Author Archive: roman

Friends of the Earth Adelaide > Articles by: roman

The world is waking up to the $5.3 trillion cost of fossil fuels

May 29, 2015

A report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released on Monday, estimated that global fossil fuel use is subsidised to the tune of US$5.3 trillion a year (6.5% of global GDP).

The striking finding of the IMF, echoing previous work by economists such as Nicholas Muller, Robert Mendelsohn, and William Nordhaus for the United States, is that the third category of costs, smog and particulates, is easily the largest. Within this category, the biggest cost is due to particulate emissions from coal.

Professor John Quiggin, School of Economics at The University of Queensland notes that:

It follows that, even disregarding impact of climate change, the costs of burning fossil fuels outweigh the benefits in many cases. So, a reduction in fossil fuel use, and particularly in coal use makes economic sense.

He suggests rhis will drive China and India to abandon coal.

More details in his article from The Conversation.

 

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Trade deals threatened pesticide ban in Europe

May 29, 2015

EU moves to regulate hormone-damaging chemicals linked to cancer and male infertility were shelved following pressure from US trade officials over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade deal, newly released documents show.

Draft EU criteria could have banned 31 pesticides containing endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). But these were dumped amid fears of a trade backlash stoked by an aggressive US lobby push, access to information documents obtained by Pesticides Action Network (PAN) Europe show.

The report in a recent Guardian shows our concern over trade deals such as the TPP are well justified.

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SA network wants solar homes to pay $100/year more for grid

May 29, 2015

SA Power Networks (SAPN), which operates the poles and wires that deliver electricity to homes and businesses throughout the state, and is owned by ASX-listed Spark Infrastructure, says all consumers will receive price reductions in the coming year on their network costs.

But while most households will receive a discount of $188 a year on their network costs, and “vulnerable” homes a saving of $388 a year, the 175,000 solar households in the state will only receive a discount of $88 a year.

SAPN justifies this by saying that solar households still need as much power from the network at peak times as other users, even if they use less electricity from the grid during the day when the sun shines.

Attempts to penalize solar households have been already rebuffed in QLD and WA; it would be a shame if SA allowed this discrimination.

Nigel Morris of Slar Business systems outlines why this is misdirected in an article in the Climate Spectator.

Solar Citizens have initiated a petition to stop the discrimination against solar panel owners.

Solar Citizens is an independent community based organisation bringing together millions of solar owners and supporters to protect and grow solar in Australia.Since starting in May 2013, Solar Citizens has grown to over 60,000 supporters around the country, representing the more that 5 million solar owners in Australia and the millions more who wish to go solar.

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Good news! Tesla signals the end for nuclear

May 11, 2015

The recent announcement by Elon Musk of a scalable battery pack to store electricity at the household or commercial generator scale at half the price of likely competitors has accelerated the demise of the old baseload coal or nuclear power stations.

Already, a NZ energy supplier has announced it will provide the Tesla Powerwall to its customers. Expect to see similar deals from Australian utilities soon.

See this article from The Conversation or reneweconomy.com.au for more details

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Clean Futures Campaigner

May 11, 2015

FoE Adelaide’s Clean Futures Collective are about to employ a campaigner to keep track of the Royal Commission into Nukes & help us respond to the propaganda push from the nuclear industry. More details next issue, but note that we’re meeting Wednesdays from 4-6pm at Kappys, 1/22 Compton St, Adelaide to plan activities. Please join us if you’re interested, or want to talk over a cuppa.

 

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