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The Generator news service publishes articles on sustainable development, agriculture and energy as well as observations on current affairs. The news service is used on the weekly radio show, The Generator, as well as by a number of monthly and quarterly magazines. A podcast of the Generator news is also available.
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  • Electric cars and wind turbines face metal supply shortages

    Electric cars and wind turbines face metal supply shortages

    Ecologist

    12th June, 2010

    The Government’s much-vaunted ambition for a low-carbon economy could be threatened by shortages in key metals and the environmental cost of developing new mining facilities

    A rapid increase in electric cars and offshore wind turbines might not be sustained, the Government has been warned, because of a shortage in a number of key metals.

    Current production of both requires considerable amounts of rare earth metals, valued for their magnetic capacity and resistance to high temperatures.

    However, the world may now face shortages as China, which produces 95 per cent of the metals, cuts back on exports to concentrate on manufacturing and exporting higher value goods.

    A report prepared for the Department for Transport by the consultants Oakdene Hollins warns that the combined demand from wind turbines and hybrid/electric cars for neodymium (used in wind turbine generators) and lanthanum (used in batteries) is predicted to exceed all but the ‘most optimistic supply scenarios’.

    It says UK plans for offshore wind farm capacity alone would lead to an average demand for neodymuim in 2020 of over 12 per cent of the total global supply in 2014.

    Overall demand for rare earth metals is predicted to grow at 8-11 per cent a year between now and 2014.

    Environmental cost

    The report says the US and others have responded by seeking to develop new mines of their own, with Canada, Australia, Malaysia and Greenland known to contain significant reserves.

    However, these will take as long as four years to open and more importantly would come at an environmental cost in terms of land use, extraction cost, water and chemical usage and biodiversity loss.

    ‘If you are trying to decarbonise the transport sector you don’t want another biofuels situation – [where] you are trying to solve one problem but you end up creating another,’ said report author Dr Hudai Kara.

    Alternatives to magnets used in electric car motors are currently limited but the report says a number of alternatives for batteries are currently being researched. It urges the UK to focus, like Japan, on research into the life extension of products and better recycling techniques for recovering the metals.

    The Department of Transport said it was currently considering the findings but would not comment on their significance to the development of the low carbon transport sector.

  • Vinnies council suspended ‘over bullying’

    “We are an organisation that has social justice at its heart so this was something that could not be overlooked or swept under the carpet – there is a real desire to address these problems.”

    Mr Falzon said he could not give further details of the complaints because they were the subject of an investigation.

    The Australian Services Union, which represents community workers, said it has been hearing complaints from workers at the society for several years.

    It alleged problems followed “changes at the top” nearly five years ago when a new chief executive and human resources manager were appointed.

    “From that time we’ve been at constant war with St Vincent de Paul,” ASU NSW branch secretary Sally McManus said.

    “They adopted a corporate style of management.”

    Ms McManus said the ASU successfully fought an unfair dismissal case of two workers from the NSW branch two years ago and last week it won a back pay claim for $250,000 for members who had not been paid the right rates.

    She said the union was “extremely pleased” that the NSW council had been suspended.

    “It’s rare that you see decisive action taken and I welcome it.”

     

  • Delay on ETS will be costly-report

    Delay on ETS will be costly – report

    Updated: 12:37, Monday July 12, 2010

    Delay on ETS will be costly - report

    Delaying an emissions trading scheme could cost households an extra $60 a year in energy costs, a new report suggests.

    Federal cabinet meets on Tuesday to nut out the government’s latest approach to climate change, likely to be a key election issue.

    Prime Minister Julia Gillard will consider putting a price on carbon, but has ruled out introducing emissions trading before 2013.

    A study by some of the nation’s leading energy providers, produced for the Climate Institute, shows uncertainty or inaction will cost the economy an estimated $2 billion a year by 2020.

    That would add $60 a year to average household power bills.

    ‘A decision to delay doesn’t avoid the cost impacts on electricity prices,’ institute CEO John Connor told ABC Radio on Monday.

    The government must set ‘clear signals’ to the community on its plan to cut carbon emissions.

    ‘We need a system that puts a limit and a price tag on pollution so investors can know certainty.’

    An immediate introduction of emissions trading was the ‘ideal’ scenario, Mr Connor said, but the carbon reduction target needed to be set higher than the government’s dumped scheme.

    The release of the study also coincides with a new poll, commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation, that shows 45 per cent of voters want climate change action.

    Those voters would be more likely to vote Labor if it promised to deliver emissions trading in the next year.

