Category: Archive

Beattie government to unveil plans for water management

admin /30 January, 2006

The Beattie government has conceded that its plans for water
infrastructure will be passed onto consumers in the form of higher
water charges, reported The Australian Financial Review (28/1/2006, p.4)

Water grid for south-east Queensland to be taken to cabinet next month:
The Beattie government is close to unveiling plans for a single bulk
water entity for the south-east corner to control water allocations
between the 18 local councils. There are 19 water storage areas in the
region, controlled by 12 separate owners. The new Office of Water which
controls development in south-east Queensland will create a water grid
for the region. A submission will be taken to cabinet next month.

Water users bear inevitable costs of Beattie’s plans: Premier
Peter Beattie announced increased water charges in August last year.
The average household will pay $4 more a year on its domestic water
bill – a 1.5c increase to 91.5c per kilolitre. Large irrigators, such
as Cubbie Station in south-west Queensland, face a $1 a megalitre
increase to $4 a megalitre.

Higher costs difficult to rein in: Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell
Newman said he was committed to ensuring increases in water charges
would not exceed inflation. But industry insiders believe higher costs
are inevitable, especially since reduced water use of 30 per cent over
the past year was affecting budget bottom lines. Brisbane City Council
has already budgeted to receive at least $10 million less this
financial year owing to consumers’ water savings.

Car firms ‘blocking green fuel’

admin /30 January, 2006

Car makers are not doing enough to develop green alternatives to petrol, an influential government adviser says.

Japanese companies had a better record than European or American ones, Professor Stephen Blythe said.

But the industry had still not grasped the urgency of the problem – despite promoting its green credentials.

A car industry spokesman said the government could do a
lot more to encourage the development of alternative fuels such as
hydrogen.

Source – BBC News 

The Earth Is A Living Entity

admin /30 January, 2006

Mechanical waves in the earth’s crust shows ‘Earth is alive’ and communicates like all other living beings
Scientists
are finding that the earth is alive and is communicating like other
living beings. The concept that life has to be associated with biology
and organic chemistry is becoming an obsolete idea.   The earth
shows, according to contemporary geophysicists, remarkable signs of
life. Like all living beings it communicates through waves and responds
to wave structure of communication.

Sourced from – India Daily Technology Team   

UN unveils plan to release untapped wealth of…$7 trillion

admin /30 January, 2006

The most potent threats to life on earth – global warming, health
pandemics, poverty and armed conflict – could be ended by moves that
would unlock $7 trillion – $7,000,000,000,000 (£3.9trn) – of previously
untapped wealth, the United Nations claims today.

The price? An admission that the nation-state is an old-fashioned
concept that has no role to play in a modern globalised world where
financial markets have to be harnessed rather than simply condemned.

In a groundbreaking move, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has
drawn up a visionary proposal that has been endorsed by a range of
figures including Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and
Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Laureate.

Sourced – The Independent

By Philip Thornton, Economics Correspondent – Published: 30 January 2006

 

Stark warning over climate change

admin /30 January, 2006

Rising concentrations of greenhouse gases may have
more serious impacts than previously believed, a major scientific
report has said.

The report, published by the UK government, says there
is only a small chance of greenhouse gas emissions being kept below
“dangerous” levels.

It fears the Greenland ice sheet is likely to melt, leading sea levels to rise by 7m (23ft) over 1,000 years.

The poorest countries will be most vulnerable to these effects, it adds.

By Richard Black

Environment Correspondent, BBC News website

Victorian bushfires threaten power supply

admin /29 January, 2006

Fires burining round Kinglake in Melbourne’s North East cut powerlines last week, and threatened the major power supply to Melbourne’s Northern Suburbs, reported The Age. One of the state’s major power generation plants at Yallourn in Gippsland’s brown coal belt was also threatened by fire. Source: eRisk.net