The Australian renewable energy race: which states are winning or losing?

Provides the latest research on which Australian States and Territories are winning the race to renewables - and which are not. 4 key findings 1. Australia\u27s States and Territories have an important leadership role to play in tackling climate change and growing Australia\u27s renewable energy industry. 2. South Australia is striding forward leading the Australian States on renewable energy. 3. Victoria and NSW have moved from leaders to laggards in Australia\u27s renewable energy race. 4. Australia has substantial opportunities for renewable energy. A lack of clear federal policy has led to a drop in renewable energy investment. Introduction This year, much of the focus on Australia’s climate change and renewable energy policy has been directed at the federal level – given the review of the national Renewable Energy Target (RE T), repeal of the Carbon Pricing Mechanism, and release of a new Energy Green Paper. However, while national action is vital, the roles and opportunities for Australian states and territories to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and expanding renewable energy should not be underestimated. Internationally, the energy sector accounts for the largest proportion greenhouse gas emissions, which are the main drivers of climate change. Tackling climate change requires large scale changes in the electricity sector and a tripling of low-carbon energy by 2050. Australia’s electricity is largely generated from coal. Our fleet is ageing and inefficient, which means that most of Australia’s coal stations are much more emissions intensive than other countries, including the USA and China. Within the decade, around half of Australia’s coal fuelled generation fleet will be over 40 years old. Australia will need to plan and install new electricity generation to replace ageing generators. The Climate Council’s recent report Australia’s Electricity Sector: Ageing, Inefficient and Unprepared found that rapid deployment of renewable power, like wind and solar, is one of the most effective ways to reduce electricity sector emissions. This report provides a snapshot of current targets and policies on emissions and renewable energy in each of Australia’s states and territories, and also measures their performance in terms of emissions, renewable energy capacity and generation. Previous state targets have been removed after federal nationwide carbon pricing and energy efficiency measures were legislated. With these federal measures now abolished, industry, commerce and households in most states are left with no measures to reduce emissions or improve energy efficiency to lower costs. The efficacy of the Emissions Reduction Fund is yet to be established. Furthermore, uncertainty in the RE T has caused investment in renewable energy to drop by as much as 70 percent over the past year. Yet, South Australia and the ACT have set ambitious targets to cut emissions and increase renewable energy uptake. Positive policy settings in South Australia and the ACT will help these regions benefit from the global transition to cleaner energy, leaving the other states and territory lagging behind. Experience from overseas also illustrates how it is possible for state-based actions to stimulate highly effective policy measures

Supervising bank safety and soundness: some open issues

Banks and banking ; Bank supervision

The Determinants of Higher Education Participation in Ireland: A Micro Analysis

In this paper we present a theoretical model of higher education participation in Ireland. Utilising the Living in Ireland Survey data we model the impact of costs (direct and indirect), the estimated life cycle returns, environmental and parental influences and also household credit constraints on the higher education participation decision. We find that foregone earnings and youth employment rates have a negative impact on this decision; this suggests weaker labour markets for young people may have a positive impact on higher education participation. The insignificance of credit constraints in the shape of household income and maintenance grant eligibility from our estimations can also help draw some tentative policy conclusions. Our results also show that life cycle returns and parental educational level may influence participation in higher education in Ireland.

The Life-cycle Impact of Alternative Higher Education Finance Systems in Ireland

With increasing numbers of young people participating in higher education in Ireland and a heavy reliance of higher education institutions on State funding, the introduction of an alternative finance system for Ireland has been muted over the past number of years. However, no study has been conducted to gauge the potential impact of such measures. In this paper we utilise a dynamic microsimulation model developed for Ireland to simulate the impact of both an income contingent loan system (ICL) and a graduate tax system from a fiscal and redistributional viewpoint and to analyse the repayment length under the former system. Our results suggest that an ICL system could be more equitable, while the graduate tax system could be a better alternative from a fiscal viewpoint. The results also illustrate the importance of the interest rate attached to any future student loan system within Ireland from a fiscal viewpoint

Method and apparatus for controllably heating fluid Patent

Using heat control unit to preheat circulating flui

Participation in Higher Education: A Random Parameter Logit Approach with Policy Simulations

In this paper we present a theoretical model of higher education participation. We assume that young people that complete upper secondary education are faced with three choices, go to higher education, not go to higher education or go to higher education and work part time. Utilizing the Living in Ireland survey data 1994-2001 we model this choice in an Irish context by variation in costs (direct and indirect), the estimated lifecycle returns and household credit constraints. Using a random parameters logit choice model we find that simulated lifecycle earnings positively impact the educational/labour choices of young individuals in Ireland. This positive relationship is also found to be true for a choice-specific household income variable constructed in the paper. From the random parameters logit estimations we also find that preferences for choices with higher simulated lifecycle earnings and household income vary across individuals. We conduct policy simulations from our estimations and found that increasing student financial aid levels by 10% combined with a slight widening of the income limits for these aids can lead to significant movement away from the decision to not enter higher education.higher education participation, random parameters logit model, lifecycle simulated earnings, higher education policy