By 2030 renewable energy sources such as solar and wind will cost a similar amount to fossils fuels such as coal and gas, thanks to falling technology costs
Renewables could benefit from more energy storage capacity in the electricity network.
reupa/flickr
Energy storage is often considered the holy grail of the electricity sector. Great for households, it could be as important in the wider electricity network.
When Facebook goes down it’s an irritation. But as the world moves its data and processing to the cloud, the potential for major loss grows ever greater.
Gas bill got you feeling grey? A reverse cycle air conditioner could save you money.
Michael Verhoef/Flickr
Australia’s new cap on emissions includes aspects of a “baseline and credit” emissions trading scheme. That’s cheaper for businesses, but means more regulation.
Energy efficiency has driven the recent fall in electricity demand.
Michael Smith/Flickr
In June this year, forecasts revealed residential and business demand has risen for the first time in five years. The trend could be here to stay, according to a report released today from the Australia Institute.
Consumers must play a role in reducing their electricity bills, the government says.
NSW Treasurer Andrew Constance with the 2014 budget. An economic analysis has found electricity revenues have been crucial to keeping the NSW budget in surplus in recent years.
Paul Miller/AAP
We found that without state-owned electricity revenues, the NSW Coalition government would have struggled to avoid recording deficits in every budget since its election in 2011.
Money spent on helping consumers reduce demand means less money spent on substations and other infrastructure.
Bidgee/Wikimedia Commons
Incentives for cutting peak power demand are cheaper than building ever more infrastructure and sending power bills ever higher. The industry has a chance to embrace this new approach - but will it?
Peak power use is also a busy time for young families.
Nico Cavallotto/Flickr
A key plank of the Australian Government’s draft energy policy is to reform electricity pricing so that it more accurately reflects rises and falls in peak demand. New tariffs, such as time-of-use (TOU…
If Australia’s to have nuclear power, there’ll have to be policies to support it.
flokru/Flickr
No sooner had foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop announced that Australia should take a fresh look at nuclear power than Prime Minister Tony Abbott responded that nuclear power would only be supported…
Roof-top solar panels are just one part of the micropower revolution.
Presidency Maldives
There is no shortage of shouting and dire warnings about the state of the climate and our need to phase out fossil fuels. But there is a more silent revolution happening too — in micropower. Small-scale…
Should you be paying for big energy users?
Bill image from www.shutterstock.com
The federal government has now achieved passage of its Direct Action plan through the Senate. Some wheeling and dealing with the cross-benches was required of course – but while the government may oppose…
The government’s energy green paper is seeking reform on electricity prices and gas supply; but avoids climate change.
Rae Allen/Flickr
The Energy Green Paper 2014 released this week by federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane provides more clear direction and coverage of critical policy issues than did its 2012 predecessor. However, while…
Water storage is used to smooth the output from hydroelectric power - but it can be used with other renewables too.
Martin Kraft/Wikimedia Commons
More and more renewable energy sources are being plugged into Australia’s electricity grids. South Australia, for example, will get 40% of its electricity from wind and solar once the Snowtown wind farm…
You spin me right round, and power the lights too.
Simon Syon
For all the huge, hulking buildings of concrete and steel that house coal, gas or nuclear power stations, or towering 100-metre-tall wind turbines, generating electricity is in fact a very precise and…