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New standards adopted: The California Energy Commission on
Monday, 21 November approved the Integrated Energy Policy Report, which
included new standards on greenhouse gas emissions beyond the reach of
traditional, coal-fired power plants.

Major setback to Wyoming: Wyoming energy officials said
California’s decision was a major setback to plans to build new coal
plants to supply California via a planned transmission line. The
decision also could affect the future value of Wyoming’s coal reserves.

Must be as clean as best gas-fired plant: California’s new
policy restricted future purchases of out-of-state, coal-based power to
those facilities that can prevent pollution from entering the air. Any
new coal plant that wished to sell electricity there must be as clean
as the best natural-gas fired plant.

Blow to proposed Wyoming-to-California transmission line:
Wyoming officials have said coal-fired power plants would be the most
affordable and most attainable option to secure investment in the
proposed Wyoming-to-California Frontier transmission line. Once that
investment was made, they said the line could carry power from wind,
solar and other renewable resources that California wanted.

Incentive to invest in zero emission coal technology: A
spokesman for the Wyoming Conservation Voters Education Fund said the
California decision might finally force investors to support
zero-emission coal technology.

Writing on the wall: “The writing is on the wall,” said Jason
Marsden, executive director of Wyoming Conservation Voters. “Investors
should think twice before investing their money on new coal-combustion
power plants that can’t capture global warming pollutants since
California, the biggest potential electricity customer, is no longer
interested in buying dirty, coal-fired power.”

Silver lining in the cloud for Wyoming: The California policy
could have a silver lining for Wyoming if California officials
ultimately conclude that they needed to invest funds to work with
Wyoming to develop clean-coal technologies.

Reference: Digest of latest news reported on website of Climate
Change Secretariat of United Nations Framework on Climate Change
Control (UNFCCC). 23 November. Address: PO Box 260 124, D-53153 Bonn.
Germany. Phone: : (49-228) 815-1005, Fax: (49-228) 815-1999. Email: press@unfccc.int
http://www.unfccc.int

Erisk Net, 24/11/2005

Serious pollution levels to rise: Zhang Lijun, vice-minister of
the main environmental agency, recently said China’s already serious
pollution levels could increase “four to five times” over the next 15
years based on current economic growth patterns. The problem will
intensify as the population moves from its present 1.3 billion to peak
at 1.6 billion about 2030.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 24/11/2005, p. 9

Source: Erisk – http://www.erisk.net 

Churches get together with environmentalists: Their
extraordinary statement on climate change pointed to a converging
partnership between church leaders, environmentalists and scientists,
giving moral force to public campaigns to win environmental safeguards.

National church strategy formed: It formed part of a national
church strategy to mobilise Australian Catholics to face the changes
required to tackle global climate change. Copies would be sent to more
than 4000 parishes, schools, religious congregations and church
agencies.

Catholics urged to use sustainable practices: It would be
followed by an updated audit which urges them to switch to more
sustainable practices, including use of gas or solar heating and green
electricity, grey water recycling systems, car pooling and ethical
investment policy for savings.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 19/11/2005, p. 11

Source: Erisk – http://www.erisk.ne 

Price heading way south? According to Smith, a world about to
reach oil peak would be charging a lot more for oil, which he expects
to sell for $US15 a barrel in the near future.

Elasticity of supply must be factored into predictions: Smith
says ASPO’s peak oil scenario is wrong because it treats oil as a fixed
resource, something he argues analysts should not do until extensive
exploration rules out significant future discoveries. “Yes, existing
oil fields are in decline, but what else is new?” he says.

Market is the best indicator: Smith says business should look to
the market rather than ASPO to indicate when oil peak will hit. And
when oil production does peak, the market will handle a transfer to
alternative technologies without creating dire, economic effects, he
says.

The Australian Financial Review, 19/11/2005, p. 16

Source: Erisk – http://www.erisk.net 

The problem is our Government has to date put most of
its anti-greenhouse effort into promoting the idea of
geosequestration. The idea is to pump carbon dioxide back
underground after it has been released in a coal-fired power
station. It is a good idea if it can be made to work, but we won’t
know this for possibly another decade. We also won’t know the cost.
Electricity certainly won’t be dirt cheap like it is now.
Calculations offered at this week’s CSIRO-sponsored Greenhouse
conference varied from $10 to $200 for each tonne of carbon dioxide
buried using this technique. Even if the cost is just $50 a tonne,
it will make alternative energy sources such as wind and solar more
competitive, but Government energy policy is completely distorted
in favour of the fossil fuel industry.

For about two decades, there has been increasing certainty in
scientific warnings about the changes in a warmed world of rising
greenhouse gases. Apart from the tragic impacts on this nation’s
natural icons, from the Great Barrier Reef to Kakadu to the
Australian Alps, pure self-interest should be spur enough for
action. Instead, the Australian Government showed initial indifference, followed by denial
and most recently a grudging recognition that the problem exists
and is serious, but has taken the stance that it can be solved with a technical solution
that will cause minimal inconvenience.

Source: The Age, November 19, 2005 

The Green Power scheme was developed by the Sustainable Energy and
Development Authority (now incorporated into the Department of
Energy, Utilities and Sustainability) and is a national accreditation
program that sets stringent environmental and reporting standards for
renewable energy products offered by electricity retailers to
households and businesses across Australia, said the report on the
compliance and operation of the NSW Greenhouse Abatement Scheme.

This scheme provides a certification mechanism for the
provision of zero emissions electricity to consumers across
Australia. Organisations who purchase Green Power (usually as a given
percentage of their total electricity consumption) cannot claim that
initiative as an emissions reduction under the NSW Greenhouse
Abatement Scheme. Green Power is administered by the Department of
Energy, Utilities and Sustainability.

Reference: NSW Greenhouse Abatement Scheme – Compliance and
Operation of the Scheme during 2004. Inquiries regarding this report
should be directed to: Christopher Spangaro, ph: (02) 9290 8419,
Margaret Sniffin, ph: (02) 9290 8486 or Gary Drysdale, ph: (02) 9290
8477. Independent Pricing and Regulatory, Tribunal of New South
Wales, Level 2, 44 Market Street, Sydney NSW 2000, ph: (02) 9290
8400, fax: (02) 9290 2061, website: http://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au

Source: http://www.erisk.net, 17/11/2005