Transport Planners Need to Get on Their Bikes

The Australian Bureau of Statistics and Vicroads data shows that Melbourne is experiencing one of the biggest bicycle booms in living memory. Trips to work by bicycle grew by 42% between 2001 and 2006 and counters installed by Vicroads show that bicycle paths, previously considered recreational infrastructure, are busiest during weekdays at peak hour.

Has Anyone Told The Transport Planners About Climate Change?

By Elliot Fishman

More Melburnians are riding to work now than ever before. It’s not just individuals who need to change their transport habits, writes Elliot Fishman

If the state of Melbourne’s inner city streets and bike paths this January is anything to go by, it looks like a lot of Melbournians made a New Year’s resolution to ride to work. A wide demographic of commuters were choosing pedal power last week: men in suits, women in high heels, students with 1970s vintage bikes, as well as people riding flat bar commuting bikes that were rolling around town long before cycling became fashionable.

These observations are backed up by Australian Bureau of Statistics and Vicroads data which shows that Melbourne is experiencing one of the biggest bicycle booms in living memory. According to the last census, trips to work by bicycle grew by 42 per cent between 2001 and 2006 and counters installed by Vicroads show that bicycle paths, previously considered recreational infrastructure, are busiest during weekdays at peak hour.

As any public transport commuter can tell you, Melbournians have started to leave the car at home and opt for the train, tram or bus. This is been confirmed by Department of Transport figures showing a recent strong shift towards public transport.

These changes in transport behaviour are occurring across Australia and indeed across the globe. In December, figures published by Reuters showed that Americans bought 10 million vehicles in 2009 — but scrapped 14 million. This decline in vehicle ownership coincides with a plateau in car travel, a trend replicated in many developed-world cities, including Melbourne in spite of strong population growth.

This shift toward use of public transport and bicycles was sparked, at least in part, by the rapid rises in world oil prices since 2004. Oil hit US$147 a barrel — which some commentators, including Infrastructure Australia board member Professor Peter Newman, argue triggered the global financial crisis. In fact, peaks in the price of oil have historically preceeded recessions, with the 1973/4 OPEC oil embargo, the 1979 Iranian revolution and the first Gulf War all causing spikes in oil prices and consequent global economic downturns.

Unlike these past instances of oil price rises, which share a political origin, today’s high oil price (around US$80 a barrel, compared to US$35 in 2004) has a geological origin. Put simply, we have been using more oil than we have been finding for a long time. Since around 1982, in fact. We now use four barrels of oil for every one we discover.

The magnitude of the oil supply/demand imbalance has the International Energy Agency (IEA) worried. In their 2009 World Energy Outlook, the IEA revised and downgraded their estimates for world oil production in 2030. They forecast 121 million barrels production per day for 2030 in 2004 but lowered their estimate to 116 million barrels in 2006 and have now dropped it to 105 million barrels. This is a dramatic reduction in estimated production.

More worrying for Australia is the IEA finding that OECD oil consumption is set to fall by 0.3 per cent per year while Treasury estimates that our population will reach 35 million by 2049. According to the CSIRO, this could mean that each Australian will halve their petrol consumption — a reduction that will be all the more pressing given a litre is predicted to cost as much as $8 by 2018. As 95 per cent of our transport is currently fuelled by black gold, we clearly have considerable challenges ahead.

The implication is clear. Our current transport infrastructure reflects a pattern of investment founded on the assumption of limitless oil supplies. Not only has this assumption been proved false, we have discovered the urgent need to cut soaring transport emissions: our infrastructure priorities need to be turned on their head.

Spending billions on urban freeway duplications while many middle and outer ring suburbs go without quality public transport or bicycle infrastructure is inequitable and threatens not just household budgets, but Australia’s trade deficit. In fact, government estimates suggest the trade deficit in oil products will hit $25 billion by 2015. Research released late last year revealed residents in Cardinia, in Melbourne’s outer south-east, use a car for over 90 per cent of all trips and drive around 204 kilometres per week — over four times the distance of residents in the City of Melbourne. Such transport inequities don’t only bear on the economic health of our cities, but their social health and liveability.

Government investment in transport and land-use planning needs to reflect the new reality of oil depletion and climate change. Outer suburbs without rail lines and streets without bicycle lanes need to become a thing of the past. Without a change in mindset and investment, by 2030 we might just be left with empty freeways, perhaps better described as gigantic bike lanes, several bankrupt toll road operators and a number of energy analysts saying “I told you so”. Let’s make 2010 the year in which we confront the reality of peak oil and climate change.

