An overdue farewell for old King Coal

Sydney Morning Herald
Friday 8/6/2007 Page: 13

In the early 1990s wind turbines were seen as small-scale, fringe technology. The industry was a backyard enterprise, carried on in garages and on farms by starry-eyed pioneers. In 2007 there are now 214,000 people employed in renewable energy in Germany, so it surprises me that Australia's Government still has such a black view of renewable energy.

The world has decided we need to stop using fossil fuels, but the International Energy Agency still has no idea how to switch from coal, oil and gas. It was to fill this need that Greenpeace commissioned an economic and technological model of how to clean up the energy sector globally, cutting emissions by half by 2050.

Surprisingly, we found that eliminating nuclear power and reducing dependence on fossil fuels increases energy security and often lowers consumer energy prices. This finding is so counter to traditional "economy versus environment" thinking that it is taking time to be accepted.

The warning from our study is urgent: if the world listens to "King Coal" and his renewables sceptics, we face a future not just of climate disaster but also of massively rising energy prices, energy insecurity and economic stresses due to electricity supply instability alone.

Greenpeace's "energy revolution" scenario was developed by the German Space Agency in conjunction with engineers and scientists from a number of institutes globally and the European Association for Renewable Energy. Stopping climate change requires a revolution in government policy, but it can be achieved by an evolution of proven technologies. Wind alone is providing 8 per cent of electricity in Germany and 20 per cent in Denmark. The biggest coal plant-scale solar factories in the world are in China.

When presenting the details of our study to members of the federal parliamentary inquiry into renewable energy, we were able to demonstrate how Australia is missing out on a jobs and economic boom as the country lags other countries in implementing the clean energy revolution. Few realised this country is being outperformed by unexpected places, such as the Philippines, Texas, China and Egypt.

The biggest intellectual misconception was the idea that renewables cannot provide baseload power generation, yet geothermal, bioenergy, hydro-electricity, concentrated solar power with thermal storage capacity all can. With sophisticated wind forecasting, wind energy's variable nature can be relied upon to keep the economy humming.

The biggest economic benefit is energy efficiency. This is the "low-hanging fruit" of the clean energy revolution and gives the fastest return on investment. Our figures show that by 2050 energy savings alone will account for 47 per cent of displaced demand against the business-as-usual scenario. These efficiencies range from better appliances to best-practice factories and new approaches to energy, such as decentralising energy production. These technologies are not spectacular like wind farms or futuristic systems like "hot rocks", but are the bedrock of humanity's response to climate change.

So what might global trends mean for Australians heading into a federal election? Investors will start to cool on coal companies that stake their futures on unproven and financially risky clean coal technology. Investors will compare the risks and likely delays in clean coal to the annual growth in solar and wind of more than 30 per cent over the next decade.

When consumers understand that renewable energy offers more security, coal will begin to face real political trouble. The Australia-based emissions trading scheme will likewise lose its sheen once it is understood. International evidence demonstrates that emissions trading will not create a booming renewables sector. A weak and uncertain scheme can even be a step backwards. No country has relied on emissions trading alone to switch from high-carbon to climate-safe energy because it does not work.

The benchmark for the Government's policy on climate is straightforward: will it ensure that we look beyond coal and will it result in a reduction in greenhouse emissions? History is gathering pace around a clean energy revolution. We now know that dropping global reliance on fossil fuels will be good for security, the economy and consumers.

You do not need to be a brave engineer to predict that Australia is about to make a big switch, and not a moment too soon.


Sven Teske is the renewables director at Greenpeace International.