Keneally reneges on Firth’s unflued gas heater promise

admin /28 July, 2010

NB We will have to wait till early next year to get rid of ths lot of shirkers Keneally reneges on Firth’s unflued gas heater promise Media release: 28 July 2010 The Keneally government looks set to renege on a promise by the NSW Education Minister Verity Firth to replace unflued gas heaters in NSW public schools, Continue Reading →

Meetings fail to stop mining ads

admin /26 July, 2010

Meetings fail to stop mining ads ABC July 26, 2010, 7:32 pm   ABC News © Enlarge photo   An advertising campaign against the Federal Government’s resources tax will go ahead despite today’s meeting between concerned smaller miners and a senior minister. The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) remains strongly opposed to the Continue Reading →

Lead the charge EV Vehicles on the way

admin /25 July, 2010

Lead the charge

STEPHEN OTTLEY

July 23, 2010

Comments 15

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Mitsubishi i-MiEV

Electric vehicles are making their way on to our roads. We meet some of the people who have adopted the technology.

Bernie Hobbs is a pioneer of Australian motoring. The science broadcaster, best known as a judge on the ABC’s New Inventors,  is among the first people in this country to ditch her internal combustion-powered car for an all-electric set of wheels.

She is the proud owner of a Blade Electron, a car that starts life as a Hyundai Getz before Victorian-based entrepreneur Ross Blade and his team take out the petrol engine and replace it with an electric motor.

The Blade may be a small operation but make no mistake: electric is on its way. Mitsubishi will have 40 of its i-MiEV electric city car on the road by the end of the year. Nissan is likely to offer the Leaf electric hatchback by 2012.

Iran plans to build nuclear fusion reactor

admin /24 July, 2010

Iran plans to build nuclear fusion reactor

Posted 24 minutes ago

Iran says it plans to build an experimental nuclear fusion reactor, state television reported, at a time when the West is demanding that Tehran suspend sensitive nuclear work.

In 2006, Iran said it was pressing ahead with research tests on nuclear fusion, a type of atomic reaction which has yet to be developed for commercial power generation, but this was the first mention in years that the work was continuing.

“We need two years to complete the studies on constructing and then another 10 years to design and build the reactor,” Asqar Sediqzadeh, head of Iran’s Nuclear Fusion Research Centre, told Iran’s English-language Press TV.

Greens’ plan for 100% renewable energy

admin /24 July, 2010

Greens’ plan for 100% renewable energy The Australian Greens today launched a policy to plan Australia’s transformation into a 100% renewable energy powerhouse over the coming decades. “Australia can harness our tremendous resources of the sun, wind, ocean, earth and human ingenuity to replace our reliance on coal with 100% renewable energy within decades,” Australian Continue Reading →

China recruits 800 fishing boats to disperse Yellow Sea oil slick

admin /21 July, 2010

China recruits 800 fishing boats to disperse Yellow Sea oil slick

The flotilla will join the 24 specialist ships that have been spraying dispersal agents and soaking up crude oil

• Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 July 2010 17.48 BST
• Article history

Oil washes ashore in the port of Dalian, China, 20 July 2010. Photograph: Jiang He/Greenpeace /EPA

Chinese authorities stepped up their efforts to disperse a major oil slick in the Yellow Sea yesterday by mobilising 800 fishing boats to help the clean-up operation.

The flotilla will join the 24 specialist ships that have been spraying dispersal agents, soaking up crude with panels of absorbent felt and using a floating barrage to prevent the slick from contaminating the beaches near Dalian.

Investigators have also launched a probe into the pipeline explosion that caused the seepage on Friday night and has subsequently forced the authorities to restrict access to Dalian Xingang oil terminal.

A 300,000-tonne crude oil tanker, owned by Singapore Pacific Petroleum which was unloading its cargo at the time of the accident, has been held for checks.

The domestic media said there have been safety concerns at the port for some time.

An environmental protection bureau study on the petrochemical industry in 2006 identified five projects at the Dalian Xingang Port as potential risks, according to Global Times.