Group items tagged

"The Climate Change Authority is reviewing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals. The Targets and Progress Review addresses two broad topics: Australia's progress towards it medium and long term emissions reduction targets; and Australia's emissions reduction goals."

"Renewable Energy Target"

"The report is the first index of low carbon activity and its impact on reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.  Learn how Australia is tracking to meet its 5 per cent  emissions reduction target and the 25 per cent target that scientists say is the minimum required to avoid dangerous climate change."

"The Government's review of the impact of clean energy on power prices is expected to result in a cut to the renewable energy target, a move backed by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Chief Economist Burchell Wilson."

"Published on 17 Jun 2014 The renewable energy target is hard to understand for many consumers, so we made this video to make it easier and explain how it can make a positive impact on your household bills."

"In 2008, the City of Yarra set a target to be carbon neutral by 2020. Not just council headquarters - the entire inner-city municipality. But how does a whole district go carbon neutral? It can't rely on government subsidies, or an unforeseen technological breakthrough, says Alex Fearnside, chief executive of Yarra Energy Foundation, the organisation established in 2010 to make it happen."

"Sustainable Smart Towns is a three stage program that Heyfield is showcasing as the first town to become sustainable as a whole community targeting 25% plus of its population."

"Godawari Power & Ispat started Asia's biggest solar-thermal plant as India limps toward clean-energy targets with prices almost half the global average."

BONN, Germany, May 24 (Reuters) - Greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 could rise to nine billion tonnes above what is needed to limit global warming as some countries look set to miss their emissions cut targets, a report by three climate research groups said on Wednesday.

Despite a severe economic downturn, Ireland has held to its ambitious energy targets to move itself towards a low-carbon economy. But to reach its goals and break its heavy use of imported fossil fuels, Ireland must invest even more in renewable technologies, expand grid integration and improve energy efficiency, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today in a review of Irish energy policies.

Some power companies are calling for the Renewable Energy Target (RET) to be reduced, while other groups want it abolished entirely. They claim that this will significantly lower electricity bills, which have risen steeply in the last five years. Would reducing the RET do much to lower your bill?

"DIRECT ACTION is often perceived as an exercise in keeping up appearances: a fig-leaf policy from a government that has expressed little enthusiasm for serious action on climate change. But with the possible neutering of the Renewable Energy Target, Direct Action subsidies are set to be the main pillar of Australia's climate change mitigation effort as well as a new drain on our scarce fiscal resources."

"The recent start of construction on the first of two large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants in outback New South Wales shows the importance of renewable energy targets and funding. The first, currently being built at Nyngan, will be the largest solar PV farm in the southern hemisphere, producing 103 megawatts at peak capacity. "

"The Federal Government has sparked significant debate with the confirmation it intends to move from a fixed carbon price to an emissions trading scheme next year. But where is the description of the long term, low carbon future for Australia? Aside from the 90% renewable energy target proposed by the Greens, the major parties are slim on long-term vision."

"Can "direct action" cut Australia's carbon emissions for the price Tony Abbott says it can? Climate change minister Mark Butler says not. Last week he welcomed "new independent modelling", which he said showed the Coalition's policy would "cost billions of dollars more than Tony Abbott claims and has no chance of meeting Australia's emissions reduction target"."

As it sheds a dirtier, oil-dependent past, Scandinavia has become a mecca for green energy, design and policy, boasting some of the world's most efficient buildings, lowest fossil fuel use and boldest emission targets.

"In its draft form, the fought-over paragraph declared that, to have the best chance of not exceeding the international target for global warming of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, society can burn no more than about 1 trillion tons of carbon, in the form of fossil fuels, and spew the resulting gases into the atmosphere. More than half that carbon budget has been used already. Moreover, the draft made it clear that if countries want to be safe and take account of other gases that are warming the planet, the carbon budget would be even less than a trillion tons. At the rate things are going, we will exceed the budget in 30 years or fewer."

"These maps are based on data from the Clean Energy Regulator, the Australian Government agency tasked with the administration of the Renewable Energy Target. For each postcode and local government area, the map shows the estimated percentage of dwellings that have a PV system and the total photovoltaic capacity installed. Most of the PV systems in Australia are small-scale rooftop installations; however there are a number of larger-scale PV power stations with a capacity of more than 100 kW. These power stations are indicated by individual markers. Live performance data is available for systems in the Desert Knowledge Precinct in Alice Springs, and at the University of Queensland."