Antinuclear

Carbon price needed to make Australia’s renewable energy a goer

“What it potentially means for Australia if we have low-cost renewable energy, because on average we have faster wind speeds and more solar, our renewableenergy would be cheaper,” she said.

“It will attract those sorts of heavy energy-intensive industries like aluminium to countries like Australia because they can get comparatively cheaper low-carbon energy.”

Renewable energy with $100b price tag, Sydney Morning Herald, Andrea Hayward February 3, 2011, Nearly $100 billion of investment would be needed to make Australia completely reliant on renewable energy in the absence of a carbon price, environmentalists say.

The WWF Energy Report found the world’s entire energy needs could be generated by renewable sources by 2050, with isolated use of fossil and nuclear fuels.Under a 100 per cent global renewable energy scenario, Australia could be a highly competitive player because of its ability to generate wind and solar power faster and at lower costs than in Europe and the USA.

But the investment required would average $2.5 billion annually, or $97.5 billion by 2050, according to a Climate Risk analysis of the report specific to Australia.

WWF-Australia head of climate change Kellie Caught said that if a carbon price of $20 a tonne was put in place, it would cut the required investment level to $1.5 billion annually, or $39 billion by 2050.

“Some of that could be raised from a carbon price, so the revenue that you raised from the carbon price, if you invested roughly 20 per cent of that back into renewable energy that’s where a lot of that money would come from,” Ms Caught said.

Crunch time was fast approaching for movement on a carbon price, with business delaying investment because of uncertainty, she said.

The delay introducing a carbon price in Australia means it would just become more expensive, Ms Caught said.

Australia is lagging behind the US, China, Germany and Brazil in investment in renewable energy options.

The lag could mean Australia missed out on investment opportunities, Ms Caught said.

“What it potentially means for Australia if we have low-cost renewable energy, because on average we have faster wind speeds and more solar, our renewableenergy would be cheaper,” she said.

“It will attract those sorts of heavy energy-intensive industries like aluminium to countries like Australia because they can get comparatively cheaper low-carbon energy.”

Demand for energy would decrease by 15 per cent in 2050 from 2005 levels if the world were reliant on renewable energy, with greater efficiencies identified, energy consultancy Ecofys predicts……The savings from lower energy costs against total new investments in renewable energy and efficiency would be about $5.5 trillion by 2050, the report said. Renewable energy with $100b price tag

February 3, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy