Posted: Thursday, 19 January 2012 | By: swingingvoteinoz101

Population growth (local+global & mining/fossil fuel/agri export) causes our increasing GHG emissions. Limit pop. growth, focus growth in newly created sustainable cities enabling rapid change. Existing regions need a phased, slower change proce

Posted: Thursday, 19 January 2012 | By: swingingvoteinoz101

Part of the problem= vested interests holding back developments & redirected distribution of public funds/taxes to protect their investments & return on capital. The other problem is inertia - enacting rapid change needed by 20yrs of delayed

Posted: Thursday, 19 January 2012 | By: swingingvoteinoz101

Look to South Korea- building an entirely new master-planned city - within 10yrs- which showcases smart energy tech. If Australia's population is set to double in the next 35years, then we need to recognise the need for sustainable urban developm

Posted: Thursday, 19 January 2012 | By: swingingvoteinoz101

The strategy of developing new smart energy networks which have a defined payback over the longer term should be funded by a proportion of Oz superannuation (offering a guaranteed return).This lowers long term energy costs, create local jobs+profits.

Posted: Thursday, 19 January 2012 | By: swingingvoteinoz101

Local-generated,distributed power systems (using renewable energy sources) can actually be cheaper (longer term) to consumers than that supplied by fossil fuel (coal therm) powerplants. Use SUPER to fund new smart energy networks with clear paybacks.

Posted: Saturday, 10 September 2011 | By: EmmeBinga

Australia should have a goal to achieve a competitive advantage in renewable energy technology and skills - That is the starting point that Governments, either the ALP or Libs, need to commit to as a starting point.

Posted: Friday, 24 June 2011 | By: garyrlooney

In regards to a clean energy future I Submit this paper to Government and hope others will concentrate on what they think, not who they follow. Above the politics.
Carbon and Tax (ETS) Gary Looney 24-6-2011
http://www.scribd.com/doc/58606357

Posted: Wednesday, 26 January 2011 | By: BarrelSitter

I agree with obutters

The need to restore infrastructure after the floods provides an opportunity to provide additional infrastructure which will guarantee Australia’s economic future. It is not merely an opportunity, it is a necessity that we build for the future while the mining boom lasts. As with the numerous economic crashes since we signed up to GATT, it is clear that economic commentators can only predict events with hindsight, so when they start talking about when the boom will end, it will already be over. There is no time to lose.

In the past, Australia developed leading edge solar technology, only to lose it overseas. However, we still have sufficient knowledge and expertise to develop a solar electric generation industry. Whether thermal or photovoltaic is optimal for the long run may be a question for some debate. However, implementing one does not preclude adopting the other in the future. It may also be that a combination of the two technologies is the optimal solution.

Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) electricity generation is a proven technology, and can be installed now. The window of opportunity will not remain open indefinitely.

It is unnecessary to rehe***** the environmental advantages of solar energy.

One often repeated objection to solar energy is that it only works during daylight. However, there are systems which can store excess heat energy for night-time use.

Better still, excess electricity can be used to generate hydrogen, and this opens up a unique opportunity to build a hydrogen-based economy.
• Hydrogen can run the electricity generators when there is no sunlight;
• Hydrogen can power transport.

North Sea oil provided decades of prosperity for the countries involved.

Geological oil is a non-renewable resource. Its use is also a source of pollution.

Solar energy is Australia’s North Sea oil, and hydrogen is bottled sunshine.

Posted: Thursday, 13 January 2011 | By: psleng

When will we realise that coal has a very short shelf life with China? Already they have received some of our best solar developers and innovators wiith open arms and we let them go without a counter bid!
China will not need our coal for long. They will be the alternative energy innovators and we will be left with great gouged holes in the ground in what should have been terrific food producing areas ,e.g. the Hunter Valley. What will we do with our coal that is still in the ground and the jobless coal workers then?
Let's get real and get stuck into the future energy producing technologies - providing some geneuine supportive funding for the nation's future. Let's have a realisitc exit strategy from coal mining that is tied to a much shorter time-frame!
Currently, our heads are stuck in the sand over a realistic future for coal mining. Clean coal is a waste of time - too expensive to get there and the product will most likely be redundent!

Posted: Friday, 3 September 2010 | By: lylabor92

I would like to say I wholly and fundamentally agree with the importance of 'environmentally compatible development' and goals for greener energy alternatives.
I agree especially with your suggestion, Obutters, of 'green economy' technology zones, especially in my Hunter region, with the nation's second-largest share of mining employed population. Business and development definitely needs to be encouraged in these coal-dependent regions such as the Hunter Valley where suggestions of a 'green economy' are met with apprehension merely due to insecurity about the local coal economy and local coal jobs in the region.
These displaced workers need to be compensated with alternative jobs made available within the region by either renewable energy industries or otherwise. The shift to renewable is vital, as complacence in fear of dismantling one of our primary industries, is dangerous as the shift is of course, inevitable.
We need to ensure that we utilise the natural resources of each area to the greatest extent, be that wind, solar or hydro-electric depending on the available sites in that area.
People also need to be reassured that coal and other mining-related resources are not expendable resources and hence not expendable industries for a sustainable and indefinite future. Renewable resources provide renewable industries.