Future Visions

New Clear Energy or Nuclear Energy

2008-01-01T12:20:23Z

I keep being asked why I don’t include Nuclear Energy in my talk about Renewable Sustainable Energy. The person asking the question often follows up with one of the following statement

· It produces less greenhouse gases

· We need something that will bridge the gap between the use of fossil fuel and renewables because the renewable technology is not ready yet

· Renewables can not supply baseload

· The latest generation of nuclear power plants are much safer than the old ones

My main answer is that nuclear is not sustainable. The more nuclear energy we use the more nuclear waste we produce and it hangs around for thousands of years. Of itself it is nasty insidious stuff and what it can turn into if it leaks into the environment or is intentionally leaked into the environment in the form of nuclear weapons and dirty bombs is also nasty.

There is one person who has dealt with this question more thoroughly than I have and I intend to use the rest of this posting to highlight what can be found in the book

“Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy” by Mark Diesendorf, published by UNSW Press, Sydney, 2007 (ISBN 978-0-868409-733).

Diesendorf states that the nuclear industry has been seriously promoting nuclear power since 2000 with the following claims

It emits no or negligible amounts of CO₂
It can rapidly replace coal-fired power stations
The cost of the energy is only slightly more than that from coal
In some countries it is the cheapest form of large scale electricity

To each of these points Diesendorf gives a well considered answer. He discusses the

CO₂ emissions from the nuclear fuel chain

The inherent constraints on the speed of building and commissioning new nuclear power plants
The economics of nuclear power
The politics of nuclear power

The Nuclear Fuel Chain

Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239 are the fuel sources for nuclear power plants. The energy produced when these atoms break down into their daughter atoms is used to produce steam that can run a turbine and therefore produce electricity. While the operation of the power station may not produce significant quantities of CO₂ each of the following steps uses fossil fuel and therefore does produce CO₂

Mining and milling of the uranium ore
Conversion to uranium hexafluoride
Enrichment to increase the concentration of U-235 from the normal 0.7% to around 4% (further enrichment produces weapons grade material)
Construction of the power station

At the moment there is no commercial reprocessing of the spent fuel which would produce more CO₂and the decommissioning of nuclear power plants also produces CO₂.

Another aspects of nuclear energy production that should be taken into consideration is that there is no well considered long-term waste management i.e. 70 million tones of radioactive tailings are stockpiled at Roxby Downs in South Australia and this amount is increasing by 10 million tones per year. Spent fuel is stored for decades under water to remove the energy still being released by the decay of the short lived isotopes produced by the original nuclear fission. This spent fuel is both radioactive and still producing heat and so it has to be handled remotely behind shielding which is difficult and dangerous. The US has no reprocessing plants. There was one in the UK (Windscale) which has been closed indefinitely because it had been leaking highly radioactive liquid for 9m before being discovered. Reprocessing is being carried out at La Hague in France and there are small plants in India, Russia and Japan. So there are large quantities of highly radioactive fission products in “temporary” storage at nuclear power plants. Even if Yucca Mountain in the US, which has been surrounded by scandal due to falsification of safety data related to groundwater modeling, becomes operational it will not even have enough room to store the high-level wastes from the USA’s existing nuclear power stations.

Nuclear power grew rapidly in the 1960’s because of huge subsidies, now because of concerns about hazards and unfavorable economics there is now only one developed country, Finland that still has a growing nuclear industry.

High-grade uranium ore (0.1%) is in limited supply (would last 20 years if 50% of the worlds present energy demand were met in this way) and a nuclear power plant which ran on this ore would take several years to compensate for the CO₂ produced in its construction. Power plants using the more abundant lower grade ore (0.01%) would never compensate for the CO₂ produced in the ores extraction and processing, so the net CO₂ emissions are comparable with those of a combined-cycle gas-fired power station.

Diesendorf proceeds to discuss fast breeder reactors, there are non operational anywhere in the world and those that have been operational have been beset with problems and accidents. Pro-nuclear studies think it will be 30years before this type of nuclear reactor could operate commercially. Thorium reactors which use U-235 and Pu-239 to produce the neutrons to change Thorium into U-233 are still in the development stage and only in India. Nuclear fusion has been under investigation for 50 years with the containment of the plasma being the biggest problem. It is estimated that the first commercial fusion reactor may be operational by 2045 if the preliminary tests prove positive. It will still require large amounts of fossil fuel input to build it.

Slow Deployment

The sooner we can find technologies to replace coal fired power stations the better so 30 and 40 years down the track is too long for the emerging technology mentioned above. Even the 10 years needed to build a conventional nuclear power plant is still too much time. Large wind farms can be planned, approved and installed in less that one year.

Economics

In 2003 the British White Paper on Energy said “the current economics of nuclear power make it an unattractive option for new generating capacity”. Diesendorf discusses how the costs for nuclear power are calculated and how, if the subsidies are removed, it is more expensive than onshore wind at excellent sites in the UK and USA.

There are two further sections, one on “Proliferation and terrorism” and the other on the “Nuclear politics in Australia”.

This is only one chapter of Diesendorf’s book. The others are equally as informative and accessible i.e. you don’t have to be a physicist to be able to understand the material he presents.

Future Science 2007

2007-12-26T06:07:41Z

This small conference was aimed at teachers, high school and primary school. The Future Landscapes presentation was compressed into one hour and 19 people took part. Of the 19 responses to the question “What do you think life will be like in 25 years?”

2 gave seriously positive responses

4 gave moderately positive responses

13 gave negative responses

The negative responses included

Increased problems due to climate change
Loss of biodiversity
Increased human population to unsustainable levels
Increased population density in cities
More greed
Increasing divide between rich and poor
Increase in violence and crime
Harsher conditions for the elderly
Euthanasia accepted
Economic collapse
Social collapse
No welfare system
Higher costs for plastics and other oil based products
Increased pollution
Decreased resources
Food becomes more processed and less healthy
Less farmland, forests and grasslands
Lower standard of living
Shortage of food

So these are the perceived problems of the future. Does it have to be like this? Can we make decisions now to sidestep these problems? Can we change the way we do things now to create a different future?

