After being somewhat out in the wilderness in relation to renewable energy, particularly solar power, the NSW government has been busy this week kick-starting investment into the development of alternative energy sources in the state and preparing to encourage the uptake of home solar power systems through financial incentives.
Speaking at the International Solar Energy Society conference in Sydney yesterday, Environment Minister Peter Garrett announced $3.3 million in Federal funding for a solar power station to be constructed in Alice Springs as part of the Australian Government’s Solar City initiative.
In a survey of 12,000 people from 12 countries, More than twice as many respondents stated governments should invest in renewable energy than participate in international agreements on climate change.
Last week, Committee for Melbourne claimed the ultimate Fast Thinking 2008 Innovation Prize and the award for Social Innovation at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum. The awards were made to the organization for its work towards Melbourne’s sustainability and ongoing prosperity.
In the early hours of November 24, wind power generation in Spain accounted for 43% of the country’s needs – setting a new record.
In an attempt to clean up its reputation, Big Coal in Australia has been seeking a new look with “NewGenCoal”, aka New Generation Coal. New Gen Coal also appears to have been spending up on bidding for keywords such as “solar power” and other totally non-coal related renewable energy terms on some major search engines.
The rollout of tariffs by the UK government could see up to a quarter of households investing in renewable energy options. It’s been predicted 195,000 home wind turbines will be installed in the UK over the next 12 years and upwards of 900,000 households will install solar power and/or solar hot water systems.
In its latest green initiative, Wal-mart announced last Friday it would be partnering with a Duke Energy wind farm in Texas to provide renewable energy to up to 15 percent of 360 Wal-Mart stores and other facilities in the state
It is expected that the New South Wales government will unveil the introduction of a feed in tariff scheme to be rolled out next year when NSW Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Carmel Tebbutt, speaks at a solar power conference in Sydney later today.
The old jokes state ‘useful as deckchairs on a submarine’ or ‘flyscreens on a submarine’, but a solar powered submarine is not a joke or science fiction – it will be a reality soon.