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Hi Lizzie My numbers were meant as a comparison to business as usual. A lot of the price increases have come on the back of transmission / distribution network charges as a lot of power lines (and a few old power stations) are coming to the end of their useful life. On top of that prices...

Hi Lizzie One reason is that we are more scared about the impact of higher electricity prices than the Portuguese. By my estimation, taking into account a number of factors, a 40% target would realistically require an approx 30% increase in retail electricity prices in Australia. Happy to...

Actually I see where you are heading now. You think the extra food eaten by the extra 40 million people who are now in this country will swamp the impact of their reduced number of offspring. That may be the case but firstly the population debate is made up of more than just food issues (eg...

Hi TC - Reduce the baby bonus and other forms of MCW - we don't need more babies! No problem if people want to have them though, just don't support that decision financially... :) We can then rely on our affluence to decrease our own birth rate by itself. All the research points to the...

There's some annoying facts in this debate such as the reality that moving people from poor countries to rich countries is one of the best things that can be done on a global scale to reduce global population growth. So can I ask the "close the borders" crowd whether they would prefer to see...

Right, I'm with you now. I should point out that Vestas has only just sold its first windstreamer design in the world to the Macarthur wind farm. All it's other designs and current production are DFIG (doubly fed induction generator) designs sans permanent magnets (and REEs). One could point...

That is certainly what some are saying. However, I know we could get an awful lot more abatement than 5% for $40 per tonne. But that would also depend on what technologies are deemed eligible for carbon abatement and how the rules end up getting drafted. From memory, even the CPRS projections...

Only if carbon prices get well over $40 / tonne. Remember this is the amount you have to increase everyone's price of electricity just to increase the amount of renewable energy by four per cent (from 11% up to 15%). It is not a reflection of how much more expensive wind is than conventional...

This is an important point. If we don't want it to, power costs don't have to rise very much in real terms for a couple of hundred years at least and probably more. That's if we choose to keep burning coal as we currently do. If we don't get a carbon price or equivalent obligation that is the...

"What we need is to focus our efforts on developing a technology that uses solar energy to convert atmospheric CO2 into carbon and oxygen. It needs to be simple, reliable, cost effective and suitable for mass deployment. But the problem is what to call it?" --- --- --- "A Tree?"...

Cheers - Sounds like there might be a strong financial return in that type of investment! :) Hi OO Those wind turbines have a rotor diameter of 112 metres. A Boeing 747 has a wingspan around 66 metres. Those sorts of economies of scale are required to get the cost anywhere near grid...

I reckon you deserve all that and more for being 5 hours from a CBD! :eek: Will your kids be able to go to high school in the area? My wife had to go to boarding school in her youth due to poor educational options in her family's farming area. Whenever I suggest a rural lifestyle she slaps...

We are. We have one car and a few bicycles. I cycle to work. No V8s, boats, motor bikes, canoes, TVs, etc etc etc. Two kids and one on the way in a 130sqm house. Haven't used personal plane travel for seven years. And I spend my working life working on sustainable energy solutions. Yet we...

Agreed. Which is why govts need to take the hard decisions for us. This gets back to the fundamental weakness of democracies - when hard decisions are required which nobody wants. If it is to work the system relies on the populace being convinced it's the way we eventually have to go...

Hi WW That graph only shows the number of overstayers who end up in detention. It doesn't show the 50,000-100,000 each year who don't...

Except me! :) You raise an interesting point though WW. There is the Chinese option to mandate a single child policy and there is the general experience that country birth rates reduce with increasing wealth. I prefer the latter option but that requires an all-encompassing discussion...

Hi Dazz When discussing the situation in the western suburbs of Perth, an old colleague of mine used to say "but if you increased the zoning there as well, where would the rich people live?" :p I shall always aspire to the big block and lifestyle we are discussing, for myself and my kids...

Hi TC We don't have to accomodate all of them - just a reasonable share. We are already doing this by proxy through overseas entry to our universities. A program where we assist developing countries through the provision of training services (eg Bangalore / California style) is an example...

Pig's Ar$e! :p Mr Elliot was worth it just for the laughs! It was only the academic who made this point on the panel but it's very convincing for me: Over this century, if Australia doesn't play it's part in accommodating an expanding global population then someone else is going to come in...