From abb at tony-barry.emu.id.au Wed Oct 1 05:20:19 2008 From: abb at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2008 15:20:19 +1000 Subject: [Peakoil] Peak oil criticism of the earlier Garnaut report Message-ID: <5DBA142F-941D-403C-AE68-15C503A04FFB@tony-barry.emu.id.au> ASPRO Australia has panned Garnaut for neglecting the effects of peak oil . As the submission was dated 22 September it is likely it was too late to effect the final report. It is a good read. Tony From alex-po at trevbus.org Mon Oct 13 00:27:23 2008 From: alex-po at trevbus.org (Alex Pollard) Date: 13 Oct 2008 00:27:23 -0000 Subject: [Peakoil] Hydrogen buses Message-ID: <20081013002723.29588.qmail@mail.trevbus.org> Hi folks, Word has it there is a push on for hydrogen-powered buses in the ACT. I would like to compare the energy economics and practicalities of electrified light rail, diesel buses and hydrogen-powered buses. The hydrogen may be created at the mooted solar-thermal power plant using processes outlined here: http://www.theage.com.au/news/environment/hydrogen-fuel-plant-to-use-heat- from-solar-power-station/2008/02/21/1203467284218.html Buses however have lesser capacity than rail and there is less investment certainty for development of the stations. Property development at stations yields walkable shopping precincts and revenue which can help pay for the system - whereas bus routes can change at short notice. Alex O4O4873828 President ACT Peak Oil Inc. http://act-peakoil.org From jgoldie at snowy.net.au Tue Oct 14 03:36:58 2008 From: jgoldie at snowy.net.au (Jenny Goldie) Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:36:58 +1100 Subject: [Peakoil] article from Economist about Matt Simmons Message-ID: <013701c92db0$d2af2f00$5f404f79@twa1000a> From alex-po at trevbus.org Wed Oct 22 04:39:18 2008 From: alex-po at trevbus.org (Alex Pollard) Date: 22 Oct 2008 04:39:18 -0000 Subject: [Peakoil] Sixty Minutes on biofuels Message-ID: <20081022043918.31656.qmail@mail.trevbus.org> http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=644838 Reporter: Liz Hayes Producer: Nick Greenaway Who'd have thought it, common old sugar cane and corn could save us all. Save us from soaring oil prices, and from a lot of those dreaded greenhouse gases. On the surface it seems so simple, first convert the crops to ethanol. Then make an easy, safe and cheap adjustment to your car engine, we?re talking less than $800, and you?re away. This is no futuristic dream. In America, farmers are fast becoming the new fuel barons. In Brazil, cars have been running happily on ethanol for years and wait till you see what it's done for pollution in the world's third largest city. But, and it's a big one, there is a hidden price to pay. Full transcript: LIZ HAYES: Sugar cane is one of Australia's iconic crops. For more than 200 years, we've been burning, cutting, and milling it, turning it into molasses and sugar. But, now, it's being turned into something a whole lot more valuable. DAVID LAMB, SCIENTIST: This is the ethanol that we're talking about mixing with petroleum to fuel our transport. LIZ HAYES: This is it - this is ethanol? Pure - DAVID LAMB: It is pure ethanol. LIZ HAYES: Smells like rocket fuel! DAVID LAMB: Drink it and it is rocket fuel, I promise you, Liz! LIZ HAYES: I could power more than my car, I suspect. DAVID LAMB: Let's try it! (LAUGHS) LIZ HAYES: Biofuels are the new boom, turning crops into fuel. Former CSIRO executive David Lamb believes sugar cane could help save Australia from a major energy crisis. DAVID LAMB: Yes, I think ethanol is important because it's the most immediately available, and I think it could make an enormous contribution in what could be a time of great crisis in our transport fuel dilemma. LIZ HAYES: Australia's own oil reserves are fast running out. The price of petrol has doubled in the past five years and our major cities are regularly choked by smog. We simply can't sustain our oil-dependant lives. DAVID LAMB: In the worst case, oil could be as expensive as $8.00 a litre by 2018. It's the worst scenario but it shows we better do something to make sure that, within five years, we've got some alternatives. LIZ HAYES: So there's a crisis on the way? DAVID LAMB: There's a crisis because we are so totally dependent on oil and, without that oil, our lifestyle falls apart completely. LIZ HAYES: If sugar cane is part of the solution to our fuel crisis, then we in Australia should be thanking our lucky stars. After all, this stuff has been the crop of choice for generations in Queensland and northern NSW. It is said to be the fastest growing plant on the planet. Up until now, we've been eating it and drinking it. Now, it seems time we turn it into fuel for our cars and, if we don't, well, according to the experts - more fool us. But far from embracing this clean, green alternative, for years car manufacturers and oil executives have convinced Australians that ethanol was the enemy and could ruin your engine. DAVID LAMB: When ethanol was first mooted the reaction was, "Will it damage my car?" And I'm afraid the car industry wasn't terribly