Tasmania’s great leap backward: Gas, diesel and now video tapes

The epitome of the modern economy: Tasmania, the state that could and should have been leading the country, and possibly the world in adopting a low carbon economy, is rapidly regressing.

videoFirst, thanks to its drought-affected dam levels, the cutting of the Basslink cable to the mainland, and its poor investment in renewable energy, the country was forced to fire back up its gas-fired generators, and also import some 200MW of diesel generators packed away in containers.

It’s not just the electricity that’s affected – it’s the telecommunications line as well. As the local paper, The Mercury reports, the cutting of the Basslink cable for repairs has also impacted the cable linking to the mainland for the internet.

Some customers are without internet connections altogether, and it seems that many have returned to the old favourite, the video store.

Like gas and diesel, many have thought these to be on the verge of extinction. Given the state’s dependence on imported oil for its motor transport, perhaps that’s the next affected. Don’t sell your horse and cart just yet.

 

Comments

11 responses to “Tasmania’s great leap backward: Gas, diesel and now video tapes”

  1. nakedChimp Avatar
    nakedChimp

    Where were my pigeons again?

  2. MaxG Avatar
    MaxG

    What a bunch of idiots running this show… I cannot believe it… and the people for for these clowns… video tapes?! right. :-S

    1. Calamity_Jean Avatar
      Calamity_Jean

      “… video tapes?!”

      Well, that’s because many people’s Internet access has been cut. It doesn’t have anything much to do with the energy supply.

      1. neroden Avatar
        neroden

        Not DVDs?!?!?

        1. Calamity_Jean Avatar
          Calamity_Jean

          First all the DVDs got rented and the latecomers got stuck with tapes.

  3. phred01 Avatar
    phred01

    I thought under Joe B QLD was 50yrs behind plus one day

  4. Jonathan Prendergast Avatar
    Jonathan Prendergast

    I heard they are building a steam train network?

  5. shusa2013 Avatar
    shusa2013

    If you don’t like diesel generators then just shut them off and sit in the dark.

    1. JohnM Avatar
      JohnM

      Or you could go off grid with solar and battery storage and never pay a power bill or endure blackouts again.
      Also if you have a business you can get $20,000 from the govt. for a commercial installation.

  6. Rational Avatar
    Rational

    Tasmania is a country now? (para2)

  7. Peter Davies Avatar
    Peter Davies

    Actually they do have other options but appear to be still sticking with usual suspect reports that say bioenergy is only minor in a State whose Bioeconomy should be a world leader in sustainable regenerative resource use. Recent private modelling showed the diesel gensets could be dual fueled on wood chips using Australian developed thermo chemical reactor technology converting these to clean syngas, at a operational cost of 11c/KWh even at $60/tonne for the wood fuel component (which boosts local jobs as well instead of Big Oil). Keeping much of the money spent circulating locally. Seems their political advisers would rather import 6 million litres of diesel a week instead. As an aside you can also cleanly convert old video tapes to help fuel through the same system…:)

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