Alinta Takeover

---

Minister for Energy, David Llewellyn, expects today’s takeover of Alinta by Babcock and Brown in conjunction with Singapore Power will not have any impact on Alinta’s Tasmanian contracts.

"This is exactly the same scenario as when Duke sold its Australian assets to Alinta including the Tasmanian natural gas pipeline," Mr Llewellyn said.

"In fact this news is very positive for Tasmania since Babcock and Brown is greatly increasing its investment in the State.

"It reinforces their commitment and presence in Tasmania, with these acquisitions building on their original Powerco gas distribution business.

"It demonstrates BNB’s confidence in Tasmania as they will now have a portfolio of gas assets ranging from transmission, to distribution through to power generation," Mr Llewellyn said.

Asian Forest Hypocrisy

---

The Greens have exposed their own hypocrisy on forest practices in their criticism of the Federal Government’s plan to help reverse Asian deforestation.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier, Graeme Sturges, said today the Greens rush to criticise the plan showed again that they were happy to watch unsustainable forest practices elsewhere, while criticising sustainable forest practices at home.

“Regardless of whether the Australian Government’s plan has merit or not, the Greens just have to criticise.

“While giant mud-slide erosion continues after broad-scale deforestation in Indonesia, Senator Bob Brown puts the boot into our sustainable forest practices.

“In Indonesia, the Philippines, China, Papua New Guinea – all over south east Asia, the cost of wholesale forest clearances is measured in human misery and environmental devastation.

“But the Greens are apparently happy to let that slide.

“It’s hypocrisy. Nothing more and nothing less.”

Mr Sturges said Senator Brown had singled out Tasmanian forest practices to make his point.

“He is quoted as making the mystifying remark that Tasmania has a ‘four-month burning season to prevent forest regeneration.’

“In fact, as Senator Brown should well know, the burns are specifically designed to allow forest regeneration.

“Tasmania’s forest practices have been recognised internationally as leading the field in sustainability.

“In third-world countries, forests are being wiped out wholesale with enormous consequences but Bob Brown and his mates would rather have a swipe at us.

“It’s simply disgusting that Senator Brown should be putting the boot into Tasmania while turning a blind eye to the devastation and human misery of wide-scale deforestation in south east Asia.”

U.S. farmers face soggy and cold corn crop weather

[ so much for all that ethanol that was to be produced ]

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Farmers in the U.S. Corn Belt, who intend to plant the biggest cord crop in 63 years, will face soggy or cold planting weather over at least the next week, a private forecaster said on Friday.
ADVERTISEMENT

DTN Meteorlogix weather service forecaster Joel Burgio said wet and warm weather would blanket the Midwest from Friday through Tuesday, then cold and drier conditions would prevail through the end of the week.

The U.S.
Department of Agriculture said on Friday American farmers intended to plant nearly 90.5 million acres of corn this year, the most since 1944.

Soaring demand for corn from the ethanol industry has boosted corn prices to decade highs this year, prompting farmers to plant corn in lieu of soybeans this crop season.

The crop needs to be seeded from roughly early April through mid-May to capture optimal production potential.

"It all comes down to weather, and it starts from now through the growing season," said Shawn McCambridge, analyst for Prudential Financial. "Now we start to see whether we can plant this much corn on a timely basis."

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures plunged their 20-cent trading limit on Friday because the government's forecast for this year's corn acreage was well above an average of analysts' estimates.

Analysts at a press conference following the release of USDA's forecast also said that weather will have the final say in the 2007 corn and soybean planting and production derby.

"We definitely need good yields and timely plantings. The weather issue is important and right now it looks a little shaky, with wet and cool expected for next week," said Jerry Gidel, analyst for North America Risk Management Inc.

Burgio also wasn't optimistic about a big improvement in planting weather anytime soon.

"The way the pattern has been behaving, when it does warm up, it will be wet again, so planting may be slow. But with today's equipment they can get a lot planted in a short period of time," Burgio said.

"U.S. farmers are capable of planting the acreage and the next 45 days are critical. Corn yield per acre and production is closely related to timely plantings," said Brian Basting, commodity research analyst for Advance Trading.

"It's going to be an exciting time the next few months," Basting said.

(Additional reporting by Julie Ingwersen)

US, Saudi, Chinese firms announce five-billion-dollar energy deal

BEIJING (AFP) - US oil giant Exxon Mobil, Saudi Aramco and Sinopec announced here Friday two joint ventures worth about five billion dollars to operate 750 service stations and a petrochemical refinery in China.
ADVERTISEMENT

The announcement of the project, Exxon Mobil's largest single investment in China, marked the culmination of 12 years of preparations, according to the American company.

"It's our biggest project so far in China," Sarah Du, a Beijing-based Exxon Mobil spokeswoman, told AFP.

"Developing this type of joint venture is a very complicated process and Fujian is the most complex so far in China due to the nature of its integrated business," she said.

In a joint statement, the companies called the two joint ventures "the first fully integrated refining, petrochemicals and fuels marketing project with foreign participation in China."

The refining joint venture, which will start operations in early 2009, will expand one that already existed in the southeastern province of Fujian between Sinopec and the Fujian government.

It will lead to a tripling of the production of refined Saudi Arabian crude to 240,000 barrels per day, the statement said.

A joint venture co-owned by Sinopec, China's top refiner, has a 50 percent stake in the venture, while Exxon Mobil and Saudi Aramco each have 25 percent.

The second joint venture will operate some 750 service stations and a network of terminals across Fujian province, according to the statement.

Sinopec holds a 55 percent stake in the service station venture, with Exxon Mobil and Saudi Aramco each holding 22.5 percent.

The partnership, which aims to meet China's rapidly growing demand for petroleum products and petrochemicals, also includes a long-term crude supply agreement with Saudi Aramco, the statement said.

"The cooperation benefits all parties. All the three companies get what they need," said Qiu Xiaofeng, an oil analyst with Everbright Securities.

"Sinopec can take advantage of capital and refining technologies provided by Exxon Mobil, and Exxon Mobil gets access to China's wholesale oil products market."

The three companies said the government had approved both joint ventures. A breakdown for the investment for each of the ventures were not provided.

"It will ... boost the development of China's petrochemical industry and contribute to the economic development of Fujian province," the statement said.

Earlier, state media reported that Sinopec reached a preliminary agreement to sell a 25 percent stake in an eastern China refinery to Saudi Aramco.

China is seeking to line up stable sources of crude oil and Saudi Arabia has been one of China's main suppliers.

According to
OPEC, Saudi Arabia regained its status title as China's top source of imported crude oil in August. Angola had occupied the position since February.

Plan for big offshore wind farm passes hurdle

BOSTON (Reuters) - A controversial plan to build the first large U.S. offshore wind-power farm won approval from Massachusetts authorities on Friday but still must clear federal regulatory hurdles.
ADVERTISEMENT

Cape Wind Associates LLC, a privately funded Boston-based energy company, has proposed constructing 130 wind turbines over 24 square miles in Nantucket Sound, within view of the wealthy Cape Cod resort region of Massachusetts.

The project, which would meet the energy needs of some 400,000 homes, "adequately and properly complies" with the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act, said the state environmental affairs secretary, Ian Bowles.

The wind farm would consistently generate 170 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 75 percent of Cape Cod and the nearby islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. At its peak, the wind farm could generate more than 400 megawatts.

Its supporters, including Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, say the project would save millions of dollars in energy costs and help the United States reduce its reliance on foreign oil at a time of high crude prices.

"We have work to do as we build a clean energy economy -- let's get on with it," said Patrick, a Democrat.

Opponents -- including some Massachusetts politicians and business leaders with homes on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket -- say Cape Wind's 247-foot-tall (75-metre-tall) turbines would kill migrating birds and could threaten the region's lucrative tourist industry.

The lead federal agency needed to approve the project is the Minerals Management Service, a bureau in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf. Cape Wind expects a decision from MMS in early 2008.

An early indication of the federal agency's position on Cape Wind could come at the end of next month when it is expected to release a draft environmental impact report.

COULD BE RUNNING BY 2010

"We're hopeful that we will complete the permitting process by the end of this year, and hopefully receive a final decision by the first quarter of 2008," Cape Wind President Jim Gordon told a news conference. "We could be producing clean renewable energy in the 2010 time frame."

The United States trails Europe in developing offshore wind-power energy production. Denmark accounts for more than half of the world production, followed by Britain. If built today, Cape Wind would be the world's largest offshore wind-power farm.

The turbines, six miles off the Cape Cod coast, would each rise nearly as high as the Statue of Liberty in New York and be placed to take advantage of the region's strong winds, shallow depth and historically small storm waves.

The project is opposed by former Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) and many residents who own coastal property from where the turbines could seen on a clear day.

Kennedy, whose brother former President John F. Kennedy created the Cape Cod National Seashore in 1961, has said he believes Cape Wind would threaten a wildlife sanctuary and has criticized the lack of a competitive bidding process before the project was announced in 2001.

PARIS (AFP) - Global warming will hit Europe hard but unevenly this century, causing drought, reduced harvests and deadly heatwaves in the south but inflicting more floods and severe winter storms farther north, UN experts say in a report to be unveiled next week. ki industry while rising temperatures could wipe out up to 60 percent of plant and animal species, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns.

The continent has already had a foretaste of its likely future: this winter was the warmest on record in many European countries, as have been 11 of the past 12 years.

The report, which deals with the impacts of global warming, is the second in a three-volume review of the evidence for climate change, the first since 2001.

A final draft of the 1,400-page document obtained by AFP says that even if dramatic measures are taken to reduce the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that drive warming, temperatures worldwide will continue to climb for decades to come, unleashing unwelcome changes across the planet.

And if nothing at all is done to mitigate climate change, the impact in some regions could be catastrophic by century's end.

By 2080, the report says, it is likely that 1.1 to 3.2 billion people worldwide will experience water scarcity, 200 to 600 million will suffer from hunger, and each year, an additional two to seven million people will be victims of coastal flooding.

The human toll will be heaviest, experts say, in Africa and Asia, where hundreds of millions in low-lying "mega-river deltas" are threatened by rising sea levels, and tens of millions more by the spread of infectious disease.

As for Europe, some regions will likewise be severely challenged but overall the continent is somewhat less vulnerable -- and better able to adapt -- than poorer counterparts.

In the short term, if global temperatures rise no more than 2 C (3.6 F) compared to 1990 levels -- the maximum rise set by expanding forests.

But as the 21st century unfolds, those benefits are very likely to be swamped by the negative impact of warming.

Under almost any scenario, a swathe of Mediterranean countries including Spain, France, Italy and Greece faces a panoply of problems.

They include more frequent heatwaves of the kind that in 2003 killed tens of thousands of elderly people; damage to the tourism industry increased forest fires; and a fall of up to a third in fresh water availability, depending again on temperature rise.

Wintertime floods are likely to increase in Europe's maritime regions, while snowmelt-related floods and flashfloods will hit central Europe.

Europe has the resources to protect human life from the brunt of global warming onslaught, but its biodiversity will be badly affected.

"A large percentage of the European flora is likely to become vulnerable, endangered, or committed to extinction by the end of this century," says the draft.

In the first volume of its report, issued in February, the IPCC predicted world temperatures would rise by 1.8 C to 4.0 C (3.2-7.2 F) by 2100, depending on how much greenhouse gas is emitted into the atmosphere. A third volume, issued at the end of April, will look at ways of reducing those emissions.

In the Brussels meeting, the second volume will be issued on Friday after delegates hammer out a "summary for policy makers," distilling in a couple of dozen pages their most important findings.

Some participants complain that the summary, as currently written, does not adequately highlight the fact that those least able to adapt -- poor people -- will be the hardest hit.

"We in the northern hemisphere can adapt to heatwaves, but that is a very selfish notion," commented French scientist and IPCC executive committee member Jean Jouzel.

The draft summary concludes that global warming is "unequivocal," that human activity is the main driver, and that "changes in climate are now affecting physical and biological systems on every continent."

Across the planet, 20 to 30 percent of animal and plant species face extinction if temperatures rise 1.5 C to 2.5 C (2.7 F to 4.5 F).

Increases greater than 4 C (7.2 F) above 1990-2000 levels would lead to "major increases in vulnerability" that would exceed "the adaptive capacity of many systems," the report says.

• Email Story
• I

Future of Coal in a Carbon Constrained World
By Rosanne Skirble Washington /dc 30 March 2007

Skirble report -- Download (MP3) 1.09MB
Listen to Skirble report
Skirble report -- Download (Real) 745k
Listen to Skirble report

Coal-fired power plants generate 50 of the electricity produced in the United States

Coal is a cheap and abundant fuel. Yet carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants are a leading cause of climate change. A new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology examines how the world can continue to use coal in a way that eases rather than worsens the global warming crisis.

MIT chemistry professor John Deutch says carbon emissions can be controlled first with the adoption of a high carbon tax, to be paid by power plants that burn coal. "If such a high [carbon] tax is put into place, there would be a stabilization of [carbon] emissions by mid century."

According to Deutch, who co-chaired the academic panel that produced the report,

MIT's John Deutch says the future of carbon depends on controlling its climate changing emissions

that tax would increase urgency for new carbon control technologies. One of the most promising is carbon capture and sequestration. Deutch says CCS is designed to keep pollutants from leaving a power plant by capturing and burying them underground or under water. "The demonstration of the effective ability to capture and sequester carbon is key to use of coal going forward."

The report recommends large-scale CCS demonstration projects to build confidence in the technology and encourage its adoption. The industry, however, is skittish because CCS technology adds significantly to the cost of new power plants. But George Peridas, a climate expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council, says costs will come down as CCS is slowly phased in. "We're talking about doing it one or two plants at a time. Therefore with the right policies you could spread this cost over the entire industry and not penalize 'first-movers' and you could also spread that across the rate base for electricity with very minimal [economic] impacts."

But ensuring minimal economic impact takes planning, according to Dan Riedinger, a spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute, a trade group for the coal-fired power industry. He says the industry must plan ahead if CCS - or any other technology - is to be required in all new coal-fired plants. "We don't want to shut down a lot of coal fired generation prematurely. That's not the kind of certainty that we are looking for."

Riedinger says pressure to act too soon to meet near-term carbon reduction targets and timetables could hurt the economy and is not sustainable. "There's no silver bullet, no technology that can easily fix things," Riedinger says, adding the MIT study indicates that there shouldn't be a rush to choose a technology to address the problem right now. "Moving now won't get us where we want in emissions reductions, and it is going to drive up prices for consumers in the interim."

Historically, power companies have backed voluntary actions over federal regulations, however, Riedinger says, plant operators would support a government mandate if it includes certain industry-friendly measures. "We need to set a reasonable price on carbon. We have to look at the impact on the U.S. economy, particularly industrial customers affected by high energy costs, and we need a greenhouse gas policy that won't send U.S. jobs and U.S. emissions overseas."

