I don't want to subsidise EVs.

The only solution to traffic is viable alternatives to driving, and dumping money onto the people who can already afford an EV is a waste of money that could be spent on better transport.

It is a fair point that subsidies for the cars have often been benefiting those who could afford the expensive car anyway, but surely their idea of subsidising home and work chargers is also benefiting those with more money. The subsidies would after all be primarily going to those who own a house with enough space to put the charger (i.e. not much luck for renters or apartment owners) and those who have allocated parking at work.

What is really needed to drive uptake is both cheaper EVs (to the point where they reach price parity with regular cars) and a charging network widespread and obvious enough to give prospective buyers confidence that they can charge even on their less common routes. Significant progress has been made with this, we've come a long way from the early days where cashed up people would smugly advise buying a 90+k vehicle to save a few grand on petrol.

I think promoting electric motorcycles and scooters would be worthwhile too, they're more affordable, take up noticeably less space and resources, and still provide much of the personal transport requirements of our current road network.

You know what would really drive EV uptake... cheaper EVs.

At this point I think we need a State supplied car design book, a bit like NSW did for housing.

Like some kind of pre-approved powertrain and chassis book that smaller companies can just come along, whack a 'skin' and a badge on top and sell. Analogous to Makita/Dewalt type tool but for cars.

I just don't understand why theres all these luxury EVs coming into Australia to service the top of the market, but theres near enough no EVs making waves in the low cost car market.

Thank you. I'll check the video out.

Technology Connections did a big video on solar misinformation a few weeks back. This was one of his main points. Well worth watching if you haven't.

https://youtu.be/KtQ9nt2ZeGM If you haven't watched his stuff before It's probably not the best introduction and the last 30mins pivots to US politics, but the first section is really solid. I like that his argument is almost solely based in economics and engineering, and not the environment. Because those are the areas where naysayers are constantly saying renewables don't stack up. He's directly talking to their economic interests and not trying to pull at their non-existent heart strings.

I commiserate. I'm in Qld too and live in Nat Party heartland. We're getting a local coal mine expanded (federal govt approval) and everyone seems to be happy as. I feel nauseated that despite the growing cyclones, floods, heatwaves and drought (depending where you are in the state) no one seems to care. It appears nobody's appears have asked what will happen with all the toxic water that coal mines release into the environment when there's a flood (as has happened recently in which millions of litres being released into the GBR catchment). We are in cropping and cattle country and have amazing but dwindling wildlife due to a growth in tree changers and subdivisions plus of course the effect of expansion of grazing land and now an increased threat from a larger coalmine. Obscene.

The Qld Liberal Government as well here

https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/news/australia-just-unlocked-a-huge-oil-reservoir-here-s-why-it-matters/ar-AA1WawOA

Fuck voters!

Vote Green

Conservationists estimated that burning the coal overseas to make steel or electricity

I don't think it's for electricity, it's used for steel:

No, the coal extracted at Middlemount mine—semi-hard coking coal and pulverized coal injection (PCI) coal—is not used for coal power plants. These types are specifically metallurgical coals, used in steelmaking rather than for thermal power generation (which uses "thermal coal" or "steam coal"). Metallurgical coal is processed and used in blast furnaces to produce steel, not for burning in power stations to generate electricity.

Unfortunately at this stage it's a bit like airline fuels, there's not a lot we can do

We have to hope Green Steel becomes a reality:

Greensteel Australia is considering two outstanding candidates for our $2.3 billion flagship project.

https://h2greensteel.com.au/location/

Our SMS group CMT350® mill design features an electric arc furnace and continuous mill technology, producing 350,000 tonnes of reinforcing bar and coil per year from the heart of Swanbank’s industrial precinct.

Feasibility studies and technical assessments have been completed and our steel mill project has received statutory approvals through the Ipswich City Council and the Queensland Government.

Civil works will commence in early 2026.

https://futureforgeworks.com.au/

Hopefully this takes off and that coal mine goes broke

Perhaps it's taking a shortcut. 😜

An echidna on a beach? I thought they were bush turkeys, not surf bandits! The more you know.

😂

The overton window is not a well known idea. I don't blame people for not trying something they don't know about. It's also very limiting being largely based on voting.

Don't let this kinda stuff get you down.

All of us, including scientists, CAN be part of spiritual and cultural transformation. There are forces that seek to block the transformation so we must consciously become aware of this and commit ourselves to forging ahead through our own understanding, self-work and action for nature, the young, and for sanity.

Totally agree.

Not when there is money to be made.

I wonder if you could have large enough batteries and only pay connection charges on days you need to connect.

My last house had 30kwh of battery and 21kw of solar. 90% of days we didn’t draw any net power

I understand phase balancing etc and we sent power back at the same time we drew it on another phase but we were basically ready to disconnect

You can send in a submission (closes this Friday) , created by Solar Citizens, an independent, community-based organisation to object to the Australian Energy Market Commission’s proposed rule change to increase fixed charges. This is what they say:

"Here’s what we know: Independent modelling of this proposed rule change would see electricity bills for households with 8kW of solar and a 20kWh battery increase by roughly $400–$700 every year under the AEMC’s proposal. [1]

Higher fixed network charges would wipe out a significant share of the savings solar owners have spent thousands of dollars to achieve — and will stretch out solar and battery payback periods, cutting the return on these investments. 💸

This is not what you signed up for, and it’s unfair to introduce these changes now.

Plus, by wrecking the return on investment, it sends a clear message to the households thinking about installing solar and batteries: 'you can't trust big energy to cut your lunch, so don't bother'."

Submission is pre-written or you can alter it. Go to: https://form.123formbuilder.com/6930867/submission-to-aemc-pricing-review

If they want to introduce this in the near future it's madness! We'll be going backwards in reducing emissions (even more than we are now) and punishing low and middle-income households. This sounds like corporatist thinking at its worst.

In the long run this sort of model probably makes sense, but it's far too soon as it discourages solar and battery uptake and increases the relative burden on the poor.

Once we have more solar and batteries than we can possibly use, an unlimited model with a monthly fee would be best (like how we pay for internet access), but that's probably 10+ years away. Ideally, those on low incomes would have subsidised bills too so they are not eating proportionally more of the costs.

To see what happens at my end I'm replying with a link to the page where the poster cane be found Rescue Information, and also with the link to the poster Helping Baby Native Birds (pdf).

Done.

Works now. You can edit posts so you should be able to swap the link.

🤣

I see what you mean. When I copied i I thought I was copying the poster which was a PDF. I don't know what happened. Try this now: https://aussie.zone/pictrs/image/712af739-5cbf-4b55-b1d0-c9a4a34362d1.png