The Week That Was - February 8 2013

This week, the fall out and analysis from Australia’s record breaking hot weather, Ms Gillard reshuffles her Cabinet, research shows that wind turbine noise is not an issue, and Mr Gore is doing the rounds with his new book, The Future. All this and more in this week’s The Week That Was …

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“Solar is now bankable.”
- Arno Harris, chief executive officer of Sharp Corp

Nicola Roxon is off, and Prime Minister Gillard has reshuffled her cabinet. For those of us interested in climate change related matters, it is worth noting that means that Queenslander Yvette D'Ath has taken over the role as Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.

We hope that Ms D’Arth she has read the latest news that Queensland represents 41 percent of the solar installed in 2012.  Given that Australia is still in the top 10 solar countries, perhaps Queensland could use its solar advantage – to its advantage. Especially since CSIRO tells us the costs of thermal solar is set to halve. And the EPA tells us wind turbines do not produce significant ‘infrasound’ noise issues. Great!

So while we try hard to look forward and not back, it is worth a little reprise of what just happened in terms of extreme weather conditions, heat, rainfall and climate change around Australia. Most papers covered the new record, even The Australian, and the next thing to be aware of is what is likely to happen in the near future. Most of the major papers reflect the research that this is becoming the new normal.

And in terms of looking into the future, back to CSIRO which reveals that ice cores provide a clear picture of what is in store for us. And the government behemoth has just released interesting news that it now has a flagship dedicated to the challenges associated with our digital future.

The US has not only a new Secretary of State in John Kerry; it will soon have a new Energy Secretary.  Upon departing ex-Energy Secretary Stephen Chu said that big solar will soon be cheaper than coal - this news comes just as we are told that US carbon pollution is the lowest since 1994 and that the conversation is changing. Maybe they should just read The Future and embrace Mr Gore’s words of wisdom and be done with it ….

And in stark contrast, opposition leader Tony Abbott recently addressed the Press club. Guess what he talked about? The carbon tax will be gone, mining tax will be gone, boats will be stopped. What will be started? Hmmm. Maybe we will hear more about that before the election on September 14. 

We wondered if Mr Abbott had read the recent article from the World Resources Institute, that coal fire power stations are a major source of carbon pollution. And here is a recent press release from Tony Windsor who has spent some time explaining that our carbon pollution is dropping with a very reasonable carbon price in place.

Perhaps we can refer to the recent piece that ACF President Ian Lowe has written for The Conversation which spells out what issues we should be hearing about in the run into this federal election.

Look closely at this list and you will see Climate Leader David Hood was awarded an AM as part of the Australia Day Honours.

And a quiet update of our developer friend from Port Macquarie who is bringing in some interesting experts in his quest to object to issues around sea level rise. Enjoy!


Photo courtesy of Flickr user Ole Houe – License: CC BY 2.0