Australia’s kerbside recycling system in crisis following China ban

Australia’s kerbside recycling systems are at risk of collapse, a Senate inquiry has heard. China’s ban on importation of recyclable rubbish has left councils and state governments in Victoria and New South Wales scrambling to find space to stockpile growing mounds of waste.

Tony Khoury from the Waste Contractors and Recycling
Association of NSW said: ‘The intention is to increase stockpile
 limits, not send it to landfill. But that is not realistic.’ 

An estimated half of Australia’s recyclable waste was going to China before the ban, the hearing was told, although the precise share of waste exported was not known.

Victoria was already in crisis – waste contractors to 13 regional councils had stopped accepting recyclables last month.

Read The Guardian story by Kelsey Monro - “Australia’s kerbside recycling system in crisis following China ban.”

A new solar reality

The costs of renewable systems have dropped dramatically over the last two years — particularly solar — and continue to drop very quickly, Scientia Professor Martin Green argues.

Political pessimism lags behind the
 reality of solar in Australia.

Yet he says none of this yet being factored in to the political discussion over renewables.

So how do we dispel the lingering pessimism in Canberra over solar — and expand the use of this remarkable technology?

Listen to Ockham’s Razor on Radio National - “A new solar reality.”

Utopia or nightmare? The answer lies in how we embrace self-driving, electric and shared vehicles

Emerging transport disruptions could lead to a series of nightmare scenarios and poorer transport systems unless we have sensible and informed public policy to avoid this. Of course, some foresee a utopian scene: self-driving electric vehicles zipping around our cities serving all our transport needs without road accidents or exhaust fumes. But the shift to this transport utopia might not be as straightforward as some think.

In a newly published paper, we explore some potential problems linked to vehicle electrification, autonomous vehicles, the sharing economy and the increasing density of cities. We examined what could happen if these four trends are not all properly managed together.

Read by the piece on The Conversation by Michael Kane and Jake Whitehead - “Utopia or nightmare? The answer lies in how we embrace self-driving, electric and shared vehicles.”

Here’s how a smart water grid could stop global warming

When we think about future energy systems, we usually think only of electricity. We imagine smart power grids that integrate and deliver electricity for different purposes, like powering household appliances and commercial buildings, or charging electric vehicles. What power grids cannot do is dramatically reduce the amount of energy wasted at the source. Here is where the power grid’s twin — the smart thermal water grid — comes into play.

By chanelling surplus heat to where it is needed,
we could limit temperature rises and energy
consumptionat a stroke.

By now, we all know that global warming is slowly boiling our planet. We also understand that it is caused by a long list of human activities, with our insatiable hunger for energy right at the top. Yet our current efforts to counter it are lagging behind the rising temperatures. Renewable energy sources are only part of the solution. The other part is greater energy efficiency. Our houses, shops and factories waste gigantic amounts of energy, often in the form of excess heat. How do we slash this waste? The answer is fairly simple: with a smart thermal water grid.

Read the story from the World Economic Forum - “Here’s how a smart water grid could stop global warming.”

People without electricity could end up living the energy dream

MORE than 100 million people around the world now have access to electricity for the first time thanks to simple solar power systems that typically provide LED lights and a phone charger. More powerful versions include radios and even televisions.

Those who have lived without electricity could be the winners. 

The LEDs provide a clean and cheap alternative to the kerosene lamps normally used by those with no electricity. “People spend 50 cents a day on kerosene,” says Nick Hughes, co-founder of M-KOPA Solar of Kenya, which has sold 550,000 home solar power systems in East Africa. Some families spend a tenth of their income on fuel for lighting. “It’s a crazy price for a poor fuel,” says Hughes.

His firm has just raised the money it needs to finance a million more systems, and Hughes thinks they could eventually sell up to 11 million in East Africa alone. And M-KOPA is just one.

Read the New Scientist story By Michael Le Page - “People without electricity could end up living the energy dream.”

(Apologies, but the full story is only available to subscribers - Robert McLean)