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Volcanoes: be afraid, be very afraid – the supervolcano is coming KATE RAVILIOUS Iceland volcano worsens 16.4.2010 RAW VIDEO: Ash cloud from volcanic eruption in Iceland has intensified, disrupting air traffic across northern Europe. Every so often the earth chooses to remind us that we really aren’t in control of this planet. The volcanic Continue Reading →
Keneally offers 4c to heat your home
THE million families that Premier Kristina Keneally says won’t need to choose between heating or cooking this winter will get an extra 4c a day.
A meagre $15 a year increase on the current $130 a year electricity subsidy will be available to almost one in three NSW households to counter bill rises of hundreds of dollars.
Earlier this week Ms Keneally said that “no family need fear that they will have to make the devastating decision between providing heat and providing food”.
April 16, 2010
AN APPLICATION by power company AGL to build gas wells and a processing plant risked transforming hills north-west of Campbelltown into a ”Texas oilfield”, the mayor has warned.
”My concern is that I don’t want my Scenic Hills turning into a Texas oilfield,” the Labor mayor, Aaron Rule, said. ”The image I’m getting is of a lot of little gas wells all over the place feeding into a gas extraction plant to feed into Sydney gas supply.”
Since the Macarthur Development Board began work on the area 40 years ago the Scenic Hills, which run for about eight kilometres along the Hume Highway, were expected to serve as a green buffer marking Campbelltown’s western side. But Sydney’s expansion has seen increasing pressure to develop the area.
”These hills are very important to us, much loved and highly valued … the struggle goes on to protect them. They’re the lungs of the community,” Cr Rule said.
While the Campbelltown City Council unanimously opposes the plan, it is being considered by the NSW Department of Planning as a project of state significance, which means the council’s opposition can be ignored.
AGL wants to expand its Camden gas project in the neighbouring municipality by building 12 gas extraction wells to collect coal-seam methane, five of which will be in the Campbelltown local government area.
A green hotel in Copenhagen is claiming a world first by using guests on exercise bikes to generate electricit
Tom Robbins
Bright idea … an iPhone attached to the handlebars shows how much power is being fed into the hotel’s system
Forget solar panels and wind turbines, a hotel that bills itself as one of the “greenest” in the world has found a new source of renewable energy – its guests.
From next Monday, those staying at the 366-room Crown Plaza Copenhagen Towers will be encouraged to head down to the gym to spend time on its new fleet of electricity-generating exercise bikes. The bikes have iPhones mounted on the handlebars which monitor how much power is being produced and fed into the mains supply of the hotel. Any guest producing 10 watt hours or more will be rewarded with a free meal.
The scheme is a pilot project that will run for a year, and if successful, could be rolled out to all 21 Crowne Plaza hotels in the UK.
“The electric bikes offer our guests the chance to get fit and help power the hotel at the same time,” said Allan Agerholm, the hotel’s general manager. “It will be interesting to see how many guests take part and how much electricity we generate.”
It is not acceptable to use climate change as an excuse to limit growth in poor countries as the west’s carbon emissions rise
Cooling towers of a coal-fired power plant in Beijing. South Africa has been criticised for its plans to build a similar power station. Photograph: Alexander F. Yuan/AP
Last Thursday the World Bank approved a £2.4bn loan to build a huge new coal-fired power station in South Africa. The issue has exposed the rift between two central international goals – alleviating poverty and preventing global warming. South African ministers claimed that the project was essential for their country’s development, while a concerted environmental campaign lobbied international governments to block the scheme. Amid concerns about global warming, this question of development versus environment may become one of the most contentious international issues over the next few years.