment because solar energy is a failure there. Often in response to mentioning that Germany creates more than half of it's energy needs from solar on some days, and even has to export energy to its neighbours.

Annoyingly, I never had the facts available to refute the claim if that were possible. And now it seems that it is entirely possible to refute this typically right -wing pro-carbon nonsense.

Solar it seems is not a failure, the original goal was to produce as much energy as 2 yet-to-be-built nuclear reactors after running the numbers solar worked out cheaper than building the reactors. But more than that, the programme was so enthusiastically adopted by home owners that solar generates the equivalent of 10 reactors, and over-supply started to threaten the stability of the grid. This is less of a failure than it is more of a sign the programme has become a victim of its own blow-the-doors-off success.

In recent years, the German government has chosen to reduce the programme and now expects to phase out the subsidies by 2018.

While some solar companies have run into insolvency, this marks a change in the market dynamic that should be expected with saturation. It is typical at this point in a market lifecycle to see consolidation. And this is normal with the emergence of green field technology into the mainstream.

In Conclusion...

Failure? Far from it, the policy has been more successful than originally envisaged, creating more energy at times than could be consumed within Germany's borders. So from the technical perspective it is too successful while the business failures are no more than a predictable effect of a maturing market.


Sea also...
  AFP - Germany to pull plug on solar subsidies by 2018.
  BigPictureRT - Conversations with great Minds.

Does John Campbell's coverage of Noble Bob Douglas's "some success" mean an about face?

Still green Mr Campbell?

Tonight a story presented by John Campbell has caught the ire of some hardworking folks fighting to keep our local environment a fit place for New Zealander's to prosper, calling into question the direction John Campbell may be taking his coverage of the issues.

This story is introduced as a quick update, and at about 3 minutes 4 seconds, it is likely a story that was squeezed in last minute, these things happen in news cycles. Early in this story on tonight's programme John Campbell's item points to the impressive piece of technology that is the exploration ship (Ig)Nobel Bob Douglas , so impressive it costs $1m/day to run. Impressive, yes, it is. Virtuous, hardly, but that was not mentioned in the clip.

The piece mainly focuses on opinions in Raglan while the introduction does mention that Raglan gets the bulk of the risks, and few of the benefits. Lines like "And not always sitting the newly lawful distance away." allude to the dodgy Mining and Resources Act clause introduced last year. "In short Raglan gets the environmental risk, although it would have to be a catastrophic spill to reach here, without the direct economic benefit Taranaki would enjoy."

One person interviewed, talked about how as consumers people like himself are part of the "problem". He seemed ambivalent about the value of Anadarko's exploration in New Zealand. Odd logic really, even an addict committed to recovery can understand and say rehab is good and understand that their supplier should be kept at some distance. And their are viable alternatives, it is just a matter of developing the scale. Ethanol+vegetable oil -> esters (aka bio diesel), runs nicely in a diesel motor with a little tuning. To be fair, it is easy to find people who haven't quite thought things through, or are not fully acquainted with the available options. Jo Averge with a mic shoved in his face rarely the thoughtful creature they are in more pensive moments.

Another person, was enthusiastically in favour  of exploration. Which is still a position held by more than one third of the public, though that number is falling. Clearly the position of the unrepentant addict, like the boozer that says "It's only few. I'm just being social. I'm not hurting anyone."

And the last person, essentially noted that the oil company staff wont have anything to do with Raglan and that "it would do Raglan no good at all." This makes a very good point that Raglan and much of the country will see little benefit from exploration. Our royalties are among the cheapest in the OECD, the government's role in this deal is like a dip-sh*t dad that opens to two men who "We're burglars, we've come to do your house." To this, the dad says "Sure fellas, will it take long? The wife will be home in thirty minutes."

One person noted how the jobs were highly specialized and that he did not know anyone in the industry.  Which does bring forth the issue, that while the industry will create jobs, they will not be filled from our local work force, but from imported expertise.

The (ig)Noble Bob douglas is reported to have had "some success". Which suggests oil or gas were found. While a full report is expected on Wednesday, the signal can for now represent at least three possibilities.

Worst case: They found oil or gas at commercially viable pressure,  which means the carbon addicts will be back to get their fix, putting our local environment at risk and putting the global climate deeper into chaos, destabilization and extreme weather.

Best case: They found oil or or gas at very low pressure making extraction non viable. In which case, Anadarko so nice to see you leave.

In the middle - but still very bad, the pressure is low, but high enough that pumping water into to the reserve will mean that they still make a profit from extraction even though  it will cost them. Extraction may even involve fracking.

This analysis was not offered during the coverage of the story. Perhaps as a breaking story there wasn't enough time to prepare an analysis or time in the show to present it.

