Towards a Legally Binding Ban on Nuclear Weapons
President Eisenhower was right to equate possession of nuclear weapons with commission of crime:
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
By Kathy Kelly, Global Research, June 22, 2017, Common Dreams 20 June 2017, This week, in New York City, representatives from more than 100 countries will begin collaborating on an international treaty, first proposed in 2016, to ban nuclear weapons forever.
Mark Parnell on South Australia’s budget
Mark Parnell MLC, Parliamentary Leader, Greens, 22 June 17 The Government is spending two thirds of their $550 million energy security fund on fossil fuels. This includes a $360 million gas fired power station and $48 million to gas companies for exploration, including in high value farm land in the South East. These priorities are all wrong. We need to phase out fossil fuels and move to a more reliable and affordable renewable energy future with battery storage, such as the proposed solar thermal plant at Port Augusta.
Every budget in the last decade has cut funding to the Environment Department. This budget is no exception, cutting 43 full-time jobs at a time when the urgency of climate change requires even more attention than ever.
Seven stories from REneweconomy today
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IPART bumps up benchmark range for NSW solar tariffsRegulator further lifts benchmark for NSW solar tariffs – well above AGL’s proposed tariff – but rejects notion rooftop solar and storage have network benefits.
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$9 million to begin hydrogen roadmapThe South Australian Government is continuing to support the transition to a low- carbon economy through a $9 million commitment to begin hydrogen roadmap.
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Battery storage “gigafactory” planned for Darwin for 2018Energy Renaissance, backed by engineering group UGL, plans a gigawatt-scale battery storage factory in Darwin, that it says will begin production in late 2018.
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NSW follows Victoria, South Australia in major push to demand managementHouseholds and businesses in NSW will get paid for reducing loads during critical peaks, as governments and institutions decide to circumvent objections by fossil fuel lobby with smarter, cleaner and cheaper alternatives.
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Trump bashes wind energy in state that gets a third of its power from windTrump rants against wind energy, warning of lights going out and “birds falling to the ground”.
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$53.8 million for Stanwell Power Station$53.8 million will be invested for a series of major projects at Stanwell Power Station west of Rockhampton, over the next year.
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Inertia in power system: We don’t actually need that muchWe don’t need as much inertia in the power system as many think, and with a few simple changes we won’t need to mandate inertia limits either. Here’s why.
Kimba vote to investigate nuclear waste facility, but opposition to this is strong
Kimba votes to investigate nuclear waste facility on Eyre Peninsula, The Australian, June 23, 2017, MEREDITH BOOTH, Reporter, Adelaide, @MeredithBooth
The thought of having a nuclear waste dump in your backyard would be a step too far for many.
But for wheat farmer Andrew Baldock and the majority of his fellow residents in the shrinking rural South Australian town of Kimba, the promise of a $10 million community fund and better internet was enough to convince them that the positives outweighed the negatives.
Mr Baldock, a father of two, hopes Kimba’s “yes” vote for a nuclear waste dump on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula will kickstart the town’s shrinking rural economy, which has seen a steady exit of businesses and people over the past two decades.
Kimba’s 700 residents have for years been divided on whether to allow a waste dump near the town, but this week voted 396 to 294 in favour of advancing consultation on building a low- and medium-level facility on the town’s edge.
Mr Baldock and his brother stand to inherit from their parents one of the two farms nominated to house the nuclear waste dump……..
A series of rejected sites was put forward between 1991 and 2004 and the Northern Land Council put forward Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory in 2005. But nine years of opposition, including a Federal Court challenge, saw the NLC withdraw its nomination in 2014 and a fresh search began.
The result of the Kimba vote, reported by the Australian Electoral Commission yesterday, is in line with the opinion polls that have pitted neighbour against neighbour in the rural service centre over the past two years.
Farmer Peter Woolford, part of opposition group No Radioactive Waste on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA, said the vote had not changed anything and he expected continued railing against the project. “The opposition is still strong,” he said. “The results of the vote showed the community was still divided.”http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/kimba-votes-to-investigate-nuclear-waste-facility-on-eyre-peninsula/news-story/dab04e32a1be76f1e48ecb2f26fe37ae
Matt Canavan calls for taxpayers to fund corporate gas exploration
Matt Canavan now wants public money for gas exploration in South East Australia as well as $1 billion taxpayer leg-up for Adani.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/matt-canavan-calls-for-taxpayers-to-fund-corporate-gas-exploration,10428
Today’s Renewable Energy News
Get in on the ground floor: how apartments can join the solar boom
Bjorn Sturmberg
While there are now more solar panels in Australia than people, the many Australians who live in apartments have largely been locked out of this solar revolution by a minefield of red tape and potentially uninformed strata committees.
https://theconversation.com/get-in-on-the-ground-floor-how-apartments-can-join-the-solar-boom-79172
Giles Parkinson
Turnbull’s pursuit of “baseload dispatchable” power has all the hallmarks of the Trump administration’s campaign against renewables. But data shows that countries with lots of wind and solar have better energy security.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/turnbull-trump-demonising-renewables-no-reason-39272/
How apartments can join the solar boom
Do you live in an apartment and wish that you could join the solar power revolution? Here’s how one co-operative housing block in Sydney transformed their building and became one of the first apartment blocks to become equipped with solar and batteries.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-21/how-apartments-can-join-the-solar-boom/8639306
Foley pledges to ‘increase’ rooftop solar if elected
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/luke-foley-pledges-to-massively-increase-rooftop-solar-if-elected-20170621-gwvo3i.html
Idea for solar on dam left in dark
A FLOATING solar farm proposed for Copperlode Dam was shot down before ever being considered by Cairns Regional Council, and at least one city official is not impressed.
http://www.cairnspost.com.au/business/friction-in-council-over-rejected-copperlode-dam-solar-farm/news-story/def540cc85d26a41973686c3bb5a5f14
Uncertainty powers battery surge
Blackout fears in South Australia have led to a surge in interest in solar battery technology.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/personal-technology/energy-uncertainty-powers-surge-in-solar-backup/news-story/9657d6efdb43f98da5bf8480ab36f3d4
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 