Biochar Gets A Big Boost From US Research Findings

As much as 12% of the world’s human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be sustainably offset by producing biochar, a charcoal-like substance made from plants and other organic materials. That’s more than what could be offset if the same plants and materials were burned to generate energy, concludes a study published in the journal Nature Communications.

Nature Communications Journal (10 August 2010):

Charcoal takes some heat off global warming

Biochar can offset 1.8 billion metric tons of carbon emissions annually

As much as 12 percent of the world’s human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be sustainably offset by producing biochar, a charcoal-like substance made from plants and other organic materials. That’s more than what could be offset if the same plants and materials were burned to generate energy, concludes a study published today in the journal Nature Communications.

“These calculations show that biochar can play a significant role in the solution for the planet’s climate change challenge,” said study co-author Jim Amonette, a soil chemist at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. “Biochar offers one of the few ways we can create power while decreasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. And it improves food production in the world’s poorest regions by increasing soil fertility. It’s an amazing tool.”

The study is the most thorough and comprehensive analysis to date on the global potential of biochar. The carbon-packed substance was first suggested as a way to counteract climate change in 1993. Scientists and policymakers have given it increasing attention in the past few years. The study was conducted by Dominic Woolf and Alayne Street-Perrott of Swansea University in Wales, U.K., Johannes Lehmann of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Stephen Joseph of the University of New South Wales, Australia, and Amonette.

Biochar is made by decomposing biomass like plants, wood and other organic materials at high temperature in a process called slow pyrolysis. Normally, biomass breaks down and releases its carbon into the atmosphere within a decade or two. But biochar is more stable and can hold onto its carbon for hundreds or even thousands of years, keeping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide out of the air longer. Other biochar benefits include: improving soils by increasing their ability to retain water and nutrients; decreasing nitrous oxide and methane emissions from the soil into which it is tilled; and, during the slow pyrolysis process, producing some bio-based gas and oil that can offset emissions from fossil fuels.

Making biochar sustainably requires heating mostly residual biomass with modern technologies that recover energy created during biochar’s production and eliminate the emissions of methane and nitrous oxide, the study also noted.

Crunching numbers and biomass

For their study, the researchers looked to the world’s sources of biomass that aren’t already being used by humans as food. For example, they considered the world’s supply of corn leaves and stalks, rice husks, livestock manure and yard trimmings, to name a few. The researchers then calculated the carbon content of that biomass and how much of each source could realistically be used for biochar production.

With this information, they developed a mathematical model that could account for three possible scenarios. In one, the maximum possible amount of biochar was made by using all sustainably available biomass. Another scenario involved a minimal amount of biomass being converted into biochar, while the third offered a middle course. The maximum scenario required significant changes to the way the entire planet manages biomass, while the minimal scenario limited biochar production to using biomass residues and wastes that are readily available with few changes to current practices.

Amonette and his colleagues found that the maximum scenario could offset up to the equivalent of 1.8 petagrams – or 1.8 billion metric tons – of carbon emissions annually and a total of 130 billion metric tons throughout in the first 100 years. Avoided emissions include the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The estimated annual maximum offset is 12 percent of the 15.4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions that human activity adds to the atmosphere each year. Researchers also calculated that the minimal scenario could sequester just under 1 billion metric tons annually and 65 billion metric tons during the same period.

But to achieve any of these offsets is no small task, Amonette noted.

“This can’t be accomplished with half-hearted measures,” Amonette said. “Using biochar to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at these levels is an ambitious project that requires significant commitments from the general public and government. We will need to change the way we value the carbon in biomass.”

Experiencing the full benefits of biochar will take time. The researchers’ model shows it will take several decades to ramp up biochar production to its maximum possible level. Greenhouse gas offsets would continue past the century mark, but Amonette and colleagues just calculated for the first 100 years.

Biochar and bioenergy work together

Instead of making biochar, biomass can also be burned to produce bioenergy from heat. Researchers found that burning the same amount of biomass used in their maximum biochar scenario would offset 107 billion metric tons of carbon emissions during the first century. The bioenergy offset, while substantial, was 23 metric tons less than the offset from biochar. Researchers attributed this difference to a positive feedback from the addition of biochar to soils. By improving soil conditions, biochar increases plant growth and therefore creates more biomass for biochar productions. Adding biochar to soils can also decrease nitrous oxide and methane emissions that are naturally released from soil.

However, Amonette and his co-authors wrote that a flexible approach including the production of biochar in some areas and bioenergy in others would create optimal greenhouse gas offsets. Their study showed that biochar would be most beneficial if it were tilled into the planet’s poorest soils, such as those in the tropics and the Southeastern United States.

Those soils, which have lost their ability to hold onto nutrients during thousands of years of weathering, would become more fertile with the extra water and nutrients the biochar would help retain. Richer soils would increase the crop and biomass growth – and future biochar sources – in those areas. Adding biochar to the most infertile cropland would offset greenhouse gases by 60 percent more than if bioenergy were made using the same amount of biomass from that location, the researchers found.

