Oil turbulence in the next decade

A CIEP analysis of the recent development of demand and supply for crude oil indicates that the mismatch in supply and demand growth could cause tighter oil markets than we already experience today.

In the World Energy Outlook 2007, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned of a possible 'energy crunch'. But what was anticipated to happen in the first part of the next decade has been fast-forwarded to today, more than 5 years earlier, and could shake the very foundation of our energy systems if no action is undertaken.

Read article or download pdf report

World 'needs Australia's platinum to build cleaner cars'

An Australian researcher has warned that the drive to put cleaner, hydrogen-fuelled cars on the road will stall unless new reserves of platinum are found.

Platinum is one of the key components of catalytic converters, catalysing carbon monoxide from exhaust fumes.

It is also a critical component of fuel cells for hydrogen-powered cars.

However 80 per cent of the world's reserves come from just three mines.
Read Article

Taking it for granted

The Federal Government announced a new range of grants and funding initiatives in May as part of the 2008 budget to improve innovation and technology development.

The new programs focus on the environment and climate change, with the greatest emphasis on carbon and decreasing emissions through a new 'clean business strategy'.
Read article

The place to stay in touch between Drinks

I've received this email today from a fellow Green Drinker who has created a website to keep in contact with fellow Green Drinkers:

I have attended several Green Drinks events around the world. Each time, I was frustrated by not being able to meet everyone at the event or reach people afterwards. As a result, I created a simple website to make it easier for Green Drinks participants to keep in touch between drinks. Please feel free to pay a visit to the initial version of the website.
My objective was providing a resource focused on keeping people in touch without requiring the excessive set-up time of broader social networks (facebook,myspace, etc.). A reasonably experienced internet user should be able to register on the website and input their 'green credentials and interests' in just a few minutes. At the same time, more avid users can enhance their profiles with additional images, videos, text, and web links.
If you find this website useful, please feel free to let your chapter know about it. If you'd like to learn, I would be happy to talk or correspond directly with you. Either way, I hope you'll find a few minutes to let me know what you think. Open to all feedback and suggestions. Also open to input should you or someone you know wish to contribute web programming, graphic design, editorial, or promotional resources to the project.
Thanks,
Gregory C. Belmont

Bike trailer plan aims to keep cars in garages

Despite the cold and frost, three-year-old Dylan Severino, of Holder, was all smiles and even offered a regal wave from the comfort of his carriage in Curtin yesterday. His father, Luis, towed him behind his bicycle in a specially designed trailer.

Cyclists can use these kinds of trailers to cart groceries, books and pets and Canberra sustainability organisation SEE-Change is hoping to tap into their potential. Read article

We know this type of bike for a long time in The Netherlands, my father had one when we were kids, he probably still has it. It was an old sturdy bike with a huge space on the front of the handle bars which he used to cycle to the mill to get a big sack of horse feed and my sister and I were sitting on top of it.
Have a look at this Dutch website for the variety of models available.

Interested in cargo bikes, check this blog, it has heaps of pictures from old and new models, movies about races, the use of the bikes, etc.

Sustainability Assessment Symposium:

What: Progressing Practice in Western Australia
When: 24-25 September, 2008
Where: Maria’s on the Terrace, South Terrace, Fremantle

Integral Sustainability invites you to participate in the inaugural
Sustainability Assessment Symposium, an interactive forum for
sustainability assessment practitioners in Western Australia.

For more information check of Integral Sustainability

Chair made from cardboard

A few different ways to make cardboard chairs by some crazy Americans.

Also have a look at the cardboard chairs of my friend Stefan Hoelldobler who made these beauties for his graduation last year. There are some really nice shelves available too, have a look at the website of Die Fabrik.

Four-leg drive the way to go?

"Australia's horses - so brusquely brushed aside by the motor car a century ago - may come back into their own as a source of transport and power."
I am just reading the article in the Sydney Morning Herald about going back to ride horses instead of cars because of the high fuel prices... They must be joking, keeping a horse as a way of transport is probably far more expensive besides that the horse population needs to increase drastically to provide enough transport and to feed these noble animals will require another big part of land area to grow food... I love horses and often wished as a kid to be born in another century to be able to live the other way, with less people and more space but I know we can't turn the clock with the dramatically increasing population, it's not realistic.

Market solution won't work

Why do we put so much faith in the market to solve environmental problems? Why do we assume that increasing the cost of fossil fuel emissions will reduce their use rather than just increase everyone's cost of living? Petrol prices have doubled in the past few years, yet petrol usage has not declined significantly. There has been no mass shift to public transport, no major decline in car sales, no flood of affordable hybrid and electric cars on to the market.

Why? Because the market has not been able to provide the alternatives required. Large-scale investment in public transport systems and cycleways, land-use planning and car emission standards require government investment and intervention in the market.

