Home Posts tagged "Sustainability" (Page 13)

Tag Archives: Sustainability

ACT pours another $5m into battery storage research

An Australian National University research program that aims lead the world in grid-scale battery storage innovation and integration has been awarded $5 million in grant funding from the ACT government. The funding, announced on Wednesday, has been provided as part of the Renewable Energy Innovation Fund, which was set up off the back of the ACT’s first and second wind energy auctions. Last week, the Territory government announced the winners of the second round of its battery storage auction, part of a nation-leading plan to deploy 36MW of cutting edge distributed battery storage in more than 5,000 ACT homes and businesses …

Read the full article

Why sharing may be future of energy

Two years ago, NSW solar installer Geoff Bragg had a vision. “Imagine a system where one customer could sell energy to another customer, via the Distribution Network Service Provider, who ‘clips the ticket’ for transferring the energy,” he wrote in an article published on RenewEconomy in March 2014. “Anyone with a smart meter could join the market as a buyer or seller,” Bragg wrote. “…If that sounds difficult to do, remember this is an IT and accounting exercise (the physics is sorted already). Think about peer-to-peer file sharing… It would be a piece of cake for a handful of the right …

Read the full article

In time, all cars will be electric, driverless and running on renewables

Speculation about the future of transportation, like common flu, appears to be contagious. Not a week goes by without another celebrity, business guru or executive predicting that future of transportation is electric. That, you may say, is probable and not newsworthy. What is newsworthy is that many of the same people are predicting that the transition is likely to be at a pace much faster than many had expected. In July 2016, for example, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson was quoted as saying that he suspected that 15 years from now every car on the road would be electric. Chances …

Read the full article

Sydney community solar project: “solar beer”

A City of Sydney-backed community solar project that will put a 30kW PV system on the roof of a craft brewery in the city’s inner west will be opened to local investors this weekend. The project, which will install 120 solar panels at Young henry’s brewery in Newtown, won $40,000 in funding from the City of Sydney in November. The PV system will supply around 25 per cent of the brewery’s total electricity use, with no up-front capital costs. NSW-based community solar group Pingala, which is leading the project, said on Wednesday that it would launch the community investment round …

Read the full article

Solar uptake spikes on farm & in rural industry in Tasmania.

Tasmania’s uptake of solar power is up 25 per cent, whilst the nationally solar uptake has fallen by 24 per cent over the same period. The figures come from the government agency, the Clean Energy Regulator (CER), that documents the issue of solar certificates nationally. Solar power advocates Solar Citizens said the data revealed the trend reversal. Consumer campaigner with Solar Citizens, Reece Taylor said in the first five months of this year the uptake of small scale solar in Tasmania had been up by at least 25 per cent and could be higher because of the lag in CER …

Read the full article

Sheep Cutting Solar Farm’s Maintenance Costs

University of Queensland is saving $50,000 a year in mowing costs at its Gatton campus solar farm by using sheep to keep the vegetation down. In May last year,  the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) research facility in the southern hemisphere was switched on at Gatton. Comprising of more than 37,000 solar panels, the facility covers a fair bit of ground. The ABC reports that to mow the grounds used to take 4 days – and cost a significant chunk of change. Ten sheep were brought in to help cut mowing costs and seem to be enjoying their new digs; a …

Read the full article

People power is the secret to reliable, clean energy.

Australia’s energy watchdog, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), has issued a stark warning: more wind and solar power will demand new approaches to avoid interruptions to electricity supply. In its annual Electricity Statement of Opportunities, released this week, AEMO indicated that the overall outlook for reliability has improved. So far, so good. However, South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales are potentially at greater risk of interruptions within ten years if the current trend of shutting down old coal-fired power stations accelerates, as we can expect from Australia’s efforts to meet national and international climate targets. The threat of power blackouts is reliable …

Read the full article

UN Report Shows E-Government Boosts Sustainable Development

The 2016 UN E-Government Survey provides new evidence that e-government has the potential to help support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs).  The Survey finds that e-government is an effective tool for facilitating integrated policies and public service by promoting accountable and transparent institutions through open data and e-participation and participatory decision-making as well as by advancing online services to bridge the digital divides. The Survey found that United Kingdom has pursued continued development on e-government innovation, and its Government Digital Service has been replicated by other countries around the world. Australia and …

Read the full article

Renewable energy fixing the gaps

Renewable energy – South Australia is in the forefront of Australia’s transition to a low carbon economy. The July 2016 experience in that state has raised questions about the effects of high and increasing proportions of renewable energy, gas policies, and the design of the National Electricity Market. An immediate answer is grid-scale batteries, which are being deployed in other developed countries to balance increasing volumes of wind and solar energy as reported by Ross Garnaut. The Australian government’s participation in the December 2015 Paris agreements implicitly commits us to zero net emissions in electricity by the middle of the …

Read the full article

Sustainability in Business Speaker Opportunity

Sustainability in Business: The National Sustainability in Business Conference; renewables, markets, innovation, opportunities and capital will be held 23 – 24 March 2017 at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Brisbane. The Conference will address the need for sustainable business practices, and what this means in today’s ever-changing world. Included will be an extensive range of topics with keynotes, concurrent sessions, forum presentations, case studies, panel discussions and poster presentations. Sustainability in Business Speaker opportunity Presenters or organisations wishing to speak are invited to submit an abstract of no more than 300 words.  All proposals will be reviewed by the program …

Read the full article