Climate Change Mitigation

Short description of the use of wind power in Australia, Western Australia and the rest of the world

Wind Power How it works Generate electricity from wind via a turbine 3 blades connected to a tower turbine which propels an electric generator Form of clean, renewable energy   In Australia In Australia 33.7% of clean energy is wind power 4.9% of all electricity in Australia is generated by wind power 76 wind farms   In Western Australia 3 wind farms: Collgar, Emu Downs, Walkaway  Collgar Wind Farm has 111 wind turbines, enough energy to power over 150k homes.  Walkaway wind farm one of the windiest regions and has 54 wind turbines, enough to power 64k homes Collgar displaces about 660,000 tonnes of GHG emissions per year, and Walkaway displaces around 300,000 tonnes   Globally Wind power makes up for 3.7% of the world's energy usage Enough energy to power around 6 million households There are over 314,000 wind turbines in over 80 countries in the world USA, China, UK, Brazil and Denmark have all significantly reduced GHG emissions by using wind power USA, China and Germany all produced the highest amount of megawatt hours from wind power last year 26% increase in wind power usage in USA since 2001 China had the largest growth of wind power installations - 92,000 wind turbines 42% of energy in Denmark comes from wind power with an aim of 50% by 2020 and 100% by 2050          

Brief description on reforestation including the Eden and WeForest Projects

Reforestation Reforestation is the process of restoring vegetation and flora to a bare area of land which was previously vegetated. Greenhouse gas emissions are greatly reduced as a result of reforestation as trees absorb and store carbon, this is known as a carbon sink Trees absorb around 22kg of carbon dioxide every year which can amount to 1 tonne (1000kg) in their lifetime Reforestation has the potential to reduce carbon in the atmosphere by 25% by 2050   The Eden Project Major reforestation projects occuring in Ethiopia, Madagascar, Haiti and Nepal There have been almost 16 million trees planted by Eden project in Ethiopia 116 million trees in Madagascar - 1.4 million trees per month over 1.5 million trees planted in Haiti WeForest Established in Belgium in 2010 Operates in Brazil, India, Phillippines, West and East Africa and Madagascar Since 2010 WeForest has planted over 12.5 million trees Educated thousands of locals on the importance of vegetation and impacts of climate change              

Brief insight on the benefits of dietary changes to cow's diets as well in addition to advancements in the USA and here in Australia

Dietary Changes in Cows The food which cows consume results in the emission of copious amounts of methane into the atmosphere. This is emitted via the wastes in which the animals produce, through their faeces and farting.   Suggested dietary changes include the use of the following additives Canola meal Brewer's grain hominy meal Dried distiller's grain All of these listed are used to increase the amounts of fat, tannin and oil content of a cow's diet. This increase reduces the amount of methane produced as they suppress the micro-organism which creates methane, known as methanogen archaea These supplements are also more easily digestible than grass or hay which reduce the amount of fermentation that occurs.   Australia In dairy farms in South Australia, the trialling and implementation of dietary changes has taken place including the previously listed additives, plus a bunch more.   United States In the USA, a chemical called 3-nitrooxypropanol (NOP) has been trialled and has shown to reduce methane emissions by 30%. Works as a methane inhibitor Stops the last step of the micro-organism, supressing it from producing methane The long term impact on the cow's themselves however, is unknown and it will be awhile till the NOP is avaliable to the agriculture indistry