Source: www.newmatilda.com

Winning Coffee & Winter Olympians Get the Sustainability Medal

Sustainability is a byword for Australian-owned  Jasper Coffee and its recent achievement of 100% carbon neutral status gives the company top ranking for the industry. The upcoming 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada will feature some stylishly designed gold, silver and bronze medals, largely made from recycled used electronic circuit boards, diverting 6.8 metric tonnes of electronic waste from landfill.

Friday, 22 January 2010

Charlotte Francis

Sustainability has always shaped how Australian-owned company Jasper Coffee operates. But their recent achievement of 100 per cent carbon neutral status tops off their leading standard for successful sustainable business.

It took three years of specialist research, thorough investigations and a full sustainability audit to calculate the carbon footprint of the company’s entire operation, supply chain and assets – right down to the detergent used in dishwashing.

‘It’s all about trying to find alternative solutions to carbon problems and the overuse of materials,’ says Managing Director Wells Trenfield, explaining how they have cut down on energy, consumption and waste products.

In the factories, for example, a unique system from Brazil cools the hot coffee inside the roasting drum with a five-second jet of water, which then evaporates on contact with the beans and stops further roasting. At the same time as reducing water use, Jasper technicians have also accelerated the bean cooling process, saving further energy by increasing the size of holes in the meshed cooling tray.

When it comes to delivery, customers receive their coffee in foldable and returnable plastic crates; this reduces the use of cardboard and saves on recycling costs. Used coffee sacks are distributed to various dogs shelters and staff use chaff leftover from roasted green coffee as fertiliser in their gardens. Nothing is wasted.

As well as offsetting company car emissions through the Greenfleet program, Jasper Coffee has partnered with the Karnataka Renewable Energy Project in India to offset their greenhouse gas emissions through biomass power generation.

Agricultural waste from local farmers fuels the Karnataka power plant to produce a clean and sustainable source of electricity. By purchasing carbon offsets, Jasper Coffee is helping to create revenuefor impoverished rice farmersand reduce greenhouse gas emissions in India by 30 000 tons of CO2 annually. The project is now returning around 84 million INR (AU$2.3 million) to farmers every year and, as an additional benefit, 500 new jobs have been created.

Finding the Karnataka Project took time and research. ‘It wasn’t just a product-based decision,’ explains Trenfield. ‘For me it was also a question of social responsibility.’ Guided by ethical, social and environmental considerations, Jasper Coffee is a founding member of the Fairtrade Association and was the first roaster in Australia to be certified organic in 1989. With the aim of securing a better deal for coffee growers in developing countries, 15 out of the company’s 36 coffees have Fairtrade and Organic certification and are shade grown. Cultivating coffee trees under an indigenous forest canopy helps to encourage a biodiverse habitat for native flora and fauna.

In a partnership with World Vision, Jasper Coffee has assisted coffee growers in the Yirgacheffe region of Ethiopia to achieve Fairtrade and Organic certification.

‘Getting the certification has changed their lives,’ says Trenfield, explaining how the Fairtrade guarantee of an above-market price has enabled the farmers to invest in training, studies in agronomy, business management and running a Fairtrade cooperative. ‘They are now empowered to make their own decisions.’ In northern Peru, Jasper Coffee supports, and has visited, the Café Femenino project, a cooperative where women own the land, harvest and sell their own coffee at a fair price. In addition, funds raised from two extra levies – one administered by the Café Femenino Foundation and one by JasperCoffee – have been invested in training and leadership.

‘This project has brought self-esteem and self-respect back into women’s lives,’ says Trenfield. Café Femenino sells 25 per cent of their crop to Jasper Coffee, which is in turn the company’s biggest seller. Jasper Coffee has recently won some notable corporate contracts because of its commitment to excellence. It now supplies coffee to 55 per cent of Australia’s domestic airline market and plans to take that further. The National Australia Bank serves Jasper product in its 800 branches across the country – a sound return on the investment in best practice.

A story provided by ECOS Magazine – Australia´s most authoritative magazine on sustainability in the environment, industry and community.

Source: www.sciencealert.com.au and www.ecosmagazine.com

The upcoming 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada will feature some stylishly designed gold, silver and bronze medals. What is even more spectacular about these medals is the fact that all (or most of) the metal is recycled – sourced from used electronic circuit boards. This has resulted in 6.8 metric tonnes of circuit boards have been diverted from landfill.

