Added exposure, totaling another 3 mSV each year for the average American, comes from such man-made sources as power plants that run on coal and nuclear fuel, and consumer products including TVs and computer screens. But most of the extra radiation we get comes from X-rays and CT scans, Ritenour says. Continue reading
‘Economic benefit’ from nuclear waste dump falsely pushed by Department of Industry, Innovation and Science

ANSTO has a duty to deal with their waste, and as their name implies it should be done scientifically and not by shifting the waste to a backroom of the country. However this is an industry that has shortcomings worldwide in the R&D arena, with one claim that Consolidated Edison’s of New York only principle innovation after 25 years of operating was to paint their smoke stacks red white and blue.
Moreover the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science’s cogent manufactured factoids lead the minority of locals to espouse to radioactive wastes for purely false economical reasons. https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/?multi_permalinks=837324089945736%2C837259113285567%2C837129993298479%2C836953179982827%2C836913929986752¬if_
A common sense look at the cancer risk from ionising radiation in medical imaging
With the increasing availability and affordability of imaging technologies, people are getting more tests than they used to. Today, Americans receive more than 85 million CT scans each year, compared with 3 million per year in the 1980s.
Many of those tests may be excessive, argue some researchers, who have been trying to quantify the risks of our increasing use of ionizing radiation in medical imaging. A 2009 study by scientists at the National Cancer Institute estimated that 2 percent — or about 29,000 — of the 1.7 million cancers diagnosed in the United States in 2007 were caused by CT scans.
Should I worry about radiation exposure from X-rays, mammograms and other scans? WP, By Emily Sohn September 30 2018 “…… while massive doses of radiation are known to be harmful, the small doses used in routine tests are usually safe, especially compared with other health-care choices people make without thinking twice.
‘Adani and the War Over Coal’ – a new book: Quentin Beresford spills the devious beans

ISSUES IN DISPUTE
The major issues in dispute, as Bereford see it, are as follows.
Climate change
If all the Carmichael coal is burned – here or anywhere – the carbon emissions would be more than Australia already produces. That would likely tip global warming irreversibly. The pro-Adani group deny this.
Great Barrier Reef
The Reef is already seriously endangered by climate change, drainage from fertilised farmlands, and starfish. The mine would make matters immeasurably worse, as dredging (authorised byLabor’s Tony Burke) has already indicated.
Julie Bishop even denied the Great Barrier Reef would be in any danger.
Beresford notes (p.361):
‘None of the major parties has been prepared to unequivocally put the reef’s long term health over the interests of the fossil fuel industry.’
Great Artesian Basin
The Great Artesian Basin, vital for Australian agriculture, would be seriously endangered by the mine, either through using the water or by puncturing and draining the Basin. Adani supporters say this is exaggerated, and anyway coal mining is a thirsty business.
Native title
Doongmabulla Springs is in the mining area and is of high cultural significance to the Wangan and Jagalingou peoples. However Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUAs) that favour developers have been foisted onto the locals. These are currently under appeal.
Economic case
The costs of mining coal are now higher than the costs of producing renewables — and the difference is rapidly widening. With Adani’s projected costs, current debts and likely returns, Adani is predicted to lose crippling amounts of money if it proceeds.
Adani’s poor safety, criminal and environmental record
First in India and now here, Adani operations have already badly polluted land in the Carmichael region.
WHY, WHY, WHY?
Given all of this, why on Earth would Australian governments be so determined to support the Adani project?
Beresford discusses these issues and others in depth. His findings and assertions are fully referenced, his arguments convincing.
While much of this is due to the shocking judgement and wickedness of individual people, Beresford sees (p.360) as even more important the way in which the coal wars have transformed politics: …….https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/book-review-adani-and-the-war-over-coal–a-pox-on-both-their-parties,11949
PM Morrison’s dodgy claim about Australia meeting Paris climate commitment
PM claims Australia will meet Paris target ‘in a canter’
despite emissions climbing
Morrison says rate of increase not as high as previous years and renewables investment will ensure Australia meets commitment, Guardian, Amy Remeikis, 30 Sept 18, Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise, but Scott Morrison seized on the silver lining, maintaining Australia would meet its Paris commitment, despite the government having no legislated instrument to help it get there.
Figures released on Friday showed Australia’s emissions increased 1.3% in the year to March 2018, up all sectors – except land use and electricity, where renewable technologies were having an impact on the latter.
The prime minister jumped on the rate of the increase not being as high as in previous years……..
Morrison said Australia would meet its Paris targets “in a canter”, largely based on investment in renewable energy technologies, despite concerns a lack of legislated instrument may impact investor confidence in the sector. …..
“We still have large-scale and small-scale policies there. We still have the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and we still have the Emissions Reduction Fund for the period that it’s currently for, and we’re on track to hit it.”…..