  • Greens policy will save Australians $2 billion- Brown

    Greens policy will save Australians $2 billion – Brown

    Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown says that today’s Climate Institute
    report shows the Greens’ policy of a carbon tax will save households and
    businesses money as power costs soar, helped by federal government and
    opposition inaction.

    “The old parties’ inaction is locking in more expensive electricity
    production which, this report says, means an extra $60 per year per
    household by 2020. This does not factor in the much greater costs to the
    economy of worsening climate change.”

    “I strongly urge the Prime Minister and cabinet, at its meeting
    tomorrow, to adopt the Greens’ carbon tax proposal. It will raise $10
    billion per year to help further offset the impost of price increases,”
    Senator Brown said.

    Media contact: Peter Stahel 0459 133 597

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  • Polls show Labor ahead of coalition

     

    Labor had a 10-point lead – 55 per cent to 45 per cent – over the Coalition in the Neilsen poll taken immediately after Ms Gillard’s elevation to the leadership.

    Climate Policy

    Do you think Julia Gillard should announce an interim carbon tax before the election?

    Related Coverage

    The polls published today take in Ms Gillard’s performance on the asylum-seekers issue, with her announcement last week that she was planning to establish a regional processing centre in East Timor.

    Today’s Nielsen poll finds that 44 per cent of voters thought the coalition would better handle the boats, while 42 per cent favour Labor’s approach.

    “That’s a bit closer than I expected and probably the Coalition expected or Labor expected,” Mr Stirton said.

    A separate Galaxy poll, published in News Limited newspapers, shows Labor trailing 39 to 42 per cent on the primary count.

    According to Galaxy, 63 per cent of voters approve of Ms Gillard’s tougher stance on asylum-seekers, while 26 per cent disapprove and 11 per cent remain undecided.

    The polls come as federal cabinet prepares to decide on a climate change policy to replace the abandoned emissions trading scheme.

    An interim carbon tax is likely to be ruled out with some ministers considering it too politically risky so close to an election.

    Ms Gillard is reported to be considering tough restrictions on all new coal-fired power stations and a national energy-efficiency target.

    But a decision not to proceed with a move to a price on carbon has raised concerns that investment in existing power plants will be deferred due to uncertainty.

    A survey by the Energy Supply Association of Australia has revealed spending on new and existing power stations is set to plunge by $10 billion because of uncertainty over the government’s carbon policy.

    Climate Institute chief executive John Connor said electricity prices for households could rise by an extra $60 a year.

    “The work that the Climate Institute’s done with our climate partners shows that in 2020 the economy will be paying more than $2 billion more than necessary and that equates to $60 a year for households,” he told ABC radio.

    “A decision to delay is a decision that doesn’t avoid the cost, doesn’t avoid the impacts on electricity prices. We need a system that puts a limit and a price tag on pollution so investors can know with certainty where they need to be investing.”

    With AAP

  • LLoyd’s adds its voice to dire ‘peak oil’ warnings

     

    The report the world is heading for a global oil supply crunch and high prices owing to insufficient investment in oil production plus a rebound in global demand following recession. It repeats warning from Professor Paul Stevens, a former economist from Dundee University, at an earlier Chatham House conference that lack of oil by 2013 could force the price of crude above $200 (£130) a barrel.

    It also quotes from a US department of energy report highlighting the economic chaos that would result from declining oil production as global demand continued to rise, recommending a crash programme to overhaul the transport system. “Even before we reach peak oil,” says the Lloyd’s report, “we could witness an oil supply crunch because of increased Asian demand. Major new investment in energy takes 10-15 years from the initial investment to first production, and to date we have not seen the amount of new projects that would supply the projected increase in demand.”

    And while the world is gradually moving to new kinds of clean energy technologies the insurance market warns that there could be shortages of earth metals and other raw materials needed to help them thrive.

    Lloyd’s also calls on manufacturers, retailers and the wider business community to reassess global supply chains and their just-in time models because the “current system is increasingly vulnerable to disruption.”

    The report says government needs to do much more to bring additional price stability and transparency if the global carbon market is to become a reality.

    Richard Ward, chief executive of Lloyd’s, said the failure of the Copenhagen climate change talks last December has helped lull many business leaders into a false sense of security about the challenges ahead. “We are in a period akin to a phony war. We keep hearing of difficulties to come, but with oil, gas and coal still broadly accessible – and largely capable of being distributed where they are needed – the bad times have not yet hit … all businesses … will be affected by energy supplies which are less reliable and more expensive.”