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World feeling the heat as 17 countries experience record temperatures.

Wildfires have also swept through northern Portugal, killing two firefighters and destroying 18,000 hectares (44,500 acres) of forests and bushland since late July. Some 600 firefighters were today struggling to contain 29 separate fires.

But the extreme heat experienced in Europe would barely have registered in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Niger, Pakistan and Sudan, all of which have recorded temperatures of more than 47C (115F) since June. The number of record highs is itself a record – the previous record was for 14 new high temperatures in 2007.

The freak weather conditions, which have devastated crops and wildlife, are believed to have killed thousands of elderly people, especially in Russia and northern India. The 2003 European heatwave killed about 15,000 people.

Pakistan, now experiencing its worst ever floods, had Asia’s hottest day in its history on 26 May, when 53.5C (128.3F) was recorded in Mohenjo-daro, according to the Pakistani Meteorological Department. The heatwaves have also been occurring in the US, where Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Washington, Baltimore and Trenton all documented their highest ever temperatures in July.

The global research, collated by meteorologists at weather information provider Weather Underground, supports US government data collated on 11 different indicators – from air and sea temperatures to melting ice – which showed temperatures rising around the world since the 1850s. This June was also the hottest ever on record and 2010 is on course to be the warmest year since records began, according to separate data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published last month.

Only one country has set a record for its coldest-ever temperature in 2010. Guinea, in west Africa, recorded 1.4C (34.5F) in a nine-day cold snap at Mali-ville in the Labe region in January. Farmers lost most of their crops and animals.

Record temperatures in 2010

Belarus, 7 August, 38.9C (102F) at Gomel

Ukraine, 1 August, 41.3C (106.3F), Lukhansk, Voznesensk

Cyprus, 1 August, 46.6C (115.9F), Lefconica

Finland, 29 July, 37.2C (99F), Joensuu

Qatar, 14 July, 50.4C (122.7F), Doha airport

Russia, 11 July, 44.0C (111.2F), Yashkul

Sudan, 25 June, 49.6C (121.3F), Dongola

Niger, 22 June, 47.1C (116.8F), Bilma

Saudi Arabia, 22 June, 52.0C (125.6F), Jeddah

Chad, 22 June, 47.6C (117.7F), Faya

Kuwait, 15 June, 52.6C (126.7F), Abdaly

Iraq, 14 June, 52.0C (125.6F), Basra

Pakistan, 26 May, 53.5C (128.3F), Mohenjo-daro

Burma, 12 May, 47C (116.6F), Myinmu

Ascension Island, 25 March, 34.9C (94.8F), Georgetown

Solomon Islands, 1 February, 36.1C (97F), Lata Nendo

Colombia, 24 January, 42.3C (108F), Puerto Salgar

‘Cheap’ solar geoengineering plans may have unintended consequences

However, an analysis of the most discussed technique – solar radiation management (SRM), which involves changing the amount of incoming energy from the sun by using aerosols to create clouds or deflecting solar rays with mirrors – says it could create a conflict of interest between countries.

The study, published in Nature Geoscience by researchers from Carnegie Mellon and Oxford Universities, says it may not possible to simultaneously control both temperature and precipitation levels with SRM. As such, attempts to reduce solar radiation in one region are likely to have knock-on effects in others.

A report by MPs from the Science and Technology Committee earlier this year contained similar warnings, saying SRM could produce ‘droughts with severe implications for regional and global food production’.

‘Cheap’ solutions

The authors of this most recent study said as climate change impacts worsened individual countries might start unilaterally jumping on ‘cheap’ geoengineering solutions.

‘Doing SRM is likely to be cheap,’ said Professor Granger Morgan, head of Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Engineering and Public Policy, ‘so there is risk that a single nation or region might start doing it to solve a local or regional climate problem, and impose the impacts on all of us.’

