Electric Car Network For Australia

Listening to PM on Radio National tonight on the drive home, I heard some exciting news! An American (of course) company is planning on building a huge electric car powering network here in Australia by around 2012. This is certainly a step in the right direction. AGL Energy has apparently promised to back the venture by supplying all the electricity from renewable resources.

I heard about the similar ventures in Israel and Denmark a few weeks ago, and thought we could only dream of something similar here in Oz. But, apparently we are intended to be the ‘flagship’ nation for the company, proving that if it can work in a country as big as ours, it can work anywhere. At the moment, they plan to power Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and I think also Canberra - stating that rural areas will have to wait a while.

So, what do you think? I’d certainly be interested in buying an electric car if this infrastructure was in place - as long as the cars aren’t ridiculously expensive, of course.

Check out this article in The Age for more info.

“Without oil everything stops” - Science Snippet

Gee - really? Why is it that everyone is just now realising this?

The title of this post is a line from the feature article in the latest NewScientist. The title of the article is Final Warning, and I think that’s appropriate. For those of us who are interested and engaged with sustainability, peak oil has been an issue we have all known about for a long time.

The article cites a survey from 2007 where industry experts were polled and came to a consensus that peak production would occur in 2010. I think it is only due to the fast rise in petrol prices that ‘normal’ people are finally realising the crisis we’re facing. As the article says: “there is growing realisation that we are teetering on the edge of an economic catastrophe which could be triggered next time there is a glitch in the world’s oil supply” (NewScientist - Vol 198 No. 2662). The article goes on to discuss the major oil supply sites and the supply chain, and how susceptible both are to interruption or damage.

The article concludes by making our choice clear - we have to find alternatives, and fast!

The truth - which many people fail to realise, or simply don’t want to know - is that within my lifetime, oil and petrol will become a thing of the past. I’ll tell my grandkids about a time when we were all completely dependent on this black goo sucked from the ground - how we ran all our cars, planes, trucks on it; how all our plastics were made from it; basically, that it was the thing that kept our society functioning.

I hope I can tell them that from the security of a world that worked out a solution to the crisis in time - rather than one that has fallen apart because of it. Come on, oil companies!! If you want to stay profitable - you need to be at the forefront of new technologies, not holding them back and suppressing them!

This crisis will only escalate if nothing is done on a global scale to overcome it. The price of petrol will only rise. Get used to it - it’s not going to get better, only worse. The ‘good old days’ I remember - when I first started driving in 1998 - when petrol was expensive if it hit 80c per litre, are gone.

We can’t change global and national policy on our own - but we can make small differences in our life to reduce the oil we consume, and to invest our own money in alternative options. As individuals, we hold little power - but as a community, we can make an impact.

Emerald Oil? - Science Snippet

Prologue:

I have always had an avid interest in science, and last year I fulfilled a long-held desire - to get a subscription to New Scientist magazine.

It is always an engaging, fascinating, and educational read, and I love learning about all the cutting-edge technologies and ideas out there. I actually have a few posts planned that are based on some interesting environmental stories I have read in there recently, and this is the first. In fact, given my science background, I’ll probably aim to make my ’science snippets’ a regular feature here at SS - let me know if you’d like to get updates from me on the scientific issues regarding sustainability!

And so, on to the story…

NS discuss a new biofuel in the latest edition - an emerald green form of crude oil produced by the process of photosynthesis in genetically-engineered algae. It’s being produced by a company called Sapphire Energy in California, and they’re planning on producing about 10,000 barrels a day within five years.

On their website, Sapphire claim that “the company’s final products will have the same chemical composition as gasoline and will be completely compatible with the existing refining, distribution and fleet infrastructure.” (Sapphireenergy.com)

Now, the benefits of this over other ‘biofuels’ are obvious. First, it’s not using land that has been previously devoted to growing food, as sugar-cane for ethanol has been (and that is the main reason that ethanol fuel is becoming more and more frowned upon from a global perspective). Second, it can be grown in treated waste-water, and pretty much all it needs is the water and sun to grow. Now, I’m a scientist by training and by nature, so biotechnology as a rule is something I am in full support of - when it’s used intelligently for the greater good, not just the greater profit (e.g. I am fully against Mon’satan’ and their approach to monopolising agriculture and creating a world of non-self-pollinating seeds).

So, all that sounds great… however. Sapphire Energy say that the quality of their oil is such that it can be pumped into the current pipeline, and used to fuel any vehicle that runs on normal petrol… does this mean, therefore, that this oil will result in the same carbon emissions as ‘normal’ oil? And if so, is it really a good alternative?

To add your thoughts to the issue, please leave a comment below.

To read the NewScientist article, click the link - Emerald Oil

P.S. And on a random note - if they’re making emerald oil, why are they called sapphire energy?

Up, up it goes…

Well, I have to admit that the news about oil prices surging today makes me uneasy. I’ve known about peak oil for a while now, and I do what I can to minimise my car use. But I don’t feel like there’s anything else I can do.

I can’t afford a hybrid car, as much as I’d like one. I live in hope that within the next decade the technology that has been suppressed for so long will finally come out and we most resourceful of species will create a viable solution  to our current crisis.

Now, I have to admit that I don’t fully understand how the world economy works, and I believe that the stock market is just legalised gambling in action - as it deals with perceptions of value and supply and demand, rather than any real value - but this ignorance is also starting to worry me. So much of our lives are now wrapped up in this volatile system, and I want out!

It just gives me more impetus  to get out of the city, grow my own food, learn how to make the things I need so that I can free myself as far as possible from entanglement from this web.