12 months of Nuclear Free Action in Australia
December sees action in the Top End with spirited protests over uranium and fracking concerns outside the MCA’s NT mining conference and 4000 formal public submissions opposing the R3D plan, ICAN holds a successful set of gatherings on the humanitarian impacts of nuclear war in Vienna – including a presentation from Sue Coleman Haseldine and an open letter from ENGO’s to Julie Bishop, Energy Metals Australia move to seek approval to mine Mulga Rocks – but Mia Pepper is in the way, the long waited for Olkala land handover in Cape York see’s further constraints put on Areva’s plans to dig, PM Abbott flags uranium sales to Ukraine – from the land that fuelled Fukushima to the country that is home to Chernobyl, Barry Brook leads a call for nuclear power to be accepted by ENGO’s, Minister Macfarlane accepts that the push through approach to dump siting has failed and announces modest public input into a new model.
Nuclear Free snapshot 2014 Dave Sweeney, Australian Consevation Foundation, 31 Dec 14 January started with Top End storms washing out a section of the Ghan rail line and further highlighting transport risks with hazardous materials, concerns over the spectacular December 2013 uranium slurry spill at Ranger mine remained high and around 4000 people gathered in Redfern for the opening of John Pilger’s film Utopia
In February the Muckaty Federal Court case had detailed directions hearing in Melbourne, a delegation of MP’s from Greenland heard directly about the impacts of uranium mining on country and culture when they were briefed by ACF, FoE and Gundjeihmi while on a fact finding mission, mid-month saw activists from WA and beyond meet in Perth for an effective planning session aimed at keeping the West uranium free, the CCWA led a series of workshops to facilitate public engagement with the Kintyre mine approvals process and also drove a detailed response from national groups while Scott Ludlum took time off from electioneering to join a nuke free session at Melbourne’s Sustainable Living festival, Paladin put the Kayelekera mine in Malawi on care and maintenance, Uranium Free NSW activists lodged formal objections to the Dubbo Zirconia project and after making the Black Mist publication pozible and reminding Peter Costello and the Future Fund that there is no future in nuclear weapons ICAN reps took the nuclear weapons abolition message further with a successful conference in Nayarit (Mexico)
March saw the annual national nuke free strategy and planning gathering with crew from around the country Continue reading
Bleak Outlook for the Global Nuclear Industry as Wind and Solar Soar
Nukes Fade As Wind and Solar Soar, Eco Watch Paul Brown, Climate News Network | December 30, 2014 With nuclear power falling ever further behind renewables as a global energy source, and as the price of oil and gas falls, the future of the industry in 2015 and beyond looks bleak. Renewables now supply 22 percent of global electricity and nuclear only 11 percent—a share that is gradually falling as old plants close and fewer new ones are commissioned.
New large-scale installations of wind and solar power arrays continue to surge across the world. Countries without full grids and power outages, such as India, increasingly find that wind and solar are quick and easy ways to bring electricity to people who have previously had no supply.
Developed countries, meanwhile, faced with reducing carbon dioxide emissions, find that the cost of both these renewable technologies is coming down substantially. Subsidies for wind and solar are being reduced and, in some cases, will disappear altogether in the next 10 years.
Speed of installation
The other advantage that renewables have is speed of installation. Continue reading
Trade In Services Agreement another secretive deal like the Trans Pacific Partnership
The Trade In Services Agreement Goodbye Privacy, Hello Censorship CounterPunchYet another tentacle in the octopus of multi-national corporations’ attempt to achieve dictatorial control, the Trade In Services Agreement (TISA) is intended to eliminate government regulations in the “professional services” such as accounting and engineering but goes well beyond that, proposing sweeping de-regulation of the Internet and the financial industry.
Another snippet of TISA’s text has been leaked, this time by the freedom-of-information organization Associated Whistleblowing Press. Continue reading
Liberal MP contradicts Abbott on coal (but doesn’t mention renewables)
Liberal MP rebukes Abbott on coal and says gas is the future for developing nations SMH December 30, 2014 Latika Bourke One of the Liberal Party’s rising stars has rebuked Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s claim that coal is the key to providing developing countries with low-cost energy.
NSW Liberal MP Angus Taylor, who was elected the member for Hume in the 2013 election, says gas is the better way to reduce carbon emissions and supply countries such as China and India with the energy they need to continue their rise……….
Mr Taylor’s comments put him at odds with Mr Abbott, who has repeatedly insisted that coal is “good for humanity” and the “foundation of prosperity” for “now and the foreseeable future”, because it is cheaper.
Recently, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said any honest conversation about reducing Australia’s domestic emissions had to include a debate about nuclear power, describing it as an“obvious direction” for a country blessed with uranium supplies. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/liberal-mp-rebukes-abbott-on-coal-and-says-gas-is-the-future-for-developing-nations-20141230-12fg3k.html
In 2014 renewable energy became the major source of Germany’s electricity
Germany Exceeds 25% Renewable Energy http://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/germany-25percent-renewables-em4621/ 2014 is the first year renewable energy has been the major source in Germany’s electricity generation mix.