I note that John Campbell is a journalist, an item like this is news. And so he reported it. While he seemed a little too excited in reporting the story, the question remains is that because he's reporting a big news item on a big issue(a journo's wet dream) or because he now thinks the find is a good thing, is faking it under instruction, or is just rushing to get through it in 3 minutes. He also pointed to some risks of the exploration. To some extent it could be considered he said/she said fake balance coverage, if you miss his somewhat non specific pointing to the risks that Raglan faces. Risks that John Campbell's audience should by now be quite familiar with.

If there is an about turn in Campbell Live's coverage of the issue, I don't see it. It would be an important shift, that I would hope not to see. But if someone can show me evidence of such a shift I'd like to see it. Such things are not unheard of and now that they've found what they are looking for, it is possible that they just dropped a big advertising contract on MediaWork's sales desk. But I need more evidence in order to accept that a U-turn has taken place.

Can we  see Simon Bridges loosing his cool on the show again - now that is what I call full disclosure.

See also
    Campbell Live reports Anadarko's  "some success" drilling off Taranaki.

ADDENDUM 4-FEB-2014
It appears that while a possible imbargo may have been in place last last as Campbell Live reported "some success" in a story titled "Has Anadarko found oil of the coast of Taranki?" Any gleeful body language might be attributable to knowing that Anadarko came up empty-handed. Apparently "some success" means "We drilled and it didn't blow up in our faces." And that is oil industry success I can live with.

But they are still exploring, and heading to a site off the Otago coast. I''m hoping for similar results. After that there is the Pegasus Basin site off the Kaikoura coast where MV Duke is engaged in seismic testing, deafening whales dolphin etc. But surely who would question a large multinational trying to make a buck  while #$%@ing the wildlife that drives existing local industry. Anyone with a thought in their head I would say, but I'm crazy like that.

Why we don't need buried carbon.

Some say we could not build our society without coal oil and gas for energy sources, construction materials, chemicals for agriculture and industry. Others say maybe we could but it would be difficult and it would lead to an "inevitable" reduction in the quality of life or that it would be a difficult and morally dangerous experiment.

Well, that "experiment" has been done. And despite themselves the United States of America played a big part in setting up this experiment.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, much of the economic support Cuba received from the USSR, including oil imports, stopped coming. In the years following USA's government doubled down and tripled down on it's embargo's, at one point barring ship's that had entered Cuban ports in the prior six months from entering US ports.

This led to huge shortages of fuel needed to run electricity generation, run farm equipment, public transport, parts for machinery, agricultural chemicals and food.

Through community effort fostering innovation, education, and the use of low tech solutions Cuba now meets 90% of its energy needs from local production through biofuels and renewable energy. Urban farming supplies most of the food Cuban's need. and farmers are now among Cuba's affluent upper middle class. In short, Cuba thrives if not despite US embargo's but perhaps because of them, having forced Cuba to make the most of the resources they have while developing methods that respect the complex natural systems they were presented with after being forced to abandon industrial farming techniques.

This is a story fit for that "the opposite of what America does" punchline.

This could be easily one of those satires I write but here is the doco...

My guess is US Republicans  will continue to punish Cuba for this success, because in their minds if the American public understood this, it would demonstrate the counter factual nature of their rhetoric not only concerning Cuba specifically, but of the Republican narrative concerning jobs, economics, clean energy, even Socialism.

Actually the millennial generation are already looking more favourably on socialism, Republicans spent so much time bad mouthing socialism, the savvy bunch went and looked it and found it was nothing like what they were hearing from the GOP. Seattle just elected its first Socialist council woman and at less than only half the running cost of a regular council officer.

Simon Bridges spazzes out on Campbell Live

Minister for Energy and Resources, and Associate Minister for Climate change issues, (seems like a conflict of interest to me) appeared on Campbell Live and proceeded to have a tantrum worthy of  guano psychotic Michelle Bachman. the only thing he didn't say was  "'Maranatha Come Lord Jesus, His day is at hand, '"

See the interview here

Simon Bridges seemed out of his depth, like many in the Tea Party, spouting talking points that barely if at all address any questions or issues raised. He also seem to be trying to win the conversation by simply talking louder and oer John Campbell. John did call Bridges out, clearly a little exasperated, in the most professional way for this nonsense, but Bridges continued. Continuing to demonstrate a disregard for facts not seen in New Zealand politics outside of case resulting in fraud trials. Bridges tactics were a brilliant demonstration of handwaving, that should be study by boy scouts aiming for the semaphore badges. Brilliant also how John pressed to admit that drilling would be in waters twice as deep any other drilled in NZ waters to date. They effort Bridges put into avoiding making this strongly evident.

Strangely it seemed, it was like he was working from a Tea Party media handbook. But then with all these US based Oil companies, If we export crude to the US, Koch Industries will more than likely refine some of that oil. With the Koch Brothers funding Tea Party's start up and spending $200m to defeat the Affordable Care Act and shutting down the US government to make it happen, it does not seem so strange. It seems quite reasonable in fact. All it needs is proof.

