Australia’s challenge to take part in the renewable energy revolution
there are all kinds of businesses associated with these industries, and we can do that well in Australia and we can certainly demonstrate how to make our cities work better with them, which requires this integration of smart grids and all kinds of storage systems and so on that are emerging.
RENEWABLES INVESTMENT ECLIPSES FOSSIL FUELS Radio National, The Science Show, download audio http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/the-science-show-19th-may-2012/4019492 19May Investment in renewable energy infrastructure is outstripping that for fossil fuels. Investment was equal in 2008, but the balance has swung since. During 2011, globally, $40 billion was invested in fossil fuels. $260 billion was invested in renewables. In the past year the price of photovoltaic cells has dropped by 50%.
Peter Newman describes the growth of investment in renewable as exponential. He says we are living through one of the most dramatic periods in history as fossil fuels are being phased out. Continue reading
Australia’s Kimberley – paradise or a Dubai-like industrial hub?
community opposition to the project is growing rapidly. A loose coalition of environmentalist groups has launched a national campaign to stop the project, supported by Aboriginal people desperate to protect sacred heritage sites and ancient graves.
Battle for the Kimberley SMH, Jan Mayman May 24, 2012 “….. ONCE it was paradise, an enchanted land of wild beauty, with endless beaches of dazzling white sand beneath magnificent red cliffs along the Kimberley coast. For more than a century people from all over the world were drawn there by the pearl-rich sea. In the old port of Broome, they settled and intermarried, creating a place of racial harmony unique in Australia,
with its own language, cuisine and music. In more recent times tourists have flocked there to enjoy its idyllic charm.
But everything is changing. The West Australian government wants to turn Broome into another Dubai, with a $35 billion liquefied natural gas plant 60 kilometres north of the town at pristine James Price Point. If it wins federal government approval it will be the world’s
biggest, producing 12 million tonnes of liquefied gas a year. But the project, driven by an international consortium led by Australia’s Woodside Petroleum, has bitterly divided Broome’s 16,000 residents……
Continue reading
Opposition to Western Australia’s first uranium mining project
“The EPA has ignored the serious risks associated with transporting toxic and radioactive material through Western Australian communities, and has given us no confidence that radioactive mine waste would be safely isolated from the environment for the required 10,000 years,”
The EPA report is now open to public appeal for two weeks. WA’s environment minister is required to review any appeals before finalizing a decision on the project. A federal government decision on the assessment will follow after the WA process is finalised.
Energy Watch: Australia’s First Uranium Mine Project Meets Opponent International Business Times, By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | May 22, 2012 “….The Conservation Council of Western Australia (CCWA) said it is opposed to the construction of the uranium mine project in Wiluna town in the northern Goldfields on the basis that Toro Energy has yet to provide a safe and reliable track record in uranium mine construction, development and maintenance… Continue reading
New book exposes the myths of the nuclear lobby
Fukushima Tour de Force: New Book Chronicles Nuclear Devil’s Tango HUFFNGTON POST, Jeff Biggers, 22 May 12, With Japan now only weeks into its temporarymoratorium on nuclear power plants, a chillingly prescient chapter in Cecile Pineda’s new tour de force, Devil’s Tango: How I Learned the Fukushima Step by Step , foretells the lasting impact of a “planetary catastrophe” in the time of powerful energy lobbies….. “It’s not easy for you, or me, or anyone to pay attention to the consequences of the nuclear energy cycle,” Pineda tells the reader in her foreword. “Why? Because you can’t see radiation.”
Unfolding through a series of beguiling, passionate and often revelatory entries in a daily chronicle, at times with a flair for scintillating satire, Pineda’s masterful framing of the urgency for readers to learn from the Japanese nuclear disaster and the machinations of its industry handlers makes Devil’s Tango one of the most important and required reads this year. She writes:
“You can’t see fallout, you can’t tell when you’re eating strontium by the spoonful. It’s invisible, you can’t see it, feel it, touch it, hear it; you can taste it only in your mouth — when the fallout is particularly dense — as a metallic taste in your mouth, which any number of people reported this past year in places as far apart as Seattle and Arizona. In a world that enshrines surfaces, the industry thinks invisibility is a sure bet you won’t ever find out.”…. Continue reading
Solar power can only get cheaper – an opportunity for Australia
The breathtaking opportunity that we stand to gain from being able to convert energy from the sun into electricity is that solar power has no fuel price setting a floor on cost. Irrespective of geopolitical tensions and reserve depletion, the cost of solar power can only get cheaper. This view is lost when investment decisions are justified solely on current levelised costs and carbon prices.
