87% of Australians want carbon tax money to go renewable energy development
the aspect of renewable energy that should be occupying the minds of Gillard and her Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet is that it is popular…..Newspoll found that a massive 87 per cent of Australians want revenue raised by the price on pollution to be invested in renewable energy innovation.
That’s why its reluctance to embrace renewable energy as an outcome of carbon pricing is so puzzling. Putting a price on pollution will not be enough to drive new development in renewables but it does provide the ongoing source of income that could.
Gillard needs some renewable sizzle for her steak, (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), By Andrew Bray 26 May 2011 If Gillard wants to sell her carbon tax to the people, she needs to start spruiking the positives such as exciting new renewable energy plants……
The Australian people may know how important it is to tackle climate change but they’ll still want to feel like they’ve got something to show for their troubles. So when it comes to the sales pitch, you’ve got to keep some sizzle with the steak……
The challenge for the government is to articulate positive and attractive outcomes that will follow from the establishment of a price on carbon pollution.
That’s why its reluctance to embrace renewable energy as an outcome of carbon pricing is so puzzling. Putting a price on pollution will not be enough to drive new development in renewables but it does provide the ongoing source of income that could.
Using carbon price revenue for a ‘clean energy fund’, administered at arm’s length from government, would provide a platform to begin a genuine transformation of Australia’s energy supply.
Currently, the Renewable Energy Target (RET) requires that 20 per cent of our electricity come from renewable sources by 2020. As things stand, the bulk of this will be taken up by new wind power installations. Emerging technologies like concentrating solar thermal, geothermal and wave power, which promise the most in terms of baseload electricity supply, are unlikely to benefit greatly from the RET.
Additional measures such as feed-in tariffs, investment in research and development and loan guarantees are needed to help make these technologies cheaper to build and speed up their development in Australia.
As for the ambition of the target, when you consider Scotland’s recent commitment to source 100 per cent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020, our 20 per cent target looks paltry indeed.
But the aspect of renewable energy that should be occupying the minds of Gillard and her Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet is that it is popular.
The 100% Renewable Energy campaign knows that because for the last three months we’ve been out on streets across Australia asking people how they feel about renewable energy. The results of our 10,000 conversations so far are clear – people want to see more solar and more geothermal and they just want the government to get on with the job of rolling it out.
This is backed up by recent polls. Newspoll found that a massive 87 per cent of Australians want revenue raised by the price on pollution to be invested in renewable energy innovation.
Our huge surveying effort will be culminating this weekend with a National Doorknock to Unlock Clean Energy. As the Multi Party Climate Change Committee meets to thrash out the final details of the carbon price package, hundreds of volunteers will fan out across towns from Cairns to Hobart and Bega to Bunbury, talking with their communities about Australia’s energy future.
Those who will be door knocking on Saturday are average Australians with a fierce desire to see more renewable energy brought online. Many of them were part of a rally of 8,000 people in Melbourne’s Treasury Gardens last March to support climate change action and renewable energy.
If Julia Gillard wants a bit of sizzle for her carbon price steak she should back renewable energy. She’ll find plenty of support for it…
No comments yet.
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 
Leave a comment