Those of us living in South Australia and Victoria are bracing for the possibility of a once-in-a-century heatwave that could bring a string of 40C-plus days lasting into next week.

I'm waiting for a minister to say that we should turn off our air-conditioners to prevent blackouts.

Nan,
Ministers in the Rann Government--eg., Acting Energy Minister Paul Holloway-- have been urging South Australians to turn off our air conditioners. So what should we do instead?

We should insulate ceilings and use external blinds or a pergola to shade windows. The Transport, Energy and Infrastructure Department's energy division says residents should close curtains and use portable and ceiling fans instead of air conditioners.

This is what we should do to minimise greenhouse emissions Not a proper feed in tariff for solar panels on roofs to run our air conditioners. No moves to ensure energy efficiency standards for our houses.

They just don't get it do they.

I think 'captured by the fossil fuel lobby' may be a bit simplistic. It's more likely that the challenges are simply too great; nobody knows where to start or how to proceed. Anything but the simplest initiative faces enormous political and administrative hurdles and there are many other pressing demands on government time and resources. It's not surprising that effective action is not forthcoming.

Democratic systems of government, with all their checks and balances, make it extremely hard for any government to change things much. This is generally a very good thing, politicians being the corrupt incompetent mob they overwhelmingly are. However, it means that democracies are poorly placed to manage true national emergencies such as wars and global warming.

I wonder how Andrew Bolt's taking it?

Someone on the 7.30 Report last night said the economic stimulus package would have been better directed had it gone towards tax breaks for the installation of solar panels, water tanks and so on. Industry, climate and the economy could all have got a lift.

Nicholas Gruen suggests government should try crowd sourcing before they implement policy. If they had, the 7.30 Report bloke's idea would have got a decent run. It wouldn't have saved you from the current heatwave, but it would be looking like a brilliant idea about now.

There 's a cultural crisis in capitalism looming over the horizon

Bolt is using the heatwave to sing only coal keeps us cool. He's off key.

Lyn,
let me get this right. The commonwealth govt is going to give the cola fired station and heavy industry users billions of dollars in taxpayers money so that they can continue to fight against green policies †that would benefit taxpayers.

Should there not be conditions on the public subsidies----a pro quo for the taxpayers' quid: that the Greenhouse mafia do not fight to prevent the emergence of renewable energy. They back off.If they do not back off then no moey.

"Someone on the 7.30 Report last night said the economic stimulus package would have been better directed had it gone towards tax breaks for the installation of solar panels, water tanks and so on. Industry, climate and the economy could all have got a lift. "

This is such a no-brainer. Everyone sees this is the way to go.

Even the probable job losses in the coal industry could be offset by the new jobs created in manufacturing and installing solar panels.

In fact, this is what I thought the Labor government was heading towards. A year after being voted in, they are back tracking big time on commitment to fighting climate change.

It is laughable how far Germany are ahead of Australia in the use of solar energy!!!