It has been noted that once the TPPA is signed there will be no backing out at least not without getting sued by multinational companies with reserves big enough to buy the entire country.

Simon Bridges also made illegal to protest within 500 metres (546 yards) of an oil industry vessel. The law contravenes international law and the principle of the right to non violent protest, of the sort the Arctic 30 have been charged with piracy by the Russian authorities. Note 1,300,000 people have written to Russian ambassadors in a effort to #freethearctic30.

See also
    Full article John Campbell holds Bridges to the fire
    Koch planned shutdown
    itsourfuture.org.nz

The Tea Party are killing their own base.

Farmers in the mid west are at the heart of the Tea Party base. Now a blizzard has blown through, yes it is autumn so this is early, so we can suspect climate change had a role here, though the Tea Party will reflexively deny it. Farmers are reported to have lost between 5 and 25% of their stock. Now, the Farm Bill expired on October 1^st would help, but the Tea party blocked it. there are also a couple of agencies that could help, but the Tea Party shut them down.

They didn't just screw the pooch here, they shoved a weed-whacker up its ass.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The thing is, while this is a tragedy for those farmers, and right now there is little certainty for them. Ultimately this may give them pause during next years mid-term elections, and one thing may be certain in there minds right now, some thing like "I'm never voting for a Tea Party candidate as long as I live." because where were the Tea Party's fine words when they lost their livelihoods.

The Tea Party have more great News, never before has the Republican party popularity sunk so low in the history of the NBC/WSJ poll. This ground breaking achievement could not have been possible without Ted Cruz misreading Green Eggs and Ham and guano psychotic Michelle Bachman gleefuly chatting about the government shut down and the "end times", and we can't neglect to mention Louie Gohmert's Muslim Brotherhood/Benghazi conspiracy theories. Tanking foodstamps, WIC, Military Survivor benefits, and meals on wheels have all led to the GOP becoming the most hated mainstream politcal organisation it has ever been. None of it would have happened with funding from the Koch Brothers, they created the Tea Party, they funded their super PACs, and they told them what strategy to pursue, they even came up with the shutdown strategy.

See also
   NBC - GOP sunk to new depths
   NYT - Shadow of Koch over shutdown

Climate change - The Story of Carbon Cycling & Methane

Carbon Dioxide may get things started, but methane may finish us off.

Carbon addiction, extinction, poison, totallitarianism...

The science is irrefutable, we have to change, we have to stop our hyper accelerated atmospheric carbon dumping.


Well, the long term picture is bleak enough, but something horrific is immediately before us.



The musling of the Canadian public sector science community and persecutorial auditing of environmental group is unacceptable in a liberal democracy. If tar sands are so good why doesn't Harper drink them?

But there is hope, Canadian's are standing up and environmental groups phones wont stop ringing because people are calling to find ways to resist, so far they have caused costly delays essential to making corporations lose interest in bad projects.
Last week over 100 people turned out the protest an international oil summit in Wellington, New Zealand, and two days ago about 15 people protested the Russian coast Guard's piracy of a Greenpeace vessel  in the Arctic.
There are signs in other places that some people, and even governments get it. India is developing enough solar energy that it's rapidly becoming competitive with coal. Clean energy investment is now larger than carbon energy investment, and divestment in fossil fuel is growing rapidly. Comments by President Obama appear increasingly like he's moving to veto Keystone XL, which will be just as for the Solar powered barn that has been on KXL's path. Dinosaurs never saw extinction coming, even though they tried to resist, it took them out anyway, so shall go the way of big oil, coal and gas.

The fossil fuel industries quest for carbon is as mad as an astronauts quest for freedom would be if it involved stepping through an air lock naked. But it's worse than that, he's rigged the safeties with the inner door jammed open and he's cranking the manual lock on the outer door. For those that need it spelt it out, this will vent the atmosphere of the station and kill the entire crew just like disrupting the dynamics of the climate will kill civilization. Either we stop these guys or we wave at each other from roof tops and floating refrigerators.

See also
   Biggest Coal Co turns to solar
   Solar to compete with coal - 2011
   Solar set reach grid parity - 2013
   Free the arctic 30

Darkness descends on Wellington

Last night a weather that dropped snow on Otago and Southland moved and soaked Wellington with cold driving rain.  This morning, temperatures were around 7 deg C, there was a 9 metre swell and wind gusts of 122km/h. In literature, and movies this is not a good sign. indeed the ascension of Narnia's ice-queen might well be heralded similar weather. But the ice-queen is fiction, however the agents of darkness visiting Wellington are far from products of a creative imagination.

Following on the theme, it seemed sensible to say with a smile "With crap weather like this, there must be Anadarko executives in town." While shopping, few a people responded well to this comment, it seems Wellingtonians are well informed on the issues surrounding deep ocean drilling, Deep-Water Horizon.

