More than twice as many people perished in Melbourne during the 2009 heatwave leading up to Black Saturday than died in the devastating fireson that day. Extreme heat is a slow-motion disaster. The tendency to respond to heat as an emergency rather than planning for an ongoing chronic stress can have deadly consequences, as Annie Bolitho and Fiona Miller argue in a forthcoming paper.
more> TheConversation
Title of this item says it all, comprehensive analysis that gas isn’t likely to recover any lost respect by Dr Stephen Bygrave, CEO Beyond Zero Emissions
>more> TheGuardian
This really is a big problem. Having worked on exploration wells in Indonesia and checked recently with colleagues, steel pipes “casing” which line wells, also surface pipes, are nothing more than mild steel. Frack fluids, gas and oil content are corrosive. So contamination is inevitable after very few years. Unfortunately, even when surface is sealed off, seepage into acquires can cause trouble for decades and more. Too big a risk to make a few people rich, while everybody else can suffer forever.
>more> ClimateCrocks
Exceptionally good and comprehensive review of what near future offers with battery backed solar PV, say no more, click below.
>more> ABC Catalyst
“The result is confusion, concern and dismay. Despite all the talk of the “innovation economy”, the large-scale renewable energy target remains at a standstill, without a single wind farm or solar farm commissioned or built since the Coalition took power in September 2013…The only large-scale projects to get the go-ahead are those funded under the ACT government’s reverse auction program, a testimony to what sound and clear policy can achieve. Other projects such as the big solar farms built in NSW were instigated by Labor and funded by the very agencies that the Coalition wants to dismantle…But even if drought is broken, there’s little chance that the industry can get anywhere near the amount of construction needed to avoid a shortfall in the RET, and therefore penalty payments being imposed on utilities, and ultimately the consumer…Green Energy Markets says 4,400MW of new projects need to be commissioned this year to ensure that even the reduced target of 33,000GWh is met on time…In the last four months, just 8MW of renewables was commissioned, despite renewable energy certificates soaring to record levels of $77/MWh. The obligated parties and the financiers simply do not believe that the policy is solid.
>more> RenewEconomy
<Greg Hunt> announced the list, which includes two people who advised the Coalition on its Direct Action policy and two former Liberal and National Party politicians. As the right-wing and climate denying Catallaxy Files blog, peopled by many commentators in The Australian, observed: “Looking at the names it looks like the Authority has been stacked. Good.”<report>commissioned by the Australian Energy Market Commission – It assumed that cost of wind energy was significantly more than it actually was, and assumed that the cost of solar power was also double what it actually was. Then it predicted that neither technology would experience cost falls in the coming 20 years…That, of course, was absurd but provided basis of modelling that assumed that only wind power would fill out the renewable energy target, probably the basis for the Coalition’s subsequent push against wind power. Almost all analysts now expects solar to be the majority supplier of the RET.
>more> RenewEconomy
Surely PM Turnbull will stand up for himself and sanity by making sure ARENA and CEFC have appropriate board members.
>more> TheGuardian
The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a secret trade agreement that will adversely affect the environment, worker’s rights, cost of medicines, internet freedoms, food safety, intellectual property rights and indigenous rights. Friends of the Earth Australia (FoEA) has long warned that the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) chapter in the TPP agreement will potentially allow corporations to override our domestic laws and enable foreign corporations to sue our Government if we implement policy and legislation that may impact the ‘future profitability’ of a corporation…”Earlier this week, Canadian pipeline company TransCanada gave notice that it intends to sue U.S. government for over $15 billion under NAFTA(North American Free Trade Agreement) Chapter 11 in response to the U.S. Administration’s decision to deny a permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline.
The $230,000 101 Collins St system was also partially funded by council, with a $4000 rebate through the City of Melbourne’s Commercial Solar Rebate Program…“Our goal for carbon neutrality is for the whole municipality so we applaud the commitment being shown by management and tenants of 101 Collins Street and we hope that other building owners follow their lead,” said Councillor Arron Wood, chair of the City of Melbourne’s Environment Portfolio…“There are 58,000 dwellings in the municipality covered by strata schemes and more than 1.5 million square meters of commercial strata titled property. Residents and businesses within these properties can access 100% finance for environmental upgrades through Sustainable Melbourne Fund,” said Cr Arron Wood.
>more> OneStepOffTheGrid
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