Of the positive responses

Homes designed and built applying sustainable principles

Solar passive
Minimal energy usage
Water recycling

Gardens used to minimize a persons global footprint

Edible garden
Water wise
Passive solar shading of house

Transport will be cleaner, more efficient and closely matched to the users use and needs
Global communication
Shop at home (just got sidetracked for about half an hour looking for organic / free range produce that is home delivered / shop online and found one in Serpentine – Freshline Organics http://www.freshline.com.au/index.html I have not tried them but they do sound interesting.
Medical advances will solve many problems
Increasing number of people working at home
Increased leisure time with more time for social and family activities and an increased quality of life
More usage of renewable energy

I think the more we think about the possibilities for the future the easier it is to think of a sustainable future. As one of the respondents put it “I have seen dramatic changes in people’s society’s attitudes over the last 2yrs – I think we have the capacity to make things work”

Of the 13 people who gave negative responses to the first question 8 still were pessimistic about the future at the end of the workshop for the following reasons

They felt things are already out of control and moving too fast
People wait until there is a disaster before doing anything
Governments only care about votes
There is a need for government legislation
The next generation has to make it work too

Here again are perceived obstacles. How real are they? Do people only feel things are out of control because they are not taking control of their lives and responsibility for their actions? Do we have to wait for a disaster or do we just need to see a problem that can be solved if we break it down into small parts? If governments care about votes that surely this is a way to get them to do something? The next generation has to make it work too so they need the facts and the skills to understand the issues and seek solutions.

Other comments at the end of the workshop included

More people are aware and concerned about the issues so there is more chance of things being done
People, countries, nations will overcome the difficulties of energy and water out of necessity for survival but our lifestyle may change.
Still cynical people who see the current “new” technology as the best we can do and don’t see it as a springboard to the things we haven’t even thought of yet.
I believe we are all capable of being agents of change

In these two questions alone there is much to think about. It appears our own attitude is as important in being able to perceive a sustainable future as is the technology necessary to achieve it. If you think it can be done you are more inclined to look for information and solutions. If you prefer a more positive future why not make decisions in the light of this preference?

Do I walk the talk?

2007-11-25T13:06:53Z

On Friday I gave another of my Future Landscapes presentation to a group of around 40 teachers and I will post the results as soon as I have had time to analyse them. It was a timely presentation as the latest report from the IPCC had been released the previous week and some of the teachers were genuinely looking for ways they could move towards a sustainable future.

One of the questions I was asked during the workshop was something like “Are you prepared to give half your salary to a family in Africa because that is what it will take”. I stood for a while trying to formulate an answer but in the end gave up and carried on with the workshop. For those of you who were at the workshop and wondered why I blanked, what was going on in my head was something like this.

Could I give up half my salary now, do I have that much disposable income? I support myself and one other so the answer was probably no.

Could I sell my place and move into something smaller so I could afford to give half my salary away. Well I live in a unit which I guess is like a small house because it has no walls that adjoin any other house but there is not much land around it and I share the space with another person. To sell my place and buy another I would probably have to move further from work, so transport costs and energy usage would increase, as well as greenhouse emissions in order for us to get to work. So this is not a solution either.

Would giving half my salary to a family in Africa solve the problems of limited fossil fuel energy resources and climate change? It would make that family more wealthy, and possibly their village, so they would be able to afford food and clothes and schoolbooks which would be a good thing, but I can not be sure it would work towards solving the energy crisis or deal with the climate change problem.

Where does my money go? That’s a big question and I will have to leave it for later. So I faded back into the world around me and went on with the workshop.

It is now later and I have a little more time to think.

Why haven’t I got lots to give away to help other people? Well I purchase 100% renewable energy so my electricity bills are higher than they would be if I didn’t and the money goes to promote renewable energy in Western Australia. We do eat some meat and I get this from a butcher that has free range chicken, lamb and beef and all of it comes from the local region. I buy free range eggs from a friend who has chickens in her back yard and I buy local fruit and vegetables from an independent grocer. All of these things cost more, money-wise, than buying them from a supermarket but they cost less in energy and hence greenhouse gasses because there is less refrigeration and less transport.

Now and again I have to go to the Eastern States which is a hazard of living in one of the worlds most isolated cities. This means flying which uses lots of energy so I offset the emissions by buying carbon offset credits. The people I purchase them from spend the money in the third world providing communities with sustainable renewable energy resources. Sustainable in that they tailor the resources to the needs of the people and train them to look after the resources. In a way therefore I am giving some of my income to families in Africa but I am giving it in a way that also is working towards a solution to the energy resources problem.

I have a small energy efficient car, probably eat too much and should take the bus more often so I am not a saint but I am trying. I have started growing my own leafy vegetables and herbs in pots on shelves on the North side of my house (a food wall) as I don’t have room for a veggie garden. This reduces food transport costs even more. I recycle, have a worm farm and compost bins thus reducing the amount of rubbish that needs to be disposed of. During the winter I captured rainwater for the garden and now I capture the grey water from the washing machine. We use solar passive heating and cooling as much as possible (open and close windows and curtains). All my light globes are fluorescent, there is insulation in the ceiling and other conservation measures that are now just a way of life. What I am trying to say is I walk the talk as much as I can and it does cost me, in time and money, to do this. Yes I could do more – we all could.

Every Idea Has a Time

2007-10-15T15:15:25Z

Today is Blog Action Day – a day for thinking about the environment.

My last post was a look at how the urban landscape might change if we were to embrace sustainability principles and the point was mainly to illustrate that it did not have to change drastically to make a start. To list all the changes that could be made I would have to write a book and I don’t have the time. There are plenty of resources for those who want to do something now to make sure there is a sustainable future. Try

· Other blogs / livejournals

o 50 ways to help the environment,

· Libraries – local and university

· Local councils

· State government offices

· Federal government offices

Many have information on their websites or have books / booklets, it is just a matter of looking. Since I started writing this livejournal the amount of information I have come across relating to this topic has increased exponentially over time. The profile of energy conservation, global warming and climate change in the mass media has also increased dramatically. The time seems to have come for the idea of “living for a sustainable future”.

The Nobel Peace Prize 2007

2007-10-14T09:41:31Z

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2007/
"for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change"

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)	Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr.

	Photo: Scanpix/Tom Hevezi

If Not PV on Every Roof Then What?

