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  • Murdoch pledges a carbon neutral News

    Rupert Murdoch may own a hybrid car but he’s found an even more carbon-neutral way of getting to work: walking. Plenty of footprints, none of them carbon.

    He walked to work, even if it was only a short stroll from Fifth Avenue to Sixth, where News Corp headquarters are located, on the day he announced that his company was taking a leading role in the climate change debate. Not that he is about to grow a beard and wear sandals. He’s still got the corporate jet.

    Last week’s announcement that News Corp intends to produce zero net carbon emissions by 2010 was the emphatic sign that at 76, Murdoch remains as pragmatic, unorthodox and up-to-date as ever.

    Although his various newspapers have long been on the sceptics’ side of the climate change issue, for close Murdoch watchers the announcement was not surprising. Last year, at a corporate retreat at the famed Pebble Beach Golf Course in California, he invited Al Gore along to show An Inconvenient Truth.

    Last November, while in Japan, he announced his change of heart. "I have to admit that, until recently, I was somewhat wary of the warming debate. I believe it is now our responsibility to take the lead on this issue," he said then.

    "Some of the presumptions about extreme weather, whether it be hurricanes or drought, may seem far-fetched. What is certain is that temperatures have been rising and that we are not entirely sure of the consequences. The planet deserves the benefit of the doubt."

    The person most influential in the greening of Rupert is his son James, who runs Murdoch’s part-owned satellite television franchise, British Sky Broadcasting. James has always been portrayed as the leftie sibling. He did have a beard, and once ran a hip-hop music label. He drives a Toyota Prius to work and a hybrid SUV on the weekends, while his wife, Kathryn, works for the Clinton Global Initiative.

    James has led the greenhouse gas charge, turning BSkyB into a carbon neutral company. It was apparently this example that led Rupert to take the plunge and commit the whole global empire to greenhouse gas neutrality by 2010.

    According to Murdoch snr, the process – which was only announced this week but which has been under way for almost a year – has made good business sense. Reducing energy usage not only cuts greenhouse gas emissions but saves money, too. Admittedly, a media and entertainment conglomerate is not exactly a smokestack industry. But it is slightly surprising that its activities generated 641,150 tonnes of greenhouse gases last year.

  • Manure…A True Story

    Manure: In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything had to be transported by ship and it was also before commercial fertilizer’s invention, so large shipments of manure were common.

     
    It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet, but once water (at sea) hit it, it not only became heavier, but the process of fermentation began again, of which a by product is methane gas. As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles you can see what could (and did) happen.
     
    Methane began to build up below decks and the first time someone came below at night with a lantern, BOOOOM! Several ships were destroyed in this manner before it was determined just what was happening After that, the bundles of manure were always stamped with the term "Ship High In Transit" on them, which meant for the sailors to stow it high enough off the lower decks so that any water that came into the hold would not touch this volatile cargo and start the production of methane.
     
    Thus evolved the term "S.H.I.T " , (Ship High In Transport) which has come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day.
     
    You probably did not know the true history of this word. Neither did I.I had always thought it was a golf term!

  • Brown Coal Diesel plans for Victoria

    $5bn project cost: The product could be blended with conventional diesel to help it meet emissions standards, or could be used as a direct diesel in niche locations such as cities or particularly sensitive environments. Early estimates – now being reviewed – put the cost of the project at $5 billion and some heavyweight companies are involved. Energy giants Anglo American – which acquired Monash Energy (previously known as Australian Power and Energy Ltd) in 2003-04 – and Shell are providing the investment funds. Anglo Coal, a division of Anglo American, would conduct the mining of the coal feedstock.

    ‘Safe’ storage in CO2 dump: A mining licence has already been granted by the Victorian Government, which has flagged strong in-principle support for the project. A crucial aspect of the project, from an environmental aspect, is the capture of carbon dioxide from the liquids production process. With gasification in the presence of oxygen rather than air, the separation of excess carbon dioxide can proceed using proven technologies. The question then arises of how the carbon dioxide can then be safely stored, and the project is looking at the process of geosequestration. "An advantage we have is proximity to the very promising geological formations of the Gippsland Basin in Bass Strait, which have stored oil and natural gas for millions of years," Hargreaves said. "Initial studies into the potential of the region for large-scale transport, injection and storage of carbon dioxide have been positive."

