Roy Ramage and Jordan Parham discuss renewable energy in councils

Listen to Jordan Parham and Roy Ramage discuss the Research and Development program with the Centre for Energy Technology and the City of Victor Harbor.

The podcast starts with a explanation by Jordan Parham, the Research and Development Manager for the Centre for Energy technology, about the R&D program with the City of Victor Harbor. It follows with a discussion between Roy Ramage, the Economic Development Officer for the City of Victor Harbor, and Jordan about how the council intends to implement the Centre’s research.

Mike Young at LGA renewable energy forum

Listen to Mike Young’s talk from the Local Government Renewable Energy Forum.

Mike Young, the Director of the Environment Institute along with members of the Centre for Energy Technology gave a panel discussion on the options for renewable energy sources and what the future holds for such technologies.

Saving the Grey Nurse Shark.

The number of grey nurse sharks around the world has declined, in Australia they are now classified as Critically Endangered. Associate Professor Corey Bradshaw, from the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute, was invited by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts to attend a forum held at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science on the 27th of November to help develop a new five-year action plan to help ensure the future of the grey nurse shark.

A worldwide decline in shark populations has major consequences for the marine ecosystem. Large predators have a top-down control of other marine species, so their survival and abundance is vital to the health of the entire system. Although no shark species have been recorded to go extinct since human records began, the grey nurse shark population on the eastern coast of Australia is in a precarious position due to previous over-exploitation and now, accidental deaths.

Read Corey’s blog Conservation Bytes.

Landmark book unearths SA soils secrets.

A landmark publication containing world-class soils information will be launched in Adelaide tonight.

The Soils of Southern South Australia is the culmination of a $10 million, 20-year investment by the State and Federal Governments, and presents information and data regarding the soil types and characteristics of South Australia’s agricultural areas in the one volume. The Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation (DWLBC) and the University of Adelaide will jointly launch the publication. DWLBC soil scientists James Hall, David Maschmedt and Bruce Billing co-authored the book, and are fittingly all past University of Adelaide graduates. This book will be highly useful particularly for farmers, grape growers and other primary production industries, providing a better understanding of soils in the environment.

Building the Atlas of Living Australia.

Listen to Donald Hobern here.

Special guest speaker Donald Hobern, the Director of the Atlas of Living Australia, gave a special seminar entitled ‘Building the Atlas of Living Australia’

The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) is a partnership between Australian natural history collections and biodiversity research groups.  It is developing systems to provide integrated access to all classes of biodiversity data (including names and classification, geospatial data, images, sequences, literature, identification tools and species interactions).  The central component will be an information repository which catalogues all data sources and makes them available to support research, policy and education.

Alternatively, you can view the slidecast of the presentation here.

Renewable energy powers SA councils

Listen to a case study presented by Roy Ramage.

The The City of Victor Harbor has recently launched a Research and Development program with the Environment Institute’s Centre for Energy Technology. This program will examine and produce a hybrid wind/solar energy system to be used for street lighting in Victor Harbor area. This comes in the wake of a solar panel rollout by the council in an effort to reduce the dependence on traditional energy sources. The City of Victor Harbor has enabled over 900 households to install solar panels via the Community Purchase of Renewable Energy Program (C-PREP) with the aid of ZEN Home Energy Systems.

At today’s Local Government Renewable Energy Forum, Mike Young, the Director of the Environment Institute along with members of the Centre for Energy Technology gave a panel discussion on the options for renewable energy sources and what the future holds for such technologies. The Economic Development Officer for the City of Victor Harbor, Roy Ramage, gave a talk on how the Victor Harbor Council is implementing and using renewable energies to power the area and the Centre’s role in producing the technology.

This symbiosis between the University and the City of Victor Harbor will aid in the development of relevant and applicable renewable energy solutions. These solutions are vital, if we want to reduce our dependence on non-renewable energy sources.

Roy Ramage from the City of Victor Harbor and Jordan Parham from the Environment Institute at the Local Government Renewable Energy Forum

Sustainable Energy Production PhD opportunity

Adelaide Brighton Ltd is supporting a PhD scholarship, the Adelaide Brighton Ltd William Schroder Scholarship, in the field of sustainable energy production using bio-mass feedstock through the School of Chemical Engineering. Applications are open and close on 11 December. For more information click here.

Congratulations to the CLLAMMecology research cluster!

The CLLAMMecology Research Cluster, part of the Water Reserach Centre, The Environment Institute was awarded the Environment and Community Award at the Australian Water Association SA Branch water awards on 21 November. This award recognises and celebrates outstanding contributions related to water in South Australia.

The CLLAMMecology Research Cluster evaluated water management options for the region, to secure and sustain the health of the estuary. Completed in June 2009, the cluster was the first comprehensive ecological research program in the Coorong region, and the largest Australian research project looking at the response of estuarine waterbirds and fish to environmental flows.

Congratulations to all the researchers who made this research cluster a success.

Population and a changing world.

The United Nations recently published a report stating that reducing birth rates could aid in reducing carbon emissions. In response The Australian ran an opinion piece questioning how it would be possible to reduce fertility rates in western societies considering the issue is generally considered taboo. Australia is a country where climate change and water shortages are increasingly important issues and are set to affect all Australians in some form. Professor Graeme Hugo presented a seminar as part of the Environment Institute’s Science Seminar Series entitled “Is water a limiting factor for population growth in South Australia?” In it he examined how the population demographics are going to change around the world and within South Australia over the next by climate change. Listen to the podcast of Graeme Hugo’s seminar.

Blue Sky 2009 Symposium.

Listen to Gus Nathan from the Centre of Energy Technology talk about the potential for integrating renewable energy systems into wine operations at the University of Adelaide’s Wine2030 Blue Sky event on 10 November 2009.