Australia large-scale renewable investment hits a low point

Australian investment in large-scale renewable energy projects fell sharply in the first quarter of 2016, more than six months after the Coalition government promised “certainty” after forcing Labor to agree to slash the renewable energy target to 33,000GWh. New data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance showed that investment in large-scale renewables – wind and solar – slumped to just $US69 million, falling back to levels seen in the midst of the investment freeze, when the then Abbott government sought to abolish the RET altogether, or seek bigger cuts. The impact in 2014 was so dramatic that large-scale investment actually dried up completely …

Read the full article

Scientists use DNA to investigate cleaner energy sources

The key to unlocking cleaner energy might be in our DNA, according to a new study by Stanford scientists. By combining synthetic DNA with microscopic particles, Yuran Zhang and a team of geothermal energy researchers hope to tap into the widely available but often overlooked cleaner energy source all over the world. Geothermal energy is the heat of our Earth, and geothermal power is generated by extracting that heat and converting it to electricity. Effectively, the heat moves through irregular cracks or fractures deep underground, so geothermal engineers must have a detailed understanding of the underlying geology and the location …

Read the full article

Renewable energy and the promise of nanotechnology

With the goal of bringing together experts from the fields of medicine, engineering, science, and technology, the Australian Institute of Nanoscale Science and Technology officially opens its doors today at the University of Sydney. The institute’s Founding Director, Thomas Maschmeyer, is the recent developer a nano-structured battery gel. He hopes the gel can help restructure the power grid, putting a focus on renewable energy while helping to cut carbon emissions. Could Nanotechnology save the human race? The Australian Institute of Nanoscale Science and Technology hopes to expedite the process. To listen to the podcast click here. Nanoscience and nanotechnology involve …

Read the full article

With carbon trading conservation pays for itself

In a place like Tasmania we cannot escape nature because it’s all abound. Nature is a great provider. It gives us clean air, clean water and productive soils. It pollinates our crops, and gives us places to recreate and places for inspiration. People value nature for cultural connection to place, for the value it brings the community, for the value it brings our economy and for itself. The Tasmanian Land Conservancy has been working to make explicit some of those connections. In terms of the economic value, in 2010 TLC embarked on the New Leaf Project, acquiring 28,000ha of native …

Read the full article

Zero waste living in a busy world

City-dwellers are embracing the trend of zero waste living to live more sustainably. Living a completely rubbish-free life is difficult but some are managing to reduce their waste so dramatically that two years worth of rubbish can fit into a mason jar. Melbourne resident Erin Rhoads is one of the growing number of people embracing the lifestyle, but you would never know it. “I work in the CBD, I still wear heels, go out for cocktails, nothing has really changed,” Rhoads told news.com.au. One of the things that has defined the modern zero waste movement is that it could not …

Read the full article

Malcolm Turnbull defends renewable energy agency Abbott wanted scrapped

Malcolm Turnbull says the renewable energy agency that Tony Abbott wanted to scrap has been “very well run”, as he announces a $1 billion fund to spur investment in the sector. The funding will be spread over a decade and will draw on part of the borrowings meant to support the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, a $10 billion scheme that Mr Abbott vowed to scrap but which will be retained. The new statement will make it clear that a bill to dismantle the CEFC, which has been rejected twice and is a trigger for a double-dissolution election, will be abandoned …

Read the full article

CSIRO’s Solar Hackathon brings 100 Aussies together to create clean energy startups

With hackathons proving their worth as a way to nurture creativity and spur innovation, CSIRO is getting in on the action, inviting potential clean energy innovators to #hackthesun for $10k in prize money. This will be Australia’s first solar hackathon, with the same model internationally already having produced a number of successful solar startups. The hackathon will present teams with a challenge centring around renewable energy, as part of their goal to continue the conversation around solar and sustainable energy at this crucial time. To run the event, CSIRO has partnered with Silicon Valley-based Powerhouse (formerly SfunCube), a solar-centric incubator …

Read the full article

Solabat: Solar + Battery Hybrid System

The Solabat project gives new meaning to the term solar + storage – it aims to combine the two on a single device. Researchers at the Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) say they are entering largely unknown scientific territory with the project. While small solar + battery devices are already widely available, the Solabat project is thinking much tighter integration and potentially much bigger – up to full size solar panels such as those used in home solar power installations. “Currently single systems of photovoltaic cells which are connected together – mostly lead-based batteries and vast amounts of cable …

Read the full article

Companies putting the new in renewable

Based on the vision of a sustainable and resource-efficient future, clean technology is all about minimizing pollution and making the world’s infrastructure energy efficient. Renewable energy, sustainable chemistry, and recycling are just a handful of initiatives the sector focuses on. Last year, the Chinese cleantech market invested over $100 billion in cleantech initiatives. In Australia, cleantech stocks are consistently surpassing the wider market. It’s not just the Asia-Pacific region that’s getting into a tizzy over clean energy. In North America, Canadian businesses are pushing the government to invest in clean innovation and decrease their reliance on fossil fuels. And it’s …

Read the full article

The quest for the perfect wave for renewable energy is being solved by Australian science

Australia’s search for the perfect wave is being solved with a wave energy atlas. The CSIRO wave atlas project is mapping the wave energy potential of Australia’s vast coastline for renewable wave energy farms. Atlas project leader Dr Mark Hemer said the project found most of Australia’s south west and southern coastline had some of the world’s best wave energy resource. “We’ve just released a development version of the atlas,” he said. “Obviously some people are interested, like the project developers themselves or the device developers, potential financiers, [and] marine planners trying to allocate sections of the marine resource. “We’re …

Read the full article