The MIT report assumes that the largest emerging economies - principally India and China - will comply with the same carbon restraints as other countries. But MIT's John Deutch does not expect that to be easy. He says in a carbon-constrained world emerging economies like India and China view emissions reductions as an equity issue. "They believe that there should be a difference in future CO2 reduction mandates for developing countries and developed countries."

Deutch says China and India are unlikely to adopt carbon constraints unless the U.S. does so and leads the way in CCS technology. "I might say there is no chance of making progress on this until the United States has a carbon control policy of its own."

With the shift in power following last November's elections, Democrats on Capitol Hill have put global warming policy on the political agenda. Several climate change bills are now before Congress with the expectation that legislation to rein in carbon emissions is not far behind.

E-mail This Article
Print Version

Sydney blackout to put the spotlight on global warming

[what a bunch of merchant bankers .... {wankers} ... ]

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's largest city will be plunged into darkness for an hour Saturday night as Sydney undergoes a self-imposed blackout to raise awareness of global warming.

million will flick off the lights for "Earth Hour" at 7.30 pm (0930 GMT).

Tourists will have to view the famous sails of the Sydney Opera House by moonlight, while the Harbour Bridge's steel span and the clown's face of the waterside Luna Park fairground will also be blacked out.

The neon on a huge blinking Coca-Cola advertising hoarding in Sydney's Kings Cross nightclub district will flicker off for the first time since it was installed in 1974.

Restaurants have agreed to serve diners by candlelight and pupils will attend schools for special Earth Hour parties.

The Newtown Hotel, which bills itself as Australia's oldest gay pub, has even organised a special drag show for the event, where the audience will be handed mini-torches to light up performers' sequins.

Many of Australia's biggest companies have signed up, with local McDonald's restaurants turning off the "golden arches" for the occasion.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which has spent 10 months organising the event with city authorities and a major newspaper group, said there had been a massive groundswell of support across the city.

WWF Australia spokesman Andy Ridley said the blackout would show Sydney in a new perspective.

"Nobody knows what it will look like. No one's seen it," he said.

"If all the lights go down, it will look like 70 or 80 years ago. But that's a guess, we don't know.

"I really hope it looks amazing so that everyone can just go 'wow, look what we can do!'."

He said the event was aimed at raising awareness about climate change and showing that an action as simple as turning out a light could make a difference.

"It's only by joining together that you can make a difference," he said.

"The world has moved into a time where we see climate change as a serious risk but we want people to realise that it's not all doom and gloom, individuals can take action to help address the problem.

"One of the things about Earth Hour is really to get the issue out of the scientific and specialist areas and into the mainstream."

Ridley said WWF hoped to capitalise on the popularity of the event in the longer term with a campaign to reduce Sydney's greenhouse gas emissions by five percent over the next year.

WWF believes a successful switch-off could then be copied by major cities around the world in a drive to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change.

Scientists link dangerous global temperature increases to the greenhouse effect, in which gases emitted by burning fossil fuels to produce energy trap heat in the atmosphere.

Organisers say there are a number of simple steps people can take to reduce electricity use, including unplugging appliances such as televisions, microwave ovens and stereos that are normally left on standby.

Other suggestions include switching to flourescent light bulbs -- a move the Australian government committed to earlier this year -- and using "green" power sources such as solar.

• Email Story
• IM Story
• Printable View
• (What happened to the "Discuss" option?)

RECOMMEND T

Ethanol Production Poised to Surge in US
By Brian Wagner Miami 3

President Bush has set ambitious goals to reduce the country's dependence on oil, and increase the use of alternative fuels like ethanol. VOA's Brian Wagner reports from Miami that experts are now at work to ensure there will be enough new supplies of ethanol to meet the demand.

A recent deal between the United States and Brazil to share ethanol technology marked a key step to expand the American market for alternative fuels. Brazil has built a strong local market for ethanol based on local sugar production, and U.S. officials are hoping to learn some lessons from its success.

U.S. ethanol is made from corn

Most U.S. ethanol is made from corn. And expanding ethanol production is crucial to President Bush's goal of reducing gasoline consumption in the country by 20 percent over the next 10 years.

"The president's goal has begun to shake up the energy sector," says Brian Dean, head of the Interamerican Ethanol Commission. "That's not just ambitious, it's audacious. We're going to start seeing policy initiatives immediately, I think. And with those policies, consideration needs to be given to our ability to create enough products to meet these very ambitious objectives of 35 billion (gallons). The United States only produced a little over five billion gallons last year, it consumed close to six billion. We're talking about a five-fold increase."

The United States is already looking for additional partners in Latin America to expand the ethanol sector. However, current U.S. policies restrict imports of ethanol and crops from the region, mainly because of pressure by U.S. farmers concerned about losing market share.

Brian Dean

Dean says the supply of ethanol from corn and other domestic farm crops will not be enough to meet the Mr. Bush's goals. "But clearly, corn alone, sugar cane alone, or any single feedstock that is agricultural is not going to be able to satisfy the market," he notes. "Clearly the future of ethanol lies in a holistic approach that contemplates agricultural sources, but also the cellulosic technologies. There needs to be an expansive view of ethanol."

Cellulosic ethanol is derived from biomass or plant waste, such as bagasse from sugar cane. Experts are still working to improve the process. But within a few years, it could expand the market place for fuels, says George Philippidis, associate director of the Applied Resarch Center at Florida International University.

"Where depending on what kind of raw material you have in each part of the country or the world, the [processing] plant will feed on that," he explains. " For instance, south Florida is very rich in bagasse [sugarcane waste]. Central Florida has a lot of citrus peel."

Philippidis says the technology to make ethanol from such waste products is still a few years away. But he says it will be needed to reduce demand for corn, sugar, and other farm products. Already, the rising interest in ethanol has been blamed for a jump in prices for corn tortillas in Mexico.

Philippidis says we can expect to see more market fluctuations.

"The free market operates that way. We're going to see the ups and downs until we have a demand and supply that are in sync. But that doesn't scare me, it doesn't concern me. That's a natural cycle that the market is going to go through," he says.

Experts say the move away from an oil-based energy market will help reduce pollution and increase energy security. But, as long as demand for ethanol remains high, consumers should expect not to see much savings at the gas pump.

E-mail This Article
Print Version

Rudd accused of climate hypocrisy

Prime Minister John Howard has attacked Labor leader Kevin Rudd for trying to have it both ways on climate change.

Labor has committed to a carbon emission reduction target of 30 per cent by 2020.

Its leader, Kevin Rudd, has today called for an Australian equivalent of Britain's influential Stern report, exploring the economic impact of climate change.

But Mr Howard says it does not add up.

"It's very odd that he has called for a Stern report because we don't have the facts and figures, but he's already committed himself to a target," he said.

Mr Rudd continues to paint John Howard as a climate change sceptic.

"It's only very late in the piece in response to the political pressures of the electoral cycle that Mr Howard has decided to give the appearance of activity," he said.

Despite that, he insists it is time to leave politics out of the debate.

The ALP is holding a summit today with business and union leaders, academics and conservationists to prepare its climate change policy for the coming election.

Is dark energy an illusion?

