Developing new Galilee Basin coalmines will cost 12,500 jobs, analysis shows

Developing new coalmines in the Galilee Basin would cost 12,500 jobs in existing coalmining regions and replace only two in three workers, modelling by the Australia Institute shows.

An open-cut mine in the Hunter Valley. If the Galilee Basin produces
150m tonnes of coal a year, then existing coal regions will likely
 curtail production by 115m tonnes a year, analysis shows.

Job creation has long been an aggressive rallying call for supporters of Adani’s Carmichael megamine and other proposals in the untapped Galilee Basin, which combined would produce 150m tonnes of thermal coal each year.

But the Australia Institute report concludes that even if Australia’s thermal coal exports increase, and the world does not act on climate change, highly automated new mines in the Galilee would on balance cost the industry jobs.

The modelling is based on 2017 analysis by consultants Wood Mackenzie, who work closely with the mining industry. Wood Mackenzie said huge volumes of coal mined in the Galilee would curtail established operations in the Hunter Valley, Bowen Basin and Surat Basin regions.

Read the story by Ben Smee from The Guardian - “Developing new Galilee Basin coalmines will cost 12,500 jobs, analysis shows.”

AGL announces Newcastle gas-fired power plant to replace the Liddell power station

AGL has released details for a gas-fired power plant in New South Wales, as part of its plans to replace the aging Liddell coal-fired station and move towards cleaner energy.

The Liddell Power Station will be replaced by a new gas-fired power plant in 2022.

The company said it was investing up to $400 million in the 252-megawatt facility to be built near Newcastle and be completed during 2022.

Its announcement to the Australian stock exchange follows pressure from the Federal Government to sell the Liddell coal-fired station in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, so it could stay open beyond its planned closure in 2022.

Read the ABC News story - “AGL announces Newcastle gas-fired power plant to replace the Liddell power station.”

Salt could supercharge storage batteries

Humble salt could replace lithium-ion batteries as an energy storage source for a fifth of the cost, and without the ethical concerns, according to new research.

The University of Wollongong's Shulei Chou
demonstrating a sodium-ion energy battery. 

A Stanford University study into sodium-ion (Na-ion) battery technology has demonstrated the potential of these batteries to displace lithium-ion, which requires rarer, and more difficult to obtain materials.

The research has found a way to dramatically increase the energy efficiency of the new batteries to more than 87 per cent, but at less than 80 per cent the cost of lithium-ion batteries with equivalent storage capacities.

The new materials would also spare the ethical concerns that can come with lithium-ion due to the locations of mines for the raw minerals.

Read Cole Latimer’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Salt could supercharge storage batteries.”

Australia’s solar juggernaut is coming quicker than anyone thinks

It is perhaps not surprising that the fossil fuel industry has hit the panic button and is pushing hard for the Turnbull/Abbott Coalition government to dump the proposed clean energy target and replace it with something that might be called a coal energy target.

They can see what’s coming – and there is probably no better way to describe it than a solar juggernaut.

The fact that solar will become the dominant energy source appears to be under no doubt, even the International Energy Agency admits it. And the CSIRO and AEMO appear to be in agreement that even behind the meter solar will account for around half of all demand by the 2040s or 2050s.

But what if it happened a lot quicker than that? Australia’s grid prices have jumped again to absurdly high levels, and this has lit a fire under the rooftop solar market, which will be followed by a major push by corporate buyers into the large-scale market. The solar sector could boom in ways not previously imagined.

Read the story by Giles Parkinson on RenewEconomy  - “Australia’s solar juggernaut is coming quicker than anyone thinks.”

Hydrogen touted as fuel of the future

Hydrogen will transform the transport industry and could eventually replace natural gas, Arup's environment and resources leader Mike Straughton says. 

The number of hydrogen-powered cars on the
 road will number into the millions by 2030.  

Speaking at the Australian Financial Review's National Energy Summit, Mr Straughton outlined the increasing importance of hydrogen as a future energy source, saying it had "moved beyond the Hindenburg".

Read Cole Latimer’s story in today’s Melbourne  Age - “Hydrogen touted as fuel of the future.”

(Sadly the conversation about transport still seems to revolve the idea of privately owned vehicles - a future that is both sustainable and equal is about public transport and that is either mass public transport or autonomous vehicles that are also public, but respond to direction from our smart-phones for private use of any sort of outing, be that one-way trips to or from work, social outings or shopping. The private car has had is “Kodak moment” - Robert McLean)

Creating food from plant proteins

F

rom the plant protein added to mayonnaise and cookies which replaces the need for eggs, to a proposed cheeseburger made entirely from plants, biotech start-ups are looking at ways to reinvent food and replace the need to use animal products.

 

Our addiction to food from animals is one of the real issues in terms of mitigating the causes of climate change, but now, it seems all our food could be plant based.

 

Watch this short BBC clip here.