On the other hand, the authors wrote that bioenergy production could be better suited for areas that already have rich soils – such as the Midwest – and that also rely on coal for energy. Their analysis showed that bioenergy production on fertile soils would offset the greenhouse gas emissions of coal-fired power plants by 16 to 22 percent more than biochar in the same situation.

Plantations need not apply

The study also shows how sustainable practices can make the biochar that creates these offsets.

“The scientific community has been split on biochar,” Amonette acknowledged. “Some think it’ll ruin biodiversity and require large biomass plantations. But our research shows that won’t be the case if the right approach is taken.”

The authors’ estimates of avoided emissions were developed by assuming no agricultural or previously unmanaged lands will be converted for biomass crop production. Other sustainability criteria included leaving enough biomass residue on the soil to prevent erosion, not using crop residues currently eaten by livestock, not adding biochar made from treated building materials to agricultural soils and requiring that only modern pyrolysis technologies – those that fully recover energy released during the process and eliminate soot, methane and nitrous oxide emissions – be used for biochar production.

“Roughly half of biochar’s climate-mitigation potential is due to its carbon storage abilities,” Amonette said. “The rest depends on the efficient recovery of the energy created during pyrolysis and the positive feedback achieved when biochar is added to soil. All of these are needed for biochar to reach its full sustainable potential.”

###

The study was funded by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy, the Cooperative State Research Service of the Department of Agriculture, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the United Kingdom’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and VenEarth Group LLC.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is a Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory where interdisciplinary teams advance science and technology and deliver solutions to America’s most intractable problems in energy, the environment and national security. PNNL employs 4,700 staff, has an annual budget of nearly $1.1 billion, and has been managed by Ohio-based Battelle since the lab’s inception in 1965.

Source: www.eurekalert.org

Boco Rock To Produce Enough Wind Power for 120,000 Homes

Wind Prospect’s Boco Rock Wind Farm in New South Wales has been given the go ahead for up to 122 wind turbines spread over 17 different properties and the potential to produce over 840,000 megawatt hours of electricity per annum. Meanwhile The Climate Group reports that wind power generation across the eastern states grew by 40% last year as several large farms began operating.

Wind Prospect announcement (10 August 2010):

Wind Prospect CWP is pleased to announce that the Boco Rock Wind Farm has been granted Development Approval by the NSW Government. The project, located 6 km south west of Nimmitabel and approximately 40 km south of Cooma on the Monaro plains, will comprise up to 122 wind turbines spread over 17 different properties.

The wind farm has the potential to produce over 840,000 megawatt hours of electricity per annum; enough energy to supply over 120,000 average Australian homes.

Boco Rock Wind Farm will cost in the order of $700 million to build and up to 40% of that total will be injected into the Australian economy through construction and supply contracts. In addition it is estimated that over 240 jobs could be created through pre-construction and construction works, with a further 15 to 20 permanent positions required for ongoing operation and maintenance activities once the wind farm has been built.

“We aim to begin construction mid-2011 with the first clean, green electricity flowing from the site by mid- 2012. Full commissioning is expected to occur in 2013” said Ed Mounsey, Wind Prospect CWP’s Development Director.

The project will also generate additional benefits for the local area around the wind farm. A community fund will be created to provide up to $305,000 per annum to be spent on projects chosen by local people. Conservation areas will also be established to be managed by local landowners. “These conservation areas are important as, in addition to retaining the natural biodiversity of the area, they allow participating landowners to follow less intensive and more sustainable farming practices particularly during times of drought”, Mr Mounsey concluded.

However, Mr Mounsey also adds, “a project of this size, whilst significant, will only account for 2% of the Federal Government’s expanded renewable energy target. With wind energy the lowest cost renewable energy provider it is necessary for state and federal governments and regulators to continue to create the right policy, regulatory and commercial environment to encourage both the development and financing of such projects”.

Wind Prospect CWP Pty Ltd is an independent wind farm development company situated in Newcastle, New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

The company is a partnership between the Wind Prospect Group and Continental Wind Partners and together have a portfolio of over 2,000 MW’s in NSW alone at various stages of development.

Source: www.windprospect.com.au

Adam Morton in Sydney Morning Herald (9 August 2010):

Wind power generation across the eastern states grew by 40 per cent last year as several large farms began operating.

A Climate Group report on electricity generation and its emissions, covering all states except Western Australia, found 83 per cent of power used in 2009 came from greenhouse-intensive coal. Nine per cent was from renewable sources – mainly hydro power – and 8 per cent from gas.

The biggest growth from renewable sources was from wind turbines, which fed 4.1 million megawatt hours into the national electricity grid. The increase was boosted by the opening of the largest wind farm at Waubra, north-west of Ballarat.

Wind supplies about 2 per cent of total power across the eastern seaboard. This is expected to grow dramatically over the next decade as wind farms are built to meet the bulk of the national 20 per cent renewable energy target.

The growth in renewable power last year meant emissions were about 2 million tonnes lower than if the electricity had come from coal.

Source: www.smh.com.au

Teaching Climate Change To Boost Science Student Uptake

Tackling modern problems such as climate change is a key element of a new program to fight the chronic problem of older secondary students shunning the subject of science. Targeting year 9 and 10 students, trials of the locally developed science program known as STELR – Science and Technology Education Leveraging Relevance – have proved so successful that it has secured Federal Government funding and will be rolled out to 180 schools next year.

