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  • Anger at independent MPs on woodchips

    Anger at independent MPs on woodchips

    David Wroe

    February 10, 2012

    alt

    “A swindle…” Bob Brown says allowing the forestry industry to continue burning native woodschips as renewable energy will mislead the public. Photo: Peter Mathew

    THE independent federal MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor have backed out of what the Greens say was a ”critical” part of the carbon tax deal, moving to allow the forestry industry to continue burning native woodchips as renewable energy.

    In a manoeuvre that will infuriate conservationists, the two independents have moved to strike down regulations that were to tighten the definition of renewable energy to exclude electricity created from burning waste woodchips from native forests.

    Since 1997, forestry firms have been able to earn renewable energy certificates, which can be sold for profit, by burning such woodchips in furnaces to create electricity.

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    The Greens leader, Bob Brown, said the regulations were a critical part of the carbon tax package agreed to by the multi-party climate change committee, made up of Labor, the Greens, Mr Oakeshott – who moved the disallowance yesterday – and Mr Windsor – who seconded it.

    The legislation was passed last year, but some details are still being dealt with in the form of regulations.

    ”Rob Oakeshott signed up to this agreement as we all did and … I hope we all end up honouring it,” Senator Brown said yesterday.

    Conservationists say that defining native woodchip waste burning as renewable energy helps to boost the financial value of logging. Senator Brown said that it would be ”a swindle on the public who thought they were buying accredited sustainable energy”.

    Neither Mr Oakeshott nor Mr Windsor could be reached for comment.

    A spokesman for the Minister for Climate Change, Greg Combet, said the government would ”continue to work with members of the Parliament to progress changes to the eligibility of wood waste under the Renewable Energy Target to help protect our native forests”.

    The Coalition climate action spokesman, Greg Hunt, said: ”We would be very interested in talking with Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor and we’ll look at their proposal. Our view has always been that the government proposal would both destroy renewable energy from waste through biomass and destroy blue collar jobs.”

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/anger-at-independent-mps-on-woodchips-20120209-1rxa9.html#ixzz1lxpk1JtT

  • Link between earthquakes and cyclones


    ScienceDaily (Dec. 8, 2011) — A groundbreaking study led by University of Miami (UM) scientist Shimon Wdowinski shows that earthquakes, including the recent 2010 temblors in Haiti and Taiwan, may be triggered by tropical cyclones (hurricanes and typhoons), according to a presentation of the findings at the 2011 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

    See Also:
    Earth & Climate

    • Earthquakes
    • Natural Disasters
    • Hurricanes and Cyclones
    • Severe Weather
    • Rainforests
    • Earth Science
      • North Anatolian Fault
      • Alpine Fault
      • Typhoon Tip
      • 1997 Pacific typhoon season
        “Very wet rain events are the trigger,” said Wdowinski, associate research professor of marine geology and geophysics at the UM Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. “The heavy rain induces thousands of landslides and severe erosion, which removes ground material from the Earth’s surface, releasing the stress load and encouraging movement along faults.”
        Wdowinski and a colleague from Florida International University analyzed data from quakes magnitude-6 and above in Taiwan and Haiti and found a strong temporal relationship between the two natural hazards, where large earthquakes occurred within four years after a very wet tropical cyclone season.
        During the last 50 years three very wet tropical cyclone events — Typhoons Morakot, Herb and Flossie — were followed within four years by major earthquakes in Taiwan’s mountainous regions. The 2009 Morakot typhoon was followed by a M-6.2 in 2009 and M-6.4 in 2010. The 1996 Typhoon Herb was followed by M-6.2 in 1998 and M-7.6 in 1999 and the 1969 Typhoon Flossie was followed by a M-6.2 in 1972.
        The 2010 M-7 earthquake in Haiti occurred in the mountainous region one-and-a-half years after two hurricanes and two tropical storms drenched the island nation within 25 days.
        The researchers suggest that rain-induced landslides and excess rain carries eroded material downstream. As a result the surface load above the fault is lessened.
        “The reduced load unclamp the faults, which can promote an earthquake,” said Wdowinski.
        Fractures in Earth’s bedrock from the movement of tectonic plates, known as faults, build up stress as they attempt to slide past each other, periodically releasing the stress in the form of an earthquake.
        According to the scientists, this earthquake-triggering mechanism is only viable on inclined faults, where the rupture by these faults has a significant vertical movement.
        Wdowinski also shows a trend in the tropical cyclone-earthquake pattern exists in M-5 and above earthquakes. The researchers plan to analyze patterns in other seismically active mountainous regions — such as the Philippines and Japan — that are subjected to tropical cyclones activity.
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      • Reference

