Category: Archive

NZ faces power shortage for coming winter

admin /5 March, 2006

New Zealand, whose electricity prices tripled in six years, risks a
third power shortage since 2000 that may cut production from factories
including an aluminium smelter run by Rio Tinto Group, according to
company executives on 2 March, reported The Australian Financial Review (3/3/2006, p.54).

Comalco considers production cuts: Comalco, a Rio Tinto unit,
may deepen the 3 per cent production cut in November at the Tiwai Point
smelter after a meeting next week with power supplier Meridian Energy,
Comalco NZ managing director Tom Campbell said.

Biggest electricity user: The smelter is the biggest user of the
nation’s electricity, more than 60 per cent of which is supplied from
hydro-power dams. Comalco and Fonterra, the world’s biggest dairy
exporter, are among businesses that may pay higher power prices.

Hydro lake levels down: Economic growth has increased demand as
a natural gas shortage delays construction of new generators. Prices
also surged last week after the nation’s hydro lake levels fell to less
than 75 per cent of their average for February.

Call for energy savings campaign: “There is a significant risk
of a crisis this winter,” Campbell said on 2 March. The government
“should start an energy savings campaign for 5 to 10 per cent of demand
right away and Comalco would need to be part of that”.

US ranks second to Saudi Arabia as world’s greatest greenhouse polluter

admin /5 March, 2006

A new international climate protection index developed by the German
environmental NGO Germanwatch of 53 nations puts the United States at
52, ahead of only Saudi Arabia, reported Deutsche Welle.

Three values used in index: The new index calculated the following three different values:

• the current trend in a country’s greenhouse gas emissions, in which
the emissions of the transport, construction, industry, and energy
sectors were measured;

• the base indicator measuring the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2)
released in the atmosphere per person and per energy unit used; and

• and the country’s climate change policies – the laws and financial
incentives implemented to reduce emissions levels and improve energy
efficiency. The expected results of these policies were also included
in the calculation.

Claim of more informed assessment: The developers claimed the
outcome was a more informed, multi-faceted assessment of each country’s
emissions-reducing performance and potential.

Effects compared for first time: Germanwatch said the new index
would be an effective weapon in the struggle to reverse the dangerous
effects of climate change, because, for the first time, it compared the
effects of climate policy in the 53 countries that accounted for 90 per
cent of harmful emissions worldwide.

Surprises in initial findings: The index’s initial findings
surprised some top experts in the field, such as Hartmut Grassl, former
director of both the World Climate Research Program and the Max Planck
Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg.
 
Rearrangement of typical ranking: “When you integrate the trends
and the policy-making aspect, then the result is a rearrangement of the
typical ranking we saw up until now,” said Grassl.

Iceland comes out on top from Latvia and UK: The index put the
top three nations as Iceland, Latvia and the United Kingdom, with
Germany coming in fifth of the 53 nations. The US was number 52, ahead
of only Saudi Arabia.

Concern over new chief scientist for CSIRO independent advice

admin /5 March, 2006

No one disputes the credentials of Dr Jim Peacock for the job of
scientist at the CSIRO. He is an award-winning molecular biologist and
former chief
of CSIRO’s globally-lauded plant industry division, current president
of the Australian Academy of Science, a
former CSIRO chief whose scientific leadership made his division a
world leader in plant research and the winner of numerous national and
international accolades for his discovery of the gene that caused
plants to flower – reported The Canberra Times (4 March 2006 pB4).

How independent? But the role of chief scientist promises to
impose a steep learning curve, and if Peacock has intended to avoid any
semblance of the controversy that dogged his predecessor, then barely
one day into his new part-time national role – officially defined as
“to provide independent specialist advice to the Government on science
issues”- this has clearly proven difficult.

Comments on nuclear, GM crops: The Greens questioned his close
links with Prime Minister John Howard and a storm of protest greeted
his comments endorsing genetically modified crops and the use of
nuclear energy to mitigate climate change. It was “high time Australia
looked into the nuclear energy debate again,” and genetically modified
crops were “terribly important for the future of international trade,
global food supplies and human health,” he said.

Where does policy start? Peacock has also stated that he intends
to be “a keen public advocate for GM crops” and will use “reliable
scientific information” to persuade state governments to overturn their
current bans on GM crops.

Where does “independent advice” start to blur? These forthright
comments have naturally raised questions about whether he is
over-stepping the mark as a senior CSIRO scientist by making
“policy-prescriptive” comments. They appear to be at odds with a recent
CSIRO directive to staff that scientists are not to “provide direct
commentary – negative or positive – on existing, past or proposed
government policies.”

Chief scientist Peacock’s scientific credentials undisputed but how independent from policy are his advice, opinions

US eyes off Alaskan Oil

admin /4 March, 2006

With the fight to pry open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge having stalled out (at least for the time being), the oil and gas industry and its cronies in Congress are now focused on parts of the outer continental shelf (OCS) that have been off-limits to drilling for nearly 25 years. Escalating energy prices and Continue Reading →

Thermal coal prices firm from $US38 a tonne last September to more than $US50

admin /2 March, 2006

Macarthur Coal chief Ken Talbot’s breezy assessment of the Queensland
producer’s prospects is: “No bad news. It is all good news.” Apart from
a 30 per cent reduction in selling prices this year, that is, according
to The Australian (2/3/2006, p.27).

Price cut and the market: While a 30 per cent cut would spell
disaster in any other sector some context is needed. It comes after
last year’s 120 per cent price hike; and Talbot says the price cut
doesn’t really reflect the wider market anyway. While Talbot doesn’t
name the guilty party (Wesfarmers), he says prices have been
artificially deflated by a new supplier lobbing a big load on to the
Japanese.

Thermal coal prices firm: He says: “Other (producers) including
Macarthur were forced to follow at a time when others were settling
(prices) 10 to 15 per cent up on that particular deal.” He notes that
thermal coal prices – the industry benchmark – have firmed from $US38 a
tonne last September to more than $US50 currently, as Europeans fret
about gas access from Russia.

Canberra experiences hottest summer on record

admin /2 March, 2006

This summer has been Canberra’s hottest on record with average
temperatures reaching a sultry 22.2 degrees, latest figures show,
according to The Canberra Times (2/3/2006, p.3).

Hottest day on 1 January: Data from the Bureau of Meteorology
show the mean daily level soaring past the average of 19.8 degrees and
previous peak of 21.9. The hottest day in the ACT was 1 January when
the mercury reached 39.9 degrees, compared with the record of 42.2 on 1
February 1968.

Less water used: Despite the sustained hot, dry days, ActewAGL
said Canberra had used 40 million litres less water over the summer
than had been predicted, thanks to Stage 1 water restrictions.

Warmest since records began in 1939: Final figures for the long,
hot summer show it to have been the warmest since records began in
1939. The average maximum daily temperature in the ACT was 29.9
degrees, equal with the highest on record set in the summer of 1990-91.
Even the average minimum temperature was 14.5 degrees, the
second-highest recorded and 2 degrees above the norm.

44 days over 30C in 3 mths: The three months saw 44 days exceed
30 degrees compared with an average of 25 days, and 14 days went above
35 degrees as opposed to the usual five days for the period.