It’s unclear exactly what mix of technologies will drive the zero-emission vehicles of the future. But in terms of ‘well-to-wheel’ efficiency, electric batteries outperform hydrogen.
The ‘thin green line’ of resistance against any new infrastructure for shipping oil, gas and coal abroad has won many battles. But it faces a new source of pressure: the Trump administration.
Frank Jotzo, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
The Labor Party’s newly announced energy policy could finally set Australia’s electricity sector on the path to a renewables-driven future. But policies are still needed to cut emissions elsewhere.
Peter C. Doherty, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Nobel Prizewinning health researcher Peter Doherty reflects on the challenge of delivering a healthy climate for the world. From hydrogen power to wooden skyscrapers, the options are endless, but all require leadership.
There are some good explanations for the mismatch between regional support for climate action and the areas where renewable energy is making the biggest inroads.
A big spill in Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac could have devastating consequences. But does replacing the pipeline running beneath it make sense in a warming world?
Rapid environmental decline is a major threat, yet education is not mobilised to empower children. Fortunately, many initiatives explore how to make students actors of the ecological transition.
The latest UN climate report makes it clear that the task of limiting climate change is urgent and huge. We must start to transform our economy today, but it will bring rewards as well as challenges.
The hydrogen economy has been touted for decades as a way to navigate the clean energy transition. Now a new CSIRO roadmap sets out how hydrogen power can become a major energy player.
Australia needs to accelerate its transition to clean energy, and not prolong the use of high-polluting, coal-fired infrastructure. Otherwise it risks missing out on an economic windfall.
Environmentalists and climate hawks are cheering, but many experts aren’t excited about the state making rooftop solar panels mandatory on most new homes beginning in 2020.
Will the renewable energy transition end up creating yet more greenhouse emissions, as we ramp up the manufacture of wind turbines and solar cells? Not if their manufacture is itself powered by renewables.
Solar photovoltaics and wind power are on track to supplant fossil-fuel-based electricity generation by the 2030s. The only thing holding back the renewable revolution is politics.
Saving power to use later lets consumers, businesses and utilities generate energy when it’s cheap and deliver it when they need it most. There’s not much of it today, but the industry is growing fast.
Solar windows would need to trap enough light to generate power, while letting through enough to keep buildings light. Thankfully, newly developed semitransparent cells offer to do just that.