Saving planet may lure students back to science

By Bridie Smith in The Age (8 August 2010):

TACKLING modern problems such as climate change is a key element of a new program to fight the chronic problem of older secondary students shunning the subject of science.

Targeting year 9 and 10 students, trials of the locally developed science program known as STELR – Science and Technology Education Leveraging Relevance – have proved so successful that it has secured Federal Government funding and will be rolled out to 180 schools next year.

The brainchild of Alan Finkel, Monash University chancellor and director of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering [and co-founder of COSMOS], the six-week program puts science in a contemporary context, encouraging students to grapple with issues such as climate change and renewable energy.

It’s the first time the academy has designed a program to work within the school curriculum and Dr Finkel, who will discuss the program on Wednesday at the National Press Club, said this was a significant step.

”The extra curriculum programs we’ve been involved with tend to preach to the converted … and while if it wasn’t for those programs I think the participation rate would be lower, they have not been adequate to stop the decline of the 1980s and 1990s,” he said.

Research has shown students are concerned about the health of their planet. A survey by the Australian Childhood Foundation found 52 per cent of children were worried about not having enough water in the future and 44 per cent were worried about the effects of climate change.

One participant in the STELR trials was Nita Cheung, 16, who made miniaturised wind turbines, solar panels and converted vegetable oils and sugars to biological fuels. ”It’s easier than reading notes on a board and you feel like you learn more by making things,” the year 10 Northcote High School student said.

Her classmate Rowan Watson, 16, said the program had ”made science interesting”.

”I’ve learnt things I wouldn’t have expected,” he said.

According to the Australian Council for Educational Research, about 55 per cent of year 12 students studied biology in 1976, while 29 per cent studied chemistry and 28 per cent physics. That has fallen to just a quarter of year 12 students who study biology, 18 per cent chemistry and 15 per cent physics.

Dr Finkel said it was vital this trend was reversed. ”We’re now at a low base and don’t have enough students going through the pipeline to meet the job demands of the future,” he said

Source: www.cosmosmagazine.com

Here’s a Lucky Last minute alert for Sydneysiders and visitors to make sure of attendance the Beyond Zero Emissions seminar in the Sydney Town Hall. And a chance to hear from Malcolm Turnbull and Bob Carr on the merits of this bold and expansive plan to turn Australia into a renewable energy powerhouse.

We’ll be there, fresh from the Climate Change and Business Conference, which has seen politicians strutting their stuff and real business leaders telling it as it needs to be. More reports next week.

While this weekend, Brisbane is the place to be. On Saturday there’s the Make Poverty History event at Bulimba when yours truly will have his say. There’s even a chance Kevin Rudd will make an appearance.

On Sunday, Walk Against Warming in Brisbane city will have a decided election campaign feeling. People and organisations will be out in force to remind politicians of the importance of real climate change policy to vote on instead of more deferral. Read More

Beyond Zero Emissions                    

If you care about clean energy, make sure you read this amazing report or participate in forthcoming launches which are happening in many of the capital cities around Australia.

The Sydney launch is happening on 18 August and is a star-studded affair with speakers like:

• Hon. Bob Carr – Former NSW Premier
• Hon. Malcolm Turnbull – Federal MP for Wentworth
• Senator Scott Ludlam – Federal Senator WA
• Matthew Wright – Executive Director Beyond Zero Emissions
• Allan Jones MBE – Chief Development Officer, Energy & Climate Change, City of Sydney
• MC – Quentin Dempster – journalist and broadcaster

Stay tuned for a date/venue for Brisbane’s launch.

The plan is the culmination of over 12 months and thousands of hours of pro bono work by engineers, scientists and postgraduate students.  The plan is a collaboration between the climate solutions think tank Beyond Zero Emissions, and the University of Melbourne Energy Institute.  This plan is unique in Australia.  It has been put together in a collaborative way involving over 50 technical experts.

It is a detailed and costed blueprint for transitioning our stationary energy sector to 100% renewable energy in ten years. The technologies utilised in this plan are commercially available now.

Check out the comments from international experts applauding the report at the website:

http://www.beyondzeroemissions.org/

or

http://www.energy.unimelb.edu.au/uploads/ZCA2020_Stationary_Energy_Report_v1.pdf

Don’t have time to read the report?

Listen to a radio interview with Phillip Adams at: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2010/2960195.htm

Phillip interviews Matthew Wright from Beyond Zero Emissions and co-author of Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan, Michael Shellenberger, the President and Co founder of the Breakthrough Institute, California and Don Henry, Executive Director, Australian Conservation Foundation.

Alternatively, hear Matthew’s speech at the Tasmanian launch at: http://vimeo.com/13173432

Make Poverty History

 Voters in the seat of Griffith will have the chance to learn and engage with the issue of the impact of climate change on poor and developing communities this Saturday 14th August at 3pm at Lourdes Hill College: Duhig Hall 86 Hawthorne Rd. Bulimba. Climate Change is an issue that is important to millions of Australians, but one in which the 2 major parties have been fairly quiet on so far this election.