  • On our Radar: The Danube ices over

    Beijing plans to reduce air pollution levels by 30 percent by 2020 by phasing out old cars, relocating factories and planting new forests, state news reports say. [Reuters]

    A federal magistrate in New Orleans rules that lawyers for plaintiffs suing BP and others for damages related to the 2010 gulf oil spill won’t be able to introduce some of the corporate defendants’ internal e-mails as evidence at trial. [Bloomberg]

    Scientists at Cambridge University have developed a new type of solar cell that could harvest 25 percent more energy from the sun than traditional ones. The cell, a hybrid, absorbs red light and harnesses the extra energy of blue light to boost the electrical current. [Click Green]

  • Oceanography News

    Deconstructing a mystery: What caused Snowmaggedon?

    Posted: 09 Feb 2012 12:28 PM PST

    Scientists are using computer models to help unravel the mystery of a record-setting snowfall in the Washington, DC area in early 2010.

    Ocean microbe communities changing, but long-term environmental impact is unclear

    Posted: 09 Feb 2012 11:40 AM PST

    As oceans warm due to climate change, water layers will mix less and affect the microbes and plankton that pump carbon out of the atmosphere – but researchers say it’s still unclear whether these processes will further increase global warming or decrease it. It could be either, they say.

    Ocean warming causes elephant seals to dive deeper

    Posted: 09 Feb 2012 11:02 AM PST

    Global warming is having an effect on the dive behavior and search for food of southern elephant seals. Researchers have discovered that the seals dive deeper for food when in warmer water. The scientists attribute this behavior to the migration of prey to greater depths and now wish to check this theory using a new sensor which registers the feeding of the animals below water.

    Global sea level rise: NASA mission takes stock of Earth’s melting land ice

    Posted: 09 Feb 2012 07:05 AM PST

    In the first comprehensive satellite study of its kind, researchers have used NASA data to calculate how much Earth’s melting land ice is adding to global sea level rise. Using satellite measurements from the NASA/German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), the researchers measured ice loss in all of Earth’s land ice between 2003 and 2010, with particular emphasis on glaciers and ice caps outside of Greenland and Antarctica. The total global ice mass lost from Greenland, Antarctica and Earth’s glaciers and ice caps during the study period was about 4.3 trillion tons (1,000 cubic miles), adding about 0.5 inches (12 millimeters) to global sea level. That’s enough ice to cover the United States 1.5 feet (0.5 meters) deep.
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  • Volcano google alerts

    New volcano watch center opens in Menlo Park
    InMenlo
    by Linda Hubbard Gulker on February 10, 2012 The US Geological Survey has opened the California Volcano Observatory (CalVO) at its headquarters in Menlo Park with the purpose of increasing awareness of and resiliency to volcano threats in California.
    See all stories on this topic »
    Facts About Alaska’s Cleveland Volcano
    Yahoo! Contributors Network
    Alaska’s Cleveland volcano has gotten attention in recent days and weeks as the volcano’s lava dome has continued to build and the mountain has been showing signs of an impending eruption. The Alaska Volcano Observatory posted a bulletin on Thursday …
    See all stories on this topic »
    Mount Lokon: Indonesian Volcano Erupts Again
    International Business Times
    By IBTimes Staff Reporter: Subscribe to IBTimes’s RSS feed The restless Mount Lokon volcano in northern Indonesia erupted Friday, spewing clouds of ash over a mile high into the sky, according to Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency.
    See all stories on this topic »
    International Business Times
    Meet the USGS’s Newest Volcano Observatory: CalVO
    Wired News
    The USGS announced on Thursday the founding of the California Volcano Observatory, CalVO* for short. CalVO is tasked with monitoring a wide swath of US territory that covers California and Nevada, all being run out of the USGS office in Menlo Park.
    See all stories on this topic »
    USGS California Volcano Observatory opens; Clear Lake Volcanic Field on watch list
    Lake County News
    The US Geological Survey has established the USGS California Volcano Observatory, or CalVO, headquartered within existing USGS facilities in Menlo Park. Establishing CalVO will increase awareness of and resiliency to the volcano threats in California, …
    See all stories on this topic »
    Italy’s Mount Etna Erupts for Second Time This Year: Watch Sicily Volcano …
    BostInno
    But Etna, Europe’s tallest volcano, went off again late Wednesday night, spewing ash into the air and sending lava streaming down the snow-covered hillsides. BostInno has videos of the new eruptions here: According to Wikipedia, Mount Etna is a …
    See all stories on this topic »


