Big energy savings waiting to be made from rethinking cultural values of housing; orientation and materials both potential contributors to savings, says WA Libera

Speaking on the National Environment Protection Council (Western Australia) Amendment Bill 2007 in the Western Australia Legislative Assembly on 9 September 2007, Liberals’ A.J. Simpson said that issues surrounding the environment must be looked at very hard.

Fed Senate Committee to report on Energy Efficiency Trading Scheme

The Senate Standing Committee on Economics was inquiring into the National Market Driven Energy Efficiency Target Bill 2007, reported The Australian (19/9/2007, p.2).

Western Australia 5 Star Plus scheme motion demands government provides audited cost benefit analysis, identifies costs to taxpayers and other regimes examined

An amendment to delete part of a motion moved by Ray Halligan critical of Western Australia’s 5 Star Plus scheme was passed in the Legislative Council on 19 September 2007.

Bioreactor: how to make oil growing algae on exhaust gas piped from power stations and remove 75 per cent of CO2 from power station exhaust

For its supporters the idea of growing single-celled algae on exhaust gas piped from power stations was the ultimate in recycling; and now one of them, CleanTech, has developed a bioreactor based on a patent held by a group of scientists at the Ohio Coal Research Centre, at the University of Ohio, reported The Economist, (8/9/2007), p. 6.

Fed Govt uncertainty over climate-change policy blocking investment in new power gen; combined-cycle gas turbines cheaper than coal for NSW, Owen inquiry finds

The Owen Inquiry was a blunt rebuke for the Federal Government’s 10-year delay in agreeing to a national emissions trading scheme, wrote Marian Wilkinson in The Sydney Morning Herald (12/9/2007, p.4).

Huge US coal-fired power generator AEP pays $US4.6 billion to reduce emissions, clean up environment

One of the United States’ largest power generators had agreed to end a years-long federal lawsuit by paying $US4.6 billion to reduce pollution that had eaten away at north-east mountain ranges and national landmarks, wrote Lara Jakes Jordan in The Australian Financial Review (10/10/2007, p.19).

New ‘Meretec’ recycling-process recovers 100pc of zinc coating from galvanised steel: cuts pollution, water use, mining waste

The vast majority of steel used in the automotive, building and manufacturing industries was zinc coated (galvanised), to protect against corrosion, according to a statement by Southern Rocycling (28/9/2007).

Indicators suggest a move in the spot price of uranium to $US90 a pound by early 2008; up to $US120 a pound by late 2008

John Wilson, managing director, Resource Capital Research, Warwick Grigor, managing director, Far East Capital, a Sydney-based private investment bank specialising in the resources sector, and Michael Angwin, executive director, Australian Uranium Association, answered questions about the price of uranium, reported The Australian Financial Review (10/10/2007, p. 34).

Why Brisbane gas prices are low: Wood Mackenzie explains

A report prepared for the Owen Inquiry by Wood Mackenzie Wood explained why gas prices in NSW and South Australia were higher than the gas prices in Melbourne and Brisbane. Mackenzie’s gas price outlook was based on an assumption that rational economic investment decisions would be made based on cost and price.

Compressed air energy storage (CAES) should compete favourably with energy generation systems, delivering electricity for about 4.5 cents per kilowatt-hour: economical way to supply baseload power

According to Daniel Pendick, an associate editor at Astronomy magazine in Waukesha, Wisconsin, a huge 2700-megawatt compressed air energy storage (CAES) project proposed in Norton, Ohio – using an abandoned limestone mine as the air storage reservoir – had already stalled for lack of finance, reported New Scientist (3/10/2007, p. 47).

Leading edge data centre concept used to build business case for ACT gas generator: ActewAGL, Galileo Connect and Technical Real estate consortium examines $200m idea

According to John Thistleton, the latest data centres were known as data pods, and could be dovetailed into other data pods and scaled up as institutions grow, reported The Canberra Times (6/10/07, p. B23).Race for market share: One pod was worth about $70 million, Thistleton reported. Galileo Connect, a data centre designer leading the market in Brit­ain and Europe, was partnering Act­ewAGL’s foray into the Asia Pacific data centre market. In a race with Singapore and Hong Kong to capture market share, they were proposing 20 pods in Hume and 10 in Belconnen, powered by a $200 million gas generator that would bring a host of other benefits to Canberra.

Cashing in on reliance on computers: The notion of using data centres to build a business case for a gas generator was explored by Act­ewAGL’s commercial development team, which began looking at the market — dividing it into successes and failures and talking to chief executives in Britain and the United States, as well as independent consultants. Galileo Connect, ActewAGL and investor Technical Real Estate had formed Canberra Technology City and had been pitching their plans to large institutions in Melbourne and Sydney this week. Next week they travel to Singapore and Hong Kong to test the new data centre model with multi­nationals and governments whose reliance on computer back-up is growing every week. Technical Real Estate’s financial backer is the listed real estate inves­tor and developer Thakral Holdings.

One way to keep the lights on: Most data centres in the world were capable of achieving 800 watts per square metre (w/sm), the better ones 1000w/sm. Galileo was planned to deliver 1500w/sm scaleable up to 4500w/sm. Asked how ActewAGL could spawn such a venture when it could not get a return from services pro­vider TransACT, which had cost Canberrans $100 million in capital investment, ActewAGL’s chief executive John Mackay said that was absolute rub­bish. The Government’s investment in TransACT was less than 20 per cent of the overall investment, the rest coming from private investors, he said. “Our primary aim is to get a gas-fired power station in Canberra which will provide security of supply, so that is highly legitimate for a government to support — it’s keeping the lights on,” said McKay. A briefing on the data centre project would be held in Canberra on October 15.

