Kyoto Treaty

[therisingblues]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/071212/21/158mf.html

The Australian government has finally taken positive steps toward ratifying the Kyoto Treaty.
Once we have signed it America will stand as the only developed nation in the world not to have officially recognised this treaty (although several U.S states are attempting to meet Kyoto targets independantly of their federal government's stance). Politically America at last "stands alone" in its defiance of responsible action to this issue, pressure on this stance surely will increase as a result.
A positive step IMO.

[Sojourner]

What are the targets going to be though? What specifically will we be doing to cut emmisions by 2012 as is the point of the Kyoto Treaty?

With Football Park getting new lights, it would be great to see some solar panes fitted to the roof of the stadium to offset the power use of the lights. If we are serious about lowering carbon emmisions, infrastructre like this should become mandatory rather than voluntary for developments. - Particuarly if the State Government pay for it allowing then the SANFL to lessen their costs of power bills, so that the funds could then be put into something worthwhile like Junior Footy!

[Psyber]

What are the targets going to be though? What specifically will we be doing to cut emmisions by 2012 as is the point of the Kyoto Treaty?

With Football Park getting new lights, it would be great to see some solar panes fitted to the roof of the stadium to offset the power use of the lights. If we are serious about lowering carbon emmisions, infrastructre like this should become mandatory rather than voluntary for developments. - Particuarly if the State Government pay for it allowing then the SANFL to lessen their costs of power bills, so that the funds could then be put into something worthwhile like Junior Footy!

Yes there seems to be quite a bit of shuffling going on, so is it now the same core ratification or a new watered down non-core one???

[therisingblues]

Some good points there Sojourner. According to some the Treaty falls short. I think your Footy Park Solar scheme is brilliant as there should be no undesired side effects.
So far as the "token Treaty" theory may stretch, I was ashamed that Australia followed the U.S's lead in ignoring even this band-aid solution to our problems. If the sh1t hits the environmental fan, as many believe will inevitably happen given our current situation, history will remember with chagrin those that did the most to harm the planet. I hope Australia can get more runs on the board and take some sort of leadership role in the East Asian region in regards to this. As a country we could wield plenty of influence.

[Sojourner]

It would be good to see both sides of politics be they right wingers of left wingers make improving the environment a priority. There was a story about pollution levels in the city of Adelaide which is noturiously bad in that department and has been for a long time due to unusual weather conditions that dont refresh the area as often as in most cities.

Trams and even Trolley Buses would then make sense for our city. In the meantime though, why dont we run the current bus fleet on Bio-Diesel which has far less emmisions which also could help solve the problem.

What we need in S.A from either the Labor or the Liberal parties is a commitment to building some decent infrastructre in the way of public transport and green energy capabilities. If we are going to have the Desalination plant at Port Stanvac then there should be ample room on the site to place solar panels to offset the electricity use of the plant.

Community clubs, especially the SANFL would be the ones to benefit from a scheme of solar panels being installed into their facilities. I dont know what the average bill is for electricity is for an SANFL club, yet I am tipping its pretty high, and if more venues like Glenelg and Richmond go for lights to try and increase interest in SANFL footy, then that only increases the costs further.

By the State Government investing into the SANFL, it achieves the benefit of there being more green power available on the grid which lessens the amount of fossil fuel that has to be burnt, yet at the same time it helps clubs to reduce their running costs which then goes directly into the community and benefits everyone.

A 1500W Photovallic cell system runs to $3000.00 after government rebates, the more cells you get the cheaper it gets. I dont know what the power output is projected to be for the lights project at Football Park, yet I am sure that something could be done to make it a win win for everyone rather than another burden of cost on the SANFL.

[Psyber]

It would be good to see both sides of politics be they right wingers of left wingers make improving the environment a priority. There was a story about pollution levels in the city of Adelaide which is noturiously bad in that department and has been for a long time due to unusual weather conditions that dont refresh the area as often as in most cities.

