By Josh Kenworthy | Melbourne editor

Hazelwood Power station in Victoria. Image: Jenny Jagerhorn

The Victorian government’s plan to shut down Hazelwood Power Station, outlined in its Climate Change White Paper, has been welcomed by unions in the area.

The Gippsland Trades and Labour Council (GTLC) Secretary/Treasurer, John Parker said he was pleased with the white paper because it gave the industry enough notice to begin shifting to new industries.

“We’ve been saying to the government, ‘we want to know the truth and we want to know your best estimate of what’s going to happen’.”

Parker said, “The employer’s association have been saying for quite a while, behind the scenes, that by 2020 with a carbon trading scheme two of the power stations will probably be gone. And what we’ve said [to the government] is that we need… to be able to do that transition now.”

He also described the closure as a “brave call” by state government to give the early notice which is in stark contrast to the thousands of people left unemployed during the privatisations of the Kennett era.

GTLC Assistant Secretary, Steve Dodd, said it is now important that the government “consult the community and the unions about setting up new jobs for the people to run into.”

According to Parker, the average age of Hazelwood workers is 55 so it is expected that retirement will help with phasing out of Hazelwood while the rest of Gippsland’s skilled work force, mostly working in the power industry, will need to transfer to new industries like solar, construction, wind or dairy.

The white paper, released on Monday, outlines plans to shut down one quarter of Hazelwood Power Station by 2014 and to reduce carbon emissions by 20 per cent of 2000 levels by 2020.

Environment Victoria (EV) said the emissions target showed strong leadership.

“Victoria’s new target is a strong leadership move that is head and shoulders above any other state or national emissions reduction target in Australia. It is in stark contrast to the weak targets and lack of policy from both the Federal ALP and Coalition,” EV chief executive, Kelly O’Shanassy said.

“While the science tells us we need to go further than a 20 percent reduction in emissions by 2020, the Premier is building a bridge between what we are currently doing about climate change in Australia and what we need to be doing,” she said.

Josh Kenworthy is a student currently at Monash University in Melbourne.

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Kylie Beale | Melbourne, Australia

Powering Australia another way. Image: Ian Britton

Guy Abrahams is a former solicitor and art gallery director turned environmental activist. As well as completing his Environmental Masters at Melbourne University, Abrahams spends much of his time spruiking his climate change message to community groups around Victoria. He does this as part of the 3,000+ international cohort of volunteers, trained by Al Gore following the success of An Inconvenient Truth.

Audience members can’t help but be drawn in by Abrahams’ obvious passion. The prevailing message that lingers in the audiences’ minds is just how far behind other countries Australia really is with regards to the development of renewable energies.

At a meeting in Melbourne, Abrahams raised his concerns. “In Australia our solar resources are absolutely enormous, countries like Germany which are now far advanced in their implementation of solar power, they’re up in the fog in Northern Europe. They look down at Australia and say ‘What are you doing?’ or ‘Why aren’t you doing anything?’”

Matthew Wright of Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE), a climate solutions think tank, agrees. “Australia has fallen far short of the world’s leading economies.”

Wright says fossil fuel industries “Can’t do” campaign is holding Australia back by “misrepresent(ing) renewable energy as not being able to run in a modern economy.”

According to BZE, Germany installed a “massive” 4000 megawatts of photovoltaic modules in 2009 and are expected to exceed this in 2010. Spain is also ahead of Australia, installing over 2500 Megawatts in 2008. Australia “should already be installing 1000 Megawatts of photovoltaic modules per annum and growing each year,” says Wright.

But Australia has fallen short of this target.

Abraham’s and Wright’s views are echoed throughout the business world, the public service and politics. One of BZE’s key objectives is to build a large network of people from the government, business and education sectors to combat the misinformation being communicated to the public by the fossil fuel industry.

“Once we have hundreds of thousands of Australians working hard for a 100 per cent doable, 100 per cent renewable economy…people power will have its way and this will involve the dirty future being cleaned up and the clean future being forced through,” says Wright.

But the clean future Wright and his team dream of comes at a cost.

Sustainability Victoria’s CEO Anita Roper admits that some technology, like solar PV systems, are not affordable for low-income households due to the upfront costs faced. Although some have the desire to reduce their carbon footprint, they don’t necessarily have the means.

Erik Zimmerman is one industry leader trying to make “going green” affordable.

