The Australian Bite

Keeping cool without coal

14 March 2009

Listen and download: MP3

On this week’s Australian Bite, we look at the link between power blackouts and Australians’ increasing reliance on home air conditioning.  At the end of a week in which the Australian Government released draft legislation for its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, we hear about some cutting edge Australian solar technology that has British backers excited.  And we also meet author Paula Shaw, who recounts her two years teaching at a remote indigenous school on Queensland’s  Cape York Peninsula.

Beating our air-con dependence

The recent heatwaves in Adelaide and Melbourne severely tested power supplies in those cities . . . with numerous blackouts occurring as householders turned on their air conditioning systems in droves. So not surprisingly there’s since been a lot of discussion about how we can increase electricity supply and storage to be able to meet these peak demands. But are we barking up the wrong tree, by looking at how to increase supply rather than decrease demand for electricity? Sydney University’s Dr Richard de Dear certainly thinks so. He wrote an opinion piece in the Adelaide advertiser and he joined Heather Jarvis for a talk about it.

Richard de Dear’s opinion piece can be viewed here: http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,,25064233-5013696,00.html

Mimicking nature to harness solar power

Australia used to lead the world in some solar technologies. But a lack of support over recent years has seen it fall on hard times. However one company is battling on. They’re called Dyesol, and their business is dye solar cell technology – a third-generation solar technology based on artificial photosynthesis and nanotechnology. Di Martin reports.

More on Dyesol along with pictures of the panels and the manufacturing process here: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2007/11/28/2103817.htm

Di Martin has recently put together a feature report looking at how Australia might be able to meet its target of 20 per cent renewable energy by 2020 – and also if there’s perhaps a better way to approach the whole issue. The program was broadcast on the ABC’ Radio National’s Background Briefing program and you can listen to it, and find a whole swag of other links and articles here: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2009/2506430.htm

Teaching in Aurukun

When she was 26, teacher Paula Shaw moved to a town of eight streets. The town was Aurukun, in Far North Queensland. On those eight streets were lots of rundown houses, dogs infested with ticks, and an adult population that did not necessarily see school as the most important place for their children to be.
Paula has written an account of her two years there, in which she learned first-hand what some of the obstacles are to successful schooling for Aboriginal kids.  The book is called Seven Seasons in Aurukun, and Paula Shaw speaks with Richard Aedy.

More information and the full version of Richard’s interview with Paula Shaw can be found on the Radio National Life Matters website: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lifematters/stories/2009/2505054.htm

Music (not in podcast)

Lucie Thorne grew up in Northern Tasmania, the daughter of a poet father and music-loving mother. After relocating to Melbourne for several years, she’s now based in the tiny locality of Bimbaya – population four – on the far south coast of New South Wales. It’s here that Lucie wrote the songs for her fifth release, called “Black Across the Field”.

Artist: Lucie Thorne
Track: As You Find It
Album: Black Across the Field