Later this month Anadarko expects to start drilling in the Pegasus basin some 40Km from the southern cost of Wellington/Wairarapa. This week Anadarko executes will be having a summit with government officials in preparing for drilling.  Or is it for delivery of the final instalments on the bribes to John Key. Who can really be sure?

Much as the chill in today's weather was uncomfortable it not as uncomfortable as silence that will be created if changes to Resource Management Act are inacted to make drilling non-notifiable.  Protestors today visited parliament with noise makers and wearing tape over their mouths. The tape symbolized the silence of the public that will be created the amendments that the government is aiming to pass.

While some point to the far future and the effects on climate, there are far more immediate concerns. Exploration is the dangerous phase of extraction, indeed Deep-water Horizon was an exploratory well when it blew out. In short, when sit down to home made fish pie, fish fingers or terakihi fillet, it would be rather desirable for it to not taste like shit. If you have got a whiff of crude oil, you know that is what smells like, and will taste like. Better than that I'm pretty firm on the idea that collapsing and having seizures as a result of eating contaminated sea food is really something I'd rather avoid. Sadly, many American's have not been so fortunate. Lessions have appeared on gulf sea life, and in the people that have consumed it. Some lessions appearing in brain tissue causing seizures after swimming in gulf water.

We don't need this here.


See Also
    Today's protest for protesting - 3news

Rolling along...

An important part of the life of major cities will be low carbon transport. Wellington will be no exception once Counsel is driven out of dinosaur thinking to move forward.

I don't usually head over to Kilbirnie, but in my search for cheaper groceries, I decided to walk it. On my way, I passed Burkes Cycles, I spotted a couple of e-bikes, and decided to drop in on my way home, before continuing on to the cheaper super market where I found breakfast will be $4/week cheaper and much more.

I need to replace the tires on my bicycle, and I popped in to make a pricing enquiry. The assistant showed me serveral kinds  for my 27"x1-1/4" wheels ranging price form about $36 to about $65. The latter being puncture resistant may well be worth the extra dosh.

Suitably impressed by the assistants helpfulness, I mentioned this blog and the I noticed eco-bikes in the front. My quick glance earlier had missed the full range of e-bikes present.

Perhaps the best value of the four was the Flying Cat "Blowy"powered by a lithium ion battery, described as having best range and is modestly priced at $2330.    it feature a 250watt brushless motor, some may recognise this as steriodal version of a cpu fan. Shimano 7-speed gears .  26"x2" wheel.

Next, the cheapest at $2249 on this sticker was the smart motion. I checked Burke's web site an it lists them even cheaper at $1799 for the 250 watt models and $2099 for the 300 watt models. This is a real bargain, compared to competitor offerings where $1850 would get you a conversion kit.  Smart Motion bikes are powered by a 36v 10ah lithium-polymer battery and has an 8 gear shimano gear set. they hit the road on 26"x1.9" Kevlar-puncture-hardened tyres. The seat post has a shock absorber in it for a comfortable non bone shaking ride.

Pedigo step thru

Pedigo an imported American brand offer the remaining two bikes The first is impressively large and so was the price tag at $3199, but the last bike from Pedigo was more modest having a step-through frame and price at $2699.

So if you're serious about a low carbon future an e-bike is a great way to leave the car at home on the way to work. Burke's cycles may well be where I go to get my e-bike has soon as I tame my feral credit card.

It would save more in bus fare than interest and card insurance than on the basis of 10 trips per week. So they are a very sensible option. Still we need a more cyclist friendly roading environment.

The batteries are a big part of the chunk of change for an e-bike being price at around $1000 each.  Of course, in a few years we will have Sulphur and Zinc Air options offering much greater energy density, durability and cheaper than is currently offered by lithium.

See also
  Burkes Cycles

Highway Robbery

Generation Zero completed a series of fourteen public speaking events in locations around New Zealand last night, making the case for a zero-carbon future.

The final event held in Wellington's Illott Chamber was so well attended it needed an overflow area despite seating 300.  The presentation was fast paced and quite a data dump.

What was clear was New Zealand's economic development policy is stuck in the '70s. There are cheaper alternatives. Much can be done, is being done, some of it here, it is working and we need to do more of it to stay competitive.

The audience heard from presentations from Z Energy, A Massey scientist, an engineer, an Architect and more.

The National led government announced with much fan fair the Roads of National Significance (RoNS). This development policy is better described by some as Roads of Significance to National. While these projects may provide temporary benefit - Short term construction work, and a short lived improvement in traffic flows. Certainly the ROI for this project is dubious, Even Treasury says so.

First speaker of the evening was Danusia Wypych of Z Energy. Some years ago Z Energy bought the New Zealand assets of Shell New Zealand. But unlike many in the Carbon energy industry is actively looking for ways to opt out of extracted carbon.  Z Energy is looking for ways to turn wood waste and even wood from forest farms deliberately grown for fuel among other technologies. We also saw examples including a major cement company using wood from demolition for energy in the process saving money and creating business and work for supplying companies.

