Posted under Express 86

Saltwater in Osmosis Energy Mix

Sydneysiders have another opportunity to view the energy innovations in “The Future Makers” next month, but that doesn’t include this unique saltwater power.  Norway ‘s Crown Princess Mette-Marit opened the world’s first osmotic plant this week, which produces emissions-free electricity by mixing fresh water and sea water through a special membrane.

The Future Makers documentary

“An exciting snapshot of the emerging sustainable energy industry in Australia” – Sara Phillips, G Magazine.

With recent attention on global warming, there’s been a big focus on the problem, but what about the solutions?

THE FUTURE MAKERS tells the story of eminent scientists in Australia who are leading the way on the world stage in renewable energy. This Australian documentary explores the visions of these leaders and follows them as their projects unfold.

Directed by Maryella Hatfield, and co-produced with Lisa Duff and Krissoula Syrmis, THE FUTURE MAKERS had its world television premiere on Discovery Channel’s Planet Green programming block.

People creating solutions that won’t cost the earth.

Watch the film at the Randwick Ritz, Sydney on 9 December 2009.

Q and A panel will follow with UNSW solar PV scientist and Eureka Prize winner Nicole Kuepper,
UNSW solar thermal expert Professor Graham Morrison, GoGet Car’s Bruce Jeffreys, Randwick Council members and The Future Makers’ director Maryella Hatfield.

Source: www.thefuturemakers.com.au

Norway ‘s Crown Princess Mette-Marit opened the world’s first osmotic power plant this week, which produces emissions-free electricity by mixing fresh water and sea water through a special membrane.
Wojciech Moskwa for Reuters, World Environment News (25 November 2009):

TOFTE – Norway ‘s Crown Princess Mette-Marit opened the world’s first osmotic power plant this week, which produces emissions-free electricity by mixing fresh water and sea water through a special membrane.

State-owned utility Statkraft’s prototype plant, which for now will produce a tiny 2-4 kilowatts of power or enough to run a coffee machine, will enable Statkraft to test and develop the technology needed to drive down production costs.

The plant is driven by osmosis that naturally draws fresh water across a membrane and toward the seawater side. This creates higher pressure on the sea water side, driving a turbine and producing electricity.

“While salt might not save the world alone, we believe osmotic power will be an interesting part of the renewable energy mix of the future,” Statkraft Chief Executive Baard Mikkelsen told reporters.

Statkraft, Europe’s largest producer of renewable energy with experience in hydropower that provides nearly all of Norway’s electricity, aims to begin building commercial osmotic power plants by 2015.

The main issue is to improve the efficiency of the membrane from around 1 watt per square meter now to some 5 watts, which Statkraft says would make osmotic power costs comparable to those from other renewable sources.

The prototype, on the Oslo fjord and about 60 km (40 miles) south of the Norwegian capital, has about 2,000 square meters of membrane.

Future full-scale plants producing 25 MW of electricity, enough to provide power for 30,000 European households, would be as large as a football stadium and require some 5 million square meters of membrane, Statkraft said.

Once new membrane “architecture” is solved, Statkraft believes the global production capacity for osmotic energy could amount to 1,600-1,700 TWh annually, or about half of the European Union’s total electricity demand.

Europe’s osmotic power potential is seen at 180 TWh, or about 5 percent of total consumption — which could help the bloc reach renewable energy goals set to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases and limit global warming.

Osmotic power, which can be located anywhere where clean fresh water runs into the sea, is seen as more reliable than more variable wind or solar energy.

A summit in Copenhagen next month is due to agree on a U.N. pact to combat climate change by promoting clean energies and a shift from fossil fuels that a U.N. scientific panel blames for stoking heatwaves, floods, droughts and rising seas.

Source: www.planetark.org

Posted under Express 86

Doctors Diagnose Climate Ills

Reducing greenhouse gases not only helps save the planet in the long term, but it’s going to improve our health virtually immediately. So senior doctors around the world have got together to set up the International Climate and Health Council in advance of the Copenhagen conference.

Senior doctors launch global movement to tackle climate change

Senior doctors from across the globe have come together to form the International Climate and Health Council. Their aim is to mobilise health professionals across the world to help tackle the health effects of climate change.

The Council was officially launched on 25 November 2009 to coincide with a series of papers being published by the Lancet on the public health impact of strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

Founding members include Professor Ian Gilmore, President of the Royal College of Physicians, Sir Muir Gray, Director of the Campaign for Greener Health Care, Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of Council at the British Medical Association, Dr Fiona Godlee, Editor in Chief of the British Medical Journal and Lancet Editor, Dr Richard Horton.

Together with colleagues from Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, they are calling for urgent government-led international action to reduce carbon emissions and promote the universal adoption of low carbon sustainable lifestyles.

Failure to agree radical reductions in emissions spells a global health catastrophe, they say.

“Climate change is already causing major health problems,” say Professor Mike Gill and Dr Robin Stott, co-chairs of the UK Climate and Health Council. “This is the first step towards a global network of health professionals which by speaking out has the potential to protect and improve the health of people in both rich and poor worlds.”

“The public places trust in health professionals, and will listen to those who play their part in protecting human health from climate change,” they add. “This is why health professionals must put their case forcefully now and after Copenhagen. We must give the world’s politicians and policy makers no room for doubt on what action they need to take.”

“Politicians may be scared to push for radical reductions in emissions because some of the necessary changes to the way we live won’t please voters,” says Dr Fiona Godlee, Editor in Chief of the BMJ. “Doctors are under no such constraint. On the contrary we have a responsibility as health professionals to warn people how bad things are likely to get if we don’t act now. The good news is that we have a positive message – that what is good for the climate is good for health.”

Source: www.eurekalert.org

Slashing carbon dioxide emissions could save millions of lives, mostly by reducing preventable deaths from heart and lung diseases, the studies show. They are published in a special issue of The Lancet British medical journal, released Wednesday.

The calculations of lives saved are based on computer models that looks at pollution-caused illnesses in certain cities. The figures are also based on the world making dramatic changes in daily life that may at first seem too hard and costly to do, researchers concedes.

Cutting carbon dioxide emissions will also reduce other types of air pollution, especially tiny particles that lodge in the lungs and cause direct health damage, doctors says. Other benefits can come from encouraging more exercise and less meat consumption, to improve heart health, researchers says.

“Reducing greenhouse gases not only helps save the planet in the long term, but it’s going to improve our health virtually immediately,” says Christopher Portier, associate director of the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. “It’s not 50 years from now, it’s now,” Portier says.

Instead of looking at the health ills causes by future global warming, as past studies have done, this research looks at the immediate benefits of doing something about the problem.

And for places like the United States, those advantages of reduced heart and lung diseases are bigger than the specific future health damage from worsening warming, Portier says.

Outside scientists praise the studies and says the research is sound.

“The science is really excellent; the modeling is quite good,” says Dr. Paul Epstein of the Harvard School of Medicine’s Center for Health and the Global Environment. “It really takes the whole field a step farther.”

Source: www.en.cop15.dk

Posted under Express 86

 

The Global CCS Institute has received overwhelming support from its members for its strategy to accelerate the deployment of commercial-scale CCS projects around the world, while CO2CRC will host Australia’s leading carbon capture and storage research symposium from 1 to 3 December.

This year CO2CRC will host Australia’s leading carbon capture and storage research symposium at the Hyatt Regency Coolum, Sunshine Coast, Queensland from 1 to 3 December.

Attendees can expect a comprehensive overview of current national and international research on carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies as well as demonstration projects covering CO2 capture and storage.

Source: www.sym09.co2crc.com.au

Global CCS Institute To Push Ahead with Members Support

 

The Global CCS Institute has received overwhelming support from its members for its strategy to accelerate the deployment of commercial-scale CCS projects around the world, it announced earlier in the month.

 

More than 160 delegates representing ten national governments, and over 150 leading corporations, non-government bodies and research organisations attended the Global CCS Institute’s members’ meeting over the past two days in Paris.

