Climate: it's worse than we think

Canberra Times
Monday 10/12/2007 Page: 9

The world's leaders must engage in a profound philosophical discussion about our future on this planet, writes George Monbiot

When you warn people about the dangers of climate change, they call you a saint. When you explain what needs to be done to stop it, they call you a communist. Let me show you why. There is now a broad scientific consensus that we need to prevent temperatures from rising by more than 2 degrees above their pre industrial level. Beyond that point, the Greenland ice sheet could go into irreversible meltdown, some ecosystems collapse, billions suffer from water stress and droughts start to threaten global food supplies.

The British Government proposes to cut carbon emissions in Britain by 60 per cent by 2050. This target is based on a report published in 2000. That report was based on an assessment published in 1995, which drew on scientific papers published a few years earlier. Britain's policy, in other words, is based on papers some 15 years old. This target, which is one of the toughest on earth, bears no relation to current science.

Over the past fortnight, both British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his adviser, Sir Nicholas Stern, have proposed raising the cut to 80 per cent. Where did this figure come from? The last G8 summit adopted the aim of a global cut of 50 per cent by 2050, which means that 80 per cent would be roughly Britain's fair share. But the G8's target isn't based on current science either. In the new summary published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, you will find a table that links different cuts to likely temperatures. It suggests that to prevent global warming from eventually exceeding 2 degrees, by 2050 the world will need to cut its emissions to roughly 15 per cent of the volume in 2000.

I looked tip the global figures for carbon dioxide production in 2000 and divided it by the current population. This gives a baseline figure of 3.58 tonnes of CO2, a person. An 85 per cent cut means that (if the population remains constant) the global output for each person should be reduced to 0.537 tonnes by 2050. Britain currently produces 9.6 tonnes a head and the United States 23.6 tonnes. Reducing these figures to 0.537 means a 94.4 per cent cut in Britain and a 97.7 per cent cut in the US. But the world population will rise in the same period. If we assume a population of nine billion, the cuts rise to 95.9 per cent in Britain and 98.3 per cent in the US.

The UN panel's figures might also be out of date. In a footnote beneath the table, the panel admits that "emission reductions. .. might be underestimated due to missing carbon cycle feedbacks." What this means is that the impact of the biosphere's response to global warming has not been frilly considered. As seawater warms, for example, it releases carbon dioxide.

As soil bacteria heat tip, they respire more, generating more CO2. As temperatures rise, tropical forests die back, releasing the carbon they contain. These are examples of positive feedbacks. A recent paper estimates that feedbacks account for about 18 per cent of global warming. They are likely to intensify.

A paper in Geophysical Research Letters finds that even with a 90 per cent global cut by 2050, the 2 degree threshold "is eventually broken." To stabilise temperatures at 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial level requires a global cut of 100 per cent. The diplomats who started talks in Bali last week should be discussing the complete decarbonisation of the global economy.

It is not impossible. In a previous article, I showed how by switching the whole economy over to the use of electricity and by deploying the latest thinking on regional supergrids, grid balancing and energy storage, you could run almost the entire energy system on renewable power. The main exception is flying (don't expect to see battery-powered jetliners), which suggests that we should be closing rather than opening runways This could account for about 90 per cent of the necessary cut.

Total decarbonisation demands that we go further. Preventing 2 degrees of warming means stripping carbon dioxide from the air. The necessary technology already exists: the challenge is making it efficient and cheap. Last year, researcher Joshuah Stolaroff, who has written a PhD on the subject, sent me some provisional costings, of £256-458 ($A590-1055) per tonne of carbon. This makes the capture of CO2 from the air roughly three tithes as expensive as the British Government's costings for building wind turbines, twice as expensive as nuclear energy, slightly cheaper than tidal power and eight times cheaper than rooftop solar panels in Britain.

But I suspect his figures are too low, as they suggest this method is cheaper than catching CO2, from purpose-built power stations, which cannot be true. The Kyoto Protocol, whose replacement the Bali meeting will discuss, has failed. Since it was signed, there has been an acceleration in global emissions: the rate of CO2 production exceeds the UN panel's worst case and is now growing faster than at any time since the beginning of the industrial revolution. It's not just the Chinese. A paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that "no region is decarbonising its energy supply."

Even the age-old trend of declining energy intensity as economies mature has gone into reverse. In Britain there is a stupefying gulf between the Government's climate policy and the facts it is creating on the ground. How can a 60 per cent cut be achieved if new coal plants, new roads and a third runway at London Heathrow Airport are built? Underlying the immediate problem is a mach greater one. In a lecture to the Royal Academy of Engineering in May, Professor Rod Smith of Imperial College explained that a growth rate of 3 per cent means economic activity doubles in 23 years. At 10 per cent it takes just seven years. This we knew. But Smith takes it further.

With a series of equations he shows that "each successive doubling period consumes as much resource as all the previous doubling periods combined." In other words, if our economy grows at 3 per cent between now and 2040, we will consume in that period economic resources equivalent to all those we have consumed since humans first stood on two legs. Then, between 2040 and 2063, we must double our total consumption again. Reading that paper, I realised for the first time what we are up against.

But I am not advocating despair.

We must confront a challenge that is as great and as pressing as the rise of the Axis powers of the 20th century. Though the war often seemed impossible for the Allies to win, when the political will was mobilised strange and implausible things began to happen. The US economy was spun round on a dime 1942 as civilian manufacturing was switched to military production. The state took on greater powers than it had exercised before. Impossible policies suddenly became achievable.

The real issues in Bali are not technical or economic. The crisis we face demands a profound philosophical discussion, a reappraisal of who we are and what progress means. Debating these matters makes us neither saints nor communists - it shows only that we have understood the science.

George Monbiot is a columnist with the Guardian.

Big market shares put ACCC in frame

Australian Financial Review
Tuesday 11/12/2007 Page: 12

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman, Graeme Samuel, received a telephone call yesterday from NSW Treasurer, Michael Costa, who stressed the importance of competition issues ahead of the NSW Government's electricity privatisation plans. In the Premier State, three state-owned companies are responsible for around 33 percent of the power generated for the Australian electricity market, the largest of which is Macquarie Generation, who produces 40 percent of NSW's electricity needs and close to 15 percent of that required in the east of the country.

If a trade sale of the retail divisions of EnergyAustralia, Integral Energy and Country Energy is to eventuate, the most probable bidders will be AGL Energy, Origin Energy and TRUEnergy. Meanwhile, in the wake of the ACCC's unsuccessful legal bid to veto AGL's purchase of a minority interest in the Loy Yang power station, the question now exists as to whether or not the competition regulator will be willing to follow up the matter of existing stakeholders trying to get onto the share register of a floated vehicle.

$50,000 in grants

Ararat Advertiser
Tuesday 11/12/2007 Page: 1

ARARAT - Pacific Hydro's Sustainable Communities Fund has injected $50,000 into the Ararat community. The fund provided a total of $50,000 to 17 local community organisations through its latest round of grants. Pacific Hydro executive manager, Andrew Richards said the largest grants went to projects that support families and children in the Ararat Rural City. "Pacific Hydro is passionate about our work in communities and the Sustainable Communities Fund ensures we can provide support to groups who are working to achieve positive outcomes in their community," Mr Richards said.

"This year we are very proud that funding being provided will ensure that some important projects that support families and children will be completed." Groups sharing the largest grants included the Ararat and District Horse and Pony Club. Jack and Jill Kindergarten, Elmhurst Playgroup, St Andrew's Kindergarten and the Ararat YMCA.

Jack and Jill Kindergarten was awarded the largest grant, it received $9,873 towards its playground upgrade. Kindergarten director Kristine Hughes said she was excited to receive the grant and it would enable the playground upgrade to be completed. "We've been planning for the last 15 years knowing that we'd have to re-develop our fort." Ms Hughes said. "The volunteer committee raised $20,000 towards the rebuild, and that's done. "With this we'll be able to complete the renovation." Funds will be used to create a cave and tunnel under the fort, for planting in the gardens and creating a pole forest.

Ms Hughes said that the grant would enable works to be completed in the playground - these would have otherwise been put on hold until funds could be raised. "Without the grant we would be waiting another 20 years probably," Ms Hughes said. "Like all Ararat community groups it's all funds from the community (that are needed to carry out works). "To be able to access these funds from Pacific Hydro is fantastic." St Andrew's Kindergarten director/ teacher Susan Hurley echoed Ms Hughes' comments saying its grant of $5.000 would make a big difference to facilities at the kinder. "We are planning to use it as part of a three stage outdoor project." Ms Hurley said.

This will be stage one, we will use it for the construction of shade sails over the playground." Ms Hurley said students will then be able to access the outdoor playground all year round. Ms Hurley said that the grant eased the strain on the kindergarten to come up with the funds. "It means that we can go ahead on it now as opposed to six months down the track," Ms Hurley said. Ararat and District Horse and Pony Club will use its $4,000 to improve the amenities at its Elizabeth Street home.

Club secretary Leonie Tellefson said the funds would be used to install a shower and new toilets. Ms Tellefson said that the Pacific Hydro funding alone would not complete the project, it would be completed in stages. Pacific Hydro's Sustainable Community Fund provides a proportion of revenue from the Challicum Hills Wind Farm to support education, sporting, cultural and environmental projects within the Ararat Rural City.

The program, which will run for the life of the wind farm, has been operating for three years and has already provided in excess of $100,000 shared across 25 different community organisations working within the Ararat Rural City. "We always receive very large numbers of applications for a range of very worthwhile projects." Mr Richards said. "I'd like to thank the Ararat Rural City for their guidance and assistance which has been invaluable in the very difficult short-listing process." Cheques were presented to the 17 grant recipients at a ceremony at the Ararat Town Hall last week.

Help green the planet

Coffs Coast Advocate
Saturday 8/12/2007 Page: 73

NIMBIN'S Rainbow Power Company is on the cusp of a boom that's been 20 years in the making. The company formed in 1987 at a time when the greenhouse effect was, to many people, mere catch phrases of the green movement and the prospect of climate change was hotly debated. "Carbon emissions were not in the popular language then, but we knew we had to get smarter on how we're treating this planet, and it's unfortunately all come to fruition," Rainbow Power Company administration officer Karen Welsh said. "We'd be much better off if we'd introduced the sorts of policies we're trying to introduce now 20 years ago." Not that they haven't been trying.

The Rainbow Power Company sells a broad mix of green energy systems, ranging from solar panels, small hydro- electric systems and wind turbines through to appliances such as a solar cookers, water-powered fans, and environmentally-friendly toilets. The company not only sells locally, but exports as well. It has been involved in a number of renewable energy programs around the world, such as setting up solar powered water pumps in Papua New Guinea, solar powered communications equipment in Somalia, setting up hydro- electricity for a village in Ecuador, and solar powered electric fences in France.

But it's the Australian rebates for renewable energies that is driving the new boom. Rebates introduced in July provide up to $8000 for households setting up renewable energy systems and up to half the cost of setting up those systems for remote properties. The new Labor Government went to the election pledging low-interest loans of up to $10,000 per household to set up renewable energy systems. That means the Rainbow Power Company is expecting a surge in business and is now recruiting a new sales person and a new solar installer.

Ms Welsh said the company expected to open up still more positions in the new year. From an employee's point of view, Rainbow Power Company is a bit different. Export manager Dave Lambert said the company modelled itself on a workers' co-operative, adopting many of the practices of such co-ops. Those practices included a standard base-rate of pay for everyone in the company regardless of their position, although people in specialist positions did get allowances; for example, a solar panel installer gets a $15 per day tool allowance.

All workers at the company were encouraged to buy shares and take an active role in its growth and direction; only people working in the company - who were also shareholders - were able to vote at company meetings; and every voting shareholder had an equal voice, regardless of the number of shares they owned.

Wind power group formed

Guardian News
Thursday 6/12/2007 Page: 1

Home owners around the Nambucca region aim to lead the way on the renewable energy front. A group of local people passionate about stopping climate change and becoming energy self-sufficient has formed the Yarrahapinni Wind Energy Association. The group is the brain-child of Yarrahapinni nursery owner Michael Jones and, in the beginning, will focus on providing information to the public about the advantages of using wind as a clean, natural energy source.

Eventually, Mr Jones said he would like to see the group facilitate wind turbines for people who want them to power their own homes, or form co-operatives to build turbines for neighbourhoods. "A lot of people in the Valley are worried about the consequences of abrupt climate change, which has been predicted to happen in the next 10 years, if nothing is done to change the way we produce energy," he said.

"Wind has been proved effective in generating power for other countries - Spain is producing more energy from wind now than from any other source," he said. "We have good resources, as far as wind is concerned, better than Spain." According to the `wind atlas', showing wind speeds around NSW, the Mid North Coast is prime energy-producing country, with steady, strong breezes.

Mr Jones said, ideally, the wind turbines would run through backward-running power meters, which would put the energy into the power grid. He said sometimes wind produces more than you need to run a home, and sometimes less. That system would allow users to still have access to the grid when needed, but substantially cut down on power costs. "With the rate batteries improving all the time, in a few years, it might be possible to have a completely stand-alone system, which would be great - no black-outs," he said.

The Yarrahapinni Wind Energy Association had a strong response at its first meeting in November, with people turning out from as far as Bellingen to discuss the possible use of wind in the future. Mr Jones said one of the objectives of the group would be to lobby all levels of government for financial assistance for the wind industry, including grants to set up turbines and feedback tariffs for wind-generated electricity. He already has a site picked out for his future `Whisper 500' wind turbine up on the top of his hill. He said it would produce 18 kilowatts a day, more energy than is needed in the average home.

Wind farm expansion

Bendigo Advertiser
Monday 10/12/2007 Page: 3

LONDON - Britain is planning a massive expansion of its offshore wind farms to power every home in the country. The government will choose a number of sites in waters off the British coast to build the wind farms, which will produce 25 gigawatts of electricity by 2020. The move will mean that Britain's offshore wind farm industry will be twice the size of any other country's and put it on track to meet a target of having 20 per cent of its energy from renewable sources within the next 13 years. Secretary of State for Business John Hutton was expected to outline the proposal at a conference in Berlin today, the Independent on Sunday reported.

