Labor to talk with Abbott govt on Renewable Energy Target, armed with latest report from Climate Change Authority
A Climate Change Authority (CCA) review of the RET, released on Monday,concluded that the scheme should not be cut, although it should be deferred by “up to three years” in order to restore investor confidence.
Investment in clean energy has virtually ground to a halt due to uncertainty over the future of the RET, which requires that 41,000 gigawatt hours of Australia’s energy come from renewables such as solar and wind by 2020.
The government has sought a bipartisan deal to “reform” the RET but Labor walked away from negotiations earlier this month, claiming the Coalition’s plan for a “real 20%” renewable target would devastate jobs and investment in the sector.
When the target was initially set, 41,000 GWh represented 20% of Australia’s estimated 2020 energy production. But the country is now on course to produce 26% to 28% of its energy from clean courses by 2020, meaning a “real 20%” would be significantly less than 41,000 GWh.
The government and opposition have now signalled that talks will resume in January, but Labor said the Coalition needed to heed the CCA’s findings.
“We do need to see a change in position from the government, a change from the prime minister’s position either to abolish the target altogether or to severely cut it back,” Mark Butler, Labor’s environment spokesman, told the ABC.
“Both of those options the Climate Change Authority says in their report would be very, very unwise options.”……..
Th environment group WWF said its own polling from November showed that nearly nine in 10 Australians thought the RET should be retained as it is or increased.
“Cutting the Renewable Energy Target is poor policy, it will see Australia’s carbon pollution go up, sustainable energy jobs lost and investment shut out,” said Kellie Caught, WWF’s climate campaigner. http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/dec/23/labor-returns-renewable-energy-target
Australia’s carbon tax resulted in dramatic decline in greenhouse gas emissions
New data shows record fall in carbon emissions , The Age Gareth Hutchens December 23, 2014 – Environment Minister Greg Hunt has quietly published data, just two days before Christmas, showing the second year of operation of Australia’s carbon price was more successful at reducing emissions than the first.
New data from Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory show emissions declined across Australia by 1.4 per cent over the 12 months to June.
That compares to a decline in emissions of 0.8 per cent for the previous 12 months.
The carbon price was introduced by the Gillard government and began operation on July 1, 2012. It ended on July 1, this year after the Abbott government fulfilled an election pledge by abolishing it.
The new data, published on Tuesday, record emissions produced during the final year of operation of the carbon price, from June 2013 to June 2014.
They show the electricity (minus 4 per cent), agriculture (minus 2.6 per cent), industrial processes (minus 1.3 per cent) and transport sectors (minus 0.4 per cent) all experienced declines in emissions this year………….
Greens Leader Christine Milne has slammed the federal government for waiting until after the Lima Climate Change Conference to release the data, saying the figures show just how effective Australia’s carbon price was at bringing down pollution.
“This is the biggest ever drop recorded and the price made it happen,” Ms Milne told Fairfax Media.
“Why did the government withhold this report until after the Lima climate talks? These are embarrassing figures for the Abbott government because they demonstrate just how destructive they have been to the global effort to reduce pollution and tackle dangerous global warming,” she said…….http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/new-data-shows-record-fall-in-carbon-emissions-20141223-12d1z3.html
Economics, not the anti nuclear movement, is killing the nuclear industry
Nuclear: Carbon Free, but Not Free of Unease NYT, By HENRY FOUNTAIN DEC. 22, 2014 “Next week, if all goes as planned, the 42-year-old nuclear reactor at the Vermont Yankee generating station will be shut down for the last time………….in the end, the antinuclear movement didn’t kill the plant. Economics did.
“People are always surprised when we say that really wasn’t the driver in shutting it down,” said Bill Mohl, the president of a division of Entergy Corporation that operates Vermont Yankee and four other nuclear plants, including Indian Point north of New York City. Although Vermont Yankee produced power inexpensively, was upgraded recently and was licensed to operate until 2032, the plant had become unprofitable in recent years, a victim largely of lower energy prices resulting from a glut of natural gas used to fire electricity plants, Mr. Mohl said………
as Vermont Yankee illustrates, the nuclear industry in the United States is having trouble maintaining the status quo, much less expanding. “It’s going nowhere quickly,” said Sharon Squassoni, who studies energy and climate change at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Overseas, the outlook is not much better.
In addition to market forces, enormous design and construction costs, questions about new federal emissions rules, uncertainty about the long-term storage of waste fuel, and public perceptions about safety after the 2011Fukushima disaster in Japan have all had an effect on the American nuclear industry.
Of the roughly 100 reactors in operation in the United States, four others have been permanently shut since 2012 because of market economics or the costs of repairs or safety improvements, and half a dozen or more are in jeopardy, industry analysts say. Safety concerns may eventually scuttle others close to large populations, including Indian Point……..
Beyond five reactors under construction, few if any others are likely to be built anytime soon. And progress on a new generation of smaller, less expensive and potentially safer reactors has been slow……..
Overseas, some nations have retrenched from nuclear power, out of necessity or by choice. Japan shut its 50 reactors for inspections and safety improvements after Fukushima, and although two were restarted briefly, all still remain shut down and not all are expected to reopen. Germany will eventually close all 17 of its reactors as part of an ambitious transition to renewable energy.
Even China, with more than two dozen nuclear plants under construction, faces uncertainties. If the country is able to exploit its abundant reserves of shale gas, its nuclear plans may be derailed, Ms. Squassoni said.
An even bigger question is whether China’s current rate of economic growth is going to continue. “If it doesn’t, what is that going to do to its energy demand?” she said. The impetus for developing more nuclear power may dissipate………….
