Prime Minister's Task Group on Energy Efficiency Issues Paper

The Prime Minister's Task Group on Energy Efficiency - Issues Paper has been released. The group is to report on options for improvements in Australia's energy efficiency by 2020. Submissions close 3 May 2010.

Contents

• Prime Minister's Task Group on Energy Efficiency
• Why is energy efficiency important?
• Scope of the Task Group
• Achieving a step change in energy efficiency
• Principles for considering energy efficiency options
• Energy Production Efficiency
• Energy Efficiency in Energy Markets
• Energy Use Efficiency
• Embedding Behavioural Change
• Skills and knowledge
• Governance
• Investing in improved energy efficiency
• Attachment A: Terms of Reference
• Membership of the Task Group on Energy Efficiency
• Attachment B: Council of Australian Governments' Complementarity Principles

Prime Minister's Task Group on Energy Efficiency

The Government has established a Task Group on Energy Efficiency to report to the Prime Minister by mid-2010 on options to deliver a step change improvement in Australia's energy efficiency by 2020.

The Terms of Reference for the Task Group are included at Attachment A.

The Task Group will draw on ideas and opinions from people and organisations with an interest in energy efficiency, as well as local and international research and sources. This paper sets out some key issues on which we would value comments and views. It is not intended to be exhaustive - please raise any matter you see as relevant to the Task Group. The paper is intended to catalyse public discussion and does not imply any particular view by the Task Group or its individual members. Respondents should also not feel obliged to comment on all the matters raised in this paper.

Process for making a submission

There is no specified format for submissions. Your submission can range from a brief commentary on a particular aspect of current arrangements to more substantial assessment of a range of issues. You may choose to answer any or all of the boxed questions set out at the end of each section. Where possible, please provide data and evidence to support your submission.

The Task Group would prefer to receive submissions by email. For accessibility reasons, please submit in a Word or RTF format. An additional PDF version may also be submitted. You may lodge your submission in hard copy by post if you prefer.

Closing date for submissions: Monday 3 May 2010

Email: energyefficiency@climatechange.gov.au

Address written submissions to:

Secretariat to the Task Group on Energy Efficiency
c/- Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency
GPO Box 854
Canberra ACT 2600 Australia

For enquiries please contact the Secretariat on energyefficiency@climatechange.gov.au or on ph (02) 6159 7383.

All information (including name and address details) contained in submissions will be made available to the public on the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency website unless you indicate that you would like all or part of your submission to remain in confidence. Automatically generated confidentiality statements in emails do not suffice for this purpose. If you would like part of your submission to remain in confidence, please provide this information marked as such in a separate document. Legal requirements, such as those imposed by the Freedom of Information Act 1982, may affect the confidentiality of your submission.

Why is energy efficiency important?

Energy efficiency is important for a wide range of reasons. As well as lowering the cost of tackling climate change, energy efficiency has a range of potential co-benefits. Energy efficiency allows Australia to continue strong economic growth in the face of increasing energy costs; increases our energy security; and reduces the chance of peak energy demand causing problems for energy users. Energy efficiency improvements can reduce local air pollution; lower energy bills for households and businesses; and improve output for Australian businesses and amenity for Australian households. Energy efficiency measures and cost-effective distributed generation (such as solar roof panels, wind turbines, co-generation and tri-generation) can help delay the need for new electricity infrastructure investment.

Energy is a key input to nearly all of the things we do in our everyday life - it powers industry and business, as well as our households and most modes of transport. Australia's continued growth and prosperity will be dependent, in part, on how efficiently and wisely we use our energy resources.

Just as energy drives our economy, so too will climate change have impacts across all sectors of the economy. The combination of growing demand for energy and Australia's response to climate change will transform the way Australians think about and use energy.

Much of Australia's energy comes from fossil fuels such as coal and oil, which produce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change (and to local air pollution). Australia's substantial fossil fuel resources of coal and gas (including coal seam gas), along with Australia's growing renewable energy market, are capable of meeting both domestic demand and increased export demand over the coming decade. However, petroleum supplies are limited and Australia is increasingly reliant on imports for transport fuels. Australia's energy use is growing, and total demand for energy is projected to continue to increase with growth in Australia's economy and population, growing by more than 25 per cent over the next decade. This growth will require substantial investment to maintain and update Australia's electricity infrastructure (with more than $42 billion of investment either approved or proposed over the next five years). This investment is already having an impact on electricity prices and will continue to do so. Increasing world demand will also push up the prices of petrol, coal and gas - in a world thirsty for resources, our world competitiveness may be influenced by how energy efficient we are.

The Government is committed to a comprehensive response to climate change: reducing emissions, adapting to unavoidable climate change, and being part of the international response. The Prime Minister has identified energy efficiency as a key plank in the Government's suite of policies to reduce emissions and place Australia on the path to a low carbon economy. Removing barriers that stop us taking up energy efficient technology or behaving in a way that reduces energy use can deliver more cost effective opportunities to reduce emissions, thereby reducing the cost of meeting our 2020 emissions reduction target. Cost effective energy efficiency improvements can also lift the productivity of Australian businesses which in turn can contribute to Australia's competitiveness and national wellbeing. This will also help position the Australian economy and workers to take up opportunities in a changing global economy that will increasingly require lower carbon goods and services.

Improvements in energy efficiency today will mean energy bills don't need to go up by as much as energy prices, and will help position businesses and households to meet these challenges in the future.

The term energy efficiency is commonly used, yet it is difficult to precisely define. It is a generic term which can mean different things to different people - thermodynamic efficiency to an engineer, technical efficiency or economic efficiency to an economist, and energy conservation to an environmentalist. Improvement in energy efficiency can be achieved either by using less energy to achieve the same level of outcomes or improving the level of outcomes from the same amount of energy.

This Task Group is identifying options for delivering a step change improvement in Australia's energy efficiency by 2020 and placing Australia at the forefront of OECD energy efficiency improvement.

Questions for Consideration What do you see as the key goal(s) of energy efficiency? What is the simplest way of measuring progress against these key goal(s)? How could these key goal(s) be better communicated to all sectors of Australian society?

Australia's Energy Efficiency and Intensity

Source: IEA Key World Energy Statistics, 2009 Australia's total energy intensity (energy consumption per unit of outcome) is high by OECD standards. The International Energy Agency (IEA) notes that this is largely due to Australia's relatively inexpensive energy prices, long transport distances and energy intensive industrial structure.

Australia's Energy Efficiency and Intensity Australia's energy intensity has been decreasing over the last few decades at broadly the same rate as other developed countries (IEA Scoreboard 2009: 35 Key Energy Trends over 35 Years). Importantly, declines in energy intensity around the world have occurred at the same time as strong growth in GDP per capita, indicating that improvements in energy efficiency do not need to come at the expense of economic growth. Source: ABARE End use energy intensity in the Australian economy, 2009 Declines in Australia's energy intensity in recent decades represent a combination of changed energy efficiency and an economy-wide structural movement away from energy-intensive manufacturing and towards lower energy use service provision. Source: Implementing Energy Efficiency Policies, 2009 IEA calculations indicate that most of the energy intensity improvement in Australia came from structural change - that is moving from more energy intensive activity to less energy intensive activity. This is in contrast to most IEA countries where energy intensity improvement came from both energy efficiency improvement and structural change. Recent calculations by ABARE suggest that energy efficiency decreased Australia's energy consumption by six per cent between 1989-90 and 2006-07, while structural change contributed another five per cent reduction. Source: ABARE End use energy intensity in the Australian economy, 2009

Scope of the Task Group

Achieving a step change in energy efficiency

This Task Group is looking for ways to achieve a step-change improvement in Australia's energy efficiency by 2020, and to place Australia at the forefront of OECD energy efficiency improvement. The Task Group will identify energy efficiency opportunities that could make a significant contribution to the emissions reduction challenge beyond current measures, and recommend ways to implement these opportunities.

Internationally, most countries' energy intensity (that is, the amount of energy required per unit of economic output) has declined over recent decades. This has coincided with strong economic growth in most countries around the world. Australia's energy intensity is high by OECD standards but has also reduced over the last few decades driven primarily by an economy-wide movement away from manufacturing and towards service provision together with some sector-specific energy efficiency improvements. However, Australia's performance varies by sector and reflects a range of factors, including government policies, the structure of the economy, and the price of energy. (Further detail on Australia's current, historical and projected energy use and emissions levels is included at Attachment C.)

The Government has committed to reduce Australia's carbon pollution to 25 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020 if the world agrees to a global deal to stabilise levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at 450 parts per million (ppm) CO2 equivalent or lower. If the world is unable to reach agreement on a 450ppm target, Australia will still reduce its emissions by between 5 and 15 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020. Meeting our 2020 emissions reductions targets will be challenging. Australia's 'abatement challenge' is 144 Mt CO2-e below 'business as usual' in 2020 under the -5 per cent target (a 22 per cent reduction), while under the -25 per cent target option the abatement challenge is 255 Mt CO2-e below business as usual (a 38 per cent reduction).

A significant proportion of this reduction is expected to come from energy efficiency improvements. The International Energy Agency estimates that over half of the global energy related emissions reduction required to meet a 450ppm target would be expected to come from energy efficiency.

Expected energy price increases over the next decade will help to drive energy efficiency improvements across the economy. Where there are market failures or barriers to take-up of energy efficiency improvements, then removing these barriers will reduce the impact of price rises and result in more cost effective emissions abatement.

Australian governments have already been active in seeking to reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions produced in Australia, and to promote an increased level of energy efficiency in Australia - and there are a number of existing policies and programs in place at all levels of government. The Australian Government has already announced over $5 billion in support for energy efficiency measures. Current measures are expected to deliver more than 38 million tonnes of abatement in 2020. Existing energy efficiency programs include regulatory reform, provision of better information on energy efficiency, capacity building, research and development, price signals, and financial incentives.

In considering opportunities to achieve a step change in energy efficiency, the Task Group will also consider the co-benefits of energy efficiency improvements, including reductions in non-greenhouse gas air pollution, health benefits, improved energy security, reduced energy costs for households, and infrastructure savings.

The Task Group will consider and advise upon implementation arrangements for individual measures, including different options for encouraging and driving new energy efficiency improvements. The Task Group will identify and address potential risks associated with the development and implementation of individual measures.

A large body of work has already been undertaken around energy efficiency (Attachment D lists some relevant references). The Task Group will draw upon this work, the submissions received in response to this Issues Paper, and the consultation process.

Questions for Consideration What do you consider a step change in energy efficiency to be? Where do you see the greatest potential for a step change improvement in energy efficiency in Australia over the next decade? What can be done to unlock this step change potential? What needs to be done to ensure step change keeps us at the forefront of OECD energy efficiency improvements? What non-greenhouse co-benefits could be delivered through a step change in energy efficiency in Australia? Which existing measures could be part of delivering step change? What role would they play? Consider Commonwealth, State and Territory, and local measures. Please comment on the relative efficiency of implementation options where applicable.

Interaction with the National Strategy for Energy Efficiency In July 2009 the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to a National Strategy on Energy Efficiency as part of the National Partnership Agreement on Energy Efficiency1. Through the National Strategy, the Commonwealth, States and Territories committed to a nationally consistent and coordinated approach to energy efficiency. This includes the implementation of a range of measures to assist in delivering cost-effective energy efficiency gains across the economy. The National Strategy encompasses a range of sectors where significant energy efficiency measures exist: commercial buildings, residential buildings, electricity markets, appliances and equipment, industry and business, government, transport, skills and training, innovation, and advice and education. All of these sectors are in scope for the work of this Task Group. This Task Group will direct its efforts to building on the National Strategy for Energy Efficiency, and will not duplicate it. The full National Strategy on Energy Efficiency can be found at: http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/ national_partnership_agreements/environment/energy_efficiency/energy_efficiency.pdf

Maximising the opportunities for energy efficiency improvement

The Task Group will recommend cost effective measures and mechanisms that have the potential to deliver a step change in energy efficiency. The Task Group's scope encompasses all sectors of the economy including (but not limited to) manufacturing and mining, energy, transport, government, residential, commercial, agriculture, services and construction. Measures and mechanisms to drive a step change may vary between different sectors.

In scope are possible opportunities for measures to improve efficiency across the energy lifecycle - from energy production, including the operation of the energy market, through to all types of energy use. There may also be synergies between these different areas which can yield energy efficiency improvements.

Energy efficiency opportunities across the energy lifecycle

The energy efficiency lifecycle can apply across the different types of energy consumed in Australia, not just electricity. Fuel and the transport market are an important part of the Task Group's scope.

It is also crucial that Australia builds the underlying capabilities that will be needed to drive and accelerate energy efficiency improvements over the next decade (including skills, knowledge and governance). These capabilities will be important to achieving a step change in energy efficiency and to achieving reductions in national and international emissions.

Principles for considering energy efficiency options

Complementarity principles

The Task Group's terms of reference at Attachment A assume that there will be an explicit carbon price within the Australian economy.

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has agreed a set of principles, at Attachment B. which guide whether or not a measure will be complementary to an explicit carbon price. Measures should adhere to the principles of efficiency, effectiveness, equity and administrative simplicity and should be kept under review.

