Archived material from historical editions of The Generator
The UK Environment minister, David Miliband, floated the idea of a personal carbon trading scheme working across the UK. "Imagine a country where carbon becomes a new currency. We carry bank cards that store both pounds and carbon points," he told the Audit Commission this week. "When we buy electricity, gas and fuel, we use Continue Reading →
Historical records going back a century showed a strong link between the sun’s activity and droughts in eastern Australia, said University of New England associate professor Robert Baker, reported in The Courier-Mail (13 July 2006 p17). Sun’s magnetic flip: Dr Baker said there appeared to be a correlation between dry spells and a 22-year-long pattern Continue Reading →
The Victorian Government was seeking to demonstrate its green credentials by proposing to introduce an energy tax that will force all electricity users to increase the renewable content of their electricity supply from the present 4 per cent to 10 per cent, wrote Alan Moran, Director, Deregulation, at the Institute of Public Affairs, in The Age (20 July 2006, p.B10).
Tax of $43/MWh: The tax is to be set at $43/MWh. This means a doubling of the cost compared with the coal-fired electricity that provides 90 per cent of Victoria’s electricity.
Oh, yeah? In releasing the proposals, Energy Minister Theo Theophanous and Environment Minister John Thwaites claim the cost to households will be a mere $1 a month. They also say that the measures will create 2200 jobs. Says Moran: "One can only assume that among the contenders for next week’s press release are the proposals to turn water to wine and transform lead into gold!"
Cost far from trivial: He argues that the notion that the costs will be trivial is contradicted by the supporting material, scant as it is, that the Ministers have released. This says that the measures will bring an increase in exotic renewables of 385,000MWh a year. At the $43/MWh penalty tax deemed necessary to bring this about, that means an annual cost of $164 million, amounting to more than $2 billion over the course of its life.
ABARE telling it like it is: Hard on the heels of those proposals, ABARE, the Commonwealth’s leading economic research agency, released a report on greenhouse gas emission restraint measures. That report, prepared for the CSIRO, estimates the tax-equivalent measures necessary to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 36-68 per cent of business-as-usual levels. Naturally this involves much higher taxes than the $43 involved in the Victorian program, which would reduce the state’s emissions by, at best, 6 per cent.
Vic being led into trouble: And ABARE minces no words about the costs, says Moran. It estimates real wage reductions of 4 to 21 per cent, depending on the severity of the emission-reduction program. "The Victorian Government claims it is exercising leadership in the energy debate. If so, its leadership is demonstrating how to reduce living standards."
The Age, 20/7/2006, p. B10
Source: Erisk Net
Blood tests on Sydney Harbour commercial fishermen and their families have found that every one of them has alarmingly high levels of dioxins in their bodies, according to The Daily Telegraph (20/7/2006, p.1).
Dioxin levels 2-10 times the average: The test results, which would be released to the families on 20 July, showed all 95 people tested had dioxin levels between twice and 10 times the Australian average.
Much more in older people: Information obtained by The Daily Telegraph showed the dioxin levels were generally higher in the older people tested, although the figures were also alarming for the fishermen’s children.
It is serious: And the fact that every person tested positive could have serious ramifications for recreational anglers and consumers who had eaten significant quantities of seafood caught in the Harbour.
The Daily Telegraph, 20/7/2006, p. 1
Source: Erisk Net
Lebanon – Israel Facts the Media isn’t Telling You Noam Chomsky, world reknown linguist and social commentator, explains the immediate events leading up to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. If you have been wondering how and why this has come about, listen to Chomsky’s narrative – a side of history you won’t hear in Australian newspapers, Continue Reading →
Why focus on peak oil? The world is running out of water, fish, land and trees in the same way that we are running out of oil. Have a look at this site for a shocking account of the state of the world’s fresh water. At the dawn of the 21st century, a global water Continue Reading →