[DGHoodini]

With all that barren and sunny outback, isn’t there any push to build Solar Panel factories, and collector farms?

[beagleone]

No, but a lot of houses in the Outback are solar-powered and off the grid. and all the gas stations have natural gas pumps as well as gasoline. Australia is a natural gas exporter, so it's a lot cheaper here and there are many places you can go to get your gasoline-fueled car to run on dual fuel (either gasoline or natural gas at the flip of a switch).

It's energy independence in action. I'm sure Sarah Palin could talk up a storm about the natural gas initiative in Australia.