2007-10-14T00:43:48Z

If I am making predictions I may as well go all the way. What do I think a Sustainable Future could look like?

Let’s start at home with energy production

PV is already used for stand alone lighting and small devices that it is hard to run electricity to like pond pumps.

Solar hot water systems could be on every roof, public and private. Yes this will take resources and energy to produce them so it should be done now while energy is still cheap. The effects would be immediate, the technology is proven and fairly simple, and the lifespan of the unit can continuously be extended by good maintenance and sacrificial anodes. Their use would reduce demand for energy (gas, electricity) which would buy us more time as long as the demand for energy does not increase in some other area.

Solar thermal energy could also be used for space heating and cooling in every building. New houses could employ solar passive designs and existing houses can be retrofitted to take advantage of it also. Using solar thermal energy can be as simple as allowing the sun into your house on cold days to help it warm things up. It can get more complicated as in building Trombe walls to collect the heat and pump it into the house or adding green houses / conservatories on the sunny side of your house and shady ferneries on the side of your house in permanent shade. The green house can be used to collect heat in the cooler months and this can be directed into the house. In warmer months the air form the green house is allowed to vent to the outside drawing air into the house through the fernery where it has been cooled through evaporative cooling from the moist surroundings. So even if there is not a breath of wind outside there still could be moving air within the house. There are many ways differential heating like this can be used to heat, cool and move air.

Water has a high heat capacity which means it can store a lot of heat energy for every degree Centigrade that the temperature raises. So if the sun could be used to heat the water during the day that heat could be released to keep a house warm at night. There are again simple ways of doing this like standing drums / tanks of water in the patch of sunlight from your sun facing windows and covering the windows at night with heavy curtains to sop the energy finding its way out again. There are also complex systems like having a large volume of water under the building which is circulated through pipes on and in the roof during the day to collect as much heat energy as possible and transfer it to the storage tanks during the day / over the warmer months. Then circulate the water under the floor / through the walls at night / during the colder months. I did see an article about something like this being used to keep roads ice free in winter.

Building a building with high thermal mass means that it will take a long time to warm up and when warm a long time to cool down. So this will even out the outside temperature variations. How this is used depends on the climate. The buildings in my area of the university have high thermal mass – lots of concrete. So it is a nice cool place for most of the summer however it can get very cold and most unpleasant in late winter and early spring. Still thermal mass coupled with good design principles can reduce energy demand for heating and cooling in many climates.

Wind turbines are not usually seen in suburban back yards because they are large, take up a lot of space and are very visible. This last factor may become less important in the future as society turns more towards renewable energy supplies. At the moment though large turbines can be found on wind swept cliffs and in sheep paddocks and not everyone is pleased about it. In Germany however the government has to put quotas on how many wind turbines a community can build because the community sells the energy to the major energy supplier at a profit. So every time you hear the turbine whooshing you know that means more money for the community to provide / improve facilities.

Smaller turbines are being developed that can sit on a house roof much as whirly bird ventilation systems do now. They could provide reasonable amounts of energy which would be enough to charge storage batteries providing energy for 12V appliances and lighting.

The urban landscape will not have to change much for these measures are to be adopted. Solar hot water systems and whirly bird windmills on every house, swimming pools converted to gather heat energy during the day and releasing it to warm the house at night in winter and used in reverse to cool the house in the summer, green houses on the sunny side of the house and shade houses on the other, greenhouses growing food, shade houses removing impurities from the air. All sounds rather pleasant really.

chris_creagh @ 2007-10-14T07:59:00

2007-10-14T00:20:05Z

Tomorrow is Blog Action Day
http://blogactionday.org/

"On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future".

Over 12,000 blogs and websites will be participating and several will be accessible from the above site, what a fantastic resource! An opportunity to find more like-minded people and a way to get people thinking about the environment and how it relates to them. What a powerful idea.

Short-term targets key to tackling climate change: report

2007-10-10T13:25:44Z

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/10/2055351.htm

A new report says a 30 per cent reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2020 is an achievable target for Australia.

The study says legislating for more efficient energy-use in buildings, and converting from electric to solar heating is now an affordable reality.

It also factored in a shift from petrol and diesel cars to electric and hybrid and improvements in public transport.

The report's author Mark Diesendorf from the University of New South Wales, says these implementations would deliver immediate, big cuts in emissions.

"If we don't have short-term goals we won't reach long-term goals but because we're focussed on 2020 we had to focus on those actions which will get big reductions quickly," he said.

"With the acceleration in global warming we really need to get some runs on the board fast."

France lays plans for a green future

2007-10-10T13:06:36Z

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071003/full/449518a.html

A recipe: take a roomful of French farmers, fishermen, trade unionists, captains of industry and environmentalists, then mix in scientists and politicians. Ask them to come up with an agreed blueprint for a green revolution in France and leave them to simmer for ten weeks.

This is what they came up with

• All newly built homes to produce more energy than they consume by 2020. Renovate all existing buildings to save energy. Ban incandescent light bulbs by 2010. Reduce greenhouse-gas emission by 20% by 2020.

• Increase renewable energy from 9% to 20–25% of total energy consumption by 2020.

• Bring transport emissions back to 1990 levels. Reduce vehicle speed limits by 10 kilometres per hour. Taxes and incentives to favour clean cars. Shift half of haulage by road to rail and water within 15 years. Develop rail and public transport.

• Reduce air pollutants quantitatively.

• Create a national network of 'green' corridors and nature reserves.

• Increase organic farming from 2% to 6% of total acreage production by 2010 and to 20% by 2020.

• Ecological groups to be stakeholders, like trade unions, in government negotiations.

• Create a body to review planting of genetically modified crops on a case-by-case basis.

Solar takes off with US power supply deal

2007-10-03T14:48:23Z

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/02/2048420.htm

By Matt Peacock

Posted Tue Oct 2, 2007 8:32am AEST
Updated Tue Oct 2, 2007 8:47am AEST

Two of America's biggest power utilities have unveiled plans for a multi-billion-dollar expansion of solar power supply, backing the argument that solar energy can indeed become a viable alternative to coal-fired electricity.

