Category: News

Add your news
You can add news from your networks or groups through the website by becoming an author. Simply register as a member of the Generator, and then email Giovanni asking to become an author. He will then work with you to integrate your content into the site as effectively as possible.
Listen to the Generator News online

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.
As well as Giovanni’s articles it picks up the most pertinent articles from a range of other news services. You can publish the news feed on your website using RSS, free of charge.

Solar power from Sahara a step c;oser

The German-led consortium was brought together by Munich Re, the world’s biggest reinsurer, and consists of some of country’s biggest engineering and power companies, including Siemens, E.ON, ABB and Deutsche Bank.

It now believes the DII can deliver solar power to Europe as early as 2015.

“We have now passed a real milestone as the company has been founded and there is definitely a profitable business there,” said Professor Peter Höppe, Munich Re’s head of climate change.

“We see this as a big step towards solving the two main problems facing the world in the coming years – climate change and energy security,” said Höppe.

The solar technology involved is known as concentrated solar power (CSP) which uses mirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays on a fluid container. The super-heated liquid then drives turbines to generate electricity. The advantage over solar photovoltaic panels, which convert sunlight directly to electricity, is that if sufficient hot fluid is stored in containers, the generators can run all night.

The technology is not new – there have been CSP plants running in the deserts of California and Nevada for two decades. But it is the scale of the Desertec initiative which is a first, along with plans to connect North Africa to Europe with new high voltage direct current cables which transport electricity over great distances with little loss.

Leading European energy industry expert Paul van Son has been appointed chief executive of DII and will recruit staff to build up a framework to make the building of both power plants and the grid infrastructure.

“We recognise and strongly support the Desertec vision as a pivotal part of the transition to a sustainable energy supply in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe,” he said.

“Now the time has come to turn this vision into reality. That implies intensive cooperation with many parties and cultures to create a sound basis for feasible investments into renewable energy technologies and interconnected grids.”

Desertec has gained broad support across Europe, with the newly elected German coalition government of Angela Merkel hoping the project could offset its dependence on Russian gas supplies.

North African governments are said to be keen, too, to further exploit their natural resources. Algeria and Libya are already big oil and gas suppliers to Europe.

Höppe said Munich Re had been concerned about the potential impact of climate change on the insurance business since the early 1970s. Extreme weather events related to climate change are already a reality and have the potential to be uninsurable against within a few decades, pointing to a possible crisis for the industry, he said.

“To keep our business model alive in 30 or 40 years we have to ensure things are still insurable,” he said.

Munich Re also plans to invest in the new initiative and Höppe said banks were confident that they could raise sufficient funding to make the project work.

There are already some small CSP plants in Spain and North Africa, with the power used locally. But Desertec plans to see big power stations of one gigawatt operating in five years’ time and exporting some current across the Mediterranean. The consortium stresses, though, that power generated by solar fields in North Africa would be used by North Africans as well as Europeans. North Africa has a small population relative to the size of its deserts. For similar reasons Australia is putting together its own Desertec initiative.

Dan Lewis, head of a new thinktank, the Economic Policy Centre, and author of a forthcoming energy policy paper, said: “This is just the sort of long-term, big-difference, energy security gain project that our UK short-term targets and policy framework can’t deliver.

“Instead, we’re spending ridiculous sums on no-hoper, marginal stuff like fusion energy and a massive smart meter rollout, that at best will only shave a fraction off peak demand.”

Climate change threatens lives of millions of children, says charity

Its report Feeling the Heat, which is launched today, claims that climate change is the biggest global health threat to children in the 21st century.

The charity predicts that 175 million children a year – equivalent to almost three times the population of Great Britain – will suffer the consequences of natural disasters such as cyclones, droughts and floods by 2030.

It warns that more than 900 million children in the next generation will be affected by water shortages and 160 million more children will be at risk of catching malaria – one of the biggest killers of children under five – as it spreads to new parts of the world.

Save the Children is urging world leaders to put children first during climate change negotiations in Barcelona this week, ahead of the Copenhagen summit in December.

Ultravox star Midge Ure, a Save the Children ambassador, recently returned to Ethiopia 25 years after the 1984 famine which prompted him to create Band Aid with Bob Geldof.

“Climate change is no longer a distant, futuristic scenario, but an immediate threat,” he said.

“We’ve all heard about the East African food crisis but I’ve been in Ethiopia seeing first hand the impact it’s having on children’s lives.

Erratic rainfall means farmers can no longer predict the weather and have lost their crops which are a vital source of food for their family.

“I asked one farmer in the highlands of Ethiopia what would happen if the food aid stopped coming. He replied: ‘It is in the hands of the gods.’ Maybe we could lend a hand as well?”

Save the Children’s director of policy David Mepham said: “Global leaders need to act now to stop the needless deaths of millions of children. It is still possible to avoid the worst predictions for climate change if governments are bold and commit to a binding international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions when they meet in Copenhagen.”