Previously Head of Learning and Development for ANZ Bank, Zimmerman stumbled upon a documentary in 2006 at a film festival. After watching A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash, a film about society’s addiction to oil, he was inspired. Taking a great personal risk to try and make a difference, Zimmerman took out a second mortgage on his home to fund his project, EKO Energy.

Zimmerman’s solar energy company, came to life later in 2006 when Australia’s solar installations sat at an approximate 1500 per year. Zimmerman estimates that this figure has increased by a substantial 38 times from its beginning to 2009, with an estimated 47,000 solar installations accounted for last year. EKO Energy was responsible for one in five of every solar installation in Victoria in 2009.

“My aim was to put as many [solar panels] on roofs as I could. I really, passionately believe in this idea of an eco-community,” said Zimmerman in an address to the audience at an EKO Energy Community launches.

“What we’re trying to do is bring renewable energy within reach of every home, every school, every business and every community and what I really want to see one day is systems on every roof.”

Wright points out that the cost of photovoltaic modules has “fallen by half in the last 18 months,” resulting in the expansion of the solar industry in Australia. Despite this positive expansion, Australia is considered to be far behind where it ought to be.

Member of German Parliament Hans-Josef Fell is largely responsible for the German Renewable Energy legislation and framework of the very successful solar feed-in tariffs, which have now been adopted in NSW.

In 2005, the share of renewable energy in the gross amount of electricity for Germany was 9.3 per cent. In 2009 it was 16.1 per cent. By 2020 Germany aims to source 50 per cent of their electricity from renewable energy sources, and 100 per cent by 2030 – a big step up on Australia’s pitiful comparison of 5 per cent from solar powered and 20 per cent wind powered energy by 2020.

Fell says that with global mass production, renewable energy technology will become increasingly cheaper and that national leadership is needed to see it take off.

“Renewable energies would be the most decisive contribution to Global Climate protection,” he says.

“It is also necessary to identify those solutions which are not real solutions at all and to end political support for them. These include in particular the use of nuclear power and reliance on so-called carbon-free coal power stations using CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) technology,” says Fell.

BZE is promoting an ambitious Zero Carbon Australia 2020 project, which is a “costed, detailed blueprint” of Australia’s transition to zero-emissions in the next ten years. The plan focuses on using proven and available technology to accomplish its zero-carbon goal in a bid to dissolve beliefs that renewable energy is simply not a viable option.

Wright suggests that overall, Australia needs “a shift in national imperative to a clean renewable energy future.”

According to Wright, this shift will only occur “when the public understand the facts on global, commercially available solar technology and then have the confidence to argue for what they want.”

Kylie Beale is a student currently at Monash University in Melbourne.

David Drayton | Enviro editor

The First Star has a list of hotel chains which are 'not worthy' including groups like Mirvac. Image: DSP Photos

An accreditation scheme founded by the Australian Labor Party and unions to award environmentally and ethically sustainable hotels has failed to find any Australian hotels willing to meet its criteria.

The First Star, an accreditation system introduced in July last year, seeks to award hotels for practices such as committing to recycling goals and energy and water efficiency standards, as well as providing fair pay and good conditions for staff.

Despite being founded and supported by the Australian Labor Party, Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union, and a number of other unions, travellers and more importantly, hotels, are yet to take notice of the initiative.

“It has been a hard slog to get hotels to appreciate the importance of genuinely engaging with their workforce around these issues,” says Louise Tarrant, national secretary for the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU) and spokesperson for The First Star.

Tarrant admits that luxury and ethical practice are an odd pairing.

“You might have some difficulty with this concept but we’re pushing very hard for ethical luxury,” she says.

This difficulty is becoming more apparent as the organization is yet to award accreditation to a single hotel since its inception.

“This is not a common issue in our industry, it is not one we have talked about in the past, but it is about trying to engage our members.”

According to Tarrent, the task is not an easy one, with ‘greenwashing’ presenting services or goods as more environmentally friendly than they are, deeply embedded in the hospitality industry.

“Hotels have also been at the forefront of greenwash activity but slow to take up the sustainability challenge,” says Tarrant.

Phil Freedman, the climate change campaigner for the Australian Conservation Foundation agrees.

“It’s an innovative program that sets a challenging benchmark – it’s not about greenwash,” he says.