 

Members provided feedback and critique towards a strategy focused on both the support for specific projects, and the sharing of knowledge at this the first members’ meeting since the company was formed.

 

The strategy will see the Global CCS Institute move quickly to provide targeted support to projects that are in advanced stages of development but are facing barriers preventing progress. The organisation will now finalise a process to invite external bodies to apply for funding that will assist in moving specific projects into bankable form.

 

The Global CCS Institute will also work directly with projects in earlier stages of development and through strategic partnerships with organisations including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, the Clinton Climate Initiative and The Climate Group. This two-pronged approach is expected to assist in increasing both the number and diversity of projects that are kick-started.

 

CEO of Global CCS Institute Nick Otter said “I am greatly encouraged by the constructive feedback we have received from our members over the past two days. In less than five months since we were incorporated the Global CCS Institute is now in a position to take rapid action to tackle the real problems facing the industry.”

 

The Global CCS Institute is an initiative to accelerate the worldwide commercial deployment of at-scale CCS, whereby CO2 is captured, transported and then injected deep underground for secure, long-term storage.

 

Source: www.globalccsinstitute.com

 

Some Carbon and Capture Storage News from around the world:

China has over 100 years of carbon dioxide (CO2) storage potential, according to a study summary release by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), one of the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) national laboratories.

The study, involving scientists from the DOE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, concluded that China has enough onshore geological CO2 storage potential for 2,300 GtCO2 (billion tonnes of CO2), and a further 780 GtCO2 capacity in offshore sites. This is enough to store over 100 years of China’s CO2 emissions.

The study also mapped the largest point sources of CO2 in China, such as coal-fired power stations, chemical refineries, cement plants and steel mills, and found that more than 90 per cent of these are within 100 miles of potential storage sites. This means there would be little need to build expensive long distance pipelines, helping to minimise the cost of CO2 transportation.

“For the first time ever, we have quantified the potential for future large-scale carbon capture and storage deployment within China,” said Bob Dahowski of the PNNL. “Our work suggests that CO2 capture and storage can provide a key element of China’s portfolio of options for cost effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

Source: www.pnl.gov and www.newgencoal.com.au

American Electric Power (AEP) have begun capturing and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) at the Mountaineer coal-fired power plant in West Virginia. The project marks a significant step forward as it is the first to apply the entire carbon capture and storage (CCS) process to an electric power plant.

In partnership with Alstom, who have fitted their chilled ammonia post-combustion capture technology, AEP will capture and store 100,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. The project will run for between two and five years and will provide valuable information that will enable the technology to be scaled up to a commercial level.

The captured CO2 will be injected and permanently stored in deep saline formations 8,000 feet beneath the power plant, where it will be carefully monitored to assess how the CO2 behaves in the storage site and ensure permanent and safe storage.

Alstom and AEP are optimistic that the technology will be ready for commercial operation by 2015. The next stage will be a full-scale facility at Mountaineer capable of capturing and sequestering 1 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

Federal and state government officials today joined executives from American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) and Alstom at AEP’s Mountaineer Plant to formally commission the world’s first project to both capture and store carbon dioxide (CO2) from a coal-fired power plant. The officials hailed the project as a significant milestone in the effort to reduce CO2 emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels.

The Mountaineer CCS demonstration project, which began capturing CO2 Sept. 1 and storing it Oct. 2, is designed to capture at least 100,000 metric tonnes of CO2 annually.

“Commercialization of carbon capture and storage technology is an essential part of a successful strategy to address climate change, not only for the United States, which relies on coal-fired generation for about half of its electricity supply, but also for coal-dependent nations around the world,” said Michael G. Morris, AEP chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Coal is a low-cost, abundant fuel source, but its use is a significant source of carbon dioxide emissions. We are pleased to be working with Alstom and our other partners on a project that plays a significant role in the advancement of a technology that will allow us to continue to depend on coal for electricity generation with reduced environmental impact.”

Alstom Power President Philippe Joubert said, “We are proud to partner with American Electric Power to demonstrate the technology of capturing CO2 for coal-fired power plants. Mountaineer, which is at the leading edge of all our demonstration projects worldwide, demonstrates the integration of all three stages of the process—capture, transport, and storage. We reaffirm our commitment to making commercial carbon capture offerings by 2015.”

AEP’s Mountaineer Plant is a 1,300-megawatt electrical (MWe) coal-fired unit that was retrofitted earlier this year with Alstom’s patented chilled ammonia CO2 capture technology on a 20-MWe portion, or “slipstream,” of the plant’s exhaust “flue gas.” The slipstream of flue gas is chilled and combined with a solution of ammonium carbonate, which absorbs the CO2 to create ammonium bicarbonate. The ammonium bicarbonate solution is then pressurized and heated in a separate process to safely and efficiently produce a high-purity stream of CO2. The CO2 will be compressed and piped for storage into deep geologic formations, roughly 1.5 miles beneath the plant surface. Approximately 90 percent of the CO2 from the 20-MWe slipstream will be captured and permanently stored.

AEP has applied for federal stimulus funding to scale up the Alstom chilled ammonia technology to 235 MWe at Mountaineer Plant. The proposed commercial-scale demonstration will capture and geologically store approximately 1.5 million metric tonnes of CO2 per year.

Source: www.aep.com

Posted under Express 86

Melting Glaciers & Floating Icebergs

New Zealand’s glaciers are melting away. Scientists are seeing about a 50% decrease in the ice volume of the Southern Alps. While a flotilla of hundreds of icebergs that split off Antarctic ice shelves is drifting toward New Zealand and could pose a risk to ships in the south Pacific Ocean.

By Lachlan Forsyth for 3 News New Zealand (23 November 2009):

On the eve of the Copenhagen climate summit, New Zealanders have been presented with dramatic evidence that we are not immune to climate change.

The country’s glaciers are melting away. According to a National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) report they have lost half of their snow and ice in the last century.

Scientists are warning the big glacier melt will continue.

It has long been known that the Tasman Glacier – the country’s longest – is shrinking. But the latest information from Niwa shows virtually every other glacier in the country is doing likewise.

“We’ve seen about a 50 percent decrease in the ice volume of the Southern Alps,” says Jordy Hendrikx, snow and ice scientist. “So if you were considering a health status, they’ve lost half of their health already.”

Niwa says glacier length is misleading because total volume can be decreasing even while length is increasing. Their concerns surround the glaciers’ mass balance – the snowfall required to replace the snow melt, and thereby maintain a glacier’s size.

Since 1997, less snow has been falling and more ice has been melting. And since 2000, the southern glaciers have been below their tipping point – meaning that, apart from a small spike earlier this decade, the mass balance has declined sharply.

“That’s a very slight warming over that time, and we’re looking in the future that we’re going to see continued warming and therefore continued ice loss,” says Mr Hendrikx.

Worldwide it’s not much better, the number of glaciers retreating now far outnumber those advancing – a huge turnaround since the late 1970s when advancing glaciers were the norm.

“The ends of our glaciers are just snapping off like chocolate and melting very rapidly, so we are losing a lot of ice mass very quickly,” says climate scientist Jim Salinger.

Prime Minister John Key says he takes the demise of our glaciers seriously, just not seriously enough to attend Copenhagen himself.

“No, it doesn’t prompt me to go to Copenhagen but it does show we need to take climate change seriously,” he says.

Despite this, sceptics will claim there is still no evidence that climate change is caused by human activity.

“The physics of climate change are bloody obvious, which is if you put more greenhouse gases in the planet, it will warm,” says Mr Salinger.

“Over the long period of time there’s a clear trend that we’re seeing a reduction in ice,” says Mr Hendrikx. “It’s undeniable that we have altered the atmosphere.”

Man-made threat or not, there is no denying our famed glaciers may soon be in short supply.

Source: www.3news.co.nz

Wednesday November 25, 2009

A flotilla of hundreds of icebergs that split off Antarctic ice shelves is drifting toward New Zealand and could pose a risk to ships in the south Pacific Ocean, officials say.

