“You’ve got to do it with gas. You’ve got to do it with gas!” Prime Minister Scott Morrison
Prime Minister Scott Morrison couldn’t be clearer. As the country grapples with the twin challenges of recovering from the COVID-19 recession and the transformation of our energy system, he says gas is the key to Australia’s economic future.
“Gas…is helping to drive more affordable, reliable energy in this country. It can help us to bring down emissions. It’s the perfect complement to intermittent renewables.” Federal minister
The Federal Government is promising a gas-led recovery that will turbocharge Australian manufacturing and provide reliable and affordable power to households as our reliance on coal winds back. But not everyone is convinced.
“Those people defending old technologies are the equivalent of defending Blockbuster in a Netflix world.” State energy minister
Four Corners investigates what is driving the Federal Government’s push for a gas-fired future in the face of considerable scepticism.
Watch: Fired Up! | ABC 4 Corners
How did this Scott Morrison ever become even a Minister.. let alone Prime Minister?? It is 2021.
Gas, as with other fossil fuels, is possessable. It may be owned. This contrasts with sunlight or waves or the wind or the tides.
Renewable energy is far cheaper than fossil fuel energy. Gas requires digging up, transportation, refinement, combustion, distribution; sunlight literally falls from the sky.
The only reason why fossil fuels are ‘cheaper’ (i.e. financially) is because they have had 150+ years of government subsidies and indeed construction. Makes one question why the right wing – and now left wing – of politics are so blind. Aside from short term transition years, sunlight and other renewable forms of energy result in massive reductions in cost: both financial and non-financial.
Sunlight reaching the surface of the Earth contains enough energy to meet today’s worldwide energy consumption thousands of times over. Thousands. Once over, by definition, is sufficient. That is a huuuuuge volume of energy.
Furthermore, the United States Geological Survey discovered this in their field tests in the 1880s. It is a finding which has been confirmed over and over – and over again. Who knows… perhaps even the ancients were aware of it.
Storage? Passive solar design allows one to store sunlight in the form of heat within building materials. In Australia, 35-40% of residential energy consumption goes towards heating and cooling indoor spaces. In summer, shading the sun and allowing airflow outside daylight hours moderates indoor temperatures. This is how our recent ancestors kept comfortable indoors – and money did not need to be spent.. let alone continuously. This is known as passive solar energy. Another example is use of a clothesline to dry one’s clothes.
Using excess sunlight during the day to pump water uphill and releasing it at night to power turbines is another way to store solar energy. This is known as pumped hydro.
Sheer potential and storage options aside, the biggest reason I like sunlight is its accessibility. Guaranteed by the rotation of the Earth around its axis. We each have an opportunity to become ‘prosumers’ (produce the energy we consume at the point of consumption). Its longevity is measurable not in decades or even centuries but in the billions of years. It also solves this new issue: our energising of the atmosphere – we only have one. No x-percentage reductions in emissions; rather an ‘all-but-eliminate’ emissions.
Why is Scott Morrison Prime Minister? Why? Is anyone able to tell me this? Why, in 2021, do we still have a national leader in Australia who is saying “it has to be gas, it has to be gas”? Who is he? Are we not locals in Australia as well? Germany is a world leader in solar energy, yet even Tasmania is closer to the equator. What the heck is going on in this country??? I could have been writing this 10 years ago.
We have the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world – and fellas this is due to us men. I live in Australia just as much as Scott Morrison does. I steer clear of entering politics because of how toxic the party system is. I value my mental and emotional health too much to enter that societal cesspit. I do, however, continue living here. I do the research and relay it to whoever will pay attention. I am also active as a citizen. I could write for hours.. nay.. days on that side of things. Become active. Do it. If not you then who? If not now then when? It is humanity’s future that is the issue here.
I welcome each and every reply.
Underneath it all, thank-you for your time and attention.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Livanos
tom.369@hotmail.com