Black vs Green Energy
Why is GreenPower aiming beyond the federal government’s minimum target?
Before the introduction of GreenPower, a very small percentage of renewable energy was fed into the national power grid. The current percentage is about eight per cent and the mandatory target will take this to about 10 per cent.
GreenPower provides consumers with a way to influence how their electricity is being sourced beyond the government’s mandatory target.
As a result of the growing demand for renewable energy, more than 182 new GreenPower accredited generators have been installed in Australia. Since 1997, over 500,000 residential and business customers across Australia have chosen GreenPower products. These projects include the southern hemisphere’s largest solar farm at Singleton, NSW and numerous wind farms, including Crookwell and Blayney in NSW, Codrington in Victoria, Esperance in Western Australia, Lake Bonney in South Australia and Townsville in Queensland.
Growth of the renewable energy industry and the installation of new generators have made a positive contribution to employment and tourism in regional areas.
Source: http://www.greenpower.gov.au
Hazelwood - the dirtiest power station in the world?
Article by www.wwf.org.au
In many ways Australia can be regarded as a modern country that plays a leading role among industrialised nations. Not when it comes to electricity generation though.
In the 21st Century Australia is still heavily dependent on old-fashioned 19th Century power-generating technology based on coal; more heavily than the EU, Japan, the United States, and developing countries like China and India.
Electricity in Australia's second largest State, Victoria, is generated primarily by coal-fired power plants using brown coal, the most greenhouse gas polluting of all fossil fuels.
Because of its reliance on brown coal, Victoria has the highest rate of greenhouse pollution in Australia, and indeed one of the highest rates of pollution in the world. The dubious honour of the worst greenhouse gas polluting coal-fired power station in Australia goes to Hazelwood, owned by International Power in the UK.
WWF's PowerSwitch! campaign is challenging power companies on every continent to move away from fossil fuels, including the most polluting coal-fired power plants1 in:
| Country | Most polluting station | CO2 intensity (Mt/TWh) |
| Australia | Hazelwood, Victoria | 1.58 |
| USA | Edwardsport, Indiana | 1.56 |
| Germany | Frimmersdorf | 1.27 |
| Canada | H.R. Milner | 1.25 |
| Mexico | C. TG. Portes Gil, Rio Bravo | 1.18 |
| Poland | Belchatów | 1.09 |
| Czech republic | Prunerov | 1.07 |
| Japan | Niihamanishi | 1.02 |
| UK | Cockenzie | 0.99 |
| Italy | Porto Tolle | 0.78 |
Hazelwood is spewing out an astonishing 1.58 Mega tonnes of carbon per TWh, or about 18 million big hot air balloons of carbon pollution each year (see table above), and is the most polluting of the major1 coal-fired power stations WWF has come across in the OECD, and possibly the world!d
Not only is it the most polluting power station we've been able to find, but it's actually getting worse. A recent study found that between 1998-2004 Hazelwood's emissions intensity trend increased 2.7%, despite AU$500 million being spent on environment initiatives and plant improvements since 1996.
WWF has been working with other environmental groups for over two years to try and stop Hazelwood being granted access to new coal. But the government is currently deliberating whether to extend Hazelwood's life until 2031!
We're calling for Victoria to start phasing out its dependence on greenhouse-intensive brown coal, and start utilising natural gas in its place, combined with energy efficiency and investment into renewable energies.
Source: http://www.wwf.org.au/articles/feature34/
New Green Energy Infrastructure in Australia
Wonthaggi Wind Farm is located 3km from the Wonthaggi Town centre in the Shire of Bass in Gippsland, Victoria. There are 6 wind turbines built on 120 acres of rural-zoned flat grazing, which traverses land behind sand dunes and a foreshore reserve.
Commissioning works are underway and the plant will be fully operational in the New Year. The wind farm has a capacity of 12MW, with each turbine able to produce 2 MW of renewable electricity. The site has a 1.5km side at right angles to the prevailing wind from the southwest.
Benefits: When a good wind blows, all the electricity used in Wonthaggi will be 100% green. The wind farm will produce 34,400MW/h per year. This delivers an equivalent saving of 47,830 tons in greenhouse gasses, planting 68,000 trees or taking 11,000 cars off the road.
Source: http://www.wind-power.com.au/projects/wonthaggi/wonthaggi_01.asp
