You may have sometimes heard people ask “how do you keep the lights on when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing?” Well, the world has long moved on from that question: renewable energy storage research is going gang busters! Check out these latest developments:
Monash University researchers are developing membrane technology to extract lithium using small amounts of solar electricity with no added chemicals or water.
MIT Researchers have developed a cement-based supercapacitor. Imagine the concrete foundations of a building storing a full day’s worth of energy! All at little extra cost and still with the requisite structural strength.
Meanwhile other researchers have reached a breakthrough moment with zinc-air batteries, increasing power output and lifespan so much that it could become the go-to battery for the booming global electric vehicle industry.
That’s just a small selection of improvements on well-known renewable energy technology and components. Much, much more is happening in new tech as well.
Take Vanadium - quite possibly the next big thing in battery technology. Currently, upfront cost is higher, but Vanadium Flow Batteries last more than 20 years, are easy to recycle, survive harsh conditions, support peak energy demand, and require no other minerals. Being home to almost one-third of the world’s vanadium, Australia could be at the forefront of this technology:
A vanadium flow battery pilot project in Kununurra WA and another combined with a solar power plant in Port Pirie, SA
A vanadium flow battery factory planned for the east coast and another launched in Townsville
Qld’s North West Minerals Province, featured in the Qld Energy and Jobs Plan, contains a significant amount of the world’s vanadium. This could provide the alternative jobs for Qld’s coal miners.
This new technology is not pie-in-sky might-never-happen stuff. Right now the Qld Government has contracts for a zinc-bromine flow battery as well as an iron flow battery system being installed in the Wide Bay region.
Some politicians may have thought that electric vehicles will ruin your weekend, but in a sign of the world’s commitment to batteries, Norway and China are operating electric cargo ships!!!
Researchers, business and governments are investing in all aspects of renewable energy generation, storage, recycling and usage. Now if we could just get Labor to stop approving fossil fuel projects……….
Luckily that’s what Climate Club Qld is here to help with! Check out the actions below to move the dial on climate action and help Australia power into a fully renewable future.
What can you do today?
🐝 If you have 5 minutes:
Who would want to be Environment Minister in a Government captured by the fossil fuel industry? Tell Tanya Plibersek that we don’t want to live on a dying planet and demand that she do something about it.
Action:
Email your Federal MP and Senators to ask them to stop Minister Plibersek approving more climate-wrecking coal and gas projects. (My Federal MP is a Green; so I hardly need to urge Max to take action. However, he does appreciate seeing support from his constituents.)
Phone Minister Plibersek
Leave a comment on Minister Plibersek’s facebook page
Add your name to The Australia Institute’s open letter with already 6000 signatures calling on Minister Plibersek to stop approving new coal mines
Sign a Petition asking Minister Plibersek to strengthen our national environment laws
The Federal Parliament is running a public inquiry to find out how to improve home electrification by identifying obstacles and advantages households experience through home electrification and collecting ways to make it happen faster. Parents for Climate Action is collecting input from parents, carers, and grandparents nationwide as part of their submission: let them know your experiences to add your voice to the mix.
Action: Complete Australian Parents for Climate Action’s survey. Submissions close this Friday 29 September, so please complete the survey today or tomorrow.
A while ago I wrote to my super fund asking them to divest from Woodside. In response, they wrote that they feel they can more effectively influence fossil fuel polluters by retaining voting rights; thereby potentially voting against Director re-elections, remuneration proposals, ESG (environmental, social and governance) Reports or even Climate Action Policies. I can accept this response, as long as they actually do it! Let them know your thoughts as well here.
Action: Send an email to demand your Super Fund(s) uses their voting power and influence to be a voice for you and the planet.
Just over one year ago, a group of Torres Strait Islanders made international legal history when the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) found that the Australian Government is violating their human rights by failing to act on the climate crisis. (See Issue 4 Wins & Demands). The group recently met with the Minister for Climate Change to ask for increased funding for seawalls, to stop approving new fossil fuel projects, and to help the Torres Strait region transition to clean energy.
Action: Send an email to call on Chris Bowen to increase funding for adaptation measures, especially seawalls, in the Torres Strait.
🐇 If you have 15 minutes:
Ever wondered how to get involved in Lock the Gate, a grassroots movement trying to stop coal and gas across Australia? This organisation is actually a network of more than 260 local groups around Australia, with more than 40 in Queensland alone. Take 15 minutes to find out how to join a group in your neighbourhood, or just send a group an email to say thanks for all their efforts! It’s a huge boost to the volunteers in these groups to get a supportive email :)🙏🙏🙏
Action:
Check out the list of Lock the Gate member groups here and get in touch to join or just say thank you! Find out more ways to get involved on their action page.
💃🏽 If you have 30 minutes or more:
Environmental Justice Australia lawyers, representing the Environment Council of Central Queensland, have argued their case that the Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek acted unlawfully when she refused to accept the climate harm likely to be caused by the Mount Pleasant Optimisation coal mine expansion and the Narrabri Underground Mine Stage 3 Extension, both in NSW.
Action: Join EJA TONIGHT in a webinar to share what happened in the hearing and what’s next for the Living Wonders climate cases. Zoom, 7PM EST tonight Wed 27 Sept
Join 350.org for their Water is Life campaign launch. Hear from experts, campaigners, and organisers; and discuss collectively how to build a grassroots movement to Fix Our Climate Laws and keep our water and climate safe from fracking corporations.
Action: RSVP for dinner, panel and live music, 6:00pm Thursday 19 October. Location to be advised.
🏋️🏋️♀️🏋️🏋️♀️🏋️🏋️♀️🏋️🏋️♀️🏋️🏋️♀️🏋️🏋️♀️🏋️🏋️♀️🏋️🏋️♀️
On September 9th more than 10,000 people marched along a major highway into The Hague, ignoring warnings from authorities not to block the major traffic artery into the Dutch seat of government. Not even a water cannon stopped their demand to end government subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. 2,400 people were arrested! "The seas are rising and so are we," chanted the crowd.
That’s all for today, folks 👋🏽 Thanks for taking action to help save the places we love.
See you in two weeks!
Ron
plus Malcolm, Robyn and Jan - The Climate Club Qld team
Climate Club Qld supports the YES vote for a voice to Parliament for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Many issues about climate action/inaction impact First Nations people stem from Europeans colonising the country and extracting its riches without them having a say. There won’t be adequate and meaningful solutions until there is justice for them. And this Voice could be a good step in the right direction.
To help us keep these newsletters helpful, you can always reach us by email climateclubqld@gmail.com or check out the simple info on our About page.
We live, work and play on the lands of the Yuggara and Turrbal people in and around Meanjin - Brisbane. We pay respect to their Elders, past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded - always was, always will be Aboriginal land.