But 40% of New Zealand's Carbon foot print comes from road traffic. In recent years the kilometres driven by NZ drivers has stalled, perhaps, on the back of rising fuel costs. But New Zealand also has one of the most fuel inefficient fleets in the OECD and just 75 electric vehicles. Our rail network is in places being allowed to decline, most notably perhaps to the Hawke's Bay region. Rail carriers freight for 20 to 25% of the energy needed to move it by road. So the government opting to not repair the damaged section of rail is going backward and costing Hawke's Bay producers a small fortune.

Second to speak was Maddy Foreman.  When the government put into law it emissions trading schema they hailed as part of New Zealand Playing its part. but exactly how is now doing anything to discourage Carbon usage now that the carbon price has been allowed to collapse from $20.45 when the scheme was started to its current level of around $0.50. But it is not the only thing, there's the white elephant RoNS, there's abandonment of a moratorium on new carbon energy, even increased tax breaks for big oil. How did we get Rick Perry to design our energy strategy? :P

Here is where the "highway robbery" comes the RoNS are set to cost NZ$8b, delay roading development and maintenance outside of Auckland for ten years and eventually give little benefit to Auckland. Kiwi's see this obsession with new roads as barking mad, indeed 7 out of 10 would like to see better public transport and would consider cycling if it were safer.

Wellington Region is set to send $2b on the roading network. Three major projects that moving backwards indeed they set to slow traffic but a further 3km/h.
Kapiti Express is estimated to cost $600m and has a benefit to cost ration of .2%. Anything less than 1% is likely to loose money.

These projects are born of short thinking and they are not going to be of benefit.

Ralph Sim Contributor to the IEA and now lecturing at Massey University.
"The current trends toward warming of 4C will have devastating consequences for international security" - UN Security Council.
The change in climate is mainly human caused. And we are running out of time.  Since 1990 carbon emissions from road transport rose from 400 to 550 tonnes of GHG. There is no sign of reduction. Light rail provides options for inter city connections, linking suburbs.  240 people can commute by 177 cars or 3 buses or 1 light rail unit.

"Men and nature must work hand in hand. The throwing out of balance of the resources of nature throws out of balance also the lives of men." E Roosevelt notably without the benefit of the science of climate change we have today.

Paul Young pointed to things that can and are being done.
Critics of those who advocate for responses to climate change like to argue it is expensive.
Certainly some responses would be but those are not under serious consideration. Denmark undertook a study, and found that they could achieve a zero carbon future quite cheaply. With projects including setting up cycle ways, improving public transport. Now carbon fuel is so expensive, it is not like anyone needs much of a reason to leave their car at home.

Already, 30% of our industrial energy is renewable. Norsk Cog Tasman are using geothermal while Golden Bay Cement are using wood waste from demolitions.

We could do more. For example "energy forests" - Forestry farms were trees are grown for fuel. We have more than enough land for biofuel.

The Nissan Leaf can do 120km on a single charge an this will suit 95% of drivers.

There is more to road users than commuters. There is freight. Rail is 4 times more efficient than road transport so we should invest in it. Long haul road freight should become a mere shadow of there current fleet. Already they find margins squeezed with the rising price of fuel.

Electric bicycles, especially for our hillier cities, Wellington and Dunedin come to mind. These offer assistance on those hills that really make riders break out in a sweat. Even climbing Dunedin's Baldwin Street becomes comfortable with a motor in the driving wheel.  These bikes can set you back $2500 to $4000 or $1800 for a conversion kit. But they have a 10 to 15A/h Lithium battery and are said to work well for Wellington by Electric Bike Hub.

Richard Reid gave us a vision for better roads in Wellington. Of particular concern is the basin reserve. The function he said of the Basin Reserve is to separate North-South traffic from East-West traffic it is good to send East-West traffic under memorial park, this allows it clearance from inner city north-south traffic between the CBD and Island Bay. The proposed second tunnel under Mt Victoria is an expensive waste of space, and it wont actually improve traffic flows.

Another great wast of space is the garden area between Kent and Cambridge Terraces. This space could be better utilized as a promenade with shops.

Steven Green, trained as an engineer to solve the problems of responding to climate, it perplexed him to there are engineering solutions but nothing was being done until he realized these changes need political clout. Government are often loathed to do anything unless there are votes in it. Young are most concerned by climate change yet many youth have not  registered on the electoral role. By increasing young voter registration and encouraging voting for public policy to address climate change the governments can be pushed into action. It is not just registration, it is getting your registration upto date of you have moved.

Wellington's last local body election saw only a 40% voter response. The bigger the voter turnout the more like we are get a council that will move in the right direction. But, they need pushing on issues, just like central government. Making a submission to council is the way to do this, see how at savethebasin.org.nz.

[Correction] Removed description of Z-Energy as a sponsor of the event in the interests of accuracy.


