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Toyota was recalling almost one million Prius cars amid safety concerns with the model's steering. Toyota Prius NHW20 model vehicles produced in Japan from July 2003 to November 2005 were being recalled. The recall affects 2596 Australian cars and 990,000 internationally. Toyota says on some vehicles, under certain conditions, the steering intermediate shaft may become loose or develop a crack. There have been no reported incidents of this condition in Australia.

The recall also affects some Corolla and Avensis models that are not available in Australia. "Owners of an affected vehicle will most likely become aware of a problem with the steering as a result of increased noise such as a rattle or a `knocking' sound," Toyota said. "In the worst case, if the vehicle continues to be operated under these conditions, the steering connection may separate or fracture, which could result in loss of steering." Owners of affected vehicles will be contacted by letter in early June requesting them to contact their nearest Toyota dealer to arrange for the problem to be fixed.

Source






WINDFARM REALISM GROWING IN GERMANY

Germany is the world's biggest user of wind power, and it has ambitious plans to build even more wind turbines. It has decided that generating nuclear power is not the way forward, and it has decided eventually to close all the country's existing nuclear power stations. The country's great hope for is for a future of green energy, and in particular wind power. However, some observers are now questioning whether all the investment in wind power makes economic sense.

Alsleben is a small market town in eastern Germany on the banks of the Saale river. It's a quiet place surrounded by rolling farmland, but for the past few weeks the people here have been getting used to some new neighbours. On the hills above them are 37 giant wind turbines. Alsleben is now the site of one of the biggest wind farms in the country. Close up the engineering is impressive. The blades for these wind turbines are longer than the wing of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. They are all built in the shape of aerofoils, in order to withstand speeds of up to 270 km an hour. The site is owned by the US industrial conglomerate, General Electric. It is convinced that wind energy makes economic sense. GE reckons the demand for wind power in other European countries will grow in the same way that it has in Germany.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, Germany is committed to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions. Wind power has obvious advantages as the electricity it generates is non-polluting. Germany's politicians plan to have 20% of the country's energy coming from renewable sources like wind by 2020.

But a row is brewing over the cost of building the power lines which will be needed. Germany's energy agency says this will cost 1.1bn euros ($1.4bn) or an extra 17 euros a year for each household. But energy specialist Professor Wolfgang Pfaffenberger, of Bremen International University, says these figures are too low and it will be domestic customers who will foot the bill. "It is a big problem for industrial users to pay these extra prices because other countries have cheaper energy. To keep the jobs here, and stop businesses from leaving, more of the costs will be pushed to the domestic sector."

Alsleben's new wind farm is designed to supply electricity to 30,000 homes, but when the wind stops blowing, the blades stop turning and the power output falls to zero. Critics say this underlines one essential drawback: you can't depend on wind for energy. Even if you build wind farms you still need conventional power plants in case the wind fails. "We face many hours a year with more or less no wind," says Martin Fuchs, chief executive of one of Germany's biggest electricity grid operators, E.On Netz. "We can save only a very small number of conventional power stations." Surges of wind-generated electricity risk overloading the grid, he adds, causing power blackouts.

These are charges the wind power industry robustly rejects. Christian Kjaer, of the European Wind Energy Association, says all electricity grids are designed to cope with power fluctuations. "Fossil fuel or nuclear power stations are truly intermittent," he argues. "You never see 1000 megawatts of wind energy shutting down in a second, yet that's what conventional power stations do."

For now, few in Germany are questioning the country's wind energy programme. The savings in terms of greenhouse gas emissions are politically popular. Yet there is a lingering question-mark over the cost of all this, and whether building so many wind turbines truly makes economic sense

Source







COOL IT OVER GLOBAL WARMING, CANADIAN TORIES TOLD



A climate scientist is warning Alberta politicians not to get caught up in the hysteria over global warming. Timothy Ball likens the furor over climate change to the apprehension over the Y2K problem, which turned out to be a costly dud. The former University of Winnipeg professor told an all-Tory legislature committee yesterday that dramatic climate changes are common in history and they shouldn't get too excited about the greenhouse gases being blamed for global warming. "I understand that you have to respond," he said. "You can't ignore any environmental issue, but you have to set priorities."

