Big energy savings waiting to be made from rethinking cultural values of housing; orientation and materials both potential contributors to savings, says WA Libera

Speaking on the National Environment Protection Council (Western Australia) Amendment Bill 2007 in the Western Australia Legislative Assembly on 9 September 2007, Liberals’ A.J. Simpson said that issues surrounding the environment must be looked at very hard.

Fed Senate Committee to report on Energy Efficiency Trading Scheme

The Senate Standing Committee on Economics was inquiring into the National Market Driven Energy Efficiency Target Bill 2007, reported The Australian (19/9/2007, p.2).

New Federal target of 30,000 gigawatt hours of low-emission electricity by 2020 may make wind power chief beneficiary, draws criticism

Producers of wind, coal and geothermal energy all expected a fillip from the government’s targets, wrote John Breusch in The Australian Financial Review (28/9/2007, p. 22).

Roaring 40s to reverse last year’s decision to suspend operations in Australia: investing $600m in wind farms in Tasmania and South Australia

Tasmanian-based Roaring 40s said it would reverse last year’s decision to suspend operations in Australia in favour of building wind farms in China — a move that had been prompted by a lack of regulatory support, wrote Adele Ferguson in The Australian (29/9/2007, p. 33).

One shining lesson from Europe: work carefully on public attitudes to clear the way for an expansion of wind power

Denmark was not as windy as southern Australia or places such as Argentina, Morocco and Scotland, but it produced a world-leading 20 per cent of its electricity from wind power and aimed to increase that to 50 per cent by 2025. That was a huge advance on the Australian Prime Minister’s goal for 2020 of drawing 15 per cent of the nation’s electricity from all low-emission or no-emission sources, including hydro, solar and perhaps clean-coal technology as well as wind. Wind projects would face serious, well-resourced campaigns run by competing power industries like coal and nuclear power, reported The Australian, (29/9/2007, p. 55).

Howard ignores explicit advice of hand-picked task group on power gen; wind has cost advantage, therefore soaks up most of energy subsidy plan

A 2004 government estimate that encouraging 10 per cent of power generation by 2020 to come from clean energy sources would cost $23 billion has been either ignored or quietly put to one side, according to an editorial in The Australian (25/9/2007, p.15).

Portfolio of wind assets owned by Qld Government will have risen in value by around $50m to $400m in the wake of PM’s renewable energy targets

According to Tim Blue in The Australian (25/9/2007, p.B23), the Queensland Treasury looks to be the immediate winner from rising gov­ernment enthusiasm for wind and solar energy, set free by John Howard’s declaration on renewable energy targets.

Natural gas and renewable generation options, combined with demand side measures, to meet demand for electrical energy services at tenth to half greenhouse-intensity of a coal-fired power station using super-critical technology

In a submission to the Owen Inquiry into Electricity Supply in NSW, energy and environment consultant George Wilkenfeld said the rapid enhancement of demand side programs, the introduction of carbon pricing and strengthening the support for renewables and small-scale generation, along with increasing net imports from Victorian and Queensland, should delay the need for new baseload generation.

Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources seeks suggestions for fair feed in tariff for small green generation P

eter Batchelor Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources said In Victoria’s Legislative Assembly on 19 July 2007 that small-scale generators of electricity should get a fair and reasonable price for any excess electricity they generate beyond their own needs and feed back into the grid. Initiative for small players: His Bill applied in particular to those generating less than 100 kilowatts, such as small businesses, schools, or other small-scale establishments, and that had been dealt with in this initiative.

Reference: Peter Batchelor, Minister for Energy and Resources, Legislative Assembly, Victoria, 19 July 2007.