Windfall: Unlocking a Fossil-Free Future

by Ketan Joshi

Overview

We've had a decade of distraction and inaction on climate change, but what made things go so very wrong in Australia? And what can the rest of the world learn from our mistakes—and opportunities? In Windfall, renewable energy expert Ketan Joshi examines how wind power inspired the creation of a weird, fabricated disease, and why the speed with which emissions could have been reduced—like putting a price on carbon—was hampered by a flurry of policy disasters. He then plots a way forward to a future where communities champion equitable new clean tech projects, where Australia grows past a reliance on toxic fuels, and where the power of people is used to rattle fossil fuel advocates from their complacency. Renewable energy can become a key player in the effort to upgrade our species from one on a path to self-destruction to a path of sustainability and fairness. With the knowledge of how the last decade was lost, the next decade can work the way it's meant to.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781742236469
Publisher:	UNSW Press
Publication date:	12/01/2020
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Ketan Joshi has a decade of experience in the renewable energy industry, ranging from data analytics to communications. He has worked in corporations, government, and freelanced for NGOs, and has built a large following on Twitter providing commentary on social media. He has also written for a range of media outlets, including Guardian Australia, The Monthly, and Cosmos magazine. He can be found on Twitter @KetanJ0.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 1

1 CLIMATE ACTION FEAR: THE FIRST OUTBREAK 16

Trough of weirdness 19

Good science doesn’t cure bad science 30

The spoken disease 35

Give people what they want 39

The impending rise of solar syndrome 45

2 ACTION THAT LEAVES NO ONE BEHIND 50

The pioneers of Danish community wind 57

Germany’s landscape and the asparagus conundrum 61

Shit hit the turbines 69

Benefit sharing in Australia 73

Customising community participation 79

A beating heart and a clear head 85

3 UNLOCKING THE BENEFITS OF NEW MACHINES 88

The blackout that changed everything 99

The political power of darkness and fear 103

Guide rails of the next decade’s decarbonisation 116

Steady hands take us to clean power 125

The electrifying potential of electrification 128

Living things and their emissions 136

Finding Kardashev: the road back to humanity 142

4 THE CLIMATE INACTIVISTS 147

The birth of inaction through distraction 150

The carbon tax turned my lamb into a house 154

When Abbott had nothing left to destroy 157

The man in the middle 167

Morrison: inaction through distraction reborn 176

Distraction’s dying power and a nervous PM 185

5 INFURIATED OPTIMISM 197

The rising climate roar 199

People power 206

Visiting the mouth of the carbon river 211

Boycotting unboycottable fossil fuels 217

The rise of doomism 220

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 228

NOTES 230

INDEX 255

Editorial Reviews

'In Windfall: Unlocking a fossil-free future, renewable energy industry insider Ketan Joshi gives a teeth-gnashing account of Australia's interminable climate debates...Windfall is perfect for the lay reader and non-specialist wanting to know how climate policy went so terribly wrong. It also offers hope that a decarbonised future is within reach.' —Chris Saliba, Books+Publishing

'This is a book from the heart: clear, eloquent, candid and rational. It is at once an intensely personal narrative and a searing indictment of policy failure. Windfall provides abundant reasons to be angry, but also plenty to be hopeful.' —Lesley Hughes

'Joshi is a rare example of someone equally adept with the science, the technology and the politics of climate change...a powerful call to action to build a clean energy future that's cheap, clean and ready when we are.' —Scott Ludlam

From the Publisher