Price on carbon gives Australia the chance to compete in 21st Century world
WA and the nation will be coming to an election. If we actually manage to get past July 1 2012 and have a price on carbon, any future election campaigns will have to deal with the reality that the carbon price (like the GST) didn?t end the world, and indeed, things seem to be getting better.
In those circumstances, all sides of politics will be talking what more they can do to be sustainable, not how to reverse it.
As the boy scouts say: ‘be prepared’, Utility products, By Ray Wills, 22 July 11, “…...tackling the issue of pricing carbon early should not create disadvantage, but rather position the economy to be in the best state to respond to the challenge of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite what the shock jocks say, Australia must be both prepared and competitive in a world that is actually acting to do just that.
What?s the evidence the world is really responding?
Global investments in renewable energy, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis released earlier this month, were up 32 per cent in 2010. At $211 billion, the total investment in renewable energy projects in 2010 is now greater than expenditure on all conventional energy projects in the same year.
Significantly, developing nations spent more on renewable energy utility projects ($72 billion) than developed ones ($70 billion).
China led all nations with $49.8 billion in investments in 2010, ahead of German spending of $41 billion and US spending of $29.6 billion.
A price on carbon is one element that delivers greater certainty to businesses seeking to invest in sustainable energy solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; certainty that has been lacking in Australia for a decade.
Action on sustainable energy around the world has delivered new jobs in the education, research, government, business and community sectors, and will do so across Australia too.
But are we there yet? Is Australia now leading? Well, no, not yet. We have certainly created an impression of leadership, but until we actually start action on July 1 2012, we are really in the back of the pack.
And there will still be politics creating uncertainty…..
At some point in much less than five years, small-scale renewables will reach retail parity with the grid so that customers will be much more interested in self-supply, and from the time of installation, price can be reasonably forecast for the life of the system, meaning electricity will be far less inflationary.
As this happens, WA and the nation will be coming to an election. If we actually manage to get past July 1 2012 and have a price on carbon, any future election campaigns will have to deal with the reality that the carbon price (like the GST) didn?t end the world, and indeed, things seem to be getting better.
In those circumstances, all sides of politics will be talking what more they can do to be sustainable, not how to reverse it.
http://www.utilityproducts.com/news/2011/07/1460746763/as-the-boy-scouts-say-be-prepared.html
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