Read the article

Aluminium industry 'at risk'

AUSTRALIA risks losing its entire aluminium industry if the introduction of carbon trading is botched, a leading union has warned.

Contradicting other unions that played down the likelihood of job losses, the Australian Workers Union yesterday launched a report arguing the industry's 15,000 jobs would be lost to countries with less environmentally sound policies unless it was properly compensated under the carbon pollution reduction scheme.

Read the article

Emissions trading scheme

A lot of people have only the vaguest idea of how an emissions trading scheme would work, which is hardly surprising because it involves several unfamiliar mechanisms.
Maybe when you read this article it will become clear... or not?

VIVID

When you are in Melbourne this week come to the convention centre and have a look at VIVID, the design area at Furnitex, the national furniture show. It's from Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 July every day from 9am to 5pm.

I am exhibiting at VIVID with Zeopod-01 a set of sustainable poufs made from the new material ZEOFORM™ which is a 100% biodegradable plastic made from plant fibers. The cushion is made from eco foam by Joyce and the fabric is eco wool by Sustainable Living Fabric, all approved by GECA!

Two of my students Sustainable Design, which I taught at Curtin University last semester, are also exhibiting with their projects; Nathan with Fossil chair and Yoshi with Molentje coffee table. Further exhibiting from WA is Michael Shepherd with his Molar stool and Bark Chaise Lounge.

Cow burps help Argentines study climate change

Argentine scientists are taking a novel approach to studying global warming -- strapping plastic tanks to the backs of cows to collect their burps.

Researchers say the slow digestive system of cows makes them a producer of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide in efforts to fight global warming.
Read article

Estonia Taxes Farmers for Cow Farts
Farmers in Estonia received their first "Cow Fart" tax demand on Monday. Following the issues of global warming, Estonia cited that a single cow produces 350 L of methane gas and 1500 L of carbon dioxide a day from flatulence and burping.
Read article

Australia third most energy hungry economy

AUSTRALIA must dramatically improve its energy efficiency and productivity, new research has found.

An expert report prepared for the Climate Institute shows Australia's energy productivity lags far behind other developed countries across many sectors of the economy.

"In manufacturing, we're the second most inefficient of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-opeartion and Development) countries studied - and that's taking into account the high proportion of raw materials production,'' Climate Institute chief executive John Connor said.

The report found Australia had the third most energy hungry economy, after Canada and the US, and the third highest energy use for passenger kilometres travelled.

Read the article or watch the news item here.

How to create a sustainable chair

Emeco, the Aluminium Chair Company have been hand-making their products in the same factory since 1944. It’s not an easy process. In fact it takes 77 steps or 50 hands 8 hours to make each chair. All products are made from 80% recycled aluminium and designed to last an amazing 150 years bringing new meaning to the word ‘sustainable’.

The content of recycled aluminum used to make Emeco chairs is 80%. Of the recycled aluminum, half is post consumer (soft drink cans) and half is postindustrial (manufacturing scrap). Chairs made out of virgin aluminum have an energy density that is 17 times higher than that of Emeco chairs.

Emeco chairs have an indestructible finish. They are hand brushed then anodized. An electronic process turns aluminium to aluminium oxide, making it nearly as hard as diamonds. Each chair is polished 3 times by hand. Firstly the parts, then the assemblies and finally the completed chair.

Youth Tree

Timothy Kenworthy has been organising this large youth networking event called YOUTH TREE for incredibly similar reasons as Green Drinks.

Youth Tree is a creative collaboration to grow and strengthen relationships between young people, NGOs which involve and empower young people and youth service providers. They envision Youth Tree to contribute to the ongoing development of a more active and aware young population.

So what's the plan?

There will be a few days held early October; day 1 at the Remida Creative Reuse Centre where people create a huge tree sculpture out of re-used industry waste toghether and day 2 in Perth CBD where the general public will be invited to come and make a "leaf" for the tree.

This tree sculpture will become the catalyst for developing the relationships between young people, NGOs and youthservice providers.

So keep alert for more news about this great plan called Youth Tree!

Back to the good old days

The party industry for children is booming. Reduce, reuse and recycle have permeated many aspects of children's lives as we strive to instil good environmental practice. But they are concepts not often invited to children's parties.
Extravagant birthday parties for children did not sit well with Ainslie MacGibbon, who went looking for a simpler way to celebrate and found satisfaction all round.

"I participated in it all last year, including hosting a party at a venue. It didn't felt quite right. The environmental impact is obvious. I realised that endorsing all this excess and waste was betraying conversations children were being engaged in - at home and at school - about excessive consumption and the environment. Children do not respect hypocrisy".

Read the article and get yourself a good idea for your next kids party!

The 100-Mile Diet

Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon created a worldwide phenomenon when they decided to eat only food grown within 160 kilometres of their home.

