May 2013

• Why NSW & Qld govts hate solar: coal assets for sale losing value
  
• Newcastle peak power pricing trial saving consumers money
  
• Report recommends Transgrid overhaul to prevent gold-plating
  
• PV price check for May: a little cheaper yet
  
• UNSW breakthrough makes solar cells cheaper and more efficient
  
• T4 coal terminal deferred for lack of need
  
• IPART helps bolster utilities' profits, again
  
Apr 2013

• Miners allowed to challenge new CSG rules
  
• Tropical fish found further South
  
• AGL failed to monitor emissions of GHGs
  
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• Investment banker speaks out in support of C-price
  
• Green groups give O'Farrell gov't an F
  
• Community-funded solar array proposed for Rozelle shop's roof
  
• Environment Minister ignores own expert panel
• Coal dust exceeding safety levels 5/7 days
  
• O'Farrell: Corruption allegations may thwart mine approval
  
• PV rule change: add panels without losing your FiT
  
• Green groups oppose trigen as short-sighted, encouraging CSG
  
• O'Farrell: No CSG within 2km of homes, vineyards, studs, but green groups underwhelmed
  
• Time-of-use pricing could cut power costs by 2020
  
• How Green is your energy provider?   find out more
  
• Sea level rise maps for Australia
  
• CSIRO and BoM predict spread of deserts in NSW and Vic (map)
  
• You can help measure sea level rise
  
• Can you blame your headaches, sleep disorders, on the absence of a nearby wind farm?
  
• Report: coal's damage to health in the Hunter Valley
  
• Regions and lower-income suburbs make the most of PV
  
• Follow the money: from fossil fuel lobby to AGW sceptics to anti-wind farm campaign
  
• Coal-fired power subsidised by taxpayers $2.5bn/year
  

May 2013

• Coalition seeks to undermine CEFC by threatening to renege on contracts
  
• Greens propose Energy Savings Agency
  
• Exit of Better Place scuttles Canberra EV charging grid plan
  
• Doctors accuse governments of ignoring fossil fuel health costs
• Community solar gaining momentum
  
• Scrapping the C-price will cut $2 a week from your power bill (whoopee doo!)
  
• La Trobe found unneedful of C-tax assistance package
  
• Clean energy map of Australia
  
• Melbourne raises efficiency standards for new buildings
  
• Vale Joy Baluch, Mayor of Port Augusta
  
• The budget:
• $370m of ARENA funding deferred to 2020 (i.e. cancelled)
• Clean coal support slashed
• Efficiency funding cut for communities but maintained for industry
  
• Vic Health finds no harm from inaudible infrasound
  
• Coalition still banking on unproven science of soil carbon
• Big four banks drive fossil fuel industry growth
• Enhanced Geothermal power produced in SA
  
• AEMO finds no barrier to zero carbon electricity grid
• Think tank finds rooftop PV softens price shocks for all
• Macarthur wind farm operates well within noise limit
Apr 2013

• Business Council wants lower C-price but rejects Coalition's Direct Action policy
  
• Mandated efficiency standards on new homes shown to have cut demand
  
• CEFC's investment guidelines finalised
  
• Climate Change Authority releases Issues Paper
• NCCARF releases paper on Urban Food Security
  
• Oz emissions down to 2000 levels, but for how long?
• Govt puts $4.5m into hydrogen energy storage development
  
• C-price becoming harder to abandon
  
• NCC commissions report on costs and benefits of coal mining
• SA study: wind farms only harm your health if you expect them to
  
• SA trial of peak demand pricing
• Gov't may require direct measurement of CSG fugitive emissions
  
• Exports drive up gas price, encouraging renewables domestically
• Gov't urged to end fossil fuel subsidies, Hedegaard agrees
• Domestic power storage coming to Oz
  
• Study finds renewables can now meet demand reliably at similar cost to fossil fuels
• Climate change costs businesses more than C-price does
  
• Property values not hurt by wind farms in Vic
  
• How Oz' climate has shifted so far
  
• Whistle blown on Qld CSG environmental impact assessments
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• Australia ranked 17th on carbon competitiveness
  
