Antinuclear

International Renewable Energy Agency ‘s new report will show up Australia’s blindness to renewable energy investment future

Hunt commits to ‘cleaner’ coal, as renewables despair deepens, REneweconomy, Giles Parkinson on 16 April 2014“……While Australia seems destined to go backwards on renewables, the rest of the world is looking to accelerate. The IPCC report, released on Sunday, said the world needed to increase the amount of renewable energy generation three of four fold, and pointed out that this, plus other measures, would come at little additional cost. The International Renewable Energy Agency overnight said renewable energy and energy efficiency provided the most affordable and technologically mature path to bring about the necessary change. Itforeshadowed last year that renewables could provide this abatement at little or no additional cost. “The accelerated deployment of renewable energy significantly reduces energy-related carbon dioxide emissions at a reasonable cost, and also provides other benefits, including enhanced energy security, more local jobs and value-creation, and a cleaner and healthier environment,” Adnan Amin, IRENA’s Director-General, said in a statement. IRENA’s forthcoming report, Remap 2030, says a quadrupling of the share of renewable energy sources by 2030, will cut annual global energy related emissions by 8.6 gigatonnes, while energy efficiency could save an additional 7.3GT – lowering the forecast level of 41GT on business as usual down to 25.5GT. “Renewable energy has entered into a virtuous circle of falling costs, increased deployment and accelerated technological progress,” Amin said. This is a view shared now by most of the world’s investment banks. Citigroup recently pointed to the“age of renewables” and Sanford Bernstein pointed out that solar will beat oil and gas, and ultimately coal, because it is “cheap, clean, convenient, and reliable” … and “will get cheaper.” The IPCC report was also welcomed by the US, which said it offered a huge opportunity to invest in clean technologies and accelerate emissions reductions program, and in Europe, where renewable deployment continues and the EU is considering higher emissions targets…….. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/hunt-commits-to-cleaner-coal-as-renewables-despair-deepens-75839

April 17, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy