This week brings electricity prices and wind farms into question as well as reports showing how many people are employed by the renewable energy sector and new websites entailing what our politicians think about all things renewable.
Electricity prices have been brought into question after Adelaide’s electricity prices skyrocketed from around $100 per megawatt hour to $12 500 per megawatt hour! They say that all wind generation ceased due to bad weather and while some stations were operating at low or offline capacity, the Murraylink Interconnector was also offline due to a cable fault. Seems a whole lot of nothing happening all at the same time, coincidence? With prices out of this world, who benefited? Click here to read the full article.
A report by the REN21 has been released with statistics from 2012. They show that 5.7 million people are supported by the renewable energy sector worldwide, either directly or indirectly. While most of these jobs are in China, Brazil and the US – developing nations are catching up. Not only are developing nations catching up in terms of employment but also in terms of renewable energy investment. Click here to read the full article.
Alan Jones is in the spotlight again after holding a rally outside Parliament House against wind farms. The event wasn’t in his usual raucous style and only managed to round up around 100 – 150 people, (some of which might have been confused as to what they were actually rallying against!) At the same time in the city, the Greens held a Rally 4 Renewables which pulled around 500 people lobbying for 100% renewable Australia. Click here to read the full article.
A new website released by the 100% Renewable group called “Solar Scorecard” is giving out information on where on local MP’s stand on renewable energy issues. The website gives eight categories, such as the RET and carbon tax, and shows where a particular politician stands on that issue. The 100% Renewable group have also issued ‘Solar Briefers’ to MP’s showing statistics of their electorate – how many homes have solar as well as how much they are saving in carbon emissions and electricity bills. We need government support to achieve our renewable energy goals and now we can see what they actually feel about renewables before we vote. Click here to read the full article.