Germany to close all 84 of its coal-fired power plants, will rely primarily on renewable energy

Germany, one of the world’s biggest consumers of coal, will shut down all 84 of its coal-fired power plants over the next 19 years to meet its international commitments in the fight against climate change, a government commission said Saturday.

In this Jan.6, 2019, file photo water vapor rises from the
cooling towers of the Joenschwalde lignite-fired power
plant of Lausitz Energie Bergbau AG in Brandenburg, Germany.

The announcement marked a significant shift for Europe’s largest country — a nation that had long been a leader on cutting CO2 emissions before turning into a laggard in recent years and badly missing its reduction targets. Coal plants account for 40% of Germany’s electricity, itself a reduction from recent years when coal-dominated power production.

“This is an historic accomplishment,” said Ronald Pofalla, chairman of the 28-member government commission, at a news conference in Berlin following a marathon 21-hour negotiating session that concluded at 6 a.m. Saturday. The breakthrough ended seven months of wrangling. “It was anything but a sure thing. But we did it,” Pofalla said. “There won’t be any more coal-burning plants in Germany by 2038.”

Read the story from The Los Angeles Times by Erik Kirschbaum - “Germany to close all 84 of its coal-fired power plants, will rely primarily on renewable energy.”

Fresh water trucked in, crops destroyed as floodwaters swamp US midwest

Des Moines, Iowa: As some communities along the Missouri River start to shift their focus to flood recovery after a late-winter storm, residents in two Iowa cities are stuck in crisis mode after their treatment plants shut down and left them in need of fresh water.

People on a boat float down floodwaters that cover
Washington Street in Hamburg, Iowa, on Wednesday. 

Tanker trucks from the Iowa National Guard and a private company are hauling water into Hamburg and Glenwood, said Lucinda Parker, a spokeswoman with Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Many evacuated from flooded areas in the southwestern part of the state are staying in shelters or with family and friends in the wake of the flooding and water struggles it has caused.

Read the story from The Age by Margery Beck - “Fresh water trucked in, crops destroyed as floodwaters swamp US midwest."

Geelong fumes as VCAT rules giant flammable waste pile can stay

Victoria's second biggest city will be left with a 350,000-square-metre mountain of fire-prone industrial waste on its doorstep after losing a legal bid to shut down a failing recycling business.

The CFA gave evidence to VCAT that the recycling
stockpile in Lara is likely to go up in flames.

The VCAT decision has underlined the extent of Victoria’s recycling crisis, and how in some cases the cure can be worse than the disease.

The City of Geelong this month lost its bid to revoke the operating permit of C & D Recycling in Lara, having tried for more than a year to force the site to close in order to avoid the risk of exposing residents to a toxic fire like the one that blanketed Melbourne 11 months ago.

Read the story by Adam Carey from The Age - “Geelong fumes as VCAT rules giant flammable waste pile can stay.”

Judge Rejects Exxon's Attempt to Shut Down Climate Fraud Investigations

With a sharp rebuke, a federal judge on Thursday rejected Exxon's attempt to shut down two state investigations into whether the oil giant misled investors for years about the risks of climate change.

The attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts are
 investigating whether Exxon's questioning of climate change
science and downplaying of its risks constituted fraud against the public and investors. 

U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni dismissed Exxon's complaint with prejudice, meaning the company can't refile it.

In the first line of her ruling, the judge describe Exxon's actions as "running roughshod over the adage that the best defense is a good offense.”

"The relief requested by Exxon in this case is extraordinary: Exxon has asked two federal courts—first in Texas, now in New York—to stop state officials from conducting duly-authorized investigations into potential fraud," she wrote. "It has done so on the basis of extremely thin allegations and speculative inferences.”

Read the Inside Climate News story - “Judge Rejects Exxon's Attempt to Shut Down Climate Fraud Investigations.”

New coal tech would gain approval under clean energy target: Finkel

Labor has increased the pressure on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to shut down pro-coal MPs in his party room ahead of a crucial meeting in Canberra on Tuesday in which the Finkel Review will be canvassed at length.

