Comments for TheRealEwbank

Comment on Say Yes… To Better Climate Change Policy? by The age of austerity: Social polarisation, fake partisanship & the Left’s strategy | | Left FlankLeft Flank

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:17:36 +0000

[...] Left Flank has tried to push into the public debate, building on the ideas of local thinkers like Leigh Ewbank. And it is here that the ambiguous role of the Greens becomes more apparent. At times mounting [...]

Comment on Progressive Climate Policy: The Case for Nation Building by Abbott opens new front in climate war – comment | Eco News

Abbott opens new front in climate war – comment | Eco News — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 05:04:37 +0000

[...] of a national Feed-in Tariff for large-scale renewables like Concentrating Solar Thermal and nation-building investments in enabling infrastructure, the CEFC is the Commonwealth Government’s main renewable [...]

Comment on Will Australian Environment Groups Respond to Critique? by Dr_Tad (@Dr_Tad)

Dr_Tad (@Dr_Tad) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 09:08:19 +0000

An important post, Leigh. The ALP-Greens government has proven to be the graveyard of the climate movement (such as it was). I wrote in detail about the political aspects at Left Flank here. Depressing stuff.

Comment on Will Australian Environment Groups Respond to Critique? by Dwight Towers

Dwight Towers — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 09:40:41 +0000

That’s a rhetorical question in the title, right?

Comment on Snowy Mountain Scheme for the 21st Century by The carbon price debate as smokescreen for inaction via ‘The Drum’ / Left Flank (Tw: #cp ) « My | [R] evolution

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 04:22:29 +0000

[...] a reliable large-scale power supply to undergird post-WWII economic growth, the state stepped in by driving the Snowy Mountains scheme. Author and climate activist David Spratt has pointed to an even more apt example of how a society [...]

Comment on Australia Must Act Now On Renewables Or Be Left Behind by Doug Evans

Doug Evans — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:21:23 +0000

Good post Leigh. Change is coming but can it be quick enough? Looking at the report on the decreasing cost curve of renewables that you linked to (Hearps & McConnell 2011) I note that: Cost of PV electricity predicted to fall to between $300 and $100/MWh (depending on who you believe) by 2030. Cost of wind between $140 and about $85/MWh by 2030. Cost of CSP (the hope of the environment movement for renewable baseload power) between abput $210 and about $60/MWh by 2030. Contrast this with predictions that geothermal baseload energy can be delivered by 2020 for between about $50 and $100/MWh from the north Flinders Ranges and (if the latter prediction proves reliable) ask yourself which ‘renewable’ gives us the best chance of getting out of this fix.

Comment on Australia Unveils Carbon Price Policy by A Renewable Energy | Wind And Solar

A Renewable Energy | Wind And Solar — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 03:45:42 +0000

[...] would allow for half of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation’s budget to beused forhybrid Renewable/fossil plants and perhaps even ‘bolt on’ Renewable additions to [...]

Comment on Govt Concedes Carbon Price Is No Silver Bullet by » Carbon Price Scheme – No Longer a Mystery Package

» Carbon Price Scheme – No Longer a Mystery Package — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 23:01:34 +0000

[...] Leigh Ewbank says that “while gas may be less carbon-intensive than coal (excluding the full life-cycle climate [...]

Comment on Govt Concedes Carbon Price Is No Silver Bullet by A clean energy future for whom? | Inside Story

A clean energy future for whom? | Inside Story — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:36:46 +0000

[...] In the package of complimentary measures, however, it is the Greens that have emerged ascendant. With a $10 billion clean energy investment corporation, a new agency to administer $3.2 billion worth of renewable energy grants, funding for a negotiated closure of 2 gigawatts of the dirtiest power plants, and a prohibition on using any of these agreed funds for Carbon Capture and Storage projects, the Greens have peeled back the coal industry’s fig leaf and tipped the balance of low-emissions technology development in favour of renewables. [...]

Comment on Govt Concedes Carbon Price Is No Silver Bullet by Doug Evans

Doug Evans — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 23:08:37 +0000

The piece might have been more accurately called “Government forced to concede carbon price is no silver bullet”. I don’t think there has been any flash of understanding by the Gillard government here – just pragmatic acknowledgement of what was necessary to get agreement for their package. I like the idea that the government now needs to develop a comprehensive new industry policy to service the new clean energy economy. However I doubt we will get anything so orderly and sensible. We certainly have the expertise and creative ability to develop our own substantial clean energy manufacturing base. This would be a wonderful outcome. However the message of history (a deeply ingrained legacy of our colonial origins) is that, assuming we are still able to afford it, we will probably choose to buy our green hardware from someone else.