Government urged to keep renewables target
From the Australian
CONSERVATIONISTS have urged the Rudd Government to strengthen its proposed mandatory renewable energy target to meet its long-term greenhouse gas reduction goals, not ditch it as the Productivity Commission and Labor’s adviser have suggested.
Conservation organisation WWF and Opposition climate change spokesman Greg Hunt said the Government should reject advice from the Productivity Commission and adviser Roger Wilkins to rely on its new emissions trading scheme to deliver the new clean energy technologies to bring emissions down, rather than “market-distorting” measures such as the MRET.
The Government has received, but not yet released, the report from Mr Wilkins assessing the 60 or more environmental programs it has in place on top of the proposed emissions trading scheme, including the proposed national renewables target.
Farmers say ACCC missed the point
From The LandÂ
Major supermarkets have been vindicated by the findings of the long-awaited grocery prices inquiry, but Australia’s top farming body claims the investigation fell short of being comprehensive.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), found no evidence suggesting supermarket chains are being anti-competitive.
But National Farmers Federation’s (NFF) vice president, Charles Burke, said the grocery inquiry failed to “shine significant new light†on the whole food supply chain.
“Farmers remain bemused as to why there is such a huge gap between what farmers are paid at the farmgate and what consumers are charged at the checkout,†Mr Burke said.
Marine climate heading south
From the ABCÂ Marine scientists have found that Australia’s east coast climate zones have moved south by 200 kilometres over the past 60 years. Australian Institute of Marine Science researcher Janice Lough analysed ocean temperature records back to the 1950s, and found that tropical ocean climates have changed and that may be one of the Continue Reading →
Government buys cotton farm to save marshes
From The LandÂ
Federal and state governments have bought 2436 hectares of a cotton farm in the Macquarie Marshes and all its water licences in an effort to salvage the stricken wetland.
The farm, Pillicawarrina Station, was allowed to develop into a cotton-growing enterprise in the 1980s despite its location in the heart of the internationally-recognised wetland.
As with much of the Murray-Darling Basin, the wetland is in crisis.
The land will be added to the Macquarie Marshes nature reserve system, increasing its size by about 10pc, while 8658 megalitres of water will go back to the environment, ending Pillicawarrina’s days as an irrigation cotton farm.
Locals say the farm would have cost at least $10 million.
Rainfall patterns on knife’s edge
From The Land
 
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| The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) is currently ‘neutral’ – a strong and consistently positive SOI, consistently above about +6 over a two month period, is related to a high probability of above long-term average rainfall for many areas especially in eastern Australia. |
It may not grab headlines, but for croppers across south-eastern Australia, forecasts of average rain patterns throughout the spring are good enough.
With solid July rain totals in many areas, an ‘average’ spring rainfall would be enough for a good winter harvest, to allow most grain farmers some chance at average yields.
With booming prices, that would be a start to replenishing depleted coffers.
After the nightmarish Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) reports in June which suggested a sharp swing towards a markedly drier than average spring, the most recent BOM rain forecast has predicted average conditions for much of south-eastern Australia.
The bureau said the pattern of seasonal rainfall odds across south-eastern Australia is a result of a continued strong warming trend, in the central and south eastern Indian Ocean, off the coast of Western Australia, and a warming trend over the equatorial Pacific.
Geothermal energy on the rise in US
From Renewable Energy WorldÂ
A survey released by the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) shows continued growth in the number of new geothermal power projects under development in the United States, a 20% increase since January of this year. The report identified 103 projects underway in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. When developed, these projects could provide nearly 4,000 MW of new electric power, enough electricity to meet the needs of roughly 4 million homes.
“The surge in new geothermal power development continues,†said Karl Gawell, GEA’s Executive Director. In January of 2008, GEA released a survey which identified 86 new projects with a potential of 3,368 MW. The new report identified 103 projects, which when completed could have up to 3,979 MW of power capacity. Also, two projects listed as under development in the January survey have since come on-line.