The First Star has focused on campaigning both online and at conferences, but despite their efforts, only 23 people have befriended the organisation’s Facebook page.

Steven Miles, Labor’s candidate for Ryan and a supporter of The First Star, has posted a call to arms on the Facebook page stating, “I’m supporting ethical hotels- are you?”

The sole response is indicative of the lack of attention being given to The First Star.

Yet despite this, Tarrant says that travellers are in support of the system.

“Many travelers have indicated a keenness to exercise ethical choice when traveling,” she said.

However, this support remains to be seen in any significant display.

The First Star website has displayed a list of hotels that it deems “not worthy” including notable large chains: Accor; Mirvac; Hilton and Marriott.

Peter Hook, Accor’s communication manager for the Asia Pacific region, was dismissive of The First Star.

He cited increasing ISO 14001 certification throughout Accor’s hotels, as well as accreditation received from Green Globe, and made mention of Accor’s own initiative, Earth Guest.

The ISO 14000 environmental management standards were established to aid organizations in minimizing the negative environmental effects of their operations.

Meanwhile, Green Globe is a global certification organization who provides sustainability services and advice to its members.

Hook says, “I think the facts speak for themselves in terms of Accor’s commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility,” dismissing any need for The First Star’s approval.

By Sara Pamplona Teixeira

Residents in Sydney's Chippendale suburb are growing food on the streets. Image: Sara Pamplona Teixeira

Cultivating food in urban areas is a rising trend around the world, according to the Organic Food Directory.

Urban food gardens feed over 700 million people in developing countries as well as meeting over 80 per cent of the vegetable demand in cities like Shanghai. There are currently eleven community gardens in Sydney alone.

Residents of Myrtle Street in Chippendale Sydney have adopted this new trend and are taking it up a notch.

The man behind this eco–revolution at Myrtle Street is Michael Mobbs, a sustainable designer and owner of a “sustainable house“.

Mobbs has been successful in spreading his eco-friendly lifestyle and ideas to the neighbourhood.

Fourteen years ago, he completely redesigned his two–storey townhouse to be self sufficient for energy and water and now he has helped his neighbours to grow food on the street.

“You make the streetscape more friendly by getting rid of the concrete and providing more shade,” he said.

Myrtle Street residents use their footpath to not only harvest herbs, fruits and vegetables but also for communal worm farms.

Mobbs has also organised for himself and a few of his neighbours a food share coop where once a week they get a box of vegetables from a local farmer for $35.

Mobbs’ sustainable house was his first attempt to reduce his household footprint on the planet.

At the sustainable house, the sewage water is recycled; the rain water is collected and the Solar panels absorb energy from the sun producing sufficient energy to its four residents.

His determination to make a difference has empowered and influenced his neighbours.

He said in an interview for Act Now that “some of them have copied some parts of the house and they’ve got rain water tanks and solar hot water heaters.”

Today, he rents rooms at the sustainable house and tries to influence his neighbours with his knowledge about sustainability.

Beth Kalin, an American architect and a tenant at the sustainable house is one of Mobbs’ supporters.

She doesn’t ’t see a downside to investing in sustainable designing because according to her, it enables you to take advantage of the space you have in a smart way, and in the long run saves you money with energy bills.

“The way the system works with being connected into the grid is when we need we just use it and when we have excess power we sell it back to the electricity company,” said Kalin.

Despite enjoying the eco-friendly lifestyle, Kalin has never lived in a sustainable house. So, she had to get used to the idea of drinking recycled water and not having a dryer.

“I couldn’t believe it when Michael said that the water I was drinking was recycled on site. I had to get used to the concept.”

Kalin said that there’s no dryer at the sustainable house because “there are openings on 3 of the 4 facades of the house. So, air is drawn in and there are a couple of skylights up at the top in Michael’s office that absorbs the moisture, and that’s why the clothes dry quickly.”

Stuart Kyles lives also lives on Myrtle Street.

He has embraced the green aspect of the neighbourhood as he believes that “utilising the space, better plusses for the environment.”

However, he is realistic about day-to-day life and says he would love to plant and be part of the green movement but time and space constraints play a big role in stopping people doing more for the environment.

June Elizabeth Taylor has lived for more than sixty years on the street, and is part of Mobbs’ street gardening.

Even though she thinks the whole concept is a good thing for the community, she said more should be done.

