Solar energy is getting cheaper, but we promise more oil and gas

As solar panels become cheaper, companies and governments are committing to increasing oil and gas production. Community opposition to wind farms financed by fossil fuel interests. Indigenous languages ​​threatened by climate change.

Companies increasing oil and gas production

Extracting and burning coal, oil and gas in existing and under construction mines and fields around the world will produce 3.5 times more CO2 than is consistent with a 1 in 2 chance of keeping global warming below 1.5^aboutC. This is not news. We have known for several years that in order to keep warming at a relatively safe level, we must leave most of the coal, oil and gas from existing mining plants in the ground. The problem is that this knowledge had no impact on the production plans of fossil fuel companies.

Six of the eight well-known oil and gas companies (BP, Shell, Mobil, and the like) have explicit goals to increase production, and all eight plan to continue developing new plants. Instead of closing facilities, some companies also sell their high-pollution sites to a competitor. This ruse is intended to make the seller look better by reducing emissions, but the world is no better when another company simply takes over production and emissions.

Conflicting messages about the Australian gas industry

Here in Australia we hear repeatedly about the shortage of gas for domestic use, but there is no shortage of Australian gas, just three quarters of it is exported. In fact, more gas is used to power Australia’s ten LNG export terminals to convert it into liquefied petroleum gas before shipping overseas than is used in all of Australia’s industries or in our own gas-fired power stations.

To rub salt in our wounds, Australians are receiving an increasingly smaller share of the revenues generated from our oil and gas. Taxes and fees paid by the industry have fallen from $25 to $30 per $100 of income between 1990 and 2008 to about $7 today. The decline coincided with the opening of LNG export terminals in Gladstone, Queensland.

Over the last four years, Australia has transferred $149 billion worth of LNG to oil and gas companies without charging any royalties to extract “our” gas – royalties are a purchase fee, not a tax. And speaking of corporate taxes, in 2020/21 Woodside, Exxon, Shell, Chevron, Inpex and APLNG collectively paid no tax on their combined Australian income of $34 billion.

We are sending gas. We send dollars. We are destroying the climate. We are harming human health and threatening our existence. Crazy! We are Homo sapiens subspecies Australiensis non-sapiens.

The Government has recently published its future gas strategy and the priority is clear in the first line of Minister King’s foreword: ““Gas plays a key role in the Australian economy.”. King then states that the purpose of strategy is “support the transition of our economy to net zero in partnership with the world… as we approach 2050, new sources of gas supply are needed to meet demand as the whole economy transitions (and that) Australia remains a reliable trading partner for energy, including liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign message “Economics, Stupid” is still in power, and politicians focus on electoral prospects. But how long will this fool’s dystopia last?

Our gas exporters face a two-fold problem that is likely to make Australian LNG less attractive to our overseas buyers than it has been over the last decade. Firstly, demand on foreign markets is falling, and secondly, there will be an excess of LNG on the market from other producing countries that have much lower production costs.

But who cares about tomorrow! We will undoubtedly have a new Minister of Resources when all this happens, and they will almost certainly represent the WA seat, as most of their predecessors did.

Fossil fuel interests fund community opposition to wind energy

Community groups oppose offshore wind projects at protests, council meetings and in local newspapers on the US East Coast. I am a strong supporter of renewable energy, but the environmental impact of the installation must be carefully assessed. Good luck to groups like Defend Brigantine Beach, Save the Horseshoe Crab, Green Oceans, Nantucket Residents for Whales, and Protect Our Coast.

This is, of course, provided that social groups are what they appear to be and that they base their opposition to wind on solid evidence. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always look like this.

Researchers from Brown University have revealed that many apparently grassroots groups in the US belong to the so-called “a network of experienced fossil fuel interests and climate change deniers think tanks that have been honing their obstruction tactics for decades.”. The network provides training, public speaking, (dis)information, coordinated messaging, leadership, and legal and financial support through three tightly knit coalitions with misleading, environmentally friendly names such as Save Right Whales, American Coalition for Ocean Protection, and Save the Whale Coalition. These, in turn, are founded and financed by wealthy right-wing individuals (e.g. Charles Koch), climate change denial think tanks (e.g. the Heartland Institute) and the American Petroleum and Petroleum Association. Between 2017 and 2021, over $16 million went to members of the American Coalition for Ocean Protection.

