Switch off Hazelwood!

I spent Sunday protesting outside the Hazelwood Power Station in Victoria. According to Environment Victoria it is Australia’s dirtiest power station, producing 17,000,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases every year. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) goes one step further and says it’s one of the worst in the world.

Here are members of my climate change group, Yarra Climate Action Now (YCAN), braving the rain at the protest. Victorians might remember the Victorian Government’s Black Balloons Campaign to encourage households to reduce their greenhouse gas output. They said the average household produces 12 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year, enough to fill 240,000 balloons. Sounds pretty shocking doesn’t it?

We calculated that the Hazelwood Power Station produces 65,000 balloons of greenhouse gas PER MINUTE. After the protest, we realised  we made a mistake. It should be 650,000 ballons per minute!

Instead of planning to close down this old and outdated power station, the government has instead decided to extend its life to 2031. YCAN thinks Hazelwood should be closed down and the government should be investing in renewable energy production (ie solar, wind and geothermal power).