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>> "Maybe coal is cheaper" Many make this claim, but I do not buy it. Take Australia as an example: relies on coal for around 85% of electricity production [1

by verelo 9y ago

>> "Maybe coal is cheaper" Many make this claim, but I do not buy it. Take Australia as an example: relies on coal for around 85% of electricity production [1], also has some of the most expensive electricity in the western world [2] at around 29c / USD Kilowatt hour (that is over 2x the US national average). [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20070709212140/http://www.iea.org/dbtw-wpd/Textbase/nppdf/free/2006/key2006.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20070709212140/http://www.iea.or... [2] https://www.ovoenergy.com/guides/energy-guides/average-electricity-prices-kwh.html https://www.ovoenergy.com/guides/energy-guides/average-elect...

TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
Until Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and The Wilderness Society come out and publicly claim responsibility for the mess Australia's electricity generation is I won't take "Environmentalism" seriously. I live in Tasmania now, I think most of our electricity comes from hydro. Thirty hydropower stations operating in Tasmania[1], but we still pay ~26 cents a kilowatt-hour here. 1. https://www.hydro.com.au/energy/our-power-stations https://www.hydro.com.au/energy/our-power-stations
- verelo 9y ago
  Curious, what did (or didn't) those organizations do? I donate to some of them and would gladly change that by donating elsewhere if there is good reason not to. Also, agreed. Australia is a mess. I grew up in Newcastle, living in Toronto Canada now and love looking at where our energy comes from: https://www.cns-snc.ca/media/ontarioelectricity/ontarioelectricity.html https://www.cns-snc.ca/media/ontarioelectricity/ontarioelect... No coal, beautiful!
  - TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
    Generally campaign hard against nuclear and hydro. There hasn't been any new hydro in Australia since The Wilderness Society blocked the Franklin Dam project[1]. I'll admit that no new hydro is arguably a good thing for certain aspects of sustainability, but it could be argued that new hydro is better than new coal or gas. That's sort of a false dichotomy because there are other options: An in-principle agreement has been reached to build a new 144MW wind farm in central Tasmania[2], the first new wind project in the state in almost a decade[3]. The Franklin Dam project was to be 180MW, with arguable much greater capacity factor than wind. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Dam_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Dam_controversy 2. http://www.goldwindaustralia.com/aurora-energy-goldwind-announces-agreement-wild-cattle-hill-wind-farm/ http://www.goldwindaustralia.com/aurora-energy-goldwind-anno... 3. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-07/new-$300m-wind-farm-for-tasmania/8594910 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-07/new-$300m-wind-farm-fo...

by verelo 9y ago

TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago

Until Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and The Wilderness Society come out and publicly claim responsibility for the mess Australia's electricity generation is I won't take "Environmentalism" seriously. I live in Tasmania now, I think most of our electricity comes from hydro. Thirty hydropower stations operating in Tasmania[1], but we still pay ~26 cents a kilowatt-hour here. 1. https://www.hydro.com.au/energy/our-power-stations https://www.hydro.com.au/energy/our-power-stations

verelo 9y ago
Curious, what did (or didn't) those organizations do? I donate to some of them and would gladly change that by donating elsewhere if there is good reason not to. Also, agreed. Australia is a mess. I grew up in Newcastle, living in Toronto Canada now and love looking at where our energy comes from: https://www.cns-snc.ca/media/ontarioelectricity/ontarioelectricity.html https://www.cns-snc.ca/media/ontarioelectricity/ontarioelect... No coal, beautiful!
- TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
  Generally campaign hard against nuclear and hydro. There hasn't been any new hydro in Australia since The Wilderness Society blocked the Franklin Dam project[1]. I'll admit that no new hydro is arguably a good thing for certain aspects of sustainability, but it could be argued that new hydro is better than new coal or gas. That's sort of a false dichotomy because there are other options: An in-principle agreement has been reached to build a new 144MW wind farm in central Tasmania[2], the first new wind project in the state in almost a decade[3]. The Franklin Dam project was to be 180MW, with arguable much greater capacity factor than wind. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Dam_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Dam_controversy 2. http://www.goldwindaustralia.com/aurora-energy-goldwind-announces-agreement-wild-cattle-hill-wind-farm/ http://www.goldwindaustralia.com/aurora-energy-goldwind-anno... 3. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-07/new-$300m-wind-farm-for-tasmania/8594910 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-07/new-$300m-wind-farm-fo...