Clean-Tech's Surge Masking Troubled Times

SOMETHING very unusual has been happening in the Australia sharemarket. In each of the past three months and for the last quarter as a whole, Australian clean-tech stocks have outperformed the broader index by a ratio of about two to one.

In January, the ACT Australian CleanTech Index, which comprises 77 local stocks with a combined market cap of $8 billion, recorded a 10 per cent gain, double the rise of the Australian sharemarket's benchmark S&P/ASX 200.

Over the last three months, the CleanTech index has enjoyed a gain of 5.5 per cent, compared with a 1.9 per cent loss in the broader index.

Gillard Government Launches $340 Million Energy Programme

The federal government of Australia launched on Thursday a $340-million energy programme designed to provide energy efficiency to businesses, local government and communities.

The bulk of the funds will be for efficiency upgrades to infrastructure, including council buildings, stadia, education facilities, town halls and nursing homes. It will be made up of three programmes, with the funds broken down into $200 million for councils and not-for-profit and community groups, $100 million for low-income households and $40 million for small- and medium-sized enterprises and community groups.

Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Minister Greg Combet, Regional Minister Simon Crean and Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change Mark Dreyfus jointly in Canberra the new initiative.

"The community accepts the need for action on climate change and the programmes announced today are a step in the transition to a cleaner economy," the ministers said in a joint statement.

It will reach the different groups through grants to interested parties. The government will issue calls for expression of interests next week. The ministers assured there would be proper safeguards to ensure the money would be spent well.

Mr Dreyfus said the energy efficient programs are designed differently from the failed home insulation scheme which caused the death of four Australians and hundreds of razed homes.

Under the community energy efficiency programme, funding for wind and solar power systems are not eligible, but solar hot water systems are included since the latter is not considered a renewable energy generation scheme.

For the low-income energy efficiency programme, the purchase and installation of renewable energy generation systems such as solar photovoltaic, micro-hydro, wind turbine and biomass generation systems are excluded.

The launch came ahead of the July 1 implementation date of the carbon tax, which some sectors blame for the expected rise in prices, including air fare.

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Australia's First Commercial Solar Roof Lease Launched In The ACT

National solar solutions provider Energy Matters recently launched Australia's first commercial solar roof lease; further affirming the ACT's standing as Australia's solar power capital.

Energy Matters' groundbreaking 'pay now, pay later, pay never' commercial solar initiative was launched to prominent ACT business owners at Ullrich Aluminium’s Hume site on Tuesday 17th May. The launch was presided over by Simon Corbell, Minister for the Environment and Sustainability, who lauded the program for its positive impact in "cementing the ACT as the solar capital of Australia".

Energy Matters has a commitment to playing its role in ensuring all Australians have the opportunity to participate in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and accelerating the uptake of renewable energy in Australia, but understands the challenges that the cost of system ownership can pose.

As the first ever program of its kind in Australia, the Ullrich Aluminium solar lease launch paved the way for ACT businesses to benefit from generous government incentives; whether their budgets stretch to outright system

Kiwi-designed Solar Boat to Revolutionise Travel

A Kiwi-designed boat powered solely by the sun is set to become the first to circumnavigate the globe.

The Turanor Planetsolar has already made it from Monaco to Brisbane, arriving Down Under at a drifting pace yesterday.

"No sun, and the wind was against us, but we managed," said project founder Raphaël Domjan.

Its stop-over is a chance to re-charge following a period of overcast weather, which slowed the Catamaran approach to Australia to just 37 kilometres a day. But its crew said it could cover more than 200km per day without sails or a diesel engine, purely on the sun's energy alone.

The Turanor Planetsolar is powered by 540 square metres of solar panels.

The boat's crew are hoping to prove the reliability of renewable energy.

"It's a kind of promotion for renewable energies and for the use of renewable energies. The idea mainly is to show that it works," said sponsor Immo Stroher.

The boat is the brainchild of Swiss adventurer Domjan and solar technology companies sponsored its $17 million build.

The Kiwi company behind Pete Bethune's "Earthrace", LOMOcean, took on the challenge, with the Turanor being their first solar-powered design.

"Typically a 30 metre motor-yacht might be using 30 to 40 kilowatts just to air condition the boat - we've only got 20 kilowatts to drive the boat along," said Andre Moltschaniwskyj from LOMOcean.

To make most of that power, the team focused on super-slick hull design.

"And that sort of comes back to the New Zealand mentality of designing race yachts. You know a slippery hull is a fast hull, is a fuel efficient - or in this case energy efficient - hull," said Moltschaniwskyj.

"The capital costs might be higher, but then you don't have the high ongoing costs of providing diesel, and infrastructure to provide that diesel, and servicing of diesel engines."

The team are now in talks about using alternative energy for New Zealand ferries.

[It's] making us realise how carelessly, in some ways, we use power," says co-designer Andre Moltschaniwsky.

And we're very much used to how much energy there is - petrol, diesel and the fossil fuels we burn - and as a result we're probably quite wasteful of it."