Victoria's Plans For Hydrogen Exports To Japan Are 'Way Of Making Brown Coal Look Green'

The Guardian - Calla Wahlquist

Proposed plant would would be run by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and produce liquid hydrogen for use in vehicles

Latrobe’s Hazelwood power station will close on 31 March and the Victorian government is looking to create new jobs there. Photograph: Ashley Cooper/Getty Images

Victorian government plans to work with a Japanese company to produce hydrogen from brown coal in the Latrobe Valley are “a way of making brown coal look green”, according to one expert.
The proposed plant, which would be run by Kawasaki Heavy Industries as part of their Kawasaki Hydrogen Road project, would produce liquid hydrogen that would then be exported to Japan to be used in hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Maritime authorities from both Australia and Japan signed a world-first deal to ship liquid hydrogen in Canberra on Wednesday, but Victoria’s acting resources minister, Philip Dalidakis, said the project was still “in the very early stages”.
Dalidakis said the Victorian government has been working with Kawasaki Heavy Industries and the commonwealth on an engineering study to investigate the feasibility of producing hydrogen from brown coal.
He told Guardian Australia the state government was “keen to explore all serious investments that have the potential to create much needed jobs in the Latrobe Valley”.
Latrobe’s Hazelwood power station will close on 31 March, with a loss of up to 1,000 jobs. It was considered to be the dirtiest power station in Australia.
Dr Patrick Moriarty, an expert in alternative energy and hydrogen fuel from Monash University, said replacing the power station with a hydrogen fuel plant was “a way of making brown coal look green”.
“It would be a newer plant… so it could be said to be cleaner on that side of it,” he said. “But it would do nothing for the climate in terms of how you would use it.”
Brown coal is converted to hydrogen by being partly combusted to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The carbon monoxide is then mixed with steam to produce more hydrogen, and carbon dioxide.
The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who will meet the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, on Saturday, is pushing to turn Japan into a “hydrogen society” with plans for 40,000 hydrogen-powered cars on the road by 2020, growing to 800,000 by 2030. It is tied to a $100m commitment to power the car fleet for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with hydrogen.
But Moriarty is skeptical of the environmental benefit of such a push, saying the economic and carbon cost of transporting liquidised hydrogen negated the reduction in carbon emissions from the fuel itself.
Tania Constable, chief executive of CO2CRC, a Melbourne-based company that promotes carbon capture and storage technology, said it was a reasonable proposition because the volume of brown coal left in the Latrobe Valley was “massive and cheap”.
“It is completely reasonable to burn brown coal and turn it both into hydrogen-based electricity for Victoria and export the hydrogen for other purposes, as long as the CO2 from the brown coal can be captured and stored,” she said.
Constable said using brown coal to create hydrogen was a clean alternative to a coal-fired power station and more consistently reliable than other alternative energies such as wind and solar, which are “dependent on climatic conditions”.
The Victorian government is currently trialling a carbon capture project, called CarbonNet, in the Latrobe valley.

Links

• Hazelwood coal power station to close with loss of up to 1,000 jobs
• What will fill the hole left by coal?
• Toxic emissions surged after AGL acquired Bayswater coal-fired power plant
• Victoria to permanently ban fracking and coal seam gas exploration
• Victoria's coalmines forced to pay more towards site rehabilitation costs
• Japan and South Korea top list of biggest coal financiers
• Victorian Greens vow to shut coal plants if they win balance of power

China Cementing Global Dominance Of Renewable Energy And Technology

The Guardian - Michael Slezak

It now owns five of the world’s six largest solar-module manufacturing firms and the largest wind-turbine manufacturer

China is leading the world in renewable energy, investing both domestically and internationally. Photograph: Tyrone Siu/Reuters 

China is cementing its global dominance of renewable energy and supporting technologies, aggressively investing in them both at home and around the globe, leaving countries including the US, UK and Australia at risk of missing the growing market.
A report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (Ieefa) found China’s dominance in renewables is rapidly spreading overseas, with the country accelerating its foreign investment in renewable energy and supporting technologies.
Analysing Chinese foreign investments over US$1bn, Ieefa found 13 in 2016, worth a combined $32bn. That represented a 60% jump over similar investments in 2015.
China was already widely recognised as the largest investor in domestic renewable energy, investing $102bn in 2015, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance – more than twice that invested domestically by the US and about five times that of the UK.
The big foreign investments in 2016 included two in Australia, two in Germany and two in Brazil, as well as deals in Chile, Indonesia, Egypt, Pakistan and Vietnam.

