An interesting article on the news last night was about storing carbon in the soil in forms of charcoal.  I have mentioned this previously in blogs and also the fact that sugar cane and bamboo can form  “carbon rocks” or nodules in the soil that lock up carbon. The Government take on this is a firm NO – it must be emission trading!  and research money should go to the coal industry.

I believe that the coal industry itself should pay for clean coal research – compulsorily as a levy.  I also firmly believe that if we can prevent release of carbon by preferably using less or by some form of storage this beats trading and buying offsets every day.

I am sure we will hear more about this.

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As many as 400 council-managed landfills could be compelled to participate in national emissions trading scheme, depending on the final emissions threshold requiring landfill participation in the scheme that is adopted by the Federal Government.

Thank heavens they are going to include methane which is a more damaging greenhouse gas the carbon dioxide.  They are still negotiating around distances between landfills.

It is understood, the details of this distance are scheduled to be released in regulations for the scheme later in 2009 following further analysis by the Federal Department of Climate Change to determine the appropriate distance for lower emissions threshold to apply.

General Manager Marketing and Communications of waste company SITA Environmental Solutions, Mike Ritchie, says if the 80km distance for the 10,000 tonne landfill emissions threshold is adopted by the Federal Government for the scheme, most medium to large landfills operating in Australia – a total of about 500 landfills – would be captured by the scheme.

According to Mr Ritchie, with local governments operating about 80% of landfills in Australia, it could reasonably be estimated that about 400 council-managed landfills may need to participate in the scheme.

He says if the scheme does adopt the 80km distance between landfills to trigger the lower emissions threshold, it is likely that all metropolitan landfills will be subject to the 10,000 tonne emissions threshold, while regional councils would likely fall within the higher threshold of 25,000 tonnes of emissions annually.
[tags] Council landfils, Emission trading, Landfills, Methane, Waste ['/tags]

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All local governments in Tasmania are to undertake greenhouse gas emission audits following the signing of an agreement with the State Government.  This is the first time in Australia that all the councils in a state will have their greenhouse gas emissions audited.

All State Government departments’ emissions were recently audited in Tasmania.

Technorati Tags: Grennhouse gas emission sudits, Greenhouse gas emissions, Tasmania

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How embarrassing!  The UK Met Office has discovered that a new supercomputer they have to calculate the effects of climate change emits 14,400 tons of CO2 a year.- the same amount of CO2 that 2,400 homes emit in an entire year.

The Met Office has justified the use of the super-polluting computer saying that the work done on it saves more CO2 than it uses.  The Met Office Director of Science and Technology is quoted as saying, “We recognize that running such massive computers consumes huge amounts of power and that our actions in weather and climate prediction, like all our actions, have an impact on the environment. We will be taking actions to minimize this impact.”

Machines like the Met Office’s new computer are important tools in the battle to slow climate change. They are the only way to assess the potential impact of rising CO2 levels over the coming years and decades.

They stated that “Our existing supercomputer and its associated hardware produce 10,000 tonnes of CO2 each year, but this is a fraction of the CO2 emissions we save through our work. We estimate that for the European aviation industry alone our forecasts save emissions close to 3m tonnes by improving efficiency.

I loved the quote in the news source for this “Interesting!  So we have to pollute more in order to pollute less.  Hmmm.”

Technorati Tags: Climate change, Computer, Global warming, Pollute, Polluting, Supercomputer

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Analysis by US scientists shows temperature rises over much of the iced continent, but most intensely over the worrisome West Antarctic ice sheet.
On the western peninsula, at least seven ice shelves have collapsed in recent decades, and as rainfall increases, some penguin colonies are suffering breeding failures.
The breakthrough by glaciologist Eric Steig’s team was made by overcoming a limited long-term data set of Antarctic temperatures, which is restricted to bases sprinkled mainly around its coast.
The team used satellite data, available only for the past 26 years, worked out a relationship

Technorati Tags: Antarctic, Antactic warming, Ice shelves, Glaciologist, Satellite data, Temperature rises

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Martin Parkinson, the Federal Government’s top climate change bureaucrat has called on business to accept its emissions trading blueprint or risk loading the community with additional costs for the scheme.
He said it was “only natural” that business would use the current economic crisis to try to gain “even more favourable treatment” but a delay to the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme due to troubling economic conditions was unnecessary.  And went on to say “the global financial crisis has shown clearly that poorly considered incentives and weak market structures and market rules will result in distortionary behaviour.”
The Government’s white paper on emissions trading last month set a reduction target of 5 per cent on 2000 levels by 2020 and a 15 per cent reduction if a global agreement is reached in Copenhagen this year. Draft legislation will be released by the end of next month for public comment.

http://www.climatechange.gov.au

Technorati Tags:   Business, Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, Climate change, Copenhagen, Emissions trading, Global, global financial crisis

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While we need a 40% reduction urgently and most of the developed world is committing to 20%, the Australian Government came out with 5%!

Now the Government is coming under intense pressure from big business to delay or soften its emissions trading scheme in light of the worsening economic crisis and mounting job losses.

Leaders from the mining, manufacturing and transport industries meeting in Canberra this week to press the government to soften the emission trading even further and is seeking even more compensation.

I am not sure how totally compensating people can provide an incentive for carbon reduction.
The Government’s white paper offered coal mining a $750million abatement fund over five years, but excluded coalmines from the general compensation formula that would have provided free at least 60 per cent of the estimated $5 billion worth of permits the industry would need to buy over that time.   Why should they be able to double dip?

