Feed aggregator

Coal costs are rising; rooftop solar is now 9% of South Australia generation, and the latest odds on the federal election.

The post Know your NEM: Rising cost of coal, rooftop solar makes its mark appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Single-Column Responsive Email Template Melbourne Event / Webinar - 7th May 2019 The Sustainable Hydrogen / Ammonia Economy This event will be live webcast for members in other capitals and regional areas. Webinar option available when registering. Level 31, 600 Bourke Street Melbourne 5.30 pm for 6.00 pm Tuesday 7th May REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT Clean hydrogen is a versatile energy carrier and feedstock that can enable deep decarbonisation across the energy and industrial sectors. Australia has the resources and skills to build an economically sustainable domestic and export Hydrogen/Ammonia industry using electrolysers powered by renewable electricity. Hydrogen can help meet emissions targets by replacing fossil fuels in transport, mining and power generation, and provided energy security. Ammonia produced from Hydrogen can be stored and transported internationally, and converted back to Hydrogen to power trains, heavy transport ,mining machines, ships and industrial processes. The seminar will discuss the current production technologies and costs, and the Engineering profession’s role in influencing Government, Industry, and the community to ensure rapid transition to an economically sustainable domestic and export Hydrogen energy system. Presenters will focus on: The National Hydrogen Roadmap - Pathways to an economically sustainable hydrogen industry in Australia.. Hydrogen for Australia’s future - Brief for COAG Energy Council by Hydrogen Strategy Group and opportunities for Australia for hydrogen exports. Presenters: Dr. Patrick Hartley Research Director, Oil Gas and Fuels, CSIRO. Mr Martin Hablutzel, Head of Strategy, Siemens Ltd. Mr Tim Forcey, Climate and Energy College, University of Melbourne Patrick Hartley is the research director of the Oil, Gas and Fuels research program within CSIRO's Energy Business Unit. The program comprises 85 research staff and students working on applied research projects which span the energy resources value chain, with a particular emphasis on the sustainable development of Australia’s petroleum resources and on the associated challenges of large scale carbon dioxide storage. In 2018, he established CSIRO’s Hydrogen Energy Systems Future Science Platform. This major initiative focusses on addressing research challenges which underpin the development of hydrogen energy value chains in Australia. During this time, he co-led the formulation of CSIRO’s ‘National Hydrogen Roadmap, and, with the Chief Scientist of Australia, the briefing paper ‘Hydrogen for Australia’s Future’ which was presented to the Council of Australian Government’s (COAG) Energy council in August 2018. Martin Hablutzel has worked across all divisions from electricity generation, transmission, distribution and smart grid to the efficient application of electrical energy through automation and digitisation. Martin began his career at the (then) Hydro Electric Commission in Tasmania, joining Siemens in 1997 as a protection and control engineer. Subsequent roles in project engineering, project management, asset management, sales, marketing and executive management have given Martin broad exposure to the deployment of electrification, automation and digitalisation in diverse industries including utilities, resources, infrastructure, transportation and manufacturing. Martin holds a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tasmania and an MBA from Deakin University. Martin will present “Water, the Coal of the future” (Jules Verne 1874) covering the technology and performance of Silyzer Proton Exchange Membrane electrolyser, cost of hydrogen, energy balance, water supply, applications and current projects. He will cover the management and use of hydrogen in power stabilisation, remote power, and heavy transport and the scalability of PEM’s for large export facilities. Tim Forcey is a Chemical Engineer with over 30 years experience in the oil and gas and petrochemical industries. He has acted as the Queensland Gas Pipeline commercial manager for Jemena, as Facilities and Operations Advisor for BHP in the Esso Bass Strait joint venture, and as Gas Principal for the Australian Energy Market Operator (known as AEMO).amongst other roles. More recently he has acted as an energy researcher and commentator with the University of Melbourne where he has investigated the climate impacts of, and alternatives, to fossil gas. His presentation Two faces of Hydrogen Blue or Green? will cover the huge opportunity for Australia in production and use of renewable hydrogen, but also warn of the efforts underway by the fossil fuel industry to co-opt the idea of hydrogen to sustain its business as usual… If you can't view this email click here to view online Click here to unsubscribe from this newsletter S

People living in South East Queensland will benefit from cleaner and cheaper renewable energy that will help cut pollution and the cost of power bills, with Labor’s plan to establish a Community Power Hub in the region.  

The post Labour will establish South East Queensland community power hub appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Lyon puts unit into voluntary administration after dispute with US hedge fund manager Magnetar, but says it still working towards major solar and storage projects.

The post Battery and storage hopeful Lyon Infrastructure puts unit into administration appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Keating slams Morrison as a "fossil", and while Paul Kelly's music graced official Labor election launch, the man himself was singing at Bob Brown's Stop Adani protest in Canberra.

The post Keating: Morrison “a fossil with a baseball cap” appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Tesla says revenue from battery storage in Australia jumps nearly 10 fold in 2018 - thanks to its big batteries - but revenue from electric car sales fell.