Clean Power: Kyoto gives industry new drive, $20bn energy boom

Adelaide Advertiser
Monday 10/12/2007 Page: 43

AUSTRALIAN clean energy businesses are preparing to inject an additional $20 billion into new projects over the next decade, following the Rudd Government's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. Until now, the Australian renewable energy industry has lagged the rest of the developed world, and even some developing countries like China and India, due to a lack of political will and regulatory support. But the cloud has been lifted.

"Australia's back in the game," Clean Energy Council head Dominique La Fontaine said at a UN climate change conference in Bali, which new Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will attend with five senior ministers this week. "Europe, the U.S. and even China have all been booming and Australia's been lagging, but we're going to see massive growth now as we play catch-up." Rudd last week said he wanted Australia to take a lead role in Bali to thrash out a roadmap for a global warming pact to replace Kyoto beyond
2012.

He agreed on the need for deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and set a target of getting 20 per cent of Australia's energy from renewable sources by the year 2020. This is expected to drive demand for clean technology like wind, solar and geothermal power plants that account for just 8 to 9 per cent of total power consumption -paltry compared to the U.S. and Europe. Coal currently generates more than 80 per cent of Australia's electricity, and accounts for 50 per cent of household and industry greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr La Fontaine, part of the official Australian delegation in Bali, said the renewable energy target would trigger an additional $20 billion worth of investment in Australia, create 50,000 new jobs and the equivalent of 100 clean power stations across the country. The move to ratify Kyoto would also see Australian companies expand overseas operations under a scheme known as the Clean Development Mechanism, through which they're now eligible to earn carbon credits to sell on the global market by investing in clean technology projects in poorer nations.

Previously, Australian companies had to set up joint ventures with overseas partners to access this income stream, which increases project revenue by up to 20 per cent, making projects commercially viable and helping to cover risks associated with investing in developing economies, business leaders said.

Wind farms to power Britain

Adelaide Advertiser
Monday 10/12/2007 Page: 2

BRITAIN is planning a massive expansion of its offshore wind farms that it is hoped will eventually power every home in the country. The Government will choose sites in waters off the British coast to build the wind farms. They will produce 25 gigawatts of electricity by 2020. The move will mean Britain's offshore wind farm industry will be twice the size of any other country's and put it on track to meet a target of having 20 per cent of its energy from renewable sources within the next 13 years.

Secretary of State for Business John Hutton was expected to outline the proposal at a conference in Berlin tomorrow, the Independent on Sunday newspaper reported. "By 2020, enough electricity could be generated off our shores to power the equivalent of all the UK's homes," excerpts from his speech published in the newspaper said. "The challenge for government and for industry is to turn this potential for our energy and economy into a cost effective reality. "This will be a major challenge." The announcement has come just weeks after Mr Hutton reportedly knocked back plans to expand Britain's sources of renewable energy.

Community projects become a reality

Burra Broadcaster
Wednesday 5/12/2007 Page: 6

Several community groups in the Mid North recently received grants towards a variety of projects as part of the AGL Hallett Wind Farm Community Fund. AGL project manager, Steve Oswald, presented the successful applicants with their cheques over morning tea at the Northern Areas Council on Wednesday November 28. Community groups and volunteers in both the Regional Council of Goyder and Northern Areas Council regions were encouraged to apply for the funds, which will be granted annually for the next 25 years.

A total of $15,000 in funds has been designated to successful applicants across the two council areas as part of the AGL Hallett Wind Farm Community Fund. Mr Oswald mentioned plans for an identical fund to be established for the Hallett Wind Farm, in which another $15,000 will be made available annually to communities within the Regional Council of Goyder. Manager of community development at Northern Areas Council, Stacey Goodes, described the funds as "a big bonus to community groups."

Administered by the Northern Areas Council, the grant assistance means that a lot of previously wishful projects in the local community have now become a reality. The successful applicants of the Community Fund within the Northern Areas Council included the Jamestown and Areas Basketball Association, who received $3,000 for new junior uniforms, which a couple of young basketball players were sporting at the presentation morning.

Jamestown Lawn Tennis Association was granted a useful $2,700 towards a water conditioner for irrigation as the water restrictions and a salty bore prevented the club from watering their courts, while the Jamestown Bowling Club was granted $500 for sub-floor ventilation to prevent termites. A new tumble mat will be purchased for Jamestown Kinder gymnastics who received a $2,000 grant, while the Spalding Swimming Centre was granted $1,000 towards the cost of a pool safety course for the volunteer supervisors, and the Jamestown Showground received an upgrade to its power supply.

Ellen and Don Mudge of the Jamestown Development Association, who received $1,500 toward the cost of advertising and entertainment for the Christmas pageant, described the fund as "absolutely fantastic." "To receive that much money for the pageant is such a blessing," Mrs Mudge said. Through the Community Fund, Mr Oswald said AGL aims to bring a positive impact to the communities in which they are involved. "AGL has invested significantly in South Australia and the company takes its responsibility as an active and contributing member of the community very seriously. The community grants are a tangible way of demonstrating our community awareness in small through to significant ways," Mr Oswald said.

Having commenced construction on the Hallett Power Station in 2001 through to the construction phase of the Hallett Wind Farm and their recent commitment to the establishment of a Hallett Wind Farm, AGL aim to generate enough "green energy" to power over 90,000 homes. "We are thrilled to see so many volunteers who go out of their way to make their communities a better place to live," Mr Oswald said. A presentation for successful applicants within the Regional Council of Goyder is expected to be held in the next month.

Positive wind farm response: 200 people offer project feedback

Moyne Gazette
Thursday 6/12/2007 Page: 5

A COMPANY proposing to build a 100-turbine wind farm near Mortlake said it had received positive feedback to the idea at a recent information day in the town. Acciona Energy, a global renewable energy company, said it received a positive response from the Mortlake and surrounding communities at an information day last Thursday. Acciona Energy hopes to install up to 100 wind turbines on two sites - one located 9.5 kilometres east of Mortlake and the other located five kilometres south of Mortlake.

The wind farm would be capable of producing enough green electricity to power about 86,000 households, or a city the size of Geelong. Acciona Energy has been operating in Australia since 2002 and is currently building the Waubra wind farm, near Ballarat. It also has a number of proposals and projects in the development phase, as well as an operating wind farm at Cathedral Rocks in South Australia. The company expressed its thanks to more than 50 people who attended the community information day at the Mortlake Soldiers Memorial Hall and to the 140 people who returned feedback forms throughout November.

Acciona's environment and stakeholder relations manager, Stephanie Rice, said the feedback from local residents had been highly supportive of the project and of renewable energy in general. Those at the community information day came from Mortlake and the neighbouring communities of The Sisters, Kolora, Noorat, Terang and Darlington. Ms Rice said most people were supportive of the project because it would help combat climate change and create jobs and benefits for the regional economy.

She said the feedback forms showed the majority of respondents - 83 per cent - were concerned about climate change and 80 per cent would support a wind farm in their local area. Acciona Energy has also commissioned a social research company to independently gauge the views of the wider community surrounding the project areas.

The results will be presented as part of a community consultation program that will continue next year. Acciona Energy intends to submit a planning application for the wind farm to the State Government by March next year. Acciona Energy operates in more than 30 countries on five continents. It invests in the development and management of sustainable infrastructures, services and renewable energies, including wind, small hydro, biomass, solar and biodiesel.

