Declining world oil and coal prices make these energy resources a better buy for average Australians. But if you are rich and trendy who cares?

Wattle, you're just so wrong in your assumptions.

The cheapest energy just happens to be carbon free or carbon neutral; like cheaper than coal thorium and connected to micro-grids, for around half what you'd pay for hydro?

And quarter, as homemade biogas, converted onsite via ceramic fuel cells, the latter being endlessly sustainable; as is the free hot water that comes as an equally endless bonus.

And usually rubbished by the hopelessly ignorant; [and if the cap fits,] or those with a vested interest in the status quo, which given current outcomes, may include far too many pollies?

Even so, my principle destination for any spare investment funds, given it's nigh on impossible to lose money investing in energy, but particularly the cheapest forms!

However, and a sad day for the investing and or privatization community, (prevaricating pollies) that remains very local publicly provided thorium energy; or the aforementioned personal Waste> biogas> ceramic fuel cells> personal/household models!

And thorium power connected to very localized micro grids, is a must do, if we are to ever resuscitate our manufacturing sector; and essential, if we are to end our over reliance on the terminal mining industry!

Which arguably provides much more benefit to price gouging/tax avoiding foreigners and foreign economies than us!

Every western style economy rests on just two support pillars, energy and capital!

And in both cases we rely almost exclusively on the (nonexistent) goodwill of foreign capitalists/investors for both!?

And only possible due to self serving pollies, (twiddle dumb and twaddle dumber) who arguably put everything else ahead (including rank self interest) of the true national interest!?

Even as we move almost inexorably towards a future that sees us tenants in our own land, and totally beholden to foreigners/foreign interests, or he who must be Obeid, for our right to live and or breathe!?

And make no mistake; it just doesn't have to be that way; as opposed to the abject asinine assertions of the current crop of less than useful, (er, um, well, well it's all the opposition's fault or responsibility) endlessly prevaricating/blame shifting/do nothing pollies!?
Rhrosty.

Visionaries like Curtain and Chiefly understood that we were far too reliant on coal, so embarked on visionary alternative energy projects so large, they recreated our economy into one far larger with greater wealth/wealth creating capacity, and the numbers benefiting from it!

They understood as no pollie before or since, why you need to not only diversify, but that it becomes part of a continuing process of expansion; and as a public model; because with all its perceived flaws, it far and away, delivers the least expensive energy!

And for a while our manufacturing arm grew on the back of that lowest costing energy!

Now they're packing up, even the most high tech operations, and the brightest entrepreneurs, and heading towards the exit sign, killed off by the power bill!

And only because our own version of the tea party have gotten their decidedly dumb hands on the levers of the economy, and think they can fix things by pricing energy out of the reach of not only the masses, both huge swathes of Australian small business as well!

Must we ape Britain and force over a million families to live in the dark!



Where would we be today if visionaries like Curtain and Chiefly had been followed by an even more visionary, pragmatist Le Kwan Yu!

Arguably, there would have been no self defeating privatizations under that LEADER; but rather, more corporations/enterprises added to the (increasingly rich) nation's portfolio!

We just don't need to divest, but rather acquire; and as simple as replacing the blinkered sad sack no can do's, with can do pragmatists, with more that just one single straight jacket idea!

An economy is very much like a Cathedral; it must be built on a solid foundation by master builders, from the ground up, and with enduring cemented in properly aligned and expertly placed, symbiotic building blocks!

However, it will survive only as long as hypothetical sand castles, if it is trickled down from above, to fall where the forever fickle winds of change take it!
Rhrosty.

This push to shut down coal & oil prematurely is very dangerous.
The need to build an alternative energy regime is becoming urgent but
we need coal and oil to build the new energy regime no matter what it is.
The Energy Return on Energy Invested in coal and oil is falling with
oil the first to become uneconomic. The tight shale oil in the US was
not taken advantage of to get us building the new regime.
Solar and wind will not do the job so we have to build something else.
The ERoEI of solar and wind is just not good enough to run an economy
anything like what we now have.

Rhosty you will note has a number of suggestions, some of which are in
trial in many parts of the world and I believe the Indians are having
a go at Thorium reactors but it will all take a lot of time.
In the meantime do not cut our own throats before we get the change
done and get our new system built.

After all it doesn't matter whether global warming is real or not.
The falling ERoEI of oil and coal means that we have a limited time
to use them and we need what is left of them to do the energy rebuild.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the world imposed economic and other sanctions against the government of South Africa because of its apartheid policies. The result, after that govt fell, has been two decades of significant poverty for the vast majority of black South Africans. So the moral imperative to force the minority-rule South African govt to change to a majority-rule govt has caused untold death and suffering to ordinary black South Africans.

Today, we are being urged on moral grounds to disinvest our investments away from fossil fuel producers. To the rich, comfortable, middle class people at whom this campaign is being targeted, there are almost no downsides to their selling of shares in oil and coal companies. But look 10 or 20 years into the future when the campaign may have succeeded and most electricity will be produced by renewables.

My crystal ball tells me that only wealthy, developed countries, societies or individuals will be able to afford the higher prices needing to be charged for the production and storage of renewable energy, resulting in most of the world's poor forced to do without the cheap electricity obtained from fossil fuels. In other words, the moral imperative which motivated the disinvestment movement will consign 100s of millions of people to a continuing life of poverty.

Bernie – your crystal ball might be faulty. I would not call Vanuatu or Solomon Islands wealthy countries. Both are moving away from fossil fuels by constructing power stations fuelled by renewable and semi-renwable sources to generate all their electricity needs. In the very short term, this is costly but operating costs are very low and each country is saved millions in foreign exchange spent on importing fossil fuels.

India imports massive quantities of fossil fuels to generate electricity for its cities but is moving to curb expansion by providing solar-power electricity to villages and smaller towns for lighting, cooking and smart phones. A 750 MW solar power station is expected to be completed within 12 months and other similar schemes are underway or on the drawing-board. Again, this saves India foreign exchange whioch can be used for importing health and educaional materials and new technology.