Climate Change Campaign News

Wednesday, 16 July 2008

The Commonwealth Government will release its green paper on a proposed Emissions Trading Scheme today.

As a green paper it will flag some of the principles, directions and options the government is considering for inclusion in the scheme.

Queensland Conservation believes that there are five key tests that an Emissions Trading Scheme must pass to be effective in reducing Australian emissions:

• A cap and trade scheme designed to reduce emissions by 50%  by 2020 (Measured against the international benchmark 1990 levels)
• A scheme that starts by 1 July 2010, with legislation passed through parliament in the first session in 2009
• All permits to be auctioned, with revenue to be allocated to support disadvantaged communities and for investment in energy efficiency and renewable technologies
• No exemptions for trade-exposed/energy-intense industries. As Ross Garnaut commented, that would include just about every industry in Australia. Exemptions place an unfair burden on other sectors
• A minimum of 70% emission coverage, this includes the transport sector. Agriculture should be excluded from the first round due to a lack of robust measurement and it is self evident that the scheme should allow linkages to Kyoto compliant carbon markets.

Friday, 09 May 2008

Tuesday, 22 April 2008

While Australian governments state and federal, past and present, throw
huge wads of cash at unproven ‘clean coal’ technology they are ignoring
a proven method of pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere and storing it.

Tuesday, 08 April 2008

Solar Bonus or Solar Bogus?

Queensland ’s recently announced Solar Bonus Scheme was hailed by environmentalists, consumer advocates and energy companies as a major incentive for Queenslanders to produce non-polluting solar energy at home. But is it the great step in the direction of a clean energy future that it seemed to be or has everyone fallen victim to government greenwash?

Tuesday, 08 April 2008

Queensland Conservation (QCC) has sought first stage funding from the Queensland Government to construct an offshore wind farm for the Tugun Desalination plant on the Gold Coast.

Read the Media Release

Read the Project Outline  project_outline_brief.pdf 22.44 Kb

Tuesday, 08 April 2008

Queensland Conservation (QCC) is delighted that from July 1st the Bligh Government has set a fair price for domestically generated solar power.

"Energy retailers already pay generators a premium price for electricity during peak demand - which coincides exactly with the peak output of domestic solar panels" said QCC Coordinator, Toby Hutcheon.

"Every kilowatt hour (KWH) of power produced by a domestic solar panel is one kilowatt hour less that comes from dirty coal. So It's only fair that people who are doing the right thing by installing solar panels get a similar price for their clean power as polluting conventional power stations." he continued.

Queenslanders with grid-connected solar panels currently have the amount they produce subtracted from the amount they use on their quarterly bill, this is equivalent to a tariff of 15.6 cents per KWH. From July 1st they will receive 44 cents per KWH, in other words for every KWH they produce they will receive a benefit equivalent to buying 2.8KWH at the normal domestic rate.

“The aim of the game must be to have every Queensland household producing clean solar energy. When there are solar panels on every home and every roof in Queensland generating clean power gets the same benefit as every dirty coal power station we’ll be well on the way to winning the struggle against Global Warming.” concluded Hutcheon.

From the government's media release
Minister for MInes and Energy, Geoff Wilson, said participating homes would have either an upgraded or second meter installed to measure energy being produced.

“Two meters – one to measure power coming in and one to measure power going out,” Mr Wilson said.

“The quarterly bill will show how much electricity a household has used and how much electricity has been fed into the grid.

“The customer will get 44 cents for every kilowatt hour they feed into the grid – it will be reflected as a reduction in their bill.

“If there is excess credit in a customer account at the end of each year, retailers will pay cash to that customer.”

Ms Bligh said the Solar Homes and Solar Bonus Schemes would make solar energy systems more accessible and affordable for Queenslanders.

“The upfront cost of a solar power system puts a lot of people off,” she said.

“We hope our Solar Homes trial will help play a part in driving down that cost and our Solar Bonus Scheme will then help offset the initial cost over time.”
To read the full government media release click here  solar_bonus_scheme.pdf 155.01 Kb

Tuesday, 08 April 2008

Queensland Conservation urges action to stabilise emissions as soon as possible.
The Garnaut Review should recommend a 2020 emission reduction target of at least 30% of 1990 levels (the international benchmark year) and establish a 'roadmap' to achieve that target.

"QCC believes that it would be prudent for the Government to fully assess our energy future and not put most of our investment eggs in the one basket. A diversified energy future should be encouraged, rather than the current situation in which clean coal receives most of the funding support.”

To read the full submission click here  garnaut_review_submission.pdf 37.32 Kb