Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Matthew Warren said the modest clean energy funding in the Budget package highlighted the need for a carbon price that would provide enough revenue to transform Australia’s energy supply.

“Whether it’s wave energy, hot rocks geothermal or large scale solar, our home grown clean energy innovation is a potential world beater. We welcome the Federal Government’s ability to listen to the industry and channel additional funding where it is desperately needed,” Mr Warren said.

“Innovation is one of Australia’s great competitive advantages and we urgently need to get the $200 million allocated by the government into on-the-ground projects to stop the offshore brain drain.

“Although the $100 million allocated under the Renewable Energy Venture Capital Fund is a good start, the allocated timeframes will see this trickled out until 2023/24. This will leave a funding and policy gap during an important transition period for the industry,” he said.

Mr Warren said the industry was also disappointed the Solar Schools program was being wound up early.

“We hope the government is now focused on delivering a carbon price and directing revenue to renewable energy and energy efficiency measures to take the load off household electricity bills,” Mr Warren said.

“The government’s focus on austerity underlines the need for additional revenue from carbon pricing to drive the transformation of Australia’s energy supply.

“Professor Ross Garnaut has estimated revenue for a carbon price to be between $2-3 billion per annum and some portion of this should be directed to renewable energy investment and energy efficiency for households and businesses.

“We would also like to see the introduction of an independent carbon bank that would coordinate climate programs in a manner that is not tied to the political climate of the day. It could also borrow against future revenue to fund transitionary assistance in the short term,” he said.

Opening the Queensland Geothermal Energy Centre of Excellence (QGECE) at the University of Queensland, Mr Robertson said the centre is playing a key role in the State Government’s renewable energy strategy.

“Geothermal has a bright future in Queensland because it has the potential to produce more base-load energy than any other renewable energy source.

“That’s why the government is investing $25 million towards geothermal energy research and development projects in Queensland.”

Mr Robertson said the government’s $15 million investment in the QGECE represents the largest investment in geothermal energy research in Australia.

“The QGECE is undertaking research and development to progress large-scale electricity generation from subterranean hot rocks and hot sedimentary aquifers.

“Research includes electricity transmission and power network modelling; geothermal reservoir exploration, characterisation and management; plus development of new turbines and cooling systems to optimise geothermal power plant production and efficiency.

“This important work is helping position Queensland as a leading technology provider in the growing international geothermal energy sector.

“Collaborative research partnerships have been established with the Central Research Institute for Electrical Industry of Japan; GFZ-Potsdam of Germany and United States power plant and turbine manufacturer, Verdicorp.

“QGECE is also working with other Australian universities to create undergraduate and post-graduate programs to develop a skills base for jobs in emerging geothermal industries.”

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Queensland Professor Paul Greenfield welcomed the State Government’s $15 million investment in the centre.

“This investment has enabled the University to build the only centre in the world that addresses one of the biggest remaining challenges of geothermal technology — how to increase power conversion efficiencies.

“By investigating how to efficiently convert the power of hot rocks into useable electricity, the researchers could transform geothermal energy into an economically viable addition to Queensland’s electricity mix,” Professor Greenfield said.

“The Centre’s global reputation in this space has led to a series of international partnerships and a crop of excellent PhD students from Australia and six other countries.

“Through these young researchers, Queensland is making a vital contribution to the global future of zero-emissions energy,” he said.

Other Bligh Government geothermal initiatives being delivered include:

• $5 million Coastal Geothermal Energy Initiative to identify areas of high geothermal heat flow along the Queensland coast that may unlock viable geothermal resources closer to power transmission networks.

• $4.3 million to upgrade Australia’s only operating geothermal power station at Birdsville from its’ current 80 kilowatt capacity to up to 400 kilowatts.

• A new regulatory framework to enable the development of large-scale geothermal energy projects and provide exploration and investment certainty to industry.

image: greghardwick.com.au

Anyone who has attended meetings will know — the greater the number of people, the less chance there is of obtaining an outcome.

Therefore the outcome of Copenhagen should come as no surprise. Governments from wealthy countries know that voters are easily swayed by economic arguments. Poorer countries want more for their people. While we all argue about money, man-made climate change will worsen.

