Victorian solar farm to generate enough electricity to power Melbourne's entire tram network

It is a quiet town in northern Victoria with a population of fewer than 5,000 people, but Numurkah packs a powerful punch.

An aerial view of the solar farm at Numurkah in northern Victoria. 

The town, just north of Shepparton, is home to a massive solar farm that will soon generate enough electricity to power Melbourne's entire tram network.

A 128-megawatt Numurkah Solar Farm took less than a year to build at a cost of $198 million.

It will utilise more than 300,000 panels spread across 500 hectares once used for grazing cattle and sheep to supply 100 per cent renewable energy to offset the tram network.

The carbon emission reduction generated by the farm is the equivalent of taking 75,000 cars off the road or planting 390,000 trees, according to the Victorian Government.

Read the ABC News story by Rhiannon Tuffield - “Victorian solar farm to generate enough electricity to power Melbourne's entire tram network.”

Nuclear power is not the answer in a time of climate change

In November 2018, the Woolsey Fire scorched nearly 100,000 acres of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, destroying forests, fields and more than 1,500 structures, and forcing the evacuation of nearly 300,000 people over 14 days. It burned so viciously that it seared a scar into the land that’s visible from space. Investigators determined that the Woolsey Fire began at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a nuclear research property contaminated by a partial meltdown in 1959 of its failed Sodium Reactor Experiment, as well as rocket tests and regular releases of radiation.

The Woolsey Fire seen from Topanga Canyon in California.

The State of California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) reports that its air, ash and soil tests conducted on the property after the fire show no release of radiation beyond baseline for the contaminated site. But the DTSC report lacks sufficient information, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. It includes ‘few actual measurements’ of the smoke from the fire, and the data raises alarms. Research on Chernobyl in Ukraine following wildfires in 2015 shows clear release of radiation from the old nuclear power plant, calling into question the quality of DTSC’s tests. What’s more, scientists such as Nikolaos Evangeliou, who studies radiation releases from wildfires at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, point out that the same hot, dry and windy conditions exacerbating the Woolsey Fire (all related to human-caused global warming) are a precursor to future climate-related radioactive releases.

Read the Aeon story by Heidi Hutner and Erica Cirino - “Nuclear power is not the answer in a time of climate change.”

Cyclone Fani: India evacuates 800,000 from coastal areas

India has begun the evacuation of 800,000 people and deployed emergency personnel as the country’s east coast braces for a severe cyclonic storm.

Tropical Cyclone Fani gathers force in the Bay of Bengal.
It is set to hit the east coast of India on Friday. 

Tropical Cyclone Fani, located in the Bay of Bengal and packing wind speeds up to 205 km (127 miles) per hour, is expected to make landfall on the coast of Odisha state on Friday.

The state’s authorities said they hoped to have evacuated 800,000 people from the state’s coastal districts by Thursday morning.

Odisha has also moved in thousands of disaster management personnel to help those living in mud-and-thatch homes in low-lying areas take shelter from Fani.

Read the story from The Guardian - “Cyclone Fani: India evacuates 800,000 from coastal areas.”

35,000 Protestors in Berlin Call for Agricultural Revolution

Organizers said 35,000 people marched through the streets of the German capital on Saturday to say they're "fed up" with industrial agriculture and call for a transformation to a system that instead supports the welfare of the environment, animals and rural farmers.

Demonstrators participate in a protest march over
agricultural policy on Jan. 19 in Berlin, Germany. 

Many held placards reading "Eating is political" at the action in Berlin, which coincided with the so-called "Green Week" agricultural fair.

The protest also featured a procession of 170 farmers driving tractors to the rally at the Brandenburg Gate.

Read the story from EcoWatch by Andrea Germanos - “35,000 Protestors in Berlin Call for Agricultural Revolution.”

Victoria’s frail energy grid exposed on day of record heat and demand

Victoria's energy grid is not fit for purpose in a climate increasingly prone to extreme heat, according to the state's energy minister, after more than 200,000 people had their power cut on a day when Melbourne's temperature hit 42 degrees.

EnergyAustralia operates the Yallourn brown coal-fired
 power station in Victoria, which had multiple failures in the heat.CREDIT:

Lily D'Ambrosio said a huge generation failure from aging coal and gas generators on Friday, which left parts of more than 50 suburbs and townships powerless in the searing afternoon heat, underlined the urgent need to shift to renewables.

Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor agreed Victoria's energy grid had let people down, but said the widespread blackouts emphasised the need for new, reliable sources of power generation.

The power plant failures and shutdown meant the state lost almost 20 per cent of its capacity to meet the demand on Friday.

Read the story from The Age by Adam Carey - “Victoria’s frail energy grid exposed on day of record heat and demand.”

(Angus Taylor’s observation: “the widespread blackouts emphasised the need for new, reliable sources of power generation” is code for coal-power and is little more than dog-whistling to his base - Robert McLean)

The Stunning Hypocrisy of U.S. Automakers

A black cloud hung over the 2005 Ford Focus, which spewed fog from its tailpipe and money from its gas tank, a nod to Ford’s efforts to weaken emissions rules. Consumer and environmental advocates drove the car to Ford’s headquarters this month to deliver a petition signed by more than 250,000 people calling on the company to support existing standards.

The 2018 Ford F-150. Source: Ford Motor Company

“Ford and its trade association, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, wasted no time rushing to Washington after President Trump’s election. They sent him and his transition team their deregulation wishlist, which included the clean car standards,” Madeline Page, clean cars program coordinator for Public Citizen, told reporters. “For the automakers, it was a dramatic u-turn. The carmakers worked with the Obama administration to craft the rule in the first place.”

Read the NexusMedia story - “The Stunning Hypocrisy of U.S. Automakers.”

French Riviera fires force 12,000 to evacuate.

Bormes-Les-Mimosas: Backed by planes dropping water and fire retardant, more than 1000 firefighters battled wildfires that billowed smoke into the sky over France's southern Cote d'Azur coast and forced the evacuation of 12,000 people.

Sunbathers are being evacuated from the
beach in Le Lavandou, on the French Riviera. 

Large swaths of Mediterranean forest have been left bare and blackened after three days of fires.

About 250 trailer homes, a hangar, an artist's studio and several vehicles were burned in the blazes but no one so far has been injured, according to the prefect of the Var region.

Residents and tourists were evacuated early on Wednesday after a ferocious fire whipped by strong Mistral winds spread from La Londe-Les-Maures to around the picturesque hilltop town of Bormes-Les-Mimosas.

Read the story in today’s Melbourne Age - “French Riviera fires force 12,000 to evacuate.”