Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Shanil Samarakoon @shanilsam.bsky.social · 28d

Thanks! A huge team effort in Vanuatu (with some support here in Australia).

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Shanil Samarakoon @shanilsam.bsky.social · Jul 23

cc: @paulmunro.bsky.social , @ceemunsw.bsky.social

Shanil Samarakoon @shanilsam.bsky.social · Jul 23

A short film from the launch of the Fixim Sola vocational training program on off-grid solar repair in #Vanuatu.

48 participants from Tafea province (5 islands) took part in a 2-week program that covered the fundamentals of #solar + how to perform basic maintenance and #repair operations

Launching Fixim Sola: Empowering Vanuatu's remote communities through solar repair training

YouTube video by Business Partnerships Platform

www.youtube.com

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Shanil Samarakoon @shanilsam.bsky.social · Jul 23

cc: @ceemunsw.bsky.social , @paulmunro.bsky.social

Shanil Samarakoon @shanilsam.bsky.social · Jul 23

On Vanuatu’s outer islands, off-grid solar brings vital lighting, phone-charging and cooling where the grid can’t reach—but what happens these system break down?

'Fixim Sola' is addressing this challenge by building local repair capabilities i.e. training, support & tools.

#repair #solar #offgrid

Solar repair training empowering remote Vanuatu communities to tackle waste and create jobs

Fixim Sola, a new solar repair training course launched last month in Vanuatu’s Tafea Province is giving local communities the tools, skills and confidence to manage solar waste…

thebpp.com.au

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Shanil Samarakoon @shanilsam.bsky.social · Apr 24

Our team at @ceemunsw.bsky.social have a new article on 24/7 Carbon-Free Electricity procurement in Australia.

This research examined diverse stakeholder perspectives on this emerging form of RE procurement, including its scope for decarbonising electricity in Australia #research

The right time for real-time? Stakeholder perspectives on the role of temporal matching in renewable energy procurement in Australia

Amid mounting stakeholder pressure to decarbonise electricity consumption, corporate renewable electricity (RE) procurement has played a significant r…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Shanil Samarakoon

Josh Nicholas @joshnicholas.com · Mar 21

I wrote a thing about drawing and Melbourne www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Tourists, watercolours and the sad, still Star: sketching the route 35 tram showed me a Melbourne I had never really noticed

When you are in a city every day, you start to take things for granted. So, after three years in Melbourne, Josh Nicholas decided to be a tourist

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Shanil Samarakoon

Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets (CEEM) @ceemunsw.bsky.social · Apr 15

New paper from CEEM researchers exploring stakeholder perspectives on 24/7 Carbon-Free Electricity procurement in Australia has just been published:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🔌💡

The right time for real-time? Stakeholder perspectives on the role of temporal matching in renewable energy procurement in Australia

Amid mounting stakeholder pressure to decarbonise electricity consumption, corporate renewable electricity (RE) procurement has played a significant r…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Shanil Samarakoon

Martin Jones @martincjones.com · Apr 15

"While we found interest in 24/7 CFE among some sophisticated buyers and the emerging green hydrogen sector, we argue that 24/7 CFE contracting will likely play a limited role in driving decarbonisation in Australia's electricity sector."

Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets (CEEM) @ceemunsw.bsky.social · Apr 15

New paper from CEEM researchers exploring stakeholder perspectives on 24/7 Carbon-Free Electricity procurement in Australia has just been published:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🔌💡

The right time for real-time? Stakeholder perspectives on the role of temporal matching in renewable energy procurement in Australia

Amid mounting stakeholder pressure to decarbonise electricity consumption, corporate renewable electricity (RE) procurement has played a significant r…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Shanil Samarakoon @shanilsam.bsky.social · Apr 16

Thanks so much , Dylan. It was great working with you on this project + deeply grateful for all your thoughtful input on this paper.

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Reposted by Shanil Samarakoon

Dylan McConnell @dylanjmcconnell.bsky.social · Apr 15

📣 New paper from @shanilsam.bsky.social, @miker66.bsky.social, and other colleagues at @ceemunsw.bsky.social on perspectives of 24/7 "real time" RE procurement in Au!

(tl;dr: will likely play a limited role in driving decarbonisation in Australia..)

🔌💡

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The right time for real-time? Stakeholder perspectives on the role of temporal matching in renewable energy procurement in Australia

Amid mounting stakeholder pressure to decarbonise electricity consumption, corporate renewable electricity (RE) procurement has played a significant r…

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629625001409🔌💡

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Reposted by Shanil Samarakoon

JA Westenberg @joanwestenberg.com · Mar 29

When people say 'politics is too divisive now,' what they really mean is 'I was more comfortable when certain groups suffered quietly.'

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Shanil Samarakoon @shanilsam.bsky.social · Mar 4

. @paulmunro.bsky.social outlines our research on off-grid (final 8 mins) #solar repair and e-waste in #Vanuatu, #Zambia and #Malawi.

He discusses the dynamics of the off-grid sector that complicate repair, the challenges communities face on the ground, and the solutions (upstream & downstream).

