We can’t keep it all: Murray-Darling expert
Adelaide University’s Professor Mike Young’s appeal to “downsize” the river system included the possible abandonment of some of Victoria’s prized river red gums in the Barmah forest.
Climate change will kill Sydney siders says Scientist
From the CSIRO
A combination of climate-change-induced temperature rises and increasing levels of air pollution could exacerbate the harmful effects of heat stress experienced by people living in Sydney, according to new research by CSIRO scientist, Dr Martin Cope.
In an address today to the GREENHOUSE 2009 conference in Perth, Dr Cope said the number of days Sydney experiences temperatures of 30°C or more is projected to increase significantly in the future.
“This, in turn, will increase fire risk and associated levels of air pollution,” Dr Cope said.
New frog, gecko and spider found in New Guinea
Change in UK policy leaves solar sector in the cold
Florida investors rent rooftops
Hundreds of thousands of solar panels are being installed in a small town in Florida, thanks to a local government policy to pay a feed-in-tarrif on the city of Gainsville’s rooftops. Feed in tarrifs pay the owner of the panels a higher price for generating the electricity than retail customers pay f
or it. As a result, innovative businesses have begun renting rooftops and installing panels. One investor, Tim Morgan, is raising between 16 and 20 million dollars to install thousands of panels which he estimates will earn around $US1,4 million annually. Feed in tarrifs are one of the mechanisms used successfully in Germany to drive that nation’s world leading adoption of photovoltaics. Heavily discounted solar panel businesses based on government rebates and benefits are notoriously vulnerable, however. In Australia, an $AUD8,000 government rebate on 1kw systems led to a spate of businesses focused exlusively on delivering those systems at a rock bottom price. A combination of factors, including the collapse of the world economy, led to at least one of those companies being unable to deliver fully on its promises.
See related story about the impact of changes in UK policy
Microwaved biochar appeals to industry
New Zealand company, Carbonscape, has announced an indsturial scale process for making biochar using microwaves. The process has been tested in a small scale plant in Blenheim on the South Island of New Zealand and can be quicky scaled to process trees and forestry waste, the company says. Although the process consuimes energy and produces some carbon monoxide, the net effect is a major carbon sink even using tradtional sources of electricity according to the results released by the company. Industries seeking to offset carbon emissions have expressed considerable interest in the technology.