Antinuclear

Australia’s carbon emissions down: renewable energy played a part

RENEWABLE energy has helped Australia to cut carbon emissions
http://www.power-eng.com/news/2012/04/26/renewable-energy-has-helped-australia-to.html 04/26/2012 RENEWABLE energy has helped Australia to cut its total carbon emissions for the second year running, according to figures published in the Australian National Greenhouse Accounts, a quarterly update of Australia’s national greenhouse gas inventory, which is published by the federal government’s Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency.
Clean Energy Council acting chief executive Kane Thornton said analysis from the Australian National Greenhouse Accounts showed that overall greenhouse emissions had dropped about one per cent in the year to September 2011, largely led by the electricity sector. “Electricity emissions dropped 3.2 per cent during this period,” Mr Thornton said.
“Hydroelectric power was up just over 10 per cent due to the excellent rainfall in key hydro areas, while coal and gas generation both dropped.
“Better energy efficiency and the increased use of technologies such as solar power, wind power and solar hot water were some of the factors that the government said contributed to the strong result. “Australia’s bipartisan 20 per cent Renewable Energy Target is starting to work, even though it is still in its early stages.”

The report defines the electricity sector as consisting of emissions from the generation of electricity by combustion of fuels, including coal and natural gas, and states: “This sector is the largest source of emissions in the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, accounting for 36 per cent of emissions in the year to September 2011” .
It lists as one of the drivers contributing to the drop in demand for
electricity to “increased output from small generators (including
solar) located within distribution networks resulting in lower demand
for scheduled generators supplying the National Electricity Market”.
Mr Thornton said developing clean energy made economic sense for Australia.

April 27, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming | climate change - global warming