The future of wind power capacity in Australia

In Australia, as in other nations, scientists are taking steps to improve long-term estimates of changes in wind speed.
These estimates are vital to the rapid growth that is occurring in the use of wind power, serving to reduce the risk of building wind turbines in areas that later proved to be inadequate.
Some studies have predicted a decrease in wind speed in various parts of the world, including Australia. However, recent research results driven by CSIRO show that in fact, for practical purposes for wind, average wind speed in Australia is increasing.
A team of scientists dedicated to CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research has completed a thorough analysis of observations on the wind speed, in order to predict long-term trends in wind speed in Australia.
Alberto Troccoli's team has found that the trends in wind speeds in Australia are sensitive to the height of the measuring station.The winds measured at 10 feet show a tendency to increase speed, just the opposite from that indicated by a previous study in which only measured the wind speed at 2 meters high.
Light winds measured at 10 meters, a height that best represents the free atmospheric flow, tend to increase faster than average winds, while winds tend to rise more slowly than average winds.Light and strong winds measured at a height of 2 meters tend to vary in line with the average winds.
Wind farm. 


Alberto Troccoli's team has determined that the average speed of the wind in Australia measured at a height of 10 meters has grown by 0.69 percent annually, while there has been a decline of 0.36 percent annually for wind speed measured at a height of 2 meters, in both cases during the period 1989-2006.
It is expected that wind energy production increase markedly in the coming years, and therefore the associated electrical system shall be subject to variations of hundreds of megawatts, depending on the availability of wind in each period.
The ability to accurately quantify long-term variations is essential for the wind sector from the economic point of view.

Australia sends aid to Pacific small island will be without potable water

Australia's government responded to a call for help from the small island of Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean where the authorities have indicated that drinking water could end within days.


Australia sent hydration packs for hospitals and provided money and fuel to keep running desalination plants on the island.
New Zealand already sent supplies to Tuvalu where he wasdeclared a state of emergency.
Many Pacific islands have suffered from the lack of rains caused by La Nina weather phenomenon.

Australia: Visit defining

                                                                                             President Barack Obama will speak this week at a joint session of the Parliament of Australia, during a visit to the country to mark the 60th anniversary of the bilateral alliance known by its initials as ANZUS.
The security treaty signed by U.S., Australia and New Zealand (ANZUS) was signed in San Francisco in 1951, during the Cold War.From then until now, Australia has become one of the most loyal U.S. allies In fact, no other country has contributed more troops to fight shoulder to shoulder with Americans since the First World War.Although Obama's visit to the cities of Canberra and Darwin are expected to further strengthen the old friendship between the two countries, Geoffrey Garrett, chief of the U.S. Studies CentreUniversity of Sydney, believes that in addition set a turning point in American diplomacy."I think this trip will mean a strategic shift in U.S. foreign policy toward the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and beyond the war on terrorism," he said.The expert believes that Australia is taking a bigger role in trade and regional security, in addition to cooperation with U.S. is "more open, high-level than does any other country in the world, with the possible exception of the United Kingdom."Obama is expected to announce plans for the deployment of U.S. Marines in northern Australia, a presence that raised concerns in China.Tom Switzer, University of Sydney Australia believes that diplomacy needs to balance its military and economic targets for the U.S., "China's rise is a geopolitical rival, but for Australia is its largest trading partner."According to Switzer, Australia faces the option to accommodate the U.S. security umbrella while expanding trade relations with China."That can be very difficult if there are tensions in the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait. That can not be ruled out, "he said.Although the war in Afghanistan is deeply unpopular with many Australians, opinion polls indicate that the U.S. has broad support in the country's population, as revealed by a resident in Canberra, who in referring to President Obama said he appreciated " a lot. "She also appreciated that if you re-think "in the Second World War, without the Americans we would not have succeeded. We need some help. We are 22 million people, a small dot in the South Pacific. I really want them here to the U.S., any base who wish are welcome, "he admitted.Another citizen asked, however, said the relationship between Australia and the U.S. is "a bit overrated." "We align ourselves too closely with the United States. Do not really know if you have some benefit to Australia."Australia retains close cultural ties with Britain and its wealth depends increasingly on China, but successive Australian leaders have said that the most valuable thing that the country is its security alliance with the U.S.Barack Obama is the fifth U.S. president to visit Australia.

Australia and Bill Gates boost vaccines for poor countries

                                                                                                       


Bill Gates says he is confident that Australia and other stakeholders would ensure the 3.700 million dollars to finance the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization
LONDON, GREAT BRITAIN (12/JUN/2011) .- Australia will commit to provide 200 million Australian dollars (220 million dollars) in an international donors conference on Monday to support a global alliance whose purpose is to save the lives of 4 million children in poor countries by 2015.
The Australian Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, said the aid would be provided over three years from 2011 to 2013 and would mark the highest standards for other donors conference in London.
In an exclusive joint interview with Rudd on Sunday, the billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said he was confident that Australia and other stakeholders would ensure the 3.700 million dollars to finance the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI for short) to 2015.
"What I see in the international community is a growing commitment to (...) vaccination as one of the most effective ways to help," said Rudd.
"This is a great help," he said.
GAVI is a nonprofit organization which funds vaccination programs for poor countries who can not afford Western prices, says that if he can raise the additional $ 3.700 million needed could prevent 4 million child deaths by 2015 immunization campaigns covering more than 240 million children.
 "These are vaccines that children receive and rich irony is that rich kids are less susceptible to these diseases," Gates said.
"However, success in the future we will have, I'm sure going to give us the money to buy vaccines for all children," he said.
Gates, Microsoft founder of the company rejected the criticism that GAVI pay excessively high prices for vaccines, raising the profits of big pharmaceutical companies.
 "We worked very hard to know exactly what it costs to produce these vaccines, and the same kind of profit-centered approach that I developed at Microsoft is applied in an even more strict in this work - because every dollar affects many lives who save, "he said.