    Further research needed: "With the help of a grant from the Commonwealth Government, the Cooperative Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technology conducted a study into geosequestration in the Gippsland Basin, and concluded that it could provide safe and secure long-term storage." he said. "Of course, further research is necessary and a thorough technical and environmental risk assessment would be necessary before injection could proceed in a given location, particularly since there are incumbent oil and gas producers in the area. The Federal Government is building a regulatory regime to ensure this assessment process is workable and sound."

    The Australian, 28/4/2007, p. 4

  • Vanadium Flow Batteries

    Skyllas-Kazacos’s solution to this problem was to use the same chemical element for both electrolytes. She could still provide the required difference in redox potential by ensuring that the element was in different "oxidation states" in the two solutions – in other words its atoms carried different electrical charges. The element she eventually decided on was the metal vanadium, which can exist in four different charge states – from V(ii), in which each vanadium atom has two positive charges, to V(v), with five. Dissolving vanadium pentoxide in dilute sulphuric acid creates a sulphate solution containing almost equal numbers of V(iii) and V(iv) ions.

    When Skyllas-Kazacos added the solution to the two chambers of her flow battery and connected an outside power supply to the electrodes, she found that the vanadium at the positive electrode changed into the V(v) form while at the negative electrode it all converted to the V(ii) form. With the external battery disconnected, electrons flowed spontaneously from the V(ii) ions to the V(v) ions and the flow battery generated a current (see Graphic). Best of all, it didn’t matter too much if a few vanadium ions on one side of the membrane leaked across to the other: this slightly discharged the battery, but after a recharge the electrolyte on each side was as good as new.

    After more than a decade of development, Skyllas-Kazacos’s technology was licensed to a Melbourne-based company called Pinnacle VRB, which installed the vanadium flow battery on King Island. With 70,000 litres of vanadium sulphate solution stored in large metal tanks, the battery can deliver 400 kilowatts for 2 hours at a stretch. It has increased the average proportion of wind-derived electricity in the island’s grid from about 12 per cent to more than 40 per cent.

  • Plastic Solar Cell Efficiency Hits 6% in U.S.

    Because they are inexpensive and light weight, especially in comparison to traditional silicon solar panels, researchers have worked for years to create flexible, or "conformal," organic solar cells that can be wrapped around surfaces, rolled up or even painted onto structures.

    In theory, plastic solar cells could be used as a replacement for roof tiling or home siding products or incorporated into traditional building facades. These energy harvesting devices could also be placed on automobiles since plastic solar cells are much lighter than the silicon solar panels structures do not have to be reinforced to support additional weight.

    In a paper published in the journal Applied Physics Letters, the Wake Forest researchers describe how they have achieved record efficiency for organic or flexible, plastic solar cells by creating "nano-filaments" within light absorbing plastic, similar to the veins in tree leaves. This allows for the use of thicker absorbing layers in the devices, which capture more of the sun’s light.

    In order to be considered a viable technology for commercial use however, solar cells must be able to convert about 8 percent of the energy in sunlight to electricity. Wake Forest researchers hope to reach 10 percent in the next year, said Carroll, who is also associate professor of physics at Wake Forest.

    A large part of Carroll’s research is funded by the United States Air Force, which is interested in the potential uses of more efficient, light-weight solar cells for satellites and spacecraft.

    Other members of Carroll’s research team include Jiwen Liu and Manoj Namboothiry, postdoctoral associates at Wake Forest’s nanotechnology center, and Kyungkon Kim, a postdoctoral researcher at the center, who has moved to the Materials Science & Technology Division at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology in Seoul.


    Source: Renewable Energy Access

     

  • Electricity prices spiral due to water shortages

    Some retailers are also believed to have short sold electricity in the
    expectation that the autumn would bring the traditional dip in the market.
    Traditionally, electricity turnover on the Sydney Futures Exchange is only
    about 20 per cent of total physical trade in the national electricity market,
    which covers the eastern seaboard, including Tasmania. It has leapt to more
    than double the level of underlying supply as market participants scramble
    for cover.