<snip>

the utilities are confidently predicting that their solar power will soon be providing baseload electricity - that is, day and night - at prices competitive with coal

<snip>

The solar technology developed by Dr Mills already exists here in Australia, in the form of small pilot plants attached to the Liddell coal-fired power station in the New South Wales Hunter Valley. A plant officer explains that the system's emphasis is on simplicity, with near-flat mirrors on giant hoops tracking the sun.

"Sunlight, on a clear day like this, strikes those mirrors and is gathered up onto the tower, and there's an absorber underneath that tower," he said.

Out comes steam, ready to drive a conventional power turbine.

<snip>

baseload power supply is just what Ausra is now being contracted to supply for the insatiable US market. It says that within two years it will be able to economically store its hot water for more than 16 hours.

<snip>

Dr Diesendorf says the huge US investment into solar will soon make talk of clean coal and nuclear as solutions to climate change redundant.

"Basically, the solar thermal technology will be on the ground, certainly in the United States and many other countries long before so-called clean coal and nuclear power," he said.

Inspired ideas for a sustainable future

2007-09-29T02:00:46Z

There are people out there who dare to dream - yay!

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/74
Worldchanging.com founder Alex Steffen offers a fast-paced round-up of radical (but possible) answers to our planet's greatest challenges, ranging from green cities and buildings, to digital collaboration tools, to ingenious tools for the developing world (flowers that detect landmines; straws that purify water as you drink; merry-go-rounds that pump water using the energy expended by children at play). As Western-style consumerism spreads to developing countries, we must re-imagine our world -- a process he believes is slowly happening in such cities as Vancouver and Portland, Oregon, and also in the developing world, where new technologies and new forms of collaboration are combining to solve 21st-century problems.

How will the look of our urban environment change with the use of renewable energy technology?

2007-09-08T04:45:17Z

Renewable sustainable energy sources come in many shapes and sizes. Some can have large amounts of conventional looking infrastructure for example hot rock and geothermal sources. Other sources like micro-hydro you would hardly notice. Still others while being very obvious are definitely not conventional, take a field of solar reflectors sprouting PV cells. How will the introduction of renewable sustainable energy supplies change our future landscape?

At the moment most Australians live in towns, cities and suburbs and our energy supply comes from a few large “power stations” dotted around the country. In Western Australia many of these are linked together to form the Western Grid and the engineers keeping an eye on the supply bring generators on-line at the different power plants as and when they are needed to meet demand. Problems in one power station can mostly be covered by increasing the output of another and it is not often that the energy supply is interrupted. Still there are a limited number of power stations and problems at more than one at a time can lead to blackouts depending on the weather, time of day and therefore the demand.

People in the remoter parts of Australia, and by remote I mean those where it is too expensive to connect to the local grid, provide their own energy to meet their own needs. Historically this has been by using diesel generators for the homestead and wind turbines for water pumps to fill the troughs for livestock. These people were perhaps the first to recognise the value of an independent energy supply and the costs of obtaining diesel or electricity from the grid made the expense of installing PV cells competitive. Most are realists and do not depend on PV for all their energy but have a combination of renewables and fossil fuel energy supplies.

So what would our suburbs, cities and towns look like if we were to copy the Remote Area Power Supply (RAPS) systems of the people in the bush? I don’t think we would have PV cells on every roof because of the cost, and the requirement to keep them working at maximum efficiency in order to maximum energy returns for the energy invested in their production. It would be most efficient to have a localised concentration of such devices that would provide full time work in maintenance and monitoring for one or two local people. These PV power-stations could be constructed in any unused flat open space e.g. rooftops of shopping centres or other large buildings, covered car parks, along train tracks even on the land used for fossil fuel power-stations at the moment. All these places are already connected to the grid. These “islands” of PV could be owned by the local community who would be paid for any excess energy produced. In this way it would be in the communities interest to take care of the resource and it would also be in their interest to look at ways of reducing their energy demands so that they would maximise their profits.

This scenario would require some improvements to be made to the physical distribution network for safety reasons. If one section of the grid goes down and a linesman goes out to fix the problem they want to be damn sure there are not still one or two islands producing electricity within that section of the grid or they could end up being electrocuted. This is only a technical problem and can be fixed using appropriate switching equipment where the PV arrays are connected to the grid. Another problem is monitoring energy production and distribution because in this scenario there would be many energy suppliers rather than just the handful there are today. Again this a technical and not insurmountable problem. The main problem is bringing about a change in attitude as to how energy is to be sourced and distributed and finding the leadership prepared to make the changes. Other countries have been able to do this so, there is no reason why we can not.

Germany is a shining light (pun intended) in this area and Wikipedia gives a quick overview of its achievements in this area but I found a nice paper on-line by Preben Maegaard given as a keynote address to the EUROSUN 2000 conference in Copenhagen, Denmark on 20th June 2000 that explains the governments policy which lead to this success. Of course the German Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology has some useful information on its site and links to “Renewables Made in Germany”. In other words they have built a whole new industry based on renewable technology, again there is no technological reason why this could not be happening here.

Such PV power-stations would then give us an independent distributed energy supply. Independent is important. At the moment in Western Australia our energy supply is fairly independent as we have plenty of coal and gas. An independent energy supply means economic security. Energy supplies can not be delayed, cut-off or in anyway used as a bargaining tool by the foreign supplier, so the industries that need the energy know they will be able to meet their production deadlines.

A distributed energy supply is also a good thing. It is less vulnerable to disruption due to environmental reasons or from malicious and wilful damage (terrorist attacks). Problems in one area can be covered by energy supplied from another area.

Further away from the urbanised areas local networks could supply local communities, again giving them independence and autonomy. Even within urbanised areas small stand alone off line systems might be used to supply energy for such things as emergency phones along the freeway or public lighting i.e. situations where the energy cost of laying cables is prohibitive.

The World Future Council

2007-08-12T13:55:18Z

These people are thinking about the big questions that need to be asked and then answered if we are to move to a sustainable future

http://www.worldfuturecouncil.org/wfchistory.html

The World Future Council Initiative was launched in London in October 2004, having first been mooted in 2000 during an interview on German radio with Swedish writer and activist Jakob von Uexküll.

Von Uexküll’s idea for a global council made up of wise elders, thinkers, pioneers, and young leaders, was born out of a frustration with global politics and its apparent inability to take the necessary steps to secure our common future. His first-hand experience of working with both the United Nations and the European Union persuaded him that there was no end of good ideas for tackling the problems we face, but that the existing institutions seemed incapable of making the most of these.

