The Real Cost of Net Zero: The shocking truth of the renewable energy push



Sky News Australia reveals the true cost of the race to renewable energy in an exclusive investigation by political contributor Chris Uhlmann.

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21 thoughts on “The Real Cost of Net Zero: The shocking truth of the renewable energy push”

  1. So what i took away from this is if our government doesn't start listening to the people, then as a country, WE ARE PHUCKED! 5 years, and if this country hasn't gotten better, then I'm moving my family to a country that listens to its people.

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  2. Australia already had reliable base load power stations that supplied power for all the extremes of weather this country dealt out for many years, then these Gullible buffoon’s in the Labor and Greens had the International elite groups pissing in their ear pushing the Climate Change Global SCAM !!!.

    Imagine how many Homes could have been provided for all the homeless people of this country with all the wasted money that has gone into this Global SCAM ???. This situation where now in will be catastrophic in the years to come even when this current ideological Government has gone.

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  3. We are in a stage of transition – in the 1920's to 1950's it was horses to Internal Combustion powered cars, trucks, and tractors – in the 1940's to 1960's it was Steam Trains to Diesel Mechanical or Diesel Electric shunters and main line locomotives. Now we are changing from fossil fuel centrally generated electricity to decentralised renewable energy generated electricity.

    As the multinationals tell the unions and workers, change is inevitable, the problem is that some of those corporate fuddy duddies addicted to fossil fuels – don't want to participate in the change process!

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  4. It's not the percentage of wild AC the public power grid is having to support from wind turbine and solar voltaic generated electricity that is substantially important, but its fuel savings, which is little to non.   In the US the advertised fuel savings for supporting the wild AC from wind turbine and solar voltaic generated electricity by the electric utility grid is 1% each. That number is likely rounded up significantly.

    The wild AC from wind turbine and solar voltaic electrical generation should not be supported by the public power grid. The practical use for wind turbine and solar voltaic generated electricity is for maintaining electrical energy storage such as charging storage batteries or working with something similar such as hydropower. The electrical storage can supply the power grid or run pumped hydro for stockpiling water for hydropower at about 50% efficiency.

    It can use less natural gas to run natural gas turbine generators at high efficiency 85% output where they can make full use of a steam cycle adding 50% higher efficiency making all the electricity than to 100% instantly back up a wind generator farm for the same electrical output to behave as a scheduled power station.

    Instant 100% backup requires natural gas turbine generators running at high availability consuming 70% of the fuel of full output, but making little electricity, where in a few seconds they can be at 100% output to instantly backup the wind farm 100%.

    In fast response peaking applications a second steam cycle made from the hot exhaust can not be used that adds another 50% efficiency. A NGCC plant running at its efficient output would only use 66-2/3% to make all the electricity verses 70% at the lowest fuel use for fast response peaking applications where when meeting dips in output from the wind farm more natural gas would be used.

    The cheapest incremental electricity is from hydropower and nuclear power. Second to those in the US would be a new ultra supercritical clean coal plant burning high BTU bituminous coal at a predicted crossover fueling cost with natural gas priced at $0.80 per million BTUs in 2022.

    US natural gas was priced at an offseason wholesale price in early summer 2024 of $2.50 per million BTUs, three times the fueling cost of the coal plant. This is the cheapest natural gas that could be expected without economic collapse. Winter peak natural gas wholesale prices can be several times higher. The US has some of the lowest cost natural gas in the world.

    It is not accurate to state residential electricity cost is greatly the cost of maintaining the power grid as sometimes said. In the US on average only 38% of the generated electricity reaches the residential electric power meter. 62% of the generated electricity on average is lost to grid resistance.

    A little less than $0.03 per kWh is average for US midwestern wholesale electricity scheduled 24 hours in advance. That costs $0.03/.38 = $0.078 at the residential meter. Our Cumberland, Indiana residential electricity in 2020 was priced at $0.10 per kWh. The cost verses sale price difference has to maintain the power grid and make some profit. Internally generated electricity should be significantly cheaper

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  5. Why this video does not even mention nuclear as an option for reliable source of baseload energy, but rather focuses on gas? We get that relying energy polices on renewables is wrong, but nuclear must be part of the solution. Especially in Australia, which has a long successful history of uranium mining.

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