“A lot of people don’t look after them [footpath garden], they just let it go.”

The sustainable house has inspired hundreds of houses around Australia and New Zealand, and every September there is an event called Sustainable House Open Day, in which sustainable homes around Australia open their doors to the public in order to dismiss any wrong ideas on what it is like to live sustainably.

“It’s a really useful way for people to get first hand experience of it,” Mobbs said.

Presently, Mobbs and Kalin are collaborating on a project that will result in a sustainable community meeting room in Marrickville.

If you wish to spend a night at the sustainable house, it comes at a cost of $250.

Related articles – Zero emissons house ‘not good enough’

By Caroline Ball

CSIRO's AusZEH house. Image: © Courtesy of CSIRO

Australia’s first zero emissions house designed for sale on the mass market has been available for months now, but one housing specialist claims the design is not good enough.

The Australian Zero Emissions House Project (AusZEH) house was designed and built in Victoria by Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) working with industry partners, and launched in late April.

Despite environmentally responsible building practices and the incorporation of innovative technology, critics have accused the CSIRO of ‘greenwashing’ their latest project.

Sydney-based sustainable housing specialist, Michael Mobbs, said that despite a huge change in the public’s attitude towards sustainable housing over the past 20 years, there’s very little change in what’s being built.

Mobbs is well known both for his sustainable house in Chippendale, and for for transforming the neighbourhood by planting vegetables, herbs and fruit trees along its streets. Mobbs consults with private and public sector developers on sustainable projects and is currently working on water concept planning and sustainable system design for the widely lauded ecovillage, The Chimneys on the NSW mid-north coast.

“Food, travel and waste are the biggest sources of climate pollution in households. If the house has no productive food capacity on its land, it’s futile,” he said.

CSIRO research scientist Michael Ambrose says he is satisfied with the newly constructed demonstration house, but admits that it does have an environmental impact.

“In strict terms, a sustainable house is something that is difficult, if not impossible to achieve, as it will always consume resources that it cannot replace. Overall, the house has a much smaller environmental impact on the earth when compared to homes of equal size and location.”

Whilst a vegetable garden was originally going to be included in the AusZEH design, Ambrose says that garden’s upkeep would be unmanageable during its display period, with no one residing in the house until September.

“It may be something we would do once tenants have moved in. The garden space is not huge, but there is enough room for some small beds and a few fruit trees,” says Ambrose.

“From a science research point of view, what has been most rewarding is seeing the results of our modelling and simulation work transformed into actual physical building that we can use to demonstrate the feasibility of zero emission homes for the mass market,” Ambrose says.

The four-bedroom demonstration house built 30km north west of Melbourne combines energy efficient design, on-site solar electricity, an advanced grey-water system and new energy management technology. The 42.2 tonnes of ‘embodied’ carbon emissions created from manufacturing the house have been ‘offset’ through the purchase of climatefriendly.com credits that support sustainable energy projects.

PHOTO GALLERY – Click to enlarge

The six-kilowatt solar panels installed on the roof generate enough electricity to power the house, so CSIRO claims that its net carbon emissions are zero. Central to the house’s carbon neutrality is its advanced Home Energy Management System (HEMS), developed by La Trobe University. The touch screen system tracks the household’s total energy and water consumption and allows individual appliances to be monitored and isolated.

Ambrose says that HEMS is a new innovation. “Combining both the monitoring and the management functions in the energy system is unique. Most of the other monitoring systems measure only the total energy consumption of the house and do not breakdown by appliance,” he says.

The HEMS, which has the capacity to integrate an electric vehicle charger, can also be accessed remotely via Internet and mobile phone. The collated results from the HEMS will form the basis of reports and papers that will be publicly available, though the raw data will not be made available to the public.

“The system can also be used to develop third party applications, and upgraded later as other technology comes on stream,” says La Trobe’s chief researcher for the project, Aniruddha Desai.

The AusZEH is available for purchase as part of Henley’s Kube for $290,000, which is well below the median house price of $455,000 for the area according to propertydata.com.au.

However, Mobbs says that he would not necessarily encourage people to buy it.

“Grow food, live near where [you] work, then if the house is near that – sure, buy it. But the big wins are in growing and buying local food and soil.”