CSIRO bid to gag emissions trading scheme po;icy attack

CSIRO bid to gag emissions trading scheme policy attack

EXCLUSIVE: Nicola Berkovic | November 02, 2009

Article from: The Australian

THE nation’s peak science agency has tried to gag the publication of a paper by one of its senior environmental economists attacking the Rudd government’s climate change policies.

The paper, by the CSIRO’s Clive Spash, argues the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is an ineffective way to cut emissions, and instead direct legislation or a tax on carbon is needed.

The paper was accepted for publication by the journal New Political Economy after being internationally peer-reviewed.

But Dr Spash told the Australia New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics conference that the CSIRO had since June tried to block its publication.

In the paper, Dr Spash argues the economic theory underpinning emissions trading schemes is “far removed” from the reality of permit markets. “While carbon trading and offset schemes seem set to spread, they so far appear ineffective in terms of actually reducing GHGs (greenhouse gases),” he says. “Despite this apparent failure, ETS remain politically popular amongst the industrialised polluters.

“The public appearance is that action is being undertaken. The reality is that GHGs are increasing and society is avoiding the need for substantive proposals to address the problem of behavioural and structural change.”

Dr Spash said trading schemes did not efficiently allocate emission cuts because their design was manipulated by vested interests. For example, in Australia, large polluters would be compensated with free permits while smaller, more competitive firms would have to buy theirs at auction. The schemes were also flawed because: global warming was caused by gases other than carbon; emissions were difficult to measure; carbon offsets bought from other countries were of dubious value; and the schemes “crowded out” voluntary action by individuals. He concludes that more direct measures, such as a carbon tax, regulations or new infrastructure would be simpler, more effective and less open to manipulation.

Dr Spash could not be contacted by The Australian.

However, his presentation to the ANZSEE conference in Darwin last Wednesday stated: “The CSIRO is currently maintaining they have the right to ban the written version of this paper from publication by myself as a representative of the organisation and by myself as a private citizen.”

Dr Spash said CSIRO managers had written to the journal’s editor demanding the paper not be published.

CSIRO spokesman Huw Morgan said the publication of Dr Spash’s paper was an internal matter and was being reviewed by the chief executive’s office.

However, he said that under the agency’s charter scientists were forbidden from commenting on matters of government or opposition policy.

The CSIRO charter, introduced last year, was trumpeted by Science Minister Kim Carr as a way to guarantee freedom of expression for scientists.

Senator Carr said he was seeking a briefing from the CSIRO.

Opposition science spokesman Eric Abetz accused the government of empty spin.

Julian Cribb, adjunct professor of science communication at the University of Technology, Sydney, said gagging scientists deprived the public of scientific knowledge they had funded.

ANZSEE president Wendy Proctor said if Dr Spash’s research questioned current orthodoxy, it should be made public to inform debate.

EU climate aid: The politicians are the only winners in this deal

Today’s announcement in Brussels on climate aid is a necessary step towards a deal, but also a model of what we can expect as countries gear up for crucial political talks on global warming in Copenhagen in December.

Ahead of the Brussels meeting there were gloomy reports of a split and warnings of a likely crisis, quickly followed by a political huddle and talk of the need to compromise. A few hours of discussion later and his colleagues were able to emerge with handshakes and announce almost what everybody had expected all along. Job done.

As revealed in the Guardian on Tuesday, the EU has announced that poor countries need to receive some €100bn a year by 2020 from the world’s rich nations to help them cope with the likely impact of global warming. Up to half of this will come from taxpayers with the rest coming from the private sector.

The agreement is a model of political negotiation, in that each national leader gets to go home and report victory to their domestic audiences. Brown, the UK prime minister, gets the credit for forcing through an overall figure, while the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, can point out that Europe has not actually committed itself to provide any specific funds, keeping that card up its sleeve. Meanwhile the heads of the member states most reluctant to put their hands in their pockets, such as Poland, have won concessions on what they are expected to pay upfront.

Against this realpolitik, campaign groups are doing what they do best – pressuring their leaders to do more and to ensure the promised money is not pilfered from existing aid budgets.

Government slashes insulation rebate

“We have also seen the industry grow enormously, creating jobs and supporting the economy,” he said.

“The time is now right for us to make sensible changes to take pressure off the market, whilst ensuring this hugely popular program still offers generous incentives for households.”

Transitional arrangements for people who had accepted a quote but were waiting for work to be done would apply, provided their job was completed by November 16.

Extra safety precautions and consumer protections will be enforced too.

Metal fasteners for foil insulation will be banned from tomorrow, and a targeted electrical safety inspection program of Queensland homes with foil insulation installed under the program rolled out.

Mr Garrett said the proscription of metal staples or nail fasteners would reduce the risk of electrocution for insulation installers, after a Brisbane man died from that cause earlier this month.

From December 1, the Government will also publish a name and shame list for any business struck from the installer register for dodgy behaviour, require two genuinely independent quotes to approve a rebate and demand a formal risk assessment of installation projects before a job can start.

“There’s no room in this program for businesses that aren’t willing to stand publicly by the quality of their work,” Mr Garrett said.

“Insulation installers are on notice that we will not hesitate to strike them from the register, take legal action and name and shame them if they are found doing the wrong thing.”