Renewable energy - can it power up ?

Wind turbines have proven successful

The central question facing the wider application of renewable energy sources has been the capacity of the new technologies to provide reliable energy particularly base-load power generation which the old coal-fired stations currently do. Renewable energy includes wind turbines, solar photovoltaic, biofuelled gas turbines, and concentrated solar thermal (with thermal storage). The National Electricity Market which represents most of Australia's electricity needs, has a capacity of 40GW of generation to meet a peak load of 33 GW (over 90% of Australian electrical demand). Detractors of renewable energy (who are often climate change sceptics) have questioned how this method of intermittant supply could ever be relied upon to provide reliable, baseload power. However studies of Australian current and potential future renewable energy by the University of NSW can demonstrate that this objective can be achieved through a combination of wind (23.2GW), photovoltaic (14.3GW), concentrated solar thermal (15.6 GW), biofuelled gas turbines (24 GW) with varying amounts from hydro (around 7 GW). South Australia already produces well over 10% of electrical energy from wind alone. The option exists for a renewable energy future - it only requires the political will to do it.

Coal Seam Gas - to frack or not to frack ?

New research from the United States reporting that a steep rise in earthquakes across the central US is likely to be man-made as a result of 'fracking' coal seam gas will do nothing to reassure Australians regarding the environmental safety of this method of gas extraction. The US Geological Survey found a sixfold increase in seismic activity was particularly common in regions where waste water from fracking was injected into deep wells. Similar findings were made in the United Kingdom last year, where experts found it ''highly probable'' that fracking was the cause of 50 seismic events near Blackpool. This finding has been reaffirmed again this year, thus underlining the lack of sound research knowledge and information on this mining method.

 

      CSG occurs in coal seams being predominantly methane (CH4) but other gases may also be carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen. As water usually saturates these seams, the CSG is extracted through the drilling of wells into the coal, pumping the water out, thus releasing pressure to enable the gas to be collected. Released gas is pushed by compressors to a central gas processing facility then compressed/dried for transportation. CSG has risks for negative environmental impact through:  

• Large amounts of water by-product due to pumping from the coal seams and risk of arsenic contamination;  
• The use of hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) in the production process (if the gas is tightly held) with possible effects on surface and ground water systems. Fracking uses carcinogenic/toxic BTEX group chemicals/fluids (ie benzene, toluene, etc).
• The potential leakage of methane gas during production and transportation (CH4 is a potent GHG gas if released).

CSG has alll the elements of a last ditch, desperate effort to locate new fossil fuel sources and should be seen in that light. It does not present a new safe form of energy nor at this time is it a safe intermediate energy source pending the uptake of greater renewable energy production.

Remembering the Titanic -100 years on

The bow of Titanic

The 15th April 2012 marks 100 years to the day when the world's largest ship at the time, the passenger ship RMS Titanic sank in the Atlantic after a collision with an iceberg on her maiden voyage to New York.  On board the Titanic were 2,224 men, women and children of whom only 710 were finally rescued in the early morning of 15 April 1912 - there had been only enough lifeboats for 1,178 persons and these had not all been filled to capacity. The loss of the ship is one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters and led to International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).

The Titanic has been the subject of books, documentaries, plays, readings, exhibitions and films including the better known ones "A Night to Remember" and "Titanic". The tragedy of Titanic's story is layered with irony, courage, compassion, duty and errors - Titanic had the latest design of the era with watertight compartments, remotely activated watertight doors and a powerful wireless telegraph yet the collision fatally compromised too many compartments; the Captain and most of the crew went down with the ship; the Titanic's band famously played on to the end and the evacuation order of women and children first, was followed by the ships officers. The Titanic rests 3,784 metres down and has been continuously visited by souvenir hunters and tourists since rediscovery in 1985. It should however remain undisturbed as a maritime memorial to those lost.

The Titanic in 1912

  

The Archibald prize 2012 and the winner is....

The winner of the 2012 Archibald Portrait Prize was announced as Tim Storrier, one of Australia's leading artists and no stranger to public recognition. His work "The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch)" has no immediate face but actually Storrier's face can be detected elsewhere in the painting. The earlier post before this one shows the winning entry. Storrier is a well known and popular exponent of his art form and his works frequently sell for six figure sums in the commercial art galleries. An example of his better known landscapes is shown below.