The network emerged from an energy conference in 2012. A strategic note prepared for the conference was presented “a national professional PR campaign” intended to cause “a subversion of the (wind) industry’s message, so that in fact the situation will become so bad that no one will be willing to publicly admit that they are behind it (just as the wind did with coal, turning from green to black and clean to dirty).” This campaign “must look like a ‘ground wave’ among the roots.”

You don’t need to be able to read all the details of the network map above to get a general idea of ​​the connections, but to help you, local groups are shown in blue, coalitions in purple, and known climate change denial organizations in red. According to researchers, the network “creates a facade of local opposition that is actually part of a broader, sustained campaign against renewable energy”.

The report states that Australia should not become complacent “Emerging research from Australia has found similar anti-offshore wind rhetoric from industry players Atlas Network‘. I know there is strong community opposition to some offshore wind projects across Australia. I just hope it represents authentic local issues, untainted by astroturfing.

Indigenous languages ​​threatened by climate change

Of the approximately 7,000 languages ​​worldwide, over 4,000 are spoken by indigenous groups, with over 800 of them in PNG alone. Indigenous languages ​​contain enormous amounts of knowledge not only about each group’s history, traditions, culture and lifestyle, but also about the land and sea world around it: the best time to plant, when indigenous food sources become available, medicinal plants, presence and movement plant species. animals, climate patterns, freshwater sources, ocean currents, etc.

Unfortunately, climate change is causing the loss of indigenous languages ​​around the world. For example, extreme weather events and rising sea levels are pushing communities off their historic lands, severing ties to other speakers of their language, to their culture and history, and to the conditions that give meaning to many of their words. As climate change alters ecosystems, the meaning of many words is lost.

The Arctic Sámi language contains over 300 words related to snow, describing not only its appearance but also its importance to their lifestyle, such as reindeer herding and salmon fishing. But the Arctic is warming much faster than the rest of the globe, and changing snowfall patterns are causing words to lose their meaning. The Sámi even have a new word in their dictionary: dalkkádatrievdan what does climate change mean?

It is estimated that over 90% of languages ​​could disappear over the next century, which is why the United Nations has declared 2022-2032 as the Decade of Indigenous Languages ​​to stimulate research and action to protect endangered languages ​​and dialects. I’m glad Australia is actively participating.

Photovoltaic panels are getting cheaper

Covid caused a shock among buyers of photovoltaic panels. Everyone got used to prices falling, falling and falling, until in 2020 global prices rose from 20 cents (US) per watt to 28 cents. Normal service resumed in 2023 and the price is currently 11 cents per watt. One of the reasons for the decline in prices in recent years is the development of a new technology (TOPCon), which has increased the amount of solar energy that a panel can convert into electricity from 24% to 25.5%. The increase doesn’t seem like much, right, but it represents a 6% increase in performance.

U.S. prices have remained consistently above the global average, largely because the U.S. has imposed high tariffs on cheap, high-quality Chinese modules since 2012.

The rollout of renewable energy is accelerating, with 560 GW installed in 2023, up 64% from 2022. Technological improvements, falling prices, economies of scale and growing commitment to renewable energy, particularly in China, where 350 were installed last year GW, were largely responsible. This puts the world on track to deploy 8,000 GW of renewable energy by 2030.

This sounds impressive, but it is not the trajectory needed to deliver the 11,000 GW that countries agreed at last year’s COP meeting. China is likely to play its part as it has already met its original 2030 target of 1,200 GW of solar and wind power and is likely to reach around 3,500 GW of renewable energy in 2030. The rest of the world needs to increase its ambition and actually implement, especially rich countries.

Australian nightjars

I suspect that the vast majority of Australians have never heard of a nightjar, let alone seen one. Birdlife Australia has identified five things that may interest you. The first is that it is neither an owl nor a nightjar. Secondly, despite its anonymity, it occurs throughout Australia and is probably our most numerous nocturnal bird.