Episodes
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like bonus subscriber-only episodes and - dare we say it - the prospect of elusive LMSU t-shirt designs?! Only one way to find out. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
Our Main Paper
We interrupt regular programming to bring you an extra, rapid reaction episode to a very special development. And sorry folks, it’s not the US election result, that happened *after* we recorded this one.
Mariah Carey has been defrosted and Christmas has come early for one member of the LMSU team in particular! That’s right folks, the threat of Tennant performing CBAM The Musical outside DCCEEW offices has resulted in the release of the government’s second consultation paper as part of its Carbon Leakage Review. A thoughtful and detailed analysis lays out the key risks of carbon leakage across different commodities in terms of trade and investment, and suggests that YES INDEED, there is a role for a Border Carbon Adjustment Mechanism. That’s right, it’s a BoCA and most definitely not a CBAM, but whatever it is, it won’t hurt a bit?!
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! We're off to Baku to take the temperature and Trump redux climate politics, but until then support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like bonus subscriber-only episodes and - dare we say it - the prospect of elusive LMSU t-shirt designs?! Only one way to find out. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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After Frankie brazenly reclaims a corner of the pod for the infamous “Shirtfronting with Frankie” (become a Super Summerupperer for a first look at t-shirt designs!) your intrepid hosts dive into a pre-COP-primer as the next Conference of Parties is almost upon us! And never fear, the LMSU team will be on the ground in Baku, Azerbaijan, bringing you the latest on the negotiations. What’s on the menu for COP29? Finance, dollars and more finance! Negotiations on a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance are centre stage, co-chaired by Australia’s own Minister Bowen. And as pressure is due to ramp up on the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions, let’s not forget the spectre of the US election and its impact on the mood on the ground…
Bonus: check out our wrap of last year’s COP28 as your amuse bouche for Baku!
Our main paper
Having failed to come up with a compelling turn of phrase for NCQG (we’ll work on it) we dive into the OECD’s Climate Finance Provided and Mobilised by Developed Countries in 2013-22, a summary on how we’ve faired against the existing $100 billion a year goal. So, have we made it? OECD says yes, in 2022. LMSU says, asterisk! Conditions apply.
Bonus nerdery: a draft framework for negotiations on the NCQG, including how they might be defining developed vs developing countries.
One more things
Tennant’s One More Thing is: listener feedback from Deeper Decarb on our National Hydrogen Strategy episode who said we had neglected the possibility of electrolysis leading to higher emissions without focusing on where projects would be sourcing energy. T’s response? The Govt reckons she’ll be apples! Subsidies and the need for low cost energy to be competitive means. Also check out DD’s substack!
Frankie’s One More Thing is: the recent and unexpected politicisation of, of all things, the National Construction Code! That’s right, there’s a stoush brewing over whether there should be a 10-year pause to further changes to the NCC, which, in this intrepid host’s view, would be BONKERS in the critical decade for climate action.
Luke’s One More Thing is: a tribute to the LMSU ‘Super Summerupperers’ trivia team who managed a podium finish, coming in third at Currently Speaking’s trivia night in Melbourne. Special thanks to listeners Dylan, Dean and Ben for joining us! If only we’d listened to you at some critical moments. But we won't flog that dead horse!
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Missing episodes?
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like bonus subscriber-only episodes and tasty extras like our episode notes, custom memes and climate reworks of classic songs - it’s a vibe. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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This week your intrepid hosts pop the frunk to take a look at just what is going on with trucks! Thanks to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and the Smart Freight Centre, we charged up on the latest with this zippy investor guide to zero emissions commercial vehicles that declares the time is NOW because progress is nascent in this part of the transport puzzle. In what looks to be another victory for electrification, battery electric vehicles are on the sweet steep learning curve and currently wiping the floor with hydrogen fuel cell trucks at 90% of the global market this year.
Our main paper
In yet another worrying sign we just can’t stop the GASbagging, we’re back for more to find out just How much gas does the future grid need? Thanks to Jay Gordon at the Institute for Energy Economic and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), we get a corrective on some of the spin from the gas industry who claim the 2024 ISP confirmed “ gas-powered generation will play a greater role in the National Electricity Market (NEM) to 2050” (!) Our hot take? More like: gas peakers = the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the ISP matrix.
Bonus nerdery discussed:
Could this major German green steel project be on the ropes? Possibly!Is every Matrix movie other than the original terrible? Yes!One more things
Tennant’s One More Thing is: the worrying continuation of wild conspiracy theories - adopted by US Republicans - linked to geoengineering that now claim that the devastating Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton was being engineered by… the government!? Yikes.
