More dust storms predicted, may carry radiation
Dust storm born out of flooding rains
ABC Science 23 September 2009 Darren Osborne
“………………..with climate change set to bring more variability, Australia may experience more large scale dust storms in the future. Continue reading
Australia’s plan to resolve climate issue
Australia moves to resolve climate issue
9 News Sep 21 200 A proposal to resolve thorny climate change issues dividing developed and developing nations is being proposed by Australia in the lead up to the Copenhagen summit in December.
Climate Change Minister Penny Wong will reveal that Australia has been working on a proposed legal structure that could appease developing nations unwilling or unable to commit to economy-wide targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The issue has been a key point of difference, and a sensitive one, in addition to talks on just how much richer nations should pay to help poorer nations adjust to the huge changes required to reduce carbon pollution.
In a speech to the New York University School of Law on Monday (NY time), Senator Wong will tell students the proposed structure would allow nations to choose how they’ll reduce emissions instead of imposing a set of economy-wide targets that must be met by all countries………….Nations would be able to choose from a series of legally-binding schedules that could include renewable energy targets, a technology standard or a target to reduce deforestation, submitting a schedule before December……………..
“Developed countries would be expected to record an ambitious economy-wide emissions reduction target.
“For developing countries, taking on international mitigation obligations for the first time is a big deal – but the flexibilities in schedules are designed to give them greater comfort.”
For example, Australia’s national schedule would include an economy-wide target to reduce emissions by up to 25 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020, the legislated carbon pollution reduction scheme and the renewable energy target.
Clean coal stealing funds from renewables
Clean coal funds are robbing renewable energy
COAL MINING 16 September 2009 a2a_linkname=document.title;a2a_linkurl=location.href;CAPRICORN Conservation Council vice-president Ian Herbert says money spent on clean coal should be funding renewable energy technology.
Clean coal technology is an umbrella term used to describe technologies being developed that aim to reduce the environmental impact of coal energy generation such as carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Herbert claims clean coal is still unproved and Australia would be far more advanced if the funds were spent on developing renewable energy sources.
The representative says even if clean coal is proven, workable clean coal technology is still at least 20 years off.
Solar power’s bright new prospects
World wakes to new dawn for solar power
The Age PADDY MANNING September 19, 2009
WHEN Lindsay Tanner says greenies are ”obsessed” with solar energy, he’s right. And it’s obvious why.Clean coal is a myth. Nuclear has radioactive waste and security issues and (read Helen Caldicott) it’s not as efficient as they say. Continue reading
Australian protest against coal
Aussie Activists Target World’s Most-Polluting Coal Plant
solve climate by Leigh Ewbank – Sep 11th, 2009Hundreds of climate activists are descending on Australia’s Latrobe Valley this weekend with a message for the owner of the most-polluting coal-fired power plant in the industrialized world: Continue reading
Labor and Liberal pander to polluting industries
Polluters win no matter who is in power
The Age Kenneth Davidson * August 31, 2009 *Labor’s policies to tackle climate change pander to big business.
“………….This Liberal/Labor policy bipartisanship is most clearly on display in measures to deal with global warming. Continue reading
Australia targets 20% renewable energy by 2020
Australia targets 20% renewable energy by 2020
Google News (AFP) – 20 August 09
SYDNEY — Australia on Thursday passed a clean energy law requiring the country to produce 20 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020 in move that could draw billions of dollars of green investment. Continue reading
Renewable energy stocks rise, and Australia to pass renewables legislation
Green companies get wind in their sails
August 17, 2009
CLEAN chip stocks outperformed the S&P/ASX 200 by 7.6 per cent in the first half of this year, showing companies focused on climate change solutions are capable of earning superior returns, according to analysis from The Climate Institute.
Over three years, clean indices recorded returns 47 per cent greater than the benchmark index, according to findings from The Climate Institute study.
