Australians Urged to Avoid Using Electricity in the Evenings

[Mike Mercury]

https://www.newser.com/story/321831/...ss_world_login

It's winter in Australia, and the country's new government is dealing with a severe energy crisis. Some 8 million people in Sydney and elsewhere in New South Wales, the country's most populous state, have been urged to do without electricity as much as possible between 6pm and 8pm every day, the BBC reports.

"We are confident we can avoid blackouts," Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said Thursday. "If you have a choice about when to run certain items, don't run them from 6 to 8." The evening is a crunch time when solar and wind output drops and demand surges as people come home from work and turn on appliances, reports Reuters.

ustralia is the world's biggest coal exporter and it still gets around 75% of its energy from coal, despite calls to step up the switch to renewable energy. The power supply crisis has been caused by multiple issues, including flooding and other issues at coal mines and breakdowns at aging coal-fired plants, along with a surge in demand for heating amid a cold snap, Forbes reports. On Wednesday, regulators took the unprecedented step of suspending the wholesale market for electricity and setting prices directly after several generators withheld capacity, saying the cost of production exceeded the regulator's price cap.

Analysts say the Australian government has long ignored the risks of relying heavily on aging coal-fired infrastructure. Bowen says the new government plans to step up efforts to boost the renewable energy supply instead of trying to extend the life of coal-fired plants. "We need to urgently upgrade our transmission grid to get cheaper renewable energy from where it’s made to where it’s used," he tweeted Friday. (Australia is also suffering from a lettuce shortage so severe that KFC is using cabbage instead.)

[04 commemorative]

Get ready for it here too

[IB4TL]

Originally Posted by 04 commemorative

Get ready for it here too

Tesla fanboys will be towing each other allover town

[Mike Mercury]

Originally Posted by IB4TL

Tesla fanboys will be towing each other allover town

or...

[Aerovette]

Originally Posted by IB4TL

Tesla fanboys will be towing each other allover town

At 50MPH with a 5 car length tow strap.

[IB4TL]

Originally Posted by aerovette

At 50MPH with a 5 car length tow strap.

Very efficient. Super safe

[GTOguy]

The Aussies turned in all their guns about ten years back and the home invasion robberies went up something like 44% in the first year alone. Now crime is off the hook, just like here. The Kittens and Rainbows approach to life in general doesn't seem to work on any continent.

[dvarapala]

Originally Posted by IB4TL

Tesla fanboys will be towing each other allover town

Tesla fanbois will be running their air conditioners off their Tesla powerwalls and laughing at all you haters sitting in the dark sweating.

[dvarapala]

Originally Posted by GTOguy

The Aussies turned in all their guns about ten years back and the home invasion robberies went up something like 44% in the first year alone. Now crime is off the hook, just like here. The Kittens and Rainbows approach to life in general doesn't seem to work on any continent.

Well, if San Franciscans can wake the **** up and recall their progressive DA then there's hope for the Aussies as well.

[theandies]

Lets just ban electricity and get back to the dark ages. I am so sick and tired of the climate change crap. The climate has been changing for billions of years. Only man can be so ignorant to think he has anything to do with it. One volcano eruption spews more crap into the atmosphere than man has in the 100+ years of industry.
And then there are the sheep that follow. I wish stupid hurt because then maybe some would snap out of it.

[Mike Mercury]

Originally Posted by GTOguy

The Aussies turned in all their guns about ten years back and the home invasion robberies went up something like 44% in the first year alone. Now crime is off the hook, just like here. The Kittens and Rainbows approach to life in general doesn't seem to work on any continent.

[69L46]

Originally Posted by 04 commemorative

Get ready for it here too

Yep, starting in Newsom's world, except for the 'beautiful people', that is.