Category: News

Despite living in the ‘Digital Age’, Australia is currently not prepared to fully take advantage of the services afforded by next generation broadband according to a new groundbreaking research report released today.

Developed by the Australian Centre for Broadband Innovation (ACBI) and CSIRO’s Digital Productivity and Services Flagship, the ‘Broadband Impact and Challenges’ report provides fresh insights and evidence to better understand the impact and opportunities offered by next generation broadband as well as advice on the necessary steps needed to mitigate the associated risks. The report was compiled out of key findings from comprehensive community surveys, interviews with businesses and thought leaders as well as detailed analyses of existing data sources and peer-reviewed economic and social research.

“Although we are living in an increasingly ‘Digital Age’ full of smart devices, tele-working and social networks, one in five Australian adults still do not use the internet,” said Colin Griffith, Director of the Australian Centre for Broadband Innovation.

“Recognising that more and more government and business services are delivered online, a key focus of our research is to understand the behaviour and capabilities of adoption and use of next generation broadband. Across the board we have found that giving more people and businesses the skills and confidence to use these broadband services effectively, will not only have a positive impact on their quality of life and business success, but also create broader economic benefits.”

Interviews with industry and government stakeholders cited a lack of certainty about the future rollout of Australia’s broadband infrastructure as being a significant barrier in helping them prepare for the future.

“Like other major Australian infrastructure projects such as the Snowy River Mountain Scheme and the Sydney Harbour Bridge Harbour Bridge, the debate around our national broadband infrastructure has predominately focused on cost and scale. While these are important discussions, our research highlighted that government, industry and the community need to invest in capability building through training and investment programs if we are to fully realise the benefits of next generation broadband,” said Mr Griffith.

The report also includes a number of key insights to help government and businesses prepare for some of the potential threats which next generation broadband may bring.

“Along with its many benefits, next generation broadband will also create challenges for Australia, accelerating disruption to businesses, jobs and services. If we are to mitigate the potential threats than active leadership at all levels of society and across different organisations is needed to ensure that there is strategic investment in capacity building and innovation to help safeguard our digital future,” said Mr Griffith.

“Ultimately, it is the capabilities of every person and business that will determine the overall level of benefit realised for Australia in terms of jobs, improvement in productivity and quality of life.”

The ‘Broadband Impact and Challenges’ report was officially launched to a group of industry and government stakeholders at an event in Sydney this morning.

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Australia’s electricity landscape could change significantly in the future and consumers will be deciding just what that future will look like.

A new report from the Future Grid Forum, Change and choice: The Future Grid Forum’s analysis of Australia’s potential electricity pathways to 2050, looks at a range of opportunities and presents four scenarios, not predictions, through which we can view potential futures for our national electricity system.

CSIRO Energy Flagship Chief Economist, Paul Graham, said recent declining demand, higher electricity prices and strong adoption of roof-top solar panels have changed the industry’s view of what is plausible in the future and trained a focus on affordability challenges.

“All of the choices in the Future Grid Forum scenarios have consequences for the price of electricity, something that has significantly impacted consumers in recent years with the average household electricity price increasing by two-thirds between 2007 and 2012,” Mr Graham said.

“Electricity will not get cheaper in the coming decades, but bills can be reduced through the adoption of energy efficiency, peak demand management and on-site generation.

“These steps, in combination with general wages growth, means the share of income average households spend on electricity is projected to be similar – shifting marginally from 2.5 per cent in 2013 to between 2.3 and 2.9 per cent in 2050 depending on the scenario.”

The Forum also projected that technology will allow more sophisticated ways of managing household demand during peak times through the introduction of devices such as smart air conditioners and in-home storage systems.

“Better strategies for peak demand management could save two cents per kilowatt hour or $1.4 billion per annum on distribution costs for households,” Mr Graham said.

Electricity has traditionally been a service with which consumers have not proactively engaged, but the Forum’s scenarios present a number of ways for people to take greater control of how they consume and produce electricity.

“This proactive shift could potentially influence the business model for the electricity sector, encouraging the emergence of new services to supply an individually tailored product – not dissimilar to the telecommunications industry shift from a one-size-fits-all landline telephone system to a wide variety of mobile and associated data and entertainment services,” Mr Graham said.

“One of the Forum’s scenarios looks at the option for around a third of consumers to disconnect from the electricity grid through the use of on-site generation using technologies like rooftop solar panels and battery storage; and this is projected to be economically viable from around 2030 to 2040.

“Under the full range of scenarios Australia could see on-site generation grow from the current figure of 8 per cent to reach between 18 and 45 per cent of total generation by 2050, but mostly while staying connected and using the grid as an electricity trading platform,” Mr Graham said.

The Forum findings are a starting point from which all stakeholders can begin to understand, manage and benefit from changes to the electricity system.

“This is an extraordinary time of change for Australia’s electricity industry and the Forum partners see the release of this report as an opportunity to begin a national conversation to decide the right answers for the sector, its stakeholders and, most importantly, all Australians,” Mr Graham said.

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The model, to be unveiled at the 20th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM2013), aims to forecast future mine water needs and will help the industry address the challenges of both excessive water and insufficient water on mine sites. The research was conducted in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, home to Australia’s largest coal reserves, and one of the most highly variable climates in the world.

