By Jo Nova

More proof that wind power can’t be used to make wind turbines

The one and only Australian manufacturer of wind turbine towers is going out of business, despite Australian electricity reaching 35% glorious renewable, and the Prime Ministers big plan to have the $22 billion dollar Future Made in Australia, as well as our galloping Net Zero fantasy to reach 82% renewable by 2030. We are, in theory, supposed to install 40 new wind towers a month somewhere in Australia, but none of the towers, it turns out, will be Australian made.

Imagine what we could do if Australia were the largest exporter of iron ore and coal in the world?  The government could still screw it up.

Right now, we ship the iron and coal 7,000 kilometers away, to be made into windmills to save the world, and then ship them back, rather than make them here.

Renewables are the cheapest source of electricity on Earth, they say, and Australia has twice as much as China (proportionately). But China makes 65% of all wind turbines globally, and soon Australia will make 0%.

The company Keppel Prince don’t mention the cost of electricity, although the boss of Glencore claims Australian prices are double or more the cost in China, which can’t be good for business. Instead the company blames Chinese subsidized competitors for dumping, which may have some truth to it, but Keppel Prince has been living off renewable energy subsidies themselves in Australia for years. In 2009 the company warned of job losses if the government didn’t set a bigger renewable energy target (which it did), but then they had to sack 100 staff in 2014 when the target was cut. After that they got help from the Victorian State Energy Targets, and the requirement that 60 per cent of the manufacturing was done locally. The truth is there has probably never been a wind turbine built in Australia that wasn’t subsidized. The only question is “how big were the subsidies”.

The Australian

The company has been in talks with the NSW and Queensland governments over potential future projects but Mr Garner said there needed to be commitments to provide guaranteed 60 per cent local input to any project.

“They’ve got to look really bad that they are losing the only tower manufacturer accredited to build the things,” Garner told The Australian.

“The federal government continues to say, like Albanese says, we want to get back to manufacturing. Here we have a manufacturing facility already in place.

“It’s set up for renewable energy, which is what the government talks about every day of the week, and yet we’ve got to mothball it because we can’t compete with China because our government won’t do anything about it.”

We don’t like seeing any Australian business go under, but live-by-the-sword, die-by-the-sword as the saying goes. Hopefully the expertise in Keppel Prince can be put to use manufacturing things the market wants, instead of what the government wants.

No Australian business can compete with slave labor and cheap coal fired and nuclear power. The only thing more stupid than that would be competing in an industry to make things the market doesn’t want, the country doesn’t need and which won’t save the environment.

A November 18 article by Atlanta News First (ANF) claims that climate change is affecting Georgia’s farmers and the restaurants that depend on local produce. This is demonstrably false. Empirical data of temperature and crop yields refute the claim.

The article written by Abby Kousouris, titled “Georgia farmers, restaurant owners say climate change threatens way of life,” pushes the narrative that climate change is uniformly warming the planet and adversely affecting agriculture. This claim, though often asserted by climate alarmists, is specifically debunked by regional climate and crop data.

Contrary to the widespread assertion that global warming is causing uniform temperature increases, data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) indicate that the Southeastern United States has experienced a cooling trend over recent decades. This phenomenon, often linked to the polar vortex, has led to colder winters in the region, defying the generalized warming narrative. As reported by Forbes, “Defying Climate Change, Southeast U.S. Is Getting Colder Instead of Warmer via Polar Vortex.” This cooling trend challenges the premise that warming temperatures are responsible for agricultural difficulties in Georgia.

The article suggests that climate change is threatening Georgia’s peach industry. Yet, in 2024, Georgia experienced one of its most successful peach harvests to date. According to the Georgia Peach Council, growers anticipated shipping approximately 3 million boxes, or 75 million pounds, of peaches, marking a 25% increase over a typical crop. This substantial yield contradicts the claim that climate change is detrimentally impacting peach production in the state.

A sharp decline in Georgia peach production in 2023 came in the aftermath of a late-season freeze, the very type of weather event that is projected to become more infrequent as the planet modestly warms.

Strangely, just 6 months previous to the present article, ANF ran a video article titled Georgia farmers say 2024 peach crop is best ever. Apparently ANF doesn’t pay attention to its own news reports when it comes to producing scary climate change stories.

While peaches are culturally significant in Georgia, their economic impact is relatively modest. Agricultural data from the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension notes that peaches account for only about 0.58% of the state’s agricultural economy, with Georgia producing between 3% and 5% of the U.S. peach crop. This context is essential when evaluating claims that climate change is harming or poses a threat to Georgia’s agricultural sector.

Looking at the broader farm market, the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences and the state’s Cooperative Extension updated its report, “Georgia Farm Gate Value Report 2022,” in August of 2024, which determined, despite the typical yearly ups and downs of different crops, the state’s agriculture sector has done well over the past 20 years.

“The data speaks to the fact that agriculture in Georgia is consistent,” said Jared Daniel, data coordinator in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. “The ag industry is important and here to stay.”

Not every farmer, every year, in every region does well or equally well as his or her peers, but in Georgia the agricultural sector as a whole, has prospered during the recent period of modest warming.

Media outlets like ANF often amplify narratives that align with the prevailing climate change narrative that climate change is causing everything bad, often at the expense of presenting an accurate view of long-term weather and economic trends. The emphasis on climate change as a primary factor affecting agriculture can overshadow other critical variables such as market dynamics, government farm policies, technological advancements, short-term weather events, and adaptive farming practices. This skewed representation misleads the public concerning the actual challenges farmers face and ongoing positive production and yield trends in the agricultural sector.

A thorough analysis of regional climate data and agricultural outcomes in Georgia reveals that there is no evidence climate change is altering weather patterns in Georgia for the worse or harming the state’s agriculture sector. The Southeastern United States has experienced a modest cooling trend in recent decades and Georgia’s peach industry, contrary to the impression given in the ANF article, achieved record yields in 2024. These facts underscore the bogus nature of ANF’s article.

This article was originally published at ClimateREALISM

The Heartland Institute

The latest annual United Nations climate conference, COP29, is about to wrap up in Baku, Azerbaijan – the second year in a row it has been held in a “petro state.” Add in the election of Donald Trump just before they convened, and it was a pretty grim affair if you are a global climate alarmist. But for some people it was a blast, including Craig Rucker and Marc Morano of CFACT, who attended as they usually do. They will provide us a report from the ground on what even supporters of the global climate command-and-control agenda are admitting was a disaster.

On Episode #136 The Heartland Institute’s H. Sterling Burnett, Linnea Lueken, and Jim Lakely will also cover some of the Crazy Climate News of the week. Join us LIVE at 1 p.m. ET so you can leave your questions and comments for the show in the chat.

This show will be archived in WUWT Climate TV, a collection of over six hundred videos, featuring new interviews and analysis, and covering dozens of media sources discussing, debating and analyzing the latest in climate science, climate politics, and energy policy, including topics concerning temperature, sea level, polar bears, ocean acidification, extreme weather, censorship, wild fires, and more.