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Category: Uncategorized

  • If Abbott Succeeds in Slashing the Renewable Energy Target, What Will it Cost Aussie Homeowners and Business Owners Considering Solar?

    abbott infront of solar panels

    If Abbott Succeeds in Slashing the Renewable Energy Target, What Will it Cost Aussie Homeowners and Business Owners Considering Solar?

    Prime Minister Tony Abbott is making solar advocates (like me!) both nervous and angry.

    His recent “signals” leave little doubt that, after years of progress, the Abbott government may be the first administration to slash Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET).

    Abbott believes Australia should be an “affordable energy superpower”.

    But traditional fossil fuel generators like Origin Energy and AGL are finding it harder and harder to stay “affordable” these days.

    You may have noticed that in your recent electricity bill if you’re not a solar power owner.

    So Abbott, unwilling to blame big energy, is looking around for someone to blame. And he’s found an easy, if mistaken, scapegoat in renewable energy…

    “…We’ve got to accept though that in the changed circumstances of today the renewable energy target is causing pretty significant price pressure in the system and we ought to be an affordable energy superpower “

    The truth, as most Australian (and German and Chinese) citizens know, is that the days of affordable fossil fuel energy is over and slashing the RET isn’t going to bring them back.

    But energy politics aside, this raises a question for any homeowner or small business owner considering a solar power installation…

    If Abbott Follows Through with his Anti-Renewables Crusade and Slashes the Renewable Energy Target How Much Could It Cost Me?

    Around $3,000 maybe much more.

    Here’s how…

    To hit the renewable energy target, big energy producers like Origin and AGL have a couple of choices:

    1. produce a certain amount of renewable energy

    or

    2. buy “certificates” from those who do.

    When an average home owner installs a solar system, the government gives that home owner certificates he or she can sell to these big energy producers.

    Of course, normally, the solar power installer will “buy” these certificates from the home owner (in the form of a discount off the price of the system) and then sell them to the big energy producers themselves.

    But the bottom line is, that if the renewable energy target goes away, the market for the certificates goes away.

    And for the average homeowner that could mean an increase in the price of a 5kW solar system of approx $3000.00.

    What should the home owner or small business owner considering solar power do?

    Get 3 Quotes for solar whilst the financial incentives are still available >>

    For more information on solar power costs, incentives and plans, you might like…

    This detailed description of how the RET and the STC incentive works

    A Solar Power Cost Calculator that includes all the factors I can think of affecting a solar purchase.

    Picture Credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/mystifyme07/ (background modified)

  • ADVANCES IN ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RESOURCES CREATE A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY FOR SMART LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS THAT MAXIMIZE THE BENEFITS OF AN INTEGRATED ENERGY MIX

    ENERGY

    ADVANCES IN ENERGY EFFICIENCY
    AND RESOURCES CREATE A UNIQUE
    OPPORTUNITY FOR SMART LONG-TERM
    INVESTMENTS THAT MAXIMIZE
    THE BENEFITS OF AN INTEGRATED
    ENERGY MIX

    Changes in the global energy landscape — including shifting demand-side dynamics, increased production from shale oil and gas in North America, and advances in technology — are providing significant opportunities for investment while also driving sustainable economic growth, enhanced competitiveness and responsible development of energy resources.

    THE SHALE OIL AND GAS REVOLUTION WILL CONTRIBUTE TO NORTH AMERICAN ENERGY INDEPENDENCE — AND OFFERS NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR COORDINATION AND GROWTH

    GLOBAL INVESTMENT RESEARCH

    With the production of shale gas increasing dramatically, and oil production rapidly rising, the macro effects of the shale revolution are being felt around the world. The most dramatic impact is the gradual loosening of oil price constraints that have persistently threatened economic expansion in developed economies. According to Goldman Sachs research, the ability of shale to drive a resurgence of energy production in North America is creating powerful economic benefits. The revolution will contribute structurally to a more stable oil market, in which global demand can rise without placing the same upward pressure on energy prices. Other likely outcomes include an end to the drag energy prices can place on household incomes, improvement in the U.S. trade balance by 1.2 percent of GDP by 2017, and strengthening of the U.S. dollar by 5 –10 percent, according to Goldman Sachs research.

