Dear Editor,

Fair call, Mr Moir (Cartoon, November 3), Iraq is conspicuously absent from the campaign. Australian troops should, however, take some consolation from Rudd's ambitious 20 per cent renewable energy by 2020 target.

As reported in the Herald last week ("Fears oil decline could spark social unrest", October 24), the oil is running out. As admitted by Brendan Nelson in July, oil is a reason for our involvement in Iraq. We know that the automotive industry is ready to make the transition to electric drive; even Holden of "Who Killed the Electric Car?" infamy is moving in that direction ("Electric ideas empty the tank", October 25). And we all know that coal can't be the source of electricity to fuel these cars, it's incompatible with emissions trading, Kyoto and any semblance of morality.

This isn't drawing a long bow, it's simply fitting the puzzle pieces together: to get the troops home, we must build solar thermal power stations. Or less arguable: if we had solar thermal power stations and electric cars, we wouldn't be in Iraq.

Regards,
Carl Sparre
Eastwood