Daily Links Apr 29

There’re so many things to be said about a free-market government building a gas-fired power station. Why let the market proceed with zero-input energy costs in the renewables industry when there’s gas to be mined and bought for electricity generation? The trains are inefficient, lets have a government-run transport system? How about a government-run retail bank? Buying back Qantas? Is there a coherent policy view abroad in these Liberals? Or is just resource-donor mates driving everything now?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-29/government-gas-fired-power-plant-nsw/100102888

Post of the Day

Seven Key Principles for Implementing Net Zero

The Seven Key Principles for Implementing Net Zero were presented by the International Energy Agency at the IEA-COP26 Net Zero Summit, held on 31 March 2021, and were adopted by many IEA Member Countries to guide the implementation of net zero commitments.

 

On This Day

April 29

Maundy Thursday – Eastern Christianity

Nuzul Al-Qur’an – Islam

 

Ecological observance

Arbor Day – Colombia

 

Climate Change

Seven Key Principles for Implementing Net Zero

The Seven Key Principles for Implementing Net Zero were presented by the International Energy Agency at the IEA-COP26 Net Zero Summit, held on 31 March 2021, and were adopted by many IEA Member Countries to guide the implementation of net zero commitments.

 

Speed at which world’s glaciers are melting has doubled in 20 years

Glacier melt contributing more to sea-level rise than loss of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, say experts

 

National

You could soon be charged a fee if you want to sell your solar power to the grid

Thousands of Australian households have installed solar panels to save on power bills – but a controversial proposal that would enable energy companies to charge solar panel owners to export their own electricity could flip the current status quo.

 

Swap and go: Electric trucks to run between Sydney and Brisbane using exchangeable batteries

Batteries can be swapped in three minutes, removing the need for trucks to plug in and charge

 

Podesta: Quad will demand Australia does more on climate change

Senior Democrat John Podesta warns that Australia will be told by key allies that technological solutions to climate change “are just not going to cut it”.

 

Climate risks ‘very real and immediate,’ says APRA’s Byres

The banking regulator highlighted a drop in the value of some emissions-intensive assets, such as coal-fired power plants.

Rooftop solar tax could bite twice as hard as was modelled, says report

New research claims AEMC has made an error in calculations that, once corrected, would make the impact of its proposed solar export charge much worse than originally projected.

 

4 reasons insects could be a staple in Aussie diets, from zesty tree ants to peanut-buttery bogong moths

Bryan Lessard and Rocio Ponce-Reyes

With the global population predicted to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, one of the biggest challenges in our lifetimes will be securing enough food for everyone.

 

Why PM got the Biden climate summit right [$]

Paul Kelly

The politics of climate change are in rapid transition with President Joe Biden reasserting US global leadership and unveiling ambitious new targets that signal a contentious US stance — to encourage, shame and intimidate other national leaders into ambitious action.

 

Carbon border tax is good in theory, bad in reality [$]

John Kehoe

If the world somehow manages to create a carbon border tax, Australia will only have itself to blame for its difficulties.

How to spin the public, reward your donors and control the politics: a guide to Morrison’s climate scams [$]

Bernard Keane

Carbon capture and storage is Scott Morrison’s greatest con, with the greatest amount of fossil-fuel industry money behind it.

PM pins Australia’s climate future to small, not-yet-ready hydrogen company [$]

Georgia Wilkins  

Star Scientific has only a handful of employees and is decades away from having a commercially viable product. Yet it’s the Coalition’s energy hero.

A health check on Australia’s grid transition show it must go faster

Ketan Joshi

Australia’s NEM emissions reductions are accelerating, but how long until the grid is fully decarbonised?

 

Past, present and future: AGL is making a mess of its clean energy transition

David Leitch

I’ve seen lots of demergers and most have been more or less successful at creating value. AGL’s effort so far is a case study in how to stuff it up.

 

Has the coal lobby got the early drop on key energy market reforms?