• 
• 
• 
• 

Enlarge image

Over time, matter pulls together into a web-like structure of 'superclusters' of galaxies, leaving ever larger voids behind. The greater rate of expansion in the voids – which make up a larger fraction of the universe's volume – may account for the observations usually attributed to dark energy (Illustration: Center for Cosmological Physics/U Chicago)

Related Articles

• Is the universe a fractal?
• 09 March 2007
• Instant Expert: Cosmology
• 04 September 2006
• Giant space-time ripples may cause cosmic expansion
• 18 March 2005
• Search New Scientist
• Contact us

Web Links

• Syksy Rasanen, CERN
• Niayesh Afshordi, CfA
• 2-degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey

The quickening pace of our universe's expansion may not be driven by a mysterious force called dark energy after all, but paradoxically, by the collapse of matter in small regions of space.

Astronomers were astonished to discover in 1998 that the expansion of the universe is happening at an ever-increasing rate. The mysterious repulsive force responsible for this was dubbed dark energy, though scientists still do not know what it is (see Dark energy: seeking the heart of darkness).

Now, physicist Syksy Rasanen of CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, says we might not need dark energy after all. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, the increasing rate of expansion might be due to the collapse of small regions of the universe under gravity, he says.

Gravitational brake

Cosmologists have long assumed that the overall expansion of the universe is not affected by the properties of small regions within it, since these properties should average out on the largest scales.

But in any given region of space, the force of gravity between bits of matter acts as a brake on expansion. This means that expansion should slow down quickly in regions with lots of matter, while continuing without much change in mostly empty regions.

It is this difference in the expansion rate between different regions that could produce the illusion of dark energy, Rasanen says. Strangely enough, even though the expansion rate decreases or stays about the same in every region, the average rate of expansion for the universe as a whole can increase.

This is because over time, denser regions suck even more matter into them by the force of gravity, which further empties the less dense regions. This process has led to the condensation of matter into galaxies and clusters of galaxies, with ever larger voids in between.

Unchecked expansion

Although the expansion slows down more and more in the dense regions, these regions become less and less important to the overall expansion of the universe, because they make up a smaller and smaller percentage of its volume.

In the voids, by contrast, the expansion continues relatively unchecked, so that they become a larger and larger part of the universe's total volume.

As the influence of the dense regions declines, the average expansion rate of the universe actually increases, even though there is no repulsive dark energy at work. "I find this to be a very plausible explanation for accelerated expansion," Rasanen says.

Stark differences

But Niayesh Afshordi of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, says although the idea is an attractive possibility, it is "very unlikely".

In order for the effect of density differences to be important enough to notice, they would need to be very pronounced on large scales of tens to hundreds of millions of light years.

But some measurements show the density differs by just 0.001% on such large scales, Afshordi says. He cites data from surveys that measure the density of different regions by the way their gravity bends light.

Rasanen counters that 3D maps of galaxies, such as the 2-degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey, show differences much closer to the minimum 20% level needed to account for the cosmic acceleration.

Open question

Rasanen admits that he has worked out only a simplified theoretical description of the effect of the differing expansion rates in voids and dense regions.

But until this has been determined, he argues that astronomers cannot say for sure that the accelerating expansion is due to dark energy. "There's no doubt that this question has not been solved," he told New Scientist.

If the density differences really do have an important influence on the universe's expansion, then future measurements of the expansion rate based on supernova surveys might show different rates of expansion in different directions, he says.

Rasanen presented his work on Wednesday at a cosmology conference called "Outstanding Questions for the Standard Cosmological Model" in London, UK.

Exxon agrees biggest China deal

Demand is growing for petrol in China. Exxon Mobil has announced its biggest single investment in China, a joint venture to run 750 petrol stations and a petrochemical refinery. It will take a 22.5% stake in the service station scheme, alongside China's top refiner Sinopec, with 55%, and Saudi Aramco, with 22.5%. The three firms are also working together on the refinery project due to begin in 2009 in Fujian province. The foreign investment is worth about $5bn (£2.6bn), the firms said. This compares to the £3.6bn Exxon and Saudi Aramco had set out in 2005. All winners The three firms said that the two join ventures were "the first fully integrated refining, petrochemicals and fuels marketing project with foreign participation in China". They said the partnership wanted to tap into China's surging demand for petrol products and petrochemicals, and also included a long-term crude supply deal with Saudi Aramco. Analysts said that the deal gave Exxon Mobil a foothold in the refinery and marketing sectors of China's oil industry. Saudi Aramco, already the top supplier of crude to China, will have a guaranteed source of demand for its growing output. Meanwhile, Sinopec benefits by securing supplies of petrol and petrochemicals. "Everyone gets what they want," said oil analyst Qie Xiaofeng of Everbright Securities. The refinery project, in which Exxon and Saudi Aramco will each take a 25% stake, will triple the capacity of the current Fujian oil refinery to 240,000 barrels per day.

Opposition to hold climate change summit

The Federal Opposition's climate change summit will be held in Canberra today.

Business leaders, most premiers and environmentalists will seek to shape Labor's policy on global warming ahead of this year's election.

Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd will open the summit, and the keynote speakers include Tom Haymet from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Tom Burke from Rio Tinto.

Ian Lowe from the Conservation Foundation is pushing for a strong response to the issue.

"I wouldn't be going to the summit unless I thought it was useful," Mr Lowe said.

"Climate change is an urgent issue and it demands a concerted response."

While green groups will seek to spell out the seriousness of the issue, Peter Hendy from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is wary of Labor's policy plans.

"We need a sensible cool-headed debate," Mr Hendy said.

"We need to realise that Australia is only a very small emitter in terms of the total world emissions, we only represent some 1.4 percent of emissions."

Print Email

Climate change too big for partisan politics, Rudd says

Federal Labor Leader Kevin Rudd says it is time to leave partisan politics out of the climate change debate.

Mr Rudd was addressing an ALP-organised climate change summit in Canberra, bringing together business leaders, politicians and conservationists.

He says the issue must be approached on a basis of consensus.

"Because the dimensions of this challenge are so great and they reach so far and ... cross so many of the traditional portfolio delineation within government and between governments we should be at a stage now in this country where climate change is beyond politics," he said.

Mr Rudd says climate change represents a major market failure and governments must intervene to tackle the problem.

He says the summit is designed to inform the Labor policy he will take to the next election.

I'm not expecting to produce a grand Canberra declaration on climate change," he said.

"Nor am I expecting any bold set of breathtaking policy initiatives to be whacked out in a press release at 3 o'clock this afternoon - that's not the intention either.

"My intention is this - to harness the best brains and taken available in the country to get our response and the nation's response to climate change as right as possible."

The environmental policy adviser to mining company Rio Tinto, Tom Burke, says while industry must act to address global warming, climate change is essentially a political problem.

"Bad as it is, climate change is a problem that is well within the envelope of our technical and economic competence to solve," he said.

"If we fail to solve it, it will be because we failed to muster the political will to apply the knowledge and resources we have to tackle the problem.

"That will be a moral failure on a scale unmatched in history."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister John Howard has moved to make climate change a key topic at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting later this year.

Mr Howard has written to the leaders of the 20 APEC members, telling them clean development and climate change will be a major focus at the meeting in Sydney.

Rudd calls for Australian Stern report

Federal Labor leader Kevin Rudd wants an Australian version of the Stern report, assessing the economic impact of inaction on climate change.

The ALP is holding a summit with business and union leaders, academics and conservationists to prepare its climate change policy for the coming election.

Speakers like the environmental adviser to Rio Tinto, Tom Burke, have warned politicians must act now.