Grange boss committed to project

Albany Advertiser
Thursday 6/12/2007 Page: 4

Grange Resources is committed to a modern sustainable mining project, according to managing director Geoff Wedlock. Following the announcement of an option agreement with the Water Corporation for a recycled water supply, Mr Wedlock said the project was progressing favourably. "This announcement also fits well with the potential development of wind generated power capacity near Southdown, in addition to the available grid power," he said.

The water agreement will provide the mining company with a minimum of 5000 kL of water per day, two-thirds of the mine's total water requirement. A water treatment plant will be constructed by Grange at the Southdown site to upgrade the waste water's quality for use as industrial process water. A Water Corporation spokesman said the agreement provided an opportunity for the company to support new industry and increase the use of recycled water in WA.

Grange Resources company secretary Neil Marston said there were two wind generation companies currently looking into the viability of providing a wind farm near Southdown. "They will be conducting field testing in the near future," Mr Marston said. He was unable to name the companies involved in the possible wind projects but said the smallest farm would produce 100mW of power at 100 per cent output.

AGL wind agreement

Age
Friday 7/12/2007 Page: 4

AGL Energy has agreed with New Zealand's Meridian Energy on the possible development of what would be the largest wind energy project in either Australia or New Zealand. The proposed wind farm at Macarthur, in south-west Victoria, would have a capacity of as much as 450 megawatts - enough to power about 250,000 homes, AGL said in a statement to the stock exchange. If this project is built, AGL will have more than 1000MW of wind generation.

The Australian Government wants 20% of all power to come from renewable sources by 2020. "If the Macarthur wind farm goes ahead, it will make a significant contribution to AGL's requirement to meet the Federal Government's expanded Mandatory Renewable Energy Target scheme," AGL boss Michael Fraser said.

Our green dream

Manningham Leader
Wednesday 5/12/2007 Page: 5

DONCASTER Hill could become a self-sustaining village with wind turbines, a water recycling system and solar panels on buildings and bus stops if an innovative new proposal gains support. Sustainability Victoria has approached Manningham Council for help to develop a Smart Energy Zone (SEZ) plan for the precinct in a bid to slash greenhouse gas emissions when the council's vision for a highrise estate on the hill is realised.

The council's Doncaster Hill strategy, which aims to turn Doncaster Rd into a boulevard lined with energy-efficient highrise shop and apartment complexes, is starting to gain momentum. Now the council is being encouraged to make its grand plan even greener. Sustainability Victoria's SEZ project manager Steven Peters said he was working with the council to develop business cases for local energy production such as small-scale suburban wind generation.

He said Doncaster Hill could be an ideal pilot site. "It is a new development so it is a lot easier to put in things there rather than retrofit on to an existing system," Mr Peters said. "And there is such a strong focus on sustainability in their (council's) plans." Sustainability Victoria has $4 million of State Government funds for green projects such as solar, wind and thermal energy production.

Manningham Council planning and environment director Paul Molan said there was potential for Manningham to be a leader in sustainability and pointed to council's roof as a possible site for wind turbines or extensive solar panelling. Mr Molan said larger-scale ideas included sewer mining, where stormwater is re-used for watering parks and gardens. The Doncaster Hill Hotel, due to start construction mid-2008, could be one of the first to go green. Developer Ron Di Pietro said he hoped to generate electricity through wind turbines and solar panels on the hotel's roof. Mr Di Pietro said it would be costly and more government incentives should be provided, but that Doncaster Hill could be a flagship project.

Worldwide race to bury our carbon emission mistakes

Geelong Advertiser
Thursday 6/12/2007 Page: 23

IN western Japan, researchers fuss over tubes that look like coiled strands of linguini. But this is no cooking class: the scientists are trying to pull carbon dioxide - the leading cause of global warming - from power plant exhaust. The work, on filters that separate CO2 from other gases, is part of an expanding global race to trap greenhouse pollutants and bury them deep underground, an experimental and costly technology known as Carbon Capture and Storage, or CCS.

In the biting cold of Europe's North Sea, Norway operates the world's first offshore carbon capture plant. Australia, the world's fourth largest coal producer, has more than a dozen planned projects. The United States, meanwhile, is leading a $1.7 billion quest to build a zero emissions, coal-based power station. The struggle to transform fossil fuels into a clean energy source will figure prominently at the major two-week UN climate change conference in Bali.

"I think Carbon Capture and Storage will play an important part in a longterm response to climate change," Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the conference, said. "Countries like China and India will continue to rely on abundantly available coal, and therefore you have to find a way of economically using that coal in a clean way." The programs aren't without critics.

Much of the focus of global warming efforts is on reducing production of CO2, not storing it. Many environmentalists argue that the billions spent on researching carbon storage should go instead to developing renewable energy sources. Safety concerns abound. Some fear the carbon dioxide could seep out of its underground storage, contaminating groundwater or poisoning the air. Carbon stored at the bottom of the ocean, as others have proposed, could wreak havoc with marine ecosystems.

The technology is expensive, will take years to develop, burden future generations with maintaining underground storage areas and only perpetuate the world's dependence on fossil fuels, critics say. "What we see is a diversion of money away from renewables toward CCS and coal, and that's not the way we want to see things move forward," said Gabriela von Goerne of Greenpeace's climate and energy unit in Hamburg, Germany. "The technology is not in place, it's under development, and we don't have time. We need to cut emissions right now and not in 15 or 10 years."

Even proponents acknowledge they will have to overcome huge hurdles to combine coal burning operations with carbon storage. Because of the cost, the technology requires a large financial incentive-such as the high tax placed on carbon emissions in Norway - to make economic sense for energy companies. But backers say that carbon storage would allow us to have our coal and burn it too - and that that's the only realistic course in a world so dependent on fossil fuels.

$70m help for climate

Daily Telegraph
Thursday 6/12/2007 Page: 21

THE State Government yesterday announced $70 million in funding for two climate change and renewable energy programs. Premier Morris Iemma said $40 million would be given to a Renewable Energy Development Program, aimed at encouraging new technologies from the drawing board to the market place. "A low emission future depends on our capacity to generate clean, green energy and this program provides financial backing for new ideas and technologies," Mr Iemma said. Schools, community centres, town halls and other public buildings would also be able to access a $30 million pool of funding for water and energy saving projects.

Report backs energy system

Business News
Thursday 6/12/2007 Page: 38

WESTERN Australians can be confident their certified renewable energy purchases through energy retailers such as Synergy and Alinta come from renewable sources, according to an auditor general's report.

The report, which examined whether renewable energy bought and sold by state government agencies actually is from renewable sources, found that the renewable energy bought by WA consumers was certified with Renewable Energy Certificates through the federal government's Mandatory Renewable Energy Target and the state's GreenPower program.

Both programs are designed to encourage consumers to contribute towards extra generation of electricity from renewable sources through retailers' purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates, which in turn places a premium on renewable energy purchases by consumers. Examining whether the GreenPower program has increased the supply of renewable energy in WA, the report says that, since 2001-02, electricity generated by accredited renewable sources on the South West grid has increased from 1 per cent of total energy generated to 5 per cent at June 2007.

The mandatory target and GreenPower programs have contributed to this increase. But while supply of renewable energy has increased, the sales of GreenPower to both commercial and residential customers remains significantly lower than in other states. Only one in every 164 WA households was buying GreenPower at June 30 2007, compared with rates of between one in nine and one in 17 in other states.

