Post of the Day
Answers to 7 key questions on pumped-hydro storage
Jane Nicholls
Separating facts and fiction about pumped-hydro storage technology
https://reneweconomy.com.au/answers-to-7-key-questions-on-pumped-hydro-storage-12323/
Today’s Celebration
Anniversary of Chachapoyas – Peru
Be Late For Something Day – https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/be-late-for-something-day/
International Day of Charity – https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/international-day-of-charity/
Spinal Injury Awareness Week – http://www.rebuildinglives.com.au/
More about Sep 5 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_5
Climate Change
Global warming, El Niño could cause wetter winters, drier conditions in other months
UC Riverside Earth Sciences Professor Robert Allen’s research indicates that what future precipitation California gets will be pretty much limited to the winter months — think deluge-type rainfall rather than snow — and non-winter months will be even dryer than usual, with little or no rain at all.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/uoc–gwe090418.php
Can social media networks reduce political polarization on climate change?
Political bias often leads to polarization on topics like climate change. But a new study has shown that exposure to anonymous, bipartisan social networks can make a striking difference, leading both liberals and conservatives to improve their forecasting of climate-change trends.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180903152919.htm
Governments ‘not ready’ for Poland climate change talks: Fiji PM
Governments are unprepared for a crucial climate change meeting in Poland later this year aimed at ensuring the full implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement, Fiji Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama said on Tuesday at the opening of climate talks in Bangkok.
Think pink for a better view of climate change
A new study says pink noise may be the key to separating out natural climate variability from climate change that is influenced by human activity.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/yu-tpf090418.php
National
Hyundai gears up to launch the Ioniq EV range in Australia next month
Hyundai begins marketing campaign for the Ioniq, to be released next month in pure electric, hybrid and fuel cell versions.
Energy sector slams royal commission as a ‘costly chest-thumping exercise’
The energy industry says a proposed royal commission would be a costly “chest-thumping” exercise which would have been recommended by the consumer watchdog if it had been necessary.
Santos warns against intervention [$]
Santos has warned the Liberal and Labor parties they must avoid populist interventions in national energy markets.
Warning on Labor energy bill shock [$]
Power bills may soar by 84 per cent, gas and coal-fired stations will close if wind and solar generation increases dramatically, engineers say.
US supports backdown on Paris reduction targets [$]
A senior US official has backed the Australian government’s decision to walk away from legislating emission reduction targets in the Paris Agreement, labelling it a “bad deal”.
A breakthrough for Australia’s fish
A research team has made a breakthrough that could help dwindling numbers of Australian freshwater fish species. Researchers say the innovation will allow small and young fish to get past barriers like culverts.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180904114750.htm
Australian solar starts to dig a hole in mid-day electricity prices
Giles Parkinson
One of the really interesting observations from the Australia Energy Market Operator’s recent 10-year outlook was the prediction that within two years10, every state grid in the country will experience minimum demand in the middle of the day, rather than at night.
Angus Taylor condemns us to another round of energy stupidity
Simon Holmes à Court
It’s not that Taylor is a climate change denier, it’s just that he’d rather work against effective climate policy
There is no new energy price crisis
Matthew Stevens
There is no new crisis of energy affordability despite the Coalition’s attempts to persuade us so. Households spend far more on eating out.
https://www.afr.com/business/energy/electricity/power-crisis-more-vibe-than-verity-20180904-h14xcw
Explosive consequences of Labor’s threat to pull gas trigger
Stephen Bartholomeusz
The scramble between the Coalition and Labor to see who can stake out the most populist position on hot button issues threatens the national interest.
Energy Royal Commission push is more about Government than consumers
Canberra Times editorial
Whose interests would a pre-election Royal Commission into the energy sector really serve? The Government or consumers?
Australia’s UN report card: making progress, could do better on inequality and climate
John Thwaites
Australia is nowhere near meeting even the modest target of a 26% emissions reduction by 2030.
Nuclear answer to cost question [$]
Graham Lloyd
It is possible to have our cake and eat it too on power prices and emissions — with nuclear.
Pollies lagging on renewables will soon be fossils [$]
Tristan Edis
AS the cost of solar and wind technology continues to fall, it offers a brilliant opportunity to improve the industry. But that means our politicians need to catch up.