True, 15 years ago I used to despair about driving down from the hills into the visibly brown skies to work. Even now when we visit Adelaide my wife's asthma flares up and I get skin rashes. That is the reason we don't live there now. I suspect the main factor affecting us is the airport being in the city in such a position that the fuel waste gets pushed into the bowl of the hills and trapped there by the prevailing winds, and by the inversion layer visible from the hills that we are told doesn't exist because Adelaide is not big enough to have an inversion layer. Interestingly, from the same perspective Melbourne's skies look grey not brown.

Trams and even Trolley Buses would then make sense for our city. In the meantime though, why dont we run the current bus fleet on Bio-Diesel which has far less emmisions which also could help solve the problem.

Unfortunately, diesel fumes affect my wife's asthma and the carcinogens in diesel exhaust are more dangerous than the lead in petrol. This was first raised in an article by Paul Davies in The Advertiser when he was a Physicist at Adelaide Uni, and can be confirmed by looking into the chemistry. I don't know whether they are present in bio-diesel fumes, but any form of diesel is a complex hydrocarbon that may produce more complex exhaust chemicals than a more refined fuel. There are, too, already concerns that transferring the necessary amount of farm land to bio-diesel crop production may increase famine in poorer areas of the world. Hydrogen fuel made avaialble from sea water using abundant electrical power from fission or fusion would be far more clean, and would wash the roads at the same time.

A 1500W Photovallic cell system runs to $3000.00 after government rebates, the more cells you get the cheaper it gets. I dont know what the power output is projected to be for the lights project at Football Park, yet I am sure that something could be done to make it a win win for everyone rather than another burden of cost on the SANFL.

1500W would barely run my hifi system, unfortunately, and the cooker we had when we lived in the Adelaide Hills pulled 2400W by itself, and the air conditioner up to 5100W, so we could easily have had 8 or 9000W running simultaneously in some circumstances at dinner time on a hot day. [And, no, I am not disposed to do without it.]

Where we live now we don't need air conditioning but we sure do need heating!

[therisingblues]

In the meantime though, why dont we run the current bus fleet on Bio-Diesel which has far less emmisions which also could help solve the problem.

Love your other ideas, but bio-diesel sounds like another of those bio-fules that I have heard so much bad press about. A few of the disadvantages of bio-fuels include:
*Pushing up the prices of staple foods in poorer nations, mainly because these fuels are usually derived from essential basics like corn. (as Psyber said, this could result in famine)
*In order to create space for the food for fuel there will be, (is now) increased destruction of rainforests, which are a very important "sink" for C02s and one of our greatest allies in the fight against greenhouse gases.
*Further fires being lit to clear the rainforests. A massive contributor to greenhouse gases.
The thing about these bio-fuels is that they sound good, organic and all, and they get the backing of the people that have spotted an angle to exploit. It would be very easy to tax, and would need to pass through a number of hands before the consumer gets it, same as regular gas, so that is pleasing to governments, and corporations, big and small.
The more people that hear the negatives about it the better IMO. We need to put our efforts into areas that our proven to be helpful to the cause. Scientific enquiry seems to uncover another negative aspect about bio-fuels every three months or so.
Until we can get solar working better, I am leaning toward nuclear fusion as the answer to our energy needs.

[mighty_tiger_79]

according to a mate of mine who is intently following all of this

apparently NZ are in it and its costing $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ big buckeroos

[Sojourner]

[quote="therisingblues]Until we can get solar working better, I am leaning toward nuclear fusion as the answer to our energy needs.[/quote]

No problems with that idea for me either! I think that the sooner we have a nuclear reactor in Australia to generate electricity the better. Yes there is waste, yes so is there from Cancer treatment and it is stored in various sites all over the city. It cant be hard to find a site to centrally locate all of it together.

One of the issues with Nuclear Power is the sheer amount of energy that it creates, so what better reason then to go with Trams and Trolley Buses for Adelaide!

[McAlmanac]

Until we can get solar working better, I am leaning toward nuclear fusion as the answer to our energy needs.

No problems with that idea for me either! I think that the sooner we have a nuclear reactor in Australia to generate electricity the better. Yes there is waste, yes so is there from Cancer treatment and it is stored in various sites all over the city. It cant be hard to find a site to centrally locate all of it together.

And you are the Member for....?