• In Australia, China Light & Power struck a $1.1bn deal, buying power from wind and solar farms.
• In Chile, Tianqi Lithium spent $2.5bn acquiring a 25% stake of a lithium miner and processor. (Lithium is essential for lithium batteries used in electric vehicles and home battery storage.)
• In Germany, Beijing Enterprises Holdings Ltd spend $1.6bn on a Waste to Energy development.

The report noted the global expansion cements China’s total domination of renewable energy growth globally. China now owned:

• Five of the world’s six largest solar-module manufacturing firms
• The largest wind-turbine manufacturer
• The world’s largest lithium ion manufacturer
• The world’s largest electricity utility

Tim Buckley, director of Ieefa and author of the report, said the election of Donald Trump in the US and lack of supportive policy in Australia left those countries at risk of missing a huge opportunity.
“At the moment China is leaving everyone behind and has a real first-mover and scale advantage, which will be exacerbated if countries such as the US, UK and Australia continue to apply the brakes to clean energy,” he said.
“The US is already slipping well behind China in the race to secure a larger share of the booming clean energy market. With the incoming administration talking up coal and gas, prospective domestic policy changes don’t bode well,” Buckley said.
But because of the magnitude of opportunities in investment, technology and jobs opportunity expected in the future, he said there was still time for other countries to catch up.
“We are still in a relatively early stage of the transition, so the next couple of years will be defining in terms of which countries gain the major slices of the market,” Buckley said.

Links

• China to generate a quarter of electricity from wind power by 2030
• Renewables investment in UK will fall 95% over next three years – study
• Race to renewable: five developing countries ditching fossil fuels
• Germany sells guidebooks on renewable energy sites
• Cheap batteries will revolutionise the renewable energy market
• Wind power capacity grew 20% globally in 2012, figures show

Dutch Electric Trains Become 100% Powered By Wind Energy

The Guardian - Agence France-Presse

The national railway company, NS, said that its renewables target had been met a year earlier than planned

Intercity train arriving at Leiden Central railway station, Netherlands. Photograph: Geography Photos/UIG via Getty Images

All Dutch electric trains are now powered by wind energy, the national railway company NS has said.
"Since 1 January, 100% of our trains are running on wind energy," said NS spokesman, Ton Boon.
Dutch electricity company Eneco won a tender offered by NS two years ago and the two companies signed a 10-year deal setting January 2018 as the date by which all NS trains should run on wind energy.
"So we in fact reached our goal a year earlier than planned," said Boon, adding that an increase in the number of wind farms across the country and off the coast of the Netherlands had helped NS achieve its aim.
Eneco and NS said on a joint website that around 600,000 passengers daily are "the first in the world" to travel thanks to wind energy. NS operates about 5,500 train trips a day.
One windmill running for an hour can power a train for 120 miles, the companies said. They hope to reduce the energy used per passenger by a further 35% by 2020 compared with 2005.
• This article was amended on 11 January 2017. An earlier version said all Dutch trains were now 100% powered by wind-generated electricity, according to the national railway company NS. The company said all electric trains were now powered by wind energy.

Links

• Solar panel researchers investigate powering trains by bypassing grid
• Energy firms urge EU to back offshore wind
• Portugal runs for four days straight on renewable energy alone
• Denmark broke world record for wind power in 2015
• Dutch government facing legal action over failure to reduce carbon emissions
• Lesotho to harness wind and water in huge green energy project
• BritNed power cable boosts hopes for European supergrid
• Cape Wind to become America's first offshore windfarm
• Sun, wind and wave-powered: Europe unites to build renewable energy 'supergrid'

