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, …
While still unwilling to commit itself to the Kyoto protocol, Australia has announced a $200 million (us $160 million) to help fight illegal logging to slow global warming. The fund, known as the Global Initiative on Forests and Climate, is one of the largest funds established by a government for …
A fter 117 years, Australia entered a new era of water management with the federal government taking control of rivers from the states they run through. The federal authorities will spend us$10 billion over 10 years on conserving water and injecting more into the river system from Queensland to South …
Australian aboriginal leaders have sued London's Natural History Museum (nhm) for its decision to carry out dna tests on bones, teeth and skulls taken from the island's Aboriginals. The museum has agreed to return the 19th century specimens to Australia after tests are complete. Museum authorities argue that the tests …
Australian sea beaches have turned blue with huge armadas of toxic bluebottle jellyfish floating ashore. These tiny invertebrates are, however, posing a sting threat to beachgoers and thereby affecting the country's tourism industry in this peak season. Only in one weekend, more than 1,200 beachgoers have reported jellyfish stings, many …
with Melbourne city continuing to reel under drought for the tenth consecutive year, the Victorian state government has announced tighter mandatory restrictions for water use in the state capital. On January 15, 2007, the state's acting premier and water minister, John Thwaites, announced the list of new residential estates that …
Now that the jury is out on the very real threat of climate change, we must focus on what needs to be done. The recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc) should make climate-sceptics like us president George Bush blush. It establishes that the concentration of greenhouse …
an endangered creature holds the key to arresting the decline of coral reefs. It is the batfish (Platax pinnatus). This timid fish has a surprising capacity of cleaning up dense weedy strands that smother inshore coral reefs and result in a macro-algal dominance over it. This overgrowth of macro-algal weeds …
Antifouling paints used by Australia's Perth yacht clubs are releasing toxic contaminants into the Swan river, notes a recent study by the Swan River Trust and the country's department of environment and conservation. The Swan flows across western Australia and is famed for yachting. The study found that the antifouling …
Energy Australia (ea), electricity and gas supplier to over 1.4 million families in Australia, brought out in late October that people spend more time in showers, which adds to their annual power bill by almost Australian $100. Their research found that 4.21 minutes is the average time for each shower. …
ADMINISTRATORS of urban water facilities in India often adopt a parochial view. The water suppliers discourage measures such as rainwater harvesting, arguing that it reduces their revenue by cutting down demand, especially from high-end consumers. There have been cases in Bangalore of customers being harassed by officials of the Bangalore …
• Footage of Australian naturalist Steve Irwin's death will never be broadcast, his widow Terri has said in her first interview since his death in early September. "What purpose would that serve?' she asked presenter Barbara Walters in an interview with US programme 20/20. "Crocodile Hunter' Irwin was killed by …
Bringing down cow flatulence can reduce the presence of greenhouse gases. So believe a group of scientists from New Zealand and Australia, currently working on a multi-million dollar research project. Their project is based on studies that have established that methane, a major greenhouse gas, from cows is responsible for …
Almost all petrol stations in the town of Alice Springs, in Northern Territory, Australia, replaced unleaded petrol with the non-sniffable Opal fuel, in the second week of September. According to the federal health minister, Tony Abbott, the move is part of the government's campaign to curb rampant petrol sniffing among …
scientists in Australia have developed a sun and wind driven ventilation system to cool commercial buildings. They hope that the new system will reduce the power requirements of a commercial ventilation system by 15-20 per cent. Designed by Simon Shun, working under the supervision of N A Ahmed at the …
As a part of major reforms for the fishery sector, 14 countries agreed to cut trawling and push net fishing to reverse the growing production of low-value
Australian environment minister Ian Campbell's endeavour to save the orange-bellied parrot, an endangered migratory bird to the country, is drawing criticism. The state government of Victoria has accused Campbell of using the rare bird to block the state's Bald Hills wind farm, worth us $220 million. Campbell had blocked the …
function table() { var popurl="image/20060930/34.jpg" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=375,height=350,scrollbars=yes") } Drought-stricken Toowoomba, the second largest land-bound city in Queensland, Australia, has plans for an integrated water-management strategy
A mystery disease is wiping out large numbers of the native little red flying fox from the skies of Katherine town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Scientists are yet to identify the exact reason behind the declining number of the mammal in the past 10 months, but fear a …
a group of Australian scientists has started the complete genome sequencing of bollworm, world's worst agricultural pest. It inflicts an annual damage of us $5 billion on farmers worldwide. Phill Batterham of Melbourne's Bio 21 Institute is leading the programme. According to Batterham, "We need to fight the pest more …