Frankie’s One More Thing is: the quiet release of the Australian Government’s ‘Achieving 30 by 30 on land’ - the national roadmap for protecting and conserving 30% of Australia’s land by 2030 - the week *after* hosting a Global Nature Summit. We’ll let you Summerupperers read between the lines on that one!
Luke’s One More Thing is: to announce the lucky winners of tickets to join us at Currently Speaking's trivia night coming up in Melbourne on Wednesday, 23 October! Welcoming Super Summerupperers Dylan, Dean and Ben to Team LMSU - It’s ON folks!
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like our recent bonus episodes on nuclear (could it work?) Plus tasty extras like our episode notes, custom memes and climate themed reworks of classic songs - it’s a vibe. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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This week your intrepid hosts are joined by LMSU co-host-at-large - aka the sensible lady in paragraph five - none other than Grattan climate maven Alison Reeve!
After hanging out for the much anticipated speech by Peter Dutton on the Opposition’s nuclear policy, at an event titled “Nuclear: could it work?” your intrepid hosts can report *shrug emojis* with side of *skeptical brow emojis* because there was NO new information in that speech. NADA. That did not stop the enterprising folks at IEEFA, who penned this analysis suggesting nuclear would add big $$ to all our energy bills and have no hope of making returns, ever. Our humble take? Pay big for it we will (T’s got some dodgy numbers!), but maybe through taxes rather than our energy bills. Tomayto, tomahto. Bless the folks at IEEFA for creating the policy in order to model it!
Our main paper
It’s all engines go as the LMSU pit crew review the updated National Hydrogen Strategy, But before we get too H2 Fast H2 Furious, we jump in the DeLorean with Alison as she recounts the backstory on the original 2019 Hydrogen Strategy. So how does the 2024 model compare? Less hype, no tripe, some pipe! Clear-eyed and bullish about the role of green hydrogen in hard to abate sectors and key export opportunities, this hydrogen strategy is a shift to getting hy on our own supply!Bonus: our third episode ever covering IRENA’s report on hydrogen carriers is the fine wine to accompany this main course.
One more things
Tennant’s One More Thing is: the passage of legislation in Tennessee to ban solar geoengineering - by Republicans, because, chemtrails!
Alison’s One More Thing is: the end of coal power in the UK! With the closing of the last coal power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar, it’s a symbolic shift as the country that first introduced coal-fired power in the industrial revolution continues its decarbonisation journey..
Frankie’s One More Thing is: the Australian Government hosting a Global Nature Positive Summit on Gadigal country in Sydney on 8-10 October against the backdrop of not much progress on nature positive reforms!
Luke’s One More Thing is: to remind you there are spare tickets up for grabs for Super Summerupperers to come join us at Currently Speaking's trivia night in Melbourne on Wednesday, 23 October! We have three spare tickets for the LMSU trivia team, and maybe they have your name on them! Just head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, make sure you are a paying subscriber, and answer this question: in 25 words or less, tell us what novel strategy Tennant should employ to get the Carbon Leakage Review second report released. The three most creative, least illegal answers get a ticket!
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Come join us at Currently Speaking's trivia night! Our friends at the Currently Speaking newsletter are putting on a trivia night in Melbourne on Wednesday, 23 October (on the evening of the first day of the All Energy Australia exhibition and conference). So you should get onto that, obviously. But if you are a Super Summerupperer (or ready to sign up) we have three spare tickets for the LMSU trivia team, and maybe they have your name on them! Just head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, make sure you are a paying subscriber, and answer this question: in 25 words or less, tell us what novel strategy Tennant should employ to get the Carbon Leakage Review second report released. The three most creative, least illegal answers get a ticket!
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Luke and Frankie try to distract Tennant from his increasing desperation and dismay at the lack of CBAM content on the local menu, but happily your intrepid hosts have pathways-a-plenty to snack on with the Climate Change Authority publishing their final Sector Pathways Review! Feeding into the government’s work on the six sectoral decarbonisation plans, there is bottom-up and economy-wide modelling to consume. The TL;DR? A decent serve of residual emissions to net off, and engineered removals? We’ll need a fewwwwww!
And if you’re after more of a main course on CCA sector pathways, we recommend this fresh episode of First Fuel with Brad Archer: *chef’s kiss*
Our main paper
This week the LMSU crew sample some fine dining that Gill Armstrong, Joshua Danahay and Mia Dewar at Climateworks Centre have served up: a delightful degustation of home energy upgrades in their latest report, Enabling Australia’s home renovation wave. With three upgrade options across eight jurisdictions and sixty nine climate zones, your intrepid hosts had more than their fill of insulation packed options to improve Australia’s crappy old housing stock! A special hat tip to the team for their infographic game – it remains strong – and the interactive charts on the Climateworks website are especially worthy of your attention!
