Griffith Hack Clean & Sustainable Technologies

Paul Evans (left) from Bush Heritage Australia with Tony Ward (right)

This year we decided to donate the money that we usually spend on Christmas cards to two worthy causes – Bush Heritage Australia, a national, independent non-profit organisation focused on the preservation of Australia’s biodiversity, and The Smith Family, an independent non-profit organisation working to help disadvantaged Australian children and their families.

John van Delft (right) from The Smith Family with Tony Ward (left)

The Chairman of Griffith Hack, Tony Ward, presented cheques to Paul Evans from Bush Heritage Australia and John van Delft from The Smith Family.

We look forward to working with you in 2009.

Best regards,
The GH Clean & Sustainable Technologies Group

The Australian Government has released details of its Renewable Energy Target Scheme which aims to source 20 per cent of electricity used national from renewable resources by 2020. The draft legislation includes a new rebate for households, small businesses and community groups that install solar systems. Read more on the ABC News website. All the draft legislation is available to download from the Department of Climate Change website.

Did you know that the state of Victoria has over 4GW of wind power in the planning and construction stages?  This compares favourably with large coal fired power plants such as Mt Piper in the state of NSW with 1.4GW of capacity.  More information on wind projects in Victoria can be found on the Department of Primary Industries website.

According to a report in The East African, G-77 and China propose a global Climate Development Fund to compensate the holders of patents for clean and sustainable technologies, in return for the transfer of the associated technology to a developing nation. They acknowledge intellectual property related to research and development and the associated costs and brainpower expended in developing such technology.

In a surprise move, the Australian Government has announced that is will not restrict the importation of carbon credits generated under the Clean Development Mechanism (CMD) or Joint Implementation (JI) into Australia.  Europe also allows limited importation of these credits.  Credits from other nations with emissions trading may also be imported provided they fall under the Kyoto Protocol.  This has profound implications for the strategic patenting of new clean and sustainable technologies.  The announcement was made in the white paper on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme discussed in an earlier posting.

The clean development mechanism rewards sustainable development in developing nations with Certified Emission Reduction (CERs), a type of carbon credit, while the Joint Implementation is a similar scheme for developed nations. 

The CDM and JI schemes promote technology transfer between nations, creating new markets for clean & sustainable technologies, especially in the developing world.  Protecting these technologies in the new markets should be considered.

The distribution of CDM projects across developing nations is charted here.  No exports of carbon pollution permits will be allowed under the Australian scheme.

An Australian-led proposal to extend the Clean Development Mechanism to cover Clean Coal was rejected at the United Nations climate conference in Poznan.  Despite being supported by a majority of countries, Brazil led the minority opposition. The Clean Development Mechanism provides emission-reduction credits to projects that reduce carbon emissions in less developed countries that can be spent or traded in developed countries such as Australia and European nations. Read more at The Australian, The Canberra Times, CNN, and the Telegraph (UK).

The Australian government has released details of the proposed Australian emissions trading scheme, The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. 

The reduction targets are between 5% – %15 by 2020 over 2000 emission levels, with a 60% reduction by 2050.  It should be noted however, that because the Australian population is projected to grow strongly that the reductions per capita are 34% – %41 over 1990 levels.  New technology will play a critical role in meeting the per capita targets.

As reported, the Australian Federal Government will spend $500 million over the next 18 months on renewable energy, with a focus on solar power for remote Australian centres.  This is expected to encourage projects like those of Giffith Hack client Solar Systems who are building a $420 million large-scale solar power plant – the biggest and most efficient solar photovoltaic power station in the world – in north-west Victoria.

Entries are now due (until 15 January) for the 2009 Greener Gadgets Design Competition. This will be the second competition, the first of which kicked off in January 2008 with over 1000 entries. Competition rules are available on the site, with both group and multiple entries available. If you are lacking a green design and cannot enter the competition, you can also attend the one-day Greener Gadgets conference in New York in late February next year.

Prof. Jacobson of Stanford University has assessed and reported the impact of various clean and sustainable energy technologies on climate, health and energy security.  On balance, his ranking of the technologies from best to worst are wind power, concentrated solar power, geothermal power, tidal power, solar photovoltaic, wave power, hydroelectric power and then equally nuclear power & coal carbon capture and sequestration.  The original article is here.

Dr Justin Blows presented at the 3rd International Solar Energy Society Conference at Sydney, November 2008.  Justin discussed the interrelationship between Emission Trading Schemes, such as the Australian Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, the innovation chain for low carbon technologies and the patent system.

“Patents facilitate the market accumulation and diffusion of low carbon technologies” stated Justin. “Parties to technology transfer transactions and joint ventures are looking for certainty, and patents are an excellent way of providing legal clarity which promotes the technology”

A copy of the presentation is available on request