Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

Victorian govt aiming for Renewable Energy inverstment

Government is committed to making Victoria an attractive location for renewable investment

Brumby to streamline planning for renewable energy projects – Government News By Rob O’Brien, 25 Aug 2010, Planning processes for renewable energy projects will be streamlined with Victorian councils receiving support to administer wind farm permits, the State Government has announced. Continue reading

August 25, 2010 Posted by | climate change - global warming, energy, politics, solar, Victoria, wind | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Greens Senator brings hope for renewable energy

There’s a new light on the hill, and it’s bright Green, The Age, Jewel TopsfieldAugust 23, 2010 “… there was no stopping Victoria’s first Greens senator Richard Di Natale in this sweet, long-savoured moment. ”There is a new light on the hill and it’s powered by renewable energy,” he thundered at the Greens election night party in Melbourne,………..Comprising the former working-class suburbs of Fitzroy, North Melbourne, Brunswick and Richmond, the electorate is home to many progressive-thinking, educated professionals – a tribe Monash University lecturer Paul Strangio dubbed ”post-materialist cosmopolitans”. There’s a new light on the hill, and it’s bright Green

August 23, 2010 Posted by | energy, politics, Victoria | , , , , | Leave a comment

Victoria, Australia, to lead the way in wind energy

The wind farm, situated between the towns of Macarthur, Hawkesdale and Penshurst in Victoria, is slated to become the largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere

Vestas awarded order for the largest wind power project in Australia Industrial Fuels and Power August 13th, 2010 Denmark-based Vestas has successfully secured the order for the largest wind power projectd in Australia. Continue reading

August 14, 2010 Posted by | climate change - global warming, energy, Victoria, wind | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Schoolkids try to convince Mayor on nuclear-free movement

Cr Neoh has refused to sign the symbolic agreement saying it was not for local government to make a decision on.

School targets Neoh in anti-nuclear campaign, The Warrnambool Standard, PETER COLLINS. 22 Jul, 2010 Hawkesdale schoolchildren are keen to persuade Warrnambool’s mayor Cr Michael Neoh to change his mind and support their push for a world free of nuclear weapons. Continue reading

July 22, 2010 Posted by | Opposition to nuclear, Victoria | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Victoria: large scale solar plant and feed-in tariff

There is no doubt this initiative will mean that many local and international solar developers will remain in the country, and that Australia will have the opportunity of ranking among the leading developers of large-scale solar in the world…..

CLIMATE SPECTATOR: Brumby’s solar hit…Giles Parkinson,  Business Spectator, 22 Jul 2010 Victorian Premier John Brumby certainly didn’t miss with the timing of the state’s large-scale solar power plant initiative…..announcing a 5 per cent large-scale solar energy target, supported by the country’s first large-scale feed in tariff.…. Continue reading

July 22, 2010 Posted by | climate change - global warming, energy, solar, Victoria | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Urgent need for 100% renewables to replace Hazelwood

Replace Hazelwood with 100% renewable energy Otway Ranges Climate Action (ORCA),  6/7/2010, The undersigned groups and individual climate campaigners support an inclusivecampaign to urgently Replace Hazelwood with 100% renewable energy, including baseload solar thermal energy (as presented in the Beyond Zero Emissions, Zero Carbon Australia 2020 report).
The undersigned:

* strongly support the Replace Hazelwood campaign;
* support using renewable energy sources and increased efficiency to replace 100% of energy currently supplied by Hazelwood;
* particularly support the use of proven baseload Solar Thermal technology; and
* reject the use of fossil gas as an alternative fossil fuel…………

» Replace Hazelwood with 100% renewable energy Otway Ranges Climate Action (ORCA)

July 6, 2010 Posted by | climate change - global warming, energy, solar, Victoria, wind | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nuclear Lobby’s anti wind power line – Australian Landscape Guardians

The template for the Australian chapter of the landscape guardians is the British Coastal Guardians, an anti-wind power organisation run by climate change sceptics with strong links to the nuclear energy industry.

You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, The Age, ADAM MORTON, July 3, 2010 “…….Wind farm opponents also paid for advertisements in the weekly Pyrenees Advocate warning of ”Waubra disease”, an illness said to include symptoms of sleep disturbance, nausea, headaches and increased heart rate that could be ”coming to a house, farm or school near you”.

