Government trips over own policy
There will be no rebate for solar panels for some months, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has confirmed, after a scheme to massively boost renewable energy was put on hold.
The green energy sector has warned that hundreds of workers could get the sack because of the delay.
The Senate has put off a vote on the Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme until August at the earliest.
It’s a problem for the government, which is struggling to get its climate change agenda up.
US bill to build green business
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) was joined yesterday by Apollo Alliance Chairman Phil Angelides and other notable business, labor and clean energy leaders as he introduced the “Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology (IMPACT) Act of 2009,” a bill that would put America’s ailing manufacturing sector on the road to recovery by facilitating the development of domestic clean energy manufacturing and production.
The stimulus and other policies being considered in the energy bill — such as a Renewable Energy Standard or a carbon cap — will generate unprecedented demand for clean energy parts and systems. Yet, 70 percent of America’s clean and efficient energy systems are currently produced abroad, including half of the country’s existing wind turbines and all transformers for the electrical grid.
Investors shun North Sea despite rebounding oil prices
Investors shun North Sea despite rebounding oil prices
 |
| Click to enlarge photo |
ABERDEEN, Scotland (AFP) – Despite a recent spike in oil prices, energy industry chiefs warn that infrastructure investment in the North Sea will not jump in tandem as market volatility is scaring away investors.
Bosses from the oil and gas sector gathered last week in the Scottish coastal city of Aberdeen for an industry conference that delivered little optimism regarding the outlook for North Sea development.
Oil & Gas UK, an organisation representing Britain’s offshore energy industry, hosted the Aberdeen gathering amid a sharp domestic downturn that has curbed business investment across the country.
Multinationals eye up Lithium reserves beneath Bolivia’s salt flats.
Multinationals eye up lithium reserves beneath Bolivia’s salt flats
Metal deposits may be key to green car revolution but government in La Paz yet to agree deal
- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 17 June 2009 19.26 BST
- Article history
Half the world’s reserves of lithium, the metallic element used to make batteries in electric cars, are believed to be in the salt desert, Salar de Uyuni. Photograph: Jose Luis Quintana/Reuters
Stand in the middle of Salar de Uyuni, the world’s greatest salt desert, and the first word that springs to mind is nothing. As far as the eye can see, nothing. Not a shrub or tree, not a hill or valley, just an endless expanse of white.
This salt flat in Bolivia, the landlocked heart of South America, is a harsh and eerie landscape, perhaps the closest thing nature has to a void. From the Incas to the present day, humanity has made little impression here.
Carbon capture plans threaten shutdown of all UK coal-fired power stations.
Carbon capture plans threaten shutdown of all UK coal-fired power stations
Radical proposals to require existing plants, including Drax, to fit the technology would force their closure, government admits
- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 17 June 2009 18.54 BST
- Article history
All of Britain’s coal-fired power stations, including Drax, the country’s largest emitter of carbon, could be forced to close down under radical plans unveiled by government today.
Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, is proposing to extend his plans to force companies to fit carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) onto new coal plants – as revealed by the Guardian – to cover a dozen existing coal plants.
The consultation published by his Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) conceded that if this happened “we could expect them to close”.
$200m wind farm planned for Shannon’s flat
$200m wind farm planned for Shannons Flat
ABC News
One of Australia’s highest wind farms could be up and running on a site near Canberra within three years.
Sydney-based company CBD Energy Limited has acquired a license to build the $200 million wind farm on a site at Shannons Flat between Cooma and Canberra.
The turbines would produce about 50 megawatts of energy which would be fed into the New South Wales electricity grid.