natural gas and renewable energy

An article written by Alan Kohler appeared in this month's edition of Money Magazine and I thought I would summarise a number of the points mentioned in the article and get some feedback from people on this forum as to what they think of the comments made in the article.

The main points of the article are as follows:

* Gas will replace coal as the energy for baseload electricity generation.

* The renewable energy target legislation will rise by between 20% and 30% over the next decade.

* While nuclear power is a possibility in Australia, it is too remote a chance to give it any real attention.

* Don't be distracted by carbon capture and storage as it might happen and it might preserve the use of coal but not quickly enough and not at the required cost.

* The reality is that the big baseload power stations that currently burn coal are going to be phased out over time and will be replaced by gas.

* The unstated aim of national policy is for coal-fired power stations to be phased-out and replaced by gas.

* Investors need to ensure a solid position in gas and renewables in stocks such as AGL, Origin, Santos and Queensland Gas.

* You should hedge your bets against the coming rise in the price of power. Businesses such as aluminium that rely on cheap electricity are going to be hard hit.

* Renewable Energy Target legislation requires 20% of electricity to come from renewable energy by 2020. According to AGL $30BN will have to be spent on renewable electricity generation over the next two decades, mainly wind but also solar and tidal. The author adds that geothermal might be viable by then but he doubts it.

Does anyone have any comments on any of the above points made in the article I have cited?