Teck Resources, a Vancouver-based diversified metals company, is supplying the metals used in the production of the Olympic and Paralympic medals. The metals are from Teck’s operations in Canada, including British Columbia, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as Alaska, Chile and Peru.

“Our employees worldwide are honoured to supply the metals for the medals that will be cherished by the world’s best winter athletes in 2010,” said Teck’s president and CEO, Don Lindsay. “We’re also excited that these medals will contain recycled metal recovered from end-of-life electronics, consistent with the sustainability philosophy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

Thanks to Teck, the 2010 medals are making Olympic and Paralympic metal history as the medals will be the first to contain metals recovered from processing the circuit boards from end-of-life electronics (ewaste) otherwise destined for the landfill.

After mining or production through a variety of smelting and recovery processes, each metal has been refined to enhance the metal purity.

In addition to providing the metals, Teck also worked with VANOC and the Royal Canadian Mint in the development and production of the medals.

Source:  www.teck.com

Sustainability & Green Materials Proposed to Rebuild Haiti

International talks on Haiti, which opened on Monday in Montreal, will focus on the “critical first steps” in rebuilding the earthquake-ravaged country, while Global Green USA and Green Cross are offering their expertise (used after Hurricane Katrina and the Victorian bushfires) to create partnerships to help sustainably rebuild Haiti’s devastated homes, schools and communities. Civil and environmental professor Yan Xiao is suggesting bamboo as a suitable and sustainable building material for Haiti.
Mara Bun, CEO of Green Cross in Australia, which developed the Build It Back Green programme after the devastating Victoria bush fires a year ago, welcomes the move to by its US partner organisation to drive a sustainable rebuilding programme for Haiti. Any funds donated in Australia through Green Cross will be dedicated to helping create healthier, energy efficient, disaster resistant housing, schools and other structures, which are appropriate for Haiti.

Here’s the word from Global Green USA President Matt Petersen, Green Cross’ partner organisation in the United States:

The response of American citizens, the US government, and individuals around the world is of course heartening, but does not replace the unfathomable loss of human lives and property. In any disaster, we must find a silver lining to give some small solace to such unbelievable tragedy.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I put forth a plan two weeks after the tragedy to do just that. Today, Global Green’s leadership in the green rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina has served both as a catalyst and has assisted directly in rebuilding schools and homes to be green.

As TIME Magazine stated in an article last year, “No organization is doing more to green New Orleans than Global Green USA…”. This has included our Holy Cross Project as well as providing technical expertise and financial assistance to the New Orleans schools, housing groups, and even city and state agencies, leveraging the $10 million we have raised and deployed to date to impact hundreds of millions in reconstruction.

Now, we plan to take several of the lessons we learned in New Orleans as the international community sets out to rebuild Haiti. Our goal is help create a more sustainable Haiti, with energy efficient, healthy, disaster resistant buildings that makes the nation more resilient to future electricity shortages, public health crises, and disasters.

There is much more than needs to be done — including reforestation — to help Haiti to recover, but we will provide our assistance, experience and resources to create better schools and homes, as well as infrastructure.

There are many critical, important organizations working on the immediate emergency relief efforts that continue to need everyone’s support. As we work on the rebuilding of Haiti with other organizations, we will also help supplement aid efforts — helping to provide solar flashlights and other ‘sustainable’ aid for lighting and water purification that can assist in the long recovery from this humanitarian crisis.  

Source: www.greencrossaustralia.org and www.globalgreen.org
Strong Green Reconstruction for Haiti 

By Alyssa Danigelis for Discovery News (19 January 2010):

The overwhelming destruction in Haiti reminds one engineer of the shoddy buildings that collapsed during the massive 2008 quake in Sichuan, China. For him, it’s not too early to think about sustainable reconstruction.

Civil and environmental professor Yan Xiao at the University of Southern California is known for creating GluBam, a pressed composite made from bamboo that’s incredibly strong and costs less than imported lumber. I had written about his demonstration bamboo houses before and sought his thoughts on Haiti.

“From the pictures, it seems they use quite a lot of masonry buildings and concrete with little reinforcement, these are all known killers in [an] earthquake,” Xiao responded. “I am now contacting various organizations to see if we can get some supports to manufacture and send some bamboo shelters to the country.” He indicated that he isn’t sure how much bamboo is available there yet.

There are a few bamboo crops. Last summer, USAID described a project that brought two hundred bamboo plants in 12 varieties from Hawaii to Haiti The plants did better in Haiti than in Hawaii: within four months, more than 40,000 plants had flourished from the original ones. Since the crops were spread around the country, I imagine that some survived.

