>>>Partially correct - snowy German cities are mostly myth, clouds are not that bad - I think production very close to consumation tilts the pro/con scale slightly to positive, although HEAVILY influenced by taxation and other due rules.
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>LOL. I like to pretend to be a bumpkin down under but I know (and appreciate) your cities. 14-year-old daughter currently is at school at the foot of mountains in France and complains that it snows occasionally but melts almost immediately.

Can relate - older offspring is in Australia for 3 month after finishing abroad semester in Ireland few weeks early. Prefers current weather in your hemisphere. At least Bavarian and Austrian Alps get lots of snow at the moment, but sadly I cannot ski this year (perhaps good for bones, percentage of muscle vs. fat moved too much in unwanted direction last year...)

But if your daughter is into winter sports - snow and gondolas/lift are quite good in France as well, although housing has much less charme compared to Switzerland or Austria for my taste.

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>Speaking of bumpkins down under: more than 85% of NZ's electricity is derived from renewable resources, mostly hydro.

That is the luck of having mountains and sea close together - easier to harvest potential energy of water on a mountain slope than from a flat desert. And yes, I know that you also know already that "renewable resources" is a crazy misnomer - very long range the coal fired today will be (solid or fluid) and inside the earth again. Tell disbelievers about thermodynamic laws if their vocabulary strays into the even worse "renewable energy" ;-)

Harnassing the enegry already poured onto earth via different means like wind or water turbines or solar panels is smarter than just burning Carbon based things from deeper earth layers.