Greenhouse gas emissions from diesel vehicles cancelled out cuts from renewable energy

Greenhouse gas emissions from diesel cars, utes and vans have risen sharply since 2011, effectively cancelling out the cut in pollution from new renewable energy replacing some coal plants.

A surge in ownership of diesel vehicles is
 the main reason emissions from transport
leapt by more than 10% over the decade.

A surge in ownership of larger diesel vehicles is a central reason emissions from transport leapt by more than 10% over the decade, according to the monthly emissions audit published by progressive thinktank the Australia Institute.

They rose as the federal government considered, promoted and ultimately shelved plans to introduce vehicle emissions standards to address the issue.

Read the story from The Guardian by Adam Morton - “Greenhouse gas emissions from diesel vehicles cancelled out cuts from renewable energy.”

Barnaby Joyce rejects petrol car sales ban amid Coalition debate on electric vehicles

Transport Minister Barnaby Joyce has quashed the prospect of Australia replicating overseas bans on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, as the Turnbull government debates whether to encourage the electric vehicle industry.

Barnaby Joyce: ''Australia's transport policies
are modelled on Australia's needs."

Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg this week strongly backed the prospects of electric vehicles in Australia against opposition from conservative backbenchers. He told Sky News on Tuesday that critics who ridiculed the technology would "probably be the ones buying them in a decade's time".

Read Nicole Hasham’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Barnaby Joyce rejects petrol car sales ban amid Coalition debate on electric vehicles.”

Diesel cars help drive Australia's energy emissions to highest level, report shows.

Australia's love affair with diesel cars has helped push the nation's energy emissions to a record high, new analysis shows, in a warning that road transport rivals electricity as the most pressing energy challenge facing the Turnbull government.

Australia's love affair with diesel cars has helped
 pushed the nation’s energy emissions to a record
 high, a new analysis shows.

Respected energy analyst Hugh Saddler compiled the disturbing report on behalf of progressive think tank The Australia Institute. Dr Saddler said the failure of successive governments to invest in efficient transport infrastructure, such as rail, has allowed transport fuel emissions to keep rising - a trend bucked by the rest of the world.

Among developed nations, only Australia and Turkey are breaking emissions records for energy combustion

Read the story by Nicole Hasham in today’s Melbourne Age - “Diesel cars help drive Australia's energy emissions to highest level, report shows.”

The end of petrol cars could be just eight years away

No more petrol or diesel cars, buses, or trucks will be sold anywhere in the world within eight years. The entire market for land transport will switch to electrification, leading to a collapse of oil prices and the demise of the petroleum industry as we have known it for a century.

Waymo is Google's self-driving car project. 

This is the futuristic forecast by Stanford University economist Tony Seba . His report, with the deceptively bland title Rethinking Transportation 2020-2030, has gone viral in green circles and is causing spasms of anxiety in the established industries.

Seba's premise is that people will stop driving altogether. We will switch en masse to self-drive electric vehicles (EVs) that are 10 times cheaper to run than fossil-based cars, with a near-zero marginal cost of fuel.

Only nostalgics will cling to the old habit of car ownership. The rest will adapt to vehicles on demand. It will become harder to find a petrol station, spares, or anybody to fix the 2000 moving parts that bedevil the internal combustion engine.

Read Ambrose Evan-Pritchard’s comment in today’s Melbourne’s Age - “The end of petrol cars could be just eight years away.”