What does Tony Abbott have against renewable energy?
Okay, so hardly anybody liked the carbon tax, but support for renewable energy seems to rate consistently high in opinion polling.
In fact, according to one survey 82 per cent of people think solar energy is a good thing and 67 per cent think favourably of wind power.
Only 24 per cent of survey participants were okay with fossil fuels. Oh, and the carbon tax was seen as a good thing by only 21 per cent of respondents.
With these figures in mind, what exactly is it that Tony Abbott has against renewable energy? Why won't he turn away from the dark side of fossil fuel reliance? What issues do you have with renewable energy? Or do you think this is the way of the future, even if the main man isn't inclined to agree?
By the way, this is a really good article about Mr Abbott's attitude towards renewable energy.
Leon are you still at Univercity , your politics seem to be Those of undergraduates and all aimed as The Hon Antony Abbott . Where as Policies are formed by parties as we are seeing from the mad house at the Labor Party Conference.
Pete, I am not sure of the relevance of your statement. Are you saying that people who believe that renewable energy is the future must still be at university? Is being at university a bad thing? And should all people who think that renewable energy is a good thing be at a Labor conference?
If our members want to present an idea for discussion on the forum, they shouldn't be met with you trying to force what you think should be discussed on the forum. Are you not able to respond intelligently to a various assortment of topics? Or do you just want to ridicule people for having an opinion?
I suggest you limit your comments to contributing to the conversation, rather then detracting from it. I think our members deserve better than that.
I think you are throwing a tantrum .i am contributing to the conversation on a number of topics ..disagreeing with you Is not ridiculing you .. My question about your age is in line with your seeming attitudes which are personalised to Tony Abbott and not discussions on Policies.
your opinion on what you consider a contribution to the conversation Goes beyond agreeing with you as I disagree with your basic premise..
Our PM's dislike of renewable energy is not due to his concern for the environment or his concern for cheaper electricty for Australians.
He owes a debt to the mining lobby who are the largest donors to the Liberal Party.
To Tony clean energy is ugly and toxic coal mines are beautiful holes in the ground.
It is about time governments looked after the interests of Australians rather than the interest of self.
Pete,
Not too long before solar with batteries will be built in to all new houses and then we will see real change in the power industry.
SD
Agree shaggy and in offices and factories...and if we can send power by microwave it will ensure evenmore onto unity of supply .
None of these advances will come from Governments second guessing technology at taXpayers expense .
The big gains in battery technology are coming out of Silicon Valley driven by the profit motive...
Yeah paying industry not to pollute does not make much sense to me.
SD
Did you know Denmark WA saved themselves 40 million by a group getting together to invest $2 million in two Wind Turbines to supply the needed electricity and are already get returns on their investment? Merredin has a Wind Farm of 111 Wind Turbines really supplying the grid fully for that area and seeing the pictures the actual Turbines foot prints take little space and the land is still being used for Agriculture. The Turbines have saved the farms.
Yeah ETS ts schemes are nuts you buy credits from overseas to be allowed here to emitt CO2 its all a Ponzi scheme. The banks love it as they ate the traders ..
Great Viv if you can run any electricity generating scheme at a profit with no subsidy I think that is fantastic .
Of course at the moment you will need gas or coal back up.
Denmark has the highest electricity prices in the world followed by Germany...They along with the rest of Europe are closing off subsidies to rewables...
See above Pete, town of Denmark Western Australia.
See above Viv 10.46
More than three million people a week watch the heute-show, Germany’s answer to The Chaser, which cuts through the pretence to slaughter society’s holy cows.
Last year heute-show host, comedian and journalist Oliver Welke, sacrificed the holiest of them all, Germany’s multi-billion-euro renewable energy transformation that routinely is held up as green-friendly world’s best practice. “Could it be that the Grand Coalition has gone nuts?” Welke said.
His comments followed release of an expert panel report commissioned by the Merkel government that found the much lauded Renewable Energy Act (EEG) a failure.
“So she (Merkel) pays these academic eggheads and as a thank you they give her in writing that she’s dumber than a box of hair!” said Welke. “Her own experts write ‘the green energy policy makes energy prices go up up up … and leads to less climate protection’,” he said.
Cue the canned laughter. Increasingly, however, it is not funny. Particularly not for German electricity consumers whose power bills have risen to become the second highest in Europe, behind Denmark.
