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
Australia: the electoral power of Climate Change activism
on July 12 Tony Abbott said the Opposition had “no plans to promote nuclear power”. This is a watershed.Politicians now fear the electorate’s environmental commitment, and its preparedness to punish lax environmentalism.So let’s use our electoral power.
Watershed for voting power – inMyCommunity – Perth, Western Australia, David Freeman , 20 July 2010, Continue reading
Climate and Energy Policy IS Water Policy
energy efficiency and many forms of renewable energy–such as wind power and solar photovoltaics–use little or no water.
These key messages delivered and explained in new report, Protecting t
he Lifeline of the West: How Climate and Clean Energy Policies Can Safeguard Water,
(USA) In the West, Climate and Energy Policy Is Water Policy, Dan Grossm and Bart Miller, 19 July 2010, “………………scientists are concluding that the extended droughts of the past may become the norm of the future. So what should we do about this bleak situation? If we are serious about avoiding the biggest looming crisis of meeting the water needs of the West, we have to understand the energy-water connection and advance clean energy solutions. Continue reading
$953 million spent to promote nuclear power as “climate solution”
there is real danger that the nuclear industry will continue to promote itself as a ‘silver-bullet’ solution to climate change
Nuclear Energy Steals Billions from Other Technologies « Stephen Leahy, International Environmental Journalist, 20 July 2010, “……..This lavish lobbying effort by the energy and nuclear power sector has been ongoing since the mid-1990s, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a U.S. NGO and now totals at least 953 million dollars. Continue reading
World’s hottest June, Australia’s driest
The Bureau reported that all states and territories in Australia experienced drier-than-average conditions in June…..
Warmest June on record globally. Better Panic Now !, 19 July 2010, (CNN) –– Last month was the warmest June on record worldwide, according to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Warmer-than-average conditions were present across nearly all continents, including much of the United States, according to the organization’s State of the Climate report, released Friday. Continue reading
Young Australians want action on Climate Change
As both major political parties dilly around, mouthing comforting statements about Climate Change, young people are turning to the Greens and Independents for any kind of sensible approach on Climate Change.
It is their future. One wonders about the baby boomer mining executives who put Julia Gillard into the role of prime Minister. One wonders about the baby boomer journalists, toeing the fossil fuel lobby’s line on Climate Scepticism.
Do they actually give a damn about their children and grandchildren?
Pro nuclear propaganda from Silex Systems
any investor who survived the tech boom and bust of the late 1990s would be wary of grandiose technology claims.
It is therefore mollifying that Silex’s local solar operations are also on a growth path, albeit with only a fraction of the nuclear side’s dazzling (?) potential…….
RBS Morgans analyst Scott Power says solar accounts for less than 10 per cent of the firm’s Silex valuation.
Silex Systems opts for solar exposure Tim Boreham : The Australian * July 17, 2010 WITH the climate-change debate winding its way back on the political agenda, the Lucas Heights-based Silex Systems is hedging its bets. Continue reading
Climate Report Card – Australian politics
The Pollute-o-meter awarded the Greens four stars out of five, and found their policies could cut emissions by 26 per cent by 2020. The Greens want to put a price on carbon pollution.
Fails all round on climate report card, Herald Sun, 16/07/2010 With climate change shaping as a key election issue, both major parties have scored a fail from experts. Continue reading
A solar investment success story
A 50% reduction in gas costs and 70% reduction in energy costs. Better yet, he was then able to begin selling the extra power back to the electricity grid, as well as renewable energy credits to investors, who lend money to renewable energy projects.
(USA) Solar Power Success Story: Yearly Return & Low Energy Costs, CalFinder, 16 july 2010, Source: Portland Press Herald, When Jim Camasto had money to spare a few years back, he made a wise decision to invest in something other than the stock market: solar power. Today, this decision yields him a 3 to 4% yearly return and security that other investments just don’t offer. Continue reading
Northern Territory’s increased rainfall pattern hampering uranium mining
unstable pit wall conditions and the high rainfall level are considered to be the major factors affecting the decline of production volumes by the ERA.
