Blackouts remind us what life was like before cheap, readily available electricity – but it’s time to think about the true price of our power.
Candle in the dark image from www.shutterstock.com/Ronen
No lights, no power, no internet – and no easy solutions.
Fumbling around in a middle of a blackout, hoping to find a torch or some spare batteries, I was struck by just how utterly dependent most of…
Australia’s energy security will fall again after Caltex’s decision to shut its Sydney plant at Kurnell (pictured), but the Federal Government is yet to have a coherent stance on domestic refining capacity.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Last week, Caltex decided to close its Kurnell refinery in Sydney. This closure follows a recent decision by Shell to close its refinery at Clyde in Sydney and it will leave the city without any oil refineries…
State of dependency: Australia imports the majority of its oil for the first time since 1970.
Flickr/Sr. Samolo
For all the talk about Australia’s resource and energy riches and the country’s economy riding the waves of a resource boom, one facet of the country’s energy situation has largely been under the radar…
Plentiful carbon-based fuel and falling world energy prices are a mixed blessing.
Adrian Bradshaw/AAP
Since the middle of the last decade, well before the worldwide run-up in fuel prices during 2008, it has been widely believed that we are entering a new era of scarcity in carbon-based fuels such as oil…
Serious, interconnected risks are closing in on the globalised community, from climate change to anarchy. Are we heeding the warnings?
AAP/EPA/Daniel Deme
In that world of peripheral vision, essential for business, social and political leaders, it is surprising that the World Economic Forum’s report, Global Risks 2012 has not received greater publicity or…
Driving away from fossil fuels: fields of rapeseed which is used in biofuels, many of which are under development in Australia and abroad.
Flickr/roger g1
In 300 BC, the Syrian city of Antioch had public street lighting fuelled by olive oil. At the 1900 Paris World Fair, German inventor Rudolph Diesel demonstrated his engine powered by peanut oil.
Biofuels…
Barrow Island off Western Australia may hold the key to our energy future.
AAP/Bill Hatto
AUSTRALIA IN THE ASIAN CENTURY – A series examining Australia’s role in the rapidly transforming Asian region. Delivered in partnership with the Australian government.
Here, Dr Tina Hunter looks at the…
Facing the music: Australia is losing its capacity to refine oil.
AAP/Andrew Brownbill
The looming closure of three Australian refineries will affect the security of liquid fuel supplies in Australia. This is particularly so if the government and the oil industry do not devise a joint strategy…
There’s no shortage of hype around thorium, but how justified is the excitement?
AzureGrackel
You have probably heard at least a little about thorium. There are certainly advocates out there who strongly believe it could help solve the world’s energy problems.
The idea is that thorium-based nuclear…
Coal’s heyday is coming to a close, but is gas a long-term solution?
Guy Gorek
The past few years have seen the rapid expansion of the coal seam and shale gas industry. Combine this expansion with the recent introduction of a price on carbon here in Australia, and you end up with…
Solar is now a viable industry that should be taken seriously.
AFP Photo/Sakis Mitrolidis
A solar energy revolution is brewing that will put the coal and nuclear industries out of business. Solar is already reaching price parity with coal in many parts of Australia. In contrast to coal and…
OPEC president Mohammad Aliabadi believes speculation in futures is inflating oil prices. He is wrong.
AAP
OPEC Conference president Mohammad Aliabadi recently joined a chorus of international observers to blame speculation as the source of ongoing volatility in the global oil market.
Speaking at an OPEC Conference…
Australia struggles to keep up in the efficiency race.
Flickr/adambowie
Energy efficiency is globally seen as the biggest and best option for cheaply reducing greenhouse gas emissions and dealing with rising power bills.
But in Australia it still struggles for recognition…
Our old-fashioned addiction will be hard to kick.
JD Hancock/flickr
Oil is a finite and non-renewable resource. Its production is going to peak.
“Peak oil” is the point at which half of the world’s original endowment of oil has been extracted.
This is the point at which…
Household electricity bills are rising and about half of a typical bill goes to paying network costs. Are we paying too much for network infrastructure?
Electricity networks are undeniably important…
