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6 things Australia should do to tackle the energy crisis rather than just building bigger fuel reserves (theconversation.com)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/environment@aussie.zone
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If policymakers conclude the answer to fuel shortages is to simply build much larger liquid fuel reserves, they will lock Australia into a worse dependence on less reliable supplies of petrol, diesel and other liquid fuels. As geopolitical tensions increase, this reliance is foolish in the extreme.

What Australia needs isn’t bigger fuel tanks. It’s to build energy independence. A nation able to run its transport sector on its own resources is a nation better able to weather global uncertainty. The fastest and most cost-effective way to do so is to accelerate the electrification of transport, powering vehicles with electricity from renewables and storage.

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[–] 7 points 7 months ago (10 children)

Doesn't Australia have enormous tracks of unused land and plenty of sunshine? If only there was some kind of proven renewable energy they could use.

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  • [–] 10 points 7 months ago (7 children)

    We have literally every single alternative energy source in insane abundance. Consequently there have been decades of concentrated attacks to put people against them

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  • [–] 5 points 7 months ago (6 children)

    They've not stopped either, the fossil fuel lobby constantly pillories Chris Bowen as the great enemy now.

    But the role out is happening quietly, but quicker than ever. The main impediment was/is the changes to the transmission systems. Its an area I'm so hopeful about for Aus, and I think now justifiably so.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    so pissed covid fucked the neighbourhood battery scheme in the butt down here in Vic. It was the perfect solution. decentralisation, absorption of excess without needing to upgrade, sharing the wealth.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Insane ay? Here’s Crisafulli talking up the power bill savings.

    Canavan telling people we need to ‘cUt NeT z3Ro’ yet that cunt drives an EV and has solar, like that other orange headed cunt of a thing working for Rinehart.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    They both have EVs? Really? 😆 Ol'coalface-Canavan? Wow, such an acting queen. And now he's play acting at responsible leader. Can't wait for his role in Romeo and Juliet.

    "Oh, Romeo! Romeo! Where art thou EV?"

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    Yeah it’s all bullshit and projection with them. Of course they take advantage of these things, they know they’re money savers and they get massive rebates.

    Shitty people in the truest sense they are. Canavan has personal interests in mining through his family and Hanson exists to extract whatever she can however she can.

    Same with the premier; that grub has no issues spruiking up the power saving but it’s all through renewable sources that they exist. Then goes out to fuckin Taroom in hi vis to sing something that’s long been in the works and far from any energy panacea as his government delivering a solution.

    Meanwhile we can’t keep electric cars on the shelf and China can’t sell them fast enough to us.

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    • [–] 6 points 7 months ago (8 children)

    to be honest i think this is a problem that will solve itself over time, EV's are just better, not because they're cheaper but because they're faster, quieter, require less maintenance, and in general are just nicer

    I read like 98% of people don't go back to ICE after having an EV so I think in the future we might have the same fuel tanks but 90 days worth of supply after we've got majority of cars off of it

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (7 children)

    It will take a while to move to EVs. SO far they are not have economical sense for average person. Prices should go down bellow ICE before we see any noticeable adoption.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (5 children)

    I mean, you can buy a BYD Atto 1 for $27k and the cheapest new Toyota I can see is $33k.

    All the cars currently on the road can't just be thrown away and replaced with EVs, but new EVs have actually hit and passed price parity now.

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  • [–] 0 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    Yeh, one is Toyota other is Chinese crap. Please compare apples with apples. You can find EV with similar prices as ICE on secondary market. But only it means that EV are depreciated faster than ICE which makes it very questionable purchase as new.

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  • [–] 6 points 7 months ago*

    You can't buy a used EV for under like $25,000 now and those are ten year old Leafs. Nobody's selling.

    If you want apples to apples, you're probably looking at a BYD Dolphin for closer to $32,000.

    You can tell that they're good cars for a good price by the way the US and EU car industries have been screaming for government protection the last few years.

    If you're deadset against buying a Chinese branded EV, I guess you can wait for the Toyota branded EVs with BYD drivetrains that are on their way.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    "Chinese crap" you realize a lot of high end engineering and manufacturing is completed in China? If you're looking at buying an item for cents on the dollar, then yes quality will be poor..

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    It is not only about quality. But also about warranty, part availability and long time support. Chinese cars has bad records on these. Buying used Chinese car is hardly a sensitive choice. Look to carsales.com.au as example. It is full of MGs which no one willing to buy. So if you buying new car you should plan to scrap it, not sell in 5 years.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago

    From the data in the last thread about this issue - the average petrol driver spends $125 per week on fuel. Covering the same distance in an EV is less than $10 in electricity per week. Buying a new EV on a loan costs $98 per week.

    $98 + $10 = $108 which is less than the $125 of fuel. It's economical to replace an ICE car with an EV right now, even if you have to borrow money to buy it, and even without considering any trade in or scrap value of the old ICE car.

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    • [–] 5 points 7 months ago

    We should incentivise all new passenger vehicles imported to be phev,hybrid,ev only.

    We should have already been using biofuels with much higher Ex levels.

    We should be actively moving towards improving rail through the nation.

    We should be installing at least a couple wind turbines at each town.

    We should be seriously considering solar thermal stations (for base load power).

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    [–] 4 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    For a country with a reputation for being rugged and resilient, people sure do buy the "don't worry everything will be normal again soon, you don't have to change."

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago

    Should be used to it but I'm always shocked how many rugged Aussies with a reputation for mateship and community spirit refuse to slightly change the way they do anything for the benefit of everyone.

    Tough guys who won't wear a mask to prevent spread of covid because it feels uncomfortable. Educated and erudite professionals who find putting different types of recycling into different bins too intellectually challenging. "Nature lovers" who want to burn fossil fuels to drive an oversized truck over national parks.

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    • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Build/Reopen refineries not tanks. We will need petrol for decades to come, they are not going to be wasted.

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