See also
   Generation Zero on Facebook

Good noises but we wait.

President Obama has been making more encouraging noises related to the Keystone XL pipe line.

While on his road trip he to pointed how "you can't talk about a pipeline that will create 2000 jobs and call it a jobs plan." A clear reference to Keystone XL because while TransCanada like to talk about much higher jobs numbers independent analyses paint a radically different picture. The reality is America needs jobs in the millions.

While the construction phase does create many more jobs, those jobs are temporary and so will not contribute to long term economic stability for the American economy.
Indeed when we factor in the instability from the changing climate, KXL will be a huge contributor to economic collapse.

According to Yale University, Toronto has already suffered environmental degradation from tar sands. In 2011, tar-sands companies used and polluted more water than used by Toronto's 2.3 million people, 370 million cubic metres.

As you might expect Republicans are whining that the president's comments are putting KXL at risk. They may disagree, but it is a good thing. Texas' water resources are already under pressure with severe drought and even wild fires in recent years.

New Mexico is already doing the seemingly insane, farmers are draining an aquifer to sell the water for fracking. If there were plenty of water and no problem with methane leakage and Carbon Dioxide then there would be no problem. But Carbon Dioxide, is the highest it has been in over 1 million years setting for to the bread basket states and flooding the south and east coasts with increasing violence and regularity. Methane leakage is 17 times higher than the level needed to keep radiative forcing from methane under that created by the carbon dioxide produced by natural gas from fracking. And New Mexico is in severe drought. But then, this is the state that kept voting for Sheriff Joe Arpaio. A man so despicably racist, that he did not see fit to direct resources to investigate the rape of Hispanic children, was defiant when protests called him on it, and created the law that put one woman -- a citizen -- in custody for 4 months, until a judge asked prosecutors "didn't you check her birth certificate" and prosecutors replied "we assumed it was fake." It wasn't fake the judge had checked the certificate before the appearance, and was shocked by the case. But at least New Mexico will remain untouched by the tar-sands network.

The president executive power is for now the only hope of killing this white elephant. What is worrying is the prospect of a future president flipping the Oval offices position.

See also
   Reuters - Obama dismisses KXL as a jobs plan
   EPA True KXL impact not adequately addressed.

Shake rattle and roll, then spill?

At 9:06 this morning my chair started wobbling, the phone cable on the wall started swinging, and my flat(apartment) started creaking. No, this was not a burrito escaping captivity. Some 30kms East of Seddon a minor fault line let loose a M5.7 earthquake from 8km below the seafloor.

The quake was felt from Taranaki, to Christchurch.  The location of the quake puts it in the region where Anadarko has permits for exploratory drilling. After today, this seems even more stupid than it already appeared given that it will take months just to get the contingency resources in place on top of the weeks of drilling for a relief.

Spot the quake location and its proximity
to Anadarko's hunting ground.

To make matters worse they are insured for NZ$30m of cleanup costs. The grounding of the Rena clear show that this would wholly inadequate.

To many, especially in Wellington, this project is the poster child for stupid, Just for the risk presented to the fishing and tourist industries alone.

North East of the quake location lie the Kaikouras, a region known for whale watching, it may seem strange, but tourists don't come here to see gassed whales covered in crude oil and Corexit.

It is not well known among the public that spilled oil treated with Corexit is much more toxic than floating crude. But the problem for aquatic mammals is that the oil off-gasses volatile components. These components are corrosive to organic tissues, particularly, found in lungs. Of the many photos taken in the gulf of Mexico, at least one captures a whale with a huge blood clot near its blow hole. Photos taken in the same location days later show a dead whale. This is not the sort of thing we want to be showing tourists.

We would also like to be eating locally caught fish, partly because we have one of the most sustainable fisheries in the world. Recreational fishing also generates business, and this too would be damaged in the event of a major spill.

But also what we have here is Big Oil pissing on our leg and telling us it is raining.  Fuel prices here are among the highest as a portion of household income, even though they are "middle of the road" in $/litre. In part because any little thing becomes an excuse to raise prices, but they never seem to drop all the back.  To be fair there real pressure though they like to deny it, because this is the post peak oil era. The Oil industry will cease to exist in the next decade or it will go down with the rest of civilization having created the volatile climate that will wreck them both. That pressure may yet see, Big Oil sacrificed to save civilisation, so in the mean time they are making hay while the sun shines. Customers sort of understand oil is harder come by and accept the pump price offer because they feel there is nothing they can do about it.

But there is, a suitable mixture of filtered use cooking oil and alcohol is cheaper. Paying the road user changes gets to be a little inconvenient, keeping track of the odometer, filling in a form, cutting a cheque, or other payment method. But since used cooking oil is derived from plant sources it adds little CO₂ to the atmosphere. UK residents have been on to this for a while. Often getting pulled over as police on traffic duty noticed the take-away odours coming from the exhaust. And checking up on payments for road user taxes.