As our planet’s human population increases we face a growing problem. The wealthier we all become, the more we want and the more we consume. More people consuming more of the earth’s finite ‘resources’ leads to only one outcome – less for everyone.

The science of climate change has taught us two things. Firstly, we need to be smarter, be prepared for change and focus upon cleaner, renewable energy sources. Our very short love affair with fossil fuels is over and is not worth one tear.

Secondly — many people do not like change, they use denial to avoid serious problems and know that many of us are swayed by fear. Radical politicians will seize on this and increasingly make promises they cannot deliver on.

The way forward is not something we are going to be given by our politicians. We are going to have to show our politicians what we are capable of. Great social changes have always been peaceful and well supported by the population. However, we will need to constantly remind our governments, and those seeking to be in government, that they serve us, and deceitful behaviour for the sake of claiming or clinging to power, will not be tolerated.

Now is not the time for blaming others for our woes or arguing whose way is best. It’s all too easy to point out the wrongs of someone from a distant nation or from a group who you do not associate with. Throwing stones over the fence is easy when you don’t see your victim, but stand face to face and it becomes so much harder.

In 2010 we need to stand face to face and unite everyone who wants a fairer, cleaner future. It is possible, if only we dare to try.

***

Do yourself a favour this Christmas. Turn the air conditioner off, put the mobile phone away and get outside and talk to someone new. See you at the Woodford Folk Festival!

Wishing you all the best over the Christmas break and we look forward to bringing you more eco news in 2010. Eco online will take a short break, before returning in mid-January.

Keep safe and look after one another.

The Clean Industrial Revolution
Growing Australian prosperity in a greenhouse age

The race is on to find ways to reduce our impact on the environment. Ben McNeil shows us how we can make the most of our natural advantages and how Australia businesses can benefit economically when adapting to the new environmental realities.

Description

“A passionate and informative demonstration of how mitigating climate change can be compatible with economic growth”- Professor Ross Garnaut, the Garnaut Climate Change Review

“Humanity’ s greatest challenge is to minimise the consequences of climate change. With challenge comes opportunity. This book is about opportunity.” – Professor Peter Doherty, Nobel prize winner

“A fascinating and provocative insight into how business can make the most of the environmental challenge.” – Geoffrey Cousins, business leader and author

The world is in the midst of a seismic shift in the way we generate energy and grow economic prosperity. Since the first industrial revolution we’ve been burning carbon to run our lives, but climate change and dwindling supplies of oil are now forging a new clean industrial revolution which will end our reliance on carbon for good.

So where does Australia’s economic future lie in this rapidly changing world? In this compelling book, climate scientist and economist Ben McNeil demonstrates the immense economic opportunities which will open up if Australia leads the new clean industrial revolution. He shows how investing, commercialising and exporting the new fuels, materials and technologies for the twenty-first century will boost economic prosperity as well as environmental sustainability.

In a world craving clean energy, nations and businesses who are clever and courageous enough to embrace the change will thrive. (source: Allen & Unwin)

Awards
Longlisted for the John Button Prize 2009

About Ben McNeil
Ben McNeil is a senior research fellow at the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of NSW. He has a Masters of Economics in addition to his scientific training, and is on the executive of the prestigious Federation of Australasian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS) and speaks regularly at corporate and scientific events and to media.

Available from:
The publisher – Allen & Unwin

Associate Professor Peter Waterman from the University of the Sunshine Coast

The climate was on everybody’s mind as low clouds created hot and humid conditions on the Sunshine Coast today. But it wasn’t only local weather patterns being discussed. As the Copenhagen climate conference enters its second week, thousands of Australians took to the streets around the country for the 5th annual walk against warming.

On the Sunshine Coast almost 200 residents not only demanded government action at Copenhagen, they also showed the value of local businesses and environment groups coming together.

The Sunshine Coast Environment Council, solar business, Ingenero and Maleny Credit Union used the day to launch the Sunshine Coast 10,000 Solar Roofs Project. Injecting an estimated $20 million into the local economy, as well as creating over 100 jobs, the project will install 10,000 solar-power systems without any upfront costs.

Sunshine Coast Regional Council environment portfolio chair, Cr Keryn Jones said the Sunshine Coast ranks as one of the most popular areas in Australia for solar-power installation.