Tell the EU to stop being a bunch of Paris-ites [$]
Alan RM Jones
Australia should do what’s in its national economic interest by calling Brussels’ bluff, renounce Paris and make the most of its abundant resources, and tell the EU to take a hard look at itself, writes Alan RM Jones.
Victoria
Halt sale of Crown land until Aboriginal treaty is signed: Greens MP
The Greens want the Victorian government to freeze sales of government-owned land for private development until treaties are signed with traditional owners.
Labor forest lock-up fears [$]
Timber cutters, firewood collectors, hunters and prospectors face being excluded from 90 per cent of the State Forests surrounding Pyrenees range, Wellsford Forest and Wombat — Macedon regions, if Labor is re-elected on November 24.
Forest values shredded [$]
Weekly Times editorial
The values regional Victorians attach to State Forests have been dismissed by Victoria’s Environmental Assessment Council.
Rail loop sounds great, but there’s just one big problem …
Peter Maynard
The west will receive fewer stations than Melbourne’s east and will have to wait decades until after tunnelling under the eastern suburbs is complete.
New South Wales
CWP moves forward with 600MW solar farm in Angus Taylor’s electorate
CWP Renewables submits plans to develop 600MW solar and storage project about 15 kilometres south-west of Goulburn.
Sydney’s marine life turning troppo as coral, other species head south
Tropical corals have been found further south than ever before – and so are many other species as our waters warm.
Fishing ban a looming mess for state govt [$]
Anna Caldwell
The attack line used repeatedly against the Berejiklian government is that no one knows what it stands for and its potential ban on recreational line fishing will only muddy those waters.
ACT
Canberra’s first hemp house wins big at GreenSmart Awards
Prostyle Building Group has won the highest accolade presented at the 2018 Housing Industry Association Lawn Solutions Australian GreenSmart Awards
Queensland
Canavan unleashes flood of hate on avo-munching, anti-dam hipsters [$]
A report touting the benefits of building dams in Northern Australia says anything but, despite the efforts of Matt Canavan to spin it.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2018/09/04/matt-canavan-spins-csiro-report-on-dams/
Queensland could be 90% renewable by 2030 – with right policy settings
Report finds Queensland could meet almost 100% of its electricity needs from renewables by 2030, if all of its almost 15,000MW pipeline of large-scale wind and solar projects proceeded.
‘Return every single dollar’: Labor vows to claw back unspent Barrier Reef funds
Labor writes to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation warning there may be a change of government soon — and it plans to claw back any of the unspent half a billion dollars in federal funding it was assigned without any competitive tender process.
Project speeds up reefs’ recovery rate [$]
An Australia first underwater nursery has just planted its first coral on the Great Barrier Reef.
Study says coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef not limited to shallow depths
A new study demonstrates that the recent mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef was not restricted to shallow depths, but also impacted deep reefs. Although deep reefs are often considered a refuge from thermal anomalies, the new research highlights limitations to this role and argues that both shallow and deep reefs are under threat of mass bleaching events
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/caos-ssc083018.php
Anti-Adani protest inside Qld Parliament
Anti-Adani protesters have infiltrated Queensland Parliament and staged a protest during Question Time.
Bus and ferry patronage dropping, rail patronage flatlining
Bus and ferry patronage has dropped 6 per cent over five years, while rail patronage across Queensland’s south-east has virtually flatlined, government data shows.
Shocking footage of sharks dying brutal deaths [$]
Animal welfare groups have shared footage of endangered sharks falling victim to Queensland’s “outdated” attempts to keep them away from our beaches.
Some power bill relief on horizon [$]
Queenslanders can expect their power bills to fall, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk revealing a possible one-off reduction in charges – but it’s not happening just yet.
Greenies be dammed! [$]
Matt Canavan
Science is telling us agriculture, if managed properly, can work in a tropical climate.
South Australia
Controversial gas technology trial gets approval in SA
A trial of a controversial and highly polluting mining technology is given the green light in South Australia, despite being banned in Queensland for causing what has been described as the worst contamination in the state’s history.
Port Lincoln backflips on oil drilling in The Bight [$]
Port Lincoln Council has backflipped on its stance on oil and gas drilling in the Great Australian Bight, voting to stand with local industries worried about the “devastating impacts” of a major oil spill.
