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Doha Dispatches: Carbon capture games in the desert sands
The fossil fuel industry is pushing carbon capture and storage in a big way at the Doha climate talks, and is calling for the same policy measures it once ridiculed for wind and solar. It even has the endorsement of a group of leading environmental NGOs. But do we really need it? -
Doha Dispatches: Mind the gap… and the science
At COP 18, the difference between the urgent need to act and the inertia of UN climate negotiations has never been so marked. Neither has the gap in expectations between developed and developing nations. For the most vulnerable countries, the offer on the table threatens to lock in failure. -
Insight: How communities can take lead in green energy
Community ownership of renewables is a largely untapped resource in Australia. But one wind farm has been running for a year, another is nearing completion, and a whole bunch of community solar projects are soon to be announced. Will large scale developers be able to leverage off the leadership from communities that is lacking from politicians? -
Tilting at windmills: Senate committee rejects wind restrictions
A Senate committee has rejected calls for arbitrary noise standards to be imposed on wind farms. But as the industry negotiates another hurdle thrown up by the anti-wind lobby, it may be entitled to ask if it really has bipartisan support. -
The world’s electricity business models are broken. What’s next?
The global electricity market, once noted for dull regulated returns, is in a state of turmoil. Its business model is effectively broken – a series of dramatic ‘game changing’ renewables technologies and falling demand has seen to that. The question is, what should go in its place? -
Is solar PV our best bet against the impending gas price bubble?
The Melbourne Energy Institute says solar PV can deliver the most cost-effective solutions to distributed, low-carbon generation. That’s not what the Productivity Commission found, but the MEI accuses it of working with out-of-date assumptions, and an outlook that ignores the dangers of a gas-driven energy future. -
Interview: Clean Energy Finance Corp CEO Oliver Yates
In his first interview, CEFC chief Oliver Yates explains why he took the job and how he plans to spend the $10 billion available to him. He says it is a “matter of time” until the investment community sees clean energy as mainstream assets rather than just a niche.
