Act on climate or be left behind, says Stern
ONE of the world's leading climate change experts, Sir Nicholas Stern, has warned countries such as Australia will face future trade barriers unless it moves to a low-carbon economy.
In a speech to the National Press Club yesterday, Lord Stern said the world should embrace what he called the ''new industrial revolution'' of cleaner technologies and renewable energy.
''Not participating in this new industrial revolution runs two types of risk: you drop behind technologically and you risk, not tomorrow or the next day but 10 or so years from now, finding real difficulty in the trade story,'' he said. ''Ten or 15 years from now, those that produce in dirty ways are likely to face trade barriers.''
Click here for full storyMost of Germany's energy demand can be met through renewable sources by 2050 but this is dependent on agreeing ambitious, multi-billion euro expenditure, according to the conclusions of a government-commissioned report into the country's future energy policy.
Click here for full storyHopes surged this week that a swing to the Greens will result in meaningful action on climate change in the new Parliament. On the Climate Spectator website, Fiona Wain, the head of the Environment Business Australia think tank, urged the crossbenchers to grasp the "unprecedented opportunity in their hands - to help re-attract investment lost by the Rudd-Gillard deferral of putting a price on carbon".
Click here for full storyWind and solar power could become the world's main sources of energy, a Nobel-prize winning scientist suggests. The global photovoltaic energy production increased by a factor of about 90 and wind energy by a factor of about 10 over the last decade.
Click here for full storyThe tipping point for climate change, after which many of its most destructive effects will become irreversible, strongly suggests that atmospheric CO2 must be reduced from its current level of 390 ppm to "well below 350 ppm‚ significantly closer to pre-industrial concentrations of 285 ppm," according to a recent report by Beyond Zero Emissions, an Australian nonprofit organization.
Click here for full storyAustralia plans to build the southern hemisphere's biggest wind farm by 2013 as it scrambles to harness its abundance of clean energy sources, such as wind, solar, waves, geothermal and bioenergy, and fight climate change.
Click here for full storyIt’s difficult to look out over miles of waste rock and tailings from a century of copper mining in the American Southwest and see anything but environmental destruction.
Click here for full storyGottlieb Paludan, a Danish architectural firm, has come up with a revolutionary plan to store green energy which may help to solve the world energy crisis.
Click here for full storyToday there's a whole menu of options for going beyond the petroleum era, from biofuels and next-generation nuclear power to solar-powered syngas production. But which option will be the "magic bullet" for America's next energy era? It turns out that every energy alternative has its pluses and its minuses, just as oil, coal and natural gas do.
Click here for full storyIreland’s renewable energy sources have a potential three times the country’s energy requirements. According to the book ‘Green & Gold – Ireland a Clean Energy World Leader?’ by Alternative Energy Resources CEO John Travers, 20% of total Irish energy needs can be met by renewable energy within the next 10 years and 80% by 2050 and that 20% of Irish GDP can be derived from clean energy exports.
Click here for full storyErnst & Young's (E&Y) announcement that it is launching a dedicated practice to support the UK's clean technology sector is the latest development to highlight the attractions of the sustainability business for the big consultancies. While E&Y claims to be the first to set up a practice specifically for cleantech, in recent years PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, KPMG and E&Y have all launched dedicated practices for sustainability and climate change.
Click here for full storyIS THE great Australian boom, the longest in any developed country, over? Yes, said Ross Garnaut, one of the country's most respected economists, in a seminal lecture last week.
Click here for full storyWhen David Cameron became Prime Minister he pledged that the new Coalition would be the greenest government ever. As Climate Change Minister my job is to help deliver this promise.
Click here for full storyWith peak oil occupying the minds of energy experts and the Gulf oil spill acting as a painful reminder of the dangers posed to the environment by our unquenchable thirst for fossil fuels, a rejuvenated interest in alternative energy is sweeping the nation.
Click here for full storyAUSTRALIA could switch completely to renewable energy within a decade by building a dozen vast, new solar power stations and about 6500 wind turbines, according to a major new study.
Click here for full storyFive years ago, when 17% of Portugal’s energy came from renewable energy – about like California now – the government made a bold decision to aim for 45% during the next five years – by 2010.
Click here for full storyAGL Energy Ltd. may spend A$10 billion ($9 billion) building renewable power production capacity by 2020 as Australia pursues a target of sourcing one- fifth of its electricity from alternative sources. “We need to build around another 5,000 megawatts of renewable” capacity, Michael Fraser, managing director of Australia’s largest electricity retailer, said in an interview in Melbourne. “Our customer base will underpin that.” Some 33 percent of AGL’s power generation portfolio is from renewable sources, including wind, solar, and landfill gas, he said.
Click here for full storyAustralia never managed to get its emissions trading scheme (or CPRS) off the ground, even though our smaller trans-Tasman neighbour New Zealand did. Now both major parties in Australia are being attacked for a lack of strong (or any!) policies on climate change, it would seem alternative ideas are needed. So Graham Readfearn for ABC Environment has scanned the globe for climate policies and come up with ten of the best.
