With as much potential for the development of solar energy that exists all around Australia it is no surprise that the nation has had big plans recently for the renewable energy type. Over the years, Australia has developed a fairly sizable solar energy program with substantial government support backing the developments. As evidence, recent news coming from New (more…)

One of the biggest green movements in the aviation industry has to be the focus on trying to find the perfect biofuels to cut down the carbon emissions given off by an airplane using standard jet fuel. Many aviation companies, fuel companies, and various branches of the military in both the United States and other nations have had varying degrees of success utilizing mixes (more…)

Australia installed more solar power in 2010 than it had during the previous decade, says a Clean Energy Australia report.
There were more than 100,000 solar power systems installed during January – October 2010, compared with a total of 81,232 between 2000 and 2009. It also became more affordable, the report says.

“Over the past year more than 100,000 (more…)

Australian officials plan to build a 140-turbine wind farm in Victoria, the nation’s most densely populated state, by 2013, a billion-dollar project that would be the largest in the Southern hemisphere. The wind farm will provide enough electricity for 220,000 homes and is key to the nation’s new target of meeting 20 percent of its energy needs with renewable (more…)

The Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan, a report released by the non-profit group Beyond Zero Emissions in conjunction with the University of Melbourne’s Energy Institute, provides a detailed roadmap to power Australia’s with 100-percent renewable-energy by 2020.

The research was published in July (more…)

A UK-based renewable energy company has received a $61 million grant from the Australian government to build the world’s first utility-scale wave power project.

Ocean Power Technologies will begin construction of the 19-megawatt project in the waters off Victoria in 2010. The project will provide enough electricity to power 10,000 homes.

Wave technology uses buoys riding up and down on waves to drive an electrical generator, and then sends the power ashore via underwater cable.

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Australia’s Parliament has passed a law requiring that 20 percent of the country’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2020, an increase from the current level of 8 percent.

The standard, which matches the European Union’s, means that the households of all 21 million Australians could be powered by renewable energy in a decade.

Green Party leaders said, however, that the standard should be 30 percent, and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong noted that even with the new renewable standard, the nation’s CO2 emissions are expected to be 20 percent above 2000 levels in 2020 because of the growth of the Australian economy.

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