"This is an issue on which we cannot afford policy failure," Mr Burke said.

"There is no rewind button on climate change."

Mr Rudd wants an Australian global warming audit, similar to the influential report recently prepared by economist Sir Nicholas Stern for the British Government.

"Treasury [should] commission a report on the economic and jobs impact on Australia if there is no policy change when it comes to dealing with climate change," he said.

Mr Rudd has also announced a shadow cabinet delegation to China to discuss clean coal technology.

The director of the Centre for International Security Studies, Alan Dupont, has told the summit governments must prepare for a massive number of environmental refugees, possibly as many as 150 million.

"Clearly, even if you halve that, a lot of people are going to be forced to move by sea-level rise, by desertification and so on," he said.

"This is going to have political implications. It's also going to put enormous pressure on developing states economically."

Coinciding with the summit, Prime Minister John Howard has announced he has written to the leaders of the 20 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries, telling them to expect climate change to be a key topic at September's APEC meeting in Sydney.

By doing so, Mr Howard says Australia is showing strong leadership on the issue of global warming.

Print Email

Alinta directors supporting B and B bid - Breaking News - Business - Breaking News

Alinta directors supporting B and B bid -

The directors of takeover target Alinta Ltd have recommended an acquisition proposal from Babcock & Brown and Singapore Power.
Alinta announced it had signed a scheme implementation agreement under which its shares would be valued at $15 each.
In a statement to the stock exchange, the company said directors intended to recommend shareholders vote in favour of the proposed scheme of arrangement in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an independent expert analysis.

UN climate warning 'overlooks Govt's efforts'. 30/03/2007. ABC News Online

UN climate warning 'overlooks Govt's efforts'.


Federal Resources Minister Ian McFarlane says the latest United Nations predictions on the impact of climate change in Australia do not take into account the Federal Government's efforts to reduce emissions.
A draft report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the average Australian coastline temperature could rise by up to 3.4 degrees by 2050 and by more than six degrees by 2080.
The report, obtained by the ABC's 7.30 Report, predicts more droughts, fires, floods and storms.
It says almost all of the Great Barrier Reef will suffer from coral bleaching.
Mr McFarlane says he has read the executive summary of the draft.
"They're predictions based on us not doing anything," he said.
"Now, this Government is already doing things to address greenhouse gas emissions.
"But more importantly, particularly through the Asia-Pacific partnership, we're getting cooperation from countries like China and India to ensure that everyone does something.
"Australia's emissions are so small in a global context."

UN climate change report not exaggerated: ACF.

[ well .. they would say that ... wouldn't they ?! ]


Conservationists say the Federal Government would be foolish to play down a leaked report which predicts significant increases in extreme weather in Australia.
The ABC's 7:30 Report has obtained documents from the United Nations Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change which predict more droughts, fires, floods and storms.
The report says temperatures will rise by 6.7 degrees by 2080 and almost all of the Great Barrier Reef will suffer from coral bleaching.
The Federal Goverment says there is nothing new in the report, with Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull saying the information has already been published elsewhere.
"The CSIRO has been writing about this for years so I'm glad that you think it's a revelation, I'm sorry to say that it isn't, it isn't, there's nothing new in that," he told the ABC's Lateline.
The Australian Conservation Foundation's (ACF) Don Henry says the report has not been exaggerated.
"They actually give a probability band for this science so it's very cautious, very carefully done," he said.
"We'd be extremely foolish if we didn't take heed of this."
Print Email

Dominic Murphy looks at the green fuel options | Travel and transport | Guardian Unlimited Environment

Dominic Murphy looks at the green fuel options

Bioethanol
A biofuel made from fermenting plants, typically sugar beet and sugar cane, but many other crops can be used, including wheat and grains which will grow easily in this country.
Eco lowdown: You're still producing carbon dioxide in your exhaust gases, but this is CO2 absorbed by the plant during its lifetime, so in theory you're not increasing net emissions. Bioethanol fans include George Bush, who sees a switch to this fuel as one way to cut US greenhouse gases. But the figures are highly controversial. The Soil Association argues that providing sufficient quantities of biofuels for our needs will require intensive production of wheat and grains, and that means using nitrogen-based fertilisers, the manufacture of which produces high quantities of CO2. And palm oil for the European biofuel market is now the main cause of deforestation in Indonesia, with predicted dire consequences for climate change and biodiversity; one report has claimed that 33 tonnes of CO2 is produced for every tonne of palm oil produced from rainforest that has been cleared by burning - 10 times as much as petrol produces. On the other hand, a 2004 study from the EU's Joint Research Centre suggested that savings of 20-40% CO2 could still be expected from bioethanol.

Coal comeback pushes up UK emissions | Climate change | Guardian Unlimited Environment

Coal comeback pushes up UK emissions



Hilary OsborneThursday March 29, 2007Guardian Unlimited
The UK's carbon emissions rose by an estimated 1.25% last year, according to provisional figures published today, but the environment secretary, David Miliband, insisted the government is still on track to meet its Kyoto targets.
Mr Miliband admitted the increase was "worrying" and said the figures underlined the importance of efforts to tackle climate change "both from government and wider society".
He said the rise in carbon dioxide emissions had been driven by unusually high international gas prices leading to a switch to coal for electricity production.

Greens Wrong Again - Paul Lennon, MHA - Tasmanian Government Media Releases

Greens Wrong Again - Paul Lennon,


The Premier today said the Greens’ Nick McKim was wrong in claiming Mr Lennon would be the only state leader not attending this weekend’s climate change summit in Canberra.
“In fact, I will be attending along with the Energy Minister, David Llewellyn, meaning Tasmania will be one of the best-represented states,” Mr Lennon said.
“This is typical of the misinformation and deceit peddled by the Greens.
“They will say and do anything to spin their constant message of negativity and this is another example of that.
“All Mr McKim had to do before making his latest baseless claim was contact my office to check his facts.
“His failure to do so has embarrassed his party and should serve as a reminder that anything the Greens say needs to be challenged and scrutinised.”

Asian coal prices expected to rise - Breaking News - Business - Breaking News

Asian coal prices expected to rise -

Asian coal prices are likely to rise for reasons including strong domestic demand in China and Indonesia as well as Australian port congestion, analysts and industry executives said.
"Far Eastern prices will be firm thanks to shortages in China and a continuing increase in demand in India and Korea," Colin Gubbins, director of consultancy The McCloskey Group (TMG), told the McCloskey Asian coal conference in Jakarta.
Kaz Tanaka, vice-president director of PT Arutmin Indonesia, a unit of PT Bumi Resources Tbk, said coal supply to the Asian market had been hampered by queues at Australian ports.
"Demand for coal has been fuelled by the growing economies of China and India," Tanaka said.
Benchmark Australian coal spot prices fell to a two-month low this week but Gubbins forecast prices will still pick up.
Demand from China and India will grow by 47.6 per cent and 17 per cent respectively this year, leading to a 6.1 per cent increase in demand in Asia to 325 million tonnes in 2007, Gubbins said.
He said there was a risk of the Atlantic coal market being oversupplied in 2007 but added that the Asian market was "on fire - only Indonesia can douse the flame of shortage".
Indonesia is among the world's top coal exporters, along with Australia. Indonesia's coal production is seen rising to 370 million tonnes in 2025 from 193 million tonnes last year, energy ministry data shows.
However, conference delegates said most of Indonesia's rise in output is likely to be absorbed by domestic consumers - exports are expected to increase only slightly to 150 million tonnes in 2009, from 148 million tonnes last year, and will stay at the 150 million level until 2025.
Richard Anderson, Coal Technology Manager of PT Multi Resources Indonesia, said that as well as rising domestic demand, Indonesian miners will also face higher costs in future.
"The challenge to the industry will be how to manage mining costs and especially logistics as mining moves to remote locations," Anderson said.
Faced by lengthy ship queues at Australia's Newcastle port, tightening Chinese supplies and limited Indonesian tonnage due to months of rain, Asian buyers have been forced to buy high-quality coal from as far afield as South Africa.
The McCloskey Group forecast demand from China at 15.5 million tonnes this year, likely to climb to 18.5 million tonnes in 2008, while it sees India's demand at 34.3 million tonnes in 2007, rising to 38.4 million tonnes next year.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Castro hits out at US biofuel use

Castro hits out at US biofuel use

[something profound from Fidel ... proving he's as mad as ever ...]