One more things
Tennant’s One More Thing is: the new and improved National Hydrogen Strategy v2. Should National Hydrogen Strategy v1 impresario Alison Reeve come back on the podcast and critique v2? Well should she? You, chicken, Reeve? PLUS a shout out and congratulations to friends of the pod, Erwin Jackson and Georgina Wood on their recent nuptials!
Frankie’s One More Thing is: a shout out for the just launched campaign “Renew Australia For All” which has some sharp asks for upgrades to Australian homes AND pod rec for The Rest Is Politics US with Katty Kay and Anthony Scaramucci.
Luke’s One More Thing is: NSW has a new Consumer Energy Strategy! And residential mandatory disclosure is a thing! For realsies this time!
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like our recent bonus episodes on US election shenanigans and closer to home, the passing of legislation for the Net Zero Economy Agency and Climate-related Financial Disclosures. You will also find things you didn’t know you wanted (weekly photos of Frankie’s uber cute doggo, Tennant’s cats, cyber punk cosplay outfits and a general #GoodTime). Don’t be shy! Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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Your intrepid hosts open with some ill considered commitments on BoCo that will(?) be made available on the Patreon (who doesn’t love a cyberpunk-doggo mash up), barely mention the actual bonus episode we released last week (see above) before wading into the inviting waters of AEMO’s latest Electricity Statement of Opportunities. So what does 2024 ESOO have to say for itself? Everything is now terrific, reliability wise! OR IS IT??!!
This year’s ESOO leads with the good news picture but *warning* we still need to read carefully and while some big projects have been approved (oh hi HumeLink!), we should be feeling the urgency of Getting Stuff Done. And that stuff MUST include energy performance retrofits of millions of Australian homes! Shout out Climateworks on their latest report, Enabling Australia’s home renovation wave, which has some great suggestions on that front.
Our main paper
Your intrepid hosts break down being down on emissions breaks with the hot new Science paper causing all the commotion in climate circles. Climate policies that achieved major emission reductions: Global evidence from two decades from Annika Stechemesser and collaborators, mainly from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, has more hot takes and fake takes than you can poke a stick at! Listen on to hear ours - flaws we did find, it’s not all bad though - but also don’t just trust us! We reference some fantastic analysis of the paper from Emil Dimanchev which is well worth your time. Also, if Euler diagrams are your jam then this paper is for YOU.
One more things
Tennant’s One More Thing is: the decision by Korea’s highest court to require the legislature to put forward 2030-50 interim climate targets PLUS a Brian Deese article in Foreign Affairs calling for a clean energy Marshall Plan.
Frankie’s One More Thing is: a note on some worrying signs of breaks to commitments towards net zero housing and future changes to the National Construction Code after the SA government pressed pause on further changes for the next ten years.
Luke’s One More Thing is: This article from Currently Speaking (and the associated impromptu reading list).
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Episode Notes
Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like our recent bonus episode on brat summer and US election implications for climate, as well as other savoury morsels like our notes on papers read, alternate paper titles and so so many custom memes. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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After recent frolics in pre-and-post election climate speculation in the US and UK, your intrepid hosts turn their gaze to developments closer to home and ponder, could China be peaking its emissions early? We discuss this excellent article in Carbon Brief with data from respected China-watcher Lauri Myllyvirta. The short of it? It’s a complicated stew with a GIGANTIC cup of renewable energy growth, a generous dollop of post-COVID energy demand and a worrying scoop of coal-to-chemicals growth.
Our main paper
Your intrepid hosts cross examine a bumper new report Global trends in climate litigation: 2024 snapshot from Joana Setzer and Catherine Higham from the London School of Economics' Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. This was a fascinating read on the many and varied approaches not-for-profits, governments and corporates are taking to litigating climate action, climate inaction and climate washing! Warning: contains SLAPP fights and green-on-green action.
One more things
Luke opens with some feedback from friend of the pod David McEwen. David thought we missed a trick around Frankie’s suggestion that it would take a while to replace budget revenue from fossil fuels and helpfully provided a link to an excellent paper from Paul J. Burke at the ANU Tax and Transfer Policy Institute which points out that our fossil fuel industry delivers
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like our recent bonus episode on brat summer and US election implications for climate, as well as other savoury morsels like our notes on papers read, alternate paper titles and so so many custom memes. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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After shamelessly spruiking our latest subscriber-only bonus content – LMSU speculation on the US election and its implications for mitigation – we pop across the pond to pick over the scraps of the recent UK election. Did the Tories’ flirtation with an anti-green agenda cost them or was the prospect of warm homes and nationalising energy with GB Energy too tantalising to turn down? Maybe it was just time for the Tories to go!
