AFL Green Round

Tonight marks the start of the AFL's Green Round. Fans attending matches are encouraged to turn off appliances before leaving home; and to get to the game by public transport, by bike or by walking.


If you're going to a game, check out what green activities will be happening on game day.

Green Jobs

Wow - what a day! This morning the CPRS legislation was voted against by the senate. Wilson Tuckey figures global warming is no problem because Canberra winters are still cold. To top it off, Barnaby Joyce doesn't even think there can ever be any green jobs.


While Barnaby admits getting his opinions from the St George hotel, there are quite probably better sources of information. A new one i've just discovered is Clean Energy Jobs. It describes some of the types of jobs, and gives an idea of just how many will be needed in order to transform our nation's energy usage.

A Big Cheque

Saw this news of a creative demonstration of how polluter-friendly the government's proposed scheme is.


I've mentioned before, how it would seem to make more sense to provide money for a solution, rather than to those who caused the problem.

Bob Brown on TV Ad

With the Senate vote on the Climate Change later this week, the Greens leader Bob Brown has put out a short ad explaining why the government's proposal isn't good enough.


If you want to pass on a message to the PM, you can do so here.

Thinking of You

As you may have guessed, i have a bit of a reputation amongst my friends for being greenhouse-friendly. So when i invited some friends around, one friend decides to impress me by bringing carbon-neutral beer.
I thought he might have read my previous blog about this, but as it turns out he just saw them in the shop and thought of me. :)

How Much Power?

One way of reducing greenhouse emissions (and saving money) is to save electricity. But it's so tricky - where does all the energy go? Energy meters can help, by measuring the power each item uses when running. (Or not running - in the case of standby mode - grr)


This meter is measuring my computer trundling along at a mere 26 Watts (don't you love laptops?). If you live in Brisbane, the libraries have these meters available for borrowing - saving you another $30 (compared to buying one). Just type energy meter into the catalogue search.

Smarter Than A 5th Grader

This photo was a message from the LIVE group to Australia's leaders. It was done back in May - but the message is still true.


The wording came from 11-year old Sophie. She may be too young to vote, but current decisions (or lack thereof) still affect her future.

China's Renewable Energy

Some people point the finger at China when it comes to greenhouse gases. But an article in the Australian points out what China is doing with renewable energy:

By 2020 China aims to have installed 300,000MW of hydro power (equal to 80 Snowy Mountains schemes), 30,000MW of plants fuelled by agricultural waste, 1800MW of solar power and more than 50,000MW of wind farms (about four times what will be needed here to meet the Rudd renewable energy target)

Also, there's 600,000 people employed installing solar hotwater heaters. It seems China is very far ahead of us - and remember, their per capita greenhouse emissions are only 1/6th of Australia's.

Australia Falling Behind

I found this graph at Energy Matters showing just how far Australia fell behind in developing solar energy - mainly from 1997 to 2007.


While the USA, Japan and Germany have gone aheads in leaps and bounds, Australia's contribution to worldwide solar power has dropped from 7% to 1%. [see a slightly larger graph]

Tuvalu Target

I read today that Tuvalu has set itself a target to be completely powered by renewable energy by 2020. Not only is this a fantastic effort by this small country; but at the same time it pokes a pretty big hole in the old "wreck the economy" theory - when an economy with GDP of 15 million (compared to Australia's 800 billion) is capable of such a transformational change.

Part of the effort is the solar system on the grandstand at the football ground, which produces 5% of the energy for the town, and in just over a year has saved 17,000 litres of generator fuel.

Background on Renewable Energy

I've been listening to a podcast from ABC radio on The Other Climate Debate. It's not so much a debate, more a question of how best to go about encouraging renewable energy here in Australia, where renewable resources are so abundant.


The report also reminded me that Europe, South America, and China have 20% Renewable Energy targets - so far Australia has not. It also mentioned that (per capita) Australia is the biggest carbon polluter on the planet. Also, that with Solar Thermal technology, solar energy can be stored as heat to produce round-the-clock electricity.

As far as economics is concerned, Carbon Market Economics says that a Renewable Energy target not only helps tackle climate change, but helps the economy as well. Similarly, Barack Obama proclaimed

We know the country that harnesses the power of clean renewable energy will lead the 21st century.

Global Warming

Published by Essential Science, "Global Warming" is basically a mini-textbook (65 pages) at maybe a mid high-school level. Written by Fred Pearce, it contains three basic sections - a description of global warming, the possible effects, and solutions to the problem.

Recycling Near You

Friend of mine has recently moved. He was unsure what could be recycled in the area he lives in now (there are slight differences between councils).


So I gave him the tip to check out Recycling Near You which has collated all the recycling info from across Australia. As long as he knows his postcode, he can find out exactly what can be recycled.

A New Generation

Today is another small milestone day - with the official release of the 3rd generation Toyota Prius. So why is a car release a good day?


The answer is 3.9 (L/100km) and 89 (grams of CO2/km). Both of these are the lowest of any car available in Australia - according to Green Vehicle Guide - and over 10% better than the previous model.

6 Degrees At National Geographic

When experts talk about 2 degrees of global warming, sometimes it doesn't sound too bad. And the IPCC reports have so many words and graphs. What does it all mean?


Well the National Geographic Channel have put together a documentary-style simulation of what 6 degrees might cause. On the interactive section, you can select the number of degrees of warming and see the effects it would have around the globe.