“The Sunshine Coast now has one of the highest per capita installation areas for solar power in Australia and the new 10,000 Solar Roofs Project will keep us in the forefront,” she said.

Associate Professor Peter Waterman, who teaches climate-change adaptation at the University of the Sunshine Coast believes we need to keep focused on locally-based action.

“It is great to be aware of the bigger picture but we have to do things in our region, our homes, our workplaces and our lives. We have to think about adapting — we have to climate proof,” he said.

Half of all Renewable Energy Certificates generated come from solar hot water and not renewable energy such as photovoltaic panels.

The Federal Government’s chop and change approach to renewable energy policy is causing uncertainty and the stalling of cleaner energy projects.

Everyone knows that solar hot water is not a renewable energy source however Minister for Climate Change and Water, Penny Wong has included solar hot water and heat pumps as part of the Renewable Energy Target, claiming that Treasury modelling showed it would only amount to 5 per cent of the target. The modelling Senator Wong relied on got it very wrong with approximately 50 per cent of all Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) generated coming from solar hot water and not renewable energy.  The resultant flood of RECs has collapsed the price affecting the viability of renewable energy projects across the country.

Greens Senator Christine Milne has warned, “We have got 150 jobs on the line right now with Keppel Prince Engineering and we have got $20 billion worth of investment in commercial-scale renewable energy projects at risk. Dare I say that, if this were 150 workers in a coalmine or in a coal-fired power station or $20 billion worth of investment in coal at risk, there would be emergency meetings all over the place, but this is renewable energy.”

It is said that it can be good sometimes to be behind as you can learn from the mistakes and success of others. Not apparently when it comes to renewable energy policy.

Feed in tariffs (FiT) means that if you are generating green electricity and sending it back to the grid you are getting paid a higher price.  There is a “net” feed in tariff where you only get paid for the excess you send back to the grid after your own household usage has been taken out. With a’gross” FiT one gets paid for what ever is generated.

Countries like Germany and France have grown their clean renewable industry by having long-term certainty around a national gross feed in tariff.

Farmers in Germany put solar panels in their paddocks and on their barns and make a good rate of return as they are guaranteed a price for 20 years. China, Japan and the UK are all introducing gross feed in tariffs to assist the transition to a low carbon economy.

The Federal Government have allowed feed in tariff arrangements to be handled by the States and the result is a total lack of consistency.  Western Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania have no feed in tariffs. Queensland and South Australia have net feed in tariffs of 44 cents per KwH, Victoria has a net of 60 cents, ACT has a gross FiT of 50 cents and next year New South Wales is to be congratulated for having the highest feed in at 6o cents gross per KwH.

What a crazy situation for such an important piece of policy to be handled in this way. The Federal Government has made the mess and now they need to fix it. Immediate action is required to remove solar hot water from the Renewable Energy Target. Take federal control of feed in tariffs and introduce a national gross feed in of say 60 cents a KwH.

It is about time that the coal industry was told to look after itself and the tax-payer subsidies withdrawn, and assistance went instead to the future of renewable energy.

Crunch Time by Tony Kevin

When I began a year ago to write my book Crunch Time, the Rudd government had just whittled Garnaut’s recommended 25 per cent Australian emissions cut by 2020 down to a meaningless 5 per cent cut. Through 2009, the emissions trading scheme (ETS) negotiations built in increasingly lavish subsidies to big coal energy polluters. In the end, the bill agreed between the two major parties wasn’t an emissions reduction plan at all: it was a phoney ETS, subsidising the energy status quo while creating profit opportunities for financial deal-makers.

Meanwhile, more radical environmental organisations were marginalised, as mainstream groups tried to maintain useful dialogue with government. The environmental movement split over whether it could do more good inside or outside the government tent.

My challenge in writing Crunch Time was to explore how to bridge the gap between true environmental stewardship based on climate science, and short-term economic governance. What were the impediments to a responsible policy which would give top priority to protecting our children’s climate security?

