Food miles can mislead

The average Australian basket of food has travelled over 70,000 kilometres from producer to consumer, suggests the first study of its kind.

But experts say in some cases it's how your food is produced, rather than how far it has travelled, that's more important if you're considering energy use.

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Red-hot Australia just the spot for solar energy projects

AUSTRALIA gleams a bright red in a map that paints a vibrant picture of how solar energy reaches different parts of the world.

America's space agency, NASA, has pinpointed the world's sunniest spots by studying maps compiled by US and European satellites.

New Zealand oil project nears completion

New Zealand Oil's Tui project is nearing its target production, the company said.

In the Taranaki region on the northwest coast, the oil field is increasing its production rate and has neared its target of maintaining production at 50,000 barrels a day, the New Zealand Times reported. Production at the offshore field averaged 49,302 barrels a day last week, since production began at the end of July.

Beach Petroleum Finds New Oil Field In South Australia

Adelaide, Australia (AHN) - Adelaide, Australia-based Beach Petroleum has found a new oil field in a less-explored area of South Australia.

The Parsons field containing an estimated one million barrels of oil is located on the western edge of the Cooper Basin, close to Beach Petroleum's Callawonga field. The area in central Australia is known as the West Patchawarra Flank.

Australia risks breaching Kyoto

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australia's new government must move quickly to reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions after ratifying the Kyoto Protocol or risk breaching the pact, an expert warned Wednesday.

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Outgoing conservative prime minister John Howard had refused to ratify the landmark pact but had insisted Australia would meet its Kyoto target anyway.

But Clive Hamilton, founder of the public policy think-tank Australia Institute, said the country's emissions were heading above the Kyoto Protocol target of 108 percent of 1990 levels by 2012.

"Our emissions are growing at about 1.5 to 2.0 percent a year -- you can see that between now and 2012 it's going to reach 130 percent," he told AFP.

Car dealers' opposition to emission rules attacked

Two public health organisations and the Sustainable Energy Forum have attacked car dealers for opposing the Government's move to lower exhaust emissions.