Amid soaring energy costs, the new Labor government is working to deliver a A$20 billion pledge to rebuild and modernise Australia’s electricity grid. It will help deliver a plan for 122 gigawatts of new renewable energy in the National Electricity Market by 2050, eventually replacing coal generation. The transition will bring significant social, economic and environmental change. Electricity generation

Today the federal, state and territory energy ministers will meet to discuss a range of proposed, clean energy-based redesigns of the National Electricity Market (NEM), prepared by the Energy Security Board (ESB). While Barnaby Joyce may still want to see what’s on the climate action ‘menu’, we know already that the Prime Minister’s easiest path

The federal government has made much of its “face off” with Big Tech in the showdown over digital media, but do Australian governments have the courage to take on the coal lobby, in the big energy showdown of our era? In 2019, Australian governments charged the Energy Security Board (ESB) with the daunting task of

Everyone is saying Tasmania is a becoming a clean energy powerhouse, so how do we make sure ordinary Tasmanians get a piece of the action?

Clean energy technology is becoming competitive with fossil fuels, globally. This provides the basis for a new strategic approach to solving the political aspect of the climate threat.This is a speech given at ‘Imagining a Different Future Conference’, Hobart, on 8 February 2018, hosted by the University of Tasmania, the University of Utrecht Ethics Institute,

Imagine if petrol prices went up from $1.29/litre to $180/litre for brief parts of the day on a few days of the year. Worse still, imagine drivers had no way of knowing what price they were paying until after they’d filled up. [This article was first published by Crikey here] If that was the case, Australia’s

This was first published in EcoGeneration online on 8 March 2017 and in the print edition. The common view of invention is that it is unexpected. The people who do it are extraordinary individuals. There are risk takers but also naturally creative geniuses. Ancient Archimedes came up with his theory of buoyancy by his spontaneous

This was first published in EcoGeneration online on 20 Jan 2017 and in the print edition. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull put innovation on the national agenda when he defeated PM Tony Abbott in the leadership spill, in September 2015. Turnbull said “We have to recognise that the disruption that we see driven by technology, the

Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to merge the environment and energy portfolios could lead to a breakthrough in the toxic climate politics of climate first triggered when he was rolled by Tony Abbott in December 2009. Full article on Guardian Australia – here. Dan Cass, Strategist, The Australia Institute @DanJCass

First published by New Matilda. The world seems particularly chaotic this winter. The climate news is diabolical, with fears about melting of the Arctic permafrost and the ancient ice stores of the Himalayas. There is a Royal Commission into the brutal treatment of children in prison in the Northern Territory. And that is before we

Adam Giles, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, should know better than making solar and wind the scapegoat for energy price rises (‘Call for summit on energy crisis’, 18 July).  New energy management technologies will allow renewables to provide cheaper and better power than old ‘baseload’ technologies. As your editorial points out (‘SA energy madness’),

Reporter Michael Owen was a little too emotive when he described renewable energy as ‘untrustworthy’ (‘Warning of an energy crisis to hit nation’, 16 July). The accepted term is ‘variable’ and it has become clear that our energy system can readily handle high levels of variable generation. Variable generation will work better still in our

Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to merge the environment and energy portfolios could lead to a breakthrough in the toxic climate politics that was unleashed when Tony Abbott rolled him in the December 2009 leadership coup. Or the new super-ministry and its new minister Josh Frydenberg could be set up for failure. It depends entirely on whether

The inevitable shift from coal to clean energy is becoming big news in regional electorates and across the country at this election. Local member and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has endorsed the White Rock Wind Farm in Glen Innes, saying, “if we are going to go down the path of renewables and I believe

The rapid rise of renewable energy technology has taken the world by surprise. Renewables have gotten cheaper faster than expected, while battery storage development is shaping up to radically change the way power our lives, from home, to work to the way we travel.    But this global phenomenon will play out locally, and in

Dan Cass and Christopher Wright (Sydney Business School) Published on RenewEconomy (17 March 2016)  Following the enthusiasm generated by the Paris climate agreement, the focus for climate action now shifts back to nation states, which is where the hard work begins. Most nations have failed to make much progress on deep emissions cuts. Carbon prices lack

Published by RenewEconomy and Sydney Environment Institute. The US government has announced a US$36 million program to develop technologies that turn solar PV and storage batteries into a new kind of decentralised, virtual power source which some are calling ‘the internet of energy’. This is just the kind of technological shift that excites our new