Category: Asia and the Pacific

The Latrobe Valley Authority in Victoria, Australia: Growing Employment Demand/Supply and Smart Specialization (part 2) 5/28/2021

Government Agency Perspective, Part 2 – The Latrobe Valley Authority in Victoria, Australia: Growing Employment Demand/Supply and Smart Specialization

Payne Institute Fellow Brad Handler on the Just Transitions Podcast discussing the key services of the Latrobe Valley Authority (LVA) and growing growing employment demand/supply and smart specialization opportunities in the region with Karen Cain, Chief Executive Officer at LVA, Victoria, Australia.  May 28, 2021.
Just Transitions – Economic Development Organization Perspective

Fukushima: ten years on from the disaster, was Japan’s response right? 3/10/2021

Fukushima: ten years on from the disaster, was Japan’s response right?

Payne Institute Fellow William Nuttall and Philip Thomas write about how the world saw something never before caught on camera on March 12, 2011: an explosion ripping the roof off a nuclear power plant – Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi. The blast wasn’t actually nuclear, it was the result of hot hydrogen gas encountering the cool, outside air during the aftermath of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. But the distinction hardly mattered – something had clearly gone terribly wrong.  In order to minimise suffering in future nuclear accidents, there are important lessons from March 2011 that must be learned.  March 10, 2021.

Indicators of Electric Power Instability from Satellite Observed Nighttime Lights 9/30/2020

Indicators of Electric Power Instability from Satellite Observed Nighttime Lights

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group writes about how electric power services are fundamental to prosperity and economic development. Disruptions in the electricity power service can range from minutes to days. Such events are common in many developing economies, where the power generation and delivery infrastructure is often insufficient to meet demand and operational challenges. Yet, despite the large impacts, poor data availability has meant that relatively little is known about the spatial and temporal patterns of electric power reliability. Here, we explore the expressions of electric power instability recorded in temporal profiles of satellite observed surface lighting collected by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) low light imaging day/night band (DNB). September 30, 2020.  

Country Spotlight: Gas Flaring in India 9/3/2020

Country Spotlight: Gas Flaring in India

The Payne Institute looks at the gas flaring in India.  According to the IEA, India is the fourth largest refiner of oil (behind the US, Russia, and China), and the third largest importer of crude oil and LNG (behind China and the US), though is outranked by 24 other countries on oil production, with declining trends.  September 3, 2020. 

Measuring “Reasonably Reliable” access to electricity services 8/19/2020

Measuring “Reasonably Reliable” access to electricity services

Payne Fellow Todd Moss, Morgan Bazilian, John Ayaburi, and Jacob Kincer write that while the electricity access rate is regularly measured in most countries, there are no routinely tracked metrics that measure reliability. This paper presents a new approach that: (1) aggregates all available country data on reliability; (2) defines a minimum threshold metric for ‘reasonable reliability’; and (3) estimates the number of people without ‘reasonably reliable’ electricity services. We estimate the number of people without access to reliable electricity is approximately 3.5 billion. This new metric provides a more granular view of the enormous energy access gap globally, and insights for future investment and policy decisions.  August 19, 2020.

Critical Minerals Don’t Burn Up – Why The Energy Security Playbook Needs A Re-Write 7/23/2020

CRITICAL MINERALS DON’T BURN UP – WHY THE ENERGY SECURITY PLAYBOOK NEEDS A RE-WRITE

Payne Institute Senior Research Associate Sara Hastings-Simon and Director Morgan Bazilian explain why the issues surrounding critical mineral security differ from traditional energy security. The required response should avoid delaying the transition to a low carbon future, whilst using the time available to focus on building robust supply chains and creating economic opportunity both in the U.S. and internationally.  July 23, 2020.  

Illuminating dark fishing fleets in North Korea

ILLUMINATING DARK FISHING FLEETS IN NORTH KOREA

The Payne Institute Earth Observation Group research on nighttime lights (VIIRS) provides the data for this article on Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing that threatens resource sustainability and equity. A major challenge with such activity is that most fishing vessels do not broadcast their positions and are “dark” in public monitoring systems. Combining four satellite technologies, we identify widespread illegal fishing by dark fleets in the waters between the Koreas, Japan, and Russia.  July 22, 2020. 

New Technology Unveils Massive Illegal Fishing by Dark Fleets in North Korea, What Next? 7/22/2020

NEW TECHNOLOGY UNVEILS MASSIVE ILLEGAL FISHING BY DARK FLEETS IN NORTH KOREA, WHAT NEXT?

The Payne Institute Earth Observation Group research on nighttime lights (VIIRS) was featured in this article about unprecedented fishing activity in North Korea.  International collaboration reveals widespread illegal fishing in North Korean waters across 2017 and 2018. Hundreds of large, industrial vessels originating from China likely violated United Nations (U.N.) sanctions and caught almost half a billion dollars worth of Pacific flying squid. July 22, 2020.  

Arctic Security and Dialogue: Assurance through Defence Diplomacy 7/11/2020

ARCTIC SECURITY AND DIALOGUE: ASSURANCE THROUGH DEFENCE DIPLOMACY

Payne Institute Fellow Michael Young writes about how key stakeholders have been confident that the Arctic Council was the appropriate forum for discussing most non-military Arctic issues. At the same time, UNCLOS, IMO and various international legal agreements, along with numerous forums, helped to manage a significant portion of the remaining challenges. Today, security concerns are heightening with new Arctic players and the days of a stable Arctic region, free from intervening security concerns, may be facing headwinds as military activity and rhetoric have increased over the past few years. July 11, 2020.