13 May 2015, RenewEconomy, Andrew Lang: Time to get real about sensible development of bioenergy. Australia is the only OECD country that produces a significant annual supply of biomass but that, as yet, has no coherent development strategy for bioenergy. In any another country this would be inexplicable, since bioenergy is the renewable energy source that generates most jobs per unit of energy produced, is most cost-competitive with fossil sources, is associated with the greatest sequestration of atmospheric CO2, and is the only renewable that produces all three of the required energy forms….The blocking or obstruction of bioenergy in Australia has resulted from the blinkered push to close down all native forest logging. So, in effect, the opponents of native forest logging, who also appear to the public to be the most vocal advocates of ‘low emissions energy’, are prepared to see the development of the most effective of the renewable energy sources blocked in order to achieve their anti-native forestry aim. Read More here
Yearly Archives: 2015
13 May 2015, Earth Policy Institute: Seven Surprising Realities Behind The Great Transition to Renewable Energy. The global transition to clean, renewable energy and away from nuclear and fossils is well under way, with remarkable developments happening every day. The Great Transition by Lester Brown, Janet Larsen, Matt Roney, and Emily Adams lays out a tremendous range of these developments – here are seven that may surprise you. Read More here
BOM: We’re calling it, the 2015 El Niño is here: We’re calling it. The Bureau’s ENSO Tracker status has moved from ALERT to EL NINO, signalling the official declaration by the Bureau of Meteorology of El Niño 2015.
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El Niño is often associatedwith drought in Australia. It may be cold comfort for those toughing out the current dry in parts of eastern Australia, but while El Niño certainly raises the risk of drought, it doesn’t guarantee it. Of the 26 El Niño events since 1900, 17 have resulted in widespread Australian drought. Read More here
12 May 2015, IIASA, Linking population and climate change: Population growth and changes in demographic structure are a key factor influencing future climate change, as well as people’s ability to adapt. People’s lifestyles and consumption habits make a huge difference in climate change projections. In a new article published in the journal Population Studies, IIASA demographers Wolfgang Lutz and Erich Striessnig describe new research linking population change with climate change scenarios. The research relies on new IIASA population projections, which include not just the numbers of people, but also the composition of populations by age, sex, and educational attainment for a number of different scenarios designed for climate research, the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). Read More here