    BRIDGING THE DIVIDE

    INVESTMENT IS NOW CRUCIAL TO TURNING ENERGY PROMISE INTO REALITY

    Jeff Currie speaks about the shale revolution and the path to balancing supply and demand.

    According to Jeff Currie, global head of Commodities Research in the Global Investment Research Division at Goldman Sachs, a crucial task is “coupling the rapid advances in energy supply with investments that enable society to benefit, whether in manufacturing, transportation or the generation of power.”

    As that process unfolds, Goldman Sachs is focused on helping bring important stakeholders together to overcome impediments. “We don’t just have a role as an advisor and source of capital for energy companies,” Currie says. “We can also help facilitate the dialogue that is needed right now between policy on one side and finance on the other.”

    SMART GRID NETWORKS ARE DRIVING
    EFFICIENCY ALONG THE ELECTRICAL GRID

    WITH NEW SMART GRID TECHNOLOGY, utilities worldwide are better able to maximize the efficiency of the electrical grid while enabling customers to reduce their costs. One of the clear leaders in this space is Silver Spring Networks, whose smart grid networking platforms connect millions of devices along the grid that generate, control and monitor power. These networks provide a wealth of data that enables utilities to enhance efficiency, increase reliability and automate manual services, including meter reading. They also enable households to monitor their own energy use and make adjustments during times of expensive peak demand. In 2013, as lead bookrunner, we helped Silver Spring Networks raise $93 million through an IPO.

    RELIABLE, RESILIENT, CLEAN AND COMPACT:
    ON-SITE DISTRIBUTED POWER IS GAINING
    ATTENTION – AND TRACTION

    Bloom Energy, one of many innovative businesses for which Goldman Sachs has provided advice and financing, is part of a growing movement toward distributed on-site energy production. Its main concept: fuel cells that turn natural gas or biogas into electricity — cleanly, reliably and at a competitive cost for commercial enterprises including data centers, government facilities and utilities. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Bloom’s fuel cells were up and running when other sources of power were unavailable.

    Stuart Bernstein describes the commercial opportunity of clean energy and renewables.

    Clean energy
    and renewable
    companies are
    not only driving
    change in the
    production of
    energy but also in
    its consumption

    With a growing global population and increasing per capita consumption of energy, finding new ways to produce energy is of paramount importance. “We have made good progress toward our target of financing and investing $40 billion in clean energy over the next decade,” says Stuart Bernstein, global head of both the Clean Technology and Renewables Group and the Venture Capital Coverage Group at Goldman Sachs. “Our work is wide ranging in industries from renewable power production to electric vehicles to grid optimization to demand response.” Highlighting our work in solar, Bernstein says, “While there continues to be innovation upstream producing photovoltaic panels more efficiently, our work with downstream solar clients allowed companies installing photovoltaic panels on homes, businesses and military installations to provide lower energy costs to their end users.”

    RETHINKING THE GRID

    THE GOLDMAN SACHS CLEAN ENERGY ECOSYSTEM SUMMIT EXPLORED NEW APPROACHES FOR DISTRIBUTION AND SUPPLY

    In 2013, Goldman Sachs hosted the Second Annual Clean Energy Ecosystem Summit in Menlo Park, California. This conference brought together leaders of the world’s most innovative energy start-ups; key decision makers of the largest energy, technology and industrial companies globally; influential investors; and leaders across research, government and finance to share insights, foster a dynamic dialogue and — ultimately — be a catalyst for growth and innovation in clean energy.