Look for the "Hamburg call to action"

I think this will be a website worth watching.

World changing

2007-08-12T13:21:17Z

I think when you are trying to change the world it is good to know you are not alone. This is what the following website is all about
http://www.worldchanging.com/about/

Their manifesto is as follows

WorldChanging.com works from a simple premise: that the tools, models and ideas for building a better future lie all around us. That plenty of people are working on tools for change, but the fields in which they work remain unconnected. That the motive, means and opportunity for profound positive change are already present. That another world is not just possible, it's here. We only need to put the pieces together.

They raise ideas for discussion, they showcase what people are doing and they have some good ideas, perhaps some not so good but all will make you think.

Remote Qld town welcomes solar farm

2007-07-29T10:17:17Z

How cool is this? Very cool!

By Nicole Butler

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/26/1989070.htm

In remote western Queensland, the town of Windorah is about to become one of Australia's greenest communities, with the construction of the state's first solar farm.

Five solar dishes, each 14 metres in diameter, will generate enough electricity to power the small community during daylight hours.

It seems this is just the start of Australia's awakening to renewable energy sources, which experts say have been 'going gangbusters' overseas.

Power company Ergon Energy plans to start building the five solar dishes in Windorah in September.

Spokesman David Smyth say the $4 million facility will generate 360,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year and significantly reduce the community's reliance on diesel-generated power.

The Final 5 min Question

2007-07-23T15:19:07Z

Question:

How could the use of Renewable and Sustainable Energy and Energy Conservation change the look of our cities and suburbs / farms, country towns, mining sites, wilderness / scrub?

Answers:

Houses / buildings

It is not sustainable to rebuild our cities and suburbs. So it is better to retrofit e.g. solar panels, collect water from roads and store for use in buildings, double glazing, central heating using heat pumps.

More green belts to reduce the temperature extremes.

Construction of smaller houses or more people sharing the larger places in the cities and suburbs.

Still basically urban but more self sufficient.

More households growing their own food.

New houses built with passive energy designs and established houses retrofitted.

More buildings domestic and commercial using active energy saving systems.

Local Community

People would become more dependant on the local community to meet their needs so there would be community gardens, sharing of produce and better social networks.

There would be an increase usage of solar electricity so there would be solar panels on more roofs. Any extra electricity produced by a community could be fed into the grid and the money made by this used to benefit the local community.

The need to reduce transport costs would create / lead to the development of smaller, sustainable “village” communities as opposed to the ever increasing urban sprawl we are currently experiencing.

There would be a return to distributed supply, more locally grown produce, working and living within our “village” as opposed to travelling huge distances.

Energy Production

More solar panels on roofs would not really change the look of our communities.

Wind towers could be an eye-sore. Having them built into towers in cities is a great idea, the only problem might be the noise.

There could be concern as to the look of our great coastal areas if wind / tidal / wave energy were used.

Comment: The price of what things look like is a small price to pay.
Comment: Designs can be made more aesthetic and the closeness to settlements also needs to be considered.
Comment: Aesthetics, energy efficiency and functionality don’t necessarily have to be compromised. Some energy efficient measures could actually improve the look of some things e.g. planting more trees would “soften” urban hard edges.

Public / Private Transport

A more efficient public transport system to reduced usage of personal vehicles (possibly free?).

Restrict the use of cars travelling into the city – congestion charges / alternate day use / expensive parking / park ‘n’ ride.

Electric busses / trams in the CBD

Encourage electric hydrogen vehicles

A more efficient public transport system could mean less use of private transport. This could free up some roads to be turned into parks / orchids / food growing areas / cycle ways / walking paths. This would make the area safer and more pleasant to get around in.

5 min to Answer Question 3

2007-07-23T14:18:21Z

Question: How can you help to integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values and skills needed for a sustainable life?

Answers:

In general

Make it relevant and real for those you wish to educate. Provide problem solving situations that engage them and has them actively participating. This gives awareness of the problems and the power to feel that they can make a difference.

Experiment: alter current energy use – personal / home / community

In the classroom

Need students to consider their current habits / ideas / values then explore other possibilities / challenge ideas.

Develop an action plan and then undertake a project which has personal meaning for students either as individuals, in groups or as a class. It is important that any action plan is well defined and has direction as it is not possible to do everything at once. Once the project has reached completion have a public celebration (local / community) of the outcomes – media / verbal communication to reward the students and to educate the public.

We need to make it real for our students and incorporate real life situations.

Starting locally is a good way to begin then these local concerns can be developed into more global concerns. I think it requires good planning and the opportunity to do this.

Teaching content is easy but identifying what is important and developing this so students can incorporate this into their lives and transfer knowledge is what we need to do. Apart from the real life situations looking at developing processes such as how to effectively conduct research and how to go about solving problems need to be dealt with.

I think it is encouraging that our students understand more about sustainability than I ever did at their age. It is up to us to develop this understanding by exposing students to sustainability issues so they will be well informed / well balanced people who can play their part in the community. So many of my students are already well on the way which is great!

Start with children as young as possible – as soon as they are in school.

Teachers and schools should be modelling what is needed within the classroom and the school environment as a whole. Maybe also promote good practice by giving rewards to environmentally friendly actions by students.

Fundraising at school to raise community awareness of sustainable living – use the money to buy into tree planting programs run outside the school.

Use technology to communicate world wide with other students.

One of the participants is already developing special projects for schools which promote sustainability e.g. ways to make the school carbon neutral.

Each year circulate a carbon budget for the school.

Encourage schools to plant trees and encourage families to plant trees.

Another initiative by one of the participants in the workshop is writing material for schools which will promote sustainable practices and educate people / students as to their importance.

Curriculum

The knowledge, values and skills needed for a sustainable life should be totally integrated within the curriculum throughout school life.

It is necessary to teach thinking skills combined with enquiry based / problem based learning styles. The problems about to face today’s youth will help to generate thinking.

Science course which is issues based (in South Australia this is called “Contemporise Issues and Science”) – works best with local issues – often the issues are environmental.

A workshop participant is already helping to write a science curriculum which focuses on embedding sustainability as a concept and as a basis for scientific inquiry.

