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NZCPR CAMPAIGNS
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Bryan Leyland
The pursuit of ‘Net Zero” partly driven by a mistaken belief that if New Zealand reduced its emissions our climate will be better, has driven the ban on gas exploration and the desire to shut down our coal fired station, even though it is doing a vital job in keeping the lights on. It has also given us expensive and unreliable wind and solar power.
We hear lots of claims that inaction in emissions comes with a massive financial bill from the Paris Agreement. Nonsense: the Agreement does not have penalties. Given its futility, New Zealand should either opt out of the Agreement or, like many other countries, ignore it. Given that Article 2(b) says that we should not do anything that threatens food production, why are so many people complaining about removing agricultural emissions from the ETS?
Abandon net zero, abandon the emissions trading scheme, forget about agricultural greenhouse gases and rejoice that the increasing levels of carbon dioxide are making our plants grow better and making us all more prosperous.
Given that the CEO of Transpower has warned us of the risk of blackouts this year, when the lakes are full, it seems to be inevitable that if it was a dry year, we would be in serious trouble. Quite obviously, the electricity market is unable to ensure an economic and reliable supply.
Escalating power prices and frequent shortages seem to be inevitable. If the government takes prompt and effective action, the magnitude can be mitigated. If the government continues its blind pursuit of “carbon zero” increasing economic damage will force it to abandon the policy.
The Government's mind-boggling announcement of its intent to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation directly contradicts its own official advisers and would increase residential power prices by 300%.
The government's Zero Carbon Bill will lead to an increase in global emissions, higher electricity prices and do serious damage to many of our efficient and productive industries. The poor will suffer most.
Ever since Meremere power station was commissioned in the 1950s, New Zealand has relied on coal-fired power stations supplemented by gas and oil to provide the 10% of annual energy needed in a 1:20 dry year to replace the shortfall in hydropower generation. To make up for the shortfall we need to have an energy store that can be converted into electricity over a four month dry period.
At the Electricity Engineers Association annual conference a few weeks ago many of the speakers seemed to have forgotten that, as technological advisers to the government, it is their duty to tell the government what it needs to know rather than what they think it wants to hear.
LGNZ have embarked on a “Climate Change Project" focused on adapting and mitigating "climate change" – properly described as man-made global warming. When faced with a potential risk, the rational approach is to make sure the risk is real, assess its magnitude, decide if anything needs to be done, and if so, what is the cheapest and most effective solution.
