Zero Carbon Plan for Australia

Did you know that enough sunlight falls on the earth’s surface every hour to meet world energy demand for an entire year? That the average amount of solar energy that falls on Australia is about 15,000 times the nation’s energy use? Then there’s wind, geothermal, wave and hydro to draw on, in vast renewable quantities. Coal is cheap, but that’s because the real price of carbon has not been taken into account. These renewable sources, which are in abundance, are, at first, more expensive to draw on, but priced properly, are cheap, reliable and clean. And, with climate change, there’s no choice, but to start migrating to a cleaner energy future.

At Copenhagen, we did not agree on much, but the world did agree to draw the line at preventing temperature rise beyond two degree warming. In order to have a more than two thirds chance of keeping global warming below two degree warming above pre-industrial temperatures, on a basis of equal allocation of emissions on a per-capita basis, it would be necessary for the USA to reduce emissions to zero in 10 years. Australia has about the same per-capita emissions as the USA, and would need to pursue the same goal.

Taking the above two drivers into account, advocacy group Beyond Zero Emissions has put forward a bold ten year plan to transition Australia to a completely renewable future. The plan, available at http://www.beyondzeroemissions.org, suggests:

•Replacing inefficient fossil fuels and introducing energy efficiency measures decreases total energy consumption in Australia by more than 50%, from 3,915 PJ/yr in 2008 to 1,660 PJ/yr in 2020 ( the projected demand in ten years time is a 40% increase in electricity demand, from the present 228 TWh/yr to 325 TWh/yr)..

•The switch of end-use applications from gas and oil to electricity yields substantial efficiency gains.

•Wind generation, which is a key component of energy supply because of its relatively low cost and industry maturity. Wind is proposed to meet 40% of the total grid-connected demand. This is complemented by large-scale Concentrating Solar Thermal with molten salt storage offers reliable electricity 24 hours per day, and is proposed to meet 60% of the total grid-connected demand.

•Small-scale solar photovoltaic, existing hydroelectric generators and biomass have a role to play.

•The required investment of $37 Billion/year is the equivalent of 3% of GDP. Estimated funding cost, including generation and grid upgrades, would be equivalent to an additional 6.5cents/kWh on delivered electricity, working out to be $8 per household per week.

This is an ambitious, technically feasible plan that should be looked at seriously commends Tim Flannery, Australian of the Year 2007.

Terence Jeyaretnam is a Director of Net Balance (terence@netbalance.com), based in Melbourne.