Category Archives: PLEA Network

PLEA Network

29 June 2015, Renew Economy, Victorian solar project to create ‘perpetual’ fund for community renewables: A former timber mill in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges could soon host a community-owned commercial solar array, with a tender process for the government-funded and community-led project set to begin this week. The Woodend Timber Mill project, which was awarded a $100,000 grant by the Victorian Andrews government in February, aims to install an initial 30kW of solar PV, and then use the tenants’ electricity payments to reinvest in more solar panels, thus creating a “perpetual fund” for community renewables. 

Coordinated by the Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group, the initial 120-panel commercial-sized project is expected to cater to most of the needs of the current tenants at the mill, and potentially ­attract more to the site, presumably with the promise of lower and more stable electricity bills. Funds generated would be directed to a newly formed Macedon Ranges Renewable Energy Fund. “We are hoping to reinvest this money on other solar projects and we intend to do that after consulting the Macedon Ranges community on where an appropriate site may be,” Group renewable energy adviser Barry Mann told the Herald Sun. Read More here

PLEA Network

29 June 2015, Climate News Network, Stress on water resources threatens lives and livelihoods. Satellite data raises red-flag warning about the draining of underground aquifers to meet the demands of expanding populations. The planet’s great subterranean stores of water are running out – and nobody can be sure how much remains to supply billions of people in the future. Satellite instruments used to measure the flow from 37 underground aquifers between 2003 and 2013 have revealed that at least one-third of them were seriously stressed – with little or almost no natural replenishment. The research was conducted by scientists from California and the US space agency NASA, who report in the journal Water Resources Research that they used data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites to calculate what is happening to aquifers. Read More here

PLEA Network

24 June 2015, Renew Economy, Senate passes RET bill, cut to wind farms becomes law: Australia on Tuesday became the first developed country to cut its renewable energy target – adding to its honour of being the first to dismantle a carbon price – when the Senate passed legislation reducing the large scale target from 41,000GWh to 33,000GWh by 2020. The new bill will cut new investment in renewables by around $5 billion, just as the world accelerates its investment in wind farms, with more than $US3.7 trillion to be spent on solar alone in the next two decades, and $US8 trillion overall, according to a new report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

The legislation, which also allows native wood waste to be burned and included in the target, and introduces a “wind commissioner” to deal with complaints from nearby residents, will likely cause a huge scramble as projects stalled in the investment drought over the past two years seek off-take agreements and financing. While both the government and the Opposition – and some industry groups – hailed the passage of the bill as providing “certainty” – it is only a thin veneer.

Labor environment spokesman Mark Butler baited the government saying that it was “bad news for Tony Abbott” because it meant “those wind farms he finds so utterly offensive can start being built again, despite his best efforts to drive them from our shores.” The reality is that while the Coalition government has pledge no further review until 2020, it is just one vote short in the Senate from doing what it likes. With an election possible soon, and Labor struggling in the polls, that certainty may be short-lived.  Abbott has made clear he would stop new wind farms if he could. Read more here

PLEA Network

24 June 2015, The Conversation, Political warfare on climate could leave national security at risk: Will the government’s forthcoming Defence White Paper discuss the national security implications of climate change? A report released this week by the Centre for Policy Development think tank urged the government to “manage the risks prudently”, while also acknowledging that “the parliamentary discussion on climate change increasingly resembles trench warfare”.

My research indicates that these bitter political divisions have, since 2010, stymied the Australian Defence Force’s response to the issue. Although there have been pockets of activity, a renewable program here or the use of some biofuels there, the ADF has largely been missing in action on climate change and its broader implications for national security. This has not been the case elsewhere. Take the United States, for instance. Facing an equally (if not more) polarised body politic and a tight fiscal environment, the US military and national security establishment has nevertheless been leading the way on climate security. The US military has a climate change adaptation plan. The Australian military doesn’t. In a period of austerity, the US military continues to invest heavily in adaptation and mitigation measures. The Australian military doesn’t. Read More here