The Met Office, which has recently created a new advice page on geoengineering, said it was too early to rule out the use of SRM and that it may still be possible to find a technique that concentrated the negative precipitation impacts over oceans and not land, where it can impact on food production.

‘The [study] shows that it “may not be possible” to stabilise the climate in all regions simultaneously. I agree with their conclusions. But because they haven’t tested all possible SRM scenarios, and because the results remain model-dependent to some extent, they can’t say that it is definitely not possible,’ said Dr Olivier Boucher, head of climate chemistry and ecosystems at the Met Office.

Focus on emission cuts

Study co-author Morgan said policymakers should focus more on reducing carbon dioxide emissions rather than geoengineering solutions.

‘If the world doesn’t get serious about achieving a dramatic reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide, the planet will have lost most of its coral reefs by the end of this century along with the fish and other marine life that they depend on,’ said Morgan.

‘We need to understand SRM but it is no substitute for finding ways to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent as soon as possible.’

Useful links
Nature Geoscience study in full
Met Office guide to geoengine

GetUp! wins case for online voter registration

It is the group’s second court win in as many weeks.

Last week the High Court ruled Howard government changes that closed the electoral rolls on the day writs were issued were unconstitutional.

GetUp! national director Simon Sheikh says today’s decision is historic.

“Today we’ve proven that in this country, enrolment can be submitted online,” he said.

“With 1.4 million Australians not on the electoral roll earlier this year, we need to do every single thing we can to get bureaucracy and red tape out of the way.”

“What it means is that in future the AEC should provide a safe and secure form on their own site for people to enrol to vote online.

“It is now upon the AEC to provide such a website themselves. It’s appropriate that they enrol people online, not just a third party.

“The AEC had argued that they couldn’t accept online enrolments [by law], but we shouldn’t be discriminating between enrolments – faxing it or submitting it online should be the same.”

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says it is vital to have safeguards in place to ensure people do not enrol for invalid reasons.

“I think it’s very important that we maintain the integrity of our electoral system,” he said.

“I have a lot of trust in the Australian Electoral Commission, but I do think it’s important there are safeguards in the system.”

Tags: government-and-politics, elections, law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, federal-elections, australia, nsw, sydney-2000

First posted 1 hour 24 minutes ago

Solar powered trains

Given bright sunshine, a square metre of photovoltaic panel can generate half a killowatt, so each kilometre of track cold potentially supply ten megawatts – about five times the power requirement of even powerful fast electric locomotives.

It is, of course necessary to provide adequate separation between trains, and this is essentially what the existing signalling system does, preventing entry into a ‘block’ of track if there is already a train in it.

Whilst such a railway would only run in the daytime, the power would be absolutely free, and would exist precisely where it was needed and would not therefore have to be transported to the railway via long high tension lines. Moreover, being locally generated, high voltages would not be required. It might even be possible to run the system at a non-lethal voltage, as there is no requirement for the electricity to travel more than a few metres.

It is the cost of transporting power to the track over long distances that compels many railways in poorly populated parts of the world to not use electricity, but to run diesel powered locomotives.

Were diesel electric locomotives to be used, this could run on sunshine during the day, and switch to diesel at night. The Author –

AUTHORS COMMENTS

How to be fully renewable in 10 years.

The price tag may make it sound like a pipedream but the scheme earned the endorsement of the federal Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull who added his support at a forum at Sydney Town Hall last night.

”The work they have done is important,” Mr Turnbull said. ”It provides the most comprehensive technical blueprint yet for what our engineers, our scientists, can begin to do tomorrow.”

Mr Turnbull contrasted the Coalition’s ”direct action” plan with Labor’s policy, which he claimed would lead to longer delays in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

”I believe our long-term global goal is to very substantially reduce our emissions, a goal that will require almost all of our stationary energy to be produced from zero or near-zero emission sources,” Mr Turnbull said.

”This report demonstrates we could already be technologically ready to do that.”

The plan has also been endorsed by Australia’s former chief scientist Robin Batterham, and a senior official at the International Energy Agency’s renewable energy division, Cedric Philibert.

