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The integration of perennial grasses with cereal crops is a simple and uncontroversial farming practice with significant positive environmental advantages. Rather than removing plant life and exposing the soil to the sun, thereby increasing evaporation and reducing its living matter, the planting of cereal crops straight into the perennial grass preserves the existing ecosystem and takes advantage of it to increase yields

This paper by Colin Seis , who developed the technique is a valuable document.

While electric cars contribute greenhouse gases whenever the electricity is generated from fossil fuels, they still only produce about a third of the emissions of a petrol engine, says Mark Whittaker in The Australian (27 October 2006 p36-37). And if the battery is charged at a time when the power station’s turbines are spinning but there is little demand, you can argue that you’ve created zero extra emissions.

The long hard road of the electric car: The past 90 years have seen a lot of companies go broke producing electric cars. So today’s major manufacturers aren’t rushing to sell you one – but the niche marketers are.

Brrmm, brrmm: Next year, Silicon Valley will take on Detroit when the Tesla Roadster goes on general sale in the US. It can keep up with a Ferrari, going from 0 to 100km/h in four seconds, and can drive 400km on each recharge of its 6800 mobile-phone type lithium ion batteries.

Eeek! $US100k: It’s pricey, at $US100,000 ($A134,500), but the point is it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than hydrogen, and it’s ready to roll, the article says.

Whodunnit? And Detroit’s response? Next month a disturbing documentary called Who Killed The Electric Car? will open in Australia, showing what happened to General Motors’ electric car, the EV1.

Crushing blow: It could go from 0-100km/h in eight seconds and had a range of more than 160km. Most were acquired on a three-year lease from GM, after which the cars reverted to the company. Actors Mel Gibson and Tom Hanks were fans, but in 2003, GM recalled all 400 EV1s on the road and had them crushed.

Cloak of secrecy: GM says it was because the public wasn’t interested, but the documentary makes a strong case for conspiracy-type scenarios of oil companies in cahoots with car makers and lawmakers and various other forces of darkness.

The Australian, 27/10/2006, p.36-37

Source: Erisk Net  

John Howard’s core electoral supporters have become climate-change warriors – and are waiting for the Prime Minister to catch up, according to Malcolm Farr and Nicolette Burke in The Daily Telegraph (2/11/2006, p.5).

Majority say polluters must pay: A Newspoll survey revealed that 77 per cent of Coalition backers want dirty industries to pay for emissions. The survey found 90 per cent of Coalition voters wanted a change from coal-powered energy to renewable energy and 71 per cent wanted Australia to be part of the Kyoto protocols.

General call for action: The Greenpeace-commissioned survey found Australians generally want more action from the government. That sentiment was echoed in a Daily Telegraph online poll on Tuesday, in which 73 per cent said we must join the world in doing more. Just 13 per cent thought the government was doing enough and 12 per cent saw no point in taking action.

Telegraph online poll results: Should the government do more to tackle climate change? 86 per cent Yes, 8 per cent No, and 6 percent Neither/Don’t know. Should the government sign Kyoto? Yes 79 per cent, No 9 per cent, N/DN 11 per cent. Should industries that produce greenhouses gases be made to pay emission levies? Yes 91 per cent, No 4 per cent, N/DN 4 per cent. Should Australians be prepared to pay a little more for energy to help investment in renewable energy? Yes 75 per cent, No 21 per cent, N/DN 5 per cent.

The Daily Telegraph, 2/11/2006, p. 5

Source: Erisk Net  

David Headberry, representing the Major Energy Users, asked the the Australian Energy Market Commission: "Where is the lack of investment that needs encouraging by all of these rule changes?" One of the high-level (NEM) principles was to encourage investment, he said. "Do you know what the key driver investment is? It’s money. So what we had a look at is how the utilities index has been going over the last five years compared to the ASX 200 which is the base line, and the red line – quite clearly, the red line is the one that really shows how the utilities index is tracked. When you convert that and put it into perspective and you look at who’s in that utilities index – Duet, Hastings, Alinta, AGL and the others – they’re the biggies at the top other than the government-owned ones, and what’s more, they comprise more than 90 per cent of that index."

"They (the distributor-retailers) were all awarded a market risk premium (MRP) of 6 per cent and a beta of 1 per cent. The ASX shows an MRP of 6.05 over the last five years, and CommSec calculated a beta of 1.08. When you look at the utilities index, it’s a different story. They have actually shown an MRP of 11 per cent and have a beta of .31.

So where is the problem? "So they’re being overly rewarded compared to the rest of industry. Do we have to change the rules just to encourage further investment, and that’s really the point we’re coming to. Is there a problem?"

Reference: Australian Energy Market Commission, Transcript Of Proceedings, 8 March 2006, Public Hearing Rule Proposal, Draft – National Electricity Amendment (Economic Regulation of Transmission Services) Rule 2006. Contact: Mr J. Tamblyn, Chairman; Ms L. Carver, Commissioner; Mr I. Woodward, Commissioner.

Erisk Net, 8/3/2006, p. 31