Our main paper
Having foreshadowed our curiosity about the current Quarterly Essay on our last pod, your intrepid hosts came for the excellent climate science but might have left before the policy diagnosis in Joëlle Gergis’ HIghway to Hell: Climate Change and Australia’s Future. It turns out that straying from your lane can be fraught and plagued with pesky potholes like politics and diplomacy, which are, like, totally simple and not at all riddled with their own peculiar complexities. Alas, they tried to make Japan go to rehab and Australia said “no, no, no.”One more things
Luke’s One More Thing is: Listener feedback! The folks from RE-Alliance took issue with a hypothesis floated on our last pod that folks from the regions may feel a sense of pride in the nation-building hosting of renewable energy infra. That’s a big fat NO according to research done by the RE-Alliance crew. Well then.
Tennant’s One More Thing is: HumeLink has been approved (economically, by the AER). Next: EPBC and NSW planning!
Frankie’s One More Thing is: A shout out to now-former Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Jenny McAllister, who was promoted in the recent reshuffle. From her work leading on early adaptation plans, energy performance and securing a billion-dollar fund for home energy upgrades, the LMSU crew salute you, and congrats on the new gig!
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like bonus episodes and other savoury morsels like our notes on papers read, alternate paper titles and so so many custom memes. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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This week your intrepid hosts feast on the veritable smorgasbord of actions and progress contained in the communique out of climate and energy ministers’ most recent gathering! The acronym soup - CER, FMIA, MEPS, GEMS, Oh MY! - might have been a touch too much for most, the LMSU crew dined with delight. Yes please for home energy ratings! Yummo on MEPS for hot water heat pumps! Please Sir, I Want Some More regulation of crappy LEDs!
Our main paper
Andrew Dyer unpacked the dire state of community engagement in his review, which was the main course for this week’s pod and was yet another item that received a formal response from climate and energy ministers last week.
Tennant was sick in bed this week so naturally he penned an ode to the Dyer Review set to the tune of Girl from Ipanema. It may turn up on the Patreon one day but suffice to say that ♪ short and sharp and smart and concrete, the recs from Andrew Dyer are all agreed ♪
Including but definitely not limited to the idea of an energy spokesperson/hype machine (probably not zombie John Monash but someone like that) to explain why all this infrastructure is necessary! Is Matt Kean that the man for the job?! Maybe not as crazy as it sounds!!! Luke spoke to Matt about his aspirations in the new gig. You know, on his other podcast 🙄
One more things
Luke’s One More Thing is listener feedback on our discussion of the Global Tipping Points paper from Summerupperer Chris Nunn, who nominated the paper.
Tennant’s One More Thing is a collaborative trip to Hades (no, not to find the Carbon Leakage Review); and a personal electrification saga.
Frankie’s One More Thing is the Building Ministers Meeting decision to include a voluntary pathway for commercial buildings to measure and report embodied carbon using the newly launched NABERS rating in the National Construction Code 2025.
The LMSU crew also flagged an exciting opportunity for YOU dear Summerupperers to read along as we digest a recent Quarterly Essay, Highway to Hell: Climate Change and Australia's Future which we will cover in an upcoming episode!
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like bonus episodes and other savoury morsels like our notes on papers read, alternate paper titles and so so many custom memes. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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This week your intrepid hosts are joined by a very special guest. He is a writer, a comedian, a broadcaster, a wager of Wars on Waste and a general in the Fight for Planet A, Craig Reucassel!
And the reinforcements are warranted as we launch into an extended opening segment focused on AEMO's 2024 Integrated System Plan. This discussion ranged across delights such as the big Consumer Energy Resources rebrand (and what’s changed other than the name), why gas peaking capacity is like insurance (Tennant tells all) and the zero carbon tech we can turn to to deal with dunkelflaute in the long term (probably not batteries, and definitely not nuclear)!
Our main paper
We also reached a tipping point on the concept of tipping points dear Summerupperers and took one for the collective team by diving into the latest offering from the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute, the 2023 Global Tipping Points report. We had a look at the summary report (lots of things to worry about in there) and then did a deep dive on section four, Positive tipping points in technology, economy and society. TL;DR: ‘tipping points’ may be a tad overused as a concept here but perhaps there are one or two areas in which we can leverage learning rates and catalyse some social contagion to replicate the success experienced by solar and wind.One more things
Tennant’s One More Thing is an anecdote regarding a query he put to Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen at a recent forum at Parliament House. Politicians are known to duck questions from time to time, but at least the Minister's podcast themed parry gets points for novelty.