Measures should generally be implemented by the level of government that is best able to deliver the measure (having regard to which level of government has legal or constitutional responsibility for delivery, the regulatory and compliance costs, and the coordination of delivery across jurisdictions).

These principles will assist governments to define and implement a coherent suite of greenhouse and energy policies, rather than 'picking winners' and implementing a series of ad hoc unconnected (or duplicative) programs which inevitably result in reduced effectiveness and higher cost to the economy.

Targeting known barriers

The Task Group has been asked to target known barriers to energy efficiency improvements, including (but not limited to):

• information asymmetries: not having the right information to make an energy efficient choice
• split incentives: where one party pays the energy bills, but has little or no influence over appliances, equipment or building management
• access to capital: finding the funds to invest in the research, design and deployment of energy efficiency improvements given capital constraints, and that the benefit of such investment can be shared by competitors and the community.
• technology risks: uncertainty about performance of energy efficiency equipment
• regulatory barriers: laws and regulations that prevent people from making the most energy efficient choice, including those that arise due to Australia's federal system of government
• energy pricing: the price paid by energy consumers for the generation and delivery of energy
• behavioural barriers: decision making and cultural factors that influence choices about energy efficiency by individuals and organisations.

Cost effective energy efficiency

A clear understanding of the economy-wide costs and benefits of different energy efficiency measures is important. Achieving a step change in energy efficiency will require energy efficiency improvements that deliver substantial cost effective emissions reductions.

Energy efficiency improvements will need to be cost effective on an economy-wide basis so that they can contribute to delivering the 2020 emissions reduction target at the lowest possible cost to the economy. Assessments of cost effectiveness will also take account of both cost-effectiveness to individuals and to governments.

Boosting productivity

Measures to improve energy efficiency should support and reinforce the Government's goal of increasing the productivity and competitiveness of the Australian economy, and improving the standard of living of all Australians.

Equity considerations

The Government's vision of a socially inclusive society is one in which all Australians have the resources, opportunities and capabilities they need to learn, work, engage and have a voice. Energy efficiency measures need to be implemented in a fair and equitable way, so that no groups are excluded or unfairly burdened. In Australia, those on lower incomes generally spend a greater proportion of their household budget on energy bills. They may also find it difficult to fund energy efficiency improvements in their homes. Effective and equitable policies are needed to manage energy efficiency issues for low income households and for other groups in society who might find energy efficiency actions difficult to undertake or access.

Geographic considerations

The demand for energy across the Australian community varies from place to place. Energy use in inner urban areas is different from energy requirements in remote areas. Energy reliability is also a consideration, particularly in remote regions. Some energy intensive industries are regionally concentrated - their ongoing operations have implications for local communities. Appropriate energy efficiency strategies and policies may vary by region.

Peak demand issues

The demand for energy across the Australian community varies widely across the time of day and season of the year. Rising demand for energy in peak periods (such as increasing air conditioning use during the hottest parts of days in summer) is currently driving significant investment in grid and generation infrastructure. Energy efficiency measures may be able to reduce peak demand, with resultant cost savings, improved energy security and enhanced efficiency in the use of infrastructure.

Questions for Consideration What do you believe are the key barriers to uptake of energy efficiency improvements? What would be the most efficient and effective way(s) of overcoming these barriers? What groups in society might find energy efficiency actions difficult to undertake or access? How can energy efficiency policies target these groups? How can energy efficiency measures be implemented in a way that takes into account the different energy needs of urban/regional and remote Australia? How do time-of-day and time-of-year changes in demand influence energy efficiency in Australia?

Energy Production Efficiency

Energy production efficiency is about increasing the amount of useful energy that can be transformed from a given amount of natural energy resources, such as coal, oil, gas, the sun, geothermal, and wind.Â

Energy production efficiency captures a range of opportunities including:

• more efficient mining, processing and transport of Australia's energy sources
• greater efficiency of a range of different energy generation technologies (including distributed generation, cogeneration and tri-generation)
• improvements in energy storage and utilisation of intermittent energy sources.

Within Australia, there is already a wide range of processes underway to improve our energy production, and drive innovation. Ideally, Australia's energy market should encourage companies to make use of more innovative and efficient technology as it becomes commercially viable, undercutting and displacing less efficient technology. Location suitability will continue to be important in extracting the maximum energy efficiency from Australia's energy sources.

This Task Group is seeking input on what further energy efficiency improvements can be achieved from improving existing drivers or from new measures.

Questions for Consideration What activities (Commonwealth and State) are currently working to improve energy production efficiency in Australia? Is there any way to make these activities work better? What changes could be made within the R&D and energy production sectors to improve the development of new options? How could Government better engage on energy production efficiency?

Energy Efficiency in Energy Markets

Energy markets have a strong influence on the efficient production, delivery and use of energy. The market price of energy and information available to energy end-users about market prices influence decisions on purchase and use of equipment.

Australian energy markets have undergone a number of reforms in recent decades. There has been a move towards nationally linked competitive electricity and gas markets with high levels of private investment, where generation, distribution and delivery of energy are handled by different players.

Domestic energy markets are also affected to some extent by traded energy resource prices in dynamic global energy markets and cost of factors of production. This can have implications for Australian retail energy and transport fuel prices.

In electricity and gas markets, the sector and governments have worked together to build more resilient and reliable markets, and to identify and remove some of the barriers to options that reduce demand for energy (including distributed generation and some forms of energy efficiency).

A significant expansion in Australia's energy infrastructure - particularly electricity generation and transmission - will be required in the next two decades if Australia is to meet its growing and changing demand for energy (with more than $42 billion of investment either approved or proposed over the next five years). Energy efficiency measures can help delay the need for new electricity infrastructure investment, and so improve Australia's energy security1.

Energy efficiency and distributed generation may play a role in increasing the security, stability and cost-effectiveness of energy markets. Distributed or embedded generation can result in lower transmission line losses because the generator is located close to the load. Distributed generators are also capable of higher overall energy efficiency if using co-generation or tri-generation, because waste heat can be used for heating and cooling. Distributed generation can help delay the need for new electricity infrastructure investment.

The National Strategy on Energy Efficiency includes measures to reduce impediments to the uptake of energy efficiency within the electricity markets. Under the National Strategy, governments are currently reviewing and developing actions to harness electricity markets to better enable the uptake of economic and cost-effective distributed generation and demand side initiatives, while maintaining reliability of supply for consumers and industry.

This Task Group is seeking input on how Australia's energy markets can play a role in achieving a step change in energy efficiency.

