Local councils, consumers, energy companies lead the way to clean energy
Fossil fuel divestment is worth $7tn globally yet Australia still clings to coal, Guardian,
Blair Palese, 13 Dec 16 While the Australian government lags behind on climate change action, consumers, local councils and energy companies lead the way to clean energy. The Turnbull government has been an utter disappointment on so many things but nowhere as much as on the biggest issue of our time: climate change.
Unable to shrug off the legacy of the climate-denying Abbott government, it has been bullied out of any climate change ambition by science-denying fringe elements on the right.
The list of dishonourable mentions are long. Despite signing the Paris agreement last year, the Australian government has consistently undermined any efforts to keep the world below the safe level of 2C. Last week’s backflip on the idea of a carbon-intensity emissions trading scheme – supported by most of the banks and the energy sector as the best way to reduce emissions and provide a level-playing field – is just the latest in a long line.
But the biggest worry is seeing Turnbull’s coal-loving ministers push through the Adani mega coalmine in Queensland, replete with the offer of a $1bn taxpayer-funded loan to build a railway line through rich farmland to a coal terminal on the Great Barrier Reef. If constructed, the Adani mine will almost certainly condemn the Great Barrier Reef to the annals of history, not to mention blowing almost any chance of us living in a safe climate future.
But while climate change is mired in partisanship and cheap political point-scoring on a federal level, Australian organisations, driven by a strong market shift away from polluting fossil fuels, particularly coal, are leading the way towards the clean economy.
On Tuesday a report by global financial outfit Arabella shows that fossil fuel divestment is now worth an astounding A$7tn globally. It spans almost 700 organisations as diverse as the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, the City of Newcastle and the Australian National University.
This $7tn that is not invested in coal, oil and gas provides a significant financial indicator to back up what we already know: fossil fuels are on the nose.
While Australia may be lagging on a government level, many of our businesses are leading the world in waking up to the risks posed by fossil fuels and the opportunities of the new clean economy.
The Arabella report highlights that Australia has the most divestments per capita of any developed nation. And these organisations that have divested are by no means radical. It is groups such as the Australian Capital Territory’s government, Australian Academy of Science, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the National Tertiary Education Union. Add to the mix almost 30 local government councils, 10 super funds, a handful of our top universities and you get the picture.
There is even a chance you live in a fossil-free council considering that more than one in 10 Australians now live in a council area that has sworn off fossil fuels…….https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/dec/13/fossil-fuel-divestment-is-worth-7tn-globally-yet-australia-still-clings-to-coal
Growing food in a desert. #auspol
Sundrop Farms produces healthy, sustainable food in the middle of the Australian Desert, without using pesticides, fossil fuels or fresh water.
The scarcity of food resources in many parts of the world is one of the major population threats. Agricultural lands deplete continuously, as climate change and inappropriate agricultural practices cause intense soil degradation and nutrient deficiencies. Desperate farmers continue to add enormous amounts of fertilizers and pesticides, while wasting millions of gallons of fresh water for irrigation. Many even feel obliged to opt for growing genetically modified crops with questionable health benefits, but which are apparently resistant to certain factors and can result in high yields.
Sundrop Farms, a modern agricultural company, has set a task to show that healthy, organic food can be produced everywhere. Their aim is to bust the myth that genetically modified foods, toxic pesticides, and large sums of money are the only solution to…
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1835 (and counting) South Australians sign up to No Nuclear Waste Dump for SA
The Federal Government has selected South Australia for their national nuclear waste dump – saying that Barndioota in the Flinders Ranges is their only option.
This is on top of the South Australian Nuclear Royal Commission promoting South Australia as the World’s high level radioactive waste dumping ground.
Constructing a nuclear waste dump in SA is currently illegal and the Greens want it to stay this way. We ask:
• Is this the best our State can aspire to?
• Is the damage to our State’s reputation worth it?
Radioactive waste is not only dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years, but its storage can never be 100% foolproof.
Last year in the US, a barrel of nuclear waste stored underground at an intermediate waste site in New Mexico ruptured, exposing 22 workers to radiation and costing an estimated $500 million to remediate.
Exposure to radiation can cause serious health problems – including cancer, cardiovascular disease, emphysema and cataracts – and if it enters the soil can contaminate our food and water.
Add you voice and sign the petition below to call on the South Australian Government to enforce our laws and stop nuclear waste being dumped in SA.
