Doctors warn on health effects of climate change on children
Australian doctors call for Health Minister to attend Paris climate talks, SMH November 2, Lucy Cormack The “increasingly unmanageable” threat of climate change on children’s health has prompted an open letter from doctors around Australia to the government, calling for Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley to attend the United Nations Paris climate summit this December.
In the letter, from independent organisation Doctors for the Environment Australia, leading doctors warn of the “health emergency” climate change presents for children, who have the least capacity to act. “More bushfires, floods and storms have already had severe and ongoing psychological effects on Australian children,” said the letter, which was released on Monday.
“Higher temperatures, which we are now seeing, have been linked to increases in premature births and hospital attendances for infectious diarrhoea, fever, asthma, dehydration and heat exhaustion.”…….Beyond two degrees of warming, health impacts threaten to become increasingly unmanageable.”
Professor Fiona Stanley, a former Australian of the year and a signatory to the letter, said she strongly supported the call for Ms Ley to go to Paris, because Australia desperately needed a national strategic plan for handling the health impacts of climate change…….Professor Kingsley Faulkner, AM, chair of DEA and former president of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, said Australia risked remaining “a laggard, rather than a leader on climate change”.
“Australia must prove to the world that it can protect the health of its own citizens in Paris, especially its children,” he said.
The 2015 Paris COP21 climate summit will host leaders from more than 190 countries and runs from November 30 to December 11. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/australian-doctors-call-for-health-minister-to-attend-paris-climate-talks-20151101-gknvym.html#ixzz3qIcipVs1
Sunshine in your beer in Sydney
Pingala community-owned solar project to hit the roof of Young Henrys brewery, SMH, 2 November Lucy Cormack Environment Reporter
Imagine if there was sunshine in your beer. With a plan to build a solar farm atop the Young Henrys brewery in the heart of Sydney’s inner west, there soon could be.
Community members can become shareholders in the project – a collaboration with community energy organisation Pingala – and therefore, part owners of a future local solar farm. “When the Pingala guys came and spoke to us about it, we hadn’t had an interest in solar. Being able to put enough aside for large-scale solar wasn’t something we could afford,” said brewery part-owner Oscar McMahon.
“This was the perfect thing for us. We will start buying the power from the Pingala solar system on our roof, repaying people’s local investment into that system … we start buying renewable energy from our community.”
Electricity from the system will be used to power brewing processes, avoiding around 127 tonnes greenhouse gas emissions a year…….
The project will be the first for Pingala, part of a plan to start building community-owned solar farms on businesses and organisations across Sydney. The first stages have been realised with approval for a $40,000 innovation grant from the City of Sydney. Pingala volunteer Tom Nockolds said the renewable energy movement can no longer be ignored. “This idea, [it’s] time has really come. We’re opening up a new way for people to invest in renewable energy.” He said the project is directed at everyday “mums and dads who are struggling to find an opportunity to invest in renewables”. “Particularly in Sydney, where a high proportion of people live in apartments, are renters, or don’t have roof [space],” he said.
The Pingala initiative will aim for a 6 per cent to 8 per cent return for investors. After they have been paid back, the panels are gifted to the business to continue using. The first stages have been realised with approval for a $40,000 innovation grant from the City of Sydney.
Pingala volunteer Tom Nockolds said the renewable energy movement can no longer be ignored. “This idea, [it’s] time has really come. We’re opening up a new way for people to invest in renewable energy.”He said the project is directed at everyday “mums and dads who are struggling to find an opportunity to invest in renewables”. “Particularly in Sydney, where a high proportion of people live in apartments, are renters, or don’t have roof [space],” he said.
