Western USA shows the way on renewable energy progress
US West Leads The Renewable Energy Way http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3949 18 Sept 13According to the American Council on Renewable Energy, western US states are leading the charge on good clean energy policy and investment and other regions in the nation need to follow their lead.
In the first instalment of its annual “Renewable Energy In The 50 States” report, ACORE reviewed the renewable energy policies, programs and investment environment in the 13 states that make up the Western Region, and judged the potential for future growth of the renewables sector.
Three more reports, focusing on the Midwest, Northeast, and the Southeast, are due for release in coming months.
The ACORE report found while all states had benefited from enhanced federal government support for wind, solar, and other renewable technologies over the last ten years, “In no part of the U.S. is this truer than in the West,” said Michael Brower, ACORE’s Interim President and CEO.
“With strong renewable portfolio standards (RPS), the political will to protect and/or expand them, and the nearly half of 2012’s new build asset finance for renewable energy, the West is far and away in the national renewable energy vanguard. America needs all the states in our three other regions to quickly follow their lead.” Continue reading
What would it mean to abolish the carbon price
Why Tony Abbott wants to abolish the carbon price, The Guardian, byAlexander White Wednesday 18 September 2013 “…… In the twelve months since the carbon price was introduced in Australia, our nation has enjoyed nearly unparalleled economic prosperity: low inflation of 2.4 percent, strong growth in the stock market of 23 percent, record low unemployment of 5.8 percent, low interest rates of 2.5 percent (cash rate), strong terms of trade and most importantly a decrease in carbon emissions.
Carbon emissions from the highly polluting energy sector National Electricity Network fell by 7.4 percent in 2012-13. Renewable energy grew by around 30 percent in the same period. A great deal of the reductions in various sectors of the economy in carbon emissions are due to the price signals from the carbon price.
More importantly, from 2015 the Clean Energy Future Act would introduce a cap on carbon emissions, a policy tool of greater significance than the price alone.
If the carbon price were abolished, the cap on emissions would also be removed. Australia is already one of the world’s largest polluters and per capita there is almost no greater carbon emitter than Australia. The removal of the carbon price would give a signal to fossil fuel companies to continue expansions of dangerous coal projects and unconventional gas projects.
Numerous other environmental policies under Tony Abbott would contribute to a likely expansion of carbon emissions, including the abolition of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the devolving of environmental regulation to state governments, and the overturning of the world heritage listing for Tasmanian forests.
Australia would also be sending a very dangerous signal to the rest of the world, that as a major polluter Tony Abbott does not plan to contribute to a global solution to climate change. Australia is about to take the chair of the G20, a very influential role. The G20 potentially has an important role to play in providing leadership in reducing global carbon emissions. As a climate denier, it would be difficult for Tony Abbott or his foreign minister Julie Bishop to credibly contribute to multilateral climate discussions………http://www.theguardian.com/environment/southern-crossroads/2013/sep/18/tony-abbott-abolish-carbon-price
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