However, the National Generators Forum, which represents power station owners, and the office of the federal Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, were decidedly lukewarm about the plan when asked about the findings last month. Under the plan, 60 per cent of the nation’s electricity would be sourced from 12 huge solar thermal power plants, which use Australian-developed technology to store heat in molten salt, allowing them to operate for long periods when there is no sunshine.

The remaining 40 per cent of the power grid would be filled by about 6500 wind turbines at 23 large-scale wind farms dotted mainly around the coast.

The plan would generate 325 terawatt hours of electricity a year, meeting the nation’s entire power demands in the year 2020, if a comprehensive energy efficiency plan is also factored in. Any shortfalls could be made up by biomass energy generation, using a portion of the stubble from the nation’s wheatfields.

To properly harness all the renewable energy, the report calls for the unification of Australia’s three separate electricity grids and some new transmission lines to link the new power stations to capital cities, at a total cost of $92 billion.

If the cost of completely transforming the energy sector was passed directly on to households, it would add 30 per cent to the average utility bill.

Matthew Wright, the chief executive of the Beyond Zero Emissions group, claimed the report was more realistic than Australia’s continued dependence on foreign oil supplies and fluctuating fuel prices.

”The fact is, from an energy perspective, we are in big trouble,” said Mr Wright when he briefed staff from the NSW Department of Climate Change, Environment and Water on the plan yesterday.

”If you’re going to secure Australia’s energy future, then you’re going to do that with risk-free renewable energy that has no fuel costs.”

The Gruen ad amended

Hi there,

My name is Jenny Rose. I’m a mum of two grown up daughters, a retired teacher and a keen gardener. I started volunteering with the Greens several elections ago, because I was disgusted with the Howard Government’s lack of action on climate change.

Over the years I’ve watched the Greens support continue to grow and I’ve learned something that’s kept me coming back to the polling booths, election after election: a major reason the Greens historically don’t do as well as pre-election polls predict is because too often, we’re out-numbered at the polling booths. So this election, I’m asking for your help to change that.

Sign up to volunteer at your local polling booth, or at another strategic location, on Saturday 21 August – even if it’s just for an hour or two.

For an undecided voter, no amount of leaflets in letterboxes make up for the lack of a real person to speak to as they walk in to vote. The Greens have monitored results at booths with and without a large volunteer presence, and we know beyond doubt that having people on the ground speaking to voters makes a real difference.

When I first helped out on polling day, I was surprised at how easy and enjoyable it turned out to be. I soon realised I was having a lot of fun asking people, “would you consider voting Green?” and handing out how to vote cards. The day flew by – and before I knew it, I was at the election night party for all the local Greens’ volunteers.

Best of all – it’s something anyone can do. You don’t need huge amounts of time, money or experience to take part in the process and make a tangible difference to your community this election.

Come along on August 21: you’ll be glad you did.

It’s the only way a few hours of your time next Saturday will make a difference to Australia for the next three years and beyond.

Sincerely,

Jenny Rose

P.S. I didn’t just make this up. The Greens’ national office shared this analysis from polling company Roy Morgan yesterday revealing that the “biggest barrier” the Greens have this election is finding enough volunteers for polling booths. Roy Morgan said: “In previous elections…the Morgan Poll has overstated the Greens vote achieved on election day – a major reason for this is because the Greens have not been able to be…handing out ‘how-to-vote Greens’ cards at all polling places. Overcoming this problem remains the Greens’ biggest barrier to winning the seven Senate seats expected at this half-Senate election.” You can see the article here and sign up to volunteer on August 21 here.

P.P.S Did you catch the ad everyone’s talking about on Gruen Nation last night? If you missed it, click here to see it!

* Donations over $2 and up to $1500 per annum are tax deductible.

Authorised by Derek Schild, 8-10 Hobart Place. Canberra
www.greens.org.au