Michael Mazengarb

As the energy market awaits the Energy Security Board’s proposed reforms, some in the industry believe large incumbent players have received an early drop.

 

Victoria

Push for ban on poison 1080 in Victoria’s alpine region as animals recover from bushfires

Leaders will consider a ban on the poison 1080 in Victoria’s sensitive alpine region as the Legislative Council sits outside Melbourne for the first time in nearly a decade.

 

Victoria needs a socially just plan to cut transport emissions

Leigh Ewbank

A commitment from the Andrews government to electrify every government vehicle would create an opportunity for local manufacturing and jobs.

 

New South Wales

Federal government set to build taxpayer-funded gas-fired power plant

The Federal government is set to build a taxpayer-funded gas-fired power plant in the Hunter region of NSW, in what would be a major intervention in the electricity market.

 

Endangered black rhino calf, weighing 112kg, makes debut

Seven-week-old Sabi has made her first appearance at Dubbo’s Western Plains Zoo, with visitors flocking to see the critically endangered (and very cute) calf.

 

NSW Treasurer flags distance-based tax on electric vehicles

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has flagged imposing a distanced-based tax on electric vehicles but not before a more substantial take-up of the technology on the state’s roads.

 

‘People said couldn’t be done’: Premier says NSW on track for faster rail network

Premier Gladys Berejiklian is set to renew her government’s commitment on Thursday to faster rail to regional centres.

 

‘A land grab’: Residents protest Sydney Harbourside mall plan

Plans to transform the shopping centre with a 42-storey tower have angered nearby residents.

 

As koalas fight for life in NSW, volunteers are replanting their burnt forests

With new funding, Friends of the Koala in Lismore will nurture, distribute and plant 240,000 trees for koala feed and habitat over the next three years.

 

Origin seeks to gain from coal power cutbacks [$]

A big reduction in output at Origin’s huge coal-fired power station in NSW was partly due to voluntary cutbacks in favour of buying cheap power from the grid instead.

 

Planning shake-up needed to help those whose job it is to make NSW a healthy place

Nicky Morrison et al

NSW is developing a comprehensive new planning policy with the goal of creating healthy places. A new study finds those people who work as placemakers want these goals embedded in laws and budgets.

 

Queensland

Clive Palmer’s proposed coal mine near Great Barrier Reef deemed ‘not suitable’

A report from the Queensland Department of Environment and Science concludes the environmental risks of the project are “significant”.

 

Win for our Reef as Clive Palmer-owned coal mine deemed ‘not suitable’

The Queensland government has made the right decision for the Great Barrier Reef, the climate and local communities by deeming a proposed Clive Palmer-owned coal mine just 10km from the World Heritage area as ‘not suitable’, the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) said.

 

Striking gold: Uncovering the mystery of the gold barramundi

They’re rare, golden and highly prized by Asian markets, and now scientists are seeking to breed more golden barramundi.

 

‘Life support’ measures could buy Great Barrier Reef another two decades, study finds

Australian scientists say shading reef and controlling coral-eating starfish can only be effective if strong action is taken to reduce emissions

 

How the LNG industry’s promised nirvana has seen billions vanish into thin air

Launched amid hopes it could transform Queensland’s economy and deliver billions in royalties and revenues, the coal seam gas industry is at a tipping point a decade since the last major project was launched. John McCarthy asks whether it has all been worth it

 

Billions on buses or on track for trams: Sunshine Coast plots mass transit future

The Sunshine Coast is pushing ahead with plans to reinvent the region’s transport network amid fears that congestion costs – already at $500m a year – could blow out to $3 billion a year over the next two decades.

 

Passionate young Queenslanders say adults are not listening

Thousands of young Queenslanders have called for more action on mental health, the environment and education in a report that shows what they really want.

 

First look at new Woollongabba bike bridge

A new cycle bridge will be built at Woolloongabba as part of a push to fill in the missing links in Brisbane’s commuter bike network.