Cuban President Fidel Castro has strongly criticised the use of biofuels by the US, in his first article since undergoing surgery last year.
He said George W Bush's support for the use of food crops in fuel production would cause 3bn deaths from hunger.
The article in the Granma newspaper did not mention Mr Castro's health.
Officials say they expect Mr Castro - who temporarily handed over power to his brother last July - to resume activities in government soon.
Last month, Mr Castro appeared in a live radio broadcast for the first time since falling ill.
The Cuban leader's failure to appear in public - and the silence from the Cuban authorities - had fuelled speculation about the seriousness of his condition.
Ethanol targets
Mr Castro's article appears in Thursday's edition of Granma, under the headline: "Condemned to premature death by hunger and thirst more than 3bn people of the world."
The sinister idea of converting food into combustibles was definitively established as the economic line of foreign policy of the United States
Fidel Castro
Quick guide: Biofuels
In it, he says he has been "meditating quite a bit since President Bush's meeting with North American automobile makers".
During that meeting on Monday, Mr Castro writes, "the sinister idea of converting food into combustibles was definitively established as the economic line of foreign policy of the United States".
Mr Bush has set targets for an increased use of ethanol - which in the US is mainly made from corn. The US government hopes this will reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil.
The US and Brazil recently signed an agreement to develop biofuels, and their presidents are expected to hold further talks on the matter at the weekend.

End of oil heralds climate pain

Many people think that running out of oil, or "peak oil", would be good for the climate. In his new book The Last Oil Shock, David Strahan begs to differ; he suggests it may bring catastrophe.

Many industry figures now accept the oil slide will begin soon It is becoming increasingly clear that global oil production will soon go into terminal decline, with potentially devastating economic consequences.
Although the idea of peak oil has traditionally been ridiculed by the industry, now even some of the world's most senior oilmen concede the case.
Last year Thierry Desmarest, chairman of Total, the world's fourth largest oil company, declared that production would peak by around 2020.
He urged governments to find ways to suppress oil demand growth and put off the witching hour.
Other forecasters are convinced the peak date is even closer.
But many environmentalists continue to resist the idea.
Some seem to suspect that anybody who argues that oil production is set to fall must be a closet climate change denier with a secret agenda.
It is quite possible to run out of oil and pollute the planet to destruction simultaneously
Send us your comments Others, like Stephen Tindale of Greenpeace, instinctively distrust forecasts of an imminent peak, but wish fervently that it would come soon.
"Let's hope that the oil does run out", he told me, "and that the world has to develop alternatives to oil seriously quickly, and from a climate point of view that would be an excellent outcome."
Neither position could be more wrong.
Dirty growth
It is mathematically impossible that peak oil will solve climate change.
Although oil is the biggest single source of energy-related greenhouse gases, coal and gas combined are bigger still, and the expected growth in their emissions would overwhelm any reduction from oil.
As I demonstrate in The Last Oil Shock using the International Energy Agency's "business-as-usual" forecast, even if oil production peaks in 2010 and immediately starts to fall at 3% a year, total emissions would still rise by 25%, reaching 32 billion tonnes in 2030.
Yet by that time, we need to be well on the way to at least a 60% cut in emissions.

Oil depletion has the capacity to worsen emissions and destroy the wealth needed to fight global warming So it is quite possible to run out of oil and pollute the planet to destruction simultaneously.
In fact peak oil could even make emissions worse if it drives us to exploit the wrong kinds of fuel.
Burning rainforest and peatlands to create palm oil plantations for biofuels releases vast amounts of CO2, and has already made Indonesia, according to some ways of calculating it, the world's third biggest emitter after the US and China.
Synthetic transport fuels made from natural gas using the Fischer-Tropsch process emit even more carbon on a well-to-wheels basis than conventional crude; and when the feedstock is coal, the emissions double.
None of these alternatives are likely to fill the gap left by conventional crude - at least, not in time.
But because they are so much more carbon intensive, it is quite easy to conjure scenarios in which we still suffer fuel shortages while emitting even more CO2 than in the current business-as-usual forecast - the worst of all possible worlds.
Land fill
Although these fuels are likely to prove inadequate, we may be driven to use them because cleaner alternatives are even more inadequate, for a variety of reasons.
Biofuels can be produced sustainably and with real CO2 reductions, but in the industrialised world there simply isn't the land.
In the developing world, however, there are vast swathes of land which could be put to sugar cane in a sustainable fashion; but the scale of the task of replacing crude oil would still be monumental.
I calculate that to substitute the fuel lost through a post-peak oil production annual decline of 3% would mean planting about 200,000 sq km - equivalent to the land area of Cuba, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea - every year.
Alternatively, if we decided to run Britain's road transport system, say, on cleanly produced hydrogen - electrolysing water using non-CO2-emitting forms of generation - our options would be:
67 Sizewell B nuclear power stations
a solar array covering every inch of Norfolk and Derbyshire combined
or a wind farm bigger than the entire southwest region of England.
Price sores
When oil production starts to fall, the economic impacts could well be devastating.

When prices rise, will the political will to fight climate change wilt?Soaring crude prices could tip the world into a depression deeper than that of the 1930s, and collapsing stock markets cripple our ability to finance the expensive clean energy infrastructure we need.
As the unemployment lines grow, the political will to tackle climate change may be sapped by the need to keep the lights burning as cheaply as possible.
Many environmentalists seem to dismiss or ignore peak oil because they simply cannot see it as significant when compared to climate change.
But this is to miss the point.
Oil depletion is deadly serious in its own right, but it also has the capacity both to worsen emissions and destroy the wealth needed to fight global warming.
For this reason - among others - it too has the power to destroy our civilisation.
David Strahan is an investigative journalist and documentary film-maker
The Last Oil Shock: A Survival Guide to the Imminent Extinction of Petroleum Man is published by John Murray
The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental issues running weekly on the BBC news website

UK greenhouse emissions show rise

High gas prices were a key factor behind the emissions riseThe UK's carbon emissions rose by 1.25% last year, according to provisional government data, but Britain remains on course to meet its Kyoto Protocol goal.
The main reason was a move from gas to coal for electricity generation.
Emissions of all greenhouse gases in the Kyoto deal were up about 0.5%, but are still below the target of a 12.5% cut from 1990 by the period 2008-2012.
Environmental groups say the rise shows Britain is making no real progress on cutting carbon dioxide emissions.
And Environment Secretary David Miliband said it demonstrated the need for increased action on climate change.
Despite the rhetoric, the UK has made no real progress in cutting carbon emissions under Tony Blair's leadership
Mike Childs, FoEThe UK produced total greenhouse emissions equivalent to 658.10 million tonnes of CO2 last year. This was down about 15% from the 1990 figure of 775.20 million tonnes.