GE can do good - sometimes.

Today on my facebook feed was a story for ThinkProgress about GE's new extra efficient wind turbines. These new turbines have new features putting them a big leap ahead of their competition. They can provide output that better matches demand, in part because they have batteries which allow responsive output that can participate in frequency regulation. This ability means that energy delivered by these turbines is twice as valuable in the electricity market as that produced by gas or coal fired plants or even other wind turbines.
When GE get busy in their core business they certainly can do wonderful stuff, for which they should be applauded. Notice the small black spot above the generator housing, that's an engineer - these things are massive!

But another arm of the GE empire still leaves a sour taste. GE Money's business practises leave something to be desired, causing some to accuse GE Money of predatory leading and dishonest advertising practises.

See Also
  Think Progress - Totally cool new wind turbine
  Better Business Bureau - GE Money Bank

It is not all doom gloom about the climate.

One could be forgiven, looking at climate predictions, for thinking the future is going to be very bleak. But such pessimism may not be warranted. Recent headline making stories point to better things to come.

New battery testing...

Stanford researchers have developed a zinc air-battery that has twice the energy density of Li-ion Batteries and is more durable. It would be nice to have my bat phone go a couple of days without needing a charge. If that doesn't impress, US Department of Energy researchers have developed a solid sulphur battery, with four times the energy density of Li-ion batteries, and is safer because it does not present the same level of fire hazard presented by Li-ion batteries. Boeing are dead keen for this type of battery technology because for now they have to shelve the 787 Dreamliner because the lithium batteries aren't safe enough, and they already had fire issues.

Trash in a clean get away

Kāpiti Council has just bought a garbage truck. "Woopdee" I hear you say. Ok, this struck costs about the same to buy (NZ$200,00) as any similar truck running on diesel, but this truck's maintenance costs are a third of the cost associated with a similar diesel power vehicle. It takes six hours to charge overnight.  The Truck is manufactured by Zero Emission Vehicles in Palmerston North. Who were previously looking at offering electric powered buses. Companies like this are key to a Zero Carbon/Carbon Negative future, and our government still snubs them while giving NZ$40m in subsidies to mineral exploration companies and gives them permission to operate with insufficient disaster insurance worth an mere NZ$30m. But that said, huge bouquets are deserved by Kapiti Council for making a smart choice, and to ZEV for developing the vehicles of the future.

Power games for the planet...

One of the problems facing the environmental movement has been a lack of leadership where it counts - in the moneyed elite. But finally someone has stood up to take the next step forward. Richard Branson has launched the B Team Project with the purpose of developing a "plan-B" for the environment.  The B-Team comprises 14 leading business people including a former executive from Puma. These people have access to politicians. Traditionally this has been part of the problem, business interests being served by cronyism in the halls of power. But now that can be turned on itself to push towards an environment that we can survive or even thrive in.

This is only a beginning, and popular movements are still vital for applying pressure, civil disobedience, let's not get to the point where direct action or popular coup is needed. Tim deChristopher however is on to something. And the US is still where change needs to happen to provide leadership to other countries, especially in asia. While The goverment make peacemeal changes, there is still trouble ahead, because that alone is not enough. Keystone XL will alone drive CO2 to 540ppm. But the popular is strong movement and is make a strong case. Even President Obama was move to say to deniers "We don't have time for a meeting of the Flat-Earth Society". Incidentally, following the president's comment, the Flat-Earth Society's President announced accepts climate change.

Finding a dessert in a desert...

Perhaps one of the most concerning symptoms seen in climate change, is desertification. It turns our dessertified land isn't any drier in terms of rainfall as healthy grassland. What is different is that rainwater evaporates quickly, because the vegetation is not there to capture the water and shelter the soil. Research by one scientist, perhaps shows how to reverse desertification, and perhaps CO2 levels.  His work shows that to have healthy soil in grass land, the vegetation needs to be broken down quickly through biological processes. On dessertified grass land vegetation breaks down slowly, by oxidation. Otherwise people burnt it off, releasing per hectare as much carbon into the atmosphere as 6000 cars.

Grassland organisms evolved as a mixture of grasses trees, bacteria, herd animals  and predators. Some years ago this scientist made a grave mistake (one he believes will haunt him for his remaining days), his advice led to the kulling of 40,000 African elephants on the hypothesis that the land was too stressed to support them. But the land got worse. This led him in a new direction, making him realise that herd animals were an essential ingredient in a healthy grassland. Since then his new hypothesis has played out successfully in areas where livestock have been introduced to act as an analogue for herd animals absent grass land in various parts of the world bringing these lands back to a lush green and productive state.



See Also
  Sulphur battery
  Zinc-Air battery
  Battery operated trash truck
  B Team

Antarctic Albatros future uncertian says immigration minister.

