Antinuclear

Greens pledge to help farmers save energy http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/greens-pledge-to-help-farmers-save-energy/story-e6frg6xf-1226679846791  BY:SUE NEALES, RURAL REPORTER  The Australian July 16, 2013   THE Australian Greens have strengthened their grab for the rural vote at this year’s federal election, pledging $100 million in grants for farmers to save electricity and install solar and wind power.

Greens leader Christine Milne will release the Greens’ new farm energy policy in a speech to the NSW Farmers annual conference in Sydney today, building on her claim that the Greens are the political party most in tune with the interests of farmers and regional Australia.

Senator Milne said yesterday the $100m farm energy program would become a policy priority pushed by the Greens after this year’s federal election, regardless of who wins power.

She claimed only the Greens were prepared to help farmers switch to cleaner energy sources and cut their power bills.

“That’s because Tony Abbott doesn’t believe in climate change, and Kevin Rudd has to find billions to fund his backflip on carbon pricing,” she said. Continue reading →

The Coalition’s claim that moving swiftly to a floating carbon price would cost the budget up to $15 billion has been rated “mostly false” by the fact-checking service PolitiFact, which partners with Fairfax Media from Monday.

During the 40 days leading up to the election, PolitiFact will publish a checked fact a day on The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age websites.

The claim the change would mean “a black hole of up to $15 billion in the budget” was made by shadow treasurer Joe Hockey on the Channel Seven Sunrise program on Friday, June 28, two days after Kevin Rudd retook the Labor Party leadership…….More details are available at politifact.com.au.     http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/coalitions-15b-carbon-price-claim-mostly-false-20130714-2py81.html#ixzz2ZA7evzxO

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/coalitions-15b-carbon-price-claim-mostly-false-20130714-2py81.html#ixzz2ZA7evzxO

Reviews of the renewables policy should occur every four years, rather than every two years, to give investors more confidence, according to a December recommendation from the Climate Change Authority, which is advising the government.

AGL Delays Australian Wind Farm on Government Policy Concern    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-11/agl-delays-australian-wind-farm-on-government-policy-uncertainty.html  By James Paton – Jul 10, 2013  AGL Energy Ltd. (AGK), Australia’s largest developer of renewable energy projects, said it delayed a A$550 million ($509 million) wind farm because of uncertainty over government policy to boost investment in the industry.

AGL will defer hiring an engineering and construction contractor for the proposed Silverton wind farm in Australia’s New South Wales state and review its position in 2014, the Sydney-based company said today in an e-mailed statement.

“This decision does not indicate reduced enthusiasm for the project,” Nigel Bean, the head of power development at AGL, said in the statement.While Australia’s opposition coalition said in March that it’s committed to the nation’s 2020 renewable energy target, it called for a review of the policy in 2014 if it wins this year’s election, which must be held by Nov. 30. Australia plans to generate at least 20 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by the end of the decade as it seeks to reduce its dependence on coal.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s return to the leadership in Australia has sparked a surge in support for Australia’s Labor government, with a poll showing the party has closed the gap with Tony Abbott’s opposition. Labor rose to its highest level on a two-party preferred basis in almost nine months and is tied on 50 percent with the Liberal-National coalition, the Newspoll published July 9 in The Australian showed. Continue reading →

She also slammed the federal opposition leader and Liberal members of parliament for denying the existence of climate change.

Ms Hodgins-May said the possibility of the region relying only on renewable energy was completely achievable.“When you look at a town like Daylesford, that whole town can be powered by only two wind turbines at the Hepburn wind farm,” she said.

“There is no reason why a city like Ballarat cannot one day rely solely on renewable energy.”

She said that both the Labor and Liberal parties needed to commit to a renewable future, instead of avoiding the issue and,  in some instances, flatly denying the existence of climate change.“The Labor and Liberal parties are creating uncertainty with possible changes to the price on pollution and clean energy investment,” Ms Hodgins-May said.

Ms Hodgins-May announced plans for a “clean energy roadmap” that would help to one day power the city.The roadmap includes plans to increase the current renewable energy target, aiming to achieve 90 per cent renewable energy by 2030.The current government energy target is for at least 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity to come from renewable energy by 2020.

Tony Abbott’s vow to abolish the carbon tax but keep the compensation smacks of populist politics at its finest PAUL SYVRET THE COURIER-MAIL JULY 02, 2013  “…………On the carbon front, emissions from the electricity sector have been reduced by 7 per cent, although other factors, such as demand, contribute to this, while renewable energy use is up 30 per cent. Most of the new-generation energy being planned is renewable or gas fired, indicating the carbon price is doing what it is designed to do in terms of shaping long-term investment.

Not a bad effort, Australia. Take a bow.

Still Abbott perseveres (straight-faced) with his claim the looming election will be a referendum on carbon, despite polls indicating only one in three voters support the removal of the tax and its replacement by the Coalition’s nebulous “Direct Action” scheme.

In short, a price on carbon, which was Abbott’s preferred policy option until he saw a chance to use it as a wedge in his plot to topple former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull, is seen by all but a handful of economists as the most efficient way of reducing emissions.

It is a “Pigovian tax”, designed to change behaviour by penalising companies that generate what are called negative externalities, in this case, spewing greenhouse gases into an already warming globe.

As Harvard Professor of Economics Greg Mankiw put it in a 2009 paper: “The economics here is straightforward: emitting carbon into the atmosphere entails a negative externality. In absence of any policy, people will emit too much. The Pigovian policy response is to impose a tax on carbon emission. This will induce households and firms to internalise the carbon externality when deciding, for example, how much to drive, what kind of car to buy, how much electricity to use, what kind of electric power plant to build and so on.”

But no, the Abbott response is to declare again on national television over the weekend that not only would he axe the tax, but Australians would keep the compensation, the sort of addle-headed populism that must have more financially literate members of his team screaming in silent anguish……

This is at the same time the rest of the world is moving to price carbon, with some markets, such as Europe, already well established. Just last week US President Barack Obama took America a big step down the road with a decision to cap emissions for US power plants. California, with a larger economy than Australia, already has a cap-and-trade scheme.

What about here? We may well be left with a “policy” that is based on little more than blood oath obduracy and dog-whistling for the deniers. http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/tony-abbott8217s-vow-to-abolish-the-carbon-tax-but-keep-the-compensation-smacks-of-populist-politics-at-its-finest/story-fnihsr9v-1226672519966