My favourite things

I'm looking forward to the summer because:

I'll still be fit from the footy season and I won't have had to stop running, so my running times should improve.

I'm looking forward to diving. Catching and eating lots of crayfish, ab and trumpeter.

I'm joining the boys on the tennis trip.

I'm looking forward to long cruisy runs through the Meehan Ranges.

I'm looking forward to the touch footy season.

A Boundary Umpire's Perspective

Well, another final bites the dust. This week it was Glenorchy vs North Nobart at KGV in the second semi final. The leagues top two teams were fighting for a spot in the grand final in a fortnight, while the loser would face off against the winner of Clarence and Lauderdale in the preliminary final, next Sunday at North Hobart Oval.

With a very solid crowd, in the order of two or three thousand people, and some lightning fast footy, the stage was set for three exhausted boundary umpires. Being the "number 2" umpire, I umpired the first 14 minutes with 9 time Senior grand final umpire Bidgood. Those opening 15 minutes were frenetic, the ball being run end to end, with perhaps two stoppages in that period.

At the 14 minute mark I was replaced by back to back grand final umpire Gourls, elevated from assistant coach to senior semi-final umpire. He has one of the biggest throw-ins in Australian Football. (Probably second to Zephan, who is simply freaky.)

Taking up position for the full second quarter was me. Thankfully, the game slowed a little for the first few minutes of that quarter. Gradually the tempo lifted, and the ball was being moved in an end to end fashion, as it had done at the start of the first quarter. The primary difference being the reduced penetration into the forward line. Nonetheless, hard running was required for 27 minutes of football. The difference at the main break being only 8 points.

In the third quarter the footy kept moving quickly, though, there were an increased number of stoppages. Yours truly ran the second half of the third quarter. Interestingly, after being off for the full half time break as well as the first half of the third quarter, I was feeling fresh, but flat. I felt like I had the legs to run hard, but I just didn't have the spark, the big acceleration that I'd had earlier in the game. This was apparent to keen observers.

The last quarter, of which I ran the first half, again, was frenetic. Goals were kicked at both ends of the park. The ball was being transitioned seamlessly from one end of the ground to the other. In that first half of quarter the spark was back. The big acceleration, the hard running, that extra gear, they were all there for those 13 minutes. North Hobart piled on a couple of quick goals to suddenly be up by that margin. The ball, deep in the Glenorchy forward line, was suddenly cleared, and the end to end play continued. Yours truly, seeing Gourls with his tracksuit top off and seemingly ready to go, eased off, hoping, hoping that the two time grand final umpire would be ready for the change over. But no. So somewhere, somehow, I restarted the legs, pumped the arms and sprinted down to the goals. The North Hobart player, on the run, forty out, kicked truly. I tried to get down there, but the earlier deceleration had taken its toll, costing vital seconds as I raced down to meet my partner for the ball relay. One burst through the middle and one final burst off the point of the square and my job was done. I backed out and let the two old horses see out the rest of the match.

The game became scrappy and the Bidgood machine had about fifteen throws in the second half of that last quarter. North Hobart, three goals up, didn't score another goal - but they repelled every Glenorchy attack comfortably. North Hobart finished up 3 goal victors, ready to face the winner of Clarence and Glenorchy in the Grand Final.

I think I'm weird

I was driving along today, with about 360km on my trip meter. I had about 1/16 of a tank left. So, I was wondering, "What's the fuel economy of this car?" I was thinking in terms of km/tank of fuel. I decided that fuel efficiency was definitely not the correct terminology as that would imply that there was a comparison between how much fuel I used and some minimum amount of fuel possible to be used. So I patted myself on the back, which is no mean feat whilst driving, and continued with my sums. So, I concluded that for this tank I should be able to get 416km to the tank. My calculation was as follows:

I had to divide 360 by 15 and multiply by 16. So, I thought, there are 52 weeks in the year, thus, there are 26 fortights. There are 14 days in a fortnight which is almost 15 and 360 is almost 365. So 360 divided by 15 is roughly 26. Now 26 is almost 25 and 16 is a multiple of 4. So 25 times 4 is one hundred. Of course, it's not much of a jump to get to 26 times four - that's just going to be 104. So, all I had to do was then multiply by 4 again, which gives me 416.

I ended up getting petrol with the needle just above empty with 391km on the clock. Then I got home and ran the calc through the calculator and discovered that 360 divided 15 multiplied by 16 is 384.

So the bottom line is, I was miles out.

Well, our entry to the National Energy Essay Competition is sumbmitted.

I can now get some sleep.

But I feel obliged to party as hard as I worked. Hmmm, we'll see.

NEEC Synopsis Summit: Latest Draft

Synopsis

Low cost energy and the need to be green: these are the two key drivers for energy in Australia and the world. Australia needs to look beyond the short-term hurdle of capital expenditure and make wise investments that will pay-off handsomely in the future.

