Antinuclear

The modelling, commissioned by the Clean Energy Council, which represents the renewables industry, finds power bills are higher in the short term because of the target, but households would end up about $50 a year better off in 2020 if the target is left in place.

The work is part of the industry’s pitch to protect the renewable-energy target, under which at least 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity will come from renewable sources by 2020.

The Abbott government has commissioned a review of the target, headed by senior business figure Dick Warburton, who is sceptical of the science underpinning human-caused climate change.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has previously declared that he wants Australia to be the ”affordable energy capital of the world”,……

the modelling finds that if the target is left in place then at the end of the decade, the boost to renewable-energy facilities would displace the need to use more gas power as growing energy demand returns, keeping wholesale power prices low. The report says that as a result, average household power bills would be $51 lower in 2020 than if the target was axed, and an average of $100 a year lower after 2020.

The report also says that if the renewable energy target was repealed, $11 billion in new investments would not go ahead – and Australia’s cumulative greenhouse gas emissions would be 34.7 million tonnes higher by 2020. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/households-face-higher-power-bills-by-2020-if-renewableenergy-target-is-scrapped-study-finds-20140429-zr1ec.html#ixzz30QLYra8v