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More evidence emerges of how big utilities game the market in South Australia, and how the fossil fuel industry tried to blame it all on renewables. This comes as energy ministers meet to consider proposals to open up the national gas market.

A new record-low solar bid was set in Chile, while wind projects took 40% of the auctioned power contracts.

Survivor from twin endangered loggerheads is separated by scientists and freed in Mediterranean Sea

Marine biologists in southern Italy have separated conjoined twin loggerhead turtles and released the surviving newborn into the Mediterranean Sea.

The release occurred this week along the beaches of Campania where the endangered loggerheads nest every year.

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About 100 voles will soon be released in the Yorkshire Dales in what is thought to be Britain's largest water vole reintroduction project.

McKinsey report – and graph – says battery storage makes sense now for subset of commercial customers in "each of the four most important applications."

The events of July 7, and how we interpret them, will have ongoing implications for future business investment and how we meet the decarbonisation challenge.

A nonprofit organization is testing a solution that could be a model of how to bring electricity to 1.2 billion people still living in the dark.

The worst appears behind it, but Origin Energy is clearly two companies under one banner. A split appears inevitable, the only question is how it will happen.

There has been an incredible amount of nonsense published by media outlets purporting that there is a so called crisis unfolding in Australia’s electricity market.

Coag meeting will agree on a significant suite of reforms, federal energy and environment minister says

• If energy ministers bow to gas industry they’ll be deciding in the dark

A meeting of state and territory energy ministers will tackle secret long-term gas contracts in an effort to make the sector more competitive, the federal environment and energy minister has said.

Speaking to ABC’s AM on Friday, Josh Frydenberg took aim at the opaque contracts’ role in raising the price of domestic gas. Australia had a tight gas market because it was exporting liquid natural gas, he said, raising the domestic price to world levels.

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Coag meeting could spark a run on exploration and development – yet do nothing to increase competition

• Secret gas contracts hurting competition, Josh Frydenberg says

Friday’s meeting of every energy minister in Australia is looking to be at risk of bowing to gas industry demands and sparking a run on gas development around the country to head off a supposed shortage.

If they do that, it will be in the absence of any clear picture of actual gas supplies in Australia.

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The sunken wreck of a fishing trawler that swept for mines during World War One is given special protection by Historic England.

Better, cleaner buildings could deliver a quarter of Australia's greenhouse gas reductions. Buildings image from www.shutterstock.com

Energy upgrades in Australia’s buildings could deliver a quarter of Australia’s 2030 emissions reduction target. Improving energy performance through improved building design, heating and cooling systems, lighting and other equipment and appliances could also deliver more than half of our National Energy Productivity Target.

Progress has been slow, however, and our research shows that delay leads to lost opportunities and billions in wasted energy costs.

The new federal environment and energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, has an opportunity here to demonstrate the potential of his new merged role. Today in Canberra, Australia’s energy ministers are meeting for the first time since the election through the COAG Energy Council.

One item on the agenda will be the National Energy Productivity Plan (NEPP). It aims to improve energy productivity 40% by 2030. This involves increasing the economic value produced from each unit of energy consumed.

The NEPP contains a number of good measures relating to buildings. However, without stronger governance arrangements, more transparency and stronger and clearer public communication and engagement, there is a risk that these policy measures will simply slip between the cracks of multiple agencies, portfolios and jurisdictions in the building sector.

What can better buildings achieve?

Our research found buildings could help meet our climate and energy goals, as you can see in the charts below.

We found that improving energy efficiency in buildings could deliver 10% of our emissions target. Distributed energy (primarily rooftop solar) could achieve an extra 18%.

Potential contribution of built environment opportunities to 2030 national emissions target (MtCO2e) ClimateWorks Australia, May 2016

The energy efficiency improvements could reduce energy use by 202 petajoules, or half of what would be needed to achieve the energy productivity target.

Potential contribution of built environment energy efficiency opportunities to 2030 National Energy Productivity Target (PJ) ClimateWorks Australia, May 2016 The cost of delay

Despite the massive opportunity to reduce emissions from the building sector, overall progress to date has been slow.

Market leaders, particularly in the commercial office market, have achieved a radical change in their energy productivity and are recognised as global leaders in sustainable buildings. There are many examples of very high-performing or net-zero-emission buildings around Australia.

However, the market as a whole has improved its energy performance only 2% over the past decade for commercial buildings, and 5% for residential buildings. We are not currently on track.

