Thread: ABC Four Corners on Renewable Energy.

This will help anyone who can't get to see the transcripts from last night....
Solar experts say Australian renewable energy investment being stifled by Government policy - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Watch it on ABC Iview.

Don't let this thread become a political rant.

On another forum I frequent, a chap in the USA says he pays 6 cents/kWh. Including GST, I pay nearly 30 cents/kWh.

Originally Posted by p38arover

Watch it on ABC Iview.

Don't let this thread become a political rant.

On another forum I frequent, a chap in the USA says he pays 6 cents/kWh. Including GST, I pay nearly 30 cents/kWh.

And here in the country it's 33c kh/h and the (coal fired) power stations are only 80km away !

I was impressed with the Apple set up.

meanwhile Qld electricity providers trying to block solar from grid

Even if you don't agree there may be a connection between fossil fuels and global warming, it is still a good thing to move toward renewable energy.
Solar and wind power with storage is commercially viable now as shown by the 4 Corners program and other writers. That includes electric cars. The only thing needed is widespread increase in usage to bring down the cost and encourage investment.
Oil based transport makes us vulnerable to monopoly pricing by middle eastern oil owners. Coal seems cheap energy until you see the hidden costs of subsidies paid to coal companies and power companies.
There is a strong pro coal lobby influencing the government.

Terry

I think the thing that most are missing out on is the fact that the "fuel" for renewable energy is absolutely free.

Australia has it more abundantly than any other nation, but so too has abundant reserves of coal.

Even if coal can be cleaned up, the coal still has to mined and paid for. This is almost acceptable while we still have the old power stations but they are thermally inefficient , tragically inefficient and no more money should be spent on maintaining them.

I guess when govt stops propping up the coal fuelled power industry , the investors will move on to renewable resources , as they doing in a big way in North America.

I think this is going to be real case of people power having a win.

Nah. We have plenty of uranium, build nuclear power stations.

I shall have to ask my BIL for his views, he's a nuclear physicist and used to work at Lucas Heights. The last time I discussed solar with was about 15-20 years ago and he was of the opinion (then) that solar, if I recall correctly, didn't give a lot of power for the area occupied by panels.

Obviously, a lot has changed in the intervening years.