I found many factors at work: the short-sighted self-interest of the coal lobby; the bizarre psychology of climate change denialism; the professional propensity of market economics to undervalue the future, and to brush aside massive market failures; false assumptions about how international policy negotiation works; indifference to intergenerational ethics, and a reluctance to seriously imagine social futures under climate change; energy engineering professionals missing in action; and so on. I came to understand that there are complex social dysfunctionalities here.

One perplexing question: why does the environmental movement so often marginalise itself at the outer edges of public discourse – why isn’t it seizing the mainstream middle ground, when the climate science on which it bases its policies is so credible? As I saw it, the environmental movement’s number one message – that Australia must stop burning coal for power – is being lost in a plethora of other, contestable priorities.

I found inspiration in the work of William Wilberforce, who ended the British-protected transatlantic slave trade in the early 1800s, and John Maynard Keynes, who ended public acceptance in the 1930s of the inevitability of massive long-term unemployment. Both men achieved revolutions in public policy through the power of persuasive ideas, and through a disciplined focus on their main goals.

This is what we need to do now with coal.  We must achieve an end to coal burning for power by 2030, by moving to a 100 per cent renewable energy based national electricity infrastructure. This change will shake many assumptions and power relationships of our present society. Yet it can be done without sacrifice of present living standards, if society so chooses. It will not be done, unless the majority can be convinced of this technical and economic fact. I aimed Crunch Time at those many people who fear change, and therefore incline towards climate scepticism because it offers false hope that change might not be needed.

I doubt that either an ETS or carbon tax can suffice to dislodge coal from its present hegemony as a power source. Events in 2009 confirm my view. After rejection of the deeply compromised ETS by both the Greens and the Coalition, public debate is now moving towards supplementary direct action or regulation.

The sincerity of Tony Abbott’s drastic rewriting of the Opposition policy is doubtful. At heart, he is probably still a climate change denier: but he knows that he must now pay lip service to the climate science. He will rely on dog-whistle politics to keep the deniers actively working in his support. He and they both know he won the party leadership through their mass mobilisation. Rudd would be unwise to underestimate their power.

Labor will have to look at credible policies for supplementary action or regulation, if it is to lead a national move to a renewable energy-based society. If Labor relies solely on the now widely mistrusted ETS, and on its clean coal fantasy, it will be in electoral trouble.

I hope Labor policy-makers will study my book from this practical perspective; they will find it a mine of useful ideas. (And it’s a great book to give your climate-sceptic father or grandfather for Christmas!)

We cannot rely on market forces to deliver a 100 per cent national renewable energy electricity grid and fully electrified transport systems by 2030. Yet this is what we must achieve in Australia, irrespective of what the rest of the world does. Only in that way can we build some protection for our children, in the hard climate times that are now inevitably coming.

About the author
Tony Kevin holds degrees in civil engineering, and in economics and political science. He retired from the Australian foreign service in 1998, after a 30-year career during which he served in the Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister’s departments, and was Australia’s ambassador to Poland and Cambodia.

He has written extensively on Australian foreign, national security, and refugee policies in Australia’s national print media, and is the author of the award-winning books A Certain Maritime Incident: the sinking of SIEV X, and Walking the Camino: a modern pilgrimage to Santiago.

Published: September 2009
Available from: Scribe Publications

illustration by Alex Mankiewicz

There’s a new emissions plan in the wind for Kevin Rudd and Penny Wong to take to Copenhagen.

A water-tight commitment to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent by 2020 – much better than the pitiful 5 per cent – which will appeal to the Tony Abbott-led conservative (and sceptical) Coalition, as well as a deal to get the Greens on board.

This is does not involve magic – we keep being reminded that there is no silver bullet – or extreme engineering, science or technology.

It is a simple and easy to understand formula – 5 times 5 equals 25 – to deal with emissions from five main sectors of the economy which account for a more or less proportionate amount of the nation’s emissions. Some of the actions contributing to this plan are already occurring, but for some reason Government has not looked at – or told it – quite like this.
Through this approach, each sector is able to bring to the table a 5 per cent emissions reduction towards the total, to provide an overall 25 per cent achievement.

It is easy to mix metaphors here, but let’s think of this as constructing a five winged plane which will fly!

It looks something like a modern version of a Tiger Moth bi-plane, with two wings each side and bracketed, along with a wing in the tail to stabilise things. Each wing has a crucial role to play and all together they make it air worthy.

