The energy required to power the massive, factory-sized data centres that computers rely on already consumes 5% of global electricity. And that energy load is doubling every decade.
Making the transition to a sustainable energy future also means ensuring that affected communities - such as Australia’s coal workers - aren’t left by the wayside.
The UK’s “illegal” backup power subsidy scheme effectively subsidised fossil fuel power generation. Lets use the hiatus to build a more flexible, low carbon energy system.
Labor’s promise to subsidise batteries for households quickly became, in government parlance, “pink batts to pink batteries” – seeking to trigger memories of Rudd’s policy that cost several lives.
The ALP estimates the battery subsidy would triple the number of battery systems in Australian households. The policy sets a national target of one million household battery installations by 2025.
Even the Voyager spacecraft are controlled remotely, 20 billion kilometres away. It takes 20 hours for instructions to travel from Earth to the spacecraft but we can do it – using a remote.
Research shows that when Americans are aware of the scale of food waste, and how much energy and water are used to produce food, they support measures to reduce the problem.
Ahead of two state elections, the Grattan Institute Orange Book examines the state of each state and how each can do things better. The good news is that if each copied the best in each field they would do very well indeed.
In the wake of the Paris Climate Agreement, France has committed to cutting achieving carbon neutrality for its building stock by 2050. While the goal is ambitious, the challenges are significant.
Canada’s proposed new environmental assessment law is facing heated, if not necessarily well-informed, opposition. The real question is whether it goes far enough.