    Goldman Sachs team members who supported the NRG Yield IPO: John Yanchek, Chuck Park, Jeff Pollard, Georgios Triantafyllou, Olympia McNerney, Matt Gibson, Shaan Goswami, Investment Banking Division

    As the industry evolves, energy companies are positioning for success with support from innovative financing solutions

    WHEN NRG ENERGY, INC., America’s largest competitive generation business, completed the IPO of NRG Yield, it created a first-of-its-kind business in the U.S. that is focused on keeping pace with the country’s growing need for environmentally responsible power. NRG Yield consists predominantly of renewable and gas-fired generation capacity that has been contracted over the long term by its utility customers. NRG Yield also proved to be a compelling investment opportunity for a variety of investors. The key: securities that offered generally stable, long-term cash flow with the prospect for growth. Yield Company structures enable energy businesses such as NRG to expand the investor base for its portfolio of assets, creating a cost-of-capital advantage to economically fund the acquisition and development of assets that are well-positioned for the future. Co-led by Goldman Sachs, the $495 million offering attracted a wide range of yield-conscious investors. A portion of the proceeds from the IPO allows the company to continue investing in the future of the industry, such as the 250-megawatt California Valley Solar Ranch, a utility-scale power plant with 10 vast solar arrays that follow the path of the sun, and capture up to 25 percent more energy than traditional systems.

    IN THE SPECTRUM
    OF ENERGY SOURCES,
    WIND IS MAKING
    AN IMPORTANT
    CONTRIBUTION

    As both developed and emerging market economies seek to create more diversified energy streams, wind power, both stand-alone and grid-connected, is becoming a more substantial energy source. In India, ReNew Power, whose mission is to enable the country to meet ambitious renewable energy targets, has already become a leader in the fast-growing renewable energy industry, with close to 400 megawatts of operating wind capacity. To date, Goldman Sachs and affiliated funds have invested $320 million to help ReNew Power expand, and Goldman Sachs has entered into a deal with ReNew to purchase wind power for our office in Bangalore.

  • UN: greenhouse gas emissions nearly doubled in first decade of 21st century

    environment

     Courtesy of Daid Spratt,

    environment

    UN: greenhouse gas emissions nearly doubled in first decade of 21st century

    Leaked draft shows emissions grew nearly twice as fast from 2000-10 as in previous 30 years – despite economic slowdown
    Greenhouse gas emissions : Smoke rises from chimneys of a coal power plant near Shanghai
    Smoke rises from chimneys of a thermal power plant near Shanghai March 26, 2014. Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters

    , US environment correspondent

    Friday 11 April 2014 18.51 EST

    Greenhouse gas emissions grew nearly twice as fast over the past decade as in the previous 30 years, bringing the world closer to warming that will bring dramatic and dangerous changes to the climate, according to a leaked draft of a United Nations’ report.

    The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the growth rate in emissions over the from 2000-10 was higher than expected – even after taking into account the economic slowdown.

    “Global GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions have risen more rapidly between 2000 and 2010,” said the draft obtained by the Guardian. “Current GHG emissions trends are at the high end of projected levels for the last decade.”

    The draft went on to warn that delaying emissions cuts beyond 2030 would make it harder to avoid the severe consequences of climate change.

    Leading scientists and government officials are in Berlin this week to approve the exact wording of the report before it is formally released on 13 July.

    The IPCC report is the third part of a trilogy intended to serve as the definitive account of climate change.

    The first report, released last September, found climate change was caused by human activity.

    The second, released in Japan last month, warned climate change posed a grave threat to humanity, was already putting food security in jeopardy and could lead to wars and mass migration. It also set out the impacts global warming was having on wildlife.

    This third part was supposed to be focused on solutions. Instead, the report made increasingly clear the large and growing gap in the scale of the threat and the readiness of those solutions.

    The draft said emissions grew 2.2% a year on average between 2000 and 2010, compared to 1.3% a year over the entire period from 1970-2010. In 2010-11, global emissions from the burning of fossil fuels grew 3%, the draft went on.

    The rapid growth in emissions has defied efforts by governments to deal with climate change, and even though the historic recession saw some slowdown it was eventually reduced to a blip in the continuous upward path.

    “The global economic crisis 2007-08 has temporarily reduced emissions but not changed the trend,” the draft said.

    The culprit for the upward line on the graph was coal, the draft said. The decade saw a big jump in the number of new coal-burning power plants that came online.

    Coal plants are the most polluting of all power stations, and there are more than 1,000 new plants under construction worldwide.

    Most of those are earmarked for China and India – although the report pointed out that many of those power plants are supplying factories making goods whose ultimate destination is America or Europe.

