The Bullroarer - Friday 25th July 2008

ABC - Ferguson focuses on energy security

Federal Energy and Resources Minister Martin Ferguson says energy security is just as important as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Scoop.co.nz - New Zealand joins new clean energy partnership

New Zealand is to work with the United States to promote the use of cleaner and more efficient sources of energy in island nations and territories, Energy Minister David Parker announced today.

The New Zealand Government, the United States Federal Government and the State Government of Hawaii have signed a new initiative, the International Partnership for Energy Development in Island Nations (EDIN).

Daily Mercury - Truck strike threat to cut off city

FEARS are growing that a national truck strike starting Monday will threaten Mackay's essential supplies.
Truck drivers are protesting against issues ranging from rising fuel prices and sub-standard rest stops to new government legislation they say is unworkable.

Fresh food sellers and supermarket chains are concerned the stoppage could last for days and have a major impact on vital supplies to the region.

Australian Food - ATA condemns truck strike violence threats

The organisers of next week’s trucking industry shutdown, which could have a significant impact on food supplies, should abandon their plans if they cannot guarantee the safety of drivers who are not involved, according to Trevor Martyn, Chairman of the Australian Trucking Association (ATA).

TV NZ One News - Solar panels get hot new look

Bulky and obtrusive rack-mounted solar panels may be a thing of the past.

Spurred by recent advances in technology, solar panel makers are scrambling to come up with neater and cleaner products that will overcome the aesthetic objections of home owners to traditional solar panels.

ABC - Threat of truck strike violence upsets livestock industry

The livestock industry is condemning threats of violence against truckies who intend to ignore a national strike planned for next week.

The Australian Long Distance Owners and Drivers Association expects thousands of truckies to strike for more than a week starting Monday.

ABC - IRC to hear truckies' fuel demands

Truck drivers are taking their fight over rising fuel prices to the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission, pushing for a compensation system that could affect househoulds across the state.

The Transport Workers Union (TWU) will make an application to the commission for a fuel levy that would allow drivers to recover costs of rising oil prices from transport clients.

Voxy.co.nz - Greens: Coal Or Kiwi: Solid Energy At It Again

25 JULY 2008 - More native forest, snails and kiwi habitat are destined for destruction by Government-owned coal company Solid Energy.

The company is yet again applying to extend its Stockton open-cast coal mine, north of Westport, onto conservation land, the Green Party has revealed.

ABC - Emissions scheme 'could cripple energy industry'

The energy industry has warned power plants will close and electricity prices will rise under the new emissions trading scheme and has called for more assistance from the Federal Government.

Modelling commissioned from ACIL Tasman by the Energy Supply Association finds that even the most modest emission cut of 10 per cent could cause the closure of power stations in Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.

Heral Sun - Good oil flows at Santos

SURGING oil prices helped petroleum outfit Santos to an 18 per cent increase in quarterly revenue, despite a substantial fall in production.

The company said production for the past quarter had fallen 11 per cent compared with the same period last year, and was 1 per cent higher than the first quarter of this year.

While production was down, Santos managed to sell its oil for 56 per cent more, contributing to an 18 per cent revenue increase compared with the second quarter last year.

Scene.co.nz - Rising costs may fuel appartments

Inner-city apartment living might be the answer to rising petrol prices.

It’ll be interesting to see if high fuel prices pump up apartment living in Dunedin, Ewan McComb, of Dunedin’s Platinum Properties, says.

But property developer Ian Lisk says earthquake and other regulations will stall apartment growth.

SMH - Govt 'rushing' carbon trading: Turnbull

Federal opposition treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull has fallen into step behind his leader, declaring an emission trading scheme shouldn't be introduced until it is in Australia's interest.

In government, the coalition supported a start date of 2012, but earlier this week leader Brendan Nelson indicated it would reject the legislation until big polluting countries agreed to reduce their emissions.

Mr Turnbull, a former environment minister, had steadfastly supported a 2012 start date - until now.

