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Sri Lanka: No viable solution to energy crisis in 20-30 years
Wasantha Ramanayake, Sri Lanka Daily News
The world is unlikely to find viable solution for the energy crisis in the next 20-30 years, Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA) Chairman, Ananda S. Gunasekera said.
“During this transition period from the depletion of the fossil fuel until the discovery of such viable renewable energy source the people have to undergo difficulties,” he said.
The Chairman was addressing Education Department Zonal and Divisional Directors to educate them on a new project introducing energy conservation in the school curriculum. He regarded it as a landmark achievement.
“Energy conservation is of utmost importance since we really waste a huge amount of power simply because of ignorance and negligence.” He said through schoolchildren, the message of conservation would easily reach the domestic consumers. The chairman regarded the present crisis as a global phenomena and the poor countries being the worst hit.
“Currently a barrel of crude oil has hit a record price of US $ 84 in the international market.
We have only two options i.e. to promote sustainable, indigenous energy sources and conserve energy,” he said.
Power and Energy Minister W.D.J. Senevirathne noted that two ministries got together to implement the programme and through the schools the message of conservation to domestic consumers of electricity who consume one third of the power in country.
(17 October 2007)
Racing to the aid of king coal
Toby Hutcheon, Brisbane Courier-Mail
CLIMATE change is the Achilles heel of the Australian resources boom that both coal companies and Australian governments are fully aware of but prefer not to acknowledge or address.
Last Friday’s decision of the Court of Appeal involving the Xstrata Newlands coalmine near Mackay brought this to the fore.
In this case the Court of Appeal overturned a decision of Greg Koppenol, president of the Land and Resources Tribunal, in which he refused to recommend conditions be imposed on the expansion of the coalmine to address its greenhouse gas emissions. The court ordered the case be reheard.
In response to the court’s decision, Premier Anna Bligh announced the Government would pass special legislation to enable the mine to proceed without delay.
(17 October 2007)
Toby Hutcheon is co-ordinator of the Queensland Conservation Council
Slutz getting around but few are interested
Mark Hawthorne, The Age
VISITING dignitary James Slutz must have expected quite a turnout after being invited all the way from Washington to Australia to give a series of talks.
Not that his job title would have attracted too many admirers. Slutz is – deep breath – acting principal deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Fossil Energy.
If the job title didn’t give it away, that makes him an American.
The title must also provide Slutz with some much-needed subterfuge. For the past two years he has co-chaired a global oil and gas study by the US National Petroleum Council.
The NPC calls itself a “federally chartered and privately funded advisory committee representing the views of the oil and natural gas industries”.
In other words, it represents the views of the oil barons who many people think actually run the United States.
…Slutz and his diverse team of mainly oil industry executives got cracking, and this year filed a report – Facing the Truths about Energy – to both Bodman and US President George Bush. They found that global energy demand will rise by between 50 and 60 per cent by the year 2030 and, surprise, surprise, there is more than enough oil and gas to meet that. We will all just have to pay much higher prices, and the US Government will have to spend a lot of money to protect that supply
(19 October 2007)
Ex-CIA chief wants energy independence
Murray Evans, Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY – It is in the U.S.’s national security interest to continue developing transportation fuel derived from agricultural products because the country has become dangerously dependent on foreign oil, former CIA Director James Woolsey said.
“The people who produce large amounts (of oil) have a lot of leverage that we don’t want them to have,” he said.
The two-day biofuels conference has focused on developing alternative transportation fuels by using agricultural products native to the state, such as Oklahoma switchgrass.
(18 October 2007)
