28 APRIL 2025 – Newsletter #20
What needs to change if Australia develops nuclear energy
This is the last newsletter of this series, coming up to the 2025 Federal Election. We look at what’s needed to develop nuclear energy in Australia, by government, authorities and institutions. This list is not exhaustive, and it will need to evolve to account for emerging technologies that will be most suitable in Australia. The changes outlined here aren’t difficult, the greatest challenge is likely to involve changing attitudes, and roadblocks put in place by vested interest groups.
24 APRIL 2025 – Newsletter #19
Simplifying the Energy Debate
Irrespective of the outcome of Australia’s forthcoming election, all Australians deserve to better understand issues in the energy debate. This includes developing an understanding of technical terms and what they mean together with energy pricing and financing models that are proposed by both Labor and the Coalition.
14 APRIL 2025 – Newsletter #18
Rethinking Renewables and Nuclear
The energy transition away from reliance on fossil fuel is struggling, using a renewable only approach. Where this is being pursued, energy costs are going up, and there is invariably a reliance on gas or imported energy from other countries, that typically comes from fossil fuel or nuclear power. Why is this happening? And what does it mean for Australia?
7 APRIL 2025 – Newsletter #17
Civil Assessment of Frontier Costings
The following newsletter examines a report titled ‘Lies and Deceptions Summary Report – Frontier Economics Reports 1 and 2’, by Ian Nichols, 29 March 2025 [1]. It’s important to avoid inflammatory language in order to achieve consensus and be open minded to a range of options, when considering out energy future. I have attempted to do both.
31 MARCH 2025 – Newsletter #16
Analytical Objectivity and Transparency in the Energy Debate
In the wake of the budget last week, there’s a massive difference between Labor and the Coalition that leaves us struggling to understand the cost of energy and the environmental impacts of competing options [1]. At the core of this divide is a lack of analytical objectivity, transparency and a failure to be open and honest with the electorate. It’s our money that’s being redistributed or lost through energy systems and handouts.
24 MARCH 2025 – Newsletter #15
Frontier Economics interview summary of key points
This newsletter summarizes an interview of Danny Price, Co-Founder and CEO of Frontier Economics with Dr. Robert Barr AM and Jasmin Diab from Nuclear for Australia, 7th Jan 2025. The interview involves a comparison of the 100% renewables AEMO Integrated Systems Plan [1] with two reports by Frontier Economics [2,3] that combine renewables and nuclear energy. The interview can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vqdTORIf2U
17 MARCH 2025 – Newsletter #14
Renewables vs Nuclear beyond existing models
What’s missing in the renewable/nuclear debate? In this newsletter we examine issues that the government are failing to disclose and where we have been misled by the government, experts and energy generators as they carve up of the Australian energy market. We also look at who pays? It’s Australian taxpayers, rural and regional communities, landowners, businesses and communities that are being unnecessarily wiped out.
10 MARCH 2025 – Newsletter #13
Ideological Positions about Nuclear Energy
In this newsletter we look at the ideological arguments on both sides of the nuclear energy debate. This is done in an impartial manner by using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate a summary based on “Ideological positions in the nuclear energy debate”. We will interrogate these results in terms of any errors or omissions, then consider other issues that may have been omitted but are important in developing a more complete understanding of this debate. It is not intended to debate for or against nuclear energy, but instead to draw out key issues.
3 MARCH 2025 – Newsletter #12
The geopolitics of nuclear energy in our region and beyond
In this newsletter we get a snapshot of nuclear energy around the world. We explore geopolitical issues that influence the nuclear power sector, together with uranium mining, enrichment and nuclear fuel processing. Then we examine the positions that by our closest neighbors are taking in their energy transitioning away from fossil fuel dependence.