The post Big batteries help Tesla lift storage revenue near 10-fold in Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Hundreds of thousands of different species of animals and plants are thought to be facing extinction.

The world's most comprehensive - and damning - report on the state of nature is to be published in Paris.

Hawaii is looking to phase out fossil fuels altogether, and it will be renewable and storage systems like these that replace it.

The post Hawaii’s prepares sunset for fossil fuels and aims for 100% renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Just in case you needed another reason to love dogs. Julia Mynott, Research Officer, Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems, La Trobe University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

My friend Don Hinrichsen, who has died aged 72 after suffering from kidney cancer, was an environmental journalist and author.

In the 1980s he was editor-in-chief both of Ambio, a journal of the human environment published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and then editor of the World Resources Report, published by the World Resources Institute in collaboration with the World Bank and the UN.

Continue reading...

Ecologist and herpetologist who did much to pioneer the conservation of terrestrial species in Wales

The ecologist Liz Howe, who has died aged 59 from cancer, helped produce a modern environmental Domesday Book – Habitats of Wales: A Comprehensive Field Survey, 1979-1997. For 10 years from 1987 she managed a series of survey teams that mapped vegetation across lowland landscapes, complementing similar work in upland areas. Since its publication in 2010, the resulting volume has provided a foundation stone on which to base conservation management, its value as a stable evidence base growing with the passage of time.

The survey information collected under Liz’s watch has proved essential in assessing the conservation value of particular areas and how they can be managed, as well as a basis for identifying potential sites of special scientific interest. It has also helped to define tracts of land that are suitable for public access under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act.

Continue reading...

Experts warn numbers are collapsing as 300,000 are killed for sport every year

The nation’s deep affection for the hare, once a common sight in fields, is recorded in prose, pub names and poetry. Writers including Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll and Ted Hughes have paid tribute to the UK’s fastest land mammal, while any English county will boast at least one pub with the word hare in its name. But now a failure to revive numbers after a century of decline from an estimated four million to under 800,000 has triggered moves to protect hares during their breeding season.

Former agriculture minister George Eustice is introducing a private member’s bill that would make it illegal to shoot hares from February to September. “England and Wales are among the few remaining European countries that do not have a modern close season on shooting hares during their breeding season, which is a terrible oversight,” Eustice said.

Continue reading...

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says most South Australians do not want oil drilling in Great Australian Bight

Hundreds of people have gathered on an Adelaide beach to protest against Norwegian energy giant Equinor’s plans to drill in the Great Australian Bight.

Attending the Hands Across the Sand protest, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the majority of South Australians don’t want any oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight.

Continue reading...

Water and air pollution and deforestation are pushing the natural world to the brink.

Recycling has become so expensive that some cities have suspended their programmes.

In times gone by we used animals as an indicator of danger. Dogs warned us of predators and unfamiliar people.  Fish showed the water was clean and birds indicated air quality.

Dawn chorus day is a good time to celebrate the benefits to mental and physical health of birdsong – and fight for beloved species facing extinction

When I hear the first willow warbler of the spring, the first cuckoo, or the first booming bittern on my local patch, I feel an enormous sense of comfort and satisfaction. As the poet Ted Hughes wrote about the annual return of swifts, “They’ve made it again, which shows that the globe’s still working…”

It’s International Dawn Chorus day on Sunday 6 May, and this year the RSPB has released a single of birdsong (currentlyat number 11 in the charts) as part of a campaign to draw attention to the dire situation facing British birdlife. Populations of once-common species such as the house sparrow, starling and swift are falling fast, while the nightingale, turtle dove and grey partridge are rapidly sliding towards extinction in Britain.

Continue reading...

Parents fear lack of pollution regulation on Southall brownfield site is putting children’s health at risk

The right primary school for three-year-old Ranjan should have been an obvious choice. His grandparents live a short walk from the nearest one, on their road in Southall, west London, and enrolling him there would make life easy for the family. But they are so worried about the “petrol-like” odour from a nearby building site that in September Ranjan will travel to a school more than two miles away.

“He has been so sick for the past year – coughing and with a runny nose – that we worry being near the smell all day would make him ill,” said Ajaib Flora, his grandfather.

Continue reading...

In Chile the beloved native bee is venerated as carrying the spirit of the dead, but its numbers are dwindling as farmers use imported species infected with parasites to pollinate crops

The first time José Montalava saw the world’s largest bumblebee he was six years old and visiting his grandfather’s house in rural Chile. “It was in the tomato patch, a huge, loud, fluffy orange thing buzzing around. I remember trying to grab it, but it kept getting away, although it looked too heavy to fly,” he recalls.

During Montalava’s childhood, these giant golden bumblebees (Bombus dahlbomii) – which can measure up to 40mm and have been dubbed “flying mice” – were a common sight in the town where he grew up in central Chile. “It’s such a striking, charismatic, colourful bumblebee that used to herald spring,” says the 36-year-old entomologist. “Now it’s totally disappeared from my hometown and many other areas.”

Continue reading...