+ Interview with the CSIRO in Australia

We are very pleased to have interviewed Dr. John Wright, Director of the Energy Transformed Flagship program at the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national science agency.

TGG: Could you share a few of the changes that are happening or that are predicted for Australia as a result of global warming and why the Energy Transformed Flagship’s work is so important?
JW: Australia is a very dry continent and CSIRO climate modeling is indicating that we will be significantly impacted by global warming. We have done considerable regional climate change modeling and this information is available. The work of the Energy Transformed Flagship is targeted directly in developing technologies and systems that will assist Australia to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. This is important to show the world that Australia is assuming a responsible role in a global problem and also assist in reducing commercial risk for Australia given that we are the largest exporter of coal in the world and a significant supplier of gas and energy intensive products such as aluminum and alumina.

TGG: Australia was the latest country to sign the Kyoto Protocol – has that impacted the work of the Energy Transformed Flagship program?
JW: Australia is late in coming to the table. We do not expect a major impact on the work of the Flagship although we are exploring the potential of various Clean Development Mechanism opportunities that were closed to us.

TGG: Of the many projects within the Energy Transformed Flagship, which do you see as the most ambitious/aspiring in the long term? Most critical in the short term (~10+ yrs)?
JW: Probably our development of solar thermal technology. Now that Australia has a long term greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 60% by 2050 (over 200 levels) and a renewable energy target of 20% by 2020 and some of the best solar isolation areas in the world, this is an exciting area to be researching. Most critical in the shorter term is to pilot, demonstrate and install commercial carbon capture and sequestration technology for both existing and future fossil fuel power plants (both coal and gas).

TGG: Climate change seems to be something that is hard to quantify for many people. How do you plan on measuring the success of your programs, and in turn, communicating that to the public as something they can use?
JW: At the end of 2006, the Flagship released a report, "The Heat is On". This was the outcome of an energy futures forum that explored a range of energy scenarios for Australia out to 2050. The forum consisted of government, industry, environmental and public interest groups (20 in all). Look here for a copy of the report and more details. This analysis provide a range of energy trajectories that we now use to track the progress of the Flagship - at least the major Flagship activities that will assist us to achieve the progressive targets of the scenarios. We have just commenced a similar Future Fuels Forum that will track where out future transport fuels will come from. This report will be released mid 2008. Activities such as these provide a robust reporting mechanism to our stakeholders, including the public.

TGG: Making clean energy is critical, but with an ever increasing mobile world, energy storage is just as important. What is wrong with most conventional batteries today, and what makes the UltraBattery better?
JW: Conventional batteries, based on reversible chemical reactions are still not as robust as they need to be under the harsh mobile operating conditions - the best are expensive and still do not have long enough lives. The UltraBattery, being a combination of an advanced lead acid battery and a supercapacitor in the same page has the twin advantage of being cheaper than other types and also, due to the power handling capability of the supercapacitor - ie the physical charge storage characteristics, can smooth out the power flow to and from the battery for long life, well beyond that of other battery types.

TGG: Tell me about CSIRO’s work regarding supercapicitors, what they are, and how they might transform the way we use mobile electric devices.
JW: Supercapacitors have great power handling characteristics, but poor storage capacity. That is why the combination of a lead acid battery with its high storage capacity with a supercapacitor is so good - we get the best of both. For small applications, supercapacitors are also a good power device. Our initial work was taken over a few years ago and further developed by CapXX for use in communications devices.