It’s Time To Wake Up To The Devastating Impact Flying Has On The Environment

The Conversation - Roger Tyers

Andrey Khachatryan / shutterstock

Ready to get over your post-festive comedown by booking an escape to the sun? For many of you, that will involve flying. And while I’m sorry to put a downer on your holiday plans, there are several problems with this from a climate perspective.
The first is that aviation is essentially a fossil fuel industry, one which guzzles an eye-watering 5m barrels of oil every day. Burning that fuel currently contributes around 2.5% to total carbon emissions, a proportion which could rise to 22% by 2050 as other sectors emit less.
The second problem is, as Air Asia puts it, “Now everyone can fly”. And in “generation easyJet”, those who already fly, fly more than ever. This increasing demand from new and existing travellers means the number of passenger aircraft in our skies is set to double by 2035.
The third problem is that unlike other sectors where there might be a greener alternative (solar not coal, LEDs not lightbulbs etc), there is currently no way to fly 8m people every day without burning lots of dirty kerosene. Aircraft are becoming more fuel-efficient, but not quickly enough to offset the huge demand in growth. Electric planes remain decades away, weighed down by batteries that can’t deliver nearly as much power per kilo as jet fuel.

There is no green alternative. tratong / shutterstock

But here’s the peculiar thing: although no other human activity pushes individual emission levels as fast and as high as air travel, most of us don’t stop to think about its carbon impact.
While in many countries new cars, domestic appliances, and even houses now have mandatory energy efficiency disclosures, air travel’s carbon footprint is largely invisible, despite it being relatively much bigger. For instance, a return trip from Europe to Australia creates about 4.5 tonnes of carbon. You could drive a car for 2,000 kilometres and still emit less than that. And the average per capita emissions globally is around 1 tonne.
Several studies have found people to be quite ignorant of how their own flying behaviour contributes to climate change. It’s not hard to see why. Research into airline websites shows little mention of environmental impact. Green NGOs are often quiet on the issue, perhaps being reluctant to “preach” to their members to fly less, and concerned over accusations of hypocrisy as their own staff fly around the world to conferences.
Political leaders are also unwilling to point the finger at passenger-voters. Indeed, Tony Blair asked as prime minister in 2005 “how many politicians facing a potential election would vote to end cheap air travel?” His answer: zero. The political strategy seems to be passing the buck to the airline industry, and hoping for the best.
Aviation is a golden goose for politicians. In the UK, where sources of future post-Brexit economic growth are hard to identify, the industry looks set to continue its enviable historic growth-rate of 4-5% annually. The main problem for airlines now is finding enough space to accommodate planes at crowded airports such as Heathrow. Airlines’ seductive message to politicians is “If you build it, they will come.”
And the primary reason that they will come is because flying is kept artificially cheap, while trains and cars become more expensive. The main reason for this is the so-called “Chicago Convention”, agreed in 1944 by a then much smaller air industry, which prohibits countries from imposing jet fuel tax and VAT on international flights. Taxes on other forms of transport have increased dramatically since 1944 but thanks to the convention aviation has remained almost unscathed. Things have actually moved in the other direction since the 1990s, when an influx of low-cost carriers led to big cost savings and even lower ticket prices.
What is to be done? Aviation, along with shipping, was given special status and excluded from the Kyoto and Paris climate change agreements. The industry was tasked to come up with its own solutions instead. After much foot-dragging, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), finally addressed aviation emissions in 2016, proposing a market-based mechanism, the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).
Under CORSIA, countries’ airlines are given allowances to emit carbon, and if they exceed their allowances (which they will) then they must buy offsets from other sectors. Yet the plan is not nearly radical enough. It doesn’t even come into power for another decade, and it does nothing to stifle demand – unlike a carbon tax.
As we can see, regulating the environmental impact of flying is a complex business. Ignorance and inaction is an appealing reaction to complexity, but we need to act before aviation gobbles up more of the increasingly small wriggle-room for emission cuts. We can try and reduce the number of flights taken, buy carbon offsets for unavoidable flights, and question the broader logic of allowing the industry to grow ad infinitum. Just using a carbon calculator to learn about the carbon impact of our sunny escapades is a good start.
If citizens remain blissfully unaware of aviation emissions, then airlines and governments are unlikely to do anything about them. Alternatively, if governments ever wish to place a global carbon tax on flights, then they will need to create political “buy-in” from citizens who increasingly see cheap flights as a right.