WA had the lowest number of residentialcustomers buying GreenPower out of all the states, with 4,988 people buying green energy, and the second lowest number of commercial customers at 635. Energy retailer Synergy says its green energy customer numbers have increased 19 per cent since the introduction of its EasyGreen product on October 1, with a 149 per cent increase during the past year.

Synergy's active marketing in recent weeks of its EasyGreen product, which allows customers to set a dollar amount to be applied to their Synergy account for the purchase of renewable energy, has led to an additional 1,300 customers signing up purchase green power. "We are committed to increasing the sale of renewable energy in WA, and this finding can give the public the confidence to contact Synergy and sign up for one of our green energy options, knowing without a doubt it is coming from renewable sources," Synergy's Andrew Gaspar said.

The report also examined the use of individual contracts to buy electricity equivalent to the output of a particular renewable generator. Particular reference was made to Water Corporation claims that the power used at its kWinana desalination Plant is offset by renewable energy generated at the Emu Downs wind farm near Cervantes.

While Synergy buys 66 per cent of the electricity generated by wind farms to fulfil its contract with the Water Corporation, along with 66 per cent of the Renewable Energy Certificates produced by Emu Downs, the certificates were not part of the transaction between Synergy and the Water Corporation. Therefore, the report says, the contractual arrangement to power the desalination plant does not ensure that additional renewable energy is generated. In response to the report, the Water Corporation said its contract with Synergy for energy from Emu Downs was key in enabling the project to reach financial close, therefore ensuring that a significant renewable energy project was constructed in WA.

Mining union urges target for carbon capture technology

Age
Thursday 6/12/2007 Page: 10

THE powerful mining union will today call for a mandatory target of 5% of electricity to be generated from low-emissions coal technologies by 2020 to help tackle climate change and protect coalminers' jobs. The Labor Government has already set an ambitious renewable energy target of 20% by 2020. But in a report to be launched today, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union will call for an additional target of 5% of electricity to come from Carbon Capture and Storage, to ensure companies invest in the nascent technologies.

Carbon Capture and Storage involves capturing the carbon dioxide emitted when burning fossil fuels and burying it underground, usually in depleted oil fields or deep aquifers. Although there are projects in Australia that demonstrate the technologies, such as the $30 million Otway Basin project in Victoria, the method needs to be developed on a larger scale.

The union's national president, Tony Maher, said coal companies would not invest in the technologies, which are not now commercially viable, unless they had a guaranteed market share. The report says: "We propose this target because it is abundantly clear that the first generation of these new Carbon Capture and Storage power stations will not be commercially competitive with current power sources, and that an emissions trading system over the next decade will not in itself provide certainty to ensure their development.

They need certainty that they will be able to sell their electricity." The CFMEU is also calling on Australian coal companies to increase investment in Carbon Capture and Storage technologies. It proposes that the industry increase its levy for new technologies from 20 cents per tonne of coal to $1 per tonne.

Mr Maher said multinationals such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata should be investing more. "They have a moral obligation because they have made s---loads of money out of the resources boom," said Mr Maher, who is representing the CFMEU, the ACTU and the Australian Government at the United Nations climate change conference in Bali.

"Global mining companies, which are largely based in this country, should bear the biggest burden of developing coal capture and storage." The report also calls for the creation of a Carbon Capture and Storage taskforce to focus the efforts of government, industry and researchers. "While some call for extreme responses like banning coal altogether, the real challenge is to accept that developing nations, in particular India and China, will be reliant on coal for some time and we need to reduce the impact of this energy source on the environment," Mr Maher said.

Clarity call on carbon policies

Herald Sun
Wednesday 5/12/2007 Page: 43

EARLY movers on climate change have warned governments of developed countries at the UN conference in Bali to avoid policies that will lead to "stranded" investments. A working group that will help to frame binding emissions targets for the renegotiated Kyoto Protocol was also told that developed nations should aim for a short-term 2020 target of cuts between 25 and 40 per cent of 1990 levels. The final figure would be an aggregate target for all first world economies, possibly allowing some, such as Australia, more leeway than those which had already exceeded their protocol commitment, Global Wind Energy Council secretary general Steve Sawyer told BusinessDaily from Bali yesterday.

Mr Sawyer, whose Brussels based association addressed the Bali group on behalf of an alliance of international energy giants, power plant builders, various business councils for sustainable energy and carbon trading investors, said "private capital should do the lion's share of the work" towards achieving nations' reduced carbon emissions. GWEC believes free markets should have the key role in driving greenhouse gas reductions through carbon trading.

But TRUEnergy managing director Richard Mclndoe, who is also in Bali, said credible longterm incentives from government were needed for business to commit capital at the scale necessary to address the climate challenge. Technology deployment can only be accelerated if business has confidence that policy risk will be kept to a minimum," he said. Dr Wulf Bernotat, CEO of Europe's largest privately owned energy company, said he was ready to invest 18 billion ($A30 billion) in new carbon-abating technologies by 2010 as long as there was certainty about future carbon regimes.

Mr Sawyer's powerful international alliance, which is financed largely by multinationals such as General Electric, Siemens, BP and Shell, and the major wind industry companies, addressed delegates who will influence their countries' post-2012 binding commitments. The Bali meeting is the first step before two year-long negotiations on post-2012 targets begin in earnest. Mr Sawyer said the companies he represented, including oil producers and power plant builders, believed industrialised countries needed to radically cut greenhouse gas emissions by between 25 per cent and 40 per cent of 1990 levels by 2020.

"Our position is that reductions need to tighten over time," Mr Sawyer said. "We support a halving of emissions by 2050 on 1990 levels." The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said last month this was a minimum level of cuts to atmospheric carbon dioxide required to stop the climate change that would cause serious environmental damage and in turn harm global economies. "While not all countries will be in a position to make cuts at the top of that range, some like Germany will go further and are already on track to achieve 20 per cent reductions even sooner, by 2012," Mr Sawyer said.

He said this could help nations such as Australia to negotiate lower reductions of 20 per cent from 2000 levels by 2020 as proposed by Australia's Clean Energy Council (CEC ). CEC chief executive Dominique La Fontaine had been due to deliver the GWEC position, but was precluded because of her role on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Bali team. Other advisers to Mr Rudd in Bali include an association representing the fossil fuel sector, the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network, plus the National Farmers' Federation, National Association of Forest Industries, Climate Action Network Australia and World Vision.

"The early movers in the business community require governments to send a clear signal from Bali that they are committed to establish the framework for post-2012 Kyoto Protocol will by the end of 2009," Mr Sawyer said. "We want a long term stable framework for investment and that means binding targets to reduce emissions." We don't want chopping and changing every couple of years. "That is bad for business that will lead to stranded investments in the energy and carbon trading sectors." Under the former Howard government's carbon emissions policies, a refusal to extend the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) led to investments in wind energy being stranded.

It included the closure of the Portland wind turbine factory owned by Danish giant Vestas earlier this year and the forcing of Victorian companies, such as Pacific Hydro, to go overseas to grow their business. Mr Sawyer said the GWEC alliance represented companies with billions of dollars in financial capital and investments, and a strong commercial interest in the expansion of sustainable energy and energy efficiency markets. "The decisions made here in Bali will have the potential to significantly catalyse business investment in climate solutions." he said.