24 FEBRUARY 2025 – Newsletter #11
Projection of Global Energy to 2100 and beyond
We are witnessing an energy competition between China, the United States and Russia. China is pushing multiple energy pathways [1], the USA is focused on expanding oil and gas fields, nuclear technologies and securing nuclear fuel. Russia has realigned gas and oil deals and is the world’s largest producer of nuclear fuel [3]. The Paris Agreement is on a tenuous footing [4], and renewables are driving productivity down, for the world’s wealthiest countries. What does all this mean for global energy and the role that Australia needs to play from both an economic and environmental perspective? Are the virtuous among us on a renewable’s pathway, that will eventually become irrelevant?
19 FEBRUARY 2025 – Newsletter #10
In the Dark on Renewables
On 17th February 2024, The Australian published a column piece ‘Fan-boy Bowen in the Dark on Renewables’ by Chris Mitchell (Chris has produced some 40 columns over the past 10 years on climate and power, including the analysis of AEMO reports and interviews with Kerry Schott). This article stirred up some 900 comments within 24 hours. A lot of comments were of a political nature. These will not be discussed, as this is a non-partisan newsletter. We will however examine some technical / fact-based comments as outlined below…
17 FEBRUARY 2025 – Newsletter #9
Wind, Water & Solar (WWS) and the Second Inconvenient Truth
The first “Inconvenient Truth” occurred in 2006 when Al Gore exposed global warming to the world [1]. Now a “Second Inconvenient Truth” is that avoiding global warming will require all forms of zero carbon energy, not just renewables. The Australian Government has been slow to admit they’ve failed us, by relying on gas, as outlined by AEMO [2]. They’ve also left a range of zero-carbon technologies, unexplored including nuclear carbon capture and clean carbon technologies [3].
10 FEBRUARY 2025 – Newsletter #8
Bi-partisan support for adaptive energy roadmap for Australia
Most Australian care about our environment, pollution and limited fossil fuel resources. We can develop a roadmap based on these considerations, without getting into the more controversial topics of climate change and global warming. In this newsletter we look at an adaptive roadmap to address our concerns, in Australia and overseas, with an open approach to energy options. In consultation with Dick Smith and Simon Nasht.
3 FEBRUARY 2025 – Newsletter #7
Electricity costs for Australians
In this newsletter, we examine twenty renewables’ costs that need to be considered when making financial comparisons between renewables and nuclear. These cost effect energy bills, add to household costs, and energy incentives that taxpayers eventually need to repay through higher taxes. Critically do these costs create a pathway to a less productive Australia?
27 JANUARY 2025 – Newsletter #6
A global reality check
With the inauguration of President Trump this week in the United States of America, it is a opportune time to reflect on what is going on in the world, and what it means for Australia.
20 JANUARY 2025 – Newsletter #5
The energy debate positions by leaders and in the media
Labor and the Coalition have been establishing their respective positions. We look at key issues, where they stand, based on positions stated by Chris Bowen in Energy Insiders RenewEconomy Podcast 19 Dec 2024 and Danny Price the author of Frontier Economics Interview with Nuclear for Australia 31 Dec 2024. Then we review some recent energy articles from The Guardian newspaper.
13 JANUARY 2025 – Newsletter #4
Teals and the Environment
This newsletter examines the policy direction of Teals / Independents, based on simplifications in CSIRO GenCost 2024, a misunderstanding of how nuclear energy combined with renewables provides benefits including a pathway to net-zero, and why the 100% renewables pathway, is really a renewables + gas pathway that maintains Australia’s reliance on fossil fuels beyond 2050.
06 JANUARY 2025 – Newsletter #3
Rethink : Grattan Institute, Climate Council & CSIRO
Frontier Economics has sent political think-tanks into a tailspin as they have demonstrated nuclear energy with renewables is more cost effective than a fully renewable energy grid, as had been suggested previously by the CSIRO.
30 DECEMBER 2024 – Newsletter #2
Nuclear debate headlines in December 2024
We look at three separate issues that hit the news headlines leading up to Christmas 2024. In each case the media presents arguments against C2N, that need more balanced consideration.
23 DECEMBER 2024 – Newsletter #1
12 big issues in the nuclear energy debate in Australia
We examine issues in a transition of energy from coal to nuclear for Australia, and why it is vitally important from a global context for Australia to be a leader in the decarbonization of fossil fuel.