We chose the first day of spring to begin what we hoped would be a year-long experiment. We had a single rule: every ingredient in every product we bought had to come from within 160 kilometres of our apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia.

From "The 100-Mile Diet, A Year Of Local Eating", by Alisa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon, published by Text Publishing, $34.95.
Read the article or even better, the book!

Sustainable Graphic Design

Part of Becky Green's recently completed Master of Design research project was to find a way to help graphic designers be more sustainable in their everyday practice. One result is the Sustainable Graphic Design dashboard widget, and thanks to funding through the Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA) Gordon Andrews Scholarship, she was able to dedicate time after graduation to developing and this handy tool.
The target audience was primarily graphic designers seeking quick reference about the environmental impact of selected design and print methods, so the widget may be a little basic for members of this group, but it's important to spread this knowledge to as many people as possible anyway.

The widget is available for free download from the official Apple site.

Going green? Maybe when there's money in it

CLIMATE change is going to make investors act in different ways: that's the new logic … and it's true, but not in the way you might think.

Yes, powerful investors were listening to Professor Ross Garnaut's warnings on the release of his climate change report but what they heard loud and clear was the world's "higher energy costs".

No, investors were not rushing into green stocks, they were rushing into fossil fuels and the equally problematic energy source of uranium.
Read the article

Good Wood Guide

Search for furniture and materials made of timber from ecologically responsible sources.
or
Search for the good wood status of your favourite timber species and find alternatives.
Click here

Bodies on the line - A BARE EARTH PROJECT

At the last Perth Green Drinks I met an interesting lady, who told me about her partner, an artist, who had set up a website with his artwork with a strong hint to the environment. He wants people to download postcards from his website with his artwork and a related sustainable message. I was suprised to find one with a link to the Green Drinks!

"What really matters in a relationship is not the house, not the car, not the clothes, but who you are, without any trimmings. The nude symbolises what we are without all the trappings of the consumer world".

Tourists threaten World Heritage site

Due to an increasing population and increasing wealth there are more tourists traveling the world and of course everybody wants to see the same things which results in mobs of people trampling through the most beautiful sites which are now comparable to Disney World... it doesn't appeal to me anymore...

An influx of tourists to Peru’s famed Inca citadel of Machu Picchu may prompt UNESCO to add the jungle-shrouded ruins to its list of endangered World Heritage sites.

Yearly visits to Machu Picchu, Peru’s top tourist destination, have more than doubled since 1998 to 800,000 people, and conservationists advising UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee warn that landslides, fires and creeping development threaten the site.
Read the article

Scoodi competition

It's easy. Every time you list something on Scoodi between 7 May and 15 July, you'll receive one entry into the competition. We'll announce the winner in July.

Take the Scoodi "Sustainable Living Challenge" and you could live carbon neutral for a year. Scoodi will offset 12T of carbon for one lucky Scoodi user. Your carbon offset is guaranteed and you will receive a proof of ownership certificate for you to proudly display.
See details here

Reduce the energy you use, the resources you consume, the new stuff you buy and the waste you produce. Reuse the stuff you no longer need, by listing it all on Scoodi or finding an alternative use for it. Recycle only the household waste that can't be reused. Act-local by shopping locally, buying local produce, reusing locally. Offset only the waste that you can't do something about yourself. One measure of the waste we produce is equivalent tones of CO2 (carbon dioxide). The average Australian produces 12T of CO2 emissions each year including cars, flights and all household emissions. In fact, Australia is one of the highest carbon emitters per capita. Even when you try hard to reduce your carbon footprint, there are probably still going to be unavoidable carbon emissions. That's where carbon offsets come in. Carbon offsets work by removing the equivalent amount of carbon (that you produce) from the air.

Yesterday at the Perth Green Drinks I gave a short presentation about Scoodi, a project originated in Brisbane by a couple of nice guys. What is Scoodi? Scoodi is a free online community where you can register the stuff you don't need anymore and normally would dump at verge collection day. It's presented cleanly and clearly which makes it easy to find stuff with tagging and keyword searching. Remember "One man's rubbish is another man's treasure!"

SomerVille Sunday and Land Tour

The first Sunday of each month is a community day for the Somerville Ecovillage. Community members gather to hear the latest updates regarding the project, engage in community consultation and share a great lunch together at Rob’s Kitchen.

The next SomerVille Sunday is scheduled for 6 July 2008. This upcoming SomerVille Sunday will include discussion and consultation regarding the SomerVille Village Centre design. We will also have scrapbooking activities for the children.

If you have not already attended a Land Tour, you can undertake the land tour then join us for lunch and be involved in the community events following this.

We welcome you to join us. To register for the Land Tour or obtain further details please contact the Greenedge office on 9572 3672.

And I like to thank Alex, and of course also Fuchsia, for the talk yesterday evening at the Perth Green Drinks!