Australia’s current reliance on gas and coal has resulted in it being the largest emitter of greenhouse gases per capita. Emissions of nitrous and sulphur oxides and fine particulates mean that the cost of this generation extends to health costs, environmental damage, as well as climate change. Once these are accounted for, the net cost to the Australian economy of implementing wind and solar technologies is lower than the net cost of generation through fossil fuels.

As coal power plants come to the end of their design lives, the natural progression is to upgrade them with renewable alternatives. By 2050, the proposed electrical generation breakdown is as follows: 30 percent wind, 20 percent solar, 18 percent geosequestered coal, 12 percent geosequestered gas, 7 percent hydro, 7 percent coal, 5 percent other renewables and 1 percent gas generation. Thus, the generation target for 2050 is a 93 percent reliance on low emission generation.

Reliance on intermittent generation requires demand-side management. It will allow up to 15 percent load to be shed without significant economic impact, thereby increasing the penetration of renewable generation. This management will be aided by improvements in weather forecasting allowing times of low generation to be predicted weeks in advance.

Domestically, this will see non-essential loads such as refrigerators shut down momentarily to cope with peak demand. Industry has the opportunity to provide extensive load shedding in exchange for discounted power tariffs. In some energy intensive sectors, this is already commonplace.

Despite improvements in efficiency, Australia’s demand is predicted to more than double over the period 2010-2050, with existing electrical generators supplying 12 percent of that power in 2050. The new generation of electrical supply can either follow the current trend of reliance on fossil fuels or make a step change into renewable energy supply. It is that step change that will allow Australia to reduce its electricity associated greenhouse gas emissions to 60 percent of current levels by 2100, and play its role in minimising the global climate change phenomenon. For this to occur in the required timeframe, immediate bipartisan support is required followed by decisive international action by 2020. This radical change in policy relies on the rapid deployment of new technology. The rapid deployment will result in fast-tracked refinement of the technology. That change will spur development to levels last seen in the era of the World Wars, minus the bloodshed.

Post 2050, fossil fuels will become depleted, resulting in reliance on new technologies including wave power and solar thermal. The lack of fossil fuels also implies a reliance on electricity to power transport. Despite the stated limitations it is possible to see a highly evolved energy sector powering Australia to social, environmental and economic prosperity.

NEEC Synopsis Summit: Latest Draft

Synopsis

Low cost energy and the need to be green: these are the two key drivers for energy in Australia and the world. Australia needs to look beyond the short-term hurdle of capital expenditure and make wise investments that will pay-off handsomely in the future.

Australia’s current reliance on gas and coal has resulted in it being the largest emitter of greenhouse gases per capita. Emissions of nitrous and sulphur oxides and fine particulates mean that the cost of this generation extends to health costs, environmental damage, as well as climate change. Once these are accounted for, the net cost to the Australian economy of implementing wind and solar technologies is lower than the net cost of generation through fossil fuels.

As coal power plants come to the end of their design lives, the natural progression is to upgrade them with renewable alternatives. By 2050, the proposed electrical generation breakdown is as follows: 30 percent wind, 20 percent solar, 18 percent geosequestered coal, 12 percent geosequestered gas, 7 percent hydro, 7 percent coal, 5 percent other renewables and 1 percent gas generation. Thus, the generation target for 2050 is a 93 percent reliance on low emission generation.

Reliance on intermittent generation requires demand-side management. It will allow up to 15 percent load to be shed without significant economic impact, thereby increasing the penetration of renewable generation. This management will be aided by improvements in weather forecasting allowing times of low generation to be predicted weeks in advance.

Domestically, this will see non-essential loads such as refrigerators shut down momentarily to cope with peak demand. Industry has the opportunity to provide extensive load shedding in exchange for discounted power tariffs. In some energy intensive sectors, this is already commonplace.

Despite improvements in efficiency, Australia’s demand is predicted to more than double over the period 2010-2050, with existing electrical generators supplying 12 percent of that power in 2050. The new generation of electrical supply can either follow the current trend of reliance on fossil fuels or make a step change into renewable energy supply. It is that step change that will allow Australia to reduce its electricity associated greenhouse gas emissions to 60 percent of current levels by 2100, and play its role in minimising the global climate change phenomenon. For this to occur in the required timeframe, immediate bipartisan support is required followed by decisive international action by 2020. This radical change in policy relies on the rapid deployment of new technology. The rapid deployment will result in fast-tracked refinement of the technology. That change will spur development to levels last seen in the era of the World Wars, minus the bloodshed.

Post 2050, fossil fuels will become depleted, resulting in reliance on new technologies including wave power and solar thermal. The lack of fossil fuels also implies a reliance on electricity to power transport. Despite the stated limitations it is possible to see a highly evolved energy sector powering Australia to social, environmental and economic prosperity.

