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Today, the Australian government drastically scaled back its renewable energy targets for 2020, dropping them by nearly 20 percent. The new target, 33 TeraWatt-Hours, ends an extended period of uncertainty. The Abbot government had announced its intent to lower the target, but parliamentary negotiations were required to set a new one.
Australia's initial target, 41 TW-hr, had been set in 2009 with the goal of having renewables contribute 20 percent of the nation's electrical generation. But greater efficiency and reduced manufacturing has already pushed the fraction of renewables up over 13 percent. The Abbott government, which is generally hostile to climate science, didn't feel the need to overshoot its goals and so decided to cut the renewable energy target.
The article also states that the Australian Prime Minister "will appoint a 'wind farm commissioner' to field complaints about turbines, too."
Australia's geography and weather seem to make it a good candidate for national energy independence through solar and wind. Also, given China's new moves to realize its territorial ambitions (see: Spratley Islands), not relying on ships to bring you oil would seem to be a good idea.
Original Submission
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Friday June 26 2015, @05:18PM
"Nearly 20%" is a Spring sale. "Slashing" means something else. They're talking about the year 2020, which is just around the corner as far as large infrastructure projects are concerned. So they've revised old targets to match reality, wow.
If you really want something to cry about, read the source articles, like this article from the Sydney Morning Herald" [smh.com.au]. It's actually just dirty politics, all the way down. They've agreed to create a "scientific committee to research wind turbines", i.e., they gave themselves more pork for staffers. Meanwhile, they're debating whether or not to count burning "wood waste" as renewable - where you have to understand that "wood waste" can mean entire trees. It isn't really an exaggeration to say that the logging industry wants to be called "renewable" when they log virgin forests for burning in power plants.
Could we not create a renewable power source that runs off of politicians? The supply seems pretty inexhaustible, and really, what else are they good for?
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Friday June 26 2015, @07:16PM
The world couldn't handle the sudden release of all that hot air.