Unit 4 of VCE Environmental Science is about Ecologically Sustainable Development, including the Environmental Management Systems of government and businesses. Every reputable organisation in Australia should be considering the impacts of climate change on their business – even if they are skeptical of the anthropogenic causes of global warming, changing climate will affect resource managment, agriculture, manufacturing, transport and consumer spending. An Emissions Trading Scheme (or Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) will result in rising energy costs and hopefully provide opportunities for increased recycling, improved renewable energy technologies and greater uptake of low-emission vehicles. Companies that plan for climate change, using Environmental Risk Assessment principles, will be most prepared to act to reduce the threats to their economic, social and environmental sustainability.

At Hawkesdale P12 College we aim to reduce our energy use from from the grid and reduce solid waste going to landfill by recycling. In September our 5.5 KWh photovoltaic solar system was installed. This was made possible through a federal government grant from the National Solar in Schools program ($50,000) and a state government grant of $15,000. You can see our current energy production and total since installation at the Sunny WebBox site. By using renewable energy we hope to reduce our carbon footprint and educate students and the community about the benefits of solar power.

The 350 network, supported by World Vision Australia, is a group of over 200 organisations around the world who support a target of 350ppm of carbon dioxide so that our atmosphere is “similar to the one on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted”. The 24th of October is International Day of Climate Action – you can join a local action or register your own here.  Calculate how much carbon dioxide you produce each year using this Energy Requirements Survey.

This post is part of a global project “Blog Action Day 2009” about climate change. From the previous post: More information about Co-generation Plants from the Energy Globe Portal. More on heat-pump technologies, cogeneration and refrigeration research from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy.

Paul Gilding (writer, advisor and advocate for action on climate change and sustainability) writes in his blog, “The Cockatoo Chronicles” the following…”I believe humanity has entered a period of great economic and social transformation, what I call the Great Disruption. The global economy has now hit its ecological and resource limits so it can grow no more, triggering the global ecological and economic crisis now unfolding as the current system breaks down. The exciting thing about this moment is that the crisis presents an historic and exciting opportunity to build a new approach to economic and social development for humanity.” You can hear him speak at an ABC forum here: Background Briefing: The Great Disruption.

 Another interesting article about the fate of humans on our planet, written by Peter Spinks, here: Doomed by Life.

Natasha’s Quiz here.

Kara’s Quiz here.

Carly’s Quiz here.

Jamie’s Quiz here.

Thomas’s Quiz here.

Earth Hour is all about sending a message that even small acts can make a difference - switching off a light might not seem like a big deal, but if everyone in a school, town, city or country turns off their power, people take notice! This Saturday, 28th March, wherever you are at 8.30pm, turn off the lights and do something without using electricity. You could play a board game, listen to a friend play some guitar, go for a walk or just watch the stars! Your light switch is your vote for planet earth – send a message to our government and politicians around the world that you care about climate change and you want them to take action against greenhouse gas emissions.

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The Age Education – “Tapping into a core promise”

Geothermal Energy Resources of Victoria (by SKM) 2.29 MB pdf file

“Hot rocks concentrated in the upper five kilometres of the Earth’s crust interest us the most,” Dr McLaren says. “Geothermal is one of the most viable alternative energy sources in terms of providing base-load power. It’s a simple and environmentally friendly process where water is circulated through the hot rocks and the steam produced turns turbines to generate power.”

“Geothermal energy in Portland has been utilised since 1983. Portland draws its water supplies from deep bores drilled some 1400metres below the natural surface. Portland has four bores and the temperature of the water in the bores is 56 to 59 degrees centigrade which until 1983 was cooled by forced ventilation cooling towers to 26 to 34 degrees before being placed in the City’s water reticulation system for consumption.

Since 1983 a system has been developed utilising one of the bores and extended to heat various Council facilities, such as the Municipal Offices, Civic Hall, CEMA Arts Centre, Senior Citizens Centre, Portland Leisure and Aquatic Centre, Municipal Library, Tourist Information Office, History House and a Multi-Purpose Building.