NEEC Synopsis

As previously discussed, I am in a team for the National Energy Essay Competition.

The honour of penning the synopsis has been bestowed upon me. And so I present to you the 494 words as they currently stand. I would love to hear feedback on whether they make sense, whether they capture your attention, and does it answer the essay questions, which are:

Part A (7,000 words)

Provide your prediction for the changes in primary energy demand, sourcing and facilities for electrical generation in Australia’s geographical regions supplied by the Eastern and Western electricity grids for the period 2010 through 2050


Part B (3,000 words)

Provide your view of the likely longer term energy sources, amenable to Australia for its electrical energy needs to 2100, allowing for future scientific evolution of energy production for industry and society in the context of energy changes witnessed since the industrial revolution.

Cheers.

Synopsis

Low cost energy and the need to be green: these are the two key drivers for energy in Australia and the world. However, Australia needs to look beyond the short-term hurdle of capital expenditure and make wise investments that will pay handsomely in the future.

Australia’s current reliance on gas and coal has resulted in it being the largest emitter of green house gases (GHGs) per capita. Emissions of nitrous and sulphur oxides and fine particulates mean that the cost of this generation extends to health costs, acid rain as well as climate change. Once these costs are accounted for, wind and solar technologies are not only cheaper options, but they will provide sustainable energy solutions well beyond 2100.

As the coal power plants come to the end of their design lives, replacing them with renewable alternatives such as wind and solar power plants in partnership with geosequestration will result in an 80% reliance on low emission generation.
The price of reliance on intermittent generation is the requirement for demand-side management. In times of low solar radiation and low wind speed, demand may need to be reduced by up to 15%. This can be managed through weather forecasting and the development of dynamic demand control; that is, switching off loads that do not require continuous supply.

The demand side, as well as continually improving efficiency, must be capable of coping with infrequent cuts to supply. This occurs on both the domestic and industrial market. Domestically, this requires appliances with their own thermal capacity to be capable of short-term shutdown. Industry will negotiate with the supplier regarding which loads can be cut and for how long. While on face value this appears to discourage industry and impinge on the economy, the reality is that industry has the potential to sell the right to have their power cut, or receive discounted power for this service. Energy intensive industries such as smelters already make provisions for this during times of limited generation.

Despite improvements in efficiency, Australia’s demand is predicted to more than double over the period 2010-2050, with existing electrical generators supplying 12% of that power in 2050. The new generation of electrical supply can either follow the current trend of reliance on fossil fuels or make a step change into renewable energy supply. It is that step change that will allow Australia to reduce its GHG emissions to 60% of current levels by 2100, and play its role in minimising the global climate change phenomenon.

This radical change in policy relies on technological improvements that will leave Australia as the front-runners in renewable energy technology. Those changes will cause the levels of development last seen in the era of the World Wars, minus the bloodshed. Yet Australia must act immediately with bipartisan support, outside of the traditional governmental framework, otherwise the cost will see Australian society decimated, unable to cope with a food shortfall, unsustainable fuel costs and the dirtiest air on the planet.

Olympics

I'm going mainstream here. I've watched a bit of the Olympics. I conclude that swimming is ok in small doses; handball is an awesome sport; and I'm looking forward to the athletics.

Why is it that I'm looking forward to the athletics. Afterall, it is just a bunch of people running round and round in ovals.

I think once you've tried to do it, to run around the orange track, over and over again, knowing the pain of lactic build-up, of exhaustion, there's something about watching "how it should be done". To put it in perspective, the last lap of the 5000m is probably run in about 55s. That's over 5s quicker than my quickest 400m.

The 400m runners run their races in the time it takes me to run 300m. In the marathon, if I double my half marathon time, the marathon runners would beat me by an hour.

Gee, that was good for my self esteem.

I am very weak. The force is no longer with me.

NEEC/Footy Finals

I am actually going in the National Energy Essay Competition - I'm in with two other guys, so they'll be able ot make all the arguments make sense. It's a lot of work though and the reason that I haven't had my eight hours of sleep per night for about the last week.

Anyway, it's the business end of the footy season now, for us boundary umpires. Coaches are trying to rank each umpire ranking us on our running, our throwing, our decision making, positioning and how good our sigals look.

This season, my game plan has been to run flat out from the opening bounce and then try to hold on as long as possible. But, let's face it, 2h is a long time to be running flat out. And so it's now Monday. I know where I'll be umpiring next Saturday. I know that I'm going to be watched again. And quite frankly, it's quite daunting to go into a game knowing that you're going to have to nail every acceleration point, over the whole game, knowing that every throw in that you have is crucial. Is it really that much of a high pressure thing? I suppose the closer you are to the top, the harder it is to move up. And the easier it is to fall.

Anyway, might be having some weight loss surgery tomorrow...