“The markets are quite simply not working,” said Richard J. Myers, the vice president for policy development at the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry group.
The industry is pushing for changes that would help marginal plants stay in operation. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/23/science/nuclear-carbon-free-but-not-free-of-unease-.html?_r=0
Uranium price sags yet again -$36.50/lb
Uranium spot price sags to $36.50/lb in year-end trading lull Washington (Platts)–23 Dec2014
The uranium spot price was $36.50/lb U3O8 on Monday, down 75 cents from a week earlier, as slight volumes and a smattering of buyers seeking low-priced material continued the month’s trend toward lower prices, according to price reporting company TradeTech……..Since reaching $44/lb in mid-November — the highest level in nearly two years — the daily U3O8 spot price fell to $38/lb on November 21, according to TradeTech. The price rallied to $40.25/lb in late November, but has generally declined since. http://www.platts.com/latest-news/electric-power/washington/uranium-spot-price-sags-to-3650lb-in-year-end-21749093
South Australia scaling back feed -in solar payments to householders
Payments slashed for solar homes that feed into grid in SA
But if you installed the same sized system before October 2011 you would potentially be pulling in $4836 per year.
Those payments will continue until June 30, 2028.
The retailer feed-in tariff, which must be paid by your energy provider, was set at 7.6c/kWh last year but fell to 6c once the carbon price was removed.
The Essential Services Commission of South Australia has further reduced it to 5.3c/kWh because it “reflects the forecast wholesale market value of photovoltaic (solar) electricity in the coming year’’.
“The proposed value is lower than the 2014 retailer feed-in tariff of 6.0 cents/kWh, due to the lower forecast wholesale market price of electricity,’’ ESCOSA says.
Individual energy retailers can elect to pay householders more for their power.
The original 44c/kWh feed-in tariff was taken up by more than 100,000 householders before it was closed by the Government in September 2011, and reduced to 16c/kWh. Householders who receive these payments are also eligible for the 5.3c payment which is paid by energy retailers.
Those who signed up before the cut-off receive the higher tariff until the scheme expires in 2028, costing an estimated $1.425 billion — an amount recovered through fees charged to all electricity customers.
The initially generous scheme was designed to foster the growth of the solar industry.
Solar panel prices have plummeted since then, with larger systems much more affordable now.
Malaysian NGO opposing nuclear power
NGO rejects nuclear option for Malaysia FMT | December 24, 2014
AMAN is convinced that nuclear power is neither cheap, clean nor safe. “It is not required for the generation of electricity in Malaysia,” said Aman chairman Dr. Ronald McCoy in a statement.
“AMAN therefore rejects the construction of any nuclear power plant (NPP) in Malaysia.”
AMAN, according to its statement, has taken this position, based on seven key factors: possibility of nuclear weapons proliferation; energy security; extremely expensive; vulnerable to natural disasters and accidents; a ticking time bomb; Malaysia’s existing and planned electricity by other means are sufficient; and the rate of construction of NPPs is skydiving.
AMAN was aware of the ongoing dissemination of false information by the nuclear industry and other vested interests, added the NGO, and “there has not been any genuine transparency of the government’s intentions nor sincere public consultation”.
“Our country must not make the serious mistake of investing in and constructing a nuclear power plant, particularly when there is no existing method of safely disposing the long-lasting radioactive nuclear waste, which will threaten the health of future generations of Malaysians.”
Globally, the use of nuclear power as an energy source was in decline, the statement points out.
Some figures:………….http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2014/12/24/ngo-rejects-nuclear-option-for-malaysia/
A grave situation- computer leaks from South Korea’s nuclear power reactors
South Korean president says nuclear data leak a ‘grave situation’, not ruling out North Korea link, ABC News 23 Dec 14
A recent series of leaks of data from South Korea’s nuclear operator was a “grave situation” that was unacceptable as a matter of national security, president Park Geun-hye says.
Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co Ltd (KHNP), which runs South Korea’s 23 nuclear power reactors, said on Monday its computer systems had been hacked, raising alarm in a country that remains at war with North Korea……..
“Nuclear power plants are first-class security installations that directly impact the safety of the people,” Ms Park said at a cabinet meeting, according to her office.
“A grave situation that is unacceptable has developed when there should have been not a trace of lapse as a matter of national security.”
She ordered inspections of safeguards at national infrastructure facilities, including the nuclear power plants, against what she called “cyber terrorism”……..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-23/south-korea-data-leak-a-grave-situation-says-president/5985910
Heat stress is killing forests
Woodlands at risk as mercury climbs http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/woodlands-at-risk-as-mercury-climbs-20141223-124s2a.html December 24, 2014 – Peter Hannam
“At 50 degrees, you just start to see massive mortality in the canopy, even in the eucalyptus,” Eamus says.
Many studies have focused on how vegetation initially benefits from increases in carbon dioxide – a plant food – provided adequate water and soil nutrients are available. Less understood, though, is how trees cope with higher temperatures, particularly when humidity drops. That gap is partly because humidity conditions have been difficult to replicate at large scale.
“Stomata of all plants respond to decreased humidity by closing their apertures so they can reduce the amount of water they have to spend,” Eamus says. Less transpiration, though, means ambient temperatures are hotter.
Droughts will make the problem worse as eco-systems are already under stress. “The incoming solar radiation can’t evaporate the water from soil and leaves, [so] it heats the canopy, ground and air,” he says.
Some species are less adapted to rising temperatures than others, so the biodiversity balance will shift. Eamus predicts alpine forests – which are forecast to see some of the biggest temperate increases – “are going to be first ones to keel over”.
1 This month
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