In today’s talking points: China is now the World’s Top producer of Solar Energy; Australia considering Elon Musks Hyperloop; Energy retail competition needs to be changed; Carmichael mine jobs need ‘21 times the subsidies’ of renewables.
China is now the World’s Top producer of Solar Energy
At the end of 2016, China doubled its production of Solar Energy, producing a capacity of 77.42 gigawatts. Despite this tremendous increase, solar energy makes up for only 1% of China’s total energy output. However, the huge generation of solar power marks an ostensible shift for China away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy. The National Energy Administration has said that China aims to generate an additional 110 gigawatts by 2020. By the end of the decade, China will have invested nearly 2.5 trillion RMB into renewables.
Read more at NextShark
Australia considering Elon Musks Hyperloop
As an alternative to high-speed rail in Australia, Elon Musk’s Hyperlook was suggested in parliament. The Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities’ report found that the Hyperloop would reduce the travel time between Sydney and Melbourne to just one hour. The trip currently takes ten hours by car or twelve hours by train. Despite high-speed rail travel being a hot-topic in Australia since the 1990s, its adoption has never come to fruition. Hyperloop have suggested that they could deliver the project to Australia at twenty percent lower cost than a high-speed rail line. The extended hope is that high-speed travel will allow for more affordable housing.
Read more at Xinhua
Energy retail competition needs to be changed
Families need not only reliable but affordable power, called out by Australian Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. The sensitive first step is to make competition fairer for the community rather than the industry, offering the best chance of limiting the cost of power. Households should be able to choose their energy retailer, which has been achieved only by Victorian government. Some issues still exist, including discrimination between those people that shop around and those that don’t and fake discounts.
Read more at TheGuardian
Carmichael mine jobs need ‘21 times the subsidies’ of renewables
Clean energy projects in central Queensland is set to create more job positions, across solar farms, windfarm, and coal projects, which costs 21 times less of taxpayers compared to federal projects. Adani’s proposed Carmichael coal project touted by Turnbull in a national press club address is very marginal and is so-called state-of-the-art clean coal-fired technology. Although business and scientist are not inclined to invest in new coal-fired power stations, Queensland government was trying to protect its ownership in the state’s energy generation.
Read more at TheGuardian