Recent research about energy industry restructuring options for a green transition indicates that innovation in renewable energy positively influences GDP.
On Q&A, Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities Paul Fletcher said South Australia’s high electricity prices were “the consequence” of Jay Weatherill’s renewable energy policies. Is that right?
SA Liberal Party leader Steven Marshall said that state Labor policy had left South Australians with ‘the highest energy prices in Australia’ and ‘the least reliable grid’. Is that right?
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.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said this week that Labor’s pledge to source half the nation’s power from renewable energy by 2030 will “mean a massive bill, perhaps $60 billion or more, that will have to be carried by the consumers of Australia.” Is that right?
Broadcaster Alan Jones told the Q&A audience this week that coal fired power costs about $79 a kilowatt-hour, while wind power is about $1502 a-kilowatt hour. Is that right?
Coal closures announced this week in South Australia will cause employment pain, but could also help pave the way for the state to go 100% renewable - something that modelling suggests is eminently possible.
Consumers of wind power pay twice: first via their monthly electricity bill and a second time as taxpayers to finance billions of dollars in subsidies.
The question of whether the future will be powered by coal and oil or by renewable energy is crucially important, both to the medium-term future of the Australian economy and to the long-term future of…
Federal industry minister Ian Macfarlane has finally revealed his opening gambit on negotiations on the future of the Renewable Energy Target (RET). He and environment minister Greg Hunt have pledged to…
The federal government’s plan to reduce Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) could jeopardise billions of dollars in investment while giving a boost to the fossil fuel sector, experts have predicted…
The boom in natural gas supplies brought about by techniques like fracking will not automatically deliver the anticipated cuts to greenhouse emissions, a new analysis has warned. Burning natural gas produces…
The long-awaited review of Australia’s Renewable Energy Target has been released and, as widely predicted, has recommended winding back or even scrapping the various parts of the scheme. We asked Conversation…
The review of the Renewable Energy Target is due to be handed to the federal government any day now, yet amazingly there are still conflicts over whether the policy makes electricity more or less expensive…
In a recent article on The Conversation, University of Melbourne Professor Emeritus Frank Larkins wrote that Australia’s targets to increase renewable energy will make electricity more expensive, thanks…
Australia has some fairly ambitious goals for green energy: a renewable energy target (currently under review) of 20% of electricity from renewables by 2020, and a forecast to get 51% of electricity from…