Craig’s One More Thing is his keen interest in ensuring costings for prospective nuclear plants factor in the expense of the continued use of aging, emissions intensive coal fired power stations while we wait for nuclear to come online. The man has a point!
Frankie’s One More Thing is a plug for friend of the pod, Tim Forcey, who’s just published a book! My Efficient Electric Home Handbook is a practical guide on how to make your home more comfortable, efficient, fossil fuel free and cheaper to run. Tim is also one of the founders of popular Facebook group My Efficient Electric Home. Go check it out!
Luke’s One More Thing is the proposal from the Victorian Government on minimum rental standards for eminently sensible things like draught proofing and insulation. Plus his chat about the new standards with Victorian Energy and Climate Minister Lily D'Ambrosio on his other podcast , First Fuel 🙄.
AND he got in a sneaky twofer (or is that a threefor?) but we forgave him because his third more thing was a plug for Tennant’s recent (and excellent) speech “The Sun is a harsh mistress: taking Australian energy advantage seriously”.
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like bonus episodes, including our answers to more of the AMA questions we couldn’t get to this week and other savoury morsels like our notes on papers read, alternate paper titles and so so many custom memes. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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Luke and Frankie are missing Tennant this week but are blessed by the presence of stunt double CBAM enthusiast Carlos Flores, Director of the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) program!
We are summing up the latest developments in climate and energy in commercial buildings with special live show at the end of a very big day at the NABERS and Commercial Building Disclosure (CBD) Program Conference. While Frankie and Carlos battled it out for the best one minute elevator pitch on what NABERS is for y’all who aren’t buildings wonks, the TL;DR of it all is that EVERYBODY needs good NABERS!
The NABERS program is celebrating 25 years in operation and its status as an example of global leadership in energy efficiency policy. That 25 years amounts to 11.57 MILLION tonnes CO2 abatement and $1.7 BILLION in energy bill savings for the building owners that have used NABERS ratings to understand and manage their energy use, saving big $$ and slashing emissions.
So what’s on the agenda for the next 25 years? The future is ALL ELECTRIC so electrification is all the rage. Embodied carbon is the next big frontier with the launch of the pilot Embodied Carbon rating tool, ambitious new minimum energy efficiency standards for commercial buildings are out for consultation in the National Construction Code 2025 AND Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Jenny McAllister, announced a review to reimagine and expand the CBD Program. Phew! #justabiton.
A Very Happy 25th Birthday to NABERS from the LMSU crew, here’s to the next 25 years of global leadership in sustainable buildings policy!
Oh, and One More Thing™️ – if you want to watch the video (gasp!) of the live show it is up on the NABERS channel on Youtube!
And that’s all for this week folks! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like bonus episodes, including our answers to more of the AMA questions we couldn’t get to this week and other savoury morsels like our notes on papers read, alternate paper titles and so so many custom memes. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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Your intrepid hosts are delighted to present this break-with-the-usual-format spectacular to mark an important milestone: FIFTY EPISODES of the Let Me Sum Up podcast!
That’s a whole lotta summing up over the past two years, but even when we’re considering our life choices on a Sunday choosing to pore through papers - so many papers! - it’s been a blast and we want to say a massive thanks to all you Summerupperers for tuning in and supporting us along the way.
We asked you to Ask Us Anything and boy did you! Listen on to hear our responses to the many thoughtful questions and provocations from friends of the pod, which ranged from how we choose what papers to read, to career reflections, to what our very own Horsemen and Superheroes of the transition are. It’s all there for your listening pleasure, including the voices of so many Summerupperers who were good enough to record their questions so you could hear them directly.
Here’s to the next fifty episodes Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Thats right, our very next episode is our fiftieth (how did that happen) so to mark the occasion we are doing an Ask Me Anything! Luke's fashion choices, trolling Frankie about hydrogen in buildings, getting Tennant's attention with questions posed in the form of memes – it is all on the table.
But time is of the essence! Get your question into [email protected] by Sunday 9 June 2024. And remember you get extra points if you submit your question as a voice recording (and the chance for it to be spliced into the episode and LMSU history). Huzzah!
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like bonus episodes and other savoury morsels like our notes on papers read, alternate paper titles and so so many custom memes. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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Another fortnight, another flurry of activity vis-a-vis the reliability of the NEM! Your intrepid hosts have some whiplash from the just-published May 2024 Update to the 2023 Electricity Statement of Opportunities, rendered out of date some 48 hours later when the NSW Government and Origin Energy announced their deal to extend the operation of Eraring for two years. Reliability fears? Temporarily allayed. Broader impacts? More coal gen pain!