Forum organiser Gillian Marshall (World Vision) states: “Climate change will affect everyone, but it will affect poor people in developing countries first and most dramatically. Yet it’s rich countries like Australia that produced the vast majority of carbon emission that have caused climate change.”

This forum is part of a national series of electorate forums around the country normally connecting local constituents, particularly in marginal seats, with the three major parties to hear about their policies relating to global poverty. Kevin Rudd MP, the member for Griffith has been invited to the forum this weekend and has expressed his support for Make Poverty History in the past. Organisers still await a response from his office.

Speakers will include Ken Hickson (ABC Carbon and Governor of WWF Australia) Dr Ken Anthony (Global Change Institute) and the event will be moderated by Phil Smith from 612 local ABC radio. The program and speakers will remain but the program will be a movable feast if Rudd MP chooses to attend. If this is the case, the panel will also include Griffith Greens candidate: Emma Kate Rose and Executive Director of Oxfam and Co-Chair of MPH: Andrew Hewett.

Ken Hickson, author “The ABC of Carbon” and speaker at the event; Is convinced that climate change will make matters so much worse for millions of people already living close to the edge in developing countries. “They are the most vulnerable, as extreme weather conditions, temperature increases and rising sea levels will seriously affect food production and life itself.”

The Make Poverty History event is to get voters to consider policy around this issue, particularly parties greenhouse emission targets, which should be 40% from 1990 levels by 2020 and Australia’s fair share of funding for adaptation and mitigation against the worst affects of climate change which should be additional to aid level commitments.

Griffith MPH/MDG Forum

When: Saturday 14th August: Gather from 2.30pm till 4pm (Afternoon tea from 2.30pm).

Where: Lourdes Hill College: 86 Hawthorne Rd. Bulimba, Duhig Hall

Who: Moderator: Phil Smith (612 ABC Radio), Ken Hickson (Director ABC Carbon), Dr. Ken

Anthony (Global Change Institute) local international speaker, MPH, The Lyrical (band).

Kevin Rudd MP (ALP), Emma Kate Rose (Greens) and Rebecca Docherty (LNP) have been

invited.                                          

RSVP: m.hughes@theoaktree.org or P: 0448 280 117

Walk against warming

All political party leaders and one significant former leader have been invited to march in unity for a healthy climate. Larissa Waters from the Greens has already accepted, we hope the others who have campaigned all over Brisbane will join the people and Unite For A Healthy Climate!

We hope our leaders seeking election re-consider and all offer real climate change policy to vote on instead of more deferral, we don’t want the Office of Climate Change to effectively be the Office Of No Change!

Linda Selvey (CEO Greenpeace), Wanita Limpus (Kiribati Australia), Professor Ian Lowe, Graham Readfearn, John Schluter and Toby Hutcheon will also be there, along with Q-Song finalist The Medics performing in a free concert with legendary Coloured Stone frontman Bunna Lawrie and local favourite Gowiiee Pa’ul. There will be great festival food with Flowers of the World, Conscious Kitchen and Orgazmic Langos along with all the great conservation and solar energy exhibits.

You could be the tipping point for a cooler Australia to Unite For a Healthy Climate. Be there this Sunday from 11am!

                        Walk Against Warming 2010

Sponsors: Australian Ethical Investment, B105, Channel 7, Greenfest, Greenpeace, Oxfam, The Jack Thompson Foundation, The Printing Office, The Wilderness Society, Triple M, Queensland Conservation Council, Quest Community Newspapers

Exhibitors: Australian Ethical Investment, Australian Marine Conservation, Australian Certified Organic, Biological Farmers of Australia, Climate Change Networks Queensland, Conscious Kitchen, Flowers of the World, Orgazmic Langos, Oxfam, Sea Shepherd, Solar Guys, Solahart, The Greens, The Wilderness Society. To secure one of the last two available exhibitor sites apply here, exhibitors stalls open from 10:00

Morning MC: John Schluter Channel 7

Afternoon MC: Graham Readfearn Read Graham’s new site after The Green Blog here

10:00 Exhibitor Stalls Open

11:00 Welcome to Country: Aunty Carol Currie (Council of Elders)

11:15 Queensland Conservation Council – Toby Hutcheon

11:30 Unite for a Healthy Climate – Jack Thompson

11:35 Walk Against Warming 2010: Enjoy walking in unity for a cooler Australia through the city streets. Route is King George Square, Adelaide St, Edward St, Mary St, George St, Adelaide St, King George Square.

12:30 Ian Lowe – President ACF

13:00 Linda Selvey – CEO Greenpeace

13:15 Wanita Limpus – Kiribati Australia

13:30 Music: Bunna Lawrie (Coloured Stone)

14:30 Music: The Medics (Q Song Finalists and Deadly Award Winners)

15:30 End

You can be the tipping point, on the last Sunday before the election, for a cooler Australian economy transformed by clean energy, transportation and healthier outcomes for all. Let’s call on our leaders to provide real climate change policy to vote on instead of more deferral.

