to conserve and reduce coal usage.

All new buildings to include solar power. On the price of purchasing your home on a mortgage for only another 20 cents a week you can reduce your powerbill dramatically.

Companies like Energy Australia would supply maintenance. Obviously the saving made from dramatically reducing mains power would save you enough to buy new parts, or upgrade, or pay maintenance etc.

Over the next 2 to 3 years the government can budget to supply a solar unit  for each existing home. Probably cost around $15 Billion to the government.

Solar won't kill birds.

Sorry, that was a low blow.

Windmills can play it's part on the main energy source but their is also a government cost in paying for ongoing maintenance and cleaning. It also takes up land, and a lot of it. Solar sits on your rooftop and the owner pays for maintenance and upkeep.

The reason why solar isn't being considered is because they can't make any tax out of the energy supply.

Can Australia survive if the mining industry collapses?

Are you implying that solar panels during manufacturing release toxic fumes or chemicals?

This is something I haven't heard of.

Yes the onus would be up to the homeowner to maintain it. Yes, it might cost a little more or a little less but he'll be able to breathe easier.

Good Point. We always need to look at consumer psychology.

sorry, the mine in south aust is currently online with HOT ROCK POWER SUPPLIED FROM INNAMINKA

You probably have more information than myself regarding windmill technology so from your understanding, what are the negatives concerning Windmill Energy as the primary source for Australia?

Apparently they take up a hell of a lot of land. Most of this would be National Park I presume?

For some reason I often hear people claim that solar has a negative EROI - energy return on investment. That is, it takes more electrical energy to create a solar cell than you get out of it. Of course, this is simply not true.

From wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaics

A key indicator of environmental performance is the ratio of electricity generated divided by the energy required to build and maintain the equipment. Of course, little is gained if it takes as much energy to produce the modules as they produce in their lifetimes. This ratio is called the energy return on investment (EROI) This should not be confused with the economic return on investment, which varies according to local energy prices, subsidies available and metering techniques. A related concept is the energy pay-back time, i.e. the time required to produce an amount of energy as great as what was consumed during production.

Crystalline silicon PV systems presently have energy pay-back times of 1.5-2 years for South-European locations and 2.7-3.5 years for Middle-European locations. For silicon technology clear prospects for a reduction of energy input exist, and an energy pay-back of 1 year may be possible within a few years. Thin film technologies now have energy pay-back times in the range of 1-1.5 years (S.Europe).[11] With lifetimes of such systems of at least 30 years, the EROI is in the range of 10 to 30.