This white paper examines the current challenges for clean energy infrastructure and identifies solutions that industrial clusters, transport and logistics industries, and the wider clean energy value chain can jointly explore in order to accelerate its deployment. Thirteen new industrial clusters from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, India, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, …
pulp appraisal: A federal court in Australia agreed to expedite an appeal hearing over an Aus $2 billion pulp mill proposal in Tasmania state. Environmental groups had challenged the government's environmental assessment of the proposed mill. A lower court had rejected the groups' challenge, following which they appealed the federal …
A nuclear revival is welcome so long as the industry does not repeat its old mistakes IN MARCH 1986 this newspaper celebrated "The Charm of Nuclear Power" on its cover. The timing wasn't great. The following month, an accident at a reactor at Chernobyl in Ukraine spread radioactivity over Europe …
on august 3, 2007, India and the us declared a bilateral agreement on full civil nuclear energy cooperation after two years of tortuous negotiation. Nuclear energy propagators cheered, sensing a revival for the ailing sector. What went unnoticed in the international media was an agreement between the us and Russia …
Australia now has a national television station to promote the culture of its indigenous people. National Indigenous Television (nitv) was launched in Sydney on July 16. The service will start off small, broadcasting to around 200,000 people and without a news service or a current affairs programme. Nevertheless, many artists …
European companies are not yet taking full advantage of carbon markets IT SOMETIMES seems that plans for emissions trading are piling up even faster than the greenhouse gases they are designed to curb. In late July the first emissions exchanges in Australia and Canada opened, in anticipation of mandatory carbon-trading …
>> Avian flu was confirmed in Togo, the seventh West African nation to have reported the outbreak on June 22. The virus caused the deaths of 2,000 chicken in June near Togo's capital Lome. >> Authorities detected polluted water in the Warragamba Dam situated near Sydney in Australia, after rain …
The Australian wool industry recently said that it had dropped court action against an animal rights group after it agreed to end its campaign to boycott retailers selling Australian wool. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (peta) has long waged a war against the practice of sheep mulesing, …
The Victorian government has announced plans to build Australia's largest desalination plant and pipeline to boost water supply to the state capital. The desalination plant in Melbourne's Wonthaggi region will cost Aus $3.1 billion (us $2.6 billion). It will provide 150 billion litres of water per year to the city. …
Settlement with Naveda: The US Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency has announced a US $60.7 million Clean Air Act settlement with a Las Vegas-based company Nevada Power. As per the settlement, the company will improve air quality at its Clark power generating station by reducing air pollutants …
best space songs: The European Space Agency is holding a contest to see who can come up with the best playlist for astronauts on the International Space Station. The winner will have their 10 songs sent up to the Internatonal Space Station on an iPod when the Jules Verne Automated …
A large number of ancient indigenous artefacts were unearthed on May 17 in Australia. They were found at a construction site for the Australian defence headquarters at Bungendore in southern New South Wales. Around 20,000 tools of about 5,000 years old were recovered while the foundations of a hotel, which …
China and Australia unveil new policies on global warming Governments that do not want to do anything about global warming often point to China, which will soon become the biggest source of the greenhouse gases that are heating up the planet. What point is there cutting back on our own …
Australia's Labor Party scrapped its 25-year ban on new uranium mines at its recent national policy conference in Sydney. In a media release, the party said it had "removed its current ban... while reinvigorating safeguards on its use and safety measures for workers'. The party, however, maintained its opposition to …
>> China has rejected a recent report of the International Energy Agency that had said the country would overtake the US as the world's biggest carbon dioxide emitter by 2008 (see
Australian farmers have opposed a carbon tax to curb greenhouse gas emissions and announced their support to prime minister John Howard's national emissions trading scheme. In a submission to the prime minister's taskforce on emission trading, the National Farmers Federation (nff) has said that under the scheme, farmers should be …
A giant cane toad (Bufo marinus), the size of a small dog, has been caught in Australia's Northern Territory. The specimen, weighing 861 grammes, twice the normal weight, has startled environmentalists who are working to contain this poisonous amphibian across the country. It is the biggest ever found, says Frog …
>> A spider-like animal, the troglobite, has stopped a multi-billion-dollar iron ore mine in Australia. An environmental group has opposed the mine near Pannawonica in the Pilbara region saying that mining in the area will destroy the only-known home of the rare troglobites, which live in dark parts of caves …