“The Fierce Urgency of Now”

When Martin Luther King said that he could have been talking about climate change and the devastating consequences of inaction. Disasters abound around the world right now and we are forced to look beyond the ongoing Australian election campaign, which gives many of us little hope to get our teeth into. Pakistan, Russia, China and California are all having to deal with the devastating consequences of extreme weather and, as Munich Re tells us from its most  in-depth studies, this is what we have to come to expect based on climate change scenarios. Bad, but true. We cannot go past Professor Ross Garnaut to salute this week for his outspoken views on Government inaction and leadership woes.  Some big events are coming up which might help demonstrate that the community at large – and business notably – are not standing back waiting for a lead from Government. Look out for the pre-election Walk Against Warming in Brisbane, Beyond Zero Emissions plan for a 100% renewable energy future, and the Climate Change and Business Conference in Sydney. We acknowledge some innovations in transport from China, a study on car use versus air transport, and what the Northern Territory is doing for conservation and the climate. We also have some Green Deals to consider, what London is doing about wind power and what Lend Lease wants to do with solar. Food security raises its ugly head and scientists weigh up whether they are communicating effectively. We reserve the last word for a personalised revisitation to Singapore and what we managed to uncover. – Ken Hickson

Profile: Professor Ross Garnaut

Leaping into the political fray, Professor Ross Garnaut, author of the Government-sponsored Climate Change Review, says Australia’s position on climate change “is weak only because of an extraordinary failure of leadership”. Worst of all, he says, neither of the major political parties has committed itself to policies that can get us anywhere near even the unconditional commitment to 5% reduction from 2000 levels by 2020,”

Paul Kelly, Editor-at-large, The Australian (6 August 2010): 

PROMINENT adviser to the Labor government Ross Garnaut has attacked both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.

He has accused them of a failure of leadership in tackling climate change.

In his 2010 Hamer Oration last night, Professor Garnaut attacked Mr Rudd for an abdication of leadership, and warned that the current Prime Minister had repeated her predecessor’s blunder with her own climate change retreat.

Professor Garnaut made a point of criticising political advisers who gave priority to “short-term politics”.

Australia’s position on climate change “is weak only because of an extraordinary failure of leadership”, he said.

Referring to Mr Rudd’s advisers, he said: “They ignored the crucial respect for and role of leadership in the democratic process. In accepting their advice, Kevin Rudd abdicated the leadership of Australia and set the scene for the destruction of his prime ministership.

“More curious, given the Rudd experience, is the acceptance of similar advice from the same advisers by the new and current Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. The (Gillard) statement on climate change policy on Friday, July 23, has precipitated a collapse of political support that is reminiscent of the Rudd abdication.”

Speaking at the University of Melbourne, Professor Garnaut said these collective failures represented “the nadir of the early 21st-century political culture, in which short-term politics and accession to sectional pressures has held sway over leadership and analysis of the national interest”.

He said the paradox in these decisions was the majority public support in Australia for climate change action. This should have opened the way to effective political leadership.

The reality, however, was that Australia was conspicuous “for the weakness of its unconditional commitments” on targets.

“Worst of all, neither of the major political parties has committed itself to policies that can get us anywhere near even the unconditional commitment to 5 per cent reduction from 2000 levels by 2020,” he said.

He said the necessary policy had two elements: an adequate price on carbon and devoting much of the revenue from selling emissions permits to support new low-carbon technologies.

“Leadership is an essential missing ingredient in contemporary public policy,” he said. “Omitted, all the voyage of our lives is bound in shallows and miseries.”

Source:  www.theaustralian.com.au

Professor Ross Garnaut

Ross Garnaut is an economist whose career has been built around the analysis of and practice of policy connected to development, economic policy and international relations in Australia, Asia and the Pacific. He has held senior roles in universities, business, government and other Australian and international institutions.

He is Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow and Professorial Fellow in Economics at The University of Melbourne. He is also Distinguished Professor of Economics at The Australian National University. In December 2009, Ross was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, from the Australian National University.

Ross is Chairman of Lihir Gold Limited and Chairman of the Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Program Limited.

Ross was Head of the Economics Department and Division of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at The Australian National University for over a decade from 1989. He played leading roles from the mid-seventies until 2009 in building The Australian National University’s capacity in research and graduate education on Southeast Asia, China (including as Chairman of the China Economy and Business Programme from its foundation in 1989 to 2009), and South Asia. He is the author or editor (alone or jointly with others) of 37 books and numerous influential articles in scholarly journals and books on international economics, public finance, and economic development. He has been Chairman of the Editorial Boards of the journals Asian-Pacific Economic Literature and Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies since 1989. Ross is a founding Director of both the Lowy Institute of International Policy and of Asialink. He was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Food Policy Research Institute (Washington DC) from 2006 to June 2010.

He has held a number of senior Government positions, including as head of the Financial and Economic Policy Division of the Papua New Guinea Department of Finance in the years straddling Independence in 1975; principal economic adviser to Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke; Australian Ambassador to China (1985-88). He has led many high-level Government Reviews and Commissions, including the preparation of the Report to the Australian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister ‘Australia and the Northeast Asian Ascendency’ (1989); the Review of the Wool Industry (1993); the Review of Commonwealth-State Funding (2002); and the Garnaut Climate Change Review (2008). He has led Australian diplomatic missions interacting at Head of Government level to Asian countries on trade policy (1984), to Korea (1989) and the ANC in South Africa.

