The ABC has 2 good articles on energy efficiency and the urgent need for smart meters that are actively available to the end user. As they state in the article we have 5 years to stabilise emissions if we want to avert massive climate change.
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2798071.htm
And a possible Australian solution from Latrobe University just waiting to be be implemented if we're 'smart' enough.
The correct link to the ABC Science Show segment on smart metering at Latrobe University is here.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2009/2652517.htm
Good news maybe on the solar plant at Mildura
Australian solar panel manufacturer, Silex Systems, has now bought the remnants of project for a bargain $20 million.
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/content/2010/s2819827.htm
Silex in their press release seem to think their is money in it.
¨The potential global market for utility scale solar projects, based on third party estimates
(refer to Supplementary Information), could be in the order of US$25 billion per annum in
2015, with significant growth thereafter.¨
The last 2 episodes of Media Watch have had very good commentary on the validity of climate change skeptics and their outrageous claims. Last night had some very good comments on how reporters are "making the news" and distorting the evidence.
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2820429.htm
You can download the episodes as well.
The Climate Smart home deal from the QLD Govt is ending in June so if you haven't taken advantage of the $50 deal to get a wireless energy meter, compact flouros and a low flo shower head you better be quick.
New Zealand has gone ahead with its emissions trading scheme despite all of the skeptics. Looks like they are getting their act together while we appear ot have dropped the ball.
It's just about to launch the world's most comprehensive emissions trading scheme to curb greenhouse gases, and some of its most senior civil servants are so with it, they look like they should be running organic supermarkets rather than the country.
http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/climate/policies-initiatives/index.html
More a news item on non-renewables but relevant to current events.
An oil crunch more serious than the financial crisis threatens to strike Britain within five years, Sir Richard Branson and other business leaders have warned.
He even mentions corporate welfare.
"It recommended removing the current £9 billion tax break on fuel for domestic airlines and using the money for public transport investment, while also encouraging a shift away from car travel."
continuous
Member
Could the peak oil scenario be limited to Britain only? I think not. However here in OZ we have loads of brown coal to burn, convert to oil if necessary and generally screw our environment, so where do you think we are going to head? The coal pits are going to get deeper.
This is the most unfortunate thing about being in OZ - we have no reason to act and plenty of reasons for short term gain. Australia, my friends will end up being one of the biggest environmental vandals ever.
Interesting talk on ABC RN yesterday morning.
A group in the United States is spreading this message through a movement known as Plenitude. Its supporters argue it is not an anti-consumption message, rather a shift towards an alternative, environmentally sustainable, economy.
Latest from the desert solar project.
European Dream of Desert Energy Takes Shape
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,695908,00.html
Another method of producing fuel from CO2 using solar energy. Looks like plenty of alternatives to oil and coal if we decide to get serious.
http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=898
As I said in another topic yesterday about PV warranties, BP may not be around to honour theirs.
Oil spill may signal end of BP
Energy Matters has also gone into print on the BP oil spill issue. So far it has cost them about $67billion in stock losses already. Apparently Nigerian oil producers are spilling more than this every year. The price of oil is rising in more ways than first thought.
http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=910
International food expert Dr Pinstrup-Anderson is in town discussing food shortages world wide. A conference is in Sydney today.
http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2010/professor_per_pinstrup_andersen.shtml
Solar panels will be mandatory for all new and substantially refurbished government buildings in South Australia from July 1 next year.
http://www.southaustralia.biz/Article/NewsDetail.aspx?id=775
Old news from 2009 but worth noting.
Premier site for science in the USA. Good stuff here.
Climate Change questions answered
Good talk on current climate policy.
At this Sydney Writers' Festival event highlight, 'Have we been conned on climate change? An emergency Town Hall meeting', four leading climate change thinkers address the devastating lack of political leadership on the issue of climate change in Australia.
Environmentalist Tim Flannery (The Weather Makers), economist and author of the Garnaut Report Ross Garnaut, academic/writer/public intellectual Clive Hamilton (Requiem for a Species) and US journalist and activist Bill McKibben (Eaarth) speak frankly and passionately about what needs to be done and where the political system has failed.
http://www.themonthly.com.au/have-we-been-conned-flannery-garnaut-hamilton-and-mckibben-p2-2505
Choice magazine has published a survey on solar pv systems.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/06/11/2924982.htm?section=justin
A realistic and sobering view of our energy future.
Speaking at the University of Sydney, scientist, engineer and entrepeneur Saul Griffith lays out the energy requirements of a single person in a developed country - using his own behaviour as the model - using it as a basis for a discussion of the incredible challenges involved in replacing fossil-fueled energy with renewable and low-carbon forms.
http://www.themonthly.com.au/personal-and-global-view-energy-and-climate-saul-griffith-2412
A conference on the Gold Coast on Future strategies to deal with climate change looks interesting.
Making a cup of tea during the world cup tests the grid. It's the bit about 'smart grid' technology that's interesting.
Good talk on the science show about the Desert Knowledge Australia Solar Centre just outside of Alice Springs. Using waste products to produce solar modules is a good example of how we are advancing these technologies.
Cadmium telluride panels actually take cadmium out of zinc and nickel processing, which is often a heavy metal and a by-product that companies want to get rid of and it's expensive to get rid of it, and you combine it with toluene and you end up with a material that's taken a waste by-product and is actually able to now generate energy. t's not necessarily yielding the higher efficiencies that traditional crystalline panels have but it's been able to really reduce the cost of the panels.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2010/2918286.htm
Some good articles on oil, battery advances etc here. Also one on how the wealthy used financial trading to increase food prices up to the recent GFC.
Just 3 years ago the Qld govt was desperate to achieve an outcome of 1000 homes using PV solar power. The latest info suggests that they didn't have to wait long with almost 25000 in SE Qld alone now up and running.
Local solar buying group has made the front page here. Even the editorial recommends everyone install solar PV.
http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/story/2010/07/30/solar-power-savings/
One of the comments about cloudy weather is certainly true. For the last month we have had 70% cloudy days. My average for July last year was 3.96kWh/day, this year it is 2.95kWh/day.
Some brilliant sustainable design ideas here.
This lady gives a talk on abc By Design about sustainability. If you are in Melbourne she is at some furniture design expo next week.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bydesign/stories/2010/2962373.htm
Concrete made with elephant grass, super-insulating glass, plastics from recycled chewing gum, flexible films with solar cells, houses made from paper and concrete made from bacteria ... What these materials have in common is that they are sustainable, environmentally friendly alternatives to some of the materials used today.
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