We the undersigned residents of South Australia, call on the Weatherill Labor Government to enforce the Nuclear Waste Storage Facility (Prohibition) Act 2000, to prevent a nuclear waste dump in South Australia. signatures:http://sagreens.markparnell.org.au/no_waste_dump_for_sa So the current count is 25 to 1833?
25 prominent South Australians sign up to Ben Heard’s Bright New Nuclear Bullshit
12 Dec 16 Australian nuclear lobbyists have had remarkable success in making themselves famous internationally, which is probably their main aim. . Barry Brook set this off, with a thin veil of environmentalism covering his dedication to the nuclear industry, in Brave New Climate. He got a heap of well-meaning environmentalists to sign up to a pro nuclear letter.
Now Ben Heard has gone a step further, with HIS nuclear front group – Bright New World. He’s got 25 important people to sign up to a pro nuclear campaign for South Australia. As with Brook’s disciples, some of these people seem quite altruistic and disconnected with the nuclear and mining industries.
Others do not:
Dr Ian Gould: chairing South Australia Energy and Resources Investment Conference 23-24 May 2017 Adelaide, geologist with 40 years experience in the minerals industry in diverse and senior positions, mainly within the CRA/Rio Tinto Group, current Chancellor of the University of South Australia and was awarded an AM in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to mining.
David Klingberg is a South Australian businessman, civil engineer and former Chancellor of the University of South Australia. director of ASX listed companies E & A Ltd and Centrex Metals Ltd. Klingberg is chair of a technical sub-group working on the Australian Government‘s National Radioactive Waste Management Project.
Dr Leanna Read is South Australia’s Chief Scientist, Expert Advisory Committee of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission in South Australia.] Read is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering,[which advocated for nuclear power in Australia in August 2014.. Read is also the Chair of the South Australian Science Council.
Stephen Young director or Chairman on a number of companies including ,Electricity Trust of South Australia, Australian Submarine Corporation ,The University of Adelaide ,E&A ltd and its Subsidiaries.
Mr Jim McDowell Chancellor of the University of South Australia Jim McDowell is currently Chair of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation and non-Executive director of a number of private and listed companies. He advises the Federal Government in a number of areas of Defence and Defence Procurement. He is a member of the First Principles Review of the Department of Defence and is currently on the Expert Advisory Panel for the Future Submarine. Formerly CEO OF BAE Systems Australia, the nation’s largest defence contractor.
Michael John Terlet Primary qualification in Electrical EngineeringNon Executive Chairman of Sandvik Mining and Construction Adelaide Ltd, a Director of Australian Submarine Corporation Pty. Ltd. Served as the Chief Executive Officer at AWA Defence Industries, Chairman of SA Centre for Manufacturing, Defence Manufacturing Council SA (MTIA)
Graham Douglas Walters AM, FCA Mr. Graham Douglas Walters, AM, FCA, serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors at Minelab Electronics Pty Ltd. Mr. Walters serves as Chairman and Director at Minelab International Pty Ltd.
David Noonan dissects the draft ARPANSA Information for Stakeholders on nuclear radioactive waste facility
Effectively this is the same draconian situation that existed under the earlier Commonwealth 
Radioactive Waste Management Act 2005 introduced by the Howard government to override State and Territory interests to protect community health, safety and welfare from the risks and impacts of nuclear wastes and to nullify Federal laws that protect against imposition of nuclear wastes.
Public submission to the draft ARPANSA Information for Stakeholders & associated Regulatory Guide to Licensing a Radioactive Waste Storage or Disposal Facility
Summary
Revised ARPANSA “Information for Stakeholders” should address the following:
The nuclear fuel waste Store in the Flinders Ranges is intended to operate for approx. 100 years.
The ARPANSA “Information for Stakeholders” fails to be transparent and is not fit for purpose.
ARPANSA must inform the public on the proposed licence period for this nuclear fuel waste Store.
ARPANSA should also publicly acknowledge the Contingency that the proposed nuclear fuel waste Store may be at a different site to the proposed near surface Repository in the Flinders Ranges.
The proposed above ground Store in our iconic Flinders Ranges is unnecessary as the ANSTO’s existing Interim Waste Store (IWS) at the Lucas Heights Technology Centre can manage reprocessed nuclear fuel waste on contract from France and from the United Kingdom over the long term.
The ANSTO application for the Interim Waste Store was conservatively predicated on a 40 year operating life for the IWS, and ANSTO has a contingency to “extend it for a defined period of time”.
ANSTO also has a contingency option for the “Retention of the returned residues at ANSTO until the availability of a final disposal option” – which does not involve a Store in the Flinders Ranges.