The Pingala initiative will aim for a 6 per cent to 8 per cent return for investors. After they have been paid back, the panels are gifted to the business to continue using
The Young Henrys project has the nod from Lord Mayor Clover Moore, who said it shows how Sydney “can make the shift to renewable energy even faster”. While Pingala is still obtaining financial and legal advice for the project, Mr Nockolds said in the early new year solar panels will be appearing on the Young Henrys roof…..http://www.smh.com.au/environment/pingala-communityowned-solar-project-to-hit-the-roof-of-young-henrys-brewery-20151029-gkltqu.html#ixzz3qIlYu8Jj
Australia has no environmental credibility, yet seeks to co-chair the Green Climate Fund
Australia bids to co-chair the Green Climate Fund criticised by Tony Abbott, Canberra Times, October 30, 2015 James Massola Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has launched a bid for Australia to co-chair the Green Climate Fund that former prime minister Tony Abbott once criticised as “a Bob Brown bank on an international scale”.
A decision on who the next two co-chairs of the fund will be is expected to be made in Zambia late next week. The co-chair positions are typically held by one developing and one developed country for a period of one year. Fairfax Media has learnt that Ms Bishop first proposed Australia put its name forward to co-chair the fund when Mr Abbott was still prime minister.
Final approval for the bid was not, however, forthcoming until the Liberal Party switched to Malcolm Turnbull last month…….
Greens climate change spokeswoman Larissa Waters, however, said the decision to nominate for the co-chair position was hypocritical given that, in her view, Australia’s estimated fair share contribution should be $350 million annually.
“Australia has no credibility in overseeing the Green Climate Fund when this government is simultaneously trying to open the southern hemisphere’s largest coal mine in Queensland,” she said.
“We are the largest per capita emitter of carbon pollution of any developed country and the Turnbull government’s measly reduction targets will keep it that way.”
The bid comes ahead of a crucial climate conference that will be held in Paris at the end of this year, which Ms Bishop, Environment Minister Greg Hunt and possibly Mr Turnbull will attend. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-bids-to-cochair-the-green-climate-fund-criticised-by-tony-abbott-20151030-gkmvv6.html#ixzz3q5fTp7CX
Malcolm Turnbull gets delivery of radioactive trash (fake) from Greenpeace
Greenpeace delivers fake nuclear waste to Malcolm Turnbull’s office, By Georgina Mitchell Celsius, 30 Oct 15, The environmental group turned up to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s electorate office in Sydney on Thursday equipped with a truck, white suits and six yellow barrels painted with radioactive symbols to deliver a message that nuclear waste is everyone’s problem.
On Wednesday, Mr Turnbull said Australia could plausibly mine uranium, sell it overseas for use in nuclear power stations, then take it back as waste.
This proposition was abhorrent to Greenpeace, who said the waste would impact Australia for “literally thousands of years”.
“The new Prime Minister has given some significant signals that his government is more interested in science and good policy than his predecessor, but the nuclear thought bubble is just plain wrong headed,” said Emma Gibson, Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s head of program.
“If the government really wants to boost the Australian economy, how about making us a world leader in solar power and the renewables industry?
“Mr Turnbull has indicated that he wants to lead a government focused on innovation, but nuclear power is heavy old tech. We need to move towards clean, modern solutions to our energy needs, like solar power and other renewables,” she said…..http://www.celsius.news/story/3456818/greenpeace-delivers-fake-nuclear-waste-to-malcolm-turnbulls-office/?cs=4695
Nuclear waste dump idea is a political stinker: Liberal powerbroker Michael Kroger is worried
Malcolm goes nuclear, Switzer, 30 Oct 15 Sir Humphrey might have called it a “courageous” suggestion. Determined to show everything is indeed on the table, the Prime Minister this week floated the idea of Australia storing nuclear waste. Not merely waste from the Lucas Heights scientific reactor, or indeed waste from a hypothetical Australian nuclear power industry down the track. No, Malcolm Turnbull is suggesting Australia welcome and store the nuclear waste shipped to us from other countries
After announcing a well-known nuclear advocate, Dr Alan Finkel, as Australia’s next Chief Scientist on Monday, the Prime Minister visited the South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill to congratulate him on his Royal Commission into the nuclear fuel cycle. Turnbull says he is a “bit sceptical” about the chances of a nuclear power industry stacking up financially in Australia (especially while coal is so cheap). But he does see a business case for digging up uranium, processing it here, shipping it off for others to use and then taking back spent fuel rods.