Our main paper
The Australian Government’s universally beloved, well received, totally uncontroversial Future Gas Strategy proved too tempting to resist for your intrepid hosts. In what could have been titled ‘Gassy McGasface Says: Gas? Gas!’ this report goes to great lengths to paint a picture of gas as far as the eye can see – beyond 2050! – even in the face of the many models suggesting that would be a Very Bad Idea, especially if the need to save the climate is a thing. It might be light on analysis, policy, and funding, but don’t worry, we filled in the blanks.
One more things
Tennant’s One More Thing is some listener mailbag from Summerupperer Kerry Burke, who reckons the LMSU crew got it wrong – it had to happen eventually – with our broad endorsement of Grattan’s Keeping the Lights On paper last episode. We’ll take a 47/48 strike rate any day, and invite Kerry – who is also not happy with the status quo – to tell us what he’d do instead!
Frankie’s One More Thing is a plug for the National Construction Code 2025 Public Comment Draft, now open for comment until 1 July! Improvements to energy efficiency for commercial buildings are on the table, including an intriguing measure to mandate solar on commercial building rooftops. If buildings are your jam, hop on it!
Luke’s One More Thing is a plug for the Energy Efficiency Council’s revamped and relaunched First Fuel podcast, featuring no less than the grandfather of energy efficiency, founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute and Stanford Professor, Amory Lovins. Canvassing extreme efficiency, grid transition and dare we say it, the prospects for nuclear in Australia, we are McLovins it!
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up today for access to coveted BoCo like our just-dropped bonus episode on the Federal Budget! Other savoury morsels include our notes on papers read, alternate paper titles and so so many custom memes. Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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Your intrepid hosts turn their gaze stateside for a gander at the recently published rules from the US EPA which will slash emissions and other pollutants from coal and gas generators. We reckon these are a BIG DEAL. With coal generators needing to cut emissions by 90% if they plan on operating post 2039, it’s effectively CCS or die!
Our main paper
The Grattan Institute’s latest offering, Keeping the Lights On, makes for a grumpy read in which no government, market body or stakeholder group escapes the ire of authors Tony Wood, Alison Reeve and Richard Yan over the state of the energy transition. This report is serving a healthy dose of realism (the coal closure era is just gonna be messy, deal with it) and a side of optimism on reforms for the post coal era! And the LMSU crew, as always, are here for it.
One more things
Luke’s One More Thing is unpacking some thoughtful listener mail from friend of the pod and Super Summerupperer Dylan McConnell on the history and context of the GSOO. This valiant effort did move your intrepid hosts however – we still reckon the GSOO is in need of a serious makeover!
Frankie’s One More Thing is the recently published Decarbonising the US Economy by 2050: A National Blueprint for the Buildings Sector following a chat with the paper’s authors from US Department of Energy and Department of Housing and Urban Development. TLDR: reform across the federation is so much harder when you have 50 states. Good thing the HURRICANE of IRA carrots is there. Mmmm, carrots.
Tennant’s One More Thing is a recent collab between two humongous titans whose subject could doom the world - or save it. No, it’s not the highly anticipated King Kong x Godzilla cinematic spectacle, but rather a recent episode of Volts where David Roberts is joined by Michael Liebreich to talk energy transition superheroes vs supervillians.
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up for access to coveted BoCo like bonus episodes, our notes on papers read, custom memes and climate mash ups of 70s soul hits! Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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If there’s one thing your intrepid hosts love it’s an acronym! PM Anthony Albanese served up fresh fodder for the LMSU crew in the form of A Future Made In Australia or as it shall henceforth be known, FuMiA! At this stage all we have are the tasty tantalising morsels of pre-budget delights in the billion dollar investments announced for the Solar Sunshot program and critical minerals investments with much MUCH more coming our way. Will the Government go big or go home in backing home-grown advantages and sovereign capability?
Our main paper
This week we picked a winner and tackled the ARENA-funded study by the Australian PV Institute, Silicon to Solar, which informed the so-far $1Bn the government is tipping in to the Solar Sunshot program aimed at creating an end-to-end solar PV industry in Australia.
A dispassionate, objective look at whether we should establish a domestic solar industry THIS IS NOT! Your intrepid hosts tallied the arguments for ‘making PV in Australia is sensible’ vs ‘making PV in Australia is crazy’ and tackled the totally-not-fraught topic of what-do-we-do-about-China. Which one stacks up? Definitely not our current costs of production at any stage of the supply chain!
