Category: Archive

Central Vic towns bone dry after rainless winter

admin /5 October, 2006

Up to 2300 homes with empty dams in the rural outskirts of towns such as Birchip, St Arnaud, Horsham and Warracknabeal will have to make do with about 400 litres per day of water for non-drinking purposes over the next year, reported The Age (4/10/2006, p.3).

GWM Water to bear $2.5m costs: The Victorian households will get only 28,000 litres of water delivered every two months for washing clothes, showering and toilets. The demand for carted water is expected to cost Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water about $2.5 million.

Storage levels hit 6.6pc: GWM Water manager of operations systems, Dick Van Den Bosch, said even the most water-efficient toilets required about six litres to flush. After poor winter rain had left total storage levels in the area at 6.6 per cent, GWM Water had been unable to directly supply water to household dams.

The Age, 4/10/2006, p. 3

Source: Erisk Net  

Climate Action Now

admin /5 October, 2006

"I want my government to take sweeping action to dramatically cut greenhouse pollution, shift to clean energy and solve the climate crisis now." Don’t leave the mess to future generations – join GetUp’s online campaign now

Latin America Declares Independence

admin /5 October, 2006

Five centuries after the European conquests, Latin America is reasserting its independence. by Noam Chomsky In the southern cone especially, from Venezuela to Argentina, the region is rising to overthrow the legacy of external domination of the past centuries and the cruel and destructive social forms that they have helped to establish. The mechanisms of Continue Reading →

The car that runs on sunshine

admin /4 October, 2006

Sick of forking out to fill your car with petrol? European carmaker Venturi may have the vehicle for you. The firm, based in Monaco, has unveiled what it says is the world’s first commercially-available, high-performance solar vehicle, capable of speeds up to 120 km/h. Dont’ forget your sunnies! Driver and passenger sit in tandem, in Continue Reading →

Solar cell manufacture goes offshore

admin /4 October, 2006

Origin Energy has confirmed that commercial manufacture of the Australian National University’s solar sliver cell technology is poised to go offshore, possibly to Germany or the United States, to capitalise on government investment incentives for solar energy in those countries, reported The Canberra Times (3 October 2006, p.1). "Clients of our own technology": The article Continue Reading →

Photosynthesis improves solar cell efficiency

admin /4 October, 2006

At the University of Sydney, scientists led by postdoctoral researcher Deanna D’Alessandro have copied photosynthesis in leaves to improve the efficiency of solar cells, reported The Australian (13 September 2006 p25).

The natural way: Dr D’Alessandro, from Sydney’s Molecular Electronics Group, has helped synthesise chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants that converts sunlight into chemical energy. About 30 to 40 per cent of the light falling on a green leaf outside can be used by the leaf to make a chemical reaction to support life on earth, Dr D’Alessandro said.

"Make-up" enhances solar cell performance: The dust-like artificial chlorophyll is applied to solar cells, where it mimics the action of light-collecting molecules called porphyrins and spherical carbon molecules known as buckyballs.

More study needed on efficiency increase: Dr D’Alessandro said the synthetic chlorophyll would increase solar cell efficiency, but the extent of the increase would not be known until many more treated cells had been made and tested.

The Australian, 13/9/2006, p.25

Source: Erisk Net