Australia’s housing crisis is caused by three factors: Supply, Supply and Supply. Supply of Land. Supply of Materials. Supply of Labour. (more…)
Chris Mills
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Managing the economy: sharpening a blunt instrument
Conceptually, managing the economy is simple: if inflation is rampant, suck money out; if recession is raging, pump money in. (more…)
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CHRIS MILLS. Is affordable, reliable and low-emissions Nuclear-generated electricity the path to Climate Management?
How on Earth will we power the Planet when the Sun is not bright enough, the wind is not strong enough, droughts have dried up pumped-hydro and burning fossil fuels will incinerate us? (more…)
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Chris Mills: When the Wind Blows, Water Flows
This is the paradox: as towns run out of potable water, our livestock and crops die, and water to fight infernos dries up, how can a Nation ‘girt by sea’ use unlimited volumes of sea water to slake a parched land? Wind and solar generated electricity costs have continued to decline, facilitating economic desalination of sea water and operation of water-pumping as an essential component of Australia’s response to the deleterious effects of climate change and climbing temperatures. (more…)
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Avoiding the Crossfire from the USA – China Confrontation
Australia is on a ‘hiding to nothing’ from the escalating USA confrontation with China. If we choose USA, China can peacefully inflict devastating economic damage by choosing other countries to supply its resources. If we choose China, USA can withdraw its security guarantees, (albeit never tested in a situation where Australia, but not the USA, is threatened,) exposing Australia to the risk of hostile military action. How will Australia successfully navigate the turbulent waters of this strategic dilemma? (more…)
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CHRIS MILLS. Truthslaying The Environment.
In the Australia in Wonderland in which we are now living, things are getting curiouser and curiouser. Like the time-travel budget surplus arriving in 2019 from the 2020 budget, the Prime Minister has declared that Australia will meet its Paris Climate Change promise ‘in a canter’. (Or is that ‘at a canter’?) Curiously, the Department of Environment and Energy reports total emissions for the year to September 2018 increased by 0.9%. What, then, is the true State of the Nation’s greenhouse gas emissions? (more…)
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CHRIS MILLS. Australians’ Electricity Transition Plan: Coal to Renewables.
Climate scientist across the world have proven beyond reasonable doubt that anthropometric heating of the planet is a grave and imminent danger to humanity, often described as an existential threat. In Australia, our politicians have dithered for decades while the world burns. The claim is that Global Warming is a ‘wicked’ unsolvable problem, but is it? Does it just require new thinking? (more…)
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CHRIS MILLS. Powering electric vehicles with ‘‘Swap-n-go” power packs
In Australia, a minuscule 0.3% of vehicles have electric propulsion, notwithstanding that those acknowledging the reality of anthropometric Global Warming recognise that transportation is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Possible reasons for resistance to electric vehicle purchase include high price, ‘range anxiety’ and long charging times. Those with an eye to the future might add the future cost of replacing batteries and the ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO) of future technology developments that will increase battery capacity and hence vehicle range. This purchasing resistance could be overcome with an engineering and design initiative: ‘Swap-n-Go’ Standard Power-Packs for electric vehicles. (more…)
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CHRIS MILLS. Australian Defence Organisation Combats Climate Change Effects in Australia.
The Mission of the Australian Defence Force is to defend Australia and its national interests. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2018 Report assesses that climate change presents a global ‘risk to heath, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security and economic growth’. Australia, being the driest inhabited continent faces existential risk from climate change which is attacking Australia and adversely affecting national interests with extreme weather events such as droughts and fires, and the Great Barrier Reef is being cooked alive. The logical deduction is that the Australian Defence Organisation should exercise its Mission and participate in a campaign to combat climate change.
An ironic canary in the Queensland coalmines contributing to climate change is the widespread and extended drought and the consequential wildfires burning over half a million hectares. There are broadacre carbon farms in Queensland and the good these farms do in capturing and storing carbon is negated when forests burn across huge areas, releasing carbon-dioxide. Project these early-warning signals and the future is bleak for Australian production of food and fibre to meet domestic and the world’s needs. (more…)
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CHRIS MILLS. Australians’ Choice: A Wasted Hourglass or Golden Egg Economy?
These simplifying images of Australia’s future Federal, State and Territory economies have been deliberately chosen to be evocative and provocative. Our stark choice is to continue to pursue the Neoliberalism ideology that is failing so many ordinary Australians, of take a giant leap back to a future of social equity and a fairer go for most. (more…)
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CHRIS MILLS. Mobile Workers Stampede from the City to the Bush.
Remember when Australia was a nation of makers? As in: the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Snowy Mountains Scheme, Holdens and the Opera House? Imagine the productivity increase if Australia had a mobile army who would deploy across the country to provide skilled workers where, when and for as long is required. Fruit pickers, mobile phone tower erectors, wind and solar renewable generator constructors, road and rail builders, mine developers are examples. When the work is done, the mobile workforce moves to the next location needing their services. Many people struggling to find affordable housing and employment in overcrowded cities would find work and accommodation across Australia, and the drudgery of city commuting would be eliminated. (more…)
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CHRIS MILLS. The next BIG thing: renewable water.
When cattle and sheep are dying in vast number across Eastern Australia, how sane is it for the driest inhabited continent in the world not to capture and redirect wastewater and stormwater from our cities and towns into food and beverage production? Energy is a major component of the cost of treating and moving water. Renewable energy sources can become an essential component of responding to the effects of climate change and climbing temperatures. (more…)
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CHRIS MILLS. Electrifying News: Power From The People.
Now that the Coalition (should that be COALition?) Government has announced that it will abrogate is duty to formulate and implement a national energy management policy, it is up to the Australian people to do so. We can express our choices through our State and Territory Governments via the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), which can coordinate the development of a National Electricity System (NES). (more…)