Luciferase, last Saturday, you posted, "I don't think conservatives are as wedded to coal as much as they are to reliable electricity, which coal ensures."

Here's a report on the recent poor reliability of fossil fuels and how renewable energy and battery storage have prevent that unreliability from causing serious problems in Australia's NEM: http://www.tai.org.au/content/coal-and-gas-reliability-liability-heat-report

I quote from that report, "New analysis released today by The Australia Institute’s Climate & Energy Program shows that coal and gas failed to provide energy security during the February 2017 heatwave. Additionally, it found that solar prevented far worse disruption and load-shedding."

My figuring re Germany was not a current as yours, GJOESQ. If emissions fell in 2017 it was on the back of two years of rising. The following link reports the facts as they stood prior to 2017 (for which figures will be released this May):

http://environmentalprogress.org/big-news/2017/1/13/breaking-german-emissions-increase-in-2016-for-second-year-in-a-row-due-to-nuclear-closure

More on storage (which you are keen to ignore). If Germany with all its integration into the EU grid (with nuclear and hydro) can't make a difference to its own carbon footprint that is a significant contribution to AGW mitigation, how do we do it here on an island continent? We must be thankful to Germany for showing us what is NOT the way, at its own great expense.

http://www.hanswernersinn.de/dcs/2017%20Buffering%20Volatility%20EER%2099%202017.pdf

What’s entirely absent from the policy discussion of environmentalists is any acknowledgement of their class privilege. Much of the cost of environmental policies falls on the poorest households. The poor subsidise the solar panels of the rich through their ever increasing electricity bills. When government mandates higher environmental standards it’s the poor who are disproportionately harmed by higher prices.

Luciferase, thanx for posting those links. :-)

Here's a couple of links that explain how Australia will be able to meet the storage challenge:

https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/uploads/d4a4f17c09c83d03f13234051e3e77d8.pdf

https://arena.gov.au/blog/acola/

ttbn, here's an excellent Australian initiative that directly addresses access to rooftop solar PV by low income households:

https://onestepoffthegrid.com.au/low-income-homes-offered-no-cost-solar-batteries/?utm_source=RE+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=241109ad1e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_18&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_46a1943223-241109ad1e-40450881

Furthermore, contrary to your erroneous belief that "The poor subsidise the solar panels of the rich through their ever increasing electricity bills", the opposite is true. In the year to April 2017, rooftop solar PV saved all Australians $3.3 billion by obviating the need to fire up gas peakers:

https://www.echo.net.au/2017/10/rooftop-solar-saving-billions-australians/

GJOESQ, like a zombie you just keep coming. Well, your lot is winning the politics, regardless of the true facts about renewables and of nuclear, so I'll leave my parting shot.

A glee sheet or two about remarkable storage opportunities doesn't cut it. The great German experiment demonstrates it is an expensive path to failure. Unless a remarkable storage discovery brings scalable, viable storage, 100% renewables is a mirage.

In failing to challenge the moratorium against nuclear in Australia and to open up a proper scientific debate about it, Finkel is a failure too, and an imbiber of renewablista Kool-aid.