The Australian Labor government’s expanded Capacity Investment Scheme gives us a better chance of hitting high renewable energy targets. It’s not without risk but well worth the rewards.
When Australia’s government and opposition argue over how to get to net zero emissions, nuclear power is the flashpoint. The argument against nuclear is stronger, but not for the obvious reason.
Of all Australia’s climate policies, the Renewable Energy Target has been the most effective. Why have Australian governments moved away from it, and how can they revive it?
Rather than paying ageing power stations to stay open in the transition to renewable energy, demand flexibility is cheaper and cleaner way to ensure the system has enough capacity.
Liddell’s closure is an historic moment in the Australian energy landscape. Now, let’s get to net-zero.
Magnetic levitation is just one of the interesting attributes that make superconductors so interesting.
Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library vie Getty Images
Superconductors are materials that can transmit electricity without any resistance. Researchers are getting closer to creating superconducting materials that can function in everyday life.
A view of Johannesburg’s Braamfontein district seconds after a scheduled power cut.
Marco Longar/AFP via Getty Images
Are blackouts really looming by the middle of this decade? An AEMO report warns they might be – but there are plenty of projects on the drawing board that will help ease the squeeze on the grid.
South Africans are taking their power supply into their own hands with backup systems that don’t rely on power utility Eskom.
Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
We’ll need to almost double our electricity sector workforce to build renewables as quickly as we need to. Where will the workers come from amid a skills shortage and infrastructure boom?
NASA, NOAA and SpaceWeather say a coronal mass ejection will reach Earth this week. It has the potential to knock out communications in some parts of the world.
Typical amounts of solar particles hitting the earth’s magnetosphere can be beautiful, but too much could be catastrophic.
Svein-Magne Tunli - tunliweb.no/Wikimedia
Every few centuries the sun blasts the Earth with a huge amount of high-energy particles. If it were to happen today, it would wreak havoc on technology.
When multiple electricity companies compete for consumers, there is pressure to keep costs low and to improve service quality.
GettyImages
A decision to merge energy sector agencies could depress investors’ appetite to finance infrastructure expansion.
China is currently in a better position than the West to assist the Indo-Pacific, due to geography, trade dynamics and its own clean tech sector. China’s chief negotiator Xie Zhenhua, right, walks with John Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate at the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, on Nov. 12, 2021.
(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
Jonas Goldman, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Western democracies need to create a financing program to support the energy transition in the Indo-Pacific — and to achieve both regional security and climate goals.
Here are four ways the current electricity system favours existing, higher emitting technologies. These must be overcome to rapidly cut Australia’s emissions.