Australia can avoid Germany's renewable energy mistakes

Australia's increasing focus on demand response and energy efficiency is setting the country up to bypass the mistakes made by the world leader in renewables, says a German energy expert.

Australia can avoid German's renewable energy mistakes.

"Australia can learn from Germany's mistakes of the last few years," the deputy chairman of the German Business Initiative for Energy Efficiency, the nation's peak energy efficiency body, Christoph von Spesshardt said.

"I can see similarities between the situation in Australia now and Germany 10 years ago," he told Fairfax Media.

Read Cole Latimer’s story from The Sydney Morning Herald - “Australia can avoid Germany's renewable energy mistakes.”

White House seeks 72 percent cut to clean energy research, underscoring administration’s preference for fossil fuels

The Trump administration is poised to ask Congress for deep budget cuts to the Energy Department’s renewable energy and energy efficiency programs, slashing them by 72 percent overall in fiscal 2019, according to draft budget documents obtained by The Washington Post.

Filipinos ride energy efficient electric tricycles during
a test drive in TaguigCity, south of Manila, Philippines,
 in January this year. 

Many of the sharp cuts would probably be restored by Congress, but President Trump’s budget, due out in February, will mark a starting point for negotiations and offer a statement of intent and policy priorities.

The document underscores the administration’s continued focus on the exploitation of fossil fuel resources — or, as Trump put it in his State of the Union address, “beautiful clean coal” — over newer renewable technologies seen as a central solution to the problem of climate change.

Read The Washington Post story by Chris Mooney and Stephen Mufson - “White House seeks 72 percent cut to clean energy research, underscoring administration’s preference for fossil fuels.”

Healthcare Institutions across U.S. Treating Climate Change as a Top Priority

The Cleveland Clinic started thinking “green” more than a decade ago, as sustainability and energy efficiency were just starting to gain traction in serious conversations about climate change. Since then, the Ohio medical center’s environmentally conscious practices have become part of its culture, with everyone getting involved.

They are recycling, turning off lights and computers, planting trees in the community, and buying Energy Star-certified equipment, from MRI and ultrasound machines to kitchen appliances. They are reducing water usage through low-flow fixtures, cutting waste, and controlling operating room air to ensure it’s clean and fresh during surgery, but not squandered when the OR is empty.

Equally impressive: the facility aims to become carbon neutral within the next ten years. They hope to accomplish this by increasing their renewable energy sources, and expanding all of their existing efficiency and emission-reducing programs.

Read the Nexus Media story by Marlene Cimons - “Healthcare Institutions across U.S. Treating Climate Change as a Top Priority.”

Global demand for coal to peak in 2025 - ExxonMobil

United States oil giant ExxonMobil has predicted that global demand for coal will peak in about 2025 and then fall into terminal decline as natural gas gains the ascendancy amid increased efforts to clamp down on greenhouse gas emissions.

The decline of coal, currently the world's second-largest fuel, will be driven by moves by the industrial and power generation sectors to improve energy efficiency and switch to lower-emitting fuels, the energy major said in its 2016 outlook for energy, released overnight Australian time.

Read Angela Macdonald-Smith’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Coal demand to peak in 2025, ExxonMobil says.”