Posts tagged ‘Emergency Victoria’
Gas leak closes down Sydney Road shops in Coburg: we need transition off gas
Coburg Gas leak
A large gas leak in Coburg has closed down Sydney Road between Bell street and Harding street, threatening the strip shopping area including Victoria Street Mall.
The hazardous gas leak at 424 Sydney Rd, Coburg, has prompted an emergency warning at 12.20pm on Sunday 15 November. Gas fumes spread towards Victoria St Mall. All Gas services in the area have been impacted.
Let’s get this straight: Gas is a fossil fuel. Gas leaks can be dangerous (explosive potential). Breathing Gas can affect our health. There are fugitive emissions leaks throughout the distribution system.
We need to transition residential and business customers off gas both for short term safety and health, and long term climate safety. There are good alternatives to gas for heating, cooking and most industrial uses.
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Summer time and heatwave management shows some cracks
SE Australian Heatwave
Melbourne sweltered through another heatwave, the first of 2017. Hope everyone survived the heat.
Temperature at Melbourne (Olympic Park) hit 36.1C at 3.30pm on Saturday. Of far greater concern, the overnight minimum temperature hovered at around 30C dipping down to 28.4C at 1.30am as the low point before rising to 30C at 9am Sunday. By early afternoon a cool change had moved through dropping temperatures to the mid 20s.
High night time temperatures disturb sleep and reduce physiological recovery for the next day. Night time is also when the Urban Heat Island effect is most pronounced as there is less atmospheric mixing, and zero vegetation transpiration to cool things down, unless there are stronger winds. The Bureau of Meteorology labelled the night as ‘oppressive’ citing both the higher than normal minimum temperature and higher humidity.
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