Ross has been consulted on trade policy and relations with Asia and the Pacific from time to time by the Prime Minister and senior Ministers of successive Australian governments since the Fraser Government (1975-1983).

He has held positions as Chairman of the boards of large Australian and international public companies continuously since 1988, including the Bank of Western Australia, the Primary Industry Bank of Australia and Aluminium Smelters of Victoria.

Ross and his wife Jayne have farming interests on the southwest slopes of New South Wales. He was Chairman of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research from 1994 to 2000.

Source: www.rossgarnaut.com.au

Fires & Floods. Russia, China, Pakistan.  What’s the world coming too?

Devastation from extreme weather continues its race across the northern hemisphere. Wildfires and soaring temperatures in Russia have wreaked havoc, with the Government looking for someone to blame. In Pakistan, 1500 people are feared dead and some three million affected in the worst flooding ever experienced.  A continuing wave of disastrous flooding in  China is severely testing the Three Gorges Dam, which officials have boasted could withstand floods so severe they come only once every 10 000 years.

By Isabel Gorst and Courtney Weaver for Washington Post (4 August 2010):

MOSCOW — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday broke off his vacation and ordered an investigation into the wildfires that have swept across the country, blaming local and military authorities for mismanagement.

Medvedev rushed back to Moscow from his vacation residence in Sochi in southern Russia, and ordered a meeting of senior safety officials, including the minister of defense. He said criminal cases would be opened into officials who had not fulfilled their duties.

The Kremlin has been criticized for failing to prepare for and contain the fires, which have killed 48 people and scorched some 1,885 square kilometers of land. On Wednesday, 520 wildfires were burning around central and western Russia, nine fewer than the day before.

“The situation with forest fires in the country has on the whole stabilised but remains tense and dangerous,” said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Medvedev’s move came as swathes of forest, farmland and peat bogs continued to burn, and the Russian capital was shrouded in increasingly acrid smog.

Fires around the industrial city of Vyksa in the Nizhny Novgorod region east of Moscow, sent clouds of choking smoke billowing over farmland and forests, where expanses of charred pine and birch trees could be seen, often still smoldering.

Officials said the smoke was hindering the battle to douse the flames, preventing firefighting aircraft from entering the area.

Valery Shantsev, the governor of Nizhny Novgorod, said firefighters were winning the battle, but warned the region would remain at risk until the heat wave and drought abated.

Weather forecasters have warned that temperatures will remain abnormally high for at least 10 more days and that no respite from the drought is in sight.

 Shantsev said at least 13 of 18 wildfires in the region had been brought under control as thousands of firefighters, soldiers and volunteers joined the battle to contain the crisis.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

BBC Report (4 August 2010):  

The BBC’s Orla Guerin joined a Pakistani army helicopter crew on a mission into the disaster zone:

Poor weather is bringing more misery to Pakistan as authorities battle to contain record flooding, with yet more heavy rain forecast.

Rain is falling in parts of the north and east, with villages badly damaged and crops destroyed in fertile Punjab.

Meanwhile bloated rivers are carrying the floodwaters south.

Many of the displaced are openly and angrily asking why President Asif Ali Zardari is on a visit to the UK such a time of crisis, correspondents say.

At a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told ministers to speed up relief efforts, the AFP news agency reported.

The army insists it has mounted an effective rescue operation and says aid is now reaching those hit by the floods.

But thousands of displaced living in makeshift camps are still waiting for food and water – and say they do not expect it to come from the government but private individuals from neighbouring districts.

About 1,500 people are feared to have died and aid agencies say some three million have been affected by the flooding.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

By Chi-chi Zhang for AP (29 July 2010):

 BEIJING — Record-high water levels put the capacity of China’s massive Three Gorges Dam to the test Wednesday after heavy rains raged on across the country, compounding flooding problems that already have left more than 1,200 people dead or missing.

The dam’s water flow reached 56,000 cubic meters per second (1.96 million cubic feet) Wednesday morning, the biggest peak flow this year with the water level reaching 518 feet (158 meters), the official Xinhua News Agency reported, about 10 percent less than the dam’s maximum capacity.

Chinese officials for years have boasted the dam could withstand floods so severe they come only once every 10,000 years. The dam is the world’s largest hydroelectric project and was also built to end centuries of floods along the Yangtze River basin.

Floods this year have killed at least 823 people, with 437 missing, and have caused tens of billions of dollars in damage, the State Flood Control and Drought Prevention reported. More heavy rains are expected for the southeast, southwest and northeast parts of the country through Thursday.

Thousands of workers sandbagged riverbanks and checked reservoirs in Wuhan city in central Hubei province in preparation for potential floods expected to flow from the swollen Yangtze and Han rivers, an official with the Yangtze Water Resources Commission said Wednesday. He was surnamed Zhang but refused to give his full name as it common with Chinese officials.

“Right now, the Han river in Hubei province is on the verge breaching warning levels,” said Zhang.

The Han is expected to rise this week to its highest level in two decades, Xinhua reported.