Here are the wings, what they are made up of and here’s how each one will make our emissions transporter fly. If it is too difficult to relate to the aircraft wings analogy, think of it as a big pie with five generous slices.

1) Industry emissions reductions
This includes industrial production, manufacturing, mining and energy production. Let’s say this accounts for 20 per cent of our total emissions now (it is close to that depending on what you include or exclude).

These are the big emitters, or polluters, if you like. And they are the major industries that are targeted by the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Many observers realise that with all the concessions and allowances already proposed for up to 1000 major corporations, it is unlikely to achieve a significant reduction in emissions.

But with the stick and carrot approach, along with putting a price on carbon through an emissions trading scheme, it is very realistic to expect that this major economic sector could achieve the 5 per cent reduction in emissions required (based on 2000 levels) by 2020.

Is this really possible? As various industry groups are on their own already taking steps to reduce emissions, it is an achieveable target.

The cement industry – one of the world’s biggest emitters – has already said it could reduce its emissions by 3 per cent by 2010. What more could it do by 2020?

BHP has stated in its latest sustainability report that its target is for a 6 per cent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions per unit of production across the board.

2) Buildings and energy efficiency
Existing buildings account for around 20 per cent of the nation’s emissions, primarily through use of energy, energy waste and inefficiencies. New buildings, which can achieve a high 6 star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia, are designed to use less energy and thereby reduce emissions.

The big challenge is to deal with existing buildings – offices, homes, shops and factories – and this involves taking steps to reduce the energy used in every area.

In some cases, this will involve major retrofitting, but for many, particularly in the home, this can be achieved by better management of the electricity we use, smart metering, cutting wastage, as well as taking advantage of the Government insulation package. It might also mean lower settings for air conditioning and heating units.

Power management systems are readily available for businesses. A power management study for one Australian University, for example, found that by having an automatic cut off after hours for its 30,000 computers it could reduce electricity use by 52 per cent and save $1.74 million a year.

Dealing with standby power used on household appliances could save 10 per cent on an average household’s energy use.

There’s a new product coming onto the Australian market (from South Korea) which guarantees to reduce electricity use by 5 per cent by cutting power wastage. It has been known to provide energy savings of up to 20 per cent.

So gaining a 5 per cent reduction overall through energy efficiency measures alone would not be difficult to achieve, particularly if Government promoted the right sort of incentives and interest free Green loans.

3) Switching energy production to renewables
Australia already has in place a renewable energy target to get 20 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. There is already considerable investment going into solar, wind, wave, geothermal, as well as to enhance what we’re already getting from hydro sources.

Even though the Government has not set out a detailed renewable energy strategy, even  a breakdown of the ideal mix of renewables, or provided much in the way of incentives, it is happening all the same. There is even evidence that Wilson Tuckey has been advocating the use of tidal power in Western Australia!

There are large scale projects in the wind (and from the sun) as well as a groundswell of desire by the population at large to fit solar panels to the roofs of their homes. Think of how much more could be done to utilise all the wasted roof space on our airport terminals, factories and shopping centres.

In California, energy supply companies are paying to rent all available roof spaces so they can fit thousands of solar photo voltaic panels to generate power for the grid.

For homeowners and businesses, it would really help them make the switch to solar energy if all state governments would provide a gross feed in tariff to give a realistic return for producing additional energy for the grid. In Germany this applies to all and works very well. In New South Wales and ACT, this is now applicable to householders only.

We shouldn’t belittle the genuine efforts of people to clean up their energy act, particularly through paying extra for Green Power or buying into voluntary offsets to reduce their carbon footprints. Government recognition for this is proposed in the CPRS legislation, but it would be wise for authorities (as well as energy providers) to act sooner to acknowledge and reward the worthy citizens.

There are many other ways to reduce our dependence on coal fired power, including a switch to natural gas (which we also have plenty of and it emits far less CO2) and by incorporating effective ceramic fuel cells in our homes and businesses.

So achieving a 5 per cent reduction in emissions from energy by switching to renewable sources should be very easy to achieve. If the country does better than that by 2020 that’s a bonus.

