US city empowers Australian councils to develop solar as lack of federal climate policy causes concern

A city in southern California has become the first city in the world to be zero net energy with solar farms powering the entire city, and now it is inspiring Australian cities to follow its lead.

Rex Parris is the Mayor of Lancaster in southern
 California, the first zero net energy city.

Being zero net energy means the city produces more solar electricity through solar farms than it can use.

Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris has attributed an increase in employment, new manufacturers moving to the city, and a reduction in crime to the approach to alternative energy.

This week, Mr Parris has been in Kiama on the NSW south coast at the Cities Power Partnership summit, speaking to local council representatives from around Australia about how they might be able to do something similar.

Read the story by Jessica Clifford from ABC News - “US city empowers Australian councils to develop solar as lack of federal climate policy causes concern.”

Nation’s biggest wind farm could be built between Geelong and Ballarat

The biggest wind farm in the southern hemisphere will be built about 130 kilometres west of Melbourne, powering an estimated half a million homes a year by 2025, if the Andrews government gives the project the green light.

Graphic: Stephen Kiprillis

The proposed wind farm would sprawl across 167 square kilometres of farmland near the small town of Rokewood in south-west Victoria, about 40 kilometres south of Ballarat.

It would have 228 wind turbines, each 230 metres tall at their highest point. By way of comparison, just four skyscrapers in Melbourne are taller.

Read Adam Carey’s story from The Age - “Nation’s biggest wind farm could be built between Geelong and Ballarat.”