Hi there fellow converts,

thought i'd start a bit of a commentary on my take on the current situation in australia as far as energy and sustainability goes. It's something I'm passionate about, and i think its omething everyone should atleast be aware of, given the current world climate (climate in every sense of the word).

As keen dieselers you guys are all automatically aware of the importance of fuel economy, or you would have petrol guzzlers... no offence ot the petrol heads either.

I know some of you guys are into bio-fuel as well, which for me is very encouraging. My father has been making his own bio-d and running it in golfs and a 240D merc for almost 4 years i think it is now. having to drive 100km round trip to work each day means he's saving thousands per year on fuel, with an outlay in time and effort at home. but even then, the principal behind bio-d alone is enough for dad to make it, as it is carbon neutral and cleaner than dino-diesel.

Some of you may have heard that ABG, the Australian Biodiesel Group, has recently brought in their new factory outside Brisbane. Unfortunately, they also announced that due to lack of support from federal and state governments, further plans to expand are not being considered at this time. They will instead turn theire focus to the US, which for all its current bad politics, is more supportive of biodiesel research than we are, apparrently.

This is saddening news for me, as it shows that although there is significant industrial and commercial interest in building this sustainable energy infrastructure, there is clearly no political support for it.

Even more discouraging are certain other aspects of the encumbant industrial commercial and political heads policies seeping down the the next generation of engineers and specialists, and the population as a whole:

In the last week, as a member of Engineers Australia I have recieved invitations to tour the new coal loading facitly at Kooragang island, set to increase total output of the facility to 111 Mega tonnes/year (thats 111,000,000 tonnes exported); and to an information/promotion night for "the hybrid evolution", a seminar on the benefits of hybrid technology, and a toyota prius on display.

given that both of these areas are, to my point of view, dead end roads to an unsustainable future, it seems annoying to me that separate industry orgainisations like IEAust are placing such positive wraps on these areas that I think i ought to be trying to think AROUND, and not WITH.

Anyway, if anyone has some comments i'd love to hear what you guys all think.

Cheers,

Aydan