Post of the Day
A report says Australian motorists could have saved $5.9 billion on fuel costs if efficiency standards were introduced in 2015. Let’s have a look at what the paper says.
On This Day
Climate Change
Questions loom over impact of $369 billion in climate spending
Will the climate package in Congress help those who need it? Some investments or purchases were planned even before the law’s tax credits were proposed.
US Senate passes ‘boldest clean energy package in American history’ to tackle climate change
Hundreds of billions of dollars for clean energy projects, cheaper prescription drugs and new corporate taxes are a few of the key items in US President Joe Biden’s massive investment plan, which passed in the Senate on Sunday.
Fact check: Jordan Peterson blows hot air over German emissions
The conservative commentator’s musings on renewable energy sources are hailed by climate sceptics as proof that coal is king.
Impact of climate change on human pathogenic diseases subject of new study by UH researchers
Over half of known human pathogenic diseases can be aggravated by greenhouse gas emissions
Risk of death rises as climate change causes nighttime temperatures to climb
Excessively hot nights caused by climate change are predicted to increase the mortality rate around the world by up to 60% by the end of the century, according to a new international study.
Will climate change cause more volcanoes to erupt?
Heather Handley
Climate change has the potential to increase volcanic activity, affect the size of eruptions, and alter the “cooling effect” that follows them
‘I can look my kids in the eye’: US Senate finally flexes muscle on climate change
Nick O’Malley
Governments bruised by political warfare over climate have learned from past battles and are pushing policies designed to do more than simply cut emissions.
National
A report says Australian motorists could have saved $5.9 billion on fuel costs if efficiency standards were introduced in 2015. Let’s have a look at what the paper says.
National plan to tackle growing threats to Australia’s biosecurity
Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt says the initiative, which has been agreed upon, will set the strategy for tackling escalating biosecurity risks over the coming decade.
CEFC commits $200m to help small business take up solar, efficiency and EVs
CEFC pledges another $200 million to provide discounted loans to ANZ customers for solar panels, recycling, energy efficiency and electric vehicles.
Electric buses and range anxiety – the Driven podcast:
Greg Balkins from Transit Systems was not sure what to expect when the first electric buses rolled out on Sydney routes. It turns out he needn’t have worried – they have performed far better than expected, and the passengers, drivers and mechanics love them.
“Carbon tax on wheels?” The dirty tactics that stopped Australia going electric
Giles Parkinson
Australia is paying a high price – in terms of fuel bills, health impact and energy security – because of the scare campaigns against fuel efficiency standards.
Coal failures cripple EnergyAustralia, but future hope lies in storage projects
Giles Parkinson
EnergyAustralia posts big loss and receives $1 billion cash injection from parent after coal problems cripple results, but hope lies in battery and pumped hydro plans.
Regional security threat haunts nuclear power debate
Age editorial
Recent events in Ukraine act as a warning to Australia that nuclear facilities can become hostage to the vagaries of conflict.
Erik Eklund
Last week, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton sought to revive the hoary old debate of nuclear power in Australia, announcing an internal review into whether the Liberals should back the controversial technology.
Beetaloo, Scarborough, Labor lockstep with Coalition on high emission gas projects
Callum Foote
Will the change of government reset the dial on Australia’s planet-endangering projects? Beetaloo gas fracking, Barnaby Joyce’s petrochemical plant, Scarborough. The Albanese government is continuing the previous government’s legacy when it comes to gas.
EV industry self-regulation not a pollution solution
Letters
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries setting emission standards? This is like the fox setting the building standards for hen houses.
Dirty fuel the biggest road block to an EV future [$]
Jennifer Hewett
The larger problem for the market – and trajectory of Australia’s carbon emissions from passenger vehicles – is a lack of decent national fuel efficiency standards.
New South Wales
Sydney council finds 700 recycling bins are emptied into garbage trucks
A Sydney council investigation has found 700 of its residents’ recycle bins were regularly dumped into the same rubbish truck as garbage bins.
ACT
New composting facility to cut Canberra’s gas emissions by a third
The federal government is chipping in $13 million for a new large-scale composting facility in Canberra that will divert 50,000 tonnes of food and garden waste from landfill each year.
Federal government backs wire-free trams to cross Lake Burley Griffin [$]
The federal government has thrown its support behind the next wire-free stage of Canberra’s light rail, in the strongest indication to date it will back the project’s complex path through the parliamentary zone.
