$2m funding for driverless electric vehicle prototype

Australia's renewable energy advocate is investing $2 million to help commercialise a Melbourne-based company's solar-powered, driverless electric vehicle designed for passenger transport and commercial applications.

Applied Electric Vehicles prototype of a solar-powered,
driverless electric vehicle which is designed for
passenger transport and commercial applications.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency's (ARENA) funding announcement follows news of the federal government's $350 million clean energy research initiative, which will develop a national strategy to integrate electric vehicle charging stations into the electricity grid.

Read the story from The Age by Mike Foley - “$2m funding for driverless electric vehicle prototype.”

(Such stories bring both joy and despair - joy because it exemplifies the wonderful inventive nature of people; despair, as it illustrates we have not yet broken free from the idea of privately owned vehicles dependent on a publicly provided road network. 

Rather than going deeper into the rabbit hole of “more of the same” we should be breaking free of the market, profit-driven system and putting forward ideas that are about people and truly public system, but maybe this is where it starts - Robert McLean)

Entrepreneur seizes business opportunity in China recycling ban

China's decision to stop importing much of the world's used plastic spelt disaster for countries around the globe. But Melbourne-based Chinese entrepreneur Harry Wang saw it as a business opportunity.

Harry Wang with a wall of plastics ready for recycling
at his Advanced Circular Polymers plant in Somerton.

Mr Wang has since invested $20 million on that idea and after several years of research and development, his new business - Advanced Circular Polymers - is open in Melbourne's outer north.

Read the story from The Age by Debbie Cuthbertson - “Entrepreneur seizes business opportunity in China recycling ban.”

Majura solar farm set to power more than 600 homes after four years of planning

Impact investment group head of
renewable infrastructure Lane Crockett.

Hundreds of Canberra homes are set to be powered by one of Australia's first sun-tracking solar farms which opened in Majura on Thursday.

The 2.3MW solar farm adjacent to the Mount Majura winery will generate 4,300 MW per hour within a year, which equals about 600 houses.

Four years since planning began, the 5000 panels at the $6.5 million farm are finally helping the ACT reach its 100 per cent renewable energy target.

The farm has one of the first self-powered and single axis tracking technology to be used in Australia, which increases output by up to 40 per cent.

Lane Crockett, head of renewable infrastructure from the Melbourne-based Impact Investment Group, which owns and operates the farm, said the project ran relatively smoothly.

Read Clare Sibthorpe’s story in The Canberra Times - “Majura solar farm set to power more than 600 homes after four years of planning.”

'After Paris, counting the cost' - David Spratt

David Spratt.

David Spratt is a Melbourne businessman, climate-policy analyst, and co-founder of Carbon Equity, which advocates personal carbon allowances as the most fair and equitable means of rapidly reducing carbon emissions.

He is a contributor to “Break/Through” a Melbourne-based organization that aims to connect climate reality with what is happening in society.

David, who is also the co-author of “Climate Code Red”, has written a sobering climate reality check as the speed of major climate impacts continue to accelerate.

He is hopeful that his latest piece – “After Paris, counting the cost” - could provide a critical foundation from which to build effective climate strategy.