Set the controls for the heart of the sun: time for solar courage, The Conversation, Lynette Molyneaux
Researcher at University of Queensland, 21 May 2012 “…..The breathtaking opportunity that we face today is the transformation of global energy use from fossil fuels to renewables; a journey to environmental sustainability. The insoluble problem that we think we face is cost.
So what is the state of the technological transformation required to source our energy from the sun? Photovoltaic (PV) technology (which converts sunlight to electricity using semi-conductors) currently being rolled out in Germany and China originated in Australia but due to a lack of support for development and deployment, those countries
were able to acquire the Intellectual Property (IP) and build industry to deploy the technology. Continue reading
Australian Conservation Foundation wants the CEFC to be made more effective
to be truly effective the Clean Energy Finance Corporation should not be constrained by the existing 20 per cent renewable energy target (RET), the ACF says.
the ACF says the scheme, perversely, limits large-scale clean energy investment to that 20 per cent level. It wants the government to replace RET certificates generated under CEFC projects so they’re essentially not counted towards the overall target.
Corporation to invest $10B in clean energy, 9 news 23 May 12 The federal government will introduce legislation on Wednesday to establish its $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC). The corporation, part of the government’s carbon price package, will support renewable energy projects through loans, guarantees and equity
investments. Continue reading
Australasia Has Hottest 60 Years in a Millennium http://www.climatecentral.org/news/australasia-has-hottest-60-years-in-a-millennium// May 20th, 2012 By Alison Rourke, The Guardian The last 60 years have been the hottest in Australasia for a millennium and cannot be explained by natural causes, according to a new report by scientists that supports the case for a reduction in man made carbon emissions. Continue reading
Young Australians raising awareness, and money, for renewable energy and energy conservation
Young Australians “Repower” the Country http://southern-courier.whereilive.com.au/your-news/story/young-australians-repower-the-country-2/ BY SAMANTHA COOPER 17 May 12, Local kids are working to show our leaders that young people want investment in renewable energy.
Across Sydney and Australia, local groups of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition are running Repower events to raise money to install solar energy and reduce the energy use of local businesses, charities, and community centres – and show the Government that there is widespread community support for an Australia powered with 100% renewable energy.
At the launch event on Wednesday 16 May, young people gathered at the site of the first Repower event in NSW, Sappho Books and Wine Bar in Glebe. Comedian Claire Hooper MC’ed the event and the Environment Defender’s Office Principal Solicitor Kirsty Ruddock shared her perspective on the next steps for Australia moving towards a more sustainable future. The owners of the book store spoke about how excited they were to use the $2800 raised at their Repower event to reduce their energy use and recycling bills in ways they could not afford to before.
“When all the rest of us are sitting down, watching The Voice, and avoiding the issues, this group of young people is taking care of business. Repower is a really exciting example of turning passion into action in local communities. Thank goodness for the kids, eh?” said Claire Hooper.
“Young people are tired of waiting for politicians to invest in the renewable energy we need. We have the technology through concentrating solar thermal power plants and windfarms to power Australia with 100% renewable energy, and so we’re getting started doing that, one venue at a time,” said local university student Samantha Cooper, from Randwick.
To get involved contact sam.cooper@aycc.org.au
Casey Stoner’s concern about danger of ionising radiation
Why Stoner is the best of this generation despite doing it his way Brisbane Times, Stephen Ottley May 19, 2012 http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/motorsport/why-stoner-is-the-best-of-this-generation-despite-doing-it-his-way-20120518-1yw0o.html#ixzz1vM5f2Tg1 “……..It has become apparent that Stoner is thinking a lot more about safety.
Last year he was one of the most vocal critics of the sport travelling to Japan in the aftermath of the tsunami. He said he was concerned about radiation from the Fukushima power station.
“I’d set in my mind there was no way I was going to Japan after things I’d seen and heard,” he said at the time. “But that came from a very strong emotion after I found out that Adriana was pregnant … I’d made my mind up and there was no way I was going to risk my wife or my family, and it was very tough.”…. But as he has his entire career, Stoner has chosen to do things his way.
Tony Abbott and the split in the Liberal Party about science and conspiracy theories
In the past, the Liberal Party was the party of business. When I talk to energy and technology companies, it is surprising that many of the smartest companies and people in business are concerned by the rise of irrational extremism in the Liberal Party.
But as PM, Mr Abbott will be making decisions every day. This will force him to decide, does he put his faith in science, engineering and economics, or conspiracy theories Will he protect the interests of the whole Australian economy and society, or just the interests of the mining billionaires?
