Decentralised smart power for regional Australia
Smart power works best when used by bright sparks The Age JOHN MARTIN October 6, 2009 “…………An intelligent grid will also accept power from different and decentralised sources, not just the huge, centralised, coal-burning, power plants in places such as the Latrobe Valley. Continue reading
Renewable energy’s prospects rise, with Smart Grid plan
Australia’s Smart Grid A Step Closer by Energy Matters 1 October 09 The Australian Government yesterday announced the next step in transforming Australia’s ageing electricity grid into a “smart grid” through the release of a report. Continue reading
Online Solar and Energy Efficiency Forum for Scientists and Community
Energy Matters Launches Australian Solar Power Online Forums
Melbourne, Victoria, September 25, 2009. Energy Matters, a national provider of solar power solutions for home, business and community groups has launched an online community to cater to supporters of solar power and other forms of renewable energy in Australia. Continue reading
Solar power’s bright new prospects
World wakes to new dawn for solar power
The Age PADDY MANNING September 19, 2009
WHEN Lindsay Tanner says greenies are ”obsessed” with solar energy, he’s right. And it’s obvious why.Clean coal is a myth. Nuclear has radioactive waste and security issues and (read Helen Caldicott) it’s not as efficient as they say. Continue reading
Australian govt’s pretense on renewable energy
Green cars and jobs are about tokenism
THE AUSTRALIAN 31 July 09 “…………………..If the government wanted real green jobs created, as opposed to make-work and training schemes, it would uncouple its proposed 20 per cent renewable energy target from the emissions trading scheme and get it passed as soon as possible.
Access Economics has calculated that measures other than the ETS, including the renewable energy target, will create 28,000 new jobs over the next decade. The only reason to link the renewable energy target with the ETS is a cynical attempt to wedge the opposition. If a greener economy is to emerge, it must be economically viable.
Act now on climate change or pay later: expert
ABC News Jul 27, 2009
The Climate Change Institute in Canberra has warned that Australia must think beyond the emissions trading scheme, if it wants to have an impact on global warming.Climate change experts are meeting at a summit at the Australian National University to discuss Australia’s response to the threat of global warming.As the Federal Government and Opposition battle it out over the detail of an ETS, Climate Change Institute director Will Steffen is advising Australians to embrace the renewable energy technologies that are available now, rather than wait for advances in the field.
“What we need to do is start getting the emissions trajectory down as soon as we can, the longer we wait to do this, the more we run the risk, the science says, of crossing some of these tipping elements of triggering some abrupt changes,” he said…………………….
“The other issue of course that came out quite strongly particularly from the economics community is that the longer we delay on the issue the costlier it’ll actually become.”
Act now on climate change or pay later: expert – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Chinese energy is greener than ours
THE AUSTRALIAN 27 July 09
“………Ferguson’s government and others in the developed world are being asked to comprehend ……………They have been repeatedly warned by the International Energy Agency that, even if the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries collectively reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2030, they cannot put the world on track to achieve stablisation of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere at 450 parts per million………….Martin Ferguson could have also cited a set of startling Chinese green power statistics in his mid-July speech to the Queensland Resources Council
By 2020 China aims to have installed 300,000MW of hydro power (equal to 80 Snowy Mountains schemes), 30,000MW of plants fuelled by agricultural waste, 1800MW of solar power and more than 50,000MW of wind farms (about four times what will be needed here to meet the Rudd renewable energy target).This will involve spending $US33billion ($40.3bn) a year on renewable energy.Everything about the Chinese effort is mindboggling. For example, it now employs 600,000 people (twice the population of Canberra) installing solar hot-water heaters in a $US2bn a year business. Its electric bicycle business is worth more than $US6bn a year.Nor are its efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its coal-burning generators to be underestimated.
Since 2005 China has required all new large power plants to use at least high-efficiency, super-critical technology and since 2007 it has shut down smaller, inefficient plants with a capacity of 14,380MW (more generation capacity than in NSW).This is allowing China to leapfrog the less efficient coal technology that is dominant in the developed world, including Australia.
Drowning island pins hopes on clean energy – CNN.com
(for more internatiomal news, go to http://www.nuclear-news.net)
(CNN) 21 July 09 — Tuvalu, the fourth smallest nation on the planet, has announced it aims to be totally powered by renewable energy sources by 2020.Located between Hawaii and Australia, the tiny Pacific nation is one of the world’s climate change hotspots and many believe it is already seeing the negative affects of rising sea levels.
The highest elevation on the island is just 4.5 meters (14.8 feet), and king tides have become increasingly damaging over the past 10 years, threatening the homes and livelihoods of its 12,000 inhabitants.
The government of Tuvalu is working with the e8, a consortium of 10 energy firms from the G8 nations that was set up after the 1992 Rio Earth Summit as a non-profit organization. The Tuvalu government estimates that it will take around $20 million in investment to reach the goal of 100 percent clean energy by 2020.
The first stage of the project has seen the roof of the country’s largest football stadium covered in solar panels, which supplies 5 percent of the electricity needed by the nation’s capital, Funafuti…………………………
“We thank those who are helping Tuvalu reduce its carbon footprint as it will strengthen our voice in upcoming international negotiations. And we look forward to the day when our nation offers an example to all — powered entirely by natural resources such as the sun and the wind,” said Kausea Natano, Tuvalu’s minister for public utilities and industries.
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 