By Paul
Energy savings in UK households could be up to 30% lower than previously thought, jeopardising efforts to cut the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions.
The UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) blamed the miscalculation on “rebound effects” from energy-saving measures.
As people cut their bills by using more efficient devices, they tend to spend the extra money buying additional goods that cancel out some of the savings.
BBC News website: UK energy savings ‘miscalculated’
By Paul
As readers will see from the last 2 blog entries, comments of a defamatory nature made against organisations or individuals can get the blog owners into legal trouble. We will have to be more vigilant in future.
By Paul
I hereby make a full public apology to the Australian Rainforest Foundation and its Chief Executive Officer, Roger Phillips, in relation to entries on blog site etitled ‘Daintree Compensation’ by the following persons (bloggers):
John Rainbird on 1 September 2007, at 3.40pm
Hugh Spencer on 3 September 2007, at 7.06pm
Zainab on 4 September 2007 at 11.01am
Wayne Brandon on 10 September 2007, at 10.07pm
I hereby repudiate all claims, assertions or imputations that:
The Australian Rainforest Foundation’s claim for compensation pursuant to the Queensland Government funded scheme to compensate will adversely affect the preservation of Daintree rainforest;
The Australian Rainforest Foundation is attempting to manipulate and impede the Daintree rainforest buy back scheme;
The Australian Rainforest Foundation has sought donations, sponsorships and/or grants for purposes other than education, research and habitat rehabilitation for Australia’s rainforests.
The Australian Rainforest Foundation Chief Executive Officer, Roger Phillips is other than a competent and professional Chief Executive and that he is more interested in commercial gain by the Australian Rainforest Foundation than the conservation of Australian rainforest habitat;
I make full apology for any detrimental effect entries on my blog site have had on the Australian Rainforest Foundation and Roger Phillips.
By Paul
August 25, 2007
Daintree compensation
Posted by neil, at 02:41 PM
The Australian Rainforest Foundation (ARF) has thrown a cat amongst the pigeons, by lodging twenty-two applications for compensation with Douglas Shire Council, for development rights stripped from Daintree freehold properties.
The applications concern land bought by the ARF with funds allocated by the Commonwealth Government from its Biodiversity Hotspots Program.
Douglas Shire Mayor Mike Berwick is quoted in today’s Cairns Post: “This…undermines the entire Daintree conservation effort by claiming compensation.”
State Member for Cook, Jason O’Brien MLA, thinks it is outrageous, a joke and double-dipping.
Federal Member for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch MP, says he does not see a problem with the ARF’s compensation bid.
Under the provisions of the Integrated Planning Act 1997 an owner of an interest in land is entitled to be paid reasonable compensation by a local government if a change reduces the value of the interest or if the only purpose for which the land could be used (other than the purpose for which it was lawfully being used when the change was made) is for a public purpose.
The stated effect of the expropriation of development rights on the land in question is conservation.
The ARF adopted a freehold conservation model that had been suggested by the local community, with lands voluntarily acquired, consolidated into larger holdings, covenanted to perpetuity with an exclusion envelope for an overall reduction in development capacity, and then on-sold. Funds would be reinvested in a rolling conservation trust.
The Queensland Government and DSC scuttled the ARF conservation initiative through the compulsory expropriation of development rights. By whom will the cost be borne?
By Paul
Julia Slingo and Rowan Sutton of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, Walker Institute for Climate System Research, University of Reading, have an interesting letter in this week’s Nature magazine. They point out that this year’s loss of sea-ice cover in the Arctic is unlikely to be explained by temperature change alone. Arctic wind anomolies are implicated as part of a global pattern of exceptional summer circulation.
They conclude:
“The growing La Niña in the East Pacific undoubtedly had a major influence globally, and there is some evidence from past events that La Niña predisposes the circulation towards the type of exceptional patterns seen this summer.”
By Paul
The Coalition will not fund future drought preparedness measures as part of its agricultural election policy, due out in a fortnight, but will stick with its existing drought assistance measures despite calls for change from State Governments and the National Farmers Federation.
farmonline: ‘Election ’07: Drought preparedness not in Coalition ag policy’
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
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