Carbon dioxide output rose from 544.2 million tonnes in 2005 to 560.6 million tonnes in 2006, a significant rise compared to previous years.
Click here for a graph of UK emissions
The nation's CO2 output is now only 5.25% below the 1990 figure which is used as the baseline for the main Kyoto Protocol gases.
'Grim reading'
"The figures make grim reading, and show that despite the rhetoric the UK has made no real progress in cutting carbon emissions under Tony Blair's leadership," commented Mike Childs, campaigns director with Friends of the Earth UK.

Generating companies switched to more coal during 2006Mr Miliband described the figures as "worrying".
"While these figures are provisional, they underline why concerted effort to tackle climate change, both from government and wider society, is absolutely critical," he said.
The government admitted last year that it would fail to meet its unilateral target, set before the 1997 general election, of cutting CO2 emissions by 20% between 1990 and 2010.
Instead, it said existing policies would yield a 15-18% cut over the same period, which Mr Childs described as "fanciful".
"The government dreams up estimates of what its policies can deliver without any external scrutiny; and as soon as there is any external scrutiny, they turn out to be dreams," he told the BBC News website.

Friends of the Earth is one of a number of groups lobbying for the government to adopt annual targets for carbon cuts. The recent Climate Change Bill discarded this option in favour of five-yearly targets.
THE UK'S EMISSIONS

Greenhouse gases quoted in million tonnes of CO2 (equivalent)
CO2 equivalence is calculated by multiplying the amount of each gas by its 'global warming potential'
Kyoto target is reduction of 12.5% in basket of six greenhouse gases between 1990 and the period 2008-2012
Domestic CO2 target is reduction of 20% between 1990 and 2010

Indonesia welcomes forest fund
By Geoff Thompson
Indonesia has welcomed a $200 million initiative by the Australian Government to reduce deforestation in South East Asia.
With the world's highest rate of deforestation, Indonesia is expected to be the focus of the Australia-led global initiative on forests and climate.
Indonesian Forestry Minister Malam Sabat Kaban says his country's share of the $200 million contribution from Australia will be used to reforest areas of Kalimantan, Sumatra and Java.
He says Indonesia welcomes the funding.
The Indonesian Foreign Ministry's director of East Asia and Pacific affairs, Yuri Thamrin, says he needs to see more details of the proposal.
But he says the general thrust of the initiative is very positive.
Print Email

Govt wants plane emissions cut
The Federal Government wants to change the way air travel is managed to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
It plans to introduce measures to improve fuel efficiency, including changing flight paths and stopping planes from leaving terminals if there are too many aircraft already waiting to take-off or land.
Federal Transport Minister Mark Vaile says the measures will reduce fuel costs for airlines, but concedes they may cause delays for passengers.
"That may possibly be the case, but if you have the air traffic control systems and the company operators and their schedulers working more closely together it shouldn't," he said.
Speaking at an APEC meeting in Adelaide, Mr Vaile says the measures will help to achieve greenhouse gas targets.
"To achieve the sorts of things that we need to commit to into the future, we need to be talking about tens of thousands of tonnes of CO2 emissions overall and right throughout the transport sector," he said.
Print Email

Climate change report predicts grim future for Aust

A leaked report by the United Nations Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change paints a devastating picture of Australia's future.
The document obtained by the ABC's The 7.30 Report says the average coastline temperature could rise by up to 3.4 degrees by 2050 and by more than 6 degrees by 2080.
It also predicts bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, more frequent fires, droughts, floods and storms, and a further dwindling of streamflows in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Prime Minister John Howard says he has not yet read the draft report on Australia, but heatwaves and floods are not new.
"All countries need to take measures in relation to reducing the likely incidence of those things in the years ahead but my point has always been that we need to take action in a balanced and measured fashion," Mr Howard said.
The UN panel will meet in Brussels next week to adopt the final report.
Print Email

'
Nothing new' in UN climate change report

Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull says there is nothing new in a leaked report which paints a bleak picture for Australia's future.
The document obtained by The 7.30 Report says the average coastline temperature could rise by up to 3.4 degrees by 2050 and more than 6 degrees by 2080.
It also predicts more frequent fires and droughts and a further dwindling of stream flows in the Murray-Darling Basin.
It also says that by the middle of the century 97 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef will suffer from bleaching.
But Malcolm Turnbull has told Lateline such warnings are not new.
"I mean we know about this, this has been published, the CSIRO has been writing about this for years so I'm glad that you think it's a revelation, I'm sorry to say that it isn't, it isn't, there's nothing new in that," he said.
"The IPCC report is based on peer-reviewed published science, everything in there is well known to us, we know that there is the possibility or the probability of a hotter and drier future in southern Australia."

Britain undecided on PM's anti-illegal logging plan

By Rafael Epstein
Britain is yet to respond to an invitation from Australia to join its $200 million forests fund.
The Australian Government says it will work with like-minded countries and will be inviting nations such as the United Kingdom and the United States to join in efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation.
The British Department of Environment says at present, no UK minister is available to talk about the fund.
It seems the Blair Government still has not formed a view on whether or not it should contribute money and as yet has no view on whether the idea is worth pursuing.
British ministers have in the past said they appreciate Australia's efforts on climate change.
Print Email

Indy Racers Go Green

If it works for one, the rest usually follow suit. That's the way it is in motor racing. This year all 33 race cars in the Indianapolis 500 are running on ethanol, not gasoline, not methanol, not natural gas. They will use 100% ethanol, made from corn. Paul Sisco reports.
Race car driver“Lady and gentlemen, start your engines,” the announcer said at the start of the 2006 race.
At this year's Indianapolis 500, all 33 cars will be running on high-powered ethanol, made from corn.
Indy is going green. Race car driver Jeff Simmons, of Team Ethanol, says "Hey, we should be getting our fuel from the Midwest, not the Middle East."
President Bush agrees.
"I like the idea that farmers are growing energy that power our cars,” Mr. Bush says. “I'd rather be paying American farmers than people overseas for the energy that fuels this economy."
President Bush wants Americans to cut gasoline consumption by 20% over the next decade, and says ethanol will play a big part in that.
But many say producing ethanol from corn is inefficient. It takes too much cropland, water and energy. This has an impact on food production and supplies, affecting food prices and U.S. exports.
Lester Brown, Director of the Earth Policy InstituteLester Brown, who directs the Earth Policy Institute, says much more research is needed to produce ethanol more efficiently from sources other than corn.
"If we can get the cost of producing ethanol from woodchips, or switchgrass, down to a level where it is competitive with ethanol from corn, then I think we have a chance of making some substantial progress in producing fuel for cars without disrupting the world food economy,” he says. “But short of that, I don't see how we are going to be able to do it."
Biofuel crops, like corn, used to produce most of America's ethanol absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while growing. That offsets the greenhouse gases released when conventional fuel such as gasoline is burned. When ethanol and other biofuels are used instead of petroleum, the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere is reduced even further.
Race car driver Danika PatrickBesides making race cars run even faster, ethanol's green reputation appeals to race car drivers like Danika Patrick. "We really all need to do something about this earth, and about the world and take better care of it and so I'm glad we are going with ethanol," she says.
Research is underway to make ethanol production more efficient. In the meantime, if the fastest race cars in the world can run on ethanol, it is safe to say more drivers will want their cars to do the same.
E-mail This Article

Removing a hydrogen fuel-cell roadblock

Removing a hydrogen fuel-cell roadblock

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory are employing some modern day alchemy in an effort to find a material with properties of rare and high-priced palladium. If they’re successful, it could remove a major roadblock from the path of hydrogen fuel-cell powered vehicles.

