As of Wednesday night, Labor’s climate change bill was poised to pass the Senate after the government agreed to amendments proposed by independent senator David Pocock to improve accountability and transparency.
Australia’s energy challenges are getting a lot of airtime: operational challenges with an ageing thermal fleet; global gas shortages sparked by the war in Ukraine sending prices skyrocketing; the rising cost of power bills; the decreasing reliability and impending retirements of coal generation, and the pressing need for firming/storage solutions.
Energy consumption – whether its heating your home, driving, oil refining or liquefying natural gas – is responsible for around 82% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Last week, federal Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen officially put fuel efficiency standards on the national agenda, saying the measure would reduce transport emissions and encourage electric vehicle uptake.
In just eight years time, the Labor government wants Australia to be 82% powered by renewable energy. That means a rapid, historic shift, given only 24% of our power was supplied by renewables as of last year.
New analysis this week found strong fuel efficiency standards would have saved Australia $5.9 billion in fuel costs and emissions equal to a year’s worth of domestic flights if the policy was adopted in 2015.
The story of recent times in Australia’s National Electricity Market has been the significant escalation of wholesale price outcomes in the market.
After a decade of climate policy failure, Wednesday brought good news and slightly less good news for Australian action on climate change.
New research suggests we might be able to rethink the type of silicon needed to make high-efficiency solar cells, say researchers from the CSIRO, UNSW and Oxford University.
To hear Prime Minister Anthony Albanese committing Australia to a clean energy future is cause for enormous optimism for those of us in the renewable energy sector. Finally, after too many years of static, the signal is clear: Australia is open for renewable business. Investors can now move forward with confidence into what is one of the greatest economic opportunities for our country in generations.
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