The Lucas Heights Technology Centre is by far the best placed Institution and facility to responsibly manage Australia’s existing nuclear fuel waste and proposed waste accruals from the Opal reactor.
The Interim Waste Store (IWS) at the Lucas Heights Technology Centre can conservatively function throughout the proposed operating period of the Opal reactor without a requirement for an alternative above ground nuclear fuel waste Store at a NRWMF in the Flinders Ranges or elsewhere.
It is an inexplicably omission or an unacceptably act of denial for ARPANSA to fail to even identity or to properly explain Australia’s existing nuclear fuel wastes and proposed further decades of Opal reactor nuclear fuel waste production in the “Information for Stakeholders”.
Australia’s nuclear fuel wastes are by far the highest activity and most concentrated and hazardous nuclear wastes under Australian management, and must be distinguished from other waste forms. Continue reading
Western Australia’s Premier (like South Australia’s) risks political oblivion in promoting nuclear power
With a state election around the corner it is time for all candidates to understand that support for clean renewable power will increasingly be a community pre-condition for access to political power.
Premier’s nuclear push is proof of a government in meltdown, http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=18719 By Mia Pepper . 12 December 2016 “…..At the recent COAG meeting our Premier has gone out on a glowing limb in a bid to revive the debate on nuclear power. Now there’s nothing wrong with a healthy debate, but this debate has been had repeatedly and the answer is always the same. It is time to put this tired talking point to bed and get on with the energy transition we can no longer ignore.
In 2016 the SA Government’s Royal Commission into the Nuclear industry found that “it would not be commercially viable to develop a nuclear power plant in South Australia…”
A decade earlier in 2006 the Switkowski Report found that “Nuclear power is likely to be between 20 and 50 per cent more costly to produce” than existing power sources and acknowledged that the reality that disposal of “high-level waste including spent nuclear fuel remains an issue in most nuclear power countries.”
Both these reports were initiated with a pro-nuclear agenda. Both sought to progress the contested nuclear industry within Australia. Both found insurmountable barriers including cost, time, contest and the complexity of nuclear waste.
None of these key factors have changed and they are not likely to. Many in the community remain deeply sceptical of nuclear power – and in the shadow of the Australian uranium fuelled and continuing Fukushima nuclear crisis – this too is unlikely to change.
A mystery akin to whale beachings is why do conservative politicians periodically wash up demanding that ‘we should include nuclear in the debate’ when we all know that the numbers simply do not add up?
Well, in short it is not a real proposal rather a headline grabbing convenient distraction from the very real issue of the need to rapidly transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
The reality is that we do not have the decades that nuclear reactors take to build, license and start. Our emissions are rising alongside global temperatures and the global climate clock is ticking loud.
The Premier’s latest foray into the nuclear space shows how little he understands about the risks – both nuclear and climatic. In 2015 when there was talk of West Australia possibly hosting Australia’s nuclear waste his reaction was effectively ‘don’t worry about it as it’s just a couple of X-rays’. The national nuclear waste problem in Australia has zero to do with x-rays and everything to do with spent nuclear fuel from the Lucas Heights reactor in Sydney – material that is far more serious and long Continue reading
While Barnaby Joyce trashes South Australia’s renewables, his electorate gets multi-million dollar loan for wind farm
Windfarm in Barnaby Joyce’s NSW electorate gets $120m CEFC loan Clean Energy Finance Corporation loan comes three months after minister slammed SA’s over-reliance on wind power, Guardian, Gareth Hutchens, 12 Dec 16, The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has made a multi-million dollar loan for a new windfarm in Barnaby Joyce’s electorate.
General Electric in support of State-based renewable energy targets
US energy giant GE backs states going own way on renewables, The Age, Peter Hannam 11 Dec 16 Renewable energy can add resiliency to electricity grids and there’s no reason why individual states can’t set their own goals higher than a national target, says a US industry veteran.
Nick Miller, senior technology director of General Electric’s energy consultancy, said US states such as Texas now supplied as much as half their electricity from renewable sources.
“If Australia wants to try its own state by state [approach] that is not intrinsically a bad thing,” the 36-year GE veteran engineer told Fairfax Media during a visit.
“If some states want to move forward faster, they will reap the economic benefits first, and the states that stay behind — sort of embracing the past — are probably going to get left behind.”
Mr Miller’s comments will bolster the case made by governments in states such as Queensland, Victoria and South Australia, and the federal Opposition, all of which have set renewable energy targets beyond 2020 unlike the federal government.
