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  • Australia a nuclear threat: Sweden

    Duly noted: The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute noted the increased Australian involvement in the nuclear cycle, including the report of the Prime Minister’s uranium and nuclear taskforce headed by Dr Ziggy Switkowski which found that 25 nuclear power reactors could supply one-third of Australia’s electric power by 2050. The institute also noted Australian developments in uranium enrichment where the Sydney-based comany Silex was working on a laser enrichment process. This process, officially classified by the United States and Australian governments in June 2001, brought it formally under their security and regulatory protocols.

    Nuke-market concerns: The Silex development, funded by General Electric in the United States, is currently in its third and final stage. A test loop is being built at General Electrics’ nuclear facility in Wilmington, North Carolina, to verify peformance and reliability data for full-scale facilities. The institute noted claims that the Silex process had the potential to change the international enrichment market and the statement by Silex head, Dr Michael Goldsworthy, that if Australia was to fully capitalise on the value of its uranium it should develop a nuclear fuel industry which included uranium conversion uranium enrichment and fuel fabrication services. The study expressed concern about countries’ nuclear involvement for a wide variety of reasons.

    The Canberra Times, 2/5/2007, p.1

  • Nationals mock Vic proposal to pump water across the state

    Gens don’t want the water: There are some problems with that, of course, which the government acknowledges. Where is the business case for this idea? Where are the financials in relation to this? Where is the commercial reality that is supposed to underpin all of this? How is it supposed to be paid for? How is it supposed to work? Apart from anything else, the government has a problem because the generators do not want the water. The generators are presently being supplied with water and are perfectly happy with the existing arrangements. The generators do not want this mickey mouse idea on behalf of the government because they are very concerned that if they do this it may well damage the equipment which is essential to the generation of power in Victoria. They are very worried about it.

    ‘Mickey Mouse’ idea: Apart from anything else, 60 per cent of Melbourne’s water is presently supplied from Gippsland. Those great Gippslanders, who forever come to this Parliament and are part of it, those Gippslanders – young and old – who come to the Parliament of Victoria. Yesterday when I put a question to the Premier about the actual cost of energy being used for these Mickey Mouse schemes the government is contemplating, he had no idea. We know – Powercor tells us – that to pump the water from Shepparton across to Bendigo, which is the shortest of these propositions, is going to take more energy than is consumed by all the residents.

    Reference: Parliament of Victoria, Legislative Assembly Daily Hansard, Wednesday, 23 May 2007. p.18

    Erisk Net, 23/5/2007

  • Conroy’s Gap wind farm gets go-ahead

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200706/s1945283.htm

    The New South Wales Government has approved the construction of a $50 million wind farm near Yass in the state’s south-east.

    Up to 15 wind turbines will be built at Conroy’s Gap, west of Yass, by the company Epuron.

    Epuron director Martin Poole says he is optimistic the company could be supplying energy to more than 12,000 homes within two or three years.

    "There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done on the commercial arrangements, particularly for acquiring wind turbines because they are in short supply all around the world at the moment," he said.

    It is claimed about 50 construction jobs have been created by the project.

    © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
    Copyright information: http://abc.net.au/common/copyrigh.htm
    Privacy information: http://abc.net.au/privacy.htm


  • Anvil Hill mine to go ahead

    Greens MPs will join with effected communities in taking peaceful, direct action to resist the expansion of the coal industry.

    "The approval of the Anvil Hill mine signals that the 22 applications on the table to build new mines or extend existing mines will also be granted.

    Anvil Hill will produce 10.5 millions tonnes of coal annually. When burnt this coal will produce 27 million tonnes of Co2 annually, equivalent to doubling the number of cars on NSW roads. It will cause up to $58 billion worth of climate change damage in less than one generation.

    Coal is the elephant in the room when it comes to climate change.

    Nothing can compensate for the environmental damage this mine will do. Minister Sartor is wrong to think strict conditions or minimal job creation opportunities will be a sufficient trade-off.

    The burning and mining of coal is responsible for 40 percent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from our coal exports are equivalent to all our domestic greenhouse gas emissions.

    Minister Sartor is swimming against the tide of international scientific evidence on climate change and the need to take urgent action to cut emissions.

    Morris Iemma’s children and all of our children will condemn the government for this decision in years to come," Ms Rhiannon said.

  • Arctic meltdown still accellerating

    A total meltdown would take centuries but global warming, which climate experts blame mainly on human use of fossil fuels, is heating the Arctic faster than anywhere else on Earth.

    "When I was a child, I remember hunters dog-sledding 50 miles on ice across the bay to Disko Island in the winter," said Judithe Therkildsen, a retiree from Aasiaat, a town south of Ilulissat on Disko Bay.

    "That hasn’t happened in a long time."

    Greenland, the world’s largest island, is mostly covered by an ice cap of about 624,000 cubic miles that accounts for a 10th of all the fresh water in the world.

    Over the last 30 years, its melt zone has expanded by 30 percent.