The nearest one, measuring about 30 yards (metres) tall, was 160 miles (260 kilometres) southeast of New Zealand’s Stewart Island, Australian glaciologist Neal Young said. He couldn’t say how many icebergs in total were drifting the Pacific, but he counted 130 in one satellite image alone and 100 in another.

Large numbers of icebergs last floated close to New Zealand in 2006, when some were visible from the coastline – the first such sighting since 1931.

Maritime officials have issued navigation warnings for the area south of the country.

‘It’s an alert to shipping to be aware these potential hazards are around and to be on the lookout for them,’ Maritime New Zealand spokeswoman Sophie Hazelhurst said.

No major shipping lanes or substantial fishing grounds are in the area but most ships there have little hull protection if they collide with an iceberg – which typically has 90 per cent of its mass under water.

Very few adventure sailors would be in the waters in November, when it is still the southern hemisphere’s spring.

Maritime New Zealand safety services general manager Nigel Clifford said as the icebergs drift closer ‘the more the potential risks grow of them posing a hazard to shipping’ as they break up and float lower in – or just under – the ocean surface.

The agency was ‘keeping a close eye on the increasing risk … it’s tracking iceberg positions and has begun initial planning for any incident,’ he told The AP.

He noted the area is not a major shipping lane, with commercial fishing vessels and a limited number of passenger cruise ships passing through and reporting positions for the drifting ice.

New Zealand oceanographer Mike Williams said the icebergs are drifting at a speed of about 25 kilometres (16 miles) a day and he expects most won’t reach New Zealand, as happened during the last major flotilla in 2006 when ‘a lot of them went out east (carried by ocean currents and wind) away from New Zealand.’

Williams, a scientist with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, said he was ‘pretty sure these icebergs came from the break up of the Ross Sea Ice Shelf in 2000′ – an ice shelf the size of France and the origin of the 2006 flotilla of icebergs.

Icebergs are routinely sloughed off as part of the natural development of ice shelves but Young said the rate appeared to be increasing as a result of regional warming in Antarctica.

‘Whole ice shelves have broken up,’ he said, as temperatures have risen in Antarctica, where they are up as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) in the past 60 years.

But he cautioned against linking the appearance of the bergs in New Zealand waters to global warming: The phenomenon depends as much on weather patterns and ocean currents as on the rate at which icebergs are calving off Antarctic ice shelves.

In the current case, a cold snap around southern New Zealand and favourable ocean currents conspired to push the towering visitors, which have drifted around Antarctica for the past nine years, to the region intact.

‘Icebergs this far north (near New Zealand) are not that unusual,’ said New Zealand glaciologist Dr. Wendy Lawson Lawson, noting that an iceberg’s reach was determined by its size.

‘If an iceberg starts off large, it will last longer in the sea. Its movement and where it ends up is determined by the weather, wind, ocean currents and the temperature,’ Lawson, head of the department of geography at Canterbury University, told The Associated Press.

On Monday, Rodney Russ, expedition leader on the tourist ship Spirit of Enderby, spotted a 500-foot-long (150-metre-long) iceberg about 60 miles (100 kilometres) northeast of Macquarie Island and heading north – about 500 miles (800 kilometres) south of New Zealand.

Australian scientists reported another mass of 20 icebergs drifting north past Macquarie Island two weeks ago.

Young said satellite images showed the group of icebergs, spread over a sea area of 600 miles by 440 miles (1,000 kilometres by 700 kilometres), moving on ocean currents away from Antarctica.

Icebergs are formed as the ice shelf develops. Snow falls on the ice sheet and forms more ice, which flows to the edges of the floating ice shelves. Eventually, pieces around the edge break off.

Source: www.skynews.com.au

Posted under Express 86

Science Fiction or Science Fact?

There was a surreal feel about the week just past. A political thriller, combined with some pages from the latest novel in the trilogy by Steig Larsson. Computer hackers. Politicians in denial and damage control. Scientists pleading their case to save the world from a certain dismal fate. Ken Hickson takes his considered look at another week that was.

 

And we had businesses, like Oliver Twist, asking for more (concessions). We had a country’s climate policies in freefall and a world getting ready for the decade’s most important summit on climate.

It was a week which saw the Australian Government fail (once again) to pass into law its Carbon Pollution Reduction scheme and when the leader of the opposition effectively nailed his demise on his climate change stance. We also saw that the hacking into a UK climate research centre gave climate skeptics more ammunition in their co-ordinated campaign to discredit climate change advocates.  All this in the lead up to the major Copenhagen climate summit starting December

So let me go over some of the things we came across in the week – in media read/watched, as well in conversations with people who matter.

This article by Michael Brooks in New Scientist (27 November 2009) grabbed my attention:

CARBON is a dirty word. We burn too much of it, producing billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide that threatens to wreck our planet’s climate for generations to come. Before that it was the villain of the piece in the guise of the soot that poured from factory chimneys and turned cities black. It has a lot to live down.

Now our long-time enemy could be on the brink of becoming our high-tech best friend. As we learn to shape carbon on the nanoscale – into tubes and sheets, balls and ribbons – entirely new and unexpected vistas are opening up. The carbon atoms that were forged in the furnace of the universe’s stars can be woven together into materials that may help gather energy from our own star. Similar materials promise to make our electronic world run with unprecedented efficiency, and may even hold the secret to eking out precious reserves of oil.

As we learn to shape carbon on the nanoscale, new and unexpected vistas are opening up

Carbon’s potential stems from the fact that it is multitalented. Collections of carbon atoms will happily assemble themselves into a multitude of structures, from diamond to graphite, but these familiar forms are just the beginning. In the past few decades we have learned about the soccer-ball-shaped spheres called buckyballs, soon followed by the microscopic rolls of chicken wire we know as carbon nanotubes. Now they have been joined by graphene, sheets of carbon that are just one atom thick.

Of these many intriguing structures, graphene is causing the biggest stir. This is partly because of its unusual combination of properties: its two-dimensional honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms combines fantastic electrical conductivity with a strength tens of times that of steel in a material that is transparent to visible light. Best of all, we have finally learned how to make it.

www.newscientist.com

Which sounds very like something I put in my book “The ABC of Carbon”, where I called for the acknowledgement of the Age of Carbon:

 

What becomes apparent when exploring climate change is the enormous and central role played by carbon in the past and well into the future. It is like discovering gold. Suddenly, everyone is talking about it, discovering what carbon dioxide is all about, and measuring and reducing their carbon footprints.

 

So much has carbon come into vogue and into the world’s vocabulary that it warrants recognition. This century could well be acknowledged as nothing less than the ‘Age of Carbon’, just as we have acknowledged in the past the Iron Age and the Space Age. There is no other time in history when carbon was so important. Carbon has been always present — it is essential for life — but now it’s on the loose and out of control, with the potential to damage the earth for all time.

 

We are talking about carbon as a product and as a fuel, as well as carbon dioxide, the gas, which is in over-abundance in our atmosphere. To be aware of its power — carbon’s contribution to global warming and consequential climate change — is to wake up to how we can better manage the resources that we have at our disposal. Human activity — our misuse of available energy, resulting in excessive carbon dioxide emissions — has undoubtedly changed our climate and damaged our environment.

 

But there is hope. However, it is the responsibility of all of us to grasp the opportunities we have to change things for the better — and to do it now. Carbon can be our friend.

 

It is good to hear/see that the Government is prepared to acknowledge both the importance of voluntary action by households (and businesses) to cut their emissions. This, along with a revised and sensible new National Carbon Offsets Standard, will be enshrined in new laws. We can’t wait!

 

Voluntary Action: The Government will ensure the CPRS takes into account voluntary action by households.  Voluntary action by households will now allow Australia to go beyond our 2020 emissions reduction target. In addition, the CPRS will be amended to ensure that all existing and future purchases of GreenPower will be counted, and allow Australia to go beyond our 2020 national targets.

The National Carbon Offset Standard provides guidance on what constitutes a genuine, additional voluntary offset in the context of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.  It sets minimum requirements for the verification and retirement of voluntary carbon credits and provides guidance for calculating the carbon footprint of an organisation or product for the purpose of achieving ‘carbon neutrality’. 

