Category Archives: Policy, Economics

Discussion of government (all levels) policies and economic matters as they relate to climate and the environment.

Clean Energy: Everybody’s Doing It

Posted on 6 Feb 2012 by | 1 Comment

Stylised Sun radiating in 4 directionsCoal and oil fuels are dinosaurs that hold media and market attention because they’re huge. But while the dinosaurs rampage, all around them thousands of people are entering the new era: the age of clean, inexhaustible energy. In the words of grass-roots organisation 100% Renewable:

Right now Australia faces a choice: we can continue our dependence on fossil fuels, keep mining and burning coal, keep polluting our air and water. We can keep damaging our farmland and heath, be left behind the rest of the world on investment and face an uncertain future with an unstable climate. Or we can make the switch to 100% clean renewable energy, creating a safer, healthier happier future for all.

The excitement of this new era is palpable in the planning for 100% Renewable’s 2-day Big Solar Boot Camp at Port Hacking on the weekend 11-12 February 2012. The programme concentrates on community action: how to make the clean energy message heard above the ruckus of the dinosaurs.

We saw the urgent demand for renewable energy in Wingecarribee shire at CANWin’s Clean Energy workshop last year. Plans such as Zero Carbon Australia 2020 and Sustainable Energy Australia show the ways 100% clean energy can be achieved in less than 10 years.

Big Solar is about solar-powered electricity generators on the same scale as coal-fired power stations. Big solar is one of the technologies that is making coal-fired power redundant. CANWin, along with hundreds of other groups in the Climate Action and 100% Renewable networks, can force governments to learn that the coal-fired dinosaur’s day is done.

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Posted in Energy, Energy generation and distribution, Regional energy, Taking Action

Draft guidelines for wind farm developments in NSW

Posted on 12 Jan 2012 by | 14 Comments

Two days before Christmas NSW Planning Minister Brad Hazzard released a draft of “the toughest guidelines in the world” for wind farm developments in this State (details of where to find a copy at the end of this post). CANWin member David Tranter kicks off our discussions in this post. You can click “Leave a comment” (under the title) to add your thoughts.

The  NSW Government Draft Wind Turbine Strategy states that it supports Australia’s commitment to deliver 20% of the nation’s energy needs by 2020. If this is true, then the primary goal of the strategy should be to establish a level playing field. Up till now, fossil fuel industries have been implicitly subsidized by allowing them to offload their environmental costs to society.

The Government’s proposed Wind Farm Strategy doesn’t just perpetuate that inequity; it exacerbates it. It proposes an elaborate system of regulations for wind farms, which is not applied in equal measure to fossil fuel industries and will eventually prove to be counter-productive. How could any reasonable person believe that a wind turbine is more unsightly than high voltage transmission towers and power lines snaking inexorably across the rural landscape? Continue reading →

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Posted in Energy, Energy generation and distribution, Global Sustainability, Regional energy, Renewable energy

Clean Energy Australia

Posted on 20 Nov 2011 by | Leave a comment

David Tranter reports on the passing of Australia’s clean energy bills through the Senate.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011 was a dramatic day in the history of Australia. On this first day of the second consecutive La Nina summer, the Australian Senate passed the Government’s Clean Energy Bills. Our party of three had succeeded in obtaining tickets to the Senate Session at Parliament House that very morning. As we sped through the lush green countryside to Canberra in the early morning air, the world had never seemed so bright. There were even pools of water in dry old Lake George.

As we entered the grand portals of Parliament House, which CanWin Secretary Philip Walker had helped design, I was bowled over by marble pillars illuminated by light streaming in through high windows city-side – pillars that resembled old growth forest giants.

Passes attached ceremoniously to our lapels, we headed for the Senate chamber, accompanied by a guide. Up grand stairs to Security, where we were frisked of half our belongings including steel tipped shoes that raised the alarm, we elevatored up to what we were told was Senate level, where we were given the run around past what seemed endless, glass-paneled doors leading to public galleries securely locked to keep us out. Continue reading →

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Posted in Federal Government, Global Sustainability

CANWin Lecture: Dr John Hewson presents “Growth or steady state”

Posted on 6 Sep 2010 by | Leave a comment
Dr Hewson is a recognised economic and financial expert with
experience in academia, business, government, media and the
financial system.
Dr Hewson will share his thoughts on
the economy of an energy
constrained future
He will touch on the following:
? Common Sense in the political process –
the flow on from Copenhagen
? Price on Carbon
? The viability of ‘Sequestering Carbon’
? Energy evolution from coal – gas –
renewables
? Transitioning to a positive (low carbon)
growth economy

Dr Hewson is a recognised economic and financial expert with experience in academia, business, government, media and the financial system.

Dr Hewson will share his thoughts on the economy of an energy constrained future

He will touch on the following:

  • Common Sense in the political process –the flow on from Copenhagen
  • Price on Carbon
  • The viability of ‘Sequestering Carbon’
  • Energy evolution from coal – gas – renewables
  • Transitioning to a positive (low carbon)growth economy

For more information click here.

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Posted in Economy, Energy, Events

“FLOW” to be Screened at Empire Cinema

Posted on 2 Nov 2009 by | Leave a comment

On the evening of Thursday 5th November 2009 at 6.30pm members of the steering committee of the Australian Water Network (AWN) will screen the award winning documentary FLOW (For Love of Water). The evening will be an informative fundraiser to assist with the incorporation of the AWN and to build a website to provide a platform for over thirty water campaign groups and individuals around Australia.

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Posted in Events, Water security