Though China experiences heavy rains every summer, flooding this year is the worst in more than a decade, as the flood-prone Yangtze River Basin has seen 15 percent more rains than in an average year, Duan Yihong, director of the National Meteorological Center, said in a transcript of an interview Wednesday posted on the Xinhua website.

Source: www.chinapost.com.tw

Extreme Weather Events Live Up to Climate Predictions

2010 is looking like a watershed year for extreme weather, living up to the worst climate change predictions. The first half of 2010 was the hottest on record and was way above average for the number and intensity of extreme weather events. A single weather event is not proof of climate change but the sum total of events constitutes a clear chain of evidence which is backed up by additional meteorological readings, according to Munich Re. Tourists and residents at a popular vacation resort in the French Alps have been warned that they could be drowned if a giant water pocket under a glacier on Mont Blanc bursts.

Report from NewsCore (4 August 2010):

TOURISTS and residents at a popular vacation resort in the French Alps have been warned that they could be drowned if a giant water pocket under a glacier on Mont Blanc bursts.

The pocket, under the Tete-Rousse glacier on the French Alpine slopes, contains the equivalent of 26 Olympic swimming pools and was described by the National Center for Scientific Research as a “pressure cooker.”

It would take just 15 minutes for the pocket to flood St. Gervais valley, a noted vacation spot and home to 3000 people, researchers said.

There would be “a brutal emptying of water which carries along everything in its path,” said Christian Vincent, a geophysics engineer with the center. Vincent said a torrent of mud six to eight times bigger than the original volume of water would be created if the water was released.

Although sirens were set up, the evacuation plan was greeted with skepticism.

“We’d have no chance,” a tourist said.

At least 175 valley dwellers were drowned by an estimated 80,000 cubic meters of water the last time a similar pocket burst, on July 12, 1892.

The pocket, which contains 65,000 cubic meters of water, was discovered by scientists using magnetic resonance imaging. Glaciologists will spend two months trying to pump out 25,000 cubic meters of water from one part of the pocket and hope to obtain a precise location for the remaining 40,000 cubic meters.

Vincent said that the most likely explanation for the formation of the pocket was a period of particularly cold temperatures within the glacier, freezing the water’s escape routes. This may be a result of global warming, which has reduced the snow covering on the glacier and exposed it to the cold.

Source: www.heraldsun.com.au

From Munich Re: Analyses performed by Munich Re’s natural catastrophe database, the most comprehensive in the world, substantiate this increase (in extreme weather events): the number of extreme weather events like windstorm and floods has tripled since 1980, and the trend is expected to persist.

Here’s a slice from a report from Dr Sandra Schuster, a meteorologist with Munich Re, Sydney, who has just been appointed as a Lead Author (WG2) for IPCC AR5. It is based on a paper on natural catastrophes and climate change she presented at a seminar for the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

Conclusion:

Natural catastrophes, especially weather related events, are increasing dramatically in number and magnitude, both globally and in Australia.

• There is more and more scientific evidence for causal links between global warming and increasing frequencies and intensities of natural catastrophes.

• For Australia/Oceania the Southern Oscillation Index shows a correlation with loss frequency and severity.

• We have to mitigate global warming and adapt to the changing risks in respect to the regionally specific risk patterns.

• Mitigation and adaptation measures open up great economic chances for companies and countries being on the forefront in these processes.

• Natural catastrophes are still insurable. However we have to adapt our risk assessment, our modeling, our rates, our risk selection and accumulation control continuously.

• With our long experience we have created a unique expertise on natural catastrophe risks in the changing world and are happy to share this within our industry, with government authorities and the UNFCCC- community.

For more from this report and further information on climate change impacts, visit the Munich re website.

Source: www.munichre.com

The Emissions Race is on Between Cars, Buses & Jets

Driving a car increases global temperatures in the long run, more than making the same long-distance journey by air according to a new study. However, in the short run travelling by air has a larger adverse climate impact because airplanes strongly affect short-lived warming processes at high altitudes. But help is at hand. China has come up with a novel and cleaner traffic congestion buster – a straddling bus that literally overtakes cars!

By Peter Farquhar, Technology Editor (4 August 2010):  

IMAGINE one day you’re stuck in a smelly Beijing gridlock and you’re suddenly overtaken by a bus.

Not just overtaken, but overtaken. As in, over the top of your car.

This alarming, yet weirdly sensible concept was flagged at the 13th Beijing International High-tech Expo in May this year.

It’s called the “3D Fast Bus”, despite the fact it’s not really very fast at all with a top speed of just 60km/h.

Still, that’s more than the 1200-1400 passengers on board could hope during rush hour, with Chinese commuters this year snapping up cars faster than their US counterparts for the first time.

Subways are disruptive and extremely expensive to build. Regular buses add to traffic jams and pollution levels.

The “straddling bus” proposed by Shenzhen Hashi Future Parking Equipment solves both these problems, and is designed to be powered by a combination of solar power and electricity.

Up to 4.5m high, it allows traffic to flow under it and can reduce traffic jams by up to 30 per cent, according to its creators.

It will cost about 10 per cent of the equivalent of building a similar 40km subway system.