Jenny Jägerhorn | Melbourne editor

Hazelwood Power station in Victoria. Image: Jenny Jägerhorn

The air is crisp and the clouds over Latrobe Valley are as grey and thick as the smoke spewing out of the pipes of Australia’s most polluting power stations. The mining of the oldest brown coal reserves started in the 1950’s and even the younger power stations, built in the 80s, look like icons from the former Soviet Union, with their toxic green façades.

The brown-coal-fired generation plants in the valley account for 85 per cent of Victoria’s greenhouse contributions. Hazelwood power station produces up to 16 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, which is almost 15 percent of Victoria’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, and 3 percent of Australia’s total carbon emissions.

Environmentalists are calling for the closure of Hazelwood by 2012 to be followed by Gippsland’s other brown coal stations.

“Environmentalists have to make a large decision on how they’re going on about it. It’s not just the power stations they’re going to shut down, it’s three major towns [Morwell, Moe and Churchill] within the region and all the people that support the power stations as in workshops and industries that rely on it,” says Phil Bramstedt, who works as a belt technician at the Yallourn mine.

He has been working in the power industry for 25 years and has seen all the commotion around the industry during the past decades.

“There’s nothing they’ve really thought on the community side. Basically, Latrobe Valley has been built over the 70 years as a coal industry,” says Bramstedt.

Once owned by the state

All six power stations, Yallourn Power Station, Hazelwood Power Station, Energy Brix Power Station, Loy Yang Power Stations A & B and Jeeralang Power Station (gas), were once run by the government owned State Electricity Commission (SEC). The height of power production was in 1974, when the SEC employed 26, 000 workers in Latrobe Valley.

The privatisation of the state’s electricity in the 1990’s was commenced by the Kirner Labor government and continued by the Kennett Liberal government, delivering $23 billion dollars to the state coffers.

Hazelwood Power Station and the associated mine were privatised in 1996 and sold for $2.35 billion.

However, the privatisation came as a bombshell in the Latrobe Valley and led to mass layoffs. Jobs went down from 11, 000 in 1989 to only 2, 500 people working in the power industry in Latrobe Valley today, and many never returned. The SEC trained around 500 apprentices a year, but nowadays, the apprenticeships are a fond memory. The Government’s withdrawal wounded both the economy and the psyche of the community. Thriving families spiralled into despair as employment opportunities went up in smoke and social infrastructure failed.

Social problems

Gippsland Trades and Labour Council secretary John Parker says there are two to three generations of families that have lived but haven’t worked in the Latrobe Valley since the privatisation, which has led to major social problems with a lot of drug and alcohol abuse.

In the 15 years to 2005, the population of Latrobe municipality dropped from 75, 000 to 70, 000. More would have left the valley but were unable to because of the plummeting property prices.

“The biggest problem is that we have a market driven economy, but what we need is planning and leadership that work together with the community and the unions,” says Parker.

He sees the Government’s recent decision to postpone the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, which aimed at cutting Australia’s greenhouse gases by making the industry pay for the right to pollute, as unfortunate.

PHOTO GALLERY – Click to enlarge

“It would have given a certainty to the workers. Companies want to wait until the last minute and then just close everything and give redundancy packages. The rest of Gippsland will collapse around them without the support form the government,” says Parker.

The effects of what happened after the privatisation can still be seen. Many of the small businesses never recovered. Walking down the streets empty shops can be seen all over Morwell.

Bramstedt says the government backing in the Latrobe Valley is virtually zero.

“Every time we set up some sort of scheme to do anything here it’s always moved up to Melbourne or some consultant overseas. We put up the ideas and the next minute they’re moved out. Politicians don’t listen to anybody here,” he says.

One-fifth of local jobs in the valley remain directly related to electricity. Phil Bramstedt believes that closing down the coal business would mean the end for Latrobe Valley.

“This will just be like an American ghost town. I’ve already told my children not to rely on the Latrobe Valley as an employer in the future. My 21-year-old daughter is living and studying in Melbourne and my sons have made plans to move there. It is a very large part of Victoria’s economy that the government has to look at,” he says.

Australian Manufacturing Worker’s Union (AMWU) organizer in the La Trobe Valley, Steve Dodd, has a more positive vision about the future of coal but stresses that there needs to be a just transition to new industries.

He sees a future in coal and believes the power stations need to be retrofitted to make a more pollution-controlled zone, whether it will be in power stations or to put coal in to some other use, such as coaled oil or coal fertilisers.

