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NSW challenges Liberals call for nuclear power

admin /1 July, 2007

NSW Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water, Philip Koperberg, challenged the State Opposition to renounce the Prime Minister’s plans for nuclear power during a speech to the NSW Parliament on 5 June 2007.

NSW Libs told to clarify nuke position: Koperberg said: "We are happy to provide the Leader of the Opposition with the opportunity to put his views on the public record in this House. We certainly eagerly await his response. This issue is of critical importance following the Prime Minister’s recent decisions and comments. Anyone who saw television news footage on Sunday night of the Leader of the Opposition applauding the Prime Minister is entitled to know whether his applause translates into support for this policy. Today is the chance for the Leader of the Opposition to disavow the people of New South Wales of any notion that the pictures of him clapping should be read as wholehearted support for nuclear power plants in New South Wales".

Carbon costs make gas cheaper than coal

admin /11 June, 2007

Combined-cycle gas turbines, which at $38-$54 per MWh are already commercial for peak and shoulder load generation, could become viable for base load supply with even a low carbon price, making the natural gas industry and companies such as Origin Energy and AGL, which are already in gas-fired generation, some of the biggest potential winners, according to The Sydney Morning Herald (9/6/2007, p. 42).

Coal gen costs $30-$40: Coal-fired electricity generation has a megawatt hour (MWh) price using black coal of $30-35, and brown coal of $35-40.

ETS will boost gas economics: "The economics of gas-fired generation will improve with the introduction of an ETS,” says CommSec’s Paul Johnston. "This includes both the economics of investments in new gas-fired generation plant and also expanded output from existing gas-fired generators.

Arctic meltdown still accellerating

admin /7 June, 2007

ILULISSAT, Greenland (Reuters) — Atop Greenland’s Suicide Cliff, from where old Inuit women used to hurl themselves when they felt they had become a burden to their community, a crack and a thud like thunder pierce the air.

"We don’t have thunder here. But I know it from movies," says Ilulissat nurse Vilhelmina Nathanielsen, who hiked with us through the melting snow. "It’s the ice cracking inside the icebergs. If we’re lucky we might see one break apart."

It’s too early in the year to see icebergs crumple regularly but the sound is a reminder. As politicians squabble over how to act on climate change, Greenland’s ice cap is melting, and faster than scientists had thought possible.

A new island in East Greenland is a clear sign of how the place is changing. It was dubbed Warming Island by American explorer Dennis Schmitt when he discovered in 2005 that it had emerged from under the retreating ice.

If the ice cap melted entirely, oceans would rise by 23 feet, flooding New York and London, and drowning island nations like the Maldives.

Why Iraq’s new oil law won’t last

admin /27 May, 2007

It faces strong opposition, companies reluctant to get involved, and corruption – and may be contested as invalid.

By David R. Francis

With considerable fanfare, Iraq’s cabinet last week announced approval of a draft law that would permit foreign investment in the nation’s oil industry and provide for distribution of oil revenues among the regions and thus the country’s main sectarian blocs.

Details of the draft are tricky. Revenues from current oil fields are to be shared according to population. Yet no recent census has been taken. The Kurdish region in the north and the provinces can sign new oil contracts, but these must be reviewed by an independent federal committee, not yet appointed. There is concern that foreign oil companies might try to get better terms by playing the provinces against one another.

But some oil experts are skeptical of the significance of the measure.

"It will not mean anything on the ground," says A.F. Alhajji, an oil economist at Ohio Northern University in Ada. As long as Iraq suffers from political instability, major oil companies will shy away. "The situation is so bad no one in his right mind wants to go there to be attacked or nationalized a second time."

Fearing the consequences, "The oil companies never supported the invasion," Dr. Alhajji adds.

Iraq’s oil remains important to a world highly reliant on petroleum and its byproducts. Iraq has proven reserves of 115 billion barrels and, according to Iraqi oil economist Muhammad-Ali Zainy, another 215 billion to 240 billion barrels not yet proven. Some of that new oil may cost as little as $1 a barrel to extract.

By comparison, Saudi Arabia has 264 billion barrels of proven reserves.

Super funds call for carbon tax

admin /27 May, 2007

Content provided to you by AAP.

By Carrie LaFrenz

SYDNEY, May 24 AAP – Climate change is a huge risk not only to the environment but also to superannuation, say industry players.

Carbon dioxide (Co2) and its role in climate change have not been more topical, nor more alarming.

Catholic Super chief investment officer Tim Hughes said climate change was the "biggest long-term risk we face", but also presents great possibilities to capture opportunities.

Firms want to see a price put on carbon to mitigate some of the risks they are taking.

"Climate change is a huge risk to the superannuation industry," Mr Hughes said at a climate change forum in Sydney.

He said there were weather-related risks such as increasing cyclone or hail storms that could affect business productivity.

And as most super funds had a large proportion of their savings invested in Australian and international companies, the returns of fund members were linked directly to the long-term financial performance of those investments.

Another major risk was that the government was likely to impose limits the amount of greenhouse gases companies were allowed to emit.

Companies that exceed these limits may pay penalties that could affect their bottom line.

These types of risks also posed a threat to superannuation because they could affect a company’s long-term profitability and, therefore, its share price, which, in turn, had an affect on fund members’ returns.

Mr Hughes said it was important for superannuation funds to engage corporate Australia to find out their carbon risks and that businesses should be aware of their carbon risk.

"Its simple really, … super funds want to see change," Mr Hughes said.

"We don’t want to wake up one day and see that our portfolios are invalid because (the businesses in which they invest are) so far behind the rest of the world’s policies.

"We want to see a price put on carbon."

Antarctic Ocean releasing CO2

admin /20 May, 2007

By Alan Zarembo, Times Staff Writer

The Southern Ocean, a massive storehouse for carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, is slowly losing its capacity to buffer the world from rising concentrations of the greenhouse gas, researchers reported Thursday.

As a result, the study said, carbon dioxide could accumulate in the atmosphere faster than expected over the coming decades.

The ocean, which surrounds Antarctica, accounts for about a third of all carbon stored in the world’s five oceans.

The researchers described a vicious cycle in which global warming reduced the ocean’s ability to absorb the heat-trapping gas. That would then accelerate the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, triggering more warming.

"The buffer doesn’t seem to be kicking in as one might expect," said Ralph Keeling, a geochemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, who was not involved in the study.

The findings are controversial. Pieter Tans, a senior scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colo., said the measurements of carbon dioxide changes were so subtle that they could easily be sampling errors.

"I think they make a good case, but I am not entirely convinced," he said, adding that there is little evidence that the planet’s ability to absorb carbon is fading.

The extent to which the oceans will be able to buffer against rising carbon dioxide emissions is a key uncertainty in predicting temperature increases.

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