Scott Morrison is stuck in a time warp – more gas is not the answer.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, surrounded by advisers out of the fossil fuel industry, is stuck in a time warp.

‘Morrison claims we need a lot more gas to continue the
energy transition already in play. The experts disagree.’

His claim that “there is no credible energy transition plan, for an economy like Australia in particular, that does not involve the greater use of gas as an important transition fuel” is demonstrably wrong. There are many.

A decade ago solar and wind were expensive, gas was cheap, batteries had no conceivable role in a power grid and pumped hydro storage was a forgotten technology. Conventional wisdom held that gas was a “transition fuel” – that since gas generation has half the emissions of coal power (if we foolishly turn a blind eye to emissions caused when extracting gas), we could reduce emissions by switching out coal power stations for gas turbines.

Read the story from The Guardian by Simon Holmes à Court - “Scott Morrison is stuck in a time warp – more gas is not the answer.”

Climate change impacts on everything, including our memories

Memory is to be celebrated, particularly if it is reliable, but frequently facts demonstrate that it is not to be trusted.

The switch from Fahrenheit to Celsius has worsened the reliability of memories, particularly among those whose youth was measured in Fahrenheit temperatures and now, much later in life, they are experiencing temperature in Celsius.

For many older people 100° Fahrenheit was frightfully hot and now they seem to equate that with 40° Celsius, which is in fact, on the old scale, is 104° Fahrenheit.

It was in April 1975 that Australia switched to the metric measurement of heat and it seems that those still locked in that time warp are yet to really understand the earth is warming and that the “hot” of the past is not the “hot” of today.

Temperatures of 45° Celsius have been historically rare in Australia’s major population centres in decades past, but as this century unfolds, they will become increasingly common - 45° Celsius is 113° Fahrenheit!

It is worth noting that at the time of writing this (4:48pm, February 2, 2014); the temperature in Shepparton is 41.2°C which on the old scale is 106.1°F.