Dr Alan Finkel on the ABC's Q&A program last night.

While Tony Abbott has warned against anything that would become a carbon tax equivalent by shifting costs to consumers, observers within the government and opposition are hopeful of ending the climate policy war that has led to political crises and a lost decade of investment in electricity generation.

Arguments over the science of global warming and the policy settings needed to address it have resulted in an abundance of arguments, and a dearth of investment certainty.

Coalition MPs will hold their first discussion of the Chief Scientist's keenly anticipated recommendations when Parliament returns for the final fortnight before the long winter break.

Read Mark Kenny’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “New coal tech would gain approval under clean energy target: Finkel.”

Energy users could be paid to shut down in heatwaves amid power blackout fears

Australia's electricity grid operator has moved to head off the risk of power blackouts in Victoria next summer by offering to pay big industrial energy users to shut down during heatwaves.

Powering down: Energy users could be paid
to reduce demand at peak times. 

In a highly unusual move, the Australian Energy Market Operator has dusted off previously dormant emergency powers, issuing a tender to free up 600 megawatts of energy from early January to the start of March 2018.

That would be the equivalent of saving about half the power generated by a typical coal-fired plant.

Under the plan, which comes amid alarm about the security of the state's energy supply following the shutdown of the Hazelwood coal-fired plant in March, a little-known mechanism called a "Reliability and Emergency Reserve Trader" would be triggered to contract power-hungry businesses such as smelters to stop using electricity during periods of extreme heat.

Read Josh Gordon and Farrah Tomazin’s story in the Melbourne Age -  “Energy users could be paid to shut down in heatwaves amid power blackout fears.”

State government steps in to prevent shut down at Loy Yang power plant

The state government will go to the Fair Work Commission to prevent workers at Victoria's biggest energy plant going on strike and plunging the state into an energy crisis. 

AGL Energy says it will close its Loy Yang
 A power station and mine from May 15.

"The protracted negotiations between AGL and its workforce commenced in 2015 and must be resolved," Industrial Relations Minister Natalie Hutchins said. 

"The government will ask the Fair Work Commission to terminate this protected industrial action before any closure can occur.”

For the second time since Christmas, energy producer and retailer AGL has threatened to lock out the entire workforce and shut down its Loy Yang A power plant in the Latrobe Valley over proposed union action.

Read the Melbourne Age story - “State government steps in to prevent shut down at Loy Yang power plant.”

Hazelwood closure: what it means for electricity prices and blackouts

Victoria’s Hazelwood power station will be shut down this week after nearly 50 years of supplying electricity.

Hazelwood’s closure does not mean
 imminent blackouts for Victoria.

The imminent closure has led to concerns about blackouts, raised most recently by Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, and rising electricity prices.

So what does the evidence suggest?

Last week The Age reported that Victoria is facing “72 days of possible power supply shortfalls over the next two years”. While that sounds bad, it does not mean the state is facing imminent blackouts.

This was based on a report from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), which is in charge of making sure that Australia’s energy markets work.

Read the piece on The Conversation by a researcher at the Australian German Climate and Energy College from the University of Melbourne,  Dylan McConnell - “Hazelwood closure: what it means for electricity prices and blackouts.”

Finding uplifting news about climate change is a challenge

Finding uplifting news to write about climate change is rather difficult.

Efforts to mitigate the causes are many, but what is needed is an almost immediate and significant change in human behaviour.

Sadly, simply changing our light globes (apologies for that simplification, but it is indicative of what many think is all they need to do) will not be enough.

Being busy with their lives, most people can’t find the time to contemplate that for them is “another life away” and headings such as: “Official prophecy of doom: global warming will cause widespread conflict, displacemillions of people and devastate the global economy” simply cause them to mentally shut down.

Although it may be accurate, stories such as this simply alienate people and in a strange way force them to queue with the climate deniers.

Even the most ardent advocates of climate change, and that is nearly all the world’s scientists who understand the damage we are doing to our atmosphere, are optimists.

And so while they willingly accept such stories as that published today in The Independent, they still have a certain confidence that humanity can negotiate its way out of this difficulty.