And not for German industry, which has threatened to shift manufacturing offshore because it cannot compete with lower energy prices in the US.
Proving that Welke’s quips were not all jest, the German government has since slashed subsidy support for new wind and solar projects after it was forced to face the economic reality of what had been promised.
The German experience is relevant for Australia given the ALP’s pledge this week to boost Australia’s renewable energy target to 50 per cent by 2030 without any real details on how this would be achieved and the possible cost.
Also relevant is the green energy subsidy train wreck unfolding in Britain since the national election. This week, the Cameron government’s Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Amber Rudd, cut the subsidies to small-scale solar projects following earlier cuts to subsidies for onshore wind, large-scale solar and energy efficiency schemes.
Abbott got the leaders job by going against Turnbull with the help of Minchin. Minchin had one proviso, kill off clean energy. Abbott went from being an advocate for a carbon tax to an opponent of a carbon tax. The coal lobby or the mining lobby etc etc will be Abbotts compass to keep the donations rolling in. Abbott member for the IPA.
Yes some people do change their mind when presented with new facts , like the Germans or Brits or Labor on boats ..
A report commissioned by Uniting Care Australia found that electricity users in Sth Aussie, NSW and Qld are paying the highest fixed charges in the country, even higher than Denmark.
Many Aussies are struggling to pay their electrity bills on time as along with medical costs, petrol & food are making it hard for lower income earners.
Well said Gerry .
Australia is becoming an expensive place to live.
Australians’ standard of living improved in the past year as a rise in the cost of living was outpaced by average income growth, new analysis shows.
The cost of a typical basket of goods increased by 1.4% throughout 2014, compared with income growth of 2.7%, according to the report by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (Natsem) and analytics provider SAS.
The standard of living index – which measures income increases minus cost of living increases – showed an improvement of 1.2% in the household budget report released on Tuesday.
Natsem researcher Ben Phillips described it as “a healthy standard of living recovery” after two years of zero growth between June 2012 and June 2014.
He said growth in the cost of living remained negligible through the second half of 2014 thanks to lower petrol prices and energy prices (the latter influenced by the carbon price
“The report reflects on Australia’s standard of living through the past 26 years where we find that Australian households are around 59% better off today than they were in 1988, after accounting for their cost of living, representing a financial gain of just over $30,000 per year on average,” Phillips said.
“Western Australia and Northern Territory households have gained nearly double that of most other states with gains exceeding $50,000 per year.”
Greater detail about the findings has been posted on an interactive website.
Renewable energy will certainly be one of the leading industries of the 21st century. These industries are not just reliable and secure energy, but also – for the countries smart enough to take advantage of the opportunities – industrial and manufacturing strength, exports, technological innovation and jobs. All of this comes with the convenient side-effect of reducing carbon emissions and the sooner we get rid of Abbott and his one eyed perspective the better off this country will be.
Wind turbines way to go, and solar power, way to go…
Eventually ... When Silcon valley comes up with ways to store . Then we can shut down windmills ..
Windmills are great it prettifies Holland, wind turbines are what we're talking about...
Great when we have Storage you can put one on top of your house....
Well said Ray.
The Gillard gov't with independents and greens tried to set us up to become leaders in the renewable energy field but Abbott the wrecker is intent on destroying anything Labor does. I truly believe there is an element of spite in his views and actions. Have not forgotten how in his Uni days he became president of the SRC and then set about attempting to dismantle it. The other big thing of course is the large donations the LNP receives from the mining companies. The Abbott coalition government has been bought.
Coal in Australia is under attack from powerful groups determined to shut the industry. Please support the 200,000 Australians who work in our coal industry.
No will not, they can work in the renewable energy industries instead. All they have to do is get rid of the spanner in the works namely TA - so smart people can do smart things..
http://www.minerals.org.au/resources/coal/employment
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics in February 2014, the Australian coal mining industry employed 54,900 people full time in direct employment and more than 145,000 people in related employment. This number is lower than the all-time peak reached in May 2012 of 59,000 persons, but is still more than 267% higher than compared to a decade ago.
55,000 full time employees. Never let the facts spoil a spin.
Pete is that your own thought or did you once again copy / paste direct from Australians for Coal which is part of the Minerals Council of australia.
Conversation is fine - plagiarism is not
All plagiarised statements should be removed by the Mod. That would put an end to it.
Why does the MFEAU which is supposed to work in the interests of its members in the Coal and forestry industry give money to the Greens that want to take away their jobs ....