Questions for Consideration What activities (Commonwealth and State) are currently working to encourage energy efficient energy markets (including electricity and gas) and subsequent efficient end-use of energy? What practical and cost-effective things could make these activities work better? Noting current arrangements for energy market participants (generators, networks, retailers and consumers) what improvements could be made to support a step change in energy efficiency? What improvements could be made to national electricity market operations and network incentives? Are the current governance mechanisms adequate to allow for such a step change? Are there any significant structural or other barriers to improved energy efficiency within Australian energy markets (including but not limited to current features of design, regulation or operation)? Are there barriers to the deployment of distributed generation where it is cost effective, and would greater deployment of distributed generation improve energy efficiency outcomes? How could information access and flow within Australian energy markets be improved?

Energy Use Efficiency

Improved energy use efficiency enables people to use less energy to achieve the same outcomes. This might mean achieving the same level of production with lower energy use; getting from A to B with less fuel; or maintaining comfortable room temperature while using less energy.

Energy use efficiency encompasses not only the energy used in operating a machine, or appliance or building; it also encompasses the 'embodied energy' consumed in making that product (from the mining and processing of natural resources to manufacturing, transport and product delivery). A life cycle approach to energy efficiency also incorporates the energy required to dispose of that product. Such an approach is critical to ensure that more energy is not used in producing a top-of-the-range 'energy efficient' product than can be saved over the effective lifetime of using that product.

At an Australia-wide level, energy use efficiency allows for continuing economic growth, and continuing improvement in the wellbeing of the Australian population, while decreasing energy use and energy production2. As previously noted, energy efficiency measures may also have co-benefits such as reductions in local pollution, health benefits, and reduced energy costs for households.

Final energy use by sector
Source: ABARE Australian energy projections to 2029-30, 2010	Some sectors of the economy have significantly higher final energy consumption than others. These sectors may have more potential to contribute to an economy-wide step change in energy efficiency. However because of their higher energy dependence, some of these sectors may already have taken significant action to minimise energy use.

This Task Group is interested in potential energy use efficiency measures across all sectors of the economy, from large business to SMEs to households; including (but not limited to) manufacturing and mining, energy, transport, government, residential, commercial, agriculture, services and construction.

Household energy use efficiency

Over the last decade there has been some progress in energy efficiency in households, with improvements in building codes and in minimum standards for many major appliances. Â However, at the same time energy use per household has increased, as greater wealth and cheaper appliances have increased the uptake of a wide range of new energy-consuming products.

Households account for some 11 per cent of Australia's final energy use (not including energy use associated with passenger motor vehicles and motorbikes). This Task Group is looking for ways in which households can contribute to a step change in energy efficiency.

Industrial and large energy users

Just 220 companies are responsible for over 40 per cent of Australia's final energy use. Several large industrial users have dedicated effort to identifying and implementing energy efficiency opportunities - some substantial cost-effective savings have been identified and implemented through the Energy Efficiency Opportunities program.

There may also be further opportunities that can be uncovered, and even small savings in this sector remain relatively very large as a proportion of total energy use. The Task Group will be reviewing available data and engaging the companies concerned to seek to discuss their progress on energy efficiency and consider whether further measures might assist.

Commercial building energy use efficiency

Commercial buildings make a large contribution to Australia's greenhouse emissions. Governments have recently announced increases to energy efficiency standards for new buildings and the introduction of mandatory disclosure for commercial buildings, as part of the National Strategy on Energy Efficiency. However, there is still substantial potential to reduce emissions by further improving new buildings and by retrofitting the stock of existing commercial buildings.

Government energy use efficiency

Governments are important end users of energy in the community. Improving the energy efficiency of Australian, State and local Governments' operations will contribute to reducing Australia's total energy consumption (and help to meet its greenhouse abatement goals). Government action will also, importantly, demonstrate leadership and encourage wider community acceptance of measures to increase energy efficiency.

The National Strategy on Energy Efficiency includes a range of measures to improve the energy efficiency of government operations, including through improved energy efficiency of government buildings and government travel. This Task Group will look for further opportunities where government leadership on energy efficiency might be demonstrated.

Transport energy use efficiency

The transport sector accounts for around 39 per cent of Australia's final energy use (including energy used by passenger motor vehicles and motorbikes). Australia is increasingly reliant on imports to supply our demand for transport fuels.

The scope for energy efficiency improvements in transport is very broad - improvements can potentially come from making existing technologies more efficient, switching to more efficient modes of transport, and (over the longer term) improving the liveability of our cities in ways which reduce the need for travel. The range of co-benefits from improving the energy efficiency of the transport sector are also substantial and include the potential for significant cost savings from more fuel efficient cars; reduced local air pollution; and more enjoyable urban areas.

More than three quarters of transport emissions come from road transport. Within road transport, there may be substantial potential to improve energy efficiency at relatively low cost. The International Energy Agency estimates that for the world as a whole, the fuel consumption of new light duty vehicles could by halved by 2030 at low cost to consumers. Â

Questions for Consideration What energy use efficiency measures (Commonwealth, State and local) are currently working in your sector? What practical changes could make these measures work better? What further cost-effective measures could be used to deliver a step change improvement in energy efficiency in your sector? What metrics might usefully be applied in assessing measures for improving energy efficiency in your sector? How might competing proposals be assessed? Where do you see the greatest potential for a step change improvement in transport energy efficiency in Australia over the next decade and over the longer term?

Embedding Behavioural Change

Energy efficiency is intrinsic to a range of decisions that people and firms make every day - from remembering to turn off appliances or what kind of television to buy, to decisions about how to travel to work, or where to holiday, through to major investment decisions about infrastructure.

People are often wary of changing the way they've always done things - be it using new technologies, developing new or different habits, or changing their way of thinking. This is particularly true if available choices are broad and complex, and the information available is varied, inconsistent and difficult to access.

A greater focus on energy use over the next decade is expected to drive behavioural change across all sectors of the economy. Price signals play an important part in driving behaviour, however, electricity and gas bills account for only around three per cent of the average Australian household's expenses; and some 95 per cent of Australia's output comes from firms that spend less than three percent of their costs on energy. For these householders and firms, price alone may not drive behaviour to seek out improvements in energy efficiency.

However, prioritising energy efficiency in daily decisions will be a key part of achieving a step change in energy efficiency. Australians will need to embed thinking about, and acting on, energy across all aspects of their lives - their transport options, their lifestyle decisions, their workplace, and how they make business decisions.

The consumption choices that individuals and businesses make today will, to some extent, 'lock in' their energy consumption over the next decade. If a household or business buys a car with poor fuel-efficiency in 2010, then that car will stay on Australia's roads well into the coming decade. If a company invests in energy efficient plant or equipment today then that will decrease their energy bill over the life of the equipment.

