More madness. A few years ago in Australia they had a drought. Their "climate commissioner" (on a modest $180K a year and owns seafront property) said that these droughts would become more and more the norm.
So they built a desalination plant to provide drinking water, just in case - that precautionary principle again.
Last year there were severe floods in Australia, and even now the dams are full of water.
Instead of realising that perhaps the desal plant is a mistake, they are going to burn millions making it run on renewable energy...
Renewable energy drives up desal cost - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Quote:
A parliamentary committee has heard it will cost about $15 million more each year to power Adelaide's desalination plant with renewable energy than it would with fossil fuel.
SA Water has confirmed the use of green energy to power the plant will cost $43.7 more over the next three years.
Under the plant's operating arrangements, some of its carbon footprint is offset by the purchase of renewable energy certificates.
SA Water admitted in October the plant will be switched-off at the beginning of 2015 as soon as its warranty period expires.
A water price rise of 25 per cent was introduced by the Government in July to cover the operating costs of the $1.8 billion plant.
Opposition frontbencher Rob Lucas says alternative energy arrangements should have been considered.
"Most of the insiders within SA Water say a combination of green energy and traditional forms of energy would have meant a more cost effective price contract and therefore lower prices for water consumers," he said.
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Note that "Lower Prices" bit - the uk.gov tried that trick last week, and was royally rogered by everyone from the greens to the hardest of skeptics.
You know how your energy bills are SO much worse than they were? ? The Register
Quote:
You don't need to be a carbon sceptic to see that this plan is painfully expensive, set to get a lot worse, and producing very little in the way of results.
And you don't need to be a carbon sceptic to see that the government is, bluntly, lying to us about this, either. It would be one thing to say "these massive price rises are mostly down to green policies" and then let us vote for whether we wanted them or not, but that's not what happens. Instead the report states early on:
The average impact of [green] policies is estimated to be a net saving of around 5% (including the impact of Building Regulations) in 2013 compared to what bills would have been if these policies had never been introduced ...
Next page: We made electricity more expensive. You paid more for a more efficient fridge. Assuming the fridge didn't cost anything and we didn't make the power more expensive ... we're saving you money!
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