“While medium and heavy-duty trucks only make up 7 percent of all vehicles on the road, they consume 25 percent of the fuel used by all U.S. vehicles…Fuel costs are passed on to consumers, which can, in turn, affect a company’s competitiveness. Through everyday purchases, the average U.S. household spends $1,100 a year to fuel big trucks. Strong fuel standards for trucks can cut this expense by $150 a year by 2030.” Maybe they need to know about trains!!
>more> EnvironmentalDefenseFund
The federal government was prepared to shell out more than $10,000 for skeptical environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg to attend the first meeting of a new aid think tank…Dr Lomborg was a personal pick by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop…reference group will meet every 6 months to discuss ways to shake up Australia’s aid delivery…Although the federal government has separately allocated $4 million for Dr Lomborg to set up a think tank at an Australian university – yet to find a home – DFAT listed him under “global thought leaders”
>more> ClimateSpectator
The world’s biggest car makers have already agreed to comply with an average new-car standard of 95g/km CO2 by 2021. Policy makers in Europe have now begun drawing up further targets for 2025, Automotive News Europe reports, with an aim for emissions to be cut to the level somewhere between 68 and 78g/km CO2…By comparison, Australia’s emission standards are still well behind those of Europe. In 2013, the Australian fleet average sat at 158.7g/km CO2, reflecting a mix of Euro4 and Euro5 measures (dependent on vehicle type).
>more> drive.com
Power Africa, the Obama administration’s effort to infuse billions of energy investment dollars across sub-Saharan Africa, is entering its third year focused on completing up to 30,000 megawatts of new generation projects while adding 60 million new grid connections across the world’s least-electrified continent…Power Africa is also broadening its emphasis beyond utility-scale power to help bring distributed energy, mostly off-grid solar, to parts of the continent that are not, and probably never will be, connected to a power grid. To date, more than 40 private-sector partners have committed upward of $1 billion to the program’s “Beyond the Grid” initiative, according to USAID.
>more> ScientificAmerica
Conference statement from last year was asking PM Abbott for Royal Commission to determine if human activity really is causing so much more CO2 and warming. This year could not be more different, a demand that Abbott get real, transition to renewables, ASAP.
>more> ABC RN Breakfast
Final of this 3 part series evaluation our options for electricity, especially as all of our coal fired power stations, on which we’re almost 90% dependent, are approaching or past their 50th birthday!! They obviously need to be replaced but finance cannot be found for new coal power stations while PM Abbott and his conga line more fanatical about coal power than they are about terrorists.
>more .mp3audio and transcript> ABC RN Science Show
In depth, comprehensive interviews with all the players, for and against, about Greg Hunt’s victory to include wood burning power as part of RET(Renewable Energy Target) Of course, native forest loggers have been an endangered species for a while now, because of ever falling demand for export wood chips. For years, they’ve been hustling LibNats for permission to install their own wood fired electricity generators. Now, not only have they got permission, but power they generate is claimed to reduce our carbon emissions. Of course, their generators will be tied into electricity grid, so watch out for them “harvesting” more to burn more and make more money as power stations, exporting to the grid.
>more, .mp3audio and transcript> ABC RN BackgroundBriefing
Here’s a snap shot fro
m our Shire about how climate change will affect us locally.
>more> Shire Bass Coast
Regional cap-and-trade program has added $1.3 billion in economic activity to nine New England and Mid-Atlantic states since 2011, while decreasing their carbon emissions by 15 percent…In addition to stimulating economy and reducing carbon, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) has also reduced cost of electricity for consumers, saving residential, businesses, and public users $460 million, the report from the Analysis Group found. So while opponents of the Clean Power Plan say that it will raise electricity prices for consumers and depress the economy, putting a price on carbon can actually have the opposite effect. The EPA’s Clean Power Plan, expected to be released next month, will require states to reduce the amount of carbon emitted from the electricity sector–Imagine if we had an EPA anything other than toothless!
>more> ThinkProgress
Mr Abbott is confusing people about function of CEFC business which is not about newer technology supported by ARENA over review here. Note that economics of wind still ahead for next few years.
>more> ClimateSpectator
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