Drought and climate change are driving high water prices in the Murray-Darling Basin

Water prices in the southern Murray-Darling Basin have reached their highest levels since the worst of the Millennium drought more than a decade ago. These high water prices are causing much anxiety in the region, and have led the federal government to call on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to hold an inquiry into the water market. 

The receding waters of Lake Pamamaroo, in western
 NSW, in February 2019. Reduced water supply, due to
 lower rainfall and higher temperatures, has been the
 main cause of increasing water prices.

Inevitably, whenever an important good becomes more expensive – be it housing, electricity or water – there is a rush to identify potential causes and culprits. In the past few years high water prices have been blamed on foreign investors, corporate speculators, state government water-sharing rules, new almond plantings and the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

While some of these factors have had an effect on the market, they are in many ways a distraction from the simpler truth: that high water prices have mostly been caused by a lack of rain.

Read the story from The Conversation by a Senior Economist with the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), Neal Hughes - “Drought and climate change are driving high water prices in the Murray-Darling Basin.”

Weatherwatch: how do we store surplus renewable energy until we need it?

A milestone was reached for renewable energy in November when more than 100% of Scotland’s electricity demand was met by wind turbines for the first time – enough for nearly six million homes. Scottish weather is powering a revolution. With ever-larger wind turbines being built at sea, and wave and tidal power being developed, the problem will soon be how to use this surplus energy. 

Some is already exported to England via interconnector cables and in 2020 there will be another running from the Aberdeen area to Norway. But this will not be enough and the race is on to find ways to store cheap energy to sell back to the grid when demand is high.

Turbines being assembled in Norway before being moved to
 the world’s first floating wind farm off north-east  Scotland.

Large batteries are helping, but another proven method is pump storage. This uses virtually free surplus electricity at night to pump water into upland reservoirs to be used to power turbines during peak periods. Scotland has had these schemes since the 1960s but there is potential for many more and two new ones are proposed to pump water uphill from Loch Ness to reservoirs in the hills.

Read the story from The Guardian by Paul Brown - “Weatherwatch: how do we store surplus renewable energy until we need it?”

Deal reached to cut shipping carbon emissions in half by 2050

A landmark agreement to officially combat carbon emissions in the shipping sector has finally been reached in London.

Landmark agreement to officially combat
carbon emissions in the shipping sector.

The International Maritime Organisation, a special agency of the UN representing 173 member states, has been meeting all this week to discuss emissions targets for the sector.

The plan to reduce emissions by 50 percent by 2050 compared to 2008 levels is seen as a compromise and below more ambitious targets being presented. Climate Action reported last week on calls from Norway to hammer out a significant deal at the conference. Some European Union countries were also lobbying for a 70 to 100 percent reduction in emissions. However, there will be opportunities to strengthen the targets when the deal is revised in 2023 and beyond.

Read the ClimateAction story - “Deal reached to cut shipping carbon emissions in half by 2050.”

Britain reaches new wind power output record

Britain reached a new record of wind power output on 17 March, as wind farms generated 14.2GW.

New wind power record for Britain.

The National Grid confirmed that at 14:30 GMT, wind power accounted for 34.2% of all energy generated in Britain.

Gas was producing 20.3% of energy, Nuclear created 17.6%, and coal only accounted for 12.9%.

“2017 was a record year for green energy and it’s looking likely 2018 is set to exceed that,” commented Fintan Slye, Director of the System Operator at National Grid.

Read the Energy Digital story by Sophie Chapman - “Britain reaches new wind power output record.”

Don’t shoot the climate change messenger.

Today, when our weather forecasters tell us a heatwave is coming, we can be quietly confident of the time it will arrive and the temperatures that will be reached. When western Sydney broke records on January 7, hitting 47 degrees, the Bureau of Meteorology had warned us, enabling individuals and organisations to prepare. While analysis of this event is ongoing, researchers at the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence on Climate Extremes found a similar Sydney heatwave last year was twice as likely due to the climatic impacts of humans.

Once thriving wetlands close to the Murray River at Mildura in north-west Victoria.

The role of forecasting is to use the best information available at the time to predict conditions, and give us time to prepare, adjust or change course. When we're talking about tomorrow's, or even next week's, weather everyone plans accordingly, without a second thought. Using seasonal forecasts, based on predictions of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), industries and governments routinely respond months in advance to forecast patterns of rainfall and wind.

Read the story from The Sydney Morning Herald - “Don’t shoot the climate change messenger.”

Melbourne weather: Saturday's scorcher puts the heat on firefighters

Firefighters battled more than 100 blazes across Victoria on Saturday as the mercury reached a high of 42 in Melbourne and residents in several suburbs on the city's south-eastern fringe were evacuated as a fire threatened homes.

CFA members fight a fire threatening
homes in Valley Road Skye.

There were 114 grass or scrub fires and 25 structure fires in the 24 hours to 6pm, State Control Centre figures show.

Read the story from today’s Melbourne Age - “Melbourne weather: Saturday's scorcher puts the heat on firefighters.”