On Thursday, the most severe storm in more than forty years hit the New Zealand capital, Wellington. Breaking sea walls from the south coast to Petone, disrupting power, road rail and air traffic. But also, albatrosses made land fall after being blown in from sub antarctic waters.
Many the Albatrosses were reported to be in shock, some with minor injuries and many with a distinct "What the f*&^ am I doing here?!" expression, said keepers at Wellington Zoo, who are also taking care of a number of other sea birds, some of which have more severe injuries. 
Late Friday, immigration minister, Michael Woodhouse, expressed concern that these albatrosses were using resources allocated for New Zealand wildlife and that he had signed a treaty with Australia for offshore processing of asylum seekers to
"prevent this sort of thing". He continued "I don't like the way these birds have sought to undermine our territorial sovereignty. Questions must be asked about the Navy's monitoring and handling of this case. Really how could they miss them? "

Minister also "We'll be looking at deporting these albatrosses, just as soon as we can determine their country of origin." It is understood that officials are having difficulty communicating with the albatrosses who do not speak any English, or any language they recognize. Officials also the albatrosses have no identification papers, noting "It is a common ploy used by those with criminal records in their own countries to attempt to hide their identity and claim refugee status."

See also
  Albatross rescued at airport after crash landing
  Australia - New Zealand refugee agreement

Big Girls blouse with a badge.

There have been a few strange incidents lately, offering peculiar insights into the minds of law enforcement agencies and the companies who pay for off-duty offices to provide their security. Once, the public perception of law enforcement  personnel was the of a strong an confident personality ready to solve any problem, protect and serve the public. But that perception is being damaged. Incidents are occurring with regular monotony of security and law enforcement  overreacting to the slightest provocation.

Recently homeland security agents felt so threaten by a journalist, Laura Poitrus, using her pen to take notes that they insisted that she put away her weapon. It was said the the pen is mightier than the sword, at a time when pens were made from quills, now that the are made from plastic and steal the also appear to be mightier than pepper-spray, side-arms, and Tazers. Even when there was one of her and two of them.

Miami-Dade beach cops tackled and choked 14 year-old Tremaine McMillian after seeing him roughhousing with his friends, after talking to him, he went to get mom. That was when they pounched. What triggered this attack? In the officers word a "dehumanizing stare". As the attack started officers knock the six week old puppy Tremain was carrying out of his hand. This overreaction has a followup in court. Tremaine has been charged with resisting a police officer. At the arraignment the judge has committed Tremaine to trial.

What's going on here? Are they hiring panty-wastes to protect and serve? Probably not.

In Laura's case her work as a journalist has set her at odds with authorities for exposing some of the lies and secrets of the US government and the industrial complex. Include the documentary The Oath that examines the cases former Gitmo detainees returned to Yemen. And, as of early last week, filming the interview with Edward Snowden.

In Tremains case, the most likely explanation is a combination of racism and a career working with drunks, and abusive characters creating an overly cautious mentality. Problem is it too easy to think worst of people just because of the their skin colour. As a recent hidden camera test showed people will let a white guy steal a chained up bike some queried what he was doing, most ignored him. But when the actor was replaced with a black actor, one passer-by grabbed the chain breaking tools and told the camera crew as it revealed itself to go after him.


Just exactly what constitutes terrorism seems to be shifting. Once upon a time, maybe ten years ago, everybody was sure that it required an act of mass murder for the purpose of furthering a political goal. Today some terrorists are so vicious they let security-guards and police officers handcuff them and walk them away from large scale sit-ins. One of them was so dangerous he hung a sign on his own neck say "world war 2 veteran: Handle with care". These "terrorists" are known house-wives, farmers, builders, technical professionals. Of them the farmers are the worst as they continually meander over land they own or lease. Like me you are probably thinking that doesn't seem very terroristic, who is calling these people "terrorists"? That would be TransCanada. The people described as terrorists are mainly from the well known hot bed of terrorist activity that is Nevada. This is where TransCanada is constructing the Keystone XL pipeline, which is as well received as ... ebola virus. 

TransCanada needs Presidential sign off for the Northern league of Keystone XL. If there is one thing that terrorizes the folk inside TransCanada more than anything it is the possibility that President Obama will veto the northern league. The case for the pipeline is weak. Canadian Oil sands will add 140ppm CO₂ to the atmosphere. The business case presented to the congress was prepared by a consultant with close ties to TransCanada. Also the jobs the project creates are limited in comparison to other energy technologies.

This reminds me of The Hollowman, in which Kevin Bacon, becomes invisible, but wears clothing and a latex mask so people can see a public face while he hide dark secrets and an agenda everyone else rightly sees as barking mad once they figured out what he was up to. The rhetoric against the NO-KXL campaign, is a thinly veiled lie used to employ off duty law enforcement and security firms to protect equipment and supplies. Perhaps also keeping workers from having to be bothered by the idea that they are betraying their neighbours, and their own families' futures.