The Federal Government has, as part of its pledge to mitigate global warming,[30] committed A$100 million to commission a climate change-fighting "clean coal" and carbon sequestration research institute to make Australia a leader in this emerging technology. Carbon sequestration technology is not expected to be commercially viable for at least 5 to 10 years, but the Federal Labor government argues that it is a vital technology given Australia's reliance on coal-fired electricity.[31]
Wiki
China will be joined by India, ASEAN countries and other countries in Asia as the main engines of growth in coal consumption, offsetting weaker growth in Europe and the United States - which is undergoing its own energy revolution in shale gas as it tries to become more self sufficient.
Fin Review
If anyone has a spare five minutes read this article, some may need more than five minutes...
COUNTRIES WITH 100% RENEWABLE ENERGY
http://makewealthhistory.org/2012/07/09/countries-with-100-renewable-energy/
An interestiing read .... makes one wonder if it is not possible that the geothermal energy is melting the ice caps.
Very interesting read and worth reading the comments section too. We have so much in the way of renewable natural resources we should not be looking at long term plans for coal use. Wave don't stop, Wind does not stop, Solar hopefully will be storable before long, the first wave power Is continuous we should be making as much use of this as possible. I think Garden Island Naval base WA is powered by Naval power as an example.
Whoops just re-read that should have read ""I think Garden island Naval Base WA is powered by wave power as an example"
Thanks for that information on wave power Vivity. From what I've read, wave energy is one of the most powerful, consistent and promising sources of renewable power scientists are aware of.
The World Energy Council estimated at one time that the world's oceans contain energy enough to generate roughly double the current world electricity production. It was also pointed out that Australia in particular is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the resource with 35,876 km of coastline, a largely coastal population, and powerful waves....
Who pays...?
We ALL pay, so that our children, grandchildren and their children can live in a cleaner and more sustainable world Pete....
But poor...
India’s rapid social and economic transformation has seen it take its place as one of today’s great economies, having recently overtaken Japan as the world’s third largest economy in purchasing power terms. In 2010-2011, India was the fourth largest destination for Australian goods and services worldwide, with coal, gold and education the main exports.
India’s appetite for Australian resources continues to grow, and this growth will provide businesses in both countries with unique cross-border trade opportunities in the years ahead. Australia, the world’s largest thermal coal exporter, provides a cost-effective solution for India’s need to double its electricity supply within the next 10 years. Australia and India are also co-operating in critical new areas such as water management, new and renewable energies and food security.
Australian business can look forward to an expected $20 billion in Indian investment by the end of the decade. Given the massive demand for coal to fuel India’s power stations, we expect the strong focus on the resources sector to continue.
Leon you have just posted your political party broadcast as an editorial why raise it here as well ..
Forum: a meeting or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.
Yes but as a member of the editorial staff you have a power the members do not have . That is to write editorials . To also put up the self same topic In meetings is IMO a misuse of this power to promote a personal opinion of Tony Abbott...
Pete the staff of YLC are entitled to put up topics of interest to themselves and for others who post on the meeting place too, some of us do not visit both places and there are very different points of view offered by each Forum.
We have in the past had members on here also discussing the same subject as an editorial is in discussion concurrentlly but on a different tack.
As a member I most certainly appreciate the YLC staff being involved and the greater range of subjects now being discussed has invigorated the Meeting place IMO.
no need to read or reply to any threads if you don't want to.
Pete , this forum is not here for you alone.
despite falling world prices, Australia continues to export more coal than ever before. And the composition of those exports dramatises why the coal debate in Australia is so ill-informed. While the ABC dealt with coal as if its only task was to generate power, the reality is that steel-making ‘metallurgical’ coal, which cannot be replaced by wind, solar or other ‘renewables’, earns 40 per cent more export income ($22 billion) than the steaming coal that its supporters, like Tony Abbott, say is needed to provide the cheap source of power necessary to ease third world poverty. Yet the ABC focussed, in its ill-researched 4 Corners, entirely on the thermal product, because that is the enemy of the renewable energy dogma.
Shouldn't you beat the Labor conference ..,
Of course everyone Likes Solar and when it can compete in price and we can store it I imagine we will all go for it ,
in the meantime the taxpayers have would like to keep more of their wages To decided how to spend and we would like to raise the pension as our pensioners are living in poverty..