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Getting real about energy

By Sven Teske - posted Tuesday, 5 June 2007


Australia’s failure to make good use of its significant natural advantages and realise the enormous economic opportunities created through renewable energy has placed it in a perilous position to be able to deal with major challenges ahead.

APEC energy ministers meeting in Darwin last week would not be unaware of the paradox of Australia’s addiction to coal-fired energy and its population suffering under the worst drought for 100 years.

Despite the ensuing water crisis and spiralling electricity prices, there is very little mention of the most glaring natural energy resources Australia is also blessed with - sun and wind. However, the irony of pursuing a coal based energy future while struggling to cope with what will be just the tip of the iceberg as regards climate impacts, seems to be lost on Australia’s politicians in both camps.

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Australia has some of the best conditions in the world for renewable energy yet lack of investment means it is missing out on a lucrative and booming global renewable energy market. So it is welcome that The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry and Resources is finally undertaking a program of public hearings for its inquiry into Australia’s renewable energy sectors, including solar, wave, tidal, geothermal, wind and hydrogen.

The inquiry is to examine the relative state of development of these sectors and their prospects for economically viable electricity generation, storage and transmission.

Consider the following (PDF 524KB): Germany has 25 times more wind energy installed than Australia, even though the very best wind sites in Germany are less windy than Australia’s worst commercial sites: Germany has 20,622MW of wind power installed compared to only 817MW in Australia - that’s six times more wind energy per person; Japan and Germany each have 24 times more solar electric (PV) panels installed than Australia, despite significantly poorer solar resources - by the end of 2005 both countries had 1400MW compared to Australia’s paltry 60MW.

Renewable energy, combined with efficiencies from the “smart use” of energy, can deliver half of the world’s energy needs by 2050, according to one of the most comprehensive plans for future sustainable energy provision.

The report: Energy [R]evolution: A sustainable world energy outlook, produced under the scientific leadership of the German Space Agency (DLR) in co-operation with the European Renewable Industry Association, the Global Wind Energy Council and Greenpeace International, provides a blueprint for how to halve global CO2 emissions within the next 43 years, while providing a secure and affordable energy supply and, critically, maintaining steady worldwide economic development.

Energy [R]evolution shows how we can cut global CO2 emissions 50 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050 (which must happen if we are to stabilise the increase in global temperatures at +2C) while allowing for an increase in net energy consumption, especially in developing countries; providing better energy security than reliance on conventional “business as usual” technologies (the IEA’s “World Energy Outlook”); and phasing out nuclear power completely by 2030 without reliance on unproven and risky future developments in so-called “clean” coal technology

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The report also finds that energy services for the two billion people globally who have no access to electricity would be improved, and that developing nations could continue to grow while reducing emissions. It demonstrates how a “business as usual” scenario, based on IEA’s World Energy Outlook projections, is not an option for environmental, economic and security of supply reasons.

Under the global energy scenario, renewable energies will represent the backbone of the world’s economy - not only in OECD countries, but also in developing countries such as China, India and Brazil. Renewable energy can deliver nearly 70 per cent of global electricity supply and 65 per cent of global heat supply by 2050.

Renewable energies are competitive, if governments phase-out subsidies for fossil and nuclear fuels and introduce a “polluter-pays” principle. A recent report (PDF 2.87MB) found that Australian federal and state governments subsidise fossil fuel industries to the tune of $10 billion every year. If politicians are serious about climate change, these subsidies must stop.

The global market for renewable energy has the potential to grow at a double digit rate until 2050 and reach the size of today’s fossil fuel industry, with wind and solar markets worth almost $46.5 billion and doubling in size every three years; it is up to decision makers around the world to make this vision a reality.

The political choices of the coming years will determine the world’s environmental and economic situation for many decades to come. Renewable energy can and will have to play a leading role in the world’s energy future. There is no technical barrier - only political barriers are blocking the shift from coal to a clean renewable energy future.

The Energy [R]evolution finds that the potential for reducing energy use in wealthy countries like Australia is enormous, and concludes that the OECD countries will need to cut greenhouse pollution by 80 per cent to allow for increases in energy use in the developing world.

The scenario also demonstrates that renewable energy, in particular solar power, solar thermal, biomass, geothermal and wind power, could supply 70 per cent of the region’s electricity, compensating for a complete phase out of nuclear energy and brown coal. Wind would be the most important single source of electricity generation by 2050.

Yet Australia is lagging far behind the rest of the world when it comes to both energy efficiency and renewable energy. The argument that you can’t run an industrial economy on renewable energy spruiked by the Prime Minister is false and mischievous: the climate sceptics seem to have morphed into renewable energy sceptics.

More and more countries and regions have a wind share of at least 10 per cent: north Germany has wind shares of 15 to 20 per cent and Denmark generates 18 per cent of its national electricity demand from wind. Modern turbines, combined with offshore wind and a good wind forecast system to “dispatch” electricity in the grid, can increase the wind share of 20 to 25 per cent without any problem and without the need for storage technology or fossil fuel power plants as backup.

Concentrated solar power systems (CSP) are already providing baseload power. Several 100MW systems are currently under construction in Spain. Solar PV systems can provide electricity for households and the industry expects to be achieve “grid parity” (competitiveness with end consumer electricity prices) by 2010.

The timing of this report is crucial. Within the coming years, decisions will be made to replace the generating capacity of the existing old power infrastructure in the OECD countries.

Developing countries such as China, India and Brazil are rapidly constructing their energy infrastructure to service their economic growth. When leaders of some of the world's largest economies gather in Sydney for the September 2007 APEC summit, energy issues will top their agenda. APEC member nations use more than half of the world’s energy. So the energy choices APEC leaders make, through trade and other negotiations, impact massively on climate change.

Never was there a better or more crucial time to drive home the need for a clean energy revolution to tackle climate change.

The author was the first witness called for public hearings starting May 31, 2007, for the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry and Resources inquiry into Australia's renewable energy sectors.

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Energy [R]evolution: A sustainable World Energy Outlook was written with the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), in conjunction with specialists from the German Space Agency and more than 30 scientists and engineers from universities, institutes and the renewable energy industry around the world.



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About the Author

Sven Teske is the Director of the Renewable Energy Campaign for Greenpeace International.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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