Paul,

"Issy, all political parties couch their policies in those terms..."

No, they don't; the SF&F do not do so and you saying that they do is indicative of, at best, unthinking bias or, at worst, Green lying.
http://www.shootersfishersandfarmers.org.au/nsw_policies

The Greens sprout about reducing pollution but that didn't stop Rhiannon going on a taxpayer funded jaunt around Europe nor does it stop Di Nasty from flying to and from Canberra; all that jet fuel pollution!!

Ok paul1405, if the Greens are so hell bent on reducing CO2 emissions how about this for an idea. Just one of my 7 Pages of My Think Tank Ideas.

The cessation of the manufacturing of all carbonated drinks in Australia as Carbonated Drinks adds 653.2 Metric Tonnes plus to Australia's Carbon footprint. (23 million people (avg.) by one can, (28.4g of CO2) per day, per person.) I think that works out. Some people drink more, some less. All a reasonable estimate.

The figure is most probably much higher than this in reality. This adds to Australia’s Carbon Footprint.

Extend that across the Worlds 9,000,000,000,000 people drinking at least 1 drinks per day. Some people drink more, some less. That makes 9,000,000,000 metric Tons per day or 328,725,000,000 Metric Tonnes per year of CO2 going into the Atmosphere from an artificial source. What are or Greenies doing about this? Nothing, disgraceful.

Australia's share from Aerated drinks World wide is .1111%, but still.

I've never seen a Demonstration against Aerated Drinks.

But let's extend that a bit. There are lots of places where CO2 is purposely vented to the Atmosphere. I'm a Boilermaker, amoungt other things, I use a Mig Welder. In order to keep Oxygen from destroying the Weld I float the Weld Puddle in CO2. Now when I worked in the Railways Workshop, our shop alone would go through about 30 large bottles of CO2 a week. Plus other exotic Gasses like Argon for Aluminum etc. Now in Townsville alone there were three Repair Workshops, ours would have used the least. So that's about 110 large CO2 Bottles a week. Now counting the other Workshops, The Copper Refinery, the Nickle Smelter, The Zink Smelter about 20 private Engineering works, Plus, plus, plus. How much CO2 is really vented into the Atmosphere by ordinary Industry?
Cont.

Cont.

I'd say Coal Fired Power Stations are at the bottom of the list. But they are an easy target. Ay.

The problem is that Electric Vehicles would be at the 1918 era compared to ordinary cars now-a-days don't you think? By 2030 that would move up to the 1950's I'd say. A long way to go. Maybe we need another War to kick things along. Ay.

Jayb,
I think you've overestimated the amount of CO2 in soft drinks by an order of magnitude. But even if you haven't, it makes no difference, as it, and indeed the CO2 in MIG welding, is the result of "carbon capture" from other processes (such as brewing) and from freezing it out of the air (as a byproduct of argon extraction).

The problem isn't returning recently captured CO2 to the atmosphere; it's adding the huge additional amount that's the result of combusting carbon that's been out of the atmosphere for a long time (usually millions of years) to produce energy (that is usually producible without resorting to burning fossil fuels).

Your assumption that electric vehicles are still at the 1918 era is also completely wrong. EVs were at that stage in 1918; they'd been competitive with petrol cars until just before then. And just because they'd lost their competitive edge doesn't mean technological development stopped. There have been huge advances at the component level, and more recently at the systems level as well.

Aidan: I think you've overestimated the amount of CO2 in soft drinks by an order of magnitude.

That is information I got off the side of a Coke Can.

As for Electric Vehicles. I'm driving to Townsville for a 1 RAR Reunion on the 12 of May. It will take me 1.5 Tanks of Diesel. That's 100 Lt of Diesel, at $1.40 a litre. That's $140. with only one stop for fuel before Townsville. Usually Carmila on the way up & Gin Gin on the way home. (A Sleepover at BP Mac's Stopover for Tea.) Now with Battery Power, I be stopping every 60 k's for an hour to recharge. I'll be towing a Caravan so I might not make 60k's. That'd be fun. Ay.

Aidan,

You're right and electric vehicles are at the moment right up in 2018.
The very latest are marvels of technology and if I could afford one then I'd have one right now.

The difference that I have with the Greens is that I don't believe in compulsion, if electric cars are good (and they are) then they will take their place in the market.
If they are better (and they are for some uses) then they will prevail in those spheres.

The 1918 ones were better cars than their petrol or steam rivals except for range.

I once had the pleasure of a short trip in a 1912 Detroit Electric whose owner used it for everyday transport from somewhere around Mascot to the City and back; I presume that he topped up the charge during the day.
It was unbelievably quiet, rode well, had more than adequate braking power and the visibility was brilliant, one could look over the tops of most cars!