AThere has been a furious copy-pasting of large chunks of text attacking the environmental credentials for electric vehicles, solar panels, and wind turbines across social media, internet forums, and some climate science denier blogs.
Each electric vehicle battery requires 200 tonnes of earth’s crust to be mined, and 11 tonnes worth of brine just to make the lithium.
Some claims are made without context and are not supported by the facts. Don’t compare electric vehicle batteries with fossil fuelled cars. Solar Recycle panelsAnd Fully recyclable turbine blades can now be produced.
The former minister for resources Matt Canavan, a Queensland senator was also one of those who shared some of this textThe image was of a hollowed-out landscape. It took only a few seconds for me to realize that the image was actually of a Canadian diamond mine.
Facebook marks some extracts with a label saying “Missing context.” Independent fact-checkers believe this information could be misleading.
One fact check siteThis post is categorized as a scare tactic and contains only partial truths.
An Australian climate sceptics group posted an earlier version of the essay that the extracts are from earlier in the year.
Professor Peter Newman is a sustainability expert at Curtin University. He is also a senior author on a UN climate assessment. He said that the numbers regarding the resources required for electric vehicle batteries are nonsense as they refer to the early days.
Newman said that the claims about brine and lithium were based upon fears associated with brine extract in the Andes, particularly Chile, and human slavery within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, over Cobalt.
He said that lithium extraction was moving away form brine to a mineral called podumene. Western Australia is now the largest producer. Newman said that the mining was ethically sound and sustainable.
According to the WA government’s statement, 49% of the worlds lithium is produced in the state. This means that at least half of the world’s supply is not processed in salty brine such as Chile.
Newman stated that rumours of critical minerals were spreading too long to be generalized.
Their time is over. The Lithium Ion battery is a remarkable success.
Compare [this]The numbers of people dying from air pollution at 10,000 per day show the importance of the wars fought over oil and the effects of climate change.
But where are the origins for the text extracts?
Many versions have appeared on Facebook or LinkedIn. Many credit the work to another writer, including Canavan.
These versions, however, were taken from an essay written last Nov by a US-based author.
Temperature Control asked the writer where he got his facts. He said that he tried his best to find at least two credible sources to support each of the claims and that all statements are easily accessible on the internet.
He stated that his work was intended to be enjoyable to read and to stimulate thinking.
It is important to note that everyone appreciates any new purchase, no matter if it is a fossil-fuelled car, or an ebike.
However, electric cars are not tied to fossil fuel production or the associated greenhouse gas emissions in a permanent way like internal combustion engines. 33bn litres each year of fuel.
All snowflakes welcome
All kids and millennials are welcome to this call. Piers Akerman, a veteran columnist for News Corp Australia, had a message to share with you this week.
Climate activists have made you unintelligent, ill-informed snowflakes in a country that has a group think mentality.
Akerman He told his Sunday Telegraph readersThe Black Summer bushfires, while not unprecedented, were not the largest in history. Also, the ongoing floods were not the most tragic in history in terms death toll.
People who are grieving the loss of their community and trying to rebuild their lives in places such as Gympie, Brisbane or Lismore will find comfort in using deaths to measure the severity of a flood.
Bushfires are a subject to caution. Akerman didn’t seem to mind the term unprecedented.
But The Black Summer: StudiesBushfires caused widespread destruction along the east coast of Eucalypt-dominated forests. This was a first-of-its-kind event in terms both of their location and scale. For decades, it has been known that global warming is causing bushfires to become more frequent.
CSIRO research saysBefore 2002, there was only one megafire in 90 year records. But there have been three over the years.
The scientists stated last year that winter fires have increased fivefold since 2001 compared to 19882001, and that autumn fires have increased threefold. Overall, fires in the cooler months from March to August are increasing exponentially at 14% per year.
That’s it, snowflakes.
Rio Tintos climate bill?
Peta Credlin, former chief of staff to Tony Abbott, Attacked Labor’s Climate PolicyIn her column this week, she repeated a Canavan claim that Gladstones’ aluminium plant would be subject to a $54m annual bill under an Albanese government.
Canavans claim is based upon the idea that Rio Tinto, which majority owns Gladstones alumina refineries, and runs the towns’ smelter, would need to purchase carbon credits under Labors plan for staying under the proposed emissions cap.
Canavan & Credlin make the assumption that Labor is about enter three decades of government. Perhaps Credlin and Canavan should have checked the figure out with Rio Tinto.
The company OctoberIt set a goal to reduce direct emissions by half by 2030. Direct investments of approximately $7.5bn were made to lower emissions between 2022-2030.
Jakob Stausholm, Rio Tintos chief executive, The company said it was exploring renewable energy options.to power its operations, and said that a decade down-the-road we would no longer use coal-fired power for the aluminium smelters.
If Rio Tinto can make any progress on emissions, the $54m bill that Canavans claimed it would pay will disappear.
Solar credit
If you haven’t been living in a solar panel for the past few months, it is difficult to miss Morrison’s $31m marketing campaign, Making Positive Energies.
We’ve already installed solar panels here and there,” the voiceover says, while a giant animated finger points towards the roofs and homes of businesses and homes. More than one-fourth of homes have solar.
Yesterday, the UK-based pro renewables thinktank Ember has released its annual reportLooking at the future of electricity generation around the globe.
The report confirmed that Australia’s solar and wind adoption has been the fastest in recent years.
According to the report, Australia receives 12% electricity from solar. This is the highest percentage of any major country (meaning that a nation has at least 3,000,000 people).
According to the report, between 2019 and 2021, Australia’s electricity generation was dominated by wind and solar.
The federal government is right to claim credit for this rise in renewables through its marketing campaign.
Embers David Jones is the global program manager. He said that Australia’s renewables development has been driven from bottom up.
This is a very different approach from many countries that have national governments leading the charge. It is very refreshing to see so much support for homegrown solar, despite the fact that the national government continues to push more oil and gas.