Climate Friendly gives Macquarie Capital a footprint in carbon market

Age
Thursday 6/12/2007 Page: 3

Macquarie Capital Group has joined those becoming more active in the carbon market, buying 50% of climate change company Climate Friendly for an undisclosed sum. The deal comes a day after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which sets a legally binding emissions reduction target for Australia. But Macquarie said it had been looking for some time to break into what it predicted "is about to become a very big market."

Climate Friendly, established in 2003, helps businesses and individuals adopt energy-efficiency targets and gain renewable energy carbon credits. Oliver Yates, Macquarie's global head of climate change practice, said the partnership would link Climate Friendly with Macquarie's international contacts and help Macquarie get into the growing market.

The timing looks opportunistic, but when you are getting into an acquisition of a business, it doesn't happen overnight," he said. "We think this market is going to be significant and we think enabling ourselves to get a better understanding of it, and enabling our clients to participate in it, is in the best interests of ourselves, our clients, Climate Friendly and the environment." Mr Yates said Mr Rudd's decision to ratify Kyoto would only strengthen Macquarie's position. From an Australian side, that process will benefit the business." he said.

"Corporates now need to directly focus on this issue. It can't be something that people ignore any longer." Climate Friendly, which this year has traded about 70,000 tonnes of carbon, the equivalent of taking 15,000 cars off the road, said it expected growth to explode following the Kyoto ratification and through the synergies of the Macquarie deal.

Climate Friendly chief executive Joel Fleming said the business would operate in the voluntary carbon market as well as through mechanisms available through Kyoto. "We could be doing a million tonnes in a very short space of time and that is what is needed for us to solve this problem of climate change," he said. "The benefit of Macquarie being involved is that they own a lot of assets and infrastructure and have a large global reach. This is the type of thing we needed to do to scale the business up globally."

Link: www.climatefriendly.com

Weaven's foresight pays off big time

Australian
Wednesday 5/12/2007 Page: 40

JUST over two years ago, when Gary Weaven's Industry Funds Management wrapped up control of Pacific Hydro in a deal that valued the company at $780 million, the talk in the market was that he overpaid big time. Put aside for a moment the fact that his average entry price into the stock was much lower, given IFM was an early investor and owned 34 per cent at about $1 a share compared to the $5 a share acquisition price. Then consider that a third of the company's Australian assets are wind farms of a similar size to the Queensland Stanwell wind project acquired last week by Transfield Services for $450 million.

Throw in this week's decision by the Rudd Government to sign the Kyoto Protocol, which significantly broadens Pacific Hydro's ability to generate carbon credits from its offshore developments, and it's not much of a stretch to say the company is worth more than double its value in 2005. Weaven won a bidding war with Spain's Accione to buy 100 per cent of the company and his foresight has paid off in spades.

Pacific Hydro already sells carbon credits into the European trading system from its small Fiji hydro projects, generating a few million dollars worth of credits, and will now be able to generate significantly more from its Philippine and Chilean ventures. The company is one of the first direct beneficiaries of the Government's move, but others can now quickly use the protocol to access offshore carbon abatement investments to lower costs. This is precisely why former environment minister Malcolm Turnbull urged John Howard to sign the agreement once he had agreed to implement a carbon trading scheme, because it had the immediate benefit of helping Australian companies to lower costs.

This said, Pacific Hydro sees a more immediate upside from another Rudd initiative to increase the renewable energy targets from the highest existing state scheme around 15 per cent to 20 per cent. Signing the agreement does at least give business more certainty that Rudd will move quickly to develop a carbon trading scheme, backed hopefully by significant reduction targets by 2010 even the likes of Alcoa, which is engaged in its standard game of brinkmanship with the Victorian Government, trying to get taxpayers to subsidise its electricity costs.

The reality is that while Alcoa's smelter is likely to be grandfathered in a trading scheme, electricity costs will rise and the burden should be shared with other companies. In rough terms, coal-fired power costs $39 per megawatt hour, gas around $42, nuclear anywhere between $45 and $75, wind $85 and solar $150. If you assume a tonne of coal attracts maximum carbon costs of, say, $20 a tonne, then the maths don't look so good for coal because its costs would jump to $59 an hour. Gas is about 40 per cent carbon-intensive, so its costs would rise by $8 an hour to $50 and so forth.

The sooner companies can work around these figures, the better for all concerned. It is also far better to work from a market-based system than myriad different subsidies to alternative energy forms, and worse still to offset the costs of the big electricity users like Alcoa which would be a subsidy on top of a subsidy to everyone's detriment but Alcoa's. Carbon-based pricing will increase costs, as by definition will Australia's signing the Kyoto Protocol, but it will also significantly expand business options to offset these costs in a way which may actually be beneficial to the global environment.

Driest year on record lowers dam capacity to just 17pc: Hydro drained by drought

Burnie Advocate
Wednesday 5/12/2007 Page: 6

Hydro Tasmania buckled under the weight of Tasmania's driest year on record in 2006-07, it admitted to a parliamentary committee yesterday. The drought lowered Hydro's dams to only 17 per cent capacity, meaning the company had to spend an extra $100 million on power from Basslink and Bell Bay's gas station to keep up with Tasmania's electricity demands. The company is also more than $1 billion in debt.

Hydro chairman David Crean said the company only produced 6600 gigawatt hours - significantly below the State's 10,000 gigawatt demand. Hydro would not return dividends to the Government in the 2007-08 year, but Mr Crean said Tasmanians could still be optimistic about the company's future. He said with a new Labor Federal Government promising an increase in Mandatory Renewable Energy Targets, the Roaring 40s wind farm developments could soon prove to be lucrative with assets potentially worth $400 million.

Hydro owns nine wind farms in Australia, India and China, with Woolnorth host to the biggest in the southern hemisphere. Mr Crean said based on rainfall predictions, Hydro's operating cash would increase from $37.4 million last year to $150 million in 2012. He said scientific advice suggested Tasmania would receive the same amount of rainfall in the next 30 years, but it could be erratic in its distribution, which wouldn't be ideal for Hydro.

Primary Industries and Water Minister David Llewellyn said with the predicted impacts of climate change, Hydro needed to be aware of other renewable energy producing ventures. Hydro assured the committee that despite its financial difficulties, machinery had been maintained to standard.

Harnessing the weather

Sunday Examiner
Sunday 2/12/2007 Page: 6

One of Tasmania's most innovative projects can be found in the Circular Head area, with Roaring 40s Woolnorth Wind Farm, at Studland Bay. This environmentally-friendly farm has been in existence since March this year, following the completion of the nearby 65MW Bluff Point in 2004. At full capacity, the Studland Bay wind farm will be able to generate 75MW of energy, or enough to power 30,000 households, with an average annual electricity production of 295GWh. This output will be sold directly into the National Electricity Market, and the Renewable Energy Credits will be sold to Aurora Energy.

The Studland Bay site is positioned perfectly to take advantage of the roaring 40s winds that strike Tasmania's West Coast, with the wind speed for the site averaging about 9.5m per second. It will be a world class wind resource and Roaring 40s, the company behind the wind farm, is confident of its capabilities. "It will be a world class wind farm and we are confident that it will work in a similar class to the nearby Bluff Point Wind Farm, which is one of the top three operating wind farms in the world," Roaring 40s spokesman Josh Bradshaw said. "The site was also attractive because it provided relatively ease of access to both major transport and transmission corridors and provided few issues with regard to construction logistics.

