Category Archives: Climate Change & Sustainability

Posts on aspects of climate science, climate action and climate policy & planning.

Climate Action

EnergyAustralia targets niche created by Liddell closure

16 Comments

EnergyAustralia looks set to sink $400 million into a new peaking gas power station, but have warned that the investment case would collapse if Canberra’s Coalshevik politicians force AGL’s ageing Liddell plant to stay open or if a new coal plant is built.

Their new gas plant will not supply ‘baseload’ power. rater, it will be fast-start and run on demand, operating only at peak times or when other plants suffer outages. This indicates it will mainly operate on the spot market, but in doing so will help prevent spikes up to the maximum $14,000 a megawatt-hour limit. Continue reading EnergyAustralia targets niche created by Liddell closure →

Climate Change & Sustainability, Climate Policy & Planning

‘Coalsheviks’ want to head renewable energy off at the pass

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On Wednesday morning Ben Potter’s article in the AFR Coalition fiddles as renewables remake grid told business leaders and politicians what is actually happening before their eyes.

Over at the Oz the headline was:

      Abbott call: Pull out of Paris deal

    and

        NATS DEMAND THREE COAL POWER STATIONS

      So, what is going on? We’ll look at the Nats first, then Abbott, and finally, the real world. Things are coming to a crunch point which will determine how Malcolm Turnbull’s stewardship is seen by future generations. Continue reading ‘Coalsheviks’ want to head renewable energy off at the pass →

      Climate Action, Climate Change & Sustainability, Climate Science

      Climate clippings 225

      5 Comments

      1. Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, by Elisabeth Rush

      A review by Dave Hage at Star Tribune of Elizabeth Rush’s new book Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore says it is “a lovely and thoughtful book, so lyrical that you forget how much science it delivers.”

        Rush, who teaches creative nonfiction at Brown University, has chosen to examine climate change through the lens of American places and people devastated by rising seas and higher temperatures. Reading her book is like learning ecology at the feet of a poet rather than a scientist.

      Continue reading Climate clippings 225 →

      Climate Policy & Planning

      Australians speak: what does the government hear?

      19 Comments

      In the Lowy Institute Poll 2018 (interactive version here) respondents were asked to rate 11 threats to Australia’s vital interests as (1) a critical threat, (2) an important but not critical threat, or (3) not an important threat at all. Here’s the result:

      At 58% climate change came third. However, a stubborn 11% thought climate change not a threat at all. Continue reading Australians speak: what does the government hear? →

      Climate Change & Sustainability, Climate Science

      Antarctic ice loss rates have tripled since 2012

      10 Comments

      A new study has found that Antarctic ice loss and sea level rise rates have tripled since 2012.

      This assessment involves 84 scientists from more than 40 institutions, and combines data from 24 satellite surveys. It follows in the footsteps of the first IMBIE (Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise) conducted in 2012, and paints a particularly grim picture of the years between then and 2017. Continue reading Antarctic ice loss rates have tripled since 2012 →

      Climate Change & Sustainability

      National emissions audit shows NSW in some trouble

      53 Comments

      The Australia Institute has instituted a National Energy Emissions Audit , which Giles Parkinson wrote about at RenewEconomy.

      The April-May update tells us:

      • The capacity of large-scale solar generation supplying the National Electricity Market tripled between March and early May.
      • South Australia became a net energy exporter for the first time in March, selling the state’s abundant wind-generated power into Victoria.
      • NSW coal-fired power stations have been consistently at 65% capacity despite three closures and speculation over Liddell, with imports switching from Victoria to Queensland post Hazelwood.

      Continue reading National emissions audit shows NSW in some trouble →

      Climate Change & Sustainability

      James Cook University sacks reef scientist with contrarian views

      55 Comments

      James Cook University has sacked academic Professor Peter Ridd, he claims because he “dared to fight the university and speak the truth about science and the Great Barrier Reef”. He rejects the scientific evidence linking human activity to degradation of the Great Barrier Reef, and takes the view that the Reef is doing fine.

      James Cook deputy vice chancellor Prof Iain Gordon says:

        “We defend Peter’s right to make statements in his area of academic expertise and would continue to do that until we are blue in the face,” Gordon says.

        “The issue has never been about Peter’s right to make statements – it’s about how he has continually broken a code of conduct that we would expect all our staff to stick to, to create a safe, respectful and professional workplace.”

      Continue reading James Cook University sacks reef scientist with contrarian views →

      Climate Action

      Snowy Hydro and the future of renewables

      16 Comments

      Snowy Hydro 2.0 was, I thought, being justified at the political level by its capacity to back up with pumped storage some of the “reckless” development of wind and solar energy around the place. RenewEconomy now reports that Snowy Hydro is itself planning to develop 800 MW of wind and solar capacity. It has put out an expression of interest document, aiming to conclude contracts by September:

        “The initial aim is to procure 400MW of wind and 400MW of solar off takes,” the document states, although the company may change its mind on the 50/50 split between wind and solar depending on the offers made.

        “Snowy Hydro’s goal is to construct a portfolio of wind and solar offtakes such that the resulting portfolio benefits from diversification of fuel sources (wind / sun), geography (across NEM States, latitude and longitude) and supply profile (intra-day, week, month and season).”

      Continue reading Snowy Hydro and the future of renewables →

      Climate Action, Climate Change & Sustainability, Climate Policy & Planning

      Climate clippings 224

      40 Comments

      1. Oil and car companies are suddenly investing in electric vehicles. Here’s why.

      Joe Romm’s article was also posted at RenewEconomy.

      Climate Action, Technology

      AEMO wants ‘demand response’ as strategic reserve

      13 Comments

      You will recall that after the closing of Hazelwood Power Station at the end of March 2017 fears were held that the 2017-18 summer would see extensive blackouts. AEMO, the Australian Energy Market Operator, was tasked to assemble a strategic reserve to keep the lights on.

      AEMO assembled a reserve of 1150 megawatts mainly “demand response” capacity with capital cost approaching zero, but the mechanism the agency had used called the Reliability and Reserve Trader or RERT, can’t be automatically rolled over for the summer of 2018-19. And perhaps it can’t be done at all, because the rule-maker, the Australian Energy Market Commission, has changed the rules governing the RERT so that the mechanism can only be used on 10 weeks notice in an emergency as a last resort, which is simply impractical.

      So what is going on? Continue reading AEMO wants ‘demand response’ as strategic reserve →

      Climate Change & Sustainability, Climate Science

      Climate clippings 223

      20 Comments

      1. Climate as an existential threat

      Last September I half-finished a post on this topic, with a paper by David Spratt and Ian Dunlop as the centre-piece. Their 28-page report on the state of climate science, action and politics entitled What lies beneath? The scientific understatement of climate risks is introduced as a post at Climate Code Red, but I suggest you go directly to the paper itself. Read any part of it, and I can promise you will be alarmed. Continue reading Climate clippings 223 →