Happy to pay for more renewables

Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday 4/10/2007 Page: 7

MOST people would be willing to pay an extra $3 a week for electricity to ensure renewable energy was a large part of the power mix, a survey has found. The poll, which asked people if they would support a target for Australia to produce 25 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, comes as predictions of dangerous levels of climate change firmed at a conference in Sydney this week. It follows a survey of people living in the NSW wind farm district of Goulburn-Crookwell-Yass that found most welcomed the turbines because they were worried about climate change. Eighty-three per cent of the 300 people polled said they would be happy to see a wind farm built on land near where they lived.

Renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, has failed to attract as much Government support as projects that attempt to reduce the pollution from coal-fired power. However, news last week that two of the biggest power companies in the US were planning a multibillion-dollar expansion of solar power supply has strengthened the case that renewable energy could become a viable alternative to coal-fired power.

The Newspoll survey of 1200 people released yesterday by the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Medical Association showed two-thirds of respondents would pay an extra $3 a week, or $156 a year, for electricity to cover the cost of a strong renewable energy target of 25 per cent by 2020. "The future health of Australians depends to a large degree on having a healthy environment," a spokeswoman for the AMA's public health committee, Dr Alex Markwell, said. "Renewable energy is a key solution to the climate change problem and this survey shows the majority of Australians are prepared to pay for it," she said.

If greenhouse gas emissions were not cut, Australia would experience more droughts and heatwaves, a rise in heat-related illnesses and the spread southward of the dengue transmission zone, Don Henry, of the Conservation Foundation, said. "In contrast, early action to reduce greenhouse pollution, including a strong Mandatory Renewable Energy Target, would have major health benefits." The AMA and the Conservation Foundation are calling for all political parties to commit to a strong Mandatory Renewable Energy Target, improve the energy efficiency of appliances, vehicles and buildings, and ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

The Greens will announce a 10-year, $3-billion investment fund for renewable energy and energy-efficiency technologies at a solar power conference in Alice Springs today. The Greens' Sun Fund will transfer the $300 million in current annual Federal Government subsidies for fossil fuels to renewable energy. That would provide continuing investment to underpin research, development and commercialisation across the renewable and energy efficiency sectors, the party's climate change spokeswoman, Senator Christine Milne. said.