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  • Forests primary defence against global warming

    Logging cycles weaken forest carbon storing features: The same ANU study has found that the carbon store of these forests is dramatically reduced to around 300-500 tonnes of carbon per hectare if they are subject to 80 year logging cycles. “Logging is clearly contributing massively to global warming” said Matthew Wright, lead campaigner for Beyond Zero Emissions. “Unfortunately Tasmania has suffered under state and federal governments conspiring with the likes of the Gunns Corporation. Some of the worst logging in the world is occurring in that state."

    Logging releases GHG, causes heating: “Native forests create clouds and humidity which result in local precipitation. Those same clouds also reflect large amounts of sunlight back into space. Logging not only releases phenomenal amounts of naturally sequestered carbon from forest soils and canopy, but also allows greater light penetration through the atmosphere causing heating and a positive feedback loop".

    (References: Dean C, Roxburgh S, Mackey B (2003), Growth Modelling of Eucalyptus regnans for Carbon Accounting at the Landscape Scale, (CRC for Greenhouse Accounting, Australian National University) Roxburgh S, Wood S, Mackey B, Woldendorp G, Gibbons P (2006), Assessing the carbon sequestration potential of managed forests: a case study from temperate Australia, Journal of Applied Ecology.

    For comment ring: Matt Wright 0421 616 733, Adrian Whitehead 0403 735 118, Adrian Whitehead is currently touring Tasmania giving a series of zero emission talks. website: http://www.beyondzeroemissions.org Beyond Zero Emissions is an independent Zero Emission Minus Climate Change campaign. This document is available at http://www.beyondzeroemissions.org/Press-Releases)

     

  • Japan pledges $122m for clean energy

    "With Asia’s role in the world economy growing, CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions from Asia are having an increasing environmental impact," he said.

    "At present, Asia accounts for about 30 per cent of global energy consumption," he said, adding that the region’s energy use would double by 2030 from current levels.

    "More efficient use of energy and the reduction of CO2 emissions in Asia are necessary for achieving sustainable growth not only in the region, but also in the world."

    The ADB said Friday (local time) it would invest $A1 billion in clean energy projects in 2007 and slightly more in the following two years, with the priority on China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam.

    But the development bank came under attack from non-governmental campaigners led by Greenpeace, which said that a large portion of the ADB’s energy financing was still being channelled into smoke-belching fossil-fueled power.

    "The bank must end the obvious contradiction of saying they want to fight climate change, while supporting coal, the most climate-damaging of energy technologies," Greenpeace’s Athena Ballesteros said in a statement.

  • Carbon peak set for 2015

    The report says the world then needs to at least halve annual emissions of carbon dioxide by 2050 to keep global warming in check.

    The panel agreed on measures to cut emissions, describing them as both achievable and affordable.

    "The assessment says that it will cost less than 3 per cent of the global GDP," said report co-author Dr Joshi Roy,.

    "So that’s really not very bad if you look into the kind of benefits that the world will be getting due to the lesser temperature. "

    The wording of the agreement includes an implicit warning that the planet will not cope if developing countries aspire to the consumer lifestyles of those in the West.

    Western nations are told to cut fossil fuel consumption and developing nations will have to find a cleaner path to prosperity.

    The final text will controversially include a paragraph saying nuclear power could be part of the solution.

    Germany tried to block this, but delegates said it was up to individual countries to decide.

    – AFP/BBC

  • Turnbull claims Climate settings correct

    "The report says what the Prime Minister hasn’t said," he said.

    "It says that there’s substantial economic potential for the mitigation of global greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decades.

    "That’s what the Labor has been saying. That’s not what the Prime Minister has been saying."

    Jobs

    Mr Turnbull says Labor’s plan to reduce Australia’s emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 will cost jobs and have little global impact.

    "If you put a heavy price on Australia’s energy intensive industries, those industries will move offshore and their emissions with them," he said.

    But Mr Garrett says Labor’s plan is a prudent one.

    "It says we need to set targets, we need to reduce emissions and we need to get on with it now," he said.

    "And we need to do it in a way that actually recognises that we need to build sustainable economic prosperity as we go."

  • US military plans energy reductions

    A study ordered by the Pentagon warns that the rising cost and dwindling supply of oil – the lifeblood of fighter jets, warships, and tanks – will make the US military’s ability to respond to crises around the world "unsustainable in the long term”. The report says the military is using 16 times more fuel per soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan than in World War II. The Pentagon commissioned LMI, a government-consulting firm, to produce the report.

    New military energy strategy: Transforming the Way DoD Looks at Energy is intended as a potential blueprint for a new military energy strategy and includes a detailed survey of potential alternatives to oil – including synthetic fuels, renewable biofuels, ethanol and biodiesel fuel as well as solar and wind power, among many others.

    The study produced by a consulting firm, concluded;

    • that all four branches of the military must "fundamentally transform” their assumptions about energy including taking immediate steps towards fielding weapons systems and aircraft that run on alternative and renewable fuels.

    • the Pentagon must "apply new energy technologies that address alternative supply sources and efficient consumption across all aspects of military operations”, the report says.

    The Sydney Morning Herald, 2/5/2007, p.8

  • Labor promises incentives for energy efficient homes

    The Canberra Times, 30/4/2007, p.1

    Source: Erisk Net