4) Land use, farming and forestry
Even without incorporating agriculture in an emissions trading scheme, by encouraging (and rewarding) farmers to be more productive in their use of land and utilise “carbon farming” can achieve a significant reduction in emissions from this sector. Agriculture is a big emitter, so this needs to be approached in a positive, constructive way.

Environment Business Australia has put together a coalition of carbon farming organisations. Soil carbon and biochar are not pies in the sky but practical means of retaining (or restoring) carbon dioxide in the soil and thereby improving its productivity. Malcolm Turnbull latched onto this some time ago. Professor Tim Flannery sings its praises. Some ingenious work by Tony Lovell and Ken Bellamy in Queensland shows that it works effectively.

By combining effective land use – less land clearing – with carbon farming and undertaking more tree-planting will easily achieve a 5 per cent reduction in emissions from this sector.

Forestry is a big sub-sector which could make an even bigger contribution to emissions reductions on its own, particularly when you see the size of investments by the likes of Origin Energy and BP in tree planting through the Western Australian business of Carbon Conscious.

Retaining as much as possible of the country’s old growth forests and rainforests will continue to provide a major carbon sink. Just as we’re conscious of plans to invest in “avoided deforestation” in places like the Amazon and Indonesia, we need to ensure we protect and retain our own trees as a means to keep our emissions in check.

Remember too, that it was through a major cut back  in land clearing in Queensland a few years back which gave Australia a distinct advantage, enabling it to meet it Kyoto commitments (even before it ratified the international agreement).

5) Transportation comes clean
Private and public transport could easily account for 20 per cent of a nation’s emissions of green-house gases. So a switch to cleaner and more energy efficient transport – natural gas powered buses, electric or hybrid cars, taking more freight by rail than road – could all go towards achieving a 5 per cent reduction in this important sector’s contribution.

Getting more of the population to use public transport, walk or ride bicycles would all help, particularly if our cities become less congested and polluted by cars. Instead of giving disproportionate tax incentives (and subsidised parking) for people to buy and drive cars to work, Government (and employers) should be finding ways to incentivise those of us who take public transport or use our own energy to move about.

We often hear talk about achieving emissions reduction through some means or other which results in “taking so many cars off the road”. If we look at the transportation sector constructively, this can be done by taking more of the polluting or petrol powered vehicles off the road and replacing them with hybrid, electric, biodiesel or ethanol machines.

Electric vehicle infrastructure is one very obvious way to go and other countries – notably France, Denmark and Israel – have taken giants steps in this direction.

Australia has made a move with its Green Car Fund and has already got Better Place (the innovative electric vehicle infrastructure company) looking at what’s required to help Canberra go electric on the road.

Even though most of our electricity comes from coal fired power stations, electric cars are much more efficient (less polluting) users of energy. Also there is no reason why we cannot exploit to a greater extent renewable energy for the transport sector.
At a recent Electric Vehicle conference in Brisbane, delegates were told that one standard wind turbine can produce sufficient electricity to charge and power 1200 electric cars.

Shipping and air transport is also coming in for a lot of energy efficient/renewable energy attention. Jet bio fuels are being developed – and there is even an opportunity for Australia to get in on the ground-floor for this development, using plants and algae. MBD has trial plants around the country for biosequestration, using CO2 to feed algae to produce clean fuel and feedstock.

It is all really too simple. But unfortunately Government has not effectively communicated these or similar solutions to show how it is possible to attain an overall 25 per cent reduction in the nation’s emissions.

By pre-occupying itself with an emissions trading scheme – the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme – and failing to get it passed into law, the Government has also failed to address all these others measures which have the chance to contribute significantly to reduce Australia’s emissions.

But it is not too late. If it is smart, our Copenhagen-bound team can get in a huddle and bundle all the emissions producing sectors together and come up with a plan that shows it is feasible – even achieveable – to commit to a target of reducing our emissions of greenhouse gases  by 25 per cent (on 2000 levels) by 2020.

It is possible to get that mathematical and mythical five winged clean energy plane to fly.

Ken Hickson is the author of “The ABC of Carbon: Issues and opportunities in the global climate change environment”, published this year by his own consulting/publishing business ABC Carbon . He also produces a weekly e-newsletter abc carbon express. Trained as a journalist and with many years as a corporate communication consultant, he is currently in the process of setting up a new non-governmental organisation (NGO) called Green Earth Communicators Organisation (GECO). He is also a Governor of WWF Australia.