ABC - Community control 'key' to windfarms

Making the most of wind energy in Australia could depend on the community owning and operating small-scale wind farms, say some experts.

The comments come as a cooperative in Daylesford, Victoria seeks support for their proposal to build and operate Australia's first community-owned and operated wind farm.

"Wind farms are vital if we're going to reduce our carbon emissions," says Professor John Thwaites, chairman of the Monash Sustainability Institute at Monash University.

"But we're not going to be able to do that if we've got widespread community opposition."

ABC - Vietnam and China tussle over oil resources

Two of the world's largest oil companies are taking on China in a dispute that involves Vietnam and the South China Sea.

This week Vietnam's state oil group Petrovietnam announced the resumation of oil exploration with two joint venture partners BP and Exxon Mobil. Beijing responded by telling Exxon Mobil to pull out of the deal. Last year BP suspended its planned seismic surveys following chinese criticism

Presenter: Claudette Werden
Speakers: Dr Fereidun Fesharaki i chairman and CEO of FACTS Global Energy consultancy; Dr Kang Wu - senior research fellow at the Hawai based East West centre; Victor Shun -Singapore based oil analyst

WERDEN: The South China Sea is ringed by Vietnam, The Phillipines, Malaysia, Brunei and China. Each country lays claim and most have fought over some parts of the sea and Spratly Islands which lie in the middle and are thought to contain large oil and gas deposits. In recent years there's been an escalation of oil exploration and survey activitiy mainly by China and Vietnam with the help of foreign joint venture partners, including two of the world's largest oil companies Exxon Mobil and BP. This week Beijing told Exxon to pull out of the deal with PetroVietnam, claiming the activity infringed on Chinese territory.....an example of Beijing's bully boy tactics according to leading international energy consultant Dr Fereidun Fesharaki. He suggests it may be an attempt by Beijing to fast track a territorial agreement between China and Vietnam.

FESHARAKI: Vietnam is one of the last bastions left, everything else is closed to the national oil companies who control everthing so they are kind of desperate to get in, the Chinese are trying to scare them off and this all pushes the Vietnamese to some kind of agreement in favour of China.

ABC - Billion dollar gas platform for Bass Strait

large new oil and gas field in Bass Strait will be tapped, in a $1.4 billion project.

ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso and BHP Billiton will develop the Turrum Field, which involved building a new platform next to an existing one off the Gippsland Coast.

The development will extract one trillion cubic feet of gas and 110 million barrels of oil.

Herald Sun - Chain of electric car stations 'should be built across Australia'

A CHAIN of electric stations should be built across Australia to encourage motorists to switch to the electric car.

A leading motoring organisation says dramatic government steps need to be taken to reduce Australia's dependence on fossil fuels, which is increasingly coming from the Middle East.

The NRMA says Australia is running out of oil and will have to switch to ethanol and electric cars.

ABC - Dispute over cost of gas crisis

The gas crisis is expected to cost the West Australian economy $1.8 billion over five years according to figures released by the Department of Treasury and Finance.

It is estimated the disruption to gas supply reduced the state's economic growth by half of one per cent in the 2007/2008 financial year.

But the Treasurer Eric Ripper says growth in the economy is expected to be back on track in 2008/2009.

SMH - Company presentation at the Australian Uranium Conference

SMH - New LPG system 'saves fuel, adds power'

A new LPG fuel system for vehicles, boasting better consumption and more power, has become available in Australia.

Australian LPG Warehouse says its new-generation liquid-injection gas system offers significant advances over the usual vapour sequential injection systems.

ABC - Oil Search, PNG sign agreement on gas reserves

Oil Search has signed an agreement with the Papua New Guinean Government to develop its remaining liquefied natural gas (LNG) reserves in the country.

Sixty percent of the company's 2 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves are already committed to a multi-billion dollar LNG project run by Exxon Mobil.

Long time lurker, but decided it was time to jump into the fray.

The upcoming strike seems to be getting very little news time. I went shopping this morning to top up an already full pantry - just in case. Friday morning and the shops were practically deserted. No panic buying or stocking up in evidence.