The National Carbon Offset Standard provides Australian businesses, particularly farmers, with the opportunity to develop offset credits for voluntary carbon markets.  These opportunities include offsets from increased soil carbon and from other land-based emissions sources.The National Carbon Offset Standard also provides a voluntary standard for businesses to use in becoming carbon neutral or developing carbon neutral products. 

A logo will be made available so that consumers can have confidence that organisations and products bearing the logo have achieved carbon neutrality in a way that complements the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and achieves genuine emissions reductions. The National Carbon Offset Standard applies to the voluntary carbon market, which is complementary to, but operates outside of, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

24 November 2009

Source: www.climatechange.gov.au

The Lowy Institute has launched three publications – two relating to China and the third and potentially the most far-reaching – “Comprehending Copenhagen: A Guide to the International Climate Change Negotiations”

In this Lowy Institute Analysis, Dr Greg Picker and Fergus Green aim to demystify the negotiations and deepen public understanding of this important process. 

Source: www.lowyinstitute.org

And news from Brisbane consulting engineer, David Hood, who is adamant that the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen next week should set the world on a strong course to reduce global carbon emissions.

David, also an Adjunct Professor at QUT, was trained in 2007 by former US vice president Al Gore as a Climate Project Ambassador, and assisted Mr Gore train an additional 200 international presenters at the Asia Pacific Summit in Melbourne last July.   David now wants Australia to play a leadership role in securing strong global climate change outcomes at Copenhagen.

David, who will be attending the Copenhagen talks, says COP15 presents the best possible chance to keep the impact of global warming below a 2ºC rise threshold – the widely accepted level at which to prevent unbearable climate impacts.

Source: www.acfonline.org.au/climateproject

This article by Michael Brooks in New Scientist (27 November 2009) grabbed our attention:

CARBON is a dirty word. We burn too much of it, producing billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide that threatens to wreck our planet’s climate for generations to come. Before that it was the villain of the piece in the guise of the soot that poured from factory chimneys and turned cities black. It has a lot to live down.

Now our long-time enemy could be on the brink of becoming our high-tech best friend. As we learn to shape carbon on the nanoscale – into tubes and sheets, balls and ribbons – entirely new and unexpected vistas are opening up. The carbon atoms that were forged in the furnace of the universe’s stars can be woven together into materials that may help gather energy from our own star. Similar materials promise to make our electronic world run with unprecedented efficiency, and may even hold the secret to eking out precious reserves of oil.

As we learn to shape carbon on the nanoscale, new and unexpected vistas are opening up

Carbon’s potential stems from the fact that it is multitalented. Collections of carbon atoms will happily assemble themselves into a multitude of structures, from diamond to graphite, but these familiar forms are just the beginning. In the past few decades we have learned about the soccer-ball-shaped spheres called buckyballs, soon followed by the microscopic rolls of chicken wire we know as carbon nanotubes. Now they have been joined by graphene, sheets of carbon that are just one atom thick.

Of these many intriguing structures, graphene is causing the biggest stir. This is partly because of its unusual combination of properties: its two-dimensional honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms combines fantastic electrical conductivity with a strength tens of times that of steel in a material that is transparent to visible light. Best of all, we have finally learned how to make it.

www.newscientist.com

Which sounds very like something I put in my book “The ABC of Carbon” where I called for the acknowledgement of the Age of Carbon:

What becomes apparent when exploring climate change is the enormous and central role played by carbon in the past and well into the future. It is like discovering gold. Suddenly, everyone is talking about it, discovering what carbon dioxide is all about, and measuring and reducing their carbon footprints.

So much has carbon come into vogue and into the world’s vocabulary that it warrants recognition. This century could well be acknowledged as nothing less than the ‘Age of Carbon’, just as we have acknowledged in the past the Iron Age and the Space Age. There is no other time in history when carbon was so important. Carbon has been always present — it is essential for life — but now it’s on the loose and out of control, with the potential to damage the earth for all time.

We are talking about carbon as a product and as a fuel, as well as carbon dioxide, the gas, which is in over-abundance in our atmosphere. To be aware of its power — carbon’s contribution to global warming and consequential climate change — is to wake up to how we can better manage the resources that we have at our disposal. Human activity — our misuse of available energy, resulting in excessive carbon dioxide emissions — has undoubtedly changed our climate and damaged our environment.

But there is hope. However, it is the responsibility of all of us to grasp the opportunities we have to change things for the better — and to do it now. Carbon can be our friend.

We came across what law firm Norton Rose (formerly Deacons) has come up with. They produced the results of a new survey analysing the perceived consequences to business from the UNFCCC (COP 15) negotiations in Copenhagen: 

The main startling outcome: An unsuccessful outcome at Copenhagen will have a detrimental impact on business.

 Over three quarters of business respondents involved in aspects of environmental, sustainability and climate change issues believe if Copenhagen fails it will have a detrimental impact on their business

Success or failure

·     79% think an unsuccessful outcome at Copenhagen will have a detrimental impact on business

·     70% believe the US government’s position on negotiations is the most significant barrier to an agreement being successfully negotiated at Copenhagen

·     72% believe the negotiations will be a ‘compromised success’

Source: www.nortonrose.com

And what about some TV stars of the week:

On the Kerri Anne Kennelly show this week with ace skeptic Ian Plimer, was Ben McNeill, author of The Clean Revolution. He acquitted himself well, even though Professor Plimer had equipped Kerri Anne with a marked and underlined copy of the report which she proceeded to draw on in Plimer’s favour. A bit of a stacked show, but Ben took it gracefully.

The most skeptical of skeptics also threw into the discussion his delight at having email ammunition from the hacked computers. He wasn’t asked how it came into his hands, or who paid for the hacking!

Ben McNeil, for those who don’t know, is a senior research fellow at the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales. Dr McNeil holds a Master of Economics and a PhD in climate science and is on the executive of the prestigious Federation of Australasian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS).

In 2007, he was chosen as an expert reviewer for the United Nations Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, and was invited to present his research to the Prime Minister and Cabinet. He speaks regularly at corporate and scientific events and to media. Ben lives in Sydney.

Source: www.thecleanrevolution.com.au

On another TV show – Sunrise on Seven – climate expert Nick Rowley clearly and concisely answered viewers’ queries on climate change issues of note, asked by Koch and Mel.

A regular at conferences and media, Nick specialises in advising on new policy and practice to achieve emissions reduction for business and government. He has a deep knowledge of the policy and other drivers required to achieve low emissions growth. Over the past twelve years he has worked at the centre of government on sustainability, climate change and broader policy and political strategy in Australia and the UK.

From March 2004 to January 2006, Nick worked at 10 Downing Street as an advisor to Tony Blair. In this role he was part of a small team advising the Prime Minister on climate change prior to the G8 Summit at Gleneagles in July 2005 and worked closely with the likes of Nicholas Stern and the Prime Minister’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Sir David King. From 1995 to 2004 Nick was advisor to Bob Carr, Premier of NSW, working primarily on policy on the environment, urban development and medical research.

Nick is also Strategic Director to the Copenhagen Climate Council working with senior global business CEOs and climate experts to help achieve a new global climate treaty at the crucial UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December 2009. He is a regular commentator on climate issues in the Australian and international media, and is a Fellow of the Australian New Zealand School of Government.

Source: www.kinesis.net.au

Received a message this week from ace photographer and friend Trevor Thrum. He’s thinking – and it must be obvious – that my newsletter does lean quite heavily in favour of climate change science and the predominant view of how things are panning out. He did ask politely:

“Perhaps Ken, you could put this link into your newsletter in order to ’air’ both sides of the debate.”

So who am I to refuse. See and hear for yourselves. 

http://2gb.com/index2.php?option=com_newsmanager&task=view&id=5268

Which brings me to the final and very relevant conversation for the week. Don Norton and I were chewing the fat on Friday. Of course, we discussed the political upheavals and the difficulty the Government is having to bring an emission trading scheme to the table.

