bigrich wrote:Efficient, clean, unlimited power. Nuclear power station. Many countries around the world use them reliably. Just don’t build one next to the ocean in a earthquake zone like Japan did. The only problem is what to do with the spent fuel rods. As Australia already accepts and stores other countries nuclear waste, I don’t see why building new state of the art power stations is a bad thing. Especially seeing as how we have lots of uranium ore in this country . All the solar farms and wind turbines are all well and good, but it’s hypocrisy to try to stop emissions by manufacturing more stuff creating more emissions in the process.
straightshooter wrote:And like the Grattan Institute was hatched into existence by K. Rudd without an agenda.
Spare me days.
The freshly minted Laber government knows which side it's bread is buttered on and the ABC is their mouthpiece. They know any extensive and prolonged power outages will lead them into being a one term (or less) government so the 'true believers' need to be softened up. They have a clear understanding of what happens when a politician's snout is thrown out of the trough.
I have difficulty in comprehending what level of credulity is required to believe that the world as we know it can continue by being powered by so called renewables alone.
Even with costs of storage included, new solar outcompetes new fossil-fuel generation. For example, the Reserve Bank of Australia estimates that new solar in 2020 with six hours of pumped hydro storage would produce electricity for approximately $100 per megawatt-hour. And it will get cheaper every year. By contrast, because of higher performance expectations and the higher cost of finance, the price of new black coal-fired electricity has risen to an uncompetitive price of approximately $150 per megawatt-hour. If a new coal-fired electricity generator were fitted with carbon capture and storage (CCS) to qualify as a high-efficiency, low-emissions (HELE) generator, the price has been estimated at more than $200 per megawatt-hour.
The financial risk of investing in a new coal-fired electricity plant is mirrored by the low valuation of current assets. For example, in December 2020, the two Japanese co-owners of the Bluewaters coal-fired electricity plant in Western Australia completely wrote off their $1.2 billion investment, despite it being the newest coal-fired electricity plant in Australia, built in 2009.
str8shutr wrote:bigrich, you're not wrong. For me the key challenges are the time frame (getting to go --> go --> build/operate) and public acceptance (refer time frame comment).
Maybe the previous decade of market uncertainty promoted by a lack of political alignment and disregard for the electorate, resulting in the current acute situation might give cause for some lateral thinking .. but I'm not holding my breath.
Oldbloke wrote:Plenty are happy to have nuclear plants
https://youtu.be/IwJdigo3xQ8
25 years ago I recommended to the government they should build a few. But they didn't listen. Would have been set if they had.
mickb wrote:The worlds richest just doubled their net worth in the last two years, billionaires with wealth now into the hundreds of billions a common sight. That money came from somewhere and it was our pockets. 2 years of boondoggles and the next one is inflation and it looks like a re-visit to climate change. The media is already plugging the new stories 24/7 and blaming inflation on a war between russia and some tiny dump. I guess Putin was over here stealing cows to cause meat inflation back in 2020? And he must have bombed all the shipping fleets when freight costs went 8 times higher in 2021? Very versatile dictator, even has a time travel machine apparently.
MtnMan wrote:Agree with all of the above.
Only thing missing is large scale conflict
mickb wrote:The worlds richest just doubled their net worth in the last two years, billionaires with wealth now into the hundreds of billions a common sight. That money came from somewhere and it was our pockets. 2 years of boondoggles and the next one is inflation and it looks like a re-visit to climate change. The media is already plugging the new stories 24/7 and blaming inflation on a war between russia and some tiny dump. I guess Putin was over here stealing cows to cause meat inflation back in 2020? And he must have bombed all the shipping fleets when freight costs went 8 times higher in 2021? Very versatile dictator, even has a time travel machine apparently.
MtnMan wrote:Someone with more talent than me needs to make a parody of the south park 'blame Canada' song. Blame Russia! Blame Russia!