Uranium company ERA’s “horror year” continues
Production slump caps a horror year for ERA BARRY FITZGERALD THE AUSTRALIAN JANUARY 10, 2014 RIO Tinto’s listed uranium subsidiary Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) has finished off a horror year by reporting a near 60 per cent slump in December quarter production from its Ranger mine in the Northern Territory.
A severe production fall was expected because of the absence of high-grade material following the cessation of mining operations in the open-cut at Ranger. But things got worse on December 7 when a leach tank at the processing operations collapsed, forcing a shutdown for clean-up and a wait for regulatory approval to restart processing operations. … (registered readers only) HTTP://WWW.THEAUSTRALIAN.COM.AU/BUSINESS/MINING-ENERGY/PRODUCTION-SLUMP-CAPS-A-HORROR-YEAR-FOR-ERA/STORY-E6FRG9DF-1226798542510#
Australian renewable energy technology: sales to Japan?
Renewable energy in Japan: opportunities for Australian businesses Ecogeneration , 10 January 2014 In an exclusive excerpt from the February 2014 edition ofEcoGeneration, Austrade Trade Commissioner in Sapporo Ian Brazier explains how the Japan’s feed-in tariff scheme has made solar PV their fastest growing energy sector, creating new opportunities for Australian technology, equipment and service providers.
……To diversify its energy mix, the Japanese government is moving towards bolstering renewable energy usage. In order to increase supply, a generous feed-in tariff (FiT) regime for renewable energy was introduced in July 2012.
To date, most announced projects that have come as a result of the FiT rely on solar photovoltaic (PV) generation and are based in northern Japan…..
What has been the big impact from feed-in tariffs?
The FiT regime has triggered a 4,086 megawatt (MW) increase in total deployed renewable energy project capacity from July 2012 to July 2013 (latest available figures). Of this total capacity, 3,916 MW comes from solar PV power generation.
The dominance of solar PV generation is likely to continue. Japanese government policy is that FiT will remain in place for at least three years and this will ensure continued solid growth…….
Residential solar is the second biggest growth area in renewables and is an area where Australia has commercial advantage that is of interest to Japan. Under the current FiT regime, each owner may sell only surplus electricity, with the duration of purchase agreements limited to ten years. 646375.png…….
Some large Japanese firms with expertise in large lenses and mirrors and speciality construction are looking to expand into CSP projects overseas, including in Australia. This presents possible inward investment opportunities for Australia in attracting Japanese direct investment.
New trends are also emerging in wind
There are a number of wind projects being progressed due to introduction of the FiT….. http://ecogeneration.com.au/news/renewable_energy_in_japanopportunities_for_australian_businesses/084932/
It is time for a TREATY with Aboriginal people
It is time for a Treaty.
Aborigines have never ceded sovereignty to the colonial invaders. There must be a treaty recognising prior ownership and all the legal, social and financial responsibilities that flow from that.
None of this will be won by petitions, or electing Aboriginal people to Parliament, or relying on Labor.
En Passant. John Passant 10 Jan 14 If Wikileaks and Edward Snowden teach us anything it is that our leaders lie. And lie. And lie.
Australia Day is no different. It is Invasion Day but we will never hear that truth. Bourgeois clichés about the lucky country (what irony!) and our great nation compete with bullshit about our brave soldiers overseas and how we all in this together.
It’s time for some truth about our genocidal and racist history. As George Orwell said telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
Australia has a black history.
For 65000 years Aboriginal people lived here in harmony with themselves and the environment. Australia Day does not recognise that proud history and prior stewardship. It whitewashes this history by celebrating the arrival of a bunch of neocolonialists and their convicts and guards a mere 225 years ago. Continue reading
1 $billion for solar energy for New York State
New York Governor Announces $1 Billion For Solar Energyhttp://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/09/3139091/cuomo-big-solar/
BY KILEY KROH
ON JANUARY 9, 2014 NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO DELIVERED HIS STATE OF THE STATEADDRESS ON WEDNESDAY AND ANNOUNCED AN EVEN GREATER COMMITMENT TO CLEAN ENERGY, INCLUDING $1 BILLION IN NEW FUNDING FOR SOLAR ENERGY PROJECTS.
Launched in 2012, Cuomo’s NY-Sun Initiative has already been a tremendous success, with almost 300 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic capacity installed or under development, more than was installed in the entire decade prior to the program.
Now with another major financial boost, Cuomo aims to install 3,000 (MW) of solar across New York. “That’s enough solar to power 465,000 New York homes, cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2.3 million tons annually — the equivalent of taking almost 435,000 cars off the road — and create more than 13,000 new solar jobs,” according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
In addition to the ten-year financial boost for NY-Sun, Cuomo announced a new program entitled K-Solar, which will incentivize the deployment of solar energy by using the state’s 5,000 schools as “demonstration hubs” to increase the number of solar energy projects in their surrounding communities.
The governor also unveiled the $40 million NY Prize competition, which will bolster community microgrids in the state, helping to make the electrical grid more resilient in the face of increasing extreme weather like Superstorm Sandy. Additionally, Renewable Heat NY will seek to utilize private sector investment to boost biomass heating as a cheaper, renewable alternative to home heating oil.
As Cuomo’s impressive commitment to clean energy pays off in the state’s rapidly growing solar industry, NRDC notes that not only is NY-Sun expanding the marketplace, it has also served to “to drive down the cost of installed solar power by establishing new, cost-effective and efficient practices and technologies.”
Thanks to this suite of forward-thinking policies, New York has skyrocketed through the U.S. solar rankings. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, “with enough solar to power more than 30,900 homes, New York currently ranks 12th in the country for installed solar capacity. There are more than 411 solar companies at work throughout the value chain in New York, employing more than 3,300 people.” And those figures are on the rise. An analysis of clean energy jobs created in the third quarter of 2013 ranked New York third in the U.S., behind only California and Nevada.
Cardiologists need to avoid using too many radiation therapies, due to cancer risk
Health Watch: January 9th Cardiologists are being urged to reduce their patients’ exposure to radiation by the European Society of Cardiology. The group says radiation from cardiology procedures such as CT scans adds up to 50 chest x-rays per patient each year. The radiation greatly raises the patient’s risk of getting cancer decades later. They say up to 50 percent of patient radiology exposure is unnecessary and in cases where the procedures are appropriate, the dosages are often wrong. Continue reading
Japan to do a “practise” nuclear meltdown
Japan to create nuclear meltdown to learn how to deal with disasters like Fukushima news.com.au 10 Jan 14 SCIENTISTS in Japan are planning to create a controlled reactor meltdown in a bid to learn how to deal with future disasters like that at Fukushima.
In Fukushima, the radiation is still so bad it can be fatal within 20 minutes.
To combat this sort of disaster occurring again, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency said it was working on a project using a scaled-down version of a reactor which they would deliberately cause to malfunction at a research facility in Ibaraki, north of Tokyo.
HOW THE FUKUSHIMA FALLOUT CONTINUES TO SPREAD
Japanese media has also reported that the intensity of radiation levels in the nuclear powerplant devastated by the earthquake – and subsequent tidal waves – of March 2011 is now at its highest levels ever……
The meltdown project, which will begin some time in the fiscal year that starts in April, will use a small fuel rod that that will undergo a very rapid fission process, the spokesman said.
He said it will be the first such experiment to be carried out by the Japanese agency, although similar projects have been done in major nations with atomic power such as the United States and France…… jhttp://www.news.com.au/technology/science/japan-to-create-nuclear-meltdown-to-learn-how-to-deal-with-disasters-like-fukushima/story-fn5fsgyc-1226798533853
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 