New Zealand Government to declare a climate emergency

Forums › Off topic › New Zealand Government to declare a climate emergency

1 | ... | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | ... | 17

6657 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3477

Trusted

#2612856 29-Nov-2020 22:31

Geektastic:
Nuclear is a better option as someone said above. Especially for such a small population.

I seem to remember hearing or reading somewhere many years ago that nuclear power wasn't a viable option for New Zealand. From memory the problem was around the base load required for the power station. The amount of power that would be generated by one nuclear power station was more than was needed for a base load and if I recall correctly for redundancy (or some similar reason) we would need two nuclear stations. Basically it wasn't practical or economically viable. Perhaps things have changed since then.

While on the nuclear power bandwagon.

The worlds energy problems and the associated greenhouse gasses/carbon emissions will be solved once nuclear fusion can be controlled and becomes the source of nuclear power. The will be abundant cheap power.

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Dell Inspiron 14z i5

Handle9

11925 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 9675

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2612859 29-Nov-2020 23:00

Geektastic:
MikeB4:

Nuclear is not an option for Aotearoa. You don't fix one disaster with a potential millennia lasting disaster that is illogical and not warranted. We have abuntant scope for safe alternatives such as wind generation.

Of course it’s an option. It doesn’t cease being one ever.

It's an option just a particularly stupid one for a country with the load profile and lack of population density of NZ. To make any sense you'd be looking to build it close to Auckland and shut down renewable generation.

MrAmerica

128 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 45
Inactive user

#2612967 30-Nov-2020 03:17

"The Government will declare a climate emergency next week, Climate Change Minister James Shaw said today. "

Thanks for the heads up. Better stock up on toilet paper.

frankv

5705 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3666

Lifetime subscriber

#2613010 30-Nov-2020 08:29

Large parts of The Netherlands have lived at or below sea level for a long time.

Right. But the sea level wasn't changing. So existing infrastructure wasn't being destroyed. And failures are expensive.

Part of the problem with sea level rise is that we have optimised our infrastructure for the current sea level. Just as we have optimised are agricultural operations for the current climate. We will have to rebuild or move that infrastructure, including ports, roads, bridges, cities to cope with the increased sea level, or build dikes and other sea exclusion infrastructure.

MikeB4

MikeB4
18775 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 12766

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#2613030 30-Nov-2020 08:45

frankv:

Large parts of The Netherlands have lived at or below sea level for a long time.

Right. But the sea level wasn't changing. So existing infrastructure wasn't being destroyed. And failures are expensive.

Part of the problem with sea level rise is that we have optimised our infrastructure for the current sea level. Just as we have optimised are agricultural operations for the current climate. We will have to rebuild or move that infrastructure, including ports, roads, bridges, cities to cope with the increased sea level, or build dikes and other sea exclusion infrastructure.

exactly this and more

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

MikeB4

MikeB4
18775 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 12766

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#2613036 30-Nov-2020 08:55

We will need to redesign our roading to cope with much higher rainfall peak hourly rates. The run off channelling will need to a lot deeper and and catchment areas bigger.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

kaczor47

95 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 19

#2614350 1-Dec-2020 20:56

Climate Science is not a true science. Try publishing a paper or getting funding for research that shows we are not heading for a complete catastrophy. There is only one line of thinking allowed/funded.

So when we say things like 'every climate scientist' we need to remember that this is a self selected group with a common bias.

Having said all this - we do have to get serious about the trends, but not at 'any cost' and we must allow for criticism of current models

kotuku4

485 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 137

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2614555 2-Dec-2020 09:27

It's real for people with homes and business being rezoned as at risk of inundation/flooding. Therefore difficult to insure, and becoming worthless.

Worse for those flooded, and uninhabitable.

Other organizations and governments who won't deal with us/trade in future if we are not doing enough to meet emissions reduction targets.

tdgeek

30048 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 9455

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2614560 2-Dec-2020 09:34

kotuku4:

It's real for people with homes and business being rezoned as at risk of inundation/flooding. Therefore difficult to insure, and becoming worthless.