No evidence was given to back the claims, but the advertisements heightened concerns in the local community Continue reading

July 3, 2010 Posted by | energy, spinbuster, Victoria, wind | , , , , , | 3 Comments

Energy efficiency, gas and renewables, could replace coal power

The grimy valley struggles on, Reportage Enviro, 2 July 2010 Jenny Jägerhorn “………………….The brown-coal-fired generation plants in the valley account for 85 per cent of Victoria’s greenhouse contributions. Hazelwood power station produces up to 16 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, which is almost 15 percent of Victoria’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, and 3 percent of Australia’s total carbon emissions. Continue reading

July 3, 2010 Posted by | climate change - global warming, energy, solar, Victoria, wind | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bendigo calls on Australian Govt for Solar Energy

Bendigo energy push, 28 Jun, 2010 Bendigo Advertiser, THE Bendigo Sustainability Group is calling on the federal government to look at a new renewable energy resource for Central Victoria that could be a first for Australia…… Continue reading

June 28, 2010 Posted by | energy, solar, Victoria | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Victorian Labor Party opposes sale of uranium to Russia

The Victorian ALP State Conference on Saturday 19th June passed a Motion opposing export of uranium to Russia.

This is a strong position and an important challenge to the Federal ALP government’s stated support for the Howard – Putin uranium deal that was cut by the preceding Liberal government before the last federal election.

The Motion calls on Federal ALP to accept the findings of a Federal Parliamentary Inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties that recommended the Russian uranium sales deal should not proceed and placed a set of strong preconditions in its path – conditions that the Federal Labor government are not honouring to date.

June 22, 2010 Posted by | politics, uranium, Victoria | , , , , | Leave a comment

Natural gas can play a role in move to renewable energy

Diesendorf also supports “a limited role for gas, because renewable energy is not yet ready to take over all of gas’s roles”.

Replace Hazelwood with gas? Green Left Weekly, June 5, 2010 By Ben Courtice “.., Environment Victoria has taken up the campaign with enthusiasm. A report for EV by energy market analysts Green Energy Markets (GEM) has provided one plan for replacing Hazelwood. Launching the report, GEM director Ric Brazzale said: “By combining new renewable energy with efficient gas and energy efficiency measures we can cut Hazelwood’s annual emissions of 16.2 million tonnes to 1.8 million tonnes, which would reduce Victoria’s emissions by 12% annually, as well as freeing up 27 billion litres of water for other uses.” Continue reading

June 7, 2010 Posted by | climate change - global warming, energy, Victoria | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

More jobs with renewable energy than with Hazelwood brown coal power

clean energy replacements for Hazelwood can create up to 2500 construction jobs and 2300 ongoing jobs, many more than Hazelwood currently provides, though there would still be a need to support new job creation in t the Latrobe Valley.

Clean Energy Projects Could Replace Hazelwood Power Station By 2013 : Renewable Energy News, by Energy matters, 18 May, 2010, In a report released by Environment Victoria yesterday, the group says Hazelwood Power Station could be replaced with clean and renewable energy projects as soon as the end of 2012; and by doing so would slash Victoria’s greenhouse pollution by 12 percent. Continue reading

May 18, 2010 Posted by | climate change - global warming, energy, solar, Victoria, wind | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Melbourne anti nuclear waste dump protest targets Martin Ferguson

Nuclear dump opposed from Muckaty to Melbourne , Indymedia Australia, 30 April 2010, Community opposition to Martin Ferguson’s nuclear waste dump at Muckaty Station continues to grow. About 40 people convened at short notice outside Martin Ferguson’s electoral office on High Street Preston in a colourful protest of speeches, song and street theatre. ‘Martin Ferguson’ gets ‘splashed’ with Muckaty nuclear waste in the street theatre performed outside his office. Continue reading

May 1, 2010 Posted by | politics, uranium, Victoria | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Victoria’s community owned Hepburn Wind shows the way to renewable energy

Small players spinning wheels of renewable energy, Sydney Morning Herald, CHRIS ZAPPONE, April 28, 2010 Although the prospects of a national emissions trading scheme appear to have receded further over the horizon, one community is determined to make renewable energy a reality. At least locally.Community-owned Hepburn Wind today completed a contract for the delivery of two 2 megawatt wind turbines to be installed at Leonards Hill, south of Daylesford in central Victoria.The locally operated enterprise, billed as the first of its kind in Australia, is expected to supply almost all of Daylesford’s and Hepburn Shire’s electricity needs – enough for 2300 homes by the beginning of next year. Hepburn wind farm believed to be the first in Australia | Energy

May 1, 2010 Posted by | energy, Victoria, wind | , , , | Leave a comment

Melbourne protest against Ferguson’s nuclear waste dump plan

VIDEO No Dump at Muckaty – Melbourne, 12 April 2010 — EngageMedia

National Day of Action, 12 April, against Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson’s plans for a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty in the Northern Territory. – Jim Green 18 April 2010, Protesters gathered first on the steps of the Victorian Parliament House

before making their way through the lunchtime crowds of the CBD to join Ziggy the nuclear White Elephant at Flinders Street Station. Continue reading

April 17, 2010 Posted by | politics, uranium, Victoria | , , , , , , , | Leave a comment