Teach the youth to teach the parents, needs to become part of the Education Board Curriculum.

Parents

Encourage parents to participate in activities within school which will help to educate them about the issues.

In the Community

Engage the people within the community by doing research / support (financial, physical, mentoring)

One workshop attendant makes sustainability practices a focus for competitions which an associate runs in their state.

How much more could they probably have thought up if they were given longer, or there were more people from more backgrounds who had lived through more experiences?

Workshop Question 2

2007-07-19T14:13:58Z

In 5 minutes the pens flew and pages were written in answer to the question “What are you doing now that is helping us move towards a sustainable future (at home, at work, with clubs and societies, on a national scale, on an international scale)? One person even stayed behind to write more. So there are people out there doing “stuff” and this is what they are doing.

Summarising phrases

Sustainable starts with personal behaviour

Be conscious of moving towards a sustainable future

Daily decisions

At Home

Get started

Train the kids

House

Solar hot water system

Buy an established house rather than build a new one

Retrofit your house to be more sustainable

Changed all the bulbs in our home to energy efficient bulbs

Using more energy efficient appliances (star rating)

Examine options for more efficient energy use at home

If building get an architect to design an energy efficient house

Garden

Native garden

Rain water used for garden watering

Go carbon neutral by planting trees

Worm farm enrich soil

Mulch waste for garden compost and enrich soil

Transport

Walk

Use public transport

Ride to work or sport etc.

Change to a smaller more fuel efficient car or get a hybrid

Use the smallest car when ever there is a choice

Consumption and waste minimisation

Simple behaviours

Use sustainable food sources

Consume less

Reduce

Don’t use plastic bags

Minimal packaging e.g. avoid multiple shopping bags when buying stuff

Reuse

Recycle

Worm farm

Mulch garden waste

Recycle food waste in compost

Energy conservation

Simple behaviours

Take care with energy usage

Turn off unnecessary lights / appliances when not in use

Open windows for ventilation / heating / cooling

Wear appropriate clothing

Short showers

Water conservation

Rainwater tanks for watering, toilets, washing

Short showers

Dual flush toilet

No lawn

Mulch

Recreation choices

Visit natural areas because it is good for the soul!

Carbon neutral leisure activities e.g. sailing, kayaking, land yachting, fishing (catch and release)

Work

Get started

Simple behaviours

Reduce

Use less paper

Use electronic storage and creation of documents

Reuse

Recycle

Energy

Thinking about alternatives (geothermal, ethanol from crops, tidal, solar energy)

Reject nuclear energy

Look for “stop gaps” to tide us over

Transport

Car pool

Design exhibitions on ecological earth system and evolution themes to enhance understanding of these in the visiting public.

Running competitions for schools where children are encouraged to examine sustainable practices.

Designing a new “bush” school and the budget allows me to build sustainably i.e. water tanks with solar pump to toilet / laundry, solar panels, passive heating, waste heat from fire used for water heating

Other areas of influence

Work with my children’s school on sustainability e.g. water tank, veggie garden, native planting

Government

Choice to buy green power

Rebate for water tanks

Policies that realistically look at the future and are not tainted by the influence of big business

Lobbying politicians

Communal action and protest

Future Landscapes Workshop Question 1

2007-07-16T14:51:38Z

At the recent conference on Science, Technology and Education (WorldSTE2007 http://www.worldste2007.asn.au/) which had as its focus “sustainable, responsible, global” I had the privilege to present a workshop on “Future Landscapes”.

As part of the workshop the 11 participants were given 20min to answer 4 questions (5 min a question). This was an attempt to collect as much information as we could in the short amount of time available. We were lucky that the people taking part in the workshop were from diverse backgrounds relating to education and were motivated to share their knowledge.

Here is a summary of their responses for the 4 questions. Remember there was only 5min for each question so all of the ideas below could be extended upon and explored further.

Question

How can you promote energy conservation?

Answers

As a person

Set an example

· At home

o Encourage your own family to be more conscious of energy wastage e.g. turning the lights off

o Use energy more wisely e.g. when heating at night close curtains etc.

o Reduce energy use by insulating the home – in the roof cavity

o Change the car for a smaller one

o Don’t use the car to go to the local shops – walking is better for health

o Install solar hot water system

· In the classroom

o Turn off lights / fans / /heaters when leaving the classroom especially at recess and lunchtime

o Include energy conservation awareness into the teaching programs

Influence others

· Raise awareness of the need for energy conservation with students / other teachers – look at the issues

· Set a good example and encourage students and work colleagues to follow

· Use environmentally friendly products e.g. soap powders

· Car-share

· Teach the big picture to school kids and friends i.e. Prof Low’s presentation

· Possible teaching strategy – give students different problems to solve around the topic and stress there are no correct answers but lots of possible solutions

Use money to promote change

· Invest in energy efficient devices e.g. white-goods

· Talk about the money saved by changing energy uses / habits

Use your specialist knowledge

· Invent something

· Publish material through association newsletters on energy conservation

· Do social research on the barriers to the uptake of renewable sustainable technology

Be an informed citizen

· Letter to politicians

· Contact council to see what support they give people who adopt better energy use methods

As a community / country

Urban development

· Solar passive housing design

· Landscape design

Local councils

· Free energy audits and advice for households

Legislation

· Shame industries that are energy inefficient

· Set carbon limits

· Petrol rationing

· Price cars and fuel to reflect the environmental costs

· Stricter controls on new houses

Utilities

· Exponential bills – the more you use the more you pay

What Could An Ecologically Sustainable Future Look Like? Part 6

2007-07-14T02:11:51Z

What Could An Ecologically Sustainable Future Look Like? Part 6

Last of the energy flows throughout the Earth comes from the gravitational attraction between the Earth and the Moon and the Earth and the Sun and is equivalent to 0.002% of the energy reaching the Earth from the Sun and the most obvious manifestation of this energy is the tides. The ebb and flow of the tide on the shore, the rise and fall of the tide in estuaries and canals and the invasion of mangrove swamps by meters of water can all be used to generate electricity.

