SMH - Shortfall in power could be overstated

THE shortfall in power generation capacity raised by the State Government as the reason for cutting other capital works spending may be exaggerated - a number of power stations are on the drawing board even though the privatisation of state-owned electricity generators will not proceed.

The Australian - Linc and Xinwen Mining sign coal and gas deal

LINC Energy and new Chinese partner Xinwen Mining Group have agreed to from a joint venture to develop gas in China.

Under the agreement, Linc (ASX: LNC) and Xinwen will develop underground coal gasification and gas-to-liquids in China.

Reseller News (NZ) - Tech's looming battle against rising energy costs

IT has gotten a bad rap when it comes to energy consumption. Walk into any datacenter, and you can almost feel the carbon emissions leaking into the atmosphere. However, research shows that the datacenter actually accounts for a very small percentage of a company's overall energy usage. And businesses are missing the other significant opportunities where they could cut energy usages -- and costs. Ironically, the same IT department that is reducing energy usage in the datacenter could lead the energy-savings initiatives across the enterprise.

National Business Review - Origin coal seam deal scotches Contact Energy sell-off

An $A9.6 billion deal between Origin Energy and ConocoPhillips to build an LNG export plant in Queensland should double Origin’s share value, blocking a takeover by the UK’s BG.

ABC - Bligh calls for more clean coal research

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh says Australia must decide as soon as possible if clean coal technology works or not.

The Age - Out with the coal, in with the flue

POLICYMAKERS who advocate an emissions trading scheme as the solution to global warming, but who overlook the role of Australia's coal exports, are suffering from delusion. Practically every atom of carbon in our exports of coal will soon become a molecule of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The Garnaut report provides no recognition of this. Our coal exports are the elephant in the room that we pretend does not exist.

Coal is the most carbon-intensive fuel. Most of Australia's coal is exported. Australia has the largest reserves of coal available for export and is by far the world's largest exporter of coal. Australia supplies almost 40% of globally traded coal and coal mainly consists of carbon. These exports are Australia's largest carbon emission, larger than all other atmospheric carbon emissions combined.

Voxy - Removing R&D Tax Incentives - Bad For Innovation Funding Should Support All Businesses

10 September 2008 - National's leaked policy on research, science and technology would reduce the tax credit available for Research and Development (R&D) in favour of Government targeted funding. This is a continuation of a strategy from politicians that they will favour certain areas of the economy over others. The New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association (NZMEA) promotes incentives like the R&D tax credit that are delivered through the tax system.

The Fast Forward Fund is an example of the Government attempting to 'pick winners' in the economy rather than simply providing an incentive, as the R&D tax credit does, for businesses to carry out research in the most profitable areas. Targeted funds simply distort growth towards the favoured sectors leaving the economy weaker as a whole. Growth in other sectors becomes limited as people chase the Government funds and the economy becomes more prone to economic shocks as growth is focused on a narrow group of businesses.

Northern Advocate - Power firm airs plan for giant wind farm

The hills south of Ahipara may soon be spinning with turbines if Meridian Energy's plan for a giant wind farm is approved.
The company wants to build 36 turbines at the site producing 99MW of electricity - more than half of Northland's power needs.

It is the first time in New Zealand a company has applied to build a wind farm on conservation land.

The Australian - Origin Energy ripe for re-rating

THE investment market's puzzling failure to re-rate Origin Energy in the wake of its staggering deal with ConocoPhillips would seem to leave coal seam methane's latest boom-baby as the brightest bargain in town.

Conoco, the third-biggest oil and gas house in the US, must be hoping that for once the market has got it wrong on the financial potential of Queensland's coal seam future.

On Monday, Conoco agreed to pay up to $9.6 billion for half of Origin Energy's coal seam gas future.