From Coal Jobs To Solar Hot Water Careers In The LaTrobe

 

According to brief item published on ABC Gippsland Vic, Latrobe Valley unions representing members working in the coal industry are developing a project to kick-start a factory producing solar hot water systems by next year.
   
The LaTrobe Valley in Victoria has the unpleasant distinction of generating power from the filthiest of fossil fuels, brown coal. It's the brown coal mined and burned in the area that have greatly contributed to Victoria's staggering carbon emissions problem.
   
The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union has plans to create multiple factories around Australia in order to offer coal-fired power generation workers alternative employment.
   
David Kerin from the union says the organisation has partnered with a company that produces the solar hot water systems the union will be building in Gippsland. The partner will provide the training of the first workforce and provide assistance in fitting out the first factory.
   
The move by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union will likely be applauded by environmentalists as a very positive indicator that some in the coal industry understand that the fossil fuel has an uncertain future in a carbon-constrained world; even though the Victorian Government is reportedly preparing to spend billions on "clean coal".
   
This recognition of the pathway relating to skills transfer into the renewable energy sector, forward thinking and action by the union may help to quell fears of workers in the coal industry of the spectre of mass unemployment, as summoned up by coal industry executives and shareholders eager for a business-as-usual scenario; rather than a phase-out of coal fired power generation.
   

Victoria To Gamble Billions On Clean Coal

 

Documents leaked to The Age reveal the Brumby Government is about to take a multibillion-dollar gamble on ''clean coal'. The news comes after a recent revelation that the Victorian Government also wishes to export millions of tonnes of brown coal, the filthiest of fossil fuels, from Victoria each year.
 
The Age report says the Government will kick off an education campaign around carbon capture and storage (CCS) to make Victorians aware of the challenges facing the state under emissions trading.
 
95% of Victoria’s electricity is sourced from the combustion of brown coal, the most emissions intensive source in Australia. The Victorian ecological footprint is triple that of the world average, with energy generation and consumption having the biggest impact.
 
The leaked papers acknowledge the clean coal plan may not work and while the government believes renewable energy will eventually replace fossil fuels, the state will rely on a mix of renewable and fossil energy for decades. The Age says no mention was made of the role of residential solar power in the effort to reduce the state's carbon emissions.
 
The coal mining industry will be pleased with the news as clean coal technologies require more energy; therefore more brown coal will need to be mined. However, the end consumer will end up paying much more for electricity - up to 78 per cent more according to a recent report from the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute; who also stated clean coal technologies will not be commercially viable for another 20 years.
 
Given this massive price hike and questiona regarding viability, renewable energy supporters say it makes wind energy and solar power an even more attractive proposition and more reason to phase out coal fired power generation as soon as possible.
 
The state's continued reliance on fossil fuels will have a great deal to do with its approach to renewable energy incentives. Victoria's solar feed in tariff, which kicked in on November 1, has been labeled by some as being a farce.
 
The feed-in tariff only offers a credit against a customer’s electricity bill whereas in other states, a cash payment is offered. Additionally, the tariff will only be available until a total capacity of systems participating reaches 100 megawatts total capacity.
 

News for Tuesday 03 November, 2009

 

• Report: Go Solar, Go Local
  


• Maldives 75MW Wind Farm Announced
  

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