On the outer eastern edge of Melbourne there is a curious piece of infrastructure – a high voltage power line to nowhere. So why was it built, and why is it currently sitting idle? Running south-west from Coldstream to Templestowe, via Chirnside Park, Wonga Park and Warrandyte, I was first tipped off to the existence […]
With the 2013 Victorian and Federal budgets having been released in the past week, the spotlight is on funding major infrastructure projects across Australia. So how does the government pay for the big infrastructure projects we need to avoid choking on our own growth? And how did we do it in the old days?
Next time you take a walk around the streets of Melbourne CBD, take a look down at the manhole covers beneath your feet: there is a world of defunct names to explore.
Another week, another “then and now” blog post from me. Following on from last week’s look at the power stations of the Latrobe Valley, here is a comparison of the facilities at Yallourn.
With Australia’s new carbon tax laws having been passed by the Senate last week, it is the perfect time to look at Victoria’s three major coal fired power stations. Located in the Latrobe Valley atop massive deposits of brown coal, together these power stations run 24 hours a day to supply the majority of Victoria’s baseload electricity demand, and in the process contribute more than their fair share of emissions in the environment. So why are they so dirty?