• Every Rooftop: solar on your roof for no investment
  
• Climate disasters cost Vic $4b in ten years
  
• Anti-wind farm lobby makes people sick - study
  
• Warm waters cutting fish catch off WA
  
• Eastern grid supply less than 75% from coal in February
  
• Household energy demand could be halved in 10 years
  
• Wind farms have boosted rural economy $4b
• ACT farmer says 70% support wind farms
  
• Climate Commission finds extremes were made worse by climate change
  
• Official: 2013 was our hottest summer on record
• Experts say Qld coal-dust monitoring inadequate
  
• Coalition's Direct Action imagines 5% abatement available at $10/t
• Acoustical Society advises The Oz to consult grown-ups before publishing
  
• SA EPA finds wind farm infrasound far less than many common sources
• Election 2013: where the parties stand on climate and renewables
  
• Oz coal exports an increasing threat to climate
  
• Climate Commission confirms heatwave worsened by climate change
  
• Record high temperatures 3 times as frequent as record lows
  
• Rooftop PV in Qld saving even those without it $56/y
  
• The Oz: what credibility remains?
  
• Vic: half of users with smart meters cut their power bills
• Judges found anti-wind farm testimony conflicted and without merit
  
• Researchers find methane in air near CSG wells 3 times background
  
• Renewables likely cause of drop in SA electricity price
  
• Our $2.6b health bill for coal-fired power
  
• Domestic PV uptake by postcode
  
• Merit order effect may lead to redesign of electricity markets
  
• CSIRO: Urban grids could cope with 40% from PV
  

May 2013

• German brewers warn of CSG pollution
  
• California C-price hits $14/t
  
• Yes, warming has slowed, but it's only a delay
  
• Scientific consensus on GW steady at 97%
  
• 3m years since as much CO2 in the air as now, and the Arctic was 8C warmer
  
• EU C price jumps after Merkel's comments
  
• First wind turbines with batteries included
  
Apr 2013

• Walmart aims to save $1b/y by going 100% renewable
• US grid could handle over 60% renewables - report
  
• Former US nuclear regulator considers all US nuclear plants flawed
  
• All new grid generation in US in March was solar
• Musk predicts grid storage viable in 10 years
  
• Major US Corporations call for action on climate
  
• Renewables eroding bankability of fossil fuel plants in Europe
• Only 35% of Republican voters support their party's anti-renewables stance
  
• Window closing for gas as bridging fuel
  
• UN report: air pollution kills more than major diseases combined
  
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• IMF urges end to fossil fuel subsidies, now at 2.5% GDP globally
• Renewable energy sites as wildlife refuge
• Investment says time running out for meeting Carbon Budget
  
• World Bank sees Climate Change locking in poverty
  
• German insurers keen to invest in clean energy
  
• DoE says US could cut petrol use 80% by 2050
  
• Proposed EU car efficiency law would create 400,000 jobs, save $80b/y in imports
  
• US legislators propose C-price of $15-30/tCO2e
  
• Japan extracting methane hydrate from seabed
  
• US admiral ranks climate change biggest threat to peace in Pacific
  
• 2011 East African drought shown due to climate change
• The Guardian exposes billionaires funding fight against renewable energy
• US Tea Party origins traced to Big Tobacco, oil billionaires
  
• Stern: "I got it wrong on climate change; it's much, much worse"
• Former sceptic confirms it's humans to blame
  
• Renewables continue to drive down European power prices
  
• US report details growing cost of climate change to economy
  
• MyEnergi integrates domestic PV, electric vehicle and home appliances
• Peer-reviewed study links livestock deaths to fracking in US
  
• IPCC's forecast from 1990s proving true
  
• Stratospheric cooling confirms humans' role in warming
  
• More accurate data confirms Antarctic ice shrinking too
  
• Seas rising 60% faster than predicted
  
• Methane leaking from permafrost sooner than expected
  
• Food production generates 29% of GHGs
  
• Europeans' health not harmed by wind turbines: ANU study
• Ocean salinity changes show wet places wetter, dry drier, beyond predictions
  
• Cost of 4^oC rise in ocean temperature put at $2 trillion