A bitter group of troops send the PM a message: you're no John Monash

It is no coincidence Coalition backbenchers have unveiled a pro-coal 'ginger' group, the Monash Forum, just as Malcolm Turnbull braces for the embarrassment of a landmark poll loss.

Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull are at odds over energy policy.

Nor it is coincidence that it comes just as his government eyes the first realistic prospect of a breakthrough in the decade-old climate wars, with Commonwealth and state energy ministers due to meet in April to consider the National Energy Guarantee.

Nor even that they've appropriated Australia's greatest soldier, Sir John Monash, just as the Prime Minister heads for the Western Front later this month.

The symbol for reaching a 30th wedding anniversary is the gleaming white pearl. Turnbull's present for notching up that same number in Newspoll losses - the very milestone he cited as proof that Tony Abbott's standing was irreversible - is an altogether dirtier object.

Hardliners are now presenting the Prime Minister with the same lump of coal they flaunted in Parliament last year.

Read Mark Kenny’s story from The Age - “A bitter group of troops send the PM a message: you're no John Monash.”

Elon Musk's Tesla plans to give thousands of homes batteries: here's how it would work

South Australia's Labor Premier Jay Weatherill has unveiled what he expects to be a vote-winning power policy before the March state election — 'free' solar panels and Tesla batteries for 50,000 homes.

Jay Weatherill and Elon Musk are changing SA's approach to power generation.

And it's all thanks to the guy on the right. Yep, it's the latest gift in the ongoing bromance between Mr Weatherill and billionaire Tesla boss Elon Musk, after the pair teamed up to help fund the world's biggest lithium-ion battery (which is already producing power in the South Australian grid).

"Free?" I hear you ask. They say nothing is certain but death and taxes.

This deal will involve some of the latter (a $2 million taxpayer-funded grant and $30 million loan to Tesla), plus a significant catch — the power generated by the solar panels and the batteries will not be owned directly by the households, but may well be sold back to them via a retailer.

Read Nick Hamsen’s story from ABC News - “Elon Musk's Tesla plans to give thousands of homes batteries: here's how it would work.”

Harley-Davidson Is Making an Electric Bike, But Will It Rumble?

On Tuesday, during a routine earnings call, Harley-Davidson Inc. announced it will produce an all-electric motorcycle.

The announcement accompanied news of additional job cuts and a plant closure at the Milwaukee-based company. It also came four years after Harley unveiled its “LiveWire” project, a prototype all-electric motorcycle.

“You’ve heard us talk about Project LiveWire,” Matt Levatich, the president and chief executive officer of Harley-Davidson, told listeners during the call on Tuesday. “It’s an active project we’re preparing to bring to market within 18 months.’'

Read the Bloomberg Business story by Hannah Elliott - “Harley-Davidson Is Making an Electric Bike, But Will It Rumble?”

Climate action in 2018: expect same, but different

As I predicted a year ago, 2017 was another vicious and bloody-minded year in Australian climate politics. Yet the political bickering belied the fact that it was actually a great year for green energy.

Illustration by Andrew Dyson.

Nowhere was that more in evidence than in South Australia, which got its big battery inside a 100-day deadline, with the world’s biggest solar thermal plant set to begin construction this year. Elsewhere, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull talked up the prospects of the Snowy 2.0 hydro storage project.

Yet the politics remain as rancorous as ever. The federal government unveiled its National Energy Guarantee (NEG) in November, after Chief Scientist Alan Finkel’s Clean Energy Target proved too rich for some in the Coalition. Just before Christmas, the long-awaited climate policy review was released, and was immediately branded as weak.

Both issues are unresolved, and are set to loom large on the landscape this year. But what else is on the horizon?

Read Marc Hudson’s comment in today’s Melbourne Age - “Climate action in 2018: expect same, but different.”

US government reports humans cause climate change, contradicting Trump officials

Washington: Directly contradicting much of the Trump administration's position on climate change, 13 federal agencies have unveiled an exhaustive scientific report that says humans are the dominant cause of the global temperature rise that has occurred since the start of the 20th century, creating the warmest period in the history of civilisation.

Protesters gather outside a meeting where an EPA
 climate change report was to be released last month.

Over the past 115 years, global average temperatures have increased 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, leading to record-breaking weather events and temperature extremes, the report says.

The global, long-term warming trend is "unambiguous," it says, and there is "no convincing alternative explanation" that anything other than humans - the cars we drive, the power plants we operate, the forests we destroy - are to blame.

The report was approved for release by the White House, but the findings come as the Trump administration is defending its climate change policies on several fronts, with US President Donald Trump having declared the "war on coal" to be over.

Read Lisa Friedman’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “US government reports humans cause climate change, contradicting Trump officials.”

Greens push 20GW energy storage target to shift debate from baseload

The Australian Greens have unveiled a new policy that aims for 20GW of energy storage to be installed across the nation by 2030, providing incentives for storage at household and grid level, and try to move the energy debate beyond the limited scope of baseload vs renewables.

Adam Brandt.

Sarah Hanson-Young.

The policy was unveiled in South Australia on Wednesday by deputy leader and climate and energy spokesman Adam Bandt, and South Australia Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

Their goal is to try and “supercharge” the household and business storage market, and set national milestones similar to the renewable energy target to reach their goal by 2030.

The Greens say that 20GW could translate to 400GWh of storage, enough they say – according to recent studies by the ANU – to provide sufficient back-up for a 100 per cent renewable energy grid.

Read Giles Parkinson’s story on RenewEconomy - “Greens push 20GW energy storage target to shift debate from baseload.”