Archived material from historical editions of The Generator
With its harsh climate and extreme heat, no one thought Central Australia’s sandy soils some 90km south of Alice Springs would be capable of sustaining crops. But Glenn Buddle and his father, Malcolm, who moved from South Australia in 1982, have proved that where there’s a will, there’s a way, reported Queensland Country Life (26 Continue Reading →
According to Craig James, chief economist with Commonwealth Securities, in The Australian Financial Review (27/9/2006, p.59), the short-term spotlight on water resources is a result of the abnormally dry conditions that have existed across Australia since 2000.
Abnormal dry with water curbs: "Just below 92 per cent of NSW is now drought-declared and just over 60 per cent of Queensland. And water restrictions are in force in most regions of the country. Extensive areas of coastal Western Australia, including Perth, have experienced their warmest and driest winters on record," James said.
Rain deficit matches 1905 shortfall: "And eastern Australia has experienced five consecutive years of below-normal rainfall. The last time there were consistently dry conditions was 76 years ago from 1925-1929. Going further back, the current accumulated rainfall deficit of 431 millimetres (eight months of normal rainfall) was equalled only a century ago, in 1905.
Indications of El Nino: "But population demands are far higher now than 100 years ago. Dam storage levels have kept falling and are historically low. In fact, dam storage levels in Perth and Brisbane are hovering around 30 per cent And now forecasters have indicated that a new El Nino weather event is under way, an event associated in the past with serious drought in Australia.
Pulling together is best hope: "A worsening drought would have a major effect on the overall economy, regional towns and a raft of industry sectors. A severe drought could wipe 0.8 percentage points off Australia’s growth rate. Rural exports would slump, farm incomes contract, and food, transport, retail and financial firms would have sharply lower revenues. The greatest potential for progress will occur when state and federal governments use vision and act in concert."
The Australian Financial Review, 27/9/2006, p. 59
Source: Erisk Net
Jerry Simmons, head of the solid-state lighting programme at America’s Sandia National Laboratory, told The Economist (23 September 2006, p.18) that the world was on the brink of a new LED-led lighting revolution.
Numerous advantages: LEDs have become popular because they have numerous advantages over conventional light bulbs. For one thing, they last much longer: they can endure up to a decade of non-stop use compared with a few months or less for incandescent bulbs.
Smaller, hardier: They also take up much less space (a typical LED is about the size of the rubber on the end of a pencil), are shock resistant and, perhaps most important of all, are extremely energy-efficient.
Highly energy efficient: An incandescent bulb, made of a wire filament encased in glass, emits only 5 per cent of the energy it consumes as light; the rest is wasted as heat. Fluorescent lights, which consist of tubes filled with mercury vapour, are roughly four times more efficient. LEDS, however, contain no mercury and already rival flouorescents in efficiency.
Sticker price high but falling: Upfront costs make them too expensive for most general lighting applications, but experts expect that to change over the next five years as prices come down and efficiencies go up.
Big potential payoff: Worldwide about 20 per cent of all electricity generated is used for lighting. Several studies reckon that LEDS could eventually cut that amount in half. That would not only save billions of dollars in electricity bills, but also significantly reduce energy demand, environmental pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions.
About 1.6 billion people worldwide are without access to electricity and have to rely on fuel-based sources for lighting, reported The Economist (23 September 2006, p.21). But burning fuel is extremely expensive – $40 billion is spent on off-the-grid lighting in developing countries a year. It is also highly inefficient and contributes to indoor air pollution and the emission of greenhouse gases.
If people switched from using fuel-based lamps to solar powered LEDS, CO2 emissions could be reduced by up to 190 million tonnes per year, reckons Evan Mills, a staff scientist at America’s Lawrence Berkeley National Lab oratory. That is equivalent to one-third of Britain’s annual carbon-dioxide emissions.
Ideal remote area light source: LEDs are an ideal off-the-grid light source because they need so little power. They can be run on AA batteries, or batteries recharged using small solar arrays. Compared with kerosene lanterns, LEDS can deliver up to in 100 times more useful light to a task, besides being extremely long-lasting.
Benefits to burn: All this adds up to a life-changing impact for the lamps’ owners, ranging from increased work productivity, more time to study at night and reduced health problems and fire hazards.
Companies catching on: Several firms are getting ready to tap into this under-served market. Cosmos Ignite Innovations, a spin-out from Stanford University that is now based in New Delhi, India, has developed the MightyLight, a solar-powered LED-based lamp that is waterproof, portable and runs for up to 12 hours. So far, Cosmos has sold nearly 5,000 of its $50 lamps to various charities.
Ticket price still the hitch: One task is to make LEDs affordable, says Dr Mills, who is a consultant on the IFC project. Households in rural Kenya, for example, spend an average of $7 a month on kerosene for lighting. Although the cost of a solar-powered LED lamp over its lifetime is much less than the cumulative cost of fuel, many people cannot afford the initial $25 to $50 outlay for such a lamp.
The Economist, 23/9/2006, p. 18
Source: Erisk Net
One effective way to encourage investment in solar power would be to reward panel owners for the unused power they can feed into the electricity grid, suggested an article in The Age (26 September 2006, p.15). Dirtier sources penalised: It says many people in the solar industry are calling for the introduction of a "feed-in Continue Reading →
The case of Nigel Potter, the chief executive of British gaming company Wembley who briefly considered a plan to pay $US4 million to the law firm of a US politician, should act as a warning to Australian businesses about the long arm of US law, reported The Australian Financial Review (22/9/2006, p.25). Three years for Continue Reading →
The wind-power debate in Victoria has put a former liberal leader under grave pressure to keep his seat with a People Power candidate snapping at his heels, reported The Australian (25/9/2006, p.4).
Napthine’s seat at stake: Despite a horror week – with the withdrawal of their lead candidate and problem with party registration – People Power is a chance to topple liberal frontbencher Dents Napthine at the November poll, according to strategists from several parties.
Wind power a key issue: Wind power is central to the contest for the seat of SouthWest Coast, which Napthine holds by just a few hundred votes, with turbine and tower manufacture in Warrnambool and Portland generating 250 vital local jobs.
VRET attracts more projects: There are several wind farms in the electorate, and another major one in the pipeline aided by the Government’s VRET scheme, which forces retailers to buy 10 per cent of their energy from renewable sources.
Libs prefer coal: Like Labor, People Power is a strong supporter of wind farms, while the Liberal Party and Napthine voted against the renewable energy target, and favour coal power. People Power candidate Mike Noske, a businessman and former mayor, had previously fought Napthine for liberal preselection for the seat.
The Australian, 25/9/2006, p. 4
Source: Erisk Net