Tide technology is not too complicated. Where ever there is a regular flow of water a turbine can be used to capture some of its energy. The best sight I have seen that gives depth and breadth to this technology is the RISE site Tidal Barrage & Tidal Turbines

It contains sections on

· Generating Electricity from the Tide

· Turbines Used in Barrier Tidal Power Stations

· Trends in Generation Technologies

· Tidal Fences

· Tidal Turbines

· Tidal Lagoons

· Tidal Power in Australia

· Tidal Power Around the World

· Planned Projects

· Prototype Tidal Generator Designs

Victoria (Australia) appears to have been thinking about tidal energy Tidal resources in Victoria and they have some nice maps of where it would go. Western Australia also proposed a tidal site at Derby.

The main problem with the Derby site is that it is a long way away from any of the large population centres in Australia. So any energy obtained from the tides would have to be transported over long distances. Converting it to electricity and using wires is not an option because of the line losses. Any wire has a resistance even though it is very small with very long wires it adds up so

Energy turned to heat in a wire = power x time = voltage x current x time

Voltage = current x resistance

So Energy = current x current x resistance x time

This means longer wires (more resistance) lose more energy for the same amount of electrical current flowing through them. The energy becomes heat. You may have noticed this effect when drawing large amounts of current through a long coiled up extension cable over a long period of time.

There could be other ways to transport the energy e.g. using it to create hydrogen gas from water and then transporting the hydrogen to where it is needed but again the energy used in transporting the hydrogen and the infrastructure needed to do this has to be taken into consideration. Perhaps the best use of the energy would be as electricity for local communities, and if hydrogen was produced it could be shipped to the nearest large population centre. Ships can move large volumes of material and are therefore reasonably efficient. I wonder if the ship was solar / wind / hydrogen powered how much could be delivered to say Darwin or Perth?

chris_creagh @ 2007-07-01T18:42:00

2007-07-01T10:45:36Z

What Could An Ecologically Sustainable Future Look Like? Part 5

Nuclear

0.02% of the Earths internal energy comes from Nuclear sources. This heat energy comes from the nuclear decay of radioactive materials within the Earth itself. As each radioactive atom randomly decays it releases small amount of energy in the form of gamma rays (electromagnetic radiation) energetic (moving) neutrons and other atomic fragments. The gamma rays are absorbed by the surrounding atoms and the neutrons and fragments collide with the surrounding atoms and in both cases energy is transferred to these atoms. On the everyday scale this shows up as the surrounding rocks getting a little warmer. Over a long period of time there are many such energy releasing atomic decays which have caused the centre of the Earth to heat up. There are also high pressures in the centre of the Earth which came about as the Earth was formed and this too is a partial cause of the high temperature within the Earth leading to the Earth having a molten core.

Radioactive potassium may be major heat source in Earth's core This is a press release from the University of California Berkeley December 2003 which gives more depth to the paragraph above in language that is not too technical.

Heat moves from places of high temperature to places of lower temperature. The Earths core is around 2500C, the surface is around 18C, on average, and space is around -270C. This means there is a continuous flow of heat from the centre of the Earth to the surface, through the atmosphere and out into space. This heat flow can be tapped into and used in a sustainable manner. The heat can be turned into electricity. The electricity is then use in many different ways with the end product being heat which escapes into the atmosphere and thence out into space. As long as we do not extract heat from within the Earth at a greater rate than would normally occur then we are using this resource sustainably.

The nice thing about using nuclear energy this way is that you do not need to mine the radioactive material, there is no need to concentrate it and there are no problems with having to dispose of radioactive wastes. This is energy flow from within the Earth out into space has been going on since the Earth was created.

There are two ways of tapping into this energy flow, one is by using the water that bubbles to the surface carrying this energy with it in the form of hot springs (Geothermal) and the other is to inject water deep in the Earths mantle and then extract the heated water (Hot Rocks).

Hot springs or Geothermal energy is a proven technology and is used by such countries as El Salvador which produces 25% of its energy needs in this way. Other countries using Geothermal energy are Philippines and Kenya (20% of its energy needs from Geothermal), Iceland (17%) and New Zealand (7%). Geothermal energy BP Energy Report

“The first geothermal power generation plant was constructed in 1904 in Larderello, Italy. This had a capacity of 250 kW, and used geothermal steam to generate electricity”.

Research Institute for Sustainable Energy (RISE). The RISE website is a mine of information on renewable energy and goes into more detail about how the electricity is created than there is space for here.

Hot Rocks under ground are used to produce electricity in the following way

• Water is pumped into a hot rock source (200°C - 280°C)

• The water flows through network of tiny fractures and is heated by contact with the hot rock - this is the underground heat exchanger.

• Heated water returns via production well several hundred metres away

• The high pressures associated with the closed loop system prevents the water from turning to steam.

• At the surface superheated water is passed through a heat exchanger to extracted the heat.

• This heats a low boiling-point liquid, which produces high-pressure steam used to drive electricity turbines.

• The surface heat exchanger is another closed-loop fluid system.

• The cooled water is then re-injected back into the rocks to be reheated.

South Australia's Hot Rocks is a project by Petratherm who have an excellent website which explains the technology very well, particularly in relation to their Adelaide project. This is an interesting new energy source for Australia.

Bang it explodes all around me.

2007-05-06T01:26:08Z

When I got up this morning I was going to write more on the background theme of this journal but maybe later. I use Firefox as a browser and have recently worked out how to customise the Google page by adding interesting bits and pieces like the weather report. One of the features is the latest news from New Scientist and it greets me with

Costs of stabilising global warming 'negligible'

http://environment.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn11795&feedId=online-news_rss20

The cost estimates for stabilising greenhouse gases in the atmosphere were released on Friday in the latest chapter of the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report: it will cost between 0.2% and 3.0% of global GDP by 2030

In 2005, UK households had an average weekly income of £350 ($700). Reducing that by 0.2% to achieve the smallest greenhouse gas reduction considered by the IPCC would cost each household £36 ($72) a year. At 3% per year, achieving the greatest reduction considered would cost £546 ($1092).

"The cheaper scenario would mean going out to dinner one time less a year, whereas the higher figure gets into the range of having or not having a car," says Martin. "The higher figure might be a hard sell. However, I would suggest that whether either figure is acceptable depends largely on how it will be sold to voters."

