23072010With an election just around the corner the politically sensitive issue of how Labour is to deal with Climate Change has been presented as policy today. According to the this article it looks like we are in for a few days coverage on exactly what both parties want to do about Climate Change in Australia.

Labour looks to be proposing a 'Citizens Assembly' consisting of about 150 individuals to work out what is an acceptable response to Climate Change, as a well as a committee of scientists and academics to work out the fine details.
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16072010GE Ecomagination contest hopes to gather ideas for improving electrical grid technology. "GE’s Ecomagination Challenge is a $200 million call to action for businesses, entrepreneurs, innovators, and students to share their best ideas and come together to take on one of the world’s toughest challenges – building the next-generation power grid to meet the needs of the 21st century."

See here for more details and how to enter.

In principal I think this is a darn fine idea; ask the people who consume most of... Read more »

16072010Prof Jean Palutikof, who spent 5 years at the British Met Office preparing the UN report, Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, admitted the existing system was flawed because "quite a lot" of information had not been peer-reviewed by independent scientists before publication. See here for the original article.

I agree with her assessment, in that the upcoming fifth assessment will need to be crystal clear in the way it reviews the science to ensure that accuracy is maintained and that bias does not creep into the report.... Read more »

16072010A cross examination of global warming science conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Law and Economics has concluded that virtually every claim advanced by global warming proponents fails to stand up to scrutiny. See here for the full document and cross examination.

FTA:

"This paper constitutes such a cross-examination. As anyone who has served as an expert witness in American litigation can attest, even though an opposing attorney may not have the expert’s scientific training, a well prepared and... Read more »

09072010solar dye film cells will be available at a projected price of 3p per kw/h, a tenth of silicon cells. See this articlefor more details on the technology.

In essence, the technology uses a similar method to that of photosynthesis. The good thing is the actual dye colour can be changed (red, green, blue, etc) or made visible spectrum clear - so can be put straight onto windows..

Another benefit not mentioned in the article, is if this is put onto window glass - there is a very good chance it will also increase the R-Value of the... Read more »

09072010Strange but true, feeding sheep curry could save the planet... See this article for the details. Basically giving sheep curry spices coriander and turmeric can reduce the amount of methane produced by sheep by up to 40 per cent. Although the analysis does not look to include the total cycle costs (i.e. cost of growing and supplying the spices).

Also no indication yet whether this would work with cows, goats, etc

Now the big other question is whether the meat will end up with a hint of curry in it as well.
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08072010Two solar companies have been awarded nearly $2 billion in Recovery Act funding for solar projects in three states. During his July 3, 2010 weekly address, President Obama discussed the $2 billion in Recovery Act awards that have been made to two solar companies for projects in three states. The conditional commitments have been made to Abengoa Solar and Abound Solar and will help expand the United States’ clean energy capabilities.

Read the full posting here . Is it projected to create 5,000 new jobs.

What interested... Read more »

08072010A new LED fabrication technique produces squares of LED's that are more directional. An ordinary LED, like an incandescent bulb, shines light in all directions; but an Austin TX company, Illumitex, has found a solution to this by making LEDs that are more directional.

The package Illumitex manufactures is a square array of 16 or 4 LEDs that projects light in a square pattern. This means that more light goes where it is wanted and this is ideal for illuminating signage, worksurface lighting, etc.

From their product description:Read more »

07072010We look at what are the best solar panels for home use Location, location, locationBefore you think of going down the solar powered route you need to consider exactly where you want to put the solar panels...  Remember, companies will quite happily sell you solar panel systems regardless of whether they will actually generated the stated power output or not and a lot of this depends on where you put the solar panels in the first place.

Solar panels, by their nature need clear and unobstructed access to the Sun. Note: by clear we mean... Read more »

07072010Climatic Models are being used more and more to demonstrate human induced climate change is happening; we look at the problems with this. What is a climatic model?Simply put, a climatic model is a mathematical model that 'attempts' to model a climatic system over a period of time; the aim being to accurately model future events based on current data and methods.

The models themselves usually break up the climatic system into a series of 'cubes' of atmosphere around the globe, stacked upon each other throughout the atmosphere - similar to the... Read more »

29062010Our solar power calculator has been updated.. Given how important it is that people are able to work out the true benefits of going solar, we have added support to work out the financial benefit of going solar as well.

See Solar Power Calculator to try it out yourself. Put in your location and tell it the size of solar panel and the type of mounting you want to use and you will get a table showing you the potential power you could generate for different numbers of panels and what the financial payback will be.

24062010Julia Gillard is in as the new PM of Australia, replacing Kevin Rudd; what does this mean for the Green Agenda? There has been a change of power at the top of Australia, Kevin Rudd has effectively stood aside without a fight and we have a new PM Julia Gillard..

Apart from the obvious questions over whether the electorate have had their collective nose put out of joint by not being consulted - we wonder what this is going to mean for the Green elements of the government policies..

Our betting is that this is going to have very little... Read more »

23062010Working out how much insulation to install can be difficult, we show you how. Insulating your home is a good idea; not only will you reduce your heating and cooling costs, it will also help the environment by reducing the energy you consume. Most people do not realize that without insulation up to 30% of their heating costs literally end up going through the roof...

Most people don't realize that installing insulation rolls (or Batts) as they are called in a loft is not as difficult as perhaps they have been led to believe. Basically if... Read more »

22062010A home loan calculator that allows you to also work out what you can do to be more green, and pay off your loan quicker as well. We have put together a new Green Home Loan Calculator that allows you to work out what your repayments would be on either a principal & interest loan or a interest only loan with a 'burn down' graph showing how what is owed is paid back.

The 'green bit' is that you can also enters details of what your energy costs are, along with a few questions on your property - you will then be told that by undertaking certain... Read more »

22062010Quantum Dot Photovoltaics look to be able to double solar electricity collection efficiency. Is this enough to improve the viability of solar power to be practical to more of the community and make it sustainable green? According to this article and the original paper it looks like we are on the verge of having a solar cell technology that could double the effective efficiency of solar cells whilst keeping the costs the same. So what will this mean in practice?
#1 Double the power in the same spaceThis is the biggest win - for the same square... Read more »