Questions for Consideration What can be done in Australia to develop a culture around energy efficiency improvement? What barriers exist to behaviour change at home, in transport, and at work? What could trigger or motivate change? What more can be done to make energy efficiency opportunities simple and accessible across all areas of people's lives? Is current information about improving energy efficiency relevant, personalised and available? How could this be improved?

Building Capability

Skills and knowledge

The transition to a low-carbon future will demand knowledge and skills that may not be sufficiently available in Australia at present. These might be in research and development, technology deployment, energy markets, or energy efficiency implementation within businesses and households. The National Strategy on Energy Efficiency committed to develop a National Energy Efficiency Skills Initiative to help fill this gap.

Questions for Consideration What workforce shortages and skills gaps (current and emerging) do you see in Australia in relation to energy efficiency? What measures would most effectively address these shortages and gaps?

Governance

Governance refers to institutional arrangements for developing, driving and monitoring energy efficiency policy and programs. Commonwealth, State and Territory governments will play a key part in this, but governance also extends to other institutions that help drive energy efficiency.

Effective governance of energy efficiency is essential to achieving a step change in energy efficiency, and requires engagement, collaboration and coordination between all stakeholders.

Effective governance and ongoing advances in energy efficiency will also require a strong base of evidence and information that can be used to monitor, evaluate and improve initiatives across the economy.

The Government is pursuing a deregulation agenda to reduce regulatory burden and ensure that where it is necessary to regulate, it is consistent with best practice. Energy efficiency measures should be administratively efficient, and not add unnecessarily to the overall regulatory burden.

Questions for Consideration What do you see as the critical governance challenges and opportunities for improving energy efficiency in Australia? Which institutions should play a role in governance arrangements for energy efficiency? Are there international examples of good institutional arrangements that Australia could adopt? What information should be used to provide a stronger evidence base for future policy, monitoring and evaluation? What is the most effective way to collect and distribute this information?

Investing in improved energy efficiency

Improving energy efficiency can require upfront investment. New investments in improved energy efficiency can be inhibited by a range of factors: capital may be scarce, or subject to competing investment priorities; returns on energy efficiency may not be well understood; obtaining external finance and the services to deliver improvements may be difficult; existing systems may be entrenched, and staff or boards may resist changes.

High up-front cost of energy efficient improvements can be addressed in a variety of ways, including through high level leadership, better dissemination of information, or the provision of other support - although these all come at a cost and need to be assessed against other priorities.

Energy efficiency measures to be delivered by the Government will reflect the Government's fiscal position and priorities in coming years.

Other initiatives such as energy performance contracting, green leasing arrangements, and packaged energy efficiency services have been demonstrated as an effective way to deliver energy efficiency, but much of their potential remains unrealised in Australia. Innovative solutions and entrepreneurial approaches to implementing energy efficiency improvements will support delivery of a step change in energy efficiency.

Questions for Consideration What are the cost-effective ways in which governments can facilitate new investment in energy efficiency? What can governments do to leverage greater understanding, viability and uptake of more innovative approaches to financing and implementing energy efficiency? What are some new or different business models that improve energy efficiency? How could governments foster these?

...

1 Energy security requires an adequate, reliable and affordable supply of energy to support the functioning of the economy and social development.

2 Because there are energy losses in the transmission of energy, if end-users reduce their demand by one megawatt hour, then the production of energy will reduce by more than this.

From: Prime Minister's Task Group on Energy Efficiency - Issues Paper

Coal powered Internet causing climate change

The report "Make IT Green: Cloud Computing and its Contribution to Climate Change" (Greenpeace, 30 March 2010) warns that the growth of Internet use could cause an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately the case in the report is undermined by the way the report is distributed: as a very poorly formatted, inefficient PDF document. The report is a 24 page 7 Mbyte PDF document. The document is therefore about 10 times larger than it need be and will be generating 10 times as much greenhouse gas emissions as a properly designed document would.

While Greenpeace make a good argument about powering data centres from renewable energy, a far greater reduction in greenhouse gas emissions could be achieved much more quickly and cheaply by making the applications running in those data centres more efficient. Greenpeace might like to lead by example, and commit to efficient online documents.

The announcement of Apple’s iPad has been much anticipated by a world with an ever-increasing appetite for mobile computing devices as a way to connect, interact, learn and work. As rumours circulated – first about its existence and then about its capabilities - the iPad received more media attention than any other gadget in recent memory. Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs finally showcased his company’s latest creation before a rapt audience in San Francisco. From their smart phones and netbooks, the crowd feverishly blogged and tweeted real time updates out to a curious world.

Whether you actually want an iPad or not, there is no doubt that it is a harbinger of things to come. The iPad relies upon cloud-based computing to stream video,
download music and books, and fetch email. Already, millions access the ‘cloud’ to make use of online social networks, watch streaming video, check email and create documents, and store thousands of digital photos online on popular web-hosted sites like Flickr and Picasa.

The term cloud, or cloud computing, used as a metaphor for the internet, is based on an infrastructure and business model whereby - rather than being stored on your own device - data, entertainment, news and other products and services are delivered to your device, in real time, from the internet. The creation of the cloud has been a boon both to the companies hosting it and to consumers who now need nothing but a personal computer and internet access to fulfill most of their computing needs.

Google is perhaps the most famous cloud-based company to demonstrate the potential of a cloud platform to drive a hugely successful business model. All of Google’s signature products - Gmail, Google Documents and Google Earth - are delivered from the cloud.

Its ambitious project to create a digital library will be entirely hosted by servers storing most of the world’s published work, all in digitised form.

The cloud is growing at a time when climate change and reducing emissions from energy use is of paramount concern.With the growth of the cloud, however, comes an increasing demand for energy.

For all of this content to be delivered to us in real time, virtual mountains of video, pictures and other data must be stored somewhere and be available for almost instantaneous access. That ‘somewhere’ is data
centres - massive storage facilities that consume incredible amounts of energy.

But decisions about how the cloud will be built out are being made by business leaders primarily concerned with quarterly profit statements and earnings for shareholders.

Facebook vs. Yahoo

For example, in January 2010, Facebook commissioned a new data centre in Oregon and committed to a power service provider agreement with PacificCorp, a utility that gets the majority of its energy from coal-fired power stations, the United States’ largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Effectively becoming an industrial-scale consumer of electricity, Facebook now faces the same choices and challenges that other large ‘cloud-computing’ companies have in building their data centres.With a premium being placed on access to the cheapest electricity available on the grid. In many countries, this means dirty coal.

All the same, other companies have made better decisions for siting some of their data centres. Yahoo!, for instance, chose to build a data centre outside Buffalo, New York, that is powered by energy from a hydroelectric power plant - dramatically decreasing its carbon footprint. Google Energy, a subsidiary of cloud leader Google, applied and was recently approved as a regulated wholesale buyer and seller of electricity in the United States, giving it greater flexibility as to where it buys its electricity to power its data centres.

