On the cloudiest winter's day in Melbourne, a 15kW rooftop PV system can still produce more power than a household's daily demand. And with the race on to improve efficiency, things can only get better.
Hydraulic fracturing has solved one problem (peak fuel) but sharpened another (climate change). Policymakers can no longer rely on increasing scarcity to restrain demand and CO2 emissions.
With the recent approval of the $34 billion Ichthys project, Australia is set to become the world's top LNG exporter by around 2017. But the window of opportunity for such giant projects looks to be closing.
With the carbon price looming large, Victoria's coal power stations could reach crisis point much earlier than predicted, if a global credit squeeze hits and debt cannot be rolled over.
Commentary
Solar's hot, even when the sun is not
Fracking up the climate debate
Has Australia's LNG boom peaked?
Will the next GFC turn out Vic lights?