They will also stoke debate over the best way to meet Australia’s climate goals. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last week drew widespread criticism for ruling out a price on carbon even before his government begins a year-long review from early 2017.
Mr Miller said both Republicans and Democrats had managed to find common ground on clean energy in the US.
“It’s not ideologically driven, it’s business driven,” he said. “There are huge amounts of wind going into Oklahoma and Kansas, and that’s as red [Republican] as you get.”
GE is a supplier to both the thermal and renewable energy sectors. It’s found that, contrary to may public views, wind power actually advances rather than undermines the resilience of the grid.
With modern electronic controls added, a wind plant is now “more tolerant of grid disturbances than the equivalent size synchronous [thermal] plant”, he said. “It is extremely agile, and finely and quickly controlled.”
While recent blackouts in South Australia show that state’s power sector to “very highly stressed”, the response should be to increase flexibility in the system by altering market rules and investment incentives……. http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/us-energy-giant-ge-backs-states-going-own-way-on-renewables-20161211-gt8jdl.htm
Carnegie Wave Energy to build its first commercial wave plant in ENGLAND
Windfarm in Barnaby Joyce’s NSW electorate gets $120m CEFC loan, Guardian, Gareth Hutchens, 11 Dec 16 “…..Australia’s chief scientist, Dr Alan Kinkel, warned last week that investment in the electricity sector had stalled because of “policy instability and uncertainty”.
Over the weekend, the Australian Financial Review reported the pioneering Australian wave-power company Carnegie Wave Energy was planning to build its first commercial wave plant in Cornwall, England, because the climate policy chaos in Australia was too much.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull talks complete rubbish on climate policy
Turnbull’s two key political messages since Frydenberg’s unseemly capitulation to conservatives earlier in the week – that we won’t do carbon pricing lest it inflate power bills, and that governments have a fundamental obligation to keep the lights on – are entirely inconsistent with the actions the government is taking
On climate policy and power prices Turnbull is talking rubbish. Here are some facts, Guardian, Katharine Murphy, 9 Dec 16
An emissions trading scheme is the cheapest way meet Australia’s climate commitments – which will be news to anyone listening to the Coalition. I just want to be very, very clear that energy prices are too high already. We will do everything that we can to put downward pressure on energy prices. We will not impose a carbon tax, or an emissions trading scheme – that is our position.
This is the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, talking to the Melbourne radio host, Neil Mitchell, on Thursday, talking nonsense as it turned out – which is what the government has been doing all week on the subject of climate change.
How do I know he was talking nonsense?
There are any number of reports we can draw on to call out what can only be described as unmitigated, lowest common denominator, political crap emanating from the mouth of the prime minister – but I’ll just pick a couple.
Let me share with you the findings of a report that lobbed into the public domain at the start of the week, sandwiched between the government opening what could have been a rational and productive conversation about climate change and energy policy, and the government melting in a small puddle of panic. Continue reading
South Australian nuclear waste dump enthusiasts write to politicians
List of signatories:
- Fraser Ainsworth AM
- Rob Chapman
- Tim Cooper AM
- Di Davison AM
- Colin Dunsford AM
- Robert Gerard AO
- Dr Ian Gould AM
- Kathy Gramp
- Jim Hazel
- Mike Heard
- David Klingberg AO
- Theo Maras AM
- Jim McDowell
- Prof Mike Miller AO
- Creagh O’Connor (Snr) AM
- Dr Leanna Read
- Richard Ryan AO
- Antony Simpson
- Michael Terlet AO
- Dr Meera Verma
- Stephen Young http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-09/south-australians-urge-nuclear-waste-dump-debate-continues/8107978
Nuclear debate: Businessmen, academics, scientists call on SA politicians to keep discussion alive, ABC News, By political reporter Nick Harmsen, 9 dec 16, A group of prominent South Australian business people, academics and scientists have signed an open letter to the state’s politicians urging them to keep discussion alive on the merits of an international nuclear waste dump. Continue reading
Maralinga nuclear compensation cases blocked by Bob Hawke when PM
Hawke government schemed to stymie Maralinga nuclear test compensation, cabinet documents reveal http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/hawke-government-schemed-to-stymie-maralinga-nuclear-test-compensation-cabinet-documents-reveal/story-fni6uo1m-1227171284110 PETER JEAN POLITICAL REPORTER THE ADVERTISER JAN 1, 2015 THE statute of limitations was invoked by the Hawke Government to prevent hundreds of compensation actions being pursued in court by veterans of British nuclear tests in Australia.
