Green light for USA military bases in Australia
Stephen Smith gives tick to joint US-Aust bases From:THE AUSTRALIAN, AAP June 26, 2013 THE federal government has again expressed its support for the presence of US defence bases on Australian soil, declaring they offer access to intelligence unavailable elsewhere…….
Australia currently hosts two facilities – Pine Gap, commissioned in 1967 and the Joint Geological and Geophysical Research station, both of which are near Alice Springs.
Pine Gap collects intelligence data for the US and Australia and provide ballistic missile early warning information.
Australia’s recent “angry summer” was most likely caused by climate change
Manmade Emissions Led to the Heat Wave That Baked Australia Motherboard, By Jason Koebler, 27 June 13 Scientists are 90 percent sure this year’s Australian heat wave couldn’t have happened without manmade influence. Photo: CIA
Surprise, surprise: The record-breaking heat wave that plagued Australia earlier this year with temperatures that reached up to 121 degrees was almost certainly caused by humans, according to a new study.
The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters by scientists at the University of Melbourne and Australia’s ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Systems Science, highlights how humans have heightened drought effects on the continent. According to the authors, “human contribution to the increased odds of Australian summer extremes like 2013 was substantial, while natural climate variations alone, including El Niño Southern Oscillation, are unlikely to explain the record temperature.”
The so-called “angry summer” was easily the hottest on record, with temperatures hitting more than 27 degrees above average in some parts of the country during the first week of January. When it was happening, meteorologists with the Australian government said that though “Australia has always experienced heat waves … the event affecting much of inland Australia has definitely not been typical.”…..”The model experiments also show that these types of extreme Australian summers will become more severe and more frequent in the future, with further global warming,” she said. “Extreme summers occur 8 times more frequently in the climate model simulations that include human influences, such as greenhouse gases, compared to the climate model simulations with only natural climate variations.” http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/manmade-emissions-led-to-the-heat-wave-that-baked-australia-1#ixzz2XZtGQ5uR
Chernobyl Children
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJa5725nb_o
Seattle TV: Children now sicker than ever from Chernobyl disaster — Contamination to go on for centuries to come — Many with heart and digestive problems http://enenews.com/seattle-tv-children-are-now-sicker-than-ever-from-chernobyl-disaster-contamination-to-go-on-for-centuries-to-come-many-with-heart-and-digestive-problems-video(VIDEO)Title: Local program helps children receive treatment years after Chernobyl
Source: KING 5 News
Author: MITCH PITTMAN
Date: June 25, 2013
h/t moxnews
For most of us, the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster is history. But the reality is its effects linger for thousands still living around the site, which will be contaminated for centuries to come.
Two decades ago, a program was started locally to help those in Belarus receive treatment, and now Hope for Chernobyl’s Child is continuing that mission in Renton.
[…] organizers say children now are sicker than ever from Chernobyl’s lasting effects.
Transcript Excerpts
Many have heart and digestive problems and they’ll be treated by doctors who donate their time
Now over the years the Hope for Chernobyl’s Child program has helped over 350 kids and organizers say they’re sicker now than ever and they’re still looking for more doctors to help provide care Watch the broadcast here
USA nuclear industry “crumbling under its own weight”
Activists See U.S. Nuclear Industry Starting to Crumble By Matthew Charles Cardinale ATLANTA, Georgia, Jun 27 2013 (IPS) – “……According to Glenn Carroll, coordinator of Nuclear Watch South, a grassroots organisation that raises awareness about nuclear issues, the four closures bring the total number of nuclear reactors in the United States down to an even hundred, from 104 at the beginning of the year and 114 at the industry’s peak.
“[The nuclear industry] is crumbling under its own weight,” Carroll said
A gradual deterioration Just a few years ago, dozens of proposals for possible new nuclear reactors existed. Today, two nuclear projects in Georgia and South Carolina are the only ones still going forward, Carroll noted.
“If there are four reactors being built instead of 44, your economy of scale has just evaporated,” Carroll pointed out, adding that Georgia would be “strapping itself” to rising costs for parts for the plant.
“They’re going to be essentially hand-crafted. No company is going to be set up to create these parts,” she said. Carroll predicted that other reactors would soon be slated for closure, including those at Vermont Yankee in Vernon, Vermont and at Indian Point in Buchanan, New York. In both cases, state governments have sought to shut down the plants.
