The Queensland election and solar energy

January 13, 2015 2017-10-25T09:44:19 by 9 Comments
qld map

Will queenslanders vote in a more solar friendly premier?

January traditionally sees Australians go on holidays, enjoy food and drink (and a bit of sport) and generally relax and get away from it all for a few weeks. The last thing on their minds is politics and worse, being dragged to the polling place when they should be having their well-deserved break.

However there’s grumblings up north. This is because one of the most unpopular (and coincidentally anti-solar) state governments has called a snap election to limit expected electoral damage further down the track. We’re talking of the Queensland Newman government who are committing the crime of dragging Queenslanders away from the beach and caravan. [Read more…]

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Calls for Housing NSW to allow solar installations

December 22, 2014 2017-10-25T09:45:06 by 1 Comment
housing nsw logo and solar panel

Should Housing NSW allow solar on their properties?

With domestic renewable energy systems rapidly increasing in popularity for Australian households, you’d think solar installations for Housing NSW properties would follow suit. With financial savings, clean energy and less pressure on the environment, its a no-brainer really.

However this is not so, says activist James Ray who has found that the department has ruled that it will not allow solar systems on their properties. In response to this Mr Ray has started a petition to ask that the agency allow tenants of Housing NSW to enjoy the benefits of solar installations. [Read more…]

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ARENA: the government renewable energy agency that refuses to go away

December 15, 2014 2017-10-25T09:45:24 by Leave a Comment
ARENA - the gift that keeps on giving.

ARENA – the gift that keeps on giving.

Remember ARENA? The plucky Australian Renewable Energy Agency that has helped many renewable energy ventures and research with seed funding and other support? The ongoing benefits of ARENA include not only financial support but also because their involvement has helped pave the way for research and development in partnership with the private sector.

Wait. Ongoing? Didn’t ARENA get axed by the feds in their anti-renewables Budget cuts zeal a while back?

Well no. At least not yet. For ARENA, to quote an oft-used phrase, is the gift that keeps on giving.

Though the agency has, as you’ve probably heard, been axed by the federal government as part of its thinly-disguised ideological campaign against renewables, it still refuses to roll over and die. [Read more…]

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The role of renewables in the Victorian election

December 1, 2014 2017-10-25T09:45:53 by 8 Comments
vote paper

Were Victorians Sick Of the Liberal’s Anti Renewables Agenda?

Sometimes satire says it best. As one superbly entertaining online news company put it, this week saw the Victorian electorate dump “Whatisname” in favour of “Thatotherguy”. Labor’s Daniel Andrews (“Thatotherguy”) gave the federal Liberals a huge shake when he ousted the Liberal Party’s Denis Napthine, the first time since 1955 that a Victorian government has been ousted in one term. However we at SolarQuotes are digging deeper, asking how much the federal government’s prolonged and rasping attack on renewable energy played its part in the Vic Libs’ stunning loss. [Read more…]

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Australian leaders lurch further out of step on renewables

November 17, 2014 2017-10-25T09:46:24 by 13 Comments
abbott and renewables

Abbott wants to stand up for poor, downtrodden, powerless coal. It’s good for humanity don’t you know. Unlike that nasty renewable stuff.

A very significant week in Australian renewable energy politics with the historic agreement between China and the United States on reducing emissions at the recent APEC summit in Beijing.

Significant for Australia because the ideological campaign against renewables (let’s call it for what it is) used to be heavily based around the fact that we were the leaders in cutting emissions while the rest of the world waited. The argument went that by taking such a leadership role, our industry was suffering. [Read more…]

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Poor Nations Beating Rich Nations in Alternative Energy Race

October 30, 2014 2018-05-09T11:07:39 by Leave a Comment

A recent study of 55 nations, found that wealthy, developed countries have developed an 84% growth rate in using renewable energy sources from 2008 to 2013. Sounds good, right? On paper it sounds nice. Until you see that much poorer nations have experienced a 143% growth in the same time period!