We also realised that a lot of people listen to the skeptics, deniers and doubters on the subject of climate change. And admittedly such alternative viewpoints seem to be gathering a lot of interest and support. Maybe because the messengers are doing a better job than some others, namely Government.

We did agree that the powers that be seemed to have failed miserably to explain what CPRS is all about and – for that matter – have not effectively communicated climate change and its impacts on Australia.

Maybe what’s needed – the two of us suspected – is an “independent” agency, peopled by effective communicators who can put out the facts and figures of climate change and who can explain the impact for householders and business.

It could also provide reliable information on what’s offering from local, state and Federal Government on energy efficiency, renewable energy and ways to reduce our respective carbon footprints. We’re very conscious of the fact that there’s a lot of duplication of effort involved in what the three levels of Government are saying and offering, leading to a lot of confusion in the marketplace.

Maybe what we’re proposing is something like a Choice for the climate.

What do other people think?

Let me know.

Ken Hickson

Source: www.abccarbon.com

Posted under Express 85

Profile:  Ken Bellamy

 

This is the Townsville man who has been hailed for a breakthrough in the biological enhancement of photosynthesis – thereby enabling plants to flourish with less water – and is also leading the charge for carbon farming in Australia and globally.

For abc carbon express, Ken Hickson sat down with Ken Bellamy in the small conference room of his Townsville business VRM Bioilogik to discuss his discovery of the true nature of photosynthesis and the implications this has for farming and food production, particularly in areas hit by water shortages.

This is someone who studied humanities, theology and practiced as a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) for ten years. He was challenged to revisit his passion for the way things work in our eco-system.  

All this led to the establishment of VRM in 1997 as a biotech company offering an alternative to genetic modification in the management of biological risks.  VRM’s products and processes have gained respect in a range of industrial and agricultural situations since.

He also founded Prime Carbon (in 2004) as a vehicle to facilitate the quantification and sale of Carbon Offsets which directly support land management change to enhance soil quality on farms and other land. These measures for social and scientific support for landholders, has become a leading example of the power of community and business in dealing with the issues of climate change.

Ken gets intense and passionate when he discusses what he’s uncovered which seems to have evaded greater scientific minds for ages. He puts it down to being persistent and methodical. A mathematician and a chemist rolled into one.

He is not dwelling on his “eureka” moment. He is continuing hell-bent on spreading the word, building his businesses and making sure farmers get the message.

He is in demand as a speaker and for media interviews. He doesn’t give away too much. There is  definitely some important intellectual property involved here.

But he is not jealously guarding a “secret”. He is letting it be known that there are some quite simple solutions to improving the soil, managing with less water, increasing productivity and storing carbon.

It involves microbes and Ken is breeding them, storing them and spreading them around.

We could go on for a while – as Ken does – as to how this really works, but suffice it to say, we know he is onto something. And you need to know that too.

Read how the local Townsville Bulletin reported his breakthrough earlier this month:

Rachel Toune in Townsville Bulletin (11 November 2009):

SCIENCE textbooks may need to be rewritten after a Townsville researcher discovered a new addition to an age-old formula.

Townsville biotechnology researcher Ken Bellamy has uncovered vital information about the photosynthesis cycle, which occurs when plants use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to make food and grow.

Mr Bellamy found a group of bacteria commonly present in soils, including in rivers and oceans around the world, creates water and energy using their own photosynthesis process which can then help surrounding plants to grow.

”When we think about growing our food we can now think of two avenues to manage, not just one,” he said.

”We can have one extra handle that we can use to enhance that total photosynthesis.

”North Queensland has plenty of sunlight and green plants and these organisms are present too.”

Mr Bellamy spoke about his findings in London, Wales and Scotland during the past three weeks, before returning for a carbon farming conference in Orange, NSW, to discuss the paper.

The research opens up the possibility for the method to be harnessed and used to help plants grow in areas with little water.

About eight years ago Mr Bellamy was challenged to look at ways to reduce the nutrient runoff into the waters of Queensland by an officer from the Environmental Protection Authority.

The project triggered an interest in plants which were a major part of the issue, which led to examining the process of photosynthesis and links with the bacteria.

”Nothing grows without photosynthesis so the logical conclusion is to find better or more efficient photosynthesis processes which will create sustainable growth,” he said.

”The impact this can have on the environment is we can grow plants with much less rainfall than first thought.”

Mr Bellamy said the bacteria used heat and reflected UV rays, meaning they could survive in the dark ocean, rather than relying simply on visible light.

The research also included finding ways to incubate the organisms and develop them for use in a liquid or a solid media such as recycled organic matter, which could be spread out in areas to help cultivate plants and improve soils.

Mr Bellamy is now in discussions to introduce the additional material in science classrooms at school.

His findings have been reviewed by a team of scientists from the Australian National University as part of a commission from the New South Wales Department of Climate Change and Water.

”The bacteria are primitive – they were there first,” Mr Bellamy said.

”Though it’s a matter of contention I believe it is pointing us to where the water came from in the first place.”

Mr Bellamy’s research will be released to the public within the next month.

Source: www.townsvillebulletin.com.au

 

Here’s another media report. This one by Tony Raggat, which appeared on the Goldfish website:

 

It all sounds too good to be true, but perhaps in 10 years time it will be called the bug revolution that started with a small company in Townsville.
Vital Resource Management Pty Ltd operates out of an industrial back block at The Bohle near another of Townsville’s corporate success stories, hybrid toilet exporter Gough Plastics.

 

Basically, VRM trades in bugs – microbes that can break down wastes, enhance fertiliser and, maybe even one day in acid forms, leach metals from ores.

 

Already, VRM is selling its products to the aquaculture and agricultural industries in Australia and Europe.

 

Now the company is embarking on an exciting phase of growth, after federal and state government help to commercialise its work.

 

It has plans for an initial $2 million capital raising to establish bio-fertiliser factories in the Burdekin and Herbert districts and a showcase facility in Townsville.

 

“I’ve always had an interest in biology,” VRM managing director and ‘hobby biologist’ Ken Bellamy said yesterday.

 

“I was with a few friends and a couple of my clients from a previous business when we heard someone say that if you are not looking after your environmental responsibilities, you are going to be out of business in 10 years time.

 

“I thought that was a challenge.”

 

Mr Bellamy looked at ways of managing water and wastewater quality in aquaculture ventures by using organic compounds to create a natural balance.

 

It was the forerunner for treatments for wastewater in sewerage and septic systems in resort and national park settings and preventing bad smells in wastewater at North Queensland sugar mills.

 

“When sugar gets into wastewater, there are certain types of bad bugs that turn it into a bad smell,” Mr Bellamy said.

 

“The same type of bugs get into toilets, septic tanks and garbage bins.

 

“It turned out there are organisms that eat that waste without making that smell.

 

“We were some of the pioneers of growing those cultures and putting it to use.”

 

Most North Queensland sugar mills now use the VRM product in their systems.

 

Another of its cultures used to enhance fertiliser is now raising intense interest in the sugar industry.

 

Mr Bellamy said it was often forgotten that microbes were needed to help feed fertilisers to plants.

 

He said VRM mixed and grew certain types of microbes in fertilisers.

 

The results have been remarkable.

 

Evidence suggests less fertiliser is needed and more nutrient is consumed by the plant.

 

An added potential benefit is a reduction in nutrient run-off into the water table and marine environment.

 

The discovery has huge implications for protecting coastal reefs from land-based nutrient run-off.

 

Not only that, but the microbes in the bio-fertiliser were also found to inhibit the growth of pathogens, with the potential of preventing the outbreak of some diseases.

 

A year after showing the bio-fertiliser to a farmer, VRM is now selling five million litres and can’t produce enough to satisfy demand.

 

“It scares you . . . we’ve never really tried to sell anything,” Mr Bellamy said.

 

A Federal Government program has funded consultants to write a business plan and conduct market research for VRM.

 

The company is now investment ready and a couple of investment funds have shown interest.

 

But Mr Bellamy said that whatever happened VRM wanted to remain a local company.

