3 June 2015, Renew Economy, Renewable Energy Target bill moves to Senate, with promise of debate over wood waste: The political debate over Australia’s renewable energy target will now move to the Senate, after legislation paring back the target from 41,000Gwh by 2020 to 33,000GWh was passed through parliament’s lower house…Federal Labor yesterday introduced an amendment to the RET bill to have the burning of native wood waste for energy excluded from the legislation, for the reason that it was neither clean nor renewable. “When in Government, Labor opposed its inclusion in the legislation and we oppose it in Opposition,” Butler said in a statement. Excluding it from the target, said, provided for large-scale solar and wind farms to be built to achieve the target of 25 per cent of Australia’s energy generation from renewable sources by 2020. Read More here
Category Archives: New Energy Sources
28 May 2015, Renew Economy, Tide turns on fossil fuels as Norway quits coal, ANZ goes green
28 May 2015, Renew Economy, Tide turns on fossil fuels as Norway quits coal, ANZ goes green. In Europe overnight, the Norwegian parliament voted to instruct the government pension fund – the largest in the world – to cut its exposure to fossil fuel … Continue reading →
22 May 2015, euractiv: Biomass will play a critical role in Europe’s energy future. Biomass is the only renewable, affordable energy source available on-demand. European countries need to make sure it is sourced sustainably, writes Philip Lowe. Philip Lowe is former Director General for Competition (2002-2010) and Energy (2010-2014) at the European Commission. Since 2013, he is a non-executive director of the UK Competition and Markets Authority. He is writing in a purely personal capacity and his comments should not be interpreted as either reflecting or engaging the views of the European Commission or the UK CMA. Read More here
Here’s how the states can dodge Canberra’s renewable roadblock. Labor and the Coalition government have now agreed to cut the federal renewable energy target (RET) from 41,000 gigawatt hours in 2020, to 33,000 GWh – a reduction of almost 20%. This agreement has been hailed as restoring stability to the industry, after a year plagued with uncertainty and featuring two reviews. However, this is still a significant cut, particularly as the target is a significant part of Australia’s policy response to climate change. Meanwhile, Victoria has committed to restoring its own renewable energy target, the VRET, following other states in developing renewable energy policy. However a clause the federal legislation prevents schemes similar to the federal RET. How can the states get around this and support their industries? Read More here