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
Greens offer Gillard to vote in a carbon tax
Greens make Gillard a climate offer,Tradingroom.com.au, By Cathy Alexander June 29 2010, Pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to reveal what she will do on climate change, with the Australian Greens making her an offer. Continue reading
Young voters will judge Gillard on Climate Change action
The new Prime Minister has an opportunity to win voters with a fresh approach to climate change. Last year, 97.5 per cent of the 37,000 young people who voted in Youth Decide, a national youth referendum organised by the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, supported stronger cuts in emissions than what was then offered by the ALP…
…At the next election, for the first time, more than one in five voters will be of Generation Y. Young people’s future, and Julia Gillard’s future, will depend on her ability to implement effective climate change solutions.
Gen Y to Julia: Take a bold stance for our climate, Sydney Morning Herald, from Australian Youth Climate Coalition, JOEL DIGNAM, June 28, 2010, Julia Gillard can be more than Australia’s first female Prime Minister: she can be our first prime minister to take the necessary steps to tackle carbon pollution.
Now Julia Gillard is in a perfect space to take prompt action to position the ALP as the only major party with a serious climate policy. Continue reading
Renewable energy would be a vote winner for Gillard
Green power an easy win for Australia-scientists , Australia needs CO2 price but other steps should come first* More support for wind, solar key to climate policy puzzle By David Fogarty, , June 29 (Reuters) – Australia’s new leader should ramp up renewable energy use and enshrine tougher energy efficiency standards to fight global warming, leading climate scientists said on Tuesday, describing them as easy policy wins…. Continue reading
Australia’s hope for action on Climate Change
The Australian Labor Party used to be inspired by Ben Chifley’s 1949 speech about “THE LIGHT ON THE HILL”.
That light dimmed as decades went by, and things in Australia have been pretty dark – especially for the environment, over recent decades.
Now, perhaps, there’s a glimmer again. Prime Minister Julia Gillard says that she is not intending to promote those ALP power brokers, (whose goal is self-advancement, and bugger the environment – my words, not Gillard’s).
Julia Gillard will fight for a carbon tax. That’s a start, as all thorough students of global warming come up with a carbon tax as the only practical way to start to address Australia’s problem of its immense per capita greenhouse gas output.
Prime Minister Gillard will fight for a carbon tax
Gillard to fight for carbon tax, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Jun 27, 2010 Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she wants Australia to have a carbon tax and is prepared to fight for it.
Ms Gillard told the Nine Network this morning she had doubts about the emissions trading scheme because there was no lasting and deep community consensus for it….
Ms Gillard says she will work to get a price on carbon.”I believe in climate change. I believe it’s caused by human activity and I believe we have an obligation to act,” she said. Gillard to fight for carbon tax – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Climate Change will hit Australia hardest
Dire climate change warning to Australia Herald Sun: AAP * June 28, AN international conference on the Gold Coast this week will hear Australia will be one of the hardest hit developed countries when climate change starts to bite. Continue reading
Will Gillard ACT on Climate Change, as well as TALK?
New Australian PM ‘should focus on cutting emissions’, Low Carbon Economy, 6/25/2010 There are hopes that Australia’s new prime minister could help improve the country’s environmental record………..In her first speech as prime minister Ms Gillard said she believes in climate change and that humans are contributing to the problem….
..Greenpeace Australia Pacific said that the first steps Ms Gillard should take would be to move subsidies from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, introduce a carbon levy and limit emissions from new power stations. New Australian PM ‘should focus on cutting emissions’ – Low Carbon Economy
Australia well placed to be hub of renewable energy export industry
Could Australia be the hub of a renewable energy export industry powering the homes, industry and electric car fleets of our region? In fact, our proportion of the global renewable energy resource is much higher than it is for coal.
Do renewable energy by the numbers, and it all adds up, Sydney Morning Herald, MIKE SANDIFORD June 24, 2010 “………..Geographically dispersed production – spreading out renewable energy farms so as not to rely on weather conditions in one area – is one way to improve energy stability and security. And our nation-continent, stretching across climate and time zones, appears ready-made for that.
Two new studies published by the Melbourne Energy Institute look at just these issues. Continue reading
W.A. way behind in clean energy, despite its renewable resources
Perth comes last for sustainability, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 15 June 2010, Perth has been ranked the least sustainable city in an assessment of the carbon footprint of Australia’s 20 largest cities….. Continue reading
Global subsidy to fossil fuels – about $600 billion
Just how much do governments spend on fossil fuels anyway? Thanks to a new report by IEA, http://www.iea.org/files/energy_subsidies.pdf , we now know the number is $557 billion worldwide as of 2008.
Time to come clean on energy subsidies? Renewable Energy World, Elisa WoodJune 11, 20100Time to come clean on energy subsidies? What you don’t know will hurt you. That’s the message in Michael Lewis’ new book, “The Big Short,” which traces today’s worldwide economic downturn to a single problem: the secretive nature of prices in the subprime mortgage bond markets.
What’s this got to do with energy? Our industry has its own opaque corners that can cause widespread damage. This week the International Energy Agency (IEA) is attempting to focus light on a big one: energy subsides for fossil fuels. Continue reading
Millions of jobs in carbon cuts and green technologies
”The report shows regional areas, even those which produce coal and generate electricity will have more jobs if we take strong action to cut pollution, but only if we act now,”
Carbon scheme ‘will create millions of jobs’ The Age, TOM ARUP, May 19, 2010, BIG cuts to carbon emissions and heavy investment in green technologies will create 3.7 million jobs across Australia by 2030, economic modelling commissioned for unions and green groups shows. Continue reading
Carbon tax looking like the best Climate Change plan for Australian govt
Anxious Labor MPs push carbon tax * Patricia Karvelas, Dennis Shanahan : The Australian * May 05, 2010 WORRIED Labor MPs plan to ask Kevin Rudd to embrace a carbon tax as Labor’s climate change policy, to fill the vacuum left by his contentious shelving of the emissions trading scheme.After being bombarded by outraged younger voters in their electorates, five Labor MPs have told The Australian the government’s current position on climate change is untenable and unsellable to the electorate.The admissions come as ministers concede the Rudd government failed to explain, or properly promote, its carbon pollution reduction scheme.
Rudd’s chance to truly address Climate Change
Fortunately, Rudd has been thrown a political and environmental lifeline by the Greens who have proposed the government take up the recommendation made by the Garnaut Report to introduce a transitional carbon tax of $20 a tonne for two years between July 2010 and July 2012.
Rudd missed opportunity to dump failed emissions scheme The Age, Kenneth Diavidson, 8 Feb 2010 February 8, 2010
1 This month
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
– go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/
Antinuclear 