Brown cloud or green cloud?

Ultimately, if cloud providers want to provide a truly green and renewable cloud, they must use their power and influence to not only drive investments near renewable energy sources, but also become involved in setting the policies that will drive rapid deployment of renewable electricity generation economy-wide, and place greater R&D into storage devices that will deliver electricity from renewable sources 24/7. (See page 11 for prescriptive policy recommendations for IT companies.)

If we hope to phase out dirty sources of energy to address climate change, then - given the massive amounts of electricity needed in order to run computers, provide backup power and coordinate related cooling equipment that even energy-efficient data centres consume - the last thing we need is for more cloud infrastructure to be built in places where it increases demand for dirty coal-fired power. The potential of ICT technologies and cloud computing to drive low-carbon economic growth underscore the importance of building cloud infrastructure in places powered by clean renewable energy.

Companies like Facebook, Google, and other large players in the cloud computing market must advocate for policy change at the local, national and international levels to ensure that, as their appetite for energy increases, so does the supply of renewable energy.

“I have always believed that IT is the engine of an efficient economy; it also can drive a greener one”
Michael Dell, Forbes magazine

In 2008, The Climate Group and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) issued SMART 2020: enabling the low carbon economy in the information age.i The study highlighted the significant and rapidly growing footprint of the ICT industry and predicted that because of the rapid economic expansion in places like India and China, among other causes, demand for ICT services will quadruple by 2020.

SMART 2020 also found that:

• PC ownership will quadruple between 2007 and 2020 to 4 billion devices, and emissions will double over the same period, with laptops overtaking desktops as the main source of global ICT emissions (22%).
• Mobile phone ownership will almost double to nearly 5 billion accounts by 2020, but emissions will only grow by 4%. Broadband uptake will treble to almost 900 million accounts over the same period, with emissions doubling over the entire telecoms infrastructure.

The Smart 2020 study also made a compelling case for ICT’s significant potential to deliver climate and energy solutions, estimating that ICT technologies could cut 7.8 GtCO2 of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, a 15%reduction over business-as-usual projections. The study posits that innovations from the ICT sector - when combined with increased use of renewable energy - can put the world on a more sustainable path and help keep global temperature increase below the 2°C threshold scientists say is needed to hold off the worst effects of climate change.

table ommitted

How big is the carbon footprint of the Information Technology and Communication sector?

MtCO2e =Metric Tonne Carbon Dioxide Equivalent
GtCO2e = Gigatonne Carbon Dioxide Equivalent
i Climate Group and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI)(2008). SMART
2020: enabling the low carbon economy in the information age. Available at
http://www.smart2020.org/_assets/files/03_Smart2020Report_lo_res.pdf

2010 has been touted by many in the ICT sector as the ‘Year of the Cloud’. While this is likely a prediction that will be repeated in subsequent years, the arrival of the iPad and growth in netbooks and other tablet computers, the launch of Microsoft’s Azure cloud services for business, and the launch of the Google phone and the proliferation of mobile cloud applications are compelling signs of a movement
towards cloud-based computing within the business sector and public consciousness in a way never seen before.

3 key trends in cloud-based computing
• Continued significant expansion of cloud-based computing despite economic downturn
• Greater attention and growth in deployment of energy-efficient data centres design
• Increased size and scale of data centres being built by major brands

Key questions for cloud-based computing data centre investment
• How big is the cloud in electricity consumption and GHG emissions and how big will it become?
• Where will the cloud be built and what sources of energy will be powering it?
• How may large data centres impact the surrounding load centre’s demand for fossil fuels?
• To what extent will efficiency and design improvements reduce the rate of growth?
table omitted

How much electricity or associated greenhouse gas pollution is currently produced or will be generated to power a much bigger cloud in 10 years? The answer is far from clear, given the rapid growth, and that many major cloud brands refuse to disclose their energy footprint.

The Smart 2020 analysis forecast that the global carbon footprint of the main components of cloud-based computing - data centres and the telecommunications network - would see their emissions grow, on average, 7%and 5%respectively each year between 2002-2020.
Underlying this analysis is the number of data centre servers growing on average 9%each year during this period.

Using the global analysis and forecast of the overall ICT emissions footprint in the Smart 2020 Report as a foundation, the following reports seeks to shine a fresh light on the electricity demand of the global cloud, highlighting the scale of the potential demand and importance of where and what sources of electricity are being used to power Facebook, Gmail, and other cloud-based computing platforms.

The first of the two adjustments were made to the analysis used in the Smart 2020 Report to disaggregate the projections for growth in the main components of cloud based computing, and place in context of electricity demand and renewable energy supply. The third adjustment incorporates some bottom up analysis of energy demand from data centres in the US, and the scale impact on the size of the overall electricity demand if more accurate estimation of the energy demand and GHG emissions associated with large data centres.To make the data of the report more accessible as an instrument to evaluate the projected impact of the cloud on electricity demand and their relationship to energy policies, the Smart 2020 analysis has been deaggregated to show overall electricity consumption as outlined below.


table omitted

The results available from the Smart 2020 Report are shown as tones of carbon emitted and not in energy units (e.g. electricity consumed kWh). The emission factors used come from McKinsey and Vanttefall Cost Curve, which are not disclosed in the report.

Using a publicly-known global factor for the global carbon intensity of electricity production,WRI’s CAITi, the equivalent electricity consumption is derived as shown in Table 2.

table omitted


Smart 2020 Adjustment #3:
Top-down vs. bottom-up adjustment for data
centre energy consumption
While the Smart 2020 report did a very credible top-down analysis of global data centre consumption, it is important to compare this with a bottom-up approach. Based on the 2007 bottom-up analysis conducted by the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), the estimated electricity consumption of US data centres is 1.7 times larger than the top-down analysis by the Smart 2020 report estimated for the US and Canada combined. If this factor is to be applied to the global electricity consumption in Table 2, the data centres portion would go from the 194.2 to 330 billion kWh and, as consequence, the total cloud energy consumption (data centres plus telecommunications) would be 622.6 billion kWh -; a number that is 1.3 times larger than reported under the Smart 2020 report.


table omitted

Adjustment #3
Adjustment #1--reduction of scope of telecoms network reporting
Smart 2020 Adjustment #1:
Scope of Telecoms network reporting
The Smart 2020 Report provides carbon footprint figures in MtCO2e as a combination of two sources of emissions: indirect emissions from electricity use (scope 2) and indirect emissions from upstream
production (scope 3), or embodied carbon. To show electricity or energy use emissions separately, a correction factor [Scope 2/ (Scope 2+3)] will be applied as shown in the table for adjustment #1. This correction factor for Scope 2 is derived from the information provided on global internet footprint in the Smart 2020 Report, which includes PCs in addition to telecoms and data centres.

