tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6878643531164799131.post8367290886447032630..comments2020-03-13T01:16:24.071+10:30Comments on unknownsa journal: Roxby to require 'half the state's power'billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11655761514021780806noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6878643531164799131.post-60757858262566349772008-12-03T08:10:00.000+10:302008-12-03T08:10:00.000+10:30one could doubtlessly debate the costs to the stat...one could doubtlessly debate the costs to the state of hosting roxby versus the benefits, but this was hardly my point<BR/><BR/>my point - obvious to anyone who actually <I>reads</I> this piece - is about externalised costs to the community, such as the massive amount of CO2 this operation actually produces, despite loudly trumpeted claims of uranium mining and nuclear power saving the world from just such pollution<BR/><BR/>and, yes, i know it's not just a uranium mine! but that doesn't change the fact that it's a massive polluter...<BR/><BR/>just because one stands a chance of making money out of something one isn't then excused from thinking about the consequences of it - otherwise we'd all be heroin dealers, wouldn't we?billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11655761514021780806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6878643531164799131.post-47828525043107718512008-12-02T22:46:00.000+10:302008-12-02T22:46:00.000+10:30Do you have any idea how much Olympic Dam Royaltie...Do you have any idea how much Olympic Dam Royalties help South Australia????? The state would be totally broke without Olympic Dam.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6878643531164799131.post-52782527667063780482008-03-29T17:23:00.000+10:302008-03-29T17:23:00.000+10:30BHP expect a state subsidy for their business expe...BHP expect a state subsidy for their business expenses, Phil? How could you even suggest it? For shame; we live in a global free-market, as the Bear-Stearns bailout clearly attests!<BR/><BR/>I think desal has indeed been dished up to us as 'inevitable' in much the same way as we've been buttered up for Nukes. All right-thinking people know it's the only way to sustain out lifestyles and move forward into a glorious future etc. etc.<BR/><BR/>And many have enough of an itch to keep mainlining the good-life that they're unlikely to argue. Certainly on the H2O minus the NaCl, anyway. On U308 > oodles of e- I think there's a lot more reservation, at least at the Nimby level. But if some bugger overseas shoves it in their reactor and we stand to make $squillions in the process then that's much more acceptable.<BR/><BR/>I just happen to believe this is all completely cock-eyed. Carbon outputs will continue to rise right along with the nuclear power stations and the windturbines delivering the 20%, 30% of sustainably-sourced power to the desal plants (Hell, we'll probably even do so well they'll be able to push it up another 5% 2 years ahead of schedule! And what a fine, heart-warming glossy brochure adorned with piping-shrike resplendent that will make...)<BR/><BR/>I'm reminded of the argument over Heathrow's putative third runway. Intelligent adults are discussing the possibility of developing 'super' aviation fuels with minimal carbon emissions as though they really hoped that, like in the old pantomimes, if you believe hard enough, it just might be true!<BR/><BR/>Though I clearly doubt it will achieve what it's exponents - including me - will publicly encourage people to believe it might I'm pragmatic enough to hope that at least there'll be enough public and political shame around to insist (along with Mark Parnell!) on constructing sufficient renewable resource electricity to fill the full-quota for any desal operation in SA. The more sane, useful infrastructure we can build in the dying throes of the global resource bubble the better...<BR/><BR/>The Perth desal plant - that's 100% wind-power, right?billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11655761514021780806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6878643531164799131.post-71111869029226504302008-03-29T12:22:00.000+10:302008-03-29T12:22:00.000+10:30The comment about "normalisation" of desal rhetori...The comment about "normalisation" of desal rhetoric is an interesting one and something which has been on my mind for some time. I consider it inevitable that desal will be seen as the only way to drive the continuing growth of urban settlements and industrial processes... the real challenge will be how these desal processes are powered (surely not more carbon-based energy?!) and how the saline waste is managed. These are big challenges, obviously.Damonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213865811975706668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6878643531164799131.post-19439931825032151452008-03-28T13:50:00.000+10:302008-03-28T13:50:00.000+10:30I hope BHP doesn't expect the state taxpayers to s...I hope BHP doesn't expect the state taxpayers to subsidise all this extra power! If the mine is such a sure thing they should generate it themselves, under stringent conditions we the taxpayers set! (like that will happen)<BR/><BR/>I note that Green Rock Energy is prospecting for hot rocks right next to Roxby - a nice fit if they can make it work. However, I believe they are looking at sub optimal heat sources and as Bill says, this is an unproven technology although a promising one (I'll declare my interest right here - I own shares in one of these hot rock companies).<BR/><BR/>I'm just as worried at the amount of water all this is going to use. Does anyone else sense a creeping normalisation of the desal rhetoric out there? (including new state government TV ads) You know - 'in the future we can get all the fresh water we want from desal, why didn't we think of that before, continue the party chaps!'<BR/><BR/>Apart from the 'business as usual' denial of our water crisis this represents, I have little faith in the energy sources used for these desal plants being anything like 'green'.<BR/><BR/>etc etc PAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com