Coal is non-renewable. It cannot be made “clean”, not even by the ferocious industry and political spin.

Garrett on the 7:30 report last night said that “clean coal is an important future enegy source”, so Labor agrees with Howard, but for different reasons.

Howard is looking after the interests of coal exporters and companies that sell power made from burning coal.

Labor (Rudd & Garrett) are seeking to neutalise Howard’s clean coal push by agreeing with it and chiding him for not doing it sooner – and they aim to placate the coal mining unions who are agressively lobbying for clean coal too.

As Al Gore says, politics can’t really deal with climate change – there is too much stupidity and too many vested interests. We need real and concentrated community and grass roots pressure on this.

How about referendums on where to spend the $ – renewables, coal or nuclear? I don’t trust the windbags in Government (State and Federal) to do the right thing.

On renewables, Prof Mark Diessendorf said today that:

promoters of fossil fuels and nuclear power are spreading the fallacy that renewable energy cannot provide baseload. But it’s entirely untrue.

He seems to have worked out how we can get from where we are to where we’ve got to go. It would have been interesting if the interviewer had asked him to develop this theme further. The converation she didn’t have with Rupert Posner of the Climate Group also would have been interesting.

20% renewables in 7 years! Is it any wonder the Adelaide media just got stuck into Mr Pledge for running a V8 ministerial car fleet for chrissakes? That’s the trouble with being a hypocritical bullshit artist, supporting V8 Supercar races and Holden V8 Camaro exports to the US. The same wanker is calling upon the Feds to halt the Car Plan tarriff reductions. What the hell is Rann going to do to Holdens or Mitsis power bills with enforcing 20% renewables I ask?

Front page of Advertiser 6th March headline reads- ‘2 NEW POWER PLANTS TO EASE STRESS’ and continues-
“Two new power stations worth $870 mill are being planned for SA in a move that could ease strain on the state’s electricity network.
Corporate firms Babcock and Brown and NP Power will this month apply to the Development assessment Commission to build a 450MW gas fired peaking power station at Redbanks near Mallala.
The project estimated to cost $350 mill has been endorsed by the State Govt as a “public infrastructure development� under section 49 of the Development Act.
A separate 560MW power station valued at $520 milloion, has been foreshadowed as part of Altona Resources $3.9 billion proposal to produce petroleum and gas in the state’s Far North.
If approved, the new power stations would be among the state’s 5 biggest generators.�

And all this when he came to power and inherited the brand new Pelican Point gas fired power station adding nearly 800MW to the grid. When the hell does all the easy talking stop and the hard walking begin wbb? 20% renewables in 7 years, my arse!

I cant help thinking of the ‘efficiency’ drives that presage the demise of all doomed & outdated technologies; but on balance, its seems a unobjectionable interim measure.

I dont know enough about it – but it strikes me we need a full, informed debate on the renewable “baseload capacity” question. People like Howard and Keating’s former finance Minsiter Peter Whatsisname gasbag assertively and dismissively about renewable capacity – yet major economies like California reckon its a goer, and are pinching our scientists to enable it.

I dont think we should bother with any ‘nuclear debate’ till weve had that one out.

And yes, brown coal should be a prohibited substance.

Show me the cities like Adelaide that currently run anywhere near 50% renewables, or 30 or 20%.

We won’t need to show you anything, Observa. You’ll be showing us.

It is the stated policy of your government that South Australia run 20% renewables 7 years from now.

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Show me the cities like Adelaide that currently run anywhere near 50% renewables, or 30 or 20%. I repeat, the sun doesn’t shine at night and the lights don’t glow when the wind don’t blow. Consumers will not freeze or swelter in the dark and that’s why Mr Pledge, Mike Rann is approving 2 new, additional gas fired power plants in SA.

But it’s a matter of hedging bets. And as a clean coal solution would benefit Oz more than other countries it’s appropriate that we put a bigger proportion of our research money in that direction than other countries. I agree we oughtta get cracking on the next step too – sequestration.

If you look hard enough into the distance you can see me hitting another six at floccing Yallourn.

Combine that with the potential of Hot Rocks and solar and SA is better placed than most to reach 100% renewable power generation in our lifetime.

As a South Australian you could be proud of your state for once.

If you look hard enough into the distance you can see me hitting another six at floccing Yallourn.

Without carbon capture, this plant’s carbon intensity is about equivalent to a typical black coal plant (not an IGCC one). It’s nearly double that of a natural gas combined cycle plant.

Brown coal is evil, evil stuff.

I just have to ask Austin. Where are all these developed cities like Adelaide that use 100% renewables? Please don’t fob me off with hydro, because I live in the driest state in the driest continent.

Let me quote from the very paper you’re using to bag me:

The flow scheme presented presented here involves a small cost expenditure for changing to CO2 capture mode, and the decrease in efficiency is approximately two percentage points. The scheme demonstrates the economic impact of CO2 capture can be a lot less than previously thought. The flexibility to build and operate a conventional IGCC plant and to convert later to CO2 capture enhances the likelihood that such plants will be seriously considered by power developers in the near future.