Select an option:
Energy
Five years ago, who thought that energy and how we produce it would become the most important issue we face? Ten years ago we didn’t even know where electricity came from. How many of us ever gave a thought to the relationship between our energy use and our environment.
"For too long, we have failed to give a value to our climate. We have failed to put a price on pollution. We have overlooked the Earth’s atmosphere with regard to greenhouse gases with no accountability for what happens next." - Senator Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change, 2008
MYTHS
We don’t use much energy. We don’t produce many greenhouse gases in energy production. Most of the energy that we do use comes from clean sources like wind and solar.
FACTS
First the bad news: Australia has one of the highest rates of greenhouse gas emissions per capita in the world. And the good? South Australia’s emissions are NOT the highest in the country. Not the lowest either. We’re sitting just around the middle. Not the champions and not the losers. So at least we have that to be thankful for.
Back to the bad news though. On a world scale, we’re still way up there. How did this happen? How did we become world leaders in pollution? Blame our coal: we are cursed with an abundance of coal in this country. We simply have a lot of the stuff and no real political motivation to try anything else, although things do seem to be changing. You would have had to be hiding in a hole not to have noticed the prolific abundance of wind farms in this state. It’s been hard though. This country has long seen coal as a solution to our energy needs.
There is where South Australia steps in as a national leader. We have a lot to be happy about. We’re the only state in the nation that recorded a drop in greenhouse gas emissions last year! Well done to us!!! This excellent result is largely thanks to our concerted push for renewable energy investment that has been sorely lacking in other states.
So while the other states flail about, fighting for the right to burn coal and ruin our environment, we’re just getting on with it, planning for a cleaner and greener future.
Our job now is to keep up the fantastic work, push for more green energy, and show the rest of the country it can be done.
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain
Latest information
And now for some good news about energy...
June 28th, 2010
Let's face it: green fatigue is real. It's hard to keep caring when all you hear is bad news. And that's why we all need a bit of good news. We need to be reminded that good things are happening, and the world isn't falling to pieces just yet.
Why the energy industry is so invested in climate change denial
February 8th, 2012
If we could see the world with a particularly illuminating set of spectacles, one of its most prominent features at the moment would be a giant carbon bubble, whose bursting someday will make the housing bubble of 2007 look like a lark. As yet – as we shall see – it's unfortunately largely invisible to us.
Solar's hot, even when the sun is not
February 2nd, 2012
Generally speaking, in the darkest, cloudiest hour on the gloomiest day, your solar system will be generating as much as 25 per cent of a normal clear day output. On a day with light cloud cover, your system could be achieving as much as 50 per cent of a normal clear-day's hour of production.
White's all right for a cool change to city's buildings
January 27th, 2012
A joint study by Melbourne University and the City of Melbourne has found that white roofs can make buildings up to 4 degrees cooler inside and allow for 10 per cent more working hours within a comfortable temperature range.
What the Frack?
January 20th, 2012
The recent press about the potential of shale gas would have you believe that America is now sitting on a 100-year supply of natural gas. It's a "game-changer." A "golden age of gas" awaits, one in which the United States will be energy independent, even exporting gas to the rest of the world.
Back from the future as energy experiment ends
January 19th, 2012
AFTER an 18-month experiment in a futuristic house packed with high-tech gadgets and its own powerplant, a Sydney family is looking forward to moving into a century-old weatherboard cottage in the Blue Mountains.
Snapshot
 |
this week's carbon emissions: |
 |
water restrictions: |
 |
current uv levels: |
 |
water storage levels: |
Quik Quiz