Reticulation to the facilities is by underground piping. The water is then returned after the heat has been extracted from it, to the cooling tower where it is placed over the tower to further cool and remove any H2S gas and some iron. Then, it is placed into the city’s water reticulation system for consumption.

Since the installation, the system has now been extended to a number of customers including the Portland and District Hospital, Richmond Henty Hotel Motel and the Police Station. At present, only approximately 25% of the heat energy is utilised, with existing bores possessing considerable spare capacity. Hotter temperatures are also available, with the digging of deeper bores. This surplus that is available, and the accessibility of hotter temperatures, could possibly be used for further business developments in the future, such as Aquaculture and Health Spas. There is considerable local expertise and skills with the existing systems that can be utilised by newcomers to the industry.”

Submitted by Garry Purton, Manager for Economic Development and Tourism to the MRET Review

(19th May, 2003)

Calls to reopen geothermal heating plant. (ABC News, April 29th 2008)

Investor search continues for Hot Rocks. (ABC News, 19th February, 2009)

Cool Melbourne Resources:

• Gas
• Geothermal

Hawkesdale P12 College has registered with the CO2nnect project to learn about carbon dioxide emissions produced on the way to and from school each day. We will collect data on how far each student travels to school, their method of transport and enter these details into a database. We will complete a questionnaire and compare our responses to those of other schools in Australia and internationally. Think about how our results will differ from an urban school in Australia (in Warrnambool or Melbourne for example) and schools in highly populated countries such as India, Africa or China.

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Here is a copy of your task sheet for SAC 1B – Comparing Energy Sources: sac-1b-comparing-energy-sources

World of Energy – Gas Fact Sheet

Mortlake Gas-fired Electricity Generator – The power station

Origin Energy – Mortlake Power Station Project; The Pipeline

Renewable Energy Resources: Wind, Solar, Hydro and Biomass

Facts about Natural Gas as an energy source from ActewAGL

Natural gas facts from Country Energy

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This week we have been watching the ABC documentary – “Crude – the incredible journey of oil” – which describes how oil is formed from the ancient sunlight trapped by algae, how oil was discovered and changed the way we live and shows interviews with scientists who believe we have past the point of no return in terms of our fossil fuel usage. The site also has great resources including an oil timeline, products made from oil, the irony of oil and alternatives to oil.

Answer one of the following questions in the comments section:

1. What does the term ‘peak oil’ refer to?

2. Where are most of the earth’s oil reserves located and why?

3. Where did modern man first drill for oil and what was the first main use for the mined product?

4. Name at ten products of crude oil.

5. Why is oil so useful and sought after?

6. Why is oil referred to as a fossil fuel?

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This great site from National Geographic shows the greenhouse effect – a natural and necessary process that allows life on earth to flourish. Without a layer of greenhouse gases, our earth would be (on average) about 30 degrees cooler – minus 15C! However, over the past 250 years, humans have burnt vast reserves of fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas) which have released carbon into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. Scientists estimate that carbon dioxide concentrations have risen from between 180 to 280 ppm over the last 650,000 years to about 380ppm today. (Whittaker, 2007, “Understanding Climate Change”).

The overwhelming majority of scientists today, including the International Panel of Climate Change experts, believe that this increase in carbon dioxide has caused increases in global temperature averages and will result in much more serious consequences in the future.

You can view other great examples of animated greenhouse effect diagrams here and here.

During the school holidays this extraordinary vessel visited Port Fairy – the Earthrace operates entirely on biodiesel, and has sped around the world several times, spreading the message about alternative fuels. It holds the world record for circumnavigating the globe (a distance of 24,000 nautical miles) in a speedboat – 60 days, 23 hours and 49 minutes. The vessel is ‘carbon neutral’ - meaning that it has achieved net carbon emissions by balancing it’s greenhouse gas emissions with carbon sequestration or other offset methods.