Thank you, John.

What you have stated is well known.
But, put on your hard hat, you are likely to get much abuse.

The irony is that aerosols tend to reduce the increase in temperature to an extent; once less fossil fuels are used, aerosols will dissipate, the unfortunate result will be an increase in temperature. Another argument for getting away from fossil fuels as soon as ever possible.

Apart from Health costs, MunichRe have indicated that the cost of dealing with storms such as Irma, Harvey and Maria will set record levels. Those storms were not created by climate change but were intensified as a result.

https://www.munichre.com/en/media-relations/publications/press-releases/2018/2018-01-04-press-release/index.html

It is not hard to find references which back the views expressed by MunichRe; i.e., severe damage has happened in 2017, apart from the major storms mentioned.

“ A 2017 poll found an overwhelming 81 per cent of Australians wanted policymakers to focus on renewables, such as wind and solar instead.” That was 1202 people in the first three weeks of March 2017 – a year ago. They might have changed their minds by now, if they even had their minds made up at the time they were polled.

How many people have actually been thinking about the subject of a poll when when they are suddenly ambushed by a person asking questions on things they don't spend much time thinking about?

This is just another personal opinion from a 'Doctor for the environment'. Just another person using a totally unrelated degree to make us think he knows all the answers.

TTBN. I think we might agree that the author hasn't provided any answers. Within the next couple of decades, most of Australia's coal fired power stations aare going to need replacing, and while it might be nice to think that renewables will do the job when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, we won't be able to rely on storage for the rest of the time. What do all the brains out there think we are going to do if we keep putting our heads in the sand and reject modern nuclear power?

David

John, if you are going to quote propaganda statistics such as 1500 people die from coal-related diseases in Australia every year then have the courtesy to say "implied deaths" rather than deaths. The 1,500 figure (more than the road toll) is straight nonsense, of course. If you go and look at whatever survey you based it on, you'll find that they've made massive assumptions about the fraction of deaths from other causes can be attributed to emissions. You see the same approach to deaths caused by domestic abuse, car exhausts and the like. Every death in Australia, it seems, is due to multiple causes. As the vast bulk of the Australian population don't live anywhere a coal plant, even the implied deaths estimate is very dodgy.

As for the death of thermal coal if you look at thermal coal prices https://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=coal-australian&months=60
you will be unpleasantly surprised. They are now back above the spike of late 2016 (they fell to a low during the GFC). An increase in demand from Asia and static supply in Australia is behind the increase, as I understand it. The industry has certainly had a shake out but that happens in all industries. There is no indication that thermal coal is about to collapse, or that wind and solar are going to take over its role any time this century, or the next. Gas and hydro are shrinking coal's market share in some countries. Smelting coal (60 per cent of exports) is unaffected by any of this..

BHP can see the writing on the wall. In crude terms their biggest coal mine Mt Arthur creates about 500 petajoules a year of thermal energy but Olympic Dam uranium creates about 2500 PJ.

Coal is what warms bedraggled orphans in Dickens novels. You'd think well into the 21st century we would have moved on.

I'm sick of scum like you, trying to shut the country down, raise the cost of power and making business less profitable; you think it's 'a good cause' to go to war against the average Joe.

I love coal, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
Coal has provided me and the people I care for with a stable source of electricity throughout our lives, and to live a much easier life with a level of modern technology than would've been possible otherwise.

It also provided a lot of jobs that put a lot of food on a lot of families tables.
- I suppose you've got a problem with that too hey?

If you hate coal, fossil fuels, electricity and the like.
Then you should go back to horse and cart.
I will complain about the effects of your animals flatulence on the environment, as well as its pooping on our roads.
And don't expect to use your computer to complain to us because that uses electricity powered by coal.

Just sit there with your happy family under your candle light telling stories, singing songs and cooking your meals over your open fire so I can again call you a hypocrite for daring to emit CO2 which is damaging the environment.

Don't forget to crap in a bucket, because your ceramic toilet was probably made using heat or electricity as well.

Quote "In Australia, an estimated 1500 deaths occur annually from coal related diseases and coal mining has resulted in the reemergence of black lung disease in Queensland."

Lol. Why don't you go ahead and name them all for us?

- The real story -
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/dennis-shanahan/green-campaign-against-australian-coal-trail-leads-to-john-podesta/news-story/42784b8b30e0ab18d7386054189a0933?nk=c4ca18793436fe7ad65b4580e8edca65-1519254857

Sorry for the long link.

Look, there's nothing wrong with promoting better technologies such as solar.
But you don't turn the friggin power off, raise the cost of producing goods putting Aussies out of work and deindustrialising the country before we get there you stupid morons.

If that's what you think - then do the country a favour and kick yourself off a cliff.

The real answer is Thorium MSR anyway.

David,

I'm quite happy with coal but, without it, nuclear is the only way to go. I really don't understand why people so vehemently against coal don't get that.

We have become far too dependant on coal and for one reason and one reason only. The trained monkeys we've put in charge. Had/have no other ideas or rejected the best out of hand, when it came to, dispatable base load power!

Moreover, the conservatives in politics almost to a man, albeit, just here and the USA, are/were able to reject irrefutable climate change evidence! Ours know how to waste billions and presided over the virtual destruction of our manufacturing sector/remnant cooperative capitalism!!

Forced offshore/foreign hands by massive and entirely unnecessary price gouged, gold plated energy supply.

Which instead, could be as low as $00,1,98 per KwH as the median! Quote, unquote!

Yes, there are currently no operational thorium reactors still in use for this proven and not found wanting technology! So what!?

Is that all you monkeys need to reject it out of hand?

CARBON FREE power costing as little as that would not only resuscitate our steel/aluminium smelting industry, but along with manufacturing, put it into turbocharged overdrive.

Particularly if the business model was based on cooperative capitalism! Instead our moralizing lot are preoccupied to the point of blatant money wasting incompetence, by minusa and other irrelevancies. Compounded by this or that idiotic internal power struggle.

Or just spreading enough non core promises to fool the mugs one more time to extend their term in office for another three or four years! And all that matters to these inept, visionless, clowns and keystone characters pretending to be competent managers?

And had this not been so, our manufacturing sector could developed some economies of scale, niche markets, for some of our manufactured products and still could if we were intelligently lead!

And by not ruling a safe clean energy source out, simply because the favoured coal can't compete!

It's tantamount to rejecting a V8 motor car because dobbin and the gig can't keep up or go the distance!
Alan B.

ttbn. I predicted many years ago, that Victoria would have to build at least another 1500 MW brown coal station to replace not only the Hazzelwood station, but also the aging Yallourn facility. If anyone is prepare to argue against that, please put up or shut up. The greenies will stop any attempt to build a nuclear station.

David

The world keeps getting hints that wind and solar won't replace coal eg no recent emissions cuts for Germany despite $40bn a year in renewables subsidies. Now the bleedin' obvious has come to Australia since the Latrobe Valley will be home to an array of expensive diesel gensets
http://www.latrobevalleyexpress.com.au/story/5093054/diesel-generators-coming-to-outskirts-of-morwell/
Replace Hazelwood and Loy Yang A with a nuclear reactor. The barramundi fish in the cooling ponds probably won't survive any more winters. Get SA next door to reprocess the spent fuel as they are already uranium central.

Not all the greenies are so stupid David! A few of them, former friends of the earth have now come out on the side of, walk away safe, molten salt, thorium technology. And for a number of important to them reasons.

The first being it's carbon free, the second there is very little if any waste. With such as is produced being far less toxic and eminently suitable for long life space batteries.

The third being, this technology has shown it can be tasked with burning the current stockpile of nuclear waste extracting every last erg of available, unspent and massive energy from it, until far less toxic material remains and with a half life of just 300 years, as other nations pay us annual billions for the service!

Even then some of that material can be exploited in powering up space missions/orbiting satellites etc.

Finally there's the boon of miracle medical isotopes and xenon 133, used in nuclear medicine as a gas that is breathed in to assist scans of lungs, brain and a few other important organs.

Xenon 133 is made exclusively from U33 and that's the main fissile material created in a thorium reaction.

The types Adian was spitting chips over a few days ago are the exclusive product of uranium or plutonium reactions! Someone actually knowledgeable on matters nuclear would have known that, instead as per usual, sounding off and looking like an arrogant fool, again!

Moreover, I have never ever proposed we go there as that could see us in breach of the non proliferation treaty, we are signatories to!

Xenon has a half life of 12 million years and because that is so just not very radioactive!

Uranium has a half life of 5 billion years whereas thorium has a half life of fifteen billion years and consequently is less radioactive than a banana.

It also means we won't be able to use all the extremely abundant thorium contained as very abundant nova star born material, in the planet before our sun expands and completely consumes it!
Alan B.

All our coal fired power stations have little more than 10-15 years of productive life before they'll require decommissioning?

Governments got out of the energy business because they proved to be incompetent managers, and were simply too stupid to embrace the cooperative capitalism model that could have made these projects the most efficient in the world!

But like all incompetent managers, sort relief by selling our energy industry to powerful private interests and seem incapable or completely unwilling to take a different more logical and rational course?

But like all recalcitrant ideologies, just dig the heels in and talk up the alleged if illusory benefits of privatization!

That said, the coal mining industry employs a few hundred Australians! Who would be spoilt for choice of more permanent well paid stable positions! If we were but smart enough to back walk away safe clean cheap thorium energy!

Only a few now redundant politicians prevent it, and condemn our kids and grandkids to a banana republic as they do so! Who else?

We who produce just 1.4% of the world's carbon emission won't make much difference by decarbing our economy, but use that measure to turbocharge and power up a snowballing ultra prosperous economy! And create a shining thorium powered example others will feel compelled to follow!

We will not have a market for coal for very much longer and need to find something to at least replace the income we earn from this and other fossil fuel sourced products. Only a completely resuscitated and setup on steroids, manufacturing industry can do that!

Time to stop digging holes in the ground and get back to something far more enduring and profitable which we don't have to sell to the very folk we compete with for market share. You can only dig and sell minerals just once!

Ultra cheap energy coupled to cooperative capitalism is the very vehicle that'll make that outcome more than just possible, but our assured reality!
Alan B.

meanwhile China are building 500 new coal fired power stations. What a worry when doctors are so dumbed down.

It really is a worry about the medical treatment we are likely to receive these days.

When these "Doctors for the Environment Australia" are happy to indulge in a mixture of half truths & down right lies to push their fuzzy thinking, it is hard to believe they are likely to be any better in their professional lives.

Hey Alan B,
I'm not altogether sure that government run businesses are failures due to incompetence.
Well surely there is a level of general laziness and mismanagement, but I think there's a lot of incentives from both within and without for them to be deliberately steered towards failure.

If you're government or a politician you're going to be offered good incentives by private interests to sell out, and if your working in upper tiers within the organisation, than there may be incentive (within the new private company or financially via redundancy / payrises) for you to get off government wages and move the business towards private ownership.

I might be wrong, but I always look at both sides of things.

I would like to see some statistics on World Coal Fired Power Vs Mineral Smelting Vs other uses for Coal.

Has anyone got those? What are the World Percentage uses of each.

I have never seen any Greenie Protesting at any of Australia's Smelters. Why is that? They use vast amounts of Coal, yet not a Protest.

I wish coal had peaked worldwide in the 1960's as we discovered thorium liquid salt reactors, and that the desperate search for more power sources had already lead us into the nuclear breeder reactor age where reactors eat nuclear waste. But we'll happily breathe carcinogenic particles and stuff the climate for our grandchildren to save a silly little buck now. All while the real cost accumulates for our kids and grandkids. We're selfish morons.

Max Green. The problems with your Thorium reactors is that while the theoretical concepts behind them are simple and well understood, the practicalities of making them work satisfactorily has so far eluded all the smart metallurgists of the world. Every community would already have one if that were not so. It may happen some time in the future, meantime we need to either continue to rely on coal, or get our heads out of the sand and build conventional moderm uranium powered nuclear reactors.

David

Hi VK - David,
agreed! China will beat us to the thorium MSR's, but I'd much rather live next to an AP1000 of today's Gen3 capacity than a coal plant. I say build out today's Gen3 nukes with passive safety as fast as possible, on a production line, and also fund GE to build their PRISM reactor which is also a waste-eating breeder reactor that can be put on the production line. Because of the EBR2 program the IFR / PRISM concept has decades of R&D ahead of the MSR's. Let's do it, fast!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(reactor)

http://www.marklynas.org/2012/07/worlds-first-nuclear-waste-burning-prism-reactor-moves-a-step-closer-in-the-uk/

This looks very interesting Max.

David