Aug 6, 2023 | Clean Energy, Economics, Electrification, Solutions
HEAT PUMP HOT WATER Units — de-mystified: What type of heat-pump do you need? There are essentially two types of heat-pump hot water (HPHWS) units available. I. A “split” arrangement has a water storage cylinder as one part, and a fan coil unit (like the outdoor...
Jun 14, 2023 | Clean Energy, Electrification, Gas, Lighter Footprints Events
On May 24th Lighter Footprints was delighted to welcome home energy expert Tim Forcey and public health physician Dr Genevieve Cowie to our meeting on electrification. The summary below has blue links in bold to the full video presentation chapter points. You can...
Jun 11, 2023 | Clean Energy, Climate change, Climate Policy, Electrification, Sustainable Building
Sustainable Architecture: Passivhaus (Passive House) vs Passive Solar Buildings This article relates to alterations, renovations and new builds. It attempts to clarify the differences between the passive solar design and Passivhaus design approaches. Many people...
Mar 14, 2023 | Clean Energy, Electric vehicle, Gas, Lighter Footprints Events, Offshore wind
Annual Energy Update 2023 with Simon Holmes à Court It’s been a momentous year in 2022. In Australia, we are close to fossils/renewables crossover, Victoria’s electricity is now 40% clean, and in the US a Tesla Model 3 is now cheaper to drive away than the...
Oct 27, 2022 | Clean Energy, Climate change, Coal, Electrification, Paris commitment, State climate policy
Photo credit: Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio speaks to media during an announcement at PowerPlus Energy, in Melbourne, Friday, October 21, 2022. (AAP Image/Diego Fedele) NO ARCHIVING Summary The Climate and Energy Minister,...
Aug 9, 2022 | Carbon credits, Clean Energy, Climate Policy, Economics, Electric vehicle
Overview Labor’s climate bill passes the lower house Amended by Greens and independents to make 43% by 2030 a floor, not a ceiling, Labor’s climate bill passes the lower house, and heads to a Senate inquiry which is due to report by the end of August. The...
Jul 3, 2022 | Clean Energy, Climate Policy, Lighter Footprints Events, Offshore wind
Lighter Footprints: June 29th on Offshore Wind We were fortunate to have Naomi Campbell, the Development Director of Star of the South and Pat Simons, Yes2Renewables Coordinator speaking at our June 29th event on offshore wind. You can listen to our speakers again on...
Jun 28, 2022 | Clean Energy, Offshore wind
Offshore Wind in Australia Australian Potential The potential for offshore wind is huge. University of Technology, Sydney experts writing in the Conversation state that “Offshore wind projects can provide a win-win-win for Australia: creating jobs for displaced fossil...
Mar 2, 2022 | Clean Energy, Climate change, Climate Policy, EV, Lighter Footprints Events
Australia is so well positioned to transition rapidly to clean energy, with vast potential to rapidly clean up our manufacturing and value add clean energy in decarbonised exports. Our energy system is becoming more resilient and distributed, and households are likely...
Feb 24, 2022 | Chisholm, Clean Energy, Economics, Vote Climate
Chisholm Federal seat is so quiet on climate and creating clean jobs With a razor thin margin of 0.57%, the Chisholm Federal Seat is poised on a knife edge. Chisholm is probably one of a the critical seats where a win for a climate candidate could have a very...
Nov 16, 2021 | Clean Energy, Climate Policy, National campaigns, Vote Climate
Australia has been awarded yet another Colossal Fossil, this time at Glasgow, for “appalling performance” on climate. Although moving away from fossil fuels was mentioned in a COP statement for the first time, Australia has helped to water down the text,...
Oct 28, 2021 | Clean Energy, Solar, Taking Action
So what are the benefits of using solar power and just how can you get started? This short article will help you with these questions. You can also check out Yarra Energy Foundation’s great summary page on solar here, Interested in a clear summary? Watch Peter...