    Other developing countries have also stepped up their use of coal. Germany, Britain and France have also been burning coal, because of low worldwide prices.

    But their consumption pales beside China, which on its own accounts for about 15% of total global emissions from coal. The expansion of coal-fired power plants – China gets two-thirds of its electricity from coal – have polluted the air and the water.

    A recent World Bank study estimated 750,000 people died in China every year as a result of air pollution, in large part because of the burning of coal.

    Leaked draft shows emissions grew nearly twice as fast from 2000-10 as in previous 30 years – despite economic slowdown
    Greenhouse gas emissions : Smoke rises from chimneys of a coal power plant near Shanghai
    Smoke rises from chimneys of a thermal power plant near Shanghai March 26, 2014. Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters

    , US environment correspondent

    Friday 11 April 2014 18.51 EST

    Greenhouse gas emissions grew nearly twice as fast over the past decade as in the previous 30 years, bringing the world closer to warming that will bring dramatic and dangerous changes to the climate, according to a leaked draft of a United Nations’ report.

    The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the growth rate in emissions over the from 2000-10 was higher than expected – even after taking into account the economic slowdown.

    “Global GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions have risen more rapidly between 2000 and 2010,” said the draft obtained by the Guardian. “Current GHG emissions trends are at the high end of projected levels for the last decade.”

    The draft went on to warn that delaying emissions cuts beyond 2030 would make it harder to avoid the severe consequences of climate change.

    Leading scientists and government officials are in Berlin this week to approve the exact wording of the report before it is formally released on 13 July.

    The IPCC report is the third part of a trilogy intended to serve as the definitive account of climate change.

    The first report, released last September, found climate change was caused by human activity.

    The second, released in Japan last month, warned climate change posed a grave threat to humanity, was already putting food security in jeopardy and could lead to wars and mass migration. It also set out the impacts global warming was having on wildlife.

    This third part was supposed to be focused on solutions. Instead, the report made increasingly clear the large and growing gap in the scale of the threat and the readiness of those solutions.

    The draft said emissions grew 2.2% a year on average between 2000 and 2010, compared to 1.3% a year over the entire period from 1970-2010. In 2010-11, global emissions from the burning of fossil fuels grew 3%, the draft went on.

    The rapid growth in emissions has defied efforts by governments to deal with climate change, and even though the historic recession saw some slowdown it was eventually reduced to a blip in the continuous upward path.

    “The global economic crisis 2007-08 has temporarily reduced emissions but not changed the trend,” the draft said.

    The culprit for the upward line on the graph was coal, the draft said. The decade saw a big jump in the number of new coal-burning power plants that came online.

    Coal plants are the most polluting of all power stations, and there are more than 1,000 new plants under construction worldwide.

    Most of those are earmarked for China and India – although the report pointed out that many of those power plants are supplying factories making goods whose ultimate destination is America or Europe.

    Other developing countries have also stepped up their use of coal. Germany, Britain and France have also been burning coal, because of low worldwide prices.

    But their consumption pales beside China, which on its own accounts for about 15% of total global emissions from coal. The expansion of coal-fired power plants – China gets two-thirds of its electricity from coal – have polluted the air and the water.

    A recent World Bank study estimated 750,000 people died in China every year as a result of air pollution, in large part because of the burning of coal.

  • Psychological care in Australia

    1 of 40
    Why this ad?
    Master of Public Health – tua.edu.au/Master_of_Public_Health – Study Online at Torrens University. Request Information Right Now!

    Psychological care in Australia

    Inbox
    		 x

    Dr Ben Mullings mail@change.org
    8:10 AM (9 minutes ago)
    to me

    The National Mental Health Commission is calling on all Australians to provide feedback about the services currently available in our system. You can offer your feedback at https://consultations.health.gov.au/national-mental-health-commission/2014_mh_review

    Medicare supported psychological care is one key component of our system. Please get yourself a cup of tea or coffee over this weekend and share your thoughts about how we can improve mental health care. Submissions close on Monday. Tell our Government that ten visits of therapy are not enough!