“There’s got to be a change in the short term, there’s got to be a change in the long term, but it has to be a just transition with all parties involved. That includes not only the business groups but also the union and the community groups. They shouldn’t only be done on the basis on the next election in sight,” Dodd says.

“Heard promises before”

On the opposite side of the street from Loy Yang lies a big hole with a massive amount of the black gold. From here the coal strip goes up to a building that crushes the coal. Conveyer belts then move it further and dump it into the ominous, curved brown boilers. The 150-meter high chimney pumps out 14 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year. The endless, overpowering, signature smell envelops you through the sticky air.

In March 2010, it was announced that the operators of Loy Yang A (Loy Yang Power) signed a contract with Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals Australia for the supply of electricity to power aluminium smelters at Portland and Point Henry until 2036.

Loy Lang workers Neville Darragh, 53, and Toby Thornton, 50 have both worked in the power industry for more than 25 years and recognize that there has to be a change.

“There will have to be a move away from coal, but the biggest problem is where are we going to take the electricity from,” says Darragh.

They have heard promises by the Government before, assuring that new industries would come into the area, but without seeing it carried through. They fear that the past could be repeated.

“I think there’s a lot of pressure, Hazelwood was due to close 2005 but they’ve extended it to 2031. There isn’t really anything else,“ says Thornton.

“And Morwell power station [Energy Brix Power station] was supposed to shut down in 1996, all the money was set aside to close it down and it’s still running,” says Darragh.

“They’ve known that the plants here are getting old. They’ve had at least 20 years where they could have started looking around building new things.”

Redundancy packages a solution?

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) says that a move away from coal is inevitable, but it believes the transition time would have to be minimum seven years.

Greg Hardy, Victorian secretary of the CFMEU’s mining and energy division says that the average age of the members is 53 years. So a natural or early retirement could be a solution, requiring that the Government supports them. If the power stations were closed gradually the younger employees could be moved to the newer power stations, Hardy suggests.

But the two Loy Lang workers aren’t convinced.

“How are we going to enjoy the life quality, if we don’t have the power? I think the government wouldn’t allow that. Where would they find money for that, when they they’re struggling with building new hospitals and roads,” says Thornton.

Both agree that people would probably look at redundancy packages if they were given enough to sustain their quality of life. But another aspect is that they feel that one needs a sense of wellbeing in the community as a contributor.

“You can’t just sit in the house and do nothing. We’re hands on people. When the SEC sold it off and downsized and gave away packages, people sat at home and the whole society here changed,” Darragh says.

The question remains, even if most of the workers retired earlier what else is there for the Valley?

“Even if they’re going to have these power stations closed, and if new technology would come along, who are they going to get to build it? These people pass on worthwhile skills to the younger generation,” says Thornton.

The Government recognises that the older and dirtier Hazelwood and Yallourn power stations are likely to close over the next ten years although compensation to the generators will slow that process. To combat devastating job losses alternatives need to be found.

Steve Dodd, from the AMWU, believes in developing manufacturing in Latrobe Valley.

“It could be solar hot water heaters or making parts for wind turbines, there could be a whole range of different, manufacturing of things in this region. It needs a bit of backing up from the government and the power stations and business groups.”

“We believe that there are more opportunities in new technology and in new ways of doing things than in the old power stations that haven’t been upgraded. If it would still be in government hands there would be two new power stations more up to date,” he says.

A recent report by Green Energy Markets for Environment Victoria has found that the closure and replacement of Hazelwood power station could be achieved by the end of 2012 for $320 million a year. The report also points out that an early closure of the power station would cut the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 12 per cent.

Consultants Green Energy Markets found that Hazelwood could be replaced in one of two scenarios.

Firstly, a combination of large-scale gas-fired power of 1800 megawatts and an expanded renewable energy program of 1500 megawatts, mainly from wind.

Secondly, install less gas and introduce a residential and commercial energy efficiency program, wiping out the need for a quarter of Hazelwood’s electricity.

Environment Victoria expects between 1900 to 2500 construction jobs will be created in building the clean energy replacements for Hazelwood.

Another part of the jigsaw of the future may lie in hot rocks.

Professors Rachel Webster and Edwin Van Leeuwen of Melbourne University have discovered that the best site for geothermal power is in the Latrobe Valley. An operational test plant could be running within four years for $100 million.

