Presented by Energy Matters team member Virginia, we take a look at some of the stories from Australia and around the world recently added to our renewable energy news section.
This week, Virginia reports on Australia’s renewable energy target under threat, the mining industry still on the subsidy gravy train and the US EPA’s latest top 50 Green Power Partnership rankings.
In this episode:
– A recent study states Australian renewable electricity generation may fall well short of the government’s mandatory target of 20 percent by 2020. The results of the study are based on three gas and carbon price scenarios designed to show the impact on Australia’s National Electricity Market. According to the report, just 14 to 17 percent of electricity would be sourced from renewables, depending on market pricing. Read more.
– While solar energy will soon be able to thrive without subsidies, many other industries still receive government hand outs despite being incredibly profitable. Examples of this are the fossil fuel and mining sector. The Australia Institute recently completed a study that shows the mining industry is still receiving around $4 billion in tax payer support a year. The report states this conservative sum includes fuel subsidies, reduced tax payments, tax write-offs and other deductions.On top of this the mining industry will also receive substantial assistance under the carbon tax. Read more.
– The US Environmental Protection Agency has updated its Top 50 Green Power Partnership rankings. Microsoft entered the top 5 and McDonald’s USA also made its debut appearance on the Top 50 list. The number one spot is still held by Intel Corporation; which uses over 2,500 Gigawatts of clean energy each year. Collectively the Top 50 partners use more than 15 billion kilowatt hours of green electricity each year, avoiding carbon emissions equivalent to the amount produced by more than 1.3 million American households. Read more.