The Canberra Times, 6/10/2007, p. B23

New book by sustainable energy expert advocates biomass solutioon to produce 30 per cent of current energy needs

Neither “clean coal” nor the construc­tion of nuclear energy plants was a necessary or sufficient answer to Australia’s climate chal­lenge, and Dr Mark Diesendorf of UNSW’s Institute of Environmental Studies believed we were losing precious time investing in these two options when much safer options were available, said professor Bob Douglas in The Canberra Times (6/10/2007, p. B18).

Innovative traffic light requires only 42 volts, compared with the traditional traffic light of 240v; potential for $150m market

For Solux, a young and innovative traffic light company, the future promises a big green for “Go”, reported The Mercury (6/10/2007, p. M3).

Air fares to rise: flights to or from Europe to be included in the ETS from 2012, replacing current voluntary payments of around $75

Climate change costs will make travel to Australia more expensive, wrote Peter Forsyth in The Age (4/10/07, p. B7).

National Health Security Bill 2007 promotes improved health surveillance, information sharing and control of biological agents: MP

The National Health Security Bill 2007 had a two-fold purpose, MP Nicola Roxon said in the Commonwealth House of Representatives on 20 September 2007.

Rainfall in SW Tas likely to increase 10pc, taking in important Hydro catchment areas; but others areas get 10-20pc less, says new CSIRO model

According to Peter Boyer, CSIRO Division of Marine and Atmospheric Research scientists have developed a variable-resolution climate model capable of providing fine resolution over a rela­tively small area like Tasmania, reported The Mercury (2/10/2007, p.17).

SA bushfire season to start one month early, 15 October in some areas

On 2 October, South Australian Emergency Services Minister, Cannel Zollo, and CFS chief officer Euan Ferguson announced the fire season would start on 15 October in some districts, reported The Advertiser (3/10/2007, p.3).

Natural gas and renewable generation options, combined with demand side measures, to meet demand for electrical energy services at tenth to half greenhouse-intensity of a coal-fired power station using super-critical technology

In a submission to the Owen Inquiry into Electricity Supply in NSW, energy and environment consultant George Wilkenfeld said the rapid enhancement of demand side programs, the introduction of carbon pricing and strengthening the support for renewables and small-scale generation, along with increasing net imports from Victorian and Queensland, should delay the need for new baseload generation.

Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources seeks suggestions for fair feed in tariff for small green generation P

eter Batchelor Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources said In Victoria’s Legislative Assembly on 19 July 2007 that small-scale generators of electricity should get a fair and reasonable price for any excess electricity they generate beyond their own needs and feed back into the grid. Initiative for small players: His Bill applied in particular to those generating less than 100 kilowatts, such as small businesses, schools, or other small-scale establishments, and that had been dealt with in this initiative.

Reference: Peter Batchelor, Minister for Energy and Resources, Legislative Assembly, Victoria, 19 July 2007.

Hydrocarbon refrigerants as alternative to enviro-harmful HFCR134: easier, reliable and safer, says Westnet

Westnet representatives Neil Wiese and David Knight have added to the impetus of their education campaign by partnering with GreenFreeze Technology, a company that was committed to good environmental and commercially economically sustainable practices, according to a company statement (29/8/2007).

Carbon-exposure survey of Aus companies: BHP, Rio, BlueScope, Qantas account for half top-200 emissions

A survey of the carbon exposures of Australia’s top 200 listed companies conducted for institutional investor VicSuper found three out of four did not disclose comparable emissions data, wrote Peter Hannam in The Age (26/9/2007, p.2).

People’s response to environmental issues and business depends on their age and family circumstances

BP analysis revealed that people aged 18-29 want to be seen to be doing the right thing but are less likely to do much more than recycling, reported The Age (30/8/2007, p.B4).

New policy: Queensland to phase out off-peak electric hot water systems: new energy deal revealed by Minister

In three years time the state government will also start to phase out electric hot water . “Just a five per cent reduction in household and business electricity consumption in Queensland over 10 years would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 14 million tonnes”, said C.A. Wallace, Queensland’s Minister for Natural Resources and Water, in the Queensland Legislative Assembly on 5 September 2007.

Desal emissions; 0.08kg to 5.2kg of CO2/m3: low, if the process was 100 percent driven by waste heat; if NSW coal, then 5.2kg of CO2 per m3

The analysis of emissions’ intensity of various desalination technologies showed that MSF distillation emissions could be as low as 1.98kg of CO2/m3 if the process was 100 percent driven by waste heat, according to the WWF’s Phil Dickie.

My word: Federal policy-makers gave Qld coal lobby view more weight than the views of six State governments, so coal escapes use of term “pollutant”, for CO2

The Queensland Resource Council (QRC) had successfully lobbied the Federal government to undo the States’ plan to include greenhouse gases in the National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) Thus, the lobby-group view had prevailed over six State governments – which had agreed – at COAG,  that they wanted the NPI used. The QRC policy was instead, implemented in the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Bill 2007 so the QRC could avoid the use of one word “pollution”, to describe CO2-e emissions from coal production and use. The QRC had argued it was perverse to call CO2 a “pollutant”, and therefore the public -access NPI should not include CO2-e. It wanted – and got – the continued use of the “Greenhouse Challenge”, a more secretive system.

Proposals to abolish domestic-use off-peak electricity unlikely to produce any short-term greenhouse savings, energy consultant says

Duncan Seddon, an independent consultant in the energy sector, wrote in The Australian Financial Review (20/9/2007, p. 71) that in order to run a coal-fired power station efficiently (thereby minimising greenhouse gas emissions), the boilers were run constantly at high rates. The boilers and coal usage were not turned down if electricity was not wanted, for example between midnight and 6am.