Publications – Page 77 – Friends of the Earth Adelaide

An Open letter to the PM

roman March 24, 2015

Dear Prime Minister 24 March 2015

We are a diverse group of leading organisations who represent a broad cross section of people in Australia.

We, and millions of Australians, believe that powering our nation with renewable energy is common sense.

We call on you to honour your government’s pre-election commitment to keep the 2020 Renewable Energy Target at the level currently legislated, including the Large Scale Renewable Energy Target of 41,000 Gwh.

To re-instate business, investor and household confidence, we would welcome clear commitments beyond 2020 to accelerate the transition to clean renewable energy.

Showing leadership on the Renewable Energy Target will be a win for jobs, for households, for our health, our economy, and our environment.

The 2020 Renewable Energy Target has strong public support. More than 88%* of Australians would like to see the Renewable Energy Target either increase or remain at the current level of 41,000 GWh. With 84% of people indicating it is important the Federal Government invest in renewable energy. Australians think it’s smart to invest in renewable energy instead of dirty coal. The Renewable Energy Target is also enabling more and more people to take control of generating their own power and managing their bills. Solar homes have grown from the hundreds to the millions in less than a decade.

The Renewable Energy Target creates sustainable jobs. The Renewable Energy Target has generated more than 24,000 jobs, and is forecast to generate tens of thousands more. People working in the 1000s of small Australian businesses installing solar panels, as well as larger businesses building and maintaining wind turbines, solar and biomass plants are at risk. Sadly, renewable energy companies have already had to lay off staff due to the government’s plans to cut the Renewable Energy Target. Maintaining and growing the Renewable Energy Target provides a solid foundation for new sustainable jobs in Australia.

FoE, Old_Notes

Nuke free bloc at the March in March

robyn March 16, 2015

Nuclear Operations Watch Port Adelaide are organising a nuke free bloc in March in March rally this Sunday 22nd March. If you’d like to join in, meet 11:30am at Victoria Square for a march to Parliament House for speeches.

“In the light of the Royal Commission into SA nuclear industry – take your nuke free message to the street as we join March in March. NO URANIUM. NO WASTE DUMPS!

Also – we are looking for 20 people to take part in a lively barrel brigade political art installation”.

Friends of the Earth is a member group of NOWPA.

FoE, Old_Notes

Apologies

roman March 4, 2015

Our last FoE Notes was inadvertantly a repeat of the previous issue. For those of you who suffered an unintended feeling of deja vu, our apologies. We shall take steps to try and prevent a recurrence. Still wrangling the new technology, after all.

This issue has a few items about trade deals and La Via Campasina. While perusing the draft terms of reference for the Nuclear Royal Commission, some questions occurred to us about the cost and nature of “next gen” nuclear reactors. We found a few articles which tackled these issues, so we though we’d draw them to your attention, as well.

Please feel free to pass this on to any friends who may be interested. They can subscribe, if they wish, using the form at bottom left on our website’s home page.

Old_Notes

What is the carbon footprint of renewable electricity?

roman March 1, 2015

As part of an analysis of the carbon footprint of nuclear power, Keith Barnham notes the footprint of renewables. The british Climate change commission (CCC) has recommended any new power stations should not exceeed 50 gCO2/kWh.

When comparing the carbon footprints of electricity-generating technologies, we need to take into account carbon dioxide emitted in all stages in the life of the generator and its fuel. Such a study is called a life cycle analysis (LCA).

There are other gases such as methane that are more dangerous greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. The most reliable LCAs take all greenhouse gases into account and present equivalent carbon dioxide emissions.

In a recent paper in Energy Policy, Daniel Nugent and Benjamin Sovacool critically reviewed the published LCAs of renewable electricity generators. All the renewable technologies came in below the 50 gCO₂/kWh limit.

The lowest was large-scale hydropower with a carbon footprint one fifth of the CCC limit (10 gCO₂/kWh). A close second was biogas electricity from anaerobic digestion (11 gCO₂/kWh). The mean figure for wind energy is 34 gCO₂/kWh, and solar PV comes in a shade under the 50g limit, at 49.9 gCO₂/kWh. Bear in mind that rapidly evolving PV technology means that this last figure is contantly falling.

It’s a lot more difficult to do the calculation for nuclear power, because of the concentration of uranium affects the energy to enrich; the costs of decommissioning (dismantling and waste disposal) are poorly known. Barnham’s article goes into more detail about the wide range of estimates and their assumptions.

Nuclear, Old_Notes

We’re not impressed with the draft terms of reference for the Nuclear Royal Commission

roman March 1, 2015

“This Royal Commission will be hearing evidence in a vacuum: the draft terms forbid it from considering any aspects of the industry we are familiar with (mining), and insist it consider aspects of the hypothetical future next generation reactors, which are so wonderful that no-one is building them commercially.”, said Roman Orszanski, Climate & Energy campaigner for Adelaide Friends of the Earth.

The full media release is here

Nuclear, Old_Notes