Thankfully unions, conservationists and think tanks such as the Climate Institute are urging the Government to invest in energy-efficiency projects and low-carbon technologies as part of the second economic stimulus package it plans.

“There’s no point trying to wrap the existing economy in cotton wool – it needs restructuring and now is a good opportunity to retrain, retool and renew the economy for a low-carbon future,” said Climate Institute chief John Connor.

A recent article by the British Government’s climate change adviser, Nicholas Stern, said: “While the global economic downturn could distract us from the bigger task of tackling climate change, it is also an opportunity to bring forward investments in low-carbon technologies while costs are lower “.   And he said that “It can provide job opportunities in the short run in key sectors where resources are idle, such as construction. Investments that improve energy efficiency will also yield benefits when power and heating prices increase again during economic recovery. So that in the long term, investments in low-carbon technologies could provide sustainable and well-founded economic growth.”

I am not sure that the Government got the scheme right but getting started and fine tuning along the way seems better than postponing or watering down emission trading even more.
What small business needs is urgent indication of how much carbon accounting is going to be needed and in what format!

Technorati Tags: Australian Government, Carbon accounting, Carbon reduction, Climate Institute, Economic crisis, Emission trading, Global economic downturn, Job losses, Small business, Sustainable,  

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Many of the processes that will be used to fight, or ameliorate the effects of climate change will make huge profits — and that’s where any self-respecting investor should be heading.  And sustainable investment is the way they are going.  Sustainable investment concentrates on supporting technology, infrastructure and business models that reduce carbon emissions, improve efficiency and conserve natural resources — particularly in sectors such as energy, water, and materials — as well as working to cut pollution and reverse existing environmental damage.

“We definitely want to make money for our investors, but we want to do it in stocks that meet our criteria for having a positive effect on climate change,” says James Thier, executive director of leading ethical/SRI fund manager Australian Ethical Investment.

“Climate change is a business opportunity for a lot of companies, and it’s important for investors to remember that. Governments across the world are underpinning that business growth through mandatory renewable energy targets. In Australia, for example, the government is talking about 20 per cent of the nation’s energy needs coming from renewable sources by 2020. That’s going to have to be supplied by somebody. It’s a huge opportunity.”

“It’s a very big field, but we consider that renewable energy, more efficient use of resources and waste management are absolutely fundamental. That’s where we pick up climate change.”

It is good to know that some business people are not just squeaking “poor me, I hate change”.

Technorati Tags: Carbon emissions, Climate change, Environmental damage, Investment, Pollution, renewable energy, Sustainable investments, waste management

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The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says people should not confuse weather with climate. We should expect weather extremes and not confuse local weather variability with climate change.

While 2008 was cooler than the year before, it still ranks as the 10th warmest year on record.  The WMO said that average global surface temperatures have climbed significantly since 1850, when historical weather statistics were first recorded. “Global warming will mean that heat waves like the one we got in Western Europe in 2003 will become more frequent.  But, it does not mean that the 2003 heat wave was produced by global warming …  Last year, we know that part of the relative cooling was due to the La Nina phenomena, which was moderate to strong in the first part of 2008. Then in the second part of 2008, it became closer to what we call neutral condition.

Scientists say human activity contributes to climate change, but they do not agree on the pace at which climate change may be unfolding.

Technorati Tags: Climate, Climate change, Global warming, Human activity, La Nina, Weather, Weather extremes, World Meteorological Organization

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Drilling has begun to see if rock 800 metres under the Central Coast can handle having thousands of tonnes of liquefied carbon dioxide pumped into it each week.  The site is close to Delta Electricity’s Munmorah coal-fired power station near Lake Macquarie, and also at three other points in the state’s north

They are working to find if carbon dioxide fumes from power stations can be compressed and cooled on-site before being buried and whether it will work on a large scale in Australia.

Most environmental groups and some in the coal industry doubt whether it can become effective in time to help slow climate change.

The amount captured and stored at Munmorah is initially to be small – 3000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, a tiny fraction of the power station’s emissions. But the aim is to capture 100,000 tonnes a year by 2013.

If the chosen test site at Munmorah is not found to be suitable then other sites, perhaps the Mount Piper power station near Lithgow – would be immediately investigated, Minister Macdonald told the Herald newspaper.

If no geological sites can be found near existing power stations, the Government would consider contributing funds to build a vast network of pipelines.  There are problems with piping CO2 because when it mixes with moisture, it forms carbonic acid which is more corrosive than gases that are currently piped.

Environmentalists say the expense of carbon capture and storage would take money away from the development of renewable energy.  They feel it is the coal industry is trying to create the appearance that it is doing something about climate change, while fighting tooth and nail to keep themselves in business.

My take on this is that too many people in the world are currently using coal as an energy source and while I would love to see it all left in the ground worldwide, I recognise this is not going to happen, especially in China.  Trying to ban coal use altogether would be an exercise in futility.  It would be like swimming directly against a rip instead of trying to go with the flow but work sideways.  Swimming against a rip results in drowning!  Taking on things that “aint gonna happen” is just as stupid.  Work with them to reduce the harm is the sensible way to go.

The mining and use of Australian coal is less environmentally damaging for the planet than with the much lower quality and lesser environmental control of Chinese coal.  If we can sell the coal together with the technology to use it with fewer emissions, this would be a better outcome.

I believe this should not take from the renewable sector because there should be a 10% levy on coal which is 100% pumped back into clean coal technology.  The industry should pay for this research itself.

Technorati Tags: Carbon capture, Clean coal, Coal, Emissions, Environment

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