[biofuels-biz] Re: Degrees Of Capture - Universities, The Oil Industry And Climate Change
Keith, Although this is interesting within the contexts of climate change, what are your views in relation to the oil companies in these times of declining oil production. It appears that the year 2002 was the peak year for oil production and unless this decline is purely political then it means we are in the throes of a long (30-50) decline in oil production. Biofuels are in an excellent position to capitalise on the decline of oil production as they can be upscaled in proportion to the decline. Incidently the decline per capita occurred in 1985. John Irvine Managing Director Aleurite Sunoils Pty. Ltd. ] ]--- In biofuels-biz@yahoogroups.com, Keith Addison [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/pages/degrees_of_capture.htm Degrees of capture MARCH 2003 A joint publication with Platform and the New Economics Foundation which outlines how Britain's universities and colleges are being co-opted into directing their research and training for the benefit of the fossil fuel industry, with potentially devastating long-term effects on the environment. Degrees Of Capture Universities, The Oil Industry And Climate Change The oil industry and Britain's universities: how many degrees of capture? This report examines the relationship between the oil and gas industry and the UK higher education sector, and assesses this in the context of climate change. It asks if some parts of the higher education sector have been 'captured'a by the industry. The report looks in detail at how much influence oil and gas companies have over RD priorities, and to what extent public money is supporting both the extraction of fossil fuels and the profits of carbon-intensive corporations. Universities could play an important role in leading the debate about energy economics and developing sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. Yet universities are engaged in research and technology development which is used by the oil and gas industry, and are the recruiting and training grounds for its future managers. After detailing the ways in which the research and teaching agendas are influenced by oil companies, the report makes a series of recommendations to put universities onto a more sustainable path. Read the report (pdf) 1194kb http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/publications/degrees_of_capture.pdf Read the press release http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/pages/degrees.htm Paper copies available from Corporate Watch - £3 inc. p+p Publication funded by Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust and Greenpeace. http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/pages/degrees.htm Degrees Degrees of capture Universities favour oil company profits over environment New report finds big oil companies co-opting independent research at taxpayers' expense Government is subsidising the oil and gas industry's massive profits to the tune of £40 million per year through the capture of some of Britain's most respected academic institutions, says a new report released today, Tuesday the 11th of February, by Corporate Watch, PLATFORM and the New Economics Foundation. The report, Degrees of Capture, outlines how Britain's universities and colleges are being co-opted into directing their research and training for the benefit of the fossil fuel industry, with potentially devastating long-term effects on the environment. This compromising link between academic research and corporate profit is being encouraged and furthered by government spending priorities. Despite the government's own stated goals in the face of global warming of reducing our use of fossil fuels, and replacing them with non-fossil sources, huge sums of public money are being spent on research of direct use only to the massively profitable, and highly damaging, oil and gas industries. Author of the report, Greg Muttitt of PLATFORM, said Climate change is the biggest environmental threat facing mankind at present. It is shocking that while we urgently need to be reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, government and academic institutions are taking us in exactly the opposite direction. The report shows that: * Universities contribute about 1000 research projects, worth £67 million, every year to the oil and gas industry. * 60 per cent of this is funded by public money. * Oil companies have effectively captured higher education by infiltrating every level of academic decision making: both universities and government prioritise boosting corporate profits over solving major public problems such as climate change Publicly funded research into fossil fuels technologies, and 'search and exploit' missions to find and develop oil fields, is a bad subsidy and is artificially distorting energy markets in favour of the big oil and gas companies, says Andrew Simms, policy director of the New Economics Foundation, It undermines progress towards
[biofuels-biz] NEW MEMBER
Greetings and G'Day, My name is John Irvine of Glen Innes in NSW State, Australia. My work addresses the twin concerns of Environmental problems caused by the use of dinosaur resources and the impending crisis (next 20 to 40 years) due to the finite source of the said dinosaur resources. Existing resources of vegetable oil are limited, and what is needed is an industrial oil crop that can out yield the likes of Soy and Canola, without have huge weed potential. I believe we have found such a crop that has three distinct yields from the one harvest. Oil, Vegetable Coal and feed / fertilizer. It is now time to bring biodiesel into the forefront of sustainable transport. I apologise for not widely publishing our new crop, but our only competitive advantage lies in our accumulated knowledge. Below are some relevant details:- The crop is:- * Forest based and so has extremely good CO2 Quotient, and does not harm our fragile soils. * A nut crop and so the tree is not cut down and so is an excellent sequester of carbon, * Grows on land not currently used for vegetable oil production. * Provides permanent full time jobs in rural areas. * Provides excellent returns per hectare, better than irrigated cotton. * Provides a fuel resource security forever, both for electricity and transport fuels. * By products include cattle feed and fertilizer * High value uses such as activated carbon and cosmetic and other high value products. * Delivers on the triple bottom line of sustainability in economic, environmental and social areas. * Can be grown in the majority of Third World Countries, generating much needed import replacement and export dollars; and where it is now competitive with dino diesel. Environmental benefits ö Sequestration of carbon Displaces fossil fuel and it's resultant carbon load. Increases soil fertility as the leaf drop is high in nitrogen and organic matter. Permanent tree crop, does not lead to soil degradation through annual cultivation, wind erosion etc. Does not require annual planting and cultivation, this provides an exceptionally efficient carbon cycle for the production of energy. Aleurite Sunoils Pty. Ltd. formed to commercialize this remarkable crop for the purpose of biofuel production. Its shareholders include:- John Irvine (myself) and my partner Anne de Nooyer the founders, Millhouse IAG Ltd, Enecon Pty. Ltd. and a private investment company. Millhouse IAG are corporate consultants and merchant bankers, whose details can be found at www.millhouseiag.com.au and are this project's investment bankers and corporate consultants.. Enecon is an engineering company that is arguably the finest biofuels engineering company in Australia and whose further details can be found at www.enecon.com.au. We now want to expand into the Americas and elsewhere; and to do so there are three elements that now must be addressed:- 1. Finding a power company that wants to build say a 1MW Biomass (Organic Solar) power station, and 2. Find farmers in the vicinity (frost free) to grow 1800 acres of the crop under contract, and 3. Raising some capital. We want to have 1 such unit in the Southern USA and 1 in or near Europe. The real benefits of having these strategic units is access to investment / expertise for larger full scale plantations in South America and possibly Africa. In these countries we will be able to produce biodiesel competitive with dino diesel due to currency and labour costs. If anyone of you need to know more I can send non-disclosure documents. Our capital raising with have two tiers. The first directly into Sunoils will be A$500,000 or more, and Smaller amounts through an International Co-op. The real benefit of our project is re-afforestation, carbon uptake, renewable fuel and income / import replacement for 3rd World Countries. Any help, contacts, input, you can provide would be very much appreciated, as will contact with those who may wish to become agents for the purpose of project advancement and capital raising. Best Regards, John Irvine Managing Director Aleurite Sunoils P/L. Ph: 61 2 67322240 Fax 61 2 67325175 Yahoo! Groups Sponsor -~-- Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/9bTolB/TM -~- Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