The key is a proton exchange membrane, or PEM, containing platinum. The platinum acts as a catalyst that separates electrons from the hydrogen gas atoms. The free electrons are gathered as current and the positively charged hydrogen ions pass through the membrane where they readily combine with oxygen atoms to form water. But if the hydrogen gas contains impurities, such as water vapor or carbon monoxide, it can "gum up" the fuel cell’s separation membrane, dropping efficiency or halting the process altogether. Pure hydrogen, however, is hard to come by, and that’s where palladium enters the picture. "Hydrogen is tough to handle because of the small size of the atoms and because it naturally wants to bond with other elements," said Ames Laboratory scientist Alan Russell, one of the investigators on the project. "Palladium acts like an atomic filter – the hydrogen atoms readily diffuse right through the metal." In the conventional approach to purifying hydrogen, an alloy of 73 percent palladium and 27 percent silver is drawn into long thin tubes, about 3 mm in diameter and 20 feet long. Clusters of these tubes are placed inside a vacuum chamber and heated to between 400 and 500 Celsius. Impure hydrogen gas is then pumped into the small tubes, and the hydrogen readily diffuses through the palladium-silver tube walls and is captured in the outer chamber while the impurities travel out the other end of the tubes. "Palladium is $11,000 a kilogram, and even if you didn’t choke at the price, there isn’t enough palladium in the entire world to convert the world’s automobiles to hydrogen power," Russell said. "So the trick is to find a material with the same properties as palladium that is cheaper and much more readily available." His use of the word trick isn’t a stretch. Not only does the material have to be less expensive and readily available, it has to allow hydrogen to pass through it and be ductile enough to be drawn into long, thin tubes. It also has to resist oxidation, because oxygen and water vapor are commonly present in impure hydrogen. And finally, hydrogen has a nasty habit of making metals brittle, so the metal also has to handle repeated heating and cooling cycles, while loaded with hydrogen, without becoming brittle. "With so many variables, we don’t really have any analytical tools that would let us mathematically predict the ideal composition," Russell said, "so we have to use a Thomas Edison approach – relying on intuition and a fair amount of luck to come up with a combination that works." The three-year project is being spearheaded by Robert Buxbaum, president of REB Research, a Michigan firm involved in hydrogen filtration and fuel-cell technology. Buxbaum is particularly interested in a membrane reactor which combines hydrogen generation and filtration right at the fuel cell. Buxbaum obtained $2.8 million from DOE to find substitutes for platinum and palladium. Besides Russell and visiting Chinese scientist Jie Zhang, the project includes Larry Jones, director of Ames Laboratory’s Materials Preparation Center, as well as researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, and G&S Titanium, an Ohio-based materials fabrication firm.

Buxbaum proposed developing 100 different alloys, relying on the expertise of Russell and Jones in the field of metals development to pick the mixtures. "It is not by accident that I asked to work with Alan and Larry," Buxbaum said. "They are fantastically talented at what they do," adding that the program in Ames "is the best in the United States and among the best in the world." Using X-ray diffraction technology to study the crystal microstructure of the materials, Zhang can determine whether the materials show promise in terms of ductility. This provides a shortcut of sorts so that the team doesn’t waste time on materials that are potentially brittle. A little more than a year into the project, about 60 binary alloys have been developed with additional ones in the planning stages. The results have been mixed, but Russell indicated one sample is quite promising and several others show promise. "There have been surprises. Some alloys that you would expect to be ductile turn out to be hopelessly brittle, like glass," Russell said. "We also tried a material with 25 percent ruthenium, an element which is notorious for making alloys brittle, but that material turned out to be quite ductile." Samples produced in Ames are first cold rolled to see if they are ductile. Those showing promise are further tested and shipped to REB Research where they’re tested to determine how easily hydrogen will diffuse through the metal. Those showing promise get further testing to see if they can be formed into tubes and how they respond to heating and cooling cycles. But even those materials that are rejected as a palladium substitute, may ultimately wind up as useful for other purposes. "I think we’ve got a good chance of finding something that works for hydrogen generation, but even if none of these alloys are good at that, the materials we’re working with will certainly have other applications." Buxbaum said. "One metal in particular is an amazing alloy – shiny, ductile, high melting, and totally resistant to aqua regia (a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids that dissolves gold or platinum)." Russell added that the willingness of the DOE to fund such a program is indicative of the commitment to develop alternative energy sources. "Research funding often depends on your ability to demonstrate specific results," he said. "It’s refreshing in a way to get to try traditional metallurgy techniques to try to solve a 21st century problem." Source: Ames Laboratory

MiningNews.net + Uranium price to hit $140/lb: analysts

Uranium price to hit $140/lb: analysts

[ whooa - hang on there ?! ]

EQUITY researcher Resource Capital Research has released a report suggesting that the spot price for uranium could reach $US125 a pound some time this year and $140/lb by September 2008 – an increase of 47% over the current spot price of $95/lb.

RCR managing director and analyst John Wilson said the main factor driving the price higher was a strong growth in new nuclear reactors, and with at least 48 new power reactors expected to be commissioned by 2013, the price indicators all suggested that uranium would be heading to even further record highs. "Uranium price indicators continue to strengthen and are currently at all-time highs," Wilson said. "Sector fundamentals are being driven by new reactor announcements, reactor power uprates and life extensions, investor and producer buying, and supply disruptions at Ranger and Cigar Lake."The Cigar Lake floods are expected to delay production at Cameco's Canada mine until 2010, while Energy Resources Australia's Northern Territory Ranger uranium mine was also hit by heavy rains earlier this year and production is anticipated to be down some 20-30% in the first quarter of this year.On the upside for future uranium production, RCR said it anticipated the three mines policy of the ALP would be reversed in April, which would benefit companies with advanced projects especially in Queensland and South Australia. The Western Australia stance banning uranium mining was also "unsustainable" in the mid-term future.Hartley's resources analyst Andrew Muir told MiningNews.Net that these price forecasts were not out of line."Considering where [uranium] has come from, going up an extra $40-50 a pound within one to two years is not unreasonable, given supply and demand issues," he said."Supply is tight and there aren't many significant new mines coming onstream, and there are a lot of new reactors being proposed and built."He also indicated that the future was looking good for uranium plays in Australia, especially companies with advanced projects, with the proviso that the ALP will need to reverse its three mines policy. Muir said the market had priced in the expectation that the politics will change and did not expect overheated market prices for uranium stocks in the wake of the potential Labor policy change. "Obviously, companies which are closer to production when this happens will gain a premium," he said.RCR's figures from 140 Australian uranium juniors showed that they had jumped up 23% over the past three months and 122% over the past 12 months, compared to a selection of Canadian juniors, which were down 2% over the past month and up 75% over the past 12 months. The majority of the 48 new reactors under development will be located in Asia – 13 in China, eight in India, six in South Korea and three in Japan. Russia is also commissioning eight new reactors, RCR said. The total power output of the reactors will be 43.5 gigawatts electric, compared with 435 nuclear reactors currently in operation with an aggregate generation capacity of 370GW electric – representing an 11% increase in power generation over the next six years.