Antinuclear

Australia needs to speed up its switch to renewable energy

The shift to wind and solar power in Australia has been driven in large part by the purchase of GreenPower, a scheme under which people pay slightly higher energy bills, with the difference invested in energy generated from renewable sources and bought by their energy provider.

Contrary to some reports, rooftop solar panels are not a middle-class luxury but a prudent, money-saving investment in more working-class and rural areas,

Winds of change blow, but breaking habits is no breeze, SMH March 23, 2012 Households have helped drive up the share of power production from renewables in Australia, but it still trails far behind the ambitious plans of other developed countries, writes Ben Cubby.

When Sydney held the first Earth Hour event in 2007, renewable energy made up just under 5 per cent of the power produced in Australia. It now stands at 10 per cent, and that total must be doubled again over the next eight years if the national target for wind, solar, hydro and biomass energy is to be met.

This represents a vast, fast change for Australia’s coal, oil and gas-dependent society, yet the country still lags a long way behind most other developed nations. An index developed by the non-profit think-tank the Climate Institute and the energy company GE, released this week, placed Australia 16th out of the G20 countries for its ability to remain competitive in a low-carbon environment.
“Looking at the index, countries that performed well in the rankings
are those who have recognised the inextricable link between economic
resource security and climate change policies and are acting
accordingly,” says the institute’s director, John Connor.
Australia’s performance is likely to improve when the carbon price
legislation – under which heavy-polluting businesses have to buy
emissions permits at $23 per tonne of carbon dioxide – comes into
force on July 1.
This will make fossil-fuel power more expensive and renewable energy
cheaper by comparison.
European nations, along with Japan and Korea, lead the list. Despite
the recent surge in renewable energy use, Australia’s is the only
major economy that has become more dependent on coal and oil over the
past 20 years…….
The shift to wind and solar power in Australia has been driven in large part by the purchase of GreenPower, a scheme under which people pay slightly higher energy bills, with the difference invested in energy generated from renewable sources and bought by their energy provider.
In the last quarter of 2011, 548,658 megawatt hours of renewable
energy were bought under the scheme by the 730,000 households and
businesses that took part.
Government subsidies for renewable energy installation are being wound
back across most of the country, but have resulted in a massive surge
in solar panels and solar hot water heaters since 2007.
Contrary to some reports, rooftop solar panels are not a middle-class
luxury but a prudent, money-saving investment in more working-class
and rural areas, according to detailed studies of the postcodes where
they are installed.
In NSW, rural areas have by far the highest uptake of solar
installations, with one in 10 homes in some districts now acting as
mini-power stations, producing more electricity than they can use and
feeding the surplus back into the grid. In Sydney, the Blacktown
region has the highest proportion of panels.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/earth-hour/winds-of-change-blow-but-breaking-habits-is-no-breeze-20120323-1vnxg.html#ixzz1q52JEtBm

March 24, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy