Hi, I'm Nathan Bazley with a Managing the Environment special. When you look at all the things in your house that use electricity you'd think a light bulb would be bottom of the list. But in fact they add quite a lot to the greenhouse gases we produce so the Federal Government wants to ban them. By 2010 it wants to replace all old bulbs with new energy saving ones. Helen has more.

Light Bulbs
Helen Gray, reporter

In the beginning, it was dark.
Then the journey began into light.
There've been candles..
Oil and gas lamps...

Then along came an American called Thomas Edison.

In 1879 he perfected what we now know as the light bulb.

But not even Thomas Edison could have predicted what his little idea would turn into.

A light bulb, which is also called an incandescent bulb, works by electricity passing through a wire, which then glows.

In a 60 watt globe the wire is as long as 2 metres. But the problem with this globe is 95 percent of the power it uses is given out as heat not as useful light

That's wasted energy, which is inefficient.

If the Federal Government has its way these traditional light bulbs will soon be a thing of the past.

But don't worry; we won't be in the dark for very long.

There are plans to replace traditional light bulbs with these fluorescent lights.

REPORTER: Fluorescent lights have been around for quite a while, but we're used to seeing them like this. Now there are smaller types like this, which are really just twisted up versions of these.

They work by a special gas being heated inside a glass tube that causes a white coating to glow and while they might cost more at the shop, they actually last a lot longer and use only a fifth of the power of old globes.

CHILD: So why do we have to change?

The answer is climate change.

The level of greenhouse gas in our atmosphere is at record levels and scientists think that's making the planet hotter.

Lighting contributes to about 12 percent of those gases produced from our homes, so changing to fluoros will be great news for the environment.

There is however a downside to these new bulbs.

They contain small amounts of mercury, which means they could pollute the environment if they're not disposed of properly.

The Federal Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, believes the benefits outweigh these concerns.

The plan also has the support of opposition parties so it seems that everyone will indeed be making the big switch.


Snowy Water
Sarah Larsen, reporter

INTRO: Now there's been quite a bit of rain in some areas recently, but experts are still worried about long term water supplies. For a start a lot more rain is needed to fill up dams. And when you look at the Snowy Mountains Scheme early in 2007, you can seen why. Most people thought the enormous dams would never run short of water, but as Sarah found out the recent drought proved them wrong.

SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER:
For Joyce Mansfield this is an extraordinary sight.

Normally all this is 30 metres under water!

For 50 years her old town has been deep under the waters of lake Eucumbene in the Snowy Mountains

But because of the drought, Old Adaminaby has reappeared, exposing buildings, bridges, and even old carriages.

And to locals it's a bad sign

JOYCE: I'd rather the dam had never gone in than to see it in this state.

Old Adaminaby was never supposed to see the sun again.

It was flooded in 1957 - along with the whole valley - to make way for this massive man made lake; part of the Snowy Mountains scheme.

People had to move out of their homes...or move their homes ... but many were proud to see the snowy mountain scheme take shape. After all, it was Australia's biggest engineering effort ever!

NEWSREEL: And these are the men who are drowning admirably, tearing the hills apart, turning great rivers back in their courses and forcing the water through the very mountains themselves

In fact, it took 100,000 people 25 years to build the Snowy Mountains Hydo-electric Scheme.

The idea was to collect melted snow and rain from the mountains in huge reservoirs, and then sent it out through long pipes and channels to thirsty farmland.

And - even better - along the way it would create a clean, green power called hydroelectricity.

The idea behind Hydroelectricity is pretty simple really... the water is sent from high reservoirs to power stations below. And as it falls (pour water) it spins turbines, which create electricity.

Of course, the real thing's bigger and more complicated, but the idea's the same.

The Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric scheme is huge. It covers about 5000 square kilometres and has 16 lakes and dams.

It supplies New South Wales with 10 per cent of its electricity and brings water to farms and nearby towns like Dalgety and Jindabyne.

But as the drought continues, some people are worried that the unthinkable might happen - the Snowy Scheme might run out of water.

JOHN GALLARD: Our town water supply has an inlet down on the river and it's only just a few millimetres below the level of the water now

Lake Eucumbene and Lake Jindabyne are only a tenth as full as they should be and it will take years of good rains and snowfalls to refill them.

But if there's no rain, some people warn the hydroelectric scheme might have to shut down leaving New South Wales reliant on coal-produced electricity.

The Snowy Scheme operators say there's enough water to generate power until at least next summer.

But as people in the new town of Adaminaby see more relics surface from the drying lake, they're getting more worried about the future.

ADAMINABY RESIDENTS: We're wishing for rain....

JOYCE WILDON: I'm 90 and I hope by the time I'm 100 I'll see the waters rise again.

RAINWATER TANKS
Helen Gray, reporter

INTRO: We hope so too....
Of course the serious shortage of water has prompted governments to look for new solutions. One idea to create more fresh water is to build more desalination plants - the problem is they cost big bucks. Helen's been on the case too, and she's found an answer - in our own back yards.

This is what heaps of people are waiting for.

But a lot of it goes to waste.

PROFESSOR SIMON BEECHAM - WATER RESOURCES EXPERT: Most of it simply runs through...drains through the street drainage systems to the rivers.

Now if there were more of these - we could put some of that rain to good use.

Rain falls onto the roof, flows into the guttering, then travels along a pipe, and is dumped in the humble rainwater tank - it's simple but it works.

We can then use it for anything we want.

It's a concept even I can get my head around.

And rainwater tanks are now being talked up as one of the cheapest and most energy friendly ways to save water.

But at the moment only about one in five houses have one.

PROFESSOR SIMON BEECHAM - WATER RESOURCES EXPERT: We could capture this rainfall and use it later on when it's sunny to water our garden beds, our lawns.

So if they are supposed to be the go - why doesn't everyone have one?

Just think of how many times a day we flush the toilet - and all the water that's used.

Well, now, more and more people in the cities are hooking their rainwater tank up to the toilet and laundry.

And some people are taking it even further.

Like Adele Liebelt and her family - who are doing their bit to save water.

They don't just have one tank they have five and they use the water for everything - watering the garden, washing, and drinking.

ADELE LIEBELT: It's more fresher, more cleaner cause town water, city water, and Murray Bridge water and stuff tastes more purified.

Now some people are saying more Australians should be like Adele and her family,

At the moment governments are talking about building desalination plants to try and solve our water shortages.

What is a desalination plant? Well it turns seawater into fresh water.

But it uses a lot of power and costs millions and millions of dollars.

And building more dams will also cost heaps.

But some researchers have been crunching numbers - and they say governments will save a whole lot of cash if they just give everyone a free rainwater tank.

There are narrow tanks to fit in tight places and sneaky tanks that can sit under buildings and can't be seen or even under pavers, like here.

But these aren't just any ordinary pavers.

Rain falls down the gaps in these pavers - through some layers of gravel - to be collected in a special tank under the ground.

PROFESSOR SIMON BEECHAM - WATER RESOURCES EXPERT: It's simply a plastic layer which wraps up the sides, so water can't escape down to groundwater.

And Adele, of course, points out that there is more than one good use for a rainwater tank.

ADELE LIEBELT: They're good to hide behind and more energy efficient.

But at the end of the day, we still need lots of rain to fix the problem.

Fossil Fuels
Catherine Ellis, reporter

INTRO: Finally today, a lot of time and money is being spent finding effective and environmentally friendly ways to produce electricity. Fossil fuels like coal have been used for decades but are criticised for making a lot of greenhouse gas. Catherine's been looking at some ideas to reduce that.

This is how my morning began.

My alarm woke me up, I turned on the light, had a shower, dried my hair, brushed my teeth, made a coffee, put on my ipod, opened the fridge, made some toast, put on a load of washing, check my emails, printed a few things, rang mum, and drove out the gates to work.

Wow... only nine o'clock and all that electricity!

We rely so much on it these days, but where's it coming from?

Well from the time electricity was first used in Australia over 100 years ago it's mainly been generated by burning fossil fuels.

Fossil fuels include coal, oil and natural gas - would you believe they come from dead plants and animals?

They began forming hundreds of millions of years ago. As trees, plants and animals died they formed layers of mushy material.

The mush was buried by mud and other minerals, which formed layers of heavy rock.

And over millions of years the pressure, combined with heat, turned the dead plants into coal, oil and gas.

It all remained buried deep beneath the earth's surface, until humans found out that burning it created a lot of heat.

Heat is energy, and you can use that energy to make electricity.

Great idea but there's a catch. Burning coal means you're burning carbon and when that happens you get carbon dioxide - CO2.

Carbon dioxide helps to control the earth's temperature - not enough will freeze it all over and too much will toast it.

A large number of scientists are worried that all the extra CO2 is causing global warming, making the planet hotter.

There's a lot of debate going on about this. Some people say that's wrong, they say it's just the earth's natural climate cycle not because of pollution.

But it has certainly got a lot of people worried!

Australia has a lot of coal and gas.

Right now, fossil fuels produce about 90 per cent of Australia's electricity. Around 80 per cent comes from coal and burning coal produces more CO2 than any of the fossil fuels.

The Australian Government is spending lots of money on ways to cut back on CO2.

One way is by capturing the carbon dioxide before it spills into the atmosphere and pumping it deep underground where it stays trapped in the rocks.

This is called Carbon Capture or Sequestration.

Another idea is to use more natural gas and less coal because gas is cleaner.

Of course one of the big problems with fossil fuels is that they're non renewable - eventually, one day, they'll run out.

View some of the innovative rainwater tank designs sent to Behind the News by primary school students.