Coal or renewables: Which is cheaper?

As you unplug your iPhone and turn on your kettle each morning, the complexities of Australia's energy market probably aren’t high on your mind. But at this year’s federal election more than any other, voters are being asked to think about where their electricity comes from, how much it costs and whether it will help make the planet too hot to live on.

A coal operation in the NSW Hunter Valley. Tony
Abbott says coal is the cheapest form of energy.

The Morrison government has pledged to make energy supplies more reliable and affordable by financing new generation projects – most controversially coal – using the taxpayer purse. It’s an issue that is, again, tearing the Coalition apart as some Nationals MPs push for a firm funding commitment before the election.

Read the story from The Age by Nicole Hasham - “Coal or renewables: Which is cheaper?”

Smartphones are killing the planet faster than anyone expected

Before you upgrade your next iPhone, you may want to consider a $29 battery instead. Not only will the choice save you money, it could help save the planet.

Think twice, and then think again before replacing
your smartphone as they are energy-rich and are
 chewing up the Earth/s resources at an alarming rate.

A new study from researchers at McMaster University published in the Journal of Cleaner Production analyzed the carbon impact of the whole Information and Communication Industry (ICT) from around 2010-2020, including PCs, laptops, monitors, smartphones, and servers. They found remarkably bad news. Even as the world shifts away from giant tower PCs toward tiny, energy-sipping phones, the overall environmental impact of technology is only getting worse. Whereas ICT represented 1% of the carbon footprint in 2007, it’s already about tripled, and is on its way to exceed 14% by 2040. That’s half as large as the carbon impact of the entire transportation industry.

Smartphones are particularly insidious for a few reasons. With a two-year average life cycle, they’re more or less disposable. The problem is that building a new smartphone–and specifically, mining the rare materials inside them–represents 85% to 95% of the device’s total CO2 emissions for two years. That means buying one new phone takes as much energy as recharging and operating a smartphone for an entire decade.

Read the story by Mark Wilson from Co.design  - “Smartphones are killing the planet faster than anyone expected.”

Disruption from electric car 'revolution' will rival the introduction of the iPhone: Josh Frydenberg

The global electric car revolution is coming to Australia, Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has declared, likening the scale of technological disruption to the introduction of the iPhone.

Australia's Environment and Energy
Minister, Josh Frydenberg, says the
electric car revolution is coming.

In an interview and opinion piece for Fairfax Media, he said three barriers to electric vehicle uptake in Australia - high purchase prices, limited driving range and a lack of charging infrastructure – are on their way to being solved.

Read Nicole Hasham’s story in today”s Melbourne Age - “Disruption from electric car 'revolution' will rival the introduction of the iPhone: Josh Frydenberg.”

(The idea of the electric car is, in itself, not offensive, but what is disturbing is the creation and establishment, of an industry and infrastructure that his enmeshed with the ideology of private profit and public expense. Rather than government endorsement of an electric car industry we need our politicians to support, in every sense, the creation of a publicly owned nation-wide fleet of autonomous vehicles that would respond to smartphone instructions, taking people hither and thither and once a task is completed, return to their base for recharging - Robert McLean)