Links

• Are we finally about to get a global agreement on aviation emissions?
• It’s time for a global tax on aviation emissions
• Perth to London non-stop: great for travellers, but little help for emissions
• The new UN deal on aviation emissions leaves much to be desired

Protection Of Human Rights Should Be At The Center Of Climate Actions

Samoa Planet - News Source

Samuela Pohiva participating at a side event in COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco (Photo: UNDP/Jone Raqauqau)

The linkages between climate change, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development needs to be strongly emphasized in order to facilitate an integrated and holistic approach to climate action.

The Protection in the Pacific (ProPa) Network which include national government actors working for Ministries responsible for issues related to gender, human rights and protection from Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu, supported their national delegations to the twenty-second session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22).

Following the adoption and the entering into force of the Paris Agreement on 4 November, the ProPa Network emphasised that issues such as human mobility, gender-equality and social inclusion, community governance land-rights and protection of core human rights should be specifically reflected in all climate actions.

“Different countries have varying degrees of vulnerabilities, however, underscoring all these is the need to protect core human rights which include the rights to life, dignity, security and non-discrimination from disasters and climate change”, said Samuela Pohiva, Under Secretary for Local Government and Community Development under the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Tonga.

“The Protection of all these rights must be at the centre of all climate change actions and the Pacific region has displayed this leadership with the adoption of the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific (FRDP)”, said Mr. Pohiva.

The Network also stressed that issues such as human mobility, gender-equality and social inclusion, community governance land-rights and protection of core human rights should be specifically reflected in all climate actions.

Speaking at the Momentum for Change: Women for Results side event at COP22, the Australian Government’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Julie Bishop acknowledged the participation of the Network members at the global climate change conference.

“We also support the ProPa Network – a collaboration of government actors in the Pacific that works to ensure social inclusion and gender issues are integrated into climate change action and humanitarian response”, said Ms. Bishop.

The ProPa Network is driven by the National Government’s representatives, and supported by the UNDP’s Pacific Risk Resilience Programme (PRRP). The Network will also extend learnings to other Pacific Island countries that may be interested in this approach.

Links

• Pacific countries advance regional policy towards migration and climate change
• Social and cultural issues raised by climate change in Pacific Island countries: an overview
• Fiji Prime Minister Plans To Continue Global Climate Change Leadership
• From Paris to Marrakech to the Pacific, an overview of the UN Climate COP22 outcomes

Queensland Community Action Prevents Santos From Freely Dumping Coal Seam Gas Waste

The Guardian - Joshua Robertson

Challenge by Western Downs Alliance prompts environment minister Josh Frydenberg to revamp approval of development

Independent Expert Scientific Committee warned environment minister Josh Frydenberg of ‘considerable scientific uncertainty about potential impacts on surface water’. Photograph: Matthew Abbott for the Guardian

Legal action by a Queensland community group has forced the federal government to stop Santos freely dumping coal seam gas waste water in Surat Basin rivers and streams.
A federal court challenge by the Western Downs Alliance has prompted the minister for environment and energy, Josh Frydenberg, to revamp his approval of the Santos gasfield development, in what has been hailed as a victory in protecting the Dawson river.
The case was set down to be heard by the full bench of the federal court next month, in what was to be the first legal test of the “water trigger” in Australia’s environmental laws, which requires the minister to consider the impact of a resources project on local waterways.
The alliance argued Frydenberg’s approval of the 6,100-well gasfield south-west of Gladstone last March was unlawful because he did not properly assess the impact of releasing millions of litres of waste water into the Dawson river and elsewhere.
The Independent Expert Scientific Committee had warned Frydenberg before the approval that there was “considerable scientific uncertainty about potential impacts [of this project] on surface water and groundwater and associated ecosystems” and that the project’s environmental impacts should be properly assessed.
Despite this, Frydenberg approved conditions that allowed Santos to dump the wastewater into local watercourses without further assessment.
However, Frydenberg and Santos then preempted the legal challenge by agreeing on 23 December to change conditions of the approval to prohibit discharge of wastewater unless the gas giant can gain the minister’s approval by showing it has no harmful impact.
The Environmental Defenders Office New South Wales, which acted for the alliance, said this settled the case and satisfied its client’s claim.
The alliance secretary, Paul King, said the mining lobby group, the Queensland Resources Council, had “scoffed and derided our community when we lodged this challenge, even though this was a vital case that has been successful in preventing Santos from discharging wastewater into our rivers illegally”.
“We’re proud to have stood up for our precious water resources as a community group by taking the federal government and Santos to court to help save the Dawson River from being polluted with coal seam gas wastewater,” King said.

