Greens target tots, teeth and solar power


THE Greens have urged disenchanted Labor voters to think twice about supporting the Coalition and instead switch their vote to the Greens, pledging free preschool, more dental funding and solar thermal power plants.

The Greens' federal leader, Bob Brown, joined candidates at Balmain Town Hall yesterday for the party's campaign launch in a suburb that was once Labor heartland. Balmain and Marrickville are the two lower house seats the party is tipped to win on March 26.

The upper house MP David Shoebridge said there was a clear appetite for change that would not be met by the Coalition, which is widely backed to win the election and could, with the support of the Shooters and Fishers and Christian Democratic parties, control the upper house.
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''Real change isn't electing a new government that is just going to outsource, to downsize, to franchise and to privatise our key assets and public services,'' Mr Shoebridge said.

Three big policy commitments were made at the launch, including three new baseload solar thermal plants in the state's central west. The first plant would cost $2.1 billion, paid for by issuing $525 million of Green Bonds for each of the four years of construction.

The party also pledged to provide two years' free preschool education for every child, a program targeting 10,000 children in its first stage at a cost of $128 million, and to boost dental care funding by $102.5 million.

Senator Brown said the Coalition leader, Barry O'Farrell, should not be trusted on the environment: ''We've already seen a much more moderate Coalition regime [in Victoria] bring 400 cattle into the delicate alpine national parks of Australia, with no scientific study.''

A recent Newspoll showed primary support for the Greens plummeting 6 points to 11 per cent, while a recent Galaxy poll showed a boost in Greens support in Marrickville to 44 per cent of the primary vote compared with Labor's 33 per cent.

The Coalition yesterday dismissed the Greens' attacks and pointed to their federal alliance with Labor on issues such as the carbon tax.

The Greens have ruled out preferencing Labor in the upper house and most lower house seats.


http://www.smh.com.au/national/state-election-2011/greens-target-tots-teeth-and-...

They, The Greens, have a chance in Western Australia to make more inroads....

...simply because: Barnett is a joke and so is Ripper.

I am a default Labor voter but I will not vote for Eric Ripper ever!

I will probably vote Liberal instead.

Probably not what you want to hear but I want Ripper to get lost and this is the best way to make that happen!

My rationale is simply to get rid of Ripper and then I will switch back to voting Labor and possibly think about voting them 2 with Greens 1......BUT THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN UNTIL I MAKE SURE RIPPER IS TOLD TO GET THE (&^% OUT OF MY HOUSE!

IT'S  MY VOTE AND I WILL DO WHAT I LIKE WITH IT!   

All Australians know the Greens are not interested in free, clean energy and fuel, through public consolidated revenue they are paid price spruikers for the organized crime gangs running carbon trading scams through privatized energy companies and Oil cartels.

frenchyjen70 wrote on Mar 15^th, 2011 at 6:44pm:




Yes sunshine is so expensive to create ... we have to build a star, mine sunshine and transport it.

Coal that is subsidized by the environment and human health and lowers Australian living standards is cheap ... and as we see in Japan, nuclear is clean, safe and oh so cheap also.





Gee

frenchyjen70 wrote on Mar 15^th, 2011 at 7:07pm:

I don't think miss ugly understands irony!

No sorry.... whatever that words is I can't think of at the moment! 

Researchers Use Molten Salt Mixtures to Boost Solar Thermal Plant Efficiency


Siemens aims to enhance the solar thermal plant’s efficiency and in turn reduce power generation costs. Hence, the company’s researchers intend to use molten salts, a blend of potassium and sodium nitrates, in solar thermal projects.


To achieve this aim, Siemens plans to build a pilot facility in Portugal for testing application of molten salts as a heat transfer medium in parabolic power plants. The parabolic power plants employ concave parabolic mirrors, which focuses sunlight using an absorber tube. The tube allows the heat transfer medium to flow through it. Later, the heat gets transformed into power by a generator and a steam turbine. Heat transfer medium’s highest working temperature determines the thermal power process efficiency.

University of Evora in Portugal has been chosen for construction of the pilot facility. The plant will be equipped with a steam generator, pipework system, solar components and pumps to manage the temperatures and properties of heat transfer media and molten salts. Siemens’ scientists will use the pilot results for implementation at commercial plants with more than 50 MW of installed powers. Federal Ministry for the Environment, Germany is funding  this solar thermal pilot plant project.

Siemens Corporate Technology and Siemens Energy researchers work on a major goal to enhance properties and composition of molten salts. Molten salts will be used as an alternative for thermal oil. This boosts the working temperatures ranging from 400° to over 500° Celsius. High vapor pressure and extremely flammable property are major drawbacks of thermal oil, whereas molten salts have about zero vapor pressure and they are non-flammable. Hence, power plant operations will be safe without pressure. In addition, molten salt mixtures possess greater heat storage ability and they are economical for use.

http://www.azom.com/news.asp?newsID=28387

____ wrote on Mar 15^th, 2011 at 7:44pm:

I could have sworn someone was already doing this some 2 years ago. It may not have worked out as planned but maybe I have missed new information.

It sounded good, especially that it holds the heat for much longer periods. Good for when there is a lack of sunlight.

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Mar 15^th, 2011 at 8:33pm:

What did you say speghetti, your sluring