He spelt out his thinking on Adelaide radio: “We have got the uranium, we mine it, why don’t we process it, turn it into the fuel rods, lease it to people overseas, when they are done we bring them back and we have got stable, very stable geology in remote locations and a stable political environment. That is a business that you could well imagine here.”………
as anyone even mildly involved in the nuclear debate over the last twenty years will know, there’s no escaping the politics. Liberal powerbroker Michael Kroger was typically blunt about the Prime Minister’s idea. “We look like everyone else’s rubbish bin, quite frankly, and Australians will see it that way…they will say ‘why is this stuff being dumped here?’” Kroger, the Victorian Liberal Party President, has a sharp nose for a political stinker………..
#NuclearCommissionSA chief dismisses ‘overheated’ worries about #nuclear industry
Nuclear inquiry head says objections to uranium ‘overheated’ http://www.afr.com/news/nuclear-inquiry-head-says-objections-to-uranium-overheated-20151030-gkn2mo
by Simon Evans The former admiral overseeing South Australia’s nuclear inquiry says he is trying to be as straight as possible on what can be a divisive issue, but some concerns about the nuclear industry go too far.
Kevin Scarce, who was appointed by South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill this year to investigate if South Australia should go into nuclear enrichment, storage of waste and power generation, says he is on target to deliver preliminary findings by February before a final report by May. He says he is focused on objective evidence and tapping into global expertise, and accepts that many people have passionate views about the nuclear industry.
“Some of those concerns are overheated,” he told AFR Weekend. “I think it’s really important that we investigate all the issues and rely on fact-based evidence.”
Mr Scarce, who was governor of South Australia for seven years until mid-2014, has taken evidence from more than 60 witnesses. The latest on Friday was Eric Loewen, the chief consulting engineer at United States firm GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy.
Dr Loewen is an expert in the development of the company’s new generation of small, modular nuclear reactors designed to recycle spent nuclear fuel.
He was asked about the approximate costs of the new generation PRISM reactor, and said a United States Department of Energy report had estimated it at about $6 billion.
“We would describe that cost as very reasonable,” Dr Loewen said. Continue reading
Matthias Cormann joins the Liberals’ pro #nuclear stampede
Nuclear could be lucrative: minister, http://www.9news.com.au/national/2015/10/31/10/14/nuclear-could-be-lucrative-minister#m8FlUuWPGqSToruE.99 9 News, 31 Oct 15 A nuclear fuel industry could be potentially lucrative for Australia, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says.
Senator Cormann says the government is keeping an open mind on any proposals put forward by a South Australian royal commission into the nuclear fuel cycle, which could identify opportunities to diversify the economic base on nuclear power.
“This could be potentially quite lucrative,” the minister told Sky News on Saturday, adding opposition to nuclear energy was often ideological.
Turnbull backs Sen Edwards plan to make South Australia the world’s radioactive trash toilet
PM Turnbull backs nuclear in SA, economy may get $35b injection, 
AFR, by Phillip Coorey Laura Tingle Simon Evans, 30 Oct 15 Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is backing the creation of a nuclear fuel industry in Australia that experts say could be worth up to $35 billion for South Australia.
Mr Turnbull commended South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill for setting up an inquiry to consider if the state should have a nuclear industry. He said he was sceptical about the need for nuclear power, but Australia should become involved in the nuclear fuel cycle to produce fuel rods, export them and then transport them back home once used, and store them in outback nuclear waste dumps……
Assistant Science Minister Karen Andrews told The Australian Financial Review that developing a nuclear waste disposal industry was an option, and pointed out that there is currently Australian nuclear waste in transit from treatment in France which is expected to be stored by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.
Those fuel rods come from the scientific reactor at Lucas Heights in Sydney, whereas the proposal to manufacture and store spent rods from overseas concerns the high-level radioactive rods used to power nuclear reactors that generate electricity. Even after being reprocessed, they remain radioactive for many years.
Mrs Andrews referred to a proposal by South Australian Liberal senator Sean Edwards as an example of the sort of development that could emerge in the nuclear cycle industry in Australia and overcome concerns…..
