Rooftop solar energy will be an issue in Australia’s 2013 election
MP’s – How Many Pro-Solar Voters In Your Electorate? http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3450 by Energy Matters, 5 Nov 12 Some MP’s will get a nasty shock and others a pleasant surprise this morning as they gain more insight into how many pro-solar voters live in their electorates.
A map and accompanying tables compiled by consultancy firm Sunwiz and released by the Australian Solar Council, 100% Renewables and the Solar Energy Industries Association shows substantial solar uptake in many marginal seats and a particularly strong showing in the mortgage belts of our big cities and in rural regions. For pro-solar MP’s, the news will be heartening, but to those opposed, the results could be a little worrying.
The map indicates Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s electorate of Lalor in Melbourne has the second highest uptake of solar panels and solar hot water systems.
“Four million Australians now have solar on their roofs, thanks to the Renewable Energy Target, and we know many more Australians want to go solar to cut their power bills”, said John Grimes, Chief Executive of the Australian Solar Council. “This is true peoples’ power.” Lindsay Soutar, 100% Renewables National Campaign Co-ordinator, says solar will be an important issue in the election next year.
“Solar offers householders the ultimate financial control over their power bills so voters will be looking to see which party will help them manage their energy bills now and in the future.”
Our politicians shouldn’t just be concerning themselves with the favour of current solar households, but those wanting to make the switch. An additional estimated 1.5 million Australians are likely to install solar panels on their roofs over the next two years – if the Renewable Energy Target isn’t interfered with.
“Politicians in all electorates are on notice,” says Brian England, National Chairman of the Solar Energy Industries Association
The Climate Change Authority’s (CCA) Review of the Renewable Energy Target Discussion Paper had an unpleasant surprise for small scale solar. The CCA has suggested reducing the level of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) attached to home solar power systems; which would impact on the subsidy available. This suggested action would be in addition to the Solar Credits multiplier ending next year.
The Australian Solar Council has strongly opposed the recommendation and 100% Renewables recently undertook a “People’s RET Review” to show the Climate Change Authority the depth of support for an unchanged RET in the wider community.
Exposing lies about Queensland’s uranium “bonanza” – ?jobs, ?revenue, amid nuclear stagnation
Talk of a nuclear ‘bonanza’ is just an elaborate con job http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/talk-of-a-nuclear-bonanza-is-just-an-elaborate-con-job/story-e6frerc6-1226510118799?sv=d2b3eec93f11454538c10b543b37282b by:Gavin Mudd, Jim Green The Courier-Mail November 05, 2012
THE push to mine Queensland’s uranium is a con job and the con goes further than the LNP’s decision to take a no-uranium position to the election, only to reverse it months later on the flimsiest of pretenses.
Another part of the con concerns jobs. The Australian Uranium Association says 2620 new jobs will be created by uranium mining in Queensland, a figure repeated by state MP Rob Katter among others.
But IBISWorld’s market report says there are just 650 jobs across Australia in uranium mining. The World Nuclear Association puts the figure at 1760 jobs, including exploration and regulation and even that generous figure amounts to less than 0.02 per cent of all jobs in Australia. Continue reading
See this graphic analysis of Australia’s top solar electorates
http://sunwiz.com.au/index.php/resources/useful-info/239-solar-electorates.html Analysis of Australian Solar Electorates (Commonwealth) 5 November 12
SunWiz has performed analysis of Clean Energy Regulator data to identify the top solar electorates. Use the interactive explorer below to identify the number of solar systems in your electorate. This will help you identify how popular solar has already become in your electorate, or how popular it stands to become.
The interactive dashboard allows you to zoom in on a particular area. Hover over a sun icon to identify the electorate and its details. Hover over a name in the list of top electorates (by such measures as top # systems, and top penetration), and its location and other details will be highlighted in the other sheets. Each element can also be viewed in its own separate tab. Analysis methodology and static maps are also shown further down the page.
Priceless little video shows how Mitt Romney sees climate change as a joke
http://act.engagementlab.org/signup/climate_romney_joke/ TELL MITT ROMNEY: CLIMATE CHANGE ISN’T A JOKE Much of the nation is reeling from Superstorm Sandy. As families rebuild from Sandy’s destruction, our thoughts are with the victims of this horrific, fossil-fueled storm.When Gov. Mitt Romney made climate change a punch line at the Republican National Convention, he mocked a real threat to the lives of Americans. We can’t let Mitt get away with his laughing dismissal of the threat of rising seas caused by the carbon polluters who fund his campaign.Who’d have thought it? Solar PV becoming a political issue
Climate-Action Canberra via 100% Renewable News in today! Get set for the 2013 solar election. Rooftop solar in Australia is spreading like wildfire, especially in marginal seats. Check out new data released today by Australian Solar Council, SunWiz and us, showing number of solar homes in each Australian electorate. Sunny days ahead!
How rooftop solar PV suddenly became a hot political issue http://reneweconomy.com.au/2012/how-rooftop-solar-pv-suddenly-became-a-hot-political-issue-13825 By Giles Parkinson 4 November 2012
For years, some politicians have wanted to dismiss rooftop solar PV (and other renewables), as a middle class fetish for wanting to be green. The last thing they would have expected was solar emerging as a political issue, not just on the state and national scale, but in their own electorate.Both views have now been shown to be mistaken.
A whole series of surveys and postcode analysis have shown that Australia has one of the highest deployments of small scale systems on household roofs in the world – beaten only by Japan – and most of this has been put on the rooftops of households in the nation’s mortgage belts, in the city and in regional areas.
Finally, someone has done the obvious and made the effort to link these installations with electoral divisions. The results will take many politicians by surprise. Now they must now sit up and take notice. Continue reading
USA’s refurbished nuclear bombs cost more than their weight in gold
Billions more needed to refurbish B61 nuclear bombs, Stars and Stripes By JOHN FLECK Albuquerque Journal, N.M. November 4, 2012 Technicians at the Pantex Plant in Texas, where nuclear bombs are disassembled for testing, prepare to start the evaluation process on a B61 nuclear bomb, the oldest in the arsenal. The B61 is about to undergo a major overhaul that the Pentagon estimates will cost up to $10 billion, or $25 million per bomb.
NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION The National Nuclear Security Administration, already under fire for
billions of dollars of cost overruns, has underestimated by billions more how much it will cost to refurbish the nation’s stockpile of B61 nuclear bombs, according to an independent cost assessment commissioned by the agency. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 