These new conditions on the project should be seen as a win for environmental protection.

“The big mining lobby should stop deriding Queenslanders and start recognising the vital role that communities play in ensuring environmental laws are upheld to protect the land and water our regional communities rely on.”
Santos said little had changed from the original approval, the Courier-Mail reported.
The chief executive of EDO NSW, Sue Higginson, said while many in the community still opposed the project approval over the environmental and social impacts, “these new conditions on the project should be seen as a win for environmental protection and the integrity of the water trigger, which is an important part of Australia’s environmental laws”.
“The community is rightly concerned about Santos’s activities in the Surat Basin – in 2013 Santos began discharging CSG waste water generated from its existing GLNG Project into the Dawson River after discovering it has no other viable means of dealing with the millions of litres of waste water,” she said.
“This case is another great example of the importance of the community’s right to be able to uphold Commonwealth laws designed to protect the environment. The community’s right to access environmental justice is essential to ensure our environment is not irreversibly degraded and our economy grows sustainably.”
A Santos spokesman said the company’s GLNG environmental assessments were “comprehensively reviewed by a range of experts at both State and Federal levels as part of the rigorous and public approvals processes”.
“This condition is consistent with the approach Santos was planning to undertake as per its March 2016 approvals,” he said.
“At all times Santos uses the best available science to explore for and extract natural gas safely without adversely impacting the environment, including water resources.”
Frydenberg’s office has been contacted for comment. QRC declined to comment further.

Links

• Santos’s 'fanciful' LNG projections 'inflating value of assets by billions'
• Great Barrier Reef progress report: We have to do better on water quality, says Australia
• The price of change: battle over Queensland's energy mix rages on
• Natural gas lobby plans campaign to convince Australians of 'long-term necessity'
• Great Barrier Reef authority a 'shell of its former self', says Queensland minister
• Commonwealth Bank: coal seam gas makes property 'unacceptable' as loan security
• If energy ministers bow to gas industry they'll be deciding in the dark
• Coalition asks miners and coal seam gas firms to respect farmers' 'moral rights'
• Josh Frydenberg supports coal seam gas agreement between miners and farmers

Obama: Denying Science On Climate Change Betrays Spirit Of America

Huffington Post - Igor Bobic

"Without bolder action, our children won’t have time to debate the existence of climate change -- they’ll be busy dealing with its effects."

In his last address to the nation while in office, President Barack Obama warned Americans about several threats facing democracy, including the threat partisan polarization poses to science and reason.

Speaking to thousands of supporters in his hometown of Chicago, the president cautioned that without agreement on a “common baseline of facts” like the overwhelming evidence in support of man-made climate change, “we’ll keep talking past each other, making common ground and compromise impossible.”

“In just eight years, we’ve halved our dependence on foreign oil, doubled our renewable energy and led the world to an agreement that has the promise to save this planet,” Obama said. “But without bolder action, our children won’t have time to debate the existence of climate change. They’ll be busy dealing with its effects ― environmental disasters, economic disruptions and waves of climate refugees seeking sanctuary.”

Obama added that Americans can and should debate the best way to fight issues like climate change.
“But to simply deny the problem not only betrays future generations,” he said. “It betrays the essential spirit of innovation and practical problem-solving that guided our founders.”
Many Republican lawmakers in and out of Washington deny the link between human activity and climate change, despite overwhelming scientific evidence. Obama’s successor, President-elect Donald Trump, for example, has called climate change a hoax perpetrated by China.

Links

• Outgoing Obama Interior Department calls for major reform of federal coal program
• Obama’s Energy Dept. leaves behind a new 'scientific integrity' policy
• 25 smears, hoaxes, grifts and whoppers on climate and the environment in the Obama era
• A Historic Commitment to Protecting the Environment and Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change