    To find out more you can visit our website at http://www.betteraccess.net/index.php/information/tell-the-commission

    Many thanks,
    Dr Ben Mullings (Psychologist)
    Alliance for Better Access

     

    This message was sent by Dr Ben Mullings using the Change.org system. You received this email because you signed a petition started by Dr Ben Mullings on Change.org: “Australia needs Better Access to psychological treatment.” Change.org does not endorse the contents of this message.

    View the petition

     

  • Facts about Thorium

    17 Sep 2013
    Home  »  Uncategorized   »   Facts about Thorium

    Facts about Thorium

    Posted in Uncategorized By Neville On September 17, 2013

    thoriumAtomic Number: 90
    Atomic Symbol: Th
    Atomic Weight: 232
    Melting Point: 3,182 F (1,750 C)
    Boiling Point: 8,650 F (4,788 C)

    Word origin: Thorium is named for Thor, the Norse god of thunder.

    Discovery: Thorium was discovered as an element in 1928 by Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzelius. Berzelius received a sample of an unidentified black mineral from mineralogist Jens Esmark, whose son Morten Esmark had found it on Lovoya Island, Norway. Esmark suspected it contained an unknown substance. His mineral is now known as thorite.

     

    Properties of thorium

    Thorium is radioactive and decays at a fixed rate into a series of other elements. In its pure state, thorium is a silvery-white metal that is stable in air and retains its luster for several months. If contaminated with oxide, however, it tarnishes slowly in air. It turns gray and eventually black. [See Periodic Table of the Elements]

    Thorium’s physical properties are strongly influenced by how much it is contaminated with oxide. Even the purest specimens of thorium often contain several tenths of a percent of oxide. Thorium oxide has a melting point of 3,300 C (5,972 F), the highest of all the oxides.

    Pure thorium is soft, very ductile, and can be swaged, drawn and cold-rolled. When heated in air, its turnings ignite and burn with a brilliantly white light. Powdered thorium is pyrophoric, requiring careful handling.

    Thorium is dimorphic, changing from a cubic to a body-centered cubic structure at 1,400 C (2,552 F). Thorium does not dissolve easily in most common acids (with the exception of hydrochloric) but water slowly attacks it.

    Much of the earth’s internally produced heat is attributed to thorium and uranium.

    Sources of thorium

    As a primordial nuclide, 232Th has existed in its current form for more than 4.5 billion years. Its existence predates the formation of Earth. Thorium was formed in the cores of dying stars through the r-process, and supernovas eventually scattered it across the galaxy. Its half-life is comparable to the age of the universe.

    Small amounts of thorium are found in most rocks and soils. Soil usually has an about 6 parts per million of thorium. Thorium is found in several minerals, including thorianite, monazite, and thorite. They occur on all continents, and thorium is now considered three times more abundant than uranium, or about as common as lead and molybdenum.

    Thorium is recovered commercially from rare-earth minerals and monazite, which is anything from 3-to-9 percent thorium. High-purity thorium has been made, and there are several methods for producing thorium metal.

    Uses of thorium

    Historically, thorium’s primary use was for the Welsbach mantle used in portable gaslights. Along with other ingredients, the thorium in these mantles produced a dazzling light when heated with a gas flame.

    Today, thorium metal is used as a source for nuclear power. Thorium-cycle converter-reactor systems are in development. Thorium’s abundance means that there is probably more energy available from thorium than from both uranium and fossil fuels, but any significant demand for thorium as a nuclear fuel is still several years in the future.

    Thorium is also used to coat the tungsten wire found in electronic equipment. Its presence as an alloying element in magnesium, imparting high strength and slowing resistance at elevated temperatures, plus its low-work function and high electron emission make it an excellent source for coating tungsten wire. Thorium oxide is also used to control grain size in tungsten when used in electric lamps and in high-temperature laboratory crucibles. Additionally, thorium oxide is useful as a catalyst in ammonia-to-nitric acid conversion, in petroleum cracking, and in sulfuric acid production.

    Gases containing thorium oxide are useful in producing high-quality camera lenses and scientific instruments. These gases have a high refractive index and low dispersion. 232Th is radioactive enough to expose a photographic plate in a few hours.