MANAGEMENT SERVICES
Senator Sean Edwards wants the whole toxic nuclear chain here, as well as the radioactive trash dump
Edwards pushing forward on nuclear, Sky News, 30 October 2015 A government senator is upping the ante on the nuclear debate, saying a revamp of the industry could help deliver free energy to his fellow South Australians and reduce state taxes.
Unlike Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who is open to a discussion on exporting fuel rods, Sean Edwards wants to see spent ones recycled here and generators installed.
‘We are looking for an energy that week can generate at low cost so we can foster industry and foster jobs and ensure we are not destroying the planet at the same time,’ Edwards told Sky News on Friday, spruiking the economic benefits of having a local industry……. http://www.skynews.com.au/news/politics/national/2015/10/30/edwards-pushing-forward-on-nuclear-3.html#sthash.Okmc5vyv.dpuf– See more at: http://www.skynews.com.au/news/politics/national/2015/10/30/edwards-pushing-forward-on-nuclear-3.html#sthash.Okmc5vyv.dpuf
On uranium sales to India, Malcolm Turnbull should heed Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties
Malcolm Turnbull should pay heed to the findings of the JSCOT report and not be rushed by those with poor track records and overt atomic agendas.
Nuclear ambitions must put safety first, http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/nuclear-ambitions-must-put-safety-first-20151030-gkmqtm.html Dave Sweeney, It’s now three years since then-Premier Campbell Newman back-flipped on a ‘crystal clear’ commitment and opened the door for the uranium industry in Queensland. The decision, made without consultation, evidence or any independent analysis was explained on the basis of a potential uranium sales deal with India.
Since this time – and to their considerable credit – the re-elected Labor government has reinstated the state’s long-standing and popular ban on uranium mining.
As the uranium lobbyists and former LNP mines minister Andrew Cripps continue to beat the radioactive drum it is useful to look at the risks and roadblocks that mean there will be no smooth passage to India for any Australian uranium.
In September the federal Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties completed a detailed examination of the proposed sales deal and its implications. Despite strong personal support for the sales plan by then PM Tony Abbot the government controlled committee took a far more considered and cautious approach.
The committee’s report identified a range of serious and unresolved nuclear safety, security and regulatory concerns with the proposed sales deal – as well as questioning its uncertain legal basis. Continue reading
McKinley Shire, Queensland, promotes local business with renewable energy initiative
McKinlay Shire in north-west Queensland sheds light on solar cost-saving plans for council, traders http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-30/mckinlay-shire-sheds-light-on-solar-panels-plan/6898430 By Zara Margolis A north-west Queensland council has begun the second stage of a plan to help local businesses reduce their power bills. The McKinlay Shire has awarded a contract to a renewable energy company to install solar panels on nine local businesses and some council buildings.
Mayor Belinda Murphy said the company was finalising the solar designs, which should be installed by the end of the year. “The whole aim of council’s approach with this was really triggered by drought initially as well,” she said. “As I’ve said before, there is help for landholders but there has certainly been no direct help and support for businesses in these rural towns. “We identified this about 18 months ago and they were the ones who told us their biggest impacts are freight and power.”
Councillor Murphy said the panels would also be installed at a number of council assets. “Even just from a council perspective we’re going to have a projected power cost saving of around $60,000 per annum,” she said.
“Now we have a power cost annually of around $340,000, so that’s nearly a 20 per cent saving which council can then use to put back into other services, the community, other assets or into reserve.”
Western Australia’s wave power microgrid – a world first
World-first wave power microgrid to be trialled in WA http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-29/world-first-wave-power-microgrid-to-be-trialled-in-wa/6896994 By Emily Piess A WA energy company is about to trial the world’s first renewable microgrid power station using wave energy as one of its sources.
Perth-based Carnegie Wave Energy will build the pilot project on Garden Island, using wave and solar energy to supply power to the Defence Department and a desalination plant. Chief executive Michael Ottaviano said the technology could be used to provide power to regional townships near the coast, as well as island communities. “This is a model for islands to move away from diesel-power generation into a combination of renewables,” Mr Ottaviano said.
