Ramping up investment in renewable energy would put Australia on a footing with competitors such as China, Germany and California, which are set to reap the economic benefits of this emerging sector.
If Bill Shorten and his climate spokesman Mark Butler can’t sell Labor’s proposal for Australia to have 50% of its electricity provided by renewable energy by 2030, they should probably vacate the political…
Labor’s plan to deliver 50% renewable energy by 2050 could add between $160 and $264 to annual household power bills. But this could be completely offset by better policies to encourage energy efficiency.
A year after the demise of the carbon tax, we might expect both coal and greenhouse emissions to have bounced back, at the expense of renewables like hydroelectricity. Sure enough, that’s what happened.
The government has issued a draft direction to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to invest in “emerging” clean energy such as bioenergy. But what are the prospects for bioenergy?
Environment minister Greg Hunt wants the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to focus on new technologies, not wind and solar. But that’s not what it was set up to do, and Australia already has an agency for that.
Shifting South Africa’s economy from energy intensive sectors to those with lower energy consumption will take more time, and even more funding. But the impact will be more permanent and sustainable.
To avoid dangerous climate change there is a finite amount of greenhouse gas emissions, in particular CO2, that we can add to the atmosphere - our global carbon budget. If we use our budget wisely, we have until about 2050 to transition to zero net emissions. But how do we get there?
China’s formal climate target shows that the world’s largest greenhouse emitter is determined to green its economy on an unprecedented scale - and that it can bring the rest of the world along for the ride.
Rooftop solar power is exploding in the US but some scientists are pursuing a radically different route in renewable energy: storing solar energy as a liquid fuel.
Wind energy is already competitive with fossil fuels, will reduce electricity prices for consumers, and will play a large role in reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.
“More research needed” is a familiar cry in science. But in the case of the Senate’s call for yet more scrutiny of wind farms, there are signs that experts are being ushered in a preconceived direction.
Nicky Ison, University of Technology Sydney y Ed Langham, University of Technology Sydney
Australia, like much of the rest of the world, is in the midst of an energy transition, driven by falling demand and uptake of renewables. Community energy is one way we can mange this transition to the benefit of all Australians.