Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s new threatened species action plan does not go far enough, argues Greens Senator Janet Rice.
biomass
Cuba has been revitalising its energy sector for the past 25 years, reports Ian Ellis-Jones. The result has been a rise in efficiency and a significant reduction in emissions.
Clearfelling old growth forest in Tasmania. Previously destroyed for woodchips, native forests are now in danger of being burned to create electricity.
Reports that the owner of Victoria’s Hazelwood coal power station, GDF Suez, has been considering plans to convert it into a co-firing facility, allowing it to burn native forest waste as well as brown coal, have been slammed by environmentalists.
The federal government wants to allow burning native forest waste to qualify for renewable energy subsidies under the Renewable Energy Target (RET).
They reached a compromise with Labor early this month for a renewable energy target of 33 gigawatt hours (GWh).
However, negotiations have since broken down due to the federal government’s fine print inclusion of burning native forest biomass in furnaces and the retention of two-yearly reviews of the RET.