The 2001-2010 decade was the hottest on record, with more national temperature records reported broken and more unprecedented high-impact climate extremes than in any previous decade, according to a new report by the World Meteorologicael Organization. The emailed report says the decade was the warmest (for both hemispheres and for land and sea) since the start of modern measurements in 1850, almost doubling the pace of sea-level increase and causing a 20-fold jump in heat-related deaths. Almost 94 per cent of countries logged their warmest 10 years on record, it said.
“WMO’s report shows that global warming was significant from 1971 to 2010 and that the decadal rate of increase between 1991-2000 and 2001-2010 was unprecedented” WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a statement. “Rising concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are changing our climate, with far reaching implications for our environment and our oceans, which are absorbing both carbon dioxide and heat.”
Bloomberg reports that deaths from heatwaves surged to 136,000 in the 10-year period from fewer than 6,000 the previous decade, mainly a result of extreme temperatures in Europe in 2003 and in Russia in 2010, according to the WMO. A total of 511 disasters related to tropical cyclones killed 170,000 people and caused $380 billion of economic damage. Deaths from storms and floods fell.
In other news…
The ACT Australian CleanTech Index has underperformed the general market for both the month of June and the full FY13 financial year, recording a FY13 loss of 3.5 per cent, lagging well behind the S&P ASX200’s gain of 17.3 per cent, but ahead of the S&P ASX Small Ordinaries’ loss of 8.3 per cent. In June, the Index fell from 32.7 to 31.0 over the month, recording a 5.4 per cent loss, compared to the S&P ASX200 loss of 2.5 per cent and the S&P ASX Small Ordinaries Index loss of 7.4 per cent.
The market capitalisation of the 70 stocks in the ACT Australian CleanTech Index stands at $A8.6 billion, down from its peak of $16.3 billion in July 2007. In its monthly report, Australian CleanTech said the sub-sectors that performed best over the year were the ACT Waste Index and the ACT Water Index, while the worst performers were the biofuels and geothermal indices, which have “continued to fall from favour.” The largest falls in market capitalisation over the month were recorded by Dyesol, Silex Systems, Transpacific Industries, Sims Metal Management and Orocobre, with the greatest gains recorded by Reece Australia Holdings, Nanosonics and Energy Developments (see table below).
Thirty semi-finalists have been chosen for the Australian Cleantech Competition, selected from the 150 companies who entered the contest, now in its third year. Two-thirds of the semi-finalists have technologies from the “renewable energy” and “energy efficiency” categories, with more than half coming from either NSW or Victoria. The companies range from start-ups through to listed companies that have raised tens of millions of dollars, and are selected based on the prospects for their innovations to be a commercial success.
Among those shortlisted are Bombora Wave Power; DiUS Computing (whose ChargeIQ technology is a world-leading home charging solution for plug-in EVs); Nexus eWater (high-efficiency hot water using heat recycled from grey water, and high-quality treated water for non-potable uses such as toilet flushing and garden irrigation); Specialty Coatings ( whose large format resin-impregnated fibreglass composite roof sheeting product has thin-film solar PV embedded in it); and Utilitas (a specialist biogas project development company). The competition winner will be announced in Sydney on October 2, with the Australian victor representing the country in the Global Competition in November.
Tech giant Apple is planning to develop a 20MW solar array to power a new data centre the company is building in Nevada. The plant will be built by SunPower, in conjunction with NV Energy, recently acquired by MidAmerican Energy, part of investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway empire, and built by SunPower. When completed – the project is expected to take eight months – the 137-acre solar installation will generate around 43.5 million kWh.