One more things
Tennant’s One More Thing is “Everything Must Go”, a history of stories about the end of the world (featuring an excellent climate section) by Dorian Lynskey, host of the Origin Story podcast. Tennant’s real motivation for the shout out is that it situates Soylent Green as a climate movie. Cue *not listening* emojis. For a taster, listen to the Origin Story podcast's bonus episode on the book!
Frankie’s One More Thing is the ISSB’s recent announcement that they are commencing projects to look at disclosure about risks and opportunities associated with nature and human capital. Signalling expansion to human rights and TNFD is super fast compared to climate risk which was a slower burn - exciting times!
Luke’s One More Thing is the EEC’s Industrial Decarbonisation Summit and National Conference, featuring global energy efficiency legend Amory Lovins. Not to mention a gala dinner co-hosted by podcast superstars Frankie Muskovic and Tennant Reed!
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up for access to covetous BoCo like bonus episodes, our notes on papers read, custom memes and climate mash ups of 70s soul hits! Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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The demand side of the energy system equation is near and dear to the hearts of your your intrepid hosts and so it was with a collective sigh that we mused on the government’s just released National Energy Performance Strategy (NEPS). Built on the bones of the National Strategy on Energy Efficiency (2009) and the National Energy Productivity Plan (2015), this latest iteration is serving up a lot of framework and not a lot of new policy commitments. Is it NUP to the NEPS? Your intrepid hosts reckon there’s not a moment to lose on increasing the ambition and building out this framework post haste!
Our main paper
And speaking of ambition! All the targets were hanging out over here as we set our sights on 2035 and had a gander at the Climate Change Authority’s just published 2024 Issues Paper: Targets, Pathways and Progress. So what is the Goldilocks number, CCA? This target is too high (over 75%)! This target is too low (under 65%)! But THESE TARGETS (65-75%) are *just right*. Add a sneak peak into the early thinking on tech needed in different sectoral pathways, a first foray into carbon removals - yet more targets! - AND the promise of economic modelling which will no doubt feature more IAM piñata bashing, and CCA has sung for their supper for Summerupperers to sup!
One more things
Luke’s One More Thing is some listener mail on our recent ep unpacking the National Adaptation Plan issues paper from none other than friend of the pod, CCA CEO Brad Archer! Brad responded to Luke’s cheeky suggestion that the CCA could play a stronger role on adaptation policy - turns out they ARE doing some stuff and they also have plenty to be getting on with already thank-you-very-much!
Tennant’s One More Thing is a recent European Commission report on the gap between real-world light vehicle emissions and the current Worldwide harmonised Light vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP). They used data collected by new vehicles themselves while being driven!
Frankie’s One More Thing is a tribute to Jeff Robinson, sustainable building advocate and industry legend, who passed away tragically on April 7. Jeff was larger than life and seemingly everywhere all at once, always generous with his time to support the sustainable buildings movement as a mentor and friend to many. A memorial forest is being planted in his honour and a message board for those who would like to contribute. Vale, Jeff.
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up for access to covetous BoCo like bonus episodes, our notes on papers read, custom memes and climate mash ups of 70s soul hits! Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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Your intrepid hosts still have the Need for Speed(y decarbonisation of vehicles) and clocked the New (and improved?) Vehicle Efficiency Standard completed its warm up lap and with industry all signed up now and cheering from the sidelines, it’s go time and we’ll soon find out if the Parliament believes two electric popemobiles will balance out a stretch hummer after all! We revisit our previous episode on the NVES and discuss the changes. Was the original B and ambit claim? Were 4WDs always going to end up switching categories? That may be but we reckon this is still more of a vroom vroom than a putt putt and it will drive a lot of change in new fleets by 2030!
Our main paper
This week we enter the twilight zone that is the Gas Statement of Opportunties 2024, more affectionately known by regular customers as the GSOO. In this 2024 edition where new supplies of gas are the ONLY solutions contemplated to forecast shortages towards the end of the decade, your intrepid hosts had some *cough* thoughts about the role of *cough* demand side policy maybe being a thing and also it would be nice if any of the scenarios used were actually aligned to meeting our climate commitments. HOOEEEE we had fun beating this pinata full of charts and magic gas ships!
One more things
Tennant’s One More Thing is a new paper from our old friend William Nordhaus, updating the widely beloved DICE Integrated Assessment Model with less wildly erroneous inputs and incrementally more functional representations of the world!
Frankie’s One More Thing is a reflection on the climate legislation PALOOZA going on in Parliament with three bills introduced for vehicle efficiency standards, Climate Related Financial Disclosures and setting up the Net Zero Economy Authority. And wouldn’t you all like to know what we thought of that! Look no further than our Patreon where we’ve just dropped a BoCo episode on just that!
