National Business Review NZ - Meridian Energy teams up with Waikato wind project

Meridian Energy has become a partner in Waikato electricity distribution company WEL Networks' proposed $200 million 28-turbine wind park east of Raglan.

WEL has gained resource consent for the project on the Wharauroa Plateau, near Te Uku, 7km from Raglan on the west coast.

Stuff.co.nz - Isabella goes ape over palm oil products

Isabella campaigned against palm oil because of its toll on the orangutan's natural jungle habitat.

SMH - Solar power couple find rays of sunshine

''In the last three years, with the cost of diesel [rising], solar power systems have very much grown as an option for stations,'' says Brenda Slate, who manages the administrative side of the business.

''With the trade environment and with where renewable energy is going, we've decided to focus on that whole side of the business.''

The Age - Energy giants put Qld coal seam on map

A scramble by global energy companies for a foothold in Queensland's coal seam methane (CSM) sector has elevated the industry from relative obscurity to the forefront of the energy spectrum.

Once the poor cousin in the power mix, the budding CSM sector has emerged as a potential rival to the massive North West Shelf in Western Australia as an energy source for power hungry Asia.

Radio NZ - Hawaiian Airlines to modify Boeing 767s to improve fuel efficiency

Hawaiian Airlines is planning to alter the wingtips of eight B-767 jets in order to reduce fuel costs

Stuff.co.nz - Wind farm gets big backer

A multi-million dollar deal between Wel Networks and Meridian Energy is likely to fast-track a proposed 28-turbine wind farm at Te Uku.

Stuff.co.nz - New fleet may mean US covets Brazil's oil - Lula

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned that the resurrection of a US naval fleet in Latin America may signal that Washington covets huge new oil reserves off Brazil's coast.

The US Navy is re-establishing the US Fourth Fleet, which was decommissioned 58 years ago, to combat drug trafficking, provide disaster relief and help with peacekeeping missions in Latin America and the Caribbean.

But the return of the fleet has been met with widespread scepticism in Brazil and elsewhere in the region, where many see a US military presence as a threat to sovereignty.

The Australian - Air NZ cuts emissions significantly

AIR New Zealand has once again raised the environmental bar for the airline industry after completing what was dubbed "one prefect flight" from Auckland to San Francisco last Friday

The flight -- NZ8 -- in a world first, used optimised procedures and flight routings to cut fuel burn and emission significantly.

The Age - Straits Resources cancels coal de-merger

Copper and gold miner Straits Resources Ltd will not proceed with a planned de-merger of its subsidiary Straits Asia Resources Ltd due to current market volatility.

The Straits Resources board has decided it is inappropriate to proceed with the restructure in light of present market conditions, the company said on Thursday.

Straits Resources had planned to de-merge its 47 per cent held subsidiary, coal miner Straits Asia Resources Ltd, by mid-October, leaving the parent entity to focus on metals production.

The Australian - Life in suburbs drives emissions higher

WORKING families living on the edges of Australia's urban sprawl are generating up to 10 times more greenhouse emissions in their cars than those from the inner city, according to new research.

The study by Parsons Brinkerhoff and Curtin University shows the same outer suburbs that put Kevin Rudd into power are increasingly expensive to build and service, driving worseningeconomic, environmental and social costs.

With transport accounting for around half of an average Australian household's greenhouse footprint, inner city residents could be generating just half the emissions of those living out in the mortgage belt.

The Rudd Government has already flagged it will forgo $1 billion a year in revenue by cutting the fuel excise to compensate motorists for the higher prices resulting from its proposed emissions trading scheme from 2010.

ABC - Emissions targets: 'Billions needed' to upgrade power lines

Queensland electricity transmitters say they will have to spend billions updating infrastructure to meet lower carbon emission standards.

Proactive Investors - Paladin Energy increases stake in Deep Yellow

Speculation about the future of Deep Yellow Limited (ASX: DYL) was rife today after Paladin Energy (TSX & ASX: PDN) announced that it had upped its stake in the company to 19.29% from 15.3%.

Paladin Energy stated that it considered the investment strategic and that it “looked forward to continuing to be a supportive shareholder”.

ABC - Govt awards 45yr gas pipe licence

The Queensland Government has awarded a company a 45 year licence for a major gas pipeline in central Queensland.

Arrow Energy wants to extract coal seam gas from Moranbah and build a pipeline to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant it plans to build at Gladstone.