john Daysh,
Amazing, so many words telling nothing !

I was surprised to learn that the average efficiency of the worlds coal fired power stations is only 33%, where as wind turbines have an efficiency of 40% to 50%, with an increase to 59% with new technology.

I like that steam loco stat, Paul, 4%!

Your chemistry story made me laugh too. "Alcohol’s just water with a bit of carbon" could almost be the deniers' next energy theory.

___

I'll take that reply as a concession, Indyvidual.

Filthy mines + Child labour + Fossil fuels = Good
Filthy mines + Child labour + Renewables = Bad

"they threaten vested interests who have every reason to magnify their flaws"

No John,

That is what people like you do by exaggerating the dangers of nuclear power, fossil fuels and climate change to ring as much from the renewable energy con as you can. Hopefully the coalition have the brains to ditch net zero and give the voters an alternative to economic suicide.

That’s projection, Fester:

//That is what people like you do by exaggerating the dangers of nuclear power, fossil fuels and climate change…//

I don’t exaggerate them. I cite the IEA, CSIRO, AEMO, WHO. Their findings are public, peer-reviewed, and widely accepted.

Meanwhile, your side has made a cottage industry out of exaggeration in the opposite direction: calling Net Zero “economic suicide,” branding renewables a “con,” or pretending Australia’s wholesale price drop didn’t happen. That’s not analysis, that’s slogan.

If you want to argue against renewables, do it on the numbers - costs, capacity, utilisation - not by dressing every transition as apocalypse.

Otherwise, your “alternative” is just the mirror image of what you claim to oppose.

The alternative energy industry is just like the beauty industry. It's all about presenting an unrealistic likeable image yet untrue side that hides the realties of the outfall & waste from it.
It also denies a lot of useful & workable & far less polluting infrastructure because of all the effort & costs wasted on it & its supporters.