Renewables hub, or coal museum? Australia’s energy debate plays out in Latrobe Valley

If you were looking for a neat summation of the current state of the energy debate in Australia, the tug-of-war over the future of a retired brown coal power plant in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley would be a good place to start.

A renewables hub or a coal museum?

The old Morwell Power Station and briquette factory on the outskirts of the town of the same name was last week listed for protection by the Heritage Council of Victoria.

The former Energy Brix Power Station, which once supplied brown coal-fired electricity to the grid, was closed in 2014 – two years after receiving a $50 million federal government bailout package.

At the same time, the plant’s final operator went into liquidation.

Read Sophie Vorrath’s One Step Off the Grid story - “Renewables hub, or coal museum? Australia’s energy debate plays out in Latrobe Valley.”

Scientists find the temperature that makes you the friendliest

It's a finding that is destined to start a new round of arguments over the aircon remote.

The study found 22 degrees was the ideal average temperature to live in.

A new study covering more than 1.6 million people has revealed that 22 degrees is the perfect air temperature to live in.

A city with an average annual temperature closer to 22 tends to have a population who are more agreeable, conscientious, emotionally stable and extroverted.

The study is observational, and does not show cause-and-effect. But the scientists behind it theorise that better weather leads people to leave the house more often, leading to more social interaction, which encourages a friendlier personality.

Read the story by Liam Mannix in today’s Melbourne Age - “Scientists find the temperature that makes you the friendliest.”