Archived material from historical editions of The Generator
A plan by national engineering firms to save 300 gigalitres of fresh water a year for South Australia has been lodged with the National Water Commission reported The Advertiser (10/2/2007, p.43). Federal funding sought for Twin Lakes scheme: Adelaide-based natural resource management group Kellogg Brown & Root is seeking $5 million in federal funding for Continue Reading →
An illegal Japanese whaling ship and a boat owned by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an anti-whaling group, collided twice in Antarctic waters during clashes over a pod of whales, conservationists and Japanese officials said. The Sea Shepherd vessel said it suffered a three-foot gash in its hull, while the Japanese boat issued a distress Continue Reading →
11/2/07: An illegal Japanese whaling ship and a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship collided twice in Antarctic waters during clashes over a pod of whales. Sea Shepherd chased the whaler into the ice. Full story
Australia can be a world leader in addressing climate change almost overnight, Senator Bob Brown told an audience in Byron Bay on Saturday. Australia exports over 233 million tonnes of coal each year. That alone accounts for more than one percent of the world’s carbon emissions.
The Stern report, named after the British knight Sir Nicholas Stern, identified the destruction of old growth forests as responsible for more carbon emissions than the transport sector for the entire globe. Old growth forests are the largest living carbon banks on the planet.
The best action NSW has taken to date is to follow Victoria in establishing a mandatory renewable energy target, according to Mark Diesendorf, who researches and teaches sustainable development and greenhouse response strategies at the Institute of Environmental Studies, University of NSW, reported The Sydney Morning Herald (6/2/2007, p.11).
Coal power a backward step: But, the modest emission reductions from that action would be swamped if NSW permitted a conventional coal-fired power station to be built. Three such proposals are on the table. Opposition Leader Peter Debnam favours a coal-fired station. Premier, Morris lemma, has avoided committing himself and has attempted to reassure the public by pointing to the government’s recent approval of a gas-fired power station.
Deceptive: A program to upgrade the state’s 12 coal-fired generators from 660 to 750 megawatts each would produce equivalent emissions to a new coal-fired station, according to Diesendorf.
BASIX weakened: The quest for energy efficiency had also dulled significantly. Under pressure from the property and housing industries, NSW has weakened the BASIX scheme for energy-efficient homes, he said.
No green-friendly transport: On transport, the NSW government has reneged on a promise to extend Sydney’s light rail system, cancelled the Parramatta-Epping heavy rail link, failed to introduce an integrated ticketing system for public transport and has made negligible investment in a bicycle highway network – all indicators that it is ill-prepared for greenhouse response and for the imminent peak in global oil production, Diesendorf said.
Pressure on for policy formation: "Hopefully, local climate action groups will exert sufficient political pressure to move contenders in the coming elections to adopt effective policies instead of diversions and delaying tactics."
Morris Iemma – every
which way but green
Mick Keogh, Executive Director, Australian Farm Institute, in a letter to The Australian Financial Review (8/2/2007, p.58), dismisses the idea that water can be traded easily between rural and urban users and the price differential should be narrowed.
Some simple solution: "Paul Kerin may teach strategy at the Melbourne Business School, but it is to be hoped his courses do not include water policy, if his recent discussion of the issue is anything to go by (“Big hole in PM’s water plan”, Opinion, February 7)," writes Keogh. "Kerin compares water use charges for urban and rural users, concluding that rural water is significantly underpriced and that removing impediments to trading water between rural and urban users is a simple solution to the crisis.
Bush water not on par: "Urban users receive high quality filtered and chlorinated water, provided under pressure with 100 per cent reliability, and delivered in relatively small amounts to individual households. Rural water users, on the other hand, receive bulk, unfiltered water delivered in open channels, and are required to invest in and maintain their own pumps and on-farm storage and distribution systems. Most significantly, many rural men receive water only on a seasonal basis when it is available.
Weetbix logic: "The logic employed in Kerin’s argument is the same as comparing the bulk price of wheat on farm ($300/tonne) with the price of wheat in a packet of Weetbix ($5600/tonne, based on Woolworths’ advertised price this week of $4.19 for a 750gm pack), and concluding that urban consumers would be better off buying bulk wheat directly from farmers!
Flaw in distribution: "This leads to a major flaw in Kerin’s discussion. He proposes that urban water shortages can be solved by transferring rural water to urban users. However, water is not like electricity, which can be efficiently distributed. Water is relatively heavy and bulky, and quite expensive to transport except by gravity.
Growers need a laugh: "This means there are only limited opportunities to transfer rural water to urban users. The concept that a cotton grower in northern NSW, for example, might somehow sell water to an urban water authority in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne is almost laughable in its impracticability. By the time pumping and piping costs are taken into account, desalination would be a much less expensive option."