Mobile phones accounted for 43%of the carbon footprint of Telecoms. However, to keep the analysis focused on the infrastructure of the cloud and related energy consumption, the energy footprint of mobile phones will be subtracted, as PCs (desktops and laptops) are not counted in this analysis, phones
will be also subtracted. The 270 MtCO2e without mobile phones translates into 154 MTCO2 globally.

table omitted

Projected regional growth of data centres

Unless cloud data centres are strategically placed to utilise or be co-developed with renewable sources of electricity, the data centre operators are stuck with the same problem everybody has, and having to accept the mix of clean and dirty energy sources that the electric utilities rely upon to feed the grid.

Growth of energy-efficient data centers
More cloud-computing companies are pursuing design and siting strategies that can reduce the energy consumption of their data centres, primarily as a cost containment measure. For most companies, the environmental benefits of green data design are
generally of secondary concern.

Facebook’s decision to build its own highly-efficient data centre in Oregon that will be substantially powered by coal-fired electricity clearly underscores the relative priority for many cloud companies. Increasing
Key trends that will impact the environmental footprint of the cloud the energy efficiency of its servers and reducing the energy footprint of the infrastructure of data centres are clearly to be commended, but
efficiency by itself is not green if you are simply working to maximise output from the cheapest and dirtiest energy source available. The US EPA will soon be expanding its EnergyStar rating system to apply to data centres, but similarly does not factor in the fuel source being used to power the data centre in its rating criteria. Unfortunately, as our collective demand for computing resources increases, even the most
efficiently built data centres with the highest utilisation rates serve only to mitigate, rather than eliminate, harmful emissions.
table omitted

Yahoo! Data Center (Lockport, NY)
Yahoo! is currently building a $150 million US dollar data centre near Buffalo, New York, which will be completed in May 2010. The site was chosen in part due to the low cooling costs expected in the region and the ability to use fresh air cooling, as well as the ready access to lowcarbon and low-cost hydro power. The New York Power Authority has approved 10 megawatts of low-cost hydro power for a first phase of construction for a Yahoo! facility. A second phase, expected in the spring of 2012, would receive an additional five megawatts of power.

Apple Computer (North Carolina, US)
Last year, Apple began construction on a $1 billion US dollar data centre in western North Carolina, close to where Google also cited its recent data centre investment. North Carolina’s electricity production is
high. Coal-fired power plants account for about 60%of the State’s electricity generation, while the carbon intensity of the electricity generation in 2005 was 561.4 gCO2e/kWh.

Table omitted

Comparison of significant cloud data centres ...

From: "Make IT Green: Cloud Computing and its Contribution to Climate Change", Greenpeace, 30 March 2010

Teaching Researchers to be Entrepreneurs

InnovationACT provides free training in entrepreneurship and $70,000 of awards for ANU and University of Canberra staff and students. This year's program is being launched 6pm, 8 April 2010 at Finkel Lecture Theatre, John Curtin School of Medical Research (please RSVP). Last year I gave the participants a talk on "Innovating to lower costs and carbon emissions with ICT".

There are slides and videos of last year's presentations available online. I have suggested this be turned into a formal assessable course, so student get credit for taking part.

Responsible Conduct of Research in Australia

Greetings from the Great Hall of the Austrlaian National University in Canberra, where a Research Data Workshop on the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research by the Australian National Data Service (ANDS). There has been recent controversy over the distribution of climate change data. ANDS has been set up to help Australian researchers collect even larger collections of data online, so it is timely to have a look at the ethics of this. There will be a second workshop tomorrow on the services which ANDS provides.

ANDS has produced a short guide "Research data policy and the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research". This suggests institutions review policies on: Intellectual property (covering copyright, moral rights, patent), Data management (Storage, Retention, Disposal, Access), Conflict of interest, Collaboration and contractual agreements, Ethics and privacy and Compliance. Many of these issues are covered in my lecture notes on Metadata and Electronic Data Management.

At question time I asked if ANDS would require organisations contributing data to indicate if they comply with the code. The reason for this is that ANDS, by referring people to data sources take on an ethical and legal responsibility for what is done with that data. Even if there is no black letter law requiring the use of the code, the fact that it exists is likely to be taken into account by a court or other body assign the actions of researchers. Given that ANDS has endorsed the code, it would be difficult for ANDS to claim that the code does not apply to them. It would not be possible to say that the data ANDS refers people to is not ANDS data and they have no responsibility for it: by referring people to data ANDS takes on obligations. One way to discharge those obligations might be to record if the organisation providing the data complies to the code or another code. Data uses could then make an informed decision as to if they should use the data.

The code itself (Reference No: R39 508kbytes PDF, 41 pages) was published in 2007 by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), with help from the Australian Research Council and Universities Australia. There is also a Summary

Synopsis of publication:

The Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research guides institutions and researchers in responsible research practices and promotes integrity in research for researchers. The Code shows how to manage breaches of the Code and allegations of research misconduct, how to manage research data and materials, how to publish and disseminate research findings, including proper attribution of authorship, how to conduct effective peer review and how to manage conflicts of interest. It also explains the responsibilities and rights of researchers if they witness research misconduct.

Developed jointly by the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Research Council and Universities Australia, the Code has broad relevance across all research disciplines. It replaces the Joint NHMRC/AVCC Statement and Guidelines on Research Practice (1997).

Compliance with the Code is a prerequisite for receipt of National Health and Medical Research Council funding. ...

From: Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research, NHMRC, 2007

Collins Submarine Communication Replacement

The Defence Materiel Organisation has issued a Request for Expression of Interest for replacement of the COLLINS Class Submarine External Communication Systems.

SEA1439 Phase 5B2 Communications and Electronic Warfare Improvement Program
ATM ID ITR D08051/CEWIP
Agency: Defence Materiel Organisation
Category: 43190000 - Communications Devices and Accessories
Close Date & Time: 23-Apr-2010 12:00 pm (ACT Local time) ...
ATM Type: Expression of Interest

Description
The Commonwealth, as represented by the Submarine Combat System SPO, has a requirement to gather information in relation to Export Controls, ITAR requirements, Defence Security and WGS certification from potential suppliers for the replacement of the COLLINS Class Submarine External Communication Systems. ...

From: SEA1439 Phase 5B2 Communications and Electronic Warfare Improvement Program, Defence Materiel Organisation,Department of Defence, 29-Mar-2010

GEM IPTV Interactive Interface

Around 2001 I looked at the web based Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) standards for adding web like features to broadcast TV and was not very impressed. There is now Globally Executable MHP (GEM), a followup specification for adding web-like interaction to digital broadcast TV, IPTV and Blu-Ray players. I am also not impressed with GEM.

