Posted by: sustainadelic
on 30 Aug, 2011
Here's the deal. Ecuador is a poor country and needs money for development. A rich supply of oil under its eastern lowlands is an obvious source of that money, and in recent years, Ecuador has derived 40 per cent of its national income from oil revenues.
Now oil companies have identified a vast supply of oil beneath the Yasuni National Park. Jackpot! Well, yes and no. The problem is Yasuni is one of the most biodiverse spots on earth. Maybe THE most biodiverse. This is the upper Amazon, a place where cool moist cloudforest tumbles down the eastern slopes of the Andes into steaming rainforest.
Posted by: sustainadelic
on 19 Aug, 2011
A survey of 91 solar operators in NSW by the Australian Solar Energy Society (AuSES) and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) last week found 416 jobs have been lost and 25 per cent of solar businesses have closed or are planning closure in the next month.
Australia's only manufacturer of solar panels, Silex Solar, has also announced the loss of 30 jobs.
The solar industry, which employs about 15,000 people nationwide, has been hit by the recent axing of solar feed-in tariffs in NSW and Western Australia - a key incentive for consumers to buy solar panels.
Ironically, China has just gone in the opposite direction, announcing the introduction of a national feed in tariff for solar panels. Admittedly the tariff is small (16cents per kW/h) but as Giles Parkinson writes in Climate Spectator, China's solar industry is growing so rapidly anyway that prices are tumbling. In recent years, module prices have been falling by 20 per cent for each doubling in demand to a point where, in some situations solar power is close to competing on price with coal-fired power.
As most solar panels sold in Australia are made in China, the growth of solar in China should also see the cost of solar power fall sharply for Australian in the next few years.
Read a report in the Australian.
Posted by: Rich Bowden
on 17 Aug, 2011
A key report released yesterday by the Australian Government’s Climate Commission has served a grim warning to coastal regions of Western Australia on the effects of climate change.
Posted by: Karel Boele
on 15 Aug, 2011
EcoDirectory's stand at the International Organic Expo and Green Show was a success. We got comments such as “your stand is the best in the whole expo”.
Posted by: sustainadelic
on 14 Aug, 2011
It seems the Greens were right to reject Kevin Rudd's emissions trading scheme and CPRS (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) and hold out for a better deal. According to an assessment by climate-change think tank Climate Works, based at Melbourne's Monash University, the Gillard government's current carbon tax and Clean Energy Future Plan will generate double the emissions reductions of Rudd's package.
Posted by: Rich Bowden
on 05 Aug, 2011
Two major environmental announcements from the Labor/Green alliance in Tasmania last week have seen the state set the agenda in mitigating the effects of climate change. The introduction of the projects may also be a sign that the junior Greens members of the coalition government are beginning to flex their political muscle, amidst a battle royale between left and right over a forestry agreement for the state.
Posted by: sustainadelic
on 04 Aug, 2011
A recent article in The Guardian looks at how climate - in the form of drought and food shortages - has been a critical factor driving the Arab Spring.
Posted by: sustainadelic
on 03 Aug, 2011
A recent study published in Science magazine examines the impact of the decline of top predators. We're talking animals such as sharks, big cats and wolves.
