Sustainability

Australian researchers have completed the world’s largest comparative study on carbon pricing and the results are a “crystal clear” message to governments around the world, but particularly Australia – carbon pricing works, and works well.

The faucet of federal funding for the future hydrogen economy keeps on flowing today as Minister for Education Dan Tehan announced $4.9m in funding for the development of the ARC Training Centre for the Global Hydrogen Economy. The announcement comes on the back of the establishment of the UNSW’s Hydrogen Energy Research Centre, a university-to-industry institute.

The University of Newcastle’s development of world-leading printed solar technology has taken a massive step toward rapid commercialisation with its first public display. Due to the technology’s panoramic applicability, this day may very well be looked back upon as the day the very world as we know it changed, and changed for the better. 

The highly successful Western Australian community battery rollout has caught another wave and poured another glass of fine Cab Sav with its newest launch in Margaret River. This particular installation is part of a five-year trial to identify even more prime locations for community energy storage.

The Northern Territory Government has released its Climate Change Response, a directive officially adopting a 2050 net-zero emissions target and 50% renewable energy by 2030 target. The Climate Council has welcomed the response, saying that the NT now joins the rest of Australia’s states and territories in effectively forming a “de facto national net-zero target”.

The Nowanup property is a keystone in south-west Western Australia’s biodiversity regeneration, and now, with the installation of a stand-alone power system (SPS) from Western Power, the spur of the line property is no longer subject to routine outages from storm and bushfire interruptions. With self-sufficiency, Curtin University can now expand its Bush Campus into the property to better facilitate Noongar education.

A “majority” stake of the 300 MW shovel-ready Rodds Bay Solar Farm in Queensland has been purchased by UK investment firm United Green. The announcement comes as state government energy ministers come together to reinforce their renewable energy ambitions in this time of economic recovery, despite “the difficulty” of the federal policy vacuum.

Woolworths is looking to further reduce its emissions by installing a 572 kW solar system atop its massive
Norwest Support Office in Bella Vista. However, the unique circumstances of the facility mean that solar developer Epho Commercial Solar is going to airlift the panels and system components onto the rooftop with a helicopter.

Scientists led by MIT have suggested chitin, a carbon and nitrogen-rich material made from waste shrimp shells, could produce sustainable electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries and other energy storage technologies.

As the global renewables transition accelerates, the future for coal regions has become a big worry. This raises an important question: can renewables create the right jobs in the right places to employ former coal workers?