I think that this strike could cause a lot of grief to people who have not bothered to prepare.

Yes, I wanted to include a few links - just to make sure TOD readers had a "heads up", given the lack of mainstream media coverage. I had to hunt to find those links.

I'm not convinced that there will be any problem (and neither is the mainstream media, obviously), but it doesn't hurt to have a few days of extra food in the house (a good idea regardless of circumstances), and a full tank of petrol.

The question of impact hinges on:
- How many drivers will participate?
- What will the response be?

The rumour is that participation will be low and this strike will fizzle. If it doesn't fizzle, the situation will probably be effectively handled.

But it never hurts to check your food and fuel levels. We have a month of food and full tanks.

Be interesting to see what happens (if anything).

If it goes ahead in a major way, it will bring it home to the public just how dependent we currently are on petroleum.

Must admit I hadn't heard of this at all (been a bit busy the last couple of days - so I'm glad we have a Bullroarer team that keeps the news flow going every day).

Like you say - it does happen nationally it will be a sudden wake up call to everyone...

That's the first I've heard of it. Mind you I haven't been paying attention lately. Been considering applying for a job at the Melbourne synchrotron. I figure that's one of the last places that funding will be cut. On another note I just thought I'd plug this Australian independent action group www.getup.org.au just in case the other lurkers want to do something. I recommend helping them out.

I agree with your recommendation of helping GetUp out from time to time.

I post the occasional link to their campaigns, but if you see anything relevant that hasn't appeared feel free to give it a plug in the comments.

Re: the synchotron, why do you think funding for it wouldn't be cut in a prolonged downturn ?

WRT: emissions scheme "could cripple energy industry"

This is an unfortunate beat up of a study spun to get a headline.
The main claim is that the coal industry will be destroyed by any carbon pricing scheme. Unfortunately, the modeling is rather conservative for renewables (except geothermal and wind.) Solar thermal gets a $200/MWhr average cost in 2010.

The actual outcome of the modeling is actually quite different to what the implications of this are. Even with a $50/mt carbon price, there will still be a profitable Victorian lignite industry. Well, one of the 4 power stations will still be profitable (Loy Yang A). The rest will be assumed to close by the modeling.

The real big winners will be the hydro power stations and gas producers. Hydro because they have a fixed cost structure, and gas producers because they will be called upon to meet the electricity demand at a lower carbon price as well as be able to access export parity pricing via the QLD LNG plant.

I guess this is just a rent seeking activity by a lobby group. Unfortunate that it got a headline.

Yours,

Lachlan the Accountant

In this case the lobby group that funded the study is the ESA - the industry body for (largely coal fired) power stations.

So its not exactly an uninterested bystander...

I always found it a 'little bit' incoherent that the day of the release of the Garnaut Report, the Vic and NSW Coal-Fired generators and associated Unions were up in arms about it, claiming it would kill the industry (a worthy goal, imo). Within a week the those statements, a new Coal-Fired plant was announced.
Of course, it was being built with CCS in mind, which should be 'ready' for commercial development 'in about' 17 years, and which would cut emissions by 30%, or roughly down to the same amount of emissions as a black coal-fired plant, before allowing for the increased burning of Coal the run the CCS equipment, so, no real abatement of emissions at all.
But hey, it made a good headline...

He also says that the modelling suggests that over the 10 years from the start up of the scheme, power bills would rise by about 28 per cent.

28 percent over 10 years is... about the RBA's target rate for Inflation (2.5 - 3% p.a.). It's even less than that when you consider the the RBA's Rate includes compounding, while the reports dowes not. Nothing to see here folks, move along please. :p

RE:

The NRMA says Australia is running out of oil

...

...make drastic improvements to public transport including rail, urban fast metros, light rail and mixed-mode transport.

Wait... whut?! :o

Among the ideas are a national goal to reduce dependence on overseas oil to 50 per cent by 2050,

That seems like it'll take care of itself, so Consider It Done! ;)