In a piece published in the Guardian recently, Environment minister Greg Hunt was purported to have once again rejected claims that a price on carbon would benefit emissions reduction targets. This time…
- Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor Emeritus, The University of Melbourne
Gas developers have been ominously warning of impending gas shortages in New South Wales, with official forecasts from planning authorities pointing to steady or rising demand. Yet our analysis suggests…
Emissions fell by six times the rate in the five years before the carbon tax than they did under the carbon tax. – Environment minister Greg Hunt, The Guardian, January 17, 2015. Australia’s total greenhouse…
In a recent article on The Conversation, Queensland coal seam gas (CSG) researchers argued that the industry is progressing faster than the science, leading to concerns over fugitive emissions and impacts…
One hundred days on from the repeal of the carbon tax, we now have a new framework for emissions abatement (the Emissions Reduction Fund) and the odds are firming that we will smash previous records with…
The carbon tax repeal legislation received Royal Assent on Thursday, 17 July 2014. So, at the time of this writing, we now have over six weeks data to assess the response of Australia’s National Electricity…
A key issue in the climate debate relates to the role of natural gas as a potential climate bridge. Judging by the hype surrounding the US shale-gas revolution, you might guess that natural gas was a sure-fire…
The carbon price is finally set to go this week (14th July) with both the Coalition and PUP committed to deliver on their election promises. After all, a promise is a promise. And you can’t go back on…
The Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, has claimed that carbon pricing should go because it has proven ineffective. But the data show quite unequivocally that carbon pricing has helped reduce electricity…
As one of the incoming PUP senators, Jacqui Lambie has indicated she will be putting Tasmanian interests first when deciding which way to vote on legislation. The carbon tax will be one of her first tests…
If you wonder why there is so much antipathy towards the Renewable Energy Target from the electricity utilities, all you need to do is look at what is happening to demand for poles and wires electricity…
AUSTRALIA 2025: How will science address the challenges of the future? In collaboration with Australia’s chief scientist Ian Chubb, we’re asking how each science discipline will contribute to Australia…
Imagine listening to your CEO explain sales down 30% on forecasts of just five years ago when your company signed off a multi-billion dollar investment plan designed to secure its share of the predicted…
Caroline is a curious beast. It is not just that she just keeps on giving and that she turns a handy profit for her owners. The curiosity is in what she gives. Since she started back in the late 1960’s…
We are told by the government the carbon tax is a huge waste of money. Emissions, they say, are not coming down. Despite throwing billions of dollars at it, there has been no appreciable result, they claim…
With the hype surrounding the US gas-boom, it’s something of a worrying and cautionary note to read in the Financial Times outgoing Shell CEO Peter Voser quoted as saying his “huge bet on US shale was…
For more than a decade, climate science has been flagging the need to greatly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To avoid the possibility of serious and irreversible global warming, climate science…
Yesterday’s (5th August, 2013) Australian Story ‘Corridors of power’ featured the battle between the Manning Alliance and TransGrid over the proposed high voltage transmission line from Stroud to Landsdowne…
One of the certainties in the energy business used to be the regular year-in, year-out rise in demand for electricity [1]. Up until about 6 years ago, demand growth could be counted on with metronomic…
In a recent speech at a combined Melbourne Energy Institute-Grattan Institute seminar at the University of Melbourne, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage Greg Hunt, MP, outlined…
Each June BP publishes its “Statistical Review of World Energy”, a compendium of the latest trends in the global energy system. After the June 2012 release, I commented on the remarkable trends in coal…
The purpose of our various clean energy policies - such as the carbon tax, the renewable energy target and, to some extent, the various energy efficiency measures - is to reduce the carbon emissions from…
Updated and corrected 4th April With a run of recent summers of below par temperatures, energy pundits have been eagerly awaiting a good summer heat wave to see just how our electricity system would stand…
The CO2-emission intensity for electrical power production fueled by natural gas is about half that of coal. Consequently, natural gas is mooted as a potential transitional or bridging fuel to a cleaner…
Three months into the brave new world of carbon pricing, and we can see some dramatic trends in the latest data from the National Electricity Market - or NEM. In particular, the latest data shows the demand…
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