[Pil-pc-oceania] Clippings

[pacific-edge]

EVENT: Sydney ­ Cooks River Festival ­ 15 April
Faith Thomas, coordinator of Marrickville Council¹s Sustainable Water
Environments Project, has organised the Cooks River Festival.

The festival will be held from 11am to 4pm on Sunday 15th April, and
feature:
 
* a sustainable living panel with special guests Rosemary Morrow (Earth
Users Guide to Permaculture), Michael Mobbs (Sustainable House) and Jill
Finnane (Lawns to Lunch)
* a sustainable water showcase with a wide range of stallholders exhibiting
innovative rainwater harvesting, greywater reuse and conservation
technologies 
* a full afternoon of information sessions and tours (see program for full
details) 
* roaming entertainers, sustainable artists¹ gallery, bands, food,
children¹s activities and much more
 
Full details are also available at www.marrickville.nsw.gov.au
<http://www.marrickville.nsw.gov.au/>

.....................................

EVENT: Sydney ­ ANZES PV information evening ­ tomorrow, Tuesday
  
This is a reminder email about the ANZSES information evening on
Photovoltaic(PV) systems. Hosted by our  committee member, Phil Connor, the
aim of the evening is not that of a formal seminar with a  long presentation
but more an opportunity of an information sharing night where all can raise
questions, queries or swap experiences in regard to PV. One aim of the
evening to dispel misunderstandings about PV systems and to create a better
understanding for the public of what one needs to think about.when
considering installing such systems.

Some of the questions that tend to arise when considering a domestic PV
system are and which will be addressed are: How much will it cost? How big
should it be? When will it pay for itself? How long does it take to repay
the embedded energy?

Phil will also be giving an overview on larger commercial systems.

The evening is on Tuesday 3rd April starting at 7:00pm at Level 9 Conference
Room, Electrical Engineering Building Sydney University. If you have any
experience with PV systems and you would like to come and contribute to the
discussion you are most welcome. Or if you questions that you need
answering, please come along.

Regards,

Graham Hunt Secretary ANZSES NSW Mob: 0403 547 457 PO Box 38 49 Kevin Avenue
AVALON NSW 2107 Email: greyhound at idx.com.au

.....................................


Sustainable Transport In Randwick

Hybrid vehicles, bicycles and car-sharing schemes are the basis of a new
wave of sustainable transport options in the City of Randwick.

Last week, Federal Member for Kingsford Smith, Peter Garrett MP, joined the
Mayor of Randwick, Cr Paul Tracey, for the launch of Randwick Council's car
share operation in partnership with GoGet CarShare founder, Bruce Jeffreys.

"Randwick Council is committed to helping the environment by offering
residents real sustainable transportation alternatives, as part of our 20
year Randwick City Plan. Car share schemes help reduce the need to own a
car, the amount of cars in use and therefore the amount of greenhouse gas
pollution. The GoGet CarShare scheme offers Randwick residents all the
benefits of having a car, or even a second car, without the expense and
hassles of actually owning one", Cr Tracey, said.

Maroubra Junction is the first location in the new network of car share
locations throughout the City of Randwick, to be followed by Kensington,
Coogee and Randwick. Residents who join GoGet CarShare will have instant
access to a network of cars which can be booked online or via phone for a
period of as little as an hour. The cars are left in designated, reserved
parking spots, which makes them easy to find and easy to park on return.

"The launch of the GoGet service in this area is the first time in New South
Wales that local residents and businesses will be sharing a car fleet with
their local Council², said Bruce Jeffreys, GoGet CarShare Director.

Randwick Council has added four corporate bicycles to its fleet for Council
staff to use to cycle short journeys or attend site visits and meetings.
Also this week, the Council resolved to establish preferential parking for
electric hybrid vehicles at popular locations around the City.

For more details on Randwick's GoGet CarShare scheme visit www.goget.com.au
or call 1300 769 389.

Clean coal technology 'a lost opportunity'

Greens leader Bob Brown says Prime Minister John Howard is 10 years too late
in supporting clean coal technology.

Senator Brown has spoken at a public meeting in the central Queensland
mining town of Blackwater, where there is concern that thousands of jobs
could be lost if coal exports are phased out. The federal and state
governments have recently supported clean coal pilot projects but Senator
Brown says the technology is still a long way off.

"Clean coal is 15 years away," he said. "If Mr Howard had got into it 10
years ago, it would be five years away. It's a lost opportunity.

"John Howard took his eye off the ball and he's a great supporter of the
global market. Is he going to come and defend coal miners' jobs when the
market goes the other direction? No, he's not."