 

Source: www.growfish.com.au

 

 

Here’s a report on Ken Bellamy from the Australian Technology Showcase:

 

A Townsville company is selling bio-fertiliser that has less impact on the environment, is cheaper than conventional fertiliser and can improve yields.

The bio-fertiliser is made up of water, a chemical fertiliser component, organic substances and a microbial formulation. Ken Bellamy, managing director of the VRM group says the liquid fertiliser contains live cultures which help plants to get the most out of the fertiliser.

“We have to have bugs in the cycle, bugs in the product, actually live cultures in the product, whose job it is to eat the nutrient and pass it on to a plant”.

Mr Bellamy says the product is cheaper than conventional fertiliser, has less impact on the environment and can even increase yields.

“Because the gap between what is put out and what’s taken up by plants typically is so wide, we do find that there’s an equilibrium where there’s actually improved yield in a number of crops based on a more effective uptake of the nutrients”.

Based on growing demand for the bio-fertiliser, production will increase this year from 5,000 to 15,000 megalitres of liquid bio-fertiliser. Approximately five litres of the product will service one acre of sugar cane.

 

Townsville based company Vital Resource Management (VRM) Pty Ltd has a unique microbial process which provides targeted nutrient uptake for specific elements in Agriculture and Waste Management.

A smelly problem for one of Australia’s large sugar producers was VRM’s lucky break. VRM used its new microbial product to clean up a molasses spill in 1998 at a mill, which operators feared may have required closure for up to seven weeks. Less than five hours after VRM put is Inoculation product to work, the risk of extreme odour from the spill had been removed, and the mill remained open. The spill enabled VRM to prove the effectiveness of their patented microbial approach in controlling odour and removing sugar and other contaminants from waste water.

The products work by introducing ‘friendly bugs’ to target biological effects responsible for odour, fat build up and other septic matter found in wastes in a patented methodology. Similarly, microbes which target nutrient management and specific nutrient capture and uptake are fostered in soil.

The products are based on a managed microbial balance using Probiotic techniques and organisms which are known for their use in food and drinks.

VRM now supplies virtually all of Australia’s Sugar Millers with its Inoculation systems and products, which are cheaper than chemical-based products and more environmentally friendly and do not contain nitrates or phosphates.

VRM has since applied its unique technology to include three product lines – Inoculation programs for waster water, Probiotic cleaning products and production of nutrient management products for agriculture.

The most significant advantage VRM’s technology offers, is that it is:-
• purely Australian based
• effective against chemical alternatives
• efficient
• timely unique process with effective results
• environmentally friendly
• safe for use
• economical

 

Source: www.ats.business.gov.au

 

And for some more information on Prime Carbon, this from their website:

Prime Carbon Pty Ltd is a privately owned company and an Australian leader in the establishment of systems to produce, aggregate and trade carbon credits.

Prime Carbon undertakes the following main activities:

1. Prime Carbon’s “Soil Enhancement and Carbon Sequestration Program” assists Landholders to return carbon to the soil from the atmosphere by the process of photosynthesis. This program results in the creation of carbon credits which are aggregated and listed on the National Environment Registry (NER). 
2. Prime Carbon is a wholesale broker of these carbon credits to the market.

Prime Carbon assists in offsetting the carbon emissions of commerce and industry by linking these with environmentally sustainable farming and industry practices. Initially this involves supporting a range of technologies aimed at restoring and maintaining soil carbon reserves.

 

Our vision is that by 2013 we will:

• Convert at least 1 million hectares to sustainable farming practices
• Provide $1 billion pa in commercial opportunities for country regions
• Provide substantial wholesale carbon credit units for trading at a National and International level
• Be seen as the benchmark for regionally focused carbon exchange programs in Australia
• Be a focal point for on-going research into sustainable technologies

 

Source: www.primatecarbon.com.au and www.vrm.com.au

Posted under Express 85

 

 

While Australia struggles to get its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme through the Senate, WWF says there is strong evidence that world leaders will still deliver all of the key elements of a legally binding agreement, particularly with President Obama’s visit to China providing increasing optimism that the world’s two biggest economies could pull off a deal in Copenhagen.

 

By Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson in The Washington Post (18 November 2009):

 

Buried in the text of Tuesday’s joint declaration between President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao was a hopeful clause about climate talks: The Obama administration is likely to offer emission-reduction targets at next month’s climate summit, as long as the Chinese offer a proposal of their own.

 

U.S. reluctance to set a short-term emissions goal has been a sticking point in the U.N.-sponsored talks for nearly a year. Almost all industrialized nations, and many developing countries, have announced plans to curb their greenhouse-gas output by 2020. Neither the United States nor China — which is not obligated to do so under the U.N. framework, even though it ranks as the world’s biggest emitter — has done so, thereby hampering the prospects of an agreement.

 

A senior administration official said any U.S. target would require congressional action. Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) said that would not happen until spring. The House-passed climate bill includes a 17 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 compared with 2005 levels; the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee backed a 20 percent cut, but key senators vowed to make that less ambitious.

 

This past weekend, the Obama administration endorsed a Danish proposal to settle for a political accord on global warming in Copenhagen next month, while deferring to 2010 the codification of a legally binding international treaty. According to the joint declaration, “an agreed outcome at Copenhagen should . . . include emission reduction targets of developed countries and nationally appropriate mitigation actions of developing countries.”

 

Michael Levi, a senior fellow on environmental and energy issues at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the U.S.-China declaration “has moved expectations up a bit for Copenhagen.”

Obama and Hu also endorsed a package of energy projects, most of which have been in the works for some time. The package highlights areas of growing cooperation between the two nations but does not include new commercial-scale projects in carbon capture and storage.

 

The presidents announced the creation of a U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center supported by US$150 million in public and private money, contributed evenly by the two nations over five years. Obama and Hu also announced initiatives to promote cooperation on development of carbon capture and storage projects, methane capture, electric vehicles, and shale gas.

 

Separately, General Electric announced that it licensed technology from China for possible use in U.S. high-speed-rail projects that were funded in this year’s economic stimulus act.

 

South Korea, which is Obama’s next stop in Asia, announced Tuesday that it plans to cut its emissions 30 percent from what they otherwise would have been by 2020, which equates to a 4 percent reduction compared with 2005 levels. South Korea’s greenhouse-gas output has nearly doubled over the past 15 years.

 

Sang-Hyup Kim, who oversees South Korea’s Presidential Committee on Green Growth, said in a phone interview that his country hopes to cut its reliance on fossil fuels and foster a global climate pact. “We have no legal obligation to do so, but we are willing to do it to contribute to the international community,” Kim said.

 

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

 

WFF reports that the CPRS in Australian will help strong outcome at Copenhagen ( 20 November, 2009):

 

While it has become fashionable to downplay expectations for Copenhagen, there is strong evidence that world leaders will still deliver all of the key elements of a legally binding agreement, WWF said today.

 

“Despite some self-interested negativity from countries like Canada and Saudi Arabia, a great majority of countries are determined to make Copenhagen a success,” said WWF-Australia CEO Greg Bourne.

 

“Australia’s credibility in negotiating a deal at Copenhagen will be greatly increased if we have an environmentally effective emissions trading scheme in place.

 

“Taking action domestically has always put Australia in a stronger international negotiating position to achieve the best outcome. Reducing tariffs for example has strengthened our trade negotiations. Climate change is no different.

 

“The danger for the Australian Government is in browning-down the CPRS by providing further handouts to polluters. This would inevitably mean we will struggle to reach the emissions reductions needed to make a significant contribution to solving the problem of climate change.

 

“Responsible companies are still desperate for the Parliament to provide certainty, and those that embrace the necessary change will profit enormously.

The dinosaurs of big polluting businesses need to step out of the way.

 

“It’s time parliamentarians stopped listening to self-interested industry lobbyists who represent a minority of companies, and did what is best for all Australians, and our planet,” concluded Mr Bourne.

