AAP Newswire
Wednesday 28/2/2007
A leading environmental researcher has called for a government taskforce to look into renewable energy to balance up debate on Australia's response to climate change.
Barney Foran, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University's Centre for Research and Environmental Studies, says Australia is 10 or 20 years behind Europe in thinking on renewable energy. He says current incentives are so small that they produce no incentive for action. He was speaking at an Australian National University briefing at Parliament House called Climate Change and Australia.
"While I'm not here advocating the renewables transition, I do suggest that if we are to have a decent debate in Australia, then we need something the size and intensity of the Ziggy (Switkowski) report (into nuclear energy), to be done on a renewables transition so that we may have balance, if you like, in the national debate that ensues.
"We could have a very different economy here run by renewable electricity mainly, and also by vast areas of woodscapes supply our liquid fuels. "That's a physical reality that doesn't stack up as well economically as it could." Woodscapes involve purpose grown wood biomass, partly for bio-electricity, but mainly for liquid transport fuels.
Mr Foran spoke of a building at an institution in Austria which replaced its marble frontage with photovoltaic (PV) cells and managed to convert its energy usage to 50 per cent renewable, as an example of renewable energy innovation happening in Europe.
"The Europeans are 10 to 20 years in front of us," he said. "Step-change comes when we put a goal in national terms that say we're going to go for something like 50 per cent renewable electricity by 2050. "The current goals for renewable energies (in Australia) are so small that they produce no incentive for action."
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