     Large industrial users and state regulators both believe there may have
    been some "gaming" of the market by generators seeking to exploit fears
    about future supply.

     The Electricity Users Association, which represents large industrial users,
    has written to commonwealth and state governments seeking an
    investigation of the National Electricity Market, claiming that the spike in
    prices cannot be justified by drought and unusually high levels of
    maintenance alone.

     "We are aware of some evidence that generators have also changed their
    bidding behaviour to take advantage of the situation," the association’s
    executive director, Roman Domanski, said yesterday.

     State regulators also suspect that some of the larger integrated firms, which
    include both generating and retailing, may be "managing" prices higher,
    putting pressure on regulators to authorise higher retail prices.

     The SFE’s Collins says he believes the move in the market is too big to be
    the result of any form of manipulation. However, the market is still rising and
    there is no sense yet that a new equilibrium has been reached.

     The increase is putting the national electricity market under the greatest
    pressure in its nine year history, and casting a shadow over the economy in
    the year ahead.

     The companies in the toughest position are the electricity retailers,
    particularly those that are not vertically integrated with a generator.

     Chief executive of electricity retailer Australian Power and Gas, Jim Myatt,
    says that while he is buying electricity from the wholesale market, he is
    selling to a retail market that is regulated by state government authorities.

     "State governments are capping our market at one end while the wholesale
    market is reacting to factors outside the control of government." The state
    regulators set the prices that retailers can charge households and small
    business customers.

     Many households and small businesses have chosen to buy their power at
    non-regulated prices, which have until recently been cheaper.

     However, they can always switch back to the regulated suppliers, so the
    regulators set the ceiling for the retail market.

     The NSW regulator last week issued a draft recommendation of price
    increases of about 5 per cent in real terms over each of the next three years
    but is revisiting its numbers in the wake of the soaring wholesale market.

     The Queensland regulator has recommended a 10 per cent price increase.
     The Productivity Commission has called for regulated price caps to be
    scrapped. It argues it is forcing companies to become vertically integrated,
    defeating the purpose of deregulating the electricity market.

     For business customers, however, new contracts are being negotiated with
    increases of anywhere from 50 to 100 per cent.

     Electricity represents 15 to 20 per cent of costs for industries such as paper,
    cement and steel. The increased cost can be expected to flow through into
    economy-wide costs in the same way as last year’s oil price increase.

     The drought is the most obvious cause of the price spike. Snowy Hydro and
    Tasmania have essentially ceased delivering peak power. When Tasmania
    was joined to the national grid, it was expected to be a major supplier to
    southeast Australia but is instead importing power.

     The peak power load is now being delivered by gas turbines.

     More serious is the shortage of water for the cooling towers of the major
    coal-fired power stations which deliver base load. Tarong, in Queensland,
    has had to cut back its base load by 850 megawatts, which is about 5 per
    cent of base load supply to the national market.

     The major Victorian base load stations in the Latrobe Valley have been
    buying water on commercial markets because their entitlement is not
    enough to keep the cooling towers supplied and there are concerns about
    their security of supply.

     The executive director of the National Generators Forum, John Boshier,
    says major maintenance is usually planned for autumn and spring, which are
    not considered peak seasons. He said this had taken a further 4500
    megawatts out of supply.

     He said high prices would act as an incentive for generators to install water
    recycling plants.

     "I’d make a plea for the market outcomes to be trusted, so the high prices
    act as incentives for alternative forms of cooling and energy."

     He said the effort by users to get a government investigation of the market
    reflected the fact that many had failed to hedge their long-term position
    adequately.

     Jeff Washusen, electricity specialist with the economics consultancy
    Marsden Jacobs, says there is a longer-term problem with the working of the
    electricity market.

     "Since 1998, when the national electricity market first started, there has
    been virtually no market-initiated investment in base load capacity," he said.

     Dr Washusen said new capacity in Queensland had been initiated by the
    Government. The only private sector investment had been small gas
    turbines supplying peak load.

     He said the price of electricity on the national market had been enough to
    provide profitable operations for companies with installed generators, but did
    not deliver the incentive to build new capacity. As a result, the market had
    become tight, and high prices could be here to stay.

    Source: The Australian