helpful here because the reaction from the official representatives of the industry was, "If you use ethanol it will void your warranty." Well, that's enough to scare anybody off from using ethanol. SYDNEY MILLS, AUTO ENGINEER: If I damage your car, I'll give you a brand new one. LIZ HAYES: Auto engineer Sydney Mills believes Australians have been misled about ethanol. So, you think it's better than petrol? SYDNEY MILLS: It is. It is. It is. LIZ HAYES: He's converted this car to run happily on 100% ethanol... ..and it's easier than you might think. SYDNEY MILLS: Inside the box, what we can have, is an electronic system here and we have small microprocessor. LIZ HAYES: And it's telling the car there's ethanol on board? SYDNEY MILLS: Exactly. LIZ HAYES: A simple black box is hooked up to the fuel injection system for around $800. SYDNEY MILLS: Now it's connected. You can see how easy it is. LIZ HAYES: And, at two-thirds the price of petrol, you're saving money the moment you leave the garage. SYDNEY MILLS: Australia, in terms of biofuels, is the promised land. It's a country that has everything. LIZ HAYES: Sydney should know. He comes from the world's ethanol superpower, Brazil. Here, 3.5 million hectares of sugar cane are harvested for fuel every year. Simple as that? Sweet. South America's biggest country has been literally running on sugar for over 30 years. Where Australia has 2 ethanol plants, Brazil has 340. This year they will pump out 25 billion litres of ethanol. EDUARDO LEAO DE SOUSA, CEO UNICA:: This plant should not be called 'sugar cane' but 'energy cane', and it's funny because, at the same time, it's a very old crop but it's so modern with so much technology being developed and to be developed - it's absolutely impressive. LIZ HAYES: Eduardo Leao de Sousa is the boss of Unica, the sugar cane industry's peak body. In Australia, ethanol has an image problem. People are frightened of it, they think it's inferior. How do you convince them that it's not? EDUARDO LEAO DE SOUSA: Well, first thing, I would invite them to come to Brazil and learn more about the experience. We've been uh, testing this fuel for 30 years. LIZ HAYES: And the proof is literally in the air. Sao Paulo is the third largest city in the world, with 20 million people, and a traffic nightmare to match. But the air is amazingly clean now that all cars must run on a minimum of 25% ethanol. Almost every new car runs on 100% ethanol. You were ultimately the guinea pigs. EDUARDO LEAO DE SOUSA: Yeah. LIZ HAYES: You did the test run for the rest of the world. EDUARDO LEAO DE SOUSA: That's right. LIZ HAYES: And the rest of the world is now following Brazil's lead. No more so than the greatest gas-guzzling nation on earth - America. Here, the ethanol industry is powered, not by sugar cane, but by corn. There's corn for miles, Gerald. GERALD TUMBLESON, FARMER: There's a lot of corn. I love corn - the more corn the better! LIZ HAYES: Not so long ago, it used to be corn-fed pigs bringing home the bacon for farmers like Gerald Tumbleson. Now it's corn-fed cars. America has recently taken over Brazil as the largest ethanol producer in the world. Do you think corn will become the new petrol in the bowser? GERALD TUMBLESON: Corn is the new petrol right now. LIZ HAYES: You've suddenly hit pay dirt. GERALD TUMBLESON: Well, dirt's - pay soil! LIZ HAYES: You've hit gold. GERALD TUMBLESON: Yes, we have. LIZ HAYES: This year, nearly half of all the corn America produces will be converted into fuel. Is it a concern then that if corn becomes so valuable in terms of turning it into fuel that people will just grow corn for fuel? GERALD TUMBLESON: Well, yeah, that would be a concern. Oh, I would - I would not raise it for that. No, no. LIZ HAYES: But the possibility is there that that could happen? GERALD TUMBLESON: No, not for a long time. LIZ HAYES: So, is the ethanol story too good to be true? Well, according to some scientists, it is. Turning food into fuel comes at a real price. For years, the Amazon rainforest has suffered at the hands of man. But, ironically, it is the clean, green biofuel industry that could cause it the most damage. The biofuels boom is soaking up so much of the world's arable land, it's being blamed for a world food shortage. And, with America and Brazil's massive demand for ethanol crops growing, the ripple effect is being felt here, in the rainforest. Farmers are carving deep into the Amazon to grow much-needed food. BILL LAURANCE, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE: The Amazon's currently being knocked down at a rate of about, just in Brazil, about seven football fields a minute - about 1.7 million hectares a year. And, to put that in, say, for example, Australian terms, Brazil is currently destroying an area the size of the wet tropics world heritage area in North Queensland about every six months. LIZ HAYES: And that's a direct result of biofuels? BILL LAURANCE: Biofuels is part of the story. It's not the only thing - there's other factors as well. But, clearly, biofuels are contributing to the destruction of the Amazon. LIZ HAYES: Tropical ecologist Bill Laurance, from the Smithsonian Institute, is in awe of the Amazon. It's vast and it's beautiful. His fear is - for how much longer? And do we truly risk losing it? BILL LAURANCE: Absolutely! You bet we risk losing it. It's being lost right now. LIZ HAYES: So, I guess this is what you've been talking about? BILL LAURANCE: Yeah. Just a few years ago this would have all been tropical rainforest, you know, as far as you can see in this huge, sort of, scorched landscape. Of course, all the biodiversity is gone. I mean, there is nothing that lives in this kind of, sort of, ecological Armageddon out here. Earth worms - I mean that's about the only thing this has got any conservation value for. The forest itself has been fragmented, it's been chopped up into pieces and this creates all kinds of ecological problems for species - the jaguars, the pumas, the harpy eagles, the monkeys. Many species just can't survive. LIZ HAYES: And, just tell me, why did they bother keeping this tree? BILL LAURANCE: It's protected, they have to save that one. LIZ HAYES: That's just ridiculous! They wiped everything out but they observed one rule? BILL LAURANCE: That's right. It's legal to nuke the surrounding landscape, you just have to save that Brazil nut tree. DAVID LAMB: This could be a big opportunity, provided we tick all the environmental boxes, but we need to explore it seriously. LIZ HAYES: There is no easy fix, but the world is facing an inevitable fuel crisis and ethanol, for all its faults, offers a solution. DAVID LAMB: We have all been lazy, all of us, because we've been reluctant to, to recognise the crisis that's heading towards us and we've been reluctant to really bite the bullet and do something serious about it. From Greg.Dojchinov at csiro.au Fri Oct 24 00:53:07 2008 From: Greg.Dojchinov at csiro.au (Greg.Dojchinov at csiro.au) Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:53:07 +1100 Subject: [Peakoil] world's largest algal biofuel project Message-ID: <284C057A1273C849BE50B9A137C848181458AE31@exvic-mbx05.nexus.csiro.au> UK announces world's largest algal biofuel project Carbon Trust launches ?26m project to develop transport fuels made from algae by 2020 Alok Jha, green technology correspondent guardian.co.uk, Thursday October 23 2008 The world's biggest publicly funded project to make transport fuels from algae will be launched today by a government agency which develops low-carbon technologies. The Carbon Trust will today announce a project to make algal biofuels a commercial reality by 2020. The plan could see up to ?26m spent on developing the technology and infrastructure to ensure that algal biofuels replace a signficant proportion of the fossil fuels used by UK drivers. Mark Williamson, innovations director at the Carbon Trust, said: "We must find a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to oil for our cars and planes if we are to deliver the deep cuts in carbon emissions necessary to tackle climate change. Algae could provide a significant part of the answer and represents a multibillion-pound opportunity." Transport accounts for one-quarter of the UK's carbon emissions and is the fastest growing sector. Finding carbon-neutral fuels will be crucial to the government meeting its target to reduce overall emissions by 80% by 2050. A recent review by the chairman of the Renewable Fuels Agency, Ed Gallagher, identified algae as a potential way to generate sustainable biofuels. Biofuels made from food crops have been blamed for rising food prices. Algae produce a range of chemicals depending on their species and the environmental conditions in which they grow. View how the process works here. Scientists hope to find strains that can produce oils that could be used to make fuel for cars, as a replacement for petrol and diesel. Once identified, these algae could be grown in large amounts and processed to extract the useful oils. John Loughhead, executive director of the UK Energy Research Council, said: "Algae are potentially attractive means to harvest solar energy: they reproduce themselves, so there's no manufacturing cost for the solar converter, they can live in areas not useful for food or similar productive use, they don't need clean or even fresh water so don't add to global water stress, and can give oils, biomass, or even hydrogen as a product. Perhaps they'll be the stem cells of the energy world." The Carbon Trust forecasts that algae-based biofuels could replace more than 70 billion litres of fossil fuels used every year around the world in road transport and aviation by 2030, equivalent to 12% of annual global jet fuel consumption or 6% of road transport diesel. In carbon terms, this equates to an annual saving of more than 160m tonnes of CO2 globally with a market value of more than ?15bn. For the first stage of the project, the Carbon Trust will spend up to ?6m in a range of British companies involved in promising algae research. "You can make algae with a very high oil content and you can make algae that grows very quickly and, at the moment, no one can do both," said Robert