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Australian
Petition Urges Renewable Energy Investment
The environmental group Greenpeace
will today present a petition of 30,000 signatures to the Australian
treasurer urging the government to invest more in renewable energy.
Members of 80 international organizations signed the statement
which says the government should abandon investments in carbon capture and
storage.
Julien Vincent from Greenpeace says the technology is unproven and
the treasurer must consider this in next week's budget.
"At a time when we need to be drastically reducing our use of
on fossil fuels because they're the major driver of climate change,"
he said.
"It's simply irresponsible to be using taxpayers money to
fuel the problem any further and so we want Wayne swan and the federal
government to live up to their word on climate change and start putting our
money where their mouths are and fund renewables instead of fossil
fuels".
Source:
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au
Extra
Funding For Clean Coal
THE Rudd Government is believed to
have earmarked $275 million for six new clean coal projects in its first
budget next week, alongside similar funding for renewable technologies.
A clean coal council and a taskforce to develop storage options
are expected to form part of its $500 million commitment to clean coal made
during last year's election campaign.
These new funds for clean coal technology follow $350 million
committed to technology development under the Howard government's Low
Emissions Technology Development Fund. These projects attracted more than
$2 billion in matching industry investment.
Development of clean coal technology as a possible solution to the
threat of climate change has been backed by environmental leaders such as
former US vice-president Al Gore and British climate policy adviser
Nicholas Stern.
The Government is planning to spend $50 million to further develop
the use of ammonia to capture carbon dioxide from the emissions of the
Munmorah coal-fired power station in the Hunter Valley in NSW, and $50
million to develop gasification technology at the Centre for Low Emission
Technology in Queensland.
The programs fall under the control of Resources and Energy
Minister Martin Ferguson. He said last night he could not comment on budget
speculation but backed the Government's commitment to help develop the
technology, given that 83 per cent of Australia's electricity was generated
from coal.
Source:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/ May 05, 2008
Audi
To Offer Electric Cars In 5-10 Years: Report
By Nicola Leske
Audi, the luxury unit of Volkswagen,
sees great opportunities in electric cars and will offer automobiles with
no exhaust emissions within ten years, its top executive told a German
weekly.
Rupert Stadler told Welt am Sonntag in an interview published on
Sunday that he expects diesel and battery technology to dominate in the
coming five to ten years.
"By then we will offer cars without exhaust emissions,"
Stadler said.
Asked if Audi was not lagging domestic rivals Mercedes and BMW in
the development of lithium-ion batteries that are more powerful than
batteries used now in hybrids, Stadler said Audi's research capacities were
larger than those of its German competitors.
Developing fuel-saving technology tops the agenda of Germany's car
industry in an effort to fulfill stricter emission regulations and conserve
fuel.
Source: Reuters,
http://www.enn.com/May 4, 2008
World
Can Reach Climate Change Deal In 2009 - UN
By Andrew Hay
The world can reach a significant new
climate change pact by the end of 2009 if current talks keep up their
momentum, the head of the United Nations climate panel said on Sunday.
The United Nations began negotiations on a sweeping new pact in
March after governments agreed last year to work out a treaty to succeed
the Kyoto Protocol by the end of next year.
The United Nations hopes to go beyond Kyoto by getting all
countries to agree to curbs on emissions of greenhouse gases that fuel
global warming.
Getting the private sector on board with a well regulated carbon
emissions trading system is key to long-term financing, according to
delegates at the ADB seminar.
India's Pachauri said popular awareness of global warming had
risen sharply over the last 12 months and put pressure on Washington and
other governments for action.
He said he believed it would be very difficult for any country to
remain outside a climate change pact.
Faced with threats, China is switching over to renewable energy
sources which are expected to provide more than 30 percent of its power
needs by 2050, according to the United Nations.
Source: http://uk.reuters.com/ May 4,
2008
Environmentalists
Divided About Burying CO2
Greenpeace and more than 100 other
environmental groups denounced projects for burying industrial greenhouse
gases on Monday, exposing splits in the green movement about whether such
schemes can slow global warming.
Many governments and some environmental organizations such as the
WWF want companies to capture heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the
exhausts of power plants and factories and then entomb them in porous rocks
as one way to curb climate change.
Greenpeace and 112 green groups from 21 nations said governments
should invest in wind, solar and other renewable energies rather than in
capture technologies that would allow coal-fired power plants to stay in
operation.
"Carbon capture and storage is not an ideal solution, but it
buys us time," said Stephan Singer, head of the WWF's European Climate
and Energy Program in Brussels. "We believe it is part of the solution
-- an emergency exit."
The U.N. Climate Panel has said CCS could be one of the main ways
for slowing climate change by 2100 -- contributing a bigger share of
greenhouse gas cuts than energy efficiency, a shift to renewable energy or
a push for nuclear power.
Source: Reuters, http://www.enn.com/
May 5, 2008
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