From the AFR: Two low-cost emissions trading schemes and a big boost for renewable energy are at the centre of Labor’s climate change policy, which aims to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions to a net zero by 2050. The policy would cut emissions by 45 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030, which is well
By Leith van Onselen The ABS has today released its Employment in Renewable Energy Activities 2014-15 report, which attempts to quantify the number of Australians working in the renewable energy industry. According to the ABS, employment in renewable energy has fallen by around one quarter since peaking in 2011-12: Employment in renewable energy activity fell
By Leith van Onselen Griffith University academics, Tony Matthews and Jason Byrne, have posted an interesting article in The Conversation urging Australia’s planners to develop urban greening strategies to overcome the so-called “heat island effect” and cool Australia’s cities: …green infrastructure – including street trees, green roofs, vegetated surfaces and green walls – is emerging
By Leith van Onselen From ABC News comes a report that the CSIRO is about to axe as many as 300 jobs from its climate-related departments: The ABC understands up to 300 positions over the next two years are on the chopping block, largely in the Oceans and Atmosphere and Land and Water divisions. The
Last year was the hottest by far but no, from The Australian: Weather bureaus have changed. They are no longer invisible organisations where avuncular bureaucrats use basic computers to deliver dodgy forecasts. Today’s weather bureaucrats are visible, sophisticated and ideological. But, despite a huge investment in supercomputers, their record for accurate forecasts remains dismal. Their
By Leith van Onselen In December, Tesla launched its much vaunted residential Powerwall in Australia, which is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that can be mounted on the wall of one’s house. Gizmodo explains the benefits of the Powerwall as follows: For those with solar panels already installed, it can store the excess energy being collected,
From the US NOAA: The State of the Climate November 2015 report noted that in order for 2015 to not become the warmest year in the 136-year period of record, the December global temperature would have to be at least 0.81°C (1.46°F) below the 20th century average—or 0.24°C (0.43°F) colder than the current record low
By Leith van Onselen Back in January last year, Helen Brown, Lecturer in Health, Safety and Environment at Curtin University, published an article in The Conversation arguing that the lack of trees in new housing developments is significantly increasing the use of air conditioners and energy use: Air conditioners across the country are running on
Via Macquarie: The International Energy Agency (IEA), often referred to by coal producers due to its bullish outlook, today released their Medium-Term Coal Market Report to 2020. They have cut their total global 2020 demand for coal by 500Mtce to 5.8bn Mtce and slashed their 5 year growth in Chinese coal demand from 2.6%pa
From Euractiv: The coal industry’s European lobbying association has said that the landmark deal to cap global warming at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris means the sector “will be hated and vilified, in the same way that slave traders were once hated and vilified”. Brian Ricketts, Secretary-General of the European Association for Coal and
Cross-posted from The Conversation: The ink is barely dry on the Paris climate agreement and the debate has already started on how the deal will affect the future of fossil fuels, particularly coal. Following the deal on Sunday, the mining industry has responded that Australian coal will remain an important provider of affordable energy to
From the AFR come the loon pond on Paris: Liberal MP Craig Kelly has dismissed the agreement as a “farce” while West Australian MP Dennis Jensen, instrumental in the February attempt at a leadership spill, said any change to more ambitious climate policy would break a promise. …Speculation that Australia would allow the use of international emissions reduction credits to
From the FT: Envoys in Paris have agreed an international accord to limit greenhouse gas emissions that marks a turning point in more than 20 years of efforts to prevent dangerous levels of global warming. Delegates from nearly 200 nations cheered and embraced each other on the floor of the convention centre hall at Le
From the AFR: Westpac Bank will find it hard to justify lending to new fossil fuel projects after it commits on Friday to running its business to support an economy that limits global warming to below 2 degrees. The new pledge will take Westpac well beyond the “support” offered by the three other big Australian
Cross-posted from The Conversation: Despite robust global economic growth over the past two years, worldwide carbon emissions from fossil fuels grew very little in 2014, and might even fall this year. A report released today by the Global Carbon Project has found that fossil fuel emissions of carbon dioxide grew by only 0.6% in 2014,
The loon pond has struck back today with PM Turnbull capitulating to his foaming internal opposition, from BS: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull won’t sign an international agreement to phase out fossil fuel subsidies amid concerns it could jeopardise Australia’s diesel fuel rebates. Mr Turnbull has opted out of signing the key fossil fuel subsidy reform
The Paris Climate Change Conference, COP21, is underway. Martin Wolf has a nice backgrounder: Couldn’t have out that better myself. Meanwhile, Dumb and Dumber are thrashing it out at home, from The Australian: Malcolm Turnbull will hold open the prospect of increasing Australia’s carbon target as he joins other world leaders at today’s climate change
From Fairfax: Brisbane-based energy consultant Trevor St Baker and coal baron Brain Flannery paid the princely sum of $1 million to the NSW government for the Vales Point power station. …The low price for the plant on the shores of Lake Macquarie – the backdrop for the film clip of the Midnight Oil hit “US Forces” – is sobering for
From Reuters: Britain aims to close its coal-fired power plants by 2025 under newly unveiled plans, becoming the first major economy to put a date on shutting coal plants to curb carbon emissions. Instead, the country will look to nuclear and natural gas-fired power plants to complement intermittent renewable energy, Secretary of State for Energy
From Bloomberg comes more on the monster El Nino: This has been by far the hottest year on record, and the thermometer just keeps rising. Blame climate change and a merciless El Nino, which is still gathering strength in the Pacific Ocean. Last month was the hottest October in 136 years of data, according to U.S. figures released Wednesday,
From the AFR: In a move no doubt to be seized on by the anti-coal lobby, the closely-watched International Energy Agency looks to be preparing to revise down its forecast for coal demand growth. …The unexpected slowdown in Chinese coal demand that was particularly evident in 2014 is a factor, but the IEA’s director for energy markets
The CSIRO, which really needs a loon pond broom put through it for this research, has released its annual “attitudes to climate change” survey. The results are interesting in a number ways. The headline result has the community strongly behind the notion of climate change: But not so much that it is human induced: Some
Cross-posted from The Conversation: This has been Australia’s hottest October on record. Barring an (extremely unlikely) cold snap, it will also be the hottest October for Victoria, and for Melbourne. And the record-breaking temperatures are at least six times more likely thanks to human-induced global warming. But hold up, you say, October isn’t over yet!
Continuing today’s energy theme, from the AFR comes PMT in response to the 61 coal-concerned latte sippers: “Coal is a very important part, a very large part, the largest single part of the global energy mix and likely to remain that way for a very long time…Having said that, the pace of technological development in the renewable space has been extraordinary. The pace of improvement
By Leith van Onselen The electricity “death spiral” has, for a long time, been a key risk facing electricity generators/distributors globally. The “death spiral” arises when demand for power declines, due in part to customers taking up solar, leading to higher prices to cover fixed network costs. That is, the more people that take-up solar