Luke’s One More Thing is a big salute to colleague and friend of the pod, Holly Taylor, the Energy Efficiency Council’s outgoing Head of Partnerships and Strategy. Oft described as energy efficiency’s Hype Woman, Holly’s impact and infectious enthusiasm will be much missed! If YOU dear Summerupperer are contemplating a career shift and fancy a purpose-driven stint as the EEC’s new Head of Partnerships, have a look here for all the deets to apply!
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up for access to covetous BoCo like bonus episodes, our notes on papers read, custom memes and climate mash ups of 70s soul hits! Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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It's time to revive *US elections corner* at LMSU HQ and HOOOEEEEE there is a lot to say! Summerupperers, we could have spent the whole pod unpacking the various permutations of the makeup of Congress and its implications for climate policy. BUT, beyond Democracy Good, Demagogue Bad, a re-elected but weakened Biden may be relegated to Executive Actions and bedding down IRA and getting proposed EPA standards for cars, powerplants and oil and gas methane reduction up. Will it be enough? The spectre of a Trump 2.0 presidency would see the US withdraw from Paris again and completely remove climate considerations from all decision making to the extent possible. The wildly popular hurricane of carrots that is IRA may yet survive though.
Our main paper
Last week the Government released two papers relating to adaptation - the National Climate Risk Assessment : First Pass Assessment Report and the National Adaptation Plan Issues Paper. Your intrepid hosts are here for this culinary climate cabaret! We devoured the National Adaptation Plan Issues Paper, with a little First Pass Climate Risk Assessment amuse bouche!
One more things
Tennant’s One More Thing is “Indistinguishable From Magic” by Robert L Forward, a collection of mind-expanding essays and indescribably dreadful fiction on the frontiers of future science and engineering by an influential aeronautical engineer and physicist. Featuring incredible levels of energy inefficiency!
Frankie’s One More Thing is a great episode of David Roberts’ US climate pod of note ‘Volts’ called “How’s IRA doing?”. It’s a cracking discussion with Trevor Houser of Rhodium Group unpacking data on how successful the IRA has been, two years into implementation.
Luke’s One More Thing is to flag ongoing and significant work underway by Treasury and the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute on a regulatory regime for Climate Related Financial Disclosures - due to kick off this year! - and accompanying taxonomy for sustainable finance.
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support our Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net.
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Support us on Patreon... Tennant, Luke and Frankie are calling all Summerupperers to come join the expanded LMSU universe and support our Patreon! Sign up for access to covetous BoCo like bonus episodes, our notes on papers read, custom memes and climate mash ups of 70s soul hits! Head on over to https://www.patreon.com/LetMeSumUp.
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We get the ball rolling with some crystal ball gazing this week. Speculation is rife on just how ambitious Australia’s 2035 national emissions target will be and your intrepid hosts are far from immune to a spot of prognostication themselves! When and where will it land we ask? Ambitious states like Vic and QLD (!) suggest 75-80% ambition is supportable, and looking abroad with the EU potentially gunning for a 90% reduction on 1990 levels, A Big Number is very possible!
Our main paper
A Degrowther’s delight and a downright doozy which decries growth, marketing and pronatalism as the drivers of ecological overshoot in this week’s paper, World Scientists’ Warning: The behavioural crisis driving ecological overshoot by Joseph Merz, Phoebe Barnard, William Rees, Dane Smith, Mat Maroni, Christopher Rhodes, Julia Dederer, Nandita Bajaj, Michael Joy, Thomas Wiedmann, Rory Sutherland. Your intrepid hosts had much to say, and PLENTY to critique as the authors target runaway economic growth, marketers for manipulating the Easily Led Masses, neo-liberal feminists and Big Baby as the source of our woes. The solutions? Well, transitioning our energy system is a futile struggle. What we really need is a campaign of Widespread Behaviour Manipulation by… the marketing industry. STRAP IN FOLKS, this one is a wild ride.
One more things
Tennant’s One More Thing is the provocative but sadly brief (and possibly bananas) “Food Without Agriculture”
Frankie’s One More Thing is the just-announced changes to the Federal Coalition’s shadow ministry, with Melissa McIntosh MP appointed to the new role of Shadow Minister for Energy Affordability.
Luke’s One More Thing is to pour one out for Katharine Murphy no longer being a (direct) contributor to our nation’s public debate. If you too are feeling nostalgic, head on back to Episode 7 ‘The last fire in the forest’ where Katharine joined us to talk about the Safeguard Mechanism and climate policy ghosts past, present and future!
And that’s all from us Summerupperers! Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/LetMeSumUp, send your hot tips and suggestions for papers to us at [email protected] and check out our back catalogue at letmesumup.net
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