Debunking Renewable Energy Myths and Reframing Australian Energy Futures
Debunking Renewable Energy Myths and Reframing Australian Energy Futures with Dr. Mark Diesendorf
Date: Wednesday February 26th., 2014. 7:30 PM
Venue: Seminar Room, Ian Ross Building, The Australian National University.
Enquiries: Trevor Lee –ACT@solar.org.au
This is a free talk open to the public.
Abstract: Renewable energy technologies are expanding and their costs are continuing to decline, threatening the business models of the electricity industry and the future of the coal industry. As a result, false myths about renewable energy are being disseminated by these industries and their supporters among politicians and the media.
This talk will bust some of the principal myths while demonstrating that a renewable energy future is technically and economically feasible for Australia.
Dr Mark Diesendorf is Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Institute of Environmental Studies at UNSW. He is a member of a team that is researching how to run the Australian electricity system entirely on renewable energy. Previously, at various times, he was a Principal Research Scientist in CSIRO, Professor of Environmental Science and Founding Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at UTS, and Director of Sustainability Centre Pty Ltd.
His new book, ‘Sustainable Energy Solutions for Climate Change’, has just been published and will be available for purchase at the event for a substantially discounted price ($35 cash).
As the Abbott govt promotes climate denialism, USA and China take climate change seriously
US Secretary of State John Kerry travelled to Jakarta. He delivered a forceful speech on Sunday describing climate change as ”perhaps the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction”
Tony Abbott can no longer turn his back on this weapon of mass destruction Peter Hartcher SYDNEY MORNING HERALD POLITICAL AND INTERNATIONAL EDITOR 19 Feb 14 On the same weekend Prime Minister Tony Abbott was touring drought-stricken areas, some of which are suffering once-in-a-century rainlessness, a couple of pretty interesting things happened in the global approach to climate change.
China and the US signed an agreement to address climate change and to work towards a joint platform for global negotiations. Continue reading
Even THE AUSTRALIAN knows that Tony Abbott’s “Direct Action” policy is adud
Direct action to miss the mark GRAHAM LLOYD THE AUSTRALIAN FEBRUARY 19, 2014 THE Abbott government’s direct action plan would result in greater domestic carbon dioxide emissions savings than Labor’s carbon price, according to new research by carbon advisory firm RepuTex.
The savings were unlikely to be enough, however, to meet Australia’s 5 per cent emissions reductions target by 2020 without significant changes.,,,(Subscribers only) http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/direct-action-to-miss-the-mark/story-e6frg6xf-1226830949811#
1000s of schools in India taking up renewable energy
Thousands of schools across the country are shifting towards renewable energy. Leading this emerging trend is Kerala, where the state government has been actively promoting both solar and bio-mass energy.
There are 4,000 government-run schools in the state’s urban areas.
Indian schools switch over to solar power Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation – Mon, 17 Feb 2014 Author: Stella Paul ANANTHAGIRI HILLS, India – Tenth grade exams are a couple of months off, and Gennu Labudu, a science teacher at Penakota village school in southern India’s Andhra Pradesh state, is expecting his class to do exceptionally well this time. Thanks to a solar photovoltaic (PV) mini-plant that produces and stores solar electricity in the school, Labudu’s students can now study even at night.
In the neighbouring village school in Zenabadu, a solar-powered motor pumps water day and night. It makes eight-year old pupil Laxmi Perikala very happy. The boarder can drink a glass of water whenever she wants, unlike in her village where she has to fetch it from a pond 40 steps below. “It is very difficult. Every time, I carried a pitcher, my neck would hurt,” she said……… Continue reading
Three years gaol for anti nuclear nun
Elderly nun sentenced over US nuclear site break-in BBC News 18 Feb, An elderly Catholic nun has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison for damage caused while breaking into a US nuclear defence site.
Sister Megan Rice, 84, and two other protesters cut fences and entered the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, facility, which processes and stores uranium.
The other two, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed, were sentenced to more than five years in prison……
The facility was constructed as part of the Manhattan Project, the top-secret US programme to develop the very first nuclear bomb. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26250164
1 This month
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
– go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/
Antinuclear 