Realistically, the rebuilding effort could take at least 10 years, Stanford environmental engineering professor and earthquake expert Anne Kiremidjian recently told CNN. She pointed to the need for a seismic building code, training in design and construction practices, and reinforced joints between beams and columns.

Reconfigured shipping containers might be a short-term solution. Clemson University researchers have been working on a method to convert them into emergency housing that’s both sturdy and stable. On Sunday, Doctors Without Borders reported that one of their medical teams performed operations in a converted shipping container. (Their giant inflatable hospital arrived in Port-au-Prince over the weekend after being delayed by congestion at Haiti’s beleaguered airport.)

Cameron Sinclair of Architecture for Humanity laid out a detailed, public, and collaborative reconstruction plan for Haiti on Sunday. In it he writes, “[W]e are not just building a roof over someone’s head–we are building equity.”

Source: www.news.discovery.com

Are We Losing the Fight Against the Sceptics?

A leading Australian climate change scientist says experts are losing the fight against sceptics, who are distorting the science of global warming. Professor Andy Pitman, co-director of the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales and a lead author on the IPCC’s 2001 and 2007 reports, stands by the overall conclusions.  If scientists lose the climate change debate, it would be “potentially catastrophic”.

 ABC News (25 January 2010):

Are we Losing the Fight Against the sceptics?

A leading Australian climate change scientist says experts are losing the fight against sceptics, who are distorting the science of global warming.

His comments come as a prominent British climate change sceptic tours the country.

Lord Christopher Monckton has arrived in Australia for a series of lectures and is calling for a royal commission into the science around global warming.

The former journalist and political adviser to Margaret Thatcher says the production of carbon dioxide is not a major problem.

He has attacked the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) after it revised a key finding in its 2007 report which wrongly claimed the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035.

But one of the lead authors of the report, Australian Professor Andy Pitman, has defended the overall conclusions of the report.

Professor Pitman was a lead author on the IPCC’s 2001 and 2007 reports. He is also the co-director of the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales.

Professor Pitman says sceptics have used the IPCC’s error to skew the climate change debate.

“Climate scientists are losing the fight with the sceptics,” he said.

“The sceptics are so well funded, so well organised.

“They have nothing else to do. They don’t have day jobs so they can put all their efforts into misinforming and miscommunicating climate science to the general public, whereas the climate scientists have day jobs and [managing publicity] actually isn’t one of them.

“All of the efforts you do in an IPCC report is done out of hours, voluntarily, for no funding and no pay, whereas the sceptics are being funded to put out full-scale misinformation campaigns and are doing a damn good job, I think.

“They are doing a superb job at misinforming and miscommunicating the general public, state and federal governments.”

And he says if scientists lose the climate change debate, it would be “potentially catastrophic”.

“If this was academic debate over some trivial issue [it wouldn't matter],” he said.

“But this isn’t. This is absolutely a fundamental problem for the Earth that we desperately needed full-scale international action on a decade ago.

“We are now 10 years too late to stop some of the major impacts that we will see and have seen as a consequence of global warming. It is not a future problem, it is a problem here today, around us.”

Professor Pitman has accused sceptics of failing to base their arguments on the facts.

“Most of the climate sceptics, particularly those that are wandering around publicly at the moment, don’t base their arguments on science,” he said.

“They have probably never read the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report; they aren’t writing papers in peer-reviewed literature.

“They don’t update their arguments when their arguments are shown to be false, so they’ll have no problem at all using this ammunition inappropriately and out of context to further their aims in exactly the same way as people did when they were trying to disprove the relationship between smoking and human health.”

Defending the IPCC

Professor Pitman has also played down the significance of the error in the IPCC’s report.

“There are two paragraphs that have been questioned in a 1600-page document,” he said.

“After two years, people have been going over that report with considerable care and have found a couple of errors of fact in a 1600-page document.

“I mean, we ought to be talking about the other 1599 pages that no one has found any problems with.”

Professor Pitman says he has no concerns about the IPCC’s reviewing process.

“We should be very clear on what the IPCC does. It writes a report that is fully open to external review. [Anybody] can each read over individual sections of the report and send in credible comments,” he said.

“So each government tries to pour over each of the statements to find fault with them and at the end of that process, future drafts are produced, again with opportunities for external examination and feedback.

“And you end up with a final report, which in this case some people have found one or two errors with after two years.

“I reckon that is a standard that most organisations would absolutely celebrate.”

