The average price of US goods and services surged in April, leading some to worry the economy is beginning to experience dangerously high levels of inflation. A scholar explains why that’s unlikely.
Gas burning at Victoria’s Longford Gas Conditioning Plant. Australia is the world’s largest exporter but intends t import gas to shore up local supplies.
Joe Castro/AAP
If Australia is the biggest gas exporter in the world, why are we shipping it back in? Because the gas market is dysfunctional - and it means consumers are suffering.
Haitians gather at a closed gas station in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, hoping it will open eventually, Sept. 4, 2019. Gas shortages have forced stations across the country to close or reduced their operating hours in recent weeks.
AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery
Haiti has been paralyzed by general strikes and crippling fuel shortages for much of September. Its government is barely functioning. Here’s the history behind the crisis.
Australia’s energy prices have doubled since 2015.
Photo by José Alejandro Cuffia/ Unsplash
A Grattan Institute report has found renewable energy investment could offer a path to lower rates, but they won’t drop below 2015 prices.
Gas prices usually rise heading into long weekends. The reasons behind wild oil price fluctuations, reflected at the pumps, is about a lot more than economics.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Manufacturers always have to make trade-offs when they design new cars, balancing the need to protect public health and the environment with their urge to wow customers.
The government’s handshake deal with gas suppliers may have stopped the market plunging off a cliff, but it’s not doing much more.
The largest opportunity to reduce gas demand exists in industry, through improved energy efficiency as a result of reusing waste heat and upgrading boilers.
Joe Castro/AAP
We can make up 70% of Australia’s projected gas shortfall simply by improving energy efficiency and sensible use of gas alternatives.
The price of new-build renewable energy is expected to fall significantly relative to new-build coal energy in coming years.
AAP Image/Lucy Hughes Jones
The price of renewable energy will fall significantly relative to new-build coal in coming decades, making an all-renewable electricity system more desirable, both economically and environmentally.
Hydro electricity will be part of Australia’s energy future.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Energy security requires both short and long planning. Recent gas and hydro announcements are a promising start towards some proper joined-up thinking.
With the right power policies, gas can have a brighter future.
Steven Bradley
The current domestic gas crisis will pass. But if the industry wants to surpass coal and fulfil its role as a ‘transition fuel’, it should lobby for a carbon price to help it on its way.