 

Source: www.wwf.org.au

Posted under Express 85

Fires & Floods Feature in Catastrophic Change

In a week when areas in Australia were declared “catastrophic” code-red for fire danger for the first time and the United Kingdom experienced the worst rains and floods ever, the latest work by scientists shows that the world is on course for “catastrophic” 6° rise in temperatures.

By ABC Online parliamentary correspondent Emma Rodgers (19 November 2009):

Firefighters have demanded federal politicians stop treating climate change like “a political football” and pass the emissions trading scheme.

Members of the United Firefighters Union of Australia have travelled to Parliament House today to urge both sides of politics to take action as senators continue to debate the scheme.

The union made a similar call for action in the wake of February’s devastating Victorian bushfires and Peter Marshall has today repeated the call as parts of South Australia are now declared catastrophic code-red areas.

With only five parliamentary sitting days left to pass the scheme, Mr Marshall has warned that without efforts to combat climate change, bushfires across the country will increase in frequency and intensity.

“We are not scientists but we are the people on the front line,” he said.

“If there is not action put in place now, Federal Government’s research says that places such as Canberra by 2050, the type of fires we’ve seen here in 2002 will happen on an eight-year basis.

“We are asking you very clearly, stop making this a political football, put in place the action that’s required to secure the future because by 2020 we are going to see a frequency like we’ve not seen before.”

He has called on coalition senators to pass the scheme but has also asked Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to show leadership and lift the emissions reduction targets to between 25 and 40 per cent.

“Pass legislation that’s required and we say pass it with the maximum standard not the minimum standard,” he said.

The Government has committed to a 5 to 25 per cent cut in 2000 emissions levels by 2020.

But the passage of the legislation this year is still uncertain.

Despite both sides expressing confidence in the progress of negotiations on amendments some coalition senators say they will never vote for the scheme and others are resistant to having it passed this year.

And final agreement in negotiations must be approved by the party room before a decision is made on how to vote on the scheme.

Opposition frontbencher Tony Abbott has today warned the Government will have to accept its amendments if it wants it passed.

“We didn’t put forward these amendments as some kind of ambit claim,” he said.

“We put forward these amendments because we think they are minimum necessary to improve a bad bill. So if the Government is fair dinkum about getting this legislation passed it’s going to have to accept our amendments.”

Both sides hope to have negotiations finalised by this weekend or early next week.

www.abc.net.au

 

Associated Press Writer Scott Heppell (20 Novenber 2009):

 

Cockermouth, England – Raging floods engulfed northern England’s picturesque Lake District on Friday following the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in Britain, killing a police officer and trapping dozens in their swamped homes.

 

Military helicopters winched dozens of people to safety and emergency workers in bright orange inflatable boats rescued scores more after an unprecedented deluge.

 

British soldiers conducted house-to-house searches for those trapped by floods as deep as 8 feet (2.5 meters). Troops also dropped down on lines from Royal Air Force helicopters, breaking through rooftops to pluck people to safety.

 

Constable Bill Barker, 44, died as he joined rescue attempts, swept into the surging waters when a major bridge collapsed. Emergency services said more than 200 people were rescued in the hardest-hit town, Cockermouth and about 1,000 homes were flooded.

 

In a message to local officials, Queen Elizabeth II said she was “deeply concerned and saddened by the dreadful flooding across Britain.” British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Barker “was a very heroic, very brave man.”

 

Britain’s Met Office said a record 12.3 inches (314.4 millimeter) of rain fell in 24 hours in the area — the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in the U.K.

 

Cockermouth, a market town 330 miles (530 kilometers) northwest of London, lies at the junction of the Cocker and Derwent rivers and is known as the birthplace of poet William Wordsworth. The flood was “of biblical proportions,” local House of Commons lawmaker Tony Cunningham said.

 

Heavy rain and gales also brought widespread flooding to Ireland, as more than 3 feet (1 meter) of water shut down the center of the country’s second-largest city, Cork, and more than a dozen towns and villages. The Irish army was used to rescue the stranded from waist-deep floodwaters and a helicopter winched to safety a County Galway family of five, including the 87-year-old grandmother.

 

Floods caused transport chaos along Ireland’s western coast. At the Lake Hotel, on the shores of the fabled Killarney Lakes in County Kerry, about 170 guests at the Victorian period building were evacuated by tractor, as staff carried period furniture upstairs.

 

Irish weather forecasting service Met Eireann said parts of southern and western Ireland suffered their most intense and sustained rainfall in 30 years.

Source: www.news.yahoo.com

 

 

 

By Steve Connor and Michael McCarthy in The Independent(18 November 2009):

World on course for catastrophic 6° rise, reveal scientists

Fast-rising carbon emissions mean that worst-case predictions for climate change are coming true

The world is now firmly on course for the worst-case scenario in terms of climate change, with average global temperatures rising by up to 6C by the end of the century, leading scientists said yesterday.

Such a rise – which would be much higher nearer the poles – would have cataclysmic and irreversible consequences for the Earth, making large parts of the planet uninhabitable and threatening the basis of human civilisation.

We are headed for it, the scientists said, because the carbon dioxide emissions from industry, transport and deforestation which are responsible for warming the atmosphere have increased dramatically since 2002, in a way which no one anticipated, and are now running at treble the annual rate of the 1990s.

This means that the most extreme scenario envisaged in the last report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, published in 2007, is now the one for which society is set, according to the 31 researchers from seven countries involved in the Global Carbon Project.

Although the 6C rise and its potential disastrous effects have been speculated upon before, this is the first time that scientists have said that society is now on a path to meet it.

Their chilling and remarkable prediction throws into sharp relief the importance of next month’s UN climate conference in Copenhagen, where the world community will come together to try to construct a new agreement to bring the warming under control.

For the past month there has been a lowering of expectations about the conference, not least because the US may not be ready to commit itself to cuts in its emissions. But yesterday President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao of China issued a joint communiqué after a meeting in Beijing, which reignited hopes that a serious deal might be possible after all.

It cannot come too soon, to judge by the results of the Global Carbon Project study, led by Professor Corinne Le Quéré, of the University of East Anglia and the British Antarctic Survey, which found that there has been a 29 per cent increase in global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel between 2000 and 2008, the last year for which figures are available.

On average, the researchers found, there was an annual increase in emissions of just over 3 per cent during the period, compared with an annual increase of 1 per cent between 1990 and 2000. Almost all of the increase this decade occurred after 2000 and resulted from the boom in the Chinese economy. The researchers predict a small decrease this year due to the recession, but further increases from 2010.

In total, CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels have increased by 41 per cent between 1990 and 2008, yet global emissions in 1990 are the reference level set by the Kyoto Protocol, which countries are trying to fall below in terms of their own emissions.

The 6C rise now being anticipated is in stark contrast to the C rise at which all international climate policy, including that of Britain and the EU, hopes to stabilise the warming – two degrees being seen as the threshold of climate change which is dangerous for society and the natural world.

The study by Professor Le Quéré and her team, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, envisages a far higher figure. “We’re at the top end of the IPCC scenario,” she said.

Professor Le Quéré said that Copenhagen was the last chance of coming to a global agreement that would curb carbon-dioxide emissions on a time-course that would hopefully stabilise temperature rises to within the danger threshold. “The Copenhagen conference next month is in my opinion the last chance to stabilise climate at C above pre-industrial levels in a smooth and organised way,” she said.

“If the agreement is too weak, or the commitments not respected, it is not 2.5C or 3C we will get: it’s 5C or 6C – that is the path we’re on. The timescales here are extremely tight for what is needed to stabilise the climate at C,” she said.

Meanwhile, the scientists have for the first time detected a failure of the Earth’s natural ability to absorb man-made carbon dioxide released into the air.

They found significant evidence that more man-made CO2 is staying in the atmosphere to exacerbate the greenhouse effect because the natural “carbon sinks” that have absorbed it over previous decades on land and sea are beginning to fail, possibly as a result of rising global temperatures.

The amount of CO2 that has remained in the atmosphere as a result has increased from about 40 per cent in 1990 to 45 per cent in 2008. This suggests that the sinks are beginning to fail, they said.