Like MHP, this is a formal set of standards (ETSI TS 102 819, ETSI TS 102 728, ITU Recommendation ITU-T J.202). GEM assumes the consumer device has Java and then assumes the makers of a class of devices (such as set top boxes or DVD players) define a set of features for such devices.

Like MHP the features of each GEM implementation has to be very carefully defined, as the devices will be produces in the millions and the communications media for broadcast TV and DVD players is very constrained and non-interactive. The consumer device can't simply request a different version of some content from the broadcaster or from the DVD disk, as the communication is one way. The consumer does not expect to have to keep upgrading their low cost box with more memory and software.

In the case of IPTV the situation could be different, as IP indicates "Internet Protocol" which is usually interactive. However, devices and series from the broadcast industry for IPTV tend to build the same limitations as broadcast TV in.

While I see standards such as GEM as being needed for enhancing broadcast TV and DVDs, I don;t see these as very important platforms or ones with large growth potential. The future web-like format for use on Internet-like networks is simply the actual web on the actual Internet. Rather than the Internet and the web constraining themselves to fit with the limitations set by old fashioned broadcast digital TV, I see digital TV being a legacy service on the Internet.

New UPS Battery

When I moved into the Smart Apartment I was one of the first residents. The power would go off occasionally as building work was done. So I installed a small Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS). This is a SOLA UPS 305 520. It looks like an oversize power board, with three sockets for equipment protected by the UPS and two ordinary power sockets. It has a small gel lead acid battery (Panasonic UP-RW12200CH1) which can supply power to a typical desk top computer for a few minutes while it shuts down in an orderly fashion (there is a data port on the UPS to tell the computer it is on battery power and should shut down). In practice the UPS would run for about half an hour with my modest computer set-up, longer than most power outages.

Recently the power went off and the UPS failed to operate for more than a few seconds. The battery needed replacing (they last only a few years). There is a separate battery compartment with a cover held on by one screw, so they are reasonably easy to replace. Care should be taken with a UPS, as it can generate dangerous high voltages, even when disconnected.

Gel lead acid batteries are sold by electronics shops, so I thought it would be reasonably easy to get a replacement. Unfortunately the commonly available batteries are the same dimensions as the Panasonic, but 10 mm longer. As a result the replacement would not fit in the case.

Rather than buy the battery 10mm larger, I decided to buy an even bigger one. The Panasonic unit has no capacity marking on it but appears to be about 4 AH (Ampere Hours). I noted that there was a sweet spot at 7.5 AH: the smaller batteries did not seem to be much cheaper and the larger batteries got significantly more expensive from this point on. The 12 volt 7.5 AH batteries are the size used by many UPS, home burglar alarms and the like.

So I bought a battery from Adelong in Sydney for AU$22.85. This has the same connectors as the smaller battery. I then just needed to cut a hole in the side of the battery compartment to fit the larger battery. It will not be elegant, but should work longer than the original.

By the way, you should, in general, not replace a rechargeable battery for one of a different voltage or chemistry (don't replace a 6 volt battery with a 12 volt one, or a lead-acid battery with a NiCad one). Also you need to take care you connect the battery terminals the right way around. The gel batteries have no polarised connectors: you can connect it the wrong way around. If you use the wrong battery, or connect it the wrong way, the result could be an explosion and fire. However, for those with the skills and confidence, replacing the battery in the UPS can save a lot of money.

Sydney Bus Theatre

Last night I attended "Stories from the 428" at the Sidetrack Theatre,, Sydney. The work is a series of vignettes on and around the NSW State Transit Authority, STA number 428 bus route. The route starts at Circular Quay, in the heart of Sydney and through Sydney's Newtown university student areas, then past the Sidetrack Theatre. The bus stops outside the Addison Road Centre, Marrickville where the performance was held and many of the audience were able to relate to the characters and situations portrayed (some of the characters being based on them).

The stage is set up to evoke a STA bus stop and bus (but will be familiar to any city commuter). The bills for the performance, program and cards are all cleverly designed with the same theme looking like Sydney bus tickets. The pay starts with a line of commuters wating for a bus and all reading the Metro free newspaper in synchronism. This opening reminded me of a recent production of short plays at the New Theatre, in its ballet of paper folding, as did the overall format of the production.

The vignettes are funny, insightful and in some cases confronting and frightening. One in which an obsessive character places rubber bands on his writs and describes in clinical detail the effect on his hand was very worrying. However, overall this is a warm celebration of community amongst the city.

This was week one of the show and in week two (until the 4th April, 2010) a new team of directors and writers take over exploring the same theme, so I might get back on the bus for another ride.

If attending a performance, take time to explore the Addison Road Centre,with its assortment of community and arts organisations. Also drop into Glow Worm Bicycles down the road.

You can take the 428 bus from Circular Quay to the Theatre. While the theatre pays homage to the bus, this is not reciprocated. When I tried to plan this route with the NSW travel planner, I found that the system did not know where the Addison centre was and when I tried the street address, the system wanted to send me to Goulburn, in southern NSW.

ps: Perhaps next we need some stories from Istanbul bus, tram, ferry, train to Thessaloniki. Sitting on a ferry heading under the Galata Bridge in Instanbul, the old man sitting next to me filled his chest with pride and swept his hand out in an expansive gesture to the view and said something in Turkish. I don't speak Turkish, but it was something like: "Look at My Magnificent City". In Thessaloniki, home to the original "Young Turks", plotters and spies, I happened to met an agent of a foreign government and take them for a ride on the local bus (while they were an expert international arms smuggling, they could not work out the local bus tickets).

Sahana First AGM

The first annual meeting of the the Sahana Software Foundation for members and directors will be in Washington USA, 2 May 2010. This is in conjunction with the 7th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management.

As a member, I will attend the meeting by web conference (unless someone would like to buy my air ticket). The meeting starts at 15:30 GMT, which is 1:30:00 AM Canberra Time (3 May 2010) . This reminds me of the inaugural meeting of the Internet Society of Australia, which I attended remotely from Cambridge (England) where it was about 4am and pitch black.

The agenda will look something like the following:

  08:00 Breakfast
08:30 Members Meeting
    Report of Officers to the Members
    Review of Nominations of New Members
    Election of New Members
    Review of Nominations for the Board of Directors
    Election of Board of Directors
    General Discussion
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Sahana Symposium/Mini-Conference
15:30 Breakout Meetings of Committees and Projects
17:00 Adjourn
18:00 Dinner Meeting of the Board of Directors

From: first annual meeting of the the Sahana Software Foundation, 2010