Antinuclear

Peak oil adds to urgency for Australia to develop renewable energy

 Desperately needed, of course, is a policy to tackle both peak oil and climate change at the same time……Beyond Zero Emissions, with Melbourne University’s Energy Research Institute, published its Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan……Beyond Zero has assembled a team of scientists, engineers and planners working pro-bono on a fully costed, national transport plan that will take in three streams: city passenger and public transport, freight, and intercity transport and high-speed rail. The report is due out by the end of the year.

Peak oil highlights need for a unified policy, Sydney Morning Herald, Paddy Manning, April 30, 2011, The infrastructure Australia needs to respond to the world’s dwindling oil supply is not the sort we are building.

Peak oil is forcing its way to the top of the agenda with stark warnings from the International Energy Agency and others repeated on ABC radio and television this week, after an investigation by the Catalyst program.

……. Desperately needed, of course, is a policy to tackle both peak oil and climate change at the same time.

Last year, think tank Beyond Zero Emissions, with Melbourne University’s Energy Research Institute, published its Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan, which shook things up by calling for investment of $37 billion a year to switch the whole country over to 100 per cent renewable energy within a decade. The plan included enough installed energy capacity to power all our transport needs.

Beyond Zero has assembled a team of scientists, engineers and planners working pro-bono on a fully costed, national transport plan that will take in three streams: city passenger and public transport, freight, and intercity transport and high-speed rail. The report is due out by the end of the year.

Executive director Matthew Wright says the opportunity is there for Australia to invest in new, climate-friendly transport infrastructure and avoid spending on high-priced oil imports, which Beyond Zero estimates could exceed $50 billion a year by 2015. ”That’s what I call a great big tax,” says Wright.

The thrust of the plan is to electrify the country’s road and rail transport systems as much as possible with a renewable-powered grid, and the use of liquid biofuels to replace oil for range-extending and some off-road and agricultural uses. Thousands of kilometres of new light and heavy rail would be laid across major cities. Auto manufacturers would retool to make electric cars locally…….

It’s the infrastructure we’re going to need. Unfortunately it’s not the infrastructure we’re building, which is heavily skewed towards roads and against rail.

And if it all sounds expensive consider that we are still subsidising oil at a rate of billions of dollars a year, whether through diesel fuel tax rebates or a fringe benefits tax regime that encourages private company car use. As peak oil bites, that’s crazy.

: http://www.smh.com.au/business/peak-oil-highlights-need-for-a-unified-policy-20110429-1e0of.html#ixzz1L27P8Z64

April 30, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy