Energy Lockdowns Coming?

This will be bigger than 2020. We are swiftly heading into energy lockdowns, as promoted by the likes of the WEF.

One possibility is they'll corral people into sectors. Initially, they'll call this a temporary measure to minimise fuel use. But, it'll become compulsory, and to access services your digital ID will be required.

Coal, Energy Security and Electricity Prices

Here's an excellent description of the link between coal and electricity prices. As the world has chased the Net Zero nonsense, the price of electricity has risen sharply.

The Energy Transition Delusion

Can the world copy Norway?

"There are liars and then there are battery salesmen"
 

Central Planning Never Works

They started with the scamdemic, that trained everyone to obey. 

Now they're coming for: 

1. Food supply, then; 

2. Energy, then; 

3. Money. 

New Zealand is well advanced. The lockdowns drove many small retailers and farm producers to the wall. Food prices have been rising steeply, in a country that has more food than it can possibly consume - which is kind of strange right there. 

Then, NZ shut down its one oil refinery. The fuel being imported is rubbish, I've had to go to using 'Super' to get any kind of performance. Without fuel, NZ has no energy, the farms shut down, and the country starves. 

Then, the Reserve Bank is working on a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) that is programmable. They'll control how you spend your money, it will have an expiry date, rather like topping up your prepaid phone. The government will assign you a carbon score, use too much, they cancel your money. Call these carbon fines. 

Key here is the government will control how you think. It is for your health and the planet. Don't like this structure - tough titties, as there will be no real democracy, all elections are now shams. 

Of course, this is a recipe for disaster. Central control never works, but economists always think it will. For evidence - check out the USSR and how that turned out. By the 1980's, more food was produced by small holdings in the backyard than by large farms. The profit motive and individual endeavour is what works. These globalist shills are complete fools.

See this substack for how it will apply overseas, but NZ is not that different: https://threadsirish.substack.com/p/did-you-know-that-on-july-28-2020

EV Nonsense Just Won't Go Away

Yes, a popular theme of mine, explaining just how impractical and nonsensical purely electric vehicles are. My advice - don't buy one. In 10 years time they're going to be valueless in New Zealand and I'll tell you why:

Installed Generation Capacity

NZ does not have the installed generation capacity to power a sizeable fleet of EV's. If NZ ever did get a sizeable EV fleet, then electricity prices would skyrocket. The situation would be so bad, the entire country would need to go back to living like they were in the nineteenth century, with candles for lighting and cooking over a wood burning stove.

Electricity Industry Not Built for EV's

When NZ's economic planners were structuring NZ's electricity supply, they did not provide for an EV fleet. When the automobile was invented battery powered cars were tried and they failed as all EV's do.

Car manufacturers looked at various gases and steam, but the petrol and diesel powered internal combustion engine won hands down. That's why almost all cars are powered by fossil fuels through an internal combustion engine. They work well and provide the greatest utility.

What was left for electricity was in powering houses, offices and fixed industry. Most of this power goes into heating homes across the country. Winter is a time of high demand.

So what did the planners do? They looked at NZ's large water resources and figured that if they built large hydro lakes then they'd fill during the summer when the snow melted, making that potential energy in the lake available to be transferred into electrical energy through the winter. There have been a few hiccups with this, notably during winters delivering little snow, meaning the coming summer didn't get the melt and the following winter ran low on available electrical supply. If the lakes are empty, you have no power.

Most of NZ's electricity comes from these hydro lakes. But what can make things worse? Any demand that draws on the lakes during the summer. This is the problem with EV's as NZ car use is highest during the summer months. If NZ was to rely on EV's, it would be equivalent to every home in NZ turning on a heater day after day, 360 days of the year. This would mean no electricity at all as the hydro lakes would be empty.

EV users would then need to turn to their own devices, most likely petrol or diesel generators due to their reliability. This defeats the whole purpose of EV's.

Decentralised vs Centralised Generation

When addressing the problem of demand no matter the time of year, the call is then made to install the generators, get it done. This sounds like a willingness to get somewhere but it too falls short. That's because most quick-fix solutions involve decentralised models, and they don't work. What's decentralised? That's where the home has its own solar panels, maybe a battery, and possibly wind turbine or micro hydro. Sounds good, but it isn't so good.

Is a decentralised model practical? How can an 85 year old get onto the roof to clean those solar panels? When you move house what will the system be like where you move to, and will it have been maintained? What about apartment blocks? A decentralised model adds complexity where none is desirable. The consumer wants to flick a switch and voila, the lights go on.

The decentralised model is expensive, is subject to uncertain output, and trusts millions of households to play their part - it's a recipe for disaster.

Centralised generation is the sensible approach and the only way forward, but once again the problem is the expense. NZ does not have the money to install enough generation to power an EV fleet. It doesn't matter what the means of generation are, the money simply isn't there. NZ would be bankrupted trying to install the required capacity (the calculations are provided in my book Snob's Guide to New Zealand).

Losses

EV zealots forget that moving to electricity harms the liquid fuels industry. I think this is the killer blow to any EV's being allowed on the road. Who has paid for the roads? The car user paying through fuel tax, that's who. That revenue begins to dry up but may be replaced by similar charges for EV's, but the service stations and fuel distributors will suffer losses and need to downsize. This also adds to the miles car users will need to travel to refuel. The government will be deprived of fuel tax revenues, along with less income tax revenue after worker layoffs and business failures, and the whole economy suffers because transport becomes less efficient.

Bear in mind EV's would not be able to replace all cars. Police cars and other emergency responders would need to be powered by the internal combustion engine (imagine the bad guys getting away because the cop car battery was low, or the ambulance failing to arrive) and they'd be faced with the same nuisance of not being able to find fuel readily.

Conclusion

There is nothing good to be said about EV's. If you want a formula that bankrupts New Zealand, then EV's are the perfect storm.

In a later blog post I'll address how NZ should approach things. And last year I posted the following about why exactly EV's are useless cars: https://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2018/07/why-electric-cars-are-no-good.html

Edit to add: After Hurricane Ian many EV's caught fire - why? https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/120/742/623/playable/26b11f358efd82f3.mp4

How much more electricity do we need to go to 100% electric vehicles?

Ever wondered? Here's the answer. Please be seated when reading this as the news may knock you over. Electric vehicles are a nonsense.

http://euanmearns.com/how-much-more-electricity-do-we-need-to-go-to-100-electric-vehicles/

Turn Sunlight into Liquid Fuel

This is good news, finally a technology that really turns things on its head. Please read the following link:

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/06/bionic-leaf-turns-sunlight-into-liquid-fuel/

Is Coal Dead?

Graphs for you to digest in answer to the question, is coal dead?

Change in Energy Consumption 2000-2012

Coal Consumption 1965-2011

Coal Production 1980-2010

Does this look like a dead resource to you? Far from it, coal underpins all industry and as the world advances coal production increases. The recent announcement putting Solid Energy under administration and the sale of the Vale coal mine on New South Wales for $1 are not a reflection of the industry's prospects.

The world's biggest producer, China, plans to increase its output, accounting for 60% of all coal output by 2019, that's only four years away...>>Link<< 

Why the drop in the coal price then? Two factors, a slight drop in demand from Europe and America, combined with an increase in supply from new mines in much cheaper areas. Mines in NZ, North America and Australia find it hard to compete, that's all. To keep up they'll have to employ new technology.