The twentieth century way of life has been made available, largely due to the miracle of cheap energy. The price of energy has been at record lows for the past century and a half.As oil becomes increasingly scarce, it is becoming obvious to everyone, that the rapid economic and industrial growth we have enjoyed for that time is not sustainable.Now, the hunt is on. For renewable sources of energy, for alternative sources of energy, for a way of life that is less dependent on cheap energy.Â
Unions have held stop work meetings at two electricity generation plants in the Hunter Valley in response to letters from the owner of the plants, Macquarie Generation, about its management plans following the privatisation. The Greens, the Liberal Party and the Unions all oppose the privatisation of the electricity industry for a variety of reasons. Continue Reading →
POWER station security is being questioned after Greenpeace activists easily broke into a supposedly secure complex yesterday – simply by cutting through a wire fence.
Despite a Delta Electricity spokeswoman claiming, "it isn’t easy to get into a power station", 15 anti-coal protesters managed to do just that at the Central Coast’s Munmorah Power Station shortly after 5am.
The seven men and eight women were arrested later, but not before forcing the station’s closure by padlocking themselves to the coal conveyor system and scrawling "Coal kills" on the roof in black paint.
They also hung a banner announcing "Climate change starts here".
Questioned by The Daily Telegraph after the group’s arrest, Greenpeace head of campaigns Stephen Campbell said they had "walked in off the street".
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, Victoria on 9 October 2007 Peter Crisp MLC said that the expansion of the gas network, particularly in country Victoria, would become ever more important because of the energy crisis into the future when demand would have to change from electricity to gas.
Responsibility for peak power very important: Crisp said: "Without something like VENCorp or some other body that can foresee and manage the demand in this area, someone will have to step up to the plate. What if we do not meet the peak power demands? Country customers who are at the end of long lines and have very few customers are the first to be switched off. Finally you end up with people standing on train and tram platforms. Peak power and having somebody responsible for it are extremely important.
Companies, state and federal regulators, coastal industry groups and the public questioned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) proposal for a 5-year pilot license for new technologies such as wave and tidal energy at an all-day meeting in Oregon last week.
In July FERC issued a proposal to speed up the permitting process for pilot projects producing 5 megawatts [MW] or less that are not in sensitive environmental areas—and could be pulled out of the water if environmental concerns rose.
Under the plan, a 5-year license would be issued after a six-month review. Currently under the Federal Powers Act, the permitting process involves an intensive three-year pre-filing process and a two-year review. But those licenses are issued for 30 years or more.
According to Karen Michelmore, "We have to make a decision this year, so that a start can be made early next year," Indonesia’s Research and Technology Minister Kusmayanto Kadiman told Indonesia’s Tempo magazine this month, reported The Canberra Times (29/9/2007, p. B2). Nuclear energy essential for Indonesia’s development: The government is looking at building up Continue Reading →
Turkey is set to double the amount of its electricity supplied by wind power with the construction of the biggest wind farm to date. The wind farm in southeast Turkey will have an installed capacity of 135 megawatts (MW) when it is completed in 2009.
General Electric (GE) Energy will be supplying 52 of its latest generation of turbines with a capacity of 2.5 MW each.
"Turkey is a fast growing and very interesting market for the wind business of GE," Frank Hoersting, Communications Leader of GE Energy, Renewable Energy, Europe, told RenewableEnergyAccess.com.
The wind turbines have 3 rotor blades, each with a diameter of 100 meters, and are able to operate at wind speeds as low as 19 mph as well as sweep about 8,000 square meters, the company says, making them 12% more efficient.