Antinuclear

Australia’s economy needs new renewable energy industries, not fossil fuel ones

Relying on our fossil fuels for energy and future wealth is no longer a sensible option…Despite the claims of the fossil-fuel lobby, renewable energy can provide a vital new industry and energy source to power Australia’s economy day and night

Where’s the vision that will take us to a brave new world?, The Canberra Times, BY FIONA ARMSTRONG20 Aug, 2010 Call me fussy, but I have always expected leaders to provide leadership……while we’ve seen plenty of special interests in this election campaign, we haven’t seen much that captures what might be best for all of us….
Relying on our fossil fuels for energy and future wealth is no longer a sensible option. The social licence for burning coal is soon to expire, and fixing our future economic and energy security on the shifting space of international commodities markets is looking increasingly risky. ANU economics professor and Reserve Bank Director Warwick McKibben said recently Australia is in danger of becoming a single-sector economy…..Australia should instead build on its comparative advantage and use the wealth generated by our natural resources (our common wealth) to build new industries….

So are our natural resources a bonus or a curse? It’s a matter of which natural resources we choose to exploit. Natural resources can continue to dominate Australia’s future but we need to shift from propping up ”sunset industries” and capitalise on our other natural advantages, such as the sun and the wind.

Despite the claims of the fossil-fuel lobby, renewable energy can provide a vital new industry and energy source to power Australia’s economy day and night. The technology is commercially available, the industry is ready to invest, and there are thousands of jobs to be had in manufacturing, constructing and operating a new renewable energy infrastructure for Australia.

It is up to us, however (and by extension our governments), to create the environment in which industry will be willing to invest to create a new ”comparative advantage” for Australia.
Fiona Armstrong is a public policy analyst and advocate for health reform and effective climate policy. She is a Fellow of the Centre for Policy Development, and author of Shifting from Fear to Hope, a chapter in the new CPD book, More Than Luck: Ideas Australia Needs Now.

Where’s the vision that will take us to a brave new world? – Opinion – Editorial – General – The Canberra Times

August 25, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change - global warming, Resources, solar, wind | Australia, carbon, climate change, climate change - global warming, renewable, solar, wind