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AUSTRALIA
Australia now gets nearly 80% of its power from coal plants. Only 1% comes from wind power; less than 2% comes from solar
energy. Until
Kevin
Rudd became the new prime minister of Australia in November 2007,
Australia was
the only significant nation not to have signed the Kyoto Protocol along
with
the USA. Ratification came into effect in March 2008 and Australia has
committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% of 2000 (not 1990)
levels
by 2050. However half
of those reductions would come from imported permits and it is not
expected that
emissions will begin falling until around 2030. The so-called 2020
target of 5%
reduction (in itself not very ambitious) would be achieved by importing
carbon
permits from developing countries. Australia’s greenhouse
gas emissions are
among the highest in the world at about 28 tonnes per capita. Although Australia has no nuclear
power stations, it has almost 40% of the world's known uranium reserves, of
which it supplies only 19% of the world market.
Australia is a small greenhouse gas polluter in global terms, but one of the
worst per capita because it relies heavily for its electricity on its abundant
reserves of coal, which also make it the world's largest exporter of the
polluting fuel. As the driest continent after Antarctica, it is also considered
one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. link
Currently, 8% of Australia's electricity comes from renewable sources,
including hydroelectric generators built late last century, according to the
private Clean Energy Council. But climate change Minister Penny Wong told the Senate that even with one-fifth
of Australia's electricity coming from renewable sources by 2020, the nation's
carbon gas emissions are projected to be 20% higher than 2000 levels. link |
Climate change and the end
of Australia. Want to know what global warming has in store for us? Just go
to Australia, where rivers are drying up, reefs are dying, and fires and floods
are ravaging the continent.
This October 2011 Rolling Stone article presents a picture of Australia
suffering the first devastating consequences of climate change as a
precursor of
what the rest of the planet faces in the near future. With abundant
access to
potential solar power, yet being the world’s greatest source of coal
and depending
on coal for 80% of its energy, Australia is the lesson we should be
paying attention to.
Article here
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Recent news: Jan.
18 2012: Australians want wind, but politics and media get in the way. A new study found that 83% of Australians
supported wind, with only 14% opposed. Interestingly, it found the opposite for
coal, which is opposed by 65% of people. Gas was intermediate between the two.
link
In September 2010, Julia
Gillard won a snap election and continued as Prime Minister of a
coalition with backing from independents and Green Party support which
could see
a 30% tax on coal mining companies' profits, and a tax on major
polluters to help cut carbon emissions. link
| Below more on the drought situation, and the coal vs. solar debate
Climate - a major issue The
Big Dry. Australia is the most arid continent on Earth and perpetually struggles with
water scarcity problems that will only worsen as the planetary temperature
rises. About two-thirds of Australia receives less than 20 inches of rain a year, and
only 10% of the continent receives more than 40 inches. Presently in
what is
known locally as the "Big Dry", Australia is in the grip of its worst
drought in a century which has been causing devastation in the
country. More than 10,000 Australian farming families have
had to leave
their land as a result of the country's ongoing drought. link
South Australia, Australia's driest
state,
has decided to buy in water
supplies amid
fears it will run out in 2009. In December 2008, the
government of South Australia said it had
spent tens of millions
of dollars to ensure Adelaide (Australia's
fifth-largest city) and the state
had enough water. South Australia, which
already receives the least rainfall of any
Australian state, is experiencing the worst drought in a
thousand years
according to scientific experts.
The state's
water security minister said she had purchased 61 billion gallons of
extra
water for 2009.
link
January 2011: Extreme weather
part of Australia’s future. Global
Change Professor Peter Grace from the Queensland University of Technology says
Australia will see a higher incidence of extreme weather events like the
flooding in Queensland, saying greenhouse gases and global warning are
contributing factors, whether people want to accept it or not. He says it will
not happen tomorrow, but it will happen in years to come and people will come
to know major flooding. Since late December 2010, more than 70 towns and
cities across Queensland have been flooded and more than 200,000 people have
been affected. link August 2010: First Australian territory to take GHG emissions seriously. Australia's smallest
self-governing territory, the Australian Capital Territory, announced
plans to enact tough energy laws on greenhouse gas emissions. A new
bill aims to reduce carbon emissions by 40% of its 1990 levels by 2020
and become carbon neutral by 2060. link July 2010: Australia's five largest cities to spend $13.2bn on desalination plants. The
plants are scheduled to be up and running in two years and will draw up
to 30% of their water from the ocean. Critics argue that desalination
will add to the very climate change that is aggravating the country's
water shortage, and urge better water management and
conservation. link October 2009: Climate change threatens Australia's coastal lifestyle, report warns. With 80% of Australians living along the coast, a government environmental
committee warns that thousands of miles of Australia's coastline are under
threat from rising sea levels. A new report into the effects of climate change on Australia's vast
coastline is forcing the country to consider the unthinkable: life away from the
surf. The report does not say the government should force people to move inland, but
proposes that an independent group look into whether the government could - and
should - do just that. link September 2009: Bottled water only imminent. As the 10-year drought continues and could become permanent, Australia's 5th largest city, Adelaide, is at risk of having to ship water in to its residents. "We are talking about 1.3 million people, who are not far off becoming reliant on
bottled water. We are talking a national emergency," said South Australian MP
David Winderlich. link
Desalination plants necessary for Australia.
