Wind farms and solar are promoted very strongly, however there are
very significant drawbacks to both alternatives.

Wind turbine's output falls to the cube root of the fall in wind speed.
This means output falls very rapidly in a falling breeze.
This why you see such figures as average yearly output being 15% of
nameplate rating. The problem applies to all the supporting
infrastructure, such as transmission lines, switchgear etc etc.
If the wind falls by 33% the output falls to 1/27 of maximum rating.
Some say if you have windfarms spread out over the country then when
the wind stops in one place it will be blowing elsewhere.
Well I have news for you, the Germans found that indeed the wind does
fail everywhere at the same time all over Europe.
Remember it has to be near gale force over 66% of the continent.

Solar of course is weather dependent and also seasonal dependent.
Shorter days in winter, cloudy days.
Energy storage is always suggested but just imagine the size of the
battery bank or other storage medium needed !
Whatever is used, is there enough lead or salt tanks or whatever to
support every house in the world at evening meal time ?
That is what the task is, no matter how green you are, it is a task
that verges on the impossible and is likely to be impossible even if
it was affordable.

So, assuming no miracles, solar and wind are no more than a small contributer.
What is your suggestion ?

Graham Young wrote 14 March 2011:

>Australia is unique. Nowhere else in the world has climate change featured as a major issue in national elections in the way it has here. ...

No. A search of news items produces more referring to climate change in America than Australia:

A search of news items mentioning "national", "elections", "climate change" and "America" but not "Australia" produced 5,560 results: http://www.google.com.au/search?num=100&hl=en&tbs=nws%3A1%2Car%3A1&q=national+elections+%22climate+change%22+-Australia+America&btnG=Search

With "Australia" there were only 4,460 results: http://www.google.com.au/search?num=100&hl=en&tbs=nws%3A1%2Car%3A1&q=national+elections+%22climate+change%22+Australia+&btnG=Search