Senator Brown has also told the meeting that world economic pressure and not
the environmental lobby will be responsible for forcing the closure of
Australia's coal industry. He says carbon taxes and other measures will be
introduced as part of a global push against polluting industries.

"Tony Blair has described the threat of climate change, bigger than
terrorism, as the greatest threat to the security of the planet in this
century," he said. "There is going to be global measures taken to stop the
pollution of the atmosphere and it's going to impact on coal communities and
oil communities and forest burning communities around the planet."

.....................................

A toxic tinge to green light bulbs?
Anna Salleh
ABC Science Online
 
Wednesday, 21 February 2007

Compact fluorescent light bulbs might help in the fight against climate
change but could they cause problems with toxic waste down the track?

The concern comes after the Australian government's announcement this week
that it will phase out incandescent light bulbs in favour of the energy
efficient variety by 2009-10.

The first Australian life-cycle analysis of compact fluorescent light bulbs
(CFLs) says that although they take more energy to make than the technically
simpler incandescent light bulbs, their use leads to fewer greenhouse gas
emissions. The 2006 study says this is because the greenhouse gases emitted
in CFL production are offset as the newer bulbs last a lot longer than the
traditional ones. The study, published in The Environmental Engineer, a
journal published by a subgroup of Engineers Australia, looked at a CFL that
lasts four times longer than an incandescent bulb. This suggests that you
need to manufacture, transport and distribute four CFLs to produce the same
amount of greenhouse emissions as one incandescent bulb. CFLs are also five
times more efficient at using electricity than incandescents, the study
found, so these bulbs lead to a significant net greenhouse saving.

According to estimates of the lifespan of CFLs made by federal environment
minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier this week, phasing out incandescent bulbs
and will eventually save 4 million tonnes of greenhouse gases per year. The
greenhouse gas saving is supported by independent experts who spoke to ABC
Science Online and is based on an estimate that CFLs last 4-10 times longer
than the older style bulbs.

But there's another side to CFLs that could be not so environmentally
friendly.

Electricity in an incandescent bulb runs through a filament causing it to
glow. But in CFLs electricity ignites gas inside the bulb causing it to emit
ultraviolet rays. A small amount of mercury is required to help ignite that
gas, and it's this mercury that's a known hazard.

Incandescent bulbs indirectly result in mercury releases to the environment,
too. The life-cycle analysis found that when you consider the mercury
produced from burning coal for electricity, the energy hungry incandescent
bulbs contribute five times more mercury to the environment than CFLs do.

Jane Castle, waste and energy campaigner with the Total Environment Centre
in Sydney, says producers need to be responsible for the safe disposal and
recycling of CFLs. While the lighting industry is generally supportive of
the decision to phase out incandescent light bulbs, it is not promising
anything on recycling yet. Brian Douglas, executive officer of the Lighting
Council of Australia, says the lighting industry is talking to government
agencies about "product stewardship".

"The cost of recycling fluorescent lamps is extremely expensive compared to
their original cost and this is a significant factor in recycling," says
Douglas. He says CFLs contain at least 5 milligrams of mercury each.

The 2006 study also found that printed circuit boards in CFLs could be toxic
to the environment.

.....................................


Polar ice may make seas rise even faster
Michael Byrnes
Reuters
Tuesday, 13 March 2007

Antarctica
Satellite data is showing that rises in sea level and melting polar ice
might be worse than earlier thought, a leading oceanographer says.

Sea levels, rising at 1 millimetre a year before the industrial revolution,
are now rising by 3 millimetres a year because of a combination of global
warming, polar ice melting and long natural cycles of sea level change.

"All indications are that it's going to get faster," said Dr Eric Lindstrom,
head of oceanography at NASA on the sidelines of a global oceans conference
in Hobart.

Rapid advances in science in the past five years on polar icesheet dynamics
has yet to filter through into scientific models, Lindstrom says. He also
points to huge splits in Antarctic ice shelves in 2002, then seen as
once-in-100-year events, that created icebergs bigger than some small
countries. The mega icebergs were first thought not to affect global sea
levels because the ice broke off from shelves already floating on the
surface of the ocean. But the disintegration of ice shelves that had blocked
the flow of ice from the Antarctic continent could allow sudden flows by
glaciers into the ocean, raising sea levels.

"If the [polar] icesheets really get involved, then we're talking tens of
metres of sea level; that could really start to swamp low-lying countries,"
he says. A report by the UN climate panel released last month cites six
models with core projections of sea level rising 28-43 centimetres by 2100.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also says temperatures are
likely to rise by 2-4.5°C above pre-industrial levels if carbon dioxide
concentrations are kept at 550 parts per million in the atmosphere, against
about 380 now. The 'best estimate' for the rise is about 3°C.

