“On September 21, tens of thousands of Australians will hit the streets of Melbourne, together with thousands more in cities and towns across Australia, as part of the world’s largest People’s Climate March. Our message is simple – Action, Not Words – it’s time for Australia to get out of the way of real climate action, to say no to new fossil fuel expansion and to protect and grow our renewable energy sector. But it doesn’t end here. When you join us on September 21, we’ll also ask you to pledge to help Action win over Words by committing to exercise your political, consumer and grassroots power in a number of exciting ways. Stay tuned for more updates but in the meantime RSVP for an event near you or register your own event.”
[From cleantechies.com] “…A study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) in Australia has discovered that renewable energyis cheaper to produce than the old conventional fossil fuel sources, and that is without the subsidies.
The study shows that electricity can be supplied from a new wind farm at a cost of AUD 80/MWh (USD 83), compared to AUD 143/MWh from a new coal plant or AUD 116/MWh from a new baseload gas plant, including the cost of emissions under the Gillard government’s carbon pricing scheme. However even without a carbon price (the most efficient way to reduce economy-wide emissions) wind energy is 14% cheaper than new coal and 18% cheaper than new gas.
“The perception that fossil fuels are cheap and renewables are expensive is now out of date”, said Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “The fact that wind power is now cheaper than coal and gas in a country with some of the world’s best fossil fuel resources shows that clean energy is a game changer which promises to turn the economics of power systems on its head,” he said.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s research on Australia shows that since 2011, the cost of wind generation has fallen by 10% and the cost of solar photovoltaics by 29%. In contrast, the cost of energy from new fossil-fueled plants is high and rising. New coal is made expensive by high financing costs. The study surveyed Australia’s four largest banks and found that lenders are unlikely to finance new coal without a substantial risk premium due to the reputational damage of emissions-intensive investments – if they are to finance coal at all. New gas-fired generation is expensive as the massive expansion of Australia’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export market forces local prices upwards. The carbon price adds further costs to new coal- and gas-fired plant and is forecast to increase substantially over the lifetime of a new facility.
BNEF’s analysts conclude that by 2020, large-scale solar PV will also be cheaper than coal and gas, when carbon prices are factored in. By 2030, dispatchable renewable generating technologies such as biomass and solar thermal could also be cost-competitive.”
Via TEDWomen, Halla Tomasdottir shares her thoughts regarding her approach to surviving Iceland’s financial crisis:
“…we felt a bit overwhelmed with testosterone. And I’m not here to say that men are to blame for the crisis and what happened in my country. But I can surely tell you that in my country – like on Wall St and the city of London and elsewhere – men were at the helm of the game of the financial sector, and that kind of lack of diversity and sameness leads to disastrous problems…Doing emotional due diligence is just as important as doing financial due diligence. It is actually people that make money and lose money, not Excel spreadsheets…I am fed up with this tyranny of either/or choices in life – either it’s men, or it’s women. We need to start embracing the beauty of balance. So let’s move away from thinking about business here and philanthropy there, and lets start thinking about doing good business. That’s how we change the world. That’s the only sustainable future.”
[Watch Halla’s entire talk below or go here.]
The Australian Youth Climate Coalition is a coalition of Australia’s largest youth organisations and over 50,000 young people from across Australia. Their mission is to build a generation wide movement to solve climate change before it’s too late, through bringing about short term political impact and long term cultural change.
AYCC plan an innovative youth summit to be held in Geelong that hopes to change the way young people see the climate crisis. Offering new skills, connecting with other awesome people and giving you the power to make a difference.
Come to Power Shift 2010 in Geelong from to August 14 to 15.
Why now? Because there will be a federal election in the next few months and at the moment, neither major political party has a strong climate policy.
That’s just not good enough! The AYCC has a positive, achievable vision for Australia’s renewable energy future, and Power Shift will give us the skills to turn this into reality.
Shift the power to a clean, sustainable future, and tell me more about Power Shift 2010.
Power Shift is part conference, part festival, part training, part celebration of the power of young people to change the world, and so much more. Listen to amazing keynote speakers, participate in hands on workshops, connect with people from your region, hear live music and make new friends. Join a generation-wide movement and gain the new skills, resources and networks you need to lead creative climate actions in your community.
AYCC can’t announce the speakers just yet, but last year they had Al Gore (via video), Tim Flannery, Senators Nick Xenophon and Christine Milne and Brooke Satchwell from Neighbours.
Sign up before July 1 and a discount will be automatically applied. If you need help figuring out how to get there, or to get some tips on how to fundraise to send a group to Power Shift, please contact the recruitment coordinator Sam:
sam.millar@youthclimatecoalition.org.
![[Via climatecouncil.org.au]](https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/uploads/b3f324d68b684b7a33781b0d7adf8dce.png "[Via climatecouncil.org.au]")