Australia congratulated for setting emission tax of one tonne of CO2

The European Commissioner for Climate Action, ConnieHedegaard, today congratulated the Government of Australiahave decided to set up from July 1, 2012 a tax on emission of one ton of carbon dioxide.

"I applaud Australia for its commitment to put a price onemissions (carbon dioxide) carbon and introduce emissionstrading scheme starting in July 2015," he said in a statement.

"Our emissions trading system (in Europe) has led the industrymore aware to establish ways of working very creative and innovative solutions that help reduce emissions and reducing costs," he said.

This creativity, he stressed, can also develop skills and experience in the industries of the future.

"We want Australia to walk in the same direction and convert thecarbon market in the center of their political response to climate challenge the carbon market," he said.

Australia's Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, today announced a taxof 17.3 euros for the emission of one ton of carbon dioxide fromJuly 1, 2012.

About 500 companies, considered the largest polluters in Australia, will face this tax proposed by the Executive, whichalready won enough votes to be approved soon by the Australian Parliament.

This measure aims to reduce 160 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

The tax will increase by 2.5 percent in real terms until July 2015when it enters into force in Australia an emissions trading scheme in the market to regulate prices.

Sydney now seventh most expensive city

SYDNEY is now the seventh most expensive place to live in the world, a report says.

Oslo, Zurich, Geneva, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Tokyo are the only cities with higher living costs, according to financial services firm UBS.

The rankings, published in the annual Prices and Earnings report update today, are calculated by comparing the cost of an average "shopping basket" of 122 goods and services.

It's not all bad news for Sydneysiders, because with high living costs come higher wages, UBS found.

Sydney finished second in a table ranking the domestic buying power of its citizens. This ranking is calculated by comparing wages in each location with living costs.

In 2010 Sydney was 12th on the list of most expensive cities and in 2009 it was 38th.

"To some extent this development can be explained by the Australian dollar's continued appreciation against both the US dollar and the euro.

"Sydney continues its storm to the top of our rankings, now holding seventh place," the latest UBS report said.

"However, Sydney is just one of many cities that have seen a jump in their rankings."

UBS found some US cities had fallen in the cost of living rankings, with New York slumping to 14th, if property rental is excluded.

In recent years New York has been ranked in the top 10 of the most expensive cities.

"This can be attributed to the general depreciation of the US dollar versus the world's other currencies," the UBS report added.

London slumped to 15th place on the list, compared with 10th in 2010.

Sydney is the only Australian city included in the latest UBS rankings.

Bad call: Telstra accused of bullying over non-payments

TELSTRA has been accused of harassing and bullying customers over unpaid bills, with relentless barrages of automatic calls every two hours.

One man too sick to pay his bill said the telecommunications giant called him about seven times a day from 7am, with an automated message demanding he organise payment of his account.

Former Telstra customer Gary Duffy said he was harassed non-stop after medical complications from a heart operation left him struggling to afford basics like rent and food.

"They were just constantly, constantly ringing and it's just an absolute nightmare," he said.

Mr Duffy, who has suffered repeated strokes and seizures since his operation, said the deluge of calls and letters every two or three days pushed him to the verge of a breakdown.

"It's almost like someone knocking on your door every hour saying, 'Hey, you've got to pay this bill'," Mr Duffy said. "If it was an ex-partner ringing you all the time, you could take them to court and have them stopped but apparently with Telstra they think they're above everything."

Mr Duffy said he had relied on his phone in case of a medical emergency but had been afraid to turn it on because of the calls.

He had abandoned using a phone at all until a friend bought him a pre-paid phone as a gift on Friday.

Internet users have also expressed outrage over the automated calling tactics, with some worried that scammers could replicate the calls to obtain personal details from unsuspecting customers.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission guidelines recommend companies do not contact a debtor more than three times a week.

Consumer group Choice spokeswoman Ingrid Just said the frequency of Telstra's automated calling seemed "excessive".

"The telco obviously needs to recoup their debt (but) should be using all channels, not just one," Ms Just said.

She said customers who felt harassed as a result of such calls should tell the company involved.

A Telstra spokeswoman confirmed the telco used automated calling for debt recovery but said the system allowed customers to opt to organise payment of their bill or speak to a consultant in order to stop the calls.

She said many customers had given positive feedback on the system.

YOUR RIGHTS

* A debt collector should only contact you when it is necessary and reasonable.

* Contact should be limited to a maximum of three phone calls or letters a week.

* Debt collectors must not frighten, intimidate or embarrass debtors.

* They must not talk about your situation to other people, including family. ACCC, ASIC