This page had links to

Price placed on limiting global warming

http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn11783-price-placed-on-limiting-global-warming.html

The latest report, released in Thailand on 4 May, is the third in a series of major four documents being released by the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007. It focuses on possible ways limiting greenhouse gas emissions and the cost of implementing such scenarios.

The report says that greenhouse gas emissions grew by more than 70% between 1970 and 2004, largely as a result of the booming energy sector, in which emissions grew 145% during the same period.

"If we continue to do what we are doing now, we are in deep trouble," said Ogunlade Davidson, co-chair the group of 168 scientists who wrote the report, at the launch of the report's summary for policymakers.

The new instalment of the IPCC report outlines key ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including:

• Making buildings and industries more energy efficient

• Improving the mix of tree species in forests to increase the amount of carbon dioxide they absorb and store

• Improving urban planning to reduce the amount of travel done by city-dwellers

• Encouraging greener modes of consumerism

The report notes that that the many ways of reducing emissions from the transport sector – including designing more fuel-efficient vehicles, promoting biofuels and trains – are counterbalanced by the sector's growth and by consumer preferences.

It also notes that large-scale geo-engineering options, such as fertilising the oceans to increase the amount of carbon dioxide plant plankton absorb and dispersing particles in the atmosphere to block sunlight "remain largely speculative and unproven" and risk having unknown side-effects.

Which lead me to a page

Special Report Climate Change

http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/

Where there is so much information I could spend the rest of the day reading it. However there were other things to do like have breakfast so I picked up a magazine to read while I was doing that.

It was the Cosmos companion ‘G’ which had adds for things like solar lap top chargers, LED replacements for Halogen downlights, an article on a formula one type car that can do 240 km/hr and is made from hemp, potatoes, cashew nut shells and runs on bio fuels and bio lubricants (Eco One uni Warwick England). Last night I was flicking through a home and building products guide and while some manufacturers seem to be putting a new slant on old products there was some interesting stuff like double glazed windows that open, bamboo flooring, water-wise systems that store the water from your washing machine and use it to water your garden and waterwalls – tall, long, skinny watertanks that fit out of the way along your fence down the side of your house (I am sure they could be used in many other ways too – thinking thermal mass here). So you could capture the rainwater off the roof, use it in the washing machine and then use the waste from this to water your garden. Wow!

What a media revolution! At last!

It seems that I have been saying for years “This is all so important why isn’t it the media paying more attention?” and then bang it explodes all around me – magazines, TV, radio, the internet (although there was much there if you bothered looking for it). I am hoping that this is not just the latest craze but something that will get the politicians moving and we can bring about some national and hence global changes.

Carbon Offsets

2007-04-28T03:19:52Z

Fact: The abnormal production of greenhouse gases by the activities of humans on our planet is causing enhanced global warming. The effects of which are now being seen in many places on Earth.

Proof: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) produced its Working Group II Report "Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability" in early April. There is a 23 page executive summary written in plain English with virtually no padding. It can be accessed by following the link SUMMARY FOR POLICYMAKERS

I started cutting and pasting a few significant findings but found in the end I was copying pages of information. If you are interested in what we are doing to our planet so you can make informed decisions it is worth a look. Remember though, this information is reported by scientists who give very precise answers to things. They will say “in this situation” or “in these circumstances” and even if they think something can be applied to a larger scale they will still state the boundaries and assumptions. This is the nature of science. So when a group of scientists say “there is high confidence that recent regional changes in temperature have had discernible impacts on many physical and biological systems” the words “high confidence” mean “We, as a large group of people who have observed and studied these things are certain”.

To get back on-track. If we are causing all these problems we should stop doing it! Easy to say – a little harder to do but that does not mean it is impossible. One place to start is at home by reducing energy usage (saves money too) and then expand this energy conservation approach to other areas where we may have some influence e.g. the workplace, clubs, societies and other organisations. It is impossible in today’s society to live without using energy and hence producing greenhouse gasses. This is where the idea of Carbon Offsets comes in.

Carbon Offsets are certificates you buy to enable someone, somewhere in the world to use your money to either absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and store them somehow (e.g. grow trees), or to stop them being produced (e.g. renewable energy) and other more complex scenarios. This is a vast area of enterprise I know very little about and as I work hard for my pay I don’t want to have someone scam it off me just so I can feel good about being Carbon Neutral.

Carbon Neutral means you produce no net greenhouse gasses because you buy Offsets to cover what you have to use. How do you decide what are the scams and what are the real worthy projects? In the end it comes down to, who do you trust? Personally I trust Dr. David Suzuki. I know he has books he wants to sell but judged against a lot of other people I know only by their media profile I think he is as trust worthy as they come. Having said that, if you, like me, need more information on this topic then take a leisurely look at the David Suzuki Foundation website

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/NatureChallenge/newsletters/Carbon_April2007/default.asp

where there is much, much, useful information on such things as

Carbon neutrality

Carbon offset calculators

Carbon offset vendors

Renewable energy certificate vendors

Tips for reducing your energy use

How to go carbon neutral in 5 easy steps

Air Travel and Climate Change

Hmmm…… now how much is it going to cost me to offset my conference trip next month?

Earth Wind and Fire 4 Corners

2007-04-16T14:07:30Z

Picture a windswept hillside lined with slender white skyscrapers, each crowned by a giant whirring rotor longer than a jumbo jet. Or a swathe of desert covered by a sea of mirrors drawing power from the sun.

If you missed tonights show about renewable energy you can see it on

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2007/s1895335.htm

or you should be able to borrow it from MU library, I think they record all the 4 Corners shows for teaching purposes.

California has the will and the policies and people are finding ways. There are lessons to be learned here for Australia. Not the least of which is "If you don't do the R&D you will always be importing someone else's technology. Some companies that were doing R&D here have already gone overseas, for example West Wind Turbines has gone to Northern Ireland

http://www.westwind.com.au/

switch your thinking!

2007-03-25T12:56:11Z

http://www.switchyourthinking.com/index.php/the_programme

This is an excellent website which showcases what a local government can do about enhanced global warming / the greenhouse effect if it wants to.

Currently on the site check out

They have been very busy since 2002 – all credit to them

There is one problem, they quote the temperature rise due to climate change as 20deg C to 50deg C. According to the IPCC it will be 2 to 5 deg C