Common practice among wind energy developers now is to lease land holdings of local landowners, but in relation to the Woolnorth site, Roaring 40s has bought 3000ha of land from the Van Diemen's Land Company and divided it into separate lots. "Lot one is the site of Bluff Point Wind Farm and lot two is the site of the Studland Bay Wind Farm. To ensure continued use of the site for farming and agricultural purposes, Roaring 40s leases the land back to VDL," Mr Bradshaw said.

As with all wind farm developments in this country, the Studland Bay Wind Farm required environmental approval from local, State and federal authorities. Certain conditions to ensure that environmental biodiversity of the site were protected had to be met before approval was given. Also, any cultural or heritage values were taken into account and had to be managed accordingly. "At its height, the Woolnorth Studland Bay Wind Farm was one of the largest infrastructure projects undertaken in Tasmania, the benefits of which will be realised by the people of the North-West and the State of Tasmania well into the future," Mr Bradshaw said.

Bali will be a test of leaders' resolve

Age
Wednesday 5/12/2007 Page: 13

WE HAVE read the science. Global warming is real, and we are a prime cause. We have heard the warnings. Unless we act, now, we face serious consequences. Polar ice will melt. Sea levels will rise. A third of our plant and animal species could vanish. There will be famine in Africa and central Asia. Largely lost in the debate is the good news: we can do something - more easily, and at far less cost, than most of us imagine.

These are the conclusions of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the scientific body that recently shared the Nobel peace prize. It is sobering reading. But let's remember its optimistic bottom line as world leaders gather in Bali this week, seeking an agreement on climate change that all nations can embrace.

We do not yet know what such an accord might look like. Should it urge governments to tax greenhouse gas emissions or endorse a global carbon-trading system? Should it provide mechanisms for preventing deforestation, accounting for 20% of carbon dioxide emissions, or help less-developed nations adapt to the inevitable effects of global warming? The answer, of course, is some variation on all these things - and much, much more. But at Bali, the goal is simpler and more immediate.

We must set an agenda - create a road map to a better future, coupled with a timeline that produces a deal by 2009. In this, it helps to have a vision of how the future might look if we succeed. That is not merely a cleaner, healthier, more secure world for all. Handled correctly, our fight against global warming could set the stage for an eco-friendly transformation of the global economy - one that spurs growth and development rather than crimps it, as many nations fear.

We have witnessed great economic transformations in the past century. Following on from growing industrialisation came the technology revolution, then our modern era of globalisation. We stand at the threshold of another great change: the age of green economics. The evidence is all about us, often in unexpected places. Visiting South America recently, I saw how Brazil has become one of the biggest players in green economics, drawing some 44% of its energy needs from renewable fuels. The world average is 13%. In Europe: 6.1%.

Much is made of the fact that China is poised to surpass the US as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Less well known, however, are its more recent efforts to confront grave environmental problems. China is on track to invest $10 billion in renewable energy this year, second only to Germany. It has become a world leader in solar and wind energy. At a recent summit of east Asian leaders, China's Premier, Wen Jiabao, pledged to reduce energy consumption (per unit of gross domestic product) by 20% over five years - not far removed, in spirit, from Europe's commitment to a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. This is the way of the future.

Some estimates show that growth in global energy demand could be cut in half over the next 15 years simply by deploying existing technologies yielding a return on investment of 10% or more. The IPCC report lays out the very practical ways, from tougher standards for air-conditioners and refrigerators to improved efficiency in industry, building and transport. It estimates that overcoming serious climate change may cost as little as 0.1% of global GDP a year over the next three decades.

Growth need not suffer and, in fact, may accelerate. Research by the University of California at Berkeley indicates that the US could create 300,000 jobs if 20% of electricity needs were met by renewable s. The United Nations Environment Program estimates that global investment in zero-greenhouse energy will reach $1.9 trillion by 2020. Already, businesses in many parts of the world are demanding public policies on climate change, regardless of what form they might take - regulation, emissions caps, efficiency guidelines. The reason is obvious. Business needs ground rules. Helping to create them is very much the role of the UN.

Our job, in Bali and beyond, is to shape this nascent global transformation - to open the door to the age of green economics and green development. What's missing is a global framework within which we, the world's peoples, can co-ordinate our efforts to fight climate change. The scientists have done their job. Now it's up to the politicians. Bali is a test of their leadership.

Fossil fuels here to stay: UN's de Boer

Australian Financial Review
Tuesday 4/12/2007 Page: 6

Scientists must find ways to use fossil fuels such as oil and coal without further harming the environment, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Yvo de Boer told delegates during the opening session of climate change treaty negotiations yesterday. Suggesting that fossil fuels would continue to be the drivers of growth, Mr de Boer recommended all major greenhouse-emitting nations urgently agree in a new, stronger climate pact based on recognition that it was not realistic to assume alternative sources of energy alone could address the threat of global climate change.

Of course energy efficiency, renewable energy and alternative fuels such as ethanol are a critical part of the answer to climate change, but we also have to recognise that countries will continue to use fossil fuels, so therefore we have to find a cleaner way to use them,' Mr de Boer said. He said most of the demand for coal over the next 20 years would come from the developing economies of China and India.

Wind farm backed

Warrnambool Standard
Monday 3/12/2007 Page: 8

SUPPORT for a wind farm near Mortlake is as high as 80 per cent according to a company planning to build 100 turbines near the town. Mortlake, The Sisters, Kolora, Noorat, Terang and Darlington residents went to a community day to learn about the project before returning 140 survey forms to to Acciona Energy, the company said.

New activists' battleground: their own Dinosaur digs

Geelong Advertiser
Monday 3/12/2007 Page: 15

HOW is it that environmentally sound endeavours, as we understand them, are becoming increasingly difficult propositions to justify or execute? It might be wind farms and the hostility they prompt from wildlife preservationists. It might be tidal power opponents anxious about marine life impacts. biofuel opponents worried about palm-oil or corn-led incursions on environments faunal, floral or human. Or it might be, as we've seen this past week, a new breed - palaeontological heritage agitators anxious about desalination plans along the Gippsland coast.

Gippsland, if we venture back to its early encounters with Europeans, was a wild and mysterious place. Trees, trees and more giant trees. Dense, impenetrable bush - a wild place to be feared. It's no accident the antipathies of white to black in the 19th century led to the gloriously ludicrous myth of the Captive White Woman - an Eliza Fraser-style piece of theatrical scaremongering to keep the natives in their place - being situated in Gippsland. It was the perfect site for a mystery.

Now we have a new mystery. Sort of. The previously, supposedly, unknown dinosaurs of Wonthaggi have surfaced as a major impediment to the multi-billion dollar desalination plant the State Government wants to build, instead of dams, to safeguard Victoria against future droughts. Sure, it's a political sop to the greens. And, sure, we should be able to better utilise water without ripping up more trees for reservoir sites, or exposing ourselves to water from dams serviced by logging catchment areas. But where's all this activism coming from?

