So there you go Lexi. Solar hot water available, has been doing
a wonderful job for 30 years or so, you burn gas to heat your
water.

Why?

Lexi,

"We must have a carbon tax because it is the right thing"? There is a motherhood statement if I ever heard one.

You have consistently failed to address the one question that really counts: What effect will Australia's carbon tax have on global emissions if most other countries have none?

lexie..as andrew bolt pointed out..co2..is a clear gass
[ie no smoke in the sky...THEY ARNT TAXING POLUTION
only the unseen gas

at bellies topic..we hear the leaper saying
about the reefs are melting...he calls the reefs chalk
but the reefs are calcium..LIME...lime is what neutralises acid
[so the more a feef melts..the LESS acidic it becomes..but you forget basic science]

shells getting thinner is evolution
but also putting BACK enough 'chalk'..to make their babies shells
[its self balancing dear heart]

i note you got solar on your roof
so how much did you pay
and how much did i pay..

[ie my govt subsidy]..for *your solar savings..?

see the joke
we got a KATE/bank-cheque..on tv telling us were bad
[yet on her own mansions roof sit over 60 solar cells]
estimated cost @ 1000$ per cell=$60,000[jeez how much power does she use?

did she get govt subsidy
for her gross excessive abuse of power?

next joke is we got a solar ship..[oops sorry boat]
with 800 solar cells on its extended deck
did they get a subsidy i wonder

[cost 800,000]
to run a large twin hull ferry size boat
PLUS REPLACING THE BATTERIES..[every few years]

[noting its going in..for service at cairns/next]
seems its batteries wear out every few thousand..amp hours .//./lol

but there is yet more
to the joke

see with smokers they learned guilt works
make fools feel guilty you can tax them into their graves

but there is more
usa raises 6 billion..from quater of a billion people

and we 20 million..will be raising 25 billion..
per year]..

[but we dont know EVEN the starting price..[yet]..
nor how much that 'price'..will go up to

so ya kids will be paying
whatever the bankers think we MUST pay
this simngle issue..will cost us the world

the kids will be saying to you
mummmy you paid all our money..to build a forrest
that dont grow food...

now mummy im hungry...
so mummy what will you do?

Dear Yabby,

Solar hot water still has a gas back-up. And when we purchased our house it was already on gas hot water. (this was the only option at the time that was available) so your criticism is not very fair. As soon as solar became a viable option we chose electricity as the option. Now we are looking at other ways to "green" our home. BTW - what are you doing in this direction? Our son has solar hot water installed recently - but he still relies on gas back-up because the sun doesn't heat it adequately.

SM,

It's obvious that you either don't want to hear what's being said - or choose to ignore it because I've consistently answered your question. I think that you're simply stirring.

However, I'll quote again -- what I've stated previously: most developed nations are trying to curb their emissions.

"Australia's only hope of forestalling seriously damaging climate change is a strong international agreement to curb emissions. That's mostly out of our hands; but we increase our chances of such an agreement if we ourselves demonstrate a willingness to take hard decisions about reducing emissions."

"This is where "direct action" fails most demonstrably - since it is clear such a policy will see an increase in emissions, not a cut, and it will just confirm our international reputation for dragging the chain on climate action. And in such a context, our current 5% target is inadequate - seriously inadequate for convincing other nations that we are serious about reducing emissions. It needs to be increased perhaps substantially and we need a serious emissions abatement policy to demonstate good faith to the other nations."

Lexi, my point is very valid indeed! Solar hot water is stupidly
simple and it works. Yes, it can have gas or electrical back up,
as your solar cells have. But for many months of the year it will
work 100%, even in winter it will work, increasing water temps
substantially from ice cold to luke warm. That saves burning gas.

Hot water is by far the biggest user of household electricity. If
you want to cut electricity use, start there. Your solar cells are
all very well, but are largely subsidised by other users paying higher power charges. So rather then "saving the planet" your reasons for installing them can be put down to enlightened self interest (others paying for your system), as anything else.

My point really is that whilst people like you pontificate the virtues and need for a carbon tax, 70% of you haven't even bothered to install the bleeding obvious, which is solar hot water.