Category: Energy Matters
The twentieth century way of life has been made available, largely due to the miracle of cheap energy. The price of energy has been at record lows for the past century and a half.As oil becomes increasingly scarce, it is becoming obvious to everyone, that the rapid economic and industrial growth we have enjoyed for that time is not sustainable.Now, the hunt is on. For renewable sources of energy, for alternative sources of energy, for a way of life that is less dependent on cheap energy.Â
admin /1 September, 2010
Coal crackdown will not reduce emissions
Tom Arup, ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT
August 31, 2010
LABOR’S promised emissions standards for new coal electricity generators would not cut greenhouse gas emissions from any of the 12 coal power plants proposed in Australia, an analysis of the carbon profiles of each project shows.
During the election campaign, Labor promised to impose new mandatory standards, with a starting point of 0.86 tonnes of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour, on all new coal plants.
The promise would also require new coal plants to be carbon capture and storage ”ready”. But the standards – which would start next year – would not apply to projects that have already had regulatory approval.
The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has repeatedly said the standards would ensure ”no more dirty coal-fired power stations” in Australia.
admin /31 August, 2010
Solar Array Design: Parallel Wiring Opens New Doors
Published: August 30, 2010
Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States — For decades, designers of solar power systems have faced a knotty set of interlocking challenges. Solar panels produce DC at relatively low voltages, but inverters require a relatively high input voltage to be able to convert the power to AC and send it to the grid. Solar panels can be wired in series to sum their voltages, but their combined output fluctuates with even small mismatches among panels on a string.
Striking a balance between these factors is traditionally one of the grand challenges of solar power system design and also a significant element in determining whether a given location is suitable for a solar installation in the first place. However, today new doors are being opened by innovators in a vibrant technology-driven industry and the advent of parallel wiring architectures for solar arrays promises to create new levels of freedom and flexibility for designers.
admin /30 August, 2010
First gas rig headed for NSW coast
Debra Jopson REGIONAL AFFAIRS
August 30, 2010
A PERTH company has announced it is set to become the first to do an underwater exploratory drill for gas in the Sydney basin off the NSW coast.
Advent Energy plans to start drilling into the seabed in federal government-controlled waters 55 kilometres east of Newcastle in mid-October, according to its executive director, David Breeze.
The announcement, made to the Australian Stock Exchange, comes just weeks after the Labor candidates in two marginal central coast federal seats, Craig Thomson and Deborah O’Neill, said during the election campaign that they had successfully forced the company to withdraw its application to start drilling.
admin /29 August, 2010
The Lucas Heights nuclear reactor and government insists the release of the gas were no threat to public safety Source: Supplied
- Gases spread from Sydney to Melbourne
- Public not told for fear of spreading alarm
- Reactor insists gas was not public threat
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POTENTIALLY dangerous radioactive gases have been secretly pumped into the atmosphere from Lucas Heights and have spread hundreds of kilometres from the nuclear reactor – but the public have never been told.
The release of the highly volatile radioxenon over several months last year was so concentrated that the plumes were detected in Melbourne up to two days later.
Other plumes were dragged out to sea by winds before drifting back over Sydney.
The Sunday Telegraph understands the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) decided against releasing a public statement at the time to avoid causing alarm.
Scientists at a nuclear testing station in Melbourne traced the source of the radioactive gases to Sydney after they picked up 10 specific events between November, 2008 and February last year.
The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation International Monitoring System site in Melbourne contacted Lucas Heights after detecting the radioxenon isotope Xe-133.
admin /19 August, 2010
Julia Gillard’s carbon price promise
- Paul Kelly and Dennis Shanahan
- From: The Australian
- August 20, 2010 12:00AM
Julia Gillard in her Parliament House office in Canberra yesterday. Picture: Kym Smith Source: The Australian
JULIA Gillard says she is prepared to legislate a carbon price in the next term.
It will be part of a bold series of reforms that include school funding, education and health.
In an election-eve interview with The Australian, the Prime Minister revealed she would view victory tomorrow as a mandate for a carbon price, provided the community was ready for this step.
“I don’t rule out the possibility of legislating a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, a market-based mechanism,” she said of the next parliament. “I rule out a carbon tax.”
This is the strongest message Ms Gillard has sent about action on carbon pricing.
While any carbon price would not be triggered until after the 2013 election, Ms Gillard would have two potential legislative partners next term – the Coalition or the Greens. She would legislate the carbon price next term if sufficient consensus existed.
Earlier this year, then prime minister Kevin Rudd ditched Labor’s plans to introduce a carbon price for the next term after the bills failed to pass the Senate.
Ms Gillard’s proposal for a citizens’ assembly to discuss climate change, announced after she replaced Mr Rudd as leader, has been heavily criticised.
admin /18 August, 2010
Drilling to begin for Cornwall geothermal power plant in 2011
Ecologist
16th August, 2010
Planning approval for attempts at the first commercial geothermal power plant in Cornwall could see renewable heat and electricity being generated as early as 2013
The UK could soon have its first commercial geothermal power plant after an exploratory drilling project was granted local planning permission in Cornwall.
Engineers will begin drilling a 4.5km deep borehole early next year at a site near Redruth, with a further site at the Eden Project still awaiting approval.
The drilling is the first sign of an emerging geothermal power sector in the UK, which the Government hopes could provide between one and five gigawatts (GW) of renewable electricity by 2030. Germany already has an estimated 150 geothermal power plant projects in the pipeline.
