Yes Bazz, without our coal fired power the sough eastern states couldn't keep the lights on, but it is worse than that.

Without our coal, WAs iron ore, & north shelf gas, earning our foreign exchange they couldn't earn enough for themselves to buy cars, electrical & electronic goods, hell they couldn't even buy shoes.

With their manufacturing industry basically gone, there is really no reason for their existence, except perhaps to house migrants.

You have to wonder just what they have between their ears, when they tell us to stop mining coal, it is all that keeps them going.

Hasbeen,
I suggest that we all petition the governor to dissolve parliament on
the grounds that the politicians are obviously insane.
As well as electricity Sydney Water is now warning about water shortage.
The dam level is falling faster than ever before.
So their solution is more migrants, fix both problems in one go.
No electricity, no water, no problem

Hasbeen you take a step too far in including Iron ore in your defense of coal
Why? no challenge to the use or export of it exists
Coal is here to stay, for now, and we must trade in it use it while we can
That much is the very reason for the thread
Count the voters who agree
Now consider why any group unable to ever win government, should convince us other than to continue to use it
Coal, in time, will be over taken by? cheaper power sources
Think Kodak,had anyone foretold the coming of Digital Cameras, and very near death of film printing, a shop on every corner, we would have thought them mad
Such new things come, like it or not, and are driven by profit not politics as this coal debate is

Hasbeen, your conclusion that I have a problem with reality is the result of your cognitive dissonance. You have so much trouble accepting that you could be wrong that you assume the problem is with whoever contradicts your delusions.

See http://reneweconomy.com.au/coal-and-hydro-generators-struggle-after-lightning-strikes-twice-on-network-57485/ for the role SA's Big Battery played when lightning struck the Queensland-NSW interconnector.

Have you any actual evidence of "ratbag greenies" preventing trees being cut back around HV powerlines? Or is that also a figment of your imagination.

Regarding economics, you seem unaware that there's an equilibrium; if our mineral export volumes were lower, our dollar would also be lower so our manufacturers would be more competitive.

And doesn't your state have a desal plant that can be turned on when its dam levels get low?

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Bazz, I thought those multi-storey units were being built in the inner suburbs. And how many of them are tall enough for the residents to need to use lifts?

The days of SA being reliant on interstate power to keep the lights on are gone. However without a carbon price, coal power is cheaper than gas power, and SA sometimes takes advantage of cheaper interstate electricity. Although nowadays SA is a net exporter of electricity, and usually has lower wholesale prices.

Aiden, you should refrain from insulting people and using big words to
do it is no excuse.

Most of the units being built are three to six floors high.
The legal limit without lifts is three floors but those ones never sell.
Even some two floor units have lifts but not these ones.
Try this;
http://tinyurl.com/yyf26553

There are hundreds like this around Sydney. The 10 to 20 storied ones
are near the city centre where the would be's if they could be's like
to live so they can vote green etc.

Well my mistake, see my view is the thread is about our use of coal, not in any way in my mind about renewable,s or failures in the current system
We do not live forever so may not see it, but a child born today may well at age 50 never see coal used in its current form or current way
My view is strongly, not to leave it in the ground while it is salable
To continue to use it until we no longer need to, that time is not now
Re reading the posts it is clear some base every view on their side of politics not the facts