 

Qld’s coal-fired power stations hit hard by plunge in power prices [$]

State-owned power generation companies Stanwell and CS Energy recorded losses last year after wholesale power prices fell to record lows.

 

Queensland study maps route to car-free cities of the future

Stuart Layt

Going car-free in modern Australian cities is still no easy prospect for many, but experts say it can be done and to prove it, they have studied a group of people who have left cars behind.

 

South Australia

SA records another energy milestone as wholesale prices enter negative territory

South Australia’s high uptake of renewables led to record low daytime wholesale prices in the first three months of the year, according to the nation’s energy market operator. But AEMO is again warning about the implications for the grid.

 

New veto powers over historic suburb building plans [$]

One of Adelaide’s most picturesque suburbs’ heritage would be shielded from developers by new rules to let the government sweep plans aside.

 

Kimba: A town torn apart by nuclear waste proposal

Noel Wauchope

Bogged down in the Senate is a Bill that selects a farming area, Napandee, near Kimba in South Australia, as Australia’s national radioactive waste dump.

 

Tasmania

‘This is our Tasmania’: Flanagan stokes salmon anger [$]

The “unhealthy relationship” between bureaucrats, politicians and the salmon industry needs to end, a vocal meeting has been told, as speakers demand supermarkets stop stocking Tasmanian Atlantic salmon.

 

Tourism policies in detail

Liberal, Labor and Greens policies

 

Public help needed in short-tailed shearwater investigation

DPIPWE Investigations and Enforcement Section wildlife rangers are calling for public assistance following the discovery of hundreds of short-tailed shearwater carcasses in Hobart.

 

Northern Territory

New Litchfield National Park campsites to open this dry [$]

Territorians can soon explore more areas of Litchfield National Park, with new campsites to open this dry season.

 

Pollies’ carparks to go as tender released for new park [$]

The NT government has put out a tender to demolish the car spaces of its own politicians.

 

Western Australia

Sky-high solar uptake in WA almost matches output of state’s biggest coal plant

WA households installed a record amount of solar power in 2020, further fuelling the rise of green energy in the country’s sunniest state.

 

Out-of-control bushfire burning in Gingin [$]

The bushfire warning has been downgraded to a watch and act.

 

Sustainability

Sizewell C nuclear plant could kill 500m fish, campaigners say

Environmental groups claim planned Suffolk power station will devastate marine life and key bird habitat

 

Life goes on at Chernobyl 35 years after the world’s worst nuclear accident

Although there were mass evacuations following the radioactive catastrophe, Chernobyl never fully emptied of people.

 

Pollution can be 5 to 10 times worse in your home than outside. Here’s what to do about it

Homes are at the center of our major health crises. They’re also a big part of the solution.

 

More to be done: reflections on Earth Day, 1970 to 2021

Peter Newman

I was a young university student wondering what direction my career would take when I heard this on the very first Earth Day, April 22, 1970. That lecture was the start of my environmental science journey that continues 51 years later.

 

Nature Conservation

Birds keep slamming into buildings. ‘Acoustic lighthouses’ may be the answer

Skyscrapers, communication towers and wind turbines are a regular sight in our daily lives, but if you’re a bird, they can be a dangerous obstacle course.

 

Over 47 tons of plastic found at US marine reserve – and an entangled seal

Expedition spent 24 days clearing 10 miles of shoreline in Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, collecting 94,472lb marine debris

 

Regulators missing pollution’s effect on marine life, study finds

Increasing chemical and plastic pollution are “significant” contributors to the decline of fish and other aquatic organisms, yet their impact is being missed by regulators, according to a report by environmentalists.

 

For past 12,000 years, traditional land uses have actually encouraged biodiversity, report says

Researchers say we must recognize and embrace more traditional land management practices already developed by Indigenous peoples.

 

 



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