Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Energy & Nuclear

Universe Getting Colder: New Nobel Laureates

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The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to three US-born scientists for overturning fundamental assumptions about the universe.   According to the Nobel Physics Committee their research on supernovae implies the universe will get increasingly colder as matter spreads across ever-vaster distances in space. [1]

According to Oliver K. Manuel, who occasionally emails me, their theory:

1. Negates the need for a “Big Bang” origin of the universe and “Dark Energy” to keep it expanding.

2. Confirms that in our infinite, cyclic cosmos [2] neutron-emission from surfaces of neutron stars – driven by neutron repulsion [3] –  occurs faster from smaller fragments of parent neutron stars, just as water evaporates faster from expanded surfaces of smaller water droplets!

3. Illustrates the need to reconsider the role of a rotating superconducting super-fluid in iron-rich supernova debris [4], and expulsion of magnetic fields from the Sun by the Meisner effect [5].

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Exceeding the Speed of Light

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I can’t find confirmation at the CERN website, but various media reports indicate new experimental work has found subatomic particles that travel faster than light.

The speed of light is considered the Universe’s ultimate speed limit.  The foundation stone for Einstein’s special theory of relativity was the constancy of the speed of light.

More here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15017484

Natural Gas, More Polluting than Coal? Only According to the IPCC. A Note from Cementafriend

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Absorption of electro-magnetic radiation in a range of wavelenths of various gases.METHANE is the major component of natural gas (>94 percent) and coal seam gas, which are claimed to be good clean fuels on the basis they have a lower carbon content than coal or oil.

Is this the same methane from the backsides of farting cows that is considered to be a bad greenhouse gas and 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide? And the same methane that when escaping as a fugitive (lost through leakage) gas from coal mining is considered bad?

This is contradictory.

In the following note I consider how potent methane actually is as a greenhouse gas and then compare energy equivalents per heat absorbed all in carbon dioxide equivalents.

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Much Revealed in Government’s New Carbon Tax TV Advertisements: Thomas Barlow

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ADVERTISING campaigns are not often celebrated for their honesty. But the Gillard government’s media campaign to “illustrate a vision for Australia’s clean energy future” has a refreshing candour. The advertisements parade various beneficiaries of the government’s energy policies. With surprising authenticity, most of these ventures are small, parochial and inconsequential… writes Thomas Barlow in The Weekend Australian.

ONE of the more remarkable examples of the government’s vision for our future, however, is the wind energy company, Infigen. Infigen is an Australian Securities Exchange-listed company. Its assets include the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere and, judging by the government’s advertisements, it has some pretty happy employees.

But it is also a company that recently reported a $34 million loss during the six months to last December and looks likely from its financial statements to report another loss this year. Equally telling, its very name (a conflation of infinite and energy generation) gives the finger to reality.

There is no surprise in any of that; it is a renewable energy company after all. But think about the symbolism. Everybody knows this government’s vision for a clean energy future involves running Australia at a loss. But normally in advertising you put your best foot forward.

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Asking Difficult Questions of the Environmental Establishment

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Hi Jennifer,

As you probably know, we have been annoying lots of people by daring to practice journalism and ask difficult questions of the environmental establishment. We’ve rounded up for you some of the highlights of the last few months.

The third installment of our Hypocrites series – with a look at Prince Charles’s eco-Hypocrisy as he jet sets across the world telling us to live with less – attracted a lot of publicity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhpNJAKq7dE&utm_source=NOT+EVIL+ALL+CONTACTS&utm_campaign=cb79456fee-Josh+Fox+Q+%26+A+E-blast+3&utm_medium=email

The UK Independent reported on it overseas, and closer to home, it was picked up by blogs and media including the The Washington Post and Fox News.

Then, Phelim questioned Josh Fox on the accuracy of his Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland, that claims drilling for gas with fracking method makes tap water flammable. Fox, who admitted leaving out facts, he deemed “not relevant”, got so upset about us posting online a video from the Q&A, that he got his lawyers to pull it down, first from YouTube, then from Vimeo. We don’t like inaccurate documentaries and dislike censorship even more, so we created our own website to host the video, where people can see what this environmental filmmaker was trying to hide from them.
http://fightgaslandcensorship.com/?utm_source=NOT+EVIL+ALL+CONTACTS&utm_campaign=cb79456fee-Josh+Fox+Q+%26+A+E-blast+3&utm_medium=email

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The Future is Not Green, But Grey: A Note from David Stockwell and Tony Cox

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THE path up the carbon tax slippery slope was made clear when Greens deputy Christine Milne said “I certainly recognize that you are going to need a price at A$40 per tonne or more to shift from coal to gas and then a higher price still for gas to renewables.” Some Greens don’t even balk at a $500 per tonne tax. The Green’s junior partner, the ALP, has confirmed that the carbon tax will keep increasing.

Subsidies for solar and wind systems are already raising the cost of electricity to consumers, and Milne affirms that renewable energy will not be at parity with coal or gas any time soon. The disadvantages of renewables are insurmountable: environmental costs due to the low power density and the unreliability of the wind and sun. In short, they do not work.

British columnist and activist, George Monboit, has elucidated the utter futility of the Green agenda and adds, “None of us yet has a convincing account of how humanity can get out of this mess.”

Speak for yourself George.

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