Recently there’s been good news that the Boloco Rock wind farm project in the Monaro region is still in the pipeline. Here’s some information about a wind farm that’s been successfully operating in Australia since 2001.
The Albany wind farm is 12 km south-west of Albany in Western Australia, at an elevation of 80 metres above sea level, right on the coast. The height, proximity to the coast and the transmission infrastructure give this wind farm an exceptional location.
The Albany wind farm has twelve 1800kW wind turbines, 65 metres high with blades 35 metres long. At the time of installation the turbines were some of the largest available in the world, and were the largest ever installed in the Southern Hemisphere. They operate automatically, and maximise power output from the wind speed and direction.
The blades of the Albany turbines spin slowly, at a top speed of 22 revolutions per minute in the strongest winds, equalling one revolution about every three seconds.
In the year 2001 the wind farm supplied the equivalent of 75% of the electricity requirements of the city of Albany, that is, about 15,000 houses. Occasionally the wind farm exports energy through the power grid. The Albany wind farm lowers greenhouse gas emissions by about 77,000 tonnes per year.  
In 2008 the plans were released to expand the wind farm by adding six new turbines. Technological developments in the years since 2001 mean that the six new turbines, though the same size as the older ones, will provide 30% more power, and enable the farm to supply up to ninety percent of Albany’s electricity requirements.
Sources: ABC News 18/02/08 Verve Plans fewer turbines for wind farm expansion
www.verveenergy.com.au/mainContent/sustainableEnergy/OurPortfolio/Albany_Wind_Farm.html

Most Australians own a mobile phone and replace it every two years. That’s a lot of old mobile phones lying around in people’s drawers. As a pretty unmotivated mobile phone owner who uses mine for keeping track of family members during complicated outings, playing “Snake” in boring moments on my old phone and taking photos on my new one (very exciting; all I have to do now is work out how to get them onto the computer), I am already onto my second phone. And yes, the old one is lying around in my room. But why not just leave it there, or throw it into the bin?
Mobile phones contain valuable metals such as gold, nickel and cadmium. Ninety percent of these metals can be recovered. Plastics from phones can also be recovered and reused. One tonne of circuit boards can yield almost the same amount of precious metals as 110 tonnes of gold ore, 123 tonnes of silver bearing ore and 11 tonnes of copper sulphide ore.  These are non renewable metals whose extraction from the earth is hugely expensive in terms of energy, cost to the environment, and labour. MobileMuster is the official national recycling program of the mobile phone industry in Australia; this year’s aim is to collect 130 tonnes of discarded mobiles.
MobileMuster phone collection points can be found in Cooma at Cooma-Monaro Shire Council’s offices, the Cooma Landfill and at Cooma TAFE College.  There is a collection point at Snowy River Shire Council’s office in Berridale, as well as at two locations in Jindabyne. All you need to do is delete personal information from your disused phone and take it to one of these points.
For more information pick up a brochure at your shire council, or go to: www.mobilemuster.com.au

End of January. Hot. Hot. Hot. Too darn hot. I’m not challenging any climate change sceptics to an argument, but when I first moved to Cooma in late 1984, any evening outing in summer required taking a jacket. Lately perhaps, a jacket soaked in iced water would be the thing to take.
The news is full of power cuts due to overloading of the electricity system. It seems odd to me that more power goes in to cooling than it does to heating… but then, you know how long I’ve lived in Cooma now… anyway. It is logical that when the temperature is over thirty, people want, or in the case of the old and infirm, need, to be in a cooled environment. What bothers me is when, going about one’s business, one enters a shop or office and after a while finds that the clothes that were appropriate-to-too-warm for outside are completely inadequate. It’s nice to be cool. It’s pretty stupid to have to put on a jumper to stay indoors in summer. I read not long ago that the excessiveness of air-conditioning in modern times can be attributed to the wearing of business suits by men. They have to look spiffy. The suit is the only way. The suit is completely unsuitable for our climate in summer. Instead of changing the way they dress, they use air conditioning to a frigid degree. Whole cities are built on this.
I urge everyone to do several things before they set an air conditioner more than a few degrees below the ambient temperature:  1. Dress appropriately for the weather; 2. Open your windows and doors when it’s warmer outside than in, and close them when it’s hotter (trust me, Dr Karl agrees with me on this one); 3. Close the curtains (rubber backed keep out more heat).  And don’t pour cold air from your shop out through the open door, nice as it is for passers-by. Then we might avoid power cuts.
Some current news information: www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/30/2478131.htm