Shenzhen Hashi says it would run on a track straddling both sides of existing roads and could be built within a year — a third of the time it would take to build a subway.

So far, so sensible.

However, another option, says Shenzhen Hashi is to do away with the track and simply create an autopilot system which follows two white lines painted on either side of the road. Graffiti terrorists take note.

There’s also a few other nagging problems, such as what if trucks get pushy?

One solution is using “ultrasonic waves” which emit from either end of the bus to warn the driver that something’s not quite right.

Laser rays that scan traffic will activate alarms inside the bus if there’s a danger of lopping the top off a big rig.

Drivers will also have to keep their wits about them while passing through the bus, but red flashing lights will warn drivers if its about to turn or if they’re too close to the interior walls.

Unrealistic? Not quite.

If it sounds like a good idea that just has some ironing out to do, think again.

Shenzhen Hashi says it’s already got its first order and the 3D Fast Bus has already passed “the first stage demonstration”.

Beijing’s Mentougou District has already planned out 186km for it and construction will begin by the end of the year.

Source:   www.news.com.au

Release from the American Chemical Society (4 August 2010):

Driving a car increases global temperatures in the long run more than making the same long-distance journey by air according to a new study. However, in the short run travelling by air has a larger adverse climate impact because airplanes strongly affect short-lived warming processes at high altitudes.

The study appears in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-weekly journal.

In the study, Jens Borken-Kleefeld and colleagues compare the impacts on global warming of different means of transport. The researchers use, for the first time, a suite of climate chemistry models to consider the climate effects of all long- and short-lived gases, aerosols and cloud effects, not just carbon dioxide, resulting from transport worldwide.

They concluded that in the long run the global temperature increase from a car trip will be on average higher than from a plane journey of the same distance. However, in the first years after the journey, air travel increases global temperatures four times more than car travel.

Passenger trains and buses cause four to five times less impact than automobile travel for every mile a passenger travels. The findings prove robust despite the scientific uncertainties in understanding the earth’s climate system.

“As planes fly at high altitudes, their impact on ozone and clouds is disproportionately high, though short lived. Although the exact magnitude is uncertain, the net effect is a strong, short-term, temperature increase,” explains Dr. Jens Borken-Kleefeld, lead author of the study.

“Car travel emits more carbon dioxide than air travel per passenger mile. As carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere longer than the other gases, cars have a more harmful impact on climate change in the long term.”

ARTICLE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
“Specific Climate Impact of Passenger and Freight Transport”

DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE 
http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/es9039693

Source: www.eurekalert.org

Business as Usual? Climate Change In the Global & National Spotlight

Christiana Figueres, the new Executive Secretary to the UNFCCC, will be speaking at the opening of the 6th Australia-New Zealand Climate Change & Business Conference (10-12 August, Sydney), which will also have Australian politicians putting their party plans on the table.

Christiana Figueres, the new Executive Secretary to the UNFCCC, will be speaking at the opening of the 6th Australia-New Zealand Climate Change & Business Conference (10-12 August, Sydney).

Ms Figueres will provide a keynote address outlining progress in international negotiations post Copenhagen and expectations for Mexico.

Ms Figureres will speak via live video-link from Bonn, Germany, as part of the official opening of the Conference. The Conference welcome will be presented by the Hon Kristina Keneally, Premier of New South Wales.

The opening session will set the context for the next two days of discussion which will focus on what business can do now to address climate change. It will also examine the likely policy settings post the Australian election and developments in New Zealand. The full program with topic and speaker details is available from the website.

The future of climate policy will be up for discussion at the 6th Australia-New Zealand Climate Change & Business Conference with The Hon Penny Wong (Labor), Senator Christine Milne (Greens) and Senator Simon Birmingham (Liberals) all confirmed to address the event.

New Zealand will tell its story with the Hon Dr Nick Smith also presenting.

The Hon Penny Wong and Hon Dr Nick Smith will present in person while Senators Milne and Birmingham will speak via video.

International policy will also be in the spotlight, with presentations by Christiana Figueres, the new head of the UNFCCC and Dr Ralph Sims, formerly with the IEA, reviewing the success of complementary measures overseas.

The conference theme is “Business Taking Action” and the core discussion will be around what business is doing now to address climate change and what policy settings it needs.

The 6th Australia-New Zealand Climate Change and Business is the pre-eminent climate change conference for business in this region, designed by business for business. The conference serves as the major gathering point for business leaders and chief policy makers and allows exchange of information across the Tasman. 

The 2010 conference will focus on how business is moving forward on climate change response in a time of policy uncertainty. Plenary sessions will examine:

• The potential for reduced emissions from key sectors: how and how much?
• Australian and New Zealand policy response to business requirements
• What is needed to unlock and leverage investment in low emissions technology
• Adaptation as a priority response
• The international policy framework and the potential impact on this region
• Inside China and the USA
• The power of complementary measures: what’s working internationally
• Climate change science and communicating the challenge

Additional workshops and concurrent sessions will look at practical lessons learned in specific areas, including:
• New Zealand’s implementation of an ETS,
• energy efficiency,
• NGER and Energy Efficiency reporting,
• international carbon markets,
• land use and
• cleantech

Source: www.climateandbusiness.com