You've got to face it. Activism has come a long way. It's become such an art form, it's outdoing itself. It's an entire new world of marketing in which numerous single-dimension vested interests stand to threaten the broader champions of the good cause. What it means is environmentalist pitted against conservationist, preservationist against indigenous, heritage activist versus naturalist - all of them high profile, all of them vocal and influential. All manner of permutations and combinations of idealism, realism and personal agendas.

In short, the environmental turf war is turning loudly local and self interested. And very NIMBY - not in my back yard. And sophisticated, media-savvy and wide awake to due process. The dinosaurs of Wonthaggi area classic example. Why? Well, for one, because the folk protesting the desal plant's earthworks and their effect on dinosaur precincts have been gazumped by boffins suggesting the works offer one of the best chances of discovering more dinosaur samples and information. The chances, the finances, would be scarce otherwise.

Myself, if someone needs to stop the desal works, I'd prefer they invoke the Francis Drake defence. The Elizabethan buccaneer/explorer made it to Wonthaggi too, you know. Well, maybe, the story's been about for awhile among some of the heritage world's more imagination prone figures. It can perhaps be sourced to the 1776 novel Voyage de Robertson aux Terres Australes in which the author claims to have sailed from Chile with Drake aboard the Elizabeth in 1585 to discover a new continent, Australia, away in the west. Australia was popular also with writers like Jonathon Swift, whose Lilliput was somewhere around the Great Australian Bight. (That's why yahoos come from South Australia.)

However you care to look at it - dinosaurs, Drake or damsels in distress - protests are often a tad too conveniently staged. And more than a little self-righteous. Which, over the longer term, isn't really going to help anyone.

That sinking feeling still mires Pacific

Australian
Monday 3/12/2007 Page: 36

This week at the UN climate change negotiations at Bali, the tiny nations oft he Pacific will once again be paraded as the global poster boys of climate change campaigners. The emotional appeal is obvious: the first innocent victims of a warming climate as their low-lying islands lace the threat of eventual inundation from rising sea levels. But a far more immediate threat comes not from the burning of fossil fuels, but the cost of them. Oil prices have tripled in four years and if they stay above $US100 a barrel might produce Pacific economic refugees long before they are under water.

A recent UN report confirmed that these Pacific countries were among the world's most vulnerable to high oil prices. As small economies, they have weak negotiating power with suppliers, pay high transport costs, have limited indigenous alternative energy sources and no capital. While Australian motorists might complain each time they stop to refuel, their electricity is currently fuelled by some of the world's cheapest coal and gas. Water shortages caused a temporary price spike and there are more forecast, but most local energy is relatively immune to global oil prices.

While most of the Pacific states augment their electricity supplies with hydro power, around half of their total electricity comes from an ageing fleet of diesel generators. They were cheap to install but with the cost of diesel fuel doubling this year, they have become an increasingly unaffordable burden on economies already struggling with high levels of debt, political unrest, low foreign reserves and marginal balances of payments.

A conference of South Pacific energy companies last week reported that fuel now accounted for 70 per cent of their operating costs. They are under intense pressure. The cost of electricity varies across the region, but can be around three to four times that paid in Australia. Retail prices are still highly regulated. The cost of imports to exports has doubled in the past few years. Fiji's big non-tourism income earners such as sugar, gold and textiles are barely covering the rising national fuel bill.

The next tanker of fuel is scheduled to arrive tomorrow on the island of Saipan, the biggest of the Marianas chain. The local government-owned energy utility, the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation (CUC), is reportedly still scratching around trying to raise the $2.5 million needed to pay for it. In scenes reminiscent of EnergyAustralia's $10 million-a-week losses during, the wholesale electricity spike earlier this year, the local administration had already lowered the retail price of electricity below what it costs to generate it.

Typically the solutions are difficult and uncertain. The host of small public and private utilities think they can improve the efficiency of their networks by about 7 percent if' they can find the capital to invest in upgrading ageing distribution systems. They are also trying, to hand together to establish joint procurement of fuel to give them greater negotiating power with the major oil companies. It sounds easy, but it is complicated by the colossal regional geography and the different types of fuel used on tittering islands.

Suppliers such as Mobil and Exxon are aware of the strategy and have been signing up utilities on longterm contracts to protect their market power. If the joint procurement can get off the ground, here are moves afoot to try and hedge against price volatility. Macquarie Bank is about to start a 12-month simulation to test whether and how a collective hedge might help control costs. Ultimately, the solution lies in finding new sources of energy. Hydro is prevalent, but as in Australia most of the best locations have been exploited, as has energy from bagasse, the sugar by-product.

Fiji's first wind farm opened in October at a cost of around $25 million, saving about $2 million of diesel a year. That's still a long payback. None of the islands is far enough south to exploit the impressive wind assets at or beyond a latitude of 40 degrees, and no, cyclones don't count. The capital costs for renewables are still prohibitively expensive in economies where 70 percent of the population still don't have electricity. Most new investment comes from aid. The European Union has just put €11.3 million ($18.7 million) into solar homes across some remote islands in seven countries.

Two lights and a power point do wonders for the health and education of the occupants, but they don't provide the scale needed to help develop their economies and encourage value-adding that will lift them out of poverty. They have limited options but are under-utilising many of' those that they, to have. The Pacific islands control 60 percent of the world's tuna harvest but most of the licences are sold off to Japanese, Taiwanese and other foreign fishermen because the islands have not been able to develop domestic fish processing industries at scale.

The islands have a long list of failed canneries, resulting from poor management and planning those that survive are under constant pressure to remain competitive, and as the biggest energy users in the market, skyrocketing energy prices don't help matters.

Emissions - Early action key to jobs, investment: Deep cuts won't hurt

Adelaide Advertiser
Monday 3/12/2007 Page: 43

DEEP and prompt cuts to carbon emissions would not damage the economy, an Australian delegation will tell the United Nations climate change talks starting in Bali today. The Climate Institute Australia will present fresh research showing that if emissions are reduced sooner rather than later, the cost of energy will be more affordable in years to come than it was in 2005. Economic momentum, jobs and investments would be safeguarded even with greenhouse gas cuts as high as 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

Emissions reductions of this magnitude would be necessary to reverse catastrophic climate change by mid-century, the institute said. Erwin Jackson, Climate Institute Australia policy and research director, said if Australia took a leadership position with other nations acting to slow global warming, it would safeguard a robust economy beyond 2020. In a detailed report co-written by Mr Jackson called Leader, Follower or Free Rider?

The economic impacts of different Australian emission targets, it said that if Australia continues to delay action, future climate policy shocks will hurt business. "Taking a leadership position - like early action - buys time and options, akin to buying insurance in an uncertain world," wrote Mr Jackson, who will be delivering the report at a forum in Bali today. Also attending Bali as part of the new Federal Government contingent, will be Clean Energy Council chief executive Dominique La Fontaine, and CEC chairman Richard Mclndoe, whose TRUEnergy group operates wind farms and coalfired power stations.

The institute's report is an update on the findings arrived at by the Business Roundtable on Climate Change last year that urged fast action on emissions policy, said Origin Energy executive Tony Wood. "There are some segments of the economy that will be significantly affected initially, especially high energy intensive industries like aluminium smelters. "But broadly across the economy, that won't be the case." The Climate Institute Australia is an Australian-based independent group working with community, business and governments on innovative climate change solutions.