• World Environment Day Festival news
• Outrage over Sustainable Planning Bill
• Latest Group Profile – PAGE
• Eco Adventures – A tale of two mountains
• Carbon, climate and koalas
• Eco watch – clean coal
• Exploring the past – climbing Mount Coolum in 1927
• Whales and eco tourism
• Other articles
• How to contribute
• The latest print edition
• Past print edition downloads
• Help promote Eco online

For our Queensland readers: Catch up on all the latest news on the Sunshine Coast’s World Environment Day Festival.

Outrage over Sustainable Planning Bill

“Major amendments to the Integrated Planning Act 1997, carrying implications for local planning powers and the critical assessment of applications, have become yet another hallmark of the Bligh Government’s mantra of growth at all costs.

Minister for Infrastructure and Planning, Stirling Hinchliffe said the Sustainable Planning Bill 2009, approved by Cabinet on June 9, will result in the biggest reform to planning approvals in over a decade.” Sunshine Coast Environment Council Manager, Narelle McCarthy reports. Read the full story.

Group profile

PAGE – the useful acronym doubling for the Powerline Action Group Eumundi and People Advocating Green Energy – was formed in 2007 in response to a proposal which threatens the communities west of Eumundi with high voltage powerlines and pylons marching across an idyllic landscape. Read all about their struggle to protect their local environment.

Eco adventures

Mount Coolum and Mount Ninderry are two very striking peaks visible from many parts of the Sunshine Coast, close to each other – only 10 kilometres as the crow flies – but very different in character and offering very different experiences for the eco adventurer. Read more about John Burrows’ latest adventure.

Carbon, climate and koalas

Recent findings by the Australian National University show that the Eucalypt forests of Australia are some of the richest carbon sinks in the world. The greater the size and density of these koala food trees and the forests they are found in, the greater the carbon sink and the more carbon dioxide that is absorbed. Read the full article by Sophia Walter.

Eco watch

Federal Environment and Climate Change Ministers jointly announced that there was less than 8 hours to submit solar rebate applications before they were stopped 3 weeks before schedule. Environment Minister, Peter Garrett is now clearly in the running as the most disappointing and underachieving environment minister in recent years. Guest writer Lindsay Holt reports.

Exploring the past

Climbing Mount Coolum in 1927. In this breezy account of a clamber up Mount Coolum, Vance Palmer, one of Australia’s most significant writers of the time shares his experience. The story is selected by Dr Deborah Jordan, and is taken from a newspaper cutting held in the Palmer Papers.

Whales and eco tourism

Sunshine Coast Environment Council President, Dr Valerie Lewis takes a look at the growing tourism industry built around whales.

Other articles …

Other articles are available to read online,with more being added in the coming weeks. Read the latest stories from our wildlife carers, green loans and more.

Contribute

If you would like to contribute a story, an image, or a story idea, then feel free to contact us. Contributor’s guidelines are available online.

The latest print edition

The mid-winter print edition, Eco news Issue 12, is now out on the streets. For our readers living outside the distribution area, the digital version will be available for download in July.

Past print edition archives

We are constantly adding more print edition archives for download.

Available for download now are: Issue 1, Issue 2, Issue 3 and Issue 11. Visit our Past Print Editions page for details and download links. If you have any problems with downloads please let us know.

Help promote Eco online

Have your own website or blog? Perhaps you would like to promote Eco online? We have now provided some graphics for you to download and use on your site.

The latest community group to become a member of SCEC, PAGE is fighting to protect community members and at the same time playing an active role in reducing carbon emissions on the Sunshine Coast.

PAGE – the useful acronym doubling for the Powerline Action Group Eumundi and People Advocating Green Energy – was formed in 2007 in response to a proposal which threatens the communities west of Eumundi with high voltage powerlines and pylons marching across an idyllic landscape.

What to expect - transmission towers, power lines and their easement cut a swathe through Beerburrum State Forest. Photograph: John Burrows

The proposal comes from Powerlink, the government agency responsible for Queensland’s power transmission network, and involves power lines connecting a present substation at Woolooga, up past Gympie, with a new substation close to Eumundi.

