Net Zero Nonsense

By Bryan Leyland

Net Zero electricity by 2030 using wind and solar power is an impossible dream: the technologies and resources needed to carry it out don’t exist. (“Net Zero” means that we do not burn gas and coal for electricity generation except, maybe, in dry years.

The report by the Interim Committee on Climate Change stated correctly that we would need fossil fuels for the foreseeable future to keep the lights on during windless nights and during dry hydro years. This report was shelved by the government and superseded by a Climate Commission report that had minimal (if any) input from experienced power system engineers.

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China’s Strange Endorsement of ‘net zero’

The Chinese path to supposed decarbonization starts with a lot more coal

By Duggan Flanakin

You have to hand it to Xi Jinping. The Chinese “president for life” schmoozed United Nations royalty last September with his unexpected pledge that his country aims “to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality (Net Zero) before 2060.”

Xi also urged other nations “to pursue innovative, coordinated, green and open development for all” through rapid deployment of new technologies, to “achieve a green recovery of the world economy in the post-COVID era and thus create a powerful force driving sustainable development.”
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