Professor Le Quéré emphasised that there are still many uncertainties over carbon sinks, such as the ability of the oceans to absorb dissolved CO2, but all the evidence suggests that there is now a cycle of “positive feedbacks”, whereby rising carbon dioxide emissions are leading to rising temperatures and a corresponding rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

“Our understanding at the moment in the computer models we have used – and they are state of the art – suggests that carbon-cycle climate feedback has already kicked in,” she said.

“These models, if you project them on into the century, show quite large feedbacks, with climate amplifying global warming by between 5 per cent and 30 per cent. There are still large uncertainties, but this is carbon-cycle climate feedback that has already started,” she said.

The study also found that, for the first time since the 1960s, the burning of coal has overtaken the burning of oil as the major source of carbon-dioxide emissions produced by fossil fuels.

Much of this coal was burned by China in producing goods sold to the West – the scientists estimate that 45 per cent of Chinese emissions resulted from making products traded overseas.

It is clear that China, having overtaken the US as the world’s biggest carbon emitter, must be central to any new climate deal, and so the communiqué from the Chinese and US leaders issued yesterday was widely seized on as a sign that progress may be possible in the Danish capital next month.

Presidents Hu and Obama specifically said an accord should include emission-reduction targets for rich nations, and a declaration of action plans to ease greenhouse-gas emissions in developing countries – key elements in any deal.

If two degrees is generally accepted as the threshold of dangerous climate change, it is clear that a rise of six degrees in global average temperatures must be very dangerous indeed, writes Michael McCarthy. Just how dangerous was signalled in 2007 by the science writer Mark Lynas, who combed all the available scientific research to construct a picture of a world with temperatures three times higher than the danger limit.

His verdict was that a rise in temperatures of this magnitude “would catapult the planet into an extreme greenhouse state not seen for nearly 100 million years, when dinosaurs grazed on polar rainforests and deserts reached into the heart of Europe”.

He said: “It would cause a mass extinction of almost all life and probably reduce humanity to a few struggling groups of embattled survivors clinging to life near the poles.”

Very few species could adapt in time to the abruptness of the transition, he suggested. “With the tropics too hot to grow crops, and the sub-tropics too dry, billions of people would find themselves in areas of the planet which are essentially uninhabitable. This would probably even include southern Europe, as the Sahara desert crosses the Mediterranean.

“As the ice-caps melt, hundreds of millions will also be forced to move inland due to rapidly-rising seas. As world food supplies crash, the higher mid-latitude and sub-polar regions would become fiercely-contested refuges.

“The British Isles, indeed, might become one of the most desirable pieces of real estate on the planet. But, with a couple of billion people knocking on our door, things might quickly turn rather ugly.”

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Posted under Express 85

Working Women Hardest Hit

 

Women are more vulnerable to climate change than men and will continue to bear the brunt of extreme weather conditions unless more is done to educate and empower them. Poor women in poor countries are among the hardest hit by climate change, says UNFPA executive director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid.

 

By Valkerie Baynes for AAP  (18 November 18, 2009):

 

WOMEN are more vulnerable to climate change than men and will continue to bear the brunt of extreme weather conditions unless more is done to educate and empower them, a report has found.

 

The State of World Population 2009 report, released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) today, says women have been overlooked in discussions on how to combat rising seas, drought and melting glaciers.

 

According to the report, women are most vulnerable to climate change because in many countries they make up a larger proportion of the agricultural workforce and have fewer income-earning opportunities.

 

“Women manage households and care for family members, which often limits their mobility and increases their vulnerability to sudden weather-related natural disasters,” the report said.

 

“Drought and erratic rainfall force women to work harder to secure food, water and energy for their homes.

 

“Girls drop out of school to help their mothers with these tasks. The cycle of deprivation, poverty and inequality undermines the social capital needed to deal effectively with climate change.”

 

While women represent half the world’s adult population, they constitute a larger proportion of its poor, whose dependence on agriculture puts them at greater risk of losing their food sources and livelihoods in a disaster.

 

Poorer communities also tend to live in marginal areas, prone to flooding, rising seas and storms.

The report suggested education and health programs aimed at women could help in the fight against climate change.

 

“Girls with more education, for example, tend to have smaller and healthier families as adults,” it said.

 

“Women with access to reproductive health services, including family planning, have lower fertility rates that contribute to slower growth in greenhouse-gas emissions in the long run.”

 

UNFPA executive director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said next month’s climate change summit in Copenhagen must focus not only on how best to reduce carbon emissions and financial responsibilities.

 

The talks must also take into account the power of individuals to reverse the effects of global warming.

 

“Poor women in poor countries are among the hardest hit by climate change, even though they contributed the least to it,” she said.

 

“With the possibility of a climate catastrophe on the horizon, we cannot afford to relegate the world’s 3.4 billion women and girls to the role of victim.”

 

Source: www.theaustralian.com.au

Posted under Express 85

Australia Leads in Per Capita Emissions

Emissions are continuing to rise at 2% a year, even though carbon dioxide levels are slightly lower than previous years due to the global financial crisis.  But Australia still holds the lead with the highest per capita among developed nations, Dr Michael Raupach of the Global Carbon Project reports.

 

On ABC AM (18 November 2009)::

 

TONY EASTLEY: It’s an annual global snapshot that gives world leaders a solid idea of how the planet is tracking with its carbon emissions.

 

And the latest audit, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, has found that emissions are continuing to rise at 2 per cent a year, and Australia still holds the lead with the highest per capita among developed nations.

 

There’s some good news though, carbon dioxide levels are slightly lower than previous years due to the global financial crisis.

 

But as environment reporter Sarah Clarke explains, that good news, may be short lived.

 

SARAH CLARKE: It’s one of the few positives out of the global financial crisis – a hope that a slowdown in the economy may translate to a reduction in the planet’s emissions.

 

But the latest audit by the Global Carbon Project has found carbon dioxide levels from human activities are still on the increase at around 2 per cent per year or 1.3 tonnes of carbon per capita.

 

However, that’s slightly down on previous years, but it’s a trend that’s unlikely to stay. Dr Michael Raupach is from the CSIRO and one of 30 scientists contributing to the audit.

 

MICHAEL RAUPACH: That’s a little bit less than through the previous seven or eight years when they’d been increasing at over 3 per cent per year. So there has been a slow up, it’s partly the beginning of the effect of the global financial crisis.

 

By 2011 emissions will have recovered to something like 3 per cent per year – roughly what they were before the financial crisis began.

 

SARAH CLARKE: Scientists blame an increasing use of coal for the continuing rise in carbon emissions, and growth from developing countries like China where exports and the production of manufactured goods are booming.

 

MICHAEL RAUPACH: China at the moment has a growth rate for both its economy and its emissions of the order of 10 per cent per year.

 

So with growth rates like that it’s pretty well inevitable that there’ll be a continuing increase in that fraction of fossil fuel emissions coming from developing countries.

 

SARAH CLARKE: But Australia didn’t come out clean either – the 2008 assessment found the nation’s CO2 levels are continuing to rise, and among developed nations Australia has the lead on a per capita basis.

 

Michael Raupach from the CSIRO again:

 

MICHAEL RAUPACH: In the basket of developed countries we compare obviously with the US whose emissions are almost flat at the moment, countries like Canada, with the European Union. And in almost all of those cases we exceed the emissions rates of those countries.

 

SARAH CLARKE: Based on this latest audit, these scientists say the planet is continuing to track close to the worst case scenario with carbon dioxide emissions estimated to have increased by 41 per cent since 1990 levels.

 

Professor Matthew England from the University of New South Wales warns if those levels aren’t stabilised, or reduced, then the outlook for the planet looks bleak.

 

MATTHEW ENGLAND: We’re looking toward, say at the end of this century, being at a global average warming of up to 7 degrees Celsius if this goes on for many more decades. And that level of climate change is in some sense unthinkable.

 

TONY EASTLEY: Professor Matthew England from the University of New South Wales ending that report from environment reporter Sarah Clarke.

 

Source: www.abc.net.au and www.globalcarbonproject.org