He claimed Ottawa spent $5 billion to avoid predicted year 2000 computer crashes, while countries that spent nothing had no problems. "You can spend billions with the wrong priorities because people are so concerned and their fears are preyed upon," said Ball, a Victoria, B.C., consultant. He claimed Environment Canada has spent $3.7 billion on climate change over five years and has been forced to close weather stations to pay for it.

Pembina Institute policy analyst Chris Severson-Baker said he was surprised the committee would provide a forum for "a climate change debunker." "The scientific consensus is so strong on this that to say things like that is like trying to argue the earth is flat. It's just false," he said. "People in a position to do something ought to be focused on coming up with creative policy solutions."

Environment Minister Guy Boutilier said Alberta will reduce carbon dioxide emissions regardless of disagreement among scientists on the issue. "We'll be the first province in Canada with strong regulations on carbon dioxide emissions, and I believe it's a prudent approach in managing risk."

A spokesman for federal Environment Minister Rona Ambrose said the Conservatives are committed to reducing greenhouse gases, but not at any cost. "It's been pretty clear the previous government was willing to spend anything with little result," Ryan Sparrow told the Sun. "We're focusing on a more holistic approach."

While some MLAs applauded Ball's presentation on behalf of the Friends of Science, Neil Brown suggested Ball was playing games with statistics and demanded to know who is funding the organization. "I have never received any money from any oil and gas company," Ball responded.

The Edmonton Sun, 30 May 2006






IF YOU LIKE KYOTO, YOU PAY FOR IT, CANADIAN PM SAYS

Provinces are free to pay for it themselves if they want to meet Kyoto's greenhouse-gas reduction targets, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the House of Commons yesterday in an apparent rejection of Quebec's $328-million request for a provincial Kyoto plan.

Yesterday's meeting of the House of Commons was the first since Quebec Premier Jean Charest and the rest of the National Assembly supported a motion urging Ottawa to meet its Kyoto reduction targets. The motion also called for the federal government to help finance Quebec's emission reduction programs, a proposition Bloc Quebecois Gilles Duceppe asked Mr. Harper to support yesterday. "This government encourages discussions between the federal government and the provinces on climate change and programs that can improve the situation," Mr. Harper replied in French. "If a provincial government wants to take certain decisions, their own decisions in their own jurisdictions, they can also use their own money."

Public support for Mr. Harper's Conservatives has been on a steady rise for months in Quebec, and Tory strategists openly acknowledge the province is key to the party's hopes for a majority in the next election. But Mr. Duceppe, whose party repeatedly raised Kyoto and the National Assembly vote with Mr. Harper during Question Period, said the Conservatives' environment policies will ultimately hurt them in Quebec.

Mr. Duceppe predicted that "the real face of that government" will be revealed through positions on the environment and issues such as the gun registry and the fiscal imbalance.The environment continues to dominate questions from the Liberals, Bloc and the NDP in light of the Conservatives' decision not to continue funding several Liberal environment programs and to challenge the basic principles of the international Kyoto Protocol. Mr. Harper's government has countered that the recent budget pledged billions toward public transit and that a full "Made in Canada" plan for the environment will be released this fall as part of a new Clean Air Act.

The governing party received a political boost yesterday after Liberal MP John Godfrey raised a leaked report from the C.D. Howe Institute that he said shows that under the previous government, Canada was on its way to meeting 80 per cent of its targets by 2010, two years before the 2012 deadline. Environment Minister Rona Ambrose responded by saying the report also found that the Liberal plan would have spent billions on purchasing credits overseas, doing little to reduce Canadian emissions. "I am really glad that the Conservatives were elected so that we can make sure that the pipe-dream plan goes up in smoke," Ms. Ambrose said.

The Globe and Mail, 30 May 2006

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Many people would like to be kind to others so Leftists exploit that with their nonsense about equality. Most people want a clean, green environment so Greenies exploit that by inventing all sorts of far-fetched threats to the environment. But for both, the real motive is to promote themselves as wiser and better than everyone else, truth regardless.

Global warming has taken the place of Communism as an absurdity that "liberals" will defend to the death regardless of the evidence showing its folly. Evidence never has mattered to real Leftists

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