Why is it that poorer nations are moving faster toward greener energy? Well, it’s economics. While the nations themselves are poor, investing in renewable energy is providing much cheaper power than their fossil fuel counterparts. Meanwhile, wealthier nations can afford to keep using fossil fuels, so there is less motivation to use more renewable sources. With that said, it shouldn’t be long before other energy sources are depleted and wealthier nations move forward as their poorer counterparts have done.

Read the full article about this study here:: Poor Nations Go for Solar, Wind at Twice the Pace of Rich Ones

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Why Labor Need To Hold Firm On The RET

October 24, 2014 2018-05-09T11:00:57 by Leave a Comment

The government’s starting RET offer which reduces the legislated, previously bipartisan, and pre-election commitment of 41,000 gigawatt hours per year of renewable energy down to 27,000 has been turned down by the Labor Party. Why? Not just because of the environment, but because of economics.

By cutting the target almost in half, billions of dollars invested in the creation of solar and wind power generating devices will go to waste, and billions of dollars of investment will not happen. The 100 job losses at a wind turbine component manufacturer in Portland, Vic announced yesterday is just the beginning.  Not to mention that power prices would continue to climb due to expensive fossil fuels picking up the slack.

Abbott and his cronies are trying to destroy a policy they promised not to touch.  Then when Labor won’t co-operate they blame the opposition for the uncertainty that is destroying businesses. Read more about this story here.

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Experts Say Savage RET Cuts Will Line The Pockets Of Big Energy

October 24, 2014 2018-05-09T11:00:25 by Leave a Comment

Ian McFarlane and environmental minister Greg Hunt have proposed a huge reduction in the RET from the legislated (and previously bi-partisan) 41,000 gigawatt hours of renewable energy to 27,000 gigawatt hours by 2020. However, doing this will put billions of dollars worth of renewable energy investment at risk while boosting the profits of their mates in the fossil fuel business. For more information, click here.

They have taken a baseball bat to a policy that has been stable and bipartisan for 4 election cycles, and are blaming the opposition for the mess, because Labour refuse to join in the savage beating. It is very clear that the whole RET policy has been corrupted by the politics of fear and anger. Fear that renewable energy champions (in their eyes: all Greenie Hippies who are somehow “anti electricity”) might have been right all along and anger that anything might challenge the supremacy of the coal industry that has lined their biggest supporters’ pockets for so long.

(They have also promised that solar will be “untouched”. Which is rubbish. Although they are not proposing changes to the residential (small scale) solar scheme, they are still proposing a reduction from 100kW to 10kW in the maximum size of a commercial system that is eligible for rebates. This would really hurt the commercial solar market. Not to mention that meddling with the system could cause the price of STCs to plunge)

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David Einhorn Predicts Further Growth in SunEdison

October 23, 2014 2018-05-09T11:04:15 by Leave a Comment

The CEO of Greenlight Capital, David Einhorn, gave a presentation in a conference in Wall Street recently. At the Robin Hood Investors Conference, Einhorn gave offered two ideas:

1) His thesis regarding SunEdison (who bought Energy Matters just the other week), why he ranks it as the best performing solar company on the stock market and why he rates it a “Buy”.

2) Possible solutions to the current debt crisis in Greece and France (but we found the Sun Edison stuff much more interesting!)

For more information on his presentation, click here.

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Is Greg Hunt running scared?

August 25, 2014 2017-10-25T10:00:49 by 7 Comments
whiteboard with angey face

Greg Hunt’s taxpayer funded whiteboard yesterday.

Ever noticed how shrill Environment Minister Greg Hunt is getting these days readers? The man once considered the smiling face of the Abbott’s administration’s policy of dismantling of renewable energy appears to have lost all control in recent weeks.

I refer of course to Gregory’s extraordinary attack on John Grimes, the head of the Australian Solar Council this week on the ABC’s Mornings program in Brisbane. The minister sank the boot into the respected chief executive of the Council saying he should be “ashamed” of hinself and accused him of duplicity. Which sounds quite funny coming from a politician.

So what disturbed the minister so much to resort to this type of debating technique? [Read more…]

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