By Karla Bell •
August 26, 2009
The U.S position on Climate Change is overshadowing all other discussions in the lead up to Copenhagen, even at a conference I recently attended in Melbourne Australia - the 5th Australia-New Zealand Climate Change & Business Conference, August 24-26th. The Australian position requires global consensus for a greenhouse gas emissions target by 25% with a successful Post 2012 Agreement in place, but only 5% if that is not concluded. It all depends on what the U.S does in Copenhagen according to their minister Penny Wong.
The European Union is the only group that will continue with strong commitments independent of the U.S position with a 20% reduction of greenhouse gases on 1990 levels by 2020 and 30% if a global agreement is concluded.
By Allison Boyer •
February 4, 2009
According to reports, the floods destroying Queensland and other parts of Australia are now causing an even bigger problem - crocodiles in the streets.
One 5′3″ crocodile was hit by a car earlier this week, and there are reports of more of the large reptiles washing into the area. From Yahoo! News:
The army has been called in to help with rescue and recovery efforts, while three reports of large crocodiles washed
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By Amiel Blajchman •
October 29, 2008
US Firm Better Place is working with Australian power company AGL and investors Macquarie Capital Group to develop a $667 million Australian electric car charging network.
Under the plan being developed, Better Place will use its scalable model (currently adopted in Denmark and Israel) to build the electric vehicle network, AGL will deliver electricity from renewable resources and Macquarie will help raise the investment dollars needed.
Electric vehicle networks would be developed in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, each with between 200 000 and 250 000 charging stations. As well, switching stations will be built in each city and on the highways in order to allow drivers to have their batteries automatically replaced.
While this project is being developed solely by private companies, it has received some high-level attention and support in Australia, with the State of Victoria’s Premier John Brumby noting:
The Victorian Government supports any initiative that will have positive outcomes in reducing emissions in the transport sector and welcomes this innovative approach to help make broad adoption of [electric vehicles] in Australia possible
