Dear Cherful,

You assert: “the fact is renewables, cannot compete with the efficiency and cheaper cost of coal.”
But that just isn't the case.

"By 2023, China will have the capacity to deploy solar power nationwide at the same price as coal, and currently has that ability in three-quarters of the country, according to a joint study from Harvard, Tsinghua, Nankai and Renmin universities.
“Today subsidy-free solar power has become cheaper than coal power in most parts of China” in a trajectory spreading across the country, study coauthor Xi Lu said in a statement."
http://thehill.com/policy/equilibrium-sustainability/577412-solar-power-now-cheaper-than-coal-in-most-of-china-study

You then opinion:

“Blaming Scott Morrison is an excuse and a cop out.”

Hardly, although there should be a fair amount of blame distributed to Abbott who really set the anti-renewable pro caol agenda while Morrison just saw a good marketing opportunity to follow him.

We are now well behind so many of our developed nation counterparts and while we can still catch up rejigging our energy sector has become all that much harder due to those pair.

We don't have an energy problem we have an energy storage problem- mainly in vehicles and grid. The Lithium batteries in the Tesla apparently weigh 500kgs and the range is half a gasoline car- because of the low energy density to volume and mass. Acceleration and pulling power for electric cars are good- as Musk's uphill truck pulling competition demonstrates (similar to the screw vs paddle steamer competition about 200 years ago) because the torque curve for electric and ICE engines are different.

In order to provide high power AC voltage in an electric vehicle I'd expect that either you'd need to have the electric motor running or have an expensive inverter fitted- both which will reduce an already limited range- still it might work for around the city.

But I think that we are likely to run out of cheap Lithium to build the batteries for a Global Transport System. There's a whole complex economic situation that comes into play here- also the current infrastructure would need to be junked- at least the ICE engines themselves- and the expertise and infrastructure to maintain electric vehicles is different- so also junked.

I like the idea of doubling the car battery for home use.

Anyone that has a brain wouldn't buy an electric car other than to virtue signal for 3 main reasons:

1 Given that 75% of electrical energy in Aus is still fossil fuel-based and more so at night when EV cars are charged, the odds are that the emissions/km for an EV car are higher than the equivalent petrol car.

2 Even if the charging was emissions-free the huge amount of energy going into making the car and batteries means that an EV would have to drive roughly 70 000 km to emit less than an equivalent petrol car.

3 The resale value of an EV is crap. After 7-10 years you would be lucky to get 20c on the $. So EVs are far more efficient in reducing your bank balance than your carbon footprint.

Perhaps when electricity is carbon-free and the cost of batteries is a lot lower, it may be different, but that will be in a decade or two.

SR, I stand corrected! I thought solar only worked when the sun came out but China by next year will be self sufficient with panels all over the country to supply all their electricity. Great news although why do all these right wing journalists keep saying about all these new coal plants across Asia.
You are holding up four fingers telling me there is five fingers? I am really trying to see the five fingers perhaps more torture will help? Everytime I re-read 1984 or watch the movie I see just how great Orwell was and how delusional some people can become.

SteeleRedux

You surprised me by saying China will be able to supply so much renewable energy by 2023. Did you mean 2O33?
From all the reports I hear, China is building more and more coal fired power stations. I think China just says what it thinks
the world wants to hear,but China plays a secret chess game with all of us.
I don't think China will shut down their economy to install just renewables

Germany was actually one country that had the most renewables but they
have gone back over, more to coal and gas and that's why they are 70% dependent on Russia for their country's power supplies at the moment.

Those big windmills have an arm fall off about every 5 to 10 years and the cost of replacing
one of those windmill arms is extremely expensive.

They were killing a million birds a year in Germany. And particularly the big birds like Eagles