Apologies to all. A typo managed to get through when I formulated the title for this discussion. Thanx, ttbn, for spotting this. I have emailed the Administrator to request a correction. :-)

Hopefully, one day, renewable energy generation will be cheap enough to make wind towers and solar panels in China using renewable energy instead of coal. Or, if they were made here, maybe even without the subsidies.

And shouldn't the amount of CO2 generated by one method or other include that produced in the production of those forms of renewable energy ? How long would, say, a wind tower have to operate before it's countered the amount of CO2 used in making it ? Or would this great day never arrive in its lifetime ?

In the meantime, say the next century, why not built nuclear energy systems, using uranium or thorium ? And with no subsidies ?

Just trying to be helpful.

Joe

We are paying for the government to broadcast how they are bringing down the price of electricity (non-stop ads on radio). I check the price per kWh on each bill I receive, and that price never reduces. On my last bill, I paid $59 less than the full amount for merely paying on time, which I have always done anyway (paid on time). This does not make electricity cheaper and, if I can be given a discount of 15% for no real reason, then I am being charged too much in the first place. It's all about 'mark up'. And, like most goods and services in Australia, the mark up is too high, and there is nothing governments can do about it, short of introducing price control which has been a dirty word since the ousting of arch-socialist and economy wrecker, Gough Whitlam.

Further, the cost of electricity is not the worst of it. Reliability is a big problem, as is the fact that most of the windmills are just about worn out; and guess who is going to bear the tremendous cost of replacing them!

What's this nonsense: there is no such thing as "renewable energy" - that would go against the laws of thermodynamics!

The main way to combat global warming is to depopulate. We simply can't keep growing. Changing the way we generate electricity is less important than reducing the amount of electricity we need.

Dear Benk,

Though there is no such thing as "global warming", I still support your conclusion wholeheartedly. Overpopulation squeezes people and turns them into numbers. When there are too many people in a given area, regimentation is required in order to prevent them stepping on each other's foot - and this diminishes the quality of life and in fact defeats its purpose.