    Isotopes of thorium

    Thorium has 27 known radioisotopes. They range in atomic weight from 210 to 236 and all are unstable. 232Th is by far the most stable with a half-life as long as the universe — 14.05 billion years. Other isotopes are short lived, and are actually intermediates in the decay chain of higher elements. Only trace amounts of them are found. The longer-lived of these trace isotopes include: 230Th with a half-life of 75,380 years which is a daughter product of 238U decay; 229Th with a half-life of 7,340 years and 228Th with a half-life of 1.92 years. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 30 days and the majority of these have half-lives less than 10 minutes.

    232Th contains almost all naturally occurring thorium. It is an alpha emitter and goes through six alpha and four beta decay steps before becoming the stable isotope 208Pb.

  • Is battery storage a new growth area for inverters?

    Is battery storage a new growth area for inverters?

    Posted on April 9, 2014

    We look at developments in the inverters for battery storage market from companies such as Eguana Technologies, ABB, Outback Power and SMA, who have a whole battery inverter family for integration with solar energy.

    We look at developments in the inverters for battery storage market from companies such as Eguana Technologies, ABB, Outback Power and SMA, who have a whole battery inverter range for integration with solar energy. Photo credit: SMA

    Inverter makers are increasingly catering for battery storage even though the scale of the opportunity is still dwarfed by solar. Last week, for example, Eguana Technologies trumpeted Chinese patents for its Bi-Direx line of inverter platforms.

    Eguana Technologies chief executive Michael Carten said in a press release that the move was in response to growing demand for energy storage systems in China.

    “In less than a year, Eguana has emerged as the technology leader in storage electronics, and we have had multiple enquiries in the past few months from Chinese firms about gaining access to the Bi-Direx technology,” he said.

    “These new patents will allow us to engage with these companies with greater confidence.”

    In February, meanwhile, OutBack Power added advanced battery charge profiles to its Radian inverter family, which features an energy balancing system called GridZero.

    Adapting to changing regulations

    The company claims integration of energy storage and solar power will help generation plant owners maximise benefits and adapt to changing regulatory regimes.

    “These inverters represent future-perfect installation solutions for … locations where governments are changing solar incentives or utilities are modifying buy-back policies of surplus renewably generated electricity,” said OutBack in a press note.

    “In these scenarios, GridZero functionality ensures that users can store renewably generated power for future use and prioritise consumption, effectively zeroing-out the load on the grid while using it when needed to meet surges and spikes in demand.”

    OutBack’s advanced battery charge profiles allow installers to specify specific charging profiles for lithium-ion, aqueous-ion, flow, fuel-cell and other battery types. A growing number of other inverter makers are also now taking account of energy storage needs.

    Last year, for example, ABB’s Power-One unveiled the REACT inverter-and-battery combo for residential solar customers. SMA, the inverter market leader, has a whole range, Sunny Island, destined for battery storage integration with solar power.

    Other inverter vendors targeting the residential battery storage customers, particularly in mature solar markets such as Germany, include Kostal and FVG Energy.

    Further moves needed

    Meanwhile, companies such as Eaton, Parker and Princeton Power Systems offer inverters for grid-level battery storage.

    Particularly in the residential market, however, further moves to commercialise bespoke inverters will be needed as the energy storage market expands.

    Inverters make up a significant part of the total cost of battery storage systems and for batteries the inverter setup needs to be bi-directional, to account for charging and discharging.

    This is in contrast to most current inverter technologies, which have been developed for solar power and where energy flows in one direction.

    Until relatively recently, the range of bi-directional inverters on the market was so limited that companies sometimes had to resort to using two uni-directional units side by side, which was expensive and inefficient. This is changing, though.

    “Now there is a fair amount of work going on not only on the hardware side, having smarter configurations for the power conversion layout, but also in software,” says Logan Goldie-Scot, an associate at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

    Written by Jason Deign

    – See more at: http://energystoragereport.info/battery-inverter-energy-storage/?utm_content=buffer9afda&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.1rGwAzkV.dpuf