New solar project for Broken Hill will be operational by 2015
Silver city becomes solar city ABC Broken Hill, By Noah Schultz-Byard, June, 2012 Broken Hill will host one half of the largest solar energy project in the southern hemisphere, it was announced today. The $450 million project will have an ultimate output of 159 megawatts, enough to power 33,000 homes, and will be constructed across two sites; Broken Hill and Nyngan.
The Broken Hill site will consist of nearly a million solar photovoltaic (Solar PV) panels and will be built to the west of the
city. Construction is hoped to begin in 2014 and is expected to bring 150 jobs to Broken Hill and a further 300 to Nyngan.
The solar farm is expected to be operating by 2015 and is a joint venture between the Federal and State Governments and Australian energy company AGL…. Continue reading
Germany helping fossil fuel energy suppliers to cope with renewable energy transition
one of the reasons why the German government has reversed its decision in the energy changeover. It wants to give the companies more time to get out of their old investments and enter new ones.
Photovoltaic solar energy may get even cheaper, Reve, June 11, 2012 What does the trend towards cheaper solar electricity mean for the energy industry? Interview: Gero Rueter / nh. Editor: Sean Sinico. www.dw.de
For the conventional energy industry it means a change of paradigm, that’s for sure. It’s something you can see very clearly when you look at the statements made by Germany’s big energy suppliers lately. When he retired, Jürgen Großmann, former CEO of Essen-based RWE, said photovoltaics essentially ruin the business for the conventional energy industry, because they’re pushing the prices down on the energy stock markets.
A member of E.ON’s executive board said a couple of days ago that building power plants in Germany is no longer
financially viable because of the economic framework conditions, with renewable energies advancing fast and forcing down prices. Continue reading
World Health Organisation downplayng Fukushima radiation risks
Dr. Caldicott says the WHO only focuses on thyroid cancer and ignores all 
other cancers and other radiation related diseases.
“There is a substantially increased incidence of thyroid tumors among exposed children, up to 50 percent of those tested by ultrasound. But instead of biopsying these tumors, they are ‘following’ them, i.e. doing nothing, which means they are
not being diagnosed and many of these children are therefore destined to die, because almost certainly
many of the tumors will be malignant,” …. She is far from alone in her views.
The Fukushima Battleground Over Science, By Aron Lamm, Epoch Times, 8 June 12, More than a year after the Fukushima nuclear incident, there is still much disagreement about many aspects of its actual consequences. A recent example is a report by the World Health Organization, which estimates radiation doses and cancer risks in the wake of the disaster.
Its findings are being criticized by other medical professionals who use different assumptions and different science, and accuse the WHO of downplaying the gravity of the health risks for people living in the
affected area…… Continue reading
Energy research in Australia welcomes the carbon tax
The real cost of carbon-based fuels needs to become apparent and with the carbon tax that will be so. When you see that real cost of carbon then other renewable energy projects like solar or wind or geothermal, they can now become a lot more competitive.
having a background like a carbon tax and all that will definitely help and assist these newer technologies to get to
maturity.
Carbon tax powers energy innovators ABC Radio AM Adam Harvey , June 9, 2012 ELIZABETH JACKSON: At least one person in New South Wales’s mining heartland is looking forward to the carbon tax kicking in. Newcastle University professor Behdad Moghtaderi is developing new technology to cut power bills.
He’s working on ways to use the earth’s heat to power mines and he’s helped devise an ingenious system to warm the university’s swimming pool. He hopes that rising power prices, sparked by the carbon tax, inspires businesses to follow his lead….. Continue reading
Australia’s Carbon Tax: Tony Abbott hopes the sky will fall in
What if Armageddon arrives in three weeks, and nothing happens? Because that is the likely outcome.
The Treasury forecasts that the carbon tax will cut economic growth by 0.1 per cent below what it would be otherwise. Imperceptible, in other words
“Publicly, their leader [Tony Abbott] talks mining stocks down; privately, they snap up the investments … His whole campaign is a complete fraud. As July 1 approaches he is going to get more and more desperate, because he will have no credibility left.”
Merchants of doom, beware, The Age, Peter Hartcher, June 9, 2012 Tony Abbott and the opposition must be careful their wrecking-ball approach doesn’t rebound and hurt them.
It’s strike one against Tony Abbott’s scare campaign on the carbon tax and mining tax. “Australia reported its economy was the fastest-growing in the developed world in the first three months of 2012, sweeping aside growing gloom,” reported The Wall Street Journal this week.
With the new taxes due to take effect in three weeks, the facts on the health of the Australian economy show a very different country to the one that, if Abbott is right, should rightfully be cringing in fearful anticipation.. Continue reading
Another Northern Territory train derailment highlights danger of radioactive materials transport
Of greater concern was the transport of nuclear waste from Lucas Heights in NSW to the proposed nuclear dump at
Muckaty Station…. “we have extreme weather conditions,”
Crash sparks calls for Adelaide to Darwin rail line probe, BY:REBECCA PUDDY AND DAN BOX The Australian June 11, 2012 THE third derailment on the Adelaide to Darwin railway in just 19 months has reignited demands for an inquiry into the integrity of the track amid plans to increase the amount of uranium the line carries through central Australia. Continue reading
Malaysian election affected by controversy over Australian rare earths company’s plans
Activists say Lynas plant will affect Malaysia polls Radio Australia 4 June 2012, In Malaysia, residents opposing an Australian rare earth processing plant say the issue will affect the country’s forthcoming election and has the potential to influence the outcome in four marginal seats. Residents of Kuantan in Malaysia’s east have long opposed the plant which has been built at a cost of $800 million by Australia’s Lynas Corporation. Continue reading
Western Australia governs on behalf of mining companies. as Kimberley’s natural wonderland is threatened
over the past weeks, the WA Premier Colin Barnett has sent hundreds of police to the once placid town to protect the interests of the mining company Woodside, ….
Is this the way we conduct business in Australia in 2012? The WA Premier has effectively sent his own army to Broome at a cost of over $1 million to Australian tax payers in order to protect the interests of one of our largest mining companies….
Kimberley under threat from mining boom, The Drum, Wade Freeman, 11 June 12 “……. one of the world’s most untouched and iconic regions was granted National Heritage protection last August. Australia’s beautiful Kimberley, which stretches all the way from Broome, north up around the Buccaneer Archipelago, and east as far as the NT border – was declared of great national significance due to its cultural and environmental values to the nation.. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 