Opportunities for Australia?

The issue of the environment / global warming is starting to re-assert itself on the Australia political radar. I have some interest in this, and tonight, I read the summary of the report on nuclear energy.

The key points were:

• Australia currently is known to have 38% of Uranium reserves; the largest deposit being the Olympic Dam site, currently owned by BHP;
• Nuclear energy is a 'safe' energy source, as can be seen by its implementation in a number of countries, notably, France, Sweden, Hungary, etc. which nuclear energy for more than 33% of energy requirements;
• Australia is an ideal continent (little or no seismic activity) for both nuclear power plants and nuclear waste disposal (e.g. Simpson desert!);
• Greenhouse gases could be reduced by 15-20% with the broad-based implementation of nuclear energy

The Australian government, next year, will reap its third 15+ billion dollar surplus; I contend that this is an ideal opportunity to commission the construction of nuclear energy plants to, provide for both current and future generations. What it requires is just some foresight, vision, and drive. There is a precedent - this occurred in 1949 when Ben Chifley commissioned the Snowy Mountains hydro scheme (Australia's largest renewable energy source) and we all aware of the obvious advantages this brought to Australia (skilled workers, multiculturalism, 3.5% of Australia's energy requirements, etc.). It is a time for change!

And lastly, I read that in France they are going to commission a Nuclear Fusion energy plant - wow, this could be the first wonders of the world in the 21st century!

Must see movie ...

Ok, I am not the first, nor will be the last, but I thought I would join the blogosphere to support the upcoming movie - 'The Inconvenient Truth'. I had just read about the 'Climate Crisis' in last month's Wired and recently in the Age. This is a movie about the global environment and what humans are doing to the planet (let alone what is going to happen when China and India become industralised over the next 10-20 years!). It is presented from the eyes of Al Gore who I honestly don't know much about, but having read some background about him, I think he is truly inspirational.

What I am frustrated about is Australia's ambivalence to these issues, principally:

• why do we not hear from the Greens (third strongest political party in Australia and supposedly biased to environmental issues)
• why is Australia not part of Kyoto?

I have been impressed, however, with the speed that the nuclear energy argument has arrived on Australia's political scene, it is this (and hopefully many other) environmental debates that Australia should demand of its politicians. Rant over ;)

Environmental investing in Australia?

Ok, some people know that I am interested in ASX. A thought that has bubbling in the background for a while now is whether I want to start investing in the environment.

I have not always been actively interested in the environment, but like many others, I am starting to be aware that it really is time that individuals (prior to corporations, governments, etc.) take some responsibility for how we live and our environmental footprint (anyone interested in this may want to look at the May 2006 issue of Wired - it has some fantastic articles on the subject).

Anyway, I digress - so how do I invest in the environment in the ASX. Well, a v.good candidate which I heard about a 1-2 weeks ago is Babcock + Brown Environmental Investment (BEI). BEI has interests in a number of companies: Denco, Natural Fuels, Southern Oil Refining, Earth Power Technologies. So what do these companies do, well there is management of:

Bio-Ethanol Plant(s) - produces ethanol (E85 - ethanol 85%); ethanol can used as a fuel for automobiles (indeed in Brazil, 40% of fuel is provided by bio-ethanol); it is based on the principle of extracting ethanol from crops such as sugar, corn.

Bio-Diesel Plant(s) - produces diesel; based on the principle of extracting diesel from vegetable oils (e.g. soybeans) and animal fats (e.g. lard).

Waste-Energy Plant(s) - produces electricity; based on the principle of converting organic food waste to electricity/fertiliser (via bacteria - anaerobic digesters)

These plants are based in US, and Australia. In the long-term, this may be one alternative to investing in renewable energy.

The price of BEI is displayed below:



I have not purchased this yet, but definitely one to have on the watchlist.