Group D

The draw for the 2010 World Cup has been announced over the weekend, and Australia is in Group D. With Copenhagen starting today, i thought it would be interesting to compare the emissions of our world cup opponents.


If only there was a world cup for pollution :) Each Australian could match it with 67 Ghanaians.

Talking Kev

With the UN meeting at Copenhagen next week, the people at Talking Kev are giving us the chance to hear the words we want our PM Kevin Rudd to say - by arranging soundbites from things he has said.

You can see my arrangement here ... if only it was real.

Walk Against Warming

With the UN meeting in Copenhagen in just a few days time, the Walk Against Warming team have scheduled walks for next Saturday (Dec 12) in each of the capital cities.


The Brisbane one is at 10am in King George Square. If you're in a different state of Australia, check the Walk Against Warming website for your local details.

Dramatic Increase

With all the goings-on in Canberra this week, i found this cartoon quite appropriate.


If only real action was increasing at a similar rate. Meanwhile, Margot O'Neill has an interesting piece on the coal, hard facts.

Climate Smart Meter

Sometimes we take things for granted. I met some NSW people last week, who wished their state had something like the Climate Smart Home program. One of the reasons is this great little energy meter, that can tell you how much power you are using at any moment. (It can also has a money mode and a greenhouse gas mode.)


Apart from the meter, the deal includes free energy efficient light bulbs, and a water efficient showerhead. And if you live in Brisbane, the city council will reimburse you the 50 dollars.

Chains Not Needed

Found this neat little clip from Germany's Deutche Bahn. It gives, some handy greenhouse reduction tips (with very cool graphics).

Making the CPRS Worse

You may have heard the government has agreed to some amendments to the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. See here for a short summary.

Basically, it's about dividing up the revenue. And the proposed change is that the coal companies and electricity generators get more, and households get less (for rebates etc) - almost 1 billion dollars less.

I figure this might be a good time to provide links to the Find your Electorate tool and the list of Contact Details of our federal pollies.

Friday Funnies - Wallace and Gromit

Fans of Wallace and Grommit will enjoy the energy efficiency ads for british utility n-power.


At the n-power website, there's an interactive version of Wallace and Gromit's energy saving house and "Bob's" energy saving tips.

Quick Quote (Al Gore)

I think a country like Australia probably has more usable and profitable sources of renewable energy than any other nation ... You have desert areas, abundant sunlight within tens of kilometres of most of your major cities.

Al Gore, The Age

The Wind In Spain...

I read that last weekend Spain reached 53% of its electricity coming from wind power. Interesting that just 5 years ago, critics claimed the grid couldn't handle more than 14%.


The wind people reckon they can more than double capacity by 2020. But even as it stands now, experts reckon that renewables will have provided a quarter of Spain's energy this year. Meanwhile, Australia is aiming for 20% ... 11 years from now.

We Must

This is another clip i saw during the climate change blog action day. The two stats relate to the USA, but apart from that it's true for us too.

3-Day Weekend

Last year i wrote about Utah's idea of a regular 4-day working week. Now, Hungrybeast reports that the scheme has been very successful.


With the goals of saving money, emissions and employee sanity; so far it has saved $1.8 million dollars, 12,000 tonnes of emissions and gets the thumbs-up from 75% of employees. Hungrybeast also interviews an Australian company doing a similar thing.

The idea is popular, more productive, and better for the planet. One politician called it a "no brainer". I call it a Convenient Solution.

Climate Change and the Liberals

Tonight's 4 Corners was quite interesting. It talked to a number of people within the Liberal Party about their views on climate change.


By their own admission, a number of the people interviewed don't even think that greehouse gases cause climate change. It's hard to know if this view is wide-spread amongst the party, but some of the people interviewed believed it was a majority view.

Also a bit concerning was the admission that the ETS plan the Liberal party took to the last election was essentially just a reaction to public concern, rather that something the party believed in.

I'm still not sure if this is a good thing or not. Ideally, i'd like to think parties believed in what they said - and stood for something. I guess it's good that parties are listen to public opinion, but it also sounded like it was a bit of a scam to sneak through another election.

350 in 2:10

Last week i mentioned the 350 event that i went to. (Local readers may have even seen my photo in the local paper). It was part of a worldwide movement to encourage global leaders to get serious about tackling climate change.


Apparently, greehouse pollution more concentrated than 350 means dangerous climate change. It's currently at 387 and going up every day. At 350.org, you can see the picture gallery and take the 350 pledge of readiness for an ambitious global climate deal.

Sunlit Bridge

Passed by Brisbane's Kurilpa Bridge the other evening. Apart from being a pedestrian and cyclist bridge, it uses LED lights powered by solar power.


According to Energy Matters the bridge has 84 solar panels. Each day they produce 100kWh of energy (presumably stored in batteries). When the bridge is in fully lit mode (as above) the solar system provides 75% of the energy. But it most lighting configurations, this increases to 100%, with the excess energy fed back into the grid.