Oct 18, 2021 | Clean Energy, Climate Policy, State climate policy
Going it Alone! What States can do for Climate Action The Hon. Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change gave a presentation on State climate action, opportunities and challenges. This was followed by a panel discussion with Simon...
Sep 27, 2021 | Clean Energy, Local government, Solar
Rooftop Solar PV is now very affordable, reducing your energy bills and lowering your carbon emissions However, for many people wanting to install solar, they often face difficulty in deciding the type and size of solar rooftop installation or finding a reputable...
Jun 28, 2021 | Clean Energy, Climate Policy, Community battery, Lighter Footprints Working Groups
The regulations covering community batteries are consistent across the National Electricity Market (NEM). However, Western Australia has a separate regulatory framework. This discussion paper focuses on challenges that face community batteries in the eastern states...
Jun 3, 2021 | Carbon, Clean Energy, Climate Policy, Court action
The world’s premier energy agency, the notoriously conservative International Energy Agency (IEA), has just released a landmark report that marks a huge shift in approach, setting out “an ambitious global energy roadmap” to reach net-zero by 2050. Of great...
May 18, 2021 | Clean Energy, Community battery
What is a community battery? Community batteries can be scattered around cities and shared between households in a particular neighbourhood or street. They allow households that generate their own solar power to pool their excess electricity in shared storage for...
Apr 25, 2021 | Clean Energy, Climate Damage, Communicating climate change
Did you know the first #EarthDay was held in 1970? Sustainability expert and John Curtin Distinguished Professor Peter Newman reflects on what’s changed and what still needs to be done to address climate change by 2050. Peter Newman is the Professor of Sustainability...
Mar 4, 2021 | Clean Energy, Climate Policy, Lighter Footprints Events, Speaker Slides & Presentations
2021: Riding the Clean Energy Wave An insider’s view with Simon Holmes à Court Wed, 24th February 2021 We were privileged to get a general update and some special insights into the Energy and Climate sector in Australia on 24th February from long-time friend of...
Nov 27, 2020 | Clean Energy, Gas, Opinion
Key messages about the gas-fired recovery ‘Natural gas’ is a fossil fuel (methane) Methane leakage rates can make gas as bad as coal Methane contributes 25% of global heating New gas is not needed, and will not lower prices New gas will not...
Aug 31, 2020 | Boroondara Council, Clean Energy, Climate Policy, Solutions, Taking Action
Overview Last Wednesday we welcomed a terrific panel to discuss climate solutions at a local government level. What are some best-practice programs and actions being implemented right now in Australia, and what are some of Boroondara City’s neighbors doing? This is...
Aug 27, 2020 | Biodiversity, Clean Energy, Climate Damage, Environmental protection, Gas, Submission, Taking Action
Example of an LNG tanker ship next to a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU). Both are approximately 300 metres long Lighter Footprints joined Environment Victoria, Save Westernport Bay and other organisations to protest against the proposed AGL Gas Import...
Jun 1, 2020 | Clean Energy, Climate Policy, Speaker Slides & Presentations
ClimateWorks Last Wednesday we were joined by ClimateWorks CEO Anna Skarbek. Her organisation has spent two years carefully plotting out updated paths to economy-wide decarbonisation in Australia, and Lighter Footprints members were lucky enough to get a breakdown of...
May 22, 2020 | Clean Energy, Climate Policy, Solutions
BUILDING THE RECOVERY ( ‘A new and better normal’) An hour with Simon Holmes à Court 13th May 2020 Simon’s special insights into Energy and Climate returned to Lighter Footprints with a review of the opportunities for a renewables based recovery from the pandemic. He...
Apr 5, 2020 | Boroondara Council, Clean Energy, Climate Emergency, Climate Policy, Lighter Footprints Working Groups, Solutions, Taking Action
It’s time to have our say. Local climate action is powerful! Would you like a more walkable city? Better public transport? Support for putting on solar and storage? Cleaner local power? It’s time to put our support behind the clean energy transition and...
