Boy, we could have done something like that, that's if our government hadn't pissed it all away on failed project after failed project.

Curmudgeon: "Its an advance but its not a solution."

We don't stop looking for a cure for cancer because we're only making advances.

I agree with halduell, too many people so easily claim it can't be done.

why are all these foolish promises made far enough in the future that they can't and won't be held to account? How many countries achieved their Kyoto protocol promises? Any? And then we had CopenHagen.

Trashcanman

But you represented that plant as a cure, and I'm not suggesting we stop research. Instead, what is clear from a glance at that project is just how far the technology has to go, even after decades and billions of dollars. As we can now see more clearly the only emissions-less reliable power source likely to be available within our lifetimes is the existing nuclear (which Merkel is shutting down), and maybe geothermal.

Trash et al,

The only potentially viable source of renewable power presently is wind power, with an established technical base and the lowest cost producer (renewable) by far.

The rest are just toys so far. The cost of the Spanish solar generation is about 4x what nuclear would be, and the hot rocks geothermal has yet to produce a viable plant. (the SA plant is foundering).

The end result is that renewable power is still unreliable and hideously expensive, and unless this is replaced with reliable and relatively cheap alternatives (such as nuclear) the carbon tax will only increase prices with little real reduction.

Unfortunately the experience is that geothermal will not work in Oz. Our rocks are not being reheated quickly enough to keep the system working long enough to pay for the instillation costs. Don't forget that includes hundreds of kilometers of transmission lines, to get the power to the existing grid.

It is a pity that our global warming industry, & media have avoided telling the truth about recent experience, or we would all know that currently it only works in volcanic areas.

Perhaps those brilliant engineers, who can drill oil & gas wells horizontally, will come up with a way of spreading the heat harvesting area from a single drill hole, & make it viable in the distant future, but I'd sure rather that the AGW enthusiasts paid for the experiment, than we do with more tax money.

Sorry folks, that's one more pie shot down, just no report of where it crashed. Keeps the useful idiots on board, & paying doesn't it?