Click here for full storyMeridian Energy has partnered with Australian power giant AGL to build a A$1 billion ($1.12 billion) wind farm in Victoria, Australia.
Meridian claims the 420 megawatt 140 turbine Macarthur wind farm in southwest Victoria will be the biggest in the southern hemisphere.It comes after Meridian bought the 70 MW wind farm in South Australia for A$191 million in May.
Click here for full storyIn strict adherence to guidelines released by the Department of Energy, the United States Postal Service gets on a fast track to reach the goal for energy reduction. Green roofs, green buildings and an optimally efficient management system of energy consumption form part of the energy-reduction strategy.
Click here for full storyIn an interview with "Globes", former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge says, "The socioeconomic and environmental needs of the 21st century require innovation and energy independence, which can be found in renewable energy. This is one of the important transitions that we can undertake from the industrial era to the green era."
Click here for full storyFive years ago, the leaders of this sun-scorched, wind-swept nation made a bet: To reduce Portugal’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, they embarked on an array of ambitious renewable energy projects — primarily harnessing the country’s wind and hydropower, but also its sunlight and ocean waves.
Click here for full storyEver since Don Quixote tilted at wind mills, warfare and renewable energy have had a rough relationship. It's tough to erect wind turbines or solar panels when the enemy keeps blowing things up.
Click here for full storyMy NRDC colleague, Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, writes here: "What is going on with Big Oil this year? The Gulf. Spills in Minnesota and Salt Lake City. And now, very bad news from Michigan, where crews are cleaning up after yet another major oil infrastructure failure.
Click here for full storyChina's energy use has more than doubled over the last decade to overtake the United States as the word's biggest user, according to preliminary data from the International Energy Agency. As the data from the IEA shows, China has gone from using 1,107 million tons of oil equivalent (Mtoe) in 2000, to 2,131 Mtoe in 2008 and is estimated to have consumed 2,265 Mtoe in 2009.
Click here for full storyIncreasingly affluent and energy-hungry nation reflects the dramatic increase in the wattage of China's economy.
Click here for full storyThe time has come for society to face up to the true cost of our energy consumption, says Barry Brook. By 2030, nuclear may be leading the march.
Click here for full storyCouncils in the UK should do "absolutely nothing" to tackle climate change unless a stringent global deal on reducing carbon emissions is reached through the United Nations, which includes developing as well as developed countries – according to Lord Lawson, writes Dean Carroll.
Click here for full storyGlobal subsidies for fossil fuels dwarf support given to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power and biofuels, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.
Click here for full storyThe Statement delivered by Chris Huhne in the House of Commons reconfirmed the Government's long-term commitment to expanding renewable energy, with the announcement of a Renewables Delivery Plan.
Click here for full story100 days into the BP disaster, it's time to quit claiming that an economy based on fossil fuels is our only option.
Click here for full storyA world-renowned solar research centre has lost $20 million in federal funding in what green advocates say is a massive blow to Australia's efforts in renewable energy.
The decision to deny research funding to the award-winning University of NSW Photovoltaic Centre of Excellence comes as the prime minister faces continued criticism for planned cuts to solar programs to fund her "cash-for-clunkers" low-emissions car program.
Click here for full story NASA, which pioneered America’s space programme, is to set up shop in the Kapiti Coast town of Otaki, lured to a new technology park targeting green and renewable energy sources.
Click here for full storyA project to harness wave energy on the Chatham Islands has been awarded funding under the government's Marine Energy Deployment Fund, Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today.
The proposal put forward by Chatham Islands Marine Energy Ltd (CHIME), to install a shore-based device to capture wave energy, has been awarded $2.16 million, subject to conditions, including receiving resource consent.
Click here for full storyPlagued by Spain’s economic recession and subsidy cuts, renewable energy businesses are following the sun and wind to Latin America in search of profits.
Click here for full storyAustralian scientists claim just by harnessing one percent of the country’s untapped geothermal energy from underground could produce 26,000 years worth of clean electricity power. Australia is the world’s biggest coal exporter and primarily uses coal power to generate nearly 77% of its electricity. But recently the government wants to invest in more renewable sources.
Click here for full storyThe Greens want to completely replace Australia's reliance on coal with renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.
Greens Senator Christine Milne said yesterday: “Australia can harness our tremendous resources of the sun, wind, ocean, Earth and human ingenuity to replace our reliance on coal with 100 per cent renewable energy within decades."
Senator Milne said this could be achieved by 2030 with the right preparation and infrastructure
Click here for full storyAUSTRALIA’S renewable energy industry was reeling yesterday after discovering a $520million budget cut to low-emissions technology in the fine print of Julia Gillard’s ‘‘cash-for-clunkers’’ announcement.
Ms Gillard said that owners of pre-1995 vehicles will be able to claim $2000 from January 1 next year to upgrade to cleaner cars.
Click here for full storyGuy Abrahams is a former solicitor and art gallery director turned environmental activist. As well as completing his Environmental Masters at Melbourne University, Abrahams spends much of his time spruiking his climate change message to community groups around Victoria.
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