Vote with your dollar
Posted on 28 March 2013 by e-news
This week we demonstrate a practical, simple way you can make a difference: buy green power. All it takes is a couple of phone calls.
And we have a stop-in-the-tracks argument against climate change deniers, in case you need one.
We publish our e-news fortnightly, and we’d love to hear from you.
Have a great Easter! Try and eat carob eggs, (urgh, many of you say).
Have a wonderful Easter. And eat carob eggs (at least don’t eat eggs that use palm oil).
You can help make a difference. Today.
By moving your electricity account to one of the inspirational small local retailer/generators below who have only renewable generation plants. It’s no longer enough to buy green power off one of the large retailers that pays lip service to green power but wholeheartedly supports fossil fuel technology.
And when your big energy retailer calls you back to ask why you switched, tell them!
None of the following retailers below operate or build coal-seam gas projects, large coal fired power stations or gas peaking plants.
RedEnergy.com.au 131 806 Generates from snowy mountain hydro and Hepburn Wind
DiamondEnergy.com.au 1300 838 009 Generates solar, wave, biofuel and wind
MomentumEnergy.com.au 1800 794 824 Generates from wind and hydro in Tasmania
PacificHydro.com.au 8621 6000 Generates from small hydro and wind
All of these retailers’ head offices and call centres are in Melbourne.
By moving your account to one of these retailers now, you’re sending a message to the ‘big three’ retailers that you don’t support fossil fuels. While the big three may have some renewable generation, they’re expanding fossil fuel generation/exploration, and some are actively fighting against the Renewable Energy Target.
Fossil fuels are a planet-destroying technology. There’s no question.
Vote with your buying dollar.
Chart courtesy Reneweconomy
Reducing your energy bills workshop
The third workshop in the Mount Alexander Shire Council’s Sustainable Home Workshop Series will inspire you to reduce your energy consumption and save money on your energy bills.
The free Reducing Your Energy Bills Workshop will be held on Sunday, 21 April from 10am-2pm at the Ray Bradfield Room, Castlemaine.
The workshop will include four sessions and you are welcome to attend all four or to come along for specific sessions of interest. They will include:
Session 1: 10-11am Understanding your electricity bill
Session 2: 11am-120pm What is a typical energy consumption?
Session 3: 12pm-1pm How do I reduce my energy consumption?
Session 4: 1pm-2pm Energy saving products and services
Each session will include a 30-minute presentation, followed by a question and answer session. Energy saving products will also be on display. Light refreshments provided.
You don’t need to register. ?For further information contact Ben Bowman, Sustainability Officer, Mount Alexander Shire Council on 5471 1736 or email b.bowman@mountalexander.vic.gov.au.
Environment and Sustainability Newsletter
Council has a new initiative to send interested residents an email-based Environment and Sustainability News, which will include information on local environment and sustainability events and how you can reduce your environmental footprint.
To sign up, visit www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/environment
Grow great fruit
Katie and Hugh of Mt Alexander Fruit Gardens are running six half-day Grow Great Fruit workshops, to teach home fruit growers the skills and confidence to grow organically. You can do the workshops separately, or together they make a complete course in organic fruit growing.
Workshops: $44 each, discounts available for multiple or group bookings. A further 25% discount is available to Grow Great Fruit Program Members. For details go to: www.workshops.growgreatfruit.com.au. Note: Spaces are limited due to hands-on nature of workshops, so book early!
Katie and Hugh will also continue to offer training in partnership with local groups, so please keep an eye on the Growing Abundance e-news for upcoming Harvest Group Workshops.
For more information go to: http://thehubplot.tumblr.com/
Climate-driven disasters cost Victorians $4 billion
Climate-driven disasters such as bushfires and floods have cost Victorian taxpayers more than $4 billion over the last decade, it has emerged, as the Napthine Government released its plan for Victoria to prepare for the future impacts of climate change.
Solar on every roof?
What would happen if every Australian household installed solar PV on their rooftops?
That’s the hypothetical question a new study has set out to answer, with the main aim of proving a solar point (while rattling a few cages along the way): that solar power is a viable solution to Australia’s energy challenges and has the potential to dramatically change the nation’s energy landscape.
The blow to silence climate change deniers
The coal industry, with its hands on the levers of climate change, is now admitting to climate change … How can you argue against human-induced climate change, when the fossil fuel industry admits it’s happening?
“It will be virtually impossible to limit global temperature increases to two degrees without carbon capture and storage technology,” says the Australian Coal Association
And explaining BHP Billiton’s decision to retrofit one if its coal-exporting facilities against storms, executive Marcus Randolph said, “As we see more cyclone-related events … the vulnerability of one of these facilities to a cyclone is quite high. So we built a model saying this is how we see this impacting what the economics would be and used that with our board of directors to rebuild the facility to be more durable to climate change.”
Yes, you read that right: climate change. Not only is this major coal company acknowledging that climate change is real, but they’re investing in protection against the effects of climate change – which they helped cause. They’re making a significant investment to protect themselves from themselves.
Last word
“In a carbon constrained world where energy coal is the biggest contributor to a carbon problem, how do you think this is going to evolve over a 30- to 40-year time horizon? You’d have to look at that and say on balance, I suspect, the usage of thermal coal is going to decline. And frankly it should.”
– Marcus Randolph, BHP Billiton executive
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