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Merchants of doubt and merchants of fear
Climate scientist Matthew England interviewed Naomi Oreskes, who, with Erik Conway, wrote: “Merchants of Doubt; How a handful of...

Geoff Russell
Jan 3, 202320 min read


Hard to decarbonise: Diesels Part II
I posted about decarbonising diesel engines a while back and it’s time for part II: solutions. But “approaches” is definitely a more...

Geoff Russell
Dec 22, 20229 min read


Hard to Decarbonise: Diesels
This is the start of a series on hard-to-decarbonise parts of the global economy. The first part will be diesel engines and it will take...

Geoff Russell
Dec 5, 202211 min read


The great Australian greenwashing scam
One of the less frequently reported events at COP27 in Egypt was the presentation of a UN report on Corporate Greenwashing. At least I...

Geoff Russell
Nov 23, 20225 min read


Zali Steggall and Australia's cargo cults
I vaguely remember learning about cargo cults at school. Are they still in the curriculum? Perhaps there is so much competition in the...

Geoff Russell
Nov 7, 202217 min read


The methane is hitting the fan
Back in 2009 I wrote a book, CSIRO Perfidy, about the most environmentally destructive diet on the planet … the Commonwealth Scientific...

Geoff Russell
Oct 18, 20223 min read


Deliver us into evil, for gas is the glory, hallelujah!
The global energy market is becoming transfixed by gas. Without adequate gas supplies, people in cold climates will be dying, or very...

Geoff Russell
Sep 30, 20225 min read


Part IV: How nuclear power can reduce electricity costs.
Abbreviations: AEMO: Australian Energy Market Operator ESB: Energy Security Board GENCOST: Gencost GSOO: Gas Statement of Opportunities...

Geoff Russell
Sep 24, 20227 min read


Distributed electricity generation? Groundhog day, again.
[This post is a short holiday from the serious series on nuclear costs.] Over the past decade or so I’ve heard numerous people extol the...

Geoff Russell
Sep 20, 20229 min read


Part III: Is nuclear power expensive or just much better?
Part III: Is nuclear power really expensive, or just much better? Abbreviations: AEMO: Australian Energy Market Operator CCGT:...

Geoff Russell
Sep 12, 20229 min read


Part II: Is nuclear power really expensive, or just much better?
Abbreviations: CCGT: combined-cycle gas turbine, this is the top-of-the-range gas turbine CCS: Carbon Capture and Storage GENCOST:...

Geoff Russell
Sep 2, 202212 min read


Is nuclear power really expensive? or is it just better?
[This is Part I in a series of posts on nuclear costs, they are companions to the post on nuclear construction times. Some of it is...

Geoff Russell
Aug 26, 202210 min read


Postscript: On glacial renewable construction rates
There were some tweeted objections to my build post that I wanted to respond to in more detail than Twitter allows. I won’t name names,...

Geoff Russell
Aug 17, 20225 min read


Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant; a potential disaster? Or an actual one?
[Further update: 26th August 2022 ... New York Times reporting the reactors are back on the grid. Wonderful news! Still reporting just 2...

Geoff Russell
Aug 12, 202212 min read


Nuclear may (or may not) be expensive, but it's much faster to build than renewables!
This is the first of two posts, and deals with the speed of building nuclear reactors. The next post will deal with costs. Build speeds...

Geoff Russell
Aug 6, 20227 min read


Mining Australia for meat
I don't remember the year, but it was shortly after the 2005 release of Jared Diamond's "Collapse: How societies choose to fail or...

Geoff Russell
Aug 1, 20225 min read


Renewable gas
[N.B. Longer article on Grid Capacity, promised last week, has been delayed a little ... but is still coming] I keep seeing news reports...

Geoff Russell
Jul 27, 20228 min read


Grid capacity and keeping the lights on (prelude)
[ This is just a taste of a longer post to appear later this week ]. How do you climb a mountain? Do you look just 50 metres in front of...

Geoff Russell
Jul 20, 20224 min read


Stop Press: Germany's nuclear plants
Finally, the pounding of rationality has opened the great oak door of German energy policy by a centimetre or so. Germany may look at...

Geoff Russell
Jul 19, 20223 min read


Readfearn and Australia's electricity "plan"
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has drawn up a detailed Integrated System Plan (ISP) for the eastern Australian grid (the...

Geoff Russell
Jul 7, 202210 min read
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