Trezona, R&D director at the Carbon Trust. Other problems include the best design of mass-culture systems. John Benneman, a consultant on algae who has worked with the US Department of Energy and the International Energy Agency, said that it would take a multitude of approaches to fully realise the potential of algae. "There are many more different algae species than there are higher plant species so each algae will require specific effort. Each one will have its own peculiar requirements to figure out how to make them productive, how to get the right strains, how to harvest and process them. We cannot just depend on one or two companies." The second phase of the project will start in around a year and involves scaling up the algae-growing operation. The Carbon Trust will build multi-hectare open ponds to act as laboratories for the most promising algae technologies identified in the early stages of the challenge. Due to the UK's gloomy weather, these will most likely be built abroad. "If you I've got 12 months a year of warmth and sunshine, your algae farm just produces much more biomass. In a world where costs will be important, UK algae farms would have a real problem," said Trezona. This phase of the project could see the Carbon Trust, and interested partners from industry, investing up to ?20m. Loughhead welcomed the Carbon Trust project. "The critical aspect is that algae convert the energy of sunlight and the efficiency with which they do that determines the economic viability of the whole approach as sunlight is unhelpfully low in energy density. Hopefully this Carbon Trust scheme will help gather information on how well that can be done now, and start the scientific development to improve it for the future." There have been major efforts in the past to develop biofuels from algae. Multimillion-dollar programmes funded by the US government in the 1980s found that high biomass yields were possible but research ended when no one found a way to make it commercially competitive with the low oil prices of that era. Work in Japan also faltered when researchers were unable to scale up the growth of algae in photobioreactors, closed vessels that provide plenty of light and conditions that could intensively grow the microorganisms. To date, no one has designed a system that has made it to market. But the Carbon Trust believes that interest in algae has been renewed, thanks to the recent increases in oil prices and public awareness of climate change. Transport minister Andrew Adonis said: "This project demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that second generation biofuels are truly sustainable - and will further our understanding of the potential for microalgae to be refined for use in renewable transport fuel development, to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions." Several companies around the world are already involved in making fuels from algae, with one of the most prominent the San Diego-based company Sapphire Energy. Sapphire plans to use genetically modified algae to produce a chemical mixture from which it is possible to extract what it calls "green crude". Their idea is to refine this mixture into fuel for cars and airplanes. Investors include the UK's Wellcome Trust and the company has so far raised $100m to develop its ideas. Loughhead added that another potential benefit of algae is its ability to remove CO2 from the air. "Although here they will re-emit it when used as fuels, there is the possibility that they could ultimately be used as a means of cleaning the atmosphere - if we can find a way of converting the algae to a safely storable form after they've grown." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://act-peakoil.org/pipermail/peakoil/attachments/20081024/1e9767f8/attachment.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Dojchinov, Greg (Entomology, Black Mountain).vcf Type: text/x-vcard Size: 513 bytes Desc: Dojchinov, Greg (Entomology, Black Mountain).vcf Url : http://act-peakoil.org/pipermail/peakoil/attachments/20081024/1e9767f8/attachment.vcf From tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au Fri Oct 24 03:59:52 2008 From: tony at tony-barry.emu.id.au (Antony Barry) Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:59:52 +1100 Subject: [Peakoil] world's largest algal biofuel project In-Reply-To: <284C057A1273C849BE50B9A137C848181458AE31@exvic-mbx05.nexus.csiro.au> References: <284C057A1273C849BE50B9A137C848181458AE31@exvic-mbx05.nexus.csiro.au> Message-ID: <3FC09578-26CD-496C-89B2-B556862B46C2@tony-barry.emu.id.au> On 24/10/2008, at 11:53 AM, wrote: > UK announces world's largest algal biofuel projec Sunlight plus CO2 from the air plus whatever is in the water makes algae but nowhere does it say what the nutrient in the water needs to be. Presumably something nitrogenous. Is this a limiting factor? Tony phone : 02 6241 7659 | mailto:tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au mobile: 04 3365 2400 | mailto:tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au http://tony-barry.emu.id.au -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://act-peakoil.org/pipermail/peakoil/attachments/20081024/710694b4/attachment-0001.htm From david.jorm at gmail.com Fri Oct 24 06:43:26 2008 From: david.jorm at gmail.com (David Jorm) Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:43:26 +0800 Subject: [Peakoil] world's largest algal biofuel project In-Reply-To: <3FC09578-26CD-496C-89B2-B556862B46C2@tony-barry.emu.id.au> References: <284C057A1273C849BE50B9A137C848181458AE31@exvic-mbx05.nexus.csiro.au> <3FC09578-26CD-496C-89B2-B556862B46C2@tony-barry.emu.id.au> Message-ID: I currently live in Kunming, China. We have a lake which acts as the city's drain called Dian Chi. It is so full of nitrogen that it is opaque green with algae! Someone needs to get onto this for a biofuel project. Dave On 10/24/08, Antony Barry wrote: > > > On 24/10/2008, at 11:53 AM, > wrote: > UK announces world's largest algal biofuel projec > > Sunlight plus CO2 from the air plus whatever is in the water makes algae but > nowhere does it say what the nutrient in the water needs to be. Presumably > something nitrogenous. Is this a limiting factor? > > Tony > > phone : 02 6241 7659 | mailto:tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au > mobile: 04 3365 2400 | > mailto:tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au > http://tony-barry.emu.id.au > > > > _______________________________________________ > Peakoil mailing list run by ACT Peak Oil Inc. > You are subscribed as david.jorm at gmail.com > http://act-peakoil.org/cgi-bin/mailman/options/peakoil/david.jorm%40gmail.com > > From jgoldie at snowy.net.au Sun Oct 26 07:21:44 2008 From: jgoldie at snowy.net.au (Jenny Goldie) Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:21:44 +1100 Subject: [Peakoil] from the Age 23 Oct. Message-ID: <084F731ED5ED4474849C0F7B77BAFE0D@twa1000a> Plan for electric car network a.. Mex Cooper b.. October 23, 2008 Charging points ... how the electric car network might look. Australia will become the third country in the world to have an electric car network in a bid to run the country's 15 million cars on batteries powered by green energy under a plan announced today. - Battery stations proposed - Charging network planned - Green energy push In a deal unveiled in Melbourne, international company Better Place will team up with AGL Energy and Macquarie Capital Group to set up a network of "charging spots" and "battery exchange stations" to power electric vehicles in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Better Place aims to roll out electric car networks that allow zero emission vehicles to run on clean energy grids to reduce the planet's reliance on oil. Earlier this year, Denmark and Israel undertook to establish the world's first electric car networks. Better Place chief executive officer Shai Agassi said he hoped Australia would prove that the company's model for electric cars could work anywhere. Under the plan, charging spots, to top up batteries, would be located in places where cars park, including home garages, shopping centres and office carparks. The charging spots, which would look like parking meters, would provide cables to connect batteries to a green energy grid, for which AGL Energy will provide power from renewable sources including hydro and wind. On the outskirts of city centres and on freeways, "battery switching stations" would exist for trips longer than 161 kilometres. A driver would pull up to a switching station and replace the car's battery before continuing on their journey, similar to filling up the tank at a petrol station, according to Mr Agassi. Mr Agassi said the first step was to build the infrastructure while the company was dealing with car manufacturers to produce the battery-run cars. "You can't sell cell phones before you have the towers," he said. Victorian Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Innovation Gavin Jennings today backed the ambitious plan. "If it could work here it could basically work anywhere," Mr Jennings said. In a partnership announced today AGL Energy would provide power from wind, hydro and other renewable sources for the network while investment bank heavyweight Macquarie Capital Group will help raise a billion dollars to build it. Mr Agassi said it was hoped the infrastructure project to initially establish the network would be in place by 2011 and the first battery cars on the road in Australia a year later. Australia has the seventh largest per capita car ownership in the world, more than either the United States or Britain. Mr Agassi said a reliance on oil was responsible for the demise of the environment and the global economy. "We are investing in Australia's economy and adding jobs while helping the country take a generational leap forward toward oil independence," Mr Agassi said. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://act-peakoil.org/pipermail/peakoil/attachments/20081026/09e6000c/attachment-0001.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 39541 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://act-peakoil.org/pipermail/peakoil/attachments/20081026/09e6000c/attachment-0001.jpeg