Is Mr Abbott’s vision for Australia future-proof? The Drum, Dan Cass, 16 May 12, Opposition leader Tony Abbott is confident that he is going to be our next prime minister. If he wins, he might well be PM all the way through the rest of this decade. Before that happens, we need to know, is Mr Abbott’s vision for Australia future-proof. Based on the opposition leader’s budget reply speech last week, we have reason to be concerned.
The fossil fuel age is drawing to a close, driven both by the threat of climate change and the opportunity of technological progress. Exciting new technologies are changing how we run the grid, power the factories, chill the beer and burn the toast.
Over the next several years the price of solar electricity will beat the price of conventional electricity (from gas and coal) around the world. Solar’s competitive advantage is caused by the progress of the technology, whether or not there is a price on carbon.
This fact is welcomed by every mainstream figure in the energy industry globally (it is not accepted by Energy Minister Martin Ferguson, but that is another issue ).
Clever countries are embracing solar (and wind and other clean tech)……. Continue reading
Aborignal protestors in Brisbane face police crackdown
Police move in on Aboriginal protestors, Sky News, May 16, 2012 Police have moved in on Brisbane park where Aboriginal protesters were involved in a standoff with more than 100 police sent in to evict them.
Rows of police earlier faced off against a similar number of protesters, who say they are exercising their sovereign right to occupy indigenous land that’s home to a sacred site….. http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=750772&vId=3256173
Australian Senate continues debate on Stronger futures laws
Senate debates NT intervention Herald Sun May 10, 2012 Debate on the Government’s Stronger Futures laws resumed in the Senate yesterday….. The draft laws have attracted widespread opposition from Aboriginal communities in the NT who claim the measures are racist and they weren’t consulted properly.
Last week, a group of traditional owners, the Yolngu Nations Assembly which represents 8000 people in west, central and east Arnhem Land, threatened to revolt against the legislation.
They could refuse to participate in land-lease negotiations with the federal government and decline approval for any exploration licences.
The Australian Greens have signalled they will oppose the bills. “We have seen significant waste on ineffective measures, when far better outcomes could have been delivered through direct investment in communities and organisations on the ground,” Senator Rachel Siewert said.
Debate on Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Bill 2012 and related bills has adjourned.
Ausdtralian govt likely to sneak Aboriginal Intervention laws through, while Budget dominates the news
Fears intervention laws will sneak through 9 News May 7 2012 By Lisa Martin Indigenous leaders fear the government will use the cover of the federal budget to rush through controversial laws to continue the Northern Territory intervention program. Continue reading
Australian farmers’ economics at risk by anti wind farm campaign
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/anti-wind-farm-blowhards-threaten-farm-incomes/story-e6frgd0x-1226350204905
Australia should stop exporting uranium, and avoid danger of importing nuclear waste
Nuclear waste blow, St George and Sutherland Shire Leader, BY KATE CARR,03 May, 2012 THE news that the federal government has decided to use the ANSTO facility at Lucas Heights as a nuclear waste storage site has been met with dismay in Sutherland Shire. …..ANSTO chief executive Adi Paterson said about 13.2 square metres of intermediate nuclear waste would be stored in a $30 million purpose-built facility at Lucas Heights from 2015 for a maximum of five years, while the national nuclear repository is built.
The proposed new storage facility at Lucas Heights would enable Australia to meet obligations to repatriate Australian waste being reprocessed in France.
Under arrangements established by governments in the 1990s, it is due to return to Australia by the end of 2015.
Menai MP Melanie Gibbons and Sutherland Shire mayor Carol Provan were quick to condemn the plan.
Ms Gibbons said that given the federal government was yet to decide on the location of the repository, there was a very real fear the waste could remain in the shire far longer than five years…… Councillor Steve Simpson, who spoke to the council about the need to prevent ANSTO from storing nuclear waste earlier this year, said he was shocked the shire learned of the decision through a press release.
“I feel we have been neglected,” Cr Simpson said. “Our suburb isn’t a waste dumping ground.”
Sutherland Shire Environment Centre spokeswoman Jenni Gormley said she was concerned the construction of an “out of sight, out of mind repository” could lead to Australia becoming a global dumping ground for uranium.
“Australia should instead cease the overseas exportation of uranium and avoid the need for a “remote” storage facility,” Ms Gormley said. http://www.theleader.com.au/news/local/news/general/nuclear-waste-blow/2543593.aspx?storypage=1
1 This month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/235274195556
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 