Desalination plants could supply about one-third of the country's water
in the next two years, according to estimates. Since the 1970s,
southwest Australia has seen declines of up to 20% in its annual
rainfall. In the past decade, a drought said to be the worst in
more than 100 years parched much of the country and forced state
and local agencies to look to alternate sources of water. Through
analysis of snowfall in Antarctica, scientists have pegged climate
change as a cause of the extreme weather, and predict that water
shortages will only intensify in the future. link ___________________________________________ Solar
Power
versus Coal Australia, already the world biggest coal exporter (see here), plans to double its coal
exports by 2030. According to Greenleft, a radical independent news source, PM Kevin Rudd has presented the illusion of an effective response to climate
change, which steers the middle ground between big business and green groups.
However in practice, he is just as pro-coal as his predecessor, John Howard.
link
Today less
than 2% of energy is sourced from
solar power, though a 154 MW photovoltaic (PV) solar power station is
planned
in Victoria State (projected cost $420 million). It is expected to be
the
biggest and most efficient solar power station in the world and will
generate
electricity directly from the sun to meet the annual needs of over
45,000 homes
with zero greenhouse gas emissions.
But
with an increasing population
and demand for energy expanding, Australia is very dependent upon coal.
As a
primary producer, user and the world’s leading exporter, its coal
industry is
very powerful and has
one of the world's biggest
public-private R&D efforts to make carbon capture and storage
(CCS) a
commercial reality. But, in the same way the US flagship CCS project
FutureGen
folded because of rising costs, some high-profile Australian projects
have
already been canned. The IEA (International Energy Agency) said several
industrial-size
pilot CCS projects planned for Europe, North America and Australia are
making
“slow progress” and if they fail to materialise soon, it will be at
least 2030
before CCS can contribute meaningfully to greenhouse-gas reduction. link
December 2010: In 2010, renewables contributed 8.67% (21,751GW) of Australia's energy supply.
Of this, hydropower accounted for 60%, wind for 23%, bioenergy for 12%
and solar for 2%. Over 100,000 rooftop solar systems were installed,
more than the previous 10 years combined. link (Australia has a renewable target of 20% by 2020.) January 10 2011: A 100MW solar farm will be built in New South Wales, Australia's most populous state. Covering about 200 hectares and generating enough energy to power 20,000 homes, the farm will avoid the generation of 150,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. link Wind Power: August 2011: 600MW wind farm planned for South Australia - link August 2010: Southern hemisphere's largest wind farm. A proposed 420MW project using 3MW wind turbines will see the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere come to fruition in the western district of Victoria . Vestas, the supplier, expects to fully install the project by the first half of 2013.link
October 2009: 192 MW Wind farm announced.
Spanish firm Acciona has completed the commissioning of the Waubra
windpark in Victoria, the biggest windpark installed by the company to
date in the world with a capacity of 192 megawatts. The facility has
represented an investment of around 450 million Australian dollars. The
Waubra windpark has 128 AW-1500 wind turbines of 1.5 MW each, and will
generate clean energy equivalent to the consumption of 140,000
Australian homes, avoiding the emission to the atmosphere of 635,000
metric tons of greenhouse gases per year. link Other news: October 2011: Carbon tax bill passes. Australia's lower
house of parliament has narrowly passed (74 votes for and 72 against) a bill
for a controversial carbon tax. It is expected to pass the Senate with the help
of the Greens next month. The legislation would force about 500 of the biggest
polluters to pay for each tonne of carbon dioxide they emit. The tax is central
to the government's strategy to combat climate change, but the opposition says
it will cause job losses and raise the cost of living. link Carbon dioxide emissions would be taxed at A$23 beginning
July 2012 covering the country's biggest 500 companies. In 2015, a market-based
trading scheme will be introduced. The aim is to cut 159m tonnes of carbon
pollution by 2020, reducing emissions by 5% below 2000 levels. Apart from the
European Union, only New Zealand currently imposes a national carbon tax. link (60%
of Australians say they oppose the tax; after the next election in
2013, a defeat for the government would possibly lead to a repeal of
the tax. A vote on the bill will take place October 12 2011.) February 2010: Australia group rolls out plan for 100% renewable energy by 2020 A report to be released in the first half of 2010 finds that Australia
can use solar and wind power to produce 100% of its electricity in 10
years using technologies that are available now. The study is being compiled by the Victoria–based advocacy group Beyond Zero Emissions and is based on the research of
engineers and scientists. "We have concluded that there are no technological impediments to
transforming Australia’s stationary energy sector to zero emissions over the
next 10 years," said Matthew Wright, executive director of Beyond Zero
Emissions. Wright concedes that the plan is ambitious. At the same time, he says, it is
"totally feasible," despite the price tag. The cost of quitting carbon entirely is estimated at around $36 billion per
year, or up to 3.5 percent of Australia's annual GDP. link A
growing
population is another source of future problems for Australia. Currentl;y 21 millon people l;ive in Asutralia, The Optimum Population Trust, an
environmental organization in
England whose concern is with the impact of population growth on the
environment, determined
that at the current standard of living (as determined by the WWF's
Living
Planet Report 2002), the optimum population for Australia is 10 million
and at
a lower standard of living it is 21 million – where it stands today. link Government
estimates that the population will increase by 53% by 2050 (to 33
million). Feb 2009: Australia faces collapse as climate change kicks in.
link Country profile from Renewable Energy World
[I’d like to thank
Chris Marden of Victoria State Greens for his assistance.]
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