Government documents from 1988 and 1989 released by the National Archives of Australia reveal that cabinet decided to try and invoke time-limit rules to fight court compensation actions launched after 1988. Continue reading
According to Bob Hawke, Aborigines can get a decent life only if Australia imports nuclear waste?
Former PM Bob Hawke wants Australia to become nuclear dumping ground
ASHLEIGH GLEESON, The Daily Telegraph December 9, 2016 
AUSTRALIA should become the storage ground for the world’s nuclear waste and pledge a percentage of the profits to helping the indigenous population, former prime minister Bob Hawke says.Traditional Owners construct ‘legal line of defence’ against Adani and Qld Govt
http://wanganjagalingou.com.au/traditional-owners-construct-legal-line-of-defence-against-adani-and-qld-govt/ 7 December 2016:
“Announce Full Bench Supreme Court Appeal – natural justice sought
“Express Anger at Gautam Adani’s Failure to Meet
“The Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) Traditional Owners Council have today announced a further action in their legal line of defence of their lands and rights against the imposition of Adani’s “mine of mass destruction”. They have also expressed offence at multi-billionaire Mr Gautam Adani’s failure to meet with them during his visit to Australia to spruik the Carmichael project.
“Leading Aboriginal rights advocate, primary W&J Traditional Owner and Council spokesperson, Mr. Adrian Burragubba, says, “We are constructing a legal line of defence because the Queensland Government and Adani are trying to bulldoze us aside. We will not stand by while they sing from the same song sheet about their grandiose but hollow plans.
We are acting in the courts to stop this destructive project. Our people, the Australian community, and the world deserve better than this cavalier, unjust and outdated approach to our shared future” …
“W&J youth leader and council spokesperson, Ms. Murrawah Johnson, says,
“It is our obligation as Traditional Owners to safeguard the future for our people and secure our lands and waters against this ‘mine of mass destruction’.
The W&J Council members have vowed to do everything in our power to stop the mine proceeding,
and we will take our concerns to the High Court if necessary.
““We are not easily intimidated. We will fight this mine until Mr Adani and his people pack their bags and head home”, she said.
“Lawyer for the Supreme Court Appeal and other matters, Mr. Colin Hardie says,
“There are reasonable grounds for my clients to argue that they were denied natural justice
by the Minister for Mines in the issuing of the mining leases for the Carmichael Mine.
The denial of natural justice can create significant costs and cause distress to Traditional Owners,
leading to a profound devaluing of their native title to land and waters. … “
Barwon Water and the City of Greater Geelong investigate solar array for landfill site
Geelong solar array capable of powering 1000 homes proposed for old Corio landfill site http://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/geelong-solar-array-capable-of-powering-1000-homes-proposed-for-old-corio-landfill-site/news-story/6b6154708d9fa4a7383b44246a096143 DECEMBER 8, 2016 A LARGE solar energy project with the potential to power 1000 homes is being explored at an old Corio landfill site.
Barwon Water and the City of Greater Geelong are investigating the feasibility of building a three-megawatt solar PV system at the former tip, which is next to Limeburners Lagoon. Early research into the concept has proven positive, with the agencies to embark on a detailed feasibility study. The 3000-kilowatt capacity system would generate about four million kilowatt hours of electricity annually, which is enough to power about 1000 homes.
The renewable energy would be shared by the two partners and fed through the grid to supply other locations.
Barwon Water has several power-intensive sites nearby, including the Northern Water Plant, Cowies Creek Sewer pump station and Lovely Banks water pump station. Strategy and planning general manager Carl Bicknell said Barwon Water was developing a program to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy use over the next 10 years. “Investing in locally sourced renewable energy would directly reduce Barwon Water’s use of fossil fuel-based grid electricity,” Mr Bicknell said. “A partnership approach makes good sense for the region. If feasible, the project would help both businesses make significant reductions in their emissions.”
The council’s city services acting general manager, Vicki Shelton, said the study, which is out to tender, would explore the project’s economic and environmental benefits. “Importantly it will examine how the City and Barwon Water can collaborate to secure a local renewable energy supply,” she said.
Barwon Water has recently tendered for a one-megawatt solar array at Black Rock, to feed renewable energy directly to the site’s water reclamation plant. It also hosts Victoria’s oldest wind turbine at Breamlea and jointly runs a mini-hydro generator at Lal Lal.
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