According to preliminary surveys by the German Association of Energy and Water (BDEW), renewable energy based electricity generation reached 25.8 percent this year; up from 24.1 percent last year. Renewables provided 27.3 percent of gross domestic electricity consumption in 2014.
Electricity from renewables increased from 152.4 to 157.4 billion kilowatt-hours (expected). Wind turbines contributed 52.4 billion kWh and solar panel systems generated 35.2 billion kWh – the latter almost 14 percent more power than last year.
Biomass electricity production was up five percent from 46.6 billion kWh to 48.9 billion kWh and electricity generation from hydroelectric power reached 20.8 billion kWh.
Coal-fired power in Germany during 2014 was 10% less than in 2013. Coal’s share in the nation’s energy mix dropped to 18%. Gas-fired power plants dropped to 9.7% and nuclear energy’s share increased by half a percent to 15.9%.
2014 saw all sorts of new renewable energy related records set in Germany. Most recently, wind power achieved a new record of 29.7 GW peak power production on December 12. According to the Fraunhofer Institute, wind based electricity production on that day was 562 GWh.
” Both figures represent new records,” says Prof. Dr. Bruno Burger. ” The last records of 5th of December 2013 with a maximum power of 26.3 GW and a daily energy of 485 GWh have been exceeded by 13% resp. 16%.”
On a day in April this year, renewables made up nearly 3/4 of peak domestic German power demand.
By the end of October this year, Germany had 35.062 GW of onshore wind capacity and 616 MW offshore. Installed solar power capacity had reached 38.124 GW.
Economics AND activism now shut down Vermont Yankee Nuke Plant
Throughout the U.S. and the world, the demise of atomic energy is accelerating. Some 435 reactors are listed worldwide as allegedly operable. But 48 in Japan remain shut in the wake of Fukushima despite the fierce efforts of a corrupt, dictatorial regime to force them back on line. Germany’s transition to a totally nuke-free green energy economy is exceeding expectations. The fate of dozens proposed and operating in China and India remains unclear.
Activists Permanently Shut Down Vermont Yankee Nuke Plant Today Harvey Wasserman | December 29, 2014 The Vermont Yankee atomic reactor goes permanently off-line today, Dec. 29, 2014. Citizen activists have made it happen. The number of licensed U.S. commercial reactors is now under 100 where once it was to be 1,000.
Decades of hard grassroots campaigning by dedicated, non-violent nuclear opponents, working for a Solartopian green-powered economy, forced this reactor’s corporate owner to bring it down. Entergy says it shut Vermont Yankee because it was losing money. Though fully amortized, it could not compete with the onslaught of renewable energy and fracked-gas. Throughout the world, nukes once sold as generating juice “too cheap to meter” comprise a global financial disaster. Even with their capital costs long-ago stuck to the public, these radioactive junk heaps have no place in today’s economy—except as illegitimate magnets for massive handouts. Continue reading
Solar energy storage already a commercial reality
‘Storage is here’: Solar-plus-storage market will surpass $1B by 2018, Utility Dive By Robert Walton | December 17, 2014 10% of new commercial solar customers will pair their installations with storage by 2018, according to research published Thursday morning by GTM Research. Spurred by falling battery prices, the solar-plus-storage market will surpass $1 billion that year,………
12 leading companies with on-site renewable energy
Apple, IKEA, Walmart: 12 leaders in on-site renewables Green Biz Heather ClancyTuesday, December 23, 2014 Call them renewable energy pioneers. The number of high-profile companies calling for power procurement policy changes or making direct investments in clean energy sources grew exponentially over the past 12 months.
Over the summer, a dozen trend-setters — including General Motors, Hewlett-Packard and Walmart — wrote and signed the Corporate Renewable Energy Pledge asking utility companies to make it simpler for them to buy power generated sustainably through solar, wind, fuel cells and other alternative sources.
More than 19 big brands are on board, representing a combined demand of more than 10 million megawatt hours (MWhs) per year. Or, put another way, enough power to run 1 million homes for a year.
Then, in October, another group of companies lit up the RE100 campaign, which seeks to convince 100 of the world’s largest companies to switch over to 100 percent renewable power. First on board: BT, Commerzbank, FIA Formula E, H&M, IKEA, KPN, Mars, Nestle, Philips, Reed Elsevier, J. Safra Sarasin, Swiss Re and Yoox. (IKEA and Swiss Re were the founding sponsors.)
Both developments underscore growing frustration within the corporate world with the level of progress being made (or not made) by utility companies adding renewable energy-generating sources.
Many big companies buy renewable energy credits as a method of addressing their carbon footprint, and have done some for quite some time. Now, they are taking matters into their own hands, often in the name of guaranteeing price stability and energy independence decades into the future. No more baby steps……..
The Environmental Protection Agency provides a quarterly ranking of companies involved in on-site renewables projects through its Green Power Partnership program. Using that information as a starting point, here’s my list of 12 big companies taking clean power generation into their own hands. ………http://www.greenbiz.com/article/Apple-Google-Walmart-corporate-renewables-leaders?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRogv6rAZKXonjHpfsX74%2B4qX6%2BylMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4HSMdnI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFSLHEMa5qw7gMXRQ%3D
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 