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Climate Red - News and Views on Climate Change Issues.
I am sure we are all in the same boat, with Petrol prices reaching the stratosphere and forecast for MORE increases coming out of broking houses (Goldman Sachs say it could get as high as $200, yikes), we want an Emissions Trading Scheme but we are scared about how much petrol prices will increase. Lets face it the lobbyists are already doing a great job to spook us into thinking our lifestyles are about to go out the window in order to do something about Climate Change.
Well I was at a conference yesterday and finally got the truth about how much Petrol prices will increase at a $30/ tonne price for carbon (that is approximately where it will trade here)
The cost is 6c per litre, yes 6c per litre, look no increase is good, but 6c isn't really that bad in the scheme of things, certianly not worth wasting countless millions of dollars on lobbying for Petrol to be left out. We honestly have felt worse pain over the last five months and to me it seems a small price to pay.
And as Nicholas Stern says
"INACTCION, will be much more expensive in the long run than taking action"
cheers
Louie
photo courtesy of www.morguefile.com
Greenpeace has released an excellent in depth report on why carbon Capture and Storage will not save the Climate.
The link to the full report is HERE It is worth reading just the first few pages to familiarize yourself with the issue as it is going to be hotly debated over the next few years.
The reason's why Greenpeace say it isn't the solution are summarized as follows:
1) CCS is highly speculative, risky and unlikely to be technically feasible.
2) even if it become technically feasible it is unlikely to be ready until at least 2030, the world needs to reduce emissions today as we have already well and truly surpassed the crisis point of 550 parts per million according to the UN.
3) It could potentially worsen water shortages.
4) it results in a reduction in power efficiency of between 10 and 40% (this means we need to dig out more coal to achieve the same base loads)
5) Potential to increase power costs by between 21 and 90%!!!!
6) storing carbon underground is risky, we do not know what the implications of leakage would be, the potential damage to the environment long term is unknown: risks include, pollution of drinking water, damage to marine life if stored in the ocean, negative health effects, to name a few.
7) Liability risks, no-one wants to foot the bill for the above risks, power stations will on-sell the ownership of the CCS systems, it is unlikely we will have recourse if risks unfold.
8) THE WORLD ALREADY HAS THE SOLUTION - IN RENEWABLE ENERGY, the huge costs involved in researching CCS is diverting resources from the solutions we already have.
We all know Greenpeace can be a little out there but this is a fantastic report, it is well researched and presents a balanced argument.
The cat is certainly amongst the pigeons now.
Cheers
Louie
photo courtesy of www.morguefile.com
Talk that the Environment is going to be looked after in tomorrows Federal Budget to the tune of $2.3bn is clearly a gift for the Environment, whether it is repackaging of some prior pledges or not, it is certainly a nice number.
It would be an even nicer number if the government pooled it all together and started a green energy corporation that managed this money and kept it working as a going concern like a Telstra but a massive Green Energy corporation. Instead of giving grants they could hire or re-hire the smart people that have or will be forced to leave Australia to get their inventions commercialised overseas. sounds like a grand plan I know, but with a long term investment horizon, and Governments should be long term, this $2.3billion could turn into a massive asset for Australia and be a MAJOR exporter of Technology and know how, the sum of the parts would certainly be greater than the whole. And yes in case you were wondering, i do find it very frustrating to see the N.S.W government selling power assets, right at the time we should be investing more into power for the long term.
Just think about this, and this is the tip of the ice-berg to what this company could achieve, instead of loaning people money to put water tanks or Solar panels on their houses the Government could just do it and earn the income from power back to the grid and the differential on the cost savings from the water.
I know a lot of people would disagree,call me crazy or pan me that if it was a good idea, surely the 2020 conference would have thought of it, but the numbers over the years would certainly add up, and it would mean instead of our biggest export being our finite natural resources we could export the infinite resource of Australian ingenuity, drive and know how. Instead of our inventions being commercialised overseas like our Solar thermal Tech aka Ausra, we could develop it all ourselves AND we would also be a major contributor to the Climate Change solution, not part of the problem.
