Can we replace Australia's entire power requirements with Solar Renewable Energy? Well here is my back of the envelope Australian energy plan. This is an estimate but it is interesting to do the numbers.
Another afternoon of free electricity from a grid full of renewables in Vic.
The car will be charged to 80% for $0.
The energy transition should have been a national conversation about technology, economics and opportunity.
Conservatives instead made it a dumb culture war.
all the arguments,
"We cant subsidies' renewables!!!11!!"
"wind farms destroy land!!11!"
"Solar farms destroy land!1!!!! Wont someone think of the environment..
whatever.. Meanwhile, taxpayers, once again, foot the bill for cleaning up another abandoned coal mine.. #auspol
@aaronsmith@mattjcan If lnp/phon mob were really agnostic about the technology and went on the economics, the cheapest viable option is renewables, storage and gas peaking. Oh wait, thats what the AEMO says. Bugger.
They are not agnostic, they have an irrational hatred of renewables and storage.
@missopionated76@Peter_Fitz Yes China is on track to have 110 gw of nuclear power by 2030 and 3500 gw of installed renewables by 2030. That 31 x more renewable power than nuclear. So scale that back to Australia that's 120 gw of renewable and and 4 gw nuclear, except we already have 12 gw gas peaking.
The lie at the heart of the nation.
There are 17 US-controlled military facilities on Australian soil, new report has revealed.
But Foreign Minister Penny Wong is trying to protect the Americans:
“These are Australian bases under Australian command.” https://t.co/CQOi5oubRH
Electric car owners of Australia - a poll for you
Please retweet to help poll coverage
Please reply if you use other options
I drive #EVs and most (> 2/3) of my EV recharge from:
(I will post separate polls for other regions)
Esteemed Australian author Richard Flanagan delivered a powerful speech at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas warning of a new McCarthyism, accusing Israel of "seeking to silence" Australians with the slur of antisemitism.
"The ways in which the Segal report can deeply damage our democracy are frightening to ponder."
"We are free and we must not surrender that freedom. Yet, it is under attack and we must now fight for it."
We have published the full text of the speech.👇️
https://t.co/nc3i6qjjwh de
Let’s say this plainly - a deadly combination of corporate greed and war is driving us towards global food shortages where the poorest people will starve.
We need politics to step us back from the brink, invest in renewables not weapons, food not bombs. https://t.co/f3tK4K0XoF
"Potatoes ‘boil’ in the ground as record heatwave sweeps across swathes of Asia"
This is frightening. I knew Africa had been impacted by the recent heatwaves, but I didn't realise Asia too. It makes you wonder, with these projected food shortages, where impacted countries will be buying their food from. It's a genuine climate emergency. We could see global food hyperinflation.
https://t.co/BW3AFUwA9l
Your 'moment of doom' for Aug. 12, 2026 ~ Hopium-soaked
"The worst El Niño in recorded history is unfolding in the Pacific, affecting weather and water around the world. Violence over water is worsening, with more water-related conflicts than at any time in recorded history."
https://t.co/PfnitILXec
'The climate alarm is blaring, from every direction,' UN Climate Chief warns
"Around the world, climate-driven disasters are reaching nightmare proportions, as the costs of humanity’s addiction to burning coal, oil and gas keep spiraling upwards"
"What needs to be done is equally clear: leave coal, oil and gas behind faster, scale up renewables, and protect people where the impacts are already hitting hardest"
Simon Stiell, UN Climate Chief
#ClimateEmergency
https://t.co/2kEoNlHIeJ
I’ve been saying for a long time, this is going to be a ‘food price’ crisis, then a ‘food shortage’ crisis, then a ‘watching the people you love starve’ crisis.
The NT govt is throwing its support behind 12 new data centres and gas fracking in the Beetaloo Basin. Fracking Beetaloo threatens the NT's water and river systems, and could release up to 1.4bn tonnes of greenhouse gases - it's been compared to a "carbon bomb", increasing Australia's carbon emissions by 20%. Data centres use huge amounts of water and energy. We need the federal government to require new renewable energy and sustainable water use for all new data centres and AI infrastructure, and we shouldn't approve new data centres until those protections are in place. https://t.co/V8ZeD5ZhEK
Data on Sodium Ion batteries.
The latest data gives sodium Ion at 175 Wh / kg compared with Lithium Ion at 300 Wh / kg. This is not a major issue for Grid scale storage but it is for vehicles.
The typical costs at present are Sodium Ion $70 / kWh versus $ 100 for Lithium Ion.
The 7 big benefits of Sodium Ion versus Lithium Ion are:
15,000 cycles versus 5000 cycles.
90 % charge at -40 degree C versus 10 % charge at -20 degree C. This is why Lithium Ion systems often need heaters that increase running losses.
Virtually no fire risk this is a very significant risk benefit.
Can be discharged once to zero voltage for safe transport and assembly this is also a major advantage. Lithium Ion are damaged if discharged to zero which is why Lithium Ion must be shipped in a charge state, that has a high risk
High availability of readily available materials.
Very stable costs as no rare materials.
Being developed by CATL for existing Grid scale storage contracts.
The Sodium Ion cell voltages vary more than Lithium Ion cell voltages and this needs a major redesign of the associated PWM inverter.
This is why Sodium Ion batteries can not be directly used with existing inverters design for Lithium Ion batteries
Sodium Ion batteries will very soon dominate Grid Scale storage.
It’s hard to describe just how far out in front of us is China 2026. Luckily record numbers are checking out for themselves. Increasingly visa-free travel makes it easier than it’s ever been.
I’ve just been on a “High-speed train” which description fails to do justice. It travels like the wind. If you closed your eyes you wouldn’t know you were moving. China has 50,000 miles of it. It links cities so far better than ours it brings me to tears. Clean. Crime free.
The cops don’t carry guns and their cars don’t have sirens, only flashing lights.
Prices are so cheap I’m scared to tell you. A slap up lunch £2.50. Shirts £12. Deluxe taxis (BMW electric) £4. And this in a Tier 1 City (Beijing Shanghai Guangzhou Shenzen). It’s cheaper elsewhere! The shops are tumbling with goods from the west (at Chinese prices - western goods are of course mainly made in China) from the east often Russia and from a home manufacturing base easily the biggest in the whole world.
Nobody litters or jaywalks, nobody lays in shop doorways, nobody begs. Vertiginous towers of bewildering variety arise everywhere. At night these cities don’t even look real. I have a young wife. When she was born Shenzen was a one-horse town nobody outside had ever heard of. Today it is a Wonder of the World. One of dozens. If you deny it, you’re a fool.
George Galloway
According to the IEA, Australia's wholesale electricity prices were about 45% lower, driven by strong growth in renewables & rapidly expanding battery storage reducing reliance on expensive gas generation, delivering exactly what the economics predicted! https://t.co/IpqjnfMJ6G