Rainfalls hamper Uranium mine efficiency in Australia | Seer Press, 16 July 2010, Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) admits the high rainfall levels coupled with a slip of a pit wall have significantly hampered their production capacity Continue reading
Australia dithers, missing the tide on renewable energy investment
PriceWaterhouseCoopers’s Andrew Peterson says the delay in setting a carbon price has created wide uncertainty about the investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector.
Finding the funds for clean, green energy – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Andrew O’Connor, 16 July 2010, Carnegie Wave Energy believes its undersea wave power technology is one of the keys to Australia’s clean, green energy future. But lingering uncertainty over the nation’s climate change policy means the WA-based company is increasingly reliant on financial support from foreign investors. Continue reading
Australia waits for carbon price and action on renewable energy
Germany is aiming to provide between 80 and 100 per cent of
its energy needs through renewables by 2050. …even more ambitious than increasing the amount of renewable energy in Germany is its plan to phase out nuclear power.
Germany’s green light for energy, Sydney Morning Herald, July 14, 2010 Europe is baffled as to why Australia does not do more, writes Mathew Murphy. “…… Germany is so far ahead of countries such as Australia in terms of renewable energy and attitudes towards climate change.
”Australia is seen as a highly polluting country, yet it has so much sun and renewable resources. My question for you is why does it not do more?”………
It is a question that baffles many Europeans and one that now lies at the feet of Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Continue reading
Nuclear and fossil fuel lobby’s dilemma over carbon price
The big producers of fossil fuels and uranium, having safely disposed of Kevin Rudd and his resources profit tax, are now treading carefully on the Climate Change issue. They and the servile mass media did a good job on discrediting Climate Change – so we wouldn’t need to do anything about carbon emissions. The idea is to keep coal roaring on until it can be replaced by nuclear power.
The problem is that their pitch on nuclear power is that it’s the answer to 
global warming , (even though global warming isn’t supposed to be real or man-made). Therefore Australia would need a carbon price, shudder! a carbon tax!
No wonder Ziggy Spinowski’s being a bit quiet these pre-election days!
Australia’s nuclear lobby needs a carbon price – how embarassing!
John Howard asked Ziggy Switkowski in 2006 to look at nuclear power, and Switkowski told him it couldn’t happen without a carbon price. So, no nuclear power without a “great big new tax”………
No carbon price? You’re being conned | Crikey, 12 July, by Bernard Keane “……..The Coalition is dead keen on nuclear but won’t ever move without Labor giving them cover. But as Crikey showed in November last year, nuclear power is ludicrously expensive and needs massive taxpayer support, otherwise it costs a lot more to build and more to operate than renewables. And that’s before you figure out where to park the waste for a few hundreds of thousands of years or decommission reactors. Continue reading
Climate Change the deciding issue in Australia’s coming election?
Which way the Labor Party now decides to go on the environment could yet prove to be the issue that decides the election.
Climate a hot issue in deciding election date – The Canberra Times, 11 July, “……….Australia’s response to climate change remains an unresolved political sore that continues to rub with the Australian public.The popularity of the Greens is clear evidence that the environment remains an area of great concern to many voters, yet those who feel passionately about the need to act are at present being given little choice between the incumbent and the alternative governments………. Continue reading
1 This month
7 April – WEBINAR – Australia and the Doomsday Clock – Preventing nuclear war through NoFirstUse and other policies
Online | Tuesday April 7, 4:00-5:30pm, Australian Eastern Time / 8:00-9:30am Central Europe Time
– Access the registration link
15 April – Zoom –Nuclear Power is Not the Solution
Apr 15, 2026 01:00 AM in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
Join the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) on Tuesday, April 14th for a timely webinar exploring the risks associated with nuclear power and challenging the myth that it offers a simple, safe, carbon-free solution to the climate crisis
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 