Tasmania
Forestry industry grows with $20 million investment
Australia – and Tasmania – will harvest the benefits of planning, with a $20 million federal investment in the forestry industry.
https://www.examiner.com.au/news/local-news/5627006/forestry-growth-in-20m-funding/
Halls Island ‘not likely to have significant impacts’ [$]
Federal Environment Minister Melissa Price says her department received “expert heritage advice” before approving the controversial Halls Island tourism development.
Northern Territory
Native title compensation claim brings High Court to NT for first time
The High Court is sitting in the Northern Territory for the first time in history to hear a native title compensation case hailed among “the biggest test cases in Indigenous rights since Mabo”.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-04/timber-creek-native-title-compensation-high-court/10198442
Western Australia
ClearVue solar glass tapped for bus shelters, outdoor advertising
Perth-based building-integrated PV maker signs MOU for its clear solar glass to power “street furniture” including bus shelters and outdoor advertising signs.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/clearvue-solar-glass-tapped-for-bus-shelters-outdoor-advertising-24210/
Sustainability
Global EV sales top four million as uptake accelerates
Cumulative global EV sales to pass 4m mark this week, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance – and the latest million was notched up in just six months.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/global-ev-sales-top-four-million-as-uptake-accelerates-53499/
‘It’s not if, it’s when’: the deadly pig disease spreading around the world
Swine fever has made its way into China, home to half the world’s pigs. Farmers in Estonia are already counting the cost
Delhi backs incentives for clean energy switch to combat pollution
Authorities in the Indian capital Delhi approved measures on Tuesday to encourage businesses to use clean energy as one of the world’s worst polluted cities stepped up the fight against deadly air pollution.
Changing the type of silicon etching drops solar power costs by more than 10 percent
Michigan Technological University and Aalto University researchers have found that using dry etched black silicon for passive emitter rear cell (PERC) solar cells increases the cost of individual cell production by 15.8 percent to 25.1 percent, but reduces the cost per unit power by 10.8 percent over those for industrial Czochralski silicon.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/mtu-ctt083018.php
Blue-green algae promises to help boost food crop yields
Scientists have engineered tiny carbon-capturing engines from blue-green algae into plants, in a breakthrough that promises to help boost the yields of important food crops such as wheat, cowpeas and cassava.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180904103231.htm
Reducing food waste can protect our health, as well as our planet’s
Liza Barbour and Julia McCartan
Smaller portions reduce food waste and waistlines.
https://theconversation.com/reducing-food-waste-can-protect-our-health-as-well-as-our-planets-101452
Answers to 7 key questions on pumped-hydro storage
Jane Nicholls
Separating facts and fiction about pumped-hydro storage technology
https://reneweconomy.com.au/answers-to-7-key-questions-on-pumped-hydro-storage-12323/
Nature Conservation
Nearly 90 elephants found dead in Botswana: conservationists
The carcasses of nearly 90 recently killed elephants, most with their tusks removed, are found near a famous wildlife sanctuary in Botswana, according to conservationists.
Meet the man salvaging ocean waste to bring it into plain sight
Harald Reichenbach has travelled the world tackling the issue of marine waste. Why is his solution to preserve it in a small cube?
Eight bird species are first confirmed avian extinctions this decade
Most of the extinctions were caused by deforestation in South America, a new study of endangered birds shows
Japan killed 50 whales in Antarctic protected area, data shows
The disclosure of the cull, conducted under a legal loophole, comes as Japan seeks to further weaken a global ban on commercial hunts
Deep water no haven from coral bleaching
An international study has discovered coral bleaching caused by warming ocean temperatures is even affecting deepwater reefs.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/deep-water-no-haven-coral-bleaching-140534510–spt.html
Govt to stop oil palm expansion, keep 50pc land as forest
The Malaysian government will not allow any more expansion of oil palm plantations in the country, Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok said today.
What does wilderness mean – and what does it take to protect it?
We have five questions about protecting public lands for Shelley Silbert, executive director of the advocacy group Great Old Broads for Wilderness.
https://therevelator.org/wilderness-protect/
Alpine ecosystems struggle to recover from nitrogen deposition
A new CU research study finds that degraded alpine ecosystems showed limited recovery years after long-term inputs of human-caused nitrogen air pollution, with soil acidification and effects on biodiversity lingering even after a decade of much lower nitrogen input levels.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/uoca-aes090318.php
Now for something completely different …
Happiness at work trumps money for most Australians
Caitlin Fitzsimmons
What is more important to you at work: happiness or money? Or, why not both?