John Parker questions the capacity of it. The existing coal-fired power plants in Latrobe Valley generate more than 6000 megawatts. Loy Yang A alone has four generating units with a combined capacity of 2200 megawatts.

“That’s a lot of power to replace within a few years. The problem with all of the thermal, carbon capture and solar test plants so far is that all are based on give us some money and we’ll try,” says Parker.

Nuclear power, popular in many countries in the European Union, where it provides around a third of the electricity, has had significant societal barriers to overcome in Australia. But perhaps attitudes will change?

“Nuclear power will come to Australia, we can’t get away from that, because people still want their lives to go on. If a nuclear power station is to be built it needs to be built here because the infrastructure is here. So I believe there will be a mix of energy,” says Darragh.

“Even if we decided to go on nuclear power, there would be another 10-15 years before we would have anything on tap,” says Thornton.

Despite the unhappy past they still have hope for the future.

“It’s got to be positive, there’s a lot of pressure everywhere, so I reckon pressure usually brings good,” says Darragh.

Both find it disappointing that the Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong hasn’t been to Latrobe Valley although there were promises to do so. Perhaps if she did, she would see how devastating bad planning could be to a community.

Jenny Jägerhorn is a GEJI exchange student currently at Monash University in Melbourne.

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Sydney’s streets are about to get greener as government and corporations dive head first into electric vehicle technology. James Rowe reports.

Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid car. Image: Courtesy of Toyota Australia

City of Sydney council has opened the country’s first electric car charging station in the Inner-west suburb of Glebe.

The push for a renewable energy revolution in motorised transport is part of the Lord Mayor, Clover Moore’s environmental plans for the city, made into reality in conjunction with key business stakeholders.

“When I was in Copenhagen in December for a Climate Change Summit, I committed to working with the NSW Government, car share companies and others to scale up the purchase of electric vehicles. Today is a first step in supporting a cleaner mode of transport,” Moore said at the launch.

The Lord Mayor describes the current situation on Sydney’s roads as unsustainable and says part of the solution to climate change is electric vehicles and other sustainable initiatives like car sharing.

“Each day more than 700,000 cars travel throughout the Sydney Local Government Area, significantly contributing to smog, greenhouse gas pollution, congestion and noise.”

Also involved in the venture are car sharing company, GoGet along with ChargePoint and Visionstream.

The vehicle part of the charging scheme is the Toyota Prius, which will have an electric motor range of 30km, which is 2km longer than the regular GoGet conventional petrol internal combustion engine.

And range is not the benefit of the scheme, with supporters claiming that one GoGet car replaces up to ten privately-owned cars on our roads.

GoGet co-founder, Bruce Jeffreys, said members will be able to drive the plug-in electric hybrid at the same price as the rest of the GoGet conventional petrol-powered fleet.

“Its great to see a plug-in electric hybrid vehicle in a safe and convenient location with a world-class charging station ready to go,” said Jeffreys.

“We’re looking forward to the introduction of additional electric vehicles into the GoGet fleet as demand grows.”

Car sharing schemes are active in Sydney and allow members to book a car for an hour to many days, and the good news for future car charging customers is that current costs for recharging a shared car will be the same as costs associated with petrol-powered cars.

In the city area of Sydney alone, there are over 3,000 new members of car share companies.

There are also encouraging developments from the peak body representing the automotive industry.

Chief executive of the Federal Chamber of the automotive industry, Andrew McKellar said: “Australian vehicle manufacturers are exploring a range of opportunities to achieve enhanced fuel efficiency and reduced carbon emissions.

“The production of more fuel efficient, low-emission vehicles is a key step to maintaining a successful and sustainable manufacturing industry here in Australia.”

Vehicles on our roads are also improving as a result of public and private efforts, with technology being a key factor, with the automotive industry also pointing to the future.

“Over the coming years we will see vehicle manufacturers bringing more new technologies to the market as they strive for even greater reductions in emissions. Hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles and alternative fuels all have a role to play,” McKellar said.

But change isn’t just happening at the local government level and within the car manufacturing industry. The Federal government, by its own policy has supported efforts in the green car sector, ordering that new vehicles meet minimum levels according to their own Green Vehicle Guide.