Flow Batteries, windships, and a new approach to off-grid solar - ABC listen

They're cheaper and safer than their lithium counterparts, they're easier to scale-up, and they can hold power for much longer than conventional batteries, so why aren't flow batteries better known? T...

www.abc.net.au

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Reposted by Shanil Samarakoon

Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · Feb 23

these are the kind of moves that'll eventually move the needle towards shifting power away from tech oligarchs

Nancy Levine Stearns 🌎 @nancylevinestearns.bsky.social · Feb 22

💥The Netherlands' largest pension fund, has sold its shares in Tesla, Meta, and Alphabet (Google). The fund with US $569 billion equivolent in assets is "directing more money to companies and projects that help to improve society and the environment." #Divest

www.reuters.com/markets/euro...

Dutch pension fund ABP sells all Alphabet and Meta shares, CEO tells newspaper FD

ABP, the Netherlands' largest pension fund, has sold its shares in tech companies Meta and Alphabet , its CEO told Dutch newspaper FD in an interview published on Monday.

www.reuters.com

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Shanil Samarakoon @shanilsam.bsky.social · Feb 19

Just over a week to go to get your abstracts in (Feb 28th) for our session on "Future energy systems - embracing creativity in energy transformations"at @energygeography.bsky.social . Please share with anyone that might be keen to participate, be it in-person or online.

Details below 👇

Shanil Samarakoon @shanilsam.bsky.social · Feb 14

🚨 CfP 🚨
Pleased to be co-hosting an online/hybrid session for RGS-IBG on "Future energy systems-embracing creativity in energy transformations" at this year's @energygeography.bsky.social
conference, with Anna Cain, @paulmunro.bsky.social
, @rex-martin.bsky.social and @miker66.bsky.social
1/2

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Reposted by Shanil Samarakoon

Mike Roberts @miker66.bsky.social · Feb 18

Would Sidney Nolan be cancelled for painting Ned Kelly today? That’s what Creative Australia has done to Khaled Sabsabi

Contentious figures have always featured in Australian art – and this fact is what makes Khaled Sabsabi’s removal from the Venice Biennale so confronting.

theconversation.com

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Shanil Samarakoon @shanilsam.bsky.social · Feb 14

We're seeking contributions that engage with creativity and transformation towards future energy systems

250-word abstracts due Mon 24th February

Details:
drive.google.com/file/d/1Lgzz...

2/2

drive.google.com

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Shanil Samarakoon @shanilsam.bsky.social · Feb 14

🚨 CfP 🚨
Pleased to be co-hosting an online/hybrid session for RGS-IBG on "Future energy systems-embracing creativity in energy transformations" at this year's @energygeography.bsky.social
conference, with Anna Cain, @paulmunro.bsky.social
, @rex-martin.bsky.social and @miker66.bsky.social
1/2

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Reposted by Shanil Samarakoon

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · Feb 13

Shell was comfortably the world's largest purchaser of carbon offsets in 2024.

carbonmarketwatch.org/2025/02/12/b...

Behind the green curtain: big oil and the voluntary carbon market - Carbon Market Watch

Shell was the world’s largest user of carbon credits in 2024, a year in which fossil fuel companies dominated the voluntary carbon market. This allows Shell was the world’s largest user of carbon cred...

carbonmarketwatch.org

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Shanil Samarakoon @shanilsam.bsky.social · Feb 14

A blog post on some recent fieldwork in #Zambia.
@mattkearns.bsky.social and I had the opportunity to accompany repair technicians from @solaraid.bsky.social during "Repair Days" for small-scale solar products.

offgridsolarrepair.com/bringing-lig...

Bringing Light Back: A Day of Solar Repair in rural Zambia - Off-grid Solar Repair

A blog about a day of fieldwork in rural Zambia with Solar Aid's repair technicians.

offgridsolarrepair.com

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Reposted by Shanil Samarakoon

Hannah McCann @binarythis.bsky.social · Feb 11

Open letter for academics to sign in support of academic Randa Abdel-Fattah, whose Australian research grant on “Arab/Muslim Australian Social Movements since the 1970s” is being targeted by the Australian Government for political reasons

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Open Letter on Academic Freedom

We, the undersigned, write to express our condemnation of the decision by the Education Minister Jason Clare to request the Australian Research Council (ARC) to investigate the Future Fellowship of Ma...

docs.google.com

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Reposted by Shanil Samarakoon

Ben Eltham @beneltham.bsky.social · Feb 12

Very worrying. There is of course a serious problem with anti-semitism in Australian society. But changing the definition of anti-semitism to outlaw protests by university students against the conflict in Gaza will do nothing to stop hatred in our community www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Inquiry urges Australian universities to ‘closely align’ with controversial definition of antisemitism

Report tabled by Labor MP Josh Burns finds there is an ‘urgent need for reform’ to ensure safety of Jewish students

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Shanil Samarakoon

Senator David Shoebridge @davidshoebridge.bsky.social · Feb 12

Enough is enough - today I’ll be tabling our Federal bill to protect protest from these kinds of inappropriate restrictions. We will fight for the right to fight for your rights!

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Reposted by Shanil Samarakoon

Rex Martin @rex-martin.bsky.social · Feb 6

We're seeking contributions that engage with creativity and transformation towards future energy systems

250 word abstracts due Mon 24th February

Details:
drive.google.com/file/d/1Lgzz...

RGS-IBG 2025 session Future energy systems-embracing creativity in energy transformations.pdf

drive.google.com

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