    "Some people are scared to discover the process is running faster than the models," said Konrad Steffen, a glaciologist at University of Colorado at Boulder and a Greenland expert who serves on a U.S. government advisory committee on abrupt climate change.

    In the past 15 years, winter temperatures have risen about 9 degrees Fahrenheit on the cap, while spring and autumn temperatures increased about 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Summer temperatures are unchanged.

    Swiss-born Steffen is one of dozens of scientists who have peppered the Greenland ice cap with instruments to measure temperature, snowfall and the movement, thickness and melting of the ice.

    Since 1990, Steffen has spent two months a year at Swiss Camp, a wind-swept outpost of tents on the ice cap, where he and other researchers brave temperatures of minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit to scrutinize Greenland’s climate change clues.

    The more the surface melts, the faster the ice sheet moves towards the ocean. The glacier Swiss Camp rests on has doubled its speed to about 9 miles a year in the last 12 years, just as its tongue retreated 10 km into the fjord.

    "It is scary," said Steffen. "This is only Greenland. But Antarctica and glaciers around the world are responding as well."

    Two to three days’ worth of icebergs from this glacier alone produce enough fresh water to supply New York City for a year.

    The rush of new water leaves scientists with crucial questions about how much sea levels could rise and whether the system of ocean currents that ensures Western Europe’s mild winters — known as the "conveyor belt" — could shut down.

    "Some models can predict a change in the conveyor belt within 50 to 100 years," said Steffen. "But it’s one out of 10 models. The uncertainty is quite large."

    If you’re a fisherman in Greenland, however, global warming is doing wonders for your business.

    Warmer waters entice seawolf and cod to swim farther north in the Atlantic into Greenlandic nets. In this Disko Bay town, the world’s iceberg capital, the harbor is now open year-round because winter is no longer cold enough to freeze it solid.

    Warmer weather also boosts tourism, a source of big development hopes for the 56,000 mostly Inuit inhabitants of Greenland, which is a self-governing territory of Denmark.

    Hoping to lure American visitors, Air Greenland launched a direct flight from Baltimore last month, and there is even talk of "global warming tourism" to see Warming Island.

    One commentator, noting the carbon dioxide emissions such travel would create, has called that "eco-suicide tourism."

    Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

  • Yanks vote overwhelmingly for solar power

    "More and more, consumers are interested in solar energy, as the results of this survey clearly show. The message from consumers to homebuilders is clear — builders can differentiate themselves while satisfying customer needs by offering solar electricity on any home they build," said Ron Kenedi, vice president, Solar Energy Solutions Group, Sharp Electronics Corporation.

    Even as consumers embrace the technology, they are not fully aware of its capabilities and they have misconceptions about how a solar energy system works in a home. Survey respondents were more likely to recognize solar could turn lights on (82 percent) and heat bath water (82 percent) or a swimming pool (80 percent), than power common electric devices like computers or appliances (71 percent).

    There is a gap in understanding that solar electricity operates just like regular electricity and is the same kind of electricity that a local utility company provides.

    "As the world’s leading solar manufacturer, Sharp views this uncertainty as a strong reason for educating the public about the features and benefits of solar energy. It can power everything from air conditioning and computers to appliances and vacuums; consumers need to understand why it makes sense, both financially and for the environment," added Kenedi.

    Sharp recently launched a unique awareness campaign under the tagline "Hello Sunshine" designed to demystify solar electricity for consumers. Components of the campaign appear in newspaper ads, Internet search results and web page banners — even a colorful traveling education trailer that will move from town to town throughout California increasing awareness and understanding of solar electricity.

    The survey also revealed that the financial benefits of solar energy play an instrumental role in a consumer’s decisions about solar electricity. Saving money on monthly energy bills was the primary motivation for consumers to install a solar system, with 84 percent of respondents citing this over any other reason.

    More than half of respondents said they would be more interested in learning about solar energy for their homes, if the system would cost them zero money down and they would start enjoying an immediate payback in the form of lower energy bills.

    The findings of the survey include:

    • 87 percent feel that homebuilders should offer solar power as an option for all new homes; older Americans are less enthusiastic, with 77 percent of those over age 65 supporting solar on new homes.

    • Respondents understand that solar power can be used to turn the lights on (82 percent), heat bath water (82 percent) or heat a swimming pool (80 percent).

    • Respondents are less likely to understand that solar can power electric devices such as computers or appliances (71 percent).

    • Americans over age 65 are least likely to recognize this functionality (56 percent).

    • Those in the Northeast (63 percent) and Midwest (65 percent) were significantly less likely to identify this functionality for solar energy, compared to those in the South (75 percent) and West (78 percent).

    • 82 percent say that a decrease in monthly energy bills is their primary motivation for installing solar power; other respondents indicated it was to reduce overall energy usage (79 percent), reduce oil dependence (77 percent) or because it is a secure source of energy (75 percent).

    • 56 percent would be interested in learning more about solar for their homes if the system could be obtained for zero money down and their utility bills would be lowered right away.

    • Younger adults, ages 25-34, are more encouraged by monetary savings, with 67 percent expressing interest in solar.