Source: www.abc.net.au

In the end……..2010 Readership Survey

Special thanks to all who responded to the first Readership Survey and my appreciation to Graeme Philipson of Connection Research for initiating and managing this for ABC Carbon, covering both the weekly newsletter abc carbon express and the book The ABC of Carbon. As the “one man band” responsible for the business, the newsletter and the book, I can assure all respondents (and all readers) that I will take particular note of the survey findings and take on board any criticism, comments and views expressed.

Here is a snapshot of the survey, as well as many of the comments received to the open ended questions. If you would like to see all the complete survey report including graphs, please send an email request. If you would like Connection Research to do some research for you, see contact details at the end of the article.

By far the majority of the survey respondents (60.7%) are from Queensland.  From NSW there were 21.3% respondents, Victoria 14.8% and 3.3% from ACT (Canberra). From outside Australia, 8.3% of the respondents resided, covering  India, Indonesia, Singapore, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Around half the respondents (52.5%) are consultants or advisors, and one quarter (25.4%) in the business and/or professional. Some work for government (6.8%), and the relatively small response from the ACT suggests some of these represent federal government. Those working for NGOs/Associations add up to 8.5%, with academic/scientists amounting to 6.8%.

Most respondents (35%) spend more than 5 minutes reading abc carbon express, but one quarter (26.7%) spend more than 10 minutes. Given the length of the publication, this indicates that most people skim it, looking for items of interest.

Around half of respondents forward it on to other people, with 15% forwarding to one person; 23.3% forwarding to 2 or 3; 3.3% to 4 to 7 people; and 3.3% to 8 or more people.

abc carbon express is rated “very good” and/or “good” by the great majority of respondents in all the surveyed areas, which were :  useful for my work (79.3%), well-written (89.8%), comprehensive (79.6%), newsworthy/topical (93.1%), and easy to navigate (73.2%).

Generally speaking, respondents are happy with the type of content. They would like to see more on the practical applications of energy efficiency and renewable energy, and on green business innovations in Australia. The only category where respondents (3.4%) wanted to see “much less” was Government announcements and actions here and overseas.

The most favoured category appears to be “company profiles”,  where the largest majority in this section (58.9%) felt it was about right, whereas 30.3% wanted a bit more and/or much more, by way of company profiles.

When asked their ideas on how abc carbon express could be more useful (an open-ended question), a number of views were expressed. A few people suggested that it is too long:

• Shorter – there’s too much in it.
• Look at forming think tanks where more discussion and on-hands involvement with new innovations.
• Panel to view submissions and guide through obstacles and costs share benefits when commercialised.
• I would like more of a discussion about the way the science is moving in this area. So many people don’t understand the scientific method and they think this is the way to criticise or even deny climate change – it would be terrific to have a source to deal with the sceptics!
• Offering more practical measures one can make in their own life to reduce their emissions, with data on where one can make the biggest reductions, as the information comes to hand.
• Expand!
• Be Ken’s Vision based on his passion – try to be anything else and it will lose core vision. Just a thought!
• It is too long. Great stuff, but people don’t have time to read it all. Cut it in half.
• As I am a sceptic in regards to carbon trading, I believe the govt is playing games with the public, if they were interested in stopping pollution, I would be a stronger supporter.
• It covers the territory for its type – news, information and informed comment.
• Can’t suggest anything.
• Offer a job service for people like me wishing to go back to the energy/carbon industry.
• Actionable information to answer the How To of actions.
• Can’t think of any.
• Focus on initiatives that bring new ideas/products to public attention.
• You do a great job.
• Highlight those organisations really making a difference for sustainability, not just carbon.
• More script rather than links.
• Not much more than what you are doing.
• As a “consultant” in the industry, it would be helpful to be able get more ideas/applications pertaining to new green technologies.
• More links within the actual stories.
• Case studies are always interesting.
• It is very readable as is.
• It is fine the way it is.
• Not sure.
• Perhaps take a more hard line on sceptics and the imbalance on spending in favour of unproven CCS over renewables.
• Links to more information to be more reliable and readable (font wise).
• Not sure as we’re relatively new subscribers.
• Practical biochar applications.
• A bit more grass roots level, on the land issues.
• Not sure how, given the target audience, but is there some way of promoting the Qld Community Climate Network and the idea of joining a local climate action group or advocacy group like Sustainable Population Australia or Qld Conservation? Is there some way of highlighting small local events/initiatives in addition to large expos and things? There’s a lot going on though. Wish that ourbrisbane.com would more actively promote green events. I’ve written to the Lord Mayor about it to no avail. Maybe Citysmart will help. Some local politicians and print journalists can be helpful getting the word out.
• Inventions that if implemented could make us more efficient.
• Give me tips on how to create lesson plans and teaching tools that I can use in the classroom to educate about environmental issues.
• Permanent feature to Identify/report/update real sustainable/eco/green trends in various industries. We often here of green innovations per industry but never seem to hear how they are being taken up or whether they wither on the vine.
• Nil.
• Information regarding environmental impact of Geological effects on climate change. i.e. volcano eruptions, cyclones, earthquakes.
• A bit shorter?
• A facility to search past issues of abc carbon express.
• Maybe group archived articles and make them available as a library.
• Keep displaying your passion for the subject matter. It is reflected well in the content and editor’s notes.
• It’s fine. I find items of interest each time I receive it.