Professor Damian Barrett, head of CSIRO’s Water in the Resources Sector research, said a key challenge for the industry is to maintain mine water storage at an optimal level to ensure water security for mine operations during drought but also to eliminate unregulated discharges during flood periods.

“The coal mining industry is accountable for managing its mine water use, including complying with discharge regulations,” said Professor Barrett. “Our research is demonstrating how to reach the ‘Goldilocks’ state in water management. That is, not having too much or too little water but having just the right amount of water on mine sites for when it is needed.”

The model is depicted through three perspectives: the business perspective capturing the mine operation practices within a mine or across several mines or companies; the environmental perspective representing all the climate change patterns such as rainfall and catchment histories and weather forecast data; and the decision perspective which considers tradeoffs by demonstrating how to develop strategies to best meet business needs while considering environmental constraints and opportunities.

“We applied the scenario model to a number of constructed case studies including single mine sites and multiple mines sites, with the multiple mine site case studies exploring water sharing and trading opportunities among mine sites,” said Professor Barrett. “This methodology provides a rigorous and objective technique for developing management strategies and assessing risk.”

The model was developed as part of a suite of broader CSIRO research in the coal mines of the Bowen Basin. Research in the region is providing strategies to help the industry forecast mine water quantity and quality, improve water use efficiency onsite and improve understanding of the impacts of mine water use on regional water.

“Through improved seasonal climate forecasts, the assessment of the effectiveness of water sharing and trading among multiple sites and the cost benefit analysis of establishing water management infrastructure, our research is helping to guide the coal industry towards better water management that balances the needs of business with the needs of the environment,” said Professor Barrett.

The comprehensive suite of work undertaken by CSIRO through its Water for a Healthy Country Flagship to improve water resource management in the mining sector will be presented at MODSIM on Thursday 5 December. MODSIM runs from Sunday 1 to Friday 6 December 2013 at the Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide, South Australia. The MODSIM theme for this year is ‘Adapting to change: the multiple roles of modelling’ and is expected to attract in excess of 800 national and international delegates.

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Written by academic experts with deep subject expertise, the book shares knowledge on diverse topics: from animals and agriculture, climate and energy, the body and medical myths, technology and more. Curious readers will discover accessible answers to questions such as: what is gravity? Can you pay-off a sleep-debt? What is dreaming, forgetting, depression?

Managing Editor of The Conversation, Misha Ketchell, said: “This book makes the knowledge of academic experts available to everyone. It’s full of fascinating facts that can inform public debate or just be enjoyed for their own sake. The Explainer is perfect for indulging curiosity, settling bets or sparking a conversation.”

CSIRO’s Dr Mark Lonsdale said: “Armed with this book you can do more than simply start the discussion – you can marshal the explanatory information to help inform it.”

The book is a collaboration between CSIRO PUBLISHING and The Conversation, Australia’s largest independent news and commentary sites, where the articles were originally published.

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The phenomenon, the Indian Ocean Dipole, is the difference in sea-surface temperatures between the western and eastern part of the Indian Ocean, and until recently has been one of the most influential but the least understood natural forces affecting Australia’s climate.

An international team of scientists, led by CSIRO Wealth from Ocean Flagship’s Dr Wenju Cai, confirmed the link and have published their findings in the journal Nature Geoscience.

A better understanding of the relationship between the Indian Ocean Dipole and extreme weather events will enable farmers, industry, communities and governments to better anticipate and prepare for droughts and increased bushfire risk, up to six months in advance of the event.

Just as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects weather patterns across the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean Dipole influences weather and extreme events across the Indian Ocean. While ENSO fluctuates between ‘El Nino’, ‘neutral’ and ‘La Nina’ phases, the Dipole fluctuates between ‘positive’, ‘neutral’ and ‘negative’ phases approximately every three to eight years.

The positive phase is characterised by greater-than-average sea-surface temperatures, more rain in the western Indian Ocean region and cooler waters in the eastern Indian Ocean. It tends to cause droughts in East Asia and Australia, and flooding in parts of the Indian subcontinent and East Africa.

Positive Dipole activity has, to date, preconditioned major wildfires in southeast Australia, caused coral reef death across western Sumatra, and exacerbated malaria outbreaks in East Africa.

Dr Cai said the findings provide greater confidence in predicting extreme weather up to two seasons in advance, and furthermore, projecting positive IOD events into the future.

“Over the past 50 years, the Dipole has been trending upwards, increasing the number of positive events, occurring an unprecedented 11 times over the past 30 years,

“Currently, there are many ways emergency services and the community accesses official, crowd sourced and social media information during natural disasters,

That time of the week again, where we run down some of the more interesting science happenings on the internets.

ISON is dead, long live ISON!

Back at the start of this year, in mapping out what the new year would have in store for the science stories to come, comet ISON topped our list.

“October it will pass very near Mars and possibly be visible to rovers and orbiting spacecraft. The newly discovered comet could develop a spectacular tail, becoming as bright as the full Moon as it passes by our Sun. The comet is currently falling toward the Sun from between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. There is a chance it won’t survive this encounter. Whatever survives will then pass nearest the Earth in late 2013 December.

On November 19, the Oxford Dictionaries announced that “selfie