Rant over, and I know, never look a gift horse in the Mouth.
cheers
Louie
photo courtesy of www.morguefile.com
Very far according to an assesment by a company called CLIMATE COUNTS, CLICK HERE, a not for profit organisation dedicated to fighting Climate Change. They survey all major American companies annually to assess their contribution towards the climate change solution and environmental awareness. Overall the Tech industry ranked the best of all US industries.
To give you an idea of how they all fared IBM was the best with a score of 77 out of a possible 100, APPLE SCORED a MEASLEY 11. I am ashamed to be writing my post on a Mac to be honest. The problem they had is described as follows from this article CLICK HERE or
[ Click here to read more ]
Apparently there is a damning survey out there saying that despite the fact most Australian people see Climate Change as the largest issue our country faces, most of us are unwilling to change our lives.
Look there is no doubt we are consumerism crazy, but I think most people are willing to give up a bit for the environment. So I think I am going to have to step in and defend us a little bit and say that I think some of the criteria are a little unfair:judging us, for example in terms of the length of commute we have, we can't help it if our cities are spread out and the accommodation is far away. Fair go people. Many of us sacrifice luxury and catch hideous public transport to work, and I think ALL of us would just about kill to be allowed to work from home a few days a week and not commute at all
[ Click here to read more ]
This post might seem slightly off the topic of climate change, however if you consider that excessive consumption is one of the main contributors to environmental damage and climate change, it isn't that far from the mark.
I watched a disturbing television program last night on consumers and debt. The TV host had a room full of people who were up to their eyeballs in debts, she interviewed each one on just how they got into debt
[ Click here to read more ]
It seems the job of following Climate Change issues is becoming a doom and gloom reporter.
Ross Garnaut, the man commissioned by the government to provide advice on the design of Australia's emissions trading system, has released a paper in the Australian National University's biannual Asian-Pacific Economic Literature stating that failure to act on Climate Change, OR a poor policy response will result in an economic disaster equivalent to the great depression. Yes that's pretty depressing people. Especially considering Garnaut has no time for offsets. In my humble opinion a credible offset system revolving around renewable energy creation is essential for Australia and the world to fight Climate Change, as it provides the financial rewards needed for the renewable energy technologies to flourish and develop enough to achieve grid parity pricing. (It is worth noting a feed in tariff would be just as good
[ Click here to read more ]
More doom and gloom scenario's about Climate Change are soon to be coming out of the CSIRO, according to this article CLICK HERE
I am all for publicising Climate Change awareness as you all know, but I understand we get the message that Climate Change is bad and its effects are potentially catastrophic and i have no desire to harp on, but over the next few weeks the lobbyists are going to try to convince us to give away the pollution permits to big business so they can legally continue on their merry way, instead of taking some ownership for their contribution towards Climate Change, they will try and tell us the COSTS OF THE SCHEME are devastating, we need to remember the costs of not acting are potentially more devastating
[ Click here to read more ]
Feeling overwhelmed that little old you just can't make a difference in the battle for the environment and climate change.
Well a leading environmentalist has made a great analogy in London recently that I thought I would share
[ Click here to read more ]
The design of the Emissions trading scheme in Australia is going to be one of the most heavily lobbied issues in the history of this country, and I don't think I am exaggerating.There is a lot at stake.
Today we see the beginnings of what is going to be a never ending barrage of complaints from lobby groups. What is at stake? Well if you believe the front page of the Financial Review this morning companies will have to spend about $7billion upgrading systems to comply with reporting requirements. i can't prove whether or not this figure is right or wrong, what I can do is point out the agenda these companies have; they want the government to issue emissions permits to them for free, estimates are that permits could be worth up to about $10billion a year, free permits would give all the regulated companies a MASSIVE windfall, which arguably will not be passed on to the consumer who will definitely be paying a higher price for their energy
[ Click here to read more ]
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183 Posts dating from May 2007
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