.....................................

Climate change killed ancient city

March 14, 2007 02:15pm
Article from: AAP

CLIMATE change was a key factor in the abandonment of Cambodia's ancient
city of Angkor, Australian archaeologists said today. The city, home to more
than 700,000 people and capital of the Khmer empire from about 900AD, was
mysteriously abandoned about 500 years ago.

University of Sydney archaeologists working at the site say a water crisis
was the real reason it was left to crumble. ³It now appears the city was
abandoned during the transition from the medieval warm period to the little
ice age," Associate Professor of Archaeology Roland Fletcher said.

Prof Fletcher said that to sustain a population of 750,000, the Khmers had a
meticulously organised water management system. But blockages found in two
large structures that controlled the water system in central Angkor
suggested the network had begun to break down late in the city's history.

.....................................

How sweet it is: green power from mill

Daniel Lewis Regional Reporter
March 31, 2007

AT CONDONG on the banks of the Tweed, amid the "black snow" created by
burning cane fields, they have been milling sugar for 127 years. But come
October, the mill will be NSW's newest producer of green electricity and the
paddocks of flaming cane will start becoming a memory.

By burning more efficiently the trash and bagasse - the leaves and the stalk
left after sugar has been crushed from the cane - the Condong mill will
produce enough electricity to power half the needs of the Tweed Valley. The
Broadwater mill on the Richmond River will produce enough electricity to
power one-third of its valley, which includes Ballina, Casino and Lismore,
once it begins to operate next year. Until now, the trash has been burnt
before harvest and the bagasse has been burnt at the mills simply to provide
the power for sugar processing.

Greg Messiter, chief executive officer of the NSW Sugar Milling
Co-operative, said that because of the need to get rid of a massive amount
of bagasse, the old boilers had been designed to burn inefficiently. The
Condong mill used to produce three megawatts during the June-December
crushing season, but modern equipment will produce about 30 megawatts all
year using a huge on-site stockpile of green matter. Waste from local timber
mills and camphor laurel trees - a noxious weed - will also be burnt for
power generation.

In terms of greenhouse gas, Mr Messiter said generating power using cane
waste was "pretty well a closed loop", with the growing cane absorbing about
as much carbon dioxide as the burning of it released.

Environmentalists in the Northern Rivers area, however, have questioned the
financial and environmental viability of the project, claiming the sugar
industry is in decline and there will not be enough fuel for power
generation in the long term. A Byron Shire councillor, Tom Tabart, says the
sugar mill power is a "bastardised" version of green power. Alternatives
like solar and wind power were superior and burning trees and cane waste
"should be the last resort".

.....................................

Reflective scientist sees a red roof and he wants to paint it white

Richard Macey
March 31, 2007

SYDNEY'S red-tiled roofs should be painted white to help battle global
warming. That is one idea of a thermodynamics expert who believes that
besides cutting carbon dioxide emissions, we should also be cooling the
world by reflecting solar energy.

Eric Hu, from Melbourne's Deakin University, said that while red house roofs
absorbed heat from the sun, white ones would bounce energy back into space
and "it will never come back". He also proposed painting roads white, and
building giant mirrors in the outback.

Writing in the International Journal of Global Energy Issues, Dr Hu proposed
an energy trading program that would work alongside carbon trading. To earn
energy credits, businesses would have to cool the world by "dumping" energy
into space. While planting trees to soak up carbon dioxide was a good idea,
Dr Hu said, they would eventually die and decay, and bushfires could release
their carbon in an instant. He said energy reflectors could be built in the
desert using aluminium foil, "like you use in the kitchen". Investors in
reflectors would earn energy credits allowing them to emit greenhouse gases
through other activities. Credits could also be sold, or swapped for carbon
credits of similar value.

Painting roofs white would also cool homes in summer, reducing use of
air-conditioning. "I don't see any negatives," said Dr Hu. A climate change
expert at the University of NSW, Andy Pitman, said Dr Hu's ideas were "not
stupid" but required more research to ensure there would be no unwanted
side-effects.

But better than reflecting energy would be to harness it using roof tiles
with built-in solar cells. Dr Pitman suspected white roads and roofs could
inflict glare on motorists and said scientists would need to be sure heat
reflected from outback mirrors did not interfere with the weather.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
RUSS GRAYSON
journalism, editing, online journalism & content, photojournalism,
instructional manuals/communication services for international development

PO Box 1045, Manly, NSW 1655 AUSTRALIA
info at pacific-edge.info
P: 0414 065 203
www.pacific-edge.info

TerraCircle international development team, Oceania
www.terracircle.org.au

Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network
www.communitygarden.org.au
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^



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