How the car industry misread the room [$]
The ACT government’s recent decision to ban the sale of fossil fuel cars by 2035 has been the trigger in turning what was a simmering, back-room discussion over Australia’s future light vehicle emission standards into a heated public debate.
Queensland
Changing climate forces rethink of traditional knowledge on Queensland’s far north coast
Rangers of a coastal area in Far North Queensland are having to adapt traditional practices which have kept Country safe for thousands of years due to climate change.
Russian coal needed if Qld supply dwindles [$]
Tata Steel will use a meeting with the Palaszczuk administration to say the state could double its coking coal exports to India over the next decade to meet surging demand.
Axe hanging over Palmer’s ‘clean’ coal project [$]
The nation’s only live proposal for a low-emissions coal-fired power station is likely to be rejected by the Queensland government.
It’s full speed ahead, but does anyone actually have a carbon roadmap to follow?
Robert MacDonald
Economist Gene Tunny looked at what might happen to Queensland’s economy if we shut down the state’s coal and gas industries tomorrow. It’s not going to happen of course, but even with a lead time of years and decades the disruption could be substantial.
South Australia
‘Extremely unsafe’: Giant hole near SA tourist attraction grows as cliffs collapse
The hole was half a tennis court wide when it first appeared, and it is only getting bigger, with experts warning coastal erosion will likely lead to more collapses.
Tasmania
New Century Resources discusses Mount Lyell in Diggers & Dealers presentation
A deal likely to lead to resumption of mining at Mount Lyell is attractively structured, the intending buyer has told Australia’s best-known mining forum.
Calls to close Long Bay fish farm
Media Release – Tasman Peninsula Marine Protection (TPMP}
On 23 July, at the Koonya Hall, Tasman Peninsula Marine Protection (TPMP) launched their campaign to Free Long Bay, Port Arthur of salmon pens. The campaign is fuelled by continuing concerns of deterioration in water quality and amenity in Long Bay after Tassal began stocking its lease in 2017.
Robbins Island development should be rejected under precautionary principle
Rosalie Woodruff
Federal and state environment ministers need to heed a recent Federal Court decision and apply the precautionary principle to the EPBC assessment for UPC’s proposed Robbins Island windfarm
Rodney Croome
The Tasmanian LGBTIQA+ community’s long history of protest has helped make our state a better place.
Northern Territory
‘Limited science’: Anti-cotton group raises industry doubts [$]
A new report has raised serious doubt about the Territory Government’s attempt to grow the economy through the emerging industry.
Western Australia
Federal Court challenge against WA’s most expensive road project sees construction ban extended
An environmental challenge against the $1.25 billion Bunbury Outer Ring Road will spill into a second day, as an injunction on its construction continues.
Sustainability
Ukraine nuclear power plant shelled again
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for international inspectors to be given access to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after Ukraine and Russia traded accusations over the shelling of Europe’s largest atomic plant at the weekend.
Environmental impact of 57,000 multi-ingredient processed foods revealed
A study estimating the environmental impact of 57,000 food products in the UK and Ireland has been published this week in the journal PNAS by an Oxford-led research team .
Scientists show potential for improved water-use efficiency in field-grown plants
Water deficit is currently one of the most significant limiting factors for global agricultural productivity, a factor further exacerbated by global climate change according to a 2019 water report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
Green hydrogen has a leakage problem that may cancel out some of its climate gains
Renewable hydrogen is the big green hope of the energy transition, but it will need to address a leakage problem that may cancel out its emission gains.
Infectious disease: nature bites back
Peter Curson
One of the crucial messages to emerge from the resurgence of infectious disease is that the bio-physical environment remains a powerful, ever-changing force which we continue to under-estimate.
On the waitlist for an electric vehicle? Consider an e-bike in the meantime
John Hanscombe
Took the electric vehicles out for a spin the other day. With ease, the e-bike got me up a bush trail which normally taxes the post-COVID lungs.
Nature Conservation
15 years of experiments have overturned a major assumption about how thirsty plants actually are
Lucas Cernusak and Chin Wong
Have you ever wondered just how much water plants need to grow, or indeed why they need it? Plants lose a lot of water when they take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, so they need up to 300 grams of water to make each gram of dry plant matter.
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