    Danger below the surface
    European Voice
    Another event that could occur this year is the eruption of one or more of Iceland’s volcanoes, possibly on a much larger scale than the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, which in 2010 caused the largest disruption of air travel in Europe since the end of …
    See all stories on this topic »
    Indonesia’s Mount Lokon erupts again
    Channel 6 News Online
    Mount Lokon, which is located on the northern tip of the island of Sulawesi, erupted at around 8:20 pm local time, spewing ashes up to 2000 meters (6561 feet) into the air, Warno, the Mount Lokon and Mahawu volcano observation post staff, …
    See all stories on this topic »

  • Geothermal energy: all the benefits of nuclear- but none of the problems

    That contrasts strikingly with the more glamorous sister of deep geothermal energy, nuclear power. Both ultimately tap the heat generated by the decay of radioactive elements. Geothermal plants send water down holes to bring to the surface the heat from natural radioactive decay deep in the mantle. Nuclear power mines the radionucleides, concentrates them, sends them critical and then wonders what to do with the leftover mess – not very elegant by comparison.
    The coalition government has pledged that nuclear power will receive no taxpayer subsidies. But it can receive financial support by other means which are subsidies in all but name.
    So what support is there for deep geothermal projects? Nothing. As Tim Smit – founder of the Eden project where one of just two projects in the UK is sited – put it last night at a Renewable Energy Association event in Westminster: “I’d like the same ‘lack of support’ the government is giving to nuclear.”
    Geothermal energy has been tapped in the UK since Roman times, via the hot springs at Bath and elsewhere. Shallow geothermal projects – such as ground source heat pumps – are slowly growing. But even Decc’s own and very conservative estimate is that deep geothermal – a few kilometres down – could provide 10% of the UK’s electricity.
    And how! It runs 24 hours a day, so perfect for baseload. The water circulates in a closed-loop, so it’s clean and sustainable. It is virtually zero carbon and the plants have a small surface footprint, so it’s pretty nimby-proof.
    The catch is this: you’d be awfully brave to invest in it right now. Unlike most European nations, there is no licensing system in the UK. So you could sink your test wells at the cost of millions of pounds, find the right spot, then see someone else set up in the next field. There is no feed-in tariff support for electricity from geothermal. And the Renewable Obligation Certificates (Roc) support scheme is set at 2 Rocs, compared to the equivalent of 4 Rocs in Germany.
    It’s a familiar tale of German succes and British failure. Germany itself lags the leaders, the US and the Philippines, as well as El Salvador, Kenya and Papua New Guinea, but is the fastest growing in the world. It has about 150 projects in planning this year, representing a total investment of €4 billion, says Ryan Law, from Geothermal Engineering, which is developing the UK’s other current project near Redruth, Cornwall. In terms of plants, Munich already has 24 alone, for both heating and electricity, he told me, adding that the geothermal potential for both countries is more or less the same.
    Germany has invested about €10m a year in geothermal research since 2002: the coalition government cut in half the available funds to £1m and there is nothing more in the pipeline.
    What is the government afraid of? The tiny earthquakes that some geothermal plants have triggered are surely less worrying than piles of nuclear waste, particularly in seismically stable country like the UK.
    I’ll declare an interest: I used to be a geologist and I like geothermal’s style. It is simple and proven. And it has all of the advantages of the nuclear power coveted by successive governments, but none of the problems. And while the nuclear industry will benefit handsomely from low-carbon energy incentives, geothermal stands to get next to nothing. If there was ever a time to hold our minister’s feet to a renewable fire, this is it.