Beechworth Urban Landcare and Sustainability

Oh great – thanks Ted!!!!!!!!!!

THE Baillieu government has quietly cut access for most households to a second incentive to install new rooftop solar panels.

It follows the decision last month to slash the state’s ”premium” feed-in tariff paid by retailers for rooftop solar from 60¢ to 25¢ a kilowatt for power fed into the grid.

Under the changes, the government will also restrict access to the state’s ”standard” feed-in tariff – in place since 2004 – for new solar panel systems generating less than five kilowatts, the lion’s share of installations.

London is gearing up for the 2012 Games and at the Olympic site a huge shopping centre will have some of its power provided by green footpaths, CNN reports.

The technology converts the kinetic energy from your footstep into electricity, which in this case will help to power half of the Stratford City mall’s outdoor lighting.

Sometimes the news makes me so depressed……

——

Drilling for oil in the Great Australian Bight is technically risky and environmentally damaging. So why would we want anyone to do it?

NOT CONTENT WITH whacking a gas refinery in the pristine Kimberley wilderness and fracking Australia’s prime agricultural land, the Gillard government now has its heart set on putting oil rigs across the Great Australian Bight.

BP planning to try deepwater drilling in Australia – Opinion – ABC Environment (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

      Human interaction with endangered species isn’t always a death sentence for the animals. With careful coaxing and vigilance, some species have been brought back from the edge of extinction to thrive once again.

http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2011/09/27/3326042.htm

Electricity generated by solar photovoltaics (PV) could cost about the same as regular grid-based electricity in some parts of Europe by 2013, according to a new study by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA).

Furthermore, by 2020, solar PV electricity will have reached grid parity across Europe, the study finds.

Solar electricity could rival ‘traditional’ power as early as 2013 | Energy.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could say the same about Australia?!

Australian and European Union officials will discuss how to link their emissions trading schemes, Prime Minister Julia Gillard says.

Ms Gillard met European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Canberra today and discussed climate change and a raft of other issues.

AFTER LESS THAN A year and a half in which so much energy news seemed troubling – nuclear meltdowns, oil spills, rising gas prices – it might be startling to find out that worldwide installed capacity of renewable energy has now surpassed that of nuclear power. In fact, global investment in clean energy, driven by enlightened, forward-looking national policies, grew to a record US$243 billion in 2010, up 30 per cent from the previous year.

via Who will win the clean energy race? – Opinion – ABC Environment (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

Wouldn’t it be great to have this kind of campaign here?!

Neon lights are switched off, trains are running slower and billboards flash energy savings as Japan looks to alternative sources of energy beyond nuclear power

Energy-saving ‘setsuden’ campaign sweeps Japan after Fukushima | Environment | guardian.co.uk.

Climate change is turning rivers of Mekong Delta salty, spelling disaster for millions of poor farmers

Vietnam’s rice bowl threatened by rising seas | Environment | The Guardian.

Animals and plants have adapted to warming by moving regions up to three times faster than previously thought, report shows

Climate change driving species out of habitats much faster than expected |Environment | The Guardian.