It’s all part of a larger scheme to extend new transmission lines on wide easements the length of the Sunshine Coast. Exact details aren’t readily available, but it’s clear that the scheme will lock the Coast into a carbon dependent future.

Most of the new line from Woolooga is planned to run alongside an existing easement, but it’s the final nine kilometres, running through Eerwah Vale, which will have a profound effect on community and environment.

PAGE has been fighting the proposal from the outset. They make the compelling point that it’s just another large-scale old-world engineering solution to current climate change challenges and argue strongly for alternatives.

Demand management could see power use by many businesses and households reduced by up to 30 per cent. During Brisbane’s water crisis, a public awareness campaign plus regulation resulted in water use being cut dramatically – up to 54 per cent in 18 months. Why not try the same approach with power?

Powerlink also seems to disregard renewable energy. PAGE promoted a plan by Sanctuary Energy Ltd to provide power on the Sunshine Coast using solar thermal generators, a plan which our Transmission Network Service Provider casually dismissed.

PAGE also supports SCEC’s 1000 Solar Roofs Project, a successful community initiative to provide solar panels to roofs on the Sunshine Coast – there are over 800 households signed up at the time of writing, demonstrating the huge potential for renewable energy.

Recognising that political support is vital, PAGE has met with the Minister for Mines & Energy and the Opposition. They also organised a State Election candidate’s forum, held at Eumundi which was very well attended. There was support from the former Noosa Council, and PAGE is planning a presentation to the Sunshine Coast Regional Council for its backing.

PAGE has an informative website, and has held community meetings and information days. Affected residents had the benefit of workshops to help them respond to documents required under the community consultation process – the draft Terms of Reference and recently the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

The draft EIS was 1900 pages long and widely seen as being too complex, not to mention daunting in size, for most people to digest.

Community members got together with an environmental scientist and other specialists to respond to the draft EIS, and produced a comprehensive and hard hitting document, concluding that the assessment and the assessment process were fundamentally flawed.

“The draft EIS can be characterised as misleading, incorrect, inadequate and lacking in critical detail,” said PAGE coordinator Graham Smith.

“It clearly lacks any independence in its analysis, conclusions or recommendations.

“Unfortunately, this is consistent with the woeful consultation and poorly detailed studies undertaken by Powerlink and their paid consultants.”

In their response to the draft EIS, PAGE emphasised their desire to one day make clean, sustainable energies a reality in the power profile of the Sunshine Coast and Queensland.

Along with many other crucial issues, the assessment of environmental impacts was seen as totally inadequate.

The Richmond Birdwing Butterfly - a local colony faces extinction if Powerlink has its way. Photograph by Jennifer Broomhall

A case in point — the beautiful but endangered Richmond Birdwing Butterfly has only a few small pockets of suitable habitat remaining, and the most northern of these, right in the path of the proposed powerlines, could be compromised if Powerlink gets its way.

Koalas too are set to suffer – a loss of 20 hectares of koala habitat at a time when their numbers in SEQ are plummeting.

Both of these species have special interest for photographer Jennifer Broomhall and husband Fred who live on a property which will be affected if the powerlines come through.

Registered under the Land for Wildlife programme – along with 21 other properties which will be affected – the Broomhall’s block straddles a ridge which is a watershed for the Mary and Maroochy River catchments. There is high plant diversity with areas of riparian rain forest and remnant vine forest.

Koalas are seen (or heard) frequently, thanks in part to koala food trees planted since the couple moved there 32 years ago.

The Richmond Birdwing Butterfly occurs there as well, and like the koalas is much photographed. It only has one food source – the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly vine. There’s a fine specimen of the vine on the next door block, unfortunately right in the path of Powerlink’s easement.

The draft EIS recommends that this vine be translocated, even though scientific opinion is adamant that it doesn’t survive replanting. So the local population of the butterfly is doomed if the Powerlink proposal goes ahead.

PAGE has found many deficiencies like this in the draft EIS. With the final EIS due by the end of this year, the group plans to continue campaigning and gaining community support, and intends to lobby the Minister for Mines & Energy highlighting the many inadequacies in the process.