There is no strong preference for when people would rather receive the weekly newsletter – in fact 51.7% don’t care which day of the week it arrives. But a slight preference showed through for Friday out of all the days of the week specified, with the least favoured being Saturday.

The question was asked, if abc carbon express were to become a subscription only publication, what is the maximum you would be prepared to pay for it.  Some people would pay a little to receive it – 34% were prepared to cough up $25 a year, 11.3% $50 a year, and a “generous” 7.5% thought it was  worth $100 a year . But nearly half the respondents (47.2%) would not be prepared to pay anything.

A total of 39.6% of respondents have a copy of the book, while few more of respondents (44.8%) don’t have a copy of “The ABC of Carbon”, even though they have seen it or heard of it. By far the majority of respondents – 79.2% – would recommend the book, while 18.8% would buy it for someone else.

The ABC of Carbon, like abc carbon express, is rated very highly by its readers, with no-one rating it “bad” or “very bad” in any area. Respondents who rated it good and/or very good for its “usefulness” for their work added up to 74.3%; well-written 83.4%; comprehensive 75%; newsworthy/topical 68.6% and easy to navigate 77.1%.

Around half would find an eBook version useful, but as many would need to see it first before they could form an opinion. Those who said “Yes an ebook would have some use” – 28.8% – while 21.2% would said an ebook would be “very useful”.

There are some opinions on how the book “The ABC of Carbon” could be improved (open-ended question), but no common theme:

• More illustrations, maps, graphs.
• Create databases.
• Include more of a discussion on the science in the area.
• Updated examples.
• A supportive website.
• More comprehensive – missing stuff on Green IT.
• As the world is changing every day, and we don’t have a crystal ball, I believe the time and effort you put into your publication is outdated by the time it gets on the bookshop shelves.
• Electronic version so updates could be done.
• Include diagrams to explain some definition. The Carbon Cycle is one that can be visualised. Also, including some conversion information. That is, the CO2e equivalents of the Kyoto Protocol gases.
• More focus on BIO CCS.
• Better binding; mine is falling apart.
• More critical analysis, less public relations info.
• Layout and colours.
• A little more edgy.  Ken it is OK to take a harder line and even upset some people.
• Biochar special section.
• Topics of interest to me would include population (total not just emissions per capita) as part of the carbon equation. Other topics of interest include carbon rationing, trains, Transition Towns, relocalisation, permafrost/tundra (more than page 479), New Hope Coal (they’re diversifying into wind), energy it takes to pump water to cities from dams, schools/kids (they can and do a lot), biochar.
• Demographics and measurements.
• Improved navigation and linkage of common elements.

The ABC Carbon Readership Survey 2010 was conducted by Connection Research, an Australian market research and consultancy company specialising in analysis of sustainability issues. Services are provided in four interrelated areas:

• Consumer and Community Sustainability: Usage of and attitudes towards energy and water at the domestic and community levels.
• Green ICT: Reducing the energy consumption of the information and communications functions, and the usage of ICT to reduce the carbon impact of organisations.
• Building Industry and Trades: Sustainable and green building products, attitudes and actions of building tradespeople, home automation and digital technology in the home.
• Carbon and Compliance: The green collar workforce, carbon measurement and monitoring, carbon footprint abatement practices.

Connection Research undertakes primary research (surveys of users, trades people, suppliers, practitioners), conducts market modelling analyses (combining our primary data with other sources) and consultancy in these fields.

For more information, see www.connectionresearch.com.au, or phone +61 2 9467 9800 and speak to Graeme Philipson.

Ken Hickson

Director, ABC Carbon

Author, The ABC of Carbon

Editor, abc carbon express