Is gorgon inflated?

$70 bilion or actually $32 billion. Is the $70 billion based on an inflated estimate by the government of LNG prices as Goldman Sachs JB Were suggests? In terms of its significance to the Australian economy, does it matter?

the sins of coal

Australia is the world's worst emitter of carbon dioxide - per capita. It's because of our dependence on coal to generate our electricity. With just under 20 tonnes a head we've overtaken the US. The average person in India emits 1.2 tonnes a year.

source: a risk assessment by Maplecroft

is Gorgon inflated?

$70 bilion or actually $32 billion. Is the $70 billion based on an inflated estimate by the government of LNG prices as Goldman Sachs JB Were suggests? In terms of its significance to the Australian economy, does it matter?

Using electricity means using water

Using coal to generate electricity consumes huge amounts of water. The five coal-fired power stations in the La Trobe valley use the equivalent to more than a quarter of Melbourne's annual water consumption. And clean-coal technologies (carbon capture and storage) consume even more water.

Coal is the elephant in the room for Australia's greenhouse reduction/consumption. Most of our coal is exported (some 75%) and the rest is burnt to make electricity or in the making of steel. That burning produces a little over 42% of our greenhouse gas emissions.

Coal is our largest commodity export and is worth $24 billion, and Australia is the world's largest exporter of coal.

It's a big elephant.

Obama's greenhouse reduction legislation

There's seems to be a change of mood in the world of greenhouse gas reduction with the passage through the House of Congress of Obama's greenhouse reduction legislation.

a couple of good websites

The Blacksmith Institute

… which focuses on pollution in the third world.

The ten worst pollution problems in the third world are:

Industrial Mining Activities

Metals Smelters and Processing

Radioactive Waste and Uranium Mines

Untreated sewage

Urban air quality

Used Lead Acid Battery Recyclinmg

Contaminated Surface Water

Indoor Air Pollution

Artisanal Gold Mining

Algalita Marine Research Foundation

“The base of the food chain is being displaced by a non-digestible,

non-nutritive component which is actually out-weighing and out-

numbering the natural food. That is our core issue.”

It takes a little time to find this on the website but algalita is a highly focused organization with a great story to tell.

Victorian ALP State election promise

"immediately protect the remaining significant stands of old-growth forest in Victoria"