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June 11, 2005
Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol sucks ...
One of the hot topics in the local press this last week has been the Kyoto Protocol. Australia is not a signatory to this and currently has no intention of joining because of the pain it will cause the nation and NSW in particular. Actually it is sort of interesting, the state with the most to lose (NSW) has a Labor government but the federal Liberal government is refusing to sign the protocol. The federal opposition (Labor) claims that they would sign it - which would completely stuff up the Labor party in NSW.
Burning brown coal ...
Why exactly is Australia (NSW) being so difficult about it? Well the problem is that most power generation in NSW is made via brown-coal fired power-stations. These produce the majority of the greenhouse emissions. To comply with the protocol would require NSW to change to some other form of power generation in a very short time period and the only viable alternative currently available is nuclear power. Hydro won't work given the complete lack of water, wind has proven to be successful, gas is very scarce on this side of the continent, etc.
Greens want nuclear power ...
It strikes me as very strange that the watermelons greenies, who are flogging the Kyoto protocol as the best thing since sliced bread are thereby encouraging the initiation of nuclear power. Remember that Australia has only one reactor - a medical isotope/research reactor - we do not use nuclear power and never have used nuclear power. Of course, now that the greenies want us to switch, they will be happy to have the nuclear waste buried in their own backyards - just so we can meet the greenhouse emissions requirements. From the economic perspective, at least nuclear power will be "cheap" because we have our own naturally-enriched uranium. Next step will be nuclear-weapons...
The serious question ...
So which is more important? Reducing the consumption of brown-coal (which reduces greenhouse emissions) or the management of nuclear waste (from the only viable alternative)? I know what I would vote for - more research into alternatives while we tell the UN to take a long walk off a short pier.
Posted by Ozguru at June 11, 2005 07:30 AM
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Posted by: Ozguru at June 11, 2005 09:47 AM
Posted by: Ozguru at June 12, 2005 11:00 AM