Critics of the government’s stance have repeatedly called for legislation to ensure Australia meets the targets it agreed to when Tony Abbott signed the nation up to the Paris agreement.
But with the national energy guarantee a casualty of the leadership spillwithin the Liberal party, the government has no legislated instrument to ensure emission reductions, and no plans to create one…..
He said lowering electricity prices remained the government’s priority and criticised Labor for its policy. ….Labor has said it will look to legislate a version of the national energy guarantee the government abandoned as policy to ensure Australia does meet its targets. The Greens announced its parliamentary team will take a “hard line” on making sure any future Labor government does not back down.
Research released earlier this month found that emission reductions targets were not responsible for driving up power prices. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/30/pm-claims-australia-will-meet-paris-target-in-a-canter-despite-emissions-climbing
Australia’s solar hydrogen industry – CSIRO sees an export future
Sun shines on CSIRO’s cheap hydrogen industry, Brisbane Times, By Cole Latimer, 30 September 2018, Curtin University researchers have developed a cheaper and safer way to bottle and store Australian sunshine as hydrogen fuel.
Researchers from Curtin University’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences have created a lower-cost and less toxic method of developing hydrogen fuel from solar energy, paving the way for the growth of a hydrogen industry in Australia.
Hydrogen is currently being touted by the CSIRO and the government as Australia’s next major energy export industry, valued at up to $1.6 billion by 2025, and as a potential replacement for natural gas and petrol.
Current methods for creating hydrogen from solar power involve running an electric current generated by solar panels through water and requires either highly toxic cadmium or very expensive platinum as a catalyst to kick off the process.
Curtin University’s Dr Guohua Jia said the new process uses an extremely common, and much safer material, zinc selenium, which is sold in many pharmacies around Australia as a vitamin supplement…….
The new development comes as Australia’s chief scientist, Alan Finkel, tours Japan and promotes a hydrogen energy partnership between the two countries.
The Office of the Chief Scientist said Dr Finkel “led a delegation of Australian industry and government leaders interested in pursuing Australia’s potential as hydrogen supplier on an official visit to Japan”…..
the department said. “The Hydrogen Strategy Group, chaired by Dr Finkel, reported to the Coalition of Australian Government energy ministers that Australia has the necessary resources to supply hydrogen produced by near zero-emissions methods, at scale, to Japan and like-minded nations.”……https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/the-economy/sun-shines-on-csiro-s-cheap-hydrogen-industry-20180928-p506px.html
White roofs – an effective cooler for houses
Another option is not to whitewash roofs, but to green them with foliage. This is already being adopted in many cities
There is a third option competing for roof space to take the heat out of cities — covering them in photovoltaic cells. PV cells are dark, and so do not reflect much solar radiation into space. But that is because their business is to capture that energy and convert it into low-carbon electricity.
Solar panels “cool daytime temperatures in a way similar to increasing albedo via white roofs,” according to a study by scientists at the University of New South Wales. The research, published in the journal Scientific Reports last year, found that in a city like Sydney, Australia, a city-wide array of solar panels could reduce summer maximum temperatures by up to 1 degree C. …….
The lesson then is that light, reflective surfaces can have a dramatic impact in cooling the surrounding air – in cities, but in the countryside too. Whitewashed walls, arrays of photovoltaic cells, and stubble-filled fields can all provide local relief during the sweltering decades ahead.
Urban Heat: Can White Roofs Help Cool World’s Warming Cities?
It has long been known that installing white roofs helps reduce heat buildup in cities. But new research indicates that making surfaces more light-reflecting can have a significant impact on lowering extreme temperatures – not just in cities, but in rural areas as well.Yale Environment 360 MARCH 7, 2018 Summers in the city can be extremely hot — several degrees hotter than in the surrounding countryside. But recent research indicates that it may not have to be that way. The systematic replacement of dark surfaces with white could lower heat wave maximum temperatures by 2 degrees Celsius or more. And with climate change and continued urbanization set to intensify “urban heat islands,” the case for such aggressive local geoengineering to maintain our cool grows.The meteorological phenomenon of the urban heat island has been well known since giant cities began to emerge in the 19th century. The materials that comprise most city buildings and roads reflect much less solar radiation – and absorb more – than the vegetation they have replaced. They radiate some of that energy in the form of heat into the surrounding air. The darker the surface, the more the heating. Fresh asphalt reflects only 4 percent of sunlight compared to as much as 25 percent for natural grassland and up to 90 percent for a white surface such as fresh snow. Continue reading |
A better roof paint to help cool houses
regularly cited: a technology that lets us live and work in some of the most inhospitable places on the planet.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0c12b87c-c29b-11e8-b39e-4a881a3e11ca