Our report found that continuing to delay action to reduce emissions from buildings means we would lose a substantial amount of cost-effective options to improve energy performance. Many emissions reduction opportunities exist only for a certain period of time. For example, installing inefficient equipment instead of more efficient options effectively locks in excessive emissions for many decades into the future.

Just five years of delay could lead to A$24 billion in wasted energy costs and more than 170 million tonnes of lost emissions reductions by 2050. This is a very substantial loss, considering the current national emissions target aims to reduce emissions by 272 million tonnes by 2030.

Without additional action buildings would eventually consume more than half of Australia’s “carbon budget” by 2050. That would leave less than half for all other sectors of the economy, including emissions-intensive industries, transport, land and agriculture.

Cost of delay (MtCO2e) ClimateWorks Australia, May 2016 Stronger policy

To realise the emissions reduction potential in the building sector, strong policy will be required to tackle the barriers to better energy performance for buildings. Our report recommended five key solutions as part of an integrated policy suite.

First, develop a national plan to co-ordinate policy and emissions-reductions measures to extend gains made by market leaders across the entire building sector.

Second, introduce mandatory minimum standards for buildings, equipment and appliances aligned with the long-term goal of net zero emissions.

Third, develop incentives and programs to motivate and support higher energy performance in the short to medium term.

Fourth, reform the energy market to ensure it supports cost-effective energy efficiency and distributed energy.

Finally, we need a range of supporting data, information, training and education measures to enable informed consumer choice and support innovation, commercialisation and deployment of new technologies and business models.

Implementing these policy measures would set Australia on a pathway to zero-carbon buildings and unlock the large potential for buildings to deliver improved health outcomes and more liveable and productive cities.

Unblocking barriers

Unfortunately, the opportunity to reduce emissions from buildings is blocked by strong barriers that require co-ordination between the Commonwealth, states and territories.

To address the complexity of this task, the NEPP needs stronger governance arrangements, including a specified target or targets for buildings, to complement the overall 40% NEPP target, and more regular public reporting (there is no public review until 2020).

Stronger and clearer communication and engagement around the target and buildings’ energy performance within it would also help provide confidence and drive innovation and activity among households and businesses.

In addition, we need better co-ordination between the members of the Energy Council, and between the council and other government forums and agencies.

For example, the National Construction Code, which regulates minimum standards for new buildings and major refurbishments, is a critical policy lever. However, the code is overseen by the Building Ministers Forum, not the Energy Council, while a range of different state and territory bodies oversee enforcement of the standards.

There are similar issues around harmonising of different energy performance ratings across jurisdictions, co-ordinating training and accreditation of professionals throughout the building design and construction sector, and energy market reform to establish a level playing field for energy efficiency and decentralised renewable energy.

Co-ordination of these issues should be a major focus for the Energy Council. The new minister for environment and energy – as the minister responsible for delivering on both our national emissions reduction targets and on the productivity plan – is now in a unique position to lead these efforts. We encourage the COAG Energy Council to support him in this.

Eli Court is Implementation Manager at ClimateWorks Australia which receives funding from philanthropy and project-based income from federal, state and local government and private sector organisations. ClimateWorks received funding from the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council for the Low Carbon, High Performance report referenced in this article.

Researchers have combined satellite imagery with AI to predict areas of poverty across the world.

Tourists flock to Hawaii's Kilauea volcano after lava reached the sea for the first time in three years. Aerials - Lava Ocean Tours.

A global audience joins Prof Michael Sandel to discuss the world's response to climate change.

Australian researchers are investigating if the scent of giant sea snails could help repel millions of coral-eating starfish from the Great Barrier Reef.

A new analysis shows that Oetzi the Iceman's clothes came from at least five species of animal, including a hat of brown bear fur.

The gas industry profited enormously from electricity price spikes in South Australia. The media also played a role, using renewables as a scapegoat.

Developers hope the tool, that enables anyone with internet access to track fishing vessels worldwide, will create greater transparency in the oceans

Anyone with internet access and a passion for seafood will soon be able to track commercial fishing trawlers all over the world, with a new tool that its developers hope will help end the overfishing that has decimated the world’s fish stocks.

Millions of people depend on fish to survive, and fish will be vital to feeding the world’s growing population that is predicted to reach 9.7 billion people by 2050, the United Nations says.

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