 By Tim Storrier

Archibald, Wynne & Sulman Prizes 2012 - Preview

Angus McDonald - "Tim Maguire"

The sometimes controversial Archibald art award for portrait painting is on again and will have its Opening Night on the 30 March 2012. This year the Archibald provides fairly steady fare with few paintings which would cause any great debate or discussion. There are the usual smattering of well established painters represented amongst the finalists such as Luke Cornish, Adam Cullen, David Fairbairn, Ben Quilty, Jenny Sages, Martin Sharp, Wendy Sharp, Jiawei Shen, Tim Storrier,  Craig Waddell etc. and a few newcomers. Much of the works on display traverse the strongly abstract (Tim Storrier) to the more traditional portraiture techniques in form and style (Angus McDonald). On entry to the exhibition the viewer is confronted with a full size portrait of prominent business identity and arts imperator, David Gonski and from there on, the 41 individual works are paced along the walls of the AGNSW. This year there are no politicians amongst the subjects but there are a large number of self portraits or arts personages such as artist Lindy Lee, curator Hetti Perkins, art collector John Yu, artist Charles Blackman, musician Missy Higgins and a rather odd self portrait by Wendy Sharpe of herself with a penguin at Mawson's Hut in Antarctica.

Tim Storrier - "The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch)

The Wynne Prize for landscape painting or figurative sculpture has a strong representation of works by established artists and perennials  such as Graham Fransella, Nicholas Harding, Jenny Sages, Tim Storrier, Imants Tillers, Aida Tomescu, Craig Waddell, Philip Wolfhagen etc. The Wynne Prize is also very steady fare and like the Sulman prize very much in the shadow of the much better known Archies. 

This year also marks the first time in 33 years that now former AGNSW Director, Edmund Capon will not be officiating at this exhibition following his retirement from the Gallery in December 2011.  In many respects, his well known (and much liked) irreverence for the prize is a sorely missed ingredient.  

Film Review - Hugo - by Martin Scorcese

Hugo is set in Paris after WWI

Martin Scorcese's latest film Hugo is an exquisite, imaginative homage to one of the early pioneers of film through a rich visual narrative and not a too little amount of sentimentality. The story revolves around a young orphan named Hugo Cabret who lives in the Paris railway station, Gare Montparnasse, winding the station clocks and obtaining parts to activate an automaton his late father had been repairing. Through his efforts to find replacement parts he comes into contact with an enigmatic toymaker who turns out to be the French filmmaker Georges Mélièse, living in obscurity. The relationship between the two is the focus of the story and each finds their own place in life through this interaction.  The film may have won mainly technical key creative Academy Awards but as a story of a journey and redemption it certainly does hit the mark. The 3D FX and CGI platform works superbly with this film and provides the additional dimension to bring characters to life in a period setting.

Ben Kingsley and Asa Buttefield in a still from 'Hugo'

The cult of celebrity - when sense equals nonsense

Photographers and media at a launch

The advent and then expansion of the all pervasive electronic media in the late 20th and early 21st century has propelled many people in the entertainment industry and other society circles into a much broader public exposure than would otherwise be possible in earlier decades. Matched with the cult of celebrity which has evolved concurrently, many of their opinions are published, quoted, republished, discussed and given a greater level of credence than would otherwise be the case. Some of the opinions given by celebrities are, in reality, grounded in little fact or evidence. Examples of these statements listed by the charity, Sense About Science, include Heather Mills claiming that meat stays in the gut for 40 years, putrifies and then leads to disease which can be fatal. Actor Roger Moore claimed that foie gras causes Alzheimers disease and actress Suzanne Somers criticised the contraceptive pill on the basis of whether it was safe to take a chemical every day which prevents ovulation. Rocker, Suzi Quatro addressed the issue of sore throats by using a daily colon cleansing powder in her fruit juice on the basis that helping the colon would stop sore throats.  There is little actual data sitting behind these views but the celebrity status of the people making them often allows uncritical broadcasting.