Worse for those flooded, and uninhabitable.

Other organizations and governments who won't deal with us/trade in future if we are not doing enough to meet emissions reduction targets.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/123560377/homes-to-start-losing-access-to-insurance-within-15-years--report

Dingbatt

6804 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3694

Lifetime subscriber

#2614621 2-Dec-2020 11:00

tdgeek:

kotuku4:

It's real for people with homes and business being rezoned as at risk of inundation/flooding. Therefore difficult to insure, and becoming worthless.

Worse for those flooded, and uninhabitable.

Other organizations and governments who won't deal with us/trade in future if we are not doing enough to meet emissions reduction targets.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/123560377/homes-to-start-losing-access-to-insurance-within-15-years--report

Might be a market opportunity for someone ballsie enough to collect substantial premiums to cover one thing that might never happen. The problem would be to get it underwritten.

I wonder if ex-President Obama is worried about insuring his multimillion dollar mansion on the water’s edge.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

kotuku4

485 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 137

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2614623 2-Dec-2020 11:04

An example,

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/123427369/maps-forecast-large-areas-of-nelson-under-water-from-sealevel-rise

Dell

Shop now for Dell laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

frankv

5705 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3666

Lifetime subscriber

#2614633 2-Dec-2020 11:20

Dingbatt:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/123560377/homes-to-start-losing-access-to-insurance-within-15-years--report

Might be a market opportunity for someone ballsie enough to collect substantial premiums to cover one thing that might never happen. The problem would be to get it underwritten.

I think the problem is that people want coverage against something that is becoming increasingly likely to happen. Of course, that's a losing scenario for the insurance company, unless they charge increasingly large premiums. And then the premiums aren't affordable to the homeowner.

Maybe insurance companies should be contributing to climate control, since they'll be carrying the cost of climate change (although they'll be passing it on to the consumers)?

Dingbatt

6804 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3694

Lifetime subscriber

#2614646 2-Dec-2020 11:41

kotuku4:

An example,

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/123427369/maps-forecast-large-areas-of-nelson-under-water-from-sealevel-rise

We all know how balanced Stuff is when it comes to these matters.

They show an inundation map of Nelson that is 5 times the rise predicted by the IPCC. But hey, don’t let reality interfere with the crusade.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10018

#2614649 2-Dec-2020 11:44

Handle9:
It's an option just a particularly stupid one for a country with the load profile and lack of population density of NZ. To make any sense you'd be looking to build it close to Auckland and shut down renewable generation.

I understand that it's possible (has been proposed) to build relatively safe compact portable (ie thorium) reactors into 20' ISO shipping container format, no maintenance or fuel replacement on site - load them up and ship them away for service at a dedicated facility when the fuel is depleted, drop in a replacement unit and plug it in to the grid.

But nobody has made them, there's no existing market because nuclear power is an increasingly taboo subject (and also other renewable tech is getting cheaper and better), so there's no point investing probably hundreds of billions of dollars in developing a concept that would then need further massive infrastructure investment - yet probably won't be able to be sold. NZ would have the added problem that if something like that was proposed, we'd probably not have the facility to service the units locally, shipping them by sea would be very controversial.

MikeB4

MikeB4
18775 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 12766

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#2614658 2-Dec-2020 12:03

Dingbatt:

kotuku4:

An example,

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/123427369/maps-forecast-large-areas-of-nelson-under-water-from-sealevel-rise

We all know how balanced Stuff is when it comes to these matters.

They show an inundation map of Nelson that is 5 times the rise predicted by the IPCC. But hey, don’t let reality interfere with the crusade.

The shows the inundation risk areas of combined sea level rise with combined tidal and storm surge rises. NIWA has a lot of information regarding this.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

1 | ... | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | ... | 17