A climate of co-operation is needed on emissions cuts.

There is no single solution to resolve the profound and conflicting pressures posed by climate change and the nation’s energy needs. There are many potential solutions, but they require investment, collaboration and genuine government support.

The Morrison government is demanding Victoria
open up more sources of gas before a deal is done.

Solar, wind, hydro and other renewable energy sources backed by massive battery storage systems will be the future. Coal-fired power stations exist for now, and still provide the bulk of Victoria's power needs, but the infrastructure is ageing and and increasingly unreliable.

While the Morrison government still supports coal, commercial operators and their financiers are no longer prepared to invest in this area. Still, Australia needs to ensure its short-term residential and commercial energy requirements are met as it transitions to a new era in which renewable sources dominate.

To that end, the federal government has horse-traded with NSW, with the state agreeing to supply more gas and secure coal supply to one of its major power stations in return for nearly $1 billion to help upgrade its energy grid and invest in a grab bag of emission-reduction initiatives.

Read the Editorial from The Age - “A climate of co-operation is needed on emissions cuts.”

Renewable energy boost to power Victoria's four biggest regional cities

In a huge boost to Victoria's electricity supply, renewable energy companies will compete to supply Victoria with 650 megawatts of power – enough for the energy needs of every household in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and the Latrobe Valley.

Two large solar farms will be built in Victoria to power Melbourne's trams. 

The competitive "reverse auction" will be the biggest of its kind in Australia, as corporations tender for the contracts to power 389,000 households.

This is expected to trigger investment of about $1.3 billion in renewable projects such as construction of wind and solar farms.

Expressions of interest will open in October.

Read Adam Carey’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Renewable energy boost to power Victoria's four biggest regional cities.”

New, strange denial emerges from shadows of historic Paris decision

Naomi Klein - now there's a new,
strange form of denial.

After the signing of a historic climate pact in Paris, we might now hope that the merchants of doubt – who for two decades have denied the science and dismissed the threat – are officially irrelevant.

But not so fast. There is also a new, strange form of denial that has appeared on the landscape of late, one that says that renewable sources can’t meet our energy needs.

Oddly, some of these voices include climate scientists, who insist that we must now turn to wholesale expansion of nuclear power. Just this past week, as negotiators were closing in on the Paris agreement, four climate scientists held an off-site session insisting that the only way we can solve the coupled climate/energy problem is with a massive and immediate expansion of nuclear power. More than that, they are blaming environmentalists, suggesting that the opposition to nuclear power stands between all of us and a two-degree world.

Read the opinion piece by Naomi Klein on The Guardian - “There is a new form of climate denialism to look out for – so don't celebrate yet.”