And according to the Federal government’s Green Vehicle Guide, Toyota’s golden car, the Prius, is rated highest of any car currently on the road. And internationally, the Prius was rated in the Kelley Blue Book in the United States as the top green car for 2010, achieving the award for its fuel efficiency and additional high-tech options.

Another Japanese car manufacturer, Honda, is hoping to replicate the success of the Toyota Prius, by unveiling its second-generation hybrid INSIGHT car in Australia later in the year.

And while it seems Toyota is leading the green car push, the efforts of Honda are starting to pay off.

In the United States, Honda recently introduced a hydrogen refuelling station at its Research and Development showroom last month. They announced that the unit capable of refuelling their fleet of vehicles could potentially power not only a transport future, but could also power back to the grid enabling other electrical goods that we use everyday to reap the benefits of renewable energy.

However, despite governments and manufacturers working together, experts agree that the future of green cars on our roads rests solely on take up rates from buyers.

High-tech author Ron Pernick points to past developments around green car take up rates as a good indication of what the future holds.

“Since 2003, hybrid cars have gone from a tiny speck on the automotive landscape to one of the US vehicle market’s fastest growing segments. By the end of 2006 there were some 15 hybrid models on showroom floors.”

Related articles – Making the switch

Australia has committed to reducing carbon emissions, but traffic is congesting our major cities and pumping out greenhouse gases. Are electric cars the answer? Britta Jorgensen reports.

Most car manufacturers plan to release their electric vehicle models by 2012. Image: Todd Mecklem

More than 700 000 cars travel through Sydney city every day, and if the government gets its way, many of those could soon be electric. Sydney’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore officially opened Australia’s first on-street electric vehicle charging station in the city’s inner west early this week.

“This is historic, this is a beginning, this is a trial,” she said.

“We don’t have electric vehicles operating in Australia yet, so this… will enable us to assess the usage here and the take up, and when electric vehicles start arriving in Australia in the next 12 to 18 months we’ll be ready. Certainly the city is investigating the purchase of electric vehicles for our fleet.”

Sydney is one of six countries around the world taking part in a program to fast track the introduction of electric vehicles. Clover Moore committed to the program at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit last year.

“The other thing the city will be doing over the next 18 months is purchasing 50 electric vehicles for use in the city, and of course we’ll be wanting to see the roll out of other charging stations. This trial will enable us to assess how this one goes, so then we can see them being provided throughout our cities.”

Chargepoint is the company managing Sydney’s charging station, which can charge a plug-in hybrid Toyota Prius in three hours. Its Chief Executive Officer Luke Grana says they have plans to conduct similar programs in Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide later this year.

“We’ve got plans for a pile of programs in each state of Australia happening later this year and next year as it becomes a model. The next charging station installation will actually be in Canberra next month,” he says.

“We know that most major automakers are releasing their electric vehicle models in the next two to three years. Mitsubishi is releasing later this year, I believe Tesla as well are releasing this year- but if you look at all the major automakers, they’ve got electric vehicles in development and they plan to release them in 2012.”

So far, Chargepoint has been dealing with local councils and fleets who have adopted the early electric vehicles.

“We provide an infrastructure for home and for business and on-street use, but as more of electric vehicles come into the market then we plan to roll out more of an infrastructure to support the uptake of electric vehicles over time.”

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But there are some doubts about the possibility of a mass production of electric cars in the near future. In a submission to last year’s Copenhagen Summit, the Society of Automotive Engineers suggested it was 20 years away and that government money would be better spent in making traffic flow more efficiently.

There have also been some safety concerns.

“There’s obviously safety aspects to the charging stations, so any alerts or faults we get alerted straight away and we can send someone here to make sure the charging station is in operation,” says Mr Grana.

“There’s an RCD [safety switch] in the charging station, so it trips at 20 milliamp seconds. It’s very quick, so if there is any issue the whole station will be de-energised very quickly.”

The Sydney trial station will provide usage data that will be used to determine whether or not Australia should invest more in the electric car infrastructure.

“We’re very excited about his and we’ll be assessing it and we’ll be looking at how we’ll roll it out,” said Clover Moore on Monday.

“I have made a commitment together with other city leaders in Copenhagen last December, and we’re really committed to this project but we’re learning. It’s historic and it’s a first, and it’s a learning experience for us all.”

Britta Jorgensen is a producer for The Wire .