Of all places…!
“The Adelaide City Council’s electric solar bus is the first in the world to be recharged using 100% solar energy…Recent advances in battery technology have helped the successful development of pure electric buses with a suitable range between recharges. The Tindo solar electric bus uses 11 Zebra battery modules, giving it unprecedented energy storage capacity and operational range. The Swiss-made Zebra batteries use sodium/nickel chloride technology, with their benefits including:
-Designed for long life and reliability
-Not affected by external temperatures
-Can be stored indefinitely fully charged
-Lightweight
-High energy and power density
The Zebra batteries used in Tindo are virtually maintenance free, and are therefore expected to result in significant cost savings.”
http://www.adelaidecitycouncil.com/scripts/nc.dll?ADCC:STANDARD::pc=PC_151048
According to this article Ausra will be building a 177MW solar thermal power plant in central California on 1 square mile of land (640 hectares). Based on this ratio Victoria’s power needs of 6000MW could be generated in 50km2.
Sounds too good to be true, but I’ve heard the 50km2 figure thrown about before. Like to know what others have heard about this. Is it possible?
http://www.news.com/8301-11128_3-9810199-54.html
The UK Conservative Party have just released a detailed report that amongst other things calls for emission reductions of at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, a zero waste society, feed-in tariffs and a ban on coal-fired power by 2020. And this is from the equivalent of the Liberal Party! It really highlights how far behind Australia is in the AGW debate.
The link to the full report is: http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=138484
Hi guys,
I’ve been reading about how in the last two weeks ice cover in the Arctic has fallen to record lows. The ice sheet is in terminal collapse, melting three times faster than the most pessimistic predictions from just five years ago. It is now felt that the Arctic will be ice-free in summer months from 2020, even sooner. On top of the devastation this will bring to other species, the effect of the ice loss will very significantly boost the warming of the Greenland ice sheet, leading to multiple metre sea level rises by the end of the century.
Below is a link to just one of hundreds of international articles reporting the findings, a story that somehow missed Australia. I feel that now more than ever a rapid transition to zero emissions is a moral imperative. As sustainable energy students I think we should prioritise rapid implementation of zero emission projects above all other ideals. I feel our current approach to engineering is too narrow and specialised, and in a way is irresponsible. We need to bring urgency to the issues we are discussing, rather than focusing on scholarly ideals such as contributing to knowledge. We are in a unique position to affect meaningful change.
Like to know your thoughts.
Read article here
Below is the link to a report highlighting the perverse public subsidies offered by the Australian Government to the fossil fuel industry.
Of the $10.1 billion in energy and transport subsidies in 2005-06 financial year, 96% of this money went to fossil fuels. In some cases the annual profits of the fossil fuel companies were less than the subsidies they were given (i.e. they are only profitable through hand-outs of public money).
http://www.isf.uts.edu.au/publications/CR_2003_paper.pdf
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