Meanwhile, billionaire investor Warren Buffett has completely divested from the nuclear industry. Earlier this month, one company owned by Buffett, MidAmerican Energy, has abandoned a proposal to open a new nuclear facility in Iowa…….http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/06/activists-see-u-s-nuclear-industry-starting-to-crumble/
Leadership struggle obscures Labor’s clean energy achievements
The Labor government has much to be proud of with its clean energy record. It has put a price on carbon, established a renewable energy target of at least 20 per cent by 2020, placed a million solar panels on our roofs, put $10 billon into the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and $3 billion into the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and established the successful Carbon Farming Initiative.
This is a strong track record, but the story has been swamped by the ongoing struggle for leadership.
Much can be done to calm the nerves of the clean energy industry. Prime Minister Rudd must reaffirm his support for the Clean Energy Future package. The Coalition must affirm its support for the current fixed Renewable Energy Target.
Clean energy billions going begging Climate Spectator Fiona O’Hehir28 June 13 Now that the Labor leadership issue has finally been resolved, it is time for the government to get on with governing and to let business get on with investing, innovating and creating jobs.
The greatest barrier to investment in Australia’s clean energy future is political and regulatory uncertainty and that is something the industry is copping in spades.
The International Energy Agency has estimated that a staggering $16 trillion will need to be invested in low carbon technologies globally by 2035 if we are to contain temperature increases to 2 degrees. That’s a massive investment binge, but in Australia right now there is a clean energy investment strike. Continue reading
Solar panels that produce more energy than uranium can
Solar Cells That Could Produce More Power Than Uranium http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3814 27 June 13 New research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology into graphene, one of the thinnest and most conductive photovoltaic materials in existence, could lead to the production of highly efficient solar panels that, weight-for-weight, could be capable of producing more energy than reactor-grade uranium.
In a paper published in the journal Nano Letters, MIT scientists describe the stacking of two atom-thick nanomaterials, graphene and molybdenum disulfide, to create a one-nanometre (billionth of a metre) thick solar cell capable of converting sunlight to energy at two percent efficiency.
Lead author of the research, Jeffrey Grossman, the Carl Richard Soderberg Associate Professor of Power Engineering at MIT, says while this is a very low number compared to conventional photovoltaic efficiencies, the solar cell is so thin that pound-for-pound the new material produces up to 1,000 times more power than current solar technology. Continue reading
New New South Wales wind farm at Gullen Range
EnergyAustralia signs PPA for Gullen Range wind farm REneweconomy, By Sophie Vorrath on 27 June 2013EnergyAustralia has signed a Power Purchase Agreement with the China-based developer of a 165.5MW wind farm in NSW, to buy electricity and renewable energy credits generated by the 73-turbine project.
The Australian utility announced its latest PPA for Goldwind Australia’s Gullen Range wind farm on Thursday, hot on the heels of news that Boco Rock – another NSW wind farm EnergyAustralia is supporting through a PPA – has reached financial close.
Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co – China’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, and second largest globally – will use a mix of its 1.5MW and 2.5MW permanent magnet direct drive (PMDD) turbine technology for the Gullen Range project; the company’s largest outside China and the first in Australia to use Goldwind’s “next generation” 2.5MW turbine.
Gullen Range, located in the NSW Southern Tablelands, is currently under construction, with the first export of electricity generated by the wind farm slated for late 2013.
EnergyAustralia’s group executive manager of energy markets, Mark Collette, said this latest PPA was strong evidence of the utility’s intention to pursue investment in renewable energy in order to meet the its obligations under the federal government’s Renewable Energy Target……http://reneweconomy.com.au/2013/energyaustralia-ppa-wind-farm-75104
Renewable energy power generation no more expensive than gas
“A mix of large-scale renewable energy generation, including solar and wind, together with consumer action to use power more efficiently, will deliver the most resilient Australian power market by 2035,”
New UQ research sheds light on coal seam gas versus renewable energy http://www.uq.edu.au/news/?article=26404 A shift from coal-fired to gas-fired power generation will not significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions, new research by the Global Change Institute at The University of Queensland has found.
“The findings contradict a widely-held view that renewable energy is too expensive compared to fossil fuels, and too unreliable to be a major component of Australia’s future energy generation by 2035,” he said.
“There is no justification for the claim that a high proportion of energy sourced from renewables will drive up wholesale costs, in comparison to a power system heavily dependent on coal seam gas,” Professor Foster said.
This finding comes as the Australian government deepens its commitment to developing coal seam gas resources in order to supply lucrative export markets and transition domestic power generation. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 