“It’s also [a model for] regional towns in Western Australia, particularly those that are either off-grid and also running on diesel, or those that are on the so-called fringes of a grid, typically on the end of long transmission lines.”
Mr Ottaviano said the technology could reduce WA’s reliance on transmission lines that are expensive to maintain and upgrade. “It can cost hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade, so as a way to avoid that sort of large expense, embedding renewable microgrids on the end of those transmission lines will be the future of clean power in Western Australia,” he said.
“The Garden Island microgrid project will do the equivalent amount of power for about 2,000 to 3,000 households, so it’s already of commercial scale.” Western Power is partnering with Carnegie and will provide technical expertise on the project.The microgrid, which will cost up to $10 million to build, will produce about five megawatts of energy, a significant portion of the Defence Department’s electricity use on Garden Island.
If the trial is successful, Mr Ottaviano said the microgrid model could be used in regional centres such as Albany and Geraldton. “This potentially could be rolled out to thousands and millions of households across Western Australia and beyond that really across the globe,” he said. “The potential for these sorts of projects is enormous.”Carnegie will undertake a detailed design phase before construction begins next year.
The microgrid is due to be completed by the end of 2016.
Karoonda Council, South Australia, considering floating solar plant
Floating solar power plant mooted for Karoonda to power waste management pump station http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-30/floating-solar-power-plant-mooted-for-karoonda/6899436 The District Council of Karoonda-East Murray says it will look into the possibility of a floating solar power plant at Karoonda in South Australia’s Murray-Mallee region.
Council CEO Peter Smithson said the floating solar plant would provide power for the waste management pump station next to the stormwater dam.
A similar plant is already operating at Jamestown in the state’s mid-north.
Mr Smithson said the council had committed to undertake further due diligence about the green power opportunity.
“We’ve been approached by a company about the possibility of a solar generating power plant at Karoonda which would provide power to our CWMS [Community Wastewater Management System] pumps,” he said.
“We’ve gone and looked at Jamestown.
“There’s quite a long resolution because it really details the fact that there’s no capital outlay by council and it really looks at the fact that we’ve done due diligence and we’ve asked the company to come and address the next council meeting.
MP Rowan Ramsey explains difference between Lucas Heights nuclear waste and the Sean Edwards import plan
A shipload of these rods, which are classified as medium-level waste, sent to France a decade ago for reprocessing is due home soon. With no place to store the radioactive material yet established, a special facility has been built at Lucas Heights in outer Sydney to store them until a location is secured…….
Mr Ramsey, who has a property outside Kimba in South Australia’s west, volunteered, but was told by then Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane, it would constitute a perceived conflict of interest.
Australia’s nuclear/uranium giants don’t want nuclear technology (just waste dumping)
government has guaranteed to pay £92.50 a megawatt hour for power. At current exchange rates that works out at $198.91mwh. The average spot price for electricity across Australia on Tuesday was $39.89mwh.That gap demonstrates the quantum of incentive that Australia might need to attract the capital necessary to establish a footprint in nuclear power.
Nuclear warriors reject power and enrichment, AFR, by Matthew Stevens, 31 Oct 15, Hugh Morgan has been an apostle of the nuclear industry for more than 30 years. Australia’s biggest uranium mine, Olympic Dam, opened under Morgan’s watch as chief executive of Western Mining. And, to the ridicule of many, one of Morgan’s retirement projects was a business set up a decade ago that aimed to build nuclear power stations in Australia.
You might imagine Melbourne’s miner of legend is pretty excited about the quite sudden emergence of some level of national political consensus over South Australia’s attempt to expand its place in the nuclear energy cycle.
But Malcolm Turnbull’s support for a nuclear fuel industry based in South Australia is no Toyota moment for Morgan. And neither is our favourite defender of all things atomic tempted to excitement by Bill Shorten’s observation that an Australian nuclear industry should have been established years ago.
Morgan, you see, remains ever the financial rationalist. Continue reading
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