The analysis combined three clean technology indices; the RepuTex Carbon Leaders Index Series, the RepuTex Climate Change Index Series and Bakers Investment Groups ALTEX Australia Index and compared them with the Standard and Poors ASX 200 index.
The findings came as Climate Change Minister Penny Wong yesterday announced the Federal Government had bowed to pressure and would decouple the Renewable Energy Target Bill from the emissions trading legislation rejected in the Senate on Thursday.
The RET Bill is now widely expected to be passed this week, paving the way for more than $28 billion of investment in a clean energy sector, expected to help the economy draw 20 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, by 2020.
Exposing nuclear hype about global warming
Nuclear instability
ON LINE opinion By Helen Caldicott, 14 August 2009
Australia seems determined to lead the way to an unstable world which could result in two very different outcomes – global warming or nuclear winter. We burn and export coal in massive amounts producing more CO2 per capita than any other country and we are about to become one of the world’s major uranium exporters. Continue reading
Australia’s carbon scheme to boost markets
Carbon scheme to boost markets
Giles Parkinson | August 10, 2009Article from: The Australian“……………..Lagging behind in renewables
WITH the federal government’s Renewable Energy Target also facing a standstill in the Senate, there are growing concerns in the local renewable energy industry that the country is being left behind.There are billions of dollars of projects currently on hold, and while the government says it wants to be a leader in renewable technologies, other countries are marching ahead.China has recently upgraded its renewable energy target from 15 per cent to 20 per cent by 2020, which will translate to around 150 gigawatts of wind power, 20GW of solar power and 30GW of biomass power.India joined the push towards solar last week, announcing plans to install 20GW of solar capacity by 2020 — its reliance on an equivalent amount of diesel-sourced power means solar will be cost-competitive — with a grand plan to lift that to 200GW of solar by 2050.
“Everyone wants to be world leader,” says Ray Wills, head of the WA Sustainable Energy Association. “Other developed and developing nations are moving aggressively to develop their lesser renewable energy resources while Australia — with the world’s best resources — is lagging behind.”
In the US, the amount produced by renewable energy sources (11.1 per cent) has overtaken that of nuclear power (10.4 per cent), according to the latest data from the US Energy Information Administration.Professor Wills notes that $US155 billion was invested directly into clean-energy companies and projects worldwide in 2008, and total transactions in the sector, including acquisitions and buyouts, were $US223 billion. Precious little of that occurred in Australia.
BHP Billiton tries to get free permits for greenhouse emissions
(Australian) Emissions will rise under Olympic Dam plan: greens
Sydney Morning Herald Marian Wilkinson Environment Editor August 3, 2009
BHP-Billiton’s plan to dig the biggest open-cut uranium and copper mine in the world is under attack from environmental groups who claim it will send greenhouse gas emissions soaring in the home state of the Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong.The battle over the massive expansion of the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia comes as mining companies are in talks with the Government over whether the copper industry will be granted free permits to cover greenhouse gas emissions because of export competition from countries such as Chile.If the talks are successful, BHP could be shielded from some of the high costs of greenhouse pollution associated with the mine’s expansion under the Government’s carbon pollution reduction scheme.
BHP estimates that the expanded Olympic Dam mine could produce up to 4.7 million tonnes (4.7 megatonnes) of greenhouse emissions every year at its peak, according to its environmental impact statement, which is on display. That figure is close to 1 per cent of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions today.
The Australian Conservation Foundation estimates that by 2020 the mine’s expansion will increase South Australia’s emissions by about 12.4 per cent a year.
A spokeswoman for Senator Wong told the Herald yesterday the copper industry ‘‘is working with the Department of Climate Change to assess copper’s eligibility’’ for free permits under the Government’s scheme and whether it qualifies.
Uranium mining is not considered eligible for free permits under the Government’s scheme but Olympic Dam’s main product will be its huge copper reserves.
Public submissions to the state and federal Labor governments on BHP’s environmental statement close this week.
Australian govt’s pretense on renewable energy
Green cars and jobs are about tokenism
THE AUSTRALIAN 31 July 09 “…………………..If the government wanted real green jobs created, as opposed to make-work and training schemes, it would uncouple its proposed 20 per cent renewable energy target from the emissions trading scheme and get it passed as soon as possible.
Access Economics has calculated that measures other than the ETS, including the renewable energy target, will create 28,000 new jobs over the next decade. The only reason to link the renewable energy target with the ETS is a cynical attempt to wedge the opposition. If a greener economy is to emerge, it must be economically viable.
BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam will cause greenhouse emissions to soar
Mining growth a greenhouse gas threat
– Adelaide Now 29 July 09July 29, 2009
SOUTH Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions will skyrocket with the expansion of the Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine if the power comes from non-renewable sources.
The Australian Conservation Foundation says the State Government must make the expansion conditional on the use of renewable energy.
“This BHP mining plan is equivalent to putting more than one million inefficient polluting cars on to the roads and keeping them there for decades to come,” said ACF climate change program manager Tony Mohr.
A spokesman for Premier Mike Rann said the greenhouse gas emissions were “a key issue for consideration” and that the Government would ask BHP Billiton to demonstrate how it would comply with relevant legislation.
Act now on climate change or pay later: expert
ABC News Jul 27, 2009
The Climate Change Institute in Canberra has warned that Australia must think beyond the emissions trading scheme, if it wants to have an impact on global warming.Climate change experts are meeting at a summit at the Australian National University to discuss Australia’s response to the threat of global warming.As the Federal Government and Opposition battle it out over the detail of an ETS, Climate Change Institute director Will Steffen is advising Australians to embrace the renewable energy technologies that are available now, rather than wait for advances in the field.
“What we need to do is start getting the emissions trajectory down as soon as we can, the longer we wait to do this, the more we run the risk, the science says, of crossing some of these tipping elements of triggering some abrupt changes,” he said…………………….
“The other issue of course that came out quite strongly particularly from the economics community is that the longer we delay on the issue the costlier it’ll actually become.”
Act now on climate change or pay later: expert – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Chinese energy is greener than ours
THE AUSTRALIAN 27 July 09
“………Ferguson’s government and others in the developed world are being asked to comprehend ……………They have been repeatedly warned by the International Energy Agency that, even if the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries collectively reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2030, they cannot put the world on track to achieve stablisation of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere at 450 parts per million………….Martin Ferguson could have also cited a set of startling Chinese green power statistics in his mid-July speech to the Queensland Resources Council
By 2020 China aims to have installed 300,000MW of hydro power (equal to 80 Snowy Mountains schemes), 30,000MW of plants fuelled by agricultural waste, 1800MW of solar power and more than 50,000MW of wind farms (about four times what will be needed here to meet the Rudd renewable energy target).This will involve spending $US33billion ($40.3bn) a year on renewable energy.Everything about the Chinese effort is mindboggling. For example, it now employs 600,000 people (twice the population of Canberra) installing solar hot-water heaters in a $US2bn a year business. Its electric bicycle business is worth more than $US6bn a year.Nor are its efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its coal-burning generators to be underestimated.
Since 2005 China has required all new large power plants to use at least high-efficiency, super-critical technology and since 2007 it has shut down smaller, inefficient plants with a capacity of 14,380MW (more generation capacity than in NSW).This is allowing China to leapfrog the less efficient coal technology that is dominant in the developed world, including Australia.
1 This month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
15 April – Zoom –Nuclear Power is Not the Solution
Apr 15, 2026 01:00 AM in Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
Join the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) on Tuesday, April 14th for a timely webinar exploring the risks associated with nuclear power and